HARMONY WITH DIVINE WILL


FEAST OF SAINTS SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES

Eph 2:19-22; Ps 19:2-5; Lk 6:12-10

Prayer Feeds on the Will of God

Everything related to God is characterized by order and harmony. God himself is the origin of order and harmony; the root of the harmony is the divine will, from which everything emanates within and outside the Trinity of Godhead. The Son is the carrier of the divine harmony as God’s knowledge of Himself and action. The Holy Spirit completes or returns the divine harmony as God’s love of Himself and all He does through the Son. Everything outside the Trinity, which has its origin in God, exists and follows the divine order and harmony as operating always within the divine will. The order and harmony originating from the eternal and immutable will of the Father form the basis of the goodness of every creature in heaven and on earth. Man and woman were created in the image of God to easily perceive, understand, and follow the divine order and harmony. But using their free will, by which they image God, they chose to act contrary to the divine will, but within the permitted sphere of his will. The fall of man and woman from grace was not God’s divine will for man, but within his permitted will with consequences. The fall, following that of the angelic beings, brought a degree of chaos into the perfect order and harmony of God’s creation. God’s infinite wisdom built some degrees of freedom into his creation to accommodate the disharmony from angels and men, but with consequences for the originators of chaos.

The divine order and harmony that pervade the entire creation have a way of visiting us as the perpetrators of chaos, with consequences for our actions. By choosing to walk the path of darkness and error defined by selfish interest, we abandon the path of life and light. The path of sin is therefore a path of self-destruction. The Psalmist sings of this pervading order and harmony that creation lauds. “The heavens proclaim the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth the work of his hands. Day unto day takes up the story and night unto night makes known the message.” While the message or Gospel of divine order and harmony is enjoyed and preached by the whole creation, man needs to be aware, know, and cooperate with the divine order and harmony. We need to profess faith in God, pray to understand God’s will for us, and embrace it for our salvation. Faith admits us into the harmonious household of God’s obedient creation. Saint Paul witnesses to this: “You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone.” We were aliens when we walked the path of our own will in sin. Our profession of faith in Jesus Christ brings us into the harmonious household of God with all the heavenly angels and saints.

Prayer is a necessary activity for all members of the divine household. It is the banquet of the members of God’s household on His will. The divine will is the bread of angels; this same bread is the Son of God who became man for our sake. The Gospel presents him as Man eating of his Father’s will in prayer. “Jesus went out into the hills to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came, he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them apostles.” The Son of Man, the builder of God’s House, laid the foundation of the House through prayer, in harmony with the Father’s will. He picked the apostles, among whom were saints Simon and Jude. They followed him about, learnt from him to pray and feed on the Father’s will, and became great and trustworthy stewards and members of the household of God. Judas Iscariot, who was among the twelve, destroyed himself through lack of prayer; that is, by not feeding on the heavenly food. We implore the intercession of Saints Simon and Jude to help us eat the heavenly food in prayer regularly.

Let us pray: O God, who by the blessed Apostles have brought us to acknowledge your name, graciously grant, through the intercession of Saints Simon and Jude, that the Church may constantly grow by increase of the people who believe in you. Through our Lord Jesus 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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