In today's Gospel we hear the first words of Jesus recorder in the Gospel of St John, "What do you want? What is your intention? Why are you here, why are you doing what you are doing?" The question of intention is of the greatest importance in all human activity. Intentionality determines the moral goodness or badness of an action. An action is bad if I intend to do evil through it. The objective evil of something that happens may be lessened because I did not intend evil. Achievement also depends a lot on intention. If I really intend and desire something I will find ways of achieving it. If my desire is weak I will give up easily. My intention is my motivation, and my reason for doing anything - work or prayer - is of the utmost importance in determining the worth of what I do. St James tells us (4:3) "When you pray you do not get what you ask because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed only for things to indulge your own desires."
So Jesus asks the disciples "What do you want?" and they answer "Where do you live?" "Come and see," he replied. On the surface this can be taken as a request to know the house or shelter in which Jesus is physically staying. But the Gospel of John is usually symbolic of something deeper. "Where are you staying?" refers more deeply to the inner consciousness of Jesus. The disciples felt a glimpse of something deeper in Jesus and they want to share it. Jesus says "Come and see." Come and share in my inner awareness, in my experience of reality. In this, Jesus invites them to the inner truth and life that is in him and comes through him. "They came and saw where he stayed; and they stayed with him that day." They visited him physically, but they experienced where he was interiorly and to some degree shared in his light.
John then adds, "It was about the tenth hour." This is the number of fulfillment. Then one of the brothers, Andrew, "found his brother Simon and said to him, 'we have found the messiah.'" We have found the one who is full of the Spirit, fully alive. They went "and saw." Surely this must have been a powerful life giving experience for the first disciples.
From this story we can see that Jesus invites us to enlightenment (to become less heavy and less dark) as the motivation for our following of him. If we follow him we grow in the way of seeing, in enlightenment, and we finally end up having no intention. We will find ourselves with no intention other than being in union in selfless openness. This paradoxically does not lead to inaction but to a more fruitful, ego-free form of action.
Everyone who takes the spiritual journey seriously has heard the call to "come and see" Jesus more deeply. Our intentions starting out may vary. We may want to appear holy, to conquer fear or lust or anger, to arrive at inner peace. As we grow closer to the person of Christ our seeing becomes better and our motivation and intention is purified. We then want to share this great gift with others.
In my experience the practice of daily meditation is a transforming way of going home with Jesus. I too would invite you to come and see. Try to meditate twice daily.
So Jesus asks the disciples "What do you want?" and they answer "Where do you live?" "Come and see," he replied. On the surface this can be taken as a request to know the house or shelter in which Jesus is physically staying. But the Gospel of John is usually symbolic of something deeper. "Where are you staying?" refers more deeply to the inner consciousness of Jesus. The disciples felt a glimpse of something deeper in Jesus and they want to share it. Jesus says "Come and see." Come and share in my inner awareness, in my experience of reality. In this, Jesus invites them to the inner truth and life that is in him and comes through him. "They came and saw where he stayed; and they stayed with him that day." They visited him physically, but they experienced where he was interiorly and to some degree shared in his light.
John then adds, "It was about the tenth hour." This is the number of fulfillment. Then one of the brothers, Andrew, "found his brother Simon and said to him, 'we have found the messiah.'" We have found the one who is full of the Spirit, fully alive. They went "and saw." Surely this must have been a powerful life giving experience for the first disciples.
From this story we can see that Jesus invites us to enlightenment (to become less heavy and less dark) as the motivation for our following of him. If we follow him we grow in the way of seeing, in enlightenment, and we finally end up having no intention. We will find ourselves with no intention other than being in union in selfless openness. This paradoxically does not lead to inaction but to a more fruitful, ego-free form of action.
Everyone who takes the spiritual journey seriously has heard the call to "come and see" Jesus more deeply. Our intentions starting out may vary. We may want to appear holy, to conquer fear or lust or anger, to arrive at inner peace. As we grow closer to the person of Christ our seeing becomes better and our motivation and intention is purified. We then want to share this great gift with others.
In my experience the practice of daily meditation is a transforming way of going home with Jesus. I too would invite you to come and see. Try to meditate twice daily.
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