The Word of God: a bath which purifies

St. John the Evangelist, by Carlo Crivelli, c. 1475 A.D.         Image via Wikipedia

VATICAN -

AVE MARIA:

Mgr. Luciano Alimandi -

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - Jesus said to her: "'Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" (Jn 11, 40). Jesus' words to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, challenge the faith of every believer. In view of a personal act of faith they become life of our life. Faith in Christ puts us in direct communication with every word from his mouth and makes us exclaim, with Simon Peter, "you have words of eternal life" (Jn 6, 68).

Yes, the experience of authentic disciples of Jesus, down through two thousand years of Christianity, is extraordinary: the word of Jesus is accomplished in their lives! If we trust in him his word never disappoints us, everything is accomplished as Jesus promises in the Gospel.

Faith must be "living" because the true Christian believes, not in someone of the past, but in Someone, Jesus Christ, who "is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb 13, 8). With an act of living faith, in the living Lord in the Church living in time, we share in the eternal life of God, we are, as it were, projected into eternity where everything is in the present. With this faith, the Gospel becomes today's history. We read it not as we would read a story of the past! This is a story which is never past, it is continually present with Jesus working in our midst as he worked two thousand years ago. Thanks to his resurrection, He is ever present, "Lo, I am with you always, until the end of the world" (Mt 28, 20). With these words, before ascending into Heaven, the Risen Lord promised that he will never leave us. If we believe in Him, we too, like the Apostles will see his glory: we will understand his work, enjoy his presence, even though a totally spiritual presence. His love, divine love, and therefore more active than any earthly love, will transform us!

The present Easter Season is a good time for asking the Lord to strengthen us in our faith. Like the apostles our faith must grow because Jesus is worthy of ever stronger faith. How wonderful to be able to say at the end of life, I am on my way to Jesus and I know he is coming to meet me!

A true disciple of Christ at the moment of death is never desperate. Although we see from the lives of the saints that as death draws near so does temptation and trial, but no saint ever died without God! Jesus promised this when he said: "I am the resurrection and the life, Anyone who believes in me, even though that person dies, will live," (Jn 11, 25).

Christians must be engaged with the Gospel. Because every word of the Gospel must be believed with the simple faith of a child who obeys.

For priests first of all, acceptance of every word of Jesus must be an unmistakable mark of personal love for the Lord. During the Chrism Mass this year, the Holy Father, Benedict XVI, speaking to priests about the significance of being "consecrated in the truth", said:

"The disciples are drawn deep within God by being immersed in the word of God. The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God's own being. So then, how do things stand in our own lives? Are we truly pervaded by the word of God? Is that word truly the nourishment we live by, even more than bread and the things of this world? Do we really know that word? Do we love it? Are we deeply engaged with this word to the point that it really leaves a mark on our lives and shapes our thinking? Or is it rather the case that our thinking is constantly being shaped by all the things that others say and do? Aren't prevailing opinions the criterion by which we all too often measure ourselves? Do we not perhaps remain, when all is said and done, mired in the superficiality in which people today are generally caught up? Do we allow ourselves truly to be deeply purified by the word of God? (…) "Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth": this word of inclusion in the priesthood lights up our lives and calls us to become ever anew disciples of that truth which is revealed in the word of God." (Benedict XVI, homily, 9 April 2009).

Those who truly believe in Jesus, trust him, and strive to live according to the Gospel. This is what Jesus expects of every true disciple: unswerving faith in his Gospel. Faith makes every believer say: I place my life in the hands of Jesus and he will make it a masterpiece of grace.

When an artist prepares to paint a picture, at first only an outline can be seen, the subject is difficult to discern, but the artist sees it, because it is in his soul. With every stroke of the brush, the work is created and what seemed initially indecipherable, becomes a masterpiece. Our life is similar to a picture which must be painted. If we entrust it to the hands of the Divine Artist, he will gradually make it a unique work of grace; but if instead we choose to follow our own desires, the result will be only scribble. It all depends on our faith in Jesus!

The Apostle of the Nations, urges us, more than ever in this Year of St Paul, to trust in God's marvelous grace which we call mercy: "Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God's work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life. " (Eph 2, 8-10).

(Agenzia Fides 6/5/2009; righe 65, parole 994)