The Simple Way of Jesus

JUBILACIÓ QUARESMÀNICA
Dia 26

esglaons-Déu

TOT He dit fins ara que la nostra retirada es pot resumir d'aquesta manera: la vida en Crist consisteix en fent la voluntat del Pare amb l’ajut de l’Esperit Sant. És tan senzill! Per créixer en santedat, assolir fins i tot les altures mateixes de la santedat i la unió amb Déu, no és necessari convertir-se en teòleg. De fet, fins i tot podria ser un obstacle per a alguns.

In reality, holiness consists of one thing only: complete loyalty to God’s will. —Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade, Abandonament a la Providència Divina, translated by John Beevers, p. (introduction)

Indeed, Jesus said:

No tots els qui em diuen: "Senyor, Senyor", entraran al Regne dels cels, sinó només el qui fa la voluntat del meu Pare del cel. (Mt 7:21)

There are many today crying “Lord, Lord, I have a Masters in Divinity! Lord, I have a diploma in Youth Ministry! Lord, I have founded an apostolate! Lord, Lord, I am a priest!….” But it is the one who does the will of the Father who will enter the kingdom of Heaven. And this docility to the will of God is what Jesus means when He says,

Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. (Matt 18:3)

What does it mean to become like a little child? It is to be totally abandoned in every circumstance, whatever form it takes, accepting it as God’s will. In a word, it is to sigueu fidels sempre.

Jesus is showing a Simple Way, to moment by moment bind oneself to the will of the Father in all things. But Jesus not only preached it, He lived it. Even though He was the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus would do res apart from His Father.

…a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also… I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me. (John 5:19, 30)

Isn’t that stunning that Jesus, who is also God, would not take a step without doing it with and in the Father.

My Father is at work until now, so I am at work. (John 5:17)

If we consider the patriarchs, the prophets, all the way up to Our Blessed Mother, we see that their spirituality, their interior life consisted essentially in doing the will of God with their whole heart, mind, and body. Where were their spiritual directors, their counselors, their spiritual advisors? What blogs did they read or podcasts did they listen to? For them, life in God consisted in the simplicity of fidelitat in every circumstance.

Mary was the most simple of all creatures, and the most closely united to God. Her answer to the angel when she said, “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum” (“Let what you have said be done to me”) contained all the mystic theology of her ancestors to whom everything was reduced, as it is now, to the purest, simplest submission of the soul to the will of God, under whatever form it presents itself. —Fr. Jean-Pierre Caussade, Abandonament a la Providència Divina, Saint Benedict Classics, p. 13-14

It is the Simple Way that Jesus Himself took.

…he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:7)

And now, He has pointed the Way for you and me.

Com el Pare m'ha estimat, també jo us he estimat; roman en el meu amor. Si guardeu els meus manaments, romandreu en el meu amor, tal com jo he guardat els manaments del meu Pare i estic en el seu amor. (Joan 15:9-10)

Today, many want to attach themselves to this or that spirituality, this or that prophet, or this or that movement. There are many little tributaries that lead to God, but the simplest, most direct path is to follow the Great River of God’s will flowing in His commandments, the duty of the moment, and that which His permissive will presents throughout the day. This is the Narrow Pilgrim Road that leads to a depth of knowledge, wisdom, sanctity and union with God that surpasses all other ways, since it is the very road that Jesus Himself walked.

RESUM I ESCRIPTURA

The foundation of the interior life is to abandon yourself to God’s will in all things, seeing in whatever life presents you, the Simple Way to union with God.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him . (John 14:21)

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