13 — TOWARD THE HOMELAND

XX Sunday after Pentecost

Presence of God. — O Lord, teach me the way to reach You.

Meditation

1 — This Sunday has a particular tone, the tone of things drawing to their end. Before long the liturgical year will close and, as it closes, it invites us to reflect on the transience of this present life and to turn our gaze to the eternal life that awaits us.

Spontaneously hearts gather themselves in a review of their own state: how have we used the time received from God? In the Introit we find the humble confession: “O Lord, we have sinned against You and have not kept your precepts”; and in the Collect the request for pardon: “Grant, O Lord, to your faithful, being appeased, pardon and peace.”

Then St. Paul, in the Epistle (Eph 5:15-21), teaches us to use in the best way the time that remains to us so as to attain eternal glory: “See therefore, brethren, how you walk circumspectly: not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Apostle explains in what our wisdom must consist: “Become not unwise, but understanding what is the will of God.”

The greatest folly and imprudence one can commit on the journey of this life is to follow one’s own caprice, one’s own will; in this way one takes a very dangerous road that never leads to the goal, whereas the only road that does lead there is that of God’s will. Whoever sincerely seeks the divine will and walks in it, instead of being guided by self-will, is guided by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and can therefore be sure of not going astray.

“Be filled with the Holy Spirit” — St. Paul exhorts us today — “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord ... being subject one to another.” When a soul docilely lets itself be guided by the Holy Spirit, He takes hold of it and invades it until He fills it with Himself. From this fullness the spirit of prayer blossoms spontaneously; virtue blossoms spontaneously, as do humble submission and fraternal concord.

To walk in the divine will, guided by the Holy Spirit, is the quickest and safest way to reach our heavenly homeland.

2 — But we cannot walk in the divine will without faith. Today’s Gospel (Jn 4:46-53) speaks precisely of faith and of the qualities it must have in order to please God.

A royal official, having heard of the marvelous healings worked by Jesus, goes to Him and begs Him to come to his house and “heal his son, who is at the point of death.” This man has faith in the Master’s wonder-working power, yet he is far from believing that He is the Son of God.

Jesus understands and replies: “Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not.” These words, addressed historically to the official and his fellow townsmen, apply morally to all who make their faith depend on what is seen or felt. Few are those who believe with simplicity in the Gospel, in Revelation, in the Magisterium of the Church; most remain indifferent and are moved only in the face of some unusual event that strikes their senses.

It is true that the Lord can make use even of this to help our weakness, but this is not the faith that pleases Him: “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29), He said to Thomas, who would not believe unless he saw the mark of the nails and put his finger into the wounds.

The profound motive of faith is not our experience, not having seen or touched with our hands, but the authority of God. God has revealed Himself; He is not deceived, nor can He deceive, and we believe with certainty on His word. To believe on God’s word: this is genuine faith, pure faith, the faith pleasing to the Lord.

Jesus, who wanted to lead the royal official to this faith, said to him: “Go thy way, thy son liveth.” “The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way.” It was not yet supernatural faith in the Son of God; nevertheless, it was an act of faith in the Master’s word, and although imperfect, it produced its fruit: the son was healed.

The Lord asks no more than each one can give Him. Seeing good will, seeing sincere effort, He Himself intervenes to perfect the work. Thus the official’s imperfect and still human faith was rewarded with his son’s healing and, as a consequence, his faith became supernatural: he believed in Jesus no longer as in a mere prophet or wonder-worker, but as in the Son of God; “he himself believed, and his whole house.”

In this life we walk toward God not by vision but by faith. The purer our faith is, stripped of human elements, the more it will please God and allow us to know and lovingly do His holy will.

Colloquy

“Be favorable to your children, O divine Master, Father and Lord. Grant to us, who follow your precepts, to reflect your image and to experience, according to our strength, your goodness and not the severity of your judgment.

“Grant that we may all live in your peace, be admitted to your kingdom, after having crossed without shipwreck the waves of sin, driven onward in full calm by the Holy Spirit, your ineffable Wisdom, and guided by Him night and day, until the perfect day.

“Grant us, to our last hour, to pray while giving thanks and to give thanks while praying to the one Father and Son, Son and Father, the Son our educator and master, together with the Holy Spirit” (Clement of Alexandria).

“Lord, You know what is better for me; let this or that be done according to your will. Give me what You will and when You will. Deal with me as You know best, as it pleases You, and according as it will be for your greater honor.

“Place me where You will and dispose of me freely in all things. I am in your hands; do with me what You think best. Behold, I am your servant, ready for all, since I desire to live not for myself but only for You—and may I at least do this worthily and perfectly!

“O most loving Jesus, grant that I may always desire and will only what is more pleasing and dear to You; let your will be mine, and let mine always follow yours and be wholly in accord with it.

“May my willing and not willing always be the same as yours, Lord, so that I may not desire or reject anything except what You will or reject” (Imitation III, 15, 2-3).