2025/09/01
211. First, Clarifying the Faults of the World
As we discussed in the previous issue, the "Revelation of Jesus Christ" (Rev 1:1) works on each believer who receives the Book of Revelation as a book of spiritual training, leading him or her to the spirituality of the Holy Spirit, in union with the other books of the New Testament, to taste the experience of becoming a perfect Christian. Since this is done by the Holy Spirit, before examining its process, we need first reflect on Jesus' final testimony about the Holy Spirit: "[I]f I go, I will send him [the Counselor] to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (Jn 16:7-8).
The Gospel says, "concerning sin, because they do not believe in me" (Jn 16:9). The meaning of these words becomes clear by examining what Jesus said: "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe" (6:35-36). In this passage, we notice that Jesus' words, "you have seen me and yet do not believe," are also directed at us, the future believers.
Jesus said, "For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (6:40). Then, he talked about how these words were to be realized, and the Jews fell into confusion. Nevertheless, Jesus continued talking and said, "[H]e who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (6:54). Hearing this, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" (6:60). They could not believe the words of Jesus, a living person, when he said, "[H]e who eats my flesh and drinks my blood." They were "greatly misled" (Mk 12:27). That is the "faults of the world" that "he [the Counselor] will convince" (Jn 16:8).
Do we, believers, believe Jesus' words, "I am the bread of life," when we see the Eucharist, which takes the form of bread and wine? Can we say that the Eucharist is the living Jesus? If so, where will we testify to it? It is before the Eucharist, which the Holy Spirit, sent in the name of Jesus, reveals in the Mass through the hands of the priest. If believers had no occasion to declare before the Eucharist, "You are the Christ, the Son of God" (cf. Mt 16:16, Jn 11:27), then they are being deceived by the "faults of the world."
Jesus told the Pharisees, "In your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true; I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me" (Jn 8:17-18). The declaration of the Holy Eucharist by the whole Church in the Mass as "the Christ, the Son of God" is to be such a work that each believer joins in the testimony of the Father and the Son, working with the Holy Spirit to save the whole world. If we, in the presence of the Eucharist, do not proclaim so, Jesus will keep telling us, "You have seen me and yet do not believe." That is to say, he is talking about sin.
Jesus says that "concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more" (Jn 16:10). The Gospel of John shows that Jesus paid special attention to the relationship between the sensual function, "seeing," and "to believe." The reason Jesus instituted the Eucharist and left it on earth is that "every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" (6:40). To be the one "who sees the Son and believes in him" - to be those who see and believe in the Eucharist, which the priest in collaboration with the Holy Spirit presents to the congregation during the Liturgy of the Eucharist - is realised when we declare to the Eucharist that the Eucharist is "the Christ, the Son of God." By repeating this declaration at every Mass, each believer will harden their recognition that they have become the one "who sees the Son and believes in him."
However, some believers, even though they have believed in Jesus without seeing, cannot get the image of Jesus, who has perfectly accomplished the Father's will, out of their minds, and are deceived by the desire to know Jesus with that image, to see him and to unite with him, leaving the Eucharist aside. This desire, which comes from the "faults of the world," makes the person sense the image of Jesus whom he must have never seen, contrary to the words of Jesus, who said of righteousness, "you will see me no more." That is what the person's own persistent desires and lusts are showing him. These needs and desires arise from the desire for self-realisation, which is said to be man's highest desire. And it weaves its process in layers throughout life, without end, even once it is felt to have been achieved. It mobilises all the desires each time towards the believers who do not recognise the "faults of the world" and are "greatly misled" (Mk 12:27). And if they identify this desire for self-realisation with themselves, it will become their ruler.
Jesus testified that "concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged" (Jn 16:11). The spiritual training of Revelation provides believers who are dominated by the desire for self-fulfilment with the opportunity to know their situation. As they continue this training, they become able to discern the thoughts and ideas of their own hearts by being pierced by the one "who has the sharp two-edged sword" (Rv 2:12) to the point of being pierced to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow (cf. Heb 4:12). Eventually, the time comes when they see themselves as they are. Jesus must have longed for his followers to realise and receive the words that condemn their self-fulfilling desires as the words of the living God. To realize his hope, Jesus said, "but if I go, I will send him [the Counselor] to you" (Jn 16:7). The Counselor is indeed the Holy Spirit, who teaches and makes us realise that "the word of God is living and active" (Heb 4:12).
To practice the spiritual training of Revelation following the Holy Spirit is, in other words, to train in concert with the Holy Spirit. When one collaborates with the Holy Spirit, one can fulfil one's natural potential and truly live one's own life. Through the spiritual training of the Holy Spirit, we believers will eventually see ourselves becoming more like Jesus, i.e., becoming the likeness of God. That is true self-realisation, and there God's peace Jesus promised comes in: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you" (Jn 14:27).
Maria K. M.
