“The Holy Spirit is light and strength. It is He who enables us to distinguish truth from falsehood and good from evil. Just as binoculars magnify objects, the Holy Spirit enables us to see the good and the evil in their full magnitude. With the Holy Spirit, one sees everything in its full magnitude: one sees the greatness of the smallest acts performed for God and the gravity of the smallest mistakes.” (Saint John Vianney)
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Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me
According to the traditional calendar, the feast of Saint John Baptist de La Salle is celebrated on May 15, and we will dedicate today’s meditation to him. For this occasion, the following Gospel passage has been chosen:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me.” (Mt 18:1–5)
Here the Lord presents us with two aspects regarding children. First, their simplicity and sincerity. That is the attitude with which we must approach our heavenly Father. In children who still retain their purity, we find a wonderful innocence that willingly receives what we offer them. By living such a relationship with our Father, we become receptive to God’s love, which can be transmitted to us directly. True greatness flows from this, for in the Kingdom of Heaven, the one who loves and serves others is great. If our heart is as open as a child’s, not only do we receive God’s love by the most direct path, but this love also becomes the motivation for action, since love drives us to carry out God’s works. Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit—the love between the Father and the Son—Who impels us to do good and enlightens our hearts.
Jesus Returns to the Father
The forty days during which the Risen Lord had instructed His disciples and led them even more deeply into their mission have come to an end. For the Lord, the hour has come to return to His Father in all His glory. He has completed the work He was commissioned to carry out on Earth and has laid the foundation for the message of salvation to be proclaimed throughout the world. Nothing is more important than the fulfillment of the mission the Lord entrusted to His apostles so that all people might come to know the Redeemer of all nations and follow Him. Jesus is the only way to the Father (Jn 14:6).
In recent days, the readings and the Gospel have spoken to us again and again of the Holy Spirit, who is absolutely indispensable for the authentic spread of the Gospel. Without Him, the fire of love would soon be extinguished, and the truth would be replaced by human fables and the deceptions of fallen angels. Today, on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, we hear the passage from the Acts of the Apostles that recounts this event:
Acts 1:1–12
In the first book, O Theoph′ilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.
PROVING ONESELF IN TIMES OF TEMPTATION
“Whoever loves the Savior with a courageous love does not cease to love Him in times of temptation, aridity, and desolation.” (Alphonsus Liguori)
Dear St. Alphonsus, we believe you, and we too wish to show our fidelity to the Lord in this way. But how can we love in such situations—when our hearts feel cold, when we feel completely without strength and utterly desolate, or when we are torn apart by severe temptations? In such moments, a declaration of love to the Lord might almost seem like hypocrisy to us, because it is not sustained at all by warm feelings. Perhaps we are even in a dark inner state and feel aversion toward Your Word and all religious acts. Dear Alphonsus, we do not feel courageous in such moments, but rather indecisive and sluggish. What then?
Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Jn 16:12-15
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
While still on earth with His disciples, the Lord did not entrust everything to them, knowing that the Holy Spirit had to be sent to them first, both to allow them to understand things and to strengthen them to put them into practice.
This is how the Lord guides His Church through time, enabling it to discern His revelation through the Holy Spirit ever more clearly.
“MATURING ON THE PATH OF DISCIPLESHIP”
“The more serene you become in dealing with adversity, the more fruitfully and peacefully God’s plan for you can unfold”. (Inner Word)
For every person, our Father has a plan of salvation that was already in place when the person still lived in God’s thoughts and had not yet entered this world. This plan corresponds to our Father’s love and His holy will to give humanity all that He has conceived for them.
Sin, justice and judgement
Jn 16:5-11
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
Today we hear again one of those statements of the Lord that the disciples had to learn to understand. Their hearts were full of grief, but none of them dared to ask where Jesus was going. Perhaps they were afraid of an answer that would deepen the pain in which they were already immersed.
“AT HOME IN THE DIVINE FAMILY”
“I want you to feel at home with Me, as if in a family that loves you deeply and where you are always accepted.” (Inner Word)
If people knew this, much could change in their lives. Even if one had the grace to grow up in a good family, this opens one’s eyes once again, and one will be able to say: “If I was already fortunate enough to grow up in a good family, how much better must the heavenly family be, from which all the good that has come my way originates.” With such insight, one can even follow a call to leave one’s beloved natural family when the King desires the beauty of the human person (cf. Ps 45:12).
The efficacy of the Holy Spirit
Jn 15:26-16:4
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.
The Church teaches us that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. As today’s reading suggests, His task is to remind us of what Jesus said and did; that is, to bear witness to Him.
“EVERYTHING IS IN GOD’S HANDS”
“What is a lion if I tame it? It does nothing without My will. Everything is in My hands, after all. You need only look to Me!” (Inner Word)
The Holy Scriptures speak of the devil as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and urge us to be vigilant (1 Pet 5:8).