But this part of the Creed, Francis persisted, we say very hastily: yes, better to say it in a hurry, because we do not know how it will be, the flesh makes us afraid. It is enough to evoke the parable perhaps Lukes favourite of the Good Samaritan, who anoints with oil and binds the wounds (traumata: Lk 10:34) of the man who had been beaten by robbers and left lying at the side of the road. Never condemn a child. It is a vision that opens the heart, that makes the breath come easier, that invites hope. To worship the Lord, we first have to lift up our eyes. But Jesus' answer is clear: "It is written: "One does not live on bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God" (4:4). Entrust your prayer intentions to our network of monasteries. It is to do what the Magi did. Maybe youre wondering why Im preaching on this passage today. What is the message the Church gives us today with John? Living Waters does the same thing. but it will begin with one, then the other Don't be upset, let the children cry and scream. This Third Sunday of Ordinary Time is dedicated in a special way to the Word of God. From what? He wanted to do this to Jesus, he wants to do it to us: to lead us to desperation. In the words of Saint Augustine, our entire life is an exercise of holy desire (Homily on the First Letter of John, IV, 6). The Gospel passage (cf. When it comes to Jesus, we cannot sit around waiting with arms folded; he offers us life we cant respond by thinking about it or texting a few words! And to God who draws near, do I open the door to the Lord when I sense an interior inspiration, when I hear him ask me to do something more for others, when he calls me to pray? vv. We, todays Christians, have the joy of proclaiming and witnessing to our faith because there was that first announcement, because there were those humble and courageous men who responded generously to Jesus call. When we read this story, were not supposed to say, Wow! justice He came to bring into the world. So it is with success, money, career, honours and pleasures when these become our life. So, I dont see any excuse here. Traditionally, the Magi have been portrayed with colorful robes that represent the various peoples. . How many saints have turned to him! Unfortunately, in our own time, millions of families can identify with this sad reality. Dear brothers and sisters, today each one of us can ask: Am I a Christian who worships? Many Christians pray but they do not worship. These three phrases can help us to understand what it means to be a worshiper of the Lord. But it also tells us to set out. This means in littleness and by journeying. This post is a homily on the Gospel for September 25, 2016, which is the parable concerning the treatment of the beggar St. Lazarus and the rich man, who died and went to his just punishment as a result of failing to show compassion and help Lazarus while he lived (Luke 16: 19-31). Amen. e Gospel (cf. The Magi found Jesus not only from the star, which had meantime disappeared; they also needed the word of God. The Gospel warns us about this risk, for alongside the Magi it presents others who are incapable of worship. After receiving Baptism from John in the Jordan, Jesus was called by the Father my beloved Son (Mt 3:17), and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (cf. Every newborn child is a gift of joy and hope, and each baby that is baptized is a miracle of faith and a celebration for the family of God. Please let us not forget adoration. Yes, God is there, but how is God there? During the 40 days of Lent, as Christians we are invited to follow in Jesus footsteps and face the spiritual battle with the Evil One with the strength of the Word of God. Even more negative is the third attitude, that of Herod: fear. I was away from home and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing. The Holy Father began: "The Lord speaks to us again about the spirit of the world, about worldliness: how this worldliness works and how perilous it is. Do not forget it: this is the great time of Mercy! And to pray, no? They prayed, worked, communicated. us, when the Holy Spirit, having descended upon him after his Baptism in the Jordan, prompts him to confront Satan openly in the desert for 40 days, before beginning his public ministry. Do this (the Pope caresses his cheek) and peace is already made. There is always something new about those who have made a journey: they have learned new things, encountered new people and situations, and found inner strength amid the hardships and risks they met along the way. Only if we recover our taste for adoration will our desire be rekindled. he Gospel (cf. In fact, some of them probably went to him out of curiosity or to gain something because John had become quite popular. So, I leave you with a question about this. The people of Living Waters? It will do us good to pray every morning: Lord, I thank you for loving me; I am sure that you love me; help me to be in love with my own life! Not with my faults, that need to be corrected, but with life itself, which is a great gift, for it is a time to love and to be loved. This is the manner of God, who choose. Joseph and Mary were dwelling in Nazareth; they were not yet living together, because they were not yet married. That word has been given to the entire people of God to be welcomed and prayed over, so that it can be meditated upon together, by the whole people of God. When we anoint others, we ourselves are anointed anew by the faith and the affection of our people. And, having lost sight of the star, they met with a temptation, placed there by the devil: it was the deception of Herod. Like a rising star (cf. But what did they actually see? He demands of us real courage: the courage to be more powerful than evil by loving everyone, even our enemies. In his homily at Mass in the Chapel of Santa Marta on Friday morning, Pope Francis warned against the temptation of being influenced by a spiritualistic piety or of stopping only at the logic of the past and of the present. Epiphany is not an additional mystery, it is always the same mystery as the Nativity, viewed, however, from the dimensi. Baptising a child is an act of justice. Especially in loving and affectionate relationships, it is difficult to move from the logic of falling in love to the logic of a mature love. We find the answer in Jesus words to John: Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness (v. 15). and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter God revealed in Christ: there is no God without Christ. This is the message. The term crowd is not disparaging. May the Virgin Mary help us live open to Gods surprises. Questions that challenge us to leave behind our presumption that everything is fine, questions that open us to what is beyond us. And so it is that they are open to worship God. It must have been quite a struggle on one hand, a healthy curiosity and desire to know Jesus; on the other, the risk of appearing completely ridiculous. Considering their story, however, we could say that, above all, they receive three gifts. They called it dancing. The Sermon on the Mount begins with the words : Blessed are the poor in spirit. Sometimes we live in a spirit of a parking lot; we stay parked, without the impulse of desire that carries us forward. For me, this is the worst, the most demonic passage, in the Gospel. to save the lives of those dearest to you. And like the Magi, we too will experience a great joy (Mt2:10). What does it mean that St Joseph is patron of the Church? There you will answer me, as in the days of your youth"(Hosea 2:13-14). We are only the rich, we are this, we are that. Because in Baptism we are giving him a treasure, we in Baptism give him a pledge: the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that even if someone comes back from the dead, the Pharisees wont change. Dear brothers and sisters, John and his allergic reactions make us think. With the passage of time, lifes trials and difficulties experienced in faith help to purify our hearts, making them humbler and thus more and more open to God. It takes humility to do this. A bewilderment born of fear and foreboding before anything that challenges us, calls into question our certainties and our truths, our ways of clinging to the world and this life. The Lord himself was amazed by peoples faith; he rejoiced and he lost no opportunity to speak about it. Let us remember these three words. The Challenge to Bible Inerrancy: Combating Biblical Scepticism, Papal Supremacy in the Bible and Church Fathers, The Early Church Fathers Speak about the Eucharist. We must safeguard, always safeguard! Thank you for committing yourselves to meditating on it, living it and proclaiming it. He reminds us that all those who are seemingly hidden or in the second row are unparalleled protagonists in the history of salvation. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit came to remain in us. But Jesus teaches us that the Good News, which he brings, is not reserved to one part of humanity, it is to be communicated to everyone. But there, in Bethlehem, was a promise of newness, of gratuitousness. with this same method, God chose to come among us: the Incarnation, that is, by drawing near to the other, encountering the other, assuming the reality of the other and bringing the witness of our faith, everyone. In the desert he gives Moses the "ten words", the ten commandments. He was following a good plan for his life, but God was reserving another plan for him, a greater mission. What made these men of the East set out on their journey? Yet Jesus started from there: not from the forecourt of the temple of Jerusalem, but from the opposite side of the country, from Galilee of the nations, from the border region. The evil one then tries to instil in him three powerful poisons, to paralyse his mission of unity. Let's look at our lives: how many useless things surround us! He did not persist in following his own plan for his life, he did not allow bitterness to poison his soul; rather, he was ready to make himself available to the news that, in a such a bewildering way, was being presented to him. The Gospel warns us about this risk, for alongside the Magi it presents others who are incapable of worship. It requires getting off the pedestal and being immersed in the water of repentance. Jesus also sets an example on this, fastin. This is why Joseph gives us an important lesson. This is an alternative route to God's path, and these give us the sense of being self-sufficient, of the enjoyment of life as an end to itself. The Lord also reconciles on the journey: walking. nd it is always like this with Jesus. Nevertheless, a more moderate interpretation had taken hold after this in later Jewish practice that imposed only an act of repudiation along with civil and criminal consequences for the woman, but not stoning. And I was so touched by this mother who, faced with the problem of a son who has made a mistake and is in prison, doesnt leave him alone, puts her face forward and accompanies him. This time too, let us conclude with a prayer to Saint Joseph. It is a rite by which the people repented and committed to converting; a liturgical hymn says that the people went to be baptized bare of soul and barefoot an open, naked soul, without covering anything that is, with humility and with a transparent heart. He does not cast us alone into the fire. The reflection question is a very tough one, isnt it? Jn 1:35-39). True wisdom lies concealed in the face of this Child. That is why we work hard. And at this point, the angels approach to serve Jesus, who is faithful in handing Himself over to the Father (cf. In temptation, we often begin to dialogue with temptation, to dialogue with the devil: "Yes, but I may do this, then I confess, then this, that one". We become worshipers of the Lord through a gradual process. Mt 28:20). The devil always wants to create division, and it is what he sets out to do by tempting Jesus. And Saint Thomas adds: etiam mortalia, even the bad sins, the worst. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. Today let us look at our hands, so often empty of love, and let us try to think of some free gift that we can give without expecting anything in return. It happens. Mt 4:1-11). This is why the Baptist as Jesus would be later is harsh with hypocrites. December 2017 And this is the great time of mercy! Today I think we need a prayer for all migrants; migrants and all the persecuted, and all those who are victims of adverse circumstances: be they political, historical or personal circumstances. Mt 2:11). You know why? It is a justice that comes from love, from the depths of compassion and mercy that are the very heart of God, the Father who is moved when we are oppressed by evil and fall under the weight of sins and fragility. person who is apparently in second place, but whose attitude contains the entirety of Christian wisdom. Precisely in Jerusalem, the place of disappointment and opposition, where the path shown by heaven appeared to collide with walls erected by man, they discovered the way to Bethlehem. To carry the Word to all the peripheries! (Lk 16, 19-31). To the devil who tempted Him He replied, "It is not only by bread alone that man lives, but by every word that comes out of God's mouth" (Matthew 4:4). protect all those who flee because of war. We think, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven"(Mt 5:3). But the Church is not that little group that is close to the priest and commands everyone, no. And one will start to cry yet the concert has already begun! We live in an environment polluted by too much verbal violence, by so many offensive and harmful words, that the web amplifies. Instead, he pronounces very harsh words against those who use their possessions in a selfish way, without paying attention to the needs of others. I think of workers who leave behind convenience, who let go of doing nothing so as to put food on the table. The passage regarding Jesus lineage may seem somewhat repetitious: This one begot that one, that one begot this one, this one begot that one. Its a list. And here there is a very beautiful trace of the Christian vocation: to safeguard. First, in the world he created, in creation. The word, the exhortation of the Church from the very beginning of Lent is repent, Matthew (4:17): repent, says the Lord. God-with-us, God who draws near. A holy longing for God is the memory of faith, which rebels before all prophets of doom. But the desert leads us to them, to all those who are silenced, silently ask for our help. 2 Cor 4:16), as we grow in our understanding of how best to worship the Lord. Mt 2: 13-15, 19-23) recalls this obedience of the righteous Joseph three times, referring to the flight to Egypt and the return to the land of Israel. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which means, God-with-us (Mt 1:23). Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! ake, without expecting anything in return: this is the sure sign that we have found Jesus. To realize that the gaze of God lifts up, forgives and heals. This diligent searching of the Magi contrasts with the second attitude: the indifference of the high priests and the scribes. 8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, In Galilee of the Gentiles, on the sea route, beyond the Jordan, where Jesus preaches, there was the text notes a people plunged into darkness: foreigners, pagans, women and men from various regions and cultures (cf. Thus the light of Christ expands. But, seeing Jesus mingling with the sinners, we are surprised and ask ourselves: why did Jesus make that choice? Shock, pain, confusion, perhaps even irritation and disappointment. This episode takes place at a precise moment in Jesus life: immediately after his Baptism in the River Jordan and prior to his public ministry. v. 11). The family of Nazareth suffered such humiliation and experienced first-hand the precariousness, fear and pain of having to leave their homeland. Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. His grace helps us to shake off our apathy and opens our minds to ask the important questions in life. True, human beings have a need to worship, but we can risk missing the goal. Can we repeat them all together: may I, thank you, sorry. They call us to rise and go forth, to leave behind all that keeps us self-enclosed, to go out from ourselves and to recognize the splendour of the light which illumines our lives: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you (60:1). And I remind you of something I have said other times: Lets have a small Gospel, a pocket-size Gospel, to take in your bag, always with us. DAILY FATIMA PRAYER TO THE MOST HOLY TRINITY, POPE FRANCIS' REFLECTION ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY (YEARS A, B, C). The Evangelist highlights that alone, Joseph cannot explain to himself the event which he sees taking place before his eyes, namely, Marys pregnancy. Matthew, 25: Do likewise: little things. Thus, the fact that Josephs task is to protect Jesus and Mary stands out. the exclusive virtue of the hero. Let us ask ourselves this question: Do we find time for worship in our daily schedules and do we make room for worship in our communities? Mt 2:1-12). The Word of Jesus has reached us thanks to these men. Once again I had the joy of baptizing several babies, on today's feast of t. oday there were thirty-two of them. Their eyes were not fixed here below; they were windows open to the heavens. Let us protect with love all that God has given us! The text says that John wore a garment of camels hair, that his food was locusts and wild honey (Mt 3:4), and that he was inviting everyone to conversion. To lift up our eyes; to set out on a journey; to see. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. These wise men from the East are famous because of the gifts they offered. The Lord never disappoints. Gen 22): to give up what was most precious, the person most beloved. It means letting his consolation come down to earth. In the desert we find intimacy with God, the love of the Lord. Many events connected with Joseph fill the stories of the apocryphal, that is, non-canonical gospels, that have even influenced art and various places of worship. We usually know how to pray we ask the Lord, we thank him but the Church must move forward in her prayer of worship; we must grow in worshiping. These are the three attitudes that we find in the Gospel: the diligent searching of the Magi; the indifference of the high priests and the scribes, of those familiar with theology; and the fear of Herod. Today's Gospel narrative presents a situation that is embarrassing and a conflicting situation. The angel reveals to him that those who wanted to kill the Child are dead and orders him to leave with Mary and Jesus and return to his homeland (cf. These Pharisees and Sadducees believed they had it all together and, faced with the Baptists blunt appeal, justified themselves, saying: We have Abraham as our father (v. 9). Worshiping God is not something we do spontaneously. The poor man has gone to Abraham, and the rich man has gone to Hades, a place of torment. It was not easy for him; he had to face a number of obstacles. They give gold, incense and myrrh, but what are the three gifts they received? It was possible for the shepherds of Bethlehem, for the Magi of the East, for the Baptist, for Jesus Apostles, and for St Stephen, the first martyr, who exclaimed: Behold, I see the heavens opened! (Acts 7:56). In worship, we make it possible for the Lord to transform us by his love, to kindle light amid our darkness, to grant us strength in weakness and courage amid trials. Along the way, the wise men encountered many difficulties. Take courage, let us enter this desert of Lent, follow Jesus into the desert: with him our deserts will flourish. She draws her brightness from the Sun of Justice, and so she can say: It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Hexaemeron, IV, 8, 32). Andy mentioned that Mubeshire packs zip locks with snacks and necessities, and they give those to homeless people instead of money. That is what happened with the Magi, once they arrived at their final destination: Bethlehem. And we are annoying, but he never gets tired! The Gospel passage (cf. But our adherence to the Lord cannot be reduced to a mere personal effort, no. He, who alone knows us and who loves us fully, leads us to put out into the deep of life. 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