Showing all posts in Reflexion

“What, then, will anyone gain by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life?” (Mt 16:26)

Through the first four gifts (fear of the Lord, piety, fortitude and counsel), the Holy Spirit guides our moral life above all. Through the last three gifts (knowledge, understanding and wisdom) He directly guides our supernatural life, i.e. our God-centred life.

The first four gifts lead to the perfection of the cardinal virtues; the last three, on the other hand, complete the theological virtues. These last three gifts are related to contemplation, to the life of prayer, to unification with God.

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“Speak, O Lord; your servant listens” (1 Sam 3:9).

The Holy Spirit reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26). He dwells in us and teaches us what to do in the concrete situations of our lives. Thanks to the gift of counsel, we become able to perceive within us the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit and to distinguish it from other voices. However, this requires the capacity for inner silence and a willingness to detach ourselves from the hustle and bustle and chaos of so many different opinions and points of view, both outside and inside us.

By practising the virtue of prudence, we have learned to see everything from God’s perspective. However, because of the imperfection of our nature, there remains the uncertainty of whether we are really able to distinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit from our own thoughts or other voices. The action of the Holy Spirit within us is rather gentle and quiet, like a gentle breeze (cf. 1 Kgs 19:11-12). As we become more familiar with him, we learn to distinguish his voice more accurately. However, we need an increasing inner freedom, so that we are not so trapped in our own views, desires and illusions that the delicate voice of the Spirit cannot penetrate us. We need this inner light, which enables us to grasp in an instant the Will of God.

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“So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own home, his goods are undisturbed” (Lk 11:21).

The gift of fortitude is responsible for strengthening the soul to be ever more courageous in the service of the Lord. It gives us the strength to follow the motions and impulses of the Holy Spirit, to accept everything and to want everything that God wants.

The virtue of fortitude alone reaches its limits when confronted with the highest demands of the spiritual life. It can happen, for example, that we want to give ourselves completely to God, but we are still afraid to let go completely and abandon ourselves entirely to Him. Although we recognise what God wants from us, and in principle we want it ourselves, we are too weak to realise it. God then intervenes directly with the spirit of fortitude, thus helping us to take the decisive steps. The strengthened soul is then ready to do the will of the Father, even at the cost of great sacrifices.

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“The Spirit himself joins with our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16).

The gift of piety leads us to adhere to God with filial love, not wanting to offend Him in any way.

The spirit of piety touches and enlivens our spiritual life with a new, mild and gentle radiance. Under its influence, our relationship with God and with our neighbour will reach a new level of love. Piety wants to conquer the heart of God, whom it recognises as the most loving Father.

Therefore, it is not content with avoiding everything that could affect even in the slightest way the relationship with Him (which is the effect of the gift of fear); it goes further, wanting to please the Lord in all things. The man moved by the spirit of piety seeks to live as a true child of God. In this way, even the hardest and heaviest obligations can become easy and sweet. In this context, it is worth remembering a phrase of the venerable Anne de Guigné (who died in the odour of sanctity when she was only 11 years old): “Nothing is difficult if one loves God”.

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On the Feast of Pentecost, we celebrated the descent of the Holy Spirit.

What an extraordinary change we see in the apostles! They, who were faint-hearted and fearful, become, thanks to the presence of the Holy Spirit, powerful messengers of God’s love; and they fearlessly proclaim the Gospel. The great miracle that each of the listeners – coming from the most diverse corners of the world – could understand the message of the apostles in their own language (cf. Acts 2:6) was a sign for the future. It was as if for a moment the confusion of tongues had been abolished, so that when the apostles proclaimed the wonders of God, all people could understand them.

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 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

“When Pilate learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Mag′dalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.” (Mk 15:45-47).

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 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

Once again we meet Mary on the Way of the Cross, as well as at the Fourth Station and at the foot of the Cross.

God wanted her Son, whom she bore, to be placed on her lap again after His death, before He descended into the Kingdom of the dead to announce the Good News to those who awaited Him there, so that they too might receive the grace of Redemption.

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 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46).

“It is finished” (Jn 19:30).

These are two of the words we hear from the mouth of Jesus before He expired, according to the testimony of the Gospels.

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 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

The Lord’s suffering becomes increasingly acute. He has already walked the way that led Him to Calvary, accompanied by mockery and insults, but also by the compassion and consolation He experienced in the encounter with His Mother, with Veronica and with the women of Jerusalem.

His executioners, however, feel no compassion and carry out their task with cruelty. Now they nail Jesus to the cross, like a lamb led to the slaughter (cf. Is 53:7). Defenseless, they drive the nails through Him. The pain increases more and more.

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 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

It was not enough for the executioners charged with killing Jesus to crucify Him. They wanted to humiliate Him even more by stripping Him of His clothes.

We men are stripped of our dignity when we sin.  While grace envelops us with God’s light and transforms us with divine life, sin tears the robe of grace and dishonours us, so that we are left naked and unprotected, endangering our dignity.

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