Last Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI addressed the Gospel message from Mark’s chapter 6. In the passage, Jesus discovers that the people of His own country do not believe in His divinity. In fact, they are scandalized that the carpenter’s son is now travelling about, preaching like a prophet.
Pope Benedict said that the unbelief amongst the people of Nazareth was understandable, “because their human familiarity made it hard for them to go further and open themselves to the divine dimension. It was difficult for them to believe that this son of a carpenter was the Son of God."
Because of this unbelief, he went on to say:
Jesus 'could do no deeds of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them'. Indeed, the miracles of Christ were not a show of power, but signs of God's love, which is realised wherever it finds reciprocity in the faith of man.
...The man Jesus of Nazareth is the transparency of God, God dwells in Him fully and, while we always seek other signs, other prodigies, we do not realise that the true sign is Him, God made flesh. He is the greatest miracle of the universe: all the love of God contained in a human heart and a human face.
And until we realize that Jesus is the true sign, we will not be ready for Him to heal us, teach us, and prepare us for the Kingdom of Heaven.
So let us pray for the grace to reciprocate God’s love in faith, and let us pray for the courage to proclaim the miracle of Christ to those around us.
No comments:
Post a Comment