Revelation 7:9-17 After this I, John, looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." The Response Psalm 34:1-10,22 Benedicam Dominum
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
2 I will glory in the Lord; * let the humble hear and rejoice.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; * let us exalt his Name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me * and delivered me out of all my terror.
5 Look upon him and be radiant, * and let not your faces be ashamed.
6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me * and saved me from all my troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, * and he will deliver them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; * happy are they who trust in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, * for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, * but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.
22 The Lord ransoms the life of his servants, * and none will be punished who trust in him.
The Epistle 1 John 3:1-3 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
The Gospel Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Jesus manifests God’s desire to lead men and women to happiness. This message was already present in the preaching of the prophets: God is close to the poor and the oppressed, and delivers them from those who oppress them. But Jesus’s preaching, He follows a particular path. The poor, in this evangelical sense, appear to be those who keep alive the objective of the Kingdom of Heaven, offering a glimpse of it revealed as a seed in the fraternal community which favours sharing over ownership. (Angelus 29 January 2017)
FAUSTI - The discourse is destined for the "crowds", for humanity oppressed by evil that rushes to Him from the four cardinal points (4,23). The Words that follow are the therapy that makes them new people, with the same wisdom as the Son. God on Sinai revealed the Word. Here is manifested the Son, prototype of every brother, perfectly fulfilled Word. In the background is the anonymous crowd. The disciple is the one who "learns" and makes himself close to Him. to listen to it and follow Him He opens His mouth to reveal Himself, the Eternal Word of the Father. Jesus is He who says and who is said, He who speaks, is the Word itself. The Sermon on the Mount is a baptismal catechesis, a breviary of Christian life, the rule of life of the Son. It is the new heart, promised by the prophets. Without the gift of His Spirit, the Beatitudes are a sublime ideology, all the more despairing as the more sublime. For eight times plus one Jesus repeats the refrain, because the "judgment" of God, so different from ours, can be impressed in us. His words have a unique subversive charge: they turn the world and its principles upside down. Jesus congratulates the disadvantaged, because they have "the great advantage":God is for them, with them, One of them! The root of Blessedness of course, is not the illness, but the "righteousness of God. which does not give each his own, but according to need, giving priority to those who have less. In Greek it is not written "poor", which indicates one who has little and painfully, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort. It is written "pitocco," which indicates one who is hiding, destitute, begging. Pitocco has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to save: he lives by gift. Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is God's gift, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother. The poor man is necessarily humble: he lives by what the other gives him. This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being himself. Each of us is what we have received. Poverty is the emptiness that everything receives: the absolute poverty receives the Absolute. Poverty in spirit is humility, which means one who has little and with sorrow, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort. It is written "pitocco," which indicates one who is hiding, destitute, begging. Pitocco has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to save: he lives by gift. Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is God's gift, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother. The poor man is necessarily humble: he lives by what the other gives him. This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being himself. Each of us is what we have received. Poverty is the emptiness that everything receives: the absolute one receives the Absolute. Poverty in spirit is humility, the first characteristic of love. It is understood by those who have the same sentiments that were in Christ Jesus (Philip.2,5-11). God is essentially poor, he possesses nothing. He is all of the Other. His very Being is to be of the Son if He is the Father, to be of the Father if He is the Son, to be of the Father and of the Son if He is the Spirit. "The first and last beat itudes are in the present, the others in the future. The Kingdom of God is already of the poor and the persecuted. But the tension remains for a different future. The plant comes from the seed that has been laid down. Let no one deceive himself, each one will reap what he has sown (Gal 6:7); and he who sows in weeping will reap with jubilation (Sl 126). Against any triumphalistic or millenary temptation, the Kingdom is, at present, always of the poor and persecuted. The poor are afflicted. To him it goes badly. "The present of affliction has a different future (Is 61,1).
"Consolation" indicates the joy of the new world, in which there will be no more evil. Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem and oppressed in the garden, faced the Cross, looking at the Glory that was before him, and now sits at the right hand of God. Looking at Him, and above all, following Him, we are not discouraged (Heb 12:2). His destiny is also ours: for this reason "the sufferings of the present moment are not comparable to the future glory that must be revealed in us". (Rom 8,18). "Blessed are the meek" Meek is he who does not assert his rights and yields rather than gets angry. He who loves is always meek. The poor are forced to be so. The behavior changes the feeling! "They will inherit the earth" the earth, which provides a living, is a symbol of the Spirit, which is life. The promised land is the promise of the Spirit. He who has the spirit of the master loses it, he who has the spirit of the poor, he has the inheritance: he is a son, equal to the Father, with His own love for his brothers and sisters. Meek is Moses, He who bears the Kingdom, Jesus (Zc 9,9). "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" Hunger and thirst are need of life, and life is "righteousness", the will of God, His Love for all. From Him, made Bread, we too take strength and filial fullness "Blessed are those whose hearts are touched by the evil of others as if it were their own. Mercy is the fundamental form of love: passion that becomes com-passion. The merciful one finds God himself, who is mercy, and himself, His son, merciful as the Father. It is the only beatitude where one finds in the future what one already has now! "Blessed are the pure in heart" (Sl 24:4) The heart, the center of the person, contains "the hidden man" (1PT 3:4): the Son, who dwells in our hearts by faith (Eph 3:17). He who has a pure heart, not obscured by so many desires and fears, finds Him. "The pure heart is a transparent eye that sees God. And sees Him in all things, because He has Him inside and projects Him on everything. Purity of heart is obtained with righteous intention: he who seeks only God in everything, finds Him, who is all in all (1 Cor 15:28). Jesus not only says, He gives us what He says. The Words of Jesus are medicine to our evils, the truth that heals the heart from the lie that lies at their origin. The Sermon on the Mount is "indicative" that becomes "imperative". Man has no other duty than to become what he is. It is important first of all to grasp the "beauty" of this discourse that gives us back in the Son the true face of ourselves and of the Father. To make peace among men means to make them our brothers. To make them brothers is the work of the Father and of those who are already sons. "Blessed are those persecuted because of justice" Those who love the Father and the brothers and sisters, they clash with evil: they find hostility and persecution, in themselves and outside themselves.
Revelation 7:9-17
RispondiEliminaAfter this I, John, looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
"Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
"Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "Sir, you are the one that knows." Then he said to me, "These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
"For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
The Response
Psalm 34:1-10,22
Benedicam Dominum
1 I will bless the Lord at all times; *
his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
2 I will glory in the Lord; *
let the humble hear and rejoice.
3 Proclaim with me the greatness of the Lord; *
let us exalt his Name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me *
and delivered me out of all my terror.
5 Look upon him and be radiant, *
and let not your faces be ashamed.
6 I called in my affliction and the Lord heard me *
and saved me from all my troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encompasses those who fear him, *
and he will deliver them.
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; *
happy are they who trust in him!
9 Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, *
for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good.
22 The Lord ransoms the life of his servants, *
and none will be punished who trust in him.
The Epistle
1 John 3:1-3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
The Gospel
Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaJesus manifests God’s desire to lead men and women to happiness. This message was already present in the preaching of the prophets: God is close to the poor and the oppressed, and delivers them from those who oppress them. But Jesus’s preaching, He follows a particular path. The poor, in this evangelical sense, appear to be those who keep alive the objective of the Kingdom of Heaven, offering a glimpse of it revealed as a seed in the fraternal community which favours sharing over ownership. (Angelus 29 January 2017)
FAUSTI - The discourse is destined for the "crowds", for humanity oppressed by evil that rushes to Him from the four cardinal points (4,23). The Words that follow are the therapy that makes them new people, with the same wisdom as the Son. God on Sinai revealed the Word.
RispondiEliminaHere is manifested the Son, prototype of every brother, perfectly fulfilled Word. In the background is the anonymous crowd.
The disciple is the one who "learns" and makes himself close to Him.
to listen to it and follow Him
He opens His mouth to reveal Himself, the Eternal Word of the Father. Jesus is He who says and who is said, He who speaks, is the Word itself.
The Sermon on the Mount is a baptismal catechesis, a breviary of Christian life, the rule of life of the Son. It is the new heart, promised by the prophets.
Without the gift of His Spirit, the Beatitudes are a sublime ideology,
all the more despairing as the more sublime.
For eight times plus one Jesus repeats the refrain, because the "judgment" of God, so different from ours, can be impressed in us. His words have a unique subversive charge: they turn the world and its principles upside down. Jesus congratulates the disadvantaged, because they have "the great advantage":God is for them, with them, One of them!
The root of Blessedness of course, is not the illness, but the "righteousness of God. which does not give each his own, but according to need, giving priority to those who have less.
In Greek it is not written "poor", which indicates one who has little and painfully, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort.
It is written "pitocco," which indicates one who is hiding, destitute, begging. Pitocco has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to save: he lives by gift.
Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is God's gift, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother.
The poor man is necessarily humble: he lives by what the other gives him.
This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being himself.
Each of us is what we have received.
Poverty is the emptiness that everything receives: the absolute
poverty receives the Absolute.
Poverty in spirit is humility, which means one who has little and with sorrow, unlike the rich, who has so much and without effort.
It is written "pitocco," which indicates one who is hiding, destitute, begging. Pitocco has nothing, not even the dignity of a face to save: he lives by gift.
Poverty is associated with guilt or lesser value. In the A. Testament, wealth is God's gift, but poverty is the fault of the rich man, who steals or does not share with his brother.
The poor man is necessarily humble: he lives by what the other gives him.
This is the condition of the Son, who receives everything from the Father, even being himself.
Each of us is what we have received.
Poverty is the emptiness that everything receives: the absolute one receives the Absolute.
Poverty in spirit is humility, the first characteristic of love.
It is understood by those who have the same sentiments that were in Christ Jesus (Philip.2,5-11).
God is essentially poor, he possesses nothing. He is all of the Other.
His very Being is to be of the Son if He is the Father, to be of the Father if He is the Son, to be of the Father and of the Son if He is the Spirit.
"The first and last beat itudes are in the present, the others in the future.
The Kingdom of God is already of the poor and the persecuted.
But the tension remains for a different future. The plant comes from the seed that has been laid down.
Let no one deceive himself, each one will reap what he has sown (Gal 6:7); and he who sows in weeping will reap with jubilation (Sl 126).
Against any triumphalistic or millenary temptation, the Kingdom is, at present, always of the poor and persecuted. The poor are afflicted. To him it goes badly.
"The present of affliction has a different future (Is 61,1).
"Consolation" indicates the joy of the new world, in which there will be no more evil.
RispondiEliminaJesus, weeping over Jerusalem and oppressed in the garden, faced the Cross, looking at the Glory that was before him, and now sits at the right hand of God. Looking at Him, and above all, following Him, we are not discouraged (Heb 12:2). His destiny is also ours: for this reason "the sufferings of the present moment are not comparable to the future glory that must be revealed in us". (Rom 8,18).
"Blessed are the meek" Meek is he who does not assert his rights and yields rather than gets angry.
He who loves is always meek. The poor are forced to be so. The behavior changes the feeling!
"They will inherit the earth" the earth, which provides a living, is a symbol of the Spirit, which is life.
The promised land is the promise of the Spirit. He who has the spirit of the master loses it, he who has the spirit of the poor, he has the inheritance: he is a son, equal to the Father, with His own love for his brothers and sisters.
Meek is Moses, He who bears the Kingdom, Jesus (Zc 9,9).
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" Hunger and thirst are need of life, and life is "righteousness", the will of God, His Love for all.
From Him, made Bread, we too take strength and filial fullness
"Blessed are those whose hearts are touched by the evil of others as if it were their own.
Mercy is the fundamental form of love: passion that becomes com-passion.
The merciful one finds God himself, who is mercy, and himself, His son, merciful as the Father.
It is the only beatitude where one finds in the future what one already has now!
"Blessed are the pure in heart" (Sl 24:4) The heart, the center of the person, contains "the hidden man" (1PT 3:4): the Son, who dwells in our hearts by faith (Eph 3:17). He who has a pure heart, not obscured by so many desires and fears, finds Him.
"The pure heart is a transparent eye that sees God. And sees Him in all things, because He has Him inside and projects Him on everything.
Purity of heart is obtained with righteous intention: he who seeks only God in everything, finds Him, who is all in all (1 Cor 15:28).
Jesus not only says, He gives us what He says. The Words of Jesus are medicine to our evils, the truth that heals the heart from the lie that lies at their origin.
The Sermon on the Mount is "indicative" that becomes "imperative".
Man has no other duty than to become what he is. It is important first of all to grasp the "beauty" of this discourse that gives us back in the Son the true face of ourselves and of the Father.
To make peace among men means to make them our brothers.
To make them brothers is the work of the Father and of those who are already sons.
"Blessed are those persecuted because of justice" Those who love the Father and the brothers and sisters, they clash with evil: they find hostility and persecution, in themselves and outside themselves.