Mass in Time of Pandemic - Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
May 28, 2020 12:00 pm · Sergio Muñoz Fita
With God’s favor, we have been reflecting together for a few weeks now on the new parish motto that we have embraced. We have seen how the words of the Lord, Fiat Voluntas Tua, "Thy Will be done", words He Himself used in his personal prayer and that He gave to his disciples in the Lord's Prayer, define the mission and purpose of Jesus Christ. He came in obedience to the salvific Will of his Father, “who wills everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:4) The Will of the Father is the sustenance that gave life to Jesus; it was his cause, his banner. His last words on the cross, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30) mean precisely this. It is the triumphant cry of a man who has carried out the plan of God to the end.
Last week we recalled that the Church, obedient to the command of her Head and Teacher, repeats these words several times each day in her official prayer, in the Liturgy. We quoted Saint Augustine, who invites us to recognize our own voices in Christ and in turn recognize his voice in ours. The Church joins the prayer of Christ and Christ joins us. We say these words through Christ, with Him and in Him, as the doxology of Holy Mass reminds us every day.
Throughout the history of the Church, the saints have learned this lesson from Jesus very well and have truly endorsed these words of the Incarnate Word. Holiness can be explained in many different ways and could even be defined from very different angles. Perhaps the simplest way would be this: holiness is doing the Will of God. Obviously, it would be necessary to go deeper into this brief definition, but it is, in fact, a very exact statement. The saint can say with the psalmist: "Your will is my delight". (Ps 119:16)
I have always been interested in studying the common features of holiness, as reflected in the lives of so many saints throughout history. It is true that there are various schools of spirituality, very different liturgical traditions, styles that have to do with diverse historical moments and with varied states of life, but I believe that it would be possible to do a kind of “Phenomenology of Holiness”, looking at characteristics that can be seen in all saints, regardless of their origin, culture, time or condition.
For example, there will be many different schools, the Franciscans are not the Jesuits, and the Dominicans are not the Carmelites, the Eastern churches have a very different sensitivity than the Latin Church. However, in all of them, there is this common element: the centrality of the Person of Christ in his two natures, human and divine. In this, Saint Frances of Assisi and Saint Ignatius of Loyola, Saint Dominic and Saint Simon Stock, Saint John Chrysostom and Saint Ambrose of Milan are all in agreement, and therefore we must all give assent because it is not an accidental aspect of our “being Christian” but one of the pillars on which our faith is raised.
In this “Phenomenology of Holiness,” I would dare to say that seeking the Will of God, doing the Will of God, living out the Will of God, resting in the Will of God, is at the core of all saints. No matter when they lived, where they lived, how old they were, what personal qualities they possessed, they have all made the Will of God their sole objective in life. It could not be otherwise. If holiness is union with Christ, and Christ's mission was to carry out the Saving Will of God, the best of the Lord’s disciples could not settle for a goal less than this. We will be seeing some examples, God willing, in the coming weeks.
For now, let us ask the Lord to follow in the footsteps of the best sons and daughters of the Church and for the purity of intention to say and always live these words: Lord, in everything and always, your Will be done.
