FIRST READING Proverbs 2:1-9 My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands, Turning your ear to wisdom, inclining your heart to understanding; Yes, if you call to intelligence, and to understanding raise your voice; If you seek her like silver, and like hidden treasures search her out: Then will you understand the fear of the LORD; the knowledge of God you will find; For the LORD gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; He has counsel in store for the upright, he is the shield of those who walk honestly, Guarding the paths of justice, protecting the way of his pious ones.
Then you will understand rectitude and justice, honesty, every good path.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11 Gustate et videte quoniam bonus.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times. I will bless the LORD at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth. My soul will glory in the LORD that the poor may hear and be glad. R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times. Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, who answered me, delivered me from all my fears. R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times. Look to God that you may be radiant with joy and your faces may not blush for shame. In my misfortune I called, the LORD heard and saved me from all distress. R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times. The angel of the LORD, who encamps with them, delivers all who fear God. Learn to savor how good the LORD is; happy are those who take refuge in him. R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times. Fear the LORD, you holy ones; nothing is lacking to those who fear him. The powerful grow poor and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
ALLELUIA Matthew 5:3 Beati pauperes spiritu quoniam; ipsorum est regnum caelorum. Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
GOSPEL Matt 19:27-29 Peter said to Jesus, "We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life." WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER To follow Jesus means to take up one's own cross - we all have it... - to accompany Him on His journey, an uncomfortable journey that is not that of success, of passing glory, but that which leads to true freedom, that which frees us from selfishness and sin. It is a question of operating a clear rejection of that worldly mentality that places its "I" and its interests at the center of existence: this is not what Jesus wants from us! Instead, Jesus invites us to lose our lives for Him, for the Gospel, to receive it renewed, realized and authentic. We are certain, thanks to Jesus, that this road leads to the end of the resurrection, to the full and definitive life with God. To decide to follow Him, our Master and Lord who became the Servant of all, requires us to walk behind Him and to listen carefully to Him in His Word - remember: to read every day a passage of the Gospel - and in the Sacraments. (Angelus, 13 September 2015)
FAUSTI - For a child, goods are a gift from the father to be shared with the brothers. Those who accumulate them make themselves slaves of selfishness and their brothers slaves of misery. Free is he who is able to use them in the service of others. The attachment to goods is the great deception, the seduction that suffocates the Word. The yearning for riches is the principle of all evils, true idolatry, which excludes from the Kingdom, which is for "the poor in spirit". Jesus offers us to live as "from the beginning" not only the relationship with the other and with ourselves, but also with the goods of the world. These are not the aims which to sacrifice one's own life and that of others, but the resource to be used as much as we need to live as children and brothers, with full freedom, without letting ourselves be conditioned. What we have for ourselves divides us from others, what we give, unites us. Material goods are therefore blessing and life if freely shared, curse and death if compulsively accumulated. Jesus gives us the gift of being free men, who know how to use all things instead of serving them and being their servants as slaves. We are sons, lords and not servants of creation, precisely because we serve our brothers and sisters."From the beginning" everything is a gift. Possessing and accumulating is destroying the very root of creation; violence to appropriate of the things destroys not only the fraternity, but also the very goods of which we live. The expulsion from Eden, like the exile from the promised land, is a bitter consequence of wanting to "seize" on what is given. The meaning of the Holy Year in Israel is to re-establish the sharing of goods, which inevitably tend to accumulate in the hands of a few to the disadvantage of all. This is the condition for living the earth. Otherwise the land is uninhabitable: it becomes a desert where injustice and violence of the powerful reign. The meaning of the Holy Year in Israel is to re-establish the sharing of goods, which inevitably tend to accumulate in the hands of a few to the disadvantage of all. The vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are a radical and visible testimony of that evangelical freedom towards things, persons and ourselves, which we must all have to love God and serve our brothers and sisters. Radical witness, however, is reserved for someone as a particular gift. We will not all do as Mother Teresa, but no one of us can neglect to live, as he can, that love for the least that she has so admirably witnessed. What is valid for material goods is valid for every other good, intellectual, moral and spiritual. It is a gift to be received as children and to be given to one's brothers and sisters, for the sake of Jesus, who has left everything, loses nothing, obtains everything and inherits happiness without end. The fullness of the gift will be manifested later, but already now the Kingdom is his.
RispondiEliminaFIRST READING Proverbs 2:1-9
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure my commands,
Turning your ear to wisdom,
inclining your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you call to intelligence,
and to understanding raise your voice;
If you seek her like silver,
and like hidden treasures search her out:
Then will you understand the fear of the LORD;
the knowledge of God you will find;
For the LORD gives wisdom,
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He has counsel in store for the upright,
he is the shield of those who walk honestly,
Guarding the paths of justice,
protecting the way of his pious ones.
Then you will understand rectitude and justice,
honesty, every good path.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11
Gustate et videte quoniam bonus.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
praise shall be always in my mouth.
My soul will glory in the LORD
that the poor may hear and be glad.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
Magnify the LORD with me;
let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, who answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
Look to God that you may be radiant with joy
and your faces may not blush for shame.
In my misfortune I called,
the LORD heard and saved me from all distress.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
The angel of the LORD, who encamps with them,
delivers all who fear God.
Learn to savor how good the LORD is;
happy are those who take refuge in him.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
Fear the LORD, you holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.
The powerful grow poor and hungry,
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord or: I will bless the Lord at all times.
ALLELUIA Matthew 5:3
Beati pauperes spiritu quoniam; ipsorum est regnum caelorum.
Blessed are the poor in spirit;
for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
GOSPEL Matt 19:27-29
Peter said to Jesus,
"We have given up everything and followed you.
What will there be for us?"
Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you
that you who have followed me, in the new age,
when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory,
will yourselves sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters
or father or mother or children or lands
for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more,
and will inherit eternal life."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
To follow Jesus means to take up one's own cross - we all have it... - to accompany Him on His journey, an uncomfortable journey that is not that of success, of passing glory, but that which leads to true freedom, that which frees us from selfishness and sin. It is a question of operating a clear rejection of that worldly mentality that places its "I" and its interests at the center of existence: this is not what Jesus wants from us! Instead, Jesus invites us to lose our lives for Him, for the Gospel, to receive it renewed, realized and authentic. We are certain, thanks to Jesus, that this road leads to the end of the resurrection, to the full and definitive life with God. To decide to follow Him, our Master and Lord who became the Servant of all, requires us to walk behind Him and to listen carefully to Him in His Word - remember: to read every day a passage of the Gospel - and in the Sacraments. (Angelus, 13 September 2015)
FAUSTI - For a child, goods are a gift from the father to be shared with the brothers. Those who accumulate them make themselves slaves of selfishness and their brothers slaves of misery.
RispondiEliminaFree is he who is able to use them in the service of others.
The attachment to goods is the great deception, the seduction that suffocates the Word.
The yearning for riches is the principle of all evils, true idolatry, which excludes from the Kingdom, which is for "the poor in spirit".
Jesus offers us to live as "from the beginning" not only the relationship with the other and with ourselves, but also with the goods of the world. These are not the aims which to sacrifice one's own life and that of others, but the resource to be used as much as we need to live as children and brothers, with full freedom, without letting ourselves be conditioned. What we have for ourselves divides us from others, what we give, unites us. Material goods are therefore blessing and life if freely shared, curse and death if compulsively accumulated.
Jesus gives us the gift of being free men, who know how to use all things instead of serving them and being their servants as slaves. We are sons, lords and not servants of creation, precisely because we serve our brothers and sisters."From the beginning" everything is a gift. Possessing and accumulating is destroying the very root of creation; violence to appropriate
of the things destroys not only the fraternity, but also the very goods of which we live.
The expulsion from Eden, like the exile from the promised land, is a bitter consequence of wanting to "seize" on what is given.
The meaning of the Holy Year in Israel is to re-establish the sharing of goods, which inevitably tend to accumulate in the hands of a few to the disadvantage of all. This is the condition for living the earth.
Otherwise the land is uninhabitable: it becomes a desert where injustice and violence of the powerful reign.
The meaning of the Holy Year in Israel is to re-establish the sharing of goods, which inevitably tend to accumulate in the hands of a few to the disadvantage of all.
The vows of chastity, poverty and obedience are a radical and visible testimony of that evangelical freedom towards things, persons and ourselves, which we must all have to love God and serve our brothers and sisters.
Radical witness, however, is reserved for someone as a particular gift.
We will not all do as Mother Teresa, but no one of us can neglect to live, as he can, that love for the least that she has so admirably witnessed.
What is valid for material goods is valid for every other good, intellectual, moral and spiritual. It is a gift to be received as children and to be given to one's brothers and sisters, for the sake of Jesus, who has left everything, loses nothing, obtains everything and inherits happiness without end.
The fullness of the gift will be manifested later, but already now the Kingdom is his.