In today’s Gospel, the Lord Jesus
Christ tells His disciples: “My food is to do the Will of Him Who sent Me, and
to accomplish His work.” In this place, Our Lord uses a Greek word “vroma,”
which means food that is either permitted or forbidden by the Law, along with
another similar word “vrosis,” which He uses to describe the Eucharist in
another context. “Vroma” and “Vrosis”
are the translation of the Hebrew word “ma’akal,” which is a very ancient word,
only found in the Books of Moses.
We have been baptized into Christ, and
therefore we have hidden resources of strength and virtue, which transform us
into “other Christs.” The Christian is a person who has been clothed in Christ,
and thus becomes another Christ by the grace of God.
In Christ, we have hidden resources of
strength and virtue. We have well in us,
which becomes a fountain springing up to everlasting life. The Greek Gospel uses two words to describe
this well: “piyi” and “phrear.” “Piyi” is a spring, which flows of its own
accord, but “phrear” is a deep well. To
draw water from such a well, one needs a rope and a bucket.
Our hidden strengths are a fountain of
living water, and a special, spiritual food. In the first place, we have the
fountain of living water: the Mystery of Baptism. When we consider this Mystery, we remember
two images, given to us by the Holy Scriptures, which help us to understand the
great gift of this Sacrament. The first
images is water, as in the Prophecy of Isaiah: “As the rain and the snow come
down from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring
forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my
word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it
shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I
sent it.”
Nevertheless, there is a great contrast
between the rain and the snow, and the Lord’s Word, for the rain and the snow
leave heaven and do not return there, but the Lord’s Word not only returns to
Heaven, but also lives there continuously, even though it works on earth. The imagery of the Mystery of Baptism is a
water, which life to the earth, for Baptism becomes in us a fountain of the kind
of water, which springs up to life everlasting, and not only for us, but for
the whole world. We see an illustration
of this fact in the behaviour of the Samaritan woman. She brought all of the
villagers to the Lord Jesus. In the same
way, we should bring all of our neighbours to Christ through our life of
virtue. Therefore, the water of Baptism
becomes in us a rain or a snow, which comes forth from us as from heaven in
order to give life to our world.
The second element in the imagery of
Baptism is light. Often we call this
Mystery Illumination when it is celebrated together with the Sacraments of
Chrismation and the Eucharist. The
Mystery of Illumination—Baptism, Chrismation and the Eucharist—make us share in
the identity of Christ.
We also have a hidden strength, which come
to us from our spiritual food—the Eucharist.
The Eucharist—the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ—strengthens
the identity of Christ in us. It gives
us the virtues of Christ to accept the Will of God and to lead others to
freedom from sin. In the Eucharist, we
have the strengthen to imitate Christ, that is, to imitate the Eucharist, and
become offerings together with Christ for the salvation of the world, just as
it says in the psalm: “Have they no knowledge, those evildoers, who eat up my
people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God?”
In Christ, we have hidden resources of
strength and virtue. It is necessary for
us to use these resources for our salvation and the salvation of all
people. It is necessary to water our
world with the life-giving water, which, on account of our baptism, springs up
in us unto life everlasting. It is
necessary to become a light of revelation for the nations, and to follow the
example of the Samaritan Woman, bringing all people to our Holy Catholic
Church. It is necessary to receive
strength from the Eucharist, in order to imitate the Eucharist, and become
offerings for the salvation of the world and the glory of God.
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