Pope's Address to Religious on 11.20.08: The Call to Marriage to Christ

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the participants of the plenary assembly of the congregation for institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Here is the first full paragraph of the body of his address:

This year the Plenary Assembly of your Congregation has focused on a topic particularly dear to me: monasticism, a forma vitae that has always been inspired by the nascent Church which was brought into being at Pentecost (Acts 2: 42-47; 4: 32-35). From the conclusions of your work that has focused especially on female monastic life useful indications can be drawn to those monks and nuns who "seek God", carrying out their vocation for the good of the whole Church. Recently too (cf. Address to the world of culture, Paris, 12 September 2008), I desired to highlight the exemplarity of monastic life in history, stressing that its aim is at the same time both simple and essential: quaerere Deum, to seek God and to seek him through Jesus Christ who has revealed him (cf. Jn 1: 18), to seek him by fixing one's gaze on the invisible realities that are eternal (cf. 2 Cor 4: 18), in the expectation of our Saviour's appearing in glory (cf. Ti 2: 13).

The form of life known as monasticism takes its inspiration from the newborn Church birthed at Pentecost. The aim of this life is seeking God through Jesus. The next paragraph from his address is my main focus; it follows here:

Christo omnino nihil praeponere [prefer nothing to Christ] (cf. Rule of Benedict 72, 11; Augustine, Enarr. in Ps 29: 9; Cyprian, Ad Fort 4). These words which the Rule of St Benedict takes from the previous tradition, clearly express the precious treasure of monastic life lived still today in both the Christian West and East. It is a pressing invitation to mould monastic life to the point of making it an evangelical memorial of the Church and, when it is authentically lived, "a reference point for all the baptized" (cf. John Paul II, Orientale lumen, n. 9). By virtue of the absolute primacy reserved for Christ, monasteries are called to be places in which room is made for the celebration of God's glory, where the mysterious but real divine presence in the world is adored and praised, where one seeks to live the new commandment of love and mutual service, thus preparing for the final "revelation of the sons of God" (Rm 8: 19). When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ, on whom this Congregation's Instruction Verbi Sponsa (13 May 1999) extensively reflected, monasticism can constitute for all the forms of religious life and consecrated life a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.

The precious treasure of monastic life is preferring nothing to Christ. “When monks live the Gospel radically, when they dedicate themselves to integral contemplative life in profound spousal union with Christ…monasticism can constitute… a remembrance of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every baptized person: to seek Christ and put nothing before his love.”

When men and women religious have a contemplative prayer life as a spouse of Christ, they are a witness and a reminder to all Christians of what is most important: seeking Christ and loving Him above all else. The point the pope is making here is the main point of all that I am saying in this blog: all of us are called to an intimate spousal union with Christ.

The Holy Father’s next paragraph is here:

The path pointed out by God for this quest and for this love is his Word itself, who in the books of the Sacred Scriptures, offers himself abundantly, for the reflection of men and women. The desire for God and love of his Word are therefore reciprocally nourished and bring forth in monastic life the unsupressable need for the opus Dei, the studium orationis and lectio divina, which is listening to the Word of God, accompanied by the great voices of the tradition of the Fathers and Saints, and also prayer, guided and sustained by this Word. The recent General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, celebrated in Rome last month on the theme: The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church, renewing the appeal to all Christians to root their life in listening to the Word of God contained in Sacred Scripture has especially invited religious communities to make the Word of God their daily food, in particular through the practice of lectio divina (cf. Elenchus praepositionum, n. 4).

The path to a deep, intimate union with Christ is through the Word of God. Our hunger for God grows and is satisfied through immersion into His Word, and we love His Word the more we desire God. We are to make the Word of God our daily food by listening to Him together with His friends, the Fathers and Saints, and through our conversation with Him.

The pope next paragraph is his concluding one. Here is a portion of it:

Let us invoke Mary, Mother of the Lord, the "woman of listening", who put nothing before love for the Son of God, born of her, so that she may help communities of consecrated life and, especially, monastic communities to be faithful to their vocation and mission. May monasteries always be oases of ascetic life, where fascination for the spousal union with Christ is sensed, and where the choice of the Absolute of God is enveloped in a constant atmosphere of silence and contemplation.

Here the Holy Father prays that the “woman of listening” who sacrificed all for the love of her Son may help monks and nuns, “in a constant atmosphere of silence and contempation,” forsake all else for the choice of God and the relationship of Christ as their spouse.

All of what I am saying goes back to this foundation and wellspring: that each person is made to be a spouse of Christ. This is the teaching of the Church as evidenced by this short address by our Holy Father.


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God's Jealousy and the Lukewarm

Did you know that God is jealous? I thought jealousy was a bad thing, so how could God be jealous? There is a bad jealousy and a good jealousy. Jealousy comes about when a person detects that what is due to them in a relationship from another is not given. The jealousy is sinful when one makes a rash judgment and so improperly detects infidelity or when one expects more than is warranted from the relationship. An example of this would be when a guy and a gal are friends, but he really likes her than more than just friends. He might be tempted to jealousy if she starts to date another guy. Their relationship does not warrant the jealousy, but he wants to have a more exclusive relationship, and so he feels hurt that she is with another.

The good and healthy type of jealousy is when a couple are committed, especially in a marriage, and one of the spouses is not faithful. It is right and good for the other to be hurt and jealous for the exclusive love of the unfaithful spouse. Marriage is a permanent, exclusive relationship entailing the complete gift of self to the other for life, and when this is lacking, it is right for the other to cry foul and set things aright.

There are a number of passages from the Bible talking about God’s jealousy. The first two are from the book of Exodus; notice that God is jealous when the people go after false gods; He says that worshipping other gods is harlotry.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 34:13 You shall tear down their altars, and break their pillars, and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.

The next passages come from Deuteronomy. Here God is not only jealous, He is also a consuming fire. The image is of a husband consumed with the fire of his love for his beloved.

Deuteronomy 4:23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

The next book in the Bible after Deuteronomy is Joshua. In that book, toward the very end, it states this:

Joshua 24:19 But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD; for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.”

Two passages from the prophets come both from Zechariah, and the emphasis here is on the immensity of God’s jealousy. God is not only a little jealous:

Zechariah 1:14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.

Zechariah 8:1 And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the holy mountain.

God is so jealous of us because He views us as His spouse. We owe Him our perpetual and exclusive complete gift of self as one spouse to another, and He is jealous when we do not.

I was explaining a passage from the New Testament to my junior high students the other day. We were looking at God’s words to the church in Laodicea that Saint John recorded in the Book of Revelation. Speaking through the angel, God said:

Revelation 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten; so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”


The point I want to highlight is that it seems that Jesus would rather we were completely bad than being partly good and partly bad. That doesn’t seem to make sense. Wouldn’t He rather that we were at least somewhat good than being entirely bad? Isn’t it better to be a person who does some good but occasionally falls into sin than a person who can’t even be good at times? Isn’t the generous glutton better than the cold-hearted killer? In a juridical sense, certainly, he is. But this is not what Jesus is talking about to the church in Laodicea.

Jesus is not talking juridically so much as He is relationally. In a romantic context, we want either a “yes I am interested” or a “no I am not interested.” The one thing no one wants is the “I’m not sure if I’m interested,” or the “I really like you (as a friend).” What is even worse is someone who is interested one day but not the next. In romantic, spousal relationships, we want all or nothing.

This is the sense of Jesus’ words here. He thinks of the lukewarm as so much vomit that He can’t wait to hurl so He can feel better. He wants the church of Laodicea, and all of us, to be exclusively His, not the one who is a sometimes Christian. The rest of the message to Laodicea makes it more clear: they are the ones who are rich and do not think they need Jesus. They do not think they need to pray everyday. Jesus advises: be zealous and repent and pray: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”


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"The Heart" by Saint Escriva

I give you thanks, my Jesus, for your decision to become perfect Man, with a Heart which loved and is most loveable; which loved unto death and suffered; which was filled with joy and sorrow; which delighted in the things of men and showed us the way to Heaven; which subjected itself heroically to duty and acted with mercy; which watched over the poor and the rich and cared for sinners and the just.

I give you thanks, my Jesus. Give us hearts to measure up to Yours!

– St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, #813

Go here to read my thought on the heart.

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Sarah Palin's Pro-Life View

Today in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Governor Sarah Palin spoke about her views on protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Go here to see this beautiful talk on a video from CNN.

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Scott Hahn spoke today in Minneapolis

I hadn't seen Scott since the last time he spoke here in 2004; it is always a blessing to see my old professor, mentor and friend. After his two talks about the Holy Name of God, oath swearing and covenant making, taking the name of the Lord in truth and sincerity, and the Eucharist as the paramount taking of God's name, I asked him a question. I asked him why taking an oath creates sacred family bonds.

Assuming that I could follow how fast he spoke, he answered quickly. I am not sure I understood all that he said. I don't remember all the words he used, but I think I have taken away the point of what he said. In my own words and with some extrapolation, this is the essence of what he said: that God's Word is effective; it does what it says. God is love and He is Family as a Trinity of Persons so the Word He speaks is The Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. From all eternity the Father fathers the Son; from all eternity He speaks His one Word. In heaven, God has always and will always give His Word, which is the Son.

God created so that He could share His life of love with us, creatures. He elevated us to make us His very sons and daughters in the Son and to make us part of His Trinitarian family. What God is doing for all eternity in Heaven He wills to do in creation. The means for achieving this is taking the name of God, swearing an oath. When we call upon the name of the Lord and enter into a covenant with Him, we become his children and enter into His family. When we take His name and give our word, He gives His Word and draws us closer into our relationship with Him. In other words, what God always does in the ever present we call eternity, He does in time
via oath swearing and covenant making. He gives Himself and shares His Trinitarian life in time through our faithful use of taking His Holy Name in Truth.

Dr. Hahn said it with a lot fewer words and referred to a paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (I think it was 300 something). Hopefully, I haven't botched what he said too badly.

Thankfully, Scott clarified via email his answer to my question. Here you can witness firsthand just how badly I botched his answer by comparing what I wrote above to what he wrote here. Here is what he wrote to me:

First, I referred you to the hugely important paragraph, CCC 236, where we read about the inseparable bond between the "oikonomia" of what God does is history and the "theologia," which refers to Who God is, from all eternity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit); the former reveals the latter, while the latter illumines the former. Second, the eternal communion of the one God-in-three-Persons consists of two eternal processions: 1. the procession of the Son (as the Word/Logos) from the Father's act of eternal generation -- by way of intellection (i.e., the Father's eternal knowing of divine Truth, Who is the Son); and 2. the procession of the Holy Spirit from the eternal act of spiration by the Father and the Son (i.e., the Filioque) -- by way of volition (i.e., the mutual act of the Father loving the Son, and the Son imaging/returning that love to the Father -- their mutual love, Who IS the Holy Spirit). Third, what God does in salvation history, by way of the divine covenant (i.e., speaking the word of promise and then swearing the oath that binds persons-in-communion; cf. Hebrews 6:13ff. and the two "unchangeable things in which it's impossible for God to prove false" -- the promise & the oath), is thus an historical revelation of Who God, as the eternal Trinity. This is almost exactly the way that it's stated in CCC 236: what God does reveals Who God is; and conversely, Who God is illuminates what God is doing throughout salvation history (speaking the WORD of promise & binding persons in covenant communion). In sum, covenanting is what God is doing throughout the economy of salvation history -- to impart divine kinship/communion to His people -- because a Kinship/Communion is Who God eternally is... I realize, of course, that this is still very dense and difficult (I offer a slightly simpler explanation in First Comes Love). In any case, I hope this helps.

Thanks a million, Scott!

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Free Logos Commentary

My Bible program and electronic library is offering a free commentary for a limited time. Go here to check it out. I love my Logos Bible software and electronic library.

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Copyright 2007.
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Dependence on God: Walking on Water

"Learn to depend on God alone and serve Him with a wholly pure and detached heart. Then you will be able to say 'I do not regret that I have given myself up to Love.'"

This was said by Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, otherwise known as Saint Edith Stein.

She also said, "It is this faith that unites us to him as the members are joined to the head and opens for us the stream of his life. And so faith in the Crucified--a living faith joined to loving surrender--is for us entrance into life and the beginning of future glory." This comes from page 123 of The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein.

God wants us to be dependent upon Him. He wants us to lovingly cling to Him. This faithful clinging unites us to Him and fills us with life. Abundant life is the fruit of a faithful, loving, complete clinging to God."

One of my main points is that the four rivers coming from one source in Genesis 2:10 is the tree of life mentioned in Genesis 2:9, and both of them represent the heart. Since what we treasure is where our heart is, if we treasure God, our heart is with God. Our heart is the center of our being and is capable of holding all that we value. Treasuring God and what pleases Him opens our deepest self to Him, and since He is existence itself and life itself, our heart is what is capable of holding Life itself. As the receptacle of Life, the heart is the tree of life. As Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross said above, "It is this faith that unites us to him...and opens for us the streams of his life.

God desires such unbounded trust from us. In today's Gospel, Matthew 14: 22-33, Jesus tells Peter after he had the faith to step out of the boat in the storm and walk on the water toward Jesus, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" He chides Peter because Peter got frightened by the strong winds as he was walking across the water, and so he started to sink. Jesus desires us not only to step out of the boat and walk across the water, He also wants us to constantly keep our eyes fixed on Him and not be disturbed by anything, even a very strong wind and storm while we are walking on the sea! How much Jesus wants us to trust Him, and how little we do.


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"Prayer is the inner bath of love"

Today is the feast day of Saint John Vianney. One thing he said was:
“Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.”

It is prayer that is the means or receptacle for receiving God’s grace, God’s very life. God pours Himself out like water, and since God is love, God pours out love. The “water” of God’s life is love, and we tap into this superabundance when we pray. Indeed, it is prayer that opens our hearts more to receive the awesome graces of the sacraments. When we pray, rivers of living water flow out from our hearts because prayer is the inner bath of love. Prayer cleanses us and re-invigorates us and fills us with God’s love.

From the deepest part of our hearts, God dwells and gives Himself to us. Since He respects our free will so much, He waits deep within our heart to give Himself more fully to us. As long as we are in the state of grace, He is there abiding with us. We do not become a flowing spring of God’s love and light until we give ourselves more completely to Him and open ourselves to Him—which means we must pray each day. With daily prayer we open the “faucet” of God’s splendid shower of love. It is that infusion of God’s love which gives us the strength to do all things for love of Him.


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"The Paradise of God is the heart of man"

In the adoration chapel today I picked up a book by Saint Alphonsus de Liguori entitled, How to Converse Continually and Familiarly with God. I was actually looking for another book I had picked up last week, but then this one grabbed my attention. I read a few chapters (they were very short), and then I read the chapter “The Paradise of God.” I found a shortened version of the chapter on the Vatican website.

One of the main points of my theory is that our hearts are made for God, that God created them to be His home, that, in the Garden of Eden, the tree of life is the heart. In paradise, man’s heart is the tree of life. If Adam had trusted God in his heart and obeyed, he would have found life.

God’s paradise, that is, His Eden, is man’s heart. Eden means delight. God’s delight is our hearts. He made us so that we could be His. He does not force Himself on us. He does not show us His infinite glory, which would essentially force us to worship Him.

He humbly hides Himself and does a million different things to show us He loves us. We are His delight. If we choose, we can give ourselves to Him completely; only in doing so will we have abundant life. When we give Him our heart, it becomes the tree of life. It is through the love we have for God that we have life, that He fills us with His life.

Here is the summary passage from the Vatican site:
The Paradise of God is the heart of man
"Deliciae meae esse cum filiis hominum(‘My delights were to be with the children of men.’ Proverbs 8:31). The paradise of God, so to say, is the heart of man.

Does God love you? Then love you Him. (…)
Become accustomed to talking to Him face to face, familiarly, with confidence and love, as to a friend, the dearest friend you have, who loves you so much.

It is a great mistake, as we have seen, to treat God with diffidence (…) An even greater mistake is to suppose that conversing with God is nothing but tedium and bitterness.

No, it is not true. Non… habet amaritudinem conversatio illius, nec taedium convictus illius (‘Her [Wisdom’s] conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness.’ Wisdom 8:16). Ask those souls that love Him with a true love, and they will tell you that amidst the sorrows of their life they find no greater and truer relief than in conversing lovingly with God.
You are not yet required so to apply your minds as to make you forget all your business and all your pleasure.
It is only required of you that without neglecting your occupations you should act towards God as you act towards those whom you love and who love you.

Your God is always with you, indeed inside you: In ipso… vivimus, et movemur, et sumus (‘In him we live and move and be.’ Acts 17:28).
There is no doorkeeper, for whoever wishes to speak to God; indeed, it is God’s pleasure that you should talk familiarly with Him.

Speak to Him of your business, of your plans, of your sorrows, of your fears, and of all that concerns you.
Above all do it, as I have said, with confidence and with an open heart, because God is not accustomed to speak to the soul that does not speak to Him. Such a soul, being unused to dealing with Him, will not well understand His voice when He speaks.
When you desire His love, without waiting for you to approach Him, He will anticipate your desire and will make Himself present to you, bringing all those graces and remedies of which you stand in need. He is only waiting for you to speak, to show you that He is near and is ready to listen to you and to console you (…).

Our God dwells in the highest heavens, but does not disdain to pass days and nights with His faithful children, allowing them a share in His Divine consolations, any one of which surpasses all the delights and pleasures of the world. Only they who have not tried such consolations have no desire for them: Gustate et videte quoniam suavis est Dominus (‘O taste and see that the Lord is sweet.’ Psalm 33:9)."

From the “Ascetical Works” of St Alphonsus of Liguori (1696-1787).


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Out of Our Heart Flows Rivers of Living Waters

The readings for Mass today (yesterday, at this time of night) were wonderful. The first reading was Jeremiah 2: 1-3, 7-8 and 10-11; here it is, and notice the marital analogy, the fruit language, and the mention of water:

“This word of the LORD came to me: 
Go, cry out this message for Jerusalem to hear! 

I remember the devotion of your youth, 
how you loved me as a bride, 
Following me in the desert,
 in a land unsown. 
Sacred to the LORD was Israel, 
the first fruits of his harvest;
 Should any presume to partake of them, 
evil would befall them, says the LORD. 

When I brought you into the garden land 
to eat its goodly fruits, 
You entered and defiled my land,
 you made my heritage loathsome. 
The priests asked not, 
“Where is the LORD?”
 Those who dealt with the law knew me not:
 the shepherds rebelled against me.
 The prophets prophesied by Baal,
 and went after useless idols.

 Be amazed at this, O heavens,
 and shudder with sheer horror, says the LORD. 
Two evils have my people done:
 they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; 
They have dug themselves cisterns,
 broken cisterns, that hold no water.”

At first, Jerusalem loved God as a bride loves her husband, and Israel was the first fruits of God’s harvest. God’s people went after other gods; they abandoned the true God who is the “source of living waters.” Our hearts should be turned toward the source of life and living waters and not be consumed with what is not God. Here, the heart, as the source of love, and water are connected.

The Responsorial Psalm was 36: 6-11, and again notice the emphasis on water and its connection with the heart:
R. (10a) With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 O LORD, your mercy reaches to heaven;
 your faithfulness, to the clouds.
 Your justice is like the mountains of God;
 your judgments, like the mighty deep.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.
 How precious is your mercy, O God!
 The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
 They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house; 
from your delightful stream you give them to drink. 
R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. 
For with you is the fountain of life, 
and in your light we see light.
 Keep up your mercy toward your friends,
 your just defense of the upright of heart.
 R. With you is the fountain of life, O Lord.



God is the fountain of life who is abounding in mercy and justice. The water language is overflowing: flowing, mighty deep, delightful stream, drink, and fountain of life. The upright of heart are they who receive this overflowing mercy from God. Here the heart motif and the water motif are joined together.

The Gospel is from Matthew 13: 10-17, and the main word in this passage is heart. Everything else is built around the word “heart” which stands in the middle and makes sense of the whole. Here is the passage:



The disciples approached Jesus and said, 
“Why do you speak to the crowd in parables?”
 He said to them in reply, 
“Because knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven 
has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted.
 To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; 
from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
 This is why I speak to them in parables, because 
they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. 
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:

 You shall indeed hear but not understand, 
you shall indeed look but never see. 
Gross is the heart of this people, 
they will hardly hear with their ears,
 they have closed their eyes, 
lest they see with their eyes
 and hear with their ears 
and understand with their hearts and be converted 
and I heal them.

 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see,
 and your ears, because they hear. 
Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people
 longed to see what you see but did not see it, 
and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” 


Why does Jesus speak in parables? Is it so everyone can understand more easily what He is saying? Jesus says that He speaks in so that some people will not understand Him. Why don’t they understand Him? It is because their heart is “gross.” Their heart is not sensitive as it should be; it ignores and doesn’t care about what is most important. They look and hear, but nothing is registering as significant or worthy of attention. They don’t care. They don’t want to see or hear. God is boring. The things of God don’t matter. They are there more out of curiosity or some ulterior motive but not because they really care. So the little they had is taken away: they understand nothing of Jesus’ message.

To see and understand and have Jesus heal us, our heart has to turn to Him and open up and want to see and understand what He is saying. If our heart loves, trusts and obeys Him, then we will able to perceive and understand the Gospel. Those who have faith, who have love, who do obey have what it takes. They have a responsive heart, and those with such a receptive heart will be given more faith, hope and love to better love, trust and obey. The good heart will become a very rich heart. Jesus is not speaking about material riches; rather, He is speaking about having abundant faith, hope and love. Those who turn away from God, who don’t need Him, who close their hearts to Him, are not able to receive the good gifts He desires to give us. The more we open up to Him, the more He is able to fill us with every good gift.

Tying the three readings together, when we are God’s bride and open ourselves to Him completely, He is able to fill us and make us rich in faith, hope and love. When our heart turns toward Him, we drink deeply from the fountain of life and goodness, we drink deeply of Him, and so we become fully alive. When our heart is in the right place, it is connected to God who is the “source of living waters.” When we are connected to the source, out of our heart flows rivers of living waters.


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Copyright 2007.
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