“How can we ever thank You enough, O Beloved Father, for Your love and Your infinite mercy” (Hymn of Praise to the Most Holy Trinity). Read More
Showing all posts by Elija
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 14:15-23): “I will not leave you desolate”
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. “I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Read More
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 14:1-14): “Jesus is the way to the Father”
“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
CHOOSING LOVE AS A REGENT
“Abide in my love” (Jn 15:9).
The love of our heavenly Father surrounds us, dwells in us and forms us into the image of Christ. Once we have come to know and accept it through faith, this love will always want to remain in us and will never leave us. It is divine love and therefore unchanging. It is a gift that we receive freely, but our task and our joy is to remain in it. And this is not difficult because God, for His part, never withdraws His love from us. Only we can turn away from it if we neglect to cultivate it and turn our love in a disorderly way towards the created, thus turning away from God.
THE RIGHT ORDER
“Whoever wants God to listen to him, let him first listen to God” (St. Augustine).
No matter how much God speaks to us, we will not understand Him unless we learn to recognise His voice, unless we assimilate His word and put it into practice. It is the Holy Spirit who reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (Jn 14:26), but He can only do this if we are willing to listen and pay attention to the Lord. That is to say, the right disposition on our part is necessary.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 13:31-38): “True brotherhood”
Jn 13:31-38
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times.
THE MAIN THING IS TO WALK STRAIGHT
“It is better to limp along the straight path than to stray from it with a firm step” (St. Augustine).
On the path of following the Lord, we are not always carried on “eagle’s wings”. There are stages where we progress with difficulty and which require a lot of patience, especially when it comes to carrying a cross. Our Father allows this so that we never forget that all grace comes from Him. If we were always moving forward in leaps and bounds, with great agility, we might be tempted to put our own merits first and forget that it is the Lord who sustains us.
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 13:12-30): “The Traitor’s Name”
When Jesus had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of you all; I know whom I have chosen; it is that the scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I tell you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives any one whom I send receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 13:1-11): “The service of Jesus”
Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. He came to Simon Peter; and Peter said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Read More
AN INDESTRUCTIBLE LOVE
“Be sure of my love. It is indestructible” (Inner Word).
The certainty of God’s love is the foundation on which we can build our whole life, both in time and in eternity. In every situation we find ourselves in, His love is present to strengthen us, comfort us and lift us up.