Drawn By Him Revealed

Prologue: When God Himself Draws the Soul

There are moments in the spiritual life when words fail — when something within the heart moves gently yet irresistibly toward Christ. It is not argument that moves us, nor fear, nor curiosity — but attraction.

 “No man can come to Me, except the Father who hath sent Me draw him” (John 6:44).

This divine drawing is the hidden pulse of grace. It is the Father Himself revealing the Son to the soul and saying, as at the Jordan: “This is My beloved Son, hear ye Him.”

St. Augustine opens to us this mystery with the warmth of a father and the clarity of a doctor: those who see in Christ the true Son of God — equal to the Father, Light from Light — are those whom the Father draws. The soul that believes aright begins to move toward Christ; faith is the motion of love born of revelation.

Listen to St. Augustine: 

"The Father draweth to the Son them who believe in the Son, because they are persuaded that He hath God to His Father. God the Father begetteth to Himself a coequal Son; and whosoever is persuaded, and realiseth unto himself by faith, and thinketh, that He in Whom he believeth is equal to the Father, him the Father is drawing unto the Son... The Father drew him who said: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matth. xvi. 16, 17. Show a sheep a green bough, and thou drawest him. Let a boy see some nuts, and he is drawn by them. As they run, they are drawn, drawn by taste, drawn without bodily hurt, drawn by a line bound to their heart. If, then, among earthly things, such as be sweet and pleasant draw such as love them, as soon as they see them, so that it is truth to say, His special pleasure draweth each, doth not that Christ, Whom the Father hath revealed, draw? What stronger object of love can a soul have than the Truth?" [culled from the Homily by St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo , 26th Tract  On John ]

 

1. The Gentle Pull of the Father’s Hand

Notice Augustine’s images: a sheep drawn by a green branch, a child running after the sight of nuts — drawn not by force but by delight. Such is grace!

God does not drag the soul; He attracts it. His truth has sweetness, His beauty has power. The Father draws by making Christ seen, by opening the eyes of faith to behold in Him not merely a prophet or moral teacher, but the coequal, consubstantial Son of the living God.

As soon as a soul perceives even a glimpse of that divine Face, it is drawn by love’s instinct. The will moves as naturally toward Christ as iron toward a magnet. The more the truth is revealed, the stronger the attraction becomes. Faith is the thread; love is the pull. The heart runs after what it sees to be divine.

2. The Darkness That Cannot Be Drawn

Here lies the misery of the modern soul: it no longer sees the Son as the Father reveals Him.

Modernism has replaced Revelation with emotion, doctrine with sentiment, grace with vague spirituality. It speaks the language of faith but denies its substance. It preaches a “Christ” who is merely human, a “Church” that evolves with opinion, a “truth” that changes with time.

How can such a soul be drawn by the Father when it no longer beholds the true Son?

St. Augustine says plainly: only he who believes in the Son as coequal with the Father is drawn. A faith that refuses the divinity of Christ or His unchanging revelation is not faith but illusion. It has warmth without light, movement without direction — a wandering without drawing.

Modernists are like children chasing shadows; they are moved by their imagination, not by grace. Their “Christ” cannot save, for He is not the eternal Word made Flesh. Their “worship” cannot sanctify, for it is built upon man’s thought, not God’s truth.

What a tragedy — not to be drawn by the revealed Truth! To see the green branch of life and turn aside for weeds! To behold the True Light and prefer the flicker of human opinion!

3. Drawn by the Beauty of Truth

Truth is not cold or abstract; it is living and personal — the Person of Christ Himself. The Father reveals Him, and the soul feels the gentle current of divine attraction. The saints are those who allowed that current to carry them: Peter confessing, “Thou art the Christ”; Mary saying, “Be it done unto me”; Paul exclaiming, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

This attraction is not emotional excitement but supernatural enlightenment. It draws the heart toward humility, obedience, purity, and adoration. It teaches the soul to kneel before the tabernacle and whisper, “My Lord and my God.”

When the Father reveals His Son in the Sacred Host, the faithful heart is drawn irresistibly — not to a symbol, but to the Truth made Flesh.

4. Prayer of the Drawn Soul

Let us then pray daily with holy longing:

 “Draw me, O Lord, and we will run after Thee.” (Cant. 1:3)

Draw me away from the noise of error, from the flatteries of false religion, from the shallow streams of Modernist thought. Draw me to Thy altar, where the Word made Flesh abides. Draw me to Thy Cross, where love is stronger than death. Draw me to Thy Church, the only Ark of salvation.

Blessed is the soul that feels this divine drawing and follows it faithfully — for such a one walks, not in sentiment or shadow, but in the light of the revealed Truth. And in that drawing lies the secret of all holiness: the Father leading the soul to the Son, and the Son bringing it home to the Father.