Course: The Gospel of St. John and Spiritual Life

February - May 2017

What content is covered?

This Course addresses St John's Gospel “Spiritual Theology”. In the early centuries, St John was the only one named by the Church: “The Theologian” (or “The Divine”); this is because of the depth and height of his contemplation and experience of God. When we study the Sources of Spiritual Theology, we consider St John's writings amongst the most important ones. Leaning on the results of modern exegesis and biblical theology, we will go deeper, to perceive and receive the spiritual and practical teachings of St John's Gospel.

The Course is composed of the following topics, though some might overlap :

1- Presentation of the notion of “Spiritual Biblical Theology”, its relationship with modern “Exegesis” and “Biblical Theology”.

2- Introduction to the person of St John: his life (especially the latter part) and his mission.

3- Analyzing the cornerstone of the Gospel of St John: the Wedding at Cana.

4- St John and the Transfiguration of the Lord.

5- Question of “Holy Saturday” in St John. Re-reading Genesis: “Woman”.

6- Structure and goal of the Gospel of St John: the 6 Signs and the main Sign.

7- The First Sign: the New Wine.

8- The Second Sign: healing the son of the centurion.

9- The Third Sign: the paralytic.

10- The Fourth Sign: multiplying the bread.

11- Fifth Sign: the man blind from birth.

12- Sixth Sign: the resurrection of Lazarus.

13- The Sign par excellence: the Crucified.

14- Reading the Resurrection accounts.

15- The Second level of reading of St John's Gospel.

Who might find the course useful?

The course is for all of us who would like to deepen their reading and understanding of scripture. Especially with regards to their growth in spiritual life.

As with all School of Mary courses, the Patroness of the Course is Our Lady, the Mother of Jesus. 

Dates and times of the Course are:

Wednesdays 22 Feb., 1, 8 ,15, 22 and 29 March, 26 April and 3, 10 and 17 May 2017 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.

Tea and coffee are provided.

Where the course takes place?

The course will take place at St Mary of the Angels, Moorhouse Road, Bayswater, London, W2 5DJ. ('Notting Hill Gate' or 'Bayswater' Tube Stations and Buses 7, 23, 27, 28, 31, 70, 328)

Who will teach the course?

The course will be taught by Jean Khoury, a full-time theologian who has studied and taught Spiritual Life in the Church for over twenty years. As well as lecturing world-wide on spiritual life and meditation, Jean is the author of several books, articles and studies on spiritual life and the founder of the School of Mary, a three-level formation in spiritual life (www.amorvincit.com).

Jean obtained a degree in Philosophy from the Institut Catholique de Toulouse (France), a Licence in Theology from the Teresianum (Rome) and a Masters in Spiritual Theology from the Institute Catholique de Toulouse (France). He is currently completing his PhD in Spiritual Theology at the Angelicum (Rome) with Monsignor François-Marie Léthel. Courses at the School of Mary constitute his sole source of income.

How much will the course cost?

The cost for the course is £12 per lesson/ £120 for the full course. As the venue has limited capacity and we expect demand to be very high, participants will need to register and pay a deposit of £25 in advance with any remaining balance to be paid on the first day.

How do I sign up for the course?

Participants will need to register to attend the course and pay a £25 deposit.

If you have any questions, please do write to schoolofmarylondon@gmail.com and we will be happy to respond.

The Course will be recorded. So if you want to watch it, please contact us.

107: Hearing Jesus' call

Jesus calls all humanity

Jesus wants to call people to follow him from close up. In a more formal way it can also be termed, the “call for Holiness”. Traditionally it is called as well the “second conversion”, in the sense that one can well be a Christian, but lead a sort of a good reasonable life, good moral life, faithful to the weekly Mass, but from the Grace of God's point of view it is a lukewarm spiritual life: the relationship with Jesus has come to a halt. What does Jesus want us to do in order to awaken the grace of God in our brother's life? Jesus invites us to “facilitate the encounter”, acting like a catalyst, witnessing to Jesus (telling others what he did to us).

Ask the Lord of the harvest

One very important task we have is to answer Jesus' request to: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matthew 9:38). At times that task can look frustrating. But this request remains a key request. Paradoxically (if you read the previous post) we seem not only to have a part to play in the “Call for Holiness”, in the planning of it, but it is a totally different part from what we can think of: asking, in prayer, fervently, Jesus to send workers into his harvest field.

Having a personal relationship with Jesus, experiencing his love makes us burn with the desire to make him deeply known to the entire world. Would we just wait and watch things unfolding? Don't we have a role to play in Jesus' plan? Are we completely absent from Jesus' plan since : “it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy.” (Romans 9:16)? Oh no... we have to play our part in Jesus' plan, like Our Lady, and ask and pray fervently to obtain that Grace of Jesus' Calling to others. He asked us to do so.

Let us be united with Mary, like in Advent time, and pray and ask fervently for the Grace of God's mercy to reveal his son to many. It is a grace, it can be obtained, we just need to discover the most powerful way to obtain it. Contemplating the one who, in her prayer, obtained for us the Messiah remains, in God's mind and plan the most powerful leaver.

Let us repeat with Mary, her prayer: send us oh Lord the Messiah, i.e. make many people discover Jesus, make Jesus knock at the door of many persons, giving them the grace of being enthused by spiritual life, by wanting to discover who is Jesus, have a relationship with Him, and embark on the journey with him. Mary's prayer, and Fire are so powerful. Let us unite with her. “Pray for us oh Mother of God”... obtain from Jesus for many many the grace of following him.

Easing the way for Jesus

Another aspect shouldn't be overlooked: People are not always ready to hear Jesus' call.

We are invited to take part in the Plan, as Jesus friends, like John the Baptist. We open the way for Jesus, facilitating for people the hearing of his call. Often his voice is so gentle, that the noise of our busy life won't allow us to hear him. The thick layer of all our desires, personal plans, work, family, does not allow us to hear his personal voice in our heart. Our lack of commitment and endeavour to many issues is not opening the way to Jesus to be heard.

At the end of the day we are faced with this truth: Jesus doesn't land on any soil. God always prepares the soil. We can take part in this preparation, and invite others to take part in it.

Abraham's three thresholds

Abraham is a good example of how God prepares the way in order for us to receive his precious gifts. Jesus' call is the most precious gift a human being can receive. Are you aware of that? But in order to value it, in order to receive it properly and make it bear fruit, the soil has to be prepared. God wanted to give Abraham the Promised land. The real Promised land for us is Jesus himself, to possess him, to be loved by him and love him, and serve him.

God could have given Abraham directly and immediately the promised land, but in fact he opened the way, ploughing the soil with powerful blades, so the soil can open in order to receive the Pearl of all pearls: the Promised land. He made Abraham go through 3 different thresholds.

1^st Threshold: the freedom from my own land/tribe: He asks him to leave his land and go.

2^nd Threshold: the freedom from the blood ties (son, parents, husband/wife): give me the most precious tie you have, give me your son Isaac. Do you prefer me, Jesus, above your mother, father, son, daughter, wife?

3^rd Threshold: the freedom and growth: you will go to Egypt, will work, grow, and take the goods (result of that effort). His descendants spent 430  years in Egypt, in order to cross that threshold.

It is only after these three thresholds that Abraham (Abraham descendants), would start the journey to the Holy Land, by Moses.

This example from the old testament, read in the Light of Jesus, helps us understand the role of John the Baptist, or better said: the first three thresholds that prepare the way for Jesus' call to-follow-him-from-close-up to be heard.

The three thresholds in the Gospel

We see that behaviour in Jesus with the Young Rich man. When he asks Jesus what he is supposed to do in order to reach Eternal life, Jesus doesn't start by saying: ok, good, excellent, I love you, come and follow me. On the contrary, Jesus checks the thresholds: have you been faithful to Moses' commandments?

The same thing happens in John's Gospel: we have a total of 6 steps in order to reach “opened heaven” (Jesus' side opened) i.e. God's Glory revealed in Jesus on the Cross. These 6 steps are 6 signs that John put, as steps, thresholds, in order to be purified, and become ready to enter the face to face with Jesus' Glory on the Cross, accessing heaven (i.e. his opened side). These signs could be divided into two lots: the first 3 and the following. What divides them is this second stage in Jesus' follower: crossing the sea, heading toward God himself, Holiness.

In this sense, the first three thresholds or signs mentioned by John are equivalent to Abraham's ones. Cana, the son of the military officer, the paralysed man.

Teresa of Avila's thresholds

Now, you might ask: do we have any proof in the Church's Spiritual Living Tradition of these thresholds?

- Of course yes. If we look at St Teresa of Avila's masterpiece “The Interior Castle” we find the following: she paves the journey to “Union with Jesus” offering 7 different stages of growth; she calls them “Mansions”. The surprising thing is that the “second conversion” happens only at the 4^th Mansion. Entering into the living relationship with Jesus, the supernatural, starts only at that stage. One can neglect all what comes before. But in fact, the three mansions that precede are very important.

1- First, she invites the reader who is closer to Jesus and more especially the reader who reached that union with Jesus (see Seventh Mansion) never to forget to pray for the persons who are in the first mansions. She considers it as a very important act of Mercy not to forget the persons stuck in these stages.

2- Also, we need to study these three first mansions in order to understand the three different thresholds that the human being is called to cross. The most striking comment she makes, not only in my eyes, but in the eyes of a great man, Fr Marie Eugène (soon to become Blessed) is how she describes the Christian life of a person in the third mansion (i.e. right before discovering Jesus' personal call): she says that they lead a very reasonable life; you would say: they are “good catholics”. They have a good morality, they go to Church, they do good things, they help others,... All is there, but strangely, Jesus - the living Jesus - is not there! That note of hers, stressed again by Fr Marie Eugene in his masterpiece “I want to see God”, should be enough to revolutionise the Church, people who think they are awake but in fact are perfectly dormant.

Summing up we can say:

1- it is very important to understand that Jesus' call is a grace, and even if a Grace of God can't be planned, controlled, we are strongly invited to pray to Jesus to give his grace. We need to obtain this grace. Acknowledging that it is a grace doesn't mean that we are helpless, it only means that we know our place: God's initiative is sovereign. Asking Mary to obtain that Grace is really the most powerful starting point.

2- Like John the Baptist, we need to prepare for our brothers the way for Jesus' call to be heard (bring them to Jesus' audio range). There are things to be done in order to be ready to hear. We will still have our freedom to say yes or no, but we will be more ready. See the three thresholds that Abraham and his descendants had to undergo in order to start their real journey to the Promised Land.

102: Lectio divina in daily life 3: The greatest love

(continuation of "Spirituality 94")

b) The greatest love

Our growing responsibility

The more we advance in lectio, the more we are transformed into God and the more we realize that lectio’s aim is not to tell us what to do nor to answer precise questions. In a certain way, it has the function of revealing divine love to us and telling us how much Jesus loves us and thirsts for us. The question then arises: What should we do? And the answer is simple: Offer ourselves to him each day, by doing what we do with love and in search of the absolute. The most important thing is to love Jesus.

We all go through the process of discerning God’s will and trying to understand what we are to make of our lives. But, once again, we do not do lectio in the same way as someone would consult an oracle to find hopeful indicators for the future. We need to understand that our heart has its home in heaven whilst we are still dealing with human instruments. And it is right for us to seek His will; he loves us for doing so. However, he wants us to act and to make decisions freely. The Almighty draws on all men to spread his love, but he leaves each person free to act according to his/her capacity and decisions. He is calling us to Glory! We are responsible for our actions. If we want to serve him, let us do so by taking stock of our capacities and using them wisely.

How much energy are we prepared to spend in fighting for what we want? Would we go to the ends of the earth to obtain it? Does the Lord not inspire us with thoughts, dreams and desires? And what do we do with them? We have been baptized in Him and this new life gives us the right to believe that our thoughts and desires are immersed in Him. We often blame ourselves for our desires. But the more we desire, the more we will receive¹.

Childhood is past. We must now act like adults, by doing what we can and by doing it well. This means having self-confidence, using our capacities and will, giving assent and love. May our “yes” be “yes” and our “no” truly “no”. God will not make our decisions for us!

Let us see how the saints lived this kind of relationship with God; they will help us to understand what we may henceforth expect from lectio.

In a well-known passage from the Way of Perfection St. Teresa of Jesus reveals a surprising aspect of God to us: “He begins to make such a friend of the soul that not only does He restore its will to it but He gives it His own also. For, now that He is making a friend of it, He is glad to allow it to rule with Him, as we say, turn and turn about. So He does what the soul asks of Him, just as the soul does what He commands” (The Way of Perfection 32, 12).

In the writings of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus we read these words: “‘whatsoever you shall ask of my Father in my name, he will give it to you!’ I am therefore certain that you will fulfil my desires, I am certain of this, O my God! The more you want to give, the more you stimulate desire” (Prayers 6:2). Elsewhere she says: “He has always given me what I have desired, or rather he made me desire what he wanted to give me” (Manuscript C 31^b). We find this same kind of dynamic in the writings of St. John of the Cross: “The more a soul hopes for, the more it obtains” (Ascent II 7:2) and “the more He wants to give, the more he makes us desire” (Letter 15, 8 July 1589).

We are justified in asking whether, having reached an advanced stage in communion with God, we might not well find ourselves in a blind alley. That is to say: at the beginning we have the impression that lectio will give us precise indications for our lives; yet, the more we advance, the more we come to realize that we are left with the responsibility of making our own choices! So we seem to be in the dark, or at least this is what we think. And our thinking is both right and wrong. Our sense of responsibility grows, as we have said, and our experience is that God has made us his friends. Now, He says everything to His friends, who are henceforth the extension of his Body on earth, and who, as such, must chose and make the necessary decisions. He is no longer next to them to tell them what to do; but he is living and working in them, in such an imperceptible way that leaves one with the impression of being abandoned without any outside help coming from the Word of God in the form of indications as to what should be done. The Lord’s friend knows this, and he or she must henceforth act in his own name without being afraid to do so. He knows his friend, he was formed in his school; now the disciple is like his Master, and it is time for him to set out and walk on the water.

What is lectio’s contribution at this stage? Above all, it reminds us that Salvation depends on us. The Salvation obtained and accomplished on the cross is waiting for our collaboration so that it may be transmitted to others. Lectio always shows the piercing manner in which we were saved by Jesus’ human will and that this was decisive: “You gave me a body, and I said: Here I am, Lord, I am coming to do your will”. In the same way the disciple who receives the Word each day perceives that he is integrated into Christ’s humanity and has the duty of continuing his action for Salvation. Then lectio, without being an oracle of what should be done, continues to instruct the disciple, to enlighten him, confirming him along the way and above all reveals what is essential: the flame of Love and the Gift of self. Lectio is not a barrier that keeps the disciple from making mistakes, but it encourages him to make an offering of his life and to live in humility. The Gift of self and total offering: this is the fundamental aim. Lectio calls us to do this each and every day. It does not however promise infallibility; it always leads us back to humility and the recognition of the relativity of the human condition. It constantly refers to trust and abandonment. Total love then integrates itself in this flow of trust and abandonment, which permit the disciple to continually advance by way of new beginnings.

“No greater Love”

Love unequivocally leads the disciple to the summit of sharing in the Passion. The Word awakens him every morning, just as it does all the saints, serving to remind him of the heights of charity.

Toward the end of her life, St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus said that the Lord had revealed to her a totally new way of living in charity. Does this mean that she never practised it? No, of course not; but there are degrees and she tells us about her personal experience while always putting it in the light of the Word of God.

The science of charity, or of mankind’s salvation, is of a profound order into which the disciple is introduced. Since from this point on, he is oriented by Christ’s humanity, he is called to do what Christ did. Of, course, he remains a creature, and still differs greatly from the incarnate Word, however there is nevertheless a mystery into which the disciple is introduced. In the footsteps of his Master, and like him, and like St. Paul, he apportions the things lacking in the Passion of Christ in his flesh.

Lectio opens up new and unexpected depths in the Word of God. Let us take an example from the Gospel of John. This gospel draws us into a much deeper reading, in that of the first person, the Son of Man. Now, the reader, instead of meditating on the signs accomplished by Jesus to manifest his divinity, enters into the role of one to whom the mission is entrusted and who is called to follow his example. The depth is extraordinary, as is the responsibility in the face of the salvation of others.

Lectio, like the Holy Spirit, sends the one who listens to others, just as Jesus was sent for their salvation. “No man has greater love than this, to lay down his soul for those he loves²” (Jn 15:13).

(To be continued...)

________________

1 This is an idea dear to St. John of the Cross and St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus; we will develop this further later on.

2 Here “lay down” implies total gift, a mysterious receptiveness of the soul under the influence of the Holy Spirit in view of a saving action. There is another very similar expression: “to be given over into the hands of sinners” (Mk 14:41). One may gloss: “into the hands of sin”, since it is “his soul” that is being layed down and because sin primarily affects the soul! Likewise, the Spirit gives the Apostle to others like bread: “someone else will gird you, and take you where you do not want to go” (Jn 21:18).

100: Prophetical Theology 1

What is theology? Today we would define “Theology” this way: it is how we understand and explain our faith. Theology is important for us, even if we don't study it. Why? Because it shapes our understanding of our faith, our practice and the pastoral mission of the Church at each period in history. In fact, without being a real person (like the Pope), theology bears a great responsibility in the Church.

The Magisterium of the Church (the teaching of the Pope and the Bishops united with him) is in its turn shaped by theology, by a certain historical way of “doing theology”. Of course the Magisterium has the authority to change, modify, improve the way we do theology, but at the same time the Magisterium is the fruit of a certain period in history, a certain place, a certain school or way of doing Theology. So it is as well very influenced by it. That two ways relationship (influencing and being influenced) between the Magisterium and Theology is important and should be noted.

Awareness

In each period of history, the Church practises theology in a different way, but if you ask people and theologians, and even the Magisterium at that time: “are you aware that you could do things differently?”, they would be very surprised and shocked, because each generation thinks that hers is the only way to do things. But of course, it goes without saying that scholars would never question that fact because it is obvious.

Space and Time

Culture is bound by time and space. Culture is like the soil on which the Seed of the Gospel falls. It determines the outcome even if the Seed is the same. Our way of doing theology is specific to a certain time in history. For instance, we do not do theology as we did 200 years ago, or during medieval times, or during the first six centuries. Space as well shapes theology: the Western way of doing theology (Latin Fathers' tradition) is different from the Eastern way of doing it (Greek Fathers' tradition). Within the West and the East we have more differences as well. Some would be surprised by this diversity, but it is important to see it not like a threat but rather as an important source of richness. John Paul II's call to breathe with both lungs (western and eastern traditions) still resonates in our ears as a duty for the theologian, or better said an improvement to his or her methodology and tools.

Prophetical Theology

In the history of the Church, there is another distinction as well in the way of doing theology, which is: Priestly and Prophetical Theology. These words come from the actual two branches of the Church: the Priestly Branch (the Parish, the Diocese) and the Prophetical Branch (the monasteries, religious life,...) and their way of understanding and practising theology. Prophetical Theology is not that of a common expression, in fact we are more used to another one: Monastic Theology.

Today, “monastic theology” is sort of non-existent. It has been swallowed by “Priestly Theology”, to the point that we only have the latter one. If you ask any theologian: what about “monastic theology”?, or better still “prophetical theology”, he/she will take a long time, remaining silent, wondering: “what does he exactly mean by that expression?”

Lead by, or Leading?

As you can see, all these types/ways of doing theology are mainly influenced by the soil, the human side of the Seed-Soil interaction/alchemy; but it is often happening unconsciously. Only few theologians - often saints - would act and influence positively the way we do theology. We end up ninety-nine per cent of the time by being passively lead by the actual way of doing theology, not questioning it, rather than trying to question it and improve it. The branch of theology that is in charge of that one per cent of work is called “Fundamental Theology”.

Today's Needs

What about today's soil and its needs (the human being)? If you analyse the psychology of the human being before the second world war and after the second world war, including the explosion of the sixties and the seventies, you'll notice that people and their needs are different. Let me take an example to get myself across. Before, people would be won by the argument of authority, which means that people would believe or do something that is morally good not firstly because they are convinced of it but firstly because God said so, or the Church said so. On the other hand, today, people would first want to understand in order to get the gist of it and become convinced of it, and then would need to try it and see, by experience, if it is good or not.

I am not addressing right now the characteristics of the actual youth, but just taking an older comparison that people of an older age would relate to. Today we have other problems and other needs. By the way, the above-mentioned “sixties way” (let us call it like this) is not totally new, it is just that a greater stress is put on it. The dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan lady in John 4 is very close to this experiential way of doing things.

Coming back to the changes of recent decades and the “new” needs that appear to have priority, these are showing greater depths and therefore requirements in the modern mind. I can compare it with the normal growth of the human being: before adolescence, and during adolescence. Adolescence is a crisis, but a crisis of growth, therefore it is a positive crisis. What happens in the growth/development of the human being? The body develops and with it new dimensions in the faculties of the soul, the mind, the will. The adolescent is set to start to explore the world, his needs are growing. You can't treat a fifteen-year-old as you treated him when he was ten years old. You need to meet the need of the new development of his faculties, of this new depth that is appearing in him. The development in the West that occurred after World War II generated a similar “crisis of growth”. People's mind, culture, way of doing things before WWII and after it, especially after the 60s-70s crisis of growth are different. Phislosophy and Theology (the way of doing them) are consequently influenced by that cultural change. The Soil changes, the outcome changes.

If you have to explain faith to a ten-year-old, you'd do it one way, but to a twenty-one-year-old, you'll need different arguments, ways, content. Has the theology you are using changed? No, it has not, however it just has to be more detailed, appealing to a wider mind and culture, new challenges, new threats. For instance, the introduction of Psychology, modern Philosophies for instance has been a serious challenge for Philosophy and Theology in the past decades. Many questions rose. Let us just take an emblematic one: “what about Christ's consciousness: was He, in his human nature, aware that he was God? Did his perception/consciousness grow along with his age?” This is one of the most challenging questions theology has to face. If you look deep in it you'll find that his question has repercussions on many other questions, like for instance: once we get closer to the union with God, how does it feel? Well this question and many others appeared just recently (60s-70s), because of the changes, the needs, the developments of new sciences,... Again, the “adolescent” mind is not like the “ten-year-old”.

Asymmetrical education

We need as well to notice the asymmetrical development today in the Christian adult: he or she usually has had some higher level education, he or she has read many books, and is constantly bombarded by tens of new thoughts every day, coming from the multiple media we have. It is true as well that the actual “culture” (I put it in quotations on purpose) is as well, in many ways rather superficial, favouring more the rapid, summarised, saleable information than the deep, transformative, time/energy consuming formation. Today, this of course is narrowing the windows of any serious/deep input in Christian Adult Formation. In this sense we are going (lead by our culture) through the creation of a very dangerous gap that could prevent us from having any connection with the rich past. We are getting more and more isolated from the past. And there is no Christianity without a past, without relating to the Living Stream of the Spiritual Tradition. We are not meant to redefine or reinvent Christianity at each generation, but rather we are invited to receive a living Gift, develop it and hand it to the following generation. Breaking the momentum as we have been doing in these last decades is too dangerous, because it will cost us 50 to 100 years to rebuild, rediscover, and reconnect with the Living Stream.

Urgent Need for a Prophetical Theology

Prophetical Theology, or formerly “Monastic Theology” is a theology that has specific characteristics: it is focused on the experience of the Risen Lord in the Holy Spirit, driven by the “call for holiness” (or so called “second conversion”). It offers the traditional and proven tools/means that help us grow in the experience of Jesus, in order to reach the fullness of Love. It is the “theology of the saints”, the “theology of holiness”. Of course it is rather a contemplative theology, where experience, science and discernment are not dislocated but work together, harmoniously. This theology is an introduction to the Mystery of God, and not only a distant reflection on it. It is a theology that is touched by God, by the Holy Spirit and is therefore humbled and guided by Him.

It is not the basic theology (that would be the Priestly Theology, which is the common one we have in the west) but is rather a more developed one, focused on Jesus' personal call to each one of us, at a certain point in our life. This theology is urgently needed.

Contemplative Theology

Prophetical Theology is Contemplative Theology, in the sense that it forms the student, and introduces him/her into a contemplative state where Theology is not just a mere intellectual object/concept but a living Being (God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit) with whom one enters in a personal relationship, a Being that becomes an experience and an experience that has stages, development, until it reaches its fullness.

For the Fathers of the Church in the early centuries, “Theology” meant: to be in the Son, Contemplating the Father and Loving Him through the Holy Spirit. It was the full experience of God, and not a discourse on God, or an intellectual knowledge. The office of the Theologian was to contemplate God, Loving Him. The office of Theology was to teach how to reach that contemplation of God, how to have this experience of the Risen Lord.

St John The Theologian

Very few were named “Theologians”, actually only one initially: St John. Not that St Paul wasn't a Theologian, but St John the Evangelist embodied the Theologian. In his Gospel one could see the height of his contemplation of Jesus. One could say that St John's Gospel was considered the archetype of the book of any Theologian. His School taught us what is to be a Theologian and how to become one.

(to be continued...)

96: Why Jesus hides his Divinity?

Question: From the Gospel today why does Jesus appear to deny His divinity? "Why do you call me good... No-one is good but God alone" (Mark 10:17-27).

Answer: Thank you very much for your question. This is an fundamental question which puzzles all who find passages from the Gospel where Jesus tries to keep quiet about his divinity. It became even a “locus theologicus” and has a name: “the Messianic secret”.

In the Gospel, Jesus commands silence in many instances. An example is Mark 8:29–30: "And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him." Jesus also issues commands of silence after miracles and healings, e.g. in Mark 1:43–45 in the cleansing of a leper: "After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.'" We could include parables and secrets of the Kingdom of God as in Mark 4:11: "And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables."

First there is a difference between denying and not saying or hiding. He is not denying (that would be lying) but he is acting progressively (pedagogically). Jesus' intention is pedagogical. In order to understand how God worked in the History of our Salvation (think of the Old Testament) and in order to understand how Jesus worked we should think of an aspect that Blessed John Henry Newman deepened and presented to us: “development” and “envelopment” as a Divine pedagogy. God never starts by saying things directly, and clearly, because we don't have the capacity to receive things as holy as they are. So he starts by enveloping himself and the deeper truths about him. Exactly like we do with Children: we tell them things in a certain way when they are young and the more they grow, the more they are capable of understanding and bearing what we have to say, so we open wider the veil, increase information, until they are capable of handling the naked reality/truth (the process of development).

Jesus' divinity is not a light matter to be played with or a subject of debate or arguments. It is the most sacred part of God himself and it is not offered up to be ridiculed. It should be handled with great care and respect. It should be handled with purity.

For the pure and the prepared, God reveals Himself as he is. But in order to reach that purity and holiness, we need to be purified through a journey of growth.

This is why saint John built his Gospel as a journey of purification through the 6 signs he offers us (chapters 1 to 11), until we reach the Cross (18-19), and are enable to “enter” into Jesus' Opened Side.

God doesn't give his pearls to the swine. And he advises us not to do so.

Objection: Should we consider a beginner as a “swine”, an impure person to whom we should hide the knowledge that Jesus is God and the necessity to believe in that from day one ?

Answer: Not really, because experiencing his divinity is the first goal in spiritual life and one needs to know it from day one, even if it is not experienced yet. One embarks in the journey. It is more for people who are not opened to receive Faith. (Faith is a Grace)

If we read carefully saint John's Gospel we will notice various aspects arround Jesus' Divinity.

- First we can see that that there are two ways to reach the Discovery of Jesus's divinity: the first way is to start through baptism by the mere initial baptismal belief (the Creed), and, at the end of the Journey, to reach Jesus divinity, by becoming united to him. Saint John of the Cross describes the grace of the Spiritual Engagement as a powerful glimpse of Jesus' divinity. St Theresa of Avila says that in the 7^th Mansion, we see what we believed in while within the previous mansions...

The Gospel of St John starts with one of the First apostles' affirmation: Rabbi you are the Son of God (John 1:50-51), and finishes with that amazing affirmation of St Thomas who was allowed into Jesus' side: “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

- Second: one can see throughout St John's Gospel that on the journey of purification (the 6 signs), at each stage people respond to Jesus in different ways. You have the ones who believe, but you have as well the ones who don't, who react very humanly, who struggle. This is intentional in John's mind: he shows the journey of purification, the struggles, the obstacles to reach that experience of Jesus' Divinity that he calls: Faith. Faith for him is entering in Jesus, being transformed in Him, and therefore being able to receive the Holy Spirit, God's Life (see John 20:30-31).

We see then the necessity of a journey of purification. We can translate these following words of Jesus “blessed the pure, they will see God” (Mt 5) into a more precise statement: “Blessed whoever will get his heart purified because he/she will See God.” or “your duty is to become purified in order to see God”. This is why the Masters of Spiritual life from the very beginning of their teaching stated that the goal of the monk is to realise his purification (see Conferences, John Cassian). Let us finally remember as well that the journey of transformation/purification makes us similar to God, to Jesus. This is why and how we will be able to see him “as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Conclusion: we can't say that the Lord denies his own divinity, but he uses the divine pedagogy, i.e. he works progressively with whoever is ready and to the others, he speaks in symbols (parables), fulfilling the golden rule: not to give pearls to the swine.

In that passage mentioned in your question, Jesus starts with the understanding of God as he appears in God's Revelation to Moses. Notice that Jesus' answer will proceed progressively: he will question him about his observation of Moses' Law first. Only after his positive answer will he dare add perfection, the Perfection he is bringing to the Law. He acted pedagogically.

How necessary Mary is for our Faith? # 3

Right before his First Sign ("Miracle"), Jesus gave us an important promise, on which all the Gospel of saint John is built:

“Truly, truly, I say to [all of] you,

you will see Heaven opened,

and the angels of God

ascending and descending

on the Son of Man.”
(John 1:51)

Jesus here seems to allude to Jacobs dream, in Genesis: 28:10-22:

Jacob's dream (Catacomb via latina)

"Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this Place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the Gate of Heaven.” Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”"

After having read the text Jesus is alluding to, we need now to understand Jesus' mysterious sentence: "you will see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man". In order to do so, let us first see the meaning of certain words used in this sentence.

Heaven opened

Jesus' side opened is "heaven opened"

What is "Heaven opened" for John? John himself replies to us: "one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”" (John 19:33-37)

Jesus' side is the door to "heaven". Jesus' side is opened with a spear. From that "heaven" flow "blood and water", i.e. our nourishment.

"Angels of God"

"Angel" in saint John's vocabulary has two meanings: the first one is literal and obvious: one of God's invisible creatures. The second meaning is "mysterious", symbolical: it means the head of a church, an Apostle, or a Bishop. We have this meaning for instance in the book of Revelation: 
"The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." (Revelation 1:20) In fact the first part of the book of Revelation is a set of 7 letters to the seven heads of seven churches. "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands [...]" (Revelation 2:1). One wouldn't write a letter to an angel, but rather to the head of a church.
As we saw in a previous post about the structure of St John's Gospel, his goal is to offer us 6 signs + the Big Sign, the sign par excellence, the Cross, in order for us to believe. "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." "Believe" for St John means reach the depths of Jesus, it means "seeing the Crucified Lord", seeing his side open and entering through it in "heaven", and drawing from it "Blood and Water" i.e. Life.

The ladder


The Mysterious ladder Jesus' promise is alluding to is Mary's action in Cana. The New Eve that came from Jesus' side, is the only one knowing the way to His Heart, it is through her "faith" (her capacity to reach His opened Side) that we can believe.

The ladder should be in blue

At Cana, Mary says to Jesus: "They don't have wine". She has the Wine. Mary knows that Jesus is the Redeemer, and how He will redeem us. Mary knows what Jesus will realise on the Cross, when His Hour will come: He will offer the True New Wine (His Blood) for the True and Only Wedding (Him and each one of us). This is why she says to the Servants: "Do whatever He will tell you to do". She shows them the Way (Hodigitria).

This is how St John concludes the First Sign: "What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed His Glory; and His disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples." (John 2:11-12) They believed in Him, and "saw His Glory" because of Mary, who "sees His Glory" and leads to Him. She transmitted her Faith in Him to them. She is the ladder on which the "Angels" go up and down.

Through Mary's faith we are enabled to climb and reach Jesus' side, drink from His Blood and Water, and draw from them to give the others. Like the servants of Cana: they draw from the "new wine" and give to the ones who are invited to the wedding of the Lamb. "Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19:9).

When we hear this Promise: “Truly, truly, I say to [all of] you, you will see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) we understand that its first fulfilment is Jesus' first Sign (Cana's Wedding) and the real and only fulfilment is the Unique Sign: the Cross, where Jesus' side, heaven, is finally opened and with Mary our Mother, through her Faith (the divine Ladder) we can climb to Jesus' side, drink from it, and draw from it and come down, and serve our brothers.

"Mary's faith [...] continues to become the faith of the pilgrim People of God" (John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater, 28)

The Six steps of the Ladder

The ladder has 6 rungs or steps: the six signs Johns give us in his first 12 chapters. We need to climb them in order to be purified (the water in Cana was meant for the purification of the Jews (John 2:6)), and be admitted in the Wedding Chamber, with the Groom: His Side.
1st step: Cana's sign (John 2:1-11).
2nd step: Healing the son of the Official (John 4:46-54).
3rd step: Healing of the paralytic (John 5:1-18),
4th step: Feeding the Five Thousand and crossing the sea (John 6),
5th step: Healing the blind man (John 9).
6th step: The Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11).
Remember that in Cana there are six jars! Do you see how Cana holds all the architecture of St John's Gospel?

ascending and descending

The six steps of the Ladder, the six signs that John chose to offer us, as a way of purification, allow us to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to reach Jesus' opened side.
Is that all our vocation? just to reach Jesus' depths? No, Jesus himself set us Himself as an example: He not only washed our feet, but invited as to take part in this sacred mission of doing the same to our brothers and sisters: washing their feet. "If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (John 13:14-17)
We draw the capacity to wash from Jesus Himself, being transformed into Him. We draw water and blood from His opened side, and come down, serving our brothers, being, by the Charity of Jesus in our heart, enabled to purify. Not with our capacity, but with Jesus' capacity.

And as well: "A new Commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." (John 14:34) As it has been done to us, in order to allow us to ascend and reach His Side, we should to the same to our brothers and sisters.

This is how the Servants (the Angels) ascend and descend on the Son of Man.

“Truly, truly, I say to [all of] you,

you will see Heaven opened,

and the Angels of God

ascending and descending

on the Son of Man.”
(John 1:51)