2025/02/03
181. The Prophesied One, part 5
In the twentieth theme of Admonitions attributed to St Francis of Assisi, The Good and the Vain Religious, he writes: "Blessed is that religious who has no pleasure and delight except in the most holy words and deeds of the Lord, and, with these, leads people to the love of God with gladness and joy. Woe to that religious who delights himself in idle and empty words and leads people to laughter with them." That is the essence of John's Gospel and Revelation that Francis received through the San Damiano Crucifix. He had acquired from the Gospel of John the very words "in the most holy words and deeds of the Lord", and from his training of Revelation a sense of "blessedness" and "woe" and the ability to discern it in himself from the perspective of others, metacognition. That is what the "disciple whom Jesus loved" looks like. He must have wanted to remain in this position, a bearer of"the vocation of Jesus".
The last three of the seven episodes depicted after the resurrection of the Lord in John's Gospel reveal the "love of God" that is only in "the most holy words and deeds of the Lord". As we discussed last time, Jesus demonstrated the love of God with the passion of the Father, together with the maternal thoughts, so that "they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (Jn 17:13). It is the task of every Christian to lead people to this point, i.e. to have "no pleasure and delight except in the most holy words and deeds of the Lord, and, with these, leads people to the love of God with gladness and joy". That is because the Christian is a disciple of Christ, a religious who bears the name of Christ.
Its feasibility depended on the priesthood of the New Covenant. The New Testament shows that the passion of the Father and the thoughts of the Son, who bore it, were aimed at the priesthood of the New Covenant. Since the time God had said to the first man, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground" (Gen 3:19), God was waiting for that time when the Holy Spirit would descend, and the priests of the New Covenant would work with the Holy Spirit to bring forth the Eucharist. This plan of God will not cease until the "Kingdom of God" among us is testified to by Christians and recognised by the whole world. That is when we will reach the point where God said, after having seen everything that he had made: "[I]t was very good" (Gen 1:31). Once the Mass liturgy is completed, we Christians will realise that it was the "Kingdom of God". The males who work with the Holy Spirit to bring forth the Eucharist, the Apostles and their successors, will continue to assure future Christians of the "love of God" shown by Jesus by keeping up the priesthood they inherited from Mary, the mother of Jesus (cf. Jn 19:26-27).
In the fifth episode, after a great catch, the Apostles pulled in a net with fish, and when they returned by boat and went ashore, they found a charcoal fire there. There was also bread. Jesus called out, "Come and have breakfast" (Jn 21:12). He then "took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish" (21:13). Jesus was setting an example of what the Apostles were to do to those who would come to believe in him by their words. Herein lies the essence of the priesthood that the Apostles, as male, inherited from Mary, the mother of Jesus (cf. Lk 22:27).
In the sixth episode, Jesus tried to communicate "the love of God" through Peter's experience. On the evening of the day of his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the Apostles and gave them the peace of the Lord and conferred on them the authority to forgive sins to send them (cf. Jn 20:19-23). By this, they were healed from having abandoned Jesus and fled and from Peter's three times denial of Jesus. That state of affairs is when "the love of God" can be communicated.
It is written, "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?'" (Jn 21:15). Once, in the presence of the Apostles, Jesus revealed to Peter, who had replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16), that "flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (16:17), promising, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (16:18-19). Jesus' gaze was again focused on the Apostle Peter with the Father's fervour and mother's thoughts. Peter was to be able to satisfy the condition, "more than these."
When Peter said to Jesus, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you," Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs" (Jn 21:15). It is the Father who can say, "My lambs." So, the one who asked Peter about love at this time was the Father's will. Jesus went on to ask about love and commanded, "Tend my sheep" (21:16). This was the will of the Son with the thoughts of a mother. In the words of Jesus, who asked the same question a third time and commanded, "Feed my sheep" (21:17), and in the words that followed, there was the work of the Holy Spirit announcing what was to come (cf. 16:13). The author only found out the meaning of those words after the Holy Spirit had descended (cf. 21:19). To know the love of the Triune God is the experience of man entering into the unity of God (cf. 17:21-26). Jesus then said to Peter, "Follow me" (21:19). He instructed Peter, who had experienced "the love of God," the way of a Christian again.
To be continued.
Maria K. M.
