The occasion was solemn, very solemn. The inaugural Eucharistic celebration of the second Synodal Assembly dedicated to Europe (1999) was being held in the Vatican basilica. In the first synod of 1991, the fall of the Berlin wall was a recent event and there was a lot of transformation in the Eastern Europe; in the second synod, there were other experiences; the whole world was more prepared to speak and listen.
The basilica was overflowing. John Paul II gave an unforgettable homily. Some statements are still exiting, “Jesus Christ is living in his Church and, from generation to generation, he continues to “draw near” to man and to “walk” with him.”, he affirmed commenting on the narrative of the disciples of Emmaus. “He”, the Pope continued saying, “the Emmanuel, God-with-us, was crucified in the concentration camps and the gulags; he knew affliction under bombardment in the trenches; he suffered wherever the inalienable dignity of man, of every human being, was humiliated, oppressed and violated”.
The statement deserves to be engraved on the gates of Auschwitz and Mauthausen, and also in many unknown soviet camps of huts, industrial complexes and green-houses in which hundreds of immigrants were crammed, of elegant massage parlours in which girls are deceived with the European dream by selling their bodies or weeping over their recent abortion. The Risen Christ never fails us. Claret reminds it with precious words; “he himself helps and yokes us”. And we were associating the yoke with heaviness, loneliness, sacrifice! What a blessed yoke that unites us to the Crucified Lord!
Do you truly believe Christ never fails us? Are you convinced that he draws near to us even when life seems to smile at us very little? Do you allow him to accompany you?