“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way?”
When the Most Holy Spirit is poured into the human heart, amazing things happen. The human heart catches fire of divine love, a blaze of love that fills the heart with overwhelming gladness and indescribable joy. This divine fire of love is a purifying power that cleanses the human heart and fills it with great peace and endless sweetness of God. The heart, then, desires nothing else but God alone. This Spirit of Truth convicts the heart and spreads all over the body, harmonizing all the parts of the body. And because this presence of the Most Holy Spirit creates an overwhelming delight, there are no adequate words to explain the mystery of this presence, and sometimes, it is only the silence that is sufficient, with just a simple gaze and interior listening and contemplation. The Holy Spirit draws the attention of the human heart, and directs it properly to the glory of God, and there the heart finds peace and joy, away from the troubles and anxieties of this world.
This gentle breeze, yet so powerful guest of the human heart, is also creative, shaping and renewing the whole person into the true image of God. This flame of love is the mighty wind at the very beginning of creation that swept over the waters. For, it is by the power and the working of the Holy Spirit that God gives life to all things and makes them holy. This is the same flame of divine love that rested on the apostles, the Holy Spirit. He creates a hatred for sin and in place of this, intensifies the love of God in the human heart. And when this flame of divine love conquers the whole person, it spreads from person to person, uniting and recreating the face of the whole earth. With great courage and faith, the human heart, on fire with divine love, bears testimony to the presence of this holy truth, and only this truth, that is the sure path to life, and peace, and happiness.
Love is God’s presence in the human heart because God is love. A person who loves, has God dwelling in his heart, and such a one has the image and likeness of God perfected in him. Spiritual maturity is manifested in true and genuine love because love is a purifying and unifying force. Love is a life-generating force, dispensing beauty, peace, joy, goodness, and justice, gathering into one, and creating a harmony of such delight, and so wonderful to behold.
When this beautiful gift of divine love took hold of Peter, he presented himself before unbelieving Jews, and with great faith and courage pronounced that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior, who died and rose for our sake, and that whoever believes in Him will be saved. This divine flame of love is uncontainable and unrestrainable. “It blows where it wills” (John 3:8), sweeping everything in its path. The nature of this love is endless gift, always and infinitely giving itself. We name him, in our Creed, “the Lord and the giver of life, Dominum et Vivificantem.” The two disciples at Emmaus said to each other, “were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way…?” and they went in haste back to Jerusalem to share news of great joy with the other apostles and believers. And here we must ask ourselves; are not our hearts burning within us right now, as the mystery of God’s love unfolds before us here and now, at this holy Mass, as we behold God breaking his silence and unveils the mystery of His personal life to us?
The love of beauty that manifests in music, theatrical plays, landscaping, arts, and crafts, in poems and in other inventive geniuses, is all the work of the Holy Spirit. The love of wisdom and knowledge, the growth of virtue and the development of character are all inspired by the Holy Spirit. Mystical encounters between God and man, vocations to consecrated life and to married life are all the work of the Holy Spirit. The proclamation and the preaching of the Word of God is possible because of the Holy Spirit. Deep and profound spiritual devotions, great conversions and acceptance of the faith, great sanctity and holiness of life are all incited by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, with deep faith and open hearts we raise our voices to Almighty God as we say,
Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your Divine Love. Send forth, Oh Lord, Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth.
Amen
Given on the third Sunday of Easter - April 23, 2023
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