predication.net

In each of the four Gospels, Jesus is mentioned as the one who came to baptize with the Holy Spirit. He poured out the Spirit of God on God’s people as the fulfillment of prophecy. At the end of his life, Jesus began to speak more about the gift of the Spirit, whom he came to send. At that time, for the first time, he spoke openly about the Father, love, and unity that would characterize his disciples. The connection between these three things is obvious. Jesus even told his disciples that it was better if he departed from them bodily, that they might have the Spirit. After crucifixion and resurrection were his last words: …but in a few days, ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost …the Holy Ghost shall come upon your Spirit, you will receive power and be witnesses to me… (Acts 1:8)

They waited and prayed. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon them in force. They spoke in tongues, praising God and proclaiming the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, as Jesus had commanded them. What Jesus said to them, they experienced for themselves. They shared a new relationship with Jesus and unique
knowledge of the Father. It resulted from the Father and the Son indwelling through the Spirit Holy Spirit in their hearts. They were working in and through them in the proclamation of the gospel and confirming it by the signs which the Son had promised. The disciples experienced the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit in great abundance. They possessed great peace, joy, and confidence. They knew until they were and who was working through them.
In his sermon that day, the apostle Peter, recorded in Acts 2, clarifies that anyone can achieve what the disciples have gained. It’s supposed to be the regular part of Christianity, part of the everyday conversion experience. Consequently, this outpouring of the Spirit becomes Christianity’s standard expectation and understanding. Twenty-five years later, the Apostle Paul meets a group of disciples from Ephesus.
He asks them just one question to ascertain if they are Christians: Have you also received the Holy Spirit when you believed? (Acts 19:2). When he finds out that they did not, he tells them that Jesus had them baptized, laying his hands on them, and “the Holy Spirit came upon them,  spoke with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6).
The teaching of Jesus and the experience of the early Church point to a prominent and influential reception of the Holy Spirit as the key to understanding and experiencing Jesus and the Father. They point to a person’s clear and concrete experience who acts concretely to work, bringing tangible results. Christians who have this experience have not had this experience; they have been taught. Those who have had this experience have been prayed to receive them. The Word and Spirit of God have been actively manifested throughout all stages of salvation history. Their relationship to the Father, however, was revealed gradually. At Taurica, God completed the revelation of Himself as Father, as Son, and as Spirit. The mystery concealed for ages was told, and this mystery’s power has spread to the ends of the earth. How is this revelation related to God in our times today?

Among the approximately one billion people who belong to the various Christian churches, many millions do not experience what should be expected of the Christian life. They are baptized as babies and often grow up in an environment that is not. Christian. Few of them come to adulthood to affirm the baptismal fact—a personal decision for Christ and adequate reception of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The rite of Confirmation, which in many churches is such a confirmation decision in adulthood, is often celebrated after inadequate preparation and with little expectations. The consequence is that many Christians are unaware that the work of the Spirit Holy Spirit has only a vague knowledge of Jesus and the Father. If their apostle Paul had asked: “Did you also receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They would have answered like the disciples of Ephesus: “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
I would now like to share a conversation with Mary Trapp, a well-known character from the film With a Song Around the World. Translation of her autobiographical novel sings in after she had experienced the outpouring of the power of the Holy Spirit in her life. This will enlighten us about many things that we consider.

When we walk through nature these May days, we see many a beautiful sight of meadows in bloom. Although there is not just one kind of flower in the field, not just one color, we feel a fantastic beauty when we look at the flowers. From that sight, one can take away an experience that will strengthen him in his life. And in such an experience, looking at a meadow in bloom, we have the feeling that all this together forms unity. There is nothing there for itself, and our reason quietly recognizes that in that beauty, in the power that flows from it, in that unity of color, we feel one goal: to love God and glorify, to worship Him. When the beauty of nature brings us to these thoughts, all the more should we reflect today on the words of the Gospel?

Jesus prayed, “But I pray not only for them, but also for those who through their word will believe in me, that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you…” (Jn 17:20-21).

These are the final words of the Lord Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper, addressed to His Father and our Father. The Lord Jesus turned to His Father in a beautiful prayer at the end of the Last Supper for the Apostles when He left them the lavish gifts, namely: the Holy Mass, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the Sacrament of the Priesthood. He is going to the Mount of Olives. What is hidden in these words? What is so dear to the heart of Christ shortly before his death?
They are words in which we can find a value that cannot be replaced. We learn of the great love that Jesus has for all people, of his plea to the Father to allow him to carry out his plan of love with which he has enriched the whole world. Right at the beginning of his prayer, we hear that Jesus is not only praying for his apostles who were present at the Last Supper but equally for all who will believe the words of the apostles and thus believe in him. The Lord Jesus prays for all people who, by the end of the world, will believe that he is the Son of God, under the influence of hearing the word of God. He was thinking of us at that time. This is what He prayed for in that difficult moment: “…that they may all be one…” (Jn 17:21). As if to say that the greater the danger for believers, the more alive and firm their faith would be.

Jesus knew of the difficulties awaiting his faithful. In a few words, the Lord Jesus gives a pattern, an action guide to preserving unity still sought and never perfectly attained. The unity that is to come about among us is to be like the unity found between the Father and the Son of God: “…as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee…” (Jn 17:21).
Can we imagine a more perfect union, a harmony, than that between the Father and the Son? Unity is the essence of Jesus’ prayer request that there be a similar unity between us, the Son and the Father.

In the next part of the prayer, the Lord Jesus asks, “… that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me” (Jn 17:23). With this prayer, the Lord Jesus first wanted to tell us how much He loves us, that it is the kind of love with which The Father loves him. Further, we know from Jesus’ words that the Father will hear his petition: “… that they may all be one…” (Jn 17:21). At the same time, Jesus tells how this will happen. It will be in the expression of love for one another. “I have declared your name to them, and I will declare that the love with which you love me may be in them and that I may be in them” (Jn 17:26).
Thus we understand that unity is a consequence of our faith in Christ and that man could not achieve it by his efforts. Unity is a gift from God, which we are to ask for through the Holy Spirit. Then, the world and we will find it worthwhile to cooperate with God. This prayer does not enclose only the elect in its value, for Jesus is interested in all people being enriched in union with him. Jesus desires that all will one day reach that place, “… be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me…” (Jn 17:24).
We see these words realized in St. Stephen when, at the stoning, he cries out: “I see heaven open and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”
The will of the Lord Jesus was fulfilled on Stephen. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, through whom he sees and understands something. He is already happy; he knows that Jesus is waiting for him. And in this love, Stephen also wishes for and thus expresses the unity of which Jesus’ prayer speaks: “Lord, do not impute this sin to them” (Acts 7:60). These are the words with which Stephen wishes even his murderers, even though they hate him, that love and unity may prevail and that they too may one day come to the place that is the reward of those who strive for unity in love. The end of Jesus’ prayer says that the world does not yet know the Father. Jesus has yet to introduce him to the world, which he will do after his resurrection.
Stephen’s prayer is similar to the blessing of the Lord Jesus. He asks for unity permeated with love: Lord, do not impute this sin to them. Is there a better way to express Stephen’s love for Christ when he prays for his murderers?

Stephen’s behavior is a tremendous outreach and example to us. Stephen not only knew the purpose of Jesus’ prayer for unity and love among us, but he put it into practice at the most challenging moment of his life. He prayed for unity. We today feel that this is a great strength for us, and we see something beautiful in it when a man loves even in the hour of death his murderers and wishes that they too may one day dwell with Him in eternity.

When we observe humanity today, we find that it has never longed for unity and peace as much as it does today. Even though the bacillus of callousness, hatred, indifference, and others want to take hold of the world. But goodwill is also growing.
We see it in sports where racial discrimination is eliminated and other actions where the nation tries to help the country out of terrible cataclysms. Think of Armenia, the drought in Africa… The world seems to be maturing spiritually, even if it is slow-going. The world seems to be awakening its conscience and the dignity of man. The Church is also constantly striving, through the words of the Holy Father and the prayers of the faithful, to fulfill Christ’s prayer, “… that all may be one…” (Jn 17:21).

After the last war, in the Italian town of Cella di Varci, a church was built to mourn the destruction of churches worldwide. In 1952, the local parish priest appealed to mayors, bishops, and priests worldwide to send materials for this church. He received 60 replies. There was material from Poland and Japan. The church had a name: Church of the Brethren. The altar was from the demolished church in Hiroshima. It is decorated with a cross made of guns, bayonets, and knives. There is a crown of thorns made from the wire of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and the halo is a kind of ring used for torture in the Congo. The church speaks in plain language: Unity must prevail among us! Because only unity brings love, and love is a force with a goal, and that goal is stunning: eternal bliss, life without end, life eternal…

For us, it means to be able to forgive, forget, learn to forgive, to be able to open our fists, refrain from saying a word, and fill our minds with love.

Even the sight of us human beings is like a meadow in bloom. We are all different; in color, nature, education, ideology, age, and gender, but we should all be filled with the idea of unity because there is strength in unity, and from unity, beauty is born.

We live in a time characterized by fear. The present age is not only about space flight, the scientific and technological revolution, which makes the world frown, but also a whole series of troubles about the future course of humanity. We often hear about the struggle for a more beautiful tomorrow, a happier life for ourselves, and the need to look after ourselves and not look at the other person because nobody is looking after me. We begin to hate everyone better off, slowly we begin to see the other person as just a murderer who is lying in wait for us, and so we close ourselves off from the world; we don’t want to give anything to it, and we don’t want anything from anyone. We begin to subscribe to the principle that everybody is against everybody because there is much that divides us. There are too many difficulties among us, and therefore everybody has to make his way in this world.

We might ask, in the words of the poet:
People who are in haste, blind, behold how wretched you are! Why? You are slumbering; you are suffocating, tormented; for what endeavor are you doing this? Do you not feel that such a life is heading for self-destruction?

A little while ago, we heard the words of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel, and it was a prayer for unity.

But we can rightly ask whether the kind of unity that Jesus says is to be among us is even possible when we convince ourselves otherwise in our lives when intrigue and animosity reign supreme. Can we speak of unity in our great family of Christians when we see no agreement, even in small groups, in families?
St. John writes: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16).

Love is the force that unites and unites people with one another. If the Spirit of God is among us, then we will begin to live a different life, and ours will be fundamentally different from the lives of other people who are possessed by the spirit of this world. The difference is that we change our mindsets. Until then, we could have different desires and goals; for example, we could see our interest and enrichment as our gain and pursue things corresponding to our logic and egoism.
Now we see the matter differently. Our goal, towards which everything is directed, must become what we express by the slogan: “That all may be one!” This takes place because we have accepted the teaching of Christ, which leads us also to another wisdom of life, to faithfulness to the teaching of Christ. The words of the Lord Jesus gradually become the food of man, who slowly begins to practice the love taught by Christ. These words are to be manifested in our lives through interpersonal unity. And this is not easy.

The Lord Jesus knew this, so he gave us a personal example, offering us his help. His prayer, which we heard in the Gospel today, began by mentioning his imminent departure and the loneliness in which those closest to him would find themselves, and that is why he prays for them and us. Here we also understand the gift he has left us – the Sacrament of the Altar, which is meant to unite us. His Body is the food in which we are to draw strength, the pattern, and He has made us worthy by entrusting Himself into our human hands.
The fundamental duty of each of us who has believed in His love is: To strive for unity in the family, among neighbors, in the workplace, in the nation, in the Church, and the community of people. For us, the Eucharist is the source of this unity. In Communion, we are to learn this love.

What would you say to the question: When should we feel happy? You would answer: When I am healthy, when I am successful, when on vacation… But I think the best answer should be: I am happy when the people around me are happy too! True happiness can only be where there is love. True happiness is for those who remain in God and when God remains in them.

What Christian joy is, I will give the example of St. Francis of Assisi. One day Francis was running with Brother Leo in the cold and wind to the locked gate of the monastery. There Francis said to his brother: “Brother Leo, it would be beautiful if the brothers were an example of virtue and godliness, but remember that this is not a perfect joy.” Leo, therefore, asked Francis what true joy consisted of. And to this, Francis tells him: “Let us now knock at the monastery’s door. We are drenched, ruined, and hungry. And if upon our plea to be admitted to the monastery, the gatekeeper doesn’t believe we are brothers and tells us we are lying or throws us out, we won’t be admitted; we will stay out in the cold, rain, wind, and hunger. If we endure this patiently and do not get angry, but endure it patiently, it will be as if God Himself knew us and spoke to us through His mouth. Remember, Leon, this is true perfection!”

He who can patiently endure hardship is more able to show love.

Let us remember years ago when we were preparing for our first Holy Communion. What joy we had! Our hearts were happy because they were uncorrupted; they did not know grave sins. We should all go back to those years and try to appreciate the Eucharist more, to approach the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar more often and with greater interest and willingness. I have convinced myself that frequent and regular access to the Sacrament of the Altar is a great strength; even if one remains a weak person, one can forgive more, forget sooner, resist evil, and sin more typically. He can forgive the illicit and the forbidden. How many have scoffed at frequent access to the fountain of love and unity, but they scoffed only until they convinced themselves otherwise, that frequent Holy Communion does not make people sanctimonious, dreamers, but people happy and contented.

I know a man who is no angel, but I have heard from his lips, “If I did not frequent the sacrament, I feel that I should be a terrible father, husband, man, because of my nature.” No, the Sacrament of the Altar, the teachings of Christ, are not reactionary. Still, it is reactionary for anyone to say that Christianity is nonsense, that it adds nothing to and enriches the modern world.

Yes, our times are hard and evil. Wars are being fought; loved ones are being sued, and there is much strife, misunderstanding, and sin. But when we start from ourselves and do not look to the other to start, but I, we present here, start, it will already mean something, and there will be more love, happiness, and peace in the world. And this effort will pay off because God will bless it, and his blessing will be like a boomerang, which will come back and make us even happier. Let us reflect on this thought. What answer shall we give ourselves?

In the introduction to La P r e g h I e r’s Encyclopaedia of Prayer (Rome 1967), Professor R. Boccassino’s recollections from Africa. A primitive woman from a hill tribe makes clay vessels. She prays to the gods as she searches for the clay, mixing and firing it. They ask her who taught her. She shrugs and says: “Who teaches children to cry? Sami. Even prayer is alone from the heart.”

The definition of what prayer is said: Prayer is man’s conversation with God. We read in the Gospel an extraordinary conversation between a man and God, a wonderful conversation between the God-man, Jesus Christ, and His Father. From every line and sentence as we read the Gospel, we feel the greatness and beauty of that connection in conversation. The Easter season is coming to an end. We are only a week away from the Feast of the Sending of the Holy Spirit, the grand celebration of the beginning of the Church. Throughout the Easter season, we have been reminded of the mystery of our redemption. The work of Jesus Christ does not end with the events of Easter, the Resurrection, and the Ascension. Jesus Christ lives and develops in the Church. This is what Jesus Christ wanted and asked for in today’s Gospel, which we also call the High Priestly Prayer. Jesus prayed this prayer at the Last Supper. In the prayer, Jesus asks the Father for himself and his disciples. Jesus knows that his mission on earth is coming to an end. He asks for himself to recover the original glory shared with him by the Father, which he had stripped himself of (cf. Phil 2:7) for that time of his life when he wanted to become like us humans in all things except sin. He asks for unbreakable faith in his person and his mission against all hostility for the apostles. Even more, he asks for unity among them.

Jesus promises his disciples: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst” (Mt 18:20). He also showed them the pattern and the way to achieve this communion. Prayer is the hallmark of religious life. The believer cannot do without it. That is why our Church, following the example of Jesus Christ, attaches great importance to prayer and emphasizes cultivating both communal and personal prayer. Prayer has a firm place in the whole liturgy. Happy is a family and personal life enriched by regular prayer! In the light of this statement, it is appropriate to ask whether prayer has a proper place, seriousness, and appreciation in our lives. Let us reflect a little so that we may not be hasty in answering, but my answer is serious and responsible.

For us, the most reliable measure of the genuineness of the prayer life is Jesus Christ and his prayer-filled life. He prayed throughout his life. He was in constant, abiding communion with His heavenly Father in prayer. His real action was prayer, for he did everything in the name of the Father. He was doing his will in every act, glorifying the Father and showing help to people. In this way, he set an example for his followers to follow. Jesus’ specific prayers and examples are remarkable. He blessed in prayer (cf. Jn 6:2); he praised the Father (Mt 11:25); he prayed and gave thanks (cf. Jn 11:41); he prayed for Peter (cf. Lk 22:32); he prayed for the disciples and all believers (cf. Jn 17); he prayed for enemies (cf. Lk. 23:34); showed that one should always pray and not waver( cf. Lk. 18:1); warned against hypocrisy in prayer (cf. Mt. 6:7); promised to hear prayer offered in his name out of unwavering faith (cf. Jn. 15:7); showed and left the pattern of the Our Father prayer (cf. Mt. 6:9-13).

In prayer, Jesus found strength and consolation, which is why he always prayed at all times and in every situation: morning, day, and evening, at meals, in joy, and sorrow. In all things, he asked for the help and blessing of the Father in heaven. We see that Jesus’ emphasis in the practice of prayer is primarily on the things of God, acknowledging God’s power, respecting God’s will, appropriating and furthering God’s purposes: ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God…’ (Mt 6:33). However, it is essential that Jesus did not underestimate secular values, including human bodily needs. The success of prayer will also be more accurate when it is evident to all that we are Christians, and this must radiate from our words and actions.

This means that we are to be Christian not only in church but also everywhere: at home, in the family, in the workplace, and society. Our prayers are to be guided in this direction no matter where we pray because it is not where we pray that is decisive but how we pray. This means that prayer must be a matter of the heart and not a habit, for only then can it be genuine. But this does not detract from the importance of prayer in church. Praying together in church is very important for establishing a good relationship with God and with one’s neighbor. The Jerusalem temple was close to Jesus. He often spent time praying there, but he prayed wherever he was, not disturbed by anyone or anything. He could concentrate, open his heart in complete trust to the Father, and express his petitions and thanksgiving. In this context, let us understand the words: “If thou wilt pray, enter into thy chamber, shut the door behind thee…” (Mt 6:6). This means that we are to pray everywhere, anywhere, and in all the needs of life. Jesus is our most beautiful example in this. His prayer, his conversation with the Father, represents an immense richness for us from which we can continually draw. Many before us have seen this in their own lives and have never regretted it; on the contrary, prayer has lifted them and pulled them more to the model of prayer – Jesus Christ.

On November 13, 1983, the Holy Father John Paul II declared Maria Bacardi blessed. The liturgy was celebrated in Arabic, Greek, and Latin. In a sermon focused on the life of prayer of the new Blessed, the Holy Father said: “The Arab Bacardi family from a small village near Nazareth was visited by misfortune after misfortune. Twelve children were born, and all twelve died shortly after birth. The desperate parents – Greek Catholics – travel to Bethlehem with a prayer: At least one healthy child. It happened. The child is named Mary, and two years later, both parents die. Mary reaches relatives in Alexandria. As a 13-year-old, they want to betroth her according to the local custom. Something unexpected happens. The girl disagrees. Already at this age, she would like to consecrate herself to God. When punishments don’t help, she must go to a Muslim family for re-education. More punishments follow because she does not want to accept the faith of her hosts. After many adventures, she gets a job as a maid in France and becomes Sister Mary of the Crucified Jesus in a short time. She fills her life with love and especially with prayer. She lives in India, Spain, and finally in Bethlehem. She dies in the service of love when she brings water to the workers at the construction site. He suffered an accident and died of its effects on August 26, 1878. She was only 33 years old.” The Holy Father concluded his sermon with a prayer to her, the woman of prayer, Mary, From the crucified Jesus, like Jesus in the Upper Room, “I pray for them. I ask and pray for the peace of the whole world, unity, stability of human hearts, and confession of faith. “

The primitive woman in the professor’s narrative tells us: “Let us understand prayer as a matter of the heart,” It does not matter about education, status, or age, but about the love, we reciprocate to our God.

It is a wonderfully good feeling when a person is in trouble, when hopelessness, fear, and even despair begin to grip him, and he can lean on someone beside him. It is beautiful when it gives him hope and infuses him with strength when he hears the necessary words from his mouth: “Hope!”

The words of Jesus are a great strength to the person who believes, and we can feel this in the Gospel when Jesus says to the apostles, “In the world you have tribulation, but hope, I have overcome the world!” (Jn 16:33).

Jesus gave many explanations only to the apostles. In this way, he was preparing them so that they would go out into the world and administer his teachings to others one day. He explained many things to the apostles, and although they did not immediately understand them, they nevertheless noted that He was speaking to them not only in parables, that is, in examples from life that were familiar to them, for example, the good shepherd, the lost sheep, but He was also speaking to them. He told them about the relationship between himself and the Father, who had already decided to fulfill here on earth. He also told them about the suffering that awaits him and his departure from this world. The apostles could see that Jesus could see into their hearts. For example, he did not need to question what they had talked about on the way. He is, after all, the all-knowing God. Even today, in the Gospel, they say to Jesus: “Now we know that you know all things, and do not need anyone to question you” (Jn 16:30).
Gradually, the apostles reflected on what Jesus was teaching them, dissecting everything that was happening around Jesus. And so, they were able to conclude that Jesus had indeed gone forth from the Father and would return to the Father again. When Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?” Peter replied: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:15-16). This was Peter’s cooperation with the Holy Spirit, through whom God the Father revealed this to him. Thus, there is a progressive faith in the apostles. But this faith of theirs is not yet final. We know that they have believed in Christ, and when the test comes upon them, they will fail. Peter will deny it, and the others will scatter.

When we look at it with human eyes, we say this is not unusual. After all, something similar has happened or can happen to us. Let’s not be too sure. We may think that we are good and that nothing can happen to us to make us betray Jesus, for we have the experience, the age, the position, and so we will not sin again, and it may not be long before our pride is heard – and the fall follows. Today, we are to realize that only God is faithful!

The Lord Jesus knows us better than we can know ourselves because He created man. The Lord Jesus knew of our weaknesses, but He also knew that man would betray Him, abandon Him, deny Him. And yet, God will remain faithful. In the Gospel, he offers us his love so that we may hope in him.
He stands by us. He is always ready to intervene, help, protect us, and comfort us, true when there is goodwill on our part. In other words, when we believe in Jesus and strive to live in his sign, we will overcome the world. Jesus triumphed over sin in a short-lived defeat when people thought his death on the cross was the end of all things. That was Jesus’ victory, the victory of God over the whole world. His death over all evil and sin in history.
And this is what strengthens us to hope in Christ. So that our lives never go down such a dead end in life that we think He can’t help us, can’t help us, and we don’t even want Him to help us anymore…

And yet, today, the words that we joyfully accept ring out clearly. I hope in you, Lord! We hope that He will triumph over our sin. He forgives us and returns us his friendship, his love. He loves us more than we love Him, and yet today, He wants to reinstate our resolve. It is a beautiful feeling to live in peace with God.

Thank you, Lord, for your encouragement. You have strengthened us, Lord, that when we find ourselves in despair, when fear fills us, we have nothing to fear, for you are with us. We can lean on you and overcome when we fall and feel defeated. For all of this, let God be praised today. 

The unity of the wandering church and the church in heaven.
He expressed most beautifully the unity of the wandering Church and the heavenly Church. Andrea Pozzo, in one of his murals in the church
S. Ignazio in Rome. On the ceiling of the central nave, the monumental Baroque architecture gives way to an infinite sky. On a cloud, St. Ignatius ascends to the Holy Trinity. He is joined by several other saints of the Society of Jesus; at the sides, they are accompanied by ascending and descending angels, forming a union of the allegorically depicted four continents that seek this heavenly communion and move towards them.
As the Church of Heaven descends, the Church ascends, journeying towards its heavenly homeland; no, the two are drawing closer together, “merging into one church,” into a church “to which all, though in different degrees and different ways, belong” (LG 49), whether they wander on earth or “already removed from this world, they are being purified,” not being glorified in belonging to God (LG 49). In the church of S. Ignazio, there is also the tomb of St. Robert Bellarmine, dedicated in one of the volumes of his work, “De controversies christianae fidei,” to the three stages of the Church: the Church militant, the Church in a state of purification, and the Church triumphant.1 It has often been blamed the ecclesiology of the Counter-Reformation for overemphasizing the social and institutional aspect of the Church Militant while setting aside its eschatological character. The Council sought to correct this situation, replacing2 the term “Church Militant” with the word “Church Wandering,” thus showing that the Church is wandering towards her fullness and perfection “in heavenly glory” (LG 48); perspective is redacted in Chapter VII of the document “Lumen Gentium.
The Council held that the question of the veneration of the saints should be placed in a broader theological context, namely the eschatological character of the Church. Msgr. G. Philips comments on the result of this work as follows: “This idea leads us, unintentionally, to a happy enrichment of the constitution of the Church. The extension enables us to conceive of the Church, including its fulfillment in perfection. Still, it also shows us the meaning of our journey forward, precisely the sense of hope. Only now can we fully understand chapter 2 about the wandering people of God.
The second and seventh chapters of Lumen Gentium correspond to each other and thus contribute to establishing a balance. Ted, we can consider where we are coming from, what has already taken place, where we are going, and what the future holds. “4 Although this view somewhat corrects the not-so-eschatological notion of the “Church Militant” in post-Tridentine Council theology, “it remains true that the decision for ‘the people of God’ as the fundamental and default concept associated with today’s two-church arrangement, the earthly Church, of which we are members, and the heavenly Church, whose members are the elect who have already succeeded in reaching ‘homeland,’ has led to a certain narrowing of the patristic horizon”.5 Admittedly, care must be taken not to make these contrasts too not to exaggerate and exacerbate them, six, but it is worth pointing them out.

The Lord God can do whatever He wants. God is omnipotent.
God is the Lord of the whole world. The badges of power are the apple and the scepter. He created everything, minerals, plants, animals, and man. He made many creatures and could do even more. He can do anything he wants.

We have already talked and thought a lot about prayer, and we can say that we pray regularly and want to be focused when we pray. And yet, even today, we can talk about prayer, and we can talk about it because the Lord Jesus Himself wants to talk about it. Jesus says to the disciples: “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full” (Jn 16:24).

After one conversation with His Father, Jesus was approached by the apostles to teach them to pray. Then He taught them the prayer we call the O t h e n a s s e, which we consider the most beautiful because the Lord Jesus Himself taught it to us. Today, however, he admonishes us as his brothers and sisters to take advantage of his friendship with us and pray in his name, his and our heavenly Father’s. It is similar to when our good friend says to us:” Don’t be afraid, go and say that I am sending you.”

Jesus, by his passion and death, has obtained for us from the Father a new fountain of gifts and graces. Jesus wants us to address our petitions directly to our typical Father in his name. He wants us to do this so that we may realize what a distinguished position we have been given by his passion and death, that we can appeal directly to our Father and receive what we ask for, precisely because of the merits of Jesus Christ. We shall feel even greater joy in such a course of action. Jesus encourages us even more, to be successful and to have our needs heard by our Father when He remarks: “In that day, you will ask in my name. And I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (Jn. 16:26-27).

Thus, we have received the address directly to the body. It is up to each one of us how we use this excellent opportunity to obtain graces and love for ourselves and the world. The Lord Jesus, in His love for us, greatly desires that we would ask in prayer and that our encounters in this conversation would be frequent, as the Apostle says: “Brethren, pray without ceasing.”

This is a great confidence for us when there is to be so immediate an encounter with God, who created all this around us and in us and directs it. Let us make the best of it, for much depends on it even for the most severe encounter in our lives, at the hour of death. Yet, we can also ask for this encounter already here on earth to be a meeting of those who truly loved each other, who longed for each other. God has done everything for us to learn to ask, give thanks, forgive, and take time in our lives already here on earth to glorify our God.
Let us realize that our prayers will gain in value, and our encounter with Jesus will be transformed into fruitful dialogue, a conversation between two lovers – God and man. We can only come away from such an encounter happy and enriched beyond anything of the riches and beauty of this world. Jesus will give us all that will benefit our salvation if we take the time to meet him in prayer.

So let us thank the Lord Jesus for a new invitation to speak with him, for we understand that our God is always near us. We don’t need to go to a particular place; we don’t need to stand in line; we don’t need favoritism. He is just waiting for us when we take the time. He doesn’t need our prayers. He wants to bless us again, strengthen us, and fill us with His peace, love, and grace. Amen.