READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Second Book of Kings 2 KGS 4:8-11, 14-16A
One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine. So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there.” Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.
Later Elisha asked, “Can something be done for her?” His servant Gehazi answered, “Yes! She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.” Elisha said, “Call her.” When the woman had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, “This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.”
Second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans ROM 6:3-4, 8-11
Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.
If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Matthew MT 10:37-42
Jesus said to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
"Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple— amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER After concluding the dialogue with the Apostles, Jesus addressed everyone, saying: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23). This is not an ornamental cross or an ideological cross, but it is the cross of life, the cross of one’s duty, the cross of making sacrifices for others with love — for parents, for children, for the family, for friends, and even for enemies — the cross of being ready to be in solidarity with the poor, to strive for justice and peace. (Angelus, 19 June 2016)
FAUSTI - Jesus can't be unloved. But He cannot be loved less than another. He would not be the Lord that is to be loved with all the heart. God is Love. Loved not in Himself, He would not be God and He would not be Love. I love Christ, my Life, (Phil 1:21), because He loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). To His Passion for me I answer with mine for Him: I have been conquered, and I also run to conquer Him. The beloved becomes the life of those who love him: lovers give each other what they have and what they are. "He who does not take his cross," each one has his cross, which can only be his own: the struggle against the evil in him himself. Only Jesus, the only One without blame, has carried not His cross, but our cross. When we carry our cross, we are not alone. He stands before us, carrying the heaviest part, on which He will be lifted up. We, at the back, carry the light part, which will be placed on the ground and on which His blood will descend. In this way we freely collaborate to His struggle and His victory, becoming similar to Him, with the same dignity of God which is Freedom, Love and Service. Every man wants to have his own life. But, insofar as he achieves this, he becomes selfish and loses it: he kills his filial and fraternal life. "Whoever has lost his life for my cause, will find it" life is to be lost, to give, for the love of Jesus. Life cannot be retained: to live is to breathe in and breathe out, to give gratuitously love as gratuitously one receives it. Gratuity and poverty, proper to the mission, are the cunning invented by God to free in man His divine spark: the capacity to welcome. Wealth and strength provoke robbery and violence, poverty and weakness provoke acceptance and mercy. The Apostle places himself like Jesus in the hands of men who will do what they want. He lives with His Brethren the same trust as with the Father, and recognizes each one's dignity as of son. He who welcomes, rather than giving, receives . He receives the very dignity of those who are welcomed. This is why the Lord has made Himself the smallest of all: because, by welcoming Him, we become like Him, the Prophet, the Righteous One, the Son. The disciples sent become "small" like the Lord. Of them is the Kingdom of Heaven. He who welcomes them, enters the Kingdom. He welcomes the Son and becomes son. Even the slightest gesture of welcome - a glass of fresh water - is a divine, imperishable gesture.
H.H. PAUL VI - We preach Christ to the whole earth Jesus Christ: you have heard of Him, indeed you, most certainly, are already His, you are Christians. Well, to you Christians I repeat His Name, to all of you I proclaim it: Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End; the Alpha and the Omega. He is the king of the new world. He is the secret of history. He is the key to our destinies. He is the mediator, the bridge between earth and heaven; He is the Son of man par excellence, because He is the Son of God, eternal, infinite; He is the Son of Mary, the Blessed One among all women, His mother in the flesh, our mother in sharing in the Spirit of the Mystical Body. Jesus Christ! Remember: this is our perennial proclamation, it is the voice that we make resound throughout the earth, and for ever and ever.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Second Book of Kings
2 KGS 4:8-11, 14-16A
One day Elisha came to Shunem,
where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her.
Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.
So she said to her husband, “I know that Elisha is a holy man of God.
Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof
and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp,
so that when he comes to us he can stay there.”
Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.
Later Elisha asked, “Can something be done for her?”
His servant Gehazi answered, “Yes!
She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years.”
Elisha said, “Call her.”
When the woman had been called and stood at the door,
Elisha promised, “This time next year
you will be fondling a baby son.”
Second reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans
ROM 6:3-4, 8-11
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death,
so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might live in newness of life.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;
death no longer has power over him.
As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;
as to his life, he lives for God.
Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin
and living for God in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Matthew
MT 10:37-42
Jesus said to his apostles:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
After concluding the dialogue with the Apostles, Jesus addressed everyone, saying: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23). This is not an ornamental cross or an ideological cross, but it is the cross of life, the cross of one’s duty, the cross of making sacrifices for others with love — for parents, for children, for the family, for friends, and even for enemies — the cross of being ready to be in solidarity with the poor, to strive for justice and peace. (Angelus, 19 June 2016)
FAUSTI - Jesus can't be unloved. But He cannot be loved less than another. He would not be the Lord that is to be loved with all the heart. God is Love. Loved not in Himself, He would not be God and He would not be Love. I love Christ, my Life, (Phil 1:21), because He loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). To His Passion for me I answer with mine for Him: I have been conquered, and I also run to conquer Him. The beloved becomes the life of those who love him: lovers give each other what they have and what they are.
RispondiElimina"He who does not take his cross," each one has his cross, which can only be his own: the struggle against the evil in him himself. Only Jesus, the only One without blame, has carried not His cross, but our cross.
When we carry our cross, we are not alone. He stands before us, carrying the heaviest part, on which He will be lifted up. We, at the back, carry the light part, which will be placed on the ground and on which His blood will descend.
In this way we freely collaborate to His struggle and His victory, becoming similar to Him, with the same dignity of God which is Freedom, Love and Service.
Every man wants to have his own life. But, insofar as he achieves this, he becomes selfish and loses it: he kills his filial and fraternal life.
"Whoever has lost his life for my cause, will find it" life is to be lost, to give, for the love of Jesus.
Life cannot be retained: to live is to breathe in and breathe out, to give gratuitously love as gratuitously one receives it.
Gratuity and poverty, proper to the mission, are the cunning invented by God to free in man His divine spark: the capacity to welcome.
Wealth and strength provoke robbery and violence, poverty and weakness provoke acceptance and mercy.
The Apostle places himself like Jesus in the hands of men who will do what they want. He lives with His Brethren the same trust as with the Father, and recognizes each one's dignity as of son.
He who welcomes, rather than giving, receives .
He receives the very dignity of those who are welcomed.
This is why the Lord has made Himself the smallest of all: because, by welcoming Him, we become like Him, the Prophet, the Righteous One, the Son.
The disciples sent become "small" like the Lord.
Of them is the Kingdom of Heaven. He who welcomes them, enters the Kingdom.
He welcomes the Son and becomes son.
Even the slightest gesture of welcome - a glass of fresh water - is a divine, imperishable gesture.
H.H. PAUL VI - We preach Christ to the whole earth
RispondiEliminaJesus Christ: you have heard of Him, indeed you, most certainly, are already His, you are Christians. Well, to you Christians I repeat His Name, to all of you I proclaim it: Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End; the Alpha and the Omega. He is the king of the new world. He is the secret of history. He is the key to our destinies. He is the mediator, the bridge between earth and heaven; He is the Son of man par excellence, because He is the Son of God, eternal, infinite; He is the Son of Mary, the Blessed One among all women, His mother in the flesh, our mother in sharing in the Spirit of the Mystical Body.
Jesus Christ! Remember: this is our perennial proclamation, it is the voice that we make resound throughout the earth, and for ever and ever.