First Reading 2 Kgs 4:8-11. 14-16 A reading from the second book of the Kings That is the holy man of God, let him remain there. One day as Elisha was on his way to Shunem, a woman of rank who lived there pressed him to stay and eat there. After this he always broke his journey for a meal when he passed that way. She said to her husband, ‘Look, I am sure the man who is constantly passing our way must be a holy man of God. Let us build him a small room on the roof, and put him a bed in it, and a table and chair and lamp; whenever he comes to us he can rest there.’ One day when he came, he retired to the upper room and lay down. ‘What can be done for her?’ he asked. Gehazi (his servant) answered, ‘Well, she has no son and her husband is old.’ Elisha said, ‘Call her.’ The servant called her and she stood at the door. ‘This time next year,’ Elisha said ‘you will hold a son in your arms.’ Responsorial Psalm Ps 88:2-3. 16-19. R. v.2 (R.) Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. 1. I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord; through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth. Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever, that your truth is firmly established as the heavens. (R.) 2. Happy the people who acclaim such a king, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, who find their joy every day in your name, who make your justice the source of their bliss. (R.) 3. For it is you, O Lord, who are the glory of their strength; it is by your favour that our might is exalted: for our ruler is in the keeping of the Lord; our king in the keeping of the Holy One of Israel. (R.) Second Reading
--->Rom 6:3-4. 8-11 A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans Having been buried with him through baptism, we shall walk in a new life. When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him: Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no power over him any more. When he died, he died, once for all, to sin, so his life now is life with God; and in that way, you too must consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus. Gospel Acclamation 1 Pt 2:9 Alleluia, alleluia! You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people. Praise God who called you out of darkness and into his marvellous light. Alleluia! Gospel Mt 10:37-42 A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew Anyone who does not accept his cross is not worthy of me. Anyone who welcomes you, welcomes me. Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me. ‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man because he is a holy man will have a holy man’s reward. ‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward"
THE WORDS OFTHE POPES S.PAUL VI - We preach Christ to the whole earth Jesus Christ: you have heard of Him, indeed you, most certainly, are already His, you are Christians. Well, to you Christians I repeat His Name, to all of you I proclaim it: Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End; the Alpha and the Omega. He is the king of the new world. He is the secret of history. He is the key to our destinies. He is the mediator, the bridge between earth and heaven; He is the Son of man par excellence, because He is the Son of God, eternal, infinite; He is the Son of Mary, the Blessed One among all women, His mother in the flesh, our mother in sharing in the Spirit of the Mystical Body. Jesus Christ! Remember: this is our perennial proclamation, it is the voice that we make resound throughout the earth, and for ever and ever.
HOLY MASS AT THE CAVE OF LOURDES IN THE VATICAN GARDENS - HOMILY BY S,JOHN PAUL II - , June 30, 1996 I will forever sing of your mercy! These words express the gratitude of one who has experienced God's merciful love: they are the words of the prophet filled with the Holy Spirit,of the barren woman who became a mother, of the apostle chosen by the Master. They are the words of every baptized person, regenerated by the paschal mystery of Christ. Indeed, the Christian experience is a circulation of gifts that starts from God and returns to God, through Christ, in praise of His glory; a circulation of mercy and gratitude, a foretaste and prophecy of the Kingdom of Heaven. This is also the dynamic of mission and apostolate. The first reading of today's Sunday presented us, from the cycle of the prophet ELISEO narrated in the Second Book of Kings, an episode that exemplifies Jesus' saying:He who ACCEPTS a prophet as a prophet will have the reward of the prophet, ( Mt 10:41 ). ELISEO, heir of the spirit of the great prophet Elijah, is welcomed by a woman of Sunem, who acts with considerate hospitality toward him, because she recognizes him as a man of God, a saint ( 2 Kings 4:9 ). And from him he receives, as a reward, the promise of a now unhoped-for son, a son who punctually will be born and, who, later, will even be raised by ELISEO himself. What will have been the life of that woman of Sunem, if not a hymn of unceasing praise to the mercy of God, who had visited her? He who WELCOMES you WELCOMES ME ( Mt 10:40 ). The apostle of the Kingdom of Heaven is first and foremost a man of God, one who has personally experienced His love and is called to proclaim it. He first repeats every day: I will forever sing your mercy. In this way, the apostle also becomes a dispenser of God's grace and a witness to His faithfulness, so as to arouse in those who receive his message the same song of praise. The Gospel passage, which we have just heard, constitutes the final part of the so-called apostolic discourse in Matthew's Gospel. It presents the fundamental and synthetic criterion of apostolic existence, namely, the primacy of God, which has become, in the New Covenant, the primacy of Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
The apostle had lost his life ( Mt 10:39 ) for Christ; by becoming His disciple he made himself small and can now be an instrument of His mercy toward all who receive Him in the name of the Lord. 3.You, too, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus ( Rom 6:11 ) Dear brothers and sisters, every disciple is called to be an apostle of the Gospel, by virtue of the baptism, about which the apostle Paul told us in his Epistle to the Romans. Christ lost His life and received it renewed from the Father, to pour it out, in the Holy Spirit, in those who believe in Him. His baptism into death (Lk 12:50 ) is the beginning of our baptism, His resurrection the beginning for us of a journey of new life, centered on our relationship with Him, which gives fullness of meaning and value to every other human relationship. Let us turn our gaze, beloved, to the Virgin Mary: She has been baptized into the paschal mystery of Christ from the first moment of his conception: that is why She is the Immaculate One. May our invocation be addressed to Her, that She may obtain for us to sing the Lord's mercy at all times. Amen!
POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS 28 June 2020 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning! This Sunday, the Gospel ( Mt 10:37-42) forcefully echoes the invitation to live out our bond with the Lord fully and without hesitation. Jesus asks his disciples to take the demands of the Gospel seriously, even when that requires sacrifice and effort.
The first demanding request that he addresses to those who follow him is that of putting love for him above family affection. He says: “He who loves father or mother… son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (v. 37). Jesus certainly does not intend to undervalue love for parents and children, but he knows that if family bonds are put in first place, they can deviate from the true good. We see this: some forms of corruption in governments come about precisely because love for family is greater than love for country, and so they put family members in charge. It is the same with Jesus: when love [for family] is greater than [it is] for him, it is not good. All of us can give many examples in this regard, not to mention those situations in which family affections are intermingled with choices that are contrary to the Gospel. When, instead, love for parents and children is inspired and purified by love for the Lord, it then becomes wholly fruitful and produces good fruits within the family itself and well beyond it. Jesus says this phrase in this sense. Let us also remember how Jesus rebukes the doctors of the law who cause their parents to lack what is necessary to them on the pretext of offering it at the altar, of giving it to the Church (cf. Mk 7:8-13). He rebukes them! True love for Jesus requires a true love for parents and children, but if we seek out family interests first, this always leads to the wrong path.
Then, Jesus says to his disciples: “he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:38). This means following him along the path that he himself trod, without looking for shortcuts. There is no true love without the cross, that is, without a personal price to pay. Many mothers, many fathers who sacrifice a great deal for their children, and bear true sacrifices, crosses, because they love them, say this. And the cross is not frightening when borne with Jesus, because he is always at our side to support us in the hour of the most difficult trial, to give us strength and courage. Nor is it helpful to get agitated to preserve one’s own life through fearful or egotistical behaviour. Jesus admonishes: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake” — that is, for love, for love of Jesus, love for one’s neighbour, for service towards others — “will find it” (v. 39). This is the Gospel paradox. But we have many, many examples of this too, thank God! We see it in these days. How many people, how many people, are bearing crosses to help others; they sacrifice themselves to help others who are in need in this pandemic. But, always with Jesus, it can be done. The fullness of life and of joy is found by giving oneself for the Gospel and for our brothers and sisters, with openness, welcoming and goodness.
In so doing, we can experience God’s generosity and gratitude. Jesus reminds us of this: “He who receives you receives me… And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… shall not lose his reward” (vv. 40, 42). God’s generous gratitude takes into account even the smallest gesture of love and service given to our brothers and sisters.
--->In these days, I heard from a priest who was moved because a child approached him in his parish and said, “Father, this is my savings; not very much. It is for the poor, for those who are in need today because of the pandemic”. A small thing, but a great thing. It is a contagious gratitude, which helps each of us to be grateful to those who take care of our needs. When someone offers us a service, we should not think that we deserve everything. No, many services are carried out freely. Think of volunteer work, which is one of the greatest things about Italian society. The volunteers… And how many of them have lost their lives in this pandemic. They do it out of love, simply to serve. Gratitude, appreciation is, first of all, good manners, but it is also a characteristic of a Christian. It is a simple but genuine sign of the Kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of gratuitous and grateful love.
May Mary Most Holy, who loved Jesus more than her own life and followed him even to the cross, help us to always put ourselves before God with willing hearts, allowing his Word to judge our behaviour and our choices.
FAUSTI – “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” Jesus may not be loved. But he cannot be loved less than another: he would not be the Lord, to be loved with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5). God is Love. If he were not loved for himself, he would be neither God nor Love.
I love Christ, my life (Philippians 1:21), because he first loved me and gave himself for me (1 John 4:9 – Galatians 2:20). To his Passion for me, I respond with my own Passion for him: I have been overcome, and I press on to overcome him (Philippians 3:12). The beloved becomes the life of those who love him: lovers give each other what they have and what they are. If “I am for him, as he is for me” (Song of Songs 2:6), then I am truly worthy of him, having become one flesh with him in the one Love. “He who does not carry his cross”: each person has their own cross, the one of the struggle against the evil within. Only Jesus, the only one without sin, carried not his own, but ours. Each of us, behind him, like the Cyrenian, carries the cross of Jesus, which is in reality our own, the one on which he will die in our place. And when we are unable to carry it, he becomes our Cyrenian. When we carry it, we are not alone; he is in front, bearing the heaviest part, the one that will bear him. We, behind, carry the lighter part, the one that will be nailed to the ground and on which his blood will flow.
Thus, we freely collaborate in his struggle and his victory, becoming like him, with the same dignity as God, who is freedom, love, and service.
“Whoever finds their life will lose it.” Every person longs to possess their own life. But to the extent that they succeed, they become selfish and lose themselves: they kill their filial and fraternal life. Life is destined to be lost.
Not only because, like all animals, we are mortal, but above all because to live is to love, and to love is to give one's life. We do not throw away our lives out of contempt; we give them out of love for Jesus. The one who is sent is equal to the Son, who first welcomes the other as he is welcomed by the Father. He has given everything and needs to be welcomed, so that whoever welcomes him becomes his brother, equal to the Father who welcomes all. Generosity and poverty, inherent in mission, are God's strategy to release his divine spark within humanity: the capacity to welcome. Wealth and power incite theft and violence; Poverty and weakness inspire acceptance and mercy.
The apostle, like Jesus, places himself in the hands of men who will do as they please. He lives with his brothers and sisters the same trust he has in the Father and recognizes in each one the dignity of a son or daughter.
Sooner or later, each of us lives out the dignity for which we are recognized! Just as the Father sent Jesus to bear witness to his love for his brothers and sisters, so too he sends those who already recognize themselves as sons and daughters to other brothers and sisters, until all have received the Father's love. Those who welcome receive more than they give: they receive the very dignity of the one who is welcomed.
This is why the Lord made himself lower than all, so that by welcoming him, we might become like him, the Prophet, the Righteous One, the Son.
“One of these little ones.” The disciples, sent forth, become "little" like the Lord. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Whoever welcomes them enters the Kingdom. They welcome the Son and become a son or daughter. Even the smallest gesture of welcome—a glass of fresh water—is a divine and eternal gesture.
First Reading
RispondiElimina2 Kgs 4:8-11. 14-16
A reading from the second book of the Kings
That is the holy man of God, let him remain there.
One day as Elisha was on his way to Shunem, a woman of rank who lived there
pressed him to stay and eat there. After this he always broke his journey for a
meal when he passed that way. She said to her husband, ‘Look, I am sure the
man who is constantly passing our way must be a holy man of God. Let us
build him a small room on the roof, and put him a bed in it, and a table and
chair and lamp; whenever he comes to us he can rest there.’
One day when he came, he retired to the upper room and lay down. ‘What can
be done for her?’ he asked. Gehazi (his servant) answered, ‘Well, she has no
son and her husband is old.’ Elisha said, ‘Call her.’ The servant called her and
she stood at the door. ‘This time next year,’ Elisha said ‘you will hold a son in
your arms.’
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 88:2-3. 16-19. R. v.2
(R.) Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
1. I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord;
through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth.
Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever,
that your truth is firmly established as the heavens. (R.)
2. Happy the people who acclaim such a king,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
who find their joy every day in your name,
who make your justice the source of their bliss. (R.)
3. For it is you, O Lord, who are the glory of their strength;
it is by your favour that our might is exalted:
for our ruler is in the keeping of the Lord;
our king in the keeping of the Holy One of Israel. (R.)
Second Reading
--->Rom 6:3-4. 8-11
EliminaA reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans
Having been buried with him through baptism, we shall walk in a new life.
When we were baptised in Christ Jesus we were baptised in his death; in other
words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined
him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory,
we too might live a new life.
But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him:
Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again.
Death has no power over him any more. When he died, he died, once for all,
to sin, so his life now is life with God; and in that way, you too must consider
yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Acclamation
1 Pt 2:9
Alleluia, alleluia!
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people.
Praise God who called you out of darkness and into his marvellous
light.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Mt 10:37-42
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Anyone who does not accept his cross is not worthy of me. Anyone who welcomes you,
welcomes me.
Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother
to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not
worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps
is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his
life for my sake will find it.
‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me
welcome the one who sent me.
‘Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will have a
prophet’s reward; and anyone who welcomes a holy man because he is a holy
man will have a holy man’s reward.
‘If anyone gives so much as a cup of cold water to one of these little ones
because he is a disciple, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose
his reward"
PSALM 88
Eliminahttps://salmiognigiorno.blogspot.com/2024/11/psalm-88-89-b-c-d.html
THE WORDS OFTHE POPES
RispondiEliminaS.PAUL VI - We preach Christ to the whole earth
Jesus Christ: you have heard of Him, indeed you, most certainly, are already His, you are Christians. Well, to you Christians I repeat His Name, to all of you I proclaim it: Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End; the Alpha and the Omega. He is the king of the new world. He is the secret of history. He is the key to our destinies. He is the mediator, the bridge between earth and heaven; He is the Son of man par excellence, because He is the Son of God, eternal, infinite; He is the Son of Mary, the Blessed One among all women, His mother in the flesh, our mother in sharing in the Spirit of the Mystical Body.
Jesus Christ! Remember: this is our perennial proclamation, it is the voice that we make resound throughout the earth, and for ever and ever.
HOLY MASS AT THE CAVE OF LOURDES
RispondiEliminaIN THE VATICAN GARDENS -
HOMILY BY S,JOHN PAUL II -
, June 30, 1996
I will forever sing of your mercy!
These words express the gratitude of one who has experienced God's merciful love: they are the
words of the prophet filled with the Holy Spirit,of the barren woman who became a mother, of the apostle chosen by the Master. They are the words of every baptized person, regenerated by the paschal mystery of Christ.
Indeed, the Christian experience is a circulation of gifts that starts from God and returns to God, through Christ, in praise of His glory; a circulation of mercy and gratitude, a foretaste and prophecy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is also the dynamic of mission and apostolate.
The first reading of today's Sunday presented us, from the cycle of the prophet ELISEO narrated in the Second
Book of Kings, an episode that exemplifies Jesus' saying:He who ACCEPTS a prophet as a prophet will have the
reward of the prophet, ( Mt 10:41 ). ELISEO, heir of the spirit of the great prophet Elijah, is welcomed by a
woman of Sunem, who acts with considerate hospitality toward him, because she recognizes him as a man
of God, a saint ( 2 Kings 4:9 ). And from him he receives, as a reward, the promise of a now unhoped-for son,
a son who punctually will be born and, who, later, will even be raised by ELISEO himself.
What will have been the life of that woman of Sunem, if not a hymn of unceasing praise to the mercy of God, who had visited her?
He who WELCOMES you WELCOMES ME ( Mt 10:40 ).
The apostle of the Kingdom of Heaven is first and foremost a man of God, one who has personally experienced His
love and is called to proclaim it. He first repeats every day:
I will forever sing your mercy. In this way, the apostle also becomes a dispenser of God's grace and a witness to His
faithfulness, so as to arouse in those who receive his message the same song of praise.
The Gospel passage, which we have just heard, constitutes the final part of the so-called apostolic discourse in Matthew's Gospel. It presents the fundamental and synthetic criterion of apostolic existence, namely, the primacy of God, which has become, in the New Covenant, the primacy of Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
The apostle had lost his life ( Mt 10:39 )
for Christ; by becoming His disciple he made himself small and can now be an instrument of His mercy toward all who receive Him in the name of the Lord.
3.You, too, consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus ( Rom 6:11 )
Dear brothers and sisters, every disciple is called to be an apostle of the Gospel, by virtue of the
baptism, about which the apostle Paul told us in his Epistle to the Romans. Christ lost His life and received it renewed from the Father, to pour it out, in the Holy Spirit, in those who believe in Him. His baptism into death (Lk 12:50 ) is the beginning of our baptism, His resurrection the beginning for us
of a journey of new life, centered on our relationship with Him, which gives fullness of meaning and value to every other human relationship.
Let us turn our gaze, beloved, to the Virgin Mary: She has been baptized into the paschal mystery of Christ from the first moment of his conception: that is why She is the Immaculate One. May our invocation be addressed to Her, that She may obtain for us to sing the Lord's mercy at all times.
Amen!
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 28 June 2020
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
This Sunday, the Gospel ( Mt 10:37-42) forcefully echoes the invitation to live out our bond with the Lord fully and without hesitation. Jesus asks his disciples to take the demands of the Gospel seriously, even when that requires sacrifice and effort.
The first demanding request that he addresses to those who follow him is that of putting love for him above family affection. He says: “He who loves father or mother… son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (v. 37). Jesus certainly does not intend to undervalue love for parents and children, but he knows that if family bonds are put in first place, they can deviate from the true good. We see this: some forms of corruption in governments come about precisely because love for family is greater than love for country, and so they put family members in charge. It is the same with Jesus: when love [for family] is greater than [it is] for him, it is not good. All of us can give many examples in this regard, not to mention those situations in which family affections are intermingled with choices that are contrary to the Gospel. When, instead, love for parents and children is inspired and purified by love for the Lord, it then becomes wholly fruitful and produces good fruits within the family itself and well beyond it. Jesus says this phrase in this sense. Let us also remember how Jesus rebukes the doctors of the law who cause their parents to lack what is necessary to them on the pretext of offering it at the altar, of giving it to the Church (cf. Mk 7:8-13). He rebukes them! True love for Jesus requires a true love for parents and children, but if we seek out family interests first, this always leads to the wrong path.
Then, Jesus says to his disciples: “he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:38). This means following him along the path that he himself trod, without looking for shortcuts. There is no true love without the cross, that is, without a personal price to pay. Many mothers, many fathers who sacrifice a great deal for their children, and bear true sacrifices, crosses, because they love them, say this. And the cross is not frightening when borne with Jesus, because he is always at our side to support us in the hour of the most difficult trial, to give us strength and courage. Nor is it helpful to get agitated to preserve one’s own life through fearful or egotistical behaviour. Jesus admonishes: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake” — that is, for love, for love of Jesus, love for one’s neighbour, for service towards others — “will find it” (v. 39). This is the Gospel paradox. But we have many, many examples of this too, thank God! We see it in these days. How many people, how many people, are bearing crosses to help others; they sacrifice themselves to help others who are in need in this pandemic. But, always with Jesus, it can be done. The fullness of life and of joy is found by giving oneself for the Gospel and for our brothers and sisters, with openness, welcoming and goodness.
In so doing, we can experience God’s generosity and gratitude. Jesus reminds us of this: “He who receives you receives me… And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water… shall not lose his reward” (vv. 40, 42). God’s generous gratitude takes into account even the smallest gesture of love and service given to our brothers and sisters.
--->In these days, I heard from a priest who was moved because a child approached him in his parish and said, “Father, this is my savings; not very much. It is for the poor, for those who are in need today because of the pandemic”. A small thing, but a great thing. It is a contagious gratitude, which helps each of us to be grateful to those who take care of our needs. When someone offers us a service, we should not think that we deserve everything. No, many services are carried out freely. Think of volunteer work, which is one of the greatest things about Italian society. The volunteers… And how many of them have lost their lives in this pandemic. They do it out of love, simply to serve. Gratitude, appreciation is, first of all, good manners, but it is also a characteristic of a Christian. It is a simple but genuine sign of the Kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of gratuitous and grateful love.
EliminaMay Mary Most Holy, who loved Jesus more than her own life and followed him even to the cross, help us to always put ourselves before God with willing hearts, allowing his Word to judge our behaviour and our choices.
FAUSTI – “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” Jesus may not be loved. But he cannot be loved less than another: he would not be the Lord, to be loved with all our hearts (Deuteronomy 6:5).
RispondiEliminaGod is Love.
If he were not loved for himself, he would be neither God nor Love.
I love Christ, my life (Philippians 1:21), because he first loved me and gave himself for me (1 John 4:9 – Galatians 2:20).
To his Passion for me, I respond with my own Passion for him: I have been overcome, and I press on to overcome him (Philippians 3:12).
The beloved becomes the life of those who love him: lovers give each other what they have and what they are. If “I am for him, as he is for me” (Song of Songs 2:6), then I am truly worthy of him, having become one flesh with him in the one Love. “He who does not carry his cross”: each person has their own cross, the one of the struggle against the evil within. Only Jesus, the only one without sin, carried not his own, but ours. Each of us, behind him, like the Cyrenian, carries the cross of Jesus, which is in reality our own, the one on which he will die in our place. And when we are unable to carry it, he becomes our Cyrenian. When we carry it, we are not alone; he is in front, bearing the heaviest part, the one that will bear him. We, behind, carry the lighter part, the one that will be nailed to the ground and on which his blood will flow.
Thus, we freely collaborate in his struggle and his victory, becoming like him, with the same dignity as God, who is freedom, love, and service.
“Whoever finds their life will lose it.” Every person longs to possess their own life. But to the extent that they succeed, they become selfish and lose themselves: they kill their filial and fraternal life.
Life is destined to be lost.
Not only because, like all animals, we are mortal, but above all because to live is to love, and to love is to give one's life. We do not throw away our lives out of contempt; we give them out of love for Jesus.
The one who is sent is equal to the Son, who first welcomes the other as he is welcomed by the Father. He has given everything and needs to be welcomed, so that whoever welcomes him becomes his brother, equal to the Father who welcomes all. Generosity and poverty, inherent in mission, are God's strategy to release his divine spark within humanity: the capacity to welcome. Wealth and power incite theft and violence; Poverty and weakness inspire acceptance and mercy.
The apostle, like Jesus, places himself in the hands of men who will do as they please. He lives with his brothers and sisters the same trust he has in the Father and recognizes in each one the dignity of a son or daughter.
Sooner or later, each of us lives out the dignity for which we are recognized!
Just as the Father sent Jesus to bear witness to his love for his brothers and sisters, so too he sends those who already recognize themselves as sons and daughters to other brothers and sisters, until all have received the Father's love. Those who welcome receive more than they give: they receive the very dignity of the one who is welcomed.
This is why the Lord made himself lower than all, so that by welcoming him, we might become like him, the Prophet, the Righteous One, the Son.
“One of these little ones.” The disciples, sent forth, become "little" like the Lord. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. Whoever welcomes them enters the Kingdom. They welcome the Son and become a son or daughter. Even the smallest gesture of welcome—a glass of fresh water—is a divine and eternal gesture.