The Daily Gospel

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68

Today the Church celebrates : St. Anselm


Saint Nicholas Cabasilas :

"Whoever loves me... my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him"


Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 14,21-26.

Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, (then) what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name--he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you.


Commentary of the day :

Saint Nicholas Cabasilas (c.1320-1363), Greek lay theologian
Life in Christ, IV, 6-8 (SC 355, p.267)

Whoever loves me... my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him"

The promise attached to the eucharistic table makes us live in Christ and Christ in us, for it is written: «He remains in me and I in him» (Jn 6,56). If Christ remains in us, of what else could we have need? What could we lack? If Christ remains in us what more can we want? He is both our host and our dwelling. How happy we are to be the place where he lives! What joy that we ourselves are the abode of such a host! What could lack those whom he thus treats? What do those who shine with such a light have in common with wickedness? What evil could stand up to such good? There is nothing else capable of remaining in us or coming against us when Christ unites himself to us in this way. He surrounds us and penetrates our deepest selves; he is our protection and refuge; he hems us in on every side. He is both our dwelling and the host who wholly fills his dwelling place.

For we receive, not a part of himself but himself, not just one sunbeam but the sun..., until we become one single spirit with him (1Cor 6,17)... Our soul is united to his soul, our body to his body, our blood to his blood... As Saint Paul says: «What is mortal is swallowed up by life» (2Cor 5,4) and: «I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me» (Gal 2,20).