Jesus wants us to be free

The greatly loved Pope John XXIII died on 3rd June 1963. On May 31st, just prior to receiving the last anointing, he shared these thoughts with those who stood around his bed: “The secret of my ministry is in that crucifix you see opposite my bed. It is there so that I can see it in my first waking moment and before going to sleep. It is there, also, so that I can talk to him during the long hours of the night. Look at it. See it as I see it. Those open arms have been the program of my pontificate. They say that Christ died for all, for all. No one is excluded from his love, from his forgiveness.”
Those open arms… Let us put our own name there as Jesus calls to us: ‘Michael, Come forth!’ Maureen, Edward, Julie … come forth!’ He is calling us out into the light. We hope that we will hear that call when we die and are placed, literally, in a tomb. But the Church reminds us that Jesus is calling to us now out of whatever tomb we find ourselves in. God weeps when he finds us bound by a habit of sin, by addictions, by past hurts. Jesus wants us to be free. So much so that he went through the passion to convince us of his love and to persuade us to put our trust in God the way he does and to respond to his call and walk out into the light into the waiting embrace of Jesus. We are invited to think of the darkness and pain of our world and to remember that open arms of Jesus wants to free everyone from our many and varied tombs.