NOTE ON TRUE RELIGION
XXXII
HOMILY XXX
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me”……..Who welcomes you welcomes me.
8 S Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.
III SUNDAY OF EASTER
The liturgy insists on the great theme of the mysterious and real resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the first risen from the dead and the first born of the new creation. So writes St. Peter in his first letter
He was predestined even before the foundation of the world, but in recent times he has manifested himself for you; and by his work you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and your hope are turned to God.
This is why after two thousand years we affirm with profound certainty what Peter himself proclaims immediately after Pentecost
This Jesus, God raised him up and we are all witnesses of it. Raised therefore to the right hand of God and after receiving the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, he poured it out, as you yourselves can see and hear ».
It is Jesus, in his name we find salvation, everything we need we find in his life, in his presence; in him we find the true reason for all existence.
Jesus is always the central protagonist in the narration of the Gospel, but we find his presence scattered in the ancient covenant, as he teaches and explains along the way to the two disciples whom he severely reproaches, since his death and resurrection had been foreseen by Moses from the Psalms and especially by the prophets.
These annotations transform the text of the Gospel into an evocative itinerary from doubt and disillusionment to the moment when the two disciples recognize Jesus when He breaks the bread.
The following is the daily mission of the Church of the living God:
They left without delay and returned to Jerusalem, where they found the Eleven and the others who were with them, who said: “Truly the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon!”. And they narrated what had happened along the way and how they recognized it in breaking the bread.
in these words dwells the mighty fire of the Holy Spirit.
homily
The Resurrection of Lazarus
It was the drop that overflowed the vase, or as an ancient Arabic proverb says ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’. The control of the Jews over the Gospel begins immediately with the preaching of John the Baptist and ends after an unworthy trial and the derision of the dying Jesus on the Cross. The significant drop is the resurrection of Lazarus, a few kilometers from Jerusalem in the Village of Bethany. After this fact, the Jews decided to kill not only Jesus, but Lazarus himself, as the fact had been known and it was easy enough to get from Jerusalem to check. Beyond the Gospel of John, from which only the episode is taken, it is Luke who speaks of the two sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, and of their fraternal friendship with Jesus. The harmony between the two gospels is profound from the psychological point of view. Lazarus is dead, Martha goes to meet the Lord, Mary, afflicted, is sitting in the house. Death is experienced as tragic, perhaps it came suddenly, without warning.
The dialogue with Marta is on the ultimate theme, death and life. Let us therefore enter into the living mystery of Christ, true man who cries intensely with compassion, true God, who at the same time reassures Martha about his brother’s Resurrection. The scene repeats itself today. We too are called to enter courageously into the mystery of Christ who weeps and reassures us.
The miracle is sensational, Lazarus is already decaying and smells, but comes out alive: Lazarus come out! The paintings, the masterpieces of art represent him with the typical whiteness of those who died.
We know very well that in John miracles are signs, they are revelations of the mystery of God to man in his concrete life situation. The wedding at Cana, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the blind man born and the paralytic at the pool of Siloe, and now his friend Lazarus. Revelation requires the courage and intelligence of the Faith. Nobody has ever spoken, lived and acted like Christ. No religion or religious and philosophical faith has determined with equal depth what lies within man’s death. This is why we insist ‘opportune et inopportune’ to proclaim the Gospel.
Bethsaida is still there, in the flowery hills around Jerusalem; the pilgrim experiences a moment of pause and meditation before entering Jerusalem where the Son of God is nailed to the cross. Christus Dominus pro nobis tentatus et passus venite adoremus. COME ADORE THE LORD, FOR US HE SUFFERED TEMPTATION AND DEATH. It is really important to explain what FOR US means, ‘for us men and for our salvation’, says the Creed. All men deserve respect, all religions and philosophies contain partial and sometimes profound truths, but the Lord Jesus Christ is unique, the salvation he brings to each man, in the secret of free conscience, before and after death. Next stop Jerusalem.
Third Sunday
‘Do not murmur, as your fathers did in the desert.’ This call resounds severely times in the word of the psalms, of the prophets and of Jesus himself. The murmuring yesterday as today consists in complaining of others, of the world and of God. The murmuring derives from the effort of walking which extinguishes the enthusiasm of waiting, when the efforts and inconvenience seem to overcome the joy of being on the right path. The murmuring of the people in the desert therefore becomes the symbol of those who continually murmuring and complaining about everything and everyone, tends to kill certainty by opening the doors to doubt, division and discord. Who murmurs has a hardening heart, for this reason he stops and goes back.
God patient and merciful, slow to anger and great in love … he listens to the thirsty in the desert in Meriba. Moses beats on the rock and the water gushes out abundantly, … Saint Paul resumes the episode bringing the symbolism to the extreme point when he says remembering the fact, ‘because that rock is Christ.’ In fact, every grace flows from Christ, from him only we have salvation, by the word from his mouth, the blood and water from the side that the soldier pierces without mercy. Through faith and not for works, which is why we have access to grace. The Apostle warns us with exalting tones that that the opposite of lamentation, murmuring and division, which make us go back and not move forward, is hope, hope that does not disappoint because it comes from the Spirit of God. Everything is contained in the mystery of the love of God; so we come to the episode of the Gospel, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, on the way with the disciples to Jerusalem, while the disciples go to the village to get food leaving him alone. The long dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman who comes to the well to draw water is in reality an intense and pressing expression of divine Revelation, through which the woman who was first exposed is then saved. Jesus is the living water, whoever drinks it is no longer thirsty. Salvation comes from the Jews, and the real temple is in Jerusalem, but the time will come when true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth. The woman becomes an instrument of the Announcement almost preparing the Easter announcement of Maddalena
The Gospel of John, here as elsewhere, gives the suggestive impression that whoever tells, writes or describes, has Jesus at his side who suggests and shares. The most beautiful way to live and save oneself.
2nd Sunday of Lent. When the tree blooms at the window, and the birds returning from the long journey sing at first light; and the world is populated by looks and smiles, they are mothers and sisters of the world …
The emergency in which we all find must not make us forget that today is March 8th women’s day. There are no mimosas, kisses and hugs, but the awareness remains that the theoretical and existential affirmation of the equal value of women compared to men, is humanity’s greatest achievement, even before technical and scientific progress. Principle still not met in many ways but nevertheless now entered into everyone’s awareness.
We affirm this despite the contradictions and excesses, even up to the ideological disorder that comes to deny the evidence of diversity, complementarity and also the human and transcendent potential of the woman-man relationship. Atheism everywhere invasive like fine dust, blurs everything and renders the original splendor of being man and woman opaque in the only divine project. A wish therefore to all the women of the world, in particular to those who suffer violence and abuse, but also to women of all ages and conditions.
We find ourselves living in a serious state of emergency. It is not a sudden catastrophe, it is not a war, but in any case it is a real discomfort for world health. Everyone reacts for what it is. The worst thing is looting; jackals rummage through the ruins, not to save lives, but to find abandoned wallets; in our case jackal is the one who takes advantage of the situation. Who finds the opportunity to hit the political opponent or to vent their resentment towards others, evoking apocalyptic scenarios Perhaps everyone has been tempted to take advantage of the ‘quarantine’ and find an excuse for a trend that marks our era: retreat in the our individualism and make our own things. The so-called ‘own cabbage’, without disturbing vulgar expressions.
In our part, however, the wonderful spring of solidarity, the concern for others, the commitment to fight together at the cost of even jeopardizing one’s health, is evident. Let’s not forget that in the epidemics of the past our saints took to the streets.
We are therefore immersed in the complexity of life and this second Sunday of Lent represents to us with singular vigor the Great Plan of salvation: the Call of Abraham, Paul’s vocation by grace and not because of his works, the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, where Jesus talks with Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, in the presence of the apostles. On the mountain the Trinity is revealed, the Cloud and the Voice.
We are called to welcome the beauty, coherence and hidden power of Divine Revelation, which illuminates the path of our life and the whole universe.
A religiosity built only with our commitment, our feeling, our reflections, only prepares and prepares our practical and also theoretical atheism. Another thing is faith, that is to discover the Divine plan, a God who speaks to us through the Son. We respond in faith, with the mind, with the heart, with life.
After baptism on the Jordan River, Jesus retires to the desert for forty days and forty nights. By immersing ourselves with Jesus in the waters of baptism we became Sons of God, thus we began the greatest adventure on the face of the earth: the progressive knowledge of the only true God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The Creator of the Universe, the God who spoke to the Fathers many times and in different ways through the prophets and now reveals himself fully to the world in the Son. We still lack important knowledge, knowledge of the mystery of evil. In the desert, Jesus is tempted by the devil. Without Jesus we know very little, we normally rely on an uncertain conscience and easily we exchange good for evil, we deface creation, we change the moral order transforming transgression into rights and imprison the innocent. Jesus reveals the presence of the devil and demons. It is not about seeing them where they are not there, or demonizing the good that is in the world. But if we disregard this presence our freedom becomes illusion and our virtue only apparent. Jesus teaches us not to fear devil, Jesus teaches us to fight evil, Jesus overcomes devil with the Word, Jesus frees us from devil by the power of the Spirit and the mercy of the Father.
After tempting Jesus in every way, the devil turns away from Jesus to return to the opportune moment. In the Gospel, demons are cast out. Disciples receive the same power, provided they pray and are in communion with Christ.
The Devil returns at the appropriate time. He knows that sinful man rejects God out of envy, and devil was born of envy. Envy of good, truth, love, justice, peace. Devil means the one who divides. The Devil dominates those who resemble him. He even manages to agree with those who divide, and then destroy each other. The devil is not a god, he is not everywhere, which is difficult for us to understand, but Jesus knows him perfectly and dominates him. Let us pray in this Lent saying: Deliver us from evil, or, if you wish, from the evil one.
dear brothers and sister,
we are still on the mountain, with Jesus opening his mouth and instructing his disciples. HE is the Word of God Who speaks. Too often, because of ignorance, the things he said are attributed to priests and especially to the Pope. It is very important to know the Scriptures, to know the Gospels which are the throbbing and living heart of the Word. Matthew himself teaches us that Jesus is the Emmanuel, God with us, he reminds us of the last word of Jesus before ascending into heaven: I AM WITH YOU ALL DAYS UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD.
We are on the mountain, we are disciples. The men, at the bottom, are divided into left and right, even if it seems to viruses that this distinction does not interest; Jesus speaks to everyone, but to understand him, to be his disciples one must climb the mountain, where he teaches the new law of the kingdom, where HE announces the beatutudies, where he is transfigured, where he dies on the cross to save humanity. In fact, how can you consider yourself a Christian if you are not willing to change your mentality and change your way of life?
Refusing revenge, not responding to violence with violence, lending, suffering and not doing wrong, loving one’s enemies, praying for those who persecute you. Everything is summed up in the final Sentence that opens the mind and the heart to the greatest of mysteries. Therefore, be PERFECT AS YOUR FATHER IS PERFECT. BE HOLY, BLESSED YOU…In summary, this beatitudes consists in Being in intimate communion with God, it means being freed from the weight of a presumptuous or victimized humanity, being freed from a neurotic and plaintive life.
Dear ones, the word today is strong, tonic, always divine, always fully human. We began with Leviticus who invites us to be holy as God is holy, and therefore to love our neighbor as ourselves. then St. Paul is pressing with his doctrine of a God so close to dwell within us as in a temple.This is the Word, the Word of a God who speaks and to whom we can respond by courageously penetrating the appearance of silence.
Homily VI Sunday
let your speech yes yes no no, everything else comes from the evil one!
The conclusion of the passage of the Gospel of this Sunday VI per annum requires a severe discipline in the use of the word. To use computer terminology, this sentence invites us to reset our language: let your speech yes yes no no, everything else comes from the evil one! As it is easy to observe, we are updating ourselves, and we are wondering if the new communication tools, like all technology, are really a very good thing in itself, which we must use well, or precisely in its unnatural goodness is contained pitfall.
This Sunday’s Gospel is morally demanding and apparently complex. Whether it’s about killing, committing adultery, divorce, about relationships with justice, about human oaths, the passage is enough to dispel the idea that morality comes from the Church. In reality, the speaker and orator in this part of the mountain’s discourse is Jesus himself.
Demanding because Jesus wants our justice to be superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees, but at the same time he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to give fulfillment. Therefore: the law of Moses remains in force, it is the law that measures our sin, our weakness, but at the same time it is only a pedagogue who leads us to higher and more positive horizons. The Jews already knew that whoever observes the law discovers that loving God and loving one’s neighbor, loving God with all one’s might and one’s neighbor as oneself, summarizes the law and the prophets. But Jesus added the new commandment, love each other as I have loved you, make yourself close to others. Christ who gives his life for us, the good Samaritan who stops and cares.
So be careful of those who defend mediocrity by accusing others of goodism.
Dear brothers, this ancient text, which is about to complete two thousand years of life, implies two fundamental truths, without which we could safely count it among the human knowledge of the masters of thought and life, and would become pure moral exhortations from the utopian gait. in truth these exhortations only reproduce for us the whole life of Jesus, as it is told in the Gospels. the imitation of Jesus, the knowledge of him, the desire to follow him to imitate him, are a sure sign of the fact that we understand his word. The second aspect linked to the first and equally decisive, consists in the fact that Jesus, Emmanuel, the God with us, is with us every day until the end of the world. He is present as God everywhere, wherever he wants, true man and true God, resurrected. The Church gives us an infallible guarantee of this presence.
we can therefore summarize with an invitation, which frees us from the categorical imperatives that make us feel guilty and painfully ensnare us in our inability. Let us be amused, let ourselves be changed, by the living Christ, by the power of his redemptive action. We oppose the practice of a simple search for ourselves in the living mystery of Christ to the Evil One.
This Sunday per annum coincides with the world day of prayer and reflection against trafficking in human beings, bought and sold for sexual purposes, exploitation of slavish labor, organ trade. Together against trafficking is the title. A planetary problem, often hidden and masqued. In reality it is a cry of pain that rises from the earth, masked by the noise of this rowdy civilization, which, despite its great progress, insists with violence, abuse, unbridled and unregulated selfishness. This cry concerns about 40 million human beings, and does not go unheeded because it reaches the ears of the living God. We do not invoke punishment and revenge, we ask for the gift of mercy and justice. Let us therefore combine this cry with our invocation, our reflection, our daily commitment for a more just and more fraternal world.
The greatest progress in our time is certainly to see how all legislation, all political theories, are now in agreement in affirming the value of every human person. The saddest aspect is that, despite the principle of equality everywhere enslaved, slavery increases. If you want to dig deeper into this hateful reality, you discover that besides the loss of the sense of God and the ethics of fundamental values, the most important value has become money. Money, with its power and charm, not only generates the trafficking of the more or less organized underworld, but generates a multitude of human beings willing to sell themselves, to be slaves, to prostitute themselves, in order to have a high standard of living or to flee from the grip of misery.
Dear friends, through the Gospel Jesus exhorts us, as the first hearers of his word, to be salt of the world and light for the earth. It is a noble, great mission, open to the future. The courage to say NO in this mission of dwelling and making men live in a dignified way is also necessary. This is not a simple denial, because we know well that evil is overcome only with a greater good, because where sin is great grace abounds. In particular, when it comes to prostitution, it is customary to say that it is the oldest profession in the world. Nothing to complain about antiquity, but it seems to us rather that the desire and the pursuit of happiness, the desire to be autonomous and responsible, qualify with greater clarity the value of each man. Trafficking is a complex phenomenon that brings suffering and pain everywhere, the Divine Mother helps us to transform this tragedy, this horrible inhumanism into a source of gratitude and beauty. Precisely in extreme situations we are given to ascertain that nothing is impossible for God. In this regard, to conclude, we remember a woman sold as a slave, then redeemed, who became a saint among the Canossian nuns, BAKHITA.
Christian genius combines the simple and humble life of the people, of all peoples, with the greatness and sublimity of the presence of God. In this sense, Christianism does not only concern those who believe, that is, men and women recognizing that they are sinners before a God who saves them and regenerates them in Christ. The living God embraces all human and cosmic reality. Inside his eternal womb, invisible to our eyes, but real in its incorruptible substance, we move, we exist, with our good, our limit and also our evil. In this Sunday’s Gospel scene, which coincides with the Presentation of the Lord in the temple, we admire the beauty of the child God, Light of the Gentiles, the noble couple of Nazareth, Joseph and Mary, the clairvoyance of old Simeon, the fruits of a life holy in the prophetess Anna and finally the humble offering of the poor, two turtle doves. Really it is an Intimate, poetic and devoted scene. Suddenly the scenario turns to the surprise of the old Simeon, laden with years and moved by the SPIRIT, who recognizes Jesus as the Light of the Gentiles, and prophesies the sword of pain that will cross the soul of Mary. From east to west of the Church this liturgical memory, placed forty days after Christmas, has moved the spirit of simple people who feel the need for an integral, pure, committed to good life, capable of accomplishing such great things by cultivating those small ones. For us it is the festival of light, the festival of Candelora. Candles are lit, lights are lit, fires are lit, the wish for good shines at the end of winter and at the timide beginning of springstime. We all throughout the world are concerned about the spread of an epidemic that heralds colossal proportions and for which we are all committed and supportive. But there is also an epidemic and a contagion in the good, in freedom, in fraternity in the common destiny of men called to salvation. Christ light of the world, COME ADOREMUS!
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.HOMILY IIIrd SUNDAY. Per ANNUM BEGINNING OF THE PREACHING OF JESUS.
The prayer that opens the Liturgy of this third Sunday, invites us to discover the will of God in the world, so that we will bear abundant fruits of good works. This is an extremely positive vision of existence that has become history since Jesus appeared in the world. No religion opens the sky and fecundates the earth like Christianism, no religious creed identifies the darkness and above all transmits life like Christianism, no form of Christianism maintains loyalty to the first beginning of the spread of the Gospel like the Church of Peter.
Two thousand years of contrasts and struggles, of great enterprises and even of mistakes, but the message still runs on earth with the joy and freshness of its origins. When Matthew describes the beginning of Jesus’ mission in Galilee, he finds it easy to resume the poetic beauty of Isaiah’s prophecy …: the people who walked in darkness saw a great light … that people today are we, inevitably depressed in a Mentality that adjust itself among the things on the earth, that seeks security, that refuses dialogue, acceptance, solidarity, sharing, birth, diversity.
The creed of the early Christians was very simple: in the name of Jesus Christ, invoked as the unique, the living God among us. This is why Paul groomed the Corinthians having known that there are divisions, in the name of the apostles, perhaps in the name of those who celebrated their baptism, as if the Christians were supporters linked to a football team.
Christ is not divided, Christ is the light of people, the church in Christ is like a sacrament, a sign that unites men to God and men among them. They are fundamental affirmations, they are truths of the faith, which join the exhortations of Jesus in the Gospel: Get converted, because the kingdom of heaven is near ».and … Come after me, I will make you fishers of men». in Christ Jesus we find everything: light, healing, salvation, forgiveness, mission, the Father, the Spirit, the Mother, the Church, the Unity, the Cross, the Joy, the life, the commitment for others.
It is clear then why … they immediately left the boat and their father and followed him. Now it means right now. dmn
Once again the liturgy takes us to the Jordan River to share the Baptism of the Lord. Who writes, is no longer Matteo, as in the past Sunday. Matthew is the gospel of the fulfillment of the promises; not even Luke narrates the story of the Baptist’s childhood in parallel with that of Jesus, of whom he is a cousin. Who nattates is Giovanni and his perspective, since the Prologue, is that of testimony. That is, he places himself in the gaze, in the heart and in the contemplation of the Baptist … it is the Baptist who bears witness when he sees Jesus coming to him and announces: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This formula is destined to have an immense fortune embedded in the liturgy before communion. The hope is what Origen expresses when he says that naming the Baptist means taking on the whole prophetic charge even today. The greatest of the prophets. Whoever accepts the testimony and believes is greater than he is. Whoever welcomes the Son of God, the Lamb of God is regenerated in the Holy Spirit. Testimony has the purpose of obtaining the obedience of faith. In fact, we read precisely at the end of the passage that John offers this testimony so that whoever reads it may believe that Jesus is the Son of God. The fact is also remarkable here; this sacred formula, Son of God is at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark: Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ Son of GOD. The fact is truly noteworthy: the Gospels, although so different from each other and identical to themselves, agree perfectly in the essential content, adding important particulars on the real figure Jesus. The Gospels are unanimous in proclaiming the son of God equal to God, God himself, and from here the doctrine of the Divine Trinity takes form through his language of revelation.
So let’s discover unthinkable and profound things, things we didn’t know about God and our salvation. In fact ‘nobody has ever seen God, the Son who is in the Father has revealed him … In particular we discover that the Baptist was sent to baptize with water by the Father himself; when he sees the heavens open and the Spirit resting on Gesù like a dove, he recognizes the sign that the Father has given him. Finally, he affirms that Jesus is greater than he is, because he has always existed. Jesus the Lord, baptizes by water and Spirit, by Spirt and blood.
The final idea is that we stop discussing the church, the priests, the popes, and we all convert to the testimony that the apostles and their collaborators have offered us in the pages of the Gospel. The transition is from darkness to light, from Gossip to truth for all, from confusion to certainty. From Jesus described in the Scriptures to the living Jesus.
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS AT THE JORDAN RIVER.
The liturgy expertly transports us from Bethlehem to the banks of the Jordan. From the Great Manifestation to the Kings, who came from the East with gifts and representing the whole of humanity, at the beginning of the Public Life of Jesus with his disciples. After the Epiphany the flight to Egypt, after the Baptism the Temptations in the desert. The Gospel narrative is splendid, essential, dramatic, it involves heaven and earth. The unanimous evangelists recount the episode of the Baptism of Jesus; when it comes to choosing the successor of Judah, direct participation in this event will be placed as the essential condition, and fate will fall on Matthias. The interpreters tell us that this is not a common episode, but a solemn and new Epiphany-Theophany. Once again the leitmotif of Christmas is repeated: … the humble and poor One who gives life is born … even here in Baptism the Word made flesh is lowered, descends into the human regions of penance and regeneration. The Greek verb baptizo-immergo, means to go down. the Baptist understood the extraordinary disproportion of Jesus’ gesture and request and tries in vain to escape. The Father manifests himself by speaking in the cloud, the Spirit makes himself partially visible as a dove. Father Son and Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit and fire, Baptism and Mission.Paul, baptized three days after the conversion, thus comments on the whole life of Jesus in the letter written to the Philippians:Christ Jesus,while being divine in nature,did not consider a jealous treasure his equality with God;but he undressed himself, assuming the condition of a servant and becoming like men;appeared in human form, …Too many interpretate this humility for absence. In this judgment based on appearance and lack of faith, most of the analyzes on the presence of the Church and faith in today’s society flourish, forgetting too often that the creator of the universe, the Savior of humanity, acts from below, from within, in the depth. They are the weak who need armies, atomic bombs, power to give themselves meaning and value. In the Baptism of Christ we discover a different way a new path on earth that opens us to an eternal destiny, a profound regeneration, a new creation that slowly dominates and will dominate the whole world. In fact, with our baptism we participate in the living mystery of Christ the Lord. The Son is among us: listen to him, follow him, love him!
