66 — JESUS OUR ALL

Presence of God. — O Jesus, my God and my Redeemer, make me understand that You are my all and that in You I find all that my soul needs.

Meditation

1 — Jesus is at once true Man and true God. As Man, Jesus is our Way: He is the One who came to take us by the hand to lead us back to the Father’s house. He is the source of our life because He merited grace for us and still continues to dispense it to us; He is the Master who teaches us the path to go to God; He is the Model who shows us by His example how one must live as children of God. And having made us participants by His merit in that divine life which He, as Word, possesses in all fullness, He has made us worthy to be readmitted into the intimacy of God’s family. In His last prayer, almost summarizing His work as Redeemer, Jesus says to the Father: “I have given them the glory You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one” (Jn. 17, 22). Yes, He has given us His grace, His Spirit, and thus has communicated to us His glory as Son of God, making us true children of God and temples of the Holy Spirit.

In Jesus, the unique and perfect Mediator between God and men, we find all we need for our sanctification, for our life of union with God, with the Trinity.

We are Christ’s, we live in Him “who was made by God for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption” (I Cor. 1, 30).

2 — As God, Jesus is our End. Jesus is the Incarnate Word and, as Word, is altogether equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit; like the Father and the Holy Spirit He is therefore our principle, the Creator from whom natural and supernatural life comes. And being our principle, He is also our last end, our Goal toward which in this life we must tend by faith, love, generous and constant service, to then enjoy Him eternally in heaven together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. If as Man Jesus merited and dispenses grace to us, as Word He creates it together with the other two Persons of the Most Holy Trinity; if as Man He merited and still obtains that the Holy Spirit be sent to us, as Word He truly sends Him to our souls together with the Father, since the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him as from the Father.

In Jesus we find, therefore, our Mediator and our God. So that when He, as Mediator, takes us by the hand, He draws us to Himself also as God; and when we unite ourselves to Him as Man, at the same time we unite ourselves to Him as Word-God. It is true, we can by preference fix our gaze on Jesus’ Humanity or on Divinity, but whether one or the other, we always behold them in the Word. To go to Jesus is to go to the Word, and to go to the Word, to the Son, then becomes going to the Father, to the Most Holy Trinity. This is why St. Teresa of Jesus so ardently maintains that we must never separate ourselves from Christ: “We must pass through this door [Jesus]... Let us seek no other road, for by this one we are safe. From this sweet Lord every good comes to us” (Vi. 22, 6-7). And St. Paul repeats: “in Him you have been filled” with every good; “Christ is all and in all” (Col. 2, 10; 3, 11).

Colloquy

O Jesus, my God, my all! You are all for me and I want to be wholly Yours and consecrate myself totally to Your love and service.

“I see, my Spouse, and I cannot deny it, that You are all for me. For me You came to earth, for me You suffered so many pains, for me You submitted to scourges, for me You remained in the Most Blessed Sacrament... I see clearly that if we want God’s sovereign Majesty to make us sharers in His secrets, we must pass through You, O Jesus, only door, only guide... Whoever leaves You will not find the way.

“Without You, what am I, Lord? What am I worth if I am not united with You? And where do I end up if even for a little while I move away from You?

“Blessed is the soul that possesses You and always carries You within itself! And what more can we desire when in You we have so affectionate a friend who never abandons us? My Lord, my Mercy and my Treasure, what other good can one desire down here besides being so close to You that no separation is any longer possible? What can be difficult when one is in Your company? Having You so near, what can one not do for You? Helped and protected by You, I will never abandon You again.

“What can I ever do for my Beloved? Yes, my God, in what can I be of use to You? What can this soul do for You, this soul that had the sad skill of offending You, except squander the graces You gave it? What can be hoped from its services? And even supposing that, helped by Your grace, it can do something, what will it be if not the work of a little worm? And what interest can so powerful a God have in it? Only love can give right to think that this true Lover, my Spouse and my Good, has need of us...

“But if You come to me, Lord, how can I doubt that I can serve You greatly? From now on, Lord, I want to forget myself so as to think only of how to please You better and have no other will than Yours. My will is powerless: You alone can do all, my God! My will is powerless: You alone can do all, my God! But from this moment I want to do what I can, which is to resolve to act” (cf. T.G. P. 4, 8-11; Vi. 22, 6 and 7; M. VI, 7, 6).