Book of Sirach 27,4-7. When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do a man's faults when he speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in his conversation is the test of a man. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does a man's speech disclose the bent of his mind. Praise no man before he speaks, for it is then that men are tested.
Psalms 92(91) 2-3.13-14.15-16
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
To sing praise to your name, Most High, To proclaim your kindness at dawn And your faithfulness throughout the night.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, Like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow. They that are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall bear fruit even in old age; Vigorous and sturdy shall they be, Declaring how just is the LORD, My rock, in whom there is no wrong.
First Letter to the Corinthians 15,54-58.
And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: "Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,39-45. Jesus told his disciples a parable : "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye." A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
ANGELUS, 27 February 2022 Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
In the Gospel of today’s Liturgy, Jesus invites us to reflect on the way we look and the way we speak. Our gaze and our speech.
First of all, our gaze. The risk we run, the Lord says, is that we concentrate on looking at the speck in our brother’s eye without noticing the log that is in our own [eye] (cf. Lk 6:41). In other words, being very attentive to the faults of others, even those as small as a speck, serenely overlooking our own, according them little weight. What Jesus says is true: we always find reasons for blaming others and justifying ourselves. And very often we complain about things that are wrong in society, in the Church, in the world, without first questioning ourselves and without making an effort to change, first of all ourselves. Every fruitful, positive change must begin from ourselves. Otherwise, there will be no change. But, Jesus explains that by doing this, our gaze is blind. And if we are blind, we cannot claim to be guides and teachers for others: indeed, a blind person cannot lead another blind person, says the Lord (cf. v. 39).
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord invites us to clean up our gaze. He first asks us to look within ourselves to recognize our failings because if we are not capable of seeing our own defects, we will always be inclined to magnify those of others. If instead we acknowledge our own mistakes and our own flaws, the door of mercy opens up to us. And after looking within ourselves, Jesus invites us to look at others as he does — this is the secret, to look at others as he does — who does not look at evil first but at goodness. God looks at us in this way: he does not see irredeemable errors in us, but rather he sees children who make mistakes. It is a change in outlook: he does not focus on the mistakes, but on the children who make mistakes. God always distinguishes the person from his errors. He always saves the person. He always believes in the person and is always ready to forgive errors. We know that God always forgives. And he invites us to do likewise: not to look for evil in others, but the good.
After our gaze, today Jesus invites us to reflect on our speech. The Lord explains that “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (v. 45). It is true, from the way a person speaks, you can tell straight away what is in their heart. The words we use say who we are. At times, though, we pay scarce attention to our words and we use them superficially. But words carry weight: they enable us to express thoughts and feelings, to give voice to the fears we have and the plans we intend to realize, to bless God and others. Unfortunately, however, through our tongue we can also feed prejudices, raise barriers, attack and even destroy; we can destroy our brothers and sisters with our words. Gossip hurts and slander can be sharper than a knife! These days, especially in the digital world, words travel fast; but too many of them convey anger and aggression, feed false news and take advantage of collective fears to propagate distorted ideas. A diplomat, who was Secretary General of the United Nations, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that “to misuse the word is to show contempt for man” (D. Hammarskjöld, Markings, 1955, 112).
Let us then ask ourselves what type of words we use: words that express care, respect, understanding, closeness, compassion, or words that aim mainly to make us look good in front of others? And then, do we speak mildly or do we pollute the world by spreading venom: criticizing, complaining, feeding widespread aggression?
May Our Lady, Mary, whose humility was seen by God, Virgin of silence to whom we now pray, help us purify our gaze and our speech.
Dear brothers and sisters, in recent days we have been shaken by something tragic: war. Several times we have prayed that this road would not be taken. And let us not stop praying; indeed, let us implore God more intensely. For this reason, I renew to all the invitation to make 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. A day to be close to the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, to feel that we are all brothers and sisters, and to implore God for the end of the war.
FAUSTI - The Commandment: "Become merciful just as your Father is Merciful" (6, 36), synthesis of the whole discourse of Mercy, is the only main road to salvation. Against possible and easy deviations, it is now confirmed with a series of similarities. Whoever teaches otherwise is a blind guide, a false teacher; whoever acts differently, by criticizing the evil of others and not by seeing his own, he is a hypocrite. The Commandment of Mercy is the only way of salvation, because it makes us what we are, that is, "children of the Most High". Whoever lowers his throw, because he considers it too perfect, is a blind man who leads to perdition. Whoever thinks that he knows one more perfect, is a false teacher who teaches useless things. Mercy is the greatest good because it is that love which knows realistically how to know and take charge of evil. It prevents foolishness and the presumption of criticizing the others. Criticism must be exercised only against oneself, in order to know one's own evil and the mercy of which one is indigent.Thus one enters into possession of the "good treasure". The disciple lives of this treasure, which is the Cháris of God that he has experienced, and makes others sharing in it. Only the heart converted by and to mercy can save from evil. Man was born to love and has failed because he does not love. His essential desire cannot flourish, because it is rotten bud. .Only the heart converted by Mercy can turn into good treasure that is evil. If God's love has created everything from nothing, His Mercy saves everything from evil, worse than nothing. Judging others and justifying oneself is the grave sin of blindness that prevents one from knowing one's own evil and from knowing God. This double knowledge is given in mercy. To the disciple it is asked to remove his own beam that makes him blind: he must not consider himself just and not in need of mercy! Thus the root of the evil plant is healed. Then he can remove the mote from his brother's eye. Not with a complicated eye operation, but simply with his good eye, he sees good and does good, communicating an experience of goodness. The other is pardoned by me as I was pardoned! My eye toward the other is the same of God toward me! More one is a sinner, more one is worthy of merciful love.And, as I have experienced God towards me, it is I towards the other. Our wickedness towards others is the absence of mercy: it is the rotten bud of our bad tree. The fundamental evil is the blind eye that does not see its own evil and does not feel the need for mercy. The blind eye expresses a dark heart, without goodness. And this heart, as it sees, so also acts badly. It has a hand full of fruits with the taste of death. There is a strict connection between eye/heart/hand: the principle of good or bad action is the heart full or not of mercy; and the principle of mercy in our heart is the eye, its window, which recognizes its need and welcomes its light. The principle of good is therefore our eye/heart open to our evil and tenderened by the mercy that we have received.This mercy saves from evil and creates good. I met a man who was deaf to every bad word, while he had sensitive hearing to every good thing: in him evil was extinguished and good enlightened him. He had a selective sensitivity. The bad heart, instead, only feels the evil and germinates the worst, parasite victim of the evil and its multiplier. The serious problem of the disciple is to recognize himself as an evil plant with rotten fruits. This sincerity permits to the disciple not to be blind about his own blindness. Whoever sincerely sees himself, sees his own evil and the need that he has of mercy. It is the only condition for healing.
--->Jesus, Mercy of the Father, works the judgment so that those without sight may see and those with sight turn blind. Before Him, man can discover his own sin without fear and without shame, because he sees himself forgiven. To recognize my bad heart, which has treasured a great capital of evil of living, is the very grafting that makes me a good tree, puts me in communion with Him who forgives and with my brothers and sisters that then I forgive. From our fruits of death, we can easily recognize ourselves as bad wood. Thus we are willing to accept His forgiveness and accept the grafting of the Only Good Wood: the Tree of Mercy of the Father, the Cross of His Son, Given for us. The knowledge of my sin in this light finally makes me in solidarity with the Father and with my brothers and sisters.
Book of Sirach
RispondiElimina27,4-7.
When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do a man's faults when he speaks.
As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in his conversation is the test of a man.
The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does a man's speech disclose the bent of his mind.
Praise no man before he speaks, for it is then that men are tested.
Psalms 92(91)
2-3.13-14.15-16
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
To sing praise to your name, Most High,
To proclaim your kindness at dawn
And your faithfulness throughout the night.
The just one shall flourish like the palm tree,
Like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow.
They that are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall bear fruit even in old age;
Vigorous and sturdy shall they be,
Declaring how just is the LORD,
My rock, in whom there is no wrong.
First Letter to the Corinthians
15,54-58.
And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: "Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be firm, steadfast, always fully devoted to the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Luke
6,39-45.
Jesus told his disciples a parable : "Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,' when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye."
A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles.
A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS, 27 February 2022
Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
In the Gospel of today’s Liturgy, Jesus invites us to reflect on the way we look and the way we speak. Our gaze and our speech.
First of all, our gaze. The risk we run, the Lord says, is that we concentrate on looking at the speck in our brother’s eye without noticing the log that is in our own [eye] (cf. Lk 6:41). In other words, being very attentive to the faults of others, even those as small as a speck, serenely overlooking our own, according them little weight. What Jesus says is true: we always find reasons for blaming others and justifying ourselves. And very often we complain about things that are wrong in society, in the Church, in the world, without first questioning ourselves and without making an effort to change, first of all ourselves. Every fruitful, positive change must begin from ourselves. Otherwise, there will be no change. But, Jesus explains that by doing this, our gaze is blind. And if we are blind, we cannot claim to be guides and teachers for others: indeed, a blind person cannot lead another blind person, says the Lord (cf. v. 39).
Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord invites us to clean up our gaze. He first asks us to look within ourselves to recognize our failings because if we are not capable of seeing our own defects, we will always be inclined to magnify those of others. If instead we acknowledge our own mistakes and our own flaws, the door of mercy opens up to us. And after looking within ourselves, Jesus invites us to look at others as he does — this is the secret, to look at others as he does — who does not look at evil first but at goodness. God looks at us in this way: he does not see irredeemable errors in us, but rather he sees children who make mistakes. It is a change in outlook: he does not focus on the mistakes, but on the children who make mistakes. God always distinguishes the person from his errors. He always saves the person. He always believes in the person and is always ready to forgive errors. We know that God always forgives. And he invites us to do likewise: not to look for evil in others, but the good.
After our gaze, today Jesus invites us to reflect on our speech. The Lord explains that “out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (v. 45). It is true, from the way a person speaks, you can tell straight away what is in their heart. The words we use say who we are. At times, though, we pay scarce attention to our words and we use them superficially. But words carry weight: they enable us to express thoughts and feelings, to give voice to the fears we have and the plans we intend to realize, to bless God and others. Unfortunately, however, through our tongue we can also feed prejudices, raise barriers, attack and even destroy; we can destroy our brothers and sisters with our words. Gossip hurts and slander can be sharper than a knife! These days, especially in the digital world, words travel fast; but too many of them convey anger and aggression, feed false news and take advantage of collective fears to propagate distorted ideas. A diplomat, who was Secretary General of the United Nations, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that “to misuse the word is to show contempt for man” (D. Hammarskjöld, Markings, 1955, 112).
Let us then ask ourselves what type of words we use: words that express care, respect, understanding, closeness, compassion, or words that aim mainly to make us look good in front of others? And then, do we speak mildly or do we pollute the world by spreading venom: criticizing, complaining, feeding widespread aggression?
May Our Lady, Mary, whose humility was seen by God, Virgin of silence to whom we now pray, help us purify our gaze and our speech.
-->After the Angelus
EliminaDear brothers and sisters, in recent days we have been shaken by something tragic: war. Several times we have prayed that this road would not be taken. And let us not stop praying; indeed, let us implore God more intensely. For this reason, I renew to all the invitation to make 2 March, Ash Wednesday, a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Ukraine. A day to be close to the sufferings of the Ukrainian people, to feel that we are all brothers and sisters, and to implore God for the end of the war.
FAUSTI - The Commandment: "Become merciful just as your Father is Merciful" (6, 36), synthesis of the whole discourse of Mercy, is the only main road to salvation. Against possible and easy deviations, it is now confirmed with a series of similarities.
RispondiEliminaWhoever teaches otherwise is a blind guide, a false teacher; whoever acts differently, by criticizing the evil of others and not by seeing his own, he is a hypocrite. The Commandment of Mercy is the only way of salvation, because it makes us what we are, that is, "children of the Most High".
Whoever lowers his throw, because he considers it too perfect, is a blind man who leads to perdition.
Whoever thinks that he knows one more perfect, is a false teacher who teaches useless things.
Mercy is the greatest good because it is that love which knows realistically how to know and take charge of evil. It prevents foolishness and the presumption of criticizing the others. Criticism must be exercised only against oneself, in order to know one's own evil and the mercy of which one is indigent.Thus one enters into possession of the "good treasure". The disciple lives of this treasure, which is the Cháris of God that he has experienced, and makes others sharing in it.
Only the heart converted by and to mercy can save from evil.
Man was born to love and has failed because he does not love. His essential desire cannot flourish, because it is rotten bud. .Only the heart converted by Mercy can turn into good treasure that is evil.
If God's love has created everything from nothing, His Mercy saves everything from evil, worse than nothing.
Judging others and justifying oneself is the grave sin of blindness that prevents one from knowing one's own evil and from knowing God.
This double knowledge is given in mercy.
To the disciple it is asked to remove his own beam that makes him blind: he must not consider himself just and not in need of mercy!
Thus the root of the evil plant is healed.
Then he can remove the mote from his brother's eye. Not with a complicated eye operation, but simply with his good eye, he sees good and does good, communicating an experience of goodness.
The other is pardoned by me as I was pardoned! My eye toward the other is the same of God toward me! More one is a sinner, more one is worthy of merciful love.And, as I have experienced God towards me, it is I towards the other.
Our wickedness towards others is the absence of mercy: it is the rotten bud of our bad tree.
The fundamental evil is the blind eye that does not see its own evil and does not feel the need for mercy. The blind eye expresses a dark heart, without goodness.
And this heart, as it sees, so also acts badly.
It has a hand full of fruits with the taste of death. There is a strict connection between eye/heart/hand: the principle of good or bad action is the heart full or not of mercy; and the principle of mercy in our heart is the eye, its window, which recognizes its need and welcomes its light.
The principle of good is therefore our eye/heart open to our evil and tenderened by the mercy that we have received.This mercy saves from evil and creates good.
I met a man who was deaf to every bad word, while he had sensitive hearing to every good thing: in him evil was extinguished and good enlightened him. He had a selective sensitivity.
The bad heart, instead, only feels the evil and germinates the worst, parasite victim of the evil and its multiplier. The serious problem of the disciple is to recognize himself as an evil plant with rotten fruits.
This sincerity permits to the disciple not to be blind about his own blindness. Whoever sincerely sees himself, sees his own evil and the need that he has of mercy. It is the only condition for healing.
--->Jesus, Mercy of the Father, works the judgment so that those without sight may see and those with sight turn blind. Before Him, man can discover his own sin without fear and without shame, because he sees himself forgiven.
EliminaTo recognize my bad heart, which has treasured a great capital of evil of living, is the very grafting that makes me a good tree, puts me in communion with Him who forgives and with my brothers and sisters that then I forgive. From our fruits of death, we can easily recognize ourselves as bad wood. Thus we are willing to accept His forgiveness and accept the grafting of the Only Good Wood: the Tree of Mercy of the Father, the Cross of His Son, Given for us.
The knowledge of my sin in this light finally makes me in solidarity with the Father and with my brothers and sisters.