“Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).
To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is not only important in the personal religious sphere, but it is the realisation of God’s plan for the whole of humanity. This is our Father’s plan: to gather all humanity in Christ to give them all that He has in store for them. Many passages of Sacred Scripture testify to this.
“Wait a little longer and continue to fulfil your task. I am your reward’ (Inner Word).
The more we love our Father, the more we long to be with Him in eternity. Let us remember how Jesus invited His disciples to rejoice with Him because He would soon return to the Father (Jn 14:28).
“My love and all that this love has conceived can save them” (Inner Word).
Unfortunately, not a few people have gone seriously astray. If they do not convert, their lives will become increasingly dark and they may even be eternally condemned.
“The door to the Father’s Heart is always open” (Inner Word).
The Son of God has opened it for us forever, and through Him we can always have access to our Father. Jesus has made this clear to us countless times, especially in the Gospel of John.
“Truth claims its right” (Inner Word).
Without truth there can be no true love, nor can we properly understand the mercy of our heavenly Father. Indeed, His mercy never overlooks or disregards truth and justice, but needs them as a foundation for God’s light to point us in the right direction.
“Look at me on the cross, see how I keep my gaze fixed on the Father” (Inner Word).
Both during His earthly life and at the hour of His death, Our Lord kept His gaze fixed on the Father. Everything was centred on Him: the Father: He carried out His mission to the end to accomplish the Father’s work, and His longing was to return to Him.
“Do what you can, ask for what you cannot, and God will give you so that you can” (St. Augustine).
Once we have set out on the path of following the Lord, our Father takes us into His service and gives us great responsibility. We should never give up in the face of difficulties that may come our way and which tend to “puff up”, appearing bigger than they really are. This also applies to situations that seem insurmountable. Here we are invited to put into practice St Augustine’s phrase: we go as far as we can and at this point we ask our Father for the grace to face in the right way what lies before and beyond us.
‘Thy Kingdom come’ (Mt 6:10).
Is the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth only a beautiful dream or a pious wish? Is it a promise yet to be fulfilled or a mere memory of a Paradise lost?
Jesus taught us to pray in this way, and this petition rises up from every corner of the world. It cannot, therefore, be a mere illusion, but a plea to God that His Kingdom, which already exists in heaven, may also be realised on earth.
“I love you more than you love me” (Inner Word).
Even if love for God has already awakened and begun to burn in our hearts, we must always remember that He loves us infinitely more than we love Him. It is an ‘ocean of love’ that surrounds us completely, without forgetting for a moment His other children and creatures. This is the love that nourishes us, and when we let it into our lives and open the doors of our hearts to it, we ourselves become a source of this love.
“You can entrust everything to me and always pour out your heart to me” (Inner Word).
How much it would help people to respond to this invitation of our Heavenly Father! Isn’t that what we are longing for? Aren’t we looking for someone we can trust without reservation, someone who will listen to us and understand us?
