Several times in the gospel, Jesus will build on the requests of the disciples or any other person so as to offer them more. Often the answers or the naive questions of those who talk to Jesus will open the door to a spiritual treasure.
Jesus questions people’s desires and fulfills them far beyond their expectations. Thus, the desire—and sometimes this desire is very material—is sublimated by Jesus to realize the deeper vocation of the person with whom he’s speaking.
The first two disciples who follow Jesus, wanting to know where he lives (cf. Jn 1:38), will become the apostles of the risen Christ. He provides bread to the crowds by multiplying it, offering them the Bread of Life (cf. Mt 14:13–21). To the Samaritan woman who asks for water, he promises the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 4:1–42).
The salvation brought by Jesus fulfills and surpasses humanity’s deepest expectations and aspirations.
The Holy Spirit is present in our hearts, like an underground spring. We are created in the image and likeness of God; and, through faith in Christ Jesus and the sacramental life, we are established as adopted sons and daughters of God our Father.
In humanity, and even more so in those who are Christians, there is something beyond us: the Spirit of the Father and of the Son who has been “poured into our hearts” (cf. Rom 5:5).
And the fact that we have spiritual desires within us is a sign that we are moved by the Holy Spirit. These aren’t idle desires, but signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
Spiritual desires manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, just as pools of water on the surface of the earth are signs of the hidden spring.
Father Antoine-Marie Leduc, ocd
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Meditation for Week 5 (excerpt)
Translation from the French text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.
Featured image: This detail is from Mary, Queen of Scots, at Prayer, an oil on canvas painting executed in 1883 by Patrick William Adam (British, 1854–1929); it is part of the art collection at the John Muir House in Haddington, Scotland. Image credit: East Lothian Council, by The Public Catalogue Foundation via Art UK
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