2026/01/05

229. The Gospel of John and the Priesthood of the New Covenant: The Wind Blows Where It Wills

At Jesus' final supper, His words and actions instituting the Eucharist, along with His command, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Lk 22:19), were united and placed in the memory of the Apostles as the priesthood of the New Covenant. The priesthood of the New Covenant is drawn forth in the Mass liturgy from the memory of the priest, a man who has inherited it, and becomes one with the Holy Spirit sent in Jesus' name. Then, as the priest prays to the Father, "It may become for us the Body and Blood of your most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ," the Eucharist is born on the altar. In selflessness, the priest listens to that voice of the prayer coming from within him as the voice of the Holy Spirit and is filled with joy when he hears it. Then, the words of Jesus instituting the Eucharist, spoken by the priest, become living words reaching the congregation. And the faithful, together with the priest, realise the following words of Jesus. 

"The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit" (Jn 3:8). 

We see the Holy Spirit working in the Mass liturgy. Just as it is written, "The wind blows where it wills," so the Holy Spirit draws the priesthood of the New Covenant freely from the priest's memory. The expression "whence it comes or whither it goes" refers to "past and future." When the priest, from whom the priesthood of the New Covenant has been drawn forth, listens intently to that voice emerging from within him as the voice of the Holy Spirit, and concentrates upon it, he no longer thinks of past or future, but simply collaborates with the Holy Spirit before the altar in utter selflessness. Seeing the priest thus collaborating with the Holy Spirit and hearing that voice emerging from within the priest as the voice of the Holy Spirit, the congregation is filled with joy. This is what is meant by "it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." Within this joy enveloping the priest and the congregation, the Eucharist is born. 

In the Gospel of John, Jesus prayed to the Father before His arrest. In that prayer, Jesus declared, "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent" (Jn 17:3), revealing what eternal life is. To "know" the Father and the Son is to commune with the Father and the Son. Eternal life thus suggests receiving the Eucharist, where the Father and the Son are truly present. 

Then Jesus prayed: "They may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us" (Jn 17:21). And He prayed: "The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one" (17:22-23). These prayers are fulfilled through the Eucharist. The Eucharist unites the faithful who receive it completely. Therefore, the "glory which thou hast given me" that Jesus bestowed upon the faithful is the priesthood of the New Covenant. 

The Holy Spirit is present with the Eucharist. The Father and the Son are both present in the Eucharist. Jesus prayed to the Father for us: "Father, I desire that they also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which thou hast given me in thy love for me before the foundation of the world" (Jn 17:24). This was precisely so that the Father might grant us the liturgy of the Mass. 

As we have seen thus far, in John's Gospel chapters 1–3, images emerge of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the Messiah, the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, which confer the priesthood, the Son of God, the sacrament of the Eucharist, and the work of the Holy Spirit. In chapter 4, Jesus uses his dialogue with the Samaritan woman to reveal and testify to the nature of the Eucharist. During this conversation, "his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food" (Jn 4:8). Their absence was to prevent them—all males—who were unable to intuitively grasp Jesus' teaching on the Eucharist, from harbouring doubts. 

The long narrative of the Old Testament, beginning with Genesis, was a history of training and maturing Adam—that is, the males of God's chosen people—to be worthy of receiving the priesthood of the New Covenant that God intended to. This was to bestow upon men the "perfect thing" and enable them to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. The womb, which nurtures the human life God desires, was complete at the time of Creation. Women who have been given the womb possess an instinctive sense that they hold within themselves the "perfect thing." Indeed, the woman’s womb exists entirely for the sake of another's life. A current unfolds in Jesus' dialogue with the Samaritan woman that the male disciples, lacking such an organ, cannot intuitively grasp. 

Maria K. M.