Sixty years ago on a morning such as this, but a snowy one, I was consecrated as a priest. I was set apart and reserved exclusively for the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who is worthy of all our efforts, for whom we can tremble, and be moved.
I was declared a friend and disciple of the Lord and was sent forth as an apostle to shout to the world that God IS and that Jesus Christ lives.
After all, who am I? I am a profound force, always restless and always disquieting; searching for a center of gravity where I can find balance, adjust and rest. We are creatures made in God’s image, likeness and measure.
So much so, that the tragic phenomenon that beats within man’s heart is nothing other than an echo of this thirst for God that is due to the existential loneliness we hold.
The desire to die, which some people experience, is nothing more than another echo of that thirst for God.
Human dissatisfaction in all its intensity and extent, the not knowing our purpose for being in the world, the tediousness of life, emptiness, and general disenchantment… these are nothing more than the other face of the thirst for God.
Like a trademark, like a patent for an invention, God had engraved his Face in the most intimate, profound and ineffable depths of my soul.
Hence, knowingly or unknowingly, we are permanently searching for Him.
You thought that the day you attained your ideal, you would then feel fully satisfied. You attain that ideal, and yet you remain unsatisfied. Why? Because unknowingly, you were pursuing an infinite Someone, you were looking for God himself.
You were hastily running after worldly things, but without realizing it, it you were running after God. When one’s heart molds itself to God, in that heart, order, equilibrium, harmony and peace will reign. When that heart pretends to mold itself to creatures whose measure is not His, as St. Agustin says, this heart will be restless and uneasy until it rests in God.
I experienced all of this in the 12 years of preparation which precede the priesthood.
* * *
For that reason, since then, I have done nothing else but go from one continent to the next, and fly through airspace, inviting men and women to commit themselves to the highest and most glorious Lord, Jesus Christ.
To the four winds, I proclaimed a God whose memory does not register peoples’ faults, and in whose dictionary the word punishment is not to be found.
God is like that elderly father of the prodigal son, who on his son’s return home after a dissolute life, organized an unforgettable feast, instead of reprimanding and punishing the son. I don’t know how else to tell you.
I have taught people to suffer less and to be happier.
To feel loved and to respond to love with love.
I have taught men and woman to save themselves from themselves; in other words, to save themselves from fear, anguish and sadness in order to live in unalterable peace; and all of this in God, in faith.
I have shouted to humanity that God is infinitely powerful, but also infinitely loving; he cares for us like an unseen mother.
And the world will become aware of the endless happiness experienced by those who surrender themselves into His hands.
One day we will arrive in a world which we cannot even imagine. It is true that everything will end; but it is also true that everything will begin.
The Father is waiting at the door of the house; and He will recognize us, will extend His hand, will seat us at the table, and an endless feast will begin.
The sea will erase the traces of pain.
The wind will dry the tears.
Love and death will embrace.
And an eternal happiness will shine over infinity.
One day, I told men and women: even though up until now you might have only heard people speak about a God clothed in threatening bolts of lighting, from now on you will hear them speak of a sea of tenderness.
The first fruits of the banquet will be reserved for the least. And the ones seated in the lowest place will be invited to sit at the head of the table, because the kingdom of Love has arrived.
And the Father sails over the clouds;
Descends in the rain;
Smiles in the flowers.
Sleeps in the hearts of mothers
And looks after her little ones.
The reign of Love has arrived forever.
Among many other things throughout my 60 years of priesthood, all of this was my fundamental message.
* * *
The 60 years flew by swiftly. Now I am leaving little by little. But before the great silence catches up with me, I ardently want to curl up in my Father’s arms and live in his intimacy.
The night gets closer and the tides of deterioration drag me along; my sun is setting, but behind the horizons rise high mountains and eternal hills that await me for a life without end.
* * *
Eternal God and wellspring of kindness: I come before you like an orphan child in need of your protection and tenderness.
Because in reality I only need You and, in truth, I have only You.
But, that is all I need, because with you, I lack nothing.
I have journeyed through continents.
I have crossed oceans.
And I have flown the breadth of the firmament for the only purpose of glorifying your name, and so that human beings will suffer less, become more fulfilled, and be happier.
Throughout this long journey I have felt your breath, and you have covered me beneath the shadow of your wings. Dear Father; I feel an emotional gratitude which cannot be expressed with words.
Into your hands I place myself so that whenever You wish, You may take me to your Sacred Home.
* * *
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
We are full of expectation and hope because Jesus will be born again.
In times gone by, in the kingdoms of Europe, whenever a princess or a prince was born, the bells took wing, music would sound and celebrations were organized throughout the kingdom.
Now, the King of kings and Lord of lords will be born to us. What bells, music and celebrations will accompany or surround the Child who is to be born?
The insignia and signs that will accompany Jesus who is to be born are: night, silence, stable, and manger. A donkey, the humblest and most useful of animals, and some shepherds who were at the bottom of the social ladder at that time.
If we were to ask someone, “What word would sum up these signs at Bethlehem?” They would instantly respond, “Love!”
Many times in my life, I have asked groups of believers, “Can you help me find one word that encompasses all the existential contents of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?” And they immediately, unanimously respond, “Love!”
Nevertheless, this word, the most beautiful in the dictionary and the most frequently used in human language, is also the most equivocal because the great majority of times when it seems that we love, in reality, we love ourselves. This is because the ego disturbs/perturbs the heart, filling it with fear, apprehensions, anxieties, divisions, ambitions, placing many other interests which poison human relations behind the word Love; in that way many times when using the word Love we are only seeking ourselves.
Therefore, this word does not help us.
Once again we ask ourselves: which word would sum up those signs we find at the Birth of Jesus: night, silence, stable, manger…? The word HUMILITY. But in our society, that word is out of circulation.
Sometimes I am puzzled by the fact that God the Father Almighty would have arranged the birth of his only Son with so many elements of humility that almost seem like humiliation. Chileans use the expression: “He exceeded himself” – Yes: God seems to have overdone it by having so much silence, darkness, radical absence, extreme poverty, at the birth of his Son.
What did the Mother say? “He has done great things in me… for He has looked upon his Handmaid’s Lowliness.” Mary. Looking for the identity of her personhood, she did not use other titles such as Immaculate, Mother of God… she simply identified herself and introduced herself as the lowly servant.
What did Jesus say? He said: “Learn from me, that I am? —what am I? “Meek and humble of heart.” Like His Mother, he defines or identifies Himself, not as the Son of God and Redeemer of the world, etc. but as a meek and humble servant of his brothers and sisters.
Only the humble love, because otherwise we love ourselves in a camouflaged way.
Only the humble are happy because otherwise fears, rivalries, and ambitions, the “offspring of the EGO, rob us of our peace.
Only the humble do not have guilt complexes or beg for self-pity.
The Humble do not get perturbed or become angry.
The Humble respect everything, revere everything.
The humble permanently navigate in an everlasting peace. For that reason, they are happy.
My Brothers and Sisters, may you receive this Jesus who is born anew, with a humble heart full of peace.
To conclude, I will also shout like those first Christians when they were pushed in among the beasts.
Maranatha
COME LORD JESUS
AMEN
Ignacio Larrañaga, December 2012
