Pope Francis this July 9 invites us to open our eyes to miracles.
Before praying the midday Angelus with those in St. Peter’s Square, he considered the “things of God” that Jesus thanks the Father for.
God reveals himself by liberating and healing the human person, with a gratuitous love that saves. This is why Jesus thanks his father, because his greatness consists in his love and he never works outside of love.
The Pope said that “little ones” are those who “allow themselves to be amazed at his works. They know how to read the signs, to marvel at the miracles of his love!”
I ask all of you, and even myself, do we know how to marvel at the things of God or do we take them for passing things? Brothers and sisters, if we think about it, our lives are filled with miracles – they are filled with deeds of love, signs of God’s goodness. Before these, however, even our hearts can remain indifferent and become habitual, curious but not capable of being amazed, of allowing themselves to be “impressed.” A closed heart, an armed heart, that does not have the capacity of being amazed.
To impress is a beautiful verb that brings to mind photographic film. This is the correct behavior before God’s works: to take a photo of his works in our minds so it is impressed on our hearts, to then be developed in our lives through many good deeds, so that this “photograph” of God who is love becomes ever brighter in us and through us.
And now, let us ask ourselves: In the deluge of news that overwhelms us, do I, as Jesus shows us today, know how to stop before the great things of God, those that God accomplishes? Do I allow myself to marvel like a child at the good that silently changes the world? Have I lost the capacity to be amazed? And do I thank the Father each day for his works? May Mary, who exulted in the Lord, make us able to be amazed by his love and to thank him with simplicity.
