A SINCERE ATTENDANT TO THE BRIDEGROOM


FEAST OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE

Apo 21:9-14; Ps 145:10-13a,17-18; Jn 1:45-51

The Making of the Bride of Christ

Those whom the Father has invited to the wedding banquet had no idea what awaited them at the Son of God's wedding banquet. They have no idea of what the Father has prepared for them because they lack the knowledge of the Father. It is only the Son who knows the Father and understands the nature of the banquet he prepared for his wedding. At a wedding banquet, all attention is on the bride and her groom, and so much is lavished on the bride's preparation and decoration to match and display the groom's wealth and affluence. More is expected when the groom is a prince; the king would spend lavishly on the bride. The causes of our ignorance, who are invited to the heavenly banquet, are two: the first is our total ignorance of God; the second is our blindness caused by sin and addiction to the senses. Thus, the Scripture says that what God has prepared for those who love him is beyond human imagination, for it has never entered any human mind or heart. “What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” 1 Cor 2:9. Saint Augustine explains that it cannot enter the human heart, because the human heart is to enter it.

The promise of God is beyond our imagination, for it is something never seen or experienced by the senses. But those who resolve to attend the divine wedding banquet are gradually introduced into the reality of the promise. It remains a promise to us who still walk with our senses, but already fulfilled in the Spirit, for our new spirit is already a possession of the life of the Son of God. Therefore, the Son of Man calls his disciples attendants to the Bridegroom. As we attend to the Bridegroom, we are gradually transformed into the bride of the Son. Thus, the wonder of God’s promise gradually dawns on the friends of the Bridegroom. The Psalmist bears witness to this. “All your creatures shall thank you, O Lord, and your friends shall repeat their blessing. They shall speak of the glory of your reign and declare your might, O God. They make known to men your mighty deeds and the glorious splendour of your reign.” We realise God’s greatness and the wonder of his promise to us, who attend to the Groom, in ourselves. Though the work of transformation going on within us is veiled even to us, some aspect of the glory is revealed to us by the Spirit. “In the spirit, he took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.” The radiant glory is of the divine truth that comes from the Son of God to nourish us with divine life.

The radiant glory, which is the cause of our transformation, is founded on the twelve apostles, for they were the first attendants of the divine Bridegroom. None receives the radiant flow of divine truth and life without encountering and focusing on the Son of Man. All of us are invited to the divine wedding banquet. But many excuse themselves in ignorance, not knowing what God has prepared for us, things beyond imagination. Saint Bartholomew affirmed that God gradually unveils the wonders of his promise to us when he accepted Philip’s invitation. “‘Come and see,’ replied Philip. When Jesus saw Nathnael coming, he said of him, ‘There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.’” He was granted grace to see through the mystery of the human nature of Jesus Christ, for he said. “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.’” Our Lord assured him, and us equally, of witnessing greater marvels beyond what we can grasp with our senses or what is now given in sacramental form, if we persevere in attending to the banquet. “I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.” By following the Lamb of God everywhere, Saint Bartholomew became part of the foundation of the bride of the Lord; may his prayers help us to steadfastly attend to the presence of Jesus of Christ with us in the sacramental mysteries.

Let us pray: Strengthen in us, O Lord, the faith, by which the blessed Apostle Bartholomew clung wholeheartedly to your Son, and grant that through the help of his prayers your Church may become for all the nations the sacrament of salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CALLED TO KNOW AND PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL

Image
THE CONVERSION SAINT PAUL, APOSTLE Acts 22:3-16; Ps 117; Mk 16:15-18 Proclamation of the Gospel of the New Covenant Celebrating the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul brings us to a deeper reflection on the meaning and implication of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. As Paul himself narrated in the first reading to his people in Jerusalem, he was so zealous in the practice of Judaism, the religion of his fathers, that his eyes were closed to the new realities and relations God had brought into existence. Though these new realities and relations were prophesied by the prophets and the Law pointed to them, Paul and many of his contemporaries were blind to them. His words are: “I am a Jew and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you are today.” These words of Paul testify that zeal without the knowledge of the will o...
Read more

GOD IS LOVE

Image
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST SACRED HEART OF JESUS   Deut 7:6-11; Ps 103:1-4,6-8,10; 1 Jn 4:7-16; Mt 11:25-30 Great Things hidden from the Wise We celebrate the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. The Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ is a mystery, as coming from the mystery of the Son of Man. The human heart of Jesus Christ is a symbol and reality of the love of the Son of Man for his brothers and sisters. It is a human representation of the heart or love of the Son of God for us, his own people and creatures. As he revealed in Heb 2:14, that he took on our nature, that he may share everything in common with us. “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death.” The Father brought us into existence to be the inheritance and the companions of His Beloved Son. The love of the Son for his own could not let him be, but made him take on our nature and appear among ...
Read more

ESTABLISHING OURSELVES IN HIS PRESENCE

Image
THE 6TH DAY OF OCTAVE OF CHRISTMAS     1 Jn 2:12-17; Ps 96:7-10; Lk 2:36-40 Recognising the Incarnate Word for Self The Church, in the opening prayer, prays for the new revelation of God in the flesh to commence its purpose of setting us free from the bondage of sin and servitude to evil. The fact of the Incarnation means that human nature is redeemed in principle, by God joining it to the Eternal Word in a hypostatic union. The Lamb, the Word in human flesh, is already sacrificed to God, waiting for the consummation of the sacrifice on Calvary. Thus, He already started the work of redemption in principle, each of us must now appropriate the result of the redemption. The purpose of his appearance in human flesh is that he may enter our minds as God, who created us in love. He comes to receive us back into his company; this requires he enters the temple within each of us. We must recognise what he has already done for the love of us and respond in a similar gesture b...
Read more