PRAYING "LA PAROLA DEL PADRE"
I always do what is pleasing to him
Scripture reading (Jn 8:21–30)
Again he said to them, “I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” Then said the Jews, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Even what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge; but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.” As he spoke thus, many believed in him.
Confortian response
Parola del Padre 49, July–August 1922
“Holiness does not consist in doing great things and enjoying extraordinary supernatural gifts, but in possessing the divine grace and faithfully fulfilling God’s will, which manifests itself to us in the duties of the state in which Divine Providence has placed us. This is how the Saints reached the peak of Christian perfection, merited a throne of glory in heaven and made themselves worthy of being proposed by the Church as models for us to imitate.
We too must live in this way if we are to grow in virtue and accumulate many merits for heaven, avoiding the danger of vanity that often infects extraordinary works, which draw the attention of people to us and attract their admiration. God alone must be the goal of whatever we do”.
Personal reflection
An important conclusion emerges with practical implications: the call to holiness is universal. If it is true that perfection consists only in “carrying out, with the greatest perfection possible, the duties of our state, even in the most ordinary things…”, it is clear that all are called to this holiness and that it is within everyone’s grasp. Daily duty is the definitive and most reliable proof of an authentic love for God (1966, pgs. 201–202).
