Faith, Hope, and Love in a Book I'm Reading

Here is a quote from a short but deep book that I am reading, Fr. Jacques Philippe's Interior Freedom.  Check it out:

But always it is through an act of God, hidden or open, that faith, hope, and charity are possible.  The theological virtues awaken and grow in human hearts bu the work and teaching of the Holy Spirit.  That divine teaching is sometimes quite disconcerting.  Let us look at the way the Holy Spirit acts within us.

There is no way to chart all the Spirit does in any life.  We can't set rules for it or plan it.  "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes," (Jn 3:8).  Yet, certain constants can be traced.  The mysteries of the Rosary can help us see that.

The Rosary is a very beautiful prayer through which we entrust ourselves to our Lady in order to enter into communion with the events of Christ's life.  But it is also a kind of symbol of every human life.  Just as the Rosary contains joyful, sorrowful, and finally glorious mysteries, it could be said of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that there are "outpourings" that are joyful, sorrowful, and glorious.  (That is the order of their importance, but they occur in a cyclical way.)

Some outpourings of the Holy Spirit illuminate and reveal, some strip and impoverish, and some confirm and fortify.  All three kinds are necessary: the first to give birth to faith, the second to teach us hope, and the third to give us the courage to love.

The author then proceeds to use details of the life of St. Peter that are recorded in the gospels as illustrations of his interpretation.  When I read this tonight in adoration chapel, I literally jumped in my seat.  "Holy crap!" I thought.  I know, not terribly pious - my apologies. "That's my life."

There's a lot of brain food in Fr. Philippe's words.  The book is simple to read, yet thick - one doesn't rush through such things.  I hope my mind isn't doing cartwheels still when I lay me down in a little bit.