Normandt' Catholic Meditations

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

229. More joy

“I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” Luke, chapter 15, verse 7

To dare to testify is to give thanks to God for the wonders he accomplishes in our life. His wonders are always in us, but we have a tendency to be embarrassed, to stay away from them, to let ourselves go astray, to search everywhere without finding an answer or without others offering us one.

God Loves his wonder, the treasure that we are, since he creates us with his Love. He can do nothing else but Love us.



Personally, I thank those who are around me, witnesses of faith. They transmitted to me the taste of God and the desire to follow Jesus.

Many other people have been role models for me. To name one would be injustice to others. Those who read these lines and feel concerned about having participated in my life of faith, consider that you are among those who helped me to know and follow Jesus. May we be united in prayer.

And what can we say about Mary and Joseph, of all the saints who have set off with joy and enthusiasm in my pursuit to help me each day through conversion, the only path that leads to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. May the Trinity be praised!

Is it not our only mission to discover Jesus through evangelizing thoughts, words and gestures? So many graces we receive to testify! It sends us on the move with Jesus for the world. It transforms something in us and in other people.

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

230. Living right

Solomon is the son of David and he becomes king of Israel. He is at a stage in his life where he understands the need to become one of God’s friends.

He wants to follow a straight path and become more anchored in the truth. He wishes to do well as a child who knows he’s loved. Solomon has a special relationship with God.

King Solomon gives us a very good idea of a person who lives a conversion. He leaped faithfully. He asks God:
“Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?” 1 Kings, chapter 3, verse 9



Judgment is not a method of judging recklessly the negative experience of the lives of others. Instead, it’s a way of being awake to what others are living, praying for them and guiding them to God when necessary.

We could say, “Give us a heart of judgment to love our neighbour, to discern between good and evil. To help in the good and to deliver evil to God. Who could love without you, God?”

Discerning between good and evil is an open door to conversion because it helps us, with good judgment, to better turn away from evil, move toward Love, to God and to give him a place in our lives.

King Solomon asks for something just, basic and at the same time major to God for the foundation of his faith, to watch over the people of God. Let’s imagine the graces for employees when the boss asks God to govern rightfully!

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

231. God offers all

This relationship between Solomon and God is quite unique in the Old Testament. Solomon asks neither wealth nor the death of his enemies (which God cannot give him anyway, since he is Love), but Solomon wishes to receive an “understanding heart” from God.

This request of Solomon pleases the Lord, who says to him:
“Because you have asked for this - not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right - I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you there will come no one to equal you.” 1 Kings, chapter 3, verses 10 to 12



We can learn from Solomon’s wisdom. He doesn’t seek power, nor wealth.
Solomon actually asks for what God is already offering him. His intentions are pure and his life is blessed. God gives him wisdom.

God offers us all that is best for our existence. Let’s ask him for what is right. For my part (the author), my prayer for conscious awareness is: “Lord, give me the grace to receive, to accept your graces.”

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

232. A gift from God

Solomon’s wisdom is a gift from God. God gives him his presence, what he needs most, a wise and intelligent, understanding heart.

God also always grants us his graces and a wise and intelligent heart, but he wants us to ask him as Solomon, just so we can be more aware of it.

Let’s ask God for what’s best. In any case, he cannot offer us something that isn’t good, that isn’t wise, that isn’t Love. It isn’t to please God that we must ask him, but it’s to allow us a holy experience through a personal approach. We have the desire to remain in God. In short, God already gives what’s necessary, but asking him unites us to his will. Without asking him, we don’t become aware of his Love for us.



On earth, as humans, we move forward when we want something. We should do this regularly with God, in order to keep us in accordance with what he proposes to us.

Solomon leads us to a good exercise to achieve. Who would’ve believed that someone who lived nearly three thousand years ago would be the one who would give us the idea to ask what is best from God!

When we get closer to the will of God, everything improves. The weight of past resentments, tomorrow’s anxiety, the fear of the future are letting go of our lives. Adjusting to God’s will allows light to enter, joy to settle in, and peace to become a constant experience.

King Solomon is at a moment in his life where he understands the need to become more of God’s friend. He wants to live right and in the truth. He fears God, but as a child who wants to do better, since he knows he is Loved. Solomon lives in the grace of God.

On the other hand, if a person is looking for glory and popularity, it will most likely come to him, but it will not be a gift of God, rather a departure from God, by human pride. While not seeking the good, the beautiful, the real and the truth, people get trapped in evil.

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

233. The Holy Spirit ignites

Jesus’s wisdom is greater, higher, deeper than that of Solomon, since Jesus is Wisdom himself. Let’s continue to ask Jesus for wisdom, to share what God has already bestowed on us, in all circumstances and for the good of each person:
“There is no greater freedom than that of allowing oneself to be guided by the Holy Spirit, renouncing the attempt to plan and control everything to the last detail, and instead letting him enlighten, guide and direct us, leading us wherever he wills.

The Holy Spirit knows well what is needed in every time and place. This is what it means to be mysteriously fruitful!” The joy of the gospel, number 280, Pope Francis.



The Holy Spirit helps us to live with people. We don’t give ourselves charisms, it’s the Holy Spirit who gives them to us. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit for his graces, to transmit them to the world. Let’s open the gift he offers us and receive its content.

Let’s open the doors, open the windows, open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Up and away! The more we share what the Holy Spirit offers us, the more we discover his action among us. Whenever we perceive it in a person, we also observe it in ourselves.

If we’re under the governance of the Holy Spirit, his evangelical values, his fruits, his gifts and charisms will appear in our lives. The fruit that dwells in us and transforms within comes from the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit isn’t limited to a single spark of a fireworks show. The Holy Spirit is the immense fireworks to which we want to pray and discover, to rejoice and dance around its many diverse lights.

Book: Joy in heaven!

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

234. Can we even imagine

Let’s embark with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and receive the fruits of the Spirit. Let’s welcome everything from the Trinity.

The person who doesn’t maintain the quality of their vehicle for a very long journey may discover that the destination might get longer and demand more time. The transmission chain of our life is the Holy Spirit and we need to make sure he’s constantly with us. May our hearts be in order to receive the Holy Spirit, to continue on the path of salvation and for the salvation of our neighbour.

Let’s not limit the Holy Spirit. We would take one reality and close ourselves to the other graces of the Holy Spirit? Let’s not do that. We cannot limit the Holy Spirit without limiting ourselves.

We have not finished discovering him and he will surprise us. Let’s dare to let the Holy Spirit ignite and illuminate us with all his fires.

Jesus proposes to evangelize:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew, chapter 28, verses 19 to 20a

Can we even imagine all the graces we receive to go on a mission, if we listen to him?

It is the Spirit of Jesus and the Father who guides his Church, who guides us in our journey, which is our guarantee of the presence of Jesus in us. We have the special grace of being in the Catholic Church with a marked dimension of the Holy Spirit. This is the Blessing for the Church. It’s a privilege for us.



The Holy Spirit is in perfect communion with the Father and the Son. When we pray to the Holy Spirit, it’s impossible to be removed from the Father and the Son. Mary is present too. All the saints are united with us.

In praying the Holy Spirit, we don’t exclude the Father or the Son. The three are eternally one. We don’t favour. We are in God when we walk with the Holy Spirit. We don’t further favour the Holy Spirit.

We know what the Holy Spirit of Jesus and the Father has done so far in our lives. We know what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives right now. We will then discover what he will achieve by passing through our soul, our heart, our spirit, in the future. We would not believe the extent and possibilities if the Spirit told us all that he’s able to do in us and through us.

Let’s not block the Holy Spirit to one reality. May we not dictate to him what we want. But let him decide what he wants for every person in the Church, to give us strength, justice, temperance, prudence, theological virtues, charisms, gifts, fruits, etc.

Let’s keep the courage and the determination to want the Holy Spirit in our life and to walk together, despite our differences which are so many beauties for each other.

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]

[Normandt]

235. The wind is blowing

We need different aspirations of the Holy Spirit depending on who we are. Every person is different, but totally wanted of God for a holy and continuous evangelization.
We all need different graces depending on who we are, how we are, where we are, and where we’re going to while following a Holy Spirit who doesn’t tell us where he’s going.

“The wind blows where it wills.” John, chapter 3, verse 8a

He is free, totally, sovereignly free! He isn’t confined to a single expression, to a single idea.
Jesus tells Nicodemus the meaning of the movement of the Spirit:
“The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John, chapter 3, verse 8

It is so with us, born of the breath of the Spirit. We don’t know where the Spirit leads us. We must trust him, day by day, to be free, to be responsible in the mission to which he prepares us and sends us. It’s the heart’s mission.

Let’s not limit the Holy Spirit or the evangelical values that are multiple:
““Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth” (LG 8 # 2) are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: “the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements.” (UR 3 # 2, see LG 15).



Christ’s Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him (see UR 3) and are in themselves calls to “Catholic unity.”” (LG . Catechism of the Catholic Church number 819,
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM

We will have to be watchful in order to discover these graces in people. They’re not only for ourselves. We can also lose them if we don’t take a jealous care of them:
“‘Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church’s whole apostolate’; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ. (AA 4; cf. ⇒ Jn 15:5.) In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always ‘as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate’.” (AA 3). Catechism of the Catholic Church number 864,
 http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM

We receive the different gifts and charisms of the Holy Spirit, but we don’t develop them all in the same way, according to the life we lead, the blockages or openness, according to the possibilities that we obtain to share them.

Let’s engage with the Holy Spirit. Let’s be aware and take some time to receive all that he offers:
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” 2 Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13

Union with Christ is vital: “Charity is drawn mainly from the Eucharist.” The grace of God must always remain with us and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration:
The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church’s unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity. Catechism of the Catholic Church number 1109, http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P2X.HTM

This is not our own mission. It is the participation in Jesus’s Mission, in the Shepherd’s Mission.

Book: Joy in heaven!
Normand Thomas

[Normandt]