We Catholics use the phrase "still, small voice" to refer to our conscience, which God gave to each & every human as a guide in making moral choices. When our emotions, other people, Satan, etc. tempt us to sin, our conscience is a resource for resisting. Sin can be an act of commission (immoral things we do) or omission (moral things we avoid doing). This kind of guidance is within us, but we need to be receptive.

When the Holy Spirit guides us to do God's will, I think it is sometimes subtle, other times astonishing. Sometimes I have felt a need to do something that I haven't even thought about, and don't necessarily want to do. Examples:

**My conversion. I was at a low point, a bad spot for an atheist because it's a bottomless dark pit. I wanted help, but how do you pray when you deny there's anyone hearing the request? Out of nowhere, at age 40, I felt like someone had given me a ladder out of the pit. I didn't feel excitement, just a calm sense of direction like when you're lost and figure out a route on a map. I called the Catholic church near my home, the receptionist told me there was a class beginning in a few days. No surprise-- except that there is only the ONE 8-month series of classes annually (so we can be baptized at Easter). I believe the HS helped me call at the right time.

**My Baptism/Confirmation/First Communion. No big emotion, but more peace, a stronger sense that God did create me and wants me, and that Christianity is the fulfillment of ancient Jewish prophecy.

**Helping my husband out of a bad situation. The HS was my guide and ally in fighting darkness; I was spiritually strengthened in a battle against real evil, albeit I was left physically, mentally & emotionally tired. I believe God wanted me to help this man when even his own family was not doing so. My conscience guided me to see the right thing to do, and then the HS carried some of weight while I did it.

**Participating in church. Many times I'm touched way beyond explanation at Mass. It could be Scripture (our readings are on a 3-year cycle, so when the story of the Prodigal Son is scheduled, I can at least predict my tears), a prayer, a hymn, the priest's homily, a baby's baptism, an elderly person having their hand held during the Lord's Prayer. I'll be overwhelmed and my eyes just run. I feel like Tammy Faye Baker! My husband quietly passes me his handkerchief. Sometimes these moments leave me with a clear sense of direction about family or church.

**Reading Scripture or Butler's Lives of the Saints. Occasionally I get chills/ tears/ "God-bumps" on my arms and the "a-ha" feeling like when you remember an answer to a test question. Often I experience a feeling of renewed physical energy, like a strong "soldier for Christ."

**Opportunities to love God and Neighbor. I saw a car by the side of the road; the HS was with me to overcome my fear of offering to help. It was a young woman, car wouldn't run, no phone nearby, on her way home from work at an answering service, sad about a call from a hospital to get a priest for a dying patient. I gave her a ride to her destination as she told of her troubled family and her need to get back ino the Church. I have no doubt the Lord wanted me to be with her.

**Other people's HS experiences. A friend woke, surprised that her Bible had a passage marked with ink, then later the mark was gone. My husband was struggling to understand a bit of Church doctrine; a bus passenger in everyday clothes sat next to him, turned out to be priest especially knowledgable about the topic. My son (agnostic for now) fell on his bike at night and had lots of light to pull himself together; later he went back and saw there are no streetlights there.

These experiences of the Holy Spirit tend to involve light, tears, strength, and events beyond coincidence. Hope this helps.

Peace be with you