Wisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people. In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist. I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud. Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss. Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway." Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose territory should I abide? "Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.' Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be. In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion. Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain. I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.
Psalm 147:12-20
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you. He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat. He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs-- who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
Ephesians 1:3-14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
On this second Sunday after Christmas, the Word of God does not offer us an episode from the life of Jesus, but rather it tells us about him before he was born. It takes us back to reveal something about Jesus before he came among us. It does so especially in the prologue of the Gospel of John, which begins: “In the beginning was the Word” (Jn 1:1). In the beginning: are the first words of the Bible, the same words with which the creation account begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Today, the Gospel says that Jesus, the One we contemplated in his Nativity, as an infant, existed before: before things began, before the universe, before everything. He existed before space and time. “In him was life” (Jn 1:4), before life appeared.
Saint John calls Him the Verbum, that is, the Word. What does he mean by this? The word is used to communicate: one does not speak alone, one speaks to someone. One always speaks to someone. When we are in the street and we see people who talk to themselves, we say, “This person, something has happened to him...”. No, we always speak to someone. Now, the fact that Jesus was the Word from the very beginning means that from the beginning God wants to communicate with us. He wants to talk to us. The only-begotten Son of the Father (cf. v.14) wants to tell us about the beauty of being children of God; He is “the true light” (v. 9) and wants to keep us distant from the darkness of evil; He is “the life” (v. 4), who knows our lives and wants to tell us that he has always loved them. He loves us all. Here is today’s wondrous message: Jesus is the Word, the eternal Word of God, who has always thought of us and wanted to communicate with us.
And to do so, he went beyond words. In fact, at the heart of today’s Gospel we are told that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The Word became flesh : why does Saint John use this expression “flesh”? Could he not have said, in a more elegant way, that the Word was made man ? No, he uses the word flesh because it indicates our human condition in all its weakness, in all its frailty. He tells us that God became fragile so he could touch our fragility up close. Thus, from the moment the Lord became flesh, nothing about our life is extraneous to him. There is nothing that he scorns, we can share everything with him, everything. Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell us, to tell you that he loves you right there, that he loves us right there, in our frailties, in your frailties; right there, where we are most ashamed, where you are most ashamed. This is bold, God’s decision is bold: He became flesh precisely where very often we are ashamed; He enters into our shame, to become our brother, to share the path of life.
-->He became flesh and never turned back. He did not put on our humanity like a garment that can be put on and taken off. No, he never detached himself from our flesh. And he will never be separated from it: now and forever he is in heaven with his body made of human flesh. He has united himself forever to our humanity; we might say that he “espoused” himself to it. I like to think that when the Lord prays to the Father for us, he does not merely speak: he shows him the wounds of the flesh, he shows him the wounds he suffered for us. This is Jesus: with his flesh he is the intercessor, he wanted to bear even the signs of suffering. Jesus, with his flesh, is before the Father. Indeed, the Gospel says that He came to dwell among us . He did not come to visit us, and then leave; He came to dwell with us, to stay with us. What, then, does he desire from us? He desires a great intimacy. He wants us to share with him our joys and sufferings, desires and fears, hopes and sorrows, people and situations. Let us do this, with confidence: let us open our hearts to him, let us tell him everything. Let us pause in silence before the Nativity scene to savour the tenderness of God who became near, who became flesh. And without fear, let us invite him among us, into our homes, into our families. And also — everyone knows this well — let us invite him into our frailties. Let us invite him, so that he may see our wounds. He will come and life will change.
SAINT G.PAUL II - “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God: everything was made through him, and without him nothing was made of all that exists” (Jn. 1:1-3). “And the WORD became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14). . . “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not recognize Him. He came among his own, but his own did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:10-11). “But to those who received Him, He gave power to become SONS OF GOD: to those who believe in His name, who have been begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:12-13). “God no one has ever seen Him: the Only Begotten Son Himself, Who is in the bosom of the Father, has REVEALED Him” (Jn. 1:18). 4. John's Prologue is certainly the key text, in which the truth about the DIVINE SON Christ finds its full expression. He who in time “became flesh,” that is, man, is from eternity the DIVINITY itself, that is, the only-begotten SON: the God “who is in the bosom of the Father.” He is the SON “of the same substance as the Father,” He is “God from God.” From the Father He receives the fullness of glory. He is the WORD “through Whom all things were made.” And therefore all that exists owes to Him that “beginning,” of which the Book of Genesis speaks (cf. Gen 1)
S.FAUSTI - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children. The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn. It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable. The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses itself and gives itself, and another who listens to word, imprints it and welcomes it within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue. It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love. For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word. The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as It is love and life within God, It is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father. It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, Who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it Its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness. It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning. God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it. Only in him, created on the sixth day, the Word, working from the first day, find a hearing.
-> The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as its life and light. This light, which is in everyone, is the most inalienable good of man and offers to everyone, even in the most personal and mysterious ways, to enter into dialogue with the Father. The becoming Flesh of the Word is the point of arrival of the history of God who communicates Himself to man. The eternal Word, which was addressed to God and is God, at a precise moment "became" Flesh. It changes the way in which God communicates with us. That which always was and is "became" man, participating in our mortal condition. Love either finds or makes like. God is Love and whoever loves gives himself totally. By becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive. The acceptance or non-acceptance of the Word, which since Eden is for man a matter of life or death, is the fundamental theme of John's Gospel. Whoever accepts the Word has the dignity of the Word itself: he "becomes" what the Word is. It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father.
Sirach 24:1-12
RispondiEliminaWisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:
"I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.
I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss.
Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway."
Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose territory should I abide?
"Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.'
Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.
In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion.
Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain.
I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.
Psalm 147:12-20
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you.
He grants peace within your borders;
he fills you with the finest of wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs--
who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
Ephesians 1:3-14
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
John 1:(1-9), 10-18
EliminaIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
(John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS 3 January 2021
EliminaDear brothers and sisters, good afternoon!
On this second Sunday after Christmas, the Word of God does not offer us an episode from the life of Jesus, but rather it tells us about him before he was born. It takes us back to reveal something about Jesus before he came among us. It does so especially in the prologue of the Gospel of John, which begins: “In the beginning was the Word” (Jn 1:1). In the beginning: are the first words of the Bible, the same words with which the creation account begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Today, the Gospel says that Jesus, the One we contemplated in his Nativity, as an infant, existed before: before things began, before the universe, before everything. He existed before space and time. “In him was life” (Jn 1:4), before life appeared.
Saint John calls Him the Verbum, that is, the Word. What does he mean by this? The word is used to communicate: one does not speak alone, one speaks to someone. One always speaks to someone. When we are in the street and we see people who talk to themselves, we say, “This person, something has happened to him...”. No, we always speak to someone. Now, the fact that Jesus was the Word from the very beginning means that from the beginning God wants to communicate with us. He wants to talk to us. The only-begotten Son of the Father (cf. v.14) wants to tell us about the beauty of being children of God; He is “the true light” (v. 9) and wants to keep us distant from the darkness of evil; He is “the life” (v. 4), who knows our lives and wants to tell us that he has always loved them. He loves us all. Here is today’s wondrous message: Jesus is the Word, the eternal Word of God, who has always thought of us and wanted to communicate with us.
And to do so, he went beyond words. In fact, at the heart of today’s Gospel we are told that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The Word became flesh : why does Saint John use this expression “flesh”? Could he not have said, in a more elegant way, that the Word was made man ? No, he uses the word flesh because it indicates our human condition in all its weakness, in all its frailty. He tells us that God became fragile so he could touch our fragility up close. Thus, from the moment the Lord became flesh, nothing about our life is extraneous to him. There is nothing that he scorns, we can share everything with him, everything. Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell us, to tell you that he loves you right there, that he loves us right there, in our frailties, in your frailties; right there, where we are most ashamed, where you are most ashamed. This is bold, God’s decision is bold: He became flesh precisely where very often we are ashamed; He enters into our shame, to become our brother, to share the path of life.
-->He became flesh and never turned back. He did not put on our humanity like a garment that can be put on and taken off. No, he never detached himself from our flesh. And he will never be separated from it: now and forever he is in heaven with his body made of human flesh. He has united himself forever to our humanity; we might say that he “espoused” himself to it. I like to think that when the Lord prays to the Father for us, he does not merely speak: he shows him the wounds of the flesh, he shows him the wounds he suffered for us. This is Jesus: with his flesh he is the intercessor, he wanted to bear even the signs of suffering. Jesus, with his flesh, is before the Father. Indeed, the Gospel says that He came to dwell among us . He did not come to visit us, and then leave; He came to dwell with us, to stay with us. What, then, does he desire from us? He desires a great intimacy. He wants us to share with him our joys and sufferings, desires and fears, hopes and sorrows, people and situations. Let us do this, with confidence: let us open our hearts to him, let us tell him everything. Let us pause in silence before the Nativity scene to savour the tenderness of God who became near, who became flesh. And without fear, let us invite him among us, into our homes, into our families. And also — everyone knows this well — let us invite him into our frailties. Let us invite him, so that he may see our wounds. He will come and life will change.
EliminaBENEDICT XVI "JESUS OF NAZARETH"
RispondiEliminaSAINT G.PAUL II - “In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God. He was in the beginning with God: everything was made through him, and without him nothing was made of all that exists” (Jn. 1:1-3). “And the WORD became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw his glory, glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:14). . . “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, but the world did not recognize Him. He came among his own, but his own did not receive Him” (Jn. 1:10-11). “But to those who received Him, He gave power to become SONS OF GOD: to those who believe in His name, who have been begotten, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn. 1:12-13). “God no one has ever seen Him: the Only Begotten Son Himself, Who is in the bosom of the Father, has REVEALED Him” (Jn. 1:18).
RispondiElimina4. John's Prologue is certainly the key text, in which the truth about the DIVINE SON Christ finds its full expression. He who in time “became flesh,” that is, man, is from eternity the DIVINITY itself, that is, the only-begotten SON: the God “who is in the bosom of the Father.” He is the SON “of the same substance as the Father,” He is “God from God.” From the Father He receives the fullness of glory. He is the WORD “through Whom all things were made.”
And therefore all that exists owes to Him that “beginning,” of which the Book of Genesis speaks (cf. Gen 1)
S.FAUSTI - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children.
RispondiEliminaThe prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn.
It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable.
The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses itself and gives itself, and another who listens to word, imprints it and welcomes it within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue.
It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love.
For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word.
The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as It is love and life within God, It is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father.
It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, Who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it Its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness.
It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning.
God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it.
Only in him, created on the sixth day, the Word, working from the first day, find a hearing.
-> The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as its life and light.
EliminaThis light, which is in everyone, is the most inalienable good of man and offers to everyone, even in the most personal and mysterious ways, to enter into dialogue with the Father.
The becoming Flesh of the Word is the point of arrival of the history of God who communicates Himself to man. The eternal Word, which was addressed to God and is God, at a precise moment "became" Flesh.
It changes the way in which God communicates with us. That which always was and is "became" man, participating in our mortal condition. Love either finds or makes like.
God is Love and whoever loves gives himself totally. By becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive.
The acceptance or non-acceptance of the Word, which since Eden is for man a matter of life or death, is the fundamental theme of John's Gospel.
Whoever accepts the Word has the dignity of the Word itself: he "becomes" what the Word is.
It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father.