I just started reading Testimony of Hope by the late Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan of Vietnam. It is the collection of Sermons from the Lenten Retreat he preached to the Papal Household in the Jubilee Year. It is incredible already!
I am sure I've heard this before, but in a very simple way Cardinal Van Thuan drives home the profound message from the Geneology of Christ in St. Matthew's Gospel: Hope.
It's incredible that the Messiah, God Incarnate, came to be a Presence in the midst of such a checkered ancestry. A line of prostitutes, murderers, liars, fornicators, cowards, and thieves "becomes a source of pure water as we approach the fullnes of time. With Mary the Mother and Jesus the Messiah, all generations will be renewed again."
The Cardina says, "This list of sinners' names presented by Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus does not scandalize us. Rather, it exalts the Mystery of God's Mercy . . . If a people were to write their official history, the would certainly speak of victories, of heroes, of their greatness . . . It would be a unique case, admirable and stupendous indeed, to find a people who would not hide the sins of their ancestors in an offical history . . . The entire Old Testament strains toward hope"
It tends toward hope because in the midst of these people, far from perfect, but following Christ, God brings about the mystery of Redemption.
I said something scandalous to my Teens on Sunday night. I said "The life of a Christian is not about being perfect. It is about following Christ. It is not turning away because of the multitude of our faults and weaknesses, it is knowing that we are forgiven by one who just asks our love."
Our sights must be set clearly upon Christ . . . all else is secondary to this: To recognize Christ in our midst.
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