Let ourselves be guided by God in loving our neighbour

We know how easy it is to confuse our own opinions and desires with the inner voice of the Spirit, how easy it is, therefore, to fall into arbitrariness and subjectivity.

I must never forget that the Reality is within me. I must silence everything within in order to discover the voice of God there. And I need to draw it out as if I were extracting a diamond from the mud: polish it up, highlight it and allow it to guide me. Then I can be a guide for others as well, because this subtle voice of God which urges on and enlightens, this lymph which rises up from the depths of the soul, is wisdom, it is love, and love is meant to be given.

How can we sharpen our supernatural sensitivity and evangelical intuition in order to perceive the suggestions of that voice?

First of all we need to constantly re-evangelize ourselves by becoming more and more familiar with the word of God, reading, meditating, living the Gospel, so that we increasingly acquire a Gospel mentality. We will learn to recognize God’s voice within ourselves in the measure that we get to know it from the lips of Jesus, Word of God become man. And we can ask for this in prayer.

Then we’ll have to allow the risen Lord to live in us, denying ourselves, waging war on our selfishness, on our “old self”, always lying in wait. This means that we must always be ready to say “no” to all that goes against God’s will and to say “yes” to all that he wants; “no” to ourselves in the moment of temptation, cutting short with its suggestions, and “yes” to carrying out what God has entrusted to us; “yes” to loving every neighbour; “yes” to the trials and difficulties we encounter.

Finally, it will be easier to discern the voice of God if we have the risen Lord in our midst that is, if we love one another, creating oases of communion, of brotherhood around us. Jesus in our midst is like the loudspeaker that amplifies the voice of God within each one of us so that we can hear it more clearly. The apostle Paul also teaches that Christian love lived in the community enriches us more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception to discern what is of value.

Our life will then be lived as if between two fires: God in us and God in our midst. In this divine furnace we will be formed and trained in listening to and following Jesus.