An open heart lets God work miracles, Pope says

(July 09, 2012) The rejection of Jesus by the folks of his home town Nazareth highlights the need for people to have an open and trusting disposition towards God in order to receive the grace of miracles, Pope Benedict XVI said on Sunday. “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 weekly midday ‘Angelus’ address at the summer papal residence of Castel Gandolfo, just south-east of Rome, where he is on vacation. Speaking to a large crowd of pilgrims in the residence courtyard the Pope dwelt upon the Gospel passage of St. Mark, where Jesus is not accepted by his hometown. The Pontiff said this attitude was understandable,” as “familiarity at the human level makes it difficult to go beyond and be open to the divine dimension.” Because of the hostile reaction in Nazareth, Jesus did not work mighty work there, except that he healed a few people. This is because “the miracles of Christ are not a display of power, but signs of the love of God, which is made present where it encounters the faith of man,” Pope Benedict said. Jesus’ town folks were not open to the goodness of God because they did not recognize the great miracle of God's incarnation in Jesus Christ, a reality to which, the Pope said, modern society can also be blind. “While we too always seek other signs, other wonders, we do not realize that God made flesh is the greatest miracle of the universe.