It is a constant article of faith that we live in the promise of Christ’ Advent , first in the form of his incarnation as a human, then in his continual presence in our lives through the Holy Spirit as enunciated in the Gospel of St John (“I go away, and I will come to you. Jn 14:28) and finally, in the end-times. Here is an except that beautifully encapsulates the haunting gentleness of God’s revelation to us and our consciousness.
‘To conclude, all of us are constantly inclined to ask the question that Saint Jude Thaddeus put to Jesus during the Last Supper. “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? ” (Jn 14:22). Why indeed, did you not forcefully resist your enemies who brought you to the Cross? – we might well ask. Why did you not show them with incontrovertible power that you are the living one, the Lord of life and death? Why did you reveal yourself only to a small flock of disciples, upon whose testimony we must now rely?
The question applies not only to the Resurrection, but to the whole manner of God’s revelation in the world. Why only to Abraham and not to the mighty of the world? Why only to Israel and not irrefutably to all the peoples of the earth?
It is part of the mystery of God that he acts so gently, that he only gradually builds up his history within the great history of mankind; that he becomes man and so can be overlooked by his contemporaries and by the decisive forces within history; that he suffers and dies and that, having risen again, he chooses to come to mankind only through the faith of the disciples to whom he reveals himself; that he continues to knock gently at the doors of our hearts and slowly open our eyes if we open our doors to him.
Any yet – is not this the truly divine way? Not to overwhelm with external power, but to give freedom, and to offer and elicit love. And if we really think about it, is it not what seems so small that is truly great? Does not a ray of light issue from Jesus, growing brighter across the centuries, that could not come from any mere man and through which the light of God truly shines into the world? Could the apostolic preaching have found faith and built up a worldwide community unless the power of truth had been at work within it?
If we attend to the witnesses with listening hearts and open ourselves to the signs by which the Lord again and again authenticates both them and himself, then we know that he has truly risen. He is alive. Let us entrust ourselves to him, knowing that we are on the right path. With Thomas, let us place our hands into Jesus’ pierced side and confess: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28)’
(Excerpt from Jesus of Nazareth, Part Two: Holy Week – From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pp 279-80. Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI. 2011. Ignatian Press)
(Lumix GM1. Prayer of St Francis; Poinsettias at the Catholic Church at Tianxiang, Hua Lien, Taiwan, 2017)
