"Zeal flows
from an intensity of love."
(St. Thomas Aquinas)
In the first chapter of The Book of
Revelation, St. John describes his first vision of Jesus. He says, "His
feet were like polished brass refined in a furnace" (Rev. 1:15). St.
John beholds Jesus' feet as brilliant as the sun, or as bright as 'white-hot'
fire. Jesus is the exemplar of "Godly zeal", indicative of an intensity of love
that is pure, holy and uncompromising. "At his feet of fire"--at the lowest
place--intercessors are taught how to belong totally to God like Jesus, with an
exclusive devotion. We are taught how to please God in all things and to seek
the good of others--hence, to have a zealous heart for the salvation of souls.
We are taught how to be animated and guided, like Jesus, by the interests of
the Heavenly Father: "My food is to do the will of the one who
sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34). This desire to obey the
Father's will in all things "feeds" Jesus and animates him with zeal to
accomplish the essential work that he has been given to do. Further, Jesus
says, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the
one who sent me" (John 6:38). Jesus has descended--"boots on the ground"-- with
the heavenly fire of the Holy Spirit and the divine virtue of zeal--with a
passion for the Kingdom of heaven.
"The Seal of Zeal"
In the eighth chapter of The Song
of Songs we read:
"Set me as
a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; For stern as
death is love, relentless as the nether world is devotion; its flames
are a blazing fire."
(Songs 8:6)
In
ancient times people used seals in order to indicate that some object belonged
to them as a possession. Intercessors are called to belong to God entirely--to
be a people who are 'possessed by God' completely. We are to be "sealed" to his
Heart of Divine Love, motivated by his burning heart desires in the world! One
may speak of this as the "seal of zeal". At baptism each of us has been sealed
by the Holy Spirit, the Love of God. Intercessors believe the fundamental truth
that through Baptism, we belong to Jesus completely--and this love is meant to
be unto death! The word, relentless, used in this scripture passage, means
'unyielding; steady and persistent; uncompromising determination; not
diminishing in intensity'. How relentless is Jesus in his zeal?--to the extent
that members of his own extended family said of him, "He is out his mind" (Mk.
3:21).
In its fullest sense zeal "refers to
energetic and forceful activity in favor of some project" (St. Thomas Aquinas,
quoted in Jesus Living in Mary, p. 1273). For Jesus, this project is
"Project Saving Love". Zeal is "a movement of the will in relation to a "cause"
(Jesus Living in Mary, p. 1273) The dictionary defines a cause as 'a
goal or principle served with dedication and zeal; or, 'the interests of a
person or group engaged in a struggle'. We read of the cause of Jesus towards
the end of The Acts of the Apostles when Jesus encourages St.
Paul:
"The following
night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage. For just as you have borne
witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome"
(Acts 23:11)
The
cause of Jesus can be summed up in one phrase: "Father, your will be done". In
the passage above, Jesus commends St. Paul for sharing in his single-hearted
focus to accomplish the will of God. Intercessors, filled with the fire of
God's Love and "die-hard dedication" enter into the struggle of Jesus to
fulfill the Father's will in the world: To continue the redemptive mission of
the Lamb of God for the salvation of souls. We must be willing to sacrifice
everything--even our lives--for the "cause" of Jesus--for the sake of Saving
Love! We are reminded that Jesus' own zeal led him to his death: " Zeal for
your house will consume me" (John 2:17). Again, as we consider again the
scripture verse from Songs 8:6 and now John 2:17, we realize that 'Godly zeal'
is both "relentless" and "consuming": "For our God is a consuming
fire" (Heb. 12:29).
Questions:
1)
Is there
a "cause" that I do/would spend my life for?
2)
Does
obedience feed me?
Scriptures:
Any
scripture found in the teaching text; Ps.45:4-5; Ps.119:154; 2Cor. 5:14-15
