In today’s Gospel from St. Matthew, we read: ‘John the
Baptist in his prison heard what Jesus was doing’. St. Matthew says ‘his prison’ not just ‘prison’. This leads us to reflect on how all of us can
be in some kind of prison at one time or another in our lives – the prison of
fear, of insecurity, selfishness, depression, pride, prejudice, illness,
unbelief, poor self image – the list is endless. Whatever it may be, we too, like John the
Baptist, can hear in the Gospels, what Jesus said and did, and of course, we
hear him in the teaching of the Church.
A few weeks ago Pope Francis in his Angelus message to
thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square said: ‘I would like all of you to
consider a medicine,” at this point he raised a little box for the crowds to
see. The Pope continued: ‘It is a
special medicine to make the fruit of the Year of Faith more concrete’- and I’m
sure we could add to the Pope’s words of encouragement -, to make our whole life more fruitful when we are healed of what it is that
imprisons us -
‘Take it!’ said
the Pope, It’s a Rosary which one can
pray also the chaplet of Divine Mercy, spiritual help for our souls and for
spreading love, forgiveness and brotherhood everywhere’. ‘Don’t forget to take it,’ he repeated,
‘because it does good. It does good for
the heart, for the soul, for all of life’.
And earlier on, the Pope had emphasised the need for faith and trust in
God in the face of life’s difficulties –‘Come to me, all you who labour and are
overburdened’ Jesus invites us in the Gospel.
In all life’s difficulties, we can be certain that
Pope Francis would have great compassion and a desire for the healing of all
who suffer from interior imprisonment of whatever kind, when handing out his
special medicine. The little box also
contained a leaflet with all the
necessary explanations and prayers on it -
and a final assurance (as we find in many medicines) ‘this medicine has
never been known to cause any harm!’
Our Advent journey, and indeed the spiritual journey
of our whole life, is not any isolated selfish seeking of personal holiness –
quite the contrary. Into this journey,
fortified by our spiritual medicine, we bring the whole of humanity, pleading
for their salvation, the whole purpose for which God sent His Son into the
world (the purpose too of course, for which St. Dominic was inspired to found his Order).
May our prayer during the remainder of
this Advent be one, especially, of listening and of fostering a spirit of
awareness of the Presence of God in our lives; and of living, with the help of
his ever present Grace, the sacrament of the present moment , in our daily
lives. Let us
remember that the healing of the Sacrament of Penance
and the food of Jesus Himself in the Holy Eucharist and in his Word, will be
for us all, a vital help in our many sufferings and weaknesses – it is at times
hard to believe, but God really and truly does
thirst for our love – ‘I have loved you
with an everlasting love, I have called you,
for you are mine’ we read in holy
Scripture, What joy, what peace, what
healing this brings us.
Let us then, once again, invite him to come to us and
to all peoples – ‘Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay’.
Don’t forget to take the medicine’ Pope Francis
repeated to the crowds ‘ because it does good!’
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