FIRST READING Proverbs 8:22-31 Thus says the wisdom of God: "The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet the earth and fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. "When the Lord established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; when he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; when he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the human race."
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place-- What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet: R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth! All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas. R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
SECOND READING Romans 5:1-5 Brothers and sisters: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
ALLELUIA Cf. Rev. 1:8 Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Deo qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est. Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
GOSPEL John 16:12-15 Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Then, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit guides us “into all the truth” (Jn 16:13); not only does he guide us to the encounter with Jesus, the fullness of the Truth, but he also guides us “into” the Truth, that is, he makes us enter into an ever deeper communion with Jesus, giving us knowledge of all the things of God. And we cannot achieve this by our own efforts. Unless God enlightens us from within, our Christian existence will be superficial. Let us try asking ourselves: am I open to the action of the Holy Spirit? Do I pray him to give me illumination, to make me more sensitive to God’s things? This is a prayer we must pray every day: “Holy Spirit, make my heart open to the word of God, make my heart open to goodness, make my heart open to the beauty of God every day”. I would like to ask everyone a question: how many of you pray every day to the Holy Spirit? There will not be many but we must fulfil Jesus’ wish and pray every day to the Holy Spirit that he open our heart to Jesus. (General Audience 15 Maggio 2013)
FAUSTI - The going away of Jesus creates a vortex that also overwhelms us behind Him. The time between His departure and His return is the history of our life in the Spirit, history that is both church history and world history. The Spirit is like the light that dispels the darkness, shows to the world its deception and reveals to the disciples what they have not yet understood. The Spirit will make us understand the "unspoken" of what Jesus said to us, will make His presence actual in history, speaking here and now of what He said at that time. The whole of history is the fulfillment of the revelation of the Son, in the light of love that increases knowledge and knowledge that grows in love. The Word, the principle of all things, has a specific weight superior to any reality. Only after the cross, where we see and welcome His love, do we understand what Jesus said and we are able to bear the weight of His Words. If the Gospel narrates Jesus to us, the Spirit of love is like the light that makes us perceive and live Him. It is true that the flesh of Jesus showed us His glory. But this is never totally understood, it will always be more and more understandable, infinitely, because it is infinite. It is a dynamic truth, a journey of understanding and endless love. When the " to say " of Jesus has ceased, the " to speak " of the Spirit in us will continue, That will make His Words present to us. The Word that became flesh revealed everything to us. The Spirit repeats the Word to us and announces it again, giving us light and to interpret and live it in our concrete situation. The Spirit of Truth will make us understand the mystery of the Son in history: This is the Spirit of prophecy, who makes us read what happens in the light of "He who comes". What happened to Him happens and will happen to every disciple, in every place and time. Our prophecy is an actualizing remembrance of Jesus: it shows us what He does, now as then. Jesus revealed the Glory that the Son from always had, before the foundation of the world. Here it speaks of the future glorification of the Son in his brothers and sisters, through the Spirit who will make them live like Him. In fact, Jesus says: "I have given them the glory that You have given me", so that "the Love with which You loved me may be in them and so that I may be in them". The Paraclete will glorify the Son in us by taking what is His, His communion with the Father, communicating it to us. The Son is One with the Father (10:30): He has the same life and the same Glory, the same Love and the same will of saving the world. The Spirit transmits all this to us, introducing us into the mystery of the Trinity, Love between Father and Son, that is poured out on every creature.This is essentially His work, which glorifies the Son in His brothers and sisters, until God be Everything in everyone. In this way we enter more and more into His ineffable relationship of Son with the Father, and we ourselves becoming children. Then our flesh, like His, will be exegesis of the invisible God. This is the glorification of the Son that the Spirit of Truth will conduct ahead in history, because of the fact that "Jesus is now going away" to the Father. His absence from us becomes His presence in us and, through us, in the whole world. Jesus' journey is like the rising of the sun that will achieve its full splendour, the rising of the spring that will fecundate the earth, the beginning of the Kingdom that will embrace everyone. Our existence as disciples therefore has an eschatological, definitive value: it is already now eternal life, because we live as children and as brothers... In fact, the Church testifies to the world that her authentic truth is the love from which she comes and towards which she goes. Our life in the Spirit is an affective union, but also an effective union, with Jesus: With and like Him we carry ahead the process of salvation for all. In this way we realize our return to the Father, which takes place day after day in the sign of love for our brothers and sisters.
APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO BERN HOMILY Solemnity of the Holy Trinity Sunday, 6 June 2004 1. "Blessed be God the Father and his Only-Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for he has shown that he loves us" On this first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church invites us to celebrate the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We do so, dear brothers and sisters, in a superb setting of snowy peaks and green valleys covered with an abundance of flowers and fruits and numerous lakes and springs that make your Land beautiful. Our meditation is guided by the first reading which brings us to contemplate divine Wisdom: "When [God] established the heavens... when he made firm the skies above..., when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit... when he marked out the foundations of the earth..." (Prov 8: 27-29).
Yet, we should not only turn our gaze toward creation, "the work of God's hands; it should be especially attentive to the people around us. I greet you with affection, dear brothers and sisters of this marvellous region in the heart of Europe. I would like to shake hands with each one of you to greet you personally and say to you: "The Lord is with you and he loves you!"... Dear young friends, may you know that the Pope loves you, that he accompanies you in his daily prayers, that he is counting on your collaboration to proclaim the Gospel and encourages you to advance confidently on the path of Christian life. 2. "We joyfully proclaim our faith... You have revealed your glory", we will say in the Preface. Our Eucharistic Assembly is a witness and proclamation of the glory of the Most High and of his active presence in history. Sustained by the Spirit, whom the Father sent to us through the Son, "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Rom 5: 3-4). I ask the Lord to be a witness of hope among you, a witness of that hope that "does not disappoint" because it is founded on God's love, "poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5: 5). Today, the world is especially in need of this: a supplement of hope! 3. "You are one Lord, one God" . The three Persons, equal and separate, are one God. Their real distinction does not divide the unity of their divine nature. Christ proposed this immensely deep communion to us, his disciples, as a model: "that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17: 21). The celebration of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is a strong appeal for the commitment to unity. It is an appeal that involves everyone, Pastors and faithful alike, and impels all to a renewed consciousness of their personal responsibility in the Church, the Bride of Christ. How is it possible, in the face of these words of Christ, not to feel the goad of ecumenism? I reaffirm also on this occasion the desire to advance on the path to full communion with all believers, albeit difficult, yet full of joy. It is certain, however, that a strong contribution to the ecumenical cause derives from the commitment of Catholics to living inner unity. In the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, I stressed the need "to make the Church the home and the school of communion " (n. 43), keeping the eyes of the heart fixed "on the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us" . In this way we foster that "spirituality of communion" which, departing from the places where people and Christians are formed, reaches the parishes, associations and movements. A local Church in which the spirituality of communion flourishes will be able to purify herself constantly from the "toxins" of selfishness that give rise to jealousy, diffidence, manias for self-affirmation and harmful contrasts.
4. May calling to mind these risks inspire in us a spontaneous prayer to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to us: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13). What is the truth? One day Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life" (Jn 14: 6). Thus, the correct formulation of the question is not "what is the truth?", but "who is the truth?". It is this question too that men and women of the third millennium are asking themselves. Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot be silent with the answer because we know it! The truth is Jesus Christ, who came into the world to reveal to us and give to us the Father's love. We are called to witness to this truth with words and especially with life! 5. Dear friends, the Church is mission! Today she also needs "prophets" who can reawaken in the communities faith in the revealing Word of God, who is rich in mercy (cf. Eph 2: 4). The time has come for preparing young generations of apostles who are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel. It is essential for every baptized person to pass from a faith of habit to a mature faith that is expressed in clear, convinced and courageous personal choices. Only such a faith, celebrated and shared in the liturgy and in fraternal charity, can nourish and fortify the community of the Lord's disciples and build it up into a missionary Church, free from false fears because she is certain of the Father's love. 6. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5: 5). It is not our merit; it is a free gift. Despite the burden of our sins, God has loved us and has redeemed us in the Blood of Christ. His grace has healed us in our inner depths. Therefore, we can exclaim with the Psalmist: "How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!". How great it is in me, in others, in every human being! This is the true source of the greatness of man, this is the root of his indestructible dignity. The image of God is mirrored in every human being. This is the deepest truth about man that can never be ignored or violated. In short, every violation by man turns out to be a violation against his Creator, who loves him with the love of a Father.
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS TO THE EARTHQUAKE-AFFECTED AREAS OF THE DIOCESE OF CAMERINO Sunday, 16 June 2019
“What is man that thou art mindful of him” we prayed during the Psalm (8:4). These words came to mind as I was thinking of you. Before what you have seen and suffered, before the crumbled houses and buildings reduced to ruins, this question comes to mind: What is man?. What is he if what he raises can crumble down in an instant? What is he if his hope can crumble to dust? What is man? The answer seems to lie in the continuation of the sentence: what is man that thou art mindful of him? God remembers us just as we are with all our frailties. In the uncertainty that we feel within and on the outside, the Lord gives us one certainty: He remembers us. He is re-mindful of us, that is, he returns to us with his heart because he cares for us. And while here on earth many things are quickly forgotten, God does not leave us in oblivion. No one is despicable in his eyes. Each of us has an infinite value for him: we are small beneath the sky and powerless when the earth trembles but to God we are more precious than any thing else. Memory is a keyword for life. Let us ask for the grace to remember each day that we are not forgotten by God, that we are his beloved, unique and irreplaceable children. Remembering this gives us the strength not to surrender before life’s setbacks. Let us remember our worth when we are faced with the temptation to feel sad and to continue dredging up the worst, which seems to be never-ending. Bad memories also appear when we are not thinking of them. But they dole out pain: they leave behind only melancholy and nostalgia. But how difficult it is to free oneself from bad memories! That adage — according to which it was easier for God to take Israel out of Egypt than Egypt out of of Israel’s heart — has merit.
In order to free the heart from a past that keeps returning, from negative memories that imprison, from paralyzing regrets, we need someone to help us carry the burden we have within. Indeed, today Jesus says there are “many things that we cannot bear” (cf. Jn 16:12). And what does he do in the face of our weakness? He does not remove our burdens as we would like, we who are always seeking quick and superficial solutions; no, the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit. We need him because he is the Comforter, that is, the one who does not leave us on our own under life’s burdens. He is the One who transforms our enslaved memory into free memory, past wounds into memories of salvation. He accomplishes in us what he did through Jesus: his wounds — those terrible lesions hollowed out by evil — by the power of the Holy Spirit have become channels of mercy, luminous wounds in which God’s love shines, a love that is uplifting, that enables us to rise again. This is what the Holy Spirit does when we invite him into our wounds. He anoints the bad memories with the balm of hope because the Holy Spirit is the builder of hope.
-->Hope. What hope is this? It is not a passing hope. Earthly hopes are fleeting. They always have an expiration date. They are made with earthly ingredients which sooner or later spoil. The hope of the Holy Spirit has a long shelf life. It does not expire because it is based on God’s fidelity. The Holy Spirit’s hope is not even optimism. It is born deeper; deep in our heart it rekindles the certainty that we are precious because we are loved. It instils the trust that we are not alone. It is a hope that leaves peace and joy within, irrespective of what happens outside. It is a hope that has strong roots that none of life’s storms can uproot. It is a hope, Saint Paul says today, that “does not disappoint us” (Rm 5:5) — hope does not disappoint! —, that gives us the strength to bear every trial (cf. Rm 5:2-3). When we are suffering or wounded — and you know well what it means to be suffering, wounded — we are led to ‘build a nest’ around our sorrows and our fears. But the Spirit releases us from our nests, helps us take flight, reveals to us the marvellous destiny for which we are born. The Spirit nurtures us with living hope. Let us invite him. Let us ask him to come into us and be close to us. Come, Spirit Comforter! Come to give us some light, to give us the meaning of this tragedy, to give us the hope that does not disappoint. Come, Holy Spirit! Closeness is the third and final word that I would like to share with you. Today we are celebrating the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity is not a theological riddle, but rather the splendid mystery of God’s closeness. The Trinity tells us that we do not have a solitary God above in heaven, distant and indifferent; no, he is Father who gave us his Son, who became man like us, and who, in order to be even closer to us, to help us bear the burdens of life, sends us his very Spirit. He, who is Spirit, enters our spirit and thus comforts us from within, bringing God’s tenderness into our heart. With God the burdens of life do not rest on our shoulders: the Spirit, whom we name each time we make the sign of the Cross precisely as we touch our shoulders, comes to give us strength, to encourage us, to bear the burdens. Indeed, he is an expert in resuscitation, in raising up again, in rebuilding. It takes more strength to repair than to build, to recommence than to start from scratch, to reconcile than to just get along. This is the strength that God gives us. Therefore those who draw near to God do not lose heart, but go forward: they recommence, try again, rebuild. They also suffer, but manage to start over, to try again, to rebuild.
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS Saint Peter's Square Sunday, 30 May 2010 After the Easter Season that ended last Sunday with Pentecost, the Liturgy has returned to "Ordinary Time". This does not mean, however, that Christians must be less any committed: indeed, having entered divine life through the sacraments, we are called daily to be open to the action of divine Grace, to progress in love of God and of neighbour. This Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, in a certain sense sums up God's revelation which was brought about through the Paschal Mysteries: Christ's death and Resurrection, his Ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The human mind and language are inadequate to explain the relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; yet the Fathers of the Church sought to illustrate the mystery of the Triune God by living it with deep faith in their own lives. The divine Trinity takes up his abode in us on the day of our Baptism: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Every time we sign ourselves with the sign of the Cross we remember God's name in which we were baptized. With regard to the sign of the Cross a theologian, Romano Guardini, remarked: "We do it before praying so that... we may put ourselves spiritually in order; focus thoughts, heart and will on God; after praying, so that what God has given us may remain within us.... It embraces the whole being, body and soul... and everything is consecrated in the name of the Triune God" (Lo spirito della liturgia). The sign of the Cross and the name of the living God therefore contain the proclamation that generates faith and inspires prayer. And just as in the Gospel Jesus promises the Apostles that: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13), so it happens in the Sunday Liturgy, from week to week, when priests dispense the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist. The Holy Curé d'Ars also reminded his faithful of this. "Who welcomed your soul", he asked, "at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest". Let us make our own the prayer of St Hilary of Poitiers: "Keep uncontaminated this upright faith that is in me and, until my last breath, grant me likewise this voice of my conscience, that I may be ever faithful to what I professed in my regeneration when I was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (De Trinitate, XII). Invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first creature to be fully inhabited by the Blessed Trinity, let us ask her protection and help to make good progress on our earthly pilgrimage.
GLORY to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ! Wonderful to the possibility of accompanying a Priest who raises to the Father in the Holy Mass, with His Son the Praise in the Spirit !
RispondiEliminaFIRST READING Proverbs 8:22-31
Thus says the wisdom of God:
"The LORD possessed me, the beginning of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
from of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
while as yet the earth and fields were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.
"When the Lord established the heavens I was there,
when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep;
when he made firm the skies above,
when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth;
when he set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the human race."
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Domine, Dominus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra!
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place--
What are humans that you are mindful of them,
mere mortals that you care for them?
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
Yet you have made them little less than a god,
crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them rule over the works of your hands,
put all things at their feet:
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
All sheep and oxen,
even the beasts of the field,
The birds of the air, the fish of the sea,
and whatever swims the paths of the seas.
R. O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!
SECOND READING Romans 5:1-5
Brothers and sisters:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions,
knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character,
and proven character, hope,
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
ALLELUIA Cf. Rev. 1:8
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Deo qui est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est.
Glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
to God who is, who was, and who is to come.
GOSPEL John 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaThen, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit guides us “into all the truth” (Jn 16:13); not only does he guide us to the encounter with Jesus, the fullness of the Truth, but he also guides us “into” the Truth, that is, he makes us enter into an ever deeper communion with Jesus, giving us knowledge of all the things of God. And we cannot achieve this by our own efforts. Unless God enlightens us from within, our Christian existence will be superficial. Let us try asking ourselves: am I open to the action of the Holy Spirit? Do I pray him to give me illumination, to make me more sensitive to God’s things? This is a prayer we must pray every day: “Holy Spirit, make my heart open to the word of God, make my heart open to goodness, make my heart open to the beauty of God every day”. I would like to ask everyone a question: how many of you pray every day to the Holy Spirit? There will not be many but we must fulfil Jesus’ wish and pray every day to the Holy Spirit that he open our heart to Jesus. (General Audience 15 Maggio 2013)
FAUSTI - The going away of Jesus creates a vortex that also overwhelms us behind Him.
RispondiEliminaThe time between His departure and His return is the history of our life in the Spirit, history that is both church history and world history.
The Spirit is like the light that dispels the darkness, shows to the world its deception and reveals to the disciples what they have not yet understood.
The Spirit will make us understand the "unspoken" of what Jesus said to us, will make His presence actual in history, speaking here and now of what He said at that time. The whole of history is the fulfillment of the revelation of the Son, in the light of love that increases knowledge and knowledge that grows in love.
The Word, the principle of all things, has a specific weight superior to any reality.
Only after the cross, where we see and welcome His love, do we understand what Jesus said and we are able to bear the weight of His Words.
If the Gospel narrates Jesus to us, the Spirit of love is like the light that makes us perceive and live Him.
It is true that the flesh of Jesus showed us His glory. But this is never totally understood, it will always be more and more understandable, infinitely, because it is infinite.
It is a dynamic truth, a journey of understanding and endless love.
When the " to say " of Jesus has ceased, the " to speak " of the Spirit in us will continue, That will make His Words present to us.
The Word that became flesh revealed everything to us.
The Spirit repeats the Word to us and announces it again, giving us light and to interpret and live it in our concrete situation.
The Spirit of Truth will make us understand the mystery of the Son in history: This is the Spirit of prophecy, who makes us read what happens in the light of "He who comes".
What happened to Him happens and will happen to every disciple, in every place and time.
Our prophecy is an actualizing remembrance of Jesus: it shows us what He does, now as then.
Jesus revealed the Glory that the Son from always had, before the foundation of the world.
Here it speaks of the future glorification of the Son in his brothers and sisters, through the Spirit who will make them live like Him.
In fact, Jesus says: "I have given them the glory that You have given me", so that "the Love with which You loved me may be in them and so that I may be in them".
The Paraclete will glorify the Son in us by taking what is His, His communion with the Father, communicating it to us.
The Son is One with the Father (10:30): He has the same life and the same Glory, the same Love and the same will of saving the world.
The Spirit transmits all this to us, introducing us into the mystery of the Trinity, Love between Father and Son, that is poured out on every creature.This is essentially His work, which glorifies the Son in His brothers and sisters, until God be Everything in everyone. In this way we enter more and more into His ineffable relationship of Son with the Father, and we ourselves becoming children.
Then our flesh, like His, will be exegesis of the invisible God.
This is the glorification of the Son that the Spirit of Truth will conduct ahead in history, because of the fact that "Jesus is now going away" to the Father.
His absence from us becomes His presence in us and, through us, in the whole world.
Jesus' journey is like the rising of the sun that will achieve its full splendour, the rising of the spring that will fecundate the earth, the beginning of the Kingdom that will embrace everyone.
Our existence as disciples therefore has an eschatological, definitive value: it is already now eternal life, because we live as children and as brothers...
In fact, the Church testifies to the world that her authentic truth is the love from which she comes and towards which she goes.
Our life in the Spirit is an affective union, but also an effective union, with Jesus:
With and like Him we carry ahead the process of salvation for all.
In this way we realize our return to the Father, which takes place day after day in the sign of love for our brothers and sisters.
APOSTOLIC PILGRIMAGE OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II TO BERN
RispondiEliminaHOMILY Solemnity of the Holy Trinity
Sunday, 6 June 2004
1. "Blessed be God the Father and his Only-Begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for he has shown that he loves us"
On this first Sunday after Pentecost, the Church invites us to celebrate the mystery of the Holy Trinity. We do so, dear brothers and sisters, in a superb setting of snowy peaks and green valleys covered with an abundance of flowers and fruits and numerous lakes and springs that make your Land beautiful. Our meditation is guided by the first reading which brings us to contemplate divine Wisdom: "When [God] established the heavens... when he made firm the skies above..., when he established the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit... when he marked out the foundations of the earth..." (Prov 8: 27-29).
Yet, we should not only turn our gaze toward creation, "the work of God's hands; it should be especially attentive to the people around us. I greet you with affection, dear brothers and sisters of this marvellous region in the heart of Europe. I would like to shake hands with each one of you to greet you personally and say to you: "The Lord is with you and he loves you!"...
Dear young friends, may you know that the Pope loves you, that he accompanies you in his daily prayers, that he is counting on your collaboration to proclaim the Gospel and encourages you to advance confidently on the path of Christian life.
2. "We joyfully proclaim our faith... You have revealed your glory", we will say in the Preface. Our Eucharistic Assembly is a witness and proclamation of the glory of the Most High and of his active presence in history. Sustained by the Spirit, whom the Father sent to us through the Son, "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Rom 5: 3-4).
I ask the Lord to be a witness of hope among you, a witness of that hope that "does not disappoint" because it is founded on God's love, "poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5: 5). Today, the world is especially in need of this: a supplement of hope!
3. "You are one Lord, one God" . The three Persons, equal and separate, are one God. Their real distinction does not divide the unity of their divine nature.
Christ proposed this immensely deep communion to us, his disciples, as a model: "that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17: 21). The celebration of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is a strong appeal for the commitment to unity. It is an appeal that involves everyone, Pastors and faithful alike, and impels all to a renewed consciousness of their personal responsibility in the Church, the Bride of Christ. How is it possible, in the face of these words of Christ, not to feel the goad of ecumenism? I reaffirm also on this occasion the desire to advance on the path to full communion with all believers, albeit difficult, yet full of joy.
It is certain, however, that a strong contribution to the ecumenical cause derives from the commitment of Catholics to living inner unity. In the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, I stressed the need "to make the Church the home and the school of communion " (n. 43), keeping the eyes of the heart fixed "on the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us" . In this way we foster that "spirituality of communion" which, departing from the places where people and Christians are formed, reaches the parishes, associations and movements. A local Church in which the spirituality of communion flourishes will be able to purify herself constantly from the "toxins" of selfishness that give rise to jealousy, diffidence, manias for self-affirmation and harmful contrasts.
4. May calling to mind these risks inspire in us a spontaneous prayer to the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised to send to us: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13).
RispondiEliminaWhat is the truth? One day Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life" (Jn 14: 6). Thus, the correct formulation of the question is not "what is the truth?", but "who is the truth?".
It is this question too that men and women of the third millennium are asking themselves. Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot be silent with the answer because we know it! The truth is Jesus Christ, who came into the world to reveal to us and give to us the Father's love. We are called to witness to this truth with words and especially with life!
5. Dear friends, the Church is mission! Today she also needs "prophets" who can reawaken in the communities faith in the revealing Word of God, who is rich in mercy (cf. Eph 2: 4). The time has come for preparing young generations of apostles who are not afraid to proclaim the Gospel. It is essential for every baptized person to pass from a faith of habit to a mature faith that is expressed in clear, convinced and courageous personal choices.
Only such a faith, celebrated and shared in the liturgy and in fraternal charity, can nourish and fortify the community of the Lord's disciples and build it up into a missionary Church, free from false fears because she is certain of the Father's love.
6. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit" (Rom 5: 5). It is not our merit; it is a free gift. Despite the burden of our sins, God has loved us and has redeemed us in the Blood of Christ. His grace has healed us in our inner depths.
Therefore, we can exclaim with the Psalmist: "How great is your name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!". How great it is in me, in others, in every human being!
This is the true source of the greatness of man, this is the root of his indestructible dignity. The image of God is mirrored in every human being. This is the deepest truth about man that can never be ignored or violated. In short, every violation by man turns out to be a violation against his Creator, who loves him with the love of a Father.
RispondiEliminaHOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE EARTHQUAKE-AFFECTED AREAS
OF THE DIOCESE OF CAMERINO
Sunday, 16 June 2019
“What is man that thou art mindful of him” we prayed during the Psalm (8:4). These words came to mind as I was thinking of you. Before what you have seen and suffered, before the crumbled houses and buildings reduced to ruins, this question comes to mind: What is man?. What is he if what he raises can crumble down in an instant? What is he if his hope can crumble to dust? What is man? The answer seems to lie in the continuation of the sentence: what is man that thou art mindful of him? God remembers us just as we are with all our frailties. In the uncertainty that we feel within and on the outside, the Lord gives us one certainty: He remembers us. He is re-mindful of us, that is, he returns to us with his heart because he cares for us. And while here on earth many things are quickly forgotten, God does not leave us in oblivion. No one is despicable in his eyes. Each of us has an infinite value for him: we are small beneath the sky and powerless when the earth trembles but to God we are more precious than any thing else.
Memory is a keyword for life. Let us ask for the grace to remember each day that we are not forgotten by God, that we are his beloved, unique and irreplaceable children. Remembering this gives us the strength not to surrender before life’s setbacks. Let us remember our worth when we are faced with the temptation to feel sad and to continue dredging up the worst, which seems to be never-ending. Bad memories also appear when we are not thinking of them. But they dole out pain: they leave behind only melancholy and nostalgia. But how difficult it is to free oneself from bad memories! That adage — according to which it was easier for God to take Israel out of Egypt than Egypt out of of Israel’s heart — has merit.
In order to free the heart from a past that keeps returning, from negative memories that imprison, from paralyzing regrets, we need someone to help us carry the burden we have within. Indeed, today Jesus says there are “many things that we cannot bear” (cf. Jn 16:12). And what does he do in the face of our weakness? He does not remove our burdens as we would like, we who are always seeking quick and superficial solutions; no, the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit. We need him because he is the Comforter, that is, the one who does not leave us on our own under life’s burdens. He is the One who transforms our enslaved memory into free memory, past wounds into memories of salvation. He accomplishes in us what he did through Jesus: his wounds — those terrible lesions hollowed out by evil — by the power of the Holy Spirit have become channels of mercy, luminous wounds in which God’s love shines, a love that is uplifting, that enables us to rise again. This is what the Holy Spirit does when we invite him into our wounds. He anoints the bad memories with the balm of hope because the Holy Spirit is the builder of hope.
-->Hope. What hope is this? It is not a passing hope. Earthly hopes are fleeting. They always have an expiration date. They are made with earthly ingredients which sooner or later spoil. The hope of the Holy Spirit has a long shelf life. It does not expire because it is based on God’s fidelity. The Holy Spirit’s hope is not even optimism. It is born deeper; deep in our heart it rekindles the certainty that we are precious because we are loved. It instils the trust that we are not alone. It is a hope that leaves peace and joy within, irrespective of what happens outside. It is a hope that has strong roots that none of life’s storms can uproot. It is a hope, Saint Paul says today, that “does not disappoint us” (Rm 5:5) — hope does not disappoint! —, that gives us the strength to bear every trial (cf. Rm 5:2-3). When we are suffering or wounded — and you know well what it means to be suffering, wounded — we are led to ‘build a nest’ around our sorrows and our fears. But the Spirit releases us from our nests, helps us take flight, reveals to us the marvellous destiny for which we are born. The Spirit nurtures us with living hope. Let us invite him. Let us ask him to come into us and be close to us. Come, Spirit Comforter! Come to give us some light, to give us the meaning of this tragedy, to give us the hope that does not disappoint. Come, Holy Spirit!
RispondiEliminaCloseness is the third and final word that I would like to share with you. Today we are celebrating the Most Holy Trinity. The Trinity is not a theological riddle, but rather the splendid mystery of God’s closeness. The Trinity tells us that we do not have a solitary God above in heaven, distant and indifferent; no, he is Father who gave us his Son, who became man like us, and who, in order to be even closer to us, to help us bear the burdens of life, sends us his very Spirit. He, who is Spirit, enters our spirit and thus comforts us from within, bringing God’s tenderness into our heart.
With God the burdens of life do not rest on our shoulders: the Spirit, whom we name each time we make the sign of the Cross precisely as we touch our shoulders, comes to give us strength, to encourage us, to bear the burdens. Indeed, he is an expert in resuscitation, in raising up again, in rebuilding. It takes more strength to repair than to build, to recommence than to start from scratch, to reconcile than to just get along. This is the strength that God gives us. Therefore those who draw near to God do not lose heart, but go forward: they recommence, try again, rebuild. They also suffer, but manage to start over, to try again, to rebuild.
SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY
RispondiEliminaBENEDICT XVI
ANGELUS Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 30 May 2010
After the Easter Season that ended last Sunday with Pentecost, the Liturgy has returned to "Ordinary Time". This does not mean, however, that Christians must be less any committed: indeed, having entered divine life through the sacraments, we are called daily to be open to the action of divine Grace, to progress in love of God and of neighbour.
This Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, in a certain sense sums up God's revelation which was brought about through the Paschal Mysteries: Christ's death and Resurrection, his Ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The human mind and language are inadequate to explain the relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; yet the Fathers of the Church sought to illustrate the mystery of the Triune God by living it with deep faith in their own lives.
The divine Trinity takes up his abode in us on the day of our Baptism: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Every time we sign ourselves with the sign of the Cross we remember God's name in which we were baptized. With regard to the sign of the Cross a theologian, Romano Guardini, remarked: "We do it before praying so that... we may put ourselves spiritually in order; focus thoughts, heart and will on God; after praying, so that what God has given us may remain within us.... It embraces the whole being, body and soul... and everything is consecrated in the name of the Triune God" (Lo spirito della liturgia).
The sign of the Cross and the name of the living God therefore contain the proclamation that generates faith and inspires prayer. And just as in the Gospel Jesus promises the Apostles that: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13), so it happens in the Sunday Liturgy, from week to week, when priests dispense the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist. The Holy Curé d'Ars also reminded his faithful of this. "Who welcomed your soul", he asked, "at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest".
Let us make our own the prayer of St Hilary of Poitiers: "Keep uncontaminated this upright faith that is in me and, until my last breath, grant me likewise this voice of my conscience, that I may be ever faithful to what I professed in my regeneration when I was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (De Trinitate, XII). Invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first creature to be fully inhabited by the Blessed Trinity, let us ask her protection and help to make good progress on our earthly pilgrimage.
GLORY to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit ! Wonderful to the possibility of accompanying a Priest who raises to the Father in the Holy Mass, with His Son the Praise in the Spirit !
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