The God of Surprises

In his homily on October 14, Pope Francis spoke of Jesus' confrontation with the Doctors of the Law who "failed to understand that the law they guarded and loved" was a pedagogy towards Jesus Christ. "If the law does not lead to Jesus Christ if it does not bring us closer to Jesus Christ, it is dead. And Jesus rebuked them for this closure, for not being able to read the signs of the times, for not being open to the God of surprises”.

Reading this, I was reminded of St. Josemaría's attempts to explain the new pastoral phenomenon of Opus Dei to Spanish bishops in the late 1930s. They could not comprehend that young professional men would dedicate themselves to God for their entire lives in apostolic celibacy without vows.  Each of them assumed that, despite the pious intentions of that holy young priest, sooner or later, his initiative would become a religious order.  He returned home one night and wrote in his diary "How small they make God."

How small do we make God?

St. Peter's Square during the canonization of St. Josemaria

Read a summary of Pope Francis' homily HERE.