He Blesses Us

I took this photo today at St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome today:

The image is made manifest to this very day, as we celebrate the first anniversary of the beatification of Blessed John Paul II. A year ago today, the current pope said:

Throughout the long journey of preparation for the great Jubilee he directed Christianity once again to the future, the future of God, which transcends history while nonetheless directly affecting it. He rightly reclaimed for Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered before Marxism and the ideology of progress. He restored to Christianity its true face as a religion of hope, to be lived in history in an “Advent” spirit, in a personal and communitarian existence directed to Christ, the fullness of humanity and the fulfillment of all our longings for justice and peace.

He sure does bless us.