J esus is in Jerusalem. The chief priests, the Scribes and the elders of the people have been thinking for a long time that he should be got rid of. A valid accusation against Him could be the one of ensnaring him in his speech.
First they send some Pharisees who ask him if it is lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not. They are sure: with this question Jesus will certainly be ensnared. However, Jesus did not fall into their snare and immediately the Sadducees arose with a question on the resurrection, charged with much theological venom. Even these cannot accuse him of anything. Jesus is divinely wise: he knows man’s heart, the Scriptures, the Father’s Omnipotence and the fullness of his truth.
Now one “of the Scribes who had heard them disputing, and, seen how well he had answered them, asks him: Which is the first of all commandments?” To the Scribes and teachers of the law it was a very important issue and every one had a particular answer to it. What does Jesus think? Which is his truth?
Jesus neither thinks, nor has his truths and nor does he exercise a particular will of his. The thoughts of Jesus are those of the Father and thus the truth He lives. He consigned himself to Him who sent him and his life pursues only one end: to always carry out all the Father’s works.
If we do not start from this principle of Christ, we will never be able to know what the Christian religion is. It is full knowledge of the Father’s revealed thought, a perfect science of the Word that the Father made re-echo among us; an exact science and, therefore, intelligence and wisdom in the understanding of what the Father told, manifested, commanded us.
Our religion is faith. The faith is in the Word. The Word is known, understood with the light of the Holy Spirit; it is lived with the power of the Lord’s grace; it is witnessed in its eternal truth through the conformation of our life to it; and it is announced in the sign of our holiness so that others may know the only way of life, may welcome and carry it out even in one of its smallest truths. If we get out of this road, we run aground in the swamps of human rationality, which always moves the boundaries of the faith, till constituting the will a principle of truth and of moral.
Today there is more faith in man’s will without reasons, than in God’s Word; however, not in those people who do not believe in God, but just in those who chose Christ Jesus as the only Person to follow. Apparently we follow Christ, in reality every one follows his own will without reasons of eternal truth. Therefore, that religious atheism which makes us all Christians without following Jesus Christ, starts; because we do not follow his Word, we do not reason according to his methodology, we do not think according to the ways He left us.
Jesus does not answer to the Scribe with one of his personal thoughts. He answer

s him with the Scriptures, thus making him understand that the Scriptures always give the right answers. All you have to do is to know them:” The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these”.

Today, the world poses so many questions to the Church, posing them to her sons, as it did to Christ Jesus. They answer. But what is the difference with Jesus? Jesus answered neither according to his thoughts, nor according to his desires. Neither did he exercise a particular will of his on things and events. He had no relationship with what happened in the world. Christ Jesus is eternally from the Father’s wisdom, science, will which He knew either because revealed in the Scriptures, or because in the long and intense night of solitude and prayer he asked the Father to manifest them to him.

His Word is never inopportune, never ambiguous, never imprudent, never imperfect, never out of time. You can draw no real accusation, either of a political or a religious nature, from it. Jesus is perennially fixed in the Father’s thoughts and these can be found in their full truth through the reading of the Sacred Scripture, which is truth outside of Him.

The Scribe also confesses the goodness of the answered received: 'Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, 'He is One and there is no other than he.' And 'to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself' is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.' (cfr. Mk 12,28-34). This is the strength of every one of Jesus’ disciples: arranging that from his knowledge, wisdom, prudence, shrewdness, truth of his answers nobody can ever say, if not lying, even a word against him; or if he wants to say anything he must repeat only what today the Scribe that had interrogated him said to him: “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying”. The Gospel was also placed by God in our prudence and wisdom. His Word was consigned to our intelligence, which must always be governed, illuminated, supported, guided and moved by the Holy Spirit of God.

Virgin Mary, Redemption Mother, help us understand that the truth must not be only for us, it must always be for the others, too; and for this reason it is necessary for us to present it to the brothers in the splendour of the eternal wisdom and intelligence of God’s Holy Spirit. You help us with your maternal intercession and we will announce and remind the Word of your Son Jesus in all its fullness of truth and doctrine. Mother to whom everything is possible, intercede so that our thoughts may never interfere in the Word of Jesus.

Sac. Costantino Di Bruno

“We hear once more the word of Elizabeth, fulfilled in Mary's Magnificat: 'Blessed is she who believed'. The first and fundamental act in order to become a dwelling place of God and thus find definite happiness is to believe; it is the faith, the faith in God, in that God who showed himself in Jesus Christ and makes himself be heard in the divine Word of the Holy Scripture” (Homily).

The greatness of the Virgin Mary is having believed in the Word of God and in its entire realization, without ever doubting about it. She put her life totally in God’s hands, put herself as real, efficacious, noble instrument of salvation for the whole world. Her poverty in spirit permitted the Father the incarnation of His Divine Son to be fulfilled, through the work of the Holy Spirit. A fundamental work for the salvation of men, and therefore She became home of the Most High.

Thanks to the incarnation the redemption of men has begun. The Kingdom of God definitively gets in touch with human history, because the Word of God made itself flesh, and thus each man becomes Body of Christ with the grace of Baptism (cfr. GS 22): “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16,15-16).

Faith is not a plain believing in God alone, so that every one may think and live the Christian faith his own way, according to his own demands and necessities. Faith is mind and heart adhesion to the God of the Word that manifests his will through the Holy Scriptures, read at the light of the Tradition and interpreted by the Church teachings, because, as the Apostle Peter affirms, “No Scripture is a matter of private interpretation” (2 Pt, 1, 20). Therefore, no Christian can give a personal interpretation to the Scriptures aside from the Body of Christ, which is the Church, one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.

The faith in the Word of God opens us to the prayer, to the sacramental life and lets us understand the necessity of conversion.

It is necessary to put ourselves in full communion with the Body of Christ, which is the Church, in order to understand the truth, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit, that, as Jesus affirms, “will guide us to all truth” (Jn 16, 13).

The faith asks for a personal act of abandonment of one’s own to God’s will: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mk 8,34); a journey of perennial conversion capable of making us live every single Word of the Gospel in order to conform ourselves more and more to Christ Jesus, our Lord.

The faith is not a private and intimist, but existential factor, which has to streak the existence, life, a man’s daily life. The faith must be visible to the neighbour, to whomever meets us, because our life must be a continuous act of faith towards the Lord, by carrying out his will in every action.

“(…) Believing is not only a kind of thought, an idea; as it has already been mentioned, it is a way of behaving, a form of living. Believing means following the trail indicated us by the Word of God” (Homily). This principle has ample implications in the spiritual life. When the Christian is not able to generate in the other the desire of God, this is a symptom of a “formal” relationship, not substantial and existential with Christ; he evidently lives a cult that doesn’t touch his conscience; he can no longer see his life in the light of God and as an answer to God, who interpellates him in every moment of his existence.

In order to bring our lif

e into a vision of faith the fear of God is necessary. “(…) His mercy is on those who fear him". [The Virgin Mary], with all the Scriptures, talks of the "fear of God". Perhaps this is a word we are little familiar with or we do not love very much. But "fear of God" is not anguish; it is quite a different thing. As sons, we have no anguish of the Father, but we have fear of God; the worry not to destroy the love on which our life is placed” (Homily). In order to take the sin away from the world and give man the possibility of becoming adoptive son of God, temple of the Holy Spirit, home of God; the Lord has donated his life on the cross. Like Christ, the Christian must give to God his life in favour of his own brothers, he must consume it for the good of the souls.

“Fear of God is that sense of responsibility that we are bound to possess, responsibility for the portion of the world that has been entrusted to us in our lives. It is responsibility for the good administration of this portion of the world and of history, and one, thus, helps the just building of the world, contributing to the victory of goodness and peace” (Homily).

Lives the “fear of God” who consigns his will to the Lord, who wants to put himself at his feet, to listen to his voice. The “fear of God” is deeply linked to the “poverty in spirit”. Who is afraid of the Lord does his best so that everything he carries out may be done according to His will, holiness, truth. The Lord looking at this behaviour of man spreads out on him his mercy, and fills him to the brim with all kind of spiritual richness, virtue, grace which he needs in his life.

Full of Holy Spirit, man can also fill up to the brim the other hearts and enable the other to the meeting with Christ, just as the Most Holy Mary brought Christ and the Spirit to Saint Elizabeth and this immediately recognized her as “the mother of my Lord”.

The man who looks for the Lord immediately recognizes who is full to the brim with Holy Spirit, who “brings” the Lord, because He is on both of them and wants to meet every man of good will. What bigger richness can man give to another man if not “his Lord”?

Who is full of Holy Spirit always sees in the other’s face a face to be loved, honoured, guarded, guided and served in Truth and in holiness. The law of incarnation says to us that Christ meets a man through the man that makes himself his home. We are the instruments of God; we are the ones who must bring “our” Lord to the other person. If we don’t do this we lack in our mission, because we do not give the other the possibility of meeting with Christ, and thus of saving himself.

But there is another truth man must live: the freedom of the other. After our witness, our invitation, a man can also refuse Christ, but he assumes all his responsibilities about this. As God respects the “no” of a man, man must also do it as well; however, continuing on offering his fervent witness in the love that he nurtures for his Lord.

From the Virgin Mary, Redemption Mother, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, we learn all these truths, that she lived in the absolute perfection. She contemplates the Church; because the Virgin Mary is her Mother. Every Christian must have a filial relationship with Her, to understand how to live the faith in the Word of Her Divine Son.

Mother of Hope, arrange for nobody to ever doubt on the truth of the Gospel and on its realization. Intercede for us, so that we may be filled to the brim with Holy Spirit and thus become real witnesses of the Risen, the Love made flesh, for the salvation of every man.

Sac. Fabio Rotella

HE IS ONE AND THERE IS NO OTHER BUT HIM
XXXI Sunday of O.T. Year B

THE LORD IS ONE (Dt 6,2-6)

Why does man change God with too much facility? Man does not change God just to change God. If it were so, passing from one God to another there would be no sense in it. Man changes God in order to change God’s Word. By changing the Word, he also changes his law and morality. To the sons of Israel, who are about to enter the Promised Land, the Lord says that there are no other Gods. “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone”. If only one is the Lord and he is our God, it follows that also one is the Word, one the law, one the moral of men. Whoever does not observe the moral that the Word entails is as if he changed God. Truthfully there is no other God and man is in the lap of death. When a man understands that the unity is not in God that takes place, but on God’s only Word, the only source of real life, then he will have made a step forward in the journey of his true humanity. Until he avoids the comparison with the only Word of God, his humanity will always be lived on the fringes of truth and of morality. One only God. One only Word of God. One only morality. One only real humanity.

HE HAS BEEN MADE PERFECT FOREVER (Heb 7,25-28)

Aaron’s priesthood was short lasting: the time span of a man’s life. With death another man used to take his place. Jesus’ priesthood is eternal, because after three days he has risen from death and now lives in heaven where he lives it in favour of the salvation of all humanity. The priesthood of Aaron’s sons was lived by men submitted to human fragility and weakness. They needed to offer sacrifices for the expiation of their own sins. On the contrary Christ is the holy, innocent man, without stain, separated from sinners, elevated above the heavens. He has no need to offer sacrifices day after day first for his own sins and then for those of the whole world. He offered himself once for all. His sacrifice is unrepeatable. These differences say the eternal abyss that exists between the priesthood according to Aaron and that of Christ Jesus. With Christ Jesus animals are no longer offered to the Lord, Jesus offers himself and in Him every one of his disciples is called to offer himself. They offer themselves by fulfilling in all and everything God’s Will in fullness of obedience and listening.

OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS, WHICH IS THE MOST IMPORTANT? (Mk 12,28-34)

SHE PUT IN TWO COINS, WORTH ONLY A FRACTION OF A PENNY
XXXII Sunday of O.T. Year B

THE JAR OF FLOUR WILL NOT BE USED UP (1Kings 17,10-16)

God loves the prophets and guards them, so that they may keep on carrying out their mission. Elijah is the prophet of the living God at a time of general idolatry. His life is menaced and he, through the Lord’s command, goes to Zarephath of Sidon: “Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you”. What the prophet asks the widow is not out of his will. Not even what he promises is through his will. The prophet must believe God’s word: Elijah obeys and sets up home in Zarephath, where he meets a widow who was gathering sticks and to whom he asks for some food. Who receives a command, too, must obey God’s word, which is always accompanied by the word of the faith: “'The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth”. Everything is from God’s word, which however, must turn into faith, into obedience, so that what the Lord says may be fulfilled to the smallest detail. Without the faith of who asks and who obeys, the word of God looses its efficacy. The efficacy of the word is the faith.

BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF (Heb 9,24-28)

The letter to the Hebrews talks of two apparitions of Jesus. “But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin by his sacrifice”. He has appeared in the flesh to carry out redemption, through his death by cross. However, there is a second coming, or appearance: “So also Christ, offered once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him.” Jesus will come to welcome all these into his kingdom. But whoever is going to wait for his salvation? Whoever believed in him, has lived according to his Word, carried out his will, gave him witness before men also with martyrdom, that is, with the sacrifice of his own life. Having persevered till the end, now he waits to be welcomed in Paradise, in the eternal place that Jesus after his death went to prepare for him. Who dissociates himself today, on earth, from his redemption, cannot wait the Lord for salvation. He may only wait for him for the judgement of eternal condemnation.

SHE PUT IN EVERYTHING - ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON (Mk 12,38-44)