This reflection was taken from the SOLT Rome Seminarian's Newsletter by Br. Beau Schweitzer
50,000 people fill St. Peter␣s Square. Why? Because Jesus lives.
We enter the throng. Br. Tristan speaks just enough Italian, English, Spanish, French and Chinese to get us into trouble everywhere we go. But on this special day, Br. Tristan's scrambled languages so confuse the Swiss Guards, we receive a spot in the front of the square for this Canonization Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. The entire Church rejoices; we know definitively that these six men and women have finished the race.
Standing in Mass, surrounded by Christ's Body, we awaken to a deeper sense of the Incarnation.
Yes. The Word became flesh. God dwelt amongst us. God invites us to live in Him. In Jesus, we␣re made to be one.
Yes. God in His infinite humility enslaves Himself, entering a tiny host so that Christ's body--that God's entirety--might dwell within me.
Yes. We can become saints! Like Scripture, like the Eucharist, these men and women became manifestations of the Word dwelling amongst us. Wow! Jesus unites Himself to them. What does he want for me?
Our first journey to St. Peter's occurs during the Beatification Mass of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Broadcast from England on enormous screens, we behold the mystery. The following weekend Blessed Chiara Luce's Beatification brings this mystery right to Rome. Most of us were born in the same decade as Blessed Chiara. Holiness isn't a call for the past. It's the hope for our future.
We stand at the front of the square, beside our brothers, before the Pope and the world, before these saints in heaven. And Jesus Himself comes. He's lifted before us in the Eucharist and asks "Body of Christ?" "Will you become the person you are to receive? Will you become my life?" We behold the 'Yes' of these saints. Now its our turn.
Incarnation. It's not enough to receive our Lord. May we become Him. Like the blessed, like these saints, may God's love take flesh in our hearts. May our lives respond to Jesus that all the world might join the Church to proclaim, "Amen! Jesus lives!"
If you or someone you know may feel called to consecrated life or the priesthood please contact our vocation director.
