Today’s Gospel, John 14:23-29 begins: “Anyone who loves me will be true to My Word.”
In his Commentary on the Gospel of John, St. Thomas Aquinas says that three things
are necessary for a person who wants to see God: “First, one must draw near to God …
‘Those who approach His feet will receive His teaching’ [Deut 33:3]. Secondly, one must
lift up his eyes in order to see God: ‘Lift up your eyes on high and see who created
these things’ [Is 40:26]. And thirdly, one must take time to look, for spiritual things
cannot be seen if one is absorbed by earthly things: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is
sweet’ [Ps 34:8].“ (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1941).
Thomas explains that charity accomplishes these things: “Charity joins our soul to God:
‘He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him’ (1 Jn 4:16). It also makes
us look at God: ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’ (Mt 6:21). As
the saying goes: ‘Where your love is, there your eyes are’” (Thomas Aquinas,
Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1941).
Charity also frees us from worldly matters: ‘If any one loves the world, perfect love for
God is not in him’ [1 Jn 2:15]. “Thus, to turn it about, one who perfectly loves God, does
not love the world” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1941).
Jesus declared: “Anyone who loves Me will be true to My Word.” Thomas comments,
“Obedience follows from charity; and so He says, He will keep My word” (Commentary
on the Gospel of John, 1941).
St. Gregory said: ‘The proof of love is one’s actions. Love for God is never lazy: if it is
present it accomplishes great things; if it refuses to work, it is not love’ (Homilies on the
Gospels, XXX, ch.1).
Thomas affirms that the will moves the other powers to actions toward the end: “And so,
when a person’s will is intent on God, who is its end, it moves all powers to do those
things which obtain Him. Now it is charity which makes one intent on God, and thus it is
charity which causes us to keep the commandments: ‘The love of Christ urges us’ (2
Cor 5:14)” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1942). And through obedience a
person is rendered fit to see God.
Jesus declares: “My Father will love him” (Jn 10:43). Thomas reflects that the Father
already loves in the sense that God always wills good for us from eternity (Commentary
on the Gospel of John, 1942).
Jesus announces: “We will come to him and make Our home within him” (Jn 10:23).
Thomas recognizes that for someone to “come,” implies that the person is not already
there but has to change his place.
Thomas explains: “God is said to come to us not because He moves to us, but because
we move to Him. Something comes into a place in which it previously was not: but this
does not apply to God since He is everywhere: “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jer
23:24). Rather, God is said to come to someone because He is there in a new way, in a
way He had not been there before, that is, by the effect of His grace. It is by this effect
of grace that He makes us approach Him” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1944).
Thomas recalls that, according to Augustine (Tractate on John, 76, ch. 2], God comes to
us in three ways and we go to him in the same three ways. “First, he comes to us by
filling us with His effects; and we go to Him by receiving them: “Come to Me, you who
desire me, and eat your fill of My produce” (Sir 24:19)” (Commentary on the Gospel of
John, 1945).
“Secondly, God comes to us by enlightening us; and we go to Him by thinking of Him:
“Come to Him and be enlightened” [Ps 33:6]”
“Thirdly, He comes to us by helping us; and we go to Him by obeying, because we
cannot obey unless helped by Christ” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1945).
Jesus already told the disciples that the Spirit was “to be with you forever” (14:16):
“Since in the Trinity there is a distinction of Persons and a unity of essence, sometimes
the three Persons are mentioned to indicate the distinction of the persons… one could
say that since the Holy Spirit is nothing other than the love of the Father and the Son,
when the Father and Son are mentioned, the Spirit is implied” (Commentary on the
Gospel of John, 1946).
Jesus proclaims “We will make Our home with him always” (Jn 14:23). Thomas
reflects: “First, when he says, home, he indicates the stability with which we cling to
God. God comes to some by faith, but does not remain because ‘they believe for a
while and in time of temptation fall away’ (Lk 8:13). He comes to others through their
sorrow for sin; yet He does not stay with them because they return to their sins: ‘Like a
dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly’ (Prv 26:11)” (Commentary on
the Gospel of John, 1947).
“But He remains forever in His predestined: “I am with you always, to the close of the
age” (Mt 28:20). Secondly, these words indicate the intimacy of Christ with us: with
Him, that is, with the one who loves and obeys Him, since He takes pleasure in us, and
has us take pleasure in Him, ‘delighting in the sons of men’ (Prv 8:31)” (Commentary on
the Gospel of John, 1947).
Jesus recognizes: “He who does not love Me does not keep My words” (Jn 14:24). St
Gregory (Homily on the Gospel, XXX, ch. 2) says: “To love God it is necessary to use our
words, our minds and our lives.”
Thomas comments: “The reason is obvious why God will manifest Himself to His own,
and not to the world. It is because His own really have love, and it is love which
distinguishes the saints from the world” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1949).
Jesus announces: “The word you hear is not mine; it comes from the Father who sent
Me” (Jn 14:24).
Thomas comments: “One who does not hear this word does not love only me, he also
does not love the Father. And therefore, one who loves both Christ and the Father
deserves a manifestation of each. So he says: and the word which you hear, spoken
by me, as a human being, is indeed mine insofar as I speak it, and yet it is not mine,
insofar as it is mine from another: “My teaching is not Mine” (Jn 7:16); ‘The words that I
say to you I do not speak of My self’ [Jn 14:10]” (Commentary on the Gospel of John,
1950).
According to Augustine, Jesus does not speak of His “Word” but His “words”: ”But
when he speaks of the utterance of the Father, he uses the singular form, “the word
which you hear is not Mine,” because he wants us to understand that the word of the
Father is he Himself, the unique Word of the Father. Thus he says He is from the
Father, and not from Himself, because He is neither His own image nor His own Son,
but the Son and image of the Father. Yet all the words in our heart are from this unique
Word of the Father” (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1950).
Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit: “These things, what I have said, I have
spoken to you, by the instrument of My human nature, while I am still with you, as
bodily present. It is indeed a very great favor that the Son himself should speak to us
and teach us: “In these last days He has spoken to us by a Son” (Heb 1:1)”
(Commentary on the Gospel of John, 1953).
The Holy Spirit will help them understand what He has taught them: “He promises them
that they will understand his teachings through the Holy Spirit, who will give himself to
them; he says, the Paraclete … will teach you all things” (Commentary on the Gospel
of John, 1953).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.
References to Thomas Commentary on the Gospel of John may be found in the
translation by Fr. James A. Weisheipl, O.P. and Fabian R. Larcher, O.P., published by
St. Bede’s Publications.