De vocatione discipulorum
The Lord Calls His Disciples
Jesus begins to call his disciples, summoning Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, and Matthew through repeated, personal invitations that draw them from their ordinary work to follow him.
The Lord Jesus also began to call his disciples and to show his concern for our salvation. Humility always preserved. And he called Peter and Andrew three times: the first, mentioned above, when he was near the Jordan, and then they came to some knowledge of him; the second, from the boat, when they caught fish, as Luke relates — for they had followed him with the intention of returning to their own affairs.✦ They began, however, to hear his teaching; the third time, from the boat, as Matthew relates, when he said: Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.✦ Then, having left their nets, they followed him.✦ Similarly he called James and John on the last two occasions mentioned above; and in the same places it is recorded about them as it is recorded about Peter and Andrew. He also called John from the wedding feast, as Jerome says; however, it is not found in the text of the Gospel.✦ Likewise he called Philip, saying: Follow me; similarly, Matthew the tax collector.✦✦
The Tender Care of the Good Shepherd
The devotional text reflects on the unrecorded callings of the other disciples and on Christ's tender, maternal care for his apostles, showing how God chooses the lowly rather than the proud to build his Church.
As for the manner of the others' callings, however, nothing is written down. So consider and look closely at him in the callings already described and in the life he shared with them: how tenderly he calls them, making himself approachable to them, warm and welcoming, drawing them in within and without, even leading them to his mother's house and going familiarly to their homes. He taught and instructed them, and took special care of them, as a mother does for her only child. It is said that blessed Peter used to recount how, when he was sleeping with them in some place, he would rise at night and, if he found any of them uncovered, he would cover them again, because he loved them most tenderly. For he knew what he was going to make of them: although they were men of rough background and lowly nation, he was nevertheless going to make them princes of the world and leaders in the spiritual battle of all the faithful. And consider, on God's behalf, from which ones the Church was established. For the Lord did not wish to choose the wise and powerful of this age, lest the works that were to be done be credited to their own integrity; but he reserved these things for himself, and in his own goodness, power, and wisdom he redeemed us.✦1
Read the original Latin
Coepit etiam Dominus Jesus vocare discipulos, et se solUcitum reddere circa nostram salutem, XLIV, 3. semper humilitate servata. Et vocavit Petrum et Andream tribus vicibus: prima^ de qna dictum est supra, quando erat circa Jordanemj et tunc in aliqualem venerunt ejus notitiam; secunda de navi, quando ceperunt pisces, ut narrat Lucas '; timc enim secuti sunt eum animo redeundi ad propria. coeperunt tamen audire doctrinam ipsius; tertia, de navi, ut narrat Matthaeus, cum dixit-: Venite post me,faciam tos piscatores hominum. Tunc relictis retibus secuti sunt eum. Similiter vocavit Jacobum et Jcannem inpraedictis duabus vicibus ultimis; etineisdem locis continetur de ipsis, quibus continetur de Petro et Andrea. Vocavit etiam Joannem de nupliis, ut dicit Hieronymus'; in textu tamen Evangelii non habetur. Item vocavitPhilippum, dicens^: Sequere mc; similiter * MatUiaeum pubhcanum.
De modo vero vocationis aUorum, non est scriptmn. Considera ergo et conspice eum in praedictis vocationibus, et conversatione cmn ipsis: quam aflfectuose vocat eos, reddens se eis aflabilem, et domesticum, et obsequiosum, attrahens eos intus et extra, ducendo etiam eos ad domum matris, et familiariter vadens ad domos eorum. Docebat et instruebdt eos, et curam de ipsis habebat praecipuam, sicut mater de unico filio. Dicitur quod beatus Petrus referebat, quod quando in ahquo loco dormiebat cum eis, surgens de nocte, si aUquem eorum inveniebat discoopertum, recooperiebat eos, quia tenerrime diligebat eos. Sciebat enim quid de ipsis erat factmrus: quamvis essent homines rudis conditionis et humilis nationis, tamen principes mundi, et duces in bello spirituali omnium fidelium constituturus eos erat. Et considera pro Deo a quahbus Ecclesia. Noluit enim Dominus ehgere sapientes etpotentes hujus saeculi, ne ipsorum probitati adscriberenter opera, quae fienda erant; sed sibi haec reservavit, et in sua bonitate, potentia, et sapientia nos redemit
Scripture echoes
- ↩Luke.5.1-Luke.5.11 — Now it came to pass that when the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. Luke.5.2 — He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Luke.5.3 — He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. Luke.5.4 — When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch." Luke.5.5 — And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled through the whole night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets." Luke.5.6 — And when they had done this, they enclosed a great number of fish, and their nets were breaking. Luke.5.7 — They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so that they began to sink. Luke.5.8 — When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Luke.5.9 — For astonishment had seized him and all who were with him, at the catch of the fish that they had taken; Luke.5.10 — And so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people alive.' Luke.5.11 — And when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
- ↩Matt.4.19 — And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.'
- ↩Matt.4.20 — And at once they left their nets and followed him.
- ↩John.2.1-John.2.11 — On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, John.2.2 — And Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. John.2.3 — And when the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." John.2.4 — And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." John.2.5 — His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." John.2.6 — Now there were six stone water jars standing there, used for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding two or three measures. John.2.7 — Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them to the brim. John.2.8 — "And he said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the head steward.' And they brought it." John.2.9 — When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew—the master of the banquet called the bridegroom John.2.10 — and says to him, 'Every man serves the good wine first, and when they have drunk freely, then the lesser. You have kept the good wine until now.' John.2.11 — Jesus did this, the first of the signs, at Cana in Galilee, and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
- ↩John.1.43 — The next day he decided to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
- ↩Matt.9.9 — And as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man sitting at the tax booth, called Matthew, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he rose and followed him.
- ↩1Cor.1.27-1Cor.1.29 — But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 1Cor.1.28 — and God chose the lowborn of the world, and the despised - the things that are not - so that he might nullify the things that are, 1Cor.1.29 — so that no flesh may boast before God.
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'ne ipsorum probitati adscriberentur opera' expresses a purpose clause: Christ chose the lowly so that no human virtue could claim credit for the works of redemption. The term 'probitas' here carries the sense of personal integrity or moral uprightness, not mere honesty.
Meditationes Vitae Christi (Pseudo-Bonaventure), Castilian court context companion
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