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| John the Baptist Preaching, Rembrandt |
St. Johnstide
John 5: 31-38
If I
were only appearing as my own witness, my testimony would be without truth [real power]; but there is another who bears
witness to me, and I know that the testimony He gives me is the full truth [possesses full reality].
You sent messengers to John, and he gave valid
testimony. But human testimony is not enough for me, for I want you to find
salvation [healing] through my word.
He [John] was the burning and bright shining lamp [fire], and you wanted nothing more than to bathe for a
while in that light. A weightier testimony is at my disposal than that of John.
The deeds which the Father has given me to accomplish, the deeds which I
fulfill, they testify for me that the Father has sent me. And so the Father who
sent me Himself testifies to me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his
form; the Word which proceeds from Him does not live in your souls, for you do
not open yourselves to him whom He has sent.
4th
St. Johnstide
July
7, 2019
John
5: 31-38
There
was a small curly-headed dark-haired child who loved fairytales. She lived
in a home where the mirrors were all far above her head. Imagine her
astonishment when her parent lifted her up to see her reflection and she
discovered that she wasn’t golden-haired like the princesses in the fairytales!
She was so disappointed. Did not being golden-haired mean that she wasn’t a
princess after all?
Mirrors
allow us to see ourselves from the outside. They enable a degree of
objectivity. Mirrors can show us truth, at least on one level. Thinking and feeling
human souls can also serve as mirrors for the truth.
In today’s Gospel, Christ talks about how spiritual
truth operates. He affirms that John the Baptist recognized Him, that John’s
testimony about the truth of Christ’s being was valid. But He urges us not to
be satisfied merely with accepting John’s eyewitness account. He wants us to
take into consideration two other levels of testimony.
One
is the testimony that comes from His Father, who shines through the deeds of
teaching and healing that Christ does. The other, perhaps more relevant for us,
comes from within us, from within our own hearts and souls. Christ wants
to be mirrored in us, to see Himself, hear His evolving Word in us. Without
opening our souls, opening our thoughts and our feelings to Christ, He cannot
find His truth or the truth of the Father in us. If we do not open our souls to
Him, He says, we cannot mirror his working.
Catherine
of Sienna writes of waiting for her father to return from work one night. She
says:
I saw him coming. We ran
into each other’s arms
and he lifted me as he
so often had—
twirled me through the
air,
his hands beneath
my arms.
That is what the truth
does:
lifts us and lets us
fly.*
Grace
and truth come from Christ, who is Truth.
John 1:17, John 14:6. When we let ourselves mirror the truth, we
are free to align ourselves with what He really is. “You shall know the truth”,
He says, “and the truth shall set you free.” John
8:32.
*
Catherine of Sienna, “Smells of Good Food”, in Love Poems from God,
Daniel Ladinsky, p. 202.
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