The less you feel and the more firmly you believe, the more praiseworthy is your faith and the more it will be esteemed and appreciated; for real faith is much more than a mere opinion of man. In it we have true knowledge: in truth, we lack nothing save true faith.
... Meister Eckhart (1260?-1327?)
(Faith is more than a feeling; it is also radical trust in God. "Cast all your worries on Him, for He cares for you." 1 Pt..5:7)
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Sir 35:1-12; Psalm 50:5-6, 7-8, 14 and 23
Mk 10:28-31
Peter began to say to Jesus,
‘We have given up everything and followed you.”
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters
or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel
who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:
houses and brothers and sisters
and mothers and children and lands,
with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.
But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Reflection on the Scriptures
Every one of us is moving, step by step and minute by minute, closer to our own deaths and our entering into the fullness of who we are, something we cannot understand completely now and something which should not cause us anxiety but joy – we are going home to God! The simple fact that we cannot really face is that if we wish to go to heaven, to be with God in his bliss, we must die (looking at it from a
very limited human viewpoint) or, if we look at it in terms of God’s love for us, we must be born into his eternal life, leaving behind all of our current concerns without a thought for them.
As you might suspect, following Jesus into our own deaths not in fear but in a steady sense of wonder, gratitude, and even eagerness will take our passionate cooperation with the Holy Spirit and an earnest and regular prayer where we will enter into conversation with him.
The problem is how to actually do that, forgetting all about our safety and our concerns and daring to live in hope in God, but that is just what the Spirit is calling us to do, in complete trust.
- by Chas Kestermeier, S.J.
The Son of God Became Human
From The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part One, Section Two, Chapter Three
Article 8: I Believe in the Holy Spirit
II. THE NAME, TITLE, AND SYMBOLS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Symbols of the Holy Spirit
696 Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel.37 This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches.
John the Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."38 Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!"39 In the form of tongues "as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself40 The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most
expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions.41 "Do not quench the Spirit."42
(Footnote references in the Catechism.)
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