Friday, July 18, 2014

3rd St. Johnstide 2008, Appalling Goodness

St. Johnstide
van der Weyden
John 1: 19-39

This is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” Freely and openly he made confession. He confessed, “I am not the Christ [the Anointed].”
Then they asked him, “Who are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “No, I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” Then they said, “Who are you? What answer are we to give to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

He said in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying in the loneliness: Prepare the way for the Lord [so that the Lord may enter into the inmost soul [self].”

And those who had been sent by the Pharisees asked him, “Why do you baptize if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
John answered them, “I baptize with water. But someone is standing in your midst whom you do not know, who comes after me although he was before me. I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals.”
This took place in Bethany near the mouth of the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The next day he [John] sees Jesus coming to him, and says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the burden of the sin of the world. He it is of whom I said: ‘After me comes one who was before me, for he is greater than I  [for he is ahead of me].’ [After me comes one who was (generated) before me, for he is the prototype.] Even I did not know him; but for this I have come, and have baptized with water, so that human souls in Israel might become able to experience the revelation of his being.”
And John testified: “I saw how the Spirit descended upon him as a dove from the heavens and remained united with him. I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend, so that it remains united with him, he it is who baptizes with the [breath of the] Holy [Healing] Spirit [and with fire].’ And I saw this, and so I testify that this is God’s Son.”

The next day John was again standing there, and two of his disciples were with him. And as he saw Jesus walking past, he said, “Behold, the [sacrificial] Lamb of God [through whom humanity’s sense of self will be purified.]”
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?”They answered, “Rabbi [Teacher], where are you staying [where do you live] [where do you take refuge]?” He said, “Come and you will see!”
And they came and saw where he stayed [lived], and remained with him all that day. It was about the tenth hour [four o’clock].

3rd St. Johnstide
July 13, 2008
John 1: 19-34

Both illness and recovery are mysterious processes. Out of the blue, it seems, we “catch” a cold. We run a fever. No matter what we do, we don’t recover until the illness has run its course. Then healing, equally mysterious, arrives too, on its own. We can  experience healing as grace.

In the seasonal prayer, St. John the Baptist speaks in words of flame. His flame-words are described first of all as health-bearing; for all human souls are suffering from an illness, the sickness of being separated from their own divine origin. John’s health-bearing flame word is like a soul-fever, designed aid the process of healing.

His flame words are also ‘guilt-conscious’. In the light and heat of the fire of his words, we become aware that we are ill. We were created in God’s image and likeness. This sickness means that we are failing to live up to our truly divine human nature and task. The sickness of sin has laid us low. As one of the mystics describes it:,

When I enter that darkness I cannot
recall a bit about anything human,
or about the God-man.[1]

Mengs
Once awareness arrives, burning shame and guilt are the result.

But John’s words are also ‘grace-divining’. In our state of illness we look for the medicine and the healing. And it has indeed been given us. It is in the descending of the true Spirit of the human being, the Healing Spirit, into Jesus, the Christ. He takes upon Himself the burden of the sin, the separation of the world. He is the medicine for our illness.

The burning fever of the longing for healing is found in the depth of the heart. It is this flame of longing that begins the process of purification, in which the heart rises in love toward our Healer. Health-bearing, guilt-conscious, grace-divining describe the interaction between the human and the divine.

Again the mystic:

The [healing] embrace of God puts fire to the soul,
by which the soul entire is felt to burn
for Christ, accompanied by a light so great the soul
suspects the immensity of God’s appalling goodness. [2]


www.thechristiancommunity.org




[1] Blessed Angela of Foligno, “The Darkness”, in Love’s Immensity, by Scott Cairns, p. 89.
[2] Ibid, “His Blazing Embrace” , pg. 88.