Presence of God

O Holy Spirit, help me to establish my heart in peace.

Meditation

I. A soul who has tasted God, under the influence of the gift of wisdom, looks at the world with the eyes of God, and therefore is able to judge all things "secundum rationes divinae" (St. Thomas IIa IIae, q.45, a.3, ad 3) by divine principles, according to supernatural motives, and not according to limited human reasoning. These are the truly "wise" judgments that we can never formulate without the help of the Holy Spirit. In fact, "the sensual man [the man of the senses and of natural reason] perceiveth not these things that are ofthe Spirit ofGod; for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand, because it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man [the man of faith guided by the Holy Spirit] judgeth all things" (1Co. 2, 14-15). He judges all things in relation to their supreme Cause, God; therefore, he directs all his acts and orders everything in his life according to God. From this order—the only true order—comes peace, the fruit of the wise direction of the gift ofwisdom; hence, the man who habitually lives under the influence of this gift is a peaceful man par excellence. His heart is established in peace, there is no longer anything disordered in it; all his affections and desires, all his thoughts and acts, are completely ordered according to God, being wholly submitted and conformed to His laws, to His will, to His good pleasure. One who possesses peace, disseminates peace. A peacemaker, in the etymological sense, is one who makes peace, cultivates peace, and spreads it about him. This is why the gift of wisdom corresponds to the beatitude of peace, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Only one who lives under the influence of this gift can truly judge and regulate everything according to God, so that nothing, not even suffering, can disturb his interior peace, for he knows that even the most painful happenings are permitted and ordered by God for the good of His elect. "To them that love God, all things work together unto good" (Rm. 8, 28).

In this way the gift of wisdom gives a note of sweetness, not only to our prayer, but also to our practical life : "Under the influence of this gift," says St. Thomas, "what is bitter becomes sweet, and weariness becomes repose" (IIa IIae, q.45, a.3, ad 3).

II. The gift of wisdom leads us to peace : the interior peace of the soul who, having tasted God, gives itself to Him without reserve, in complete surrender to His divine will; the serene peace of one who, seeing God in all things, accepts the hardships of life without being disturbed, adoring God’s providence in all; finally, it is the social peace of him who, considering all men in relation to God, as His creatures and His children, loves them all and wishes to live in peace with all. The more perfect it becomes, the more will this peace bring us to taste the reward promised by Jesus : "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God" (Ml 5,9).

All Christians are children of God by grace, but here we are considering the special reward which we might call a superabundance of the grace of adoption, an experience by which the soul not only knows, but even feels and tastes that it is a child of God. It is the savory sense of divine filiation which is born in the soul under the influence of the gift of wisdom. "The Spirit Himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God" (Rom 8,16); these words of St. Paul become a living reality, a delightful experience; the soul feels itself called a child of God, not by men, but by God Himself; no audible voice speaks to it, but the more it feels drawn by God and enjoys Him in intimate union, so much the more does it feel that He is its Father and that, in very truth, it is His child.

Our God is the God of peace; therefore, it is perfectly right that the peaceful man, he who possesses and diffuses peace, should feel in a very special way that he is God’s child. If men generally do not feel themselves to be children of God, it is because they are so little disposed to peace, so ready for disputes, quarrels and war. They talk about peace but do not make peace, for they do not accept the guidance of the Spirit of wisdom. In their ignorance they prefer to be guided by themselves, and as a result they are dominated by pride, self-interest, and cupidity; they live in disorder and they sow disorder around them.

The more our soul becomes firmly established in peace, and the more we become messengers of peace, to that degree will the Holy Spirit infuse into us this delightful sense of our divine sonship, and this will become for us a source ofimmense happiness, a true prelude of eternal beatitude.

Colloquy

"O Holy Spirit, give us Your wisdom to teach and guide us and to bring all things back to You, from whom they came. Oh! ifwe could really return to You as we came out from You, like waves returning to the ocean whence they came! Oh! Ifwe could only make this complete return to You, we should be in perpetual happiness and perpetual peace!

"Your wisdom is the perfection which orders all things in relation to You who are their end. It considers the past, looks at the present, and scans the future always in relation to You. From this orientation, peace, the sweet fruit of wisdom, is born in our hearts. He who possesses this peace is always serene : he is not troubled by the past or the present, and he looks peacefully toward the future, because he knows that everything is permitted and arranged by Your sovereign goodness.

"O eternal Father, give us light to know this peace, the cause of so many blessings, and without which we fall into so many faults and evils!

"Oh! why can I not communicate this peace to every creature? If I were what I should be, I certainly could diffuse it everywhere! O Lord, give me Your peace, the peace of a heart which lives united to You, for of myself I can have no good and without You I cannot have peace" (St. Mary Magdalen dei Pazzi).

"O most benign Jesus, give me above all desires the desire to rest in You, and in You let my heart find peace. You are the true peace of the heart; You are its only refuge; without You all things are difficult and troubled. In this peace, then, that is, in You, the one sovereign eternal Good, I will sleep and take my rest" (Imit. Ill, 15,4).