The joys of Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

                 Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians that joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and this joy is characteristic of those who let the power of God's love overcome in their lives and began to live a spiritual life, founded in a continual search for holiness in the freedom of the children of God.

           The basis of this fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. Love is the hallmark of Jesus' disciples. St. Gilbert was a disciple of Jesus, he followed him as his only Lord, so he was filled with the action of the Spirit of Jesus because he was always turned to this new life in which the Christian is called by the power of the Word of the Lord.

               When one is filled with the action of the Holy Spirit one experiences joy, not as a joy of satisfaction or a search for contentment in transient things, but one experiences that this joy causes a deep supernatural experience that penetrates to the most intimate of the human being, the fullness of God's love.

     This fruit of the Spirit is born out of a healthy and uplifting relationship with God and neighbor, of a healthy social coexistence, since no one can be joyful alone, isolated from the other, closed in his private world. These were the profound experiences of Saint Gilbert: a joy born of the commandment of love, of serving the other, of losing one's life to have it abundantly, of knowing how to forgive and love enemies, to live a loving relationship with God through a life of prayer that leads us to understand the mystery of the Cross and to let it conquer through perseverance and fidelity to the project of God that is far above the design of man.

      The joys that St. Gilbert lived throughout his years were numerous, among them are the joy of being able to transmit the faith to his disciples in the unconditional love of Christ the Lord, to become a teacher for the poor, to welcome in their order all kinds and realities of people without any sense, to live their perfect chastity in following Christ, to live in poverty and abandonment to divine providence.

     Saint Gilbert was a man free from all human passions because he has always turned his gaze and attention to the things that guarantee life to the full. When one experiences this freedom, then one can live in joy without seeking human and affective rewards in frivolous situations that do not guarantee the permanence of joy, for they are deceitful and disappoint.

     May Saint Gilbert of Sempringham help us also to live this joy, fruit of the Holy Spirit, so that we may witness the love of Christ that propels us in the Mystery of his Cross.