Normandt' meditations

[Normandt]

216. The only promise

Paul tells us the way:
“He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 15
That: “those who live might no longer live for themselves”.

Christ has come to show us that life has all its meaning to love one’s neighbour and to live so that the hearts of people be transformed.

For that, we are invited to be free from what closes us on ourselves, to receive Jesus’ teaching and to make him visible in our life, in order to become lights in this world. Let’s run away from what tends to cut us off from God’s will and from others.

The influences today are manifold and evil continues to be a counter-testimony, but there’s only one way that leads to God. To receive his Love is the only way that leads to Jesus’s Sacred Heart.

Jesus teaches us:
“You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘Do not take a false oath, but make good to the Lord all that you vow.’” Matthew, chapter 5, verse 33

The only promise we should remember is that God Himself is laying his Love in us, which nullifies all our oaths. From ourselves we could not take an oath before God without receiving the necessary from him.

To love and to move away from evil is the basis of what God wants as an oath. Our actions and words will adjust to this recommendation.

Book: Let’s evangelize
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

217. We continue

God knows his friends. God knows the people who follow him and hope to accomplish his will. The Lord says to Paul:

“Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you. No one will attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.” Acts, chapter 18, verses 9 to 10

It’s as if God is telling us: “Be without fear, keep talking, don’t remain silent. Stop worrying. Don’t just trust what you see, what you hear and what can discourage you. Go on! Exceed your first impression of this city. Yes, you have had some difficult times, but there will be fruit. This is what the Lord seems to say to Paul.”

Today, the Lord speaks to us too. We’re doing it for many reasons. We don’t see all the people who really follow Jesus, it’s within the heart.

God knows everything that is done secretly in hearts. God knows that there are people who do his will and who are at the bedside of sick people, who extend their hand to offer money or food, who open their arms to offer health care or love for free, who are on the roads to evangelize. We don’t know them all, but the Father, the Holy Spirit and Jesus see them acting and speaking. Their works will surprise many.

It’s as if Jesus tells us: “Continue to be my disciple, continue to do what I ask of you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t see everything that’s happening, because I see it. I keep you in humility and I love you. I am the one who converts, it is I who touches the hearts. I only ask you to remain in my Love.”


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

218. You are wondering

Jesus tells us as in John’s text:
“You also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.” John, chapter 16, verse 22

Jesus seems to be saying, “Yes, maybe now you are wondering, you don’t see clearly, you throw some grain in the wind and it doesn’t seem to fall into a fertile land. But your heart will rejoice, you will be happy, because you will follow me and you will have done the will of my Father under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Be confident! Do not be afraid!”

Then Jesus adds:
“On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” John chapter 16, verse 23

Questions are no longer needed when Jesus goes through our life, through our heart, when we’re connected to the source.


Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

219. To find trust


Let’s ask the Father, by the name of Jesus, to help us find trust, that the Father will rejoice to see us follow Jesus for the good of souls. As Therese of Lisieux, who never went out after entering the cloister, may we believe that God works in our hearts, even if we think we have empty hands.

One night, the Lord tells Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid. Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.”

When we come closer to the Lord, we develop the confidence to evangelize with the testimonies of faith that we give and the acts we do.

With Jesus, our mission is growing and becoming more secure. Let’s pray, meditate on the Word with a regular presence at Mass, and we’ll continually enter into a relationship with Jesus.

We can observe more and more the Lord acting in the hearts and lives of the people around us. Also, by becoming more patient with ourselves, we’ll become more patient in front of the faults of others. Believing more in Jesus leads us on the path with him.

It’s not always simple or easy, especially when we’re distracted, but we know that making Jesus known is possible. Jesus tells us:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” John, chapter 16, verse 20

Sometimes we’ll cry in the desert like John the Baptist, and we’ll have the impression that no one will listen, but the Holy Spirit is active in the world. We only have to watch him act in people’s lives and hearts.

Let’s read again:

You are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. John, chapter 16, verse 22

The joy of God is so deep and intense that no one can rob it. Joy is in God and of God.

The sole purpose of the mission is to enter the heart of God and to be Loved. May the kingdom of God be established in our hearts. Then, let’s continue to ask Jesus to guide us day by day and help us to embark in the touching and inspiring adventure of faith and evangelization. Let’s accept to be joyous and daring, filled with hope, since we can see that the Holy Spirit continues his work in the world.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

220. With Jesus

Evangelization is realized to the extent that we are in communion with Jesus. Without Jesus, without welcoming his Love in our heart, there’s no evangelization and null is the mission.

Whatever the function or mission in the Church, to achieve success, we must be on the move with Jesus. This is what the first Apostles understood. The author of the Acts of the Apostles describes it well:

“After staying there some time, he left and travelled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples.” Acts, chapter 18, verse 23

Paul is successful and this success is indebted to Jesus. It is with Jesus that Paul succeeds in the mission.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

221. Our freedom

Jesus’s recommendation is clear. He addresses our freedom. He leaves us free to choose a mission with or without him. If we live our mission with Jesus, here is what he tells us:

“On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” John, chapter 16, verses 23 to 24

While Jesus was with the Apostles, they had nothing to bother about. Jesus took care of everything. When Jesus will be back in heaven, he invites them to ask him everything, to remain united with him, to evangelize with him, to realize everything with him, in order to succeed in the mission of evangelization. Joy is linked to our demand for salvation and holiness of humanity.

Let’s ask Jesus to evangelize through us. We want to be precision instruments in his service for the salvation of humans. Let’s ask everything to Jesus, so that salvation is achieved in the hearts of people, and that the glory of God comes out in the open.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

222. Offer Jesus

God hears what is said by some people:

“You have defied me in word, says the Lord, yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, and going about in penitential dress in awe of the Lord of hosts?’” Malachi, chapter 3, verses 13 to 14

It may be difficult for us to conceive of people thinking that about the Lord, but there are people who have let down by refusing God’s presence in their lives.

There’s nothing simpler than to get away from the Lord and there’s nothing more difficult thereafter than to return to him. Not because God would not welcome us if we come back, but because there are so many elements that get in the way of our march back. The reality should be the opposite; easy to approach Jesus and difficult to get away from him.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

223. A thousand and one


There are thoughts, money, hatred, fear, lack of faith that, among other things, barricades that are difficult to overcome and even bypass. There are a thousand and one impediments, but only one way to lead us to God’s Heart. When we decide to walk the road toward God, he himself removes impediments, blockages, barricades, rocks.

We have just shared the importance of taking the right path with God, but it is just as important to follow the road of fraternity with our contemporaries. Jesus tells us:

“What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?” Luke, chapter 11, verse 11

Who among us would want to offer something other than Jesus and his message to people?

We can continually sow the Love we receive from God. And if we gave ourselves the challenge of bringing only one new person to the Church in the next year, we would contribute to that person’s faith. Even by praying for him, and without his knowledge. We will have increased the prayer in our city and in our life. Let’s pray for a person who isn’t going to Mass. Whatever the result, don’t seek to know the result, but rest assured that Jesus will have visited him.

Every person has God in them, since God created them. Often the person is ready to hear that God is in his life. He’s waiting for someone to tell him. Said in a wise, fair and simple way, often a person cannot resist the invitation to recognize the presence of God in him. It’s easy to reveal to him the joy that he has from God.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

224. Welcome him as he is

Let’s ask ourselves, “Who would be on the point of wanting to come back or go to church?” Let’s go slowly, invite him, but leave him free. Whether he says yes or no, we’ll welcome his answer. We’ll continue to welcome him as he is. Either we’ll continue to pray for him, or we’ll pray for another person, since he will have accepted.

One day a person says that he has no connection with God even though he’s doing good. The answer was simple: “Yet you do what Jesus asks of you to watch every day on your two parents who are living their last passage to eternity.” He understood. Children do what God asks for when they take care of their parents. Parents do what God asks for when they take care of their children too.

Then remains to celebrate what God offers us for free by living Mass, listening to the Word and receiving the Eucharist. Everything we receive from God is perfect. When we share the good, beautiful, real and true, it comes from God. Why not thank him by confessing our faults and receiving everything from him through the Eucharist and the Word?

Announce the Good News:

“Philip came to Azotus, and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea.” Acts, chapter 8, verse 40

He evangelizes.

A christian is someone who carries Jesus wherever he goes. All opportunities are good to witness, to know Jesus, to evangelize and to be in the mission.

Everywhere, in all places, we can pray for the people who are present, on the road, in the shops, in our meetings. The humble prayer of the heart is powerful.

Praying in our hearts for people we meet is very effective. And we leave it to Jesus to touch their hearts.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

225. Eat!

The Lord said to Ezekiel:
“Son of man, eat what is before you; eat this scroll, then go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave me the scroll to eat. Son of man, he then said to me, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll I am giving you. I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.” Ezekiel, chapter 3, verses 1 to 3

Let’s ask Jesus to increase the grace of his Word in us.

Ezekiel finds that the scroll tastes the golden honey of God. It’s the light that lights the way, that instructs, the Love that enters his heart. There’s all the sweetness and tenderness of God. This contrasts with the sometimes bitter taste of all that the world does wrong under the sun; sin, injustice, pride, greed, and all that leads to evil. Why is it bitter? Because the prophet now has his eyes open to the world. He now sees what’s wrong and that’s bitter.

It is the difficulty of evangelization: the more we walk, the more we observe that there’s hatred, evil. Our eyes are opening. It twists our guts, makes our hearts bleed, but we’re confident that the world can improve. We’re also favored by the sweet honey of God’s tenderness. We’re called to give to Jesus the difficult situations that people experience, so that he may free them from the pain that makes them suffer.

Book: Let’s evangelize
Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

226. What is asked of him


God said to Ezekiel,

“Son of man, go now to the house of Israel, and speak my words to them. Not to a people with difficult speech and barbarous language am I sending you.” Ezekiel, chapter 3, verses 4 to 5

Ezekiel receives from God the Word and at the same time Love. And what is asked of him is to go and bring the Word and the Love of God to the house of Israel: “Go now!”

By accepting God’s request, Ezekiel can help improve the lives of people in Israel. He can transmit the Word of God aware of the epoch in which he is and to the society to which he is sent. He will adapt to their language and their customs to pass the messages that God wants for the people.

Of course, he will not speak of Jesus, since this text is before the birth of Jesus. But in the Word that he will have to proclaim in the name of God, Jesus is there. The Word is whole, but the revealing of the revelation isn’t complete for Ezekiel.

Therefore, through the evolution in which he lives and to his personal limits, he shares what he can receive from the Word. He will join to his words what he needs to reach the people of his time, especially to the people of Israel.

Ezekiel is between the people and God. He will need to understand what God is telling him and to make himself understood by the people to whom he is sent.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

227. Receive the Book to swallow


Jesus is the Word. At the time Jesus lived on earth, the people also had to understand it. He says all he has to say and the Word will only be understood by the opening of people’s hearts. Jesus’ Word is complete. We understand it imperfectly, by the way, because of the evolution of our time and because of the evolution of our thoughts and our heart. We must go beyond what limits us, return to the foundation to understand it.

Many prophets receive the Book to swallow. Now it’s John’s turn:

“I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll. He said to me, ‘Take and swallow it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.’” Revelation, chapter 10, verse 9

A prophet is one who swallows the Word of God, it’s sweet and tastes honey, but in the stomach it’s bitter.

The bitterness of being unable to do anything, of feeling useless in the face of a world that is struggling and suffering. But in the mouth, the honey of the one who offered his life to Christ and the one who receives everything from him. John feels the interior sweetness of God’s Love. He witnessed what Jesus did in hearts.

We observe the grace in John shared through his writing, the sweet honey of his life with Jesus and the sweet honey of the life and message of Jesus.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

228. It will be given to you


When we realize that there’s evil in the world, it is because we’re in the grace of the prophet. Our eyes open, our stomach shudder. We’re the people sent who can introduce the goodness. We must continue to carry God’s Love to others. We are prophets thanks to our Baptism.

The Gospel of John allows us to know God more deeply. By his writings he enables us to become disciples of Jesus. It opens wide the doors to the mysteries that surround the life of Christ, as the other three evangelists did also.

If Father Marie-Eugene of the Infant-Jesus is able to become blessed, only by being a witness of the faith of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Therese of the Infant-Jesus, meditating their lives in the light of Christ, let’s imagine what the writings of John the Evangelist and the texts of the Bible can achieve in our life, through the light of Christ!

John’s mission, the mission of the prophet is to open a path, so that we can meet Jesus, our Lord, the Love of the Holy Spirit and know the Father.

We have a lot to ask to the Holy Spirit. We remember this Word of Jesus:

“Ask and it will be given to you.” Matthew, chapter 7, verse 7

We mostly need to be with the Spirit. May the Holy Spirit increase our faith, our life of prayer, the impulse of our heart to fully share what we receive from the Trinity, to transmit to the world that seeks, sometimes through difficult trials, the meaning of life, the meaning of love. May they know that they can only find Love in God.

May the Lord keep us close to his Heart as John rested his head on Jesus’ Heart. Let’s listen to the message of his Heart. May he comfort us so that we may be free to embark on the road with him for the salvation of the world, the Word of God in hand and in heart.


Book: Let’s evangelize

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

229. More joy

“I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” Luke, chapter 15, verse 7

To dare to testify is to give thanks to God for the wonders he accomplishes in our life. His wonders are always in us, but we have a tendency to be embarrassed, to stay away from them, to let ourselves go astray, to search everywhere without finding an answer or without others offering us one.

God Loves his wonder, the treasure that we are, since he creates us with his Love. He can do nothing else but Love us.

Personally, I thank those who are around me, witnesses of faith. They transmitted to me the taste of God and the desire to follow Jesus.

Many other people have been role models for me. To name one would be injustice to others. Those who read these lines and feel concerned about having participated in my life of faith, consider that you are among those who helped me to know and follow Jesus. May we be united in prayer.

And what can we say about Mary and Joseph, of all the saints who have set off with joy and enthusiasm in my pursuit to help me each day through conversion, the only path that leads to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May the Trinity be praised!

Is it not our only mission to discover Jesus through evangelizing thoughts, words and gestures? So many graces we receive to testify! It sends us on the move with Jesus for the world. It transforms something in us and in other people.


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

230. Living right

Solomon is the son of David and he becomes king of Israel. He is at a stage in his life where he understands the need to become one of God’s friends.

He wants to follow a straight path and become more anchored in the truth. He wishes to do well as a child who knows he’s loved. Solomon has a special relationship with God.

King Solomon gives us a very good idea of a person who lives a conversion. He leaped faithfully. He asks God:

“Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” 1 Kings, chapter 3, verse 9

Judgment is not a method of judging recklessly the negative experience of the lives of others. Instead, it’s a way of being awake to what others are living, praying for them and guiding them to God when necessary.

We could say, “Give us a heart of judgment to love our neighbour, to discern between good and evil. To help in the good and to deliver evil to God. Who could love without you, God?”

Discerning between good and evil is an open door to conversion because it helps us, with good judgment, to better turn away from evil, move toward Love, to God and to give him a place in our lives.

King Solomon asks for something just, basic and at the same time major to God for the foundation of his faith, to watch over the people of God. Let’s imagine the graces for employees when the boss asks God to govern rightfully!


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

231. God offers all

This relationship between Solomon and God is quite unique in the Old Testament. Solomon asks neither wealth nor the death of his enemies (which God cannot give him anyway, since he is Love), but Solomon wishes to receive an “understanding heart” from God.

This request of Solomon pleases the Lord, who says to him:

“Because you have asked for this - not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right - I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.” 1 Kings, chapter 3, verses 10 to 12

We can learn from Solomon’s wisdom. He doesn’t seek power, nor wealth.

Solomon actually asks for what God is already offering him. His intentions are pure and his life is blessed. God gives him wisdom.

God offers us all that is best for our existence. Let’s ask him for what is right. For my part (the author), my prayer for conscious awareness is: “Lord, give me the grace to receive, to accept your graces.”


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

232. A gift from God

Solomon’s wisdom is a gift from God. God gives him his presence, what he needs most, a wise and intelligent, understanding heart.

God also always grants us his graces and a wise and intelligent heart, but he wants us to ask him as Solomon, just so we can be more aware of it.

Let’s ask God for what’s best. In any case, he cannot offer us something that isn’t good, that isn’t wise, that isn’t Love. It isn’t to please God that we must ask him, but it’s to allow us a holy experience through a personal approach. We have the desire to remain in God. In short, God already gives what’s necessary, but asking him unites us to his will. Without asking him, we don’t become aware of his Love for us.

On earth, as humans, we move forward when we want something. We should do this regularly with God, in order to keep us in accordance with what he proposes to us.

Solomon leads us to a good exercise to achieve. Who would’ve believed that someone who lived nearly three thousand years ago would be the one who would give us the idea to ask what is best from God!

When we get closer to the will of God, everything improves. The weight of past resentments, tomorrow’s anxiety, the fear of the future are letting go of our lives. Adjusting to God’s will allows light to enter, joy to settle in, and peace to become a constant experience.

King Solomon is at a moment in his life where he understands the need to become more of God’s friend. He wants to live right and in the truth. He fears God, but as a child who wants to do better, since he knows he is Loved. Solomon lives in the grace of God.

On the other hand, if a person is looking for glory and popularity, it will most likely come to him, but it will not be a gift of God, rather a departure from God, by human pride. While not seeking the good, the beautiful, the real and the truth, people get trapped in evil.


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

233. The Holy Spirit ignites

Jesus’s wisdom is greater, higher, deeper than that of Solomon, since Jesus is Wisdom himself. Let’s continue to ask Jesus for wisdom, to share what God has already bestowed on us, in all circumstances and for the good of each person:

“There is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills.

The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful!” The joy of the gospel, number 280, Pope Francis.

The Holy Spirit helps us to live with people. We don’t give ourselves charisms, it’s the Holy Spirit who gives them to us. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for his graces, to transmit them to the world. Let’s open the gift he offers us and receive its content.

Let’s open the doors, open the windows, open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Up and away! The more we share what the Holy Spirit offers us, the more we discover his action among us. Whenever we perceive it in a person, we also observe it in ourselves.

If we’re under the governance of the Holy Spirit, his evangelical values, his fruits, his gifts and charisms will appear in our lives. The fruit that dwells in us and transforms within comes from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit isn’t limited to a single spark of a fireworks show. The Holy Spirit is the immense fireworks to which we want to pray and discover, to rejoice and dance around its many diverse lights.


Book: Joy in heaven!

 

[Normandt]

234. Can we even imagine

Let’s embark with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and receive the fruits of the Spirit. Let’s welcome everything from the Trinity.

The person who doesn’t maintain the quality of their vehicle for a very long journey may discover that the destination might get longer and demand more time. The transmission chain of our life is the Holy Spirit and we need to make sure he’s constantly with us. May our hearts be in order to receive the Holy Spirit, to continue on the path of salvation and for the salvation of our neighbour.

Let’s not limit the Holy Spirit. We would take one reality and close ourselves to the other graces of the Holy Spirit? Let’s not do that. We cannot limit the Holy Spirit without limiting ourselves.

We have not finished discovering him and he will surprise us. Let’s dare to let the Holy Spirit ignite and illuminate us with all his fires.

Jesus proposes to evangelize:

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew, chapter 28, verses 19 to 20a

Can we even imagine all the graces we receive to go on a mission, if we listen to him?

It is the Spirit of Jesus and the Father who guides his Church, who guides us in our journey, which is our guarantee of the presence of Jesus in us. We have the special grace of being in the Catholic Church with a marked dimension of the Holy Spirit. This is the Blessing for the Church. It’s a privilege for us.

The Holy Spirit is in perfect communion with the Father and the Son. When we pray to the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to be removed from the Father and the Son. Mary is present too. All the saints are united with us.

In praying the Holy Spirit, we don’t exclude the Father or the Son. The three are eternally one. We don’t favour. We are in God when we walk with the Holy Spirit. We don’t further favour the Holy Spirit.

We know what the Holy Spirit of Jesus and the Father has done so far in our lives. We know what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives right now. We will then discover what he will achieve by passing through our soul, our heart, our spirit, in the future. We would not believe the extent and possibilities if the Spirit told us all that he’s able to do in us and through us.

Let’s not block the Holy Spirit to one reality. May we not dictate to him what we want. But let him decide what he wants for every person in the Church, to give us strength, justice, temperance, prudence, theological virtues, charisms, gifts, fruits, etc.

Let’s keep the courage and the determination to want the Holy Spirit in our life and to walk together, despite our differences which are so many beauties for each other.


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas

 

[Normandt]

235. The wind is blowing

We need different aspirations of the Holy Spirit depending on who we are. Every person is different, but totally wanted of God for a holy and continuous evangelization.

We all need different graces depending on who we are, how we are, where we are, and where we’re going to while following a Holy Spirit who doesn’t tell us where he’s going.

“The wind blows where it wills.” John, chapter 3, verse 8a

He is free, totally, sovereignly free! He isn’t confined to a single expression, to a single idea.

Jesus tells Nicodemus the meaning of the movement of the Spirit:

“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John, chapter 3, verse 8

It is so with us, born of the breath of the Spirit. We don’t know where the Spirit leads us. We must trust him, day by day, to be free, to be responsible in the mission to which he prepares us and sends us. It’s the heart’s mission.

Let’s not limit the Holy Spirit or the evangelical values that are multiple:

““Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth” (LG 8 # 2) are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: “the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.” (UR 3 # 2, see LG 15).

Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him (see UR 3) and are in themselves calls to “Catholic unity.”” (LG 8). Catechism of the Catholic Church number 819,

Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

We will have to be watchful in order to discover these graces in people. They’re not only for ourselves. We can also lose them if we don’t take a jealous care of them:

“‘Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church’s whole apostolate’; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ. (AA 4; cf. ⇒ Jn 15:5.) In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always ‘as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate’.” (AA 3). Catechism of the Catholic Church number 864,

Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

We receive the different gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit, but we don’t develop them all in the same way, according to the life we lead, the blockages or openness, according to the possibilities that we obtain to share them.

Let’s engage with the Holy Spirit. Let’s be aware and take some time to receive all that he offers:

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13

Union with Christ is vital: “Charity is drawn mainly from the Eucharist.” The grace of God must always remain with us and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration:

The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church’s unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity. Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1109, Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText

This is not our own mission. It is the participation in Jesus’s Mission, in the Shepherd’s Mission.


Book: Joy in heaven!

Normand Thomas