“This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.” The prophets of the Old Testament often taught the people to
seek the knowledge of God, which is more important than the sacrifice of animals.
God himself would “teach each of the his people, and they would no longer say to
one another: Know the Lord”. The Prophet Habakkuk saw the day when: “The earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters top up the sea”. This is a
powerful figure and illustration for us who live on the Isle of Wight, looking over
the sea at every turn. The waters indeed fill the sea and the tide is still coming in. We
may hope that in these times of grave hardship when so many people struggle to
follow the guidance of conscience in spite of the difficulties of life, that they are
growing in the knowledge of God. There are so many opportunities of helping those
in need, so many challenges to bear witness to the God who is love, and to Jesus, our
Leader to life
Love of God motivates our obedience to the commandments. Failure to keep
the commandments diminishes our faith,our love of God and our grasp of his
truth. By keeping the commandments we show that we have some degree of
knowledge of God, so St John wrote: “By this we may be sure that we know him, if
we keep his commandments”. We may see the truth of this with the greatest clarity in
the commandment to forgive, that we may be forgiven. God shows his almighty
power most of all in forgiving and showing mercy. To forgive is become a little more
like God. Furthermore, the celebration of God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of
reconciliation teaches us that the Holy Spirit is sent among us for the forgiveness of
sins. When we forgive one another, thankful for this evidence of the presence of the
Holy Spirit in our lives, we may ourselves seek divine forgiveness with greater
confidence.
As we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit on the entire church at
Pentecost it is good to recall that he is our Comforter, Advocate and Counsellor.
All these titles suggest one who is at hand to give advice, to encourage and to
strengthen all noble intentions. In receiving the promptings of the holy Spirit
we are left free to accept or to reject them, to pray for grace to go along with them,
or to ignore them. We are created with this freedom. It is important to stress this
point: we need to pray for grace to respond to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. We
have to acknowledge the many times holy and good intentions have formed in our
minds, but have never borne fruit. St Peter expressed the noblest of intentions when
he protested to Our Lord that he was ready to go with him to prison and to death. He
is the first to teach us the need for humble prayer for grace to respond to
inspirations.
Equally important is thanksgiving not only for the inspirations we
receive but also for the grace which bring them to a happy conclusion. Perseverance
is the perfection of every good work.
We hear Our Lord say: “This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only true God
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”. We are invited to make continual
progress in this most precious knowledge, This comes to us in prayer, liturgical and private, through the scriptures, in our response to grace, by forgiving, and in
many other ways. By our delight in nature, for instance,we cannot fail to advance in
love of the creator. What joy to look out over the sea and remind ourselves of the
prophetic word: the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters fill
the sea.