2023/03/27

84. I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life

As Jesus, who had prepared everything perfectly for the Holy Spirit and Christians, had announced at the last supper, the Holy Spirit descended and revealed it is righteousness, or the right thing, that Christians no longer see Jesus (cf. blog № 83). That is the divine reality and is guaranteed by Christ's statement, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well" (Matthew 6:33). 

The Kingdom of God appears in the Mass. The righteousness of God, the reality of no longer seeing Jesus Christ, makes the believer turn towards the Eucharist and all the more focus on it. That is because the way of Jesus, who said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), brings his last supper to the "now" and once again makes "remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19) a reality. The first ones to have followed this way were Peter and John, who were sent by Jesus to prepare the Passover meal. The way they took to enter the city and meet the man carrying a water jar (the Holy Spirit) and the householder (the Father) appears before the believers (cf. Luke 22:7-20). Following this same path, believers attend the Mass in which they hear the Word, which is the truth. Then they see the Eucharist, the life, and proclaim: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Hearing this voice, they receive from the priest the consecrated host with their own hands, touch it, smell it and partake of it. We will receive the "image" of Christ, the risen one, his holy humanity, with our whole being only in thus using all six human senses. That is the experience of being united with God. The Holy Spirit freely draws this memory of the reality of God from the believer whenever he wants in a timely manner, and the believer becomes aware of the grace of God in himself. And as the believer establishes his daily routine on the concrete way of Jesus towards Mass again, he comes to take everything he encounters in everyday life as an event that happens on the way to the Mass. This routine becomes a sign to the world that indicates the way of Jesus Christ, embodied in the believer's life, leading to the Father in heaven. 

In addition, the reality of the Eucharist, being eaten by believers, dying and being digested, coincides with the incident that the body of Christ disappeared from the tomb. On the Cross, Jesus drew all people to himself (cf. John 12:32). In particular, he drew the evil spirits and other wandering spirits who remained in the world until the time of his appearance and took them with him at his death (cf. blog № 49). He then rose from the dead. This phenomenon still happens every time believers receive Holy Communion. Hence, for these spirits, the way to the Mass of believers is the "way of kings" (cf. blog № 55, № 56). 

Throughout its long history, the Church has experienced this distinctive divine reality. But at the same time, from the very beginning of its history, it has also surrendered itself to mysticism and has enjoyed its pleasure.

Maria K. M.