November 2021
Meditation IV
The Holy Spirit of Love and Mercy
“… and poured it out upon us by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, …”
(from the Act of Entrustment of the world to the Divine Mercy)
Christian life in the light of the mystery of the Holy Trinity
On the day of Pentecost, Christ’s Passover, that is, his passing from this world to the Father, was completed. On those gathered in the Upper Room: the Blessed Mother and the Apostles, the Holy Spirit was poured out, “who is manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person” (CCC – Catechism of the Catholic Church-731). As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in faith, they already share in the communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the “last days,” the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.” (CCC 732). These times are being realized through the fulfillment of the command that Jesus gave to His disciples just before Ascension: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age ” (Mt 28: 18b-20).
The “time of the Church” therefore consists in the proclamation of the Gospel and in the administration of the sacraments, first of all in Baptism, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity. This is when our deepest spiritual relationships with individual God’s persons are born. They have a special course. Our relationship to God the Father and to His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, is only possible through the Holy Spirit. He is who moves us interiorly and makes it impossible for anyone without his help to relate to the only-begotten Son of God and say: “Jesus is Lord” (cf. 1 Cor 12: 3). He too, sent by God into our hearts, calls in them “Abba, Father!” (cf. Gal 4: 6), which makes our relationship to God the Father possible. In this way, in the sacrament of Baptism, we have been gifted with eternal life, which consists in, as Christ said in his High Priestly Prayer to the Father in the Upper Room, “that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (Jn 17: 3). All the baptized receive the “grace of new birth in God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit”. Henceforth their spiritual life is realized in the light of the mystery of the Holy Trinity: “[they are] led [by the Holy Spirit] to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God’s Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God’s Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 683). The Holy Spirit, who – as we confess in the Creed of the Church – comes from “the Father and the Son,” and who for this very reason is their gift, gives us the possibility of a relationship with both the Father and the Son. They make Christians truly proud of their identity, because they know that “the Spirit of glory rests upon them” (cf. 1 Pet 4:14). Hence their hope for eternal life, about which the Apostle St. Paul wrote in the Letter to the Romans that ” hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us ” (Rom 5: 5)
Delving into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, however, we come across an insurmountable boundary, determined by the limitations of our human knowledge. Sister Faustina also experienced this when she wrote at the beginning of her religious life: “On one occasion I was reflecting on the Holy Trinity, on the essence of God. I absolutely wanted to know and fathom who God is. … In an instant my spirit was caught up into what seemed to be the next world. I saw an inaccessible light, and in this light what appeared like three sources of light which I could not understand. And out of that light came words in the form of lightning which encircled heaven and earth. Not understanding anything, I was very sad. Suddenly, from this sea of inaccessible light came our dearly beloved Savior, unutterably beautiful with His shining Wounds. And from this light came a voice which said, Who God is in His Essence, no one will fathom, neither the mind of Angels nor of man. Jesus said to me, Get to know God by contemplating His attributes. A moment later, He traced the sign of the cross with His hand and vanished.” (Diary 30). Nine years later, on May 23, 1937, on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, Sister Faustina wrote in her Diary: “During Holy Mass, I found myself suddenly united with the Most Holy Trinity. I recognized His majesty and greatness. I was united to the Three Persons. And once I was united to One of these Most Venerable Persons, I was at the same time united to the other Two Persons. The joy and happiness that my soul felt is beyond description. It grieves me that I am unable to put down in words that which has no words.” (Diary 1129)
The gradual revelation of the truth about God
The formulations contained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church are to some extent a synthesis of a long theological reflection on the truths of divine revelation, lasting almost from the very beginning of Christianity. It is by it that the long historical process of revealing to people the truth about God Himself – from His Name: “I AM THAT I AM”, heard by Moses at the burning bush in the Sinai Desert (cf. Ex 3:14), leads to the formulations of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and later, trying to express in human words, enriched with the philosophical achievements of ancient thinkers, the mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.
There is a paradox to this process. It consists in the fact that the Holy Spirit, who leads us both to the Father and to the Son, is the last in the revelation of the persons of the Holy Trinity (cf. CCC 684). Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, called the “Theologian”, explained this with the pedagogy of God’s “descent”. Indeed, in his Orationes theologicæ we read: “The Old Testament proclaimed the Father clearly, but the Son more obscurely. the New Testament revealed the Son and gave us a glimpse of the divinity of the Spirit. Now the Spirit dwells among us and grants us a clearer vision of himself. It was not prudent, when the divinity of the Father had not yet been confessed, to proclaim the Son openly and, when the divinity of the Son was not yet admitted, to add the Holy Spirit as an extra burden, to speak somewhat daringly…. By advancing and progressing “from glory to glory,” the light of the Trinity will shine in ever more brilliant rays.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church follows a similar line of argument: “The Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. But in these “end times,” ushered in by the Son’s redeeming Incarnation, the Spirit is revealed and given, recognized and welcomed as a person. Now can this divine plan, accomplished in Christ, the firstborn and head of the new creation, be embodied in mankind by the outpouring of the Spirit: as the Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. ” (CCC 686). A little further, the Catechism clarifies this truth even more, stating: “From the beginning until “the fullness of time,” The joint mission of the Father’s Word and Spirit remains hidden, but it is at work. God’s Spirit prepares for the time of the Messiah. Neither is fully revealed but both are already promised, to be watched for and welcomed at their manifestation. So, for this reason, when the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, “who has spoken through the prophets,” wants to tell us about Christ” (CCC 702).
Let yourself be led by the Holy Spirit
Faith in the Holy Trinity, that is, in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, is inseparable from faith that the Church is “holy” and “universal”, that is, “Catholic”, and that is “one” and “apostolic”, as we confess in the Nicene-Constantinople Symbol (cf. CCC 750).
The Church is holy because, as is written in the St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, the Holy Spirit makes him “the temple of the living God’” (2 Cor 6:16). In this regard, the pope Pius XII in the encyclical Mystici Corporis states that “To this Spirit of Christ, as an invisible principle, is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the body are joined one with the other and with their exalted head; for the whole Spirit of Christ is in the head, the whole Spirit is in the body, and the whole Spirit is in each of the members.”. This interior unity of the Church, St. Augustine explained it in his Sermons by comparing to the role that the soul plays in man in relation to the body: “What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the Body of Christ, which is the Church.”.
This is why the Holy Spirit is, as we read in the encyclical Mystici Corporis, “the principle of every vital and truly saving action in each part of the Body.” He works in many ways to build up the whole Body in charity: by the God’s Word, by the sacraments, by “the grace of the apostles, which holds first place among his gifts” (LG 7); then “by the virtues, which make us act according to what is good; finally, by the many special graces (called “charismas”), by which he makes the faithful “fit and ready to undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church” (CCC 798).
About the special gifts of the Holy Spirit for the Church which are charismas, St. Paul wrote in his 1st letter to the Corinthians: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.” (1 Cor 12: 4-11).
Charismas will become tangible gifts of the Holy Spirit to all members of the Church if they allow themselves to be guided by Him. Hence St. Paul addresses them with the following exhortation: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.” (Gal 5:25). According to the Apostle to the Nations, the wonderful fruits of this special docility to him are the following virtues: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Gal 5: 22b-23a). Moreover, he is the foundation of our dignity as God’s children. As wrote St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans: “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God”, which has like consequences our hoping for eternal life: “if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Rom 8: 14.17).
Live by the gifts of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the Gift of the Father and the Son, pours out God’s love on us, giving the Church his gifts. Every Christian should first recognize them in himself, and then show his gratitude for them and ask for their further development – both for his own good and for the good of the whole Church. Christ himself invited his disciples to this prayer, saying to them: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Lk 11:13).
When the Holy Father John Paul II visited Poland for the first time, during a meeting with academic youth gathered at the Church of St. Anna in Warsaw on June 3, 1979 – and it was Pentecost Sunday – he gave the young people a special, probably very dear for himself, personal gift. Turning to them, he said: “Receive from me this prayer that my father taught me, and remain faithful to it. You will thus stay in the upper room of the Church, united with the deepest stream of its history, and then you will stay in the upper room of Pentecost and the upper room of our history, the history of the Church and the history of the nation”. It was a prayer to the Holy Spirit, which the Pope prayed every day from his youthful years and which consisted of the following requests:
“Holy Spirit, I am asking You:
for the gift of Wisdom to know You better and Your divine perfection;
for the gift of Understanding to better understand the spirit of the mysteries of holy faith;
for the gift of Knowledge / that my life may be guided by the principles of this faith;
for the gift of Counsel, that I may seek advice from You in everything and always find it in You;
for the gift of Fortitude, that no fear or earthly favors could not tear me away from You;
for the gift of Piety, that I would always serve Your Majesty with filial love;
for the gift of the Fear of the Lord, that I would fear sin which offends You, O God. Amen.”
Let us pay attention to this prayer and let us try to penetrate the content of its individual petitions to the Holy Spirit.
The gift of Wisdom – “to know You better and Your God’s perfections”
The Holy Spirit, who will give the Apostles the gift of God’s wisdom and knowledge, was promised in the Upper Room by Christ himself in his Farewell Discourse, saying: “ the world neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you” (Jn 14: 16-17). The Spirit of Truth is also the Spirit of Love.
God is by no means known purely theoretically. For then the Absolute would appear to us as distant and indifferent to our fate. One God in the Holy Trinity, who “is love” (cf. 1 Jn 4:16b), is known by love. Christ calls us to it in the two commandments of love, and this is what the Holy Spirit gives us. “No one has ever seen God,” he says in the First Letter of St. John (1 Jn 4: 12a). After all, no one has experienced Him sensually – and can never experience Him in this way. However, by loving another human being, thanks to the Holy Spirit, we can experience that we truly abide in Him. For St. John continues: “if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit” (1 Jn 4: 12b-13). For this reason, the beloved disciple of the Lord, with true pride and joy, described the self-awareness of all Christians as follows: “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4: 16a).
The gift of Understanding: “to better understand the spirit of the mysteries of the holy faith”
Understanding the mysteries of the Christian faith is possible only by the Holy Spirit. Hence, due to the necessity of sending him to the Apostles, and through them to the whole Church, the Lord Jesus indicated in the Upper Room: “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. ” (Jn 14:26; 16:13).
The gift of Understanding is especially needed when we have to face people who expect us to argue for the truth of our faith in God. There are different situations in which we will need to use these arguments. It may be a philosophical-theological discussion, as it was in the case of St. Paul in the Areopagus of Athens (cf. Acts 17: 16-34). These arguments may also prove necessary in a situation of various persecutions, and even threats to life, resulting from the very fact that we are Christians. Then, as it were, on our hand, we must have previously thought-out arguments, which, on the one hand, will strengthen us in our faithful adherence to God, and, on the other hand, will serve us to counter the accusations directed against us by our persecutors. It was to the Christians who were persecuted in such a difficult situation in Bithynia for their faith that St. Peter wrote: “Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” (1 Pet 3:15).
An example of such faith, enriched with rational arguments, is St. Justin. Countering the allegations of pagans accusing Christians of godlessness, he wrote in his First Apology: “Hence are we called atheists. And we confess that we are atheists, so far as gods of this sort are concerned, but not with respect to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and temperance and the other virtues, who is free from all impurity. But both Him, and the Son (who came forth from Him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow and are made like to Him), and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, knowing them in reason and truth, and declaring without grudging to every one who wishes to learn, as we have been taught.” (1 Apology 6: 1-2). Therefore, brought to trial by Rustic, the prefect of Rome, who demanded that he renounce his Christian faith, Justin replied briefly and decisively: “No one in their right mind will pass from faith to impiety.”
Thanks to his unequivocal faith, supported by rational arguments, St. Justin died in Rome in 165 by beheading with a sword, becoming not only the first martyr philosopher in the history of the Church, but above all a great model for all Christians who, thanks to the gift of reason, were able to justify this hope, which enlivened their lives until death.
The gift of Counsel – “that I may seek advice from You in everything and always find it in You”
The Holy Spirit speaks to us by giving the gift of counsel, above all in the depths of our consciences permeated with prayerful silence. In order to be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit within us, we must continually pursue their righteousness. The Apostle St. Peter in his First Letter says: “with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear” (1 Pet 3:16). For he gives man the inner power to witness the truth, following the example of St. Paul, who confessed in the Letter to the Romans: “I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie; my conscience joins with the holy Spirit in bearing me witness.” (Rom 9: 1).
A special place for experiencing the gift of counsel is the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. It gives man not only the opportunity to face his sins and failures in truth, but also the God’s calling and the vocation. It is in this light that the “Adam’s Confession” from Karol Wojtyla’s youthful drama, Brother of Our God, must be interpreted. The protagonist of the drama, the great Polish painter Adam Chmielowski, is torn by doubts – whether he is to continue painting and develop his unique talent, or radically abandon his current life and devote himself entirely to Krakow beggars, saving them from material and moral poverty, and thus restoring on them the reflect of Christ’s face. Facing his spiritual struggle, Adam went to confession. During it, he confessed to his confessor the essence of the drama he was experiencing:
“Well then, my father. For I cannot love at the same time, because I cannot love halfway. For me, these are two abysses that are pulling. You can’t stay halfway between one and the other all the time. In response, he heard the words of the confessor:
– Why do you look at it in that way? Everyone can love God. (…)
– What do you say to me, my father?
– Let yourself be shaped by love.
– Like that?
– I do not know. Your love is your property, it is a good given to you. I cannot judge your love down to the slightest twitch of it.
– But if you were to prevail. To order or prohibit, reject or acknowledge.
– These are too big matters and too important. Such matters are not commanded to love. Idea. Our Lord performs so many good, so many great good through them. They connect us to Him more than anything else. Because everything changes in it. Let yourself be shaped by love. ”
The gift of Fortitude: “that no fear or earthly favors could not tear me away from You”
“When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, – the Lord Jesus spoke to the Apostles just before His Ascension – and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1: 8). The Holy Spirit, which descended on them ten days later, made them completely new people. From the fearful, fearing that they will become partakers of Christ’s fate, they became His brave witnesses. Hence, when they were brought before the Sanhedrin, they professed their faith unequivocally, saying to the chief priests, Sadducees, and Pharisees: “ The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand 5 as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the holy Spirit that God has given to those who obey him. ” (Acts 5: 30-32).
In front of the words of the high priest: “We gave you strict orders (did we not?) to stop teaching in that name. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us”, Peter and the Apostles resolutely replied: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5: 28-29). Their attitude to the further course of events was particularly telling. Condemned to be scourged and once again forbidden to preach the Gospel, the Apostles remained unmoved. For, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, “they went away from before the Sanhedrin and rejoiced that they had become worthy to suffer for [Jesus] name. They did not cease to teach daily in the temple and from house to house and to preach the Good News about Jesus Christ ”(Acts 5: 41-42).
These events, as well as all those we do not know, because they cannot be simply counted, looking at the entire history of the Church, are an unambiguous confirmation of what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples: “When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say. ” (Lk 12: 11-12).
The gift of Knowledge: “that my life may be guided by the principles of this faith”
Living by faith requires consistency. The first is – from the negative side – the radical separation from evil. It is not without reason that when the minister of this sacrament administers Baptism, the following questions are asked: “Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God’s children? Do you reject the glamor of evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin? Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness? ” The fact is that a baptized person who, in the case of the Baptism of an adult – by himself, and in the case of the Baptism of a small child – through his parents and godparents, should be able to say unequivocally: “I do. I reject!” and in his later life he lets himself be led by the Holy Spirit who spills God’s love in us. Therefore, in the Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul addressed the followers of Christ living in this city with the following appeal: “do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ ” (Eph 4: 30-32). This call to goodness and mercy is undoubtedly an echo of the words of the Lord Jesus to his disciples: “Be merciful as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). It is obvious that such imitation of the Father is possible thanks to our openness to the graces of the Holy Spirit.
In the Letter to the Galatians, St. Paul presented himself as an example of, on the one hand, skillfully rejecting the lifestyle of the Jews, scrupulously observing the Mosaic Law, and, on the other hand, accepting the principles of the Gospel in a spirit of genuine freedom: “I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God ” (Gal 2: 19b-21a).
The gift of Piety: “that I would always serve Your Majesty with filial love”
The Latin word pietas indicates a certain way of human life “in God’s way”, that is, in accordance with God’s plan for the man. This idea was expressed at the very moment of creating it in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26). This special closeness of man with his Creator consists not so much in his rationality, but in the ability to love. Moreover, to some extent it becomes a human task, since the Lord Jesus commanded to love God “with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30).
This love is expressed above all in Christian prayer, which, unlike prayers typical of various other religions, is the fruit of the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is when a Christian prays that the words of the Lord Jesus are fulfilled: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” (Jn 4: 23-24). And also the following words of St. Paul from the Letter to the Romans: “ In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings ” (Rom 8:26).
The interior openness to the gift of piety that the Holy Spirit sends us should be accompanied by a personal effort of prayer. St. Paul in various places of the First Letter to Timothy: “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity” (1 Tim 2: 1-2); “Train yourself for devotion; devotion is valuable in every respect, since it holds a promise of life both for the present and for the future” (1 Tim 4: 7b, 8b); “Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain. (…) But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness!” (1 Tim 6: 6.11).
Piety as a prayer of reference to God should be accompanied by active love for the brethren. Hence the St. Apostle James wrote in his Letter: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). And also St. Peter, inviting the faithful: “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love” (2 Peter 1 , 5-7).
The gift of the Fear of the Lord: “that I would fear sin which offends You, O God”
A Christian is a man who should live without any fear, in accordance with the words of the Lord Jesus in His Farewell Speech in the Upper Room: “I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn 16:33). Christ has conquered the world with his merciful love, and therefore everyone who remains in his love has no fear because, as wrote the Apostle St. John: “perfect love drives out fear” (cf. 1 Jn 4: 8).
However, there is one thing that he should be very much afraid of: it is the sin, which is an offense against God, and also a harm done to other people and to the perpetrator of evil himself. Therefore, St. Paul addressed the Christians living in Philippi with a heartfelt plea: “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world” (Phil 2: 12a. 15). On the other hand, the author of the Letter to the Hebrews formulated an unambiguous admonition in this respect: “Therefore, we who are receiving the unshakable kingdom should have gratitude, with which we should offer worship pleasing to God in reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12: 28-29). And St. Peter in his First Letter: “Now if you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning” (1 Pet 1:17)
Request
The Holy Spirit pours out God’s love on us – merciful love. Under her influence, St. Elizabeth of the Holy Trinity prayed that she would let herself be completely led by her – that she might love God even more than before: “O my God, Trinity whom I adore, let me entirely forget myself that I may abide in you, still and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity ; let nothing disturb my peace nor separate me from you, O my unchanging God, but that each moment may take me further into the depths of your mystery ! Pacify my soul! Make it your heaven, your beloved home and place of your repose ; let me never leave you there alone, but may I be ever attentive, ever alert in my faith, ever adoring and all given up to your creative action.”