(Part II)Pentecost Sunday
Meditation: "Receive the Holy
Spirit!"
Do you know and experience in your life the
gift and power of the Holy Spirit? After
his death and resurrection Jesus promised to give his disciples the gift of the
Holy Spirit. He said to them, Receive
the Holy Spirit! (John 20:22) Jesus
knew that his disciples would need the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out
the mission entrusted to them. The gift of the Holy Spirit was conditional upon
the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father. That is why Jesus
instructed the apostles to wait
in
“And John bore witness, ‘I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from
heaven, and it remained on him…this is he who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit’” (John 1:32,33; Mark 1:8; Matthew 3:11).
“And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan, and was led
by the Spirit for forty days
in the wilderness…and Jesus returned in the power
of the Spiritinto Galilee” (Luke 4:1,14).
Just as Jesus was anointed with the Spirit at the
beginning of his ministry, so the disciples needed the anointing of the Holy
Spirit to carry out the mission entrusted to them by Jesus. The Holy Spirit is
given to all who are baptized into Jesus Christ to enable us to live a new way
of life – a life of love, peace, joy, and righteousness (Romans 14:17). The
Holy Spirit fills our hearts with the love of God (Romans 5:7), and he gives us
the strength and courage we need in order to live as faith-filled disciples of
the Lord Jesus. The Spirit helps us in our weakness (Romans 8:26), and enables
us to grow in spiritual freedom – freedom from doubt, fear, and from slavery to
our unruly desires (2 Corinthians 3:17; Romans 8:21). The Spirit instructs us
in the ways of God, and guides us in living according to God’s will. The Spirit
is the source and giver of all holiness. Isaiah foretold the seven-fold gifts
that the Spirit would give: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude,
knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).
The gift of
Pentecost – the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual gifts and
blessings of God – are made possible through the death, resurrection, and
ascension of the Lord Jesus. After his resurrection Jesus “breathed” on his
disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. Just as God breathed life into Adam,
so the gift of the Holy Spirit is an impartation of “new life” for his people.
With the gift of the Holy Spirit a new creation begins. God recreates us for
his glory. Jesus’ gift of peace to his disciples was more than an absence of
trouble. His peace included the forgiveness of sins and the fulness of
everything good. Do you want power to live a faith-filled life as a disciple of
Jesus? Ask the Father to fill you with the power of his Holy Spirit (Luke
11:13).Basil the Great (329-379 AD), an early church father, explains the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
“The Spirit restores paradise to us and the way to heaven and
adoption as children of God; he instills confidence that we may call God truly
Father and grants us the grace of Christ to be children of the light and to
enjoy eternal glory. In a word, he bestows the fullness of blessings in this
world and the next; for we may contemplate now in the mirror of faith the
promised things we shall someday enjoy. If this is the foretaste, what
must the reality be? If these are the first fruits, what must be the harvest?”
(From the treatise by Basil on The
Holy Spirit)
The Lord Jesus offers each one of us the gift and
power of his Holy Spirit. He wants to make our faith strong, give us hope that
endures, and a love that never grows cold. He never refuses to give his Spirit
to those who ask with expectant faith. Jesus instructed his disciples to ask
confidently for the gift of the Spirit: “If you then, who are evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). Do you thirst for
God and for the abundant life he offers through the gift of his Spirit?
"Lord
Jesus, I thank you for the gift of Pentecost and for the new life you offer in
the Holy Spirit. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and set my heart ablaze with the
fire of your love that I may serve you in joy and freedom."
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The Power of
the Spirit
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Pentecost Sunday
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John 20: 19-23 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained." Introductory Prayer:Today, Lord, we celebrate the gift of your Holy Spirit to the Church, which you won for us through your patient suffering on the cross. I believe and trust in his power to make me a better apostle of your Kingdom, to bring fervor where I have grown tepid, to instill detachment where I have become too indulgent, and to perfect the innocence of my baptism, which leaves my soul more pure and worthy to serve and honor you each day. Petition:Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart with your grace and enkindle in me the fire of your love. 1. The Doors Were Locked: What is it that makes a disciple of Christ stop cold in the path of conversion and commitment? Cloaked underneath our spiritual inertia and lack of zeal are not so much our personal defects or our lack of human virtue as blindness to the dynamic power of the Crucified and Risen Lord. We can leave our self-made prisons only by opening our hearts to a faith in Christ that is total: total trust (in spite of the confusion of the present and uncertainty of the future), total hope (by breaking away from having to see the ideal in ourselves before we will act), and total divine confidence (in setting aside the sins of others and our personal failures that keep us stuck in myopic visions of life). Christ comes through bolted doors again today to ask us to unlock them with a real experience of the Risen Lord in the power of the Spirit. 2. Peace Be With You: It is vital to examine our “peace” and see if it truly speaks of the peace of the Upper Room. Substitute “satisfaction” for the word “peace,” and see where our hearts have tried to find consolation this past week. Then substitute the word “fulfillment.” This is the peace that Christ brings through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some passing satisfactions are part of life, and we can be grateful for them. When we seek them for their own sake, however, we can easily drown out the life of the Spirit, who comes to bring us deep peace and fulfillment in life. Pentecost must convince us above all about prayer and the order of life that permit us to have constant contact with sources of grace and divine inspiration. 3. Receive the Holy Spirit: In the sacrament of penance, we are forgiven our sins through the action of the Holy Spirit, who makes the actions of Christ present through the priest. We believe that mercy founds hope and change in our soul. Why, then, do we not believe that this same grace from the Holy Spirit can make us heroic saints, victorious in trial, patient in difficult relationships and more effective as apostles? Christ assures us that his power will never leave us, so we have no reason to “slip into neutral” after a few bad incidents in our life. Rather, the Holy Spirit’s goal moves us from mercy to transformation into Christ, permitting us spiritually to carry and reveal his wounds to an unbelieving world. Conversation with Christ: Oh, Jesus, I will trust more in the power of your Holy Spirit to change me than in my own efforts. I will depend on you in that face-to-face encounter I need to have with you every day. Let the sources of divine grace become my true food, and may I move away from feeding my soul on passing pleasures and vain ambitions.
Resolution:This week, I will
write down daily all the lights and inspirations of the Holy Spirit I
receive, and I will try to act on them with promptness, confidence and
generosity.
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SUNDAY, MAY 19
SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST
SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST
JOHN 20:19-23
(Acts 2:1-11, Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13)
KEY VERSE: He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (v 22).
REFLECTING: In what ways has the Holy Spirit empowered my life?
PRAYING: Holy Spirit, help me to bring peace and forgiveness to others.
PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
Breathe into me, Spirit of God, that I may think what is holy.
Drive me, Spirit of God, that I may do what is holy.
Draw me, Spirit of God, that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Spirit of God, that I may preserve what is holy.
Guide me, Spirit of God, that I may never lose what is holy.
St. Augustine
Breathe into me, Spirit of God, that I may think what is holy.
Drive me, Spirit of God, that I may do what is holy.
Draw me, Spirit of God, that I may love what is holy.
Strengthen me, Spirit of God, that I may preserve what is holy.
Guide me, Spirit of God, that I may never lose what is holy.
SECOND PART OF ORDINARY TIME
The outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost is called the birthday
of the universal Church. Through the Spirit the Church realizes her call
to preach the Gospel of Christ to the whole world. The Feast of Pentecost
brings the fifty days of the
Easter Season to a close. The
Paschal candle, which has been kept in the sanctuary throughout the Easter
Season and lighted during the liturgy, is taken from the sanctuary at the end
of the Mass of Pentecost, sometimes in procession, and placed in the church's
baptistery where it remains for the rest of the year.
The second part of Ordinary Time begins with
the day after Pentecost and runs to the Saturday before the First Sunday of
Advent. The Masses of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity and the Solemnity
of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ replace the first two Sundays of this
season of Ordinary Time. The season of Ordinary Time helps us to meditate
on the mighty works of God through the Risen Christ and the sending of the
Spirit. It is a time to grow in our faith in response to God's invitation
to follow Jesus. We have a challenge to make our ordinary days extraordinary!
Our hearts seem to experience an extra lift when we come to Pentecost Sunday. On the first Pentecost the disciples had an experience of the action of the Holy Spirit-but it wasn’t only for that day. It would continue all the days of their lives, just as it does for us. The experience of Pentecost was a community experience for the early disciples and so too it is for us.
Let us think about some of our many experiences of community: family, parish, prayer group, voluntary group, friends, and the list goes on. When we do this thinking/praying we become aware of how our communal experiences are Pentecost moments. We notice how we are uplifted and consoled by such moments. We may do this reflecting quite naturally with people in our various communities or when alone we speak of them with the Lord.
May 19
St. Theophilus of Corte
(1676-1740)
St. Theophilus of Corte
(1676-1740)
If we expect saints to do marvelous
things continually and to leave us many memorable quotes, we are bound to be
disappointed with St. Theophilus. The mystery of God's grace in a person's
life, however, has a beauty all its own.
Theophilus
was born in Though he was always somewhat sickly, Theophilus generously served the needs of God's people in the confessional, in the sickroom and at the graveside. Worn out by his labors, he died on June 17, 1740. He was canonized in 1930.
Comment:
There is a certain dynamism in all the saints that prompts them to find ever more selfless ways of responding to God's grace. As time went on, Theophilus gave more and more singlehearted service to God and to God's sons and daughters. Honoring the saints will make no sense unless we are thus drawn to live as generously as they did. Their holiness can never substitute for our own.
There is a certain dynamism in all the saints that prompts them to find ever more selfless ways of responding to God's grace. As time went on, Theophilus gave more and more singlehearted service to God and to God's sons and daughters. Honoring the saints will make no sense unless we are thus drawn to live as generously as they did. Their holiness can never substitute for our own.
Quote:
Francis ofAssisi
Francis of
LECTIO: PENTECOST SUNDAY (C)
Lectio:
Sunday, May 19, 2013
The promise of a
Consoler. The Holy Spirit,
teacher and living memory of the Word of Jesus
John 14, 15-16.23-26
teacher and living memory of the Word of Jesus
John 14, 15-16.23-26
1.
Opening prayer
Most merciful Father, on this most holy day I cry to you from my room behind closed doors. I raise my prayer to you in fear and immobility in the face of death. Grant that Jesus may come to me and dwell at the centre of my heart that he may drive away all fear and all darkness. Grant me your peace, which is true peace, peace of heart. Grant that the Holy Spirit may come to me, the Spirit who is the fire of love, that warms and enlightens, that melts and purifies; who is living water, flowing even to eternal life, that quenches and cleans, that baptises and renews; who is the strong and at the same time soft wind, the breath of your voice and breath; who is dove announcing pardon, a new and lasting beginning for the whole world.
Send your Spirit upon me when I read and listen to your Word so that I may penetrate the mysteries it holds; grant that I may be overwhelmed and submerged, baptised and made into a new person, so that I may give my life to you and to my brothers and sisters. Amen, Alleluia
Most merciful Father, on this most holy day I cry to you from my room behind closed doors. I raise my prayer to you in fear and immobility in the face of death. Grant that Jesus may come to me and dwell at the centre of my heart that he may drive away all fear and all darkness. Grant me your peace, which is true peace, peace of heart. Grant that the Holy Spirit may come to me, the Spirit who is the fire of love, that warms and enlightens, that melts and purifies; who is living water, flowing even to eternal life, that quenches and cleans, that baptises and renews; who is the strong and at the same time soft wind, the breath of your voice and breath; who is dove announcing pardon, a new and lasting beginning for the whole world.
Send your Spirit upon me when I read and listen to your Word so that I may penetrate the mysteries it holds; grant that I may be overwhelmed and submerged, baptised and made into a new person, so that I may give my life to you and to my brothers and sisters. Amen, Alleluia
2. Reading
a) Placing the passage
in its context:
These few verses,
which are not even well connected, are a few drops of water taken from an
ocean. In fact, they are part of that long and grandiose discourse in John’s
Gospel, which begins with chapter 13:31 and goes up to and including the whole
of chapter 17. The whole of this very deep discourse deals with only one theme,
that is, the “going of Jesus”, which we find in 13:33: “Yet a little while I am
with you… Where I go you
cannot come” and in 16:28: “I came from the Father and have come into the
world. Again I leave the world and go to
the Father” and again in 17:13: “Now I am coming to you, [Father]”. Jesus’ going to the
Father signifies also our going, our essential and faith journey in this world;
it is here that we learn to follow Jesus, to listen to him, to live like him.
It is here that we receive the complete revelation of Jesus in the mystery of
the Trinity as well as the revelation concerning a Christian life, its power,
its tasks, its joys and sorrows, its hopes and struggles. In reflecting on
these words we find the truth of the Lord Jesus and of ourselves before Him and
in Him.
These verses speak especially of three very strong consoling reasons for us: the promise of the coming of the Consoler; the coming of the Father and the Son within those who believe; the presence of a master, the Holy Spirit, through whom the teachings of Jesus will never cease.
These verses speak especially of three very strong consoling reasons for us: the promise of the coming of the Consoler; the coming of the Father and the Son within those who believe; the presence of a master, the Holy Spirit, through whom the teachings of Jesus will never cease.
b) To help us with the
reading of the passage:
vv. 15-16: Jesus
reveals that the observance of the commandments is not a matter of obligation,
but a sweet fruit that is born of the love of the disciple for Him. This loving
obedience is due to the all-powerful prayer of Jesus for us. The Lord promises
another Consoler, sent by the Father, who will always remain with us in order
to drive away our solitude once and for all.
vv. 23-24: Jesus repeats that love and observance of the commandments are two vital truths essentially related to each other, that have the power to introduce the disciple into the mystical life, that is, into the experience of immediate and personal communion with Jesus and with the Father.
v. 25: Jesus says something very important: there is a substantial difference between what he said while he was with the disciples and what he will say later, when, thanks to the Spirit, He will be in them, within them. At first, understanding is limited because the relationship with him is an external one: the Word comes from outside and reaches ears, but not pronounced within. Later, understanding will be full.
v. 26: Jesus announces the Holy Spirit as master who will teach no longer from outside but from within us. He will give new life to the Words of Jesus, those forgotten will be remembered and will be understood by the disciples within their capabilities.
vv. 23-24: Jesus repeats that love and observance of the commandments are two vital truths essentially related to each other, that have the power to introduce the disciple into the mystical life, that is, into the experience of immediate and personal communion with Jesus and with the Father.
v. 25: Jesus says something very important: there is a substantial difference between what he said while he was with the disciples and what he will say later, when, thanks to the Spirit, He will be in them, within them. At first, understanding is limited because the relationship with him is an external one: the Word comes from outside and reaches ears, but not pronounced within. Later, understanding will be full.
v. 26: Jesus announces the Holy Spirit as master who will teach no longer from outside but from within us. He will give new life to the Words of Jesus, those forgotten will be remembered and will be understood by the disciples within their capabilities.
c) The text:
15 "If you love
me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he will
give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever.
23 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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
23 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. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.
25 "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
3. A time of prayerful
silence
I go to the Master’s
school, the Holy Spirit. I sit at his feet and I abandon myself in his
presence. I open my heart, without any fear, so that he may instruct, console,
reprove and make me grow.
4. A few questions
a) “If you love me”.
Is my relationship with Jesus a relationship of love? Do I make room for him in
my heart? Do I look within myself honestly and ask: “Where is love in my life,
is there any?” If I realise that there is no love within me, or just a little,
do I try to ask myself: “What is preventing me, what is it that keeps me closed,
imprisoned, rendering me sad and lonely?”
b) “You will observe my commandments”. I notice the verb “to observe” with the many meanings it implies: to look after well, to protect, to pay attention, to keep alive, to reserve and preserve, not to throw away, to keep carefully, with love. Am I aware and enlightened by these attitudes, by my relationship as disciple, as Christian, with the Word and the commandments that Jesus gave us for our happiness?
c) “He will give you another Consoler”. How often have I not searched for someone to console me, to look after me, to show me affection and care for me! But, am I truly convinced that true consolation comes from the Lord? Or do I still trust much more in the consolations I find, the ones that I beg for here and there, that I gather like crumbs without ever being able to be satisfied?
d) “Make our home with him”. The Lord stands at the door and knocks and waits. He does not force or oblige. He says: “If you wish…”. He suggests that I might become his home, the place of his repose, of his intimacy. Jesus is ready and happy to come to me, to unite himself to me in a very special kind of friendship. But, am I ready? Am I expecting his visit, his coming, his entering into my most intimate, most personal self? Is there room for him in the inn?
e) “He will…bring to your remembrance all that I have said”. The word “remembrance” recalls another very important, even essential matter. Am I challenged and scrutinised by Scripture? What is it that I recall? What do I try to remember, to bring to life in my interior world? The Word of the Lord is a most precious treasure; it is the seed of life that is sown in my heart; but do I look after this seed? Do I defend it from a thousand enemies and dangers that assail it: the birds, the rocks, the thorns, the evil one? Do I, every morning, carry with me a Word of the Lord to remember during the day and to make my inner light, my strength, my food?
b) “You will observe my commandments”. I notice the verb “to observe” with the many meanings it implies: to look after well, to protect, to pay attention, to keep alive, to reserve and preserve, not to throw away, to keep carefully, with love. Am I aware and enlightened by these attitudes, by my relationship as disciple, as Christian, with the Word and the commandments that Jesus gave us for our happiness?
c) “He will give you another Consoler”. How often have I not searched for someone to console me, to look after me, to show me affection and care for me! But, am I truly convinced that true consolation comes from the Lord? Or do I still trust much more in the consolations I find, the ones that I beg for here and there, that I gather like crumbs without ever being able to be satisfied?
d) “Make our home with him”. The Lord stands at the door and knocks and waits. He does not force or oblige. He says: “If you wish…”. He suggests that I might become his home, the place of his repose, of his intimacy. Jesus is ready and happy to come to me, to unite himself to me in a very special kind of friendship. But, am I ready? Am I expecting his visit, his coming, his entering into my most intimate, most personal self? Is there room for him in the inn?
e) “He will…bring to your remembrance all that I have said”. The word “remembrance” recalls another very important, even essential matter. Am I challenged and scrutinised by Scripture? What is it that I recall? What do I try to remember, to bring to life in my interior world? The Word of the Lord is a most precious treasure; it is the seed of life that is sown in my heart; but do I look after this seed? Do I defend it from a thousand enemies and dangers that assail it: the birds, the rocks, the thorns, the evil one? Do I, every morning, carry with me a Word of the Lord to remember during the day and to make my inner light, my strength, my food?
5. A key to the
reading
I now approach each
one of the characters in the reading and I listen prayerfully, meditatively,
reflectively, in contemplation…
The face of the
Father:
Jesus says: “I
will ask the Father” (v.
26) and thus draws aside a little the mysterious veil surrounding prayer:
prayer is the life that leads to the Father. To go to the Father, we are given
the way of prayer. As Jesus lives his relationship with the Father by means of
prayer, so also must we. I need to read the Gospels and become a careful
searcher of signs concerning this secret of the love of Jesus and his Father,
so that, by entering into that relationship, I too may grow in the knowledge of
God, my Father
“He will give you
another Consoler”. The Father is the one
who gives us the Consoler. This gift is preceded by the Father’s act of love,
who knows that we need consolation: He saw my misery in Egypt
“My Father will love
him” (v. 24). The Father is
the Lover who loves with an eternal love, absolute, inviolable, uncancellable.
Thus do Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the Prophets say (cfr. Jer 31:3; Is 43:4; 54:
8; Hos 2:21; 11:1).
“We will come to him”. The Father is united with the Son, Jesus, and is one with
Him, and with Him comes to each one of us. He moves, goes out, bends and walks
towards us. Urged by a mad and inexplicable love, He comes to us.
“And we will make our
home with him”. The Father builds his
house within us; he makes of us, of me, of my existence, of my whole being, his
home. He comes and will not leave but faithfully stays.
The face of the Son:
“If you love me…” (v. 15); “If anyone loves me…” (v. 23). Jesus enters into a
unique and personal relationship with me, face to face, heart to heart, soul to
soul; he wants to have an intense relationship, unique, unrepeatable, and he
unites me to Him by love if I so wish. He always puts an “if” and says when he
asks me by name: “If you wish…”. The only way He constantly seeks to come to me
is through love. In fact, it is noticeable that the use of the pronouns “you”
and “anyone” are connected to “me” by the verb “to love” and no other verb.
“I will ask the
Father” (v. 16). Jesus is the
one who prays, who lives by prayer and for prayer. The whole of his life is
summed up by prayer and in prayer. He is the supreme and eternal priest who
intercedes for us and offers prayers and supplications together with tears
(cfr. Heb 5: 7), for our salvation; “he is able at all times to save those who
come to God through him, since he lives always to make intercession for them”
(Heb 7:25).
“If anyone loves me,
he will keep my word” (v. 23); “He
who does not love me, does not keep my words” (v. 24). Jesus offers me his
Word, he gives it to me in trust that I may look after it and guard it, that I
may place it in my heart and there keep it warm, watch over it, contemplate it,
listen to it and thus make it bear fruit. His word is a seed; it is the most
precious pearl of all, for which it is worthwhile selling every other wealth;
it is the treasure hidden in the field worth digging for without counting the
cost; it is the fire that makes the heart burn within my breast; it is the lamp
that illumines our steps even in the darkest night. Love for the Word of Jesus
can be identified by my love for Jesus himself, for his whole being, because,
after all, He is the Word. That is why, in this passage, Jesus is crying out to
my heart that he is the one I must keep.
The face of the Holy
Spirit:
“The Father will give
you another Consoler” (v. 16). The Father
gives us the Holy Spirit; this is “the good gift and every perfect gift from
above” (Jm 1:17). He is “the other Consoler” other than Jesus, who goes and
comes back so as not to leave us alone, abandoned. While I am in this world, I
do not lack consolation, but am comforted by the presence of the Holy Spirit,
who is not just consolation, but is much more: he is a living person and living
beside me always. This presence, this company is capable of giving me joy, true
joy. In fact Paul says: “The fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace…” (Gal
5:22; cfr. also Rm 14:17).
“to be with you
forever”. The Spirit is in our
midst, he is with me, just as Jesus was with his disciples. His coming is a
physical, personal presence; I do not see him, but I know that he is there and
that he will never leave me. The spirit is always here and lives with me and in
me, with no limitations of time or space; thus he is the Consoler.
“He will teach you all
things” (v. 26). The Holy
Spirit is the Teacher, he who opens the way for conscience, experience; no one
except him can lead me, inform me, give me new form. His is not a school where
one acquires human knowledge that creates pride and does not liberate; his
teachings, his whisperings, his precise directions come from God and lead back
to God. The Spirit teaches true wisdom and true knowledge (Ps 118:66), he
teaches the Father’s will (Ps 118:26.64), his ways (Ps 24:4), his commandments
(Ps 118:124.135), which are life. He is a Teacher capable of leading me to the
whole truth (Jn 16:13), who gives me deep freedom, even to the time of the
separation of the soul and the spirit, for He alone, who is God, can bring me
to life and resurrection. As God, he is humble, he lowers himself, descends
from his throne and enters into me (cfr. Acts 1:8; 10:44), he gives himself to
me entirely and absolutely; he is not jealous of his gift, of his light, but
gives without limits.
6. A moment of prayer:
Psalm 30
A hymn of praise to
God,
who has sent us the new life of the Spirit from on high
who has sent us the new life of the Spirit from on high
Ref. You have given me
the fullness of life, Lord, alleluia!
I will extol thee, O
Lord,
for thou hast drawn me up,
and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to thee for help,
and thou hast healed me.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Rit.
for thou hast drawn me up,
and hast not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to thee for help,
and thou hast healed me.
O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Rit.
Sing praises to the
Lord, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning. Rit.
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning. Rit.
As for me, I said in
my prosperity,
"I shall never be moved."
By thy favour, O Lord,
thou hadst established me as a strong mountain;
thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.
To thee, O Lord,
I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication. Rit.
"I shall never be moved."
By thy favour, O Lord,
thou hadst established me as a strong mountain;
thou didst hide thy face, I was dismayed.
To thee, O Lord,
I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication. Rit.
Hear, O Lord, and be
gracious to me!
O Lord, be thou my helper!"
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may praise thee and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever. Rit.
O Lord, be thou my helper!"
Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing;
thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
that my soul may praise thee and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever. Rit.
7. Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, allow me
to speak to you again. It is difficult for me to go away from my meeting with
the Word because you are present there. Therefore, live and act in me. I
present to you, to your intimacy, your Love, my face of disciple; I mirror
myself in you, O Holy Spirit. I offer you, finger of God’s right hand, my
features, my eyes, my lips, my ears… work in me your healing, your liberation
and salvation that I may be reborn, today, a new person from the womb of your
fire, the breath of your wind. Holy Spirit, I was not born to be alone. I beg you,
therefore, send me brothers and sisters that I may proclaim to them the life
that comes from you. Amen. Alleluia!
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