READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Isaiah IS 22:19-23
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace: “I will thrust you from your office and pull you down from your station. On that day I will summon my servant Eliakim, son of Hilkiah; I will clothe him with your robe, and gird him with your sash, and give over to him your authority. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot, to be a place of honor for his family.”
Second reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans ROM 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor? Or who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Matthew MT 16:13-20
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Each of us is a small stone, but in Jesus’ hands participates in the building of the Church. And all of us, as small as we are, are rendered “living stones” because when Jesus takes his stone in hand, he makes it his own; he infuses it with life, full of life, full of life from the Holy Spirit, full of life from his love. And thus we have a place and a mission in the Church: she is a community of life, made up of very many stones, all different, which form a single edifice as a sign of fraternity and communion. (Angelus, 27 August 2017)
FAUSTI "He questioned His Disciples" Up to this point it was the others who questioned Him. Now it is He who questions. Faith begins where we stop questioning the Lord, and accept being questioned by Him. Each of our questions about Him is matched by our answer about Him, which reduces Him to our questions. His question to us instead opens us to His Mystery. Faith is responsibility, ability to respond to the Lord who questions us. He is and always remains for us a mystery, on which we have neither answers nor images: the only answer is that we become in the likeness of Him. To let ourselves be questioned by Him and answer Him according to the Spirit is the art and the adventure of being a man. God is the eternal question, man is the answer, to the extent that he listens to the Word and incarnates It in his own life. The disciples are asked first what people say and then what they say ,to suggest that their answer must not be like that of others. Neither flesh nor blood, but only the Father alone is able to reveal Who is the Son. We are at the decisive turning point in the Gospel: finally Peter and those with him recognize Him as the Messiah and Son of God. Closer to Him, henceforth they will be able to receive the gift of that knowledge of Him which can only be given to those who love Him. "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" That of Peter is the profession of Christian faith: Jesus is the Christ, the only Christ, He is the Son, the Only Begotten Son of the Father of Life. To see in the Flesh of Jesus the Christ, Son of God, is the center of revelation, is to enter into the knowledge of the mystery of the Father/Son relationship, revealed to the little ones.Jesus came to bring us the Father's gift, the Fathr as gift, so that we may all be children and brothers. From this response Peter is generated new man, a sharer of God's secret. With further surprise he will later understand that Christ is not the One that he thinks, but a Christ that he does not expect, he will also discover that the Son of God is a Son that he does not even suspect, and that the Living God is "Other" from what he imagines. "Blessed are you, Simon" Peter's is the supreme bliss: welcoming the Son, he enters the Kingdom of the Father. He is the first who receives the revelation of what is hidden to the wise and intelligent. Peter sees what the human eye has never seen: what God has prepared for those who love Him in the Flesh of the Son. Christianity is knowing how to love the person of Jesus. St. Paul says: "It is the Lord who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2.20). To believe His message is not to appreciate or adopt His doctrine: it is to know and love Him as the Son of God, who made Himself my brother to give me His own relationship with the Father. "You are Peter and on this stone I will build My Church" Peter becomes "Stone" attribute of God ( Is 17:10), as was Abraham, the father of believers (Is 51:1). Faith in the Son gives him the prerogative of God himself. The Church is built on this stone as the home of those who are now familiar of God. All power of death will be shattered against the Living God and against those of His house. His faithfulness now has the last word on all our infidelities, beyond all our frailty and sin, which Peter will also experience. What is valid for Peter, is valid for the whole Church. "To you I will give the keys to the kingdom of heaven" Peter's faith is the key that opens the Kingdom.
->The promise is valid for the time that remains. God's faithfulness guarantees Peter's faith, in which he will then confirm his brothers and sisters. Peter's role is that of the stone on which the Community that professes this faith is built. On the base of the gift of faith, Peter is given the pledge/commitment to say what conforms or does not conform to it, and, consequently, to declare who belongs to the Kingdom or not. To bind or dissolve means to prohibit and to permit, admit and exclude from the Community, authentically interpreting the Word. The authority in the Church is certainly not like that of the leaders of the nations, but the same of the Lord, who came to save and give Life. It is a service in faith and love, the principle of union and Life. It is necessary to see the production of "meaning" that the text has originated in the life of the disciples, to whom the Lord has promised to be always close, until the end of the world (Mt 28:20). In new and unprecedented situations, the same text produces new and unprecedented senses. The Son of Man is not the Christ who thinks Peter, but the one who will reveal himself immediately afterwards, and whom Peter will not want to accept. The Word of God lives and works in history by the power of the Spirit.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Isaiah
IS 22:19-23
Thus says the LORD to Shebna, master of the palace:
“I will thrust you from your office
and pull you down from your station.
On that day I will summon my servant
Eliakim, son of Hilkiah;
I will clothe him with your robe,
and gird him with your sash,
and give over to him your authority.
He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and to the house of Judah.
I will place the key of the House of David on Eliakim’s shoulder;
when he opens, no one shall shut
when he shuts, no one shall open.
I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot,
to be a place of honor for his family.”
Second reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans
ROM 11:33-36
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord
or who has been his counselor?
Or who has given the Lord anything
that he may be repaid?
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Matthew
MT 16:13-20
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and
he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply,
“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Each of us is a small stone, but in Jesus’ hands participates in the building of the Church. And all of us, as small as we are, are rendered “living stones” because when Jesus takes his stone in hand, he makes it his own; he infuses it with life, full of life, full of life from the Holy Spirit, full of life from his love. And thus we have a place and a mission in the Church: she is a community of life, made up of very many stones, all different, which form a single edifice as a sign of fraternity and communion. (Angelus, 27 August 2017)
FAUSTI "He questioned His Disciples" Up to this point it was the others who questioned Him. Now it is He who questions. Faith begins where we stop questioning the Lord, and accept being questioned by Him. Each of our questions about Him is matched by our answer about Him, which reduces Him to our questions.
RispondiEliminaHis question to us instead opens us to His Mystery.
Faith is responsibility, ability to respond to the Lord who questions us. He is and always remains for us a mystery, on which we have neither answers nor images: the only answer is that we become in the likeness of Him. To let ourselves be questioned by Him and answer Him according to the Spirit is the art and the adventure of being a man. God is the eternal question, man is the answer, to the extent that he listens to the Word and incarnates It in his own life.
The disciples are asked first what people say and then what they say ,to suggest that their answer must not be like that of others.
Neither flesh nor blood, but only the Father alone is able to reveal Who is the Son.
We are at the decisive turning point in the Gospel: finally Peter and those with him recognize Him as the Messiah and Son of God.
Closer to Him, henceforth they will be able to receive the gift of that knowledge of Him which can only be given to those who love Him.
"You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" That of Peter is the profession of Christian faith: Jesus is the Christ, the only Christ, He is the Son, the Only Begotten Son of the Father of Life.
To see in the Flesh of Jesus the Christ,
Son of God, is the center of revelation, is to enter into the knowledge of the mystery of the Father/Son relationship, revealed to the little ones.Jesus came to bring us the Father's gift, the Fathr as gift, so that we may all be children and brothers.
From this response Peter is generated new man, a sharer of God's secret.
With further surprise he will later understand that Christ is not the One that he thinks, but a Christ that he does not expect, he will also discover that the Son of God is a Son that he does not even suspect, and that the Living God is "Other" from what he imagines.
"Blessed are you, Simon" Peter's is the supreme bliss: welcoming the Son, he enters the Kingdom of the Father. He is the first who receives the revelation of what is hidden to the wise and intelligent. Peter sees what the human eye has never seen: what God has prepared for those who love Him in the Flesh of the Son.
Christianity is knowing how to love the person of Jesus. St. Paul says: "It is the Lord who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Gal 2.20).
To believe His message is not to appreciate or adopt His doctrine: it is to know and love Him as the Son of God, who made Himself my brother to give me His own relationship with the Father.
"You are Peter and on this stone I will build My Church" Peter becomes "Stone" attribute of God ( Is 17:10), as was Abraham, the father of believers (Is 51:1).
Faith in the Son gives him the prerogative of God himself.
The Church is built on this stone as the home of those who are now familiar of God. All power of death will be shattered against the Living God and against those of His house.
His faithfulness now has the last word on all our infidelities, beyond all our frailty and sin, which Peter will also experience.
What is valid for Peter, is valid for the whole Church.
"To you I will give the keys to the kingdom of heaven" Peter's faith is the key that opens the Kingdom.
->The promise is valid for the time that remains. God's faithfulness guarantees Peter's faith, in which he will then confirm his brothers and sisters. Peter's role is that of the stone on which the Community that professes this faith is built. On the base of the gift of faith, Peter is given the pledge/commitment to say what conforms or does not conform to it, and, consequently, to declare who belongs to the Kingdom or not. To bind or dissolve means to prohibit and to permit, admit and exclude from the Community, authentically interpreting the Word.
RispondiEliminaThe authority in the Church is certainly not like that of the leaders of the nations, but the same of the Lord, who came to save and give Life.
It is a service in faith and love, the principle of union and Life.
It is necessary to see the production of "meaning" that the text has originated in the life of the disciples, to whom the Lord has promised to be always close, until the end of the world (Mt 28:20). In new and unprecedented situations, the same text produces new and unprecedented senses.
The Son of Man is not the Christ who thinks Peter, but the one who will reveal himself immediately afterwards, and whom Peter will not want to accept.
The Word of God lives and works in history by the power of the Spirit.