“There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.” The Scriptures are the living Word of God and are capable of “surprising” us every day if we allow them to. The Bible is not a book of dead words, but is the Living Word of God, speaking to each individual in their own time and place, fulfilling their needs, guiding them, encouraging them, enlightening them, and filling their souls with God’s divine life. To read the scriptures is to have an “encounter” with Christ, and that encounter will change our lives if we allow it to. St Jerome tells us that “ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ.” Sometimes lives are changed in an instant, like St Paul on the road to Damascus, sometimes it will take many years, but the end result is the same – eternal life!
“There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him” The Pope is speaking here of a personal relationship with Jesus, he does not say to “know about” Jesus, but to “know Him.” It would be no exaggeration to say that to know Jesus is the most beautiful thing in the world. We all need the love of Jesus in our lives, some of us know that, and others do not, but each of us has a “God shaped hole in our hearts” as someone once put it, and that hole can only be filled with God’s love, if we do not allow this to happen we will always have something missing in our lives that we shall continually long for. There are many people in the world today who have this longing, but they do not know what it is; it is our duty as Christ’s followers to try to bring God’s love to all, this is best done by living the life of faith and by speaking to other of our friendship with our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us give thanks, together, for the gift of Christ Jesus. To know, love and serve Him is our joy and consolation.