Gospel – Fifth Sunday of Lent

20 Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast 21 came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves Me. 27 I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your Name.” Then a voice came from Heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”

29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An Angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. 31 Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

33 He said this indicating the kind of death He would die (Jn 12:20-33).

I – Wherein Lies True Glory?

The deformations introduced into the modern mentality from the influence of Hollywood cinema, marked by the invariable “happy ending” – that imaginary rosy outcome that only happens on-screen – have heightened in recent decades, to extreme levels. This includes the tendency to detest any kind of suffering, as if suffering or sacrifice spelled the worst misfortune. Parallel to this, a fervid desire for the enjoyment of life is generated, unscrupulously amassing possessions to gain access to a series of the most eccentric and excessive pleasures. Do not the celebrities of this world live such lives, surrounded by apparent luxury? Advanced technology, especially in the field of cutting-edge cybernetics, enfeebling conveniences, extravagant fashions, in short, a gamut of frenetic entertainment is within the reach of this class of people. This is the contemporary fantasy: to gain a place in these ranks so as to achieve a supposedly unimaginable degree of happiness. The goal is to live a kind of fairy-tale dream, but stripped of the charms of aristocratic finery and dressed, instead, in the scrupulously torn, worn and grimy trappings of the wastelands of ugliness. However, is this where true glory lies?

The teaching of the Divine Master

Our ancestors thought differently. The worth of each person was measured by their virtues: honour, courage, courtesy, honesty and perseverance, to name but a few. And these attributes became even more meritorious when they were supernaturalized by grace, carefully preserved from the risk of being lost through sin. Thus, praiseworthy figures distinguished themselves by having given their lives for a higher cause, for having been capable of facing peril and of making courageous renunciations.
For Jesus, supreme model of humanity, true glory consists in the Cross, in the virile and serious acceptance of holocaust taken to the very end
Think of the honour paid to soldiers who bravely shed their blood for the good of their country, the consideration given to heads of families who led an austere existence in order to provide better conditions for their descendants, or the admiration aroused by the example of the knights of old, who stood ready, at the cost of their lives, to defend the weakest and neediest and, above all, the most sublime interests of the Holy Church. The Gospel for this fifth Sunday of Lent sheds light on this question. For Jesus, the supreme model of humanity, true glory consists in the Cross, in the virile and serious acceptance of holocaust taken to its final consequences. Our Lord corroborated this teaching with the most explicit example given in the Passion and, accordingly, He now confronts and destroys the myths and fantasies with which the devil seeks to entrap in his sordid clutches the spirits created for a higher glory. No, man was not born to wallow in the muddy quagmire of this world, but to conquer the sacrosanct heights of heroism. To do this, he must be willing to abandon the narrow confines of egoism and arm himself with the weapons of light in order to wage a magnificent combat. As Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira taught, “the life of the Church and the spiritual life of every believer are an incessant struggle. At times God gives His Bride days of splendid, visible and even palpable grandeur. He gives souls moments of marvellous interior or exterior consolation. But the true glory of the Church and of the faithful comes from suffering and struggle. It is an arid struggle, without sensible beauty or tangible poetry; a struggle in which one advances, at times, during the night of anonymity, in the mire of disinterest or incomprehension, under the storms and bombardment unleashed by the combined forces of the devil, the world and the flesh. But it is a struggle that fills the Angels of Heaven with admiration and draws God’s blessings.”1 That is why he crowned his words with the epigraph: “True glory can only be born of pain.” And here is the key to interpreting today’s Gospel.

II – Glory Is the Cross!

The context of the passage from St. John chosen for this Liturgy could not be more decisive and, at the same time, more critical in the life of Our Lord. In the eleventh chapter of this Gospel, He had already restored Lazarus to life, shattering the dome of silence under which the Sanhedrin sought to shroud His action. Consequently,the Jewish leaders decided to sacrifice Him for the good of the nation: “So from that day on they took counsel how to put Him to death” (Jn 11:53).
Jesus enters Jerusalem amid cheers. The provocation to the Sanhedrin could not have been more daring! The Divine Knight hastened towards His Passion
Nevertheless, “like a man of war, he stirs up his fury” (Is 42:13). After a rapid strategic retreat Jesus returns to Bethany, where Mary anoints Him a second time with precious perfume of nard. On the following Sunday He triumphantly enters Jerusalem, cheered by the crowds who line the road with palm branches. The provocation could not have been more daring! The Divine Knight hastened towards His dolorous Passion, provoking this commentary among the Pharisees: “You see that you can do nothing; look, the world has gone after Him” (Jn 12:19).
“Entry of Christ into Jerusalem”, by Pietro Lorenzetti -Basilica of St. Francis, Assisi (Italy
And it was in Jerusalem, after the apotheotic entry of Our Lord on a young donkey, that some Greeks who were there for the Passover ask to see Him.

The reward for worship

20 Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast…

In all likelihood, this group of Greeks was made up of proselytes, that is, Gentiles in the process of converting to Judaism. Moved by the good intention of following the revealed religion, they had acquired the customs of the Old Covenant and decided to go up to Jerusalem for the solemnity. Unknowingly, they would be witnesses to the most important Passover in history, the true Passover of the Lord. This was the reward given to those who had abandoned polytheistic ignorance to embrace the religion of the living God. In going up to worship the Lord, they encountered One who was worth much more than the Temple and who was about to make His sacrifice as the High Priest of the new era, offering Himself as the Victim of propitiation for the sins of not only the Chosen People, but of all humanity.

Humility and love

21…came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

It is interesting to note the Greeks’ attitude of not seeking out the Lord directly, but through one of the Apostles. For his part, Philip, whom they asked, acted in like manner, first going to speak with Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, about the best way of conveying the request of the proselytes to the Master. When divested of humility, love loses its flame, for pride makes man bothersome and rude. In these verses, on the contrary, we find the harmonious combination of charity and reverential fear. The Greeks do not address the Master, but the disciple, and the latter goes to the Lord accompanied by a more qualified representative, leading to one of Jesus’ most profound and beautiful discourses, in addition to the probable encounter omitted by the Evangelist. St. Paul rightly says: “Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude” (1 Cor 13:4-5).

The hour of glory

23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

St. Augustine2 affirms that glory is clear knowledge with praise. When something good manifests itself clearly and makes those who admire exclaim enthusiastically, then there is glory. Consequently, to say that the hour had come when the Son of Man would be glorified meant, first and foremost, that the secret of Christ’s divinity, revealed only to the disciples, would become accessible to the multitude. It is striking that this “hour” is that of the Cross, therefore, the height of humiliation and contempt. How could divine glory be made manifest amid failure? Nevertheless, it was so. St. Matthew narrates that seeing what happened at the moment of the Lord’s death: “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said: ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Mt 27:54).
“Lamentation”, by Giotto di Bondoni - Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padua (Italy)
The Greeks desired to see Jesus, but it was only after the Passion, when contemplating the funeral pomp with which the Eternal Father, through the shaking of the earth, solemnized the Death of His Son, that some pagans opened their eyes to the resplendence of the previously hidden divinity. Wonderfully and surprisingly, the bloody mystery of Golgotha became, in fact, the hour of the glory of the Incarnate Son.

Jesus is the divine seed

24 “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

Our Lord explains to His disciples the importance of giving their lives for God’s cause. He will do so on the Cross, and each of His followers must in turn also do so, in accordance with the plan of Providence. Death thus loses its tragic character and becomes a cause for hope, thanks to the martyrdom suffered by Christ.
Our Lord shows Himself as the seed destined to bear fruit: if He did not die, the effects of the Redemption would not be realized, and His glory would not be revealed to the nations
St. Thomas3 comments that Our Lord shows Himself to His followers as the seed destined to bear fruit: if He did not die, the effects of the Redemption would not be realized. Among these, the Angelic Doctor lists three: the remission of sins – “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pt 3:18); the conversion of the Gentiles – “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32); and the opening of the gates of Heaven, access to glory for a humanity regenerated by the power of His Blood – “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the Blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His Flesh” (Heb 10:19-20).

Lose one’s life to preserve it?

25 “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”

This principle terrifies the carnal and mediocre: it is necessary to die to conserve life. In addition to being an apparent contradiction in terms, it demands the extreme sacrifice in order to gain a happy eternity. This is unsettling and irksome for those who live like brutes with their sights set on the earth. In contrast, those who aspire to the things of Heaven hear Our Lord’s maxim as a divine summons that fills them with hope and ardour.
There is a principle that terrifies the carnal and mediocre: it is necessary to die to the world and its pleasures in order to conserve eternal life and to attain Heaven
He Himself would put this teaching into practice, facing an ignominious Death to conquer the triumphant Resurrection, as St. Paul reminds us: “Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1-2). But which life is lost and which gained? Temporal life is lost, and eternal life gained. A person gives up the passing pleasure of a good reputation, comfort, security, and illicit pleasures that oppose angelic virtue to shoulder an austere life marked by struggle and persecution, which is equivalent to dying to the world while remaining in it. True life awaits those who embrace this kind of death: Heaven. Those who, on the other hand, cling to the pleasures of a voluptuous existence will forever lose their souls in the terrible and sinister depths of hell.

There is no greater glory

26 “Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves Me.”

The disciples must understand service to the Master as a following. In the Gospel, to follow means to imitate, therefore each of the faithful ought to commit to following the Lord to the summit of Calvary itself, having given up everything. Whoever does this will be honoured by God, explains St. Thomas: “The Father says, ‘those who honour Me, I will honour (1 Sm 2:31). Thus, the Father of Jesus will honour one who ministers to Jesus, not seeking his own, but the things of Jesus Christ.”4 How many people strive to make conspicuous sacrifices to garner human applause, which proves short-lived and inconsistent. Is it not much more worthwhile to exert ourselves to win the honours of the good Father in Heaven? These will fill us with untarnished happiness for all eternity! Everyone must make their choice.

Jesus’ sublime and tragic hour

27 “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.”

Our Lord expresses His anguish to His disciples, perhaps looking for some consolation from them. His hour will be both sublime and tragic. Sublime, because it will reveal God’s love for mankind. Suspended on the Cross and covered with wounds, Jesus will demonstrate to the human race the radical extent to which His and the Father’s charity towards sinners extends. Yet the hour of Jesus will also be tragic, because it unfolds amid an ocean of appalling suffering. Without pain, there can be no true love in this vale of tears. Self-sacrifice taken to the ultimate limit is the only proof of a selfless and holy love.

The Cross and glory

28 “Father, glorify your Name.” Then a voice came from Heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”

Jesus’ supplication is like a battle cry. Faced with the dramatic prospect of the approaching Passion, His spirit is undominated by fear; rather, full of holy courage, He asks the Father to carry out the work of Redemption with all that it entails of bloody and humiliating. And in this, precisely in this, consists the glory of the Father. In the wounds, in the ridicule and in death, the Name of the Father will brilliantly manifest itself through the disfigured humanity of the Eternal Word. The Father’s response is striking, because it manifests the relationship between the Three Persons of the Trinity before and after the Incarnation. The Father, begetting the Son and loving Him with eternal dilection in the Holy Spirit, glorified His Word by surrounding Him with infinite affection. Even on the Cross, in His apparent abandonment and annihilation, the Father will shower Jesus with love in the Paraclete, for His boundless self-giving and filial piety. If we want to be loved by God, we know the way: let us ask for strength to stay the course of pain to the end, and then we will have won and conquered the unfading crown of glory.

Not everyone recognizes the Father’s voice

29 The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An Angel has spoken to Him.” 30 Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.”

The crowd does not clearly recognize the voice of the Father because the ears of their souls are not ready to capture the divine timbre, except in its secondary aspects.
“Crucifixion”, by Fra Angelico - Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Some hear a sound like thunder, indicating God’s imposing and threatening grandeur, which is especially expressive for those who do not live in accordance with His laws. Others perceive it to be a supernatural communication but attribute it to an Angel. Unable to sense Jesus’ divinity, they considered Him to be less than what He really was: they saw Him at best as a great prophet, never the Son of the Almighty. Nevertheless, the Father’s voice makes itself heard by them, to save them. Let us ask for the grace to have the ears of our souls always open to the divine suggestions that are continually knocking on our door in order to guide us to the entire truth.

The Cross judges, conquers, attracts and triumphs

31 “Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”

33 He said this indicating the kind of death He would die.

Referring to the kind of death that would be His by the Father’s determination, Jesus announced the judgement of the world. What does this mean? Being the most refulgent manifestation of love, the Cross would become the yardstick of the radicalism required of man for fulfilling the two commandments which summarize the entire Law. No longer could one love God above all things and one’s neighbour as oneself without embracing pain and suffering, with an enthusiasm similar to Jesus’ when carrying the Sacred Cross and letting Himself be nailed to it. Whoever loved the Cross would be considered righteous; whoever hated it would purchase their own condemnation.
As the most refulgent manifestation of love, the Cross would become the yardstick of the radicalism required of man for fulfilling the two commandments that sum up the entire Law
The Cross also manifests the defeat of the devil, prince of this world. On it, the Son of God humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death. With His perfect submission tinged with blood, Our Lord repaired the sin of our first parents and destroyed the empire of the ultimate impostor, satan. From then on, whoever embraced the Cross with faith and determination could never be defeated; on the contrary, he would crush and trample the infernal enemy underfoot. Finally, the Evangelist speaks of the mesmerising beauty of the Divine Victim nailed to the Cross, with the power of drawing everyone to Himself. The attractive force of love is incalculable, and there has never been, nor is there now, nor will there ever be a love so radical, so generous, and so heroic as that of the Lamb that was slain. Why, then, do so many people reject Him? This is the mystery of iniquity: who can comprehend sin? (cf. Ps 19:12).
Love is something serious and requires renunciation and self-giving. Not everyone is willing to pay this tribute, preferring to remain comfortably installed within the narrow confines of selfishness.
Love is something serious and requires renunciation and self-giving. Not everyone is willing to pay this tribute, preferring to remain comfortably installed within the narrow confines of selfishness. Woe to those who reject the love of the Crucified, shown to us so clearly! Woe to those who choose not to imitate Him in loving God and neighbour! It would be better had they not been born, as was said of Judas the traitor (cf. Mt 26:24). But blessed are those who love the Cross, for they will triumph with Jesus now and forever!

III – The Glory of Suffering with a Supernatural Spirit

To a large extent, our existence in this world consists of suffering. The Cross was undoubtedly a challenge of immense proportions for Jesus himself, but He faced it with the courage of the most audacious of warriors, trusting in the Father’s love. Let us imitate our Saviour.
Let us imitate our Saviour, who faced sufferings of immense proportions with the courage of the most audacious of warriors, trusting in the Father’s love
He is our model, our guide, and the path traced by God for us to reach Heaven. He is also our invincible strength and our inseparable companion. No one carries their cross alone, for Jesus becomes our Divine Cyrenian. Let us, then, confide in His help and that of His Blessed Mother, the Coredemptrix of the human race, who with Him saved us from our sins. ◊  

True Glory Can Only Be Born of Pain

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

From a distance, a crowd watches – with the usual delight, of course – a parade of the Queen’s Grenadier Guard in their full dress uniform. Military tactics have long since rendered uniforms like this useless: black trousers, red tunics with white belts and ornaments, white gloves and a large bearskin cap. But it is kept for moral purposes: to maintain the tradition of the army and to allow the people to experience the splendour of military life. In fact, glory must be expressed through symbols. God uses them to show His own grandeur to man. And in this, as in everything else, we must imitate God. Now, the uniform of the grenadiers, their impeccably cadenced and aligned march, the enthusiasm with which the standard bearer carries the national flag and the marshal signals the direction of the march, the drum roll and the clarion call, everything in a word, expresses the moral beauty inherent in military life: high sentiments, self-sacrifice unto bloodshed, the strength to undertake, risk and conquer, discipline and gravity, in short, heroism.
The 2018 “Trooping the Colour”
There is glory, and real glory, shining in this entire ambience. And yet, is this glory? Does it consist in wearing an anachronistic uniform, executing manoeuvres that no longer have any real relation to modern battle, playing drums and bugles, and marching firmly in order to give oneself and others the impression that one is a hero? In advancing “courageously” across a field with no obstacles or risks, like someone going out to meet an absent enemy, and garnering the intoxicating applause of the crowd as a reward? Is this glory? Or is it theatre, a performance, an operetta? In our second example, we have the other side of military glory. Immersed entirely in the tragedy of armed struggle, this young soldier of the Korean War seems to have no defined age. He has the robustness of youth. But the lustre, the radiance and the vivacity have vanished. His skin, burned by endless days in the sun and entire nights of wind and storms, seems to have taken on a somewhat leathery texture. There is not even the slightest concern for elegance in his clothing: everything is designed to shield him from the harsh climate and allow him to move with ease and agility, in the mud, in the undergrowth and on the steep slopes of the hills, under relentless bombardment. To fight, to resist and to advance are the objectives to which everything in this man is ordered. His physiognomy has not been brightened by a smile for a long time; his gaze seems immobilized in its continuous vigilance against men and the elements.
Soldier analysed by Dr. Plinio
He is not concerned with great feats or theatrical gestures. He is focused on the thousand trivialities of authentic everyday life in war. He does not want to play a great role for himself or for others. He wants the victory of a great cause. This explains his seriousness, his dignity and his strength of resistance. He is penetrated to the last fibre of his being by tremendous fatigue and terrible pain. But a fatigue that is less than the unyielding resistance of soul and body that overcomes and conquers it. A pain that is consciously felt and accepted to its ultimate limits and consequences, out of love for the cause for which he fights. This is the painful and perhaps tragic face of military life. This is where the merit lies and glory is born. Dazzling uniforms, shiny weapons, cadenced marches and splendid parades, bugles, drums and the endless applause from an enraptured crowd are all legitimate and even necessary externalities, insofar as they express a desire to fight and sacrifice for the common good. Yet all this would be nothing more than an operetta if this courage were not genuine and tested, as in fact it is by Queen Elizabeth’s grenadiers. These are considerations of a natural order, it is true. But we can glean elements from them to take us to a higher ground. The life of the Church and the spiritual life of every believer are an incessant struggle. At times God gives His Bride days of splendid, visible and even palpable grandeur. He gives souls moments of marvellous interior or exterior consolation. But the true glory of the Church and of the faithful comes from suffering and struggle. It is an arid struggle, without sensible beauty or tangible poetry; a struggle in which one advances, at times, during the night of anonymity, in the mire of disinterest or incomprehension, under the storms and bombardment unleashed by the combined forces of the devil, the world and the flesh. But it is a struggle that fills the Angels of Heaven with admiration and draws God’s blessings. ◊

Taken from: Catolicismo. Campos dos Goytacazes. Year VII. N.78 (June, 1957); p.7

 

Notes

1 CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, Plinio. Ambientes, Costumes, Civilizações: A verdadeira glória só nasce da dor [Ambiences, Customs and Civilizations: True Glory Can Only Be Born of Pain]. In: Catolicismo. Campos dos Goytacazes. Year VII. N.78 (June, 1957); p.7.

2 Cf. ST. AUGUSTINE. Contra Maximinum arianorum episcopum. L.II, c.13, n.2: PL 42, 770.

3 Cf. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Lectura super Ioannem, c.XII, lect.4.

4 Idem, ibidem.