Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day. Yes, it is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life (John 6:39-40)
In these days in which we have been following the teaching of Jesus on the Bread of life, let us remember that Jesus was talking to the Jewish people, who belonged to God through the Covenant. In today’s Gospel (John 6:35-40) he leads them one step further: He is the revelation of God – and he leads them to a greater understanding of their covenant relationship to know God as God really is, and to enter more fully into that relationship of life and love that they already have and which will not be taken away from the.
It was this conviction of St. Eugene which reassured him and made him a comforter of others, as we see in this letter to Fr Casimr Aubert in 1850.
The fifteen days, my dear son, which have elapsed between your last letter and that which I have just received today have been days of bitterness for me. The sole thought of the grief you were enduring and all your worries…
One would be unworthy to belong to God and the Church if one let oneself be laid low by tribulations.
The Coronavirus is making us realistically aware of how fragile our existence can be, and invites us to the reassuring realization that, through our baptism, we belong to God and are in relationship with God – and there is nothing fragile about this covenant!
It takes me a while to focus, not just on all the beautiful words before me, but on the heart of the message.
“…he leads them to a greater understanding of their covenant relationship to know God as God really is, and to enter more fully into that relationship of life and love that they already have and which will not be taken away from them.” Indeed there is nothing fragile or tenuous about our relationship with God, but I must remember it is not because of anything I have done or can do, or even be – it is because of what God has ordained, promised and given.
It is not the daring or even what some might call foolhardiness that allows the man in the picture to stand where he does. I am sure there is a scientific explanation for that rock that rests where it does. I do not understand it, any more than I can understand God. The most that I can do is accept God, accept that God is our strength, our base and our light.
Eugene says in one breath “The sole thought of the grief you were enduring and all your worries…” and then in the next “One would be unworthy to belong to God and the Church if one let oneself be laid low by tribulations.” Relationship and the fidelity of that. A covenant begun and maintained by God – we struggle and try to help but it is God all the way. Something I know but also something that I need to be reminded of and to continue to realise and live – especially in these trying times of radical and constant change.
Once again gratitude and wonder become my springboard from which I dive into this day. I laugh at my own wording for I do not know how to swim and yet I speak of ‘diving’ in to this day. Most assuredly it will be God, God’s covenant of love and relationship that will keep me afloat.