Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
Psalms 63(62)
O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water. Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory, for your kindness is a greater good than life; my lips shall glorify you. Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name. As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied, and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you. When I think of you upon my bed, through the night watches I will recall
You indeed are my help, and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
First Letter to the Thessalonians 4,13-18. We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, console one another with these words.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25,1-13.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.' While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!' But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.' Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
ANGELUS 8 November 2020 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,
This Sunday’s Gospel passage (Mt 25:1-13) invites us to prolong the reflection on eternal life that we began on the occasion of the Feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. Jesus recounts the parable of the ten virgins invited to a wedding feast, symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Jesus’ time it was customary for weddings to be celebrated at night; so the procession of guests took place with lit lamps. Some of the bridesmaids are foolish: they take their lamps but do not take the oil with them; the wise ones instead take the oil with them together with their lamps. The bridegroom is late, late in coming, and they all fall asleep. When a voice alerts them that the bridegroom is about to arrive, in that moment, the foolish ones realize that they do not have oil for their lamps; they ask the wise ones for some, but the latter reply that they cannot give away any oil, because there would not be enough for them all. While the foolish maidens go to buy oil, the bridegroom arrives. The wise maidens enter the banquet hall with him, and the door is closed. The others arrive too late and are turned away.
It is clear that with this parable, Jesus wants to tell us that we must be prepared for the encounter with him. Not only for the final encounter, but also for the everyday great and small encounters, with a view to that encounter for which the lamp of faith is not enough; we also need the oil of charity and good works. As the Apostle Paul says, the faith that truly unites us to Jesus is, “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). It is what is represented by the behaviour of the wise maidens. Being wise and prudent means not waiting until the last moment to correspond to God’s grace, but to do so actively and immediately, starting right now. “I… yes, I will convert soon…”. “Convert today! Change your life today!”. “Yes, yes, tomorrow”. And the same thing is said tomorrow, and so it never arrives. Today! If we want to be ready for the final encounter with the Lord, we must cooperate with him now and perform good deeds inspired by his love.
We know that unfortunately it happens that we forget the purpose of our life, that is, the definitive appointment with God, thus losing the sense of expectation and making the present absolute. When one makes the present absolute, one looks only to the present, losing the sense of expectation, which is so beautiful and so necessary, and also pulls us away from the contradictions of the moment. This attitude — when one loses the sense of expectation — precludes any view of the hereafter: we do everything as if we will never depart for the other life.
And so we care only about possessing, about emerging, about establishing ourselves… And always more. If we allow ourselves to be led by what seems most attractive to us, by what we like, by seeking our interests, our life becomes sterile; we do not accumulate any reserve of oil for our lamp, and it will be extinguished before the encounter with the Lord. We must live today, but a today that goes towards tomorrow, towards that encounter, a present full of hope. If, on the other hand, we are vigilant and correspond to God’s grace by doing good, we can serenely await the bridegroom’s coming. The Lord will be able to come even while we are sleeping: this will not worry us, because we have the reserve of oil accumulated through our daily good works, accumulated with that expectation of the Lord, that he may come as soon as possible and that he may come to take us with him.
Let us invoke the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that She may help us to live an active faith, as She did: [faith] is the shining lamp with which we can pass through the night beyond death and reach the great feast of life.
FAUSTI - "Here is the groom, go out for the meeting with Him!" It is the cry that rises in the middle of the night. He whom the bride and the Spirit invoke. "Come!", and who said :"I will come soon" (Rev 22:17-20), He finally comes! It is the most beautiful metaphor of human existence, compared to going out to meet the Bridegroom. Our whole life is an "exit". We come out from the womb of the mother in the light of the sun, we come out every moment from what we are towards what we become, until when we come out of life to meet our life, hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3). We ignore the day and the hour of our arrival, but we know that every day and every hour is a step towards Him. But on condition that we listen to Him and follow His Word. This is the oil that the wise virgins carry with them. It is necessary in order to enter the wedding. In fact, their entire existence has been a vigilant and diligent recognizing the daily visits of the Bridegroom, to the point of becoming rich in oil, filled with the Holy Spirit. The foolish virgins, on the other hand, did not listen and make His Word: they did not wait for Him, recognized and loved Him. Their existence is an empty vessel, without love. Instead of going to meet Him, they have moved away from Him and His voice, until they didn't know Him. That is why He will say to them, "I do not know you! This is the importance of the present moment: it is the only one given to us to live and to acquire the necessary oil. Salvation or eternal perdition depends exclusively on what we freely do here and now. The future is entrusted to our hands. The threatening description of failure serves to awaken us from unconsciousness and idleness, to activate our freedom. This piece is addressed to the community of disciples, so that they do not automatically win salvation for the simple fact of being believers. Not those who say, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the Will of the Father (7:21), which consists in living as children loving their brothers and sisters. The story is an allegory that makes us read the profound meaning of our daily history in terms of salvation or perdition. It wants us to identify with the foolish virgins, so that we may become like the wise ones. The future is the encounter with the Bridegroom, but this is realized for those who accumulate every day the oil that remains forever. If one does not invest in love, his life is extinguished! "Between life and death, I choose the guitar," said a poet: I choose to sing to the Lord, with my mouth, with my heart, with my works! Jesus is the One who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). He is the Bridegroom (Eph 5:25-27). The Church invokes: "Marana tha . Come, O Lord" (1 Cor 16:22), and every single disciple says with Paul . "I live, but no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live it in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. To respond to love with love is the life of man. And it is the very life of God, Father and Son.
JESUS speaks for the baptized, for those who have received the lamp of faith and nourished it by works of charity, through hope and the gift of the Holy Spirit. They proclaim the Lord's death for our salvation, they proclaim His resurrection, awaiting His coming. We don't know the day or the hour, but He has repeatedly admonished us to wait for Him ready to meet Him, dressed for the feast, heart in joy and hope, which does not disappoint, "For the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5), in the Sacraments of the Church, in the Eucharist and by listening to the Word "the Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life" (Rom 5:5). For "it is the Spirit who gives Life" (Jn 6:63), in charity and in the works that it marks, so that love and fraternity grow ever greater in hearts. The spiritual anointing, the Gift of the Spirit, is therefore nourished in the Christian life by the frequency of the Sacraments, by Love for Christ, and by the Word and Bread that are given to us. If we don't give attention to the Gift, if we leave it and don't welcome it as a precious pearl, we inevitably impoverish His presence, and no one can give us of their being with Him. Let's listen to the dialogue between those who are wise and receive, and those who are foolish and lose and disperse the richness of the gift: "Give us some of your oil: No, so that we and you don't miss it, go and buy it instead". And inevitably, the Bridegroom arrives, but the last virgins are not present to wait and the Bridegroom enters the wedding and the door to the feast has been closed. "Keep watch, then!" So it's necessary to rediscover the inheritance received through Baptism: "And the fact that you are sons is proof that God has sent the Spirit of the Son who cries out in our hearts. Abba, Father! You are no longer a slave, but a son, and if you are a son, you are also an heir by the will of God" (Gal 4:6-7). For you are no longer strangers or sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God (Eph 2:19). Loving the Giver, and His Gift, keeps us awake with a heart full of gratitude!
Book of Wisdom 6,12-16.
RispondiEliminaResplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who
love her, and found by those who seek her.
She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire;
he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.
For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care;
Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
Psalms 63(62)
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
for your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
When I think of you upon my bed, through the night watches I will recall
You indeed are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
First Letter
to the Thessalonians 4,13-18.
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Matthew 25,1-13.
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them,
but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps.
Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight, there was a cry, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'
Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
But the wise ones replied, 'No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.'
While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked.
Afterwards the other virgins came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us!'
But he said in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.'
Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 8 November 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning,
This Sunday’s Gospel passage (Mt 25:1-13) invites us to prolong the reflection on eternal life that we began on the occasion of the Feast of All Saints and the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. Jesus recounts the parable of the ten virgins invited to a wedding feast, symbol of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Jesus’ time it was customary for weddings to be celebrated at night; so the procession of guests took place with lit lamps. Some of the bridesmaids are foolish: they take their lamps but do not take the oil with them; the wise ones instead take the oil with them together with their lamps. The bridegroom is late, late in coming, and they all fall asleep. When a voice alerts them that the bridegroom is about to arrive, in that moment, the foolish ones realize that they do not have oil for their lamps; they ask the wise ones for some, but the latter reply that they cannot give away any oil, because there would not be enough for them all. While the foolish maidens go to buy oil, the bridegroom arrives. The wise maidens enter the banquet hall with him, and the door is closed. The others arrive too late and are turned away.
It is clear that with this parable, Jesus wants to tell us that we must be prepared for the encounter with him. Not only for the final encounter, but also for the everyday great and small encounters, with a view to that encounter for which the lamp of faith is not enough; we also need the oil of charity and good works. As the Apostle Paul says, the faith that truly unites us to Jesus is, “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6). It is what is represented by the behaviour of the wise maidens. Being wise and prudent means not waiting until the last moment to correspond to God’s grace, but to do so actively and immediately, starting right now. “I… yes, I will convert soon…”. “Convert today! Change your life today!”. “Yes, yes, tomorrow”. And the same thing is said tomorrow, and so it never arrives. Today! If we want to be ready for the final encounter with the Lord, we must cooperate with him now and perform good deeds inspired by his love.
We know that unfortunately it happens that we forget the purpose of our life, that is, the definitive appointment with God, thus losing the sense of expectation and making the present absolute. When one makes the present absolute, one looks only to the present, losing the sense of expectation, which is so beautiful and so necessary, and also pulls us away from the contradictions of the moment. This attitude — when one loses the sense of expectation — precludes any view of the hereafter: we do everything as if we will never depart for the other life.
And so we care only about possessing, about emerging, about establishing ourselves… And always more. If we allow ourselves to be led by what seems most attractive to us, by what we like, by seeking our interests, our life becomes sterile; we do not accumulate any reserve of oil for our lamp, and it will be extinguished before the encounter with the Lord. We must live today, but a today that goes towards tomorrow, towards that encounter, a present full of hope. If, on the other hand, we are vigilant and correspond to God’s grace by doing good, we can serenely await the bridegroom’s coming. The Lord will be able to come even while we are sleeping: this will not worry us, because we have the reserve of oil accumulated through our daily good works, accumulated with that expectation of the Lord, that he may come as soon as possible and that he may come to take us with him.
Let us invoke the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that She may help us to live an active faith, as She did: [faith] is the shining lamp with which we can pass through the night beyond death and reach the great feast of life.
FAUSTI - "Here is the groom, go out for the meeting with Him!" It is the cry that rises in the middle of the night. He whom the bride and the Spirit invoke. "Come!", and who said :"I will come soon" (Rev 22:17-20), He finally comes!
RispondiEliminaIt is the most beautiful metaphor of human existence, compared to going out to meet the Bridegroom. Our whole life is an "exit". We come out from the womb of the mother in the light of the sun, we come out every moment from what we are towards what we become, until when we come out of life to meet our life, hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:3).
We ignore the day and the hour of our arrival, but we know that every day and every hour is a step towards Him. But on condition that we listen to Him and follow His Word.
This is the oil that the wise virgins carry with them. It is necessary in order to enter the wedding.
In fact, their entire existence has been a vigilant and diligent recognizing the daily visits of the Bridegroom, to the point of becoming rich in oil, filled with the Holy Spirit.
The foolish virgins, on the other hand, did not listen and make His Word: they did not wait for Him, recognized and loved Him. Their existence is an empty vessel, without love.
Instead of going to meet Him, they have moved away from Him and His voice, until they didn't know Him.
That is why He will say to them, "I do not know you!
This is the importance of the present moment: it is the only one given to us to live and to acquire the necessary oil. Salvation or eternal perdition depends exclusively on what we freely do here and now. The future is entrusted to our hands.
The threatening description of failure serves to awaken us from unconsciousness and idleness, to activate our freedom.
This piece is addressed to the community of disciples, so that they do not automatically win salvation for the simple fact of being believers. Not those who say, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the Will of the Father (7:21), which consists in living as children loving their brothers and sisters.
The story is an allegory that makes us read the profound meaning of our daily history in terms of salvation or perdition. It wants us to identify with the foolish virgins, so that we may become like the wise ones.
The future is the encounter with the Bridegroom, but this is realized for those who accumulate every day the oil that remains forever.
If one does not invest in love, his life is extinguished!
"Between life and death, I choose the guitar," said a poet: I choose to sing to the Lord, with my mouth, with my heart, with my works!
Jesus is the One who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal 2:20). He is the Bridegroom (Eph 5:25-27).
The Church invokes: "Marana tha . Come, O Lord" (1 Cor 16:22), and every single disciple says with Paul . "I live, but no longer I live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live it in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. To respond to love with love is the life of man.
And it is the very life of God, Father and Son.
JESUS speaks for the baptized, for those who have received the lamp of faith and nourished it by works of charity, through hope and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
RispondiEliminaThey proclaim the Lord's death for our salvation, they proclaim His resurrection, awaiting His coming. We don't know the day or the hour, but He has repeatedly admonished us to wait for Him ready to meet Him, dressed for the feast, heart in joy and hope, which does not disappoint,
"For the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5), in the Sacraments of the Church, in the Eucharist and by listening to the Word "the Words I have spoken to you are Spirit and Life" (Rom 5:5). For "it is the Spirit who gives Life" (Jn 6:63), in charity and in the works that it marks, so that love and fraternity grow ever greater in hearts.
The spiritual anointing, the Gift of the Spirit, is therefore nourished in the Christian life by the frequency of the Sacraments, by Love for Christ, and by the Word and Bread that are given to us.
If we don't give attention to the Gift, if we leave it and don't welcome it as a precious pearl, we inevitably impoverish His presence, and no one can give us of their being with Him.
Let's listen to the dialogue between those who are wise and receive, and those who are foolish and lose and disperse the richness of the gift: "Give us some of your oil: No, so that we and you don't miss it, go and buy it instead".
And inevitably, the Bridegroom arrives, but the last virgins are not present to wait and the Bridegroom enters the wedding and the door to the feast has been closed.
"Keep watch, then!"
So it's necessary to rediscover the inheritance received through Baptism: "And the fact that you are sons is proof that God has sent the Spirit of the Son who cries out in our hearts. Abba, Father! You are no longer a slave, but a son, and if you are a son, you are also an heir by the will of God" (Gal 4:6-7).
For you are no longer strangers or sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the family of God (Eph 2:19).
Loving the Giver, and His Gift, keeps us awake with a heart full of gratitude!