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And
they took offense at him
Tuesday 1 MAY (Mt 13,54-58)
It is a
solemn moment, fraught with revelation. Moved by the Holy Spirit,
victorious over the devil, Jesus enters the synagogue at Nazareth;
and with a hieratic, solemn attitude, like a true interpreter of the
Word of the Lord, he announces his countrymen that he Scripture read
by him, is being fulfilled in their presence. They are spectators of
the fulfillment of all expectations of the people of the covenant:
“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of
him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their
synagogues and was praised by all. He came to Nazareth, where he had
grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the
prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where
it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to
let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the
Lord." Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and
sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at
him. He said to them, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in
your hearing."”
(Lk 4,14-21).
All
history awaited this moment. Starting from the very Adam and Eve,
whom the Lord had made the first promise of victory and
redemption, talking to the tempter:
“Then the
Lord God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall
be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On
your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of
your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between
your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you
strike at his heel."”
(Genesis 4,14-15).
What was
instead the reaction of the people of Nazareth? They forgot the
truth on which their faith is founded; that is, the one that God has
always made everything from nothing. They ignored that truth which
is thus proclaimed by St. Paul:
“For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the
learning of the learned I will set aside." Where is the wise one?
Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God
made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God
the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will
of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who
have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we
proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness
to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness
of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is
stronger than human strength. Consider your own calling, brothers.
Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were
powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the
foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of
the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised
of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing
those who are something, so that no human being might boast before
God. It is due to him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became for
us wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption, so that, as it is written, "Whoever boasts, should boast
in the Lord."
(Cf. 1Cor 1,17-31). Truly from the nothing of man God celebrates his
glory.
He came to
his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were
astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty
deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his
sisters all with us? Where did this man get all this?" And they took
offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without
honour except in his native place and in his own house." And he did
not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith.
The people of
Nazareth see the lowly condition of Joseph considered the father of
Jesus, of Mary, of all his relatives; and they refuse to believe
because of these low social conditions. They took offence at Jesus’
non human nobility. They ignore that Jesus is truly from the seed of
David, because Joseph is his offspring. Joseph for them was only a
humble carpenter who did not even flaunt his royal descent. So great
was his humility. Joseph is a great man.
Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us truly humble,
and small.
So
what I say, I say as the Father told me
Wednesday 2 MAY (Jn 12,44-50)
Today, Jesus
proclaims himself the true prophet of the Father. What is the
feature of every prophet of the living God? The one of being the
transmitter of the one Word of God, according to the rule given by
God himself to Ezekiel:
“Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, I have appointed
you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my
mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You
shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade
him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man
shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his
death. If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he
has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then
he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life. If a
virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a
stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin,
and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you
responsible for his death if you did not warn him. When, on the
other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in
fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and
you shall save your own life»”
(Ez 3,16-21). And more:
“Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, speak thus to
your countrymen: When I bring the sword against a country, and the
people of this country select one of their number to be their
watchman, and the watchman, seeing the sword coming against the
country, blows the trumpet to warn the people, anyone hearing but
not heeding the warning of the trumpet and therefore slain by the
sword that comes against him, shall be responsible for his own
death. He heard the trumpet blast yet refused to take warning; he is
responsible for his own death, for had he taken warning he would
have escaped with his life. But if the watchman sees the sword
coming and fails to blow the warning trumpet, so that the sword
comes and takes anyone, I will hold the watchman responsible for
that person's death, even though that person is taken because of his
own sin. You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of
Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.
If I tell the wicked man that he shall surely die, and you do not
speak out to dissuade the wicked man from his way, he (the wicked
man) shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for
his death. But if you warn the wicked man, trying to turn him from
his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his
guilt, but you shall save yourself”
(Ez 33,1-9).
Jesus
cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one
who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who
believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my
words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not
come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me
and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word
that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not
speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say
and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what
I say, I say as the Father told me."
Jesus being
a true prophet of the Father, having brought to our earth the divine
will in its perfect, full, complete, and exhaustive form, now the
problem is all our own. Who believes in that word is saved. Who does
not believe will be condemned, because he has not believed in the
prophet sent by God. This law of prophecy is eternal. It holds for
any time, and any person. Since the Word of Jesus is the Father's
definitive, there are no other words of God. The Gospel is the Word
of salvation for all mankind. Who believes in it, comes into
possession of eternal life. Who refuses to accept it in his heart,
remains in the death in which he already finds himself in. There
exist no other words of salvation for anyone. Because this testimony
– being true prophet of the Father - Jesus has given sealing it with
his blood; it is most pure truth for us. No one might ever doubt the
Lord Jesus’ veracity and truth.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us
the true faith in Christ.
Whoever
has seen me has seen the Father
Thursday 3 MAY (Jn 14,6-14)
Jesus is the
one, the only, the eternal Mediator between God and humanity. He is
Mediator in creation, in the revelation, in the gift of grace and
truth:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to
be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be
through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome
it. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we
saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace
and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of
grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and
truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only
Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him”
(Cf. Jn 1,1-18).
This way also Saint Paul: “This is good and pleasing to God our
savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of
the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between
God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave
himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper
time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle (I am speaking
the truth, I am not lying), teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
truth”
(1Tm 2,3-7).
Jesus is the
ladder of Jacob:
“Jacob departed from Beer-sheba and proceeded toward Haran. When he
came upon a certain shrine, as the sun had already set, he stopped
there for the night. Taking one of the stones at the shrine, he put
it under his head and lay down to sleep at that spot. Then he had a
dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the
heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it. And
there was the Lord standing beside him and saying: "I, the Lord, am
the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on
which you are lying I will give to you and your descendants. These
shall be as plentiful as the dust of the earth, and through them you
shall spread out east and west, north and south. In you and your
descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing. Know
that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring
you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done what
I promised you." When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he exclaimed,
"Truly, the Lord is in this spot, although I did not know it!" In
solemn wonder he cried out: "How awesome is this shrine! This is
nothing else but an abode of God, and that is the gateway to
heaven!"
”
(Gen 28,10-17).
Nathanael
answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of
Israel." Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you believe because I
told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater
things than this." And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and
descending on the Son of Man."”
(Jn 1,49-51).
Jesus said
to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also
know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be
enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long
a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has
seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not
believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words
that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells
in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works
that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going
to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that
the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in
my name, I will do it.
Today, Jesus
reveals to his disciples that He is the mediator in the true
knowledge of the Father. He is the mediator by vision. He is so
perfect in executing everything the Father commands him as there not
to be any difference if it were the Father himself to carry out
those things. So great is the identity in the perfection of
holiness. Jesus is in the Father. The Father is in Jesus. Jesus
lives in the Father. The Father lives entirely in him.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, give us
this identity with Jesus.
You
have faith in God; have faith also in me
Friday 4 MAY (Jn 14,1-6)
Faith in
God alone is not enough. This faith does not give us true salvation.
It is not enough, because God does not speak to us directly, he
speaks through his human instruments, his mediators, his prophets.
Faith in these privileged instruments of God is more than necessary.
If one does not believe in these instruments, never might he believe
in God and salvation is not accomplished.
That is why the
Lord credits his messengers, because he knows that without faith in
them, his Word remains in emptiness, it does not enter into the
hearts. When the Lord delivered his people, making horses and riders
fall in the Red Sea, the people rejoices and at end the sacred text
also notes that all believed in God and in his servant Moses:
“Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell
the Israelites to go forward. And you, lift up your staff and, with
hand outstretched over the sea, split the sea in two, that the
Israelites may pass through it on dry land. But I will make the
Egyptians so obstinate that they will go in after them. Then I will
receive glory through Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots and
charioteers. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I
receive glory through Pharaoh and his chariots and charioteers." The
angel of God, who had been leading Israel's camp, now moved and went
around behind them. The column of cloud also, leaving the front,
took up its place behind them, so that it came between the camp of
the Egyptians and that of Israel. But the cloud now became dark, and
thus the night passed without the rival camps coming any closer
together all night long. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout
the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus
divided, the Israelites marched into the midst of the sea on dry
land, with the water like a wall to their right and to their left.
The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh's horses and chariots
and charioteers went after them right into the midst of the sea. In
the night watch just before dawn the Lord cast through the column of
the fiery cloud upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw it into
a panic; and he so clogged their chariot wheels that they could
hardly drive. With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before
Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the
Egyptians. Then the Lord told Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the
sea, that the water may flow back upon the Egyptians, upon their
chariots and their charioteers." So Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and at dawn the sea flowed back to its normal depth.
The Egyptians were fleeing head on toward the sea, when the Lord
hurled them into its midst. As the water flowed back, it covered the
chariots and the charioteers of Pharaoh's whole army which had
followed the Israelites into the sea. Not a single one of them
escaped. But the Israelites had marched on dry land through the
midst of the sea, with the water like a wall to their right and to
their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel on that day from the power of
the Egyptians. When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the
seashore and beheld the great power that the Lord had shown against
the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed in him and in his
servant Moses”
(Ex 14,15-31).
Without this dual faith, never might there rise salvation in the
world.
"Do not let
your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in
me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there
were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place
for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back
again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
Where (I) am going you know the way." Thomas said to him, "Master,
we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Jesus
said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one
comes to the Father except through me.
Like the
Apostles are encouraged to have faith in God and in Jesus, every one
of his disciples must be able to say to every other man: "Have
faith in Christ the Lord and also in me. It is I who am speaking to
you in his voice, in his name, in his truth. I am the one who is his
prophet. He credited me. These are the signs of his accreditation."
If we cannot say these words, our mission is vain. Christ cannot
be believed unless starting from the faith in his apostle,
messenger, minister, and instrument. Today and always this will be
the real problem of the mission, of evangelization, and of the
proclamation of the Word of faith. Christ and his disciples must be
one only thing, just as Christ and the Father are one only thing,
and therefore one only faith.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and , Saints, make us
be one only thing with Jesus.
If
you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it
Saturday 5 MAY (Jn 14,7-14)
The testimony
that Peter gives to Christ the day of Pentecost is right on this
double manifestation of the Father. Christ revealed, manifested,
made visible and present the Father in his life with the power of
the word spoken in the splendor of its truth and with deeds, true
signs that attest that they are from God alone, in the same way that
Christ is from God:
“You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazorean was a
man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs,
which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.
This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you
killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up,
releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible
for him to be held by it. For David says of him: 'I saw the Lord
ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my
flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul
to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see
corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will
fill me with joy in your presence.' My brothers, one can confidently
say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried,
and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet
and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of
his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the
resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the
netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he
received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured
it forth, as you (both) see and hear. For David did not go up into
heaven, but he himself said: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my
right hand until I make your enemies your footstool."' Therefore let
the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him
both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." ”
(At 2,22-36). That Christ is from God and from Him alone, the Father
attested it first with the word and deeds, and now by making him
rise from the grave, constituting him Lord and Messiah of man.
It is
fitting that also today Jesus is recognized in his origin from the
Father. It is just that he is always believed in his unity of
essence, nature, mission and operation. How? Through the prayer we
raise to Him. When we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, the Father
hears the request we make him, hears our invocation, and so he is
glorified in the Son. Jesus also hears our prayer and attests this
way of being the only mediator between us and God. The true faith
starts: the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. The
Father operates through the Son. The Son is the way through which
Heaven descends into the hearts.
If you
know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know
him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the
Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I
been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me,
Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,
'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and
the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on
my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe
because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever
believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones
than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask
in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.
Today, this
faith is in decline. It lacks in true unity of being, of nature, and
of substance; but also of communion of work and mission between the
Father and the Son. Even with the other intercessors in Christ there
is the same lack in communion. It is as if in heaven every one were
for himself and by himself. On the contrary, Christ is the only one
from the Father.
Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Redemption; Angels, Saints, give us the true faith in
Christ.
I
am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower
Sunday 6 MAY (Jn 15,1-8)
In this sublime
allegory, Jesus works a jump of nature in the relationship with God,
the supernatural, the truth of God and man, the vocation lived in
the Old Testament and the one existing in the New. This passage is
from the vineyard to the vine. This way in the Old Testament:
“Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his
vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; He spaded
it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it
he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked
for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now,
inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my
vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not
done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth
wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my
vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its
wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not
be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will
command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the
LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his
cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for
justice, but hark, the outcry!”
(Cf. Is 5,1-30).
In the
allegory of Jesus there are vines, each having its particular, and
specific relationship with the Father. The true vine is one: Christ
the Lord. The Father has no other true vines. In this only real vine
of the Father, every other person that wants to live in a
relationship of justice, truth, charity, compassion, obedience, and
love with the Father and with the brothers; must be integrated as a
branch. Eternal life that is God is in this real vine. The branch is
integrated, is bound, becomes one only thing with the vine and
eternal life begins to flow into it in order to produce good fruit;
fruit, that is, of true eternal life.
"I am
the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every
branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he
prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because
of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on
the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine,
you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear
much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does
not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people
will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you
want and it will be done for you. By this
is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my
disciples.
Of this
true vine the Father is the farmer. It is he who takes care of it.
He prunes the fruitful branches so that it produces more fruit. He
cuts the fruitless branches so that they do not weigh down the vine,
sucking unproductive vital lymph. Today, this truth is denied by
almost all of the believing world. It is as if the one, holy,
catholic and apostolic Church had forgotten this pruning operation
that is specific, peculiar to the Father. This means that we have
deprived God of his power of judgment, evaluation, discernment on
the true vine which is Christ Jesus. This also means that for us the
true vine must be condemned exploited, depleted, and impoverished by
all those fruitless, unproductive, and vain branches that make its
life burdensome.
On the
contrary, the Father has always proved to be the real farmer: in the
Old Testament of His vineyard, in the New of the only true vine. He
always intervenes in our history and with fine, clear, surgical cuts
he purifies the vineyard from the unnecessary branches and puts the
useful branches in a condition of being able to bear fruit at the
best of themselves. Without this truth, we walk like blind men in
history. We can no longer read and understand what is happening, we
can never change and never start a journey of true conversion.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints give us the truth
of the Father.
He
will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you
Monday 7 MAY (Jn 14,21-26)
In the Old
Testament God had given the Law to the children of Israel. However,
never could have this taken into consideration all the life of a
man, all the life of men. This is too complex to be read in the
light of the Commandments alone. For this reason the Lord, in
addition to the sending of the prophets, who from time to time
updated the truth contained in the Commandments, so that the people
were always offered in fullness of knowledge the will of God; the
Lord himself gave man an infallible tool in order to know moment by
moment his will, according to the perfection of knowledge and
intelligence.
This tool has
only one name: wisdom. Here is what the Book of Baruch teaches us on
it:
“Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life: listen, and know
prudence! How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your foes,
grown old in a foreign land, Defiled with the dead, accounted with
those destined for the nether world? You have forsaken the fountain
of wisdom! Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in
enduring peace. Learn where prudence is, where strength, where
understanding; That you may know also where are length of days, and
life, where light of the eyes, and peace. Who has found the place of
wisdom, who has entered into her treasuries? Where are the rulers of
the nations, they who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth,
and made sport of the birds of the heavens: They who heaped up the
silver and the gold in which men trust; of whose possessions there
was no end? They schemed anxiously for money, but there is no trace
of their work: They have vanished down into the nether world, and
others have risen up in their stead. Later generations have seen the
light, have dwelt in the land, But the way to understanding they
have not known, they have not perceived her paths, or reached her;
their offspring were far from the way to her. Who has gone up to the
heavens and taken her, or brought her down from the clouds? Who has
crossed the sea and found her, bearing her away rather than choice
gold? None knows the way to her, nor has any understood her paths.
Yet he who knows all things knows her; he has probed her by his
knowledge - He who established the earth for all time, and filled it
with four-footed beasts; He who dismisses the light, and it departs,
calls it, and it obeys him trembling; Before whom the stars at their
posts shine and rejoice; When he calls them, they answer, "Here we
are!" shining with joy for their Maker. Such is our God; no other is
to be compared to him: He has traced out all the way of
understanding, and has given her to Jacob, his servant, to Israel,
his beloved son. Since then she has appeared on earth, and moved
among men”
(Cf. Bar 3,9-38).
Whoever
has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And
whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and
reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,
"Master, (then) what happened that you will reveal yourself to us
and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever
loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will
come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me
does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that
of the Father who sent me. "I have told you this while I am with
you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my
name - he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I)
told you.
In the Old
Testament, wisdom is the Law of the Most High, but it is also much
more than the Law. It is like a participation that God makes of his
intelligence, will, heart, and mind, so that at any moment man can
act like God, see like him, will like Him, and love like him. Wisdom
is almost a participation that God makes of himself to his friends.
However, the full light of the New Testament is lacking. In the New,
instead the Wisdom is Christ, but it is also the Holy Spirit, that
is the truth of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is given,
and He always gives us all of the Father and the Son.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints give us the Holy
Spirit.
The
world must know that I love the Father
Tuesday 8 MAY (Jn 14,27-31a)
The Old Testament helps us understand what Jesus affirms of himself.
Master in this science is the Book of Job: “One day, when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also
came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, "Whence do you come?"
Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "From roaming the earth and
patrolling it." And the Lord said to Satan, "Have you noticed my
servant Job, and that there is no one on earth like him, blameless
and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil?" But Satan answered the
Lord and said, "Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing? Have you
not surrounded him and his family and all that he has with your
protection? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his
livestock are spread over the land. But now put forth your hand and
touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your
face." And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in
your power; only do not lay a hand upon his person." So Satan went
forth from the presence of the Lord”
(Job 1,6-12).
Here is the second proof:
“Once again the sons of God came to present themselves before the
Lord,
and Satan also came with them. And the
Lord
said to Satan, "Whence do you come?" And Satan answered the
Lord
and said, "From roaming the earth and patrolling it." And the
Lord
said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job, and that there is
no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and
avoiding evil? He still holds fast to his innocence although you
incited me against him to ruin him without cause." And Satan
answered the
Lord
and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has will he give for his
life. But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh,
and surely he will blaspheme you to your face." And the
Lord
said to Satan, "He is in your power; only spare his life." So Satan
went forth from the presence of the
Lord
and smote Job with severe boils from the soles of his feet to the
crown of his head. And he took a potsherd to scrape himself, as he
sat among the ashes. Then his wife said to him, "Are you still
holding to your innocence? Curse God and die." But he said to her,
"Are even you going to speak as senseless women do? We accept good
things from God; and should we not accept evil?" Through all this,
Job said nothing sinful”
(Job 2,1-10).
How much
does a man love his God? He loves him for what strength, capacity,
and resistance he has of remaining in his charity, justice, and
holiness. He loves God who remains in God.
Peace I
leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I
give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You
heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If
you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for
the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it
happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer
speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no
power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and
that I do just as the Father has commanded me.
Get up, let
us go.
Jesus
Christ placed his dwelling among us. He was made flesh. He entered
our world that is sin, hatred, pride, lust, greed, folly,
foolishness, and all other evils. All this evil has befallen against
him to destroy, and annihilate him. The prince of the world has
sparked against him a religious, and theological indescribable
hatred. It is as if Satan had asked God for the proof of death by
crucifixion. What has been spared to Job, Jesus had to endure it but
in an infinitely superior manner. How much is the Son capable of
loving the Father? To what extent is willing to persevere in this
love? The test was won by Jesus. He loved the Father till death by
crucifixion. In this trial he was more than a winner. He revealed of
the Father his most high holiness, truth, charity, and patience.
From the cross Jesus showed himself in his true sanctified, and
elevated humanity, purified by the most perfect justice and charity.
Now
we know that Jesus loves the Father.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, help us
in time of trial.
He
takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit
Wednesday 9 MAY (Jn 15,1-8)
Even who possesses a limited, brief, and superficial knowledge of
the Old Testament and of God's acting in history; knows that the
Lord is always the keeper of his vineyard. He is there to help the
vineyard produce well and for this he uses methods of education,
even heavy at times: abandoning the vineyard to itself, so that it
realizes the need of disposing itself to produce good fruits:
“Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock;
You who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth! Before
Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power And come to
save us! O God, restore us And cause Your face to shine upon us, and
we will be saved. O Lord God of hosts, How long will You be angry
with the prayer of Your people? You have fed them with the bread of
tears, And You have made them to drink tears in large measure. You
make us an object of contention to our neighbors, And our enemies
laugh among themselves. O God of hosts, restore us And cause Your
face to shine upon us, and we will be saved. You removed a vine from
Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the
ground before it, And it took deep root and filled the land. The
mountains were covered with its shadow, And the cedars of God with
its boughs. It was sending out its branches to the sea And its
shoots to the River. Why have You broken down its hedges, So that
all who pass that way pick its fruit? A boar from the forest eats it
away And whatever moves in the field feeds on it. O God of hosts,
turn again now, we beseech You; Look down from heaven and see, and
take care of this vine, Even the shoot which Your right hand has
planted, And on the son whom You have strengthened for Yourself. It
is burned with fire, it is cut down; They perish at the rebuke of
Your countenance. Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we shall
not turn back from You; Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
O Lord God of hosts, restore us; Cause Your face to shine upon us,
and we will be saved”
(Psalm 80 (79), 1-20).
Even if in
a different way, today this same truth is announced us by the Lord
Jesus in the simile of the true vine and the branches. Who
supervises, who takes care, who keeps, and who protects this true
vine is the Father of Heaven. His keen eye scans every branch, sees
who produces and who does not, notes and decides how to intervene
effectively with an excellent pruning. Thus, some branches are cut,
and others pruned. Some eliminated forever, others put in a
condition of being able to give much fruit.
"I am
the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every
branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he
prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because
of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on
the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine,
you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear
much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does
not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people
will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you
want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
It is right
that we put two truths in evidence: Jesus Christ is the only true
vine of the Father. No other is a true vine. The Father is not
interested of these other vines. They are not his. However, those
that are not his vines, can never produce eternal life because
eternal life is only in Christ Jesus. All the way the Father is in
Jesus the Lord and in no one else. Who wants to produce good fruit,
must necessarily be one branch of this true vine. This true vine is
always under the government of the Father. He does not abandon it to
itself even for a moment. The Father goes down, visits, checks out,
discerns, intervenes effectively cutting and pruning. Therefore, all
those who today have robbed God of his intervention of judgment,
discernment, care, supervision, custody, solving and drastic
interventions for the good fruiting of this his only real vine; are
in great error.
History
attests us the truth of the Gospel.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us the true
faith in the Gospel.
I
have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be
complete
Thursday 10 MAY (Jn 15,9-11)
That is how
the announcement as a source of communication of the true joy is
presented by the Apostle John:
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen
with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life - for the life was made visible; we have
seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that
was with the Father and was made visible to us - what we have seen
and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have
fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with
his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be
complete”
(Cf. 1Jn 1,1-10).
The reason
of so much joy is revealed by the prophet Isaiah:
“Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, break forth into song,
you mountains. For the Lord comforts his people and shows mercy to
his afflicted. But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has
forgotten me." Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness
for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never
forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have written your
name; your walls are ever before me. Your rebuilders make haste, as
those who tore you down and laid you waste go forth from you; Look
about and see, they are all gathering and coming to you. As I live,
says the Lord, you shall be arrayed with them all as with
adornments, like a bride you shall fasten them on you. Though you
were waste and desolate, a land of ruins, Now you shall be too small
for your inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far
away. The children whom you had lost shall yet say to you, "This
place is too small for me, make room for me to live in." You shall
ask yourself: "Who has borne me these? I was bereft and barren
(exiled and repudiated); who has reared them? I was left all alone;
where then do these come from?" Thus says the Lord God: See, I will
lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples;
They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall
be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers,
their princesses your nurses; Bowing to the ground, they shall
worship you and lick the dust at your feet. Then you shall know that
I am the Lord, and those who hope in me shall never be disappointed.
Thus says the Lord: Can booty be taken from a warrior? or captives
be rescued from a tyrant? Yes, captives can be taken from a warrior,
and booty be rescued from a tyrant; Those who oppose you I will
oppose, and your sons I will save. I will make your oppressors eat
their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as
with the juice of the grape. All mankind shall know that I, the
Lord, am your savior, your redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob»”
(Cf. Is 49,13-26).
The reason
for joy is in finding the true life. This descends from God alone.
It is one of God's gifts of love that is given us by the
announcement of what God and Jesus Christ did for us in the
communion of the Holy Spirit.
As the
Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this
so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
The real
joy of man is only one: living eternally in his God, getting
immersed in his life, sharing in his charity, mercy, truth,
compassion, and piety. Returning to being in the image and likeness
of his Creator and Lord, just as it was in the origin, in the garden
of Eden. Now this returning of man in his purest truth, is fulfilled
in Christ Jesus, becoming one only life with him. However, one is a
single life with Christ, if he dwells in His Word. We welcome the
Word, we become one single thing with the truth contained in it, and
we also become one only life with Christ.
We enter into the joy. His life is ours.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us the
life of Christ.
You
are my friends if you do what I command you
Friday 11 MAY (Jn 15,12-17)
The stronger
friendship that is known in the Ancient Scripture is the one between
David and Jonathan. Here is the song of David on the occasion of his
death on Mount Gilboa:
“Then David chanted this elegy for Saul and his son Jonathan, which
is recorded in the Book of Jashar to be taught to the Judahites. He
sang: "Alas! the glory of Israel, Saul, slain upon your heights; how
can the warriors have fallen! "Tell it not in Gath, herald it not in
the streets of Ashkelon, Lest the Philistine maidens rejoice, lest
the daughters of the strangers exult! Mountains of Gilboa, may there
be neither dew nor rain upon you, nor upsurgings of the deeps! Upon
you lie begrimed the warriors' shields, the shield of Saul, no
longer anointed with oil. "From the blood of the slain, from the
bodies of the valiant, The bow of Jonathan did not turn back, or the
sword of Saul return unstained. Saul and Jonathan, beloved and
cherished, separated neither in life nor in death, swifter than
eagles, stronger than lions! Women of Israel, weep over Saul, who
clothed you in scarlet and in finery, who decked your attire with
ornaments of gold. "How can the warriors have fallen - in the thick
of the battle, slain upon your heights! "I grieve for you, Jonathan
my brother! most dear have you been to me; More precious have I held
love for you than love for women. "How can the warriors have fallen,
the weapons of war have perished!"”
(2Sam 1,17-27).
That of
Jesus with his disciples is an infinitely superior friendship. It is
a true communion of life. Rather more than a communion of life, it
is unity, one only thing, one only heart, one only mission, one only
redemption, and one only body. The unity and communion can reach
such an intensity and elevation as to become a perfect identity.
Christ is the disciple. The disciple is Christ. The heart of the
disciple is the heart of Christ. The heart of Christ is the heart of
the disciple. After all, the friendship of Jesus with his Apostles
tends to this: ensuring that between him and them reigns the same
unity in the will that exists between Him and the Father. This way,
perfection is absolute: He in the Father and in the disciples, the
disciples in Jesus and in the Father, the Father in Jesus and in the
disciples: one only thing, one only will, and one only operation.
This is
my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have
called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard
from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I
command you: love one another.
When the Father
of Heaven affirms in relation to the prophets –
“Do two men
walk together unless they have agreed? Does a lion roar in the
forest when it has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from its den
unless it has seized something? Is a bird brought to earth by a
snare when there is no lure for it? Does a snare spring up from the
ground without catching anything? If the trumpet sounds in a city,
will the people not be frightened? If evil befalls a city, has not
the Lord caused it? Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without
revealing his plan to his servants, the prophets. The lion roars -
who will not be afraid! The Lord God speaks - who will not
prophesy!
?
(Am 3,3-8) – Jesus confirms this in relation to his friends: there
is no secret between him and his followers. What he heard from the
Father he revealed it to them. Therefore, there is not a science in
God, one in his Only Son, and another in the disciples. The science
is one and it is the same that there is in God, in Christ Jesus, and
in his disciples. By now, they know the heart of Jesus Christ in the
same way that Jesus knows the heart of the Father. This science is
given to the disciples from their communion with the Holy Spirit.
They will be filled with the Holy Spirit in Him and through Him they
will receive the science of the Most High. They will always know the
Father's heart and in it they will love their brothers of a most
pure love of redemption.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints make us be
one with Jesus.
Because
they do not know the one who sent me
Saturday 12 MAY (Jn 15,18-21)
Jesus
reveals with great clarity the non knowledge of God:
“So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "Is he not the one
they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they
say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is
the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes,
no one will know where he is from." So Jesus cried out in the temple
area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I
am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom
you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he
sent me." ”
(Jn 7,25-29). And in another passage:
“The Jews answered and said to him, "Are we not right in saying that
you are a Samaritan and are possessed?" Jesus answered, "I am not
possessed; I honour my Father, but you dishonour me. I do not seek
my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the one who
judges. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never
see death." (So) the Jews said to him, "Now we are sure that you are
possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, 'Whoever
keeps my word will never taste death.' Are you greater than our
father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make
yourself out to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory
is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you
say, 'He is our God.' You do not know him, but I know him. And if I
should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I
do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see
my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, "You are
not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?" Jesus said to
them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM."
So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out
of the temple area”
(Jn 8,48-59).
Can a
religion exist without true knowledge of God? Unfortunately it does,
rather there are many, too many, myriads and myriads. These
religions are of very low morality, or of the very lack of moral
rules to be observed. A religion is true, if true, authentic, and
holy is its morality. Where morality is low, the knowledge of God is
also low. Where morality is absent, knowledge of the Lord is also
absent. Every problem with God in his knowledge and obedience
becomes instantly a problem with men in the moral relationship with
them.
"If the
world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to
the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not
belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the
world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, 'No slave is
greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also
persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And
they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because
they do not know the one who sent me.
Always a
false religion, false faith, false morality, and the absence of true
ethics are a wall, a struggle, a hard fight against the true
religion, true faith, and true morality. When the men of God are
severely attacked, slandered, persecuted, hated, and trampled, spat
out and destroyed, reviled and stoned in their fundamental rights;
then it is a sign that that religion which produces these fruits is
false in itself, or it is falsely lived by its members . Falsehood
with falsehood work together, but always for the evil –
“She, when
the nations were sunk in universal wickedness, knew the just man,
kept him blameless before God, and preserved him resolute against
pity for his child”
(Wisdom 10,5)
– goodness with goodness are in communion of good. Never however,
wickedness with goodness, because wickedness has only one aim, one
guiding principle alone: destroying every trace of good in front of
itself. Destroying the good, destroying the good, pious, and just
man, friend of God.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us
true knowledge.
It
was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
Sunday 13 MAY (Jn 15,9-17)
In
Scripture it is always God who chooses with unquestionable wisdom
and disposes everything with inscrutable judgment. The divine
mystery is so deep and impenetrable that no one will ever be able to
understand it. Not even in eternity we will taste it in its totality
and fullness. In front of this mystery, St. Paul is without words:
“But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will
what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?" Or does
not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same
lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?”
(Cf Rm 9,1-33). The image of the potter is taken from the prophet
Jeremiah:
“This word
came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Rise up, be off to the potter's
house; there I will give you my message. I went down to the potter's
house and there he was, working at the wheel. Whenever the object of
clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried
again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he
pleased. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do to you,
house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the Lord. Indeed,
like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of
Israel”
(Cf Jer 18,1-10). That is how he concludes in front of the
impenetrable mystery of God:
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How
inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! "For
who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counsellor?"
"Or who has given him anything that he may be repaid?" For from him
and through him and for him are all things.
To him be
glory forever. Amen”
(Rm 11,33-36).
The
Apostles must know this: their choice is neither due to merit and
nor to high level social or cultural conditions. It is a part of the
same mystery of God; and therefore, it must always be brought back
into the mystery, in order to be thought out, understood to the
extent that it can be; lived with truth of faith and charity of
operations. God chooses and does, he elects and prepares, and he
calls and disposes. The before is not needed to God. He needs only
one thing: that we let ourselves be molded by Him the same way the
clay lets itself be shaped by the potter. Another truth is this: the
persons called must always do one thing: handing themselves entirely
to their Lord and God, as a mere tool, a pitcher, a bowl, a hammer,
a plow, a hoe, a peg and other things.
As the
Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this
so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is
my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have
called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard
from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I
command you: love one another.
The
obstacle for our handing over to be, fully, totally, daily, forever
integrated, comes from the mind and heart. From the mind you must
remove all lie, error, falsehood about the knowledge of God. From
the heart every vice, lust, not honest affection, relationship not
according do to the will of God. Cleansed the mind and heart, you
are free to be totally of the Lord. In this freedom, he can operate
what he wants, whenever he wants, always, and in every moment. Jesus
does just this: he frees the mind of the disciples from the
falsehood about the wrong knowledge of God; he purifies their hearts
from all vices and sins which pollute them and make them not useful
to his heavenly Father.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make us
free for our God.
To
lay down one's life for one's friends
Monday 14 MAY (Jn 15,9-17)
That is how
St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans reveals the infinite love of
God and of Christ for humanity stricken under the power of the devil
and death:
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained
access (by faith) to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in
hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our
afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and
endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope
does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out
into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed
time for the ungodly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for
a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find
courage to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were
still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are
now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the
wrath. Indeed, if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will
we be saved by his life. Not only that, but we also boast of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation”
(Rm 5,1-11).
Let us try
to understand. We are enemies of God. We have stolen his glory, his
honour,
his Lordship, and his rule over us. We contracted with him an
insolvent debt. We reject, deny, and depose him as God from our
hearts and our sight. We do not want Him to reign over us. We are
hostile towards him. What does he do instead of destroying us? He
comes, takes upon himself our infinite
un-payable
debt; not only does he redeem us from our sin, in addition he raises
us to participate of his divine nature, he fills us with grace and
truth, gives us the Holy Spirit, makes us his body, constitutes us
his life, and welcomes us into his heart. He does all this just out
of love, out of the charity that moves him, and out of compassion.
As the
Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this
so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is
my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have
called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard
from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and
appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that
whatever you ask the Father in my name
he may give you.
This I
command you: love one another.
He elevates
us to a such a pure, and holy friendship as to reveal us his heart,
his feelings; as to die for us every day, as to bestow upon us his
same mission of salvation toward all our brothers. From this
friendship the new man that disposes himself to imitate in all his
great friend, is born. What does the friend do for his friend? He
also assumes the sin of his brothers and atones it with his
suffering, his pain, his constant and daily death. This is the great
Christian mystery. Not only does the disciple of Jesus, his friend,
forgive; not only does he pray, not only does he welcome sinners,
not only does he justify them with the grace of Christ; every day to
this grace he adds his, by also giving his life for their
conversion, redemption, and return to the Heavenly Father. This is a
mystery that must be accomplished in the body of every one of Jesus’
friends. He is a true friend of Jesus who gives his life for the
redemption of the world, in a humble, submissive service, and full
of peace. Never might who does not give his life be said to be his
friend.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints make us
true friends of Jesus.
It
is better for you that I go
Tuesday 15 MAY (Jn 16,5-11)
The infinite
difference that exists between the holiness of Paul and the one of
Lord Jesus is revealed by the science with which one governs his own
life. Being the science of Paul imperfect, his holiness is also
imperfect and incomplete:
“For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. If I go on living in
the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. And I do not know
which I shall choose. I am caught between the two. I long to depart
this life and be with Christ, (for) that is far better. Yet that I
remain (in) the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. And this I
know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the
service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so
that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when
I come to you again. Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the
gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent,
I may hear news of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit,
with one mind struggling together for the faith of the gospel, not
intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is proof to them of
destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing. For to
you has been granted, for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in
him but also to suffer for him. Yours is the same struggle as you
saw in me and now hear about me”
(Phil 1,21-30).
As his holiness grows, so does the science of himself: “For I am
already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my
departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the
race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness
awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that
day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his
appearance”
(2Tm 4,6-8). This means that the more one grows in holiness and the
more he enters into that communion of science and knowledge which
are in the Holy Spirit.
On the
contrary, in Jesus holiness is always perfect, always at the top. He
carries the will of God upon him always in a perfect way at the
utmost, because he knows it fully. In every moment Jesus knows what
to do and how to do it, what to say and how to say it, where to be
and how to deal with the man that is in front of him. Now we are in
the Supper Room. Not only does he know that his time has come and it
is imminent. He also knows that the fulfillment of his time is the
greatest good for all his disciples. If he does not die, the Holy
Spirit is not given birth from his pierced side. If the Holy Spirit
is not given birth, they will remain forever incomplete, imperfect,
incapable, and unfit.
But now
I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me,
'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled
your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I
go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I
go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the
world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin,
because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going
to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because
the ruler of this world has been condemned.
Coming of
the Advocate
This is the
true meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. He must be strung on the
tree, hoisted before the world, so that the Holy Spirit flows from
his body and is given to the light. If Christ does not die, the
Spirit is not born and mankind will remain forever in its death. It
will miss the divine principle of its new creation. This desire of
giving birth to the Spirit is so powerful in Lord Jesus, that long
before, that is what he had said:
"I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were
already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!”
(Lk
12,49-50).
Holiness gives us this perfect science and knowledge of our lives.
Jesus is the Most Holy One in every moment and knows what he does
and why he does it. We who are sinners, simply do things, without
wisdom, without knowledge and intellect. So doing, we do not give
birth to the Holy Spirit and if we do not give birth to him, the
world remains in its sin.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us
knowledge and wisdom.
But
when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth
Wednesday 16 MAY (Jn 16,12-15)
The prophet
Isaiah sees God's work and describes it with the image of the
shepherd who walks with the pitch of his sheep, in the condition in
which there are:
“Go up onto
a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of
your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and
say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power
the Lord GOD, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with
him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and
leading the ewes with care»”
(Is 40,9-11). God reveals and manifests himself progressively, to
the extent man is capable of receiving him. That is why revelation
has long times, because man is the one who needs long times to open
to the full truth of God. The Book of Sirach also reveals this
mystery. God does everything according to the time of man: “The
works of God are all of them good; in its own time every need is
supplied. At his word the waters become still as in a flask; he had
but to speak and the reservoirs were made. He has but to command and
his will is done; nothing can limit his achievement. The works of
all mankind are present to him; not a thing escapes his eye. His
gaze spans all the ages; to him there is nothing unexpected. No
cause then to say: "What is the purpose of this?" Everything is
chosen to satisfy a need”
(Sir 39,16-21).
This truth
should make a change to our whole ministry, which is often hasty,
impatient, neurotic, hysterical, and crazy.
Jesus comes
and sees his apostles still immature, small in faith, in charity,
and in hope. He sees them as small rough vessels. If they were large
and spacious and wide as the sea, he could pour into them all the
fullness of the truth, grace, science, and eternal wisdom. Instead
being them small, fragile raw clay jars, yet not even placed in the
furnace for their consolidation; he can pour into them only the
little initial truth and holiness which they are capable of
containing.
"I have
much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he
comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will
not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will
declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you
that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
He is about
to go away. He will not leave them incomplete, imperfect, raw, even
not educated in his truth, in his Gospel, and in his mission. He
will give them his Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord that guided
him in the fulfillment of every Word of the Father will come into
them and will guide them into all the truth. Throughout the course
of history he will announce them the future things; that is,
everything it is right they fulfill in that particular, unique and
unrepeatable historical moment. It is the Holy Spirit who will
ensure that in every place and every time there is no disparity,
contradictions, differences, disunion, detachment, separation from
the mission of Jesus. The only mission of Jesus will be the one of
his disciples. They will be called to manifest Jesus Christ with
their lives the same way that Christ Jesus was called to manifest
the Father in all his works. The Holy Spirit will be the live,
timeless, perfect, complete memory of Lord Jesus among his
disciples. He will not operate a distinction between Jesus and his
disciples; he will make these the living memory of the Crucified and
Risen Lord. As he made of Christ the living, present, and perfect
memory of the Father in his time; so at any time, and any place he
must make of every disciple of Jesus this living and present memory
of Jesus the Lord. The Holy Spirit makes Christ live by making his
disciples. It is his mission, his vocation, and his work throughout
history.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us the
Holy Spirit of God.
You
will grieve, but your grief will become joy
Thursday 17 MAY (Jn 16,16-20)
The Apostle
Peter sees in suffering the way to glory. The greater is the
suffering, the greater will be the glory in Heaven, near God:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his
great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that
is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who
by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation
that is ready to be revealed in the final time. In this you rejoice,
although now for a little while you may have to suffer through
various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious
than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove
to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you
do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an
indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of (your)
faith, the salvation of your souls”
(1Pt
1,3-9).
The image used
is of great comfort to us. When you extract gold or any other metal
from the mine, it is unclean. It is full of slag. It seems in all
like that statue mentioned by the prophet Daniel, whose feet are a
mixture of iron and clay, which breaks down due to a small rock that
is detached from a mountain top:
"In your vision, O king, you saw a statue, very large and
exceedingly bright, terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.
The head of the statue was pure gold, its chest and arms were
silver, its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron, its feet partly
iron and partly tile. While you looked at the statue, a stone which
was hewn from a mountain without a hand being put to it, struck its
iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces. The iron, tile, bronze,
silver, and gold all crumbled at once, fine as the chaff on the
threshing floor in summer, and the wind blew them away without
leaving a trace. But the stone that struck the statue became a great
mountain and filled the whole earth”
(Dn 2,31-35).
Every man is this mixture of iron and clay, mud and more resistant
material. For us to become a statue that remains stable over long
ages, here is what the Lord does: he comes, takes us, immerses us
into the furnace of suffering, cleanses us from all dross of sin,
vice, imperfection, not good wishes, imperfect will, dullness of
mind and heart, by conforming us to his holiness. So we are cleansed
from sin and its consequences, and coated with most pure grace,
every virtue, great holiness, supernatural beauty, moral elevation,
and perfect justice. Suffering is a sign that God is at work.
"A
little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while
later and you will see me." So some of his disciples said to one
another, "What does this mean that he is saying to us, 'A little
while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will
see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" So they said,
"What is this 'little while' (of which he speaks)? We do not know
what he means." Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said
to them, "Are you discussing with one another what I said, 'A little
while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will
see me'? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while
the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
As the
metal comes out purified from a furnace and can be used for any work
of man, so also the true disciple of Jesus. While he passes through
suffering he is purified, elevated and God uses him for His work of
redemption and salvation of all humanity. What is the true joy of
the apostle of the Lord? The one to know that every day he is
becoming more and more pleasing to the Lord, right in virtue of the
suffering to which he is subjected. However, for this it is urgent
to have a most pure faith in the heart, an increasing charity, and a
sure hope. God is preparing us to make us excellent tools for his
kingdom. The man of God welcomes suffering, which may also result in
martyrdom; and he lives it making an offering of his life to God.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints help us carry the
cross.
Because
of her joy that a child has been born into the world
Friday 18 MAY (Jn 16,20-23a)
The men
of God have
never gotten lost
before the great
suffering that ominous
loomed over them.
They always found
in the prayer and faith
the way of their
salvation:
"O Lord God, almighty King, all things are in your power, and there
is no one to oppose you in your will to save Israel. You made heaven
and earth and every wonderful thing under the heavens. You are Lord
of all, and there is no one who can resist you, Lord. You know all
things. You know, O Lord, that it was not out of insolence or pride
or desire for fame that I acted thus in not bowing down to the proud
Haman. Gladly would I have kissed the soles of his feet for the
salvation of Israel. But I acted as I did so as not to place the
honor of man above that of God. I will not bow down to anyone but
you, my Lord. It is not out of pride that I am acting thus. And now,
Lord God, King, God of Abraham, spare your people, for our enemies
plan our ruin and are bent upon destroying the inheritance that was
yours from the beginning. Do not spurn your portion, which you
redeemed for yourself out of Egypt. Hear my prayer; have pity on
your inheritance and turn our sorrow into joy: thus we shall live to
sing praise to your name, O Lord. Do not silence those who praise
you."
»
(Esther chapter C, 2-10).
Faith is
only one: the one the
Psalm reveals us:
“Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain
thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take
counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
“Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He
will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury,
saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy
mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said
to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I
will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends
of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of
iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” Now therefore, O
kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do
homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the
way, For His wrath may soon be kindled.
How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”
(Psalm 2,1-12).
God
has the
supreme government of our
history and if He
allows suffering, the melting pot,
the cross, martyrdom; he
allows all this
for his greater glory.
Amen,
amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world
rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a
woman is in labour, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the
pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your
hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On
that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say
to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
Here is
what
Jesus teaches before the
mystery of his death.
He sees himself in
all similar to a
woman about to give birth
to a son. There
are
labour
and
labour
pangs.
But then all this
suffering vanishes
as soon as the new creature
is born. Jesus goes
up the cross to give
birth to the Holy Spirit of
God This must come
out of the cut open bosom
of his heart. The
suffering is great, and unspeakable.
The result
is immense, divine, and imperishable.
This fruit,
given birth to by Jesus
on the cross, will be the
one to regenerate his disciples and
to constitute them his
true apostles, ministers,
and heralds of the Gospel.
He will make them his
living memory in the
world. Every true
birth of
the Word of God from
our heart necessitates
a rent of spear.
Otherwise no Word
of God might ever
arise from our hearts,
from our lives. Every
conversion of a soul is for
the disciple of Jesus
a birth from his daily
and perennial cross. If
we are not supported,
guided, trained,
enlightened, and led by
this truth; the risk is
only one, that
we waste the suffering
and we give birth neither
to the Gospel in the
hearts and nor to the Holy Spirit
in history.
Virgin
Mary, Mother
of the Redemption; Angels and
Saints help us in
suffering.
I
came from the Father and have come into the world
Saturday 19 MAY (Jn 16,23b-28)
Who is Jesus
Christ in his eternal, divine and human truth? What does Scripture
teach us about Him? It states with incontrovertible clarity that
Jesus is God, generated by God in the today of eternity:
“Why are
the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The
kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel
together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us
tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” He who
sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will
speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,
“But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy
mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to
Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I
will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends
of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of
iron, You shall hatter them like earthenware.’” Now therefore, O
kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.
Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do
homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the
way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take
refuge in Him!”
(Psalm 2,1-12).
“The Lord
says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a
footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will stretch forth Your strong
scepter from ion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” Your
people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy
array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.
The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest
forever According to the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your
right hand; He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath. He will
judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will
shatter the chief men over a broad country. He will drink from the
brook by the wayside; Therefore He will lift up His head”
(Psalm 110 (109) 1-7).
Today, the Father begets his Only Son. Today, he proclaims him his
Messiah. Today, he constitutes him priest forever after the order of
Melchizedek.
Jesus
affirms it with clarity: He came from the Father and came into the
world. Now he leaves the world again and goes to the Father. His
truth is this: he did not come into the world as he came out of the
Father and not even returns to the Father as he came into the world.
He came into the world becoming flesh in the womb of the Virgin
Mary, through the Holy Spirit. He returns to the Father turning his
flesh into light, into spirit in the bosom of the tomb, after his
crucifixion and death.
Amen,
amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will
give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and
you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. "I have told you
this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer
speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the
Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you
that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves
you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came
from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I
am leaving the world and going back to the Father."
Today, the
truth of Jesus Christ is in great suffering. People are almost
afraid of proclaiming it. In every place, they are always ashamed of
announcing, the difference that exists between Christ the Lord and
every other founder of a religion. The others are just men,
conceived in the original sin, like every other man. Made of sin in
the same way as their followers, who remain in sin for all the days
of their lives. On the contrary, with Jesus everything is different.
He is the Holy One, the innocent, the guiltless. He is the God who
came into our flesh to free man from all sin, to elevate him to the
dignity of an adopted child of God, making him partaker of the
divine nature, filling him of his Holy Spirit. Who follows Jesus
Christ, whoever believes in him, does not remain in sin. From the
kingdom of sin he is freed and introduced into the kingdom of God.
This truth must be affirmed, proclaimed, announced, and shouted to
every man so that he too lets himself be freed from his sin and
enters into the true freedom of the children of God. If we do not
say the truth of Christ, we do not love our brothers.
We know
they are in sin and abandon them to it.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints make us
true missionaries of Jesus.
A
little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and
you will see me
Sunday 20 MAY (Jn 16,15-20)
Every kind of
suffering in our world is the fruit of sin. The sin that generates
suffering and death is that of Adam and Eve, but also every other
actual sin that man commits. The earth produces nothing but thorns
and troubles:
“To the man he said: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from
the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat, "Cursed be the ground
because of you! In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your
life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you, as you eat of
the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face shall you get
bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were
taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return."
”
(Gen 3,17-19).
That is why
the
world know how to give nothing but tears, grief, misery, and death.
On the
contrary, only joy comes from God; which however, is not a
superstructure for man, a robe that serves only to hide the internal
and external sadness that his very nature produces. With God joy has
a particular name. It is called salvation, redemption, liberation,
peace, true fellowship, harmony, and new creation. Here is what the
Lord announces his people through the prophet Isaiah:
“The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice
and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with
joyful song. The glory of Lebanon will be given to them, the
splendour of Carmel and Sharon; They will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendour of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make
firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are
frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with
vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will
the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared;
Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb
will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the
steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground,
springs of water; The abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for
the reed and papyrus. A highway will be there, called the holy way;
No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion
will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it. It is for
those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.
Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing,
crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness,
sorrow and mourning will flee”
(Is 35,1-10).
A
nation of sad and forlorn slaves becomes a free people.
Today, the
disciples are in sorrow because Jesus is about to leave them. This
abandonment is only for a moment, an instant. The instant that he
carries out the redemption of the world, clothes himself with the
eternal light in his transfixed body on the cross and will be back
among them again.
Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you
that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. "A little
while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later
and you will see me." So some of his disciples said to one another,
"What does this mean that he is saying to us, 'A little while and
you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,'
and 'Because I am going to the Father'?" So they said, "What is this
'little while' (of which he speaks)? We do not know what he means."
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, "Are you
discussing with one another what I said, 'A little while and you
will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me'?
Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world
rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
Death has no
power over Jesus the Lord, because sin had no power over Him. Death
will snatch him. It will hold him in its kingdom only for three
days. Then Jesus will return to his disciples and will remain there
forever. Nobody might ever steal this joy of theirs. This is also a
difference that you need to shout about the other founders of
religion. All the others are dead and lying in the tomb. Death is
still governing them. Jesus died, but now he is the Risen, the
Living, the Present, Life, Truth, and the living Way for man to
return to the truth of his humanity.
Others like
him do not exist.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us the
truth of Jesus.
In
the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered
the world
Monday
21 MAY (Jn 16,29-33)
When the
Apostle John wants to reassure the disciples of Jesus, he announces
them that it is possible to overcome the world:
“Everyone
who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and
everyone who loves the father loves (also) the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love
God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we
keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for
whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that
conquers the world is our faith. Who (indeed) is the victor over the
world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is
the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water
alone, but by water and blood. The Spirit is the one that testifies,
and the Spirit is truth. So there are three that testify, the
Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are of one accord.
If we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is surely
greater. Now the testimony of God is this, that he has testified on
behalf of his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has this
testimony within himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him
a liar by not believing the testimony God has given about his Son.
And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son. Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not
possess the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to
you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe
in the name of the Son of God”
(1Jn 5,1-13).
There is no other possibility. Who wants to overcome the world must
possess the purest, the holiest, the highest faith in Jesus Christ,
in his divine and human, heavenly and earthly truth, death and
resurrection, Words and grace, Gospel and everlasting life. Today,
the Christian does not overcome the world because he lacks in this
pure faith in Lord Jesus.
This is what
the Book of Revelation, the Book of true hope, announces us: the
victory of Jesus on the whole history:
“I saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.
It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals. Then I
saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to
open the scroll and break its seals?" But no one in heaven or on
earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine
it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the
scroll or to examine it. One of the elders said to me, "Do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,
enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals."”
(Rev 5,1-5). But Jesus also overcame the world for his faith. Faith
in Who? The most pure faith in his Father, in his Word, his every
command, in his will, in his desires of love and peace, of
redemption and cross. If Jesus had not had faith in every Word that
came out of the mouth of the Father, He too would have been a victim
of the tempter.
His
disciples said, "Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure
of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do
not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe
that you came from God." Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now?
Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be
scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not
alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that
you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but
take courage, I have conquered the world."
Jesus is about
to be crucified. How does he see his cross? As the greatest victory
over the world. The world thinks that by killing him, it would have
inflicted him the most humiliating defeat. It would have eliminated
him forever. It would have gotten rid of him for all the days of its
history. On the contrary, Jesus does not subject himself to the
world, to its sin, to its falsehood; he remains in the purest
obedience to his Father; he lives in fullness of faith the mystery
of his cross, remains in all his holiness and overcomes sin, death,
the prince of this world, every power of evil both of the earth and
of the netherworld. He overcomes and makes a gift of this
stunning
victory to every believer in him. The world can be overcome. Jesus
has won for his faith. Every one of his disciples will overcome it
by his faith in Him.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us a
strong, and holy faith.
That
they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent,
Jesus Christ
Tuesday 22 MAY (Jn 17,1-11a)
From today on,
the Gospel presents to our listening and our reflection the prayer
that Jesus elevates to his Father in the Supper Room for his Church.
Wanting to grasp the whole truth in it, it is right we proceed
principle by principle and revelation by
revelation.
We
will draw out the mystery through individual passages.
"Give
glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you",
Jesus asks the Father to clothe him with glory. How? By raising him,
making him be raised from the sepulchre. The resurrection is the
glory that Jesus asks the Father. How does Jesus Christ glorify the
Father? Acknowledging him before the whole world as the source in
eternity and in the time of his life. Another glory is this: Jesus
is from the Father but also the Father is from Jesus. How? It is
Jesus who must give him to the whole world in the fullness of his
grace and truth. Without the constant work of Christ the Lord and of
his body, the Father would remain forever without his true glory,
since man is blind because of his original sin and every other
actual sin; and never might he know the Father in his purest
essence. That is how this truth is proclaimed by Jesus in the next
principle.
“So that he
may give eternal life to all you gave him”.
God is eternal life. However, now from the time of Incarnation,
eternal life is all in Christ Jesus and the Father gives it through
him. Where Christ is absent, eternal life is also absent and man
remains perpetually in his death. Eternal life is not the one after
death. On the contrary, it is the life of the Father that Christ
gives to all believers in him. Here is how Jesus himself defines
eternal life.
"Now
this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God,
and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ":
It is not a matter of a mere knowledge of the mind. It is a
knowledge of life, because it is knowledge for participation in the
divine nature. It is as if man, who is flesh, were transformed into
God This is the knowledge: our transformation into God, into Christ,
and into the Holy Spirit. It is the knowledge by transformation and
conformation to the being of the one whom we are called to know.
When Jesus
had said this, he raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the
hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify
you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may
give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life,
that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you
sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the
work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with
the glory that I had with you before the world began. "I revealed
your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged
to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now
they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words
you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and
truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that
you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for
the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything
of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been
glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but
they are in the world, while I am coming to you.
“I revealed
your name to those whom you gave me out of the world”.
Jesus revealed the name of the Father, that is, his most pure
essence which is charity, mercy, piety, compassion, and eternal
truth. He manifested it to the disciples that the Father has given
him from the world, that is, from falsehood, sin and death.
"I pray for
them, I do not pray for the world":
Jesus prays for his disciples because the Father has given them to
him. The world did not give them to him and he does not pray for the
world. The prayer of Jesus is also governed by the will of the
Father.
“I will no
longer be in the world
".
Jesus never belonged to this world, because he has never known sin.
He was always from God, never from us, and never from the earth.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us
true knowledge.
I
gave them your word, and the world hated them
Wednesday 23 MAY (Jn 17,11b-19)
Today, Jesus
asks the Father to keep his disciples, and everything the Father has
given him in his name. But what does keeping someone in the name of
the Father mean? It means keeping him constantly in his love, his
truth, perfect justice, charity, compassion, mercy, freeing him from
every vice, sin and imperfection.
So far, Jesus
has been the one to keep all those whom the Father has given him.
What the Father has commanded him to do he did it. However, one has
been lost: the son of perdition, that is, Judah. The perdition of
Judas reveals us the mystery of human freedom, which can welcome or
reject, develop or not develop the gifts of God. Judah has welcomed
the calling, but then he has not persevered in it. He let his heart
be captured by greed, lust, covetousness, and for this reason has
been lost receiving the death of the wicked.
“So that
they may share my joy completely”:
in this further request Jesus asks the Father to grant his disciples
to possess his same joy, the one it is understood of his glorious
resurrection and ascension into heaven. Two things are needed for
them to have this joy: that the disciple persevere behind Jesus to
the end, without ever looking back. And that he too, the Apostle,
passes through the great crucible of suffering and passion, for ever
and ever confessing the truth of Lord Jesus. Without this daily
witness, if necessary also of martyrdom, the disciple of Jesus will
never know what the true joy of Jesus Christ is.
And now
I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I
am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have
given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with
them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded
them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in
order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to
you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy
completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because
they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep
them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more
than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word
is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the
world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be
consecrated in truth.
“I
gave them your word, and the world hated them”:
it is the only reason the world does not like the disciples of
Jesus. They are light, truth, justice, charity, mercy, compassion,
piety, kindness, and forgiveness. Instead the world is hatred, vice,
malice, revenge, feud, violent revolution, assassination, murder,
terror, evil, and wickedness. The disciples of Jesus walk with the
Word of their Teacher who is life eternal. The followers of the
world go on with the word of the devil which is eternal death. The
eternal death hates the eternal life and wants to suppress it.
"That
you keep them from the Evil one".
Jesus knows how hard it is to remain in the truth. The Devil with
art and science always new goes to the conquest of the disciples of
Jesus. Who might guard them from the spirit of evil is only the
Father. Only He can make himself dam and wall so that the Devil has
no power over them is. We should all put this truth in our heart:
salvation comes from God. We must constantly ask it to him.
"So
that they also may be consecrated in truth":
consecrating someone in the truth is removing him from falsehood and
turning him into truth in all his nature, thoughts, desires, heart,
mind, will, soul, spirit and body. The consecration is not a static
becoming, once and for all. It is instead a perpetual, dynamic
progressing, till reaching absolute perfection. A person is
consecrated to the truth, when he is visible in every moment and in
all things of his life: thoughts, words, and works.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints make us
the truth of Jesus Christ.
I
in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one
Thursday 24 MAY (Jn 17,20-26)
Jesus does not
pray only for the disciples who are in the Supper Room. With a
prophetic vision he sees all of humanity that would have opened to
the faith in him through the word of the apostles; and, today, he
prays to the Father for this vast multitude of his followers:
"For those who will believe in me through their word". By doing
so, Jesus teaches two essential truths of our faith. Faith starts
from the Word, if it remains eternally the Word of Jesus Christ. If
it is not Jesus Christ’s, it can generate faith in men but not in
the Crucified and Risen Lord. Every one of us is obliged to sow the
Word in the hearts, but also to pray every day for the fruits that
his sown Word produces not only today but for the duration of times.
“So
that they may all be one”.
Jesus wants his disciples to be one only thing. Not two things, not
more things. He wants them united and not divided, and concord and
not contrasting, in peace and not war, in the union and not
disunion. For this to happen you need one thing: that all obey the
Word of Jesus Christ the same way that Christ Jesus obeyed the Word
of the Father, in the most perfect communion of the Holy Spirit.
Creates unity who obeys Jesus Christ, who works for the Word of
Jesus Christ. The words of men will always create division, discord,
misunderstanding, war, division, separation, and estrangement.
“I in them
and you in me”: this
is the only rule for creating unity among the disciples of Jesus.
Everyone has to be one with Christ the Lord, one heart, one mind,
one wish, one will, and one obedience. If we are be one only thing
with Christ, we will be one with all those who are in Christ Jesus.
On the contrary, if we are separated from Christ the Lord, we will
also be separated among us. The perfect unity is built in the heart
of Christ.
“I pray
not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me
and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may
believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave
me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may
know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also
may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because
you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father,
the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that
you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it
known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in
them."
“That
where I am they also may be with me”:
the love of Jesus for his disciples is eternal. Love wants
communion, unity, being one thing and one life with the other. To
Jesus, one life is not consumed in time and then it ends. It must go
on into eternity, forever, without ever knowing the end. However,
the single life is one in time and eternity; it is on the cross, in
the grave, and in the resurrection. It is in martyrdom and in the
glory. It is in hunger and satiety. Today, one is with Christ where
he is; and he is in the great suffering. Tomorrow, he will be with
Him where he is; and he is the eternal glory of the Father.
The
world does not know you”:
Jesus came, he preached, he gave the world the Word of the Father.
The world refused to accept the Word. Without the Word of Jesus
Christ never might the world know the truth of the Father. Without
the Word of Christ the world will always have of the Father a
non-knowledge, or rather a partial, limited, false, lying,
deceitful, and incorrect knowledge. It will always have a God which
is a product of his mind, his heart, his desires, and his impiety.
On the contrary, having welcomed the Word, the disciples have
recognized that the Father has really sent Christ the Lord for their
salvation, redemption, justification, and conversion.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make us a
single thing with Jesus.
Simon,
son of John, do you love me more than these?
Friday 25 MAY (Jn 21,15-19)
Peter had
denied the Lord:“While
Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's maids
came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him
and said, "You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus." But he denied it
saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about."
So he went out into the outer court. [Then the cock crowed.] The
maid saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is
one of them." Once again he denied it. A little later the bystanders
said to Peter once more, "Surely you are one of them; for you too
are a Galilean." He began to curse and to swear, "I do not know this
man about whom you are talking." And immediately a cock crowed a
second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to
him, "Before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times."
He
broke down and wept”
(Mk 14,66-72).
To a man who is
seen and thought of as a person able to deny the Lord becomes
difficult to pay any obedience. Anyone could have cast this sin up
at him. The heart of man is truly an abyss of misery. This is the
true greatness of the love of Jesus: going to meet the sinner to
bring him back into his dignity before God and his brothers.
Reconciliation with God is infinitely easier than the one with men.
God is most pure holiness, mercy, piety, compassion, forgiveness, a
gift of grace and truth, the elevation of the sinner till making him
share in his divine nature. On the contrary, man, no. He is misery,
sin, closing in himself, enmity, unfair law, unjust justice, false
truth, affected charity, foolish prudence, foolish wisdom, and
depraved intelligence.
When
they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son
of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He
then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love
me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said
to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon, son
of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to
him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you
know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him,
"Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you
used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow
old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress
you and lead you where you do not want to go." He said this
signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he
had said this, he said to him, "Follow me."
Today, Jesus
does with Peter what the Father has done with the younger child who
had turned away from home:“While
he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was
filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed
him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and
against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.' But his
father ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest robe and put
it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take
the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a
feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life
again; he was lost, and has been found.'
Then the
celebration began”
(Lk 15,20-24).
After this day no one might ever doubt the love of Peter for Jesus.
He loves Jesus more than all the other disciples. On the basis of
this certainty, he can now graze sheep and lambs of Christ the Lord;
that his, of his entire Church.
In addition,
Jesus today makes Peter a great prophecy, not like the one made in
the Supper Room:“Simon
Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered
(him), "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will
follow later." Peter said to him, "Master, why can't I follow you
now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay
down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not
crow before you deny me three times."
(Jn
13.36-38). This time the prophecy serves to reassure the other
disciples of the Lord. Peter will never deny the Lord any more. He
will follow him up to the death on the cross.
Virgin Mary,
Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us our dignity.
Lord,
what about him?
Saturday 26 MAY (Jn 21,20-25)
Every man in
history is a unique, and unrepeatable mystery. This mystery belongs
only to his conscience and no one else. St. Paul tries to explain
the mystery of the person in the body of Christ, revealing the law
that governs the gifts bestowed by the Holy Spirit of God to every
person:
“Now in
regard to spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be
unaware.
You know
how, when you were pagans, you were constantly attracted and led
away to mute idols. Therefore, I tell you that nobody speaking by
the spirit of God says, "Jesus be accursed." And no one can say,
"Jesus is Lord," except by the holy Spirit. There are different
kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different
forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but
the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each
individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some
benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of
wisdom; to another the expression of knowledge according to the same
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of
healing by the one Spirit; to another mighty deeds; to another
prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another varieties of
tongues; to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same
Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each
person as he wishes. As a body is one though it has many parts, and
all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also
Christ. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first,
apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds;
then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of
tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do
all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in
tongues?
Do all
interpret?”(Cf.
1Cor 12,1-31). No one might ever know the development of a gift of
the Holy Spirit once it is placed in a heart. Then, God is jealous
of the future of every person and never reveals it. He keeps it well
hidden in his Spirit of truth.
But Peter
wished he could know the mystery of the future life of the Apostle
John. Will he be a martyr? Will not he be a martyr? Will he bear
witness to Christ Jesus with the blood, or his will be a heroic
testimony, but without bloodshed? Will the other follow the Master
as he must follow him? This is not the science of faith. It is just
useless and vain curiosity. It is a wish that will never have to
lodge in the heart of a man.
Peter
turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who
had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said,
"Master, who is the one who will betray you?" When Peter saw him, he
said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "What if I
want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You
follow me." So the word spread among the brothers that that
disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not
die, just "What if I want him to remain until I come? (What concern
is it of yours?)" It is this disciple who testifies to these things
and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There
are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be
described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain
the books that would be written.
This
mystery must never be forgotten. The other person is perpetually in
the hands of his God and Lord, who at any time might decide what is
best, and excellent for him. However, we know neither the better nor
the best, and for this we must refrain from an undue interference in
his life. That is why it is necessary for one to get rid of all
pride, jealousy, envy, curiosity, ignorance and foolishness. Today,
Jesus tells firmly Peter that he must care nothing about his
brothers lives as to their mission and work in the vineyard of the
Lord. He must only care about one thing: feeding sheep and lambs
with the most holy truth and grace the Lord entrusted him with.
Everything else is God’s, and he is the one who is in charge of the
government of every life in his Church. If we understood this
principle, we would live of true and holy relationships.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us the truth
of our lives.
When
he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth
Sunday 27 MAY (Jn 15,26-27;16,12-15)
The Holy
Spirit is the eternal witness of Jesus Christ with all his
disciples. His testimony is not to repeat what Christ has done,
said, taught, lived, and suffered. This would be a witness in the
manner of all the other witnesses that are made among men. It would
only be a matter of attesting on external facts. The inner truth of
the events of Jesus the Lord would be lacking.
Instead,
the testimony of the Holy Spirit is intelligence and wisdom of the
prophetic Scriptures on Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is intelligence
and knowledge of every word uttered by him, of every work performed
by him, of what he did and taught, of anything he experienced, not
only in time but also in eternity, before his incarnation, and even
after his glorious ascension into heaven.
An example of
this intelligence and science: let us read what happened near the
Calvary: “Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his
mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he
said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the
disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple
took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now
finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus
said, "I thirst." There was a vessel filled with common wine. So
they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up
to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, "It is
finished." And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Now since
it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on
the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a
solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they
be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first
and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when
they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not
break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and
immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified,
and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth,
so that you also may (come to) believe. For this happened so that
the scripture passage might be fulfilled: "Not a bone of it will be
broken." And again another passage says: "They will look upon him
whom they have pierced”
(Jn 19, 25-37). Without the intelligence and science of the Holy
Spirit - and this is his true testimony - we would have not been
able to enter into the depths of the mystery. Never would have we
been able to understand the meaning of what happened after the death
of Jesus. Never would have we entered into the truth of the
universal motherhood of the Mother of Jesus.
"When
the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit
of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And
you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when
he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He
will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will
declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you
that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
We can
know, in fullness of truth, the eternal before and after of Christ
together with all his history lived among us; only due to this
divine testimony. Without the Spirit of the Lord would always read
in a vulgar, pagan, vain, and empty way every event of the life of
the Lord. We would be like the Pharisees of his time, who lacking in
Holy Spirit, read everything through the sinful lens of their
hearts, making of Jesus Christ a traitor of the Father and a
falsifier of their religion. What is happening today in many people
of the Church. Being deficient in the Holy Spirit, they are able to
read neither the mystery of Christ nor the mystery of the Church. A
lot of confusion about the charismas and ministries arises due to
the absence of the Spirit.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, fill us to the
brim with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus,
looking at him, loved him
Monday 28 MAY (Mk 10,17-27)
No man must
think his life by himself. Every man is called to let his life be
thought by his God and Lord. That is why it is necessary he delivers
himself entirely in the hands of his God; consecrates himself to his
will, becomes a true sacrifice and a pleasing oblation to the Lord
through the offering he makes of himself to Him.
The first form,
the initial, and incipient one, of letting us be thought by God is
our entry in the Commandments of the Law. With them, man already
must run through a forced path that comes from the will of God and
not his own will, which derives its truth from the very nature of
the Lord, that is supreme and eternal good. Being man created in the
image of this eternal and infinite good, he knows that in the
Commandments the way toward the achievement of his goodness, at
least the initial one; is outlined. In fact, the Commandments were
brought to fulfillment by the Beatitudes. All the Old Testament
finds the fullness of its truth in the Gospel.
As he was
setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and
asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God
alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not kill; you shall not
commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false
witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.'"
He replied and said to him, "Teacher, all of these I have observed
from my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him,
"You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to
(the) poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
me." At that statement his face fell, and he went away sad, for he
had many possessions. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples,
"How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of
God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to
them in reply, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of
God! It is easier for a camel to pass through (the) eye of (a)
needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They
were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, "Then who can
be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For human beings it is
impossible, but not for God.
All things
are possible for God."
However,
the Commandments of the Law are not all the essence of the goodness
of God. This is infinite mercy, the total gift of himself to man. In
Christ Jesus, the gift of God is till the end and the end is only
one: the death on the cross of the Son of the Most High:
“And just
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man
be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal
life." For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal
life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever
believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe
has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name
of the only Son of God”
(Jn 3, 14-18).
The fulfillment of our truth is in this gift of ourselves till
death. We become real men, in all in the image of God, if we make
ourselves a holocaust, a sacrifice, an offering, and a consumption
for our brothers.
Today Jesus
asks this to the young man who already observes the Commandments of
the Law. These are the first step of our genuine humanization.
However, perfection is in the total gift of ourselves for the
Kingdom of God. To the proposal of Jesus, which is of a very high
love, he refuses. His great wealth keeps him prisoner. But the real
humanity is not from the goods that you own. It is a participation
in the divine life. It is an immersion into the nature of God. To
what avail are the goods of the earth for our genuine humanization,
if this happens through the work of God and no longer of creation?
It is sufficient that the Lord puts this truth in your heart and
everything is resolved for our greater good. But this is a very
great gift of the Lord. That is why everything is possible to him.
The
gift is his.
Virgin
Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints make us true and
perfect men.
We
have given up everything and followed you
Tuesday 29 MAY (Mk 10,28-31)
We can follow
the Lord only by grace that prevents every our decision. The Lord
comes with power in our lives, and seduces us, as the prophet
Jeremiah teaches; and then, our whole life is his:
“The word of the Lord came to me thus: Before I formed you in the
womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to
the nations I appointed you. "Ah, Lord GOD!" I said, "I know not how
to speak; I am too young." But the Lord answered me, Say not, "I am
too young." To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command
you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with
you to deliver you, says the Lord. Then the Lord extended his hand
and touched my mouth, saying, See, I place my words in your mouth!
This day I set you over nations and over kingdoms, To root up and to
tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant»”(Jer
1,4-10).“You
duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for
me, and you triumphed. All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me. Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and
outrage is my message; The word of the Lord has brought me derision
and reproach all the day. I say to myself, I will not mention him, I
will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire
burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it
in, I cannot endure it”
(Jer 20,7-9).
Without
such a powerful grace, nobody, humanly speaking, would be able to
leave everything and follow the Lord.
Peter
began to say to him, "We have given up everything and followed you."
Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up
house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or
lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not
receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and
brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with
persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come. But many that are
first will be last, and (the) last will be first."
God is
infinitely beyond his initial grace. By the grace of God we leave
all and we hand ourselves over to the building of his kingdom.
However, not only does he became our daily providence, our support,
help, comfort, consolation in the necessary, and more urgent things
of our lives. He goes infinitely beyond. He gives us a hundred times
more than what we left and in addition the eternal life, his
paradise, his joy that knows no end and in which our humanity
receives the fullness of its truth. So by the grace of God we answer
to his call. By the grace of God we carry out our mission. By the
grace of God we are assumed in the glory of Heaven.
This way,
our life becomes a perennial hymn to the grace of the Lord, which
manifests itself in us as great mercy. He loves us to such a point
as to want us entirely for himself on earth and in heaven. He wants
us freed from things. No distraction must take us from loving him
above all things. This truth was taught in a sublime way by St.
Paul:“I
should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious
about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a
married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may
please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin
is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in
both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious
about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am
telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint
upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord
without distraction”
(1Cor 7,32-35).
This is why
we must always pray so that the Lord grants this great grace; the
one, that is, of welcoming our call to be wholly and forever his,
without any deviation or distraction by the things of the earth.
This is so high a grace that it must be asked without interruption,
with fullness of faith, with charity that overflows from our hearts,
and with a hope against all hope.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints obtain this
grace for us.
You
do not know what you are asking
Wednesday 30 MAY (Mk 10,32-45)
The mystery
of Jesus is certainly an unfathomable abyss for any human mind. Only
in the Holy Spirit you may have a certain understanding of it. He is
the Messiah of the Lord, his Christ; however, he is a Messiah, a
Christ that lives out his mission in a unique, and singular way.
Instead of being welcomed by his people, he is discarded, delivered
to the Gentiles. Instead of being praised, he is crucified, after
having being wrongly accused. However, after three days He will rise
again. There is dismay, fear around Jesus. It is not a journey of
joy and exultation, but of great sadness.
The Apostles
seem to walk on another path, to go to another city. They are very
distant from Jesus. There seems to be between him and them lack of
communication. James and John ask him to be the first in his
kingdom: one on his right and the other on his left. They are
following a Messiah of human and earthly glory, and they claim human
and earthly glory from him. They want to be important on earth.
They
were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of
them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking
the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to
happen to him. "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of
Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and
they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles who
will mock him, spit upon him, scourge him, and put him to death, but
after three days he will rise." Then James and John, the sons of
Zebedee, came to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do
for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish (me)
to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may
sit one at your right and the other at your left." Jesus said to
them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup
that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am
baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup
that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am
baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left
is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared."
When the ten heard this, they became indignant at James and John.
Jesus summoned them and said to them, "You know that those who are
recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their
great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be
so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be
your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave
of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for many."
The real danger
of our discipleship is right this: marching, walking on a dual path:
the path of Christ the Lord and the one of his followers. That of
Lord Jesus is the way of redemption on the pouring out of his own
blood, on the sacrifice and holocaust of his life; that of his
followers on the search for an ephemeral, or even sinful glory,
because it is built on injustice, violence, abuse, privilege,
nepotism, sympathy and antipathy, slander, perjury, tyranny, deceit,
robbery, simony, deception, and any other oppression.
The real
question of religion is its constant, perennial, and continuous
purification. Ecclesia – it is said – semper purificanda. The Church
is always to be purified, cleansed, rinsed of all the dross of human
thought that day after day stick to her children. The purification
starts from the cleaning of his own conscience. Who purifies himself
helps the Church to be more pure. Never can you think of the
purification of others, without making you own. Operated your own,
you give others a perfect exemplariness of how to walk behind Jesus
the Lord. Unfortunately, what Jesus is teaching us in his Gospel is
happening. Every one of us is always ready to see the speck that is
in the other’s eye and never the beam that is in his eye.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints purify our
conscience.
Mary
set out and travelled to the hill country in haste
Thursday 31 MAY (Lk 1,39-56)
In the house of
Zechariah, Mary is the true image, the figure of the Church. She
reveals us one of the substantial differences that exists between
the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament the giver of the
Holy Spirit is Lord. He is the one that gives him. Never does it
pass from one person to another. Elisha ask Elijah for three
quarters of his spirit:
“When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, "Ask for
whatever I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha
answered, "May I receive a double portion of your spirit." "You have
asked something that is not easy," he replied. "Still, if you see me
taken up from you, your wish will be granted; otherwise not." As
they walked on conversing, a flaming chariot and flaming horses came
between them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. When
Elisha saw it happen he cried out, "My father! my father! Israel's
chariots and drivers!" But when he could no longer see him, Elisha
gripped his own garment and tore it in two. Then he picked up
Elijah's mantle which had fallen from him, and went back and stood
at the bank of the Jordan. Wielding the mantle which had fallen from
Elijah, he struck the water in his turn and said, "Where is the
LORD, the God of Elijah?" When Elisha struck the water it divided
and he crossed over. The guild prophets in Jericho, who were on the
other side, saw him and said, "The spirit of Elijah rests on
Elisha."”
(2kings 2,9-15). The
request is answered, but it is always the Lord that gives him.
On the
contrary, with the Virgin Mary everything changes. The person of God
is a true person of God to the extent that he gives the Holy Spirit.
The Virgin Mary is a true Woman of God. She is full of the Holy
Spirit and pours him into the house of Elizabeth at the mere sound
of her voice. It is as if her breath were of Holy Spirit. Elizabeth
is invested by the Spirit of the Lord that is in Mary and made a
prophet of the living God; and the baby she carries in her womb is
also filled with Him. The prophecy of the Angel Gabriel made to
Zacharias in the temple of Jerusalem is fulfilled for Mary. The Holy
Spirit that from Mary is now also on Elizabeth gives this latter the
intelligence of the mystery.
During
those days Mary set out and travelled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and
greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant
leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this
happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at
the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in
my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was
spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." And Mary said: "My
soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God
my saviour. For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold,
from now on will all ages call me blessed. The Mighty One has done
great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is from age to
age to those who fear him. He has shown might with his arm,
dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the
rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has
filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty. He has
helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy, according to his
promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her
home.
Today the
mystery of the Church and every other mystery we live in her -
especially the one contained in every sacrament - remains like
veiled both to the Christian and the world. The Church is considered
by many a merely human reality, with human structures. It is as if
Elizabeth had seen Mary as a woman, like all other women. This means
that we, the believers are the ones who are responsible for this
spiritual decay. We are responsible for the ignorance of the world
because we do not pour out the Holy Spirit, we do not donate him. We
do not give him, because we do not have him, we are not full of him.
This is the real urgency of the Church: filling herself with the
Holy Spirit, through a real, factual conversion and then filling the
whole world to the brim with him.
Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, Saints fill us to the
brim with the Holy Spirit.
Translated
by Gregory Sia
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