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A historical event which speaks of joy to Christians of all the whole world
Angelo Scelzo
2000 entered the fullness of its celebrative phase. There is still a long journey to carry out during the Holy Year, but now, even symbolically, every step is made towards the final goal. It wasnÂt difficult to predict that, at least in this initial part, emotions were to have a strong role, if not a dominant one. And in reality, from the holy night of Christmas in Saint PeterÂs to the start of the Week for Christian Unity in Saint Paul, the echo of the evocations stands next to the eloquence of the signs and the gestures to delineate the character of an event which in itself was announced as history being made. How can one forget the pictures of Pope John Paul II on the threshold of the Holy Doors, kneeling down, as an authentic pilgrim of the Absolute who appeared to drag next to himself, with the force of a prayer never tamed, in the last opening to be crossed, two Christian brothers who find themselves next to him due to the mysterious ways created by mercy? The Jubilee is an event that every day turn the pages of its own calendar, but no day is similar to another, so each celebration always offers new elements, it gives way, one could say, to its own inventiveness, free from any predetermined direction. And for this reason one can express, with respect to the Jubilee, a concept that has so far been kept aside, but which becomes increasingly alive and evident: the one of the beauty of an event that closes and opens a whole millennium. Placing itself as the division of strong times, the Holy Year crosses, and in a certain sense summarises, all the moments that give life to the entire existence; and on this journey no footprint will be light or lacing in significance. Already in the brief journey, of time and distance, between Saint PeterÂs and the Basilica of Saint Paul, the Jubilee has offered its indelible signs and has manifested its beauty sculpted in each footprint on the road. The pontificate of Pope John Paul II is constellated with solemn and extraordinary moments, one can say, step after step, but the one of the Holy Year appears in its totality like a single moment capable of dividing up in turn to offer the last element, the essence of what is constitutive. And this beauty, this splendour that shines more on the soul than in the eyes, becomes fully visible to those who look deeply or those who look far, like the horizon of the Great Jubilee indicated from the very beginning. It comes from afar, because it is modelled and constructed from the maturity and the fullness of the times, even the beauty of the gestures. ItÂs a gift which surfaces, that makes its way because the way itself cannot resist it. Everything comes from the light. And the Jubilee is light in itself, itÂs the memory of an event, the Incarnation of Christ, which continues to be present for the simple fact that itÂs alive. For the past two thousand years nothing has been the same as before. For the past two thousand years beauty has placed its tent among men. |
