“But Jesus knowing it, retired from thence: and many followed him, and he healed them all. And he charged them that they should not make him known. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the prophet, saying: ‘Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul hath been well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not contend, nor cry out, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. The bruised reed he shall not break: and smoking flax he shall not extinguish: till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name the Gentiles shall hope.’”
Jesus, out of an abundance of love for the Pharisees who plotted to kill Him, withdrew Himself, that they may not bring the sinful inclinations of their heart to action: “Behold he hath been in labour with injustice; he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity” (Psalm 7:15). Or, in moving aside from the hearts that pushed Him out of their midst, He goes to walk peacefully with those that would fasten to Him with love: “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages” (Canticle 7:11). His love drew great crowds, that followed Him with deep affection: “Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments” (Canticle 1:3). He heals them of the maladies that afflict them, and charges them with silence, that He may be seen to love for love’s sake, and not for public praise. There is then a movement to the prophet Isaiah, and there is a thread that arises here, that the life of Jesus is described preeminently in the gospels, but His ways and actions are also seen throughout the Old Testament for the knowing eye, thus Wisdom exhorts: “More than these [words], my son, require not” (Ecclesiastes 12:12), for it is through the Bible that the Holy Spirit speaks, with commentaries by saints or other Catholic writers being a great aid in understanding them, that they may then rest in your soul that you may know your Beloved and how much He loves you: “For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed” (Isaias 44:3). There is risk of taking on a spirituality that doesn’t suit you or even falsehood in stretching out for more, whereas the words of God are a great sanctuary, a haven for your soul: “I have loved, O Lord, the beauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth” (Psalm 25:8); “My soul hath fainted after thy salvation: and in thy word I have very much hoped” (Psalm 118:81). Jesus, in His excess of love for you and all of humanity, “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7), and came to undertake a work that no one else had done or could do, which was to restore the relationship of love between man and God: “And thou shalt know that the Lord thy God, he is a strong and faithful God, keeping his covenant and mercy to them that love him” (Deuteronomy 7:9); “For I will close up thy scar, and will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord” (Jeremias 30:17). Thus, He is said to be chosen for this work, walking in knowledge of His being loved, and that His Father looked with delight on Him: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17); “For the Father loveth the Son” (John 5:20). This, by extension of being united to Christ by the state of grace, means that this same task of serving God and loving others falls into your hands: “For we are God’s coadjutors” (1 Corinthians 3:9), but it is done with knowledge as to how loved you are: “And we have known, and have believed the love, which God hath to us” (1 John 4:16). This is what it means to have the spirit put upon you, that the Spirit of wisdom may open your eyes to God’s infinite merciful love: “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: the spirit of wisdom, and of understanding” (Isaias 11:2), and the Spirit of love may be in your heart, that you burn with a fiery love: “And the fire on the altar shall always burn, and the priest shall feed it, putting wood on it every day in the morning,” in Mass, prayer, and reading the Scriptures, “and laying on the holocaust,” of your heart, “shall burn thereupon the fat of the peace offerings. This is the perpetual fire which shall never go out on the altar” (Leviticus 6:12-13). The Heart of Jesus burned with this same love, and was filled with this same knowledge of how loved He is, thus the spirit of the Lord was upon Him. It is love that drew His message to the Gentiles, for His love must show itself in affection, and cannot be contained to one nation, but must go out to the ends of the earth, that all may know how loved they are: “Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth” (Psalm 18:5); “And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come” (Matthew 24:14); “Going therefore, teach ye all nations” (Matthew 28:19) the mystery of the love of God. Showing judgment to the Gentiles, then, is an unveiling of God’s justice, which sees them in their inability to find the truth of God: “The Greeks seek after wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:22), which needs the illumination of faith to be fully attained. Seeing this helplessness, Jesus reaches out with the words of truth that the Gentiles may know the justice of God, who comes to the lowly and helpless: “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (James 4:6) and loves them into the fullness of life, which is a life lived on love: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). What this life of love looks like is highlighted by the following words: that He would not contend, trying to break down others with tremendous arguments, for “Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). He would not cry out in pain: “He shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth” (Isaias 53:7), or exasperation: “Keep yourselves therefore from murmuring, which profiteth nothing” (Wisdom 1:11), bearing all things with love and patience: “[Love] beareth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). The Prophet also says that his voice would not be heard, because His message is hard: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24), and He promises not delights but hardships: “In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Or, this could mean that the voices of the world, the flesh, and the devil cloud the voice of love, which is a quiet, humble voice, “a whistling of a gentle air” (3 Kings 19:12) that says the most beautiful things to you: “Shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears, for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely” (Canticle 2:14). Jesus was mild and loving towards all, not destroying those that rejected Him, but rather reaching out always to those who need love: “For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: ‘Fear not, I have helped thee’” (Isaias 41:13), excusing what is imperfect: “Bear ye one another’s burdens; and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2), and does not despise the little and weak in faith: “Now we that are stronger, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves” (Romans 15:1). He sees how feeble and little you are, and will not stamp out the beautiful in you or lay a burden on your back that breaks your love of Him: “For [the Pharisees] bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them” (Matthew 23:4); whatever He does put upon you, He will help you carry: “I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28:20). You need never fear His wrath, Theophila, “For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him” (John 3:17), but rejoice in the victory of His love over sin and death, that He may share with you His boundless love. This is the victory of divine justice, that love may never be defeated by hate: “The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit thou at my right hand: until I make thy enemies thy footstool’” (Psalm 109:1); and you are not His enemy, but rather His beloved: “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse” (Canticle 4:9). Thus, in His name, Jesus, God Saves, I Love You Incarnate, “Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, The Prince of Peace” (Isaias 9:6) you may happily hope.