FAUSTS - Through John, Luke wants to guide the Christian to welcome the Lord who comes. It can be said that in the figure of John a sketch of Christian anthropology is made: it describes how one must understand man in relation to Christ, who comes to give him his true identity as a son of God. God's promise should not be diminished. It is over every expectation of man. This must continually become greater in order to be "waiting for God". The function of the Baptist is to keep it always open, so that he does not reduce the gift and glory of God to the level of a simple human hope. John explains that he does not raise man to God. He simply immerses him in his truth, in the water of his limit and of his death, in his created nature, waiting for the strongest come. This one will immerse him in the Holy Spirit, in the very life of God. This and nothing else is man's salvation: to participate in God's life, in the fire of His Light. It is about the Baptism of the people and of Jesus. Luke first of all recalls that Jesus prayed. It is a theme that the evangelist develops in all his work. The enlightenment, already given in Baptism to every believer, is kindled and maintained in prayer. It realizes the new relationship that there is with God, the relationship of Son and Father, it is the place of the experience of the Holy Spirit, life and love of God, a gift infallibly connected to it. To pray is to return to God. Prayer is the breath of life as a son of God in which Baptism has placed us. Without prayer, our divine sonship, instead of sinking and developing to its full extent, is atrophied and falls upon itself. The result of Jesus' prayer is that heaven was opened. The sky had closed on earth because of the disobedience of Adam, who had closed his heart to God. The Prophet's great desire was for God to tear through the sky, His dress and His veil: "If you would tear the heavens open and come down!" (Is 63:19) Now this desire is fulfilled. In Jesus' obedience, the heaven opened up to the earth. Now this God, whose delight is to be with the children of men, descends definitively among us in the person of the Holy Spirit, the gift of God (Spirit = life, Holy = of God). The physical figure of this Spirit - or His Descent - is like a dove. This fluttering of the dove over the newly Baptized recalls that of the Spirit of God over the waters of primordial chaos. It is also an allusion to Noah, the father of those saved from the water, who eagerly awaits the return of the dove that announces to him the end of the flood. And a voice from heaven came, the definitive voice of God, of that God who had no face, the voice that expresses the Word, who is His obedient Son. The eternal Word of God resounds in time: the Spirit has descended upon Jesus, in Him the Father recognizes His Son, the liberating Messiah, the "Beloved" unique Son of His Heart. His Public Life, contained between Baptism and Ascension, is God's window on the world. The witness of the disciples will serve to bring, through the proclamation, all men to this light of God.
RispondiEliminaFAUSTS - Through John, Luke wants to guide the Christian to welcome the Lord who comes.
It can be said that in the figure of John a sketch of Christian anthropology is made: it describes how one must understand man in relation to Christ, who comes to give him his true identity as a son of God. God's promise should not be diminished. It is over every expectation of man.
This must continually become greater in order to be "waiting for God".
The function of the Baptist is to keep it always open, so that he does not reduce the gift and glory of God to the level of a simple human hope.
John explains that he does not raise man to God. He simply immerses him in his truth, in the water of his limit and of his death, in his created nature, waiting for the strongest come. This one will immerse him in the Holy Spirit, in the very life of God.
This and nothing else is man's salvation: to participate in God's life, in the fire of His Light.
It is about the Baptism of the people and of Jesus. Luke first of all recalls that Jesus prayed. It is a theme that the evangelist develops in all his work.
The enlightenment, already given in Baptism to every believer, is kindled and maintained in prayer. It realizes the new relationship that there is with God, the relationship of Son and Father, it is the place of the experience of the Holy Spirit, life and love of God, a gift infallibly connected to it.
To pray is to return to God. Prayer is the breath of life as a son of God in which Baptism has placed us. Without prayer, our divine sonship, instead of sinking and developing to its full extent, is atrophied and falls upon itself.
The result of Jesus' prayer is that heaven was opened.
The sky had closed on earth because of the disobedience of Adam, who had closed his heart to God. The Prophet's great desire was for God to tear through the sky, His dress and His veil: "If you would tear the heavens open and come down!" (Is 63:19) Now this desire is fulfilled.
In Jesus' obedience, the heaven opened up to the earth.
Now this God, whose delight is to be with the children of men, descends definitively among us in the person of the Holy Spirit, the gift of God (Spirit = life, Holy = of God). The physical figure of this Spirit - or His Descent - is like a dove.
This fluttering of the dove over the newly Baptized recalls that of the Spirit of God over the waters of primordial chaos. It is also an allusion to Noah, the father of those saved from the water, who eagerly awaits the return of the dove that announces to him the end of the flood.
And a voice from heaven came, the definitive voice of God, of that God who had no face, the voice that expresses the Word, who is His obedient Son. The eternal Word of God resounds in time: the Spirit has descended upon Jesus, in Him the Father recognizes His Son, the liberating Messiah, the "Beloved" unique Son of His Heart.
His Public Life, contained between Baptism and Ascension, is God's window on the world. The witness of the disciples will serve to bring, through the proclamation, all men to this light of God.