Homily of Pentecost, May 19, 2024 – on the 37th anniversary of the Disciples of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary – Fr. José Granados, dcjm
«The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.» We are dedicating this discipleship to the heart of Christ, who renews our hearts. In this way we are preparing for next year’s Jubilee: 2025 years that a heart has been beating in us and for us.
Heart and Spirit are very united. In Veni Creator Spiritus we have heard: «quae tu creasti pectora», that is, the Spirit has created and continues to recreate our hearts, because he has placed in them the source that comes from God. We see this because the Spirit works in the heart the three theological virtues. There is charity, according to what we have just heard in the reading: «Love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us» (Rom 5:5). There is faith, because «with the heart one believes» (Rom 10:10), and no one can say «Jesus is Lord» except in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). Finally, there is hope, because the Spirit enlightens the eyes of our hearts to know the gift that is reserved for us (cf. Eph 1:18).
This union of heart and Spirit is reinforced if we think about how both are united with wine. St. Paul says that «we have all drunk of one Spirit» (1 Cor 12:13), asking us not to get drunk on wine, but to allow ourselves to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18). The Disciples, at Pentecost, looked drunk. There would be some reason. The only excuse they gave was not for their behaviour, but for the early hour. Tradition has spoken of the «drunken sobrietas», something like a sober drunkenness or drunken sobriety. And if an essential fruit of the Spirit is joy, it follows that wine gladdens the heart of man (Sir 31:28). «What is life for those who lack wine?» (Sir 31:27), says the Bible, which can also be said of the Spirit.
The point of union between wine, heart and Spirit is joy. Today this joy of the Spirit fills our hearts with this sober drunkenness. It is a drunkenness from which we take away the bad and leave the good. Among the effects of joy St. Thomas Aquinas lists these three: it expands us, perfects our works and asks for even more joy. Let’s look at them.
- First, joy dilates us. We know that sadness shrinks the heart. It is that sadness is born in the presence of evil, which tinges with sorrow, and which we try to avoid by contracting, as if by getting into a corner of the inner man. On the contrary, joy expands the heart, just as wine dilates the arteries. The reason is that, in rejoicing, we are in communion with the good, and we make room for it in ourselves, enlarging our capacity.
This expansion of joy is in our journey as Disciples. A symbol is the houses that the Lord has given us. I think of our mother house in Villaescusa de Haro, and Doña Carmen González Lodares. It was the first space that the Lord opened for us and asked us to rebuild. In this house in La Mancha, the large jars, up to three or four meters high, stand out, which were used to store wine and oil, a symbol of the widening of the heart.
How does the heart dilate at Pentecost? The gift of the Spirit reminds us that, for the Christian faith, everything is already won from the beginning. The normal path of joy begins with the attraction of the good, which moves us to desire it and to seek it, until we become one with this good and enjoy joy. Well, in Christianity this path is reversed. We begin, not with the attraction of a distant good, but with the joy of possessing it already. What then is the way, as the Acts of the Apostles call the Christian faith (Acts 9:2)?
It is not a path where we begin with our empty vessels in order to fill them, but a path where we begin with an overflowing gift, with a spring in our hearts. The path is the way for the container to expand, so that it can always fit more. Let us remember that Christianity is not «yes, but not yet», but «yes, and even more».
Our house of Disciples was then the house of Madrid, which today is on Moscatelar Street. There our hearts dilated again because the families began to arrive. Joy is not only the joy of my individual goods, but it is above all the joy of friends, with whom goods are shared. With friendship the heart expands beyond us, its joy is multiplied by two. And just as we see in the friend a path upwards, joy is also multiplied «by God». According to St. Paul, the fruit of the Spirit is first of all love, joy and peace (Gal 5:22). It is a love, explains St. Thomas Aquinas, that has already been achieved, and that is why it is joy; and it is a joy that is lived with friends, and that is why it is peace or communion.
Finally, a third dilation came to us with our house in Rome. Then our vision was dilated, as we entered the gaze of great theologians who accompanied and enlightened us. It is known that the drunkard sees more, because he sees double. But in the drunkenness of the Spirit it is not repeated, but it is seen more deeply, because it is seen in the vision of another, and the origin and destiny of life is seen, which allows us to walk straight without stumbling.
- A second effect of joy is that it perfects the work. After giving us houses that would expand us, the Lord has given us works so that we could devote ourselves to work. I think of schools, parishes, work in universities and with our publishing house… We know that those who are happy work better, not only because the work is light, but because they do it with excellence. That is why God loves the one who gives with joy (2 Cor 9:7), because he gives from the heart. And this is why Jesus said: «There is more pleasure in giving than in receiving» (Acts 20:35), because whoever gives not only gives, but has also received from the fountain, and has received so much that he can overflow.
This is the mystery of Christian action, which is not born of a lack that we seek to solve, but is born of an overabundance. There is a way, but it is the way to be able to give more to others, to pour out what we have left over. You know that some dcjm have a reputation for bilocating or trilocating in works. Thanks to the Holy Spirit this does not have to be because of activism, but because of overflowing his gifts.
I recently read the story of the abbey of Casamari, in Italy, where while in Rome we went from time to time for community retreat and prayer. During the French occupation there were monks who died martyrs for defending the Eucharist from the soldiery. The monastery became a place of pilgrimage, because of the miracles performed by the saints. To the point that it was no longer possible for the monks to maintain silence. The superior then had to make a drastic decision. He asked the martyrs out of obedience to stop performing miracles. A few years later, when things calmed down, he allowed them again, always under obedience.
The amusing story (the jurisdiction of obedience does not reach so high) reminds us that all Christian action is like that of the martyrs, and consists in pouring out gifts. Obedience is not necessary for us to do more, there is so much joy in giving and in giving oneself. Obedience is necessary so that we rest and do not exhaust ourselves in the gift.
- This overabundance of joy leads us to a third effect of it: those who are joyful want more joy. This is not fulfilled by natural pleasures, which have a limit, and that is why the joy of food is filled with satiety. But when it is a matter of joy for friendship’s sake, and for friendship open to God, then there is always more to enjoy, and when we enjoy something, we are kindled by the desire for more joy. «Those who eat me will still hunger, and those who drink me will still thirst» (Ecclus 24:21). After looking at the way in which God has expanded the heart of our family and given us works, this superabundance invites us to look to the future, to the mission. This mission began in America, which symbolizes for us the hope of crossed borders to bring the Gospel to the whole world.
The superabundant joy of Pentecost comes from the gaze of Jesus, who encourages us. The Gospel tells us that the disciples, when they saw the Risen One, were filled with joy. But in the Gospel of John Jesus announces to his disciples something a little different: «I will see you and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy» (Jn 16:22). The full joy of Christ does not come because we see Him, but because He will see us. The reason for our ever-seeking joy is the way Christ looks at us. It is a gaze, we can say, from the heart, full of the triumph that he has won for us by rising. How does Jesus look at us? He sees in us God’s plan, and the holiness to which we are called, and his gaze is full of courage and enthusiasm. When it looks at us, it affirms our goodness and also affirms our destiny of fullness and gives us wings to achieve it.
Rabbi Zusya’s phrase is well known. He said that when the Lord judged him he would not ask him why it had not been Moses, but why it had not been Zusya. It makes sense, because many times we fall short of our true name, of the promise that God has made to us. This is the only reason for sadness, according to Léon Bloy: not to become ourselves according to God’s plan, that is, not to be holy. But this sadness disappears when the risen Jesus looks at us, for he has the strength for us to become fully according to our call. And when God judges us, he will ask us why we have not been Jesus, because that is now our goal, and with the power of the Spirit, which is the communication of Christ, we are in it and it matures in us. This is the foundation of joy that no one can take away from us.
And the disciples and the great discipleship family are also happy by Jesus’ gaze on us, full of enthusiasm and projects. We ask you not to abandon the work of your hands. A saying goes: «the house, of the parents; the grandfather’s vineyard; the olive grove, of the great-grandfather». The Lord has given us houses, dilating us; and he has begun to give us works, with the joy of the vineyard. We also ask him for the strength and splendour of the olive tree, which needs more time to take hold, and which is at the same time a symbol of the Spirit, called by St Ambrose «the oil of joy».
Easter ends, but ends without ending. The candle is extinguished, but the joy of the Spirit lights the candle in hearts. We return to this valley of tears, but we return with the joy of the Spirit, who makes the journey light and anticipates the homeland. Jesus said, «Peace I leave you, my peace I give you.» The Gospels make it clear that he also meant: «My joy I leave with you, my joy I give to you». May that joy propel each one of us and our disciple family from Easter to Easter until eternal Easter.