249 Jan M. Rokosz, MIC Superior General HOMILY Opening of the General Convention December 4, 2008 Today—the day we open our General Convention—the Church remembers Saint John of Damascus, Doctor of the Eastern Church. He was particularly credited with protecting the icons. Saint John Damascene put forward a thesis that it was possible, thanks to an intimate unity with God, to “write” an icon, which would not only show Jesus Christ but also, in a sense, make Him present as if in sacramental way. Just as it is possible to “write” an icon that makes manifest something of the divinity, thus—following St. John Damascene’s thought—every Christian who lives by the grace of God becomes ever more the icon of God, makes God manifest. The grace is not a man-made mask but a reality, which changes and adorns us from within. This truth is confi rmed by the lives of many saints. Look at the wrinkled and tired face of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. It was not beautiful in human terms, yet in it, people discerned something of the image of God. They could see that the sacrifi cial attitude of this good nun was not a sham. In this sacrifi cial attitude and in Mother Theresa’s smile, people saw the refl ection of God. Similarly, people who met John Paul II perceived in him the beauty, goodness, and love of God. Also, thinking about our holy men: Blessed Stanislaus Papczyński and Blessed George Matulaitis-Matulewicz, we must realize that people recognized God’s power in them. Through the unrest and moral deprivation of the 17th century (Blessed Stanislaus’s lifetime) or on the threshold of the 20th century with its exposure to atheistic propaganda (Blessed George’s lifetime), people seeking spiritual guidance recognized God’s image in our holy men. God’s refl ection in them was so powerful, that it awoke in many a readiness to dedicate their lives to the service of the Lord in this tiny little community, which was the Marian Congregation. For it was not certain that the community would survive and not disperse like some ephemera. There was no such certainty either at the time when our Congregation was founded or renovated. What is more: the chances of
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