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Central to the invitation is "behold." This is the risen Christ within calling for attention. We are summoned from diversions and occupations that deafen to the inner call to Love, and by Love. How sad to sell our souls to that which cannot eternally, fully satisfy; how wonderful to give our souls to Life:
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul [or, self]? Is anything worth more than your soul [or, self]? (Matthew 16.26, NLT)
John of the Cross, in The Spiritual Canticle, gives a mystical insight into the invitation of Christ in Revelation 3.20, when in Stanza 15 we find "The Supper which revives and enkindles love."
It is evident ... that He [Christ] brings the supper with Him, which is nothing else but His own sweetness and delights, wherein He rejoices Himself, and which He, uniting Himself to the soul, communicates to it, making it a partaker of His joy: for this is the meaning of “I will sup with him, and he with Me.”
John reminds us that the joy of this mutual-inward sharing with the living Christ is sharing in the being of Christ, not merely having a religious or spiritual experience. All the graces of union are mutually enjoyed by the soul and Christ, for this is the union of Spirit with spirit. We are created to enjoy God, and God enjoy us. How amazing!
John continues, expounding on the effects of this mutual-inward sharing of Christ and the follower of Christ:
These words describe the effect of the divine union of the soul with God, wherein it shares the very goods of God Himself, Who communicates them graciously and abundantly to it. Thus the Beloved is Himself the supper which revives, and enkindles love, refreshing the soul with His abundance, and enkindling its love in His graciousness.
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