When Jesus one day showed his Apostles how to bring in an overwhelming catch of fish, Peter’s reaction was to fall down at Jesus’ knees and exclaim: Depart from me, for l am a sinful man, 0 Lord. But Peter’s reaction was very different on the occasion when Jesus presented himself to the world as the Bread of Life and many found the teaching difficult and began to turn their backs on him. As the Lord pointedly asked the Twelve, Do you want to go away too? Simon Peter answered him. Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life. These are indeed the two apparently opposite impulses that define the essence of discipleship: on the one hand, the consciousness of one’s utter unworthiness to abide in the presence of the holy God and, simultaneously, one’s desperate need precisely to abide in that presence, only source of lasting life and joy….
The passion for simply abiding in the company of Jesus, the need continually to be with him in every sense of that verb, is the very heart of discipleship.
Erasmo Leiva-Mehkakis, now known as Father Simeon, is a Cistercian monk of Saint Josephs Abbey Spencer, Massachusetts. He is the author of Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word, a commentary on Saint Matthew’s Gospel.