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Chapter 4¹

A Traveling Companion

A sacrament is not “a magical rite” but rather the instrument God has chosen in order to continue to walk beside man as his travelling companion through life. Faced with God’s humility, we should have the courage to let him write history, which in that way becomes “reliable.” In the history of God’s people, there are beautiful moments, which bring great joy, and there are also terrible moments of suffering, martyrdom, and sin. In good and bad moments alike, one thing always remains the same: the Lord is there. He never abandons his people, for the Lord, on that day of sin, of the first sin, made a decision; he made a choice, to make history with his people.

God, who has no history, since he is eternal, wanted to make history, to walk close to his people. But there is more: he wanted to make himself one of us and as one of us to walk with us in Jesus. And this speaks to us. It tells us about the humility of God who is so very great and powerful precisely in his humility.

Walking with God’s people, walking with sinners, even walking with the proud: how much the Lord did in order to help the proud hearts of the Pharisees. He wanted to walk. Humility. God always waits; God is beside us. God walks with us. He is humble. He waits for us always. Jesus always waits for us. This is the humility of God. The Church joyfully sings of the humility of God who accompanies us. The Lord Jesus also accompanies us in our personal lives with the sacraments. A sacrament is not a magical rite, it is an encounter with Jesus Christ. We encounter the Lord. And he is by our side and accompanies us: a traveling companion. The Holy Spirit also accompanies us and teaches us all that we do not know in our hearts. If God entered into our history, let us also enter a little into his history, or at least ask of him the grace to let him write history. May he write our history. It is reliable one.

1 Pope Francis, Meditation in the Chapel of the Domus St. Martha, September 24, 2013, as reported by L’Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, n. 40, October 2, 2013.