Where might human beings seek the answer to dramatic questions such as pain, the suffering of the innocent, and death, if not from the mystery of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection?
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Know Jesus. Be the first to know Him: through constant reading and meditation; through prayer that is an ongoing dialogue between life and the Word of God.
Know the gospel. Know the gospel by seeking help from wise guides and witnesses to Christ. Ask for help to know and live that love which is the heart of the gospel. By knowing the gospel, you will encounter Christ – and do not be afraid of what He may ask of you. Because Christ is demanding, thank God. He is demanding. If He were not demanding, there would be nothing to listen to, nothing to follow.
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Above all, seek Jesus. Let your life be a continual, sincere search for the Savior, without ever tiring, without ever abandoning the undertaking; even though darkness shall fall upon your spirit, temptations beset you, and grief and incomprehension wring your heart. These are things that are a part of life here below; they are inevitable, but they can also do good because they mature our spirit. You must never turn back, however, even if it should seem to you that the light of Christ is fading. On the contrary, continue to seek with renewed faith and greater generosity.
Try to discover where He is, and you will be able to gather from everyone some detail that will indicate it to you, that will tell you where He lives. Ask souls that are meek, repentant, generous, humble, and hidden; ask your brothers and sisters, far and near, because you will find in everyone something that indicates Jesus to you. Ask, above all, your soul and your conscience, because they will be able to indicate it to you, in an unmistakable way, a mark of His passing, a trace of His power and His love.
But ask humbly. That is, let your soul be ready to see, outside itself, those parts of His goodness that God has sown in creatures. To seek Him every day means possessing Him a little more every day, being admitted a little at a time to an intimacy with Him; and then you will be able to understand better the sound of His voice, the meaning of His language, the reason for His coming to earth and for His sacrifice on the Cross.
Continue to “On Faith and Belief” or see full list of excerpts.
Oh, this is wonderful!
Thanks!
“Ask souls that are meek, repentant, generous, humble, and hidden; ask your brothers and sisters, far and near, because you will find in everyone something that indicates Jesus to you.”
Like this gem, for instance. Beautiful. Oh, I miss Pope John Paul!
Glad you enjoyed it, Tim! Lucky for all of us, JP2 left us plenty of reading material. Some weeks when I’m at Adoration at my crazy hour, and I’m struggling through his work, I swear he’s there, looking over my shoulder, helping me out. He’s not gone. He’s just closer than ever to JC! 🙂