• The divine indwelling in the soul

• The Holy Spirit and peace

• With the fire of the Holy Spirit

THE EASTER SEASON is drawing to a close. Over the past few weeks, we have recalled several encounters between the Risen Christ and the Apostles and the Holy Women. The Ascension and Pentecost are now drawing near, and the Church invites us to prepare our hearts for these two solemnities. In the Gospel, we read the farewell words Jesus spoke during the Last Supper: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him” (Jn 14:23).

Jesus shows us how great God’s love is for us. He reveals the mystery of the divine indwelling in our soul: we are called to be the temple and dwelling place of the Holy Trinity. “To what greater degree of communion with God could we aspire? What greater proof than this could God give of his desire to enter into communion with us? The whole millennia-long history of Christian mysticism, even with its sublime expressions, can only speak imperfectly to us of this ineffable presence of God in the depths of the soul.”^[1]

God shows us how close He is to us. He is not content to simply be at our side: He wants to be within us, filling our hearts with his presence. “God is here with us, really present, living,” wrote St. Josemaría. “He sees and hears us. He guides us, and knows our smallest deeds, our most hidden intentions.”^[2] Remembering Him frequently will help us to experience his presence, to be faithful in the small and great things that make up our daily lives: “By treating him in this way, with this intimacy, you will become a good child of God and a great friend of his: in the street, in the square, in your business, in your profession, in your ordinary life.”^[3]

“THESE THINGS I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (Jn 14:25-26). The Church, born from the paschal mystery of Christ, is continually guided and vivified by the Holy Spirit. In her journey throughout history, despite the frailties of mankind, the assistance of the Third Person of the Trinity never ceases.

Faced with Jesus’ imminent departure, the apostles were worried about being left alone. The contrast between the magnitude of the mission entrusted to them and their own capabilities was great. How were they going to carry out the mission of bringing Christ’s word to the whole world? Therefore, after announcing the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus wanted to fill his disciples’ hearts with serenity: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (Jn 14:27).

Jesus gives them his peace through the Holy Spirit. It is a peace that is a gift from God and that therefore goes beyond what we can achieve with human strength alone. Often on this earth “there is only a certain appearance of peace, a balance created by fear and precarious compromises.”^[4] In contrast, the peace our Lord gives us is above all a consequence of the charity that the Paraclete pours into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5). “The peace of the Lord follows the way of meekness and mildness: it is taking responsibility for others. Indeed, Christ took on himself our evil, sin and our death. He took all of this upon himself. In this way he freed us. He paid for us. His peace is not the fruit of some compromise, but rather is born of self-giving.”^[5]

THE ACTION of the Paraclete in the early Church is evident in the Council of Jerusalem. “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...” (Acts 15:28). The apostles and priests had gathered to resolve a controversy over how to evangelize all peoples, including the new Christians not of Jewish origin. Beyond this specific problem, the sacred text reveals the enthusiasm with which the early Church spread the faith, following the inspiration of the Paraclete.

This missionary impulse, continually renewed, appears throughout the Church’s history. And it is a reason for hope in the mission of evangelization in which we too are immersed. “The Spirit accompanies the Church on the long journey that stretches between the first and second coming of Christ: ‘I am going away and I will come back to you’ (Jn 14:28), Jesus said to the Apostles. Between Christ’s ‘going’ and ‘returning’ is the time of the Church, which is his Body. The time of the Church, the time of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the Teacher who forms the disciples and makes them fall in love with Jesus: he teaches them to listen to his word, to contemplate his face.”^[6]

During his early years as a priest, St. Josemaría had some holy cards in his breviary that he used to mark the pages. One day he felt he was becoming attached to them, and he replaced them with some slips of paper on which he later wrote: Ure igne Sancti Spiritus!: Enkindle us with the fire of the Holy Spirit! “I used them for many years,” he recalled, “and every time I read them, it was like saying to the Holy Spirit: Set me ablaze! Make me a glowing ember!”^[7] With these same desires, we can prepare ourselves, while persevering in prayer close to Mary (cf. Acts 1:14), to receive the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Thus, enkindled with love for God and all men and women, we will be able to transmit divine warmth to everyone we meet, as the apostles did.

^[1] Saint John Paul II, Homily, 5 May 1986.

^[2] St. Josemaría, Furrow, no. 658.

^[3] St. Josemaría, Notes taken in a get-together, 17 November 1972.

^[4] St. Josemaría, Christ is Passing By, no. 73.

^[5] Francis, Audience, 13 April 2022.

^[6] Benedict XVI, Homily, 13 May 2007.

^[7] Salvador Bernal, Josemaría Escrivá de Balague, Rialp, 1980, p. 337.