I, John, saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, "Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God." I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb."
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed:
"Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, "Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me, "These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 24 R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
1 The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. 2 For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
3 Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD? or who may stand in his holy place? One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain. R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face 5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD, a reward from God his savior. 6 Such is the race that seeks him, that seeks the face of the God of Jacob. R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face
SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St John 3:1-3
Beloved: See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
Mt 5:1-12A
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER The first reading of today, from the Book of Revelation, speaks to us of heaven and places before us "an immense multitude", incalculable, "of every nation, tribe, people and language" (Rev 7:9). They are the saints. Today, then, is a family feast. The saints are near to us, indeed they are our truest brothers and sisters. They understand us, they love us, they know what our true good is, they help us and they await us. They are happy and they want us to be happy with them in heaven. That is why they invite us on the way to happiness, indicated in today's Gospel: "Blessed are the poor in spirit [...] Blessed are the myths [...] Blessed are the pure in heart [...]". This way of bliss, of holiness, seems to lead to defeat. Yet - the first reading reminds us again - the saints hold "palm branches in their hands", that is, the symbols of victory. They have won, not the world. And they exhort us to choose their part, that of God who is Holy. Today our brothers and sisters do not ask us to hear a beautiful Gospel again, but to put it into practice, to set out on the way to the Beatitudes. It is not a question of doing extraordinary things, but of following every day this way that takes us to heaven, takes us into the family, takes us home. (Angelus, 1 November 2018)
FAUSTI - The speech is addressed to the "crowds", to humanity oppressed by the evil that comes to Him from the four cardinal points (4,23). The words that follow are the therapy that makes them new men, with the same Wisdom as the Son. God on Sinai revealed the Word. Here the Son manifests Himself, the prototype of every brother, a perfectly accomplished Word. In the background is the anonymous crowd. The disciple is the one who "learns" and comes close to Him to listen to Him and follow Him. He opens His mouth to reveal Himself to us, the Eternal Word of the Father. Jesus is the One who says and is said, the One who speaks, it is the Word itself. The discourse on the mountain is a baptismal catechesis, a breviary of Christian life, the rule of life of the Son. It is the new heart promised by the prophets. In fact, what Jesus says is what He lives, and with His Flesh He communicates to all flesh. His words are not law, but Gospel, they are not noble and difficult needs, but the sublime and beautiful gift that He offers us, making Himself our Brother. Without the gift of His Spirit, the beatitudes are a sublime ideology, The more desperate the more sublime they are. Eight times and one more, Jesus repeats the refrain, because the "judgment" of God, so different from ours, is impressed upon us. His Words have a unique subversive charge: they overturn the world and its values. Jesus congratulates the disadvantaged because they have "the great advantage". God is for them, with them, One of them! The root of Bliss, of course, is not being sick, but the "justice of God". which does not give each one its own, but according to need, privileging those who have less. In Greek it is not written "poor", which indicates one who has little and with pain, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort. It is written "beggar", which indicates one who is hiding, is indigent, mendicant. The beggar has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to be saved: he lives by gift. Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is indeed a gift from God, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother. The poor are necessarily humble: he lives on what the other gives him. This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being Himself. Each of us is what he or she has received. Poverty is the emptiness that all receives: the absolute one receives the Absolute. Poverty in spirit is humility, the first characteristic of love. It is understood by those who have the same feelings that were in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5-11). God is essentially poor, he possesses nothing. He is all of the Other. His own Being is being of the Son, if He is the Father, being of the Father if He is the Son, being of the Father and of the Son if He is the Spirit. "The first and last beatitudes are in the present, the others in the future. The Kingdom of God is already of the poor and persecuted. But the tension for a different future remains. The plant comes from the seed that has been laid down. No one is under any illusion; each one will reap what he has sown (Gal 6:7); and he who sows in tears will reap with jubilation (Ps 126). Against any triumphal or millennial temptation, the Kingdom is, in the present, always of the poor and the persecuted. The poor are afflicted. It is bad for him. "They shall be consoled" The present of affliction has a different future (Is 61,1). "Consolation" indicates the joy of the new world, in which there will be no more evil.
7:2-4, 9-14
RispondiEliminaI, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
holding the seal of the living God.
He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
"Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."
I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne,
and from the Lamb."
All the angels stood around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They prostrated themselves before the throne,
worshiped God, and exclaimed:
"Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving,
honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
"Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?"
I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows."
He said to me,
"These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."
Responsorial Psalm – Psalms 24
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
1 The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
2 For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
3 Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face
5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
6 Such is the race that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R. Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face
SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St John
3:1-3
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
Mt 5:1-12A
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,
and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.
He began to teach them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you
and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad,
for your reward will be great in heaven."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaThe first reading of today, from the Book of Revelation, speaks to us of heaven and places before us "an immense multitude", incalculable, "of every nation, tribe, people and language" (Rev 7:9). They are the saints. Today, then, is a family feast. The saints are near to us, indeed they are our truest brothers and sisters. They understand us, they love us, they know what our true good is, they help us and they await us. They are happy and they want us to be happy with them in heaven. That is why they invite us on the way to happiness, indicated in today's Gospel: "Blessed are the poor in spirit [...] Blessed are the myths [...] Blessed are the pure in heart [...]". This way of bliss, of holiness, seems to lead to defeat. Yet - the first reading reminds us again - the saints hold "palm branches in their hands", that is, the symbols of victory. They have won, not the world. And they exhort us to choose their part, that of God who is Holy. Today our brothers and sisters do not ask us to hear a beautiful Gospel again, but to put it into practice, to set out on the way to the Beatitudes. It is not a question of doing extraordinary things, but of following every day this way that takes us to heaven, takes us into the family, takes us home. (Angelus, 1 November 2018)
FAUSTI - The speech is addressed to the "crowds", to humanity oppressed by the evil that comes to Him from the four cardinal points (4,23). The words that follow are the therapy that makes them new men, with the same Wisdom as the Son. God on Sinai revealed the Word.
RispondiEliminaHere the Son manifests Himself, the prototype of every brother, a perfectly accomplished Word.
In the background is the anonymous crowd.
The disciple is the one who "learns" and comes close to Him to listen to Him and follow Him.
He opens His mouth to reveal Himself to us, the Eternal Word of the Father. Jesus is the One who says and is said, the One who speaks, it is the Word itself.
The discourse on the mountain is a baptismal catechesis, a breviary of Christian life, the rule of life of the Son. It is the new heart promised by the prophets.
In fact, what Jesus says is what He lives, and with His Flesh He communicates to all flesh.
His words are not law, but Gospel, they are not noble and difficult needs, but the sublime and beautiful gift that He offers us, making Himself our Brother.
Without the gift of His Spirit, the beatitudes are a sublime ideology,
The more desperate the more sublime they are.
Eight times and one more, Jesus repeats the refrain, because the "judgment" of God, so different from ours, is impressed upon us. His Words have a unique subversive charge: they overturn the world and its values. Jesus congratulates the disadvantaged because they have "the great advantage". God is for them, with them, One of them!
The root of Bliss, of course, is not being sick, but the "justice of God". which does not give each one its own, but according to need, privileging those who have less.
In Greek it is not written "poor", which indicates one who has little and with pain, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort. It is written "beggar", which indicates one who is hiding, is indigent, mendicant. The beggar has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to be saved: he lives by gift.
Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is indeed a gift from God, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother.
The poor are necessarily humble: he lives on what the other gives him.
This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being Himself.
Each of us is what he or she has received.
Poverty is the emptiness that all receives: the absolute one receives the Absolute.
Poverty in spirit is humility, the first characteristic of love.
It is understood by those who have the same feelings that were in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5-11).
God is essentially poor, he possesses nothing. He is all of the Other.
His own Being is being of the Son, if He is the Father, being of the Father if He is the Son, being of the Father and of the Son if He is the Spirit.
"The first and last beatitudes are in the present, the others in the future.
The Kingdom of God is already of the poor and persecuted.
But the tension for a different future remains. The plant comes from the seed that has been laid down.
No one is under any illusion; each one will reap what he has sown (Gal 6:7); and he who sows in tears will reap with jubilation (Ps 126).
Against any triumphal or millennial temptation, the Kingdom is, in the present, always of the poor and the persecuted. The poor are afflicted. It is bad for him.
"They shall be consoled"
The present of affliction has a different future (Is 61,1).
"Consolation" indicates the joy of the new world, in which there will be no more evil.