John 14:15-16, 23b-25

Meditatio (Reflecting)

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Oratio (Responding)

This line seem pretty authoritarian at first, but it is not meant that way. It is meant to be a circular argument. John Bergsma puts it like this The holy spirit teaches us how to love. This love teaches us how to follow the law. Following the law shows us how to live as god willed. To live as god willed is to love.” Explained more simply…, if you love me you will keep my commandments, and if you keep my commandments you will love me. This is not an exchange of goods, ie. “if you want ice cream you must pay for it”, this instead is a way of life, like the ebb and flow of the tides, or the rise and the setting of the sun. one part of statement invariably leads to the other part, and then back to the first. Jesus is proposing a new way of life. His commandments are mostly about how you treat and care for other people, and how you regard and love the lord. He does not give us commandments and rules because he is a tyranical leader that loves watching slaves do his bidding, but instead he, above all things, loves us completely and loves us so much that he wants the best for us. and as such the commandments he gives us are for our benefit, and we will find the greatest joy in living closely to the will he has for our lives. Bergsma also writes that “Our communion with God cannot be realized prior to our experience of the Spirit because it is only made possible by the Spirit.” This is the greatest obstacle of the life of faith. If you are closed off to god and his graces you will never be able to understand this way of life. It is only after you move toward god, and have faith and trust in his will for your life that you will obtain the understanding and peace that comes from recieving the grace of god, living with it, and then finally sharing it with the world around you. My greatest wish for all the people of this world, is that they humbly make this simple move of faith toward god, so that the abundance of graces that he desperately wants to pour out on you can finally be recieved.

Contemplatio (Contemplating)

Take time to simply remain in the presence of God.

Resolutio (Resolving)

Help me lord to find the peace that comes, as augustine says, from living in the tranquility of your order.