Pope John was a man who knew what history was all about. He commissioned a monk to rework the calendar of the church in order to better organize the feast of the saints. While the monk was carrying out this task, he found it very difficult to get a correct date for some of the saints who had died.
It seemed the dating system set by Julius Caesar was quite archaic. Julius Caesar had set up a dating system based on the foundation of Rome as the center of history. Everything was dated based on its relationship to the city of Rome.
The monk, in a moment of grace filled insight, approached the Pope and suggested they change the system. He suggested that the center of history wasn't the foundation of Rome but rather the birth of Christ, the one who was to open up to us the eternal Jerusalem.
The Pope agreed!
Thus, from then on the dating system was no longer from the foundation of Rome but from the birth of Christ; thus all history became meaningful, with an eternal destiny, in so far as it always relates to salvation history. History without salvation would be a history without purpose.
From then on, time and dates were distinguished as being before the birth of Christ or after the birth of Christ, also known as, Anno Domini, year of the Lord.
All of this took place because the Pope agreed to an idea that was not his own.
Humility makes Saints in the year of the Lord, Anno Domini.
Saint John I pray for us that we might recognize good ideas not our own and allow them to come to fruition, standing not in their way as we live and breathe here in the year of the Lord.
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