Jn 16,5-11 – Blessed Virgin Mary of Fatima – Optional Memorial
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.” This word from today’s Gospel reminds us that faith is never a closed question. It is not something already understood once and for all. It’s a journey. And along this path it is the Holy Spirit who, step by step, introduces us ever deeper into the truth.
The Spirit does not impose, but guides. It doesn’t crush, but widens. He leads us according to our ability, respecting the times, making a broader and more realistic outlook grow within us. It is significant that this page is compared today to the memory of Our Lady of Fatima. There too we see a divine pedagogy made of simplicity, gradualness and depth. Mary introduces the little ones into the logic of God without forcing them. The three shepherd children are a clear sign of this.
Even at their young age, they experienced real spiritual depth, each according to their own charism. Lucia with the gift of proclamation, Giacinta with that of reparation, Francesco with the silent and intense love for Jesus in the Eucharist. It’s like each of them had accepted and returned the Gospel according to his own measure. Not uniformly, but in diversity. This helps us understand that the journey of faith is personal for us too.
The Spirit does not make us copies, but unique people. AND within this uniqueness it leads us to the truth. Today’s Gospel, then, invites us to trust this process. Not to expect to understand everything immediately, but to let ourselves be guided. Because it is precisely the Spirit who, over time, opens our lives to an ever fuller understanding of Christ and of ourselves because deep down we don’t even know who we really are.
