35. December 27, St John, Apostle & Evangelist (II)

Meditations no. 558 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

St John the apostle learned fraternal charity from Christ our Lord.

This is John who during the Last Supper reclined on the breast of the Lord. Blessed is the apostle to whom the secrets of heaven were revealed.

One of the most important lessons that Christ’s beloved disciple learned from the Master was the commandment of fraternal love. In his Gospel he repeats our Lord’s words spoken at the Last Supper: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Much time had gone by since the day John first met Christ. The youth had possessed then all the impatient vigour of adolescence. But his years of close dealing with Christ had helped him to mature. The Gospels leave us a clear record of the change undergone in that heart so in love with our Lord.

John was an impetuous youth. More than once he was reprimanded by Christ. When the days drew near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?” Christ had to channel their excessive zeal: He turned and rebuked them. They had to learn the lesson of charity and understanding, which was the spirit our Lord had come to give to the world.

On another occasion the young apostle came to him fall of self-confidence after having done something that he thought was good. Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him. Once again Jesus had to correct him and teach him a lesson of openheartedness. Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me.

Jesus showed great patience with his beloved disciple. He put a lot of effort into channelling his youthful impetuosity and intolerance, sowing the seed of charity in his soul. But John learned his Master’s lesson very well. At the end of his life he would stress untiringly to the early Christians: Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.

We have to practise the mandatum novum and teach it to people in the St Raphael work.

Truly love one another. And when I say this, I am saying what is at the very heart of Christianity. Deus caritas est (1 Jn 4: 8). God is Love. Remember the apostle John, our patron, who is also a good model for learning how to love Jesus Christ. When he was very old, though he must have felt very young, when perhaps he was hardly able to speak because his body no longer responded, he would repeat to his disciples, Filioli, diligite alterutrum (St Jerome, In epist. ad Gal. 3, 6).

My dearest children, love one another. All the rest is only nonsense. Forget about likes and dislikes, for we act supernaturally. Love one another! Truly love one another!

When the apostles and disciples of the first hour had already died, John the Evangelist still preached to the faithful of Ephesus and of all Asia Minor. He reminded them incessantly of Christ’s precept: A new commandment I give you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

Christ’s mandatum novum resounded deeply in our Father’s heart. He tells us, I fell so deeply in love with it that in that first house of ours I had a framed sign made displaying this precept of love; and we still have it. This was one of the few objects that escaped undamaged when the Ferraz Residence was destroyed during the Spanish civil war. It is a living reminder of the perennial force of this commandment. Our Father said that it is still a new precept, since Christians fail to practise it. In the Instruction on the St Raphael work he wrote, Our Lord’s commandment is still new! I don’t want to go into details. You know very well that I am not exaggerating. It has become commonplace to hear the question, “Who is your enemy?” And then the answer, “Your colleague.” Unfortunately one can also see this practised, even by people who make a display of their piety.

Through specific deeds of service we must teach our friends, particularly those close to the Work, that fraternal affection is a distinguishing mark of the true disciples of Christ. Our Father wrote in 1935, Teach the St Raphael fellows that they must live the commandment of charity with all of its consequences, namely, mutual aid in the spiritual, scholastic and financial spheres and in social life. Then the Apostle’s words, which can be clearly seen in our oratory, will be a reality: Alter alterius onera portate, et sic adimplebitis legem Christi (Gal6: 2). Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.

This refined charity should show itself wherever we carry out our apostolic work, particularly in Centres dedicated to St Raphael work. Following in our Father’s footsteps and in those of our older brothers, we will try to make sure that the young people always have the opportunity of receiving affectionate guidance in their studies or work from older students or persons in a position to do so.

Seeing God in others will help us to be charitable to all souls.

My children, ours is a way of love. Love for God, who is our Father; sincere, constant, refined fraternal charity. Always and in everything you should practise charity, for the charity of God our Father is constantly being poured into our hearts (cf Rom5: 5).

If anyone says, 7 love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. St John the apostle transmits Christ’s teaching to us: we are urged to see God in our neighbour. The entire Christian life is summarized in the commandment of love, a love expressed in deeds. It cannot be reduced to a vague humanitarian feeling. God must be present in it, and it must become a reality in deeds of service to those around us.

The root of this law is found in God’s love for his creatures. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. A Christian sees every man and woman as the object of God’s unbounded tenderness. There is something divine in all souls, no matter what their position in society. What gives souls their infinite worth is the life of Jesus Christ, who has shed every drop of his blood on the Cross to redeem us.

The spirit of the Work, grounded on the Gospel’s apostolic spirit, requires that we live an ordered charity with all souls, taking advantage of our ordinary work and social dealings. Charity is the theological virtue that enables us to love with God’s very love. Love one another with supernatural love, with an effective love, that places God in all your affections and above all your loves. Thus, as the Father tells us, If you belong to Christ, completely to Christ, then he will give you fire, light and warmth for all men.

Our fraternal charity will often need a reference point to correct our purely natural inclinations. Do everything for Love, per Iesum Christum Dominum Nostrum. You must do things for the sake of Christ It’s good to have a human heart. But if you do things only because they are for such-and-such a person, that’s bad. Although you also do it for him, do it above all for Christ.

Our charity will be purified of its human attachments if there are no hidden compensations to diminish it; if it transcends similarities of character and opinion; if we do not seek human rewards; if our service to others is not tarnished by the hope of receiving their gratitude, affection and applause.

No creature has ever loved as intensely as the Virgin Mary, who saw all souls in her Son. We ask our Lady to fill our hearts with God’s love, which gives itself unselfishly to others. Then, united in the charity of God, consummati in unum (Jn 17: 23), living our Lord’s mandatum novum (Jn 13: 34), we will be God’s light and warmth among men, and we will be as strong as a walled city. Frater qui adiuvatur a fratre quasi civitas firma (Prov18: 19). A brother helped by his brother is like a fortified city.