Heart of Jesus, Fountain of Life and Holiness
When the Israelites wandered through the desert of Rephidim, they ran out of water. They almost died of thirst and were close to despair. Then Moses, by God's command, struck the rock of Mount Horeb with a cane: a spring of abundant water sprung out, which satisfied the people's thirst. (cf. Ex.17:6) This event is a figure of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A similar role, as once the staff of Moses, was performed by Longinus's spear, which opened the Heart of the Savior. The wounded heart became a source of living water that washed the world of sins.
In a conversation with the Samaritan woman, Christ compared his words to living water that gushed toward eternal life. On the last day of the feast of Tabernacles, Jesus, standing in the courtyard of the Temple of Jerusalem, "cried in a loud voice:" If anyone is thirsty and believes in me - let him come to me and drink! As the Scripture said, "Streams of living water will flow from within" "(Jn 7: 37-38). In the light of the above quotes, we see that we rightly call Jesus the Source of a Life. He is the source of supernatural life, i.e. the source of God's grace, which in the future will fill us with the glory of the blessed in heaven. We received this grace at baptism, we enriched it in the sacrament of confirmation, and we constantly increase it in Holy Communion.
Jesus is the source of grace, the most abundant, purest and inexhaustible source. It is therefore a source of holiness. Jesus wants us to be saints; he said, " Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (cf. Mt 5:48). Similarly, the apostle Paul, writing to the faithful living in Thessaloníki, reminds them: "For God's will is your sanctification" (cf. 1 Thess 4: 3).
The pursuit of Christian perfection is our duty. The thing is, we often do not have the courage to definitely take this path. Holiness presents itself to us as an inaccessible mountain, full of thorns. It seems that we cannot even take a few steps to get a little higher. If we think so, we are wrong.
In fact, striving for holiness comes down to doing God's will every moment of life with love. God does not give importance to what we do, but at our love and intention. Some inconspicuous deed that does not matter in the eyes of the world, but done with the love of God's will, sanctifies us more than other activities, important in themselves, but done without good intention.
In the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph there were no great deeds in human eyes. Their life was quiet and simple in essence, however, it aroused the admiration of heaven, because they did not look for great things, but they sanctified themselves by fulfilling their simplest duties.
At every moment in our lives, let us do exactly what God's will demand from us. Let us put all our past, present and future in God's hands. Everyone has his/her own calling; one must sanctify oneself in the conditions in which God's providence one is placed.
Let us cultivate the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which is the source of life and holiness. Every day in the morning, let us offer him all our works, thoughts, conversations, even moments of rest. Let us try to maintain our union with Christ during the day and we will be sure that we have entered the path to holiness.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george