2025/01/20
179. The Prophesied One, part 4
St Francis of Assisi accepted the diaconate despite having the "vocation of Jesus". And he received the Stigmata. That was because he was a male Christian. We shall examine this based on the following words of the risen Jesus, who commanded Mary Magdalene: "[G]o to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God" (Jn 20:17).
The place of "my brethren" was where Simon Peter and John, described as "the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved" (Jn 20:2), stayed, the house to which Mary Magdalene ran to inform them when she saw the stone removed from the tomb. It was the house to which Jesus sent Peter and John on an errand the previous Thursday to prepare for the "day of Unleavened Bread, on which the passover lamb had to be sacrificed" (Luke 22:7). At that time, Jesus told them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house which he enters, and tell the householder, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; there make ready" (22:10-12). Peter and John experienced just what Jesus said. They stayed in that house, which contained "the guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples".
After the descent of the Holy Spirit, they would routinely experience the scene where they met a man carrying a water jar, followed him to the house he was entering and asked the householder for something. That is because the man carrying the water jar was the Holy Spirit, and the house he entered was the house, which contained "the guest room, where I am to eat the passover with my disciples", the place where the Mass liturgy is celebrated. The householder of the house was the Father. What priests ask of the Father is the highest they can ask for in this life: "They may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ". In that house where Peter and John had prepared the Passover meal, Jesus instituted the Eucharist. The Holy Spirit and the Father were also present. The Apostles, who sat around the table with Jesus, were witnesses to and heirs of his work. The future of all believers who would sit at the table together was also there owing to them. God is at the table with us.
So, the risen Jesus used the phrase "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God", which seemed that he deliberately put distance between himself and the Apostles, but that was to direct their eyes to the Father. God has guided and walked with his chosen people through several old covenants throughout history until he sent Jesus into the world. When Jesus asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16:15) Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16), to which Jesus answered, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (16:17). The Father's passion was already upon the male members of the "Christians", the new people, at this time.
The image of the San Damiano Crucifix makes us realise the meaning of the same scene in the Gospel of John by appealing to our visual senses. Behind the two women depicted to the left of Jesus, i.e., Mary Magdalene with "the vocation of Jesus" and Mary, wife of Clopas with "the vocation of Joseph", there are, implicitly, men with those vocations. However, they are not depicted. That is because they are Christian men who, when the conditions are right, must be ready to receive the "vocation of Mary", i.e. the priesthood, even immediately, in response to the needs of the Church.
St Francis received the diaconate in response to the needs of the Church, even though he had the "vocation of Jesus". He received the Stigmata, and it was the Father's reward to him for this.
To be continued.
Maria K. M.
