While commenting on the gospel passage about Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI said that miracles happen to those who have open and simple hearts.

“In today’s Gospel Jesus reminds us that if we live with an open and simple heart, nourished by true faith, we can recognize the presence of God in our lives and follow his holy will,” said the Pope during his Sunday Angelus address at his summer residence of Castle Gandolfo.

Reflecting on the gospel passage of St. Mark in which Jesus says, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house,” the pope called this reaction to Jesus understandable because “familiarity at the human level makes it difficult to go beyond that and to be open to the divine dimension. It was difficult for them to believe that this son of a carpenter was the Son of God.”

Because of this, Jesus “could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them,” records St. Mark.

“The astonishment and scandal of His fellow citizens was met with amazement on the part of Jesus. In a certain sense, He too was scandalised,” the pope said. “Although He knew that no prophet is accepted in his own land, yet His own people’s closure of heart was something obscure and impenetrable to Him.”

How is it possible that they did not recognize the light of Truth, and why couldn’t they be open to the goodness of a God Who chose to share our humanity?

These questions could be asked of modern man as well. “The man Jesus of Nazareth is the transparency of God, God dwells in Him fully and, while we always seek other signs, other prodigies, we do not realize that the true sign is Him, God made flesh. He is the greatest miracle of the universe: all the love of God contained in a human heart and a human face.”

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