That phrase catches one’s eye: “He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”
Jesus isn’t miserly with his gifts. He’s like a grandmother serving up a Thanksgiving dinner, with enough food for an army.
We see it everywhere in the Gospels. Look at John’s Gospel alone. At Cana, Jesus doesn’t dole out the wine (and good wine at that). He provides over 20 gallons. In the miracle of the loaves, 12 basketfuls are left over. When the disciples can’t catch any fish, he miraculously provides not a pail full, but over 150 fish. And when the woman anointed Jesus at Bethany with costly perfumed oil (over 300 days wages worth), he defends her largesse.
No, Jesus isn’t miserly. Neither is his Father, who gave his only Son. Neither is the Holy Spirit who floods God’s life upon us.
God doesn’t dole out gifts on the basis of quantity or even the quality of the recipient: “He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”
The Easter Season is one long celebration of God’s goodness. Today’s time with the Lord might well be a time of thank-yous. It’s a beautiful (and sometimes overlooked) way to pray. And so easy.
On this date in 1725, Gerard Majella was born at Muro, Italy (near Naples). When he died 30 years later, he was known as the greatest wonder worker of the 18th century.
Because of his father’s death, Gerard became the family’s breadwinner at the age of 12. He was apprenticed to the local tailor. At the age of 19, he set up his own tailor shop. It was a successful venture, but he had little to show for it since he gave most of his money away.
At 23, Gerard tried to join the Redemptorists as a lay brother. He was turned down because of his health. He persisted, and when he was 24, a priest sent him to the novitiate with the note: “I send you a useless brother.”
He worked hard at his assigned tasks and showed remarkable signs of holiness. It was said of him, “Either he is a fool…or a great saint.” St. Alphonsus Liquori, founder of the Redemptorists, thought he was the latter.
Gerard began to manifest unusual gifts – the reading of souls, bilocation, healings. His holiness drew hundreds of people to him for spiritual help.
His poor health and his many labors eventually caught up with him, and he died just before midnight on October 15, 1755, having foretold the time of his own death.
Bilocation (seeming to be in two places at the same time) is usually explained not as a physical presence, but as a spiritual phenomenon. The person is bodily present in one place, and represented in the other place in the form of a vision.