Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Evangelists give us testimony of many miracles worked by Jesus and we are amazed to see how God's power cures the sick, frees those possessed by demons, brings the dead back to life, commands nature … God's intervention in history is a wonder in our eyes. Today, as then, we are fascinated by the Lord who works through his Church to help his children most in need. However this should not lead us to think that God only works in extraordinary ways, with miracles.
The Lord works always (cfr. Jn 5, 17), but we do not notice, at least, we fail to see the signs of his works, because we do not make room for them. A soul which is humble and open to grace, accepts God in her and around her, but the man bent over his sins becomes impermeable to this working of God, which penetrates and changes only those who allow themselves to be embraced by it without resisting.
The Apostles know all about this! They had to learn with fatigue, to make room for Jesus, to put aside selfishness and a desire to dominate others, and become servants who welcome transforming grace, and so become new creatures. The day the Lord entered their life everything had to change; the same should happen in us, the disciples of Christ of the third millennium. Jesus is the same today as two thousand years ago, and so is man. The demands of conversion today are the same as in the times of the Apostles, who were enthusiastic when they saw miracles and dispirited when Jesus 'slept' in their boat, fearing it would sink. Just like us today!
The Apostles had to learn to trust in the Lord, when his action was visible and when it was not; to trust the Lord in the light and in the darkness, when they understood and when they did not. Just like us, today! The Gospel never changes, because the Word is Divine not human. What Jesus asked of the rich young man who wanted to follow Him, he asks of those who wish to follow Him today. If we accept his message, we will experience the power of divine grace as it was experienced by those who trusted in Him two thousand years ago!
The truth that anyone who wants to affirm himself cannot become like Jesus is still valid today: “If anyone wishes to follow me, let him renounce himself …” The Lord knows we are reluctant to believe, and as with the Apostles, he repeats the lesson, he knocks at the door of our conscience to make his voice heard and for us to open the door. But the doors of our heart are rusty, they find it difficult to open to another vision: giving to receive, decreasing in order to grow. In the soul of a true disciple Christ, not just anybody, must grow. When Jesus lives in the soul, “the music is so different”! Not a set of notes out of tune, put together by a life spent for self to the detriment of others. These are notes of an ineffable harmony, a life which has the fragrance of Christ, as the Apostle says: “We are the fragrance of Christ” (2 Cor 2, 15). The lives of the saints exhale this fragrance which, even years later, continues to spread and if we are watchful, if we live like them the dynamic of charity, this sweet unction will change our hearts. The example of the Saints urges us to open ourselves to God. The Servant of God John Paul II exhaled so much of this fragrance and it continues in our day.
Benedict XVI, on the 2nd anniversary of the death of John Paul II spoke of this fragrance: “The 'fragrance' of love ‘filled the whole house (Jn 12,3), the whole Church (...)Pope Wojtya's love for Christ was so strong, so intense, we could say, that it overflowed in every region of the world.
Was not the esteem, respect and affection expressed to him at his death by believers and non-believers alike an eloquent witness of this? St Augustine wrote, commenting on this passage of John's Gospel: ""The house was filled with the fragrance'. The world is filled with the fame of a good character: for a good character is like a sweet scent.... Through the good, the name of the Lord is honoured" (In Io. Evang. tr. 50, 7). This is really true; the intense and fruitful pastoral ministry and, even more, the calvary of the agony and serene death of our beloved Pope showed the people of our time that Jesus Christ was truly his "all".” (Benedict XVI, homily 2 April 2007).
May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany is in this Season of Lent, so that on the ashes of our selfishness a longing for God may arise. (Agenzia Fides 6/2/2008; righe 52, parole 799)
