The Living Flame of Love

Some people have asked us for text versions of Fr. John Mary’s homilies, so we are sharing this AI generated transcript. It has not been reviewed by the Fr. John Mary. The AI is very accurate, but not one hundred percent. If something seems significantly wrong, please consult original audio and let us know if there is a problem. 

Also, it is good to keep in mind that this homily was intended to be listened to, not read. It was preached from notes, and there was no original written document. Nuance can be lost when it is only read. 

Lastly the headings are not original but AI generated.

Pentecost and the Living Flame of Love

This Pentecost, we heard the reading of the Holy Spirit coming as tongues of fire, and that’s a very simple manifestation, but what is behind that manifestation? The limitless divine love of God, the Holy Spirit. And so today, on this feast of Pentecost, I wanted to read to you a poem, a famous poem by the great mystic St. John of the Cross, and it’s called The Living Flame of Love.

So in this short poem he speaks of the soul’s deep union with God in the fire of the Holy Spirit. The poem is pretty short, but then he writes a whole book to explain what the poem means, because there’s a lot of depth in it. This is just an English translation:

O living flame of love
that tenderly wounds my soul in its deepest center,
since now you are not oppressive, now consummate,
if it be your will, tear through the veil of the sweet encounter.

O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound,
O gentle hand,
O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt.
In killing you change death to life.

O lamps of fire,
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling, once obscure and blind,
now give forth so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their beloved.

How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone,
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

He speaks of “cautery”—cauterizing—when something very hot is used to burn the flesh of a wound to stop bleeding or prevent infection. St. John is trying to put into words what his soul is experiencing in this union with God as a fire of love. As I say, there’s a whole book to explain it.

So today we celebrate this fire of love, this fire of God, who comes down to sanctify the Church, and in the terrible trial that the Church is living right now—where the Church has been infiltrated, and there’s been so much corruption that has deformed the Church—this feast reminds us of the true nature of the Church.

The Deep Human Hunger for God and the Church’s Mission

Many people, we know, have rejected the Church. Many people are disgusted with what they see in the Church, they’re discouraged, and they just reject it. So it’s important to discover: what is the Church, and what is it for?

What I want to focus on today, as revealed in this poem of St. John, is that the Church exists to unite us to God. Man’s greatest hunger, the greatest hunger of the human person, is the hunger, the need for God—for union with God. This is what St. John of the Cross expresses so powerfully: the pull, the light, the magnetism of God on his soul.

Many people today are seeking something transcendent and at the same time something very intimate, something mystical—this deep human hunger for something much more. For many, their experience of the Catholic Church is just as a human organization. Many people see the Catholic Church as just a human organization, kind of like a glorified NGO with a little spiritual flavor thrown in. A lot of people see it as a corrupt human organization which is using spirituality to manipulate people. A lot of people feel that way.

And so if they want something really transcendent, they think they have to look someplace else. A lot of them look in Eastern religions—Buddhism or Hinduism. In movies, when they want to show someone on a spiritual quest, where do they go? To a mountain in Tibet, right? It’s always on some high mountain in Tibet. Some people are seeking for something mystical in psychedelics. A lot of people are looking in the New Age movement, or even in the occult and false mysticism.

But those aren’t the right places to look. What they’re looking for is real: this thirst for something more, for what is transcendent. And only the Church has these divine treasures, and in particular the Holy Eucharist, the real presence of our Lord, His holy sacrifice. So we do not need to look someplace else outside the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ has the divine treasures and has them as they are no place else—not even on a mountaintop in Tibet.

The Danger of Power and the Need for Renewal

But the very greatness of the Church is also a danger, because as the Church grew and became influential, and now is so big—even in its weakened state it’s still very influential—and influence is power. So it causes people who are seeking power and influence to gravitate to it. And so it needs to be renewed for its divine wisdom, for its divine mission.

I’m going to quote—I apologize—some passages from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Sometimes they’re a little bit dense, but I want you to see that I’m not making this up, that this is official teaching.

So this is paragraph 775 from the Catechism:

The Church’s first purpose—so think of that: the Church’s first purpose. What is the first purpose of the Church?—it says it’s to be the sacrament of the inner union of men with God.

So, the reason for the Church is the inner union of persons with God. Again, how many people experience the Church as just a corrupt human organization and see it as an obstacle to inner union with God? They feel they have to get away from corruption to seek inner union with God. The reason the Church exists is for inner union with God.

It’s not first of all a social organization. It’s not first of all for social work and charitable work, which are very good and very important, but its first purpose is the inner union of men with God.

And so I ask you: how many people experience the Catholic Church as, above all, a place for inner union with God? Many of you do, because you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But you know people—you know the recent statistics, I’ve cited this before—that in our country, for every one person who enters the Catholic Church, about seven are leaving. That’s a very bad sign.

Later on, in paragraph 824, the Catechism says:

All the activities of the Church are directed, as to their end, to the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God.

So all the activities of the Church should be for this. This is not something secondary. All the activities of the Church are for this purpose: the sanctification of men and the glorification of God.

The Church’s Structure and the Mystery of Christ and His Bride

The Catechism goes deeper. It speaks even of spousal union, because the Church is the mystical bride of Christ. In paragraph 772 it says:

It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose of God’s plan: to unite all things in him. St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church a great mystery.

So, as I say, many people think they have to get away from the Church to really encounter God. But it is in the Church where Christ brings about this nuptial union of Christ and the Church.

Then in paragraph 773 it says:

In the Church this communion of men with God—in the love that never ends—is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a sacramental means tied to this passing world.

So there’s a lot in the Church that is tied to this passing world, because the Church is a human organization. It’s not just a human organization, but it’s also not just a spiritual reality. It is a real human organization which exists in this world, and so it is tied to this passing world. One of the signs is that it’s made of humans—sinful humans—us. We want to be united with God, but we are also sinful humans.

The Catechism is recognizing that there’s a part in the Church which is of this world, tied to this world, but everything is meant for union with God. It goes on to say:

The Church’s structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members.

The whole structure of the Church—that’s very important. And that’s why the Lord is giving us these messages. Is it working like that right now? Is what’s coming out of the Vatican making the world holier and holier, or is it confusion and, unfortunately, distortion and even subtle lies?

The lies are subtle; they’re not said openly, because people would recognize them more. It’s done much more subtly, in this synodal process and so forth. But is it really uniting people more to God, or is it leading them away?

The Catechism says: the Church’s structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members. That’s the reason for it. If the Vatican, if the hierarchy, is not working for the holiness of God’s people, it’s not fulfilling its role; it’s being unfaithful to its role.

The Catechism also says:

Holiness is measured according to the great mystery, in which the bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom.

The gift of the Bridegroom is Jesus Christ, who gives Himself, and the Church is called to respond to that gift with the gift of herself.

Then the Catechism says something very important about Mary:

Mary goes before us all in the holiness that is the Church’s mystery as the bride without spot or wrinkle.

And then it adds this line which can sound a little dense, but it’s important:

This is why the Marian dimension of the Church precedes the Petrine.

“Petrine” refers to St. Peter—that is, St. Peter reveals part of the mystery of what the Church is. But even more deeply, our Blessed Mother reveals what the Church is.

Pentecost and the Marian Dimension of the Church

This brings us back to Pentecost and to the first reading we had today: the apostles—St. Peter and the others—gathered with our Blessed Mother for the descent of the Holy Spirit.

I’m going to read you a few paragraphs from Maria Valtorta’s account of this moment. First of all, they hear this powerful noise which frightens them. Then it says:

And then the light, the fire, the Holy Spirit enters with the last melodious loud noise in the form of a very shining burning globe into the closed room and remains hovering for a minute over Mary’s head, about three palms above her head, which is now uncovered because Mary, upon seeing the fire Paraclete, has raised her arms to invoke him and has thrown her head back with a cry of joy, with a smile of boundless love.

And after that moment in which all the fire of the Holy Spirit, all the love, is collected in his spouse, the most holy globe splits into 13 very bright flames—so bright a light that no earthly comparison can describe—and it descends to kiss the forehead of each apostle.

But the flame that descends upon Mary is not a tongue of a straight flame on her forehead that it kisses, but it is a crown that embraces and encircles the virginal head like a wreath, crowning as queen the daughter, the mother, the spouse of God, the incorruptible virgin, the holy, beautiful, the eternally loved, the eternally maiden, whom nothing can humiliate, in nothing.

After a time, the apostles collect themselves, but Mary remains in her ecstasy. She only folds her arms across her breast, closes her eyes, and lowers her head. Her conversation with God continues, insensible to everything. No one dares disturb her. John, pointing at her, says, “She is the altar, and the glory of God has rested on her.”

Then the apostles go out, as in the Acts of the Apostles, to preach. But I wanted to highlight three things in this:

1. The Holy Spirit comes first to Mary—that’s very significant.
2. Though He comes as a tongue of fire to each of the apostles, for Mary He comes not as a tongue of fire but as a crown, signaling something very special about her.
3. As they go out to preach, she remains in ecstasy, in deep union with God.

This gives us a glimpse into what the Catechism was calling the understanding that the Church is both Petrine—that is, of St. Peter and the apostolic dimension—and the even deeper Marian dimension of the Church.

St. John Paul II on the Church as Bride and Mary as Model

I’m going to refer now to a document of St. John Paul II on the vocation and dignity of women, Mulieris Dignitatem. It’s a beautiful document, not very long, but very worthwhile. This is from chapter 7, paragraph 27, about the gift of the bride.

Who is the bride of Christ? We come back to this a lot. It’s the Church, and in the Church, it’s each soul—each one of us. And par excellence, it’s our Blessed Mother. She is the model for the Church. The Church, and each one of us, is called to union with God: to share the life and ministry of Jesus and to share His sacrifice so as to share His glory.

St. John Paul says that in the context of the great mystery of Christ and His bride, the Church, all are called to respond—not just a few extraordinary saints and mystics, but all. That means you. You are called to respond as a bride, with the gift of your life, to the inexpressible gift of the love of Christ, who alone, as the Redeemer of the world, is the Church’s Bridegroom.

He then speaks of the pastors of the Church—St. Peter, the apostles, their successors (popes and bishops), and priests and deacons, the sacred ministers of the Church. They are called to be at the service of this mystery of union between God and His bride. Remember that the word “minister” means service. They are called to be servants.

The Church needs this structure. The Church, again, is not a purely spiritual reality. Jesus wanted it to exist in this world with a visible human structure. It needs that. But there is a danger in that: the danger of our ambition and pride and egos. Even with the apostles themselves, with Jesus present, He had to fight over and over to free them from pride, egoism, ambition. That’s a continuous danger in the Church. That’s why Jesus says so strongly, “The last will be first.”

St. John Paul says (again, this is the Pope speaking):

Although the Church possesses a hierarchical structure—it needs that hierarchy—nevertheless, this structure is totally ordered to the holiness of Christ’s members.

So he’s not saying we should get rid of the hierarchy. He’s saying that the structure, the hierarchy, is to help us be holier. When the hierarchy becomes an obstacle to holiness, something is deeply wrong. He continues:

Holiness is measured according to the great mystery in which the bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the bridegroom. She does this in the Holy Spirit, since “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5).

Then he says:

In this sense we can say the Church is both Marian and apostolic or Petrine.

There’s a footnote where he explains that this Marian profile—this Marian-like dimension of the Church—is also, even perhaps more so, fundamental and characteristic for the Church as is the apostolic and Petrine profile, to which it is profoundly united.

So he says the Church needs both of these: it needs the structure that St. Peter and the apostles and their successors give it—to teach the Church, to govern it, to sanctify it—but even more so it needs the Marian dimension and those who follow in the path of Mary.

He adds that:

The Marian dimension of the Church is antecedent to that of the Petrine.

So again, this may be complicated language, but he’s saying it’s even more important, more fundamental. Mary Immaculate precedes all others, including Peter himself and the apostles. Their triple function—to teach, govern, and sanctify—has no other purpose except to form the Church in line with the ideal of sanctity already prefigured in Mary.

So the shepherds of the Church are not called to be great lords who manipulate and take advantage of their position. They are called to be humble servants who lead the Church to be more and more like our Blessed Mother.

The Holy Spirit as Fire of Truth and Love

The Holy Spirit comes today as fire. Fire is both warmth and light. Some people, in the name of love and mercy and compassion, sacrifice the truth. But when you sacrifice the truth, the love is no longer divine love, but a counterfeit. And that’s a real danger in a lot of what’s coming out of the Vatican today.

Some people, in reaction to this, want to defend the truth, but they do it in a way that is not truly loving and merciful. The Holy Spirit is this fire that gives both warmth and light—both truth and love.

Renewal of the Church and Final Reading of the Poem

The heart of the Church—and much of what the Lord is saying in the messages He’s given to us—is to bring about a renewal of the Church. This renewal is not a rejection of the Church. Many people, like our Protestant brothers and sisters, rejected the Church, and many Catholics today are rejecting the Church. That’s not what the Lord wants.

He wants us to help, to participate in His work of bringing about a renewal of the Church, which is, above all, to serve the intimate union of our souls with the Lord.

I’m going to end by just reading again this poem of St. John of the Cross that we started with. If you want to, you can close your eyes. This great poem of The Living Flame of Love—and if you want to read his commentary, it’s available and easy to get:

O Living Flame of Love,
that tenderly wounds my soul in the deepest center,
since now you are not oppressive.
Now consummate, if it be your will,
tear through the veil of the sweet encounter.

O sweet cautery,
O delightful wound,
O gentle hand,
O delicate touch
that tastes of eternal life and pays every debt.
In killing you, change death to life.

O lamps of fire,
in whose splendors
the deep caverns of feeling,
once obscure and blind,
now give forth so rarely, so exquisitely,
both warmth and light to their beloved.

How gently and lovingly
you wake in my heart,
where in secret you dwell alone,
and in your sweet breathing,
filled with good and glory,
how tenderly you swell my heart with love.

Amen.