Then
many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who
an accept it?" Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about
this, he said to them, "Does this shock you? What if you were to see the
Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life,
while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and
life. But there are some of you who do not believe." Jesus knew from the
beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And
he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father." As a result of this, many (of) his
disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon
Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy
One of God." (John 6: 60-69)
Introductory
Prayer: O Lord, I
seek the vigilance of one ready to fight for your Kingdom.I pray not to be
lulled into a false peace of a faith that does not challenge my comfort and
rationalistic thinking. “And you girded me with strength of war; you subdued my
adversaries beneath me” (Psalm 18:40). How great it wuld be to find myself
rising to meet a secular world, with its mundane and shallow way of living,
with a robust and valiant faith in all you propose for my life, O Lord, who are
seated victoriously at God’s right hand!
Petition: O Jesus, divine Master, you helped
the disciples understand; help me understand the mystery of your heavenly
Kingdom.
1.
“Does this shock you?” The obedience of faith that Christ proposes is not always easy for us.
We can at times be “shocked” by twists in his plan, or when being faithful to a
given moral or doctrinal teaching becomes a very costly affair for me. And this
happens all the more so when our interior life is carried by the rhythm of the
things of the world. Without the constant deepening of the theological virtues
of faith, hope and love we will often find much that God expects of us
unacceptable. It is a reaction that tells us it is time to change and spend
more time in prayer, getting to know Christ and those things that are pleasing
to him. Only those who grow and fight through their moment of darkness will
conquer and win through perseverance.
2. “It
is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.” Often in facing the hard moments of
life, we can seek human compensations that only postpone or even prevent the
real cure from coming to my soul. Jesus invites us to follow him from a
disciplined life of prayer that commits me to him everyday, and radically so.
The temptation to set aside prayer in moments of fatigue and emotional weakness
can come to me as it did for the disciples in Gethsemane. We claim that we need
to take a break, that we need some special consideration, but such an excuse
really is lowering the watchfulness of the spirit and leading us to succumb to
the flesh. Would a soldier in combat lay down his weapons in the worst moment
of the battle precisely when the enemy has his strongest advantage? I must have
the perseverance of Christ, firm in the truths of God, firm in the prayer that
reveals them to me.
3.
“Master, to whom shall we go?” Jesus alone is our comfort and true friend, so to whom
shall we go? Peter affirms his sincerity with Christ. When circumstances humble
our hearts, mortify our ambition, and detach us from our wants, we feel the
pinch and must remember the words of Peter. In the end one chooses well when
one knows who they are before God. Christ reveals to us that he is the only one
who can respond to my deepest needs, needs which can be met by no other person
and nothing else in my life.
Dialogue
with Christ: O
Jesus, you would have me go by no other way than in your footprints guiding me
ahead. Your words are eternal, your love is overwhelming. May I turn to you
with all my needs.
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