“He whom the entire universe cannot contain, was contained within thy womb, O Mother of God.” – St Augustine of Hippo
John 14:21-26
He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
What do the Fathers say?
St ALCUIN. By love, and the observance of His commandments, that will be perfected in us which He has begun, viz. that we should be in Him, and He in us.
And that this blessedness may be understood to be promised to all, not to the Apostles only, He adds, He that has My commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves Me.
St AUGUSTINE. He that has them in mind, and keeps them in life; he that has them in words, and keeps them in works; he that has them by hearing, and keeps them by doing; he that has them by doing, and keeps them by persevering, he it is that loves Me. Love must be shown by works, or it is a mere barren name.
I love him so far as to manifest Myself to him; so that, as the reward of his faith, he will have sight.
Now He only loves us so that we believe; then He will love us so that we see. And whereas we love now by believing that which we shall see, then we shall love by seeing that which we have believed.
Judas said to Him, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world? Our Lord in reply explains why He manifests Himself to His own, and not to aliens, viz. because the one love Him, the other do not.
Love distinguishes the saints from the world: it makes men to be of one mind in a house; in which the Father and the Son take their abode; who give that love to those, to whom in the end they will manifest themselves.
For there is a certain inner manifestation of God, unknown to the ungodly, to whom there is no manifestation made of the Father and the Holy Spirit, and only could be of the Son in the flesh; which latter manifestation is not as the former, being only for a little while, not for ever, for judgment, not for joy, for punishment, not for reward.
And We will come to him: They come to us, in that we go to Them; They come by succouring, we go by obeying; They come by enlightening, we go by contemplating; They come by filling, we go by holding: so Their manifestation to us is not external, but inward; Their abode in us not transitory, but eternal.
St THEOPHYLACT. You think that by sorrowing, as you do, for my death you prove your affection; but I esteem the keeping of My commandments the evidence of love. And then He shows the privileged state of one who loves: And he that loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him.
As after the resurrection He was to appear to them in a body more assimilated to His divinity, and so that they might not take Him for a spirit, or a phantom, He tells them now beforehand not to have misgivings upon seeing Him, but to remember that He shows Himself to them as a reward for their keeping His commandments; and that therefore they are bound ever to keep them, that they may ever enjoy the sight of Him.
Pope St GREGORY the Great. Into some hearts He comes, but not to make His abode with them. For some feel compunction for a season and turn to God, but in time of temptation forget that which gave them compunction, and return to their former sins, just as if they had never lamented them.
But whoso loves God truly, into his heart the Lord both comes, and also makes His abode therein: for the love of the Godhead so penetrates him, that no temptation withdraws him from it. He truly loves the one whose mind no evil pleasure overcomes.
In proportion as a man’s love rests upon lower things, in that proportion is he removed from heavenly love: He that loves Me not, does not keep My sayings. To the love then of our Maker, let the tongue, mind and life bear witness.
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
Artwork ex Wikimedia Commons