Jesus does not seek only to satisfy us; He wants to fill us to overflowing. He wants His Fullness, the company of the Holy Trinity, to dwell in you. This is why we can “come with joy into the Lord’s presence,” as the Psalms say. The road has been paved by His Blood, His invitations have been sent, and now, the pilgrims, the bride, must make her way towards her bridegroom.
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was a man who particularly embodied this joy in participating in the fullness of God's invitation, walking his road with full conviction of his identity as “bride,” a pilgrim guided by the joyful promise of the wedding feast. One of my favorite quotes from him speaks to this truth:
"The end for which we are created invites us to walk a road that is surely sown with a lot of thorns, but it is not sad; through even the sorrow, it is illuminated by joy."
Frassati would have definitely been part of the Christ-followers that ticked off the Pharisees who asked Jesus why his disciples eat and drink and make merry all the time. (They were jealous! And bored! ...probably.) Jesus, speaking as the Bridegroom, basically says, “I am the life of the party. And when I go, the party goes with me” (My own rough translation).
In other words, where Jesus is, the life of the party is also, and Frassati was definitely the life of every party he went to, and whomever he was partying with. He knew the joys of life as well as the sorrows of life because he was living in the fullness of Christ, where even sorrows are “illuminated by joy,” the joy of the ultimate party: the heavenly wedding feast of Christ and the Church, the bridegroom and the bride.
The summit of the wedding feast, the Divine Marriage of God and His Church, calls for change out of the bride and the bridegroom, and this change was initiated by Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Now, we must accept His change by allowing Him to change us.
Bl. Pier Giorgio, please pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire uncompromising attitudes within us towards the new life of Christ. We pray that your life, illuminated by joy, would inspire our faith in the way God works through hungry, eager hearts.
Jesus, we are all your Bride.
Help us prepare our hearts for the newness of each moment.
And may we be grateful.
Alyssa I. Pintar Breen is a wife, a daughter, and a student of the Holy Spirit firstly, but also, a doctoral student of developmental psychology at NYU. She blogs weekly at forthechurchmilitant.wordpress.com.
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