READING OF THE DAY A reading from the Book of Wisdom WIS 9:13-18B
Who can know God’s counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends? For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high? And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to Philemon PHMN 9-10, 12-17
I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment; I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary. Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Luke LK 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’ Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER A father’s affection, a mother’s tenderness, the gentle friendship among brothers and sisters, all this, even while being very good and valid, cannot be placed before Christ. Not because he wants us to be heartless and ungrateful, but rather, on the contrary, because the condition of a disciple demands a priority relationship with the teacher. Any disciple, whether a layman or laywoman, a priest or a bishop: an all-absorbing relationship. Perhaps the first question that we must ask a Christian is: “Do you meet with Jesus? Do you pray to Jesus?”. Those who allow themselves to be drawn into this bond of love and of life with the Lord Jesus become his representatives, his “ambassadors”, above all in the way of being, of living. It is important that the people be able to perceive that for that disciple Jesus is truly “the Lord”; He is truly the centre of his or her life, the everything of life. It does not matter then if, as for every human being, he or she has limitations and even makes mistakes — as long as he or she has the humility to recognize them; the important thing is that they not have a duplicitous heart — and this is dangerous. his is why Jesus prays to the Father so that the disciples may not fall prey to the worldly spirit. You are either with Jesus, with the spirit of Jesus, or you are with the spirit of the world. (Angelus, 2 July 2017)
FAUSTI - The guests at the banquet are the poor and excluded persons. They are entitled for the Kingdom, because they are like Jesus. Now it is told to the disciple to see well if he is among them, because, to be with Him, it is necessary to choose the same place as Him. That is why to those who don't leave everything, He repeats three times the refrain "he can't be my disciple". The Kingdom is offered free of charge. However, there are conditions for accepting it. The door is narrow (13:24). We are all too swollen to enter! Faced with Jesus' requests, no one is able to make it. Luke wants to make us aware of our inability, so that, despairing of us, we hope in Him. These words are a puncture that pierces us: deflating us from all presumption, it makes us humble, poor and beggars, because we cry out to Him, like the blind man of Jericho (18:35-43). Our only possibility of being disciples is the confessed impossibility: "When I am weak, it is when I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10): strengthened by the strength of Him who comforts me and makes everything possible for me (Phil 4:13). No claim is able to make us disciples. It is only a gift of grace that God grants to the humble and the poor. But if everything is the action of God, everything is also the freedom of man, who can accept it or not. The full and rich man is sent back empty-handed (1:53); but the open and empty mouth is filled. The poverty that Jesus demands is not stoic, it is motivated by love for Him. It touches all levels and is the only virtue which, the more material it is, the more spiritual it is. But only if it is dictated by love and does not harden towards others. Poverty involves humiliation and leads to humility. Even though it is curse and deprivation in itself, it becomes a cordial and necessary choice for the disciple who wants to be with his Lord. The demands of discipleship are: hatred of what is dear and love of what is hateful in the world, to go after Jesus; prudent evaluation of those who do not want to remain in the middle of the enterprise or be defeated and wise madness of one who finds his strength in losing everything. Otherwise one is like a senseless , useless salt. Irrecoverable and to be discarded. We are at the heart of the Lucanian catechesis, which unfolds in the journey from Samaria to Jerusalem. If that is the situation, who will climb the mountain of God? Who will decide evangelically to abandon everything to choose the Kingdom? The strength of this decision is the love of those who have been conquered by Him. He becomes the Only person, the Only One, the rest has no taste. The so-called "religious" life proposes to all the core of the Christian faith. Whoever recognizes in his Lord his whole, becomes a prophecy for the whole Church, reminding her of what is essential. If she neglects poverty, humility and chastity (there are so many adulterers!) , even as apostolic means, she becomes insipid salt.She loses the light of which she is a witness, she abandons her poor, humble and free Lord. Today the Church is particularly tempted to use, "for the sake of good", instruments of power, entering into competition with the world. She seeks a fake relevance, without knowing that her identity with the Crucified One is her only strength. Although it is natural to degenerate towards wealth, power and honor, even though it is "obvious" to fall into what Jesus has discarded as a temptation (4:1-12), nevertheless this concerns the coming of the Kingdom more than any other evil. It is said that poverty is "wall and defense" of religious life . When it breaks down and collapses, it falls into the hands of the enemy and loses its essence: it no longer demonstrates its trust in the Father. If the mirage of the world is to become rich, that of the disciple is to become poor. The Kingdom is of the poor, because the King Himself has revealed Himself to be poor.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaA reading from the Book of Wisdom
WIS 9:13-18B
Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to Philemon
PHMN 9-10, 12-17
I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Luke
LK 14:25-33
Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
A father’s affection, a mother’s tenderness, the gentle friendship among brothers and sisters, all this, even while being very good and valid, cannot be placed before Christ. Not because he wants us to be heartless and ungrateful, but rather, on the contrary, because the condition of a disciple demands a priority relationship with the teacher. Any disciple, whether a layman or laywoman, a priest or a bishop: an all-absorbing relationship. Perhaps the first question that we must ask a Christian is: “Do you meet with Jesus? Do you pray to Jesus?”. Those who allow themselves to be drawn into this bond of love and of life with the Lord Jesus become his representatives, his “ambassadors”, above all in the way of being, of living. It is important that the people be able to perceive that for that disciple Jesus is truly “the Lord”; He is truly the centre of his or her life, the everything of life. It does not matter then if, as for every human being, he or she has limitations and even makes mistakes — as long as he or she has the humility to recognize them; the important thing is that they not have a duplicitous heart — and this is dangerous. his is why Jesus prays to the Father so that the disciples may not fall prey to the worldly spirit. You are either with Jesus, with the spirit of Jesus, or you are with the spirit of the world. (Angelus, 2 July 2017)
FAUSTI - The guests at the banquet are the poor and excluded persons. They are entitled for the Kingdom, because they are like Jesus. Now it is told to the disciple to see well if he is among them, because, to be with Him, it is necessary to choose the same place as Him.
RispondiEliminaThat is why to those who don't leave everything, He repeats three times the refrain "he can't be my disciple". The Kingdom is offered free of charge. However, there are conditions for accepting it.
The door is narrow (13:24). We are all too swollen to enter!
Faced with Jesus' requests, no one is able to make it.
Luke wants to make us aware of our inability, so that, despairing of us, we hope in Him. These words are a puncture that pierces us: deflating us from all presumption, it makes us humble, poor and beggars, because we cry out to Him, like the blind man of Jericho (18:35-43).
Our only possibility of being disciples is the confessed impossibility:
"When I am weak, it is when I am strong" (2 Cor 12:10):
strengthened by the strength of Him who comforts me and makes everything possible for me (Phil 4:13).
No claim is able to make us disciples. It is only a gift of grace that God grants to the humble and the poor. But if everything is the action of God, everything is also the freedom of man, who can accept it or not.
The full and rich man is sent back empty-handed (1:53); but the open and empty mouth is filled.
The poverty that Jesus demands is not stoic, it is motivated by love for Him. It touches all levels and is the only virtue which, the more material it is, the more spiritual it is.
But only if it is dictated by love and does not harden towards others.
Poverty involves humiliation and leads to humility.
Even though it is curse and deprivation in itself, it becomes a cordial and necessary choice for the disciple who wants to be with his Lord.
The demands of discipleship are: hatred of what is dear and love of what is hateful in the world, to go after Jesus; prudent evaluation of those who do not want to remain in the middle of the enterprise or be defeated and wise madness of one who finds his strength in losing everything.
Otherwise one is like a senseless , useless salt. Irrecoverable and to be discarded. We are at the heart of the Lucanian catechesis, which unfolds in the journey from Samaria to Jerusalem.
If that is the situation, who will climb the mountain of God? Who will decide evangelically to abandon everything to choose the Kingdom? The strength of this decision is the love of those who have been conquered by Him.
He becomes the Only person, the Only One, the rest has no taste.
The so-called "religious" life proposes to all the core of the Christian faith.
Whoever recognizes in his Lord his whole, becomes a prophecy for the whole Church, reminding her of what is essential. If she neglects poverty, humility and chastity (there are so many adulterers!) , even as apostolic means, she becomes insipid salt.She loses the light of which she is a witness, she abandons her poor, humble and free Lord.
Today the Church is particularly tempted to use, "for the sake of good", instruments of power, entering into competition with the world. She seeks a fake relevance, without knowing that her identity with the Crucified One is her only strength. Although it is natural to degenerate towards wealth, power and honor, even though it is "obvious" to fall into what Jesus has discarded as a temptation (4:1-12), nevertheless this concerns the coming of the Kingdom more than any other evil. It is said that poverty is "wall and defense" of religious life . When it breaks down and collapses, it falls into the hands of the enemy and loses its essence: it no longer demonstrates its trust in the Father. If the mirage of the world is to become rich, that of the disciple is to become poor. The Kingdom is of the poor, because the King Himself has revealed Himself to be poor.