Blessed John XXIII is known by some as the Good Pope. Blessed John Paul II described him with a "smiling face and two outstretched arms embracing the whole world." I must admit that until recently, I knew very little about this pope. Now he has become one of my go-to intercessors. His prayers have been instrumental in my recent weight loss; he has become my patron saint of weight loss.
Today we celebrate his life because of "his prophetic insight," his vision of a renewed Church. As he announced the beginning of the Council in his address, this is what he said:
This twenty-first Ecumenical Council can draw upon the most effective and valued assistance of experts in every branch of sacred science, in the practical sphere of the apostolate, and in administration. Its intention is to give to the world the whole of that doctrine which, notwithstanding every difficulty and contradiction, has become the common heritage of mankind—to transmit it in all its purity, undiluted, undistorted.
It is a treasure of incalculable worth, not indeed coveted by all, but available to all men of good will.
And ourduty is not just to guard this treasure, as though it were some museum-piece and we the curators, but earnestly and fearlessly to dedicate ourselves to the work that needs to be done in this modern age of ours, pursuing the path which the Church has followed for almost twenty centuries.
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