โThe beloved disciple who listened to the beating of the Masterโs heart was, is, and always will be the representative and guardian of this heart โฆ The mission of John is to keep the life and soul of the Church alive until the Second Coming of the Lord. This is why John has never claimed and will never claim the office of directing the body of the Church. He vivifies this body, but he does not direct its actions.โ
St. John 19:26-27
โWhen Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.
After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.โ
There are two figures closest to the heart of the Lord, Jesus Christ; His Blessed Mother and John the disciple whom He loved.โ
The Blessed Virginโs Immaculate Heart is such that it is the perfect reflection of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Beloved Disciple is he who reclined at the breast of the Master hearing the beating of that same Sacred Heart.
We know that the Virgin is the image of Holy Mother Church; the body of Christ. And so when Our Dear Unknown Friend calls St. John the guardian of the Sacred Heart he also recognises the Evangelist is necessarily the guardian and vivifying principle of the Heart of Our Lady. They are given one to the other.
The Blessed Virgin is also exemplar of the soul of man. In relation to God, manโs soul must be rendered docile. To be the fitting vessel for the Word of God the soul must be conceived immaculate.
This docility is made manifest in the corporeal world via Our Ladyโs fiat at the annunciation.
St. John, then, scribe of the Apocalypse, is as the intellect, the eye of the heart. The Evangelist, reclining at the breast of the Master, hears the beating of the Sacred Heart, the very Love Song of the Father. (We see that revelation can be described as a โhearingโ or a โseeingโ. The world itself was created via sound and light. โAnd God SAID let there be LIGHTโ. The world itself is revelation, Theophony.)
The will and the intellect are given one to the other.
The intellect to reveal the things of the Spirit to the will and the will to remain docile to those things revealed so that the light of the Spirit might make the whole body lightsome.
St. Matthew 6:22
โThe light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome.โ
The will must ensure the eye of the heart, the intellect, is single, focused only on the โโฆ kingdom of God, and his justice โฆโ that the revelations of the Spirit inform and strengthen the will. The strengthened will then is able to focus the intellect more and more intently. It is a dynamic relationship.
โ[to Mary]โฆ Woman, behold thy son โฆ [to St. John] Behold thy mother โฆโ
We may even simplify here and call the Virgin โsoulโ and the Beloved Disciple โspiritโ and we are confronted, fittingly, with the image of the Stag and the Unicorn of which one may view below from the Book of the Lambspring.
The deer, associated with the soul, is a crepuscular animal, active mostly at those twilight hours of dusk and dawn where the veil between worlds is thinned.
Keep in mind the Lady spoken of in the Revelation of John is veiled by the Sun with the Moon under her feet and a crown of celestial lights.
The unicorn is a so-called mythical creature like that of the dragon whom St. John is traditionally associated with. Both the unicorn and the dragon are not of this world, such is the Spirit. The horn of the unicorn (especially pronounced in the picture provided) focuses to a singular point and pierces Heaven as it were. The horn also spirals either inwards or outwards to/from that singular point. Like a breath in and out. The spiration of the Spirit.
The Book of the Lambspring says this regarding the two:
โThe unicorn will be the Spirit at all times. The deer desires no other name But that of the Soul; which name no man shall take away from it. He that knows how to tame and master them by Art, To couple them together, And to lead them in and out of the forest, May justly be called a Master. For we rightly judge That he has attained the golden flesh, And may triumph everywhere; Nay, he may bear rule over great Augustus.โ
By His great art on Calvary the Master, the God-man Jesus Christ brought together the Virgin and the Beloved Disciple. Through Him and in Him we perform the same art, that art which is verily the eternal Love of the Holy Trinity, and become inheritors of the glorified body, attain the Glory of His victory, and rule โover great Augustusโ; even the mightiest powers of this world.
