Our Lord in today's Gospel speaks that it is the keeping of the commandments that is
the prerequisite of ultimately having union with the Father, that is, having love for
the Father. And we see in today's first readings that even in a sort of perverse way, the pagans
testified to this wisdom that was being brought to them by the apostles, especially the apostle
Paul and Barnabas, when they sought to make them gods too, that is, to deify them. But St. Paul
and St. Barnabas would reject this because they knew clearly, they knew full well that it would
be a violation of that first and foremost of all the commandments by which we are to love our God
above all things and not to have strange gods before him. And so that is the beginning of all
true wisdom, to worship and to love the one true God. And ultimately, it is persevering in this
by which we will acquire eternal union with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We need to study the tactics of the devil, for often he sows love for sins that are not worse sins
than violation of the first commandment, but they are sins that lead to it. And ultimately, in our
lives and in our world, that would ultimately have to do with sins regarding the sixth, seventh,
and ninth commandments. For the devil knows that if he can get us addicted to the sins of greed
and of lust, then he can lead us most especially to those sins that are not worth sinning. And so
that truly consume the substance, that is, blasphemies and other things by which we deny
the very first commandment. And indeed, in our own culture, in our old world, it has become very
sophisticated, for often we consider the pursuit of success as a good thing, and it can be if it
is done in a proper way, that is, in accord with God's commandments. But ultimately, for the most
part, it has become the sin of idolatry.
The pursuit of success has replaced the love of God, and especially the putting of God before all
things. And so, let us strive always and everywhere to observe those commandments by listening to and
obeying that preaching that was first brought to the world by the apostles and continues to be
brought to them by all the successors of the apostles who are in union with the vicar of Christ.
And ultimately, it is the vicar of Christ,
whom we must turn to for all things, because it is the Holy Spirit who protects him from making
any error regarding faith and morals. And so, he is a sure guide for us to follow in matters of
faith and morals. And ultimately, the assurity that we have the Holy Spirit, which our Lord
speaks of at the end of today's gospel, is holding the one true faith. To have the Holy Spirit is not
is not, as it were, a manifestation.
of those false things that we often see within the spiritual life of many members of the mystical
body, those things that are ultimately rooted in their feelings and the emotions. But ultimately,
to have the Holy Spirit guiding us is to have the one true faith. And in order to have that,
we must have that filial devotion to the vicar of Christ. And ultimately, the Holy Spirit,
as the Lord tells us, will remind us of
the vicar of Christ. And ultimately, the Holy Spirit, as the Lord tells us, will remind us of
all that he told us. And so, ultimately, it is obedience to Jesus Christ that will determine
whether or not we are truly being guided by the advocate. And the advocate always is an advocate
for us, because he helps to preserve us in matters of faith and morals. And so, he is always guiding
us, striving to help us, in order that we may not abandon that one true faith. And ultimately,
that we may be found in the Holy Spirit.
And so, we are bound in the end observers, most especially of the first commandment, by which we
have truly loved the one true God, and have not put any strange gods before us. And ultimately,
some of the strangest of all gods are being worshiped in place of the one true God,
in our own age, in our own culture. And so, let us pray to the apostles and to all the faithful
men and women who have gone before us, so that they may intercede for us, so that we too, like them,
can observe the commandments of the Lord in love
and ultimately receive that for which the human soul
was created, union with the blessed Trinity
for all eternity in heaven.
Satsang with Mooji