Jesus himself also went up... but ... in secret

Book of Wisdom 2:1a.12-22. 
The wicked said among themselves,  thinking not aright:
"Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. 
He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. 
To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, 
Because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways. 
He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. 
Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. 
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. 
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. 
Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him." 
These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, 
And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward. 



Psalms 34(33):17-18.19-20.21.23. 
The LORD confronts the evildoers, 
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth. 
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, 
and from all their distress he rescues them. 

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; 
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. 
Many are the troubles of the just man, 
but out of them all the LORD delivers him. 

He watches over all his bones; 
not one of them shall be broken. 
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants; 
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him. 




Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 7:1-2.10.25-30. 
Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. 
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but (as it were) in secret. 
So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "Is he not the one they are trying to kill? 
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah?
But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from." 
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. 
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." 
So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.

"Jesus himself also went up... but ... in secret"

Jesus said: “My time is not yet here, but the time is always right for you... You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast because my time has not yet been fulfilled” (Jn 7,6-8). Now what is this feast to which our Lord tells us to go up and whose time is always ready? The highest, truest feast, the supreme feast, is the feast of eternal life, which is to say the everlasting happiness where we shall always be face to face indeed with God. This we cannot have here below; but the feast that we can have is that of a foretaste of the one there: an experience in spirit of God's presence through an interior rejoicing,  giving us a secret intimation of it. The time that is always ours is that of seeking God and pursuing this sense of his presence in all our works, life, willing and loving. This is how we are to rise up above ourselves and all that is not God, in all purity wanting and loving him alone and nothing else. This time is ready at every moment.

This truly festal season of eternal life is what every person desires with a natural desire since everyone naturally wants to be happy. But desire alone is not enough. We should seek after God for himself alone and search for him for his own sake. Many would dearly love to have a foretaste of that true and great feast day and they are miserable because it isn't granted them. When they don't have the experience of a feast day within themselves when they pray and don't feel God's presence, this disappoints them. They pray even less and do so with bad grace, saying that they don't feel God and that it is for this reason that action and prayer upset them. Now this is what someone should never do. We should never carry out any work with a zeal turned cold, for God is always present there, and even if we don't feel him yet he has always entered secretly for the feast.