The Daily Call to Gospel Discipleship

Editor: The following is a collection of five reflections by Fr. Normand Theroux, M.S. on gospel discipleship and its parallels to the message and mission of the La Salette Apparition. His scholarly approach and his easy writing style make these reflections not only understandable but also inspiring.

The Calling of Matthew by Vittore Carpaccio
(1465-1526); photo: Web Gallery of ArtTo be a disciple of Christ means to follow Christ. It means to be so taken up with the Person of Christ that one's sum of priorities, one's reason and purpose and rationale for living are Christ alone. This following of the Lord leaves no area of life uncommitted to his Person and it involves to full capacity all the sectors of human existence. The call to discipleship is strictly personal: Christ calls each one personally and each one has his own path to the Way, the Truth and the Life of the Master.

Day One: Do We Have an Intense Desire to Follow Christ?

Scripture: Matthew 4:18-22 (The call of the first disciples)

As [Jesus] was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

Matthew 9:9 (The call of Matthew)

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.

Reflection: One of the Lord's criteria for the choice of any disciple is that the latter be obviously unqualified, unfit, or both, to become his follower. We think of Matthew the public sinner-tax collector; Simon the Zealot fire-eater; the untutored fishermen Peter and Andrew, James and John, and Judas. The "normal" qualities of basic piety, devotion to the Word of God, some elementary orientation toward things religious, do not seem to have entered into question in the choice of disciples. (Nor should we forget Saul, who, at the time of his call by Christ was the Himmler of early Christians.)

Disciples of the Lord, then, are not born, but made. They become such under the tutelage of the Master. More to the point, they learn discipleship in his presence. That continued inner, heeded presence of Christ in the life of a disciple is not merely important, it is a bone-basic essential. We are to conclude, it would seem, that Christ calls people to discipleship by name and gives little consideration to degrees or pedigrees. Further, the call is to himself alone. That call is pure grace, pure gift. The disciple, then is not summoned to a cause, a philosophy, an ideal, a way of life, not even to a Scripture. He\she is called to a Person: to serve, honor, worship, and especially love this Person with all his life to the outer limits of his human resources.

At first sight and hearing, all of this seems intended to fulfill the need of a Deity to be served, worshiped and loved. In reality, the real need lies in the disciple to worship, to serve and especially to love and to be loved in return. Nothing else can fulfill the human heart.

Christ and his mother seem to have used the same gospel criteria to choose the children of La Salette. In the world history of choices, it would indeed by difficult to find a more humanly "inept" selection of candidates. Even by gospel standards, the Lord seems to have "outdone" himself. If the Lady had assigned a blue-ribbon panel of prelates and prominent people to select two children to represent the universal Church at La Salette, we can safely assume that our own Maximin and Melanie would not have been disturbed!

Scripture: John 13:12-18 (The washing of the disciples’ feet)

Jesus washing the feet of his disciples by Master of the Housebook (flourished between 1475 and 1500); photo: The Yorck Project So when [Jesus] had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do. Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’

Reflection: Jesus has just finished washing his disciples' feet and he wished to ascertain that they understood the teaching he communicated to them. None of Jesus' teachings had been made so explicitly clear. He had no doubt that the disciples were marveling at what he had just done for them. His words to them warned them of one of humankind's great shortcomings: neglect and procrastination. "I have given you a model to follow...If you understand this, blessed will you be if you do it." This blessedness is more than the passing joy of doing good; it is the happiness of one who has joined the Lord in a saving act.

Because the washing of the disciples' feet is a forerunner of the saving deed of the cross: those who join Christ in serving their brothers and sisters will also share in the salvation of those they serve. By doing all that the Master does they will become his disciples, that is, those who "carry" his work and his love in time and space. Christ seemed to say: the world is full of people who understand, but blessed are the 'doers'.

The Beautiful Lady of La Salette is a ‘doing’ disciple. She appears, she exhorts, warns, cajoles and comforts, she weeps, works her charm on the children who will cherish her for the rest of their lives. She reveals her constant vigil of suffering and intercession for the world. The La Salette event is more than a miracle, more than an apparition.

It is also a summons to her people to go forth and do as she has done: to give witness, to weep, to intercede in suffering. A disciple is one who shares the Master's mission. Through the words and tears of his Mother, the Lord has called us anew to a life of concern, intercession and reconciliation. This, it seems, is the shape and form of our discipleship.

Day Two: Do We Have the Honesty and Courage of Christ?

Scripture: John 13:21-27 (Announcement of Judas’s betrayal)

Judas Iscariot (right), retiring from the Last Supper by Carl Bloch (1834-1890); photo: www.carlbloch.org

... Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

Reflection: At this point, Jesus felt "deeply troubled." There seemed to be nothing sadder than to see one of his own betray him. Judas was one of the blessed, fortunate few in all of Palestine who had received a personal call from Jesus. He had shared food, rest, conversation, ideals, dreams with the Lord. He had heard his teaching, seen his miracles, witnessed his compassion. (In the other gospels he shared the Lord's body and blood at this last supper.) He was present now at the washing of the feet, where the Lord gave to all a sign of service and of the humble death of the Servant. This was sharing at its deepest. John the writer wanted the recipients of his gospel to know that even life in the physical presence of Jesus could not prevent Judas from betraying him.

The Beautiful Lady did not appear in a pagan land. She chose to speak to a Christian people (it could have been any Christian people). She wept over a land blessed with a centuries-old presence of Christ, with a long tradition of faith and Christian Catholic culture. It is possible even for a nation, an entire people to have seen Christ, have known him and still reject him. It is possible even for the world: "You will make this known to all my people." But we know that group or world betrayal is brought about by individual alienation from God. When all is said and done the real sin of Judas consisted in thinking that Christ would never take him back, that reconciliation was impossible. The Lady came to reveal to the world anew that, no matter what the sin or sins may have been, reconciliation is always possible. This is even a point of faith that Judas could not bring himself to believe.

Scripture: John 13:34-35 (Jesus gives a new commandment)

I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Vocation of the Apostles, Sistine Chapel fresco by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448-1494)

Reflection: This commandment to love one another as Christ has loved us is given within the context of the washing of feet. This love exists within the heart but is manifested for all to see as the washing of feet was manifested. Why? So that people may know that "you are my disciples." And so, we have the highest commandment and the most beautiful sign of Christian witness, mutual love, closely linked with the most meaningful title in the gospel, that of disciple. One could recognize Pharisees by their phylacteries, the disciples of John by their baptism. In similar manner, one recognizes disciples of the Master by the love they manifest toward one another. This is to be their hallmark, their stamp of identity and authenticity.

The reason for the title is that the love the disciple manifests constantly is a gift from Christ. Further, the love shown by the follower of Christ is not only the love of the disciple but is the love of the Lord himself flowing from the life of the disciple. The love of Christ is therefore enfleshed and continued in the loving behavior and life of the follower: "For me to live is Christ" "I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me" (Phil.1,21; Gal. 2,20). The Lord does not love us because we are lovable. We are lovable because he loves us. His love makes us so. His disciples are given, through him, the same awesome privilege: to make others lovable through love. What we see here is not the cold, relentless logic of life. It is the logic of the heart.

As Christ manifested his love for his own by the visible washing of feet, so the Lady manifested her love for her Son and for his people by becoming visible, and audible, on earth. A great unspoken message of La Salette is that "love is not love until it is given." There is no doubt that Christ and his mother manifest their love for humans in many ways. Apparitions as such are not necessary for the salvation of humankind. But, as in the case of La Salette, they do make visible, for a short while, the loving care and concern of the Lord and his mother. On the holy mountain, the intensity of love is made visible in the intensity of tears.

Precisely because the apparition of La Salette was not necessary for faith and salvation, it shows, for all to see, the generosity of God, his loving bounty, by freely adding love to love. Details and small attentions are the stuff of great affection. In this, the Lady of La Salette gave a landmark lesson in discipleship for all to see and bring to life. It is hard to refute the wordless argument of love when it is expressed in the rhetoric of tears.

Day Three: What Does it Means to Be Chosen?

John 15:16-17 (I chose you to bear fruit)

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.

Reflection: Disciples are chosen. It is Jesus himself who decides who will belong to him and follow him. At the time of Christ, young men attached themselves to a Rabbi for a time and sat at his feet seeking the knowledge and wisdom of the Torah. When they possessed enough knowledge and wisdom they left the Rabbi and went their way to begin their own schools. They had really sought knowledge and wisdom which the Rabbi might give. The Rabbi had not chosen them, they had chosen the Rabbi.

It was not thus with Christ. He chose his disciples. They were to follow him. They had not been chosen to learn a book, or the Torah, or wisdom, but to "learn" him. They remained attached to him. In choosing the Twelve, the Jesus of John is surely choosing also those who would come after them and who would be given the same mission and the same destiny. Choosing is an integral part of loving and the disciples of Jesus are chosen, then as now, as people who are missioned to love. Jesus ends this part of the discourse by repeating the command he had given in verse 12: "This I command you; love one another."

Jesus did not choose his disciples because they were special. They became special because he chose them. He took them as he found them, in real life, at work, mending their nets, fishing, collecting taxes (Matthew-Levi). He did not choose them at solemn moments in their lives, at the synagogue, at the Temple. It seemed that they had been chosen from ordinary life to become disciples in ordinary lives. He chose ordinary people to prolong his mission to ordinary people. By witnessing to Christ's presence in their own lives they were to reveal him and allow him to become present in the lives of all his people.

At La Salette the Lady also chose "disciples." She chose them from ordinary lives, children whose ordinariness blended with their Alpine landscape. She too chose them as they were performing their tasks. As she appeared to them, in fact, they had just finished gathering their flock of cows. She too did not choose them because they were special. They became special because she chose them. If the word unfit were an ideal, these children had attained it.

That they accomplished their mission with such love and persistence, with such flair and faith in their "beautiful Lady" is a marvel of the power of God irrupting into people's lives and giving them strength for the task at hand. It is part of the complete message of La Salette to persuade and convince those who would come after them, that witnessing to the Lady's's tears is an impossible task made feasible by the bolstering presence of the Lord in the life of the La Salette person.

John 20:19—On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Luke 24:13-14—Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.

Romans 8:35-39—What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being slain all the day;
we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reflection: These first two texts might not be enough to show the general depression that fell upon the group of the faithful between Good Friday and Easter Sunday morning. The general tenor of New Testament writings reveals that it was the powerful and profound impression Jesus made on the apostles that first compelled them to follow him and become his disciples. The words and deeds of Jesus are not enough to account for their attachment to him. After his death there is no evidence that his miracles, his parables and teachings were a source of strength to them during his absence. In other words, Jesus had called his disciples to himself and to himself alone.

No set of rules, teachings, laws, concepts, theories, charters or manifestos were to come between him and those he had called. The disciple has one rule and one life which is Christ himself. Those who wrote the New Testament never strayed from the notion that Christ is ever present to them. He may have died and risen and ascended into heaven but his presence is a fact of their lives. The quote, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life" (with a stress on the "I") is light years away from bumper-sticker spirituality, and more than any other Bible verse contains all the personal agenda of the Christian-Catholic disciple. For Paul the idea of separation from Christ, no matter what the cause, was an aberration and a horror. "What will separate us from the love of Christ?" he challenges, as if, in his mind, anything could.

The Beautiful Lady is the role-model disciple. She is the apostle-disciple mandated by the Lord to bear his message. Her first words "I am here to tell you great news" implies a sending, a mission. There is no doubt that she has come in her Son's name and to accomplish his will. The Son is directly referred to six times throughout the message. Her message centers on him: her people abuse his name, violate the holiness of his day and scoff at the Mass. Her assigned duties are to intercede with him, to hold back his arm. "I am obliged to entreat him without ceasing," she says. Nothing and no one else is remotely alluded to or hinted at during the apparition except offenses against him and the rewards he will bestow if his people obey.

It can be noted that the sins mentioned at La Salette are all personal sins against the Lord himself. These are the faults that silently undermine the respect a friend owes to a friend and erode the ties of intimacy and trust that are the very soil of love. No discipleship can prosper, or exist in their company.

Day Four: How is the Work of Jesus Now Ours?

Matthew 28:18-19—Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit...

Mark 16:14-15—[But] later, as the eleven were at table, [Jesus] appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

Luke 24:36—While they were still speaking about this, [Jesus] stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

John 20:31—But these [words] are written that you may [come to] believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Reflection: It could be enlightening to note that Jesus recruited his disciples the first time early at the beginning of his ministry, and again a second time after the resurrection. The New Testament clearly shows that each time, Jesus and Jesus alone was responsible for the gathering of the group. It was his work. The clear message is that the community of disciples would not exist without his cohesive and galvanizing presence. This is an "interlinear” gospel teaching that constitutes a key factor in the founding and continued fruitful existence of any community of people gathered in his name.

From this two consequences seem to flow:

1. no Christian or group of Christians can strike out and "build community" on human effort alone;
2. any community founded in his name and doing his work will testify to his loving presence within that community and in the larger one in which it exists. The early Christian churches of the Acts and the epistles may have had severe internal weaknesses and conflicts but it is not said that the presence of the Lord made angels of humans. As long as the membership continued striving to do his work and accomplish his will, no matter what the fortunes of the group, he remained present to it and the church flourished.

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you," the Lord had said before he died (John 14:18). There are many signs of his presence in our lives. One of them is his own mother, whose mission from the very beginning was to bring him into the world and magnify his name (Luke 1:49). She was present at the foot of the cross when she became the spiritual mother of the church (John 19:25-27) and she was present again at Pentecost when the Spirit descended upon the first gathering (Acts 1:14).

At La Salette she once again testified to his caring presence among his own. She spoke repeatedly of "my people." She has come in his name to speak to his people and urge them to gather again and re-form. The conditions of this renewal are contained in the following of Jesus: discipleship. These conditions, strangely enough all concern these other-worldly, impractical, "irrelevant" things that the world has totally rejected: honoring God's name, his day, his will. But obedience to these conditions, to the discourse of La Salette, have consequences as direct, as practical, as relevant as a lush wheat-field and a full stomach. What La Salette is telling us is essentially what Jesus said in the gospel: doing the will of his Father is our food as well as his own (John 4:34).

In spite of the sins she points out, in spite of the tears and the long suffering ("no matter how long you pray," etc.) the Lady still calls us "my people." For better or for worse, in sin or holiness, we are His and hers, and thus we shall remain. The Lord's love is faithful and everlasting. He does not renege on his choices. This is another unspoken message of La Salette: we may have been warned, threatened, "grounded," but we are still sons and daughters and we still belong to the household. "My people" are more than two words.

Day Five: What is Our Ongoing Mission?

Matthew 28:16-20 (The commissioning of the disciples)

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Reflection: Luke says: "The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them." One of the most interesting aspects of discipleship is the missioning of the apostles. They are sent out by the risen Master himself to accomplish his mission, not theirs. He was confiding them with his own life's purpose, and gifting them with his power to accomplish it. One marvels at the faith Christ placed in those untrained, untutored men. He was placing in their hands that very same mission for which he had suffered and died. Never had so few been sent out with so much to so many.

We are reminded of the Creator who confided the whole earth to the care of Adam and Eve, another enormous act of divine faith and trust in humankind. We are especially surprised that at this point, at the very end of the gospel, Matthew does not hesitate to say: "When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted." That Christ should have entrusted such a mission of love and life to people whose faith was still at the point of doubt shows the power of his grace and the extent of his trust in humans.

The Incident in the Field of Coin (Terre du Coin),
Basilica on the Holy Mountain of La Salette We note the broad, superbly ambitious scope of the mission: "Go therefore, make disciples of all nations..." The Lord's view embraces the world. His horizons are anything but limited. Further, he does not commission his friends merely to announce the Good News but commands them to "go the limit" and call everyone to the Lord and make them followers of his person: "make disciples" he says. Trust in God and neighbor plus a disciple-life born of a world vision, this is the message the Lord gives to his apostles as he sends them out.

All of this is crowned and affirmed by the very last words of Christ in Matthew, words of reassurance and love: "I am with you always, until the end of the age." We hear the echo of a word Matthew used back in the first chapter when he referred to Christ as the Emmanuel ("God is with us"). The entire gospel of Matthew is "included" within these two great parentheses of the presence of Christ. Here in Matthew this is the last message of the gospel and one that all who are called to discipleship are bidden to remember.

When she reminded Maximin of all the details of the Terre du Coin incident the Lady was revealing, in proven fact, the constant presence of the Lord in his people's lives. And hers, too. The multiplicity and exactness of the details served to highlight the profound intimacy of that presence. This was not a generic proximity to people but a highly involved intimacy into the lives of individuals, to the point of remembering apparently meaningless details in the existence of a little boy and his father. Such interest is meaningful in the extreme.

These last words of the Beautiful Lady are her signature as well as the revelation of the Emmanuel's constant and affectionate presence into the lives of his people. It is immediately after this that the Lady slowly climbed the hillock facing her and gave the children their mission, similar, in a way, to that of the Lord to his disciples: "Well, my children, you will make this know to all my people."

These are words that have sent all disciples forth, and kept them going.