“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Peace of God

The opposite of peace is restlessness. It torments the soul so that it is in a state of constant fear or nervousness. The cause of mental torment may be that you believe a lie and make a big mistake in your life which you must pay dearly for. Then you feel anger or even hatred towards yourself and your neighbours, and you even throw the blame on God! You may be tormented by intrusive thoughts which incite you to crime. You don’t want them to trouble you and you don’t realize that the source of these pressures is a lie, the spirit of lies.

You can have wealth, career, and yet feel restless in your soul! So there are more sources of restlessness: fear of future, remorse for doing evil, sin…

Jesus says: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Jesus says: “…My peace I give to you; not as the world gives…”

But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,

He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

“He will bring to your remembrance…” We can know the whole Scripture by heart, we can have a large amount of information like a computer, but that’s not essential. We need the right information at the right time, and this information may be much useful or it can even save life. We need to project it on the screen of our mind. This reviving in the spiritual sphere is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said His words to the apostles but these words concern us too. His words are eternally true and binding both for the apostles and for us. These words are for life, eternal life. The Gospel of Christ is no human philosophy or human wisdom. The words of Jesus are the Spirit and life. They are simple and call for action. It is not enough to hear them and lead religious discussions. That’s too little. We need to actualize Jesus’ commandments. In conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks the parable of two men who built a house. One man built a house on the sand and the other on the rock. The man who built his house on the sand heard the words but did not do them. The man who built his house on the rock heard the words and did them.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,

and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

Jesus said these words the night before His death. These and other words, which He said before His death, are contained in chapters 13-17 of John’s Gospel. Jesus speaks about love which is necessarily connected with the keeping of His commandments. Jesus repeats: “He who loves Me will be loved by My Father.” (v.21) There are commandments given by God in the Decalogue and commandments and various obligations related to the rites of purification, especially burnt offerings of bulls and lambs and the sprinkling of blood. It is contained in the Second to Fifth Books of Moses. This just prefigured the redemptive death of Christ on the cross. In Christ, this all was accomplished. The record of debt was cancelled (cf. Col 2:14). Jesus the Son of God acts as the Law-giver on His own authority. He repeats several times: “But I say to you…” Jesus does not abolish the Decalogue; on the contrary, He points out its essence. He points to the root of sin, lusts, pride, hatred, revenge. Citation of Christ’s commandments: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” (Mt 5:21-26)

“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.

And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father,

and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Jesus highlights this truth in verse 23 too. True love for Him is connected not only with the receiving of the Word but there is also one condition: the keeping of His commandments. In fact, it means the following of Christ, which involves the loss of our soul for His sake: “Whoever loses his soul for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it.” (Mk 8:35) If a disciple keeps Christ’s commandments, he will be loved by the Father and by Jesus, and Jesus will manifest Himself to him (see v.21). “We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (v.23) We thus become a living tabernacle like the Blessed Virgin. So the knowledge of Christ cannot be acquired through theological, philosophical or psychological studies but only through love – agape – which becomes manifest not in phrases but in the following of Christ, i.e. in the keeping of Christ’s commandments.

“On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.”

We are in Christ, and He in us.

Jesus said: “On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (Jn 14:20)

I realize the truths:

1)     Jesus is God, and He is in the Father

2)     We are in Christ crucified

3)     The risen Christ is in us

If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.

For the period of the next two weeks, enter into God’s presence, into the column of light, and stand by Christ’s cross beside the Blessed Virgin. There accept the last will of Christ. Repeat the words: “Jesus said to the disciple and now says to me and to the inhabitants of the (Lvov) region: ‘Behold, your mother.” Then pray with your spirit and mind for about a minute, and say in the end: “I receive Your mother on both my and their behalf.” Pray again for the particular regions of Ukraine, standing in the column of light, and make an act of faith – i.e. accept Christ’s testament – on your behalf and on behalf of the inhabitants of the particular region.

And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

These words, uttered by Christ on the evening before His death, are a continuation of the preceding words by which Jesus revealed to the Apostles the mystery of interior unity between Him and the Father. The uniting love between you and Christ is conditioned by true repentance, i.e. by keeping Christ’s commandments (see Jn 14:15.21.23). All philosophies, theologies or psychologies which reject true repentance and the following of Christ lead to both temporal and eternal damnation.

To ask in Jesus’ name does not mean just to utter the phrase “in the name of Jesus Christ” spiritlessly. It means to be in interior unity with Christ through true repentance (see Mk 1:15). If you are in unity with Him, then you surely ask according to the will of Christ, which is also the will of the Heavenly Father.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”

Let us realize that Jesus speaks to His apostles for the last time, on the evening before He is arrested and sentenced to death. So these are deep truths which He hands on to the apostles in an intimate conversation. First He gives an answer to Thomas who does not understand Jesus’ words about heaven. Jesus is going away, that He may prepare a place for the apostles and all the faithful. Thomas says: “We do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” And Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And then He adds: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” The Apostle Philip responds to it by asking Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus says to him: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus says about Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus said to the Jews: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (Jn 8:58) They took up stones to throw at Him, for the name of God is “HE WHO IS”. Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the Truth. The devil is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said to those who believed in Him: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:32) He does not speak about an abstract truth but about Divine Truth in the flesh, i.e. about Himself. Jesus also says that He is the Life. The contrary of life is death, both temporal and eternal. Jesus gives us eternal life, and He Himself is Eternal Life. He says: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (Jn 11:25) Jesus says that He is the Way. He says to all who have received Him: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” The apostles left everything and followed Him. Jesus is the spiritual way which unites us to Him and leads to unity with the Father: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) He is true God.

Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

Chapter 14 captures deep truths concerning the mystery of the inner unity with Christ and the Heavenly Father. This mystery is also related to the Holy Spirit. Jesus uttered these truths on the evening before His death. He spoke about the faith in Him and about love which is made manifest in the keeping of His commandments. We are going to repeat the first two verses of chapter 14 for a period of two weeks.

In verse one, Jesus says: “Let not your heart be troubled…” These words also refer to you personally. Every day we face situations in which our heart is troubled; we feel tension and fear, see how evil and lies destroy the truth and good… It is a matter concerning our health, responsibility, financial problems, family problems, the war in the Eastern Ukraine…

“If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.”

Chapters 13-17 of the Gospel of John record the words and acts of Jesus on the last evening of His earthly life. Jesus washed the apostles’ feet. Peter opposed resolutely but accepted it in the end. After washing their feet, Jesus said to the apostles: “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.” And then He says to them: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example…”

Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

In verses 24 and 25, Jesus speaks a parable of the grain of wheat, and then He speaks about losing or saving one’s soul for eternity. In verse 27, He speaks about His soul: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’?” And Jesus Himself answers: “But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” These words are an example for us too. In verse 26, Jesus says: “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.” Jesus did not use the word servant but slave (doulos), as seen in the original Greek version of the New Testament.

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone;

but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it,

and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

After raising Lazarus, on the day when the crowd cried out: “Hosanna!”, Jesus speaks about loving and hating one’s life (or soul), about saving or losing it and about eternity. Chapter 12 describes the reaction to the raising of Lazarus. The reaction was “Hosanna!” shouted in praise of Jesus by people in a procession. “Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” (v.9-11) During the procession, the crowd that had seen Jesus call Lazarus back to life bore witness to it.

These words were spoken in Bethany before Jesus raised Lazarus who had been dead four days. Lazarus’ death was preceded by an illness. Jesus and the apostles were not in Judaea at the time. Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, sent word to Jesus: “Lord, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Two days later, Jesus said: “Let us go to Judaea again. Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” Then His disciples said: “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well.” Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought He meant natural sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly: “Lazarus is dead.” When Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about an hour away, and many Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him. Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” This was followed by the words which we are going to repeat seven times a day for a period of two weeks.

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;

neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

In chapter 10 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”

Who is a shepherd, a bishop or priest, after the example of Christ? Which of the bishops or priests cares in the first place to feed the sheep entrusted to him with sound doctrine? Which of these shepherds is ready to give his life for the sheep? Many of them are no true shepherds but mere hirelings. Jesus emphasizes that His sheep hear His voice. They will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. Jesus repeats several times that He is the Good Shepherd, and knows His sheep and His sheep know Him. He gives His sheep eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of His hand. The Father has given them to Him, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. In His dialogue with the Jews, Jesus stresses His Divinity, saying: “I and My Father are one.” (v. 30) What was the response to those words?

Jesus heard they had ejected him, and when he found him he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?” And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

Chapter nine of John’s Gospel describes in detail the event relating to the healing of the blind man and the spiteful reaction of the religious leaders – the Pharisees and the scribes. The event begins as follows: Jesus and the Apostles met a man in Jerusalem who was blind from birth. The Apostles obviously felt sorry for the young man and asked Jesus an interesting question: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.” And He added: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”