THE JOYS OF HEAVEN AND DIVINE WILL


WEDNESDAY, THIRD WEEK OF EASTERTIDE   

Acts 8:1-8; Ps 66:1-7; Jn 6:35-40

I Have Come to Do the Father’s Will

As we reflected on, the will of the heavenly Father is the daily bread we are invited to eat. Jesus is our real food and drink, for He represents the will of God for us. This is what the kingdom of heaven is essentially: doing the will of God. There are myriads of angels in heaven, but there is only one will in the whole of heaven; that is, the will of the Father. The holy and immutable will of God the Father is what makes heaven a complete joy and happiness. God is infinitely good and pours all his goodness into his divine will. Since the will of God expresses the infinite goodness of God, there is no other thing more exquisite and attractive than the holy and immutable will of God. Hence, the Son is totally dedicated to doing the will of the Father and completely represents the will of God the Father. Everything in creation shows forth a little aspect of the goodness of God’s will, for each thing came to be as an expression of his will. Consider all the good things of this transitory world, the amusements, the pleasures from creatures in their varieties, how these easily get men addicted to them; then you are a bit in the direction of comprehending the joys of heaven. Yet compared to the latter, the joys and goodness of creatures all put together are nothing at all. The goodness of God is beyond the comprehension of our poor imaginations and minds. So, the joy of heaven has never entered any mortal mind, according to Saint Paul.

Those spiritually generated are, by that fact, given a new and spiritual faculty to comprehend the joy and peace of heaven. This is because God begins to exist in us when we are born of water and the Holy Spirit. The heavenly peace and attraction that gradually begins to develop in our minds and hearts give us strength to bear sufferings and pains, somewhat joyfully. We read about the execution of Saint Stephen, who beheld the peace and joy of heaven as he was being stoned, and joyfully forgave his murderers. The bitter persecution of Christians that erupted after the murder of Stephen did not deter those fleeing from Jerusalem from proclaiming the Good News. “Those who escaped went from place to place preaching the Good News. One of them was Philip, who went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them.” When we live the Christian life rightly here on earth, it is a commencement of the heavenly life. Though the reality of the joy and peace of heaven is witnessed only deep within our spirits. It occasionally overflows its shores to envelope our whole being in peace. The development of interior prayer helps this overflowing of peace and joy of the Spirit to be constant. In all our faculties where the water of this heavenly river flows, no bitter or evil plant can grow, for the presence of the Holy Spirit does not admit the growth of evil. This was the case when Philip came to the Samaritan town. “There were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several paralytics and cripples were cured.”

The Incarnation of the Son of God was the objective arrival of the kingdom of heaven into the world as he announced himself. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.” His resurrection commenced the admission of mortal men into the kingdom of heaven through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We, who have received the Holy Spirit, still suffer physical hunger and thirst because the heavenly regeneration starts with our spirits. The body will be regenerated after it passes through the gates of death, in fulfilment of the divine sentence for the disobedience of Adam and Eve. The death of Jesus Christ has illuminated the darkness of death by giving us an assurance of resurrection from death. He promises resurrection to his faithful, saying: “Now the will of the one who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day. Yes, it is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him up on the last day.” Just as death came first before resurrection in the case of the Son of Man, we shall die first before we experience resurrection. Though both are at play in each of us who believe in the Son of Man. Our daily death is the working of the baptismal grace, and our daily spiritual joy and glory is the working of the Holy Spirit living within us, causing the overflow of the heavenly life to our physical members. They are the marvels of God’s work in us. “Come and see the works of God, tremendous his deeds among men.”

Let us pray: Be present to your family, O Lord, we pray and graciously ensure those you have endowed with the grace of faith an eternal share in the Resurrection of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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