ECCLES.24,1-16 "Wisdom speaks her own praises, in the midst of her people she glories in herself. 2. She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High, she glories in herself in the presence of the Mighty One: 3. 'I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like mist. 4. I had my tent in the heights, and my throne was a pillar of cloud. 5. Alone, I have made the circuit of the heavens and walked through the depths of the abyss. 6. Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway. 7. Among all these I searched for rest, and looked to see in whose territory I might pitch camp. 8. Then the Creator of all things instructed me and he who created me fixed a place for my tent. He said, "Pitch your tent in Jacob, make Israel your inheritance." 9. From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall remain. 10. In the holy tent I ministered before him and thus became established in Zion. 11. In the beloved city he has given me rest, and in Jerusalem I wield my authority. 12. I have taken root in a privileged people, in the Lord's property, in his inheritance." PSALM 147 "Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God. 13. For he gives strength to the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you, 14. he maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat. 15. He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly, 16. he spreads the snow like flax, strews hoarfrost like ashes, 17. he sends ice-crystals like breadcrumbs, and who can withstand that cold? 18. When he sends his word it thaws them, when he makes his wind blow, the waters are unstopped. 19. He reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel. 20. For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his judge"
EPHESIANS 1,3-18
Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. 1:4 Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, 1:5 determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, 1:6 to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved, 1:7 in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace 1:8 which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight. 1:9 He has let us know the mystery of his, purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning 1:10 to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth. 1:11 And it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will; 1:12 chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came. 1:13 Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation, and have believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise 1:14 the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised. The triumph and the supremacy of Christ 1:15 That will explain why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love that you show towards all the saints, 1:16 have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thank God for you. 1:17 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. 1:18 May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit
GOSPEL OF ST.JOHN 1,1-18 In the beginning* was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.a 2He was in the beginning with God.
3* All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race;
5* the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6* A man named John was sent from God. 7He came for testimony,* to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.
9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.
11He came to what was his own, but his own people* did not accept him. 12 But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name,
13* who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. 14And the Word became flesh* and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.
15* John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’”
16From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace,* 17because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God,* who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.
The words of the Popes Brothers and sisters, let us open our hearts to restlessness, let us ask for the courage to continue our journey, and let us finish in worship! Let us not be afraid, for this is the path of the Magi, the path of all the saints throughout history: to welcome our restlessness, to set out and to worship. Brothers and sisters, may we never stop our restless questioning; may we never interrupt our journey by yielding to apathy or convenience; and in our encounter with the Lord, may we abandon ourselves to the wonder of worship. Then we will discover that a light shines even in the darkest nights: the light of Jesus, the radiant morning star, the sun of justice the merciful splendour of God, who loves every man and woman, and all the peoples of the earth. (Pope Francis, Homily, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 6 january 2023)
Today the liturgy proposes anew for our meditation the same Gospel as that proclaimed on Christmas Day: the Prologue of St John. After the commotion of the recent days with the race to purchase gifts, the Church invites us once again to contemplate the mystery of Christ's Nativity, to understand even better its profound meaning and importance to our lives. This is a wonderful text that offers an impressive synthesis of the whole of the Christian faith. It starts from on high: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn 1: 1); and this is the unheard of and humanly inconceivable news: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14a). It is not a rhetorical figure but a lived experience! And it is John, an eyewitness, who tells of it. "We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father... full of grace and truth" (Jn 1: 14). These are not the learned words of a rabbi or doctor of law but rather the passionate witness of a humble fisherman. Attracted in his youth by Jesus of Nazareth, in the three years he spent living with him and with the other Apostles, John experienced his love, to the extent that he called himself "the disciple Jesus loved" saw him die on the Cross and appear Risen, and then with the others received his Spirit. From his heart's meditation on the whole of this experience, John drew a deep conviction: Jesus is the Wisdom of God incarnate, he is his eternal Word who became a mortal man.
For a true Israelite who knows the Sacred Scriptures, this is not a contradiction; on the contrary, it is the fulfilment of the whole of the old Covenant. The mystery of a God who speaks to men and women as his friends, who reveals himself to Moses in the Law, to the wise and the prophets, reaches fulfilment in Christ. In knowing Jesus, in being with him, hearing his preaching and seeing the signs he performed, the disciples recognized that all the Scriptures were fulfilled in him. As a Christian author was later to affirm: "The whole of divine Scripture constitutes one book and this one book is Christ, it speaks of Christ and finds its fulfilment in Christ" (cf. Ugo di San Vittore, De arca Noe, 2, 8). Every man and every woman needs to find a profound meaning for their life. And this is why books do not suffice, not even the Sacred Scriptures. The Child of Bethlehem reveals and communicates to us the true "Face" of a good and faithful God, who loves us and even in death does not abandon us. "No one has ever seen God," concludes John's Prologue; "the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1: 18).
The first to open her heart and to contemplate "the Word who became flesh" was Mary, Mother of Jesus. A humble girl from Galilee, she thus became the "Seat of Wisdom"! Like the Apostle John, each one of us is invited to "[take] her to his own home" (Jn 19: 27), to know Jesus deeply and to experience his faithful and inexhaustible love. And this is my wish for each one of you, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of this new year.
APPEAL FOR AN END TO THE CONFLICT IN THE GAZA Strip:
The Patriarchs and the Heads of the Christian Churches in Jerusalem today, in all the Churches in the Holy Land, ask the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and to implore justice and peace for their land. I join them and I also ask you to do the same, remembering, as they say, "the victims, the wounded, and the broken-hearted... for those living in panic and fear, that God may bless them with calm, tranquility and true peace".
The tragic news reaching us from Gaza shows how the rejection of dialogue leads to situations that bear unspeakably heavily upon the peoples who are once again victims of hatred and war. War and hatred do not resolve problems. Very recent history also confirms this. Let us pray, therefore, that "the Child in the manger... may inspire the authorities and those responsible on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, to take immediate action to put an end to the current tragic situation".
***
I am pleased to greet the participants in the International Congress on the "Don Bosco's Preventive system and human rights", organized by the Salesians. This was a very important theme because the educational dimension is also crucial in the area of human rights.
I cordially greet all the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer! In these first days of the New Year, as the Church celebrates the Birth of the Saviour, let us pray that the peace proclaimed by the angels at Bethlehem will take ever deeper root in human hearts, banish all discord and violence, and inspire the human family to live in harmony and solidarity. Upon you and your loved ones I invoke the Lord's abundant blessings!
1. The Gospel reading of Christmas Day resounds once more in the liturgy on this first Sunday of the new year: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (Jn 1: 14).
The Word of God is the Eternal Wisdom that acts in the universe and in history. It is Wisdom that is fully revealed in the mystery of the Incarnation, in order to establish a kingdom of life, love and peace.
2. In its turn, faith teaches us that even in the most difficult and painful trials - such as the disaster that has struck Southeast Asia in these past days - God never abandons us: he came, in the mystery of Christmas, to share our existence.
The Child of Bethlehem is the One who, on the vigil of his death of redemption, will leave to us the commandment to love one another as he has loved us (cf. Jn 13: 34). It is in the concrete fulfilment of "his" commandment that he makes his presence felt.
3. This evangelical message grounds the hope of a better world, on the condition that we walk in "his" love. At the beginning of a new year, may the Mother of the Lord help us to make this programme of life our own.
FAUSTI - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children. The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn. It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable. The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses himself and gives himself, and another who listens to him, imprints him and welcomes him within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue. It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love. For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word. The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life within God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father. It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness. It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning. God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it. Only in him, created on the sixth day, does the Word, at work from the first day, find a hearing. He, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word. He was the true light" The implicit subject is always the Word, which is the "true" light, different from the false light of deceitful words that lead to death. Every man has within him the light of the Word. In spite of the unhearing, he is made for her, because he is made by her and of her. In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love , which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks. --> The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as its life and light. This light, which is in everyone, is the most inalienable good of man and offers to everyone, even in the most personal and mysterious ways, to enter into dialogue with the Father. The becoming Flesh of the Word is the point of arrival of the history of God who communicates Himself to man. The eternal Word, which was addressed to God and is God, at a precise moment "became" Flesh. It changes the way in which God communicates with us. That which always was and is "became" man, participating in our mortal condition. Love either finds or makes like. God is Love and whoever loves gives himself totally. By becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive. The acceptance or non-acceptance of the Word, which since Eden is for man a matter of life or death, is the fundamental theme of John's Gospel. Whoever accepts the Word has the dignity of the Word itself: he "becomes" what the Word is. It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father.
-----> - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children. The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn. It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable. The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses himself and gives himself, and another who listens to him, imprints him and welcomes him within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue. It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love. For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word. The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life within God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father. It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness. It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning. God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it. Only in him, created on the sixth day, does the Word, at work from the first day, find a hearing. He, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word. He was the true light" The implicit subject is always the Word, which is the "true" light, different from the false light of deceitful words that lead to death. Every man has within him the light of the Word. In spite of the unhearing, he is made for It, because he is made by It and of It. In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love , which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks.With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children. The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn. It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable.
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ECCLES.24,1-16
RispondiElimina"Wisdom speaks her own praises, in the midst of her people she glories in herself. 2. She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High, she glories in herself in the presence of the Mighty One: 3. 'I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like mist. 4. I had my tent in the heights, and my throne was a pillar of cloud. 5. Alone, I have made the circuit of the heavens and walked through the depths of the abyss. 6. Over the waves of the sea and over the whole earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway. 7. Among all these I searched for rest, and looked to see in whose territory I might pitch camp. 8. Then the Creator of all things instructed me and he who created me fixed a place for my tent. He said, "Pitch your tent in Jacob, make Israel your inheritance." 9. From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall remain. 10. In the holy tent I ministered before him and thus became established in Zion. 11. In the beloved city he has given me rest, and in Jerusalem I wield my authority. 12. I have taken root in a privileged people, in the Lord's property, in his inheritance."
PSALM 147
"Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God.
13. For he gives strength to the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you,
14. he maintains the peace of your frontiers, gives you your fill of finest wheat.
15. He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly,
16. he spreads the snow like flax, strews hoarfrost like ashes,
17. he sends ice-crystals like breadcrumbs, and who can withstand that cold?
18. When he sends his word it thaws them, when he makes his wind blow, the waters are unstopped.
19. He reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel.
20. For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his judge"
EPHESIANS 1,3-18
Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.
1:4 Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence,
1:5 determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes,
1:6 to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved,
1:7 in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the grace
1:8 which he has showered on us in all wisdom and insight.
1:9 He has let us know the mystery of his, purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning
1:10 to act upon when the times had run their course to the end: that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.
1:11 And it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will;
1:12 chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.
1:13 Now you too, in him, have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation, and have believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise
1:14 the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.
The triumph and the supremacy of Christ
1:15 That will explain why I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love that you show towards all the saints,
1:16 have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thank God for you.
1:17 May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him.
1:18 May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit
GOSPEL OF ST.JOHN 1,1-18
RispondiEliminaIn the beginning* was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.a
2He was in the beginning with God.
3* All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
5* the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
6* A man named John was sent from God.
7He came for testimony,* to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
8He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.
9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
11He came to what was his own,
but his own people* did not accept him.
12 But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
13* who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.
14And the Word became flesh*
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
15* John testified to him and cried out, saying,
“This was he of whom I said,
‘The one who is coming after me
ranks ahead of me because
he existed before me.’”
16From his fullness we have all received,
grace in place of grace,*
17because while the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God.
The only Son, God,*
who is at the Father’s side,
has revealed him.
The words of the Popes
RispondiEliminaBrothers and sisters, let us open our hearts to restlessness, let us ask for the courage to continue our journey, and let us finish in worship! Let us not be afraid, for this is the path of the Magi, the path of all the saints throughout history: to welcome our restlessness, to set out and to worship. Brothers and sisters, may we never stop our restless questioning; may we never interrupt our journey by yielding to apathy or convenience; and in our encounter with the Lord, may we abandon ourselves to the wonder of worship. Then we will discover that a light shines even in the darkest nights: the light of Jesus, the radiant morning star, the sun of justice the merciful splendour of God, who loves every man and woman, and all the peoples of the earth. (Pope Francis, Homily, Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 6 january 2023)
BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS
Elimina4 January 2009
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today the liturgy proposes anew for our meditation the same Gospel as that proclaimed on Christmas Day: the Prologue of St John. After the commotion of the recent days with the race to purchase gifts, the Church invites us once again to contemplate the mystery of Christ's Nativity, to understand even better its profound meaning and importance to our lives. This is a wonderful text that offers an impressive synthesis of the whole of the Christian faith. It starts from on high: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn 1: 1); and this is the unheard of and humanly inconceivable news: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14a). It is not a rhetorical figure but a lived experience! And it is John, an eyewitness, who tells of it. "We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father... full of grace and truth" (Jn 1: 14). These are not the learned words of a rabbi or doctor of law but rather the passionate witness of a humble fisherman. Attracted in his youth by Jesus of Nazareth, in the three years he spent living with him and with the other Apostles, John experienced his love, to the extent that he called himself "the disciple Jesus loved" saw him die on the Cross and appear Risen, and then with the others received his Spirit. From his heart's meditation on the whole of this experience, John drew a deep conviction: Jesus is the Wisdom of God incarnate, he is his eternal Word who became a mortal man.
For a true Israelite who knows the Sacred Scriptures, this is not a contradiction; on the contrary, it is the fulfilment of the whole of the old Covenant. The mystery of a God who speaks to men and women as his friends, who reveals himself to Moses in the Law, to the wise and the prophets, reaches fulfilment in Christ. In knowing Jesus, in being with him, hearing his preaching and seeing the signs he performed, the disciples recognized that all the Scriptures were fulfilled in him. As a Christian author was later to affirm: "The whole of divine Scripture constitutes one book and this one book is Christ, it speaks of Christ and finds its fulfilment in Christ" (cf. Ugo di San Vittore, De arca Noe, 2, 8). Every man and every woman needs to find a profound meaning for their life. And this is why books do not suffice, not even the Sacred Scriptures. The Child of Bethlehem reveals and communicates to us the true "Face" of a good and faithful God, who loves us and even in death does not abandon us. "No one has ever seen God," concludes John's Prologue; "the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1: 18).
The first to open her heart and to contemplate "the Word who became flesh" was Mary, Mother of Jesus. A humble girl from Galilee, she thus became the "Seat of Wisdom"! Like the Apostle John, each one of us is invited to "[take] her to his own home" (Jn 19: 27), to know Jesus deeply and to experience his faithful and inexhaustible love. And this is my wish for each one of you, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of this new year.
APPEAL FOR AN END TO THE CONFLICT IN THE GAZA Strip:
EliminaThe Patriarchs and the Heads of the Christian Churches in Jerusalem today, in all the Churches in the Holy Land, ask the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and to implore justice and peace for their land. I join them and I also ask you to do the same, remembering, as they say, "the victims, the wounded, and the broken-hearted... for those living in panic and fear, that God may bless them with calm, tranquility and true peace".
The tragic news reaching us from Gaza shows how the rejection of dialogue leads to situations that bear unspeakably heavily upon the peoples who are once again victims of hatred and war. War and hatred do not resolve problems. Very recent history also confirms this. Let us pray, therefore, that "the Child in the manger... may inspire the authorities and those responsible on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, to take immediate action to put an end to the current tragic situation".
***
I am pleased to greet the participants in the International Congress on the "Don Bosco's Preventive system and human rights", organized by the Salesians. This was a very important theme because the educational dimension is also crucial in the area of human rights.
I cordially greet all the English-speaking visitors gathered for this Angelus prayer! In these first days of the New Year, as the Church celebrates the Birth of the Saviour, let us pray that the peace proclaimed by the angels at Bethlehem will take ever deeper root in human hearts, banish all discord and violence, and inspire the human family to live in harmony and solidarity. Upon you and your loved ones I invoke the Lord's abundant blessings!
S. JOHN PAUL II ANGELUS 2 January 2005
Elimina1. The Gospel reading of Christmas Day resounds once more in the liturgy on this first Sunday of the new year: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (Jn 1: 14).
The Word of God is the Eternal Wisdom that acts in the universe and in history. It is Wisdom that is fully revealed in the mystery of the Incarnation, in order to establish a kingdom of life, love and peace.
2. In its turn, faith teaches us that even in the most difficult and painful trials - such as the disaster that has struck Southeast Asia in these past days - God never abandons us: he came, in the mystery of Christmas, to share our existence.
The Child of Bethlehem is the One who, on the vigil of his death of redemption, will leave to us the commandment to love one another as he has loved us (cf. Jn 13: 34). It is in the concrete fulfilment of "his" commandment that he makes his presence felt.
3. This evangelical message grounds the hope of a better world, on the condition that we walk in "his" love. At the beginning of a new year, may the Mother of the Lord help us to make this programme of life our own.
FAUSTI - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children.
RispondiEliminaThe prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn.
It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable.
The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses himself and gives himself, and another who listens to him, imprints him and welcomes him within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue.
It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love.
For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word.
The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life within God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father.
It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness.
It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning.
God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it.
Only in him, created on the sixth day, does the Word, at work from the first day, find a hearing.
He, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word.
He was the true light" The implicit subject is always the Word, which is the "true" light, different from the false light of deceitful words that lead to death. Every man has within him the light of the Word. In spite of the unhearing, he is made for her, because he is made by her and of her. In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love , which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks.
--> The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as its life and light.
This light, which is in everyone, is the most inalienable good of man and offers to everyone, even in the most personal and mysterious ways, to enter into dialogue with the Father.
The becoming Flesh of the Word is the point of arrival of the history of God who communicates Himself to man. The eternal Word, which was addressed to God and is God, at a precise moment "became" Flesh.
It changes the way in which God communicates with us. That which always was and is "became" man, participating in our mortal condition. Love either finds or makes like.
God is Love and whoever loves gives himself totally. By becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive.
The acceptance or non-acceptance of the Word, which since Eden is for man a matter of life or death, is the fundamental theme of John's Gospel.
Whoever accepts the Word has the dignity of the Word itself: he "becomes" what the Word is.
It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father.
-----> - With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children.
EliminaThe prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn.
It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable.
The word presupposes one who speaks, expresses himself and gives himself, and another who listens to him, imprints him and welcomes him within himself. The word implies two persons who enter into a relationship, into dialogue.
It is born from the love of the one who speaks, corresponded by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love.
For this reason, God, who is Love, is also Word.
The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life within God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father.
It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). The world is created by the Word and Wisdom who precedes it, designs it and makes it, giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective is the universe positively sensible, destined for life and happiness.
It is said that God created with the letters of the alphabet. This means that every reality is understandable and communicable in words. Those who can "read" can understand, interact and bring everything to its full meaning.
God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the aim of everything, with the man who understands it.
Only in him, created on the sixth day, does the Word, at work from the first day, find a hearing.
He, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word.
He was the true light" The implicit subject is always the Word, which is the "true" light, different from the false light of deceitful words that lead to death. Every man has within him the light of the Word. In spite of the unhearing, he is made for It, because he is made by It and of It. In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love , which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks.With surprise we discover that He who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children.
The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and the Incarnation have been drawn.
It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to the harmonies of the unspeakable.