‘We need do nothing else but strive sincerely to do God’s will, and to please Him in all things’ (St. Francis of Assisi).
This is the simple advice given to us by St. Francis of Assisi, based on his own experience. This advice corresponds to the exhortation of Our Lord: ‘seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.’ (Mt 6:33).
‘The greatest joy in life is the conviction of being loved’ (Saint Dominic of Guzmán).
All people could share in this happiness, even if their circumstances in life are difficult. This is truly so, for God loves all people. In this certainty lies the greatest happiness for every creature. No one is excluded from it, and our Heavenly Father invites all people to know His love and to live in it.
“On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;
Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.”
The faithful, the people of God… Who belongs to them? From the point of view of vocation, all human beings belong to the people of God, because He wants all to be saved (1 Tim 2:4). That is why He sent His own Son into the world to bring people home and make them His children.
But there is a crucial difference between those who accept this call and live by it and those who pass by the Lord’s invitation.
“O most blessed Light divine,
May that light within us shine
And our inmost being fill!
Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint and ill.”
The Spirit of God penetrates deeply into our souls, that is, he wants to reach the very centre of our being and dwell there, together with the Father and the Son who abide in us, according to the words of Jesus (cf. Jn 14:23). Once established in our hearts, the Spirit of God will be able to mould us into the image of God, if we allow Him to do so. This is the great work of the Holy Spirit, once He has brought man to repentance and brought him back to loving obedience to God.
‘Go deep and immerse yourself again and again in me. Then you will find the inner guidance you need’ (Inner Word).
Our Father will never leave us without His guidance. He can reveal it to us in various ways. In today’s sentence, God urges us to go within ourselves. When we seek Him and perceive Him in our soul, when we immerse ourselves in Him and remain there, we make it easy for our Father to communicate His Will to us. The various influences and distractions from outside diminish. The more we have learned to distinguish the voice of God whispering within us from the impulses of our nature or even from the dark side, the easier it will be for us to understand His instructions.
‘If the word “thank you” were the only prayer you ever uttered, it would be enough’ (Master Eckhart).
We might be tempted to think that such statements make salvation too easy for human beings. But let us also remember the words of God the Father to Sister Eugenia Ravasio, in which He says that anyone who sincerely calls upon Him once with the name ‘Father’ will not be condemned. This gives us great hope for the salvation of souls, grounded in God’s saving will.
“You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;
In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.”
The Holy Spirit is the Comforter whom the Lord has given us. The Apostle Paul tells us: “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor 1:4).
‘Everything I have done has been by the order of our Lord. I have done nothing in the world except what God has commanded me to do’ (Saint Joan of Arc).
In the 15th century, Saint Joan of Arc was able to utter these wonderful words before the court of Rouen, which wanted to condemn her as a witch to please the enemies of the French monarchy of that time.
“Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine”.
The term “poor” includes all of us, especially those who are aware of their own poverty.
In our spiritual life we learn that we are always in need. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us how great God’s love is and how far we are from it.
However, this knowledge does not become a reason for us to sink into sadness or even despair. On the contrary, it is a reason to lean even more on God’s love, trusting that He will have mercy on our poverty. Then it will be God who will make us rich, for He Himself is our wealth.
Having concluded our journey through the Acts of the Apostles, in which we have accompanied these tireless witnesses of the Gospel on their missionary journeys, with all their sufferings but also with their joy at the spread of the faith, we now wish to focus our attention on the Holy Spirit, in keeping with the liturgical season.
For it was He who guided the mission of the apostles, who had to wait for His coming before beginning their ministry among all peoples. With today’s meditation we enter into the imminent preparation for Pentecost.
As a guiding star for the following meditations, I turn to the Pentecost Sequence, which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful prayers of the Church:
