At The Last Supper

It was this, I feel sure, that Jesus wanted so much to make clear to Peter and the disciples. In all his days with them, but especially at the Last Supper, in his last moments with them, he wanted to underline the truth: my Kingdom is a Kingdom of Love! It is not a place where power rules or people compete. It is not a playground of pleasure or a haven for those who have no heart to try. The solemn and solitary requirement for entrance into the Kingdom of God is the choice of love as a life principle. There is only one badge of identification: "By this shall all know that you are my disciples, that you love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:35).

"If you cannot accept this," Jesus insisted with Peter, "you cannot be my partner. The only power in my kingdom is the power of love!"

Jesus wants to know if the lesson has come through. He apparently found in the Apostles the same lack of understanding that I so often find in myself. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus asks the Apostles seventeen times (I once counted them!): "Are you still without understanding?"

I must ask myself the same question again and again: Do I really understand that such a commitment is the only way to true and abiding happiness? These are the questions whose answers lie deep inside of me. I must at least attempt a search of those deepest parts. My whole life is at stake.

(From Unconditional Love by John Powell, S.J.)