Memorial of Saint Charles Lwanga and Companions, Martyrs
“Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” John 17:3
When we hear this text, we do well to hear another text, much like it: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,” (Jn 10:14)
The knowledge spoken about here is that of experience. It is knowledge, but it comes from experience. A biblical commentator puts it this way: “In the biblical language … ‘knowledge’ is not merely the conclusion of an intellectual process, but the fruit of an ‘experience’, a personal contact …. and when it matures, it is love, … It is the kind of knowledge that comes from really accepting God’s love. Read it in this from Fr. Bernard Lonergan: “By religious conversion … I mean the habitual acceptance of God’s gift of love flooding our hearts through the Holy Spirit He has given us.” He is talking about conversion. But it is closely connected to knowledge. What we have here is a purified knowledge but it is not simply a purification of the intellect. It is a purification of the self – a kind of transparency or honesty by which the self knows itself, at the same time, a sinner but loved by God. It is a knowledge immediately translated into self-acceptance which in turn comes out in love.
We hear it beautifully in the Prophet, Jeremiah: “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” (24:7)
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Article for Easter, Daily Reflections