17 May 2021
Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter
“Do you believe me now?” Jesus asks, surprised that it took them so long to come to this point. And what is the basis of their belief? -Certainty. They have been intellectually convinced, but not converted. Their faith is anchored in their intellect rather than in their heart, and thus Jesus can say, “…the hour…has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone.” For things are about to happen that will have no rational basis at all: Jesus will be betrayed by one of their own, and thus will begin a trail of irrational hatred of an innocent man, at the end of which that Man will be scourged, humiliated, crucified, and buried.
Yet there are those who are not so shaken as to abandon Him. Mary, whose act of faith being rooted in her humble love for God, breached the wall of Satan’s stronghold which held the world in thrall. John, known by many to be Jesus’ beloved disciple. Mary Magdalene, who was freed from seven demons by Jesus (Luke 8:2), who according to Scripture was the first to witness the Resurrection. These three knew Jesus was the Son of God not because they had an intellectual grasp of His Mystery, but because they loved Him, and there faith was informed by that love. Even Our Lady, when the angel delivered God’s proposal, expressed her lack of understanding: “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34). The angel speaks further, but she understood only that this was God’s desire, and thus she assented. St. Paul says, “…we walk by faith, not by sight,” (2 Corinthians 5:7); those of the apostles who walked by the light of intellect stumbled when the Light of the World (John 8:12) left the world (John 12:35), whereas those who trusted in Jesus, who truly loved Him, had the light of faith to continue guiding them. They remembered all that Jesus had said and believed Him; thus in those dark days of Jesus’ death and time in the tomb, His word was a lamp for their feet, and a light for their path (Psalm 119:105).
He has given us the very same word; do we believe Him? Is our belief in Him something we have figured out intellectually, or is our belief anchored in love, as love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8)? Let us pray for the grace of the latter, or a deepening of the love, should we already possess it, that even in our most troubled, most dark times we might find light and consolation in His word: “…take courage, I have conquered the world.”