391. Twenty-fifth Thursday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 351 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Reading the New Testament helps us to get to know our Lord better every day.

The Gospel from today’s Mass relates that when Herod heard about Christ’s miracles, he was amazed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen. Herod said, “John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.

Herod’s wish stemmed from mere curiosity: he wanted to see the renowned person about whom so many wonders were told. By contrast, our zeal to know Christ better each day springs from our love for him. Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso (through him, and with him, and in him). We love our Lord, and therefore want to know him: hence your meditations, prayers and Gospel reading.

Christian life consists of falling in love with Christ, becoming identified with him. Jesus has lived among us and does so still. We contemplate each step of his earthly life: his birth in Bethlehem, his hidden life, his preaching throughout Palestine, his healing of the sick in body and soul, his proof of love on the Cross, his Resurrection and glorious Ascension into heaven. We see him with the Apostles, how he chooses them and instructs them in the mysteries of God’s kingdom. Our Founder wrote: You’ve often joined me as awe-struck spectators, as participants in these scenes. Right from the start, I taught you - who are also apostles, chosen by Jesus with preferential love - to get inside the Gospel story and live fraternally with the first Twelve. Therefore the way our Lord treated the Apostles during that formative period is familiar to you, and it’s as deeply engraved in your souls as your most intimate memories, so much so that it has become second nature to us.

We need to enter deeply into the Gospel. The Lord’s words are few, St Augustine says, but full of meaning; their worth is measured not by their number but by their depth; nor are they to be taken lightly, but pondered on thoroughly. How often we gain fresh insight while contemplating a Gospel passage we have already considered many times! Our reading of the Gospel should be marked by eagerness to learn and to improve. It should be prayerful and reflective, and so influence our whole day. Sometimes a single word or gesture of our Lord helps us to have greater presence of God. As our Father said: In the Work, we live so immersed in the Gospel that each of us could say with St John that we have heard with our ears, seen with our eyes, touched with our hands the Word of Life.

Knowing Jesus better makes it easier to love him.

To meditate on the Gospel means to look attentively at Jesus in eagerness to imitate him. We seek to conform our life to his, to make his words and feelings our own, by the help of grace. I advised you to read the New Testament and to enter into each scene and take part in it, as one more of the characters. The minutes you spend in this way each day enable you to “incarnate” the Gospel, reflect it in your life and help others to reflect it.

Induimini Dominum Iesum Christum, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, St Paul urges us. And St John Chrysostom comments: We say of two friends that one has “put on” the other when there is great love and understanding between them, to the extent that one even takes on the appearance of the other. May Christ then be always manifest in us. Here is the goal of our sanctity. The struggle to achieve holiness is not centred on the fight against sin, although this will always be necessary. Rather it is a growing identification with Christ, begun now by sanctifying grace and brought to fullness in the glory of heaven.

Supernatural life, which took root in our soul by the Holy Spirit’s grace and is strengthened continually by our Norms, shapes Christ’s image in us, the semblance of God’s children. We are led to become other Christs, ipse Christus - Christ himself. But we need to use all our faculties in the struggle to attain this identification. As St John Chrysostom says, Christ has given you the power to be like him according to your strength. Don’t be frightened to hear this. What should really frighten you is not to be like him.

We have to love what Christ loves and reject what he rejects, reproducing his life in our own. Following St Paul’s advice, estote ergo imitatores Dei, sicut filii carissimi (therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, we imitate God who alone is holy, as beloved children, and take Christ as our model, for he is the image of the invisible God.

Reading and meditating on the holy Gospel is indispensable for getting to know Christ better, for imitating him and growing in our love for him. But we should do so out of eagerness to relive his life, and not allow routine to creep in. Our Founder gave us this clear advice, while recalling the scene at Emmaus: “Stay with us, it is towards evening…” The prayer of Cleophas and his companion was effective.

How sad it would be if you and I were not able to “detain” Jesus who is passing by. What a shame not to ask him to stay!

Falling in love with Christ’s sacred Humanity.

You must fall in love with Jesus’ sacred Humanity, our Father often told us. But love stems from knowledge, from a personal, trusting relationship. Therefore we need to be familiar with Jesus’ life. By meditating on the Gospel, we learn to fall in love with him; we see that Jesus is human and has a heart like ours. He became man so that we could draw near to him with greater trust. Perfectus Deus, perfectus Homo (perfect God, perfect Man): Lord, you have adapted yourself to the needs of our poor human heart. When reading the Gospel, we need to listen closely to Jesus’ every word, dwell on each gesture and allow it to move our hearts. I would like you to close your earthly eyes and contemplate Christ’s life as in a film, and take part in his life with the Apostles and the holy women, even closer to Jesus than St John. If not, it’s not good enough.

My children, recognizing our littleness, we need to “rub shoulders” with Christ and come close to him; we have to attach ourselves to him and feel the beating of his heart. To attain this, we get inside each of the Gospel scenes. We sit at Jesus’ feet like Mary of Bethany; we let ourselves be taught by him, heeding his simple and clear words that enkindle our heart. We walk with him along the dusty roads of Palestine, share in his tiredness at the well in Sichar, become familiar with his comings and goings. Above all, we stay close to his side on the Cross. Love Christ on the Cross. Don’t be a stranger to the outrages he had to endure. Be one of the characters there in the scene, and let your heart expand. You’ll see how you come closer to him and fall in love.

God becomes man to redeem us and so that, by contemplating him, we may be filled with love and desires to emulate his life. Our Father strongly urged: This is the only way to get to know Jesus: enter into contact with him. You will always find in him a Father, a Friend, an Adviser, a Helper in all the noble deeds of your everyday life…

And getting to know him will give rise to Love.

Like Mary most holy, who kept all these things in her heart, we want the example of Christ’s life to accompany us at all times: We want to talk with you, get to know you, love you, imitate you: in a word, to follow you. For to be with Christ is to find security. Being able to look at yourself in Christ enables you to be better every day. To get to know Christ necessarily leads you to love him. And to love Christ is to assure your happiness.