We are not slaves but friends.
Jesus tells us to remain in him. How does the Lord come to us? Through baptism and communion.
The Holy Spirit is not restricted to only those of the Jewish people but to all people. We know God and love him if we keep his commandments. We need to read scripture so that we know our heritage. We do need to interpret it correctly, but we need to read it. The commandments are: "love God" and "love your neighbor as ourselves."
Fr. Steve talks about his family’s experience of the protestant church when they committed to reading scripture for 5 minutes a day. He then read an excerpt from the proverb of the day: Proverbs 6 (because today is May 6) by way of example, which warns against unrighteous behavior. The message is rich and life-giving.
All of us are loved by the Jesus the way the Father loves him. He also wants to give us joy – not natural joy that we find in the world, but his very life coursing through us. He wants the fruits of the Spirit for us.
Many of us have never heard the Lord speak to our in their heart. But God does not ration his Spirit. The only limit to our reception of the Holy Spirit is us. We harm ourselves by protecting ourselves. All of us have received the fullness of the life of God so that we can become perfect. And each of us has a role in his kingdom that no one else can perform. He chose us, we did not chose him. Each of us has a job to do for the Lord. Are we bearing fruit? Or are we resentful, critical, despairing.
Fr. Steve then shares an excerpt from St. John Henry Newman, who speaks of God’s gift to us of existence, out of love. We are created in God’s image. But we are the only being who can do what we are not. God gave us free will and we can choose not to do what we were created for: love. God has chosen to bring about his will through his creatures: us. And each of us is created to do something that no one else can do. No one is superfluous. Each of us is vital to the Lord's work. What is your mission in life? What does God want you to do? The Lord’s will is our peace.
Fr. Steve witnesses to the joy he experiences right now. “I have never been happier than I am now,” he says. And if each of us dares to believe we can be happy too.
