Lectio Divina (465)
"Lectio divina is an authentic source of Christian spirituality recommended by our Rule. We therefore practice it every day, so that we may develop a deep and genuine love for it, and so that we may grow in the surpassing knowledge of Christ. In this way we shall put into practice the Apostle Paul’s commandment, which is mentioned in our Rule: “Let the sword of the spirit, the Word of God, live abundantly in your mouth and in your hearts; and whatever you must do, do it in the name of the Lord.”
Carmelite Constitutions (No. 82)
1) Opening prayer
Lord God, merciful Father,
it is hard for us to accept pain,
for we know that You have made us
for happiness and joy.
When suffering challenges us
with a provocative "why me?"
help us to discover the depth
of our inner freedom and love
and of all the faith and loyalty
of which we are capable,
together with, and by the power of,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 16:20-23a
Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you."
3) Reflection
• During these days between the Ascension and Pentecost, the Gospels of the day are taken from chapters 16 to 21 of the Gospel of Saint John, and form part of the Gospel called: “The Book of Consolation or of the Revelation acting in the Community” (Jn 13:1 to 21:31). This Book is divided as follows: the farewell to the friends (Jn 13:1a to 14:31); witness of Jesus and prayer to the Father (Jn 15:1 to 17:28); and the accomplished work (Jn 18:1 to 20:31). The environment of sadness and expectation: sadness, because Jesus leaves and nostalgia invades the heart; expectation, because the hour is coming for receiving the promised gift, that of the Consoler who will make all sadness disappear and will once again bring the joy of the presence of Jesus in the midst of the community.
• John 16:20: The sadness will be transformed into joy. Jesus says, “In all truth I tell you: you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” The frequent references to sadness and suffering express the environment of the communities at the end of the first century in Asia Minor (present day Turkey), for whom John wrote his Gospel. They lived in a difficult situation of persecution and oppression, which caused sadness. The Apostles had taught that Jesus would return soon, but the “parousia,” the glorious return of Jesus, had not happened and persecution increased. Many were impatient: “Until when?” (cf. 2 Thess 2:1-5; 2 Pet 3:8-9). A person bears suffering and persecution when he/she knows that suffering is the way and the condition to attain perfect joy. Thus, even having death before his/her eyes, the person bears and faces suffering and pain. This is why the Gospel makes this beautiful comparison with the pangs of childbirth.
• John 16:21: The comparison with pangs of childbirth. All understand this comparison, especially mothers: “The woman in childbirth suffers because her time has come; but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born into the world.” The suffering and sadness caused by persecution, even without offering any chance of improvement on the horizon, are not the death rattle, but rather the pangs of childbirth. Mothers know all this by experience. The pain is terrible, but they bear it, because they know that the pain, the suffering, is a source of new life. So is the suffering of the persecution of Christians, and thus, any suffering should be lived in the light of the experience of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• John 16:22-23a: Eternal joy. Jesus explains the comparison: “So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy and that joy no one shall take from you”.” When that day comes, you will not ask Me any questions. This is the certainty that gives courage to the tired and persecuted communities of Asia Minor and which makes one exult with joy in the midst of suffering and pain. As the poet says, “It hurts, but I sing!” Or as the mystic Saint John of the Cross says, “In a dark night, with an inflamed yearning for love, oh happy venture, I went out without being noticed, in my house all slept!” The expression on that day indicates the definitive coming of the Kingdom which brings with it its clarity. In the light of God, there will no longer be need to ask anything. The light of God is the full and total response to all the questions which could arise within the human heart.
4) For Personal Consideration
• “On that day you will not question Me about anything.” The joy and love of the reality is greater than all of the questions of “how can this be”, rendering them mute. Do I question “how can this be?”, or am I satisfied with the presence of Jesus in my life?
• Pangs of childbirth. This experience is found in the origin of life of each one of us. My mother suffered the pain with hope, and this is why I am alive. Stop and think about this mystery of life and how it recurs in faith, as in the dark night of Saint John of the Cross.
• Am I weeping and mourning right now, or am I rejoicing, or am I in between, lukewarm, being not one way or the other? What does this say about my relationship with Jesus? How would people around me answer this about me?
5) Concluding Prayer
Clap your hands, all peoples,
acclaim God with shouts of joy.
For Yahweh, the Most High, is glorious,
the great king over all the earth. (Ps 47:1-2)
1) Opening prayer
Lord God, our Father,
You are not far away from any of us,
for in You we live and move and exist
and You live in us
through Your Holy Spirit.
Be with us indeed, Lord,
send us Your Holy Spirit of truth
and through Him deepen our understanding
of the life and message of Your Son,
that we may accept the full truth
and live by it consistently.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples:"A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me."So some of his disciples said to one another,"What does this mean that he is saying to us,'A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,'and 'Because I am going to the Father'?"So they said, "What is this 'little while' of which he speaks?We do not know what he means."Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,"Are you discussing with one another what I said,'A little while and you will not see me,and again a little while and you will see me'?Amen, amen, I say to you,you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;you will grieve, but your grief will become joy."
3) Reflection
• John 16:16: Absence and presence. Jesus says a “little while” (un mikròn), that is to say, a very brief period of time, perhaps one “instant.” Over and beyond the multiplicity of nuances, what we want to stress here is the exiguity of time. Just as the time that Jesus remained as Incarnate Word with His own, in the same way, the time between His departure and His return, will also be brief. There will be no change in the interior situation of His disciples because the relationship with Jesus does not change: He is permanently close to them. Therefore, the vision of Jesus will not suffer any interruption, but will be characterized by the communion of life with Him (Jn 14:19).
The repeated use of the verb “to see” in v. 16 is interesting: “In a short time you will no longer see Me, and then a short time later you will see Me again”. The expression “a short time you will no longer see Me” recalls the way in which the disciples see in the historical Jesus the Son of God. The other expression, “a short time later you will see Me again”, recalls the experience of the Risen Christ. Jesus seems to want to say to the disciples that for a very short time the conditions to see Him still exist, to recognize Him in His visible flesh, but later, they will see Him in a different vision and He will show Himself transformed, transfigured.
• John 16:17-19: The lack of understanding of the disciples. In the meantime, some disciples do not succeed in understanding what this absence signifies, means, that is to say, His going to the Father. They experience a certain disturbance regarding the words of Jesus and they express this, asking four questions joined together in one expression: “What is He saying; what does it mean?” Other times the reader has listened to the questions of Peter, of Philip, of Thomas, and now of those disciples who ask for an explanation. The disciples do not understand what He is speaking about. The disciples have not understood how Jesus can be seen again by them if He goes to the Father (vv.16-19). But the question seems to be concentrated on the expression “a short time”, that for the reader, seems to be a very long time that never ends, especially when one has anguish and sadness. In fact, the time of sadness does not pass away. An answer is expected of Jesus, but the Evangelist places a repetition of the same question as before: “You are asking one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a short time you will no longer see Me; and then a short time later you will see Me again?’” (v. 19).
• John 16:20: Jesus’ response. In fact Jesus does not respond to the question asked: “What does ‘in a short time mean’?” He invites them to trust. It is true that the disciples will be tried and tested. They will suffer very much, being alone in a hostile situation, abandoned in a world which rejoices because of the death of Jesus. However, He assures them that their sadness will be changed into joy. The time of sadness is opposed by time in which everything will be overturned. That opposing clause, “but your sadness will be transformed into joy,” underlines such a change of perspective. For the reader it is evident that the expressions “a short time” and “in a short time” correspond to that instant or moment in which the situation is overturned, but until that moment everything will be of sadness and trial.
In the end, the disciples receive from Jesus a promise of happiness and joy. In the instant in which the difficult situation is overturned, to which “His own”, the ecclesial community, are subjected, they will enter into a reality of the world enlightened by the resurrection. In our own lives, through contemplation and the acceptance of Jesus, we can also go from weeping and mourning while the world rejoices, to experiencing joy.
4) Personal questions
• Am I convinced that the moment of trial or suffering will pass away and He will come back to be with me?”
• “You will be weeping and wailing, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” What effect do these words of Jesus have in your lives? How do you live your moments of sadness and anguish?
• What are various ways we may “not see Him” and “a little while later, we see Him”?
• Teresa of Avila, Francis de Sales, John of the Cross, and Bernard are all saints who spoke of the “dark night”. There is a saying: “absence make the heart grow fonder.” What is your attitude when there is a reunion, when “a little while later, we see Him”? Do we use it as a time to renew and strengthen our relationship with Him, to move beyond being “lukewarm”, or do we get upset and demand “where have you been?”
5) Concluding Prayer
The whole wide world has seen
the saving power of our God.
Acclaim the Lord, all the earth,
burst into shouts of joy! (Ps 98:3-4)
1) Opening prayer
Lord God, our Father,
You are not far away from any of us,
for in You we live and move and exist
and You live in us
through Your Holy Spirit.
Be indeed with us, Lord,
send us Your Holy Spirit of truth
and through Him deepen our understanding
of the life and message of Your Son,
that we may accept the full truth
and live by it consistently.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
2) Gospel Reading - John 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
3) Reflection
• During the Easter Season, the Gospels of each day are almost always taken from chapters 12 to 17 of the Gospel of John. That reveals something regarding the origin and the destination of these chapters. They not only show what happened before the Passion and the death of Jesus, but also and above all, the living out of faith of the first communities after the resurrection. They express the Paschal faith which animated them.
• John 16:12: I still have many things to say to you. Today’s Gospel begins with this sentence: “I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.” Jesus says two things: the farewell, which characterized the Last Supper, and the concern of Jesus, the older brother, for His younger brothers, who within a brief time will be left without His presence. The time left was very short. The work begun was not yet complete. The disciples were just at the beginning of their apprenticeship. Three years are a very short time to change life and to begin to live and to think in a new image of God. Their formation was not yet finished. Much was still lacking and Jesus still had many things to teach them and to transmit to them, but He knows His disciples. They are not among the most intelligent. They would not be capable of knowing all the consequences and implications of discipleship now. They would become discouraged. They would not be able to bear this.
• John 16:13-15: The Holy Spirit will come to their help. “However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will lead you to the complete truth, since He will not be speaking of His own accord, but will say only what He has been told and He will reveal to you the things to come. He will glorify Me, since all He reveals to you will be taken from what is Mine.” Jesus’ assertion shows the experience of the first communities. In the measure in which they sought to imitate Jesus, trying to interpret and apply His Word to the various circumstances of their life, they experienced the presence and the light of the Spirit. This even happens today in communities which try to incarnate the Word of Jesus in their life. The root of this experience is Jesus’ message: “Everything the Father has is Mine that is why I said, ‘all He reveals to you will be taken from what is Mine.”
• The action of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John. John uses many images and symbols to signify the action of the Holy Spirit. As in creation (Gen 1:1), the Spirit also descends on Jesus, “in the form of a dove, come from Heaven” (Jn 1:32). It is the beginning of the new creation! Jesus speaks the words of God and communicates the Spirit without reserve to us (Jn 3:34). His words are Spirit and Life (Jn 6:63). When Jesus bids farewell, He says that He will send the Paraclete, Consoler, another Defender, who will remain with us. It is the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16-17). By His Passion, death and Resurrection, Jesus won for us the gift of the Holy Spirit. By Baptism all of us have received this same Spirit of Jesus (Jn 1:33). When He appeared to the apostles, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit!” (Jn 20:22). The Spirit is like the water which springs from within the people who believe in Jesus (Jn 7:37-39; 4:14). The first effect of the action of the Spirit in us is reconciliation: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are retained.” (Jn 20:23). The Spirit which Jesus communicates to us has multiple actions: consoles and spreads (Jn 14:16), communicates truth (Jn 14:17; 16:13), makes us remember what Jesus taught (Jn 14:26); will give witness to Jesus (Jn 15:26); manifests the glory of Jesus (Jn 16:14), will convince the world concerning sin and justice (Jn 16:8). The Spirit is given to us so that we may understand the complete meaning of the words of Jesus (Jn 14:26; 16:12-13). Encouraged by the Spirit of Jesus we can adore God in any place (Jn 4:23-24). Here lies the liberty of the Spirit of which Saint Paul speaks: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor 3:17).
4) Personal questions
• How do I live my adherence to Jesus: alone or in community?
• Has my participation in the community led me to sometimes experience the light and the strength of the Holy Spirit?
• The instructions Jesus gave are simple, yet can still be difficult to bear out in total fulfillment. How do I let the Holy Spirit strengthen me and help me to devote myself to His works?
5) Concluding Prayer
The name of the Lord is sublime,
His splendor transcends earth and heaven.
For He heightens the strength of His people,
to the praise of all His faithful,
the people close to Him. (Ps 148:13-14)
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God,
if we really believe in You and in Your Son,
we cannot be but witnesses.
Send us Your Spirit of strength,
that we may give no flimsy excuses
for not standing up for You
and for the love and rights of our neighbor.
Make us only afraid
of betraying You and people
and of being afraid to bear witness.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 16:5-11
Jesus said to his disciples: "Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned."
3) Reflection
• John 16:5-7: The sadness of the disciples. Jesus begins with a rhetorical question that makes evident the sadness of the disciples in light of of detachment from Jesus: “Now I am going to the One who sent Me; not one of you asks, ‘where are you going?’” It is clear that for the disciples, the detachment from the lifestyle lived with Jesus implies suffering. Jesus acknowledges this, saying “Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this” (v. 6). Saint Augustine explains the sentiment of abandonment of the disciples: “They were afraid to think of losing the visible presence of Christ... they were grieved, saddened in their human affection at the thought that their eyes would no longer be consoled in seeing Him.” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, XCIV: 4). Jesus tries to dispel this sadness, due to the fact that they will not have His presence, revealing to them His departure. He says that if He does not leave them, the Paraclete will not be able to join them; if He returns to the Father, He will be able to send the Paraclete to the disciples. His departure and the detachment of the disciples makes possibility the coming of the Paraclete: “because unless I go, the Paraclete will not come to you...” (v. 7).
• John 16:8-11: The Mission of the Paraclete. Jesus continues to describe the mission of the Paraclete. The term “Paraclete” means “advocate,” that is, support, assistant. Here the Paraclete is presented as the accuser in a process that is carried out before God and in which the accused is the world, which has made itself guilty for condemning Jesus: “He will show the world how wrong it was, about sin, and about who was in the right and about judgment” (v. 8). The Greek verb elègken means that He will make an inquiry, He will question, will test: He will bring to light a reality and will furnish the proof of guilt.
The object of the confutation is sin: He will give the world the proof of the sin that it has committed regarding Jesus and will expose it. What is the sin in question here? - that of unbelief (Jn 5:44ff; 6:36; 8:21,24,26; 10:31). Besides, for the world to have thought that Jesus was a sinner (Jn 9:24; 18:30) is an inexcusable sin (Jn 15:21ff).
In the second place He will “refute” the world “concerning justice.” On the juridical level, the notion of justice which adheres more to the text is the one which implies a declaration of guilt or innocence in a judgment. In our context this is the only time that the term “justice” appears in the Gospel of John. Elsewhere there is the term “just.” In John 16:8 justice is linked to all that Jesus has affirmed about Himself, that is, the reason why He is going to the Father. Such a discourse concerns His glorification: Jesus goes to the Father. The disciples will no longer be able to see Him. He is about to trust and to submerge Himself completely in the will of the Father. The glorification of Jesus confirms His divine filiation or son-ship and the approbation of the Father regarding the mission which Jesus has accomplished. Therefore, the Spirit will directly show the justice of Christ (Jn 14:26; 15:26) protecting the disciples and the ecclesial community.
The world that has judged Jesus, condemning Him, is condemned by the “prince of this world,” because he is responsible for His crucifixion (13:2,27). Jesus, in dying on the Cross, is exalted (12:31) and He has triumphed over Satan. Now the Spirit will give witness to the significance of the death of Jesus which coincides with the fall of Satan (Jn 12:32; 14:30; 16:33).
4) Personal questions
• This is the beginning of our exposure to the Trinity. What is my relationship with the Holy Trinity?
• Do you allow yourself to be led by the Spirit, the Paraclete, who gives you certainty of the error of the world and helps you to adhere to Jesus, and therefore, leads you into the truth about yourself?
• Very few go forth with the intention to sin or do evil, but rather, they are misled or confused. What do you do to discern the authentic influence and advice of the Paraclete versus being mislead?
5) Concluding Prayer
I thank You, Lord, with all my heart,
for You have listened to the cry I uttered.
In the presence of angels I sing to You,
I bow down before Your holy Temple. (Ps 138:1-2)
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God,
if we really believe in You and in Your Son,
we cannot but be witnesses.
Send us Your Spirit of strength,
that we may give no flimsy excuses
for not standing up for You
and for the love and rights of our neighbor.
Make us only afraid
of betraying You and people
and of being afraid to bear witness.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 15:26-16:4a
Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. "I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you."
3) Reflection
• In chapters 15 to 17 of the Gospel of John, the horizon extends beyond the historical moment of the Last Supper. Jesus prays to the Father, “I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in Me” (Jn 17:20). In these chapters, there is constant reference to the action of the Spirit in the life of the communities after Easter.
• John 16:26-27: The action of the Holy Spirit in the life of the community. The first thing that the Spirit does is to give witness to Jesus: “He will be My witness.” The Spirit is not a spiritual being without a definition. No! He is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, will be sent by Jesus Himself, and introduces us to the complete truth (Jn 16:13). The complete truth is Jesus Himself: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life!” (Jn 14:6). At the end of the first century, there were some Christians who were so fascinated by the action of the Spirit that they no longer looked at Jesus. They affirmed that now, after the Resurrection, it was no longer necessary to look at Jesus of Nazareth, the one “who comes in the flesh.” They withdrew from Jesus and remained only with the Spirit. They said, “Jesus is anathema!” (1 Cor 12:3). The Gospel of John takes a stand and does not permit the action of the Spirit to be separated from the memory of Jesus of Nazareth. The Holy Spirit cannot be isolated with an independent greatness, separated from the mystery of the Incarnation. The Holy Spirit is inseparably united to the Father and to Jesus. He is the Spirit of Jesus that the Father sends to us, that same Spirit that Jesus has gained with His death and Resurrection. And we, receiving this Spirit in Baptism, should be the prolongation of Jesus: “And you too will be witnesses!” We can never forget that precisely on the eve of His death Jesus promises the Spirit, in the moment when He gave Himself for His brothers. Today, the Charismatic Movement insists on the action of the Spirit and does much good, but it should always insist on more. It should also insist on affirming that it is the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, who out of love for the poor and the marginalized was persecuted, arrested and condemned to death. Precisely because of this, He has promised us His Spirit in such a way that we, after His death, continue His action and are for humanity the revelation of the preferential love of the Father for the poor and the oppressed.
• John 16:1-2: Do not be afraid. The Gospel tells us that to be faithful to Jesus will lead us to difficulties. The disciples will be excluded from the Synagogue. They will be condemned to death. The same thing that happened to Jesus will happen to them. This is why at the end of the first century, there were people who, in order to avoid persecution, diluted or watered down the message of Jesus transforming it into a Gnostic message: vague, without any definition, and which did not contradict the ideology of the Empire. To them is applied what Paul said: “They are afraid of the cross of Christ” (Gal 6:12). John himself, in his letter, will say concerning them, “There are many deceivers at large in the world, refusing to acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in human nature (He became man). They are the Deceiver; they are the Antichrist!” (2 Jn 1:7). Thomas’ demand: “Unless I can see the holes that the nails made in His hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into His side, I refuse to believe.” (Jn 20:25) is another variant. The Risen Christ who promises to give us the gift of the Spirit is Jesus of Nazareth who continues to have, even now, the signs of torture and of the cross on His risen Body.
• John 16:3-4: They do not know what they do. They do all these things “because they have never known either the Father or Me.” These people do not have a correct image of God. They have a vague image of God, in the heart and in the head. Their God is not the Father of Jesus Christ who gathers us all together in unity and fraternity. For this reason Jesus was impelled to say, “Father, forgive them, because they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34). Jesus was condemned by the religious authority because, according to their idea, He had a false image of God. In the words of Jesus there is no hatred or vengeance, but only compassion: they are ignorant brothers who know nothing of our Father. This is another “Way” He teaches, as we talked about before, which guides us especially in dealing with those of other religions or those Christian denominations that have watered down His word in order to not be inconvenienced in our society.
4) Personal questions
• The mystery of the Trinity is present in the affirmation of Jesus, not as a theoretical truth, but as an expression of the Christian with the mission of Christ. How do I describe my relationship to each of the three persons of the Trinity?
• How do I live the action of the Spirit in my life in a visible way?
• “They have not known either the Father or Me” applies to one who believes wrongly, believes a false god, or one who is ignorant of God entirely or refuses to believe at all. This passage still applies to Christians in the Middle East just as it did then. It also applies to our experiences within secular society. What are all the ways we experience this lack of knowledge of the Father and the Son in our life today and how can we respond?
5) Concluding Prayer
Sing a new song to Yahweh:
His praise in the assembly of the faithful!
Israel shall rejoice in its Maker,
the children of Zion delight in their king. (Ps 149:1-2)
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God;
it is good to live in the friendship
of Your Son Jesus Christ.
Make us realize that also in this love
we are committed to Him and share with Him
for better or for worse,
in misunderstanding and contradiction
as well as in joy and intimacy.
Help us to rejoice even when treated
with indifference or ridicule on account of Him,
for it means that He is still with us
who is our Lord forever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 15:18-21
Jesus said to his disciples: "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me."
3) Reflection
• John 15:18-19: The hatred of the world. “If the world hates you, you must realize that it hated Me before it hated you.” The Christian who follows Jesus is called to live in a way that is contrary to society. In a world organized according to the egoistic interests of people and groups, Christians seek to live and radiate the love which will be crucified. This was the destiny of Jesus. This is why, when a Christian is praised by the power of this world and is exalted as a model for all by mass media, it is good to not trust that too much. “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because My choice of you has drawn you out of the world, that is why the world hates you.” It was Jesus’ choice which separated us. If we base ourselves on this vocation of Jesus, we will have the strength to suffer persecution and to have joy in spite of the difficulties.
• John 15:20: The servant is not greater than his master. “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept My word they will keep yours as well.” Jesus had already insisted on this same point in the washing of the feet (Jn 13:16) and in the discourse on the mission (Mt 10:24-25). It is this identification with Jesus throughout the centuries that has given so much strength to people to continue the journey, and has been a source of mystical experience for many saints and martyrs.
• John 15:21: Persecution on account of Jesus. “But it will be on My account that they will do all this to you, because they do not know the One who sent Me.” The repeated insistence of the Gospel in recalling those words of Jesus which can help the communities understand the reason for persecutions is evidence that our brothers and sisters of the first communities did not have an easy life. From the persecution of Nero after Christ, up to the end of the first century, they lived knowing that they could be persecuted, accused, imprisoned and killed at any moment. The force which sustained them was a certainty that God was with them.
4) Personal questions
• Does the world love me? Do others love me as one who goes along with the values, expectations, and priorities of the world, or as one who sets a higher example according to Jesus?
• How do I respond to persecution from others? Is it a way to offer leadership in love to others, or do I shrink from it and conform to expectations?
• At times when others persecute me, is it because I am truly showing love and the will of the Father to others, or am I behaving even worse than society expects?
5) Concluding Prayer
For Yahweh is good,
His faithful love is everlasting,
His constancy from age to age. (Ps 100:5)
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God, loving Father,
You have given us your Son Jesus Christ
as the true vine of life
and our source of strength.
Help us to live His life
as living branches attached to the vine,
and to bear plentiful fruit
of justice, goodness and love.
Let our union with Him become visible
in our openness to one another
and in our unity as brothers and sisters,
that He may be visibly present among us
now and for ever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 15:12-17
Jesus said to his disciples: "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."
3) Reflection
• Today Gospel of John 15:12-17: Jesus defines His relationship with the disciples and gives His final commandment to them. Let us take some of the points considered that day.
• John 15:12-13: To love one another as He has loved us. The commandment of Jesus is only one: “to love one another as I have loved you!” (Jn 15:12) Jesus exceeds the Old Testament. The ancient criteria was the following: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 18:19). The new criteria is this: “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is the sentence that we sing even today and which says, “There is no greater love than to give one’s life for one’s brother!”
• John 15:14-15: Friends and not servants. You are My friends if you do what I command you,” that is, the practice of love to the point of total gift of oneself! Immediately Jesus presents a very high ideal for the life of His disciples. He says, “I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learned from My Father!” Jesus no longer held any secrets from His disciples. He tells us everything that He has heard from the Father! Behold the wonderful ideal of life in community: to reach a state of total transparency to the point of not having any secrets among us and to have full trust in one another. Being able to enrich one another by speaking about the experience of God that we have. The first Christians succeeded in reaching this ideal after many years: “They had one only heart and one only soul” (Acts 4:32; 1:14; 2:42-46).
• John 15:16-17: Jesus has chosen us. We have not chosen Jesus. He met us, called us and entrusted a mission to us to go and bear fruit, and a fruit which lasts. We need Him, but He also wants to need us and our work in order to be able to continue to do today for the people what He did for the people of Galilee. This is My commandment: love one another!”
4) For Personal Consideration
• To love our neighbor as Jesus has loved us. This is the ideal of every Christian. He showed this not only by dying for us, but by devoting His life to helping us to know and find God the Father. Do I love as Jesus loved and devote my life in the same way?
• All that I have heard from the Father I make it known to you. This is the ideal of the community: total transparency. How do I live this in my community, which can be family, parish, neighborhood or religious order?
• Jesus called them “friends” and told them to love one another. Do I make distinctions, rather than considering all equally, among those in my community whom I should call “friends”? How do I respond or accept it when I am treated differently than another “friend” in my community?
5) Concluding Prayer
My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready;
I will sing, and make music for You.
Awake, my glory, awake, lyre and harp,
that I may awake the dawn. (Ps 57:7-8)
Easter Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God,
You want Your Church
to be open to all persons and all nations,
for Your Son was available to all
and Your love all people.
God, give us open minds
and open hearts.
Save us from our narrow prejudices
and stop us from trying to create people
in our own image and likeness.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 15:9-11
Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete."
3) Reflection
• The reflection around the parable of the vine includes verses 1 to 17. Today we will mediate on verses 9 to 11; the day after tomorrow, the Gospel skips verses 12 to 17 and begins with verse 18, which speaks about another theme. This is why, today, we include in a brief comment, verses 12 to 17, because in them blossoms the flower and the parable of the vine shows all its beauty.
• Today’s Gospel is formed of only three verses which continue from yesterday’s Gospel and give more light to be able to apply the comparison of the vine to the life of the community. The community is like a vine. It goes through difficult moments. It is the time of the pruning, a necessary moment in order to be able to bear more fruit.
• John 15:9-11: Remain in My love, source of perfect joy. Jesus remains in the love of the Father, by observing the commandments which He receives from Him. We remain in the love of Jesus by observing the commandments which He has left for us. And we should observe them in the same way in which He observed the commandments of the Father: “If you keep My commandments you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love”. It is in this union of the love of the Father and of Jesus that the source of true joy is found: “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and your joy be complete.”
• John 15:12-13: Love one another as I have loved you. The commandment of Jesus is only one: “To love one another, as He has loved us!” (Jn 15:12). Jesus goes beyond the Old Testament. The ancient criterion was: “You will love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). The new criterion is, “That you love one another, as I have loved you.” Here He utters the sentence which we sing even until now: “Nobody has greater love than this: to give one’s life for one’s friends!”
• John 15:14-15: Friends and not servants. “You are My friends if you do what I command you”, that is, the practice of love up to the total gift of self! Immediately after, Jesus adds a very high ideal for the life of the disciples. He says, “I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learned from My Father!” Jesus had no more secrets for His disciples. He has told us everything He heard from the Father! This is the splendid ideal of life in community: to attain a total transparency, to the point of not having any secrets among ourselves and of being able to have total trust in one another, to be able to share the experience of God and of life that we have, and in this way enrich one another reciprocally. The first Christians succeeded in attaining this ideal during several years. They were “one only heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32; 1:14: 2:42, 46).
• John 15:16-17: Jesus has chosen us. We have not chosen Jesus. He has chosen us. He has called us and has entrusted us the mission to go and bear fruit, fruit which will last. We need Him, but He also needs us and our work in order to be able to continue to do today what He did for the people of Galilee. The last recommendation: “My command to you is to love one another!”
• The symbol of the vine in the Bible. The people of the bible cultivated the vine and produced good wine. The harvest of the grapes was a feast with songs and dances, and this gave origin to the song of the vine, used by the prophet Isaiah. He compares the people of Israel to the vine (Isa 5:1-7; 27:2-5; Ps 80:9, 19). Before him, the prophet Hosea had already compared Israel to an exuberant vine, the more fruit that it produced, the more it multiplied its idolatries (Hos 10:1). This theme was used by Jeremiah, who compares Israel to a bastard vine (Jer 2:21), from which the branches were uprooted (Jer 5:10; 6:9). Jeremiah uses these symbols because he himself had a vine which had been trampled on and devastated by the invaders (Jer 12:10). During the slavery of Babylonia, Ezekiel used the symbol of the vine to denounce the infidelity of the people of Israel. He told three parables on the vine: 1) the vine which is burnt and is good for nothing (Ezek 15:1-8); 2) the false vine planted and protected by two waters, symbols of the kings of Babylonia and of Egypt, enemies of Israel. (Ezek 17:1-10); and 3) the vine destroyed by the oriental wind, image of the slavery of Babylonia (Ezek 19:10-14). The comparison of the vine was used by Jesus in several parables: the laborers of the vineyard (Mt 21:1-16); the two sons who have to work in the vineyard (Mt 21:32-33); the parable of the wicked tenants, who did not pay the landowner, beat the servants, and killed the son of the landowner (Mt 21:33-45); the barren fig tree planted in the vineyard (Lk 13:6-9); and the vine and its branches (Jn 15: 1-17).
4) Personal questions
• We are friends and not servants. How do I consider this in my relationship with other people?
• Consider what "friend" really means to you: If you came out of the kitchen with the last bowl of soup there, and your friend was sitting there, would you tell him/her there was no more, or would you offer to share it, or would you give it all to him/her? If you gave it all, would you sit there and look hungry or sad, or would you go back to the kitchen to make it look like you had some too so your friend would have no bad feelings about eating? Ask, what have I done in my past? This scene summarizes our options as Christians to our friends.
• It is easy to see and think about necessities such as food in this context, especially as they are used so frequently in biblical references, but it is not limited to this. Consider if I am talking in a group and another joins who perhaps is not as confident in the language I am using. Do I slow down, or use easier words, so that the friend who has just joined the conversation may understand more? Do I help him/her, or do I just continue, not considering such things? Do I make an effort to understand his/her needs in this at all? Or do I just go on, either ignorant of my friend's needs or handicaps, or being critical of them? Do I say "come with me and I will help you" and take personal interest in your friend, or do I just give him/her the name of a tutor and I am done with it?
• Who is my friend? Is there a boundary? Do I treat those in my community as different friends than those on the street? Can a stranger be a friend? If, in the soup question, it wasn't a friend at the table, but instead a knock at the door and a beggar was there, how would I answer differently?
• To love as Jesus has loved us. How does this ideal of love grow in me?
5) Concluding Prayer
Proclaim His salvation day after day,
declare His glory among the nations,
His marvels to every people! (Ps 96:2-3)
Easter Season
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God, loving Father,
You have given us Your Son Jesus Christ
as the true vine of life
and our source of strength.
Help us to live His life
as living branches attached to the vine
and to bear plentiful fruit
of justice, goodness and love.
Let our union with Him become visible
in our openness to one another
and in our unity as brothers and sisters,
that He may be visibly present among us
now and for ever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
3) Reflection
• Chapters 15 to 17 of the Gospel of John present us with the diverse teachings of Jesus which the Evangelist has put together and placed in the friendly and fraternal context of the last encounter of Jesus with His disciples:
Jn 15:1-17: Reflections around the parable of the vine.
Jn 15:18 to 16:4a: Advice on how to behave if we are persecuted.
Jn 16:4b-15: Promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jn 16:16-33: Reflections on the farewell and the return of Jesus.
Jn 17:1-26: The Testament of Jesus in the form of a prayer.
• The Gospels of today and tomorrow present part of the reflection of Jesus around the parable of the vine. To understand the significance of this parable, it is important to carefully study the words used by Jesus. It is also important to closely observe a vine, or any other plant, to see how it grows: how the trunk and branches become united, and how the fruit springs from each.
• John 15:1-2: Jesus presents the analogy of the vine. In the Old Testament the image of the vine indicated the people of Israel (Is 5:1-2). The people were like a vine that God planted with great tenderness on the hills of Palestine (Ps 80:9-12). But the vine does not correspond to what God expected. Instead of producing good grapes, it produces sour fruit which is good for nothing (Is 5:3-4). Jesus is the new vine, the true vine. In one phrase alone He gives us the comparison. He says, “I am the true vine and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that bears no fruit He cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes to make it bear even more.” Pruning is painful but it is necessary. It purifies the vine, and thus it grows and bears more fruit.
• John 15:3-6: Jesus explains and applies the parable. The disciples are already purified. They have already been pruned by the word that they heard from Jesus. God does the pruning in us through His word which comes to us from the Bible, from trials in our life (Rom 5:4; Heb 12:6), and from many other means. Jesus extends the parable and says, “I am the vine, you are the branches!” It is not a question of two different things: on one side the vine and on the other the branches. No! The vine does not exist without the branches. We are part of Jesus. Jesus is the whole. In order to produce fruit, the branch has to be united to the vine. It is only in this way that it can receive the sap. “Without Me you can do nothing!” The branch that does not bear fruit will be cut down. It dries up and it is ready to be burnt. It is good for nothing, not even for wood!
• John 15:7-8: Remain in my love. Our model is that which Jesus Himself lives in His relationship with the Father. He says, “As the Father has loved Me, I have loved you. Remain in My love!” He insists on saying that we must remain in Him and that His words should remain in us. And He even says, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for whatever you want and you will get it!”, because what the Father wants most is that we become disciples of Jesus and that we bear much fruit. And what is it that we should want? If we are to be like Jesus, it is the same as what the Father wants, and that He grants.
4) Personal questions
• What have been the various pruning, or difficult, moments in my life which have helped me to grow? What have been the pruning or difficult moments that we have had in our community which have helped us to grow?
• What keeps life unified and alive, capable of bearing fruit, is the sap which goes through it. What is the sap which goes through our community which keeps it alive, capable of bearing fruit?
• Are those things that I ask of the Father consistent with His will and desire, or my own?
5) Concluding Prayer
Sing a new song to Yahweh!
Sing to Yahweh, all the earth!
Sing to Yahweh, bless His name!
Proclaim His salvation day after day. (Ps 96:1-2)
Easter Season
1) Opening prayer
Lord our God, almighty Father,
You have absolute power over the world,
and yet You respect the freedom of people,
even of those who persecute Your faithful.
Make us realize that our faith
does not protect us against the evil
which people bring upon one another,
but that You want us to build according to Your plan
a kingdom of justice, love and peace.
Help our faith to stand the test
when our meager efforts fail.
We ask You this through Christ our Lord.
2) Gospel Reading - John 14:27-31a
Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."
3) Reflection
• Here begins the farewell of Jesus, in John 14:27. At the end of chapter 14 He ends the conversation, saying, “Come now, let us go!” (Jn 14:31). But instead of leaving the room, Jesus continues to speak for three more chapters: 15, 16, and 17. At the beginning of chapter 18, we see the following phrase: “After He had said all this, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden which He entered with His disciples.” (Jn 18:1). In Jn 18:1, there is the continuation of Jn 14:31. The Gospel of John is like a beautiful building constructed slowly, rock on top of rock, brick upon brick. Here and there, there are signs of rearrangement or adaptation. In some way, all the texts, all the bricks, form part of a building and are the Word of God for us.
• John 14:27: The gift of Peace. Jesus communicates His peace to the disciples. The same peace will be given after the Resurrection (Jn 20:29). This peace is an expression of the manifestation of the Father, as Jesus had said before (Jn 14:21). The peace of Jesus is the source of joy that He communicates to us (Jn 15:11; 16:20,22,24; 17:13). It is a peace which is different from the peace which the world gives us. It is different from Pax Romana. At the end of the first century the Pax Romana was maintained by force and violent repression against the rebellious movements. Pax Romana, as a policy of the Roman government, guaranteed institutionalized inequality between the Roman citizens and the slaves. This is not the peace of the Kingdom of God. The peace which Jesus communicates is what in the Old Testament is called “shalom.” It is the complete organization of all life around the values of justice, fraternity and equality.
• John 14:28-29: The reason why Jesus returns to the Father. Jesus returns to the Father in order to be able to return immediately. He will say to Mary Magdalene, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father” (Jn 20:17). Going up to the Father, He will return through the Holy Spirit which He will send (cf. Jn 20; 22). Without the return to the Father, He will not be able to stay with us through the Spirit.
• John 14:30-31a: That the world may know that I love the Father. Jesus had ended the last conversation with the disciples. The prince of this world wanted to impose himself on the destiny of Jesus. Jesus will die. In reality, the prince of this world, the Tempter, the Devil, has no power over Jesus. The world will know that Jesus loves the Father. This is the great witness of Jesus which impels the world to believe in Him. In proclaiming the Good News, it is not a question of spreading doctrine or imposing Canon Law, or of uniting all in one organization. It is above all a question of living and radiating what the human being desires and has deeper in his heart through intimacy with God: love. Without this, the doctrine, the Law, the celebration, will only be a wig on a bald head.
• John 14:31b: Come now, let us go. These are the last words of Jesus and the expression of His decision to be obedient to the Father, revealing His love. In the Eucharist, at the moment of the consecration, in some countries, it is said, “On the day before His passion, voluntarily accepted.” In another place Jesus says, “This is why the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own free will. I have power to lay it down so I have power to take it up again, and this is the command that I have received from My Father.” (Jn 10:17-18)
4) Personal questions
• Jesus says, “I give you My peace.” How do I contribute to the building of peace in my family and in my community?
• Looking into the mirror of the obedience of Jesus toward the Father, how could I improve my obedience to the Father?
• Jesus told His disciples beforehand so that they would believe. Do I need to “see” beforehand in order to believe, or do I see everything with faith and trust?
• We also have choices to lay down our “life” for others every day – in charity and denial of self in order to serve others in our daily “life”. Do I volunteer my “life” every day, all day, or only sometimes or only when asked?
5) Concluding Prayer
All Your creatures shall thank You, Yahweh,
and Your faithful shall bless You.
They shall speak of the glory of Your kingship
and tell of Your might. (Ps 145:10-11)
More...
Easter Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord God, loving Father,
we look for Your presence
in the temple of nature
and in churches built by our hands,
and You are there with Your people.
But above all, You have made Your temple
right in our hearts.
God, give us eyes of faith and love
to recognize that You live in us
with Your Son and the Holy Spirit
if we keep the word of Jesus Christ,
Your Son and our Lord for ever.
2) Gospel Reading - John 14:21-26
Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. "I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name -- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."
3) Reflection
• Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John is a beautiful example of how the catechesis was done in the communities of Asia Minor at the end of the first century. Through the questions of the disciples and the responses of Jesus, the Christians formed their conscience and found an orientation to address their problems. In chapter 14, we find the question of Thomas and the answer of Jesus (Jn 14:5-7), the question of Philip and the response of Jesus (Jn 14:8-21), and the question of Judas and the answer of Jesus (Jn 12:22-26). The last phrase of the answer of Jesus to Philip (Jn 14:21) forms the first verse of today’s Gospel.
• John 14:21: I shall love Him and reveal myself to Him. This verse presents the summary of the response of Jesus to Philip. Philip had said: “Show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied!” (Jn 14:8). Moses had asked God: “Show me your glory!” (Ex 33:18). God answered: “My face you cannot see, for no human being can see Me and survive” (Ex 33:20). The Father cannot be shown. God lives in inaccessible light (1 Tim 6:16). “Nobody has ever seen God” (I Jn 4:12). But the presence of the Father can be experienced through the experience of love. The First Letter of Saint John says: “He who does not love does not know God because God is love”. Jesus tells Philip: “Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and reveal Myself to him”. By observing the commandment of Jesus, which is the commandment to love our neighbor (Jn 15:17), the person shows his love for Jesus. And whoever loves Jesus, will be loved by the Father and can be certain that the Father will manifest Himself to him. In the response to Judas, Jesus will say how this manifestation of the Father will take place in our life.
• John 14:22: The question of Judas is the question of all. The question of Judas: “Lord, what has happened that You intend to show Yourself to us and not to the world?” This question mirrors a problem which is real even today. Sometimes, among us, Christians, there arises the idea of being better than the others and of being loved by God more than others. Do we attribute to God distinction among people?
• John 14:23-24: The answer of Jesus. The answer of Jesus is simple and profound. He repeats what He had just said to Philip. The problem is not if we, Christians, are loved more by God than others, or that the others are despised by God. This is not the criteria for any preference by the Father. The criteria of the Father is always the same: love. “If anyone loves Me, he will observe My word, and My Father will love him and We shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love Me does not keep My words”. Independently of whether the person is Christian or not, the Father manifests Himself to all those who observe the commandment of Jesus which is love for neighbor (Jn 15:17). In what does the manifestation of the Father consist? The response to this question is engraved in the heart of humanity, in the universal human experience. Observe the life of the people who practice love and make their life a gift for others. Examine their experience, independently of religion, social class, race or color. The practice of love gives us a profound peace and it is a great joy that they succeed to live and bear together pain and suffering. This experience is the reflection of the manifestation of the Father in the life of the person. It is the realization of the promise: “I and the Father will come to him and make our home in him.
• John 14:25-26: The promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus ends his response to Judas saying: I have said these things to you while still with you. Jesus communicates everything which He has heard from the Father (Jn 15:15). His words are a source of life and they should be meditated on, deepened, and updated constantly in the light of the always new reality which surrounds us. For this constant meditation on His words, Jesus promises us the help of the Holy Spirit: “The Consoler, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
4) Personal questions
• Jesus says: We will come to him and make our home in him. How do I experience this promise?
• We have the promise of the gift of the Spirit to help us understand the word of Jesus. Do I invoke the light of the Spirit when I prepare myself to read and meditate on Scripture?
• Do I keep His word in a way that allows the Father and the Son to dwell in me continuously, or is it only on good days or certain times?
5) Concluding Prayer
Day after day I shall bless You,
I shall praise Your name for ever and ever.
Great is Yahweh and worthy of all praise,
His greatness beyond all reckoning. (Ps 145:2-3)
Jesus said to Peter, "You are the Rock!"
The Rock of support and of scandal
Matthew 16:13-23
1. Opening prayer
“Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures with the same mind with which You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus.
In the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of Your suffering and death. Thus, the cross which had seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the resurrection and source of new life.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to Your voice in creation, in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples from Emmaus, may experience the power of Your resurrection and witness to others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.”
2. Reading
a) A key to the reading:
The liturgical text of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul is taken from the Gospel of Matthew: 16:13-19. In our commentary we also include verses 20 -23, because in the entirety of the text, verses 13 to 23, Jesus turns to Peter and twice calls him "rock". Once he calls him the foundation stone (Mt 16:18) and once the rock of scandal (Mt 16:23). Both statements complement each other. While reading the text, it is good to pay attention to Peter's attitude and to the solemn words that Jesus addresses to him on two occasions.
b) A division of the text to help with the reading:
13-14: Jesus wishes to know what people think of him.
15-16: Jesus asks the disciples and Peter makes his confession: "You are the Christ, the Son of God!"
17-20: Then we have Jesus' solemn reply to Peter (a key phrase for today's feast).
21-22: Jesus explains the meaning of Messiah, but Peter reacts and refuses to accept.
22-23: Jesus' solemn reply to Peter.
c) The text:
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life.
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) Today there are many who want to put themselves before Jesus and His message. They come with an attitude that distorts His words, often for personal gain. Can you see and identify some of them? What rebuke might they be deserving of?
b) Who do the people think Jesus is? Who do Peter and the disciples think Jesus is?
c) There can be many ways to deny Jesus, for instance, to be embarrassed to discuss such things in “polite company”. Have I ever denied Jesus?
d) Peter is rock in two ways: what are they?
e) What kind of rock is our community?
f) In the text we find several opinions as to who Jesus is and several ways of presenting the faith. Today too, there are several opinions as to who Jesus is. Which opinions does our community know? What kind of mission does that imply for us?
5. A key to the reading
to enter deeper into the theme.
i) The context:
In the narrative parts of his Gospel, Matthew follows the sequence of Mark's Gospel. However, he also quotes a source known to him and Luke. Rarely does he give information that is solely his, as in today's Gospel. This text and the dialogue between Jesus and Peter is interpreted variously, even in opposite directions in the various Christian churches. In the Catholic Church, this text forms the basis for the primacy of Peter. Without diminishing in any way the importance of this text, it might be good to situate it in the context of Matthew's Gospel, where elsewhere the qualities ascribed to Peter are also attributed to other people. They do not belong exclusively to Peter.
ii) Commentary on the text:
a) Matthew 16:13-16 The opinions of the people and those of the disciples concerning Jesus.
Jesus wishes to know what people think of Him. The answers are quite varied: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. When Jesus asks the disciples' opinion, Peter replies in their name: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" Peter's reply is not new. On a previous occasion, when Jesus walked on the water, the other disciples had made a similar profession of faith: "Truly You are the Son of God!" (Mt 14:33). This is an acknowledgment that in Jesus the prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled. In John's Gospel, Martha makes the same profession of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of God who is come into the world" (Jn 11:27).
b) Matthew 16:17 Jesus' reply to Peter: Blessed are you, Peter!
Jesus proclaims Peter "blessed" because he has been given a revelation from the Father. Jesus' reply is not new. On a previous occasion, Jesus had made the same proclamation of blessedness to the disciples because they were hearing and seeing that which no one else knew before (Mt 13:16), and He praised the Father because He had revealed the Son to little ones and not to the learned (Mt 11:25). Peter is one of the little ones to whom the Father reveals Himself. The perception that God is present in Jesus does not "come from flesh and blood", it is not the result of study or merit of human effort, but a gift that God gives to whom He pleases.
c) Matthew 16:18-20 Peter's qualifications: Being foundation stone and taking possession of the keys of the Kingdom.
1. Being Rock: Peter has to be rock, that is, he has to be a strong foundation for the Church, so that she may stand up to the assaults of the gates of hell. Through these words addressed by Jesus to Peter, Matthew encourages the suffering and persecuted communities in Syria and Palestine, who saw in Peter the leadership that had marked them from the beginning. In spite of being weak and persecuted, they had a solid foundation, guaranteed by the words of Jesus. In those days, the communities cultivated a very strong sentimental tie with the leaders who had established them. Thus, the communities of Syria and Palestine cultivated their relationship with the person of Peter; those of Greece with the person of Paul; some communities in Asia with the person of the beloved disciple and others with the person of John of the Apocalypse. Identifying themselves with the leader of their origin helped them to grow better in their identity and spirituality. But this also gave rise to conflict as in the case of the community of Corinth (1Cor 1:11-12). Even today, there are Christian communities, ecclesial communities, who follow a particular leader and identify with him or her.
Being rock as foundation of the faith, recalls to mind the word of God to the people in exile in Babylonia: "Listen to me, you who pursue justice, who seek the Lord; look to the rock from which you were hewn, to the pit from which you were quarried; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sara, who gave you birth; when he was but one, I called him, I blessed him and made him many" (Is 51:1-2). When applied to Peter, this quality of foundation stone points to a new beginning for the people of God.
2. The keys of the Kingdom: Peter receives the keys of the Kingdom to bind and to loose, that is, to reconcile people with God. The same power of binding and loosing is given to the communities (Mt 18:8) and to the disciples (Jn 20:23). One of the points on which the Gospel of Matthew insists is reconciliation and pardon (Mt 5:7,23-24,38-42,44-48; 6:14-15; 18:15-35). The reality is that in the 80s and 90s, there were many tensions and divisions within families in the communities in Syria because of faith in Jesus. Some accepted Him as Messiah whereas others did not, and this was the source of many contrasting views and conflicts. Matthew insists on reconciliation. Reconciliation kept on being one of the most important tasks of coordinators of the communities. Like Peter they must bind and loose, that is, work so as to bring about reconciliation, mutual acceptance, and build up true fraternity.
3. The Church: the word Church, in Greek, ekklesia, is found 105 times in the New Testament, almost always in the Acts and the Epistles. We find the word only three times in the Gospels and only in Matthew. The word means "a called assembly" or "chosen assembly". The word applies to the people gathered, called by the Word of God, a people that seeks to live the message of the Kingdom brought by Jesus. The Church is not the Kingdom, but an instrument and a sign of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is greater. In the Church, the community, all must see or should see what happens when a group of people allows God to rule and take possession of their life.
d) Matthew 16:21-22 Jesus completes what is lacking in Peter's reply, and Peter reacts by not accepting.
Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" In keeping with the prevailing ideology of the time, he imagined a glorious Messiah. Jesus corrects him: "It is necessary that the Messiah suffer and be killed in Jerusalem". With the words "it is necessary", He says that suffering had been foreseen in the prophecies (Is 53:2-8). If the disciples accept Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, then they must accept Him also as the Servant Messiah who must die. Not just the triumph of glory but also the way of the cross! But Peter will not accept Jesus' correction and tries to change His mind.
e) Matthew 16:23 Jesus' reply to Peter: rock of scandal.
Jesus' reply is surprising: "Get behind me, Satan, you are a scandal to me, for you do not mind the things of God, but those of men!” Satan is the one who leads us away from the path marked out for us by God. Jesus literally says: "Get behind me!" (in Latin, vada retro!). Peter wanted to steer and point the way. Jesus says: "Get behind me!" Jesus, not Peter, is the one who points the way and sets the rhythm. The disciple must follow the master. He must live in constant conversion. Jesus' word was also a message to all those who led the communities. They must "follow" Jesus and they may not go before as Peter wished to do. It is not only they who are able to point the way or the manner. On the contrary, like Peter, instead of being a rock of support, they can become rock of scandal, a stumbling block. Such were some leaders of the communities at the time of Matthew. There were ambiguities. The same may happen among us today.
iii) A further explanation of the Gospels concerning Peter:
A portrait of St. Peter.
Peter was transformed from fisherman of fish to fisherman of men (Mk 1:7). He was married (Mk 1:30). He was a good man and very human. He tended naturally to a role of leadership among the twelve disciples of Jesus. Jesus respected this natural quality and made Peter the leader of His first community (Jn 21:17). Before joining Jesus' community, Peter's name was Simon bar Jona (Mt 16:17), Simon son of Jonah. Jesus nicknamed him Cephas or Rock, and this then became Peter (Lk 6:14).
By nature, Peter could have been anything but rock. He was courageous in speech, but at the hour of danger he fell victim to fear and fled. For instance, when Jesus came walking on the water, Peter asked: "Jesus, can I too come to you on the water?" Jesus replied: "Come, Peter!" Peter then went out of the boat and started walking on the water. But when a bigger wave came along, he was afraid and began to sink. He then cried out: "Save me, Lord!" Jesus took hold of him and saved him (Mt 14:28-31). At the last supper, Peter said to Jesus: "I shall never deny you, Lord!" (Mk 14:31); yet a few hours later, in the palace of the high priest, in front of a servant girl, when Jesus had already been arrested, Peter denied Jesus, swearing that he had no connection with Him (Mk 14:66-72). In the garden of olives, when Jesus had been arrested, he even used his word (Jn 18:10), but then fled, leaving Jesus alone (Mk 14:50). Peter was not naturally rock! And yet the weak and human Peter, so like us, did become rock because Jesus had prayed for him: "Peter, I have prayed for you so that your faith may not fail; and, when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren" (Lk 22:31-32). That is why Jesus was able to say: "You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church" (Mt 16:18). Jesus helped him to become rock. After the resurrection, in Galilee, Jesus appeared to Peter and asked him twice: "Peter, do you love Me?" And Peter replied twice: "Lord, you know that I love you" (Jn 21:15,16). When Jesus put the same question to him the third time, Peter was hurt. He must have remembered that he had denied Him three times. So he answered: "Lord, you know all things! You know that I love you!" It was then that Jesus entrusted to him the care of the sheep: "Peter, feed My sheep!" (Jn 21:17). With Jesus' help, the strength of the rock grew in Peter and He revealed Himself on the day of Pentecost. On that day, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples, Peter opened the doors of the upper room where they were all gathered behind closed doors for fear of the Jews (Jn 20:19), and, infused with courage, began to announce the Good News of Jesus to the people (Acts 2:14-40). From then on he never stopped! On account of this courageous proclamation of the resurrection, he was arrested (Acts 4:3). During the interrogation he was forbidden to announce the good news (Acts 4:18), but Peter did not obey the prohibition. He said: "We must obey God rather then man!" (Acts 4:19; 5:29). He was arrested again (Acts 5:18,26). He was scourged (Acts 5:40). But he said: "Thank you very much. But we shall go on!" (cf. Acts 5:42).
Tradition tells us that at the end of his life, when he was in Rome, Peter had another moment of fear. But then he went back, was arrested and condemned to death on the cross. However, he asked that he might be crucified with his head down. He thought that he was not worthy to die in the same way as his master, Jesus. Peter was true to himself and to Jesus to the very end.
6. Psalm 103 (102)
Thanksgiving: Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all His benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.
The Lord works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
nor will He keep His anger for ever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor requite us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does He remove our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him,
and His righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep His covenant
and remember to do His commandments.
The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
and His kingdom rules over all.
Bless the Lord, O you His angels,
you mighty ones who do His word,
hearkening to the voice of His word!
Bless the Lord, all His hosts,
his ministers that do His will!
Bless the Lord, all His works,
in all places of His dominion.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen the Word but also practice it. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
The lost and found sheep
The true conversion: from justice to mercy
Luke 15: 3-7
Opening prayer
My Father, I come before You today with a sorrowful heart, because I know I am among the number of those, who even though they are sinners, believe to be just. I feel within myself the weight of my heart made of rock and of iron.
Today, I would also like to be among those who get close to Your Son to listen to Him; I would like to stop doing like the Pharisees and the scribes who, before Your love, murmur and criticize.
I beg You, my Lord, touch my heart with Your words, with Your presence and win it over with only a look, with only one of Your caresses. Take me to Your table, so that I may also eat Your good bread, or even just the crumbs, Your Son Jesus, grain of wheat, who became spike and nourishment of salvation. Do not leave me outside, but allow me to enter to the table of Your mercy. Amen.
1. READING
a) Text:
Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance."
b) The context:
This brief passage constitutes only the beginning of the great chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, a very central chapter, almost in the heart of the Gospel and of its message. Here, in fact, are enclosed the three accounts of the mercy, like only one parable: the sheep, the coin, and the son, are an image of one only reality, they bear in themselves all the richness and the preciousness of man before God’s eyes, the Father. Here is the last significance of the Incarnation and of the life of Christ in the world: the salvation of all, Jews and Greeks, slaves or free, men or women. Nobody should remain outside the banquet of mercy.
In fact, precisely the previous chapter to this one narrates the invitation to the table of the king and also gives to us this call: “Come, everything is ready!” God is waiting for us, next to the place that He has prepared for us, so that we can be His guests, so as to make us also participate in His joy.
c) The Structure:
Verse 3 is the introduction and connects us with the previous situation, that is, the one in which Luke describes the joyful movement, of love and conversion, of the sinners and publicans, who without fear, continue to get close to Jesus to listen to Him. It is here that the murmuring, the anger, the criticism are triggered and therefore, the refusal of the Pharisees and the scribes, convinced of having in themselves justice and truth.
Therefore, the parable that follows, which is structured in three accounts, wants to be the response of Jesus to this murmuring; in last instance, the response to our criticism, to our grumbling and mumbling against Him and His inexplicable love.
Verse 4 begins with a rhetorical question, which already presupposes a negative response: nobody would act as the Good Shepherd, as Christ. It is precisely there, in His behavior, in His love for us, for all, where His truth is. Verses 5 and 6 tell the story. They describe the actions, the sentiments of the shepherd: his search, his fatigue, his joy which become tenderness and care for the sheep that has been found, the sharing of this joy with the friends. At the end, with verse 7, Luke wants to depict the face of God, personified in Heaven: He anxiously waits for the return of all His children. He is a God, a Father who loves sinners, who recognize themselves in need of His mercy, of His embrace and He cannot be pleased with those who believe themselves to be just and remain far away from Him.
2. MEDITATE ON THE WORD
a) A moment of prayerful silence:
Now, as the publican and the sinners, I also desire to get close to the Lord Jesus to listen to His words, to pay attention with heart and mind, to everything which He wants to tell me. Then, I open myself, I allow myself to be reached by His voice, by His look on me, which reaches to the depth of my being…
b) Some ways to deepening:
“Which one among you?”
It is necessary to begin with this strong question of Jesus, addressed to His interlocutors at that moment, but also addressed to us today. We are seriously placed before ourselves, to understand who we are, how we are in the depth of ourselves. “Who is a true man among us?” says Jesus. Like a few verses further down He will say, “Which woman?”. It is more or less the same question which the Psalmist asked, when he said: “What is man?” (8, 5) and which Job repeated, speaking with God, “What is this man?” (7:17).
Therefore, here, in this brief account of Jesus, in this parable of the mercy, we find the truth: we understand who is truly a man among us. But in order to do this, it is necessary that we encounter God, hidden in these verses, because we must confront ourselves with Him, we must mirror ourselves in Him and find ourselves. The behavior of the shepherd with his sheep tells us what we should do, how we should be and reveals to us how we are in reality, it shows us our nakedness and our wounds, our profound sickness. We, who believe that we are gods, we are not even human beings.
Let us see why…
"Ninety nine – one”
Behold that God’s light immediately places us in confrontation with a very strong reality, shocking for us. In this Gospel we find, a flock, one as many others, quite numerous, perhaps belonging to a wealthy man: one hundred sheep: a perfect, symbolic, divine number. The fullness of the children of God, all of us, each one, one by one, nobody can remain excluded. But in this reality, an unthinkable thing happens: a great, unbalanced maximum division is created: on the one hand 99 sheep and on the other only one. There is no acceptable proportion here. And just the same these are God’s ways. Immediately we think and ask ourselves, to which group do we belong? Are we among the 99? Or are we that only one, that is alone, so great, so important so as to be the counterpart of the rest of the flock?
Let us look attentively to the text. The only sheep, the one alone, immediately emerges from the group because it is lost, gets lost, in one word, lives a negative experience, a dangerous one, perhaps even a mortal one, but, surprisingly, the shepherd does not allow it to leave like that. He does not wash his hands; rather, he abandons the others, who had remained with him, and goes to look for it. Is such a thing possible? Can an abandonment of this dimension be justified? Here we began to enter into crisis, because surely it came spontaneously to us to classify ourselves as being among the 99, who remained faithful. Instead, the shepherd goes and runs in search of the bad one, the one which did not merit anything, but only the solicitude and the abandonment which it sought for itself.
Then what happens? The shepherd does not give up immediately. He does not even think of returning or going back. He does not seem to be concerned about his other sheep, the 99. The text says that he “goes “on” after the lost one, until he finds it”. The preposition is most interesting, “on”, it seems almost a picture of the shepherd who bends down with the heart, with the thought, with the body, on that only sheep. He searches the land, seeks for the prints, which he most surely knows and which he has engraved on his hands (Isa 49:16); he questions the silence, to hear if there is still an echo of its bleating at a distance. He calls it by name, he repeats the conventional sign, the one with which each day he has welcomed and accompanied it. And finally, he finds it. Yes, it could not be otherwise, but there is no punishment, no violence, no harshness. Only an infinite love and an overflowing joy. Luke says: “He places it on his shoulders very happily…”. He rejoices and celebrates at home with his friends and neighbors. The text does not even say if the shepherd returned to the desert to take back the other 99 sheep.
Before all this, it is clear, very clear, that we should be that only one, that sheep which was alone, loved so much, preferred in that way. We should recognize that if we are lost, that we have sinned, that without the shepherd we are nothing. This is the great passage that the word of the Gospel calls us to fulfill, today: to free ourselves from the weight of our presumed justice, to remove or set aside the yoke of our self-sufficiency and also that we place ourselves on the side of sinners, of the impure, of robbers.
Behold why Jesus begins by asking us, “Which man among you?”
“In the desert”
This is the place of the just, of those who believe that they are right, without sin, without a stain. They have not as yet entered into the Promised Land. They are outside, far away, excluded from the joy, from the mercy. Like those who have not accepted the invitation to the banquet of the king and who withdrew, some with one excuse, others with another.
We are in the desert and not in the house, just like the only one. Not at the table of the shepherd, where there is good and substantial bread, where there is the wine which rejoices the heart. The table prepared by the Lord: His Body and His Blood, where the Shepherd becomes Himself the sheep, the immolated Lamb, nourishment of life.
He who does not love his brother, who does not open his heart to mercy, as the Shepherd of the flock does, cannot enter into the house, but remains outside. The desert is his inheritance, his dwelling place, and in the desert there is no food, no water, no pasture, nor enclosure for the sheep.
Jesus eats together with sinners, with the publicans, with the prostitutes, with the least, the excluded and prepares the table, His banquet, with rich dishes, excellent wine, and tasty food (Isa 25: 6). He also invites us to this table.
c) Interesting Parallel Passages:
2 Samuel 12:1-4:
In the same town were two men, one rich, the other poor. The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance; the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb, only a single little one which he had bought. He fostered it and it grew up with him and his children, eating his bread, drinking from his cup, sleeping in his arms; it was like a daughter to him…..
Matthew 9:10-13:
Now while he was at table in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, "Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?' 12 When He heard this He replied, 'It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. 13 Go and learn the meaning of the words: Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice. And indeed, I came to call not the upright, but sinners.'"
Luke 19:1-10:
Zacchaeus
Luke 7: 39:
When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is and what sort of person it is who is touching him and what a bad name she has."
Luke 5: 27-32:
When He went out after this, He noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting at the tax office, and said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything Levi got up and followed Him. In His honor Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to His disciples and said, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "It is not those that are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance."
Matthew 21: 31-32:
Jesus said to them, "In truth I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you, showing the way of uprightness, but you did not believe him, and yet the tax collectors and prostitutes did. Even after seeing that, you refused to think better of it and believe in him.’
d) Brief comments of the spiritual tradition of Carmel:
S. Therese of the Child Jesus:
Speaking of Father Giacinto Loyson, who had left the Carmelite Order and then abandoned the Church, Therese writes to Celine as follows: “It is certain that Jesus desires much more than we do to lead back this poor lost sheep to the flock…” (L 129).
“Jesus deprives His sheep of His sensible presence, in order to give His consolation to sinners…” (L 142).
Speaking about Pranzini, of whom she had read his conversion at the supreme moment, just before his execution, when taking the crucifix, he kissed the holy wounds, she writes, “Then his soul went to receive the merciful sentence of the One who declares that in Heaven there will be greater joy for one sinner alone who does penance than for 99 just ones who do not need to do penance…” (MA 46 r).
Blessed Elizabeth:
“The priest in the confessional is the minister of this God who is so good, who leaves his 99 faithful sheep to run and look for the one alone which got lost…” Diary, 13/03/1899).
Saint John of the Cross:
“His desire was so great that the Spouse would liberate and redeem his spouse from the hands of sensuality and of the devil, that having accomplished this, he rejoices like the good Shepherd who, after having gone around very much, he finds the lost sheep and with great joy places it on his shoulders” (CB XXI, Annotation)
3. THE WORD AND LIFE
Some questions:
● “… having lost only one of them…” The Gospel immediately calls our attention to the strong and painful reality of getting lost, of the loss. That one sheep of the flock stranded away from the road, separated from the others. It is not a question only of an event, something that happened, but rather it is a characteristic of the sheep; in fact, in verse 6 it is called "the lost one", almost as if this was its true name.
Here is the starting point, the truth. It is speaking about us. We are the dispersed sons, the lost ones, the erring ones, that is, the sinners, the publicans. It is useless to continue to believe that we are just, to consider ourselves better than others, worthy of the Kingdom, of God’s presence, almost with the right to grumble, to murmur against Jesus who, instead, pays attention to those who make a mistake. I should ask myself, before this Gospel, if I am ready to fulfill or go through this profound course of conversion, of a very strong interior revision. I must decide myself on which side I want to be: if to allow myself to be carried on the shoulders of the shepherd or to remain at a distance, that is, alone, with my own justice. But if I do not know how to use mercy, if I do not know how to accept, to forgive, to esteem, how can I expect all this for myself?
● “…the 99 in the desert…” I should open the eyes on this reality: the desert. Where do I believe that I am? Where do I live? Where do I walk? Which are my pastures? Do I believe that I am secure, that I dwell in the house of the Lord, among His faithful sons, but perhaps it is truly like that. The Psalm says, “In grassy meadow, the Lord lets me lie”. But do I feel that I am in this rest? Then, why am I so anxious, restless, unsatisfied, always searching something more, better, greater? I look at my life: is it not a bit of a desert? Where there is no love and compassion, where I remain closed off to my brothers and sisters and I do not know how to accept them as they are, with their limitations, with the errors that they commit, in the sufferings that perhaps they inflict on me. There the desert begins, there I am less and there I feel hungry and thirsty. This is the moment to allow my heart to be changed: to recognize myself as miserable in order to become merciful.
● “… he goes after the lost sheep until he finds it…” We have seen that the text describes very delicately the action of the shepherd: he leaves behind all the sheep and goes to look for the only one which is lost. The verb may seem a bit strange, but it is very effective. Like Hosea says concerning God, that He speaks to His People whom He loves, like to a spouse: “There I will speak to her heart” (2:16). It is a movement, it is being carried by love; a patient bending down, tenacious, which does not give up, but which always insists. In fact, the true love is never diminished. The Lord acts in this way towards each one of His sons and daughters. If I look back, if I think about my own history, I become aware of how much love, how much patience, how much pain, He has also experienced for me, to find me, to give me back that which I wasted and lost. He has never abandoned me. I recognize this, it is truly like that.
But, at this point, what do I do, with such gratuitous love, such great love, overflowing love? If I keep it closed up in my heart, it gets lost. It cannot be kept until the following day, like the manna; otherwise it gets worms, it becomes rotten. Today, I have to hand it over, distribute it. Look out, if I do not love. I try to think about my attitude toward my brothers and sisters, those whom I meet every day, with whom I share my life. How do I behave before them? At the least, am I similar in some way to the beautiful shepherd, to the good shepherd, who goes out to seek, who gets close to, who bends down with tenderness, attention, friendship, or even with love? Or am I superficial, truly unconcerned about anybody, I leave each one to make his own choice, to live his own sorrows, without being ready, in any way, to share with him, to bear them together? What kind of a brother or sister am I? What father or mother am I?
● “Rejoice with me!” This passage ends with a feast, which then becomes a true and proper banquet, according to the description which Luke gives at the end of the parable. A king’s meal, a solemn feast, with the best dishes, held apart, to fatten the animal, for the occasion, with the most beautiful dresses, with shoes on the feet and the ring on the finger, a joy which always becomes greater, which is contagious, a joy together. This is the invitation which the Father, the King, addresses to us every day, every morning; He desires that we also participate in His joy because of the return of His sons, our brothers. Does this upset me, get me angry? Would I rather want to remain peacefully, perhaps with a threatening face of one who wants to settle the accounts with the errors, with the loss of one or the other? Is my heart open? Is it ready for this joy of God? Or do I prefer to remain outside, perhaps to recriminate or reproach what seems to me not given, that is, the part of the patrimony which corresponds to me, the special prize or reward to celebrate with whomever I wish? But I understand well that if I do not enter now into God’s banquet, where the poor have been invited, the limping, the cripple, the blind, those whom nobody wants; if I do not participate in the common joy of mercy, I will remain outside forever, sad, closed up in myself, in darkness and weeping, as the Gospel says.
4. THE WORD BECOMES PRAYER
a) Psalm 102: 1-4, 8-13
The Lord is good and great in His love.
Bless Yahweh, my soul,
from the depths of my being,
His holy name;
bless Yahweh, my soul,
never forget all His acts of kindness.
He forgives all your offenses,
cures all your diseases,
He redeems your life from the abyss,
crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
Yahweh is tenderness and pity,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
His indignation does not last for ever,
nor His resentment remain for all time;
He does not treat us as our sins deserve,
nor repay us as befits our offenses.
As the height of heaven above earth,
so strong is His faithful love for those who fear Him.
As the distance of east from west,
so far from us does He put our faults.
As tenderly as a father treats his children,
so Yahweh treats those who fear Him;
b) Final Prayer
Good and merciful Father, praise to You for Your love which You have revealed to us in Christ, Your Son! You, merciful, call all to become mercy. Help me to recognize that every day I need Your pardon, Your compassion, that I need the love and understanding of my brothers and sisters. May Your Word change my heart and make me capable of following Jesus, to go out every day, together with Him to look for my brothers in love. Amen.
Love reveals the presence of the Lord
An invitation to the Eucharist of the Risen One
John 21: 1-19
1. Opening prayer
Father, send your Holy Spirit that the fruitless night of our life may be transformed into the radiant dawn that enables us to know your Son Jesus present among us. Let your Spirit breathe on the waters of our sea, as he did at the moment of creation, to open our hearts to the invitation of the Lord’s love and that we may share in the banquet of his Body and his Word. May your Spirit burn within us, Father, that we may become witnesses of Jesus, like Peter and John and the other disciples, and that we too may go out every day to become fishermen and women for your kingdom. Amen.
2. The word of the Lord for today
a) A reading of the passage:
1 Later on, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said, 'I'm going fishing.' They replied, 'We'll come with you.' They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.
4 When it was already light, there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus called out, 'Haven't you caught anything, friends?' And when they answered, 'No,' 6 he said, 'Throw the net out to starboard and you'll find something.' So they threw the net out and could not haul it in because of the quantity of fish. 7 The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' At these words, 'It is the Lord,' Simon Peter tied his outer garment round him (for he had nothing on) and
jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net with the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.
9 As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. 10 Jesus said, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' 11 Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?'. They knew quite well it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.
15 When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.' 16 A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Look after my sheep.' 17 Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep. 18 In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.' 19 In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, 'Follow me.'
b) The context of the passage:
After this first contact with the passage, I now feel the need to better understand its context. I pick up the Bible and do not allow superficial first impressions influence me. I try to search and listen. I open chapter 21 of John’s Gospel, practically at the end of the Gospel. The end of anything usually contains all that went before it, everything that was built up bit by bit. This catch on the lake of Tiberias reminds me strongly and clearly of the beginning of the Gospel where Jesus calls the first disciples, the same ones who are now present with him: Peter, James, John and Nathanael. The meal with Jesus, bread and fish, reminds me of chapter 6 where the great multiplication of the loaves took place, the revelation of the Bread of Life. The intimate and personal conversation between Jesus and Peter, his triple question: “Do you love me?” reminds again of the Easter vigil when Peter had denied the Lord three times.
Then, if I turn back just a little the pages of the Gospel, I find the wonderful passage concerning the resurrection: the haste by night of Mary Magdalene and the other women to the sepulchre, the discovery of the empty tomb, Peter and John’s race, their looking into the sepulchre, their contemplation, their faith; I still find the eleven behind locked doors in the cenacle and then the risen Jesus comes in, the gift of the Spirit, the absence and unbelief of Thomas, a belief regained with the second coming in of Jesus; I hear that wonderful proclamation of the beatitude, which is for all of us today, called to believe without having seen.
Then I too go to the waters of that sea, on a night with no catch, empty handed. But it is here and now that I am visited, embraced by the manifestation, the revelation of the Lord Jesus. I too am here, then, to recognize him, to throw myself into the sea and go towards him to share in the banquet, to let him dig deep into my heart with his questions, his words, so that once more He may repeat to me: “Follow me!” and I, at last, may say to him “Here I am!”, fuller, truer and stronger and for ever.
c) A subdivision of the text:
v.1: With the verb ‘revealed’, John immediately draws our attention to a great event about to take place. The power of Jesus’ resurrection has not yet ceased to invade the lives of the disciples and thus of the Church. It is just a matter of being prepared to accept the light, the salvation offered by Christ. As he reveals himself in this text now, so also he will go on revealing himself in the lives of believers, also in our lives.
vv. 2- 3: Peter and the other six disciples go out from the locked cenacle and go to the sea to fish, but after a whole night of labour, they catch nothing. It is the dark, the solitude, the inability of human endeavours.
vv. 4-8: Finally the dawn comes, light returns and Jesus appears standing on the shore of the sea. But the disciples do not recognize him yet; they need to embark on a very deep interior journey. The initiative comes from the Lord who, by his words, helps them to see their need, their situation: they have nothing to eat. Then he invites them to cast the net again. Obedience to his Word works the miracle and the catch is abundant. John, the disciple of love, recognizes the Lord and shouts his faith to the other disciples. Peter believes and immediately throws himself into the sea to go as quickly as possible to the Lord and Master. The others, however, follow dragging the boat and the net.
vv. 9-14: The scene now changes on land, where Jesus had been waiting for the disciples. Here a banquet takes place: Jesus’ bread is joined to the disciples’ fish, his life and his gift become one with their life and gift. It is the power of the Word made flesh, made existence.
vv. 15-18: Now Jesus addresses Peter directly heart to heart; it is a very powerful moment of love from which I cannot separate myself, because those same words of the Lord are written and repeated also for me, today. It is a mutual declaration of love repeated three times, capable of overcoming all infidelities and weaknesses. From now on a new life begins for Peter and for me, if I so desire.
v. 19: This last verse of the text is rather unusual because it is a comment of the Evangelist followed immediately by Jesus’ very powerful and definitive word to Peter: “Follow me!”, to which there is no other reply than life itself.
3. A moment of prayerful silence
Here I pause a while and gather in my heart the words I have read and heard. I try to do what Mary did, who listened to the words of the Lord and examined them, weighed them and allowed them to speak for themselves without interpreting, changing, diminishing or adding anything to them. In silence I pause on this text and go over it in my heart.
4. Some questions
a) “They went out and got into the boat” (v. 3). Am I also ready to embark on this journey of conversion? Will I let myself be reawakened by Jesus’ invitation? Or do I prefer to go on hiding behind my closed doors for fear like the disciples in the cenacle? Do I want to go out, to go out after Jesus, to allow him to lead me? There is a boat ready for me, there is a vocation of love given to me by the Lord; when will I make up my mind to truly respond?
b) “…But caught nothing that night” (ibid). Do I have the courage to hear the Lord say to me that there is emptiness in me, that it is night, that I am empty handed? Do I have the courage to admit that I need him, his presence? Do I want to open my heart to him, my innermost self, that which I constantly try to deny, to hide? He knows everything, he knows my innermost self; he sees that I have nothing to eat, but it is I who have to realize this about myself, that must eventually come to him empty handed, even weeping, with a heart full of sadness and anguish. If I do not take this step, the true light, the dawn of my day will never shine.
c) “Throw the net out to starboard” (v. 6). The Lord speaks clearly to me too in moments when, thanks to a person or a prayer gathering or a Word spoken, I understand clearly what I have to do. The command is very clear; I only need to listen and obey. “Throw out to starboard”, the Lord says to me. Do I at last have the courage to trust him, or do I wish to go on my own way, in my own way? Do I wish to cast my net for him?
d) “Simon Peter … jumped into the water” (v. 7). I am not sure that there is a more beautiful verse than this. Peter jumped in, like the widow at the temple who cast all she had, like the man possessed who was healed (Mk 5: 6), like Jairus, like the woman with the haemorrhage, like the leper, all of whom threw themselves at Jesus’ feet, surrendering their lives to him. Or like Jesus himself who threw himself on the ground and prayed to his Father (Mk 14: 35). Now is my time. Do I also want to throw myself into the sea of mercy, of the Father’s love, do I wish to surrender to him my whole life, my whole being, my sufferings, my hopes, my wishes, my sins, my desire to start again? His arms are ready to welcome me, rather, I am certain that it will be he who will throw his arms around my neck, as it is written … “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him”.
e) “Bring some of the fish you have just caught” (v. 10). The Lord asks me to join my food with his, my life with his. While the Evangelist is speaking of fish, it is as if he were speaking of people, those whom the Lord himself wishes to save through my efforts at fishing. That is why he sends me. At his table, at his feast, he expects me and expects all those brothers and sisters whom in his love he has placed in my life. I cannot go to Jesus alone. This Word, then, asks whether I am prepared to go to the Lord, to sit at his table, to celebrate Eucharist with him and whether I am ready to spend my life and my energies to bring to him with me many of my brothers and sisters. I must look within my heart sincerely and see my resistance, my closure to him and to others.
f) “Do you love me?” (v. 15). How can I answer this question? How can I proclaim my love for God when all my infidelities and my denials come to the surface? What happened to Peter is also part of my story. But I do not want this fear to prevent me and make me retreat; no! I want to go to Jesus, I want to stay with him, I want to approach him and say that I love him. I borrow Peter’s words and make them mine, I write them on my heart, I repeat them, I give them breath and life in my life and then I gather courage and say to Jesus: “Lord, you know everything; you know I love you”. Just as I am, I love him. Thank you, Lord, that you ask me to love and that you expect me, you want me; thank you because you rejoice in my poor love.
g) “Feed my sheep… Follow me” (vv. 15. 19). That is how the text ends. It is an open-ended ending and still goes on speaking to me. This is the Word that the Lord entrusts to me so that I may put it into practice in my life from this day on. I want to accept the mission that the Lord entrusts to me; I want to answer his call and to follow him wherever he may lead me, every day and in every small matter.
5. A key to the reading
Peter is the first to take the initiative and proclaim to his brothers his decision to go fishing. Peter goes out to the sea, that is, the world, he goes to his brothers and sisters because he knows that he is a fisher of people (Lk 5, 10); just like Jesus, who went out of the Father to come and pitch his tent in our midst. Peter is also the first to react to the words of John who recognizes Jesus on the shore. He ties his garment and throws himself into the sea. These seem to me to be strong allusions to baptism. It is as if Peter wishes to bury completely his past in those waters, just like a catechumen who enters the baptismal font. Peter commits himself to these purifying waters, he allows himself to be healed: he throws himself into the waters, taking with him his self conceits, his faults, the weight of his denial, his tears, so as to rise again a new man to meet his Lord. Before he throws himself, Peter ties his garment, just like Jesus did, before him, when he tied a garment to wash the feet of his disciples at the last supper. It is the garment of a servant, of one who gives him/herself to his/her brothers and sisters, and it is this garment that covers his nakedness. It is the garment of the Lord himself, who wraps him in his love and his forgiveness. Thanks to this love, Peter will be able to come up again from the sea and start all over again. It is also said of Jesus that he came up out of the water after his baptism; Master and disciple share the same verb, the same experience. Peter is now a new man! That is why he will be able to affirm three times that he loves the Lord. Even though his triple denial remains an open wound, it is not his last word. It is here that Peter experiences the forgiveness of the Lord and realizes the weakness that reveals itself to him as the place of a greater love. Peter receives love, a love that goes well beyond his treachery, his fall, a surfeit of love that enables him to serve his brothers and sisters, to lead them to the green pastures of the Lord Jesus. Not only this, but in this service of love, Peter will become the good Shepherd, like Jesus himself. Indeed, he too will give his life for his sheep, he will stretch his arms in crucifixion, as we know from history. He was crucified head down, he will be turned upside down, but in the mystery of love he will thus be truly straightened up and fulfil that baptism that began at the moment he threw himself into the sea with a garment tied around him. Peter then becomes the lamb who follows the Shepherd to martyrdom.
6. A time of prayer
Psalm 22
My soul thirsts for you, Lord.
Yahweh is my shepherd,
I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
By tranquil streams he leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.
Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger,
for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.
You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word. You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
