Where is my attention is my formation
By Abba Jimmy
The man who claimed to be God captured his disciples’ attention (see John 16, 29–33). The disciples had already been accompanying the Master for three years. However, the Master says things that they still don’t understand. Or at least they understood partially, and from the surface, showing their faith was immature. Faith in Jesus Christ requires calibrating the understanding to arrive at the complete knowledge of the truth.
Faith implies knowledge of the whole truth, the truth contemplated within and without in its entirety. The short passage of John 16:29–33 portrays the current state of the disciples, and it tells us where they are on the trajectory that marks their growth in faith. They have already taken the first steps but have yet to make much progress. The disciples already know that Jesus knows a lot and that it is no longer necessary to ask him questions to determine if he is the one sent by God who teaches the truth. Now it is their turn to receive that knowledge from the Master. Opening to the understanding of the truth is a daunting task. Education shapes consciousness. A well-educated person has a well-formed conscience. Therefore, education and the formation of conscience demand a voluntary effort and a stretching of our cognitive faculties.
When we open ourselves to the education that Jesus offers, our human nature seeks, tries, and tends to unite with the divine nature. Therefore, the teaching of Jesus touches the totality of the human person. It expands our brain and aligns our cognitive, volitional, and affective faculties with the motions of the Holy Spirit. When we let Jesus be our teacher, we are learning a new art, a new science,
The knowledge of what is new requires and demands that we abandon our molds or old models on which we have been relying (see Matthew 9:17). Therefore, opening to the knowledge of the truth requires us to leave our old notions, concepts, and opinions to make way for what Jesus Christ teaches; a teaching which is always new.
Here comes what we call the law of least effort. Since learning requires leaving what is false and erroneous in our minds and trying to raise our understanding, it is easy to get discouraged and abandon the task, turn our backs on Jesus, and go the other way.
Here, we remember the phrase our grandparents repeated: “The truth does not sin, but it is uncomfortable.”
Access to the truth not only makes us uncomfortable but also makes many others uncomfortable. Therefore, the path that leads to reality is a path full of difficulties. What feelings block us and prevent us from advancing on the path that leads to the truth? Apathy and fear. Most of us neglect the things of God — we are lazy. And when we want to move forward, we see the difficulties and can become afraid to move forward. We want the reward but don’t want to pay the price. Then an internal battle between two opposites begins: to be faithful disciples of Jesus with all its consequences or to be hypocrites appearing as disciples of Jesus without being. We seek to get along with people, not with Jesus. We give more importance to the people we consider wealthy and powerful than Jesus himself. We choose people rather than Jesus.
The feeling of fear becomes knowledge of what can happen to us if we seek the truth. And we are scared. Peter told Jesus: “That cannot happen to you” (Matthew 16:22). And we also say: That can’t happen to me or my family.
However, there are always people — men and women — who become disciples of Jesus. When true disciples of Jesus know that what is said in culture and the arts is not the truth, they boldly affirm: “That is not true.” Then many heads turn, and many eyes look. And they hear the roar of innumerable voices shouting: “Shut up. We like the world as it is. So do not come to question or challenge our way of thinking.”
As we said, despite the difficulties and dangers that exist on the road that leads to the truth, there are still men and women in all times, ages, and latitudes who listen to the voice of truth and who let themselves be guided by that voice, the voice of God who speaks to us in his envoy Jesus Christ.
Let us conclude with an internal analysis: What kind of disciple am I? Where am I in my relationship with Jesus Christ? Do I allow Jesus to mold my character and form my criteria? Who am I for Jesus? And who is Jesus for me?
