You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (Jn.8:23).
Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, but when he heard what John said about Jesus -- the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel---Andrew began to follow Jesus instead. The first thing he did was to find his brother Simon (Peter) and to say, "We have found the Messiah," bringing Simon to Jesus.
When Jesus first looked at Peter, He said, "You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas (Aramaic for "rock"---later translated into Greek as "Peter," Greek for "rock.")
If the rugged fisherman had known himself at all, if he had explored every region of his ego prior to his encounter with Christ, it is doubtful that he would have found "Peter" there (von Balthasar, Prayer, p.60). He might have known himself as a just man, trying to do the right thing, but often impulsively, stumbling over his own passion to right the wrongs he saw. The man who seized a sword to cut off the ear of the high priest's servant could not have been described as a "rock." Yet, when Christ looked at Peter, what he saw was a man appointed by God for an unlikely mission, and endowed with all the strength that mission would require.
A recent movie called Amazing Grace tells the story of William Wilberforce, a 19th - century English politician, who almost single-handedly was responsible for the abolition of slavery by England in the early 1800's. At first, Wilberforce wanted only to lie in the grass and gaze at spiderwebs, or enter a monastery to contemplate the love of God, but he was reluctantly persuaded to enter politics to do what he could to overcome the English bias toward selling slaves as commodities. As he took up the mission of his life, he was ridiculed and ostracized as a fool who could not see that abolishing slavery would destroy the English way of life and give power to the French. In the end, Wilberforce's persistence paid off, and the Houses of Lords and Commons voted to end slavery in England.
The truth of our existence lies in Christ, and only in Him can we come to know and understand who we are and what we were meant to do. The Book of Revelations says that, to him who overcomes, Christ will give a white stone with a new name known only to the one who receives it. The particular "truth" of our own existence, the mission reserved for us alone, is hidden in the mystery of Christ's soul, for it is essentially His mission, expressed through our unique personalities, that is being carried out.
Who we are meant to be cannot be discovered by human reason and categories; the truth of our existence is not ours, but God's, and only He can reveal it to us. The question is not how we can do good by our own power, but how God can do good through us, if we allow Him to show us who we are. And if we ask Him, the truth will not be withheld from us (see Luke 11:9-13).
Many years ago, I prayed asking God to make me a good teacher.
"Why don't you ask Me what My plans for you are?" He responded.
That was a scary invitation, one that I was not sure I wanted to respond to. But His answer surprised me about as much as His designation of Simon as "rock."
And I knew that His plans for me were not within my own power to accomplish, but had to be worked in me by Him alone.
I invite you to ask God what His plans for you are---then you will know the truth that will set you free.
If the rugged fisherman had known himself at all, if he had explored every region of his ego prior to his encounter with Christ, it is doubtful that he would have found "Peter" there (von Balthasar, Prayer, p.60). He might have known himself as a just man, trying to do the right thing, but often impulsively, stumbling over his own passion to right the wrongs he saw. The man who seized a sword to cut off the ear of the high priest's servant could not have been described as a "rock." Yet, when Christ looked at Peter, what he saw was a man appointed by God for an unlikely mission, and endowed with all the strength that mission would require.
A recent movie called Amazing Grace tells the story of William Wilberforce, a 19th - century English politician, who almost single-handedly was responsible for the abolition of slavery by England in the early 1800's. At first, Wilberforce wanted only to lie in the grass and gaze at spiderwebs, or enter a monastery to contemplate the love of God, but he was reluctantly persuaded to enter politics to do what he could to overcome the English bias toward selling slaves as commodities. As he took up the mission of his life, he was ridiculed and ostracized as a fool who could not see that abolishing slavery would destroy the English way of life and give power to the French. In the end, Wilberforce's persistence paid off, and the Houses of Lords and Commons voted to end slavery in England.
The truth of our existence lies in Christ, and only in Him can we come to know and understand who we are and what we were meant to do. The Book of Revelations says that, to him who overcomes, Christ will give a white stone with a new name known only to the one who receives it. The particular "truth" of our own existence, the mission reserved for us alone, is hidden in the mystery of Christ's soul, for it is essentially His mission, expressed through our unique personalities, that is being carried out.
Who we are meant to be cannot be discovered by human reason and categories; the truth of our existence is not ours, but God's, and only He can reveal it to us. The question is not how we can do good by our own power, but how God can do good through us, if we allow Him to show us who we are. And if we ask Him, the truth will not be withheld from us (see Luke 11:9-13).
Many years ago, I prayed asking God to make me a good teacher.
"Why don't you ask Me what My plans for you are?" He responded.
That was a scary invitation, one that I was not sure I wanted to respond to. But His answer surprised me about as much as His designation of Simon as "rock."
And I knew that His plans for me were not within my own power to accomplish, but had to be worked in me by Him alone.
I invite you to ask God what His plans for you are---then you will know the truth that will set you free.
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