The Lord added and said: “You will have Peter as the supreme head of
the Church, for I leave him as my Vicar; and you shall obey him as the chief high
priest.
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| Saint Peter, head of the Church founded by Christ |
Saint John you shall hold as the son of my Mother; for I have chosen
and appointed him for this office on the Cross.”
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| St. John the beloved Apostle |
The Lord then looked upon
his most beloved Mother, who was there present, and intimated his desire of
expressly commanding that whole congregation to worship and reverence Her in a
manner suited to the dignity of Mother of God, and of leaving this command
under form of a precept for the whole Church. But the most humble Lady besought
her Only begotten to be pleased not to secure Her more honour than was
absolutely necessary for executing all that He had charged Her with; and that
the new children of the Church should not be induced to show Her greater honour
than they had shown until then. On the contrary, She desired to divert all the
sacred worship of the Church immediately upon the Lord himself and to make the
propagation of the Gospel redound entirely to the exaltation of his holy name.
Christ our Saviour yielded to this most prudent petition of his Mother,
reserving to Himself the duty of spreading the knowledge of Her at a more
convenient and opportune time; yet in secret He conferred upon Her new
extraordinary favours.
In considering the loving
exhortations, of their divine Master, the mysteries which He had revealed to
them, and the prospect of his leaving them, that whole congregation was moved
to their inmost hearts; for He had enkindled in them the divine love by the
vivid faith of his Divinity and humanity. Reviving within them the memory of
his words and his teachings of eternal life, the delights of his most loving
intercourse and company, and sorrowfully realizing, that they were now all at
once to be deprived of these blessings, they wept most tenderly and sighed from
their inmost souls. They longed to detain Him, although they could not, because
they saw it was not befitting; words of parting rose to their lips, but they
could not bring themselves to utter them; each one felt sentiments of sorrow
arising amid feelings both of joy and yet also of pious regret.
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| The disciples longed to detain Him, but they could not |
How shall we
live without such a Master? they thought. Who can ever speak to us such words
of life and consolation as He? Who will receive us so lovingly and kindly? Who
shall be our Father and protector ? We shall be helpless children and orphans
in this world. Some of them broke their silence and exclaimed: “0 most loving
Lord and Father! O joy and life of our souls! Now that we know Thee as our
Redeemer, Thou departest and leavest us! I Take us along with Thee, 0 Lord;
banish us not from thy sight. Our blessed Hope, what shall we do without thy
presence? Whither shall we turn, if Thou goest away? Whither shall we direct
our steps, if we cannot follow Thee, our Father, our Chief, and our Teacher?”
To these and other pleadings the Lord answered by bidding them not to leave
Jerusalem and to persevere in prayer until He should send the Holy Spirit, the
Consoler, as promised by the Father and as already foretold to the Apostles at
the last Supper.
