SPIRIT DEVOTION TO THE LORD


FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER

Act 25:13-21; Ps 103:1-2,11-12,19-20; Jn 21:15-19

The Holy Spirit of Devotion

The Holy Spirit produces devotion to the Son of Man in our hearts, which flows to everything concerning his mission to save souls. Devotion is a relation created by love for the object of our love that exists in our soul. We describe it in the language of physics as a force field established in our hearts by our love attraction to the Son of Man. We draw an analogy from a magnetic field to understand the essence of devotion. The presence of a magnet establishes a force field around it, such that any iron or metal that enters its force field is drawn to it by the force field. The same applies to devotion in our souls. Since the Holy Spirit is the Love of the Father and the Son, his presence in our souls establishes a spiritual and love force field. Spending quality time in our spiritual realm increases our love charge so that we increasingly grow in our love attraction to the Son of Man. Hence, the presence of the Holy Spirit will produce devotion in us only when we consistently listen and obey his inspirations. Therefore, the exercise of prayer grows devotion to Jesus Christ in our souls. Our devotion to the Son of Man weans when something else occupies our interest and presence daily. The same thing happens when spouses who love themselves sincerely and not selfishly, which is lust and not love, grow in devotion to each other as they spend time together.

Devotion is a spiritual force of love that enables us to accomplish difficult things for the one we love. In other words, devotion makes it easy to sacrifice ourselves for the object of our love. Self-sacrifice leads to self-transcendence. It is the attainment of a higher life or existence in the higher object of our love. God established the universe on this principle, which is the path of its vocation to share in the life of God. An inordinate love is a corruption of love, a higher entity loving and sacrificing itself for a lower object in being, thereby attaining a lower existence. Our Lord was not repeating the same demand on Peter three times. He used different words that imply levels of love for a person that are not in English. The demand he made on Peter shifted from lower love to higher, more demanding love. The same thing he does with each of us. Only the highest form of love can produce a devotion in us that will enable us to sacrifice ourselves for the Son of Man.

Saint Paul’s life illustrates these levels of love and devotion for us. Paul spent three years after his conversion to grow his knowledge and in love for the risen Lord. Afterward, he immersed himself in the Christian community at Antioch, where he developed in communal prayer and practice of the word of God. When he attained a certain level of love and attachment to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit sent him on a mission to preach the Gospel. It is in the mission of preaching the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that Paul perfected his self-sacrificing life or devotion to the Son of Man. He was willing to go on preaching the Gospel even when the Holy Spirit assured him of the persecutions and trials awaiting him at every turn. From the rejection and imprisonment in Jerusalem, he followed the Lord to Rome, where he led him to testify to the Good News. Festus, the governor, confirms for us that Paul made the appeal to be tried in Rome by himself and never forced. The appeal was in response to the Lord’s demand that he witness to him in Rome also. Hence, Paul demonstrates how we are to respond to the Lord’s demand on us at every turn of our lives: “Do you love me more than these others do?” The love of Jesus Christ would make Peter feed his lambs, look after his sheep, and feed his sheep. Devotion makes our transcendence into Jesus Christ easy and smooth. It is the path of death, as John explained: “In these words, he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. Devotion makes us give glory to God in everything, both in married or religious life, through our loving and steadfast profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: O God, who by the glorification of your Christ and the light of the Holy Spirit have unlocked for us the gates of eternity, grant, we pray, that, partaking of so great a gift, our devotion may grow deeper and our faith be strengthened. Through our Lord Jesu Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  

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