I was invited to a Lenten sermon on the subject of ‘er-lebt’ (‘lived’ / "He lives."). Over 200 seniors had gathered. ‘Have you ever been in love?’ I asked at the beginning and received a broad smile. Then I let the audience know: ‘God is in love with us, his humanity. And everyone in love wants to be with the one who loves him or her. So it is God's most burning desire to be with us humans!’ Beforehand, I had given everyone a little photo of Jesus with his left hand nailed to the cross, holding out his right hand to the viewer. I had made the audience understand: ‘In every pain and in every darkness, Jesus stretches out his hand to us. Because he needs us!’ And then I talked about a Syrian from Aleppo who had visited me a few days ago. We had spent some lively days together and the misery of Syria had become very close to me. He asked me for help for the project ‘little dreams’, in which 100 traumatised children and young people can work through their traumas in order to be able to go back to school. ‘In this request, I recognised the hand of Jesus, who stretched it out to me!’ I told the audience. After Mass, some of the seniors went home to get more money than they had brought with them. The Gospel of the day had said ‘and it happened!’ I was able to experience how it also ‘happened’ today. The love of the lover had touched his beloved.
