“ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE will consume me.” (Jn 2:17)
Jesus was consumed with zeal for the Heavenly Father’s Heart and Mission, which is the salvation of souls. He said, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.” (Jn 4:34)
Jesus established the Catholic Church so that He could finish the Heavenly Father’s work of salvation through, with, and in the baptized members of the Church. He instituted the priesthood and the Holy Eucharist so that we can be nourished and fed by the Sacraments. Baptism, First Holy Communion and Confirmation, also known as the Sacraments of Initiation, are the foundation that leads us on a path of conversion, holiness and union with God.
Jesus gave us the promised Holy Spirit as our advocate, teacher and guide to sanctify us and to make us holy. The Spirit of Truth will teach us to discern the difference between truth and falsehood, good and evil, consolation and desolation, virtue and vice so that we can renounce sin and choose to do that which is meritorious and pleasing to God.
We are called to fulfill the apostolic mission of the Catholic Church by living out the authentic vocation God planted in our hearts at baptism and by using the gifts, talents and charisms God gives us for the building up of the mystical body and bride of Christ. Our lives should be given over for the glory and worship of God, and for the conversion, sanctification and salvation of souls.
We must love God above all things and come to know Him intimately through the indwelling presence of the Most Holy Trinity. This can only be achieved through God’s gift of grace and by living a life of prayer and daily communion with God.
Deep prayer will spring our hearts into zealous action and the evangelization of God’s Love. It will propel us with a love for our neighbor, love for our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us and to extend mercy all times, even to the most hardened sinner.
As we burn with love for God on a path of holiness, we will help to ignite hearts with a thirst for eternal salvation, knowing all the while that without God we can do nothing.
God is the One that is performing all that is good and holy in and through us.
How can we go about Our Heavenly Father’s work with Jesus in the Spirit and help to build up the Catholic Church?
Join or create an effective ministry of evangelization or apostolate to spread the “Good News” of Christ Jesus.
Be a witness of virtuous living and share with others how God has touched our heart and transformed us.
Invite people to Church for Mass, Adoration, a bible study, spiritual retreat or event.
Ask people to pray about and consider becoming a baptized Catholic and to complete their Sacraments if they have not yet done so.
“The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity
of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: ‘If a man loves me’, says the Lord, ‘he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.’” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 260)
Let us recommit ourselves on May 26, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, to know, love and serve God more fully and to burn with apostolic zeal for God’s house by being a dwelling place of the Most High from within.