THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US TO CALL GOD FATHER


TUESDAY, NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Ezek 2:8-3:4; Ps 119:14,24,72,103,111,131; Mt 18:1-5,10,12-14

Learning to call God Father

God gave the vision of the glory of the Eternal Word to Ezekiel as his foundation vision. The glory of the Lord made a deep impression on him and defined his vocation to proclaim the majestic will of God to the rebellious people of Israel. He is given this vocation by a symbolic action of a gift of a scroll written front and back, filled with what he was to proclaim to Israel. “You, son of man, listen to the words I say; do not be a rebel like that rebellious set. Open your mouth and eat what I am about to give you.’ I looked.  A hand was there, stretching out to me and holding a scroll. He unrolled it in front me; it was written on back and front; on it was written ‘lamentations, wailings, moanings.’” The first aspect of our vocation as prophets is to eat the word of God and digest it. God addresses his word to the prophet first, who must eat, digest, and conform to the word. In other words, the word of God digests us and assimilates us into the will of God before we can successfully proclaim it to the people.

For all whose desires are attuned to doing the will of God, the word of God is as sweet as honey. Thus, the voice said, “Son of man, feed and be satisfied by the scroll I am giving you.”  We are satisfied when our desires are fulfilled. The yearning of the prophet was satisfied by what he ate. “I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey.” A precondition for desiring aright is our possessing a good will towards God. A desire to glorify God in our lives prepares us for a good reception of his word. Hence, we hear the Psalmist pant to do the will of God. “I rejoiced to do your will as though all riches were mine. Your will is my delight; your statutes are my counsellors.” When we desire to please God, we will find his word delightful and cherish it deep within our hearts. This is what characterises the children of God, their desire to please God. As we have mentioned previously, desires are wings by which love flies to its object of love. Our desire to please God indicates our love for him, and our love for God shows we are born of God. Such a holy desire can have no other source than the Holy Spirit of God. Thus, the sweetness of the word of God in our souls is a sure sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to birth spiritually and teaches our spirits to call God our Father.

This formed the background of the answer our Lord gave the disciples when they inquired about the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Anyone born of the Holy Spirit and lives by the desires of the Spirit is born of God and is, by that fact, the greatest as sharing in the glory of God. “The disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” It means that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is about promptness and joyfulness in doing the will of the Father. Our willingness to eat the will of the Father, our daily bread, makes us grow in spiritual perfection; that is, better children of God. This is why the Israelites were called a rebellious set of people. They are called children of God only in name because they have no desire to do the will of God. We must long for the word of God daily as our bread from heaven, the eating of which will make us grow perfect in spiritual life and be children of God, well-formed in the mystery of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of God the Father.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to yearn for your word and to eat it with pleasure when you give it to us, so that the divine nature you have share with us through your Beloved Son may be constantly renewed in us and come to perfection as we call you Father. 

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