By Fr. Simione Volavola, MSC (Pennsylvania Community, Center Valley, PA)Father Simi professed his first vows on February 20, 1995, and was ordained on January 27, 2001.
Dear Friends,
Today, we are assured by our Father. Jesus makes known to us the eagerness with which the Father wants to answer our prayers.
We all acknowledge that we are full of desires and that these desires are always there and we are never done desiring. The aching restlessness with which we desire, and the endlessness of all our desires point to a very deep-seated and primitive desire for fullness that results in utter peace, contentment, joy.
It is a very fundamental desire to be connected to one and all and to everything in perfect harmony, in perfect love. All our individual desires, significant and petty, for people and things, all signify our deepest longing for perfect communion with God and neighbor and the cosmos.
This is why the Father wants to give us the Holy Spirit. Jesus teaches us in today’s gospel to ask for the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit, we are united to the Father and the Son and all of their creation in perfect love. Only then will our desires turn to peace, contentment, joy.
Let us always ask for the Holy Spirit then. Why settle for less than what our hearts truly desire? The Father knows we need the Holy Spirit and assures us today of this, the greatest of gifts.