The LORD said to Moses: “Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them."
Second reading From the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians GAL 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters: When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God. Gospel of the day
From the Gospel according to Luke LK 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Words of the Holy Father
That silence tells us that, if we would “keep” ourselves, we need silence. We need to remain silent as we gaze upon the crib. Pondering the crib, we discover anew that we are loved; we savour the real meaning of life. As we look on in silence, we let Jesus speak to our heart. His lowliness lays low our pride; his poverty challenges our outward display; his tender love touches our hardened hearts. To set aside a moment of silence each day to be with God is to “keep” our soul; it is to “keep” our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting. (Holy Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 1 January 2018)
FAUSTI - The center of these first chapters is the "tactile" knowledge of God that Mary has in generating, wrapping and laying her Son in the manger. The scene that is given to us to contemplate is the unique historical fact that happened two thousand years ago, first narrated, then announced as a sign that gives meaning to the whole History, and finally lived by the shepherds. Through the story that Mary first made to Luke, shepherd who became announcer, who transmitted it to us, we too are called to contemplate and touch with Her the Word of Life itself. "A Savior was born for you today who is Christ the Lord." Just as the first disciples from fishermen will become fishermen of men, so it is to be seen in these shepherds those who will then be the pastors of God's church. They are the first who have believed the Word, have found the Child, recognize Him as the Savior and announce Him. The pastors, who go without delay, are models of faith. It quickly leads to the discovery of what has happened. The fact, even if revealed by the Annunciation, without faith remains hidden. This is the only way to discover it. The shepherds see the reality of what the Lord has made known to them through the proclamation of the Angels. The shepherds received the proclamation, believed and saw; now they in turn proclaim. What the Angels have done in heaven, the shepherds continue to do on earth: they become angels, mediators of the Word, to bring others to see what God has promised. The missionary dynamic of the Church is visible; it is a Church of the poor and the last, like the Announced One Himself: the proclamation leads to listening, to listening to the vision that expands the space of the Community to the ends of the earth and opens time to eternity. The first reaction to their announcement is astonishment: it is the first step of a heart that opens up to welcome something new, something incredible for him. Mary is presented as the believer who, even knowing the facts well, can never disregard the Word heard. It always contains the deepest mysteries to see. That is why She keeps these Words, keeps them with Her -where your treasure is, there will also be your heart - and compares them, meditates on them and encounters them. The whole Gospel will present these Words to be listened , welcomed, preserved, encountered, measured, understood, combined with each other, in a continuous growth, which makes the fullness of the gift germinate, the very mysteries of the Kingdom of God (8:10). Our vision comes from listening to these words, and it will always be fragmentary, "like in a mirror, in a confused way." Only in the end will that face which we will see "face to face" be recomposed in our hearts (1 Cor 13:12).
RispondiEliminaReading of the day
First reading
From the Book of Numbers
NM 6:22-27
The LORD said to Moses:
“Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them:
This is how you shall bless the Israelites.
Say to them:
The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them."
Second reading
From the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians
GAL 4:4-7
Brothers and sisters:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons,
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, “Abba, Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.
Gospel of the day
From the Gospel according to Luke
LK 2:16-21
The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
When eight days were completed for his circumcision,
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel
before he was conceived in the womb.
Words of the Holy Father
That silence tells us that, if we would “keep” ourselves, we need silence. We need to remain silent as we gaze upon the crib. Pondering the crib, we discover anew that we are loved; we savour the real meaning of life. As we look on in silence, we let Jesus speak to our heart. His lowliness lays low our pride; his poverty challenges our outward display; his tender love touches our hardened hearts. To set aside a moment of silence each day to be with God is to “keep” our soul; it is to “keep” our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blare of commercials, the stream of empty words and the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting. (Holy Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, 1 January 2018)
FAUSTI - The center of these first chapters is the "tactile" knowledge of God that Mary has in generating, wrapping and laying her Son in the manger. The scene that is given to us to contemplate is the unique historical fact that happened two thousand years ago, first narrated, then announced as a sign that gives meaning to the whole History, and finally lived by the shepherds.
RispondiEliminaThrough the story that Mary first made to Luke, shepherd who became announcer, who transmitted it to us, we too are called to contemplate and touch with Her the Word of Life itself. "A Savior was born for you today who is Christ the Lord."
Just as the first disciples from fishermen will become fishermen of men, so it is to be seen in these shepherds those who will then be the pastors of God's church. They are the first who have believed the Word, have found the Child, recognize Him as the Savior and announce Him.
The pastors, who go without delay, are models of faith.
It quickly leads to the discovery of what has happened. The fact, even if revealed by the Annunciation, without faith remains hidden.
This is the only way to discover it.
The shepherds see the reality of what the Lord has made known to them through the proclamation of the Angels.
The shepherds received the proclamation, believed and saw; now they in turn proclaim.
What the Angels have done in heaven, the shepherds continue to do on earth: they become angels, mediators of the Word, to bring others to see what God has promised.
The missionary dynamic of the Church is visible; it is a Church of the poor and the last, like the Announced One Himself: the proclamation leads to listening, to listening to the vision that expands the space of the Community to the ends of the earth and opens time to eternity.
The first reaction to their announcement is astonishment: it is the first step of a heart that opens up to welcome something new, something incredible for him.
Mary is presented as the believer who, even knowing the facts well, can never disregard the Word heard. It always contains the deepest mysteries to see. That is why She keeps these Words, keeps them with Her
-where your treasure is, there will also be your heart - and compares them, meditates on them and encounters them.
The whole Gospel will present these Words to be listened , welcomed, preserved, encountered, measured, understood, combined with each other, in a continuous growth, which makes the fullness of the gift germinate, the very mysteries of the Kingdom of God (8:10).
Our vision comes from listening to these words, and it will always be fragmentary,
"like in a mirror, in a confused way."
Only in the end will that face which we will see "face to face" be recomposed in our hearts (1 Cor 13:12).