Whoever serves me must follow me

10 AUGUST (Jn 12,24-26)

For who wants to know the abysmal depths that separate the Old from the New Testament it is enough that you read any page of the Old Covenant, in which the Lord promises his consecrated life and blessing.

“Thus, then, shall it be: if you continue to heed the voice of the Lord, your God, and are careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, the Lord, your God, will raise you high above all the nations of the earth. When you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you: “May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country! “Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! “Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl! “May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out! “The Lord will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven. The Lord will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the Lord, your God, gives you.

Provided that you keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways, he will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you; so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the Lord, they will stand in awe of you. The Lord will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you. The Lord will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline, as long as you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I order you today to observe carefully; not turning aside to the right or to the left from any of the commandments which I now give you, in order to follow other gods and serve them (Dt 28,1-14).
On this page all is from the obedience to the Commandments, to the law of the Lord. The Lord’s consecrated lives in the revealed will of God and all his wealth will be poured on his head and in his home. In the New Testament it is no longer a matter of a simple obedience. Jesus asks us for the gift of the whole life. He asks us to die in order to live and bear fruit, to annul ourselves in order to be, to annihilate ourselves to produce many fruits of eternal life in us and in others. Jesus asks us to set off as he did on the path of our holocaust to our heavenly Father. He lives who dies. He is who is annihilated. Produces he who is consumed. Who abandons himself to the cross of love generates new children to God.

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.

This vast difference must always be caught, otherwise we make of the New Testament a sort of restyling of the Old. This must never be even thought and nevertheless many are those who think so and so relate themselves with the New Testament. Even there are also those who pour it completely into the Old, causing him to lose the abysmal and absolute novelty that brings with it. The New Testament is Christ Crucified and it is from the Cross that everything is read and is understand.

Either we accept and live this truth – Crucified Christ is our one and only truth – or we are doomed to total spiritual bankruptcy. The Old Testament is listening to God who speaks. The New is following God who dies and who gives his life for the salvation of the world. The Old is a blessing. The new is the assumption of the curse of the world to atone for sin and bring the true life on earth. The Ancient is the pursuit of happiness and peace. The New Testament is the desire to be with Christ one sacrifice of love, a perfect sacrifice to be offered to God for the conversion of many hearts. The difference is there and it is great, enormous and immense.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us the truth of Christ.