24. December 19
Meditations no. 24 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
God is made present to man in Jesusâ sacred Humanity.
Come, Flower of Jesseâs stem, sign of Godâs love for all his people: save us without delay!
Jesus Christ, descendant of Jesse and David, son of Mary, is about to arrive. He will come like a standard at the head of the army, like a flag guiding everyone along the way to salvation. If we follow him, we will attain the redemption we long for and the glory of heaven.
God makes himself present to us in Jesusâ sacred Humanity, a wonderful shoot from the root of Jesse. In Jesus we can contemplate God: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.
My children, our Father says, once again I advise you to do what I have always preached: love Christâs Humanity. Marvel at the magnanimity of a God who becomes man so that we can know and love him. See how he has loved us: he has loved mankind as a whole, and each one of us individually. Meditate on how he chooses his Apostles, one by one, and you will come to see that our call is a sign of Godâs special love, in spite of our mistakes.
Then stop and contemplate his holy anger, when he sees people misusing the things of his Father. What a lesson for us never to be indifferent or cowardly when others fail to treat the things of God with due respect.
Consider frequently the spirit of prayer animating Jesusâ life among us. He teaches us that all our works - great or small - should be preceded, accompanied and followed by prayer.
Love Christâs holy Humanity! There is no sensuality or disorder in doing so. On the contrary, it is to love Godâs sojourn on our earth. I repeat to you what I said to the first people who came to me. I want you to realize we have a duty to love Jesus, who lowered himself to become one of us, so that we could love him more easily.
And from Christâs Humanity we shall go to the Father, to his almighty power and providence, and to the fruit of the Cross, which is the Holy Spirit. And we will feel the need to immerse ourselves in this Love, so as to find true Life.
Getting to know and love Christ is the essence of Christian life.
Christian life consists, above all, in knowing and loving Jesus Christ. In him we find the grace needed to avoid sin, together with light to draw ever closer to God. Jesus took on the likeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin and rid the flesh of sin. He wanted to invite man to take on his likeness ⌠endowing man with power to receive the Father.
We must do all we can to stay close to our Lordâs sacred Humanity. Our Father said: I would like you to be able to close your eyes and see Christâs life as in a film, and see yourselves as actors in that film, in company with the Apostles and the holy women, closer to Jesus than even John was. If not, it wonât do.
Ours must be a growing desire to know Jesus better. The great passion of our lives must be to contemplate him. Nothing on this earth even remotely matches the treasures of grace and life hidden in his Humanity, in which the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Consider what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, our Father suggests, what pleases the mind and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses.
And the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night: the whole universe. Well this, along with all the follies of the heart satisfied, is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing compared with this God of mine and yours. Infinite treasure, pearl of great price, humbled, become a slave, reduced to the form of a servant in the stable where he chose to be born, in Josephâs workshop, in his Passion and in his ignominious death⌠and in the madness of love that is the blessed Eucharist.
Let us contemplate our Lord in everything the Gospel tells us about him. Let us contemplate him really present in the tabernacle. Our hearts will be enkindled with love and gratitude when we think about his mercy. For Jesus always speaks with love. He takes pity on the sorrow of the widow of Naim and on the wretchedness of the lepers. Above all, he has compassion on the sinner. Jesus knows all about little details of kindness. He knows how to say an encouraging word. He is a friend to his friends. What wonderful conversations must have taken place in the house at Bethany, with Lazarus, Martha and Mary!
Talking to Christ: a simple and trusting conversation between friends.
It is a great joy to me that Christ should have wanted to become man, with flesh like ours. I would like you to get to know our Lord very well.
The way to get to know and love Christ is to talk to him. Stir up your faith. Christ is not a figure in the past. He is not a memory lost in history. He lives! Iesus Christus, heri et hodie: ipse et in saecula, says St Paul. Jesus Christ, yesterday and today and forever! Getting to know Jesus Christ, with simplicity and true faith, and with perseverance, is the way that will lead us to become identified with him, to experience his influence in our lives, and to love him with our whole heart, faithfully, totally. If you donât leave him, he wonât leave you.
Now that Christmas is at hand, we renew our desire to look for Christ. We want to recover any intimacy that we may have lost, and draw as close to him as the Apostles did. We want to prepare to receive him by improving our prayer, making sure it isnât just a monologue.
Our Father advises us: As you do your prayer on the words of the Gospel you will contemplate Christâs reactions to uneducated people, to an individual, to a multitude, to the needy, to the rich⌠Try never to remain passive. Put yourself into the Gospel scenes like someone really there: with your passions, with my littleness and yours, and also with all the good things we possess. We do have some good in us; otherwise we wouldnât be here! Follow Christ, stepping in his footprints, and you will have his life, his strength, his longing to redeem.
We rely on Maryâs motherly help: Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Teach us to talk to him, to get really close to him and to love him with all our heart. Help us to make our prayer a dialogue between friends, a conversation full of faith and love.