Book of Wisdom 12,13.16-19. There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned; For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Psalms 86(85
You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading.
All the nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord, and glorify your name. For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds; you alone are God.
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity. Turn to me, have pity on me; give your strength to your servant.
Letter to the Romans 8,26-27. Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ t according to Saint Matthew 13,24-43.
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'" He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world." Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."
The words of the Popes Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a field of wheat to enable us to understand that something small and hidden has been sown within us which, nevertheless, has an irrepressible vital force. In spite of all obstacles, the seed will develop and the fruit will ripen. This fruit will only be good if the terrain of life is cultivated in accordance with the divine will. For this reason in the Parable of the Weeds [tares] among the good Wheat (Mt 13:24-30). Jesus warns us that, after the owner had scattered the seed, “while men were sleeping, his enemy” intervened and sowed weeds among the wheat. This means that we must be ready to preserve the grace received from the day of our Baptism, continuing to nourish faith in the Lord that prevents evil from taking root. St Augustine commenting on the parable noted “many are at first tares but then become good grain”, and he added: “if these, when they are wicked, are not endured with patience they would not attain their praiseworthy transformation” (Quaest. septend. in Ev. sec. Matth., 12, 4: PL 35, 1371). (…) Hence if we are children of such a great and good Father, let us seek to be like him! This was the aim Jesus set himself with his preaching; indeed, he said to those who were listening to him: “You... must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, 17 July 2011)
POPE FRANCIS ANGELUS 23 July 2023 Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
Today’s Gospel offers us the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Mt 13:24-43). A farmer, who has sown good seed in his field, discovers that an enemy by night has sown weeds in it, a plant that looks very similar to wheat, but is invasive.
In this way, Jesus talks about our world, which in effect is like a large field, where God sows wheat and the evil one sows weeds, and therefore good and bad grow together. Good and bad grow together. We see this in the news, in society, and even in the family and the Church. And when, along with the good wheat, we see bad weeds, we want to tear them up immediately, to make a “clean sweep”. But today the Lord warns us that to do this is a temptation: one cannot create a perfect world, and one cannot do good by hastily destroying what is bad, because this results in even worse effects: one ends up, as we say, “throwing the baby away with the bathwater”.
There is, however, a second field where we can clean up: it is the field of our heart, the only one where we can intervene directly. There, too, there are wheat and weeds. Indeed, it is precisely from there that both expand into the great field of the world. Brothers and sisters, our heart, in fact, is a field of freedom: it is not a sterile laboratory, but rather an open and therefore vulnerable space. To cultivate it properly, it is necessary on the one hand to take constant care of the delicate shoots of goodness, and on the other, to identify and uproot the weeds, at the right time. So let us look within a bit and examine what is happening, what is growing within me, what grows in me that is good and evil. There is a good method for this: it is called an examination of conscience, which is seeing what happened today in my life, what struck my heart and which decisions I made. And this is precisely to verify, in the light of God, where the bad weeds and the good seed are.
After the field of the world, and the field of the heart, there is a third field. We can call it the neighbour’s field. They are the people we associate with every day, and whom we often judge. How easy it is to recognize their weeds, how we like to “flay” others! And how difficult it is, instead, to know how to see the good grain that is growing! Let us remember, though, that if we want to cultivate the fields of life, it is important to seek first and foremost the work of God: to learn to see the beauty of what the Lord has sown, the sun-kissed wheat with its golden ears, in others, in the world and in ourselves. Brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace to be able to see it in ourselves, but also in others, starting from those who are close to us. It is not a naïve perspective; it is the perspective of one who believes, because God, the farmer of the great field of the world, loves to see goodness and to make it grow to make the harvest a feast!
So today too, we can ask ourselves some questions. Thinking of the field of the world : Do I know how to resist the temptation to generalize, to sweep others aside with my judgments? Then, thinking of the field of the heart : Am I honest in seeking out the bad weeds in myself, and decisive in throwing them into the fire of God’s mercy? And, thinking of the neighbour’s field : Do I have the wisdom to see what is good without being discouraged by the limitations and sluggishness of others?
May the Virgin Mary help us to cultivate patiently what the Lord sows in the field of life, in my field, in the neighbour’s, in everyone’s field.
S.IOANNES PAULUS PP. II VERITATIS SPLENDOR Walking in the light (cf. 1 Jn 1:7)
88. The attempt to set freedom in opposition to truth, and indeed to separate them radically, is the consequence, manifestation and consummation of another more serious and destructive dichotomy, that which separates faith from morality.
This separation represents one of the most acute pastoral concerns of the Church amid today's growing secularism, wherein many, indeed too many, people think and live "as if God did not exist". We are speaking of a mentality which affects, often in a profound, extensive and all-embracing way, even the attitudes and behaviour of Christians, whose faith is weakened and loses its character as a new and original criterion for thinking and acting in personal, family and social life. In a widely dechristianized culture, the criteria employed by believers themselves in making judgments and decisions often appear extraneous or even contrary to those of the Gospel.
It is urgent then that Christians should rediscover the newness of the faith and its power to judge a prevalent and all-intrusive culture. As the Apostle Paul admonishes us: "Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light (for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful words of darkness, but instead expose them... Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil" (Eph 5:8-11, 15-16; cf. 1 Th 5:4-8).
It is urgent to rediscover and to set forth once more the authentic reality of the Christian faith, which is not simply a set of propositions to be accepted with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is a lived knowledge of Christ, a living remembrance of his commandments, and a truth to be lived out. A word, in any event, is not truly received until it passes into action, until it is put into practice. Faith is a decision involving one's whole existence. It is an encounter, a dialogue, a communion of love and of life between the believer and Jesus Christ, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6). It entails an act of trusting abandonment to Christ, which enables us to live as he lived (cf. Gal 2:20), in profound love of God and of our brothers and sisters.
--->89. Faith also possesses a moral content. It gives rise to and calls for a consistent life commitment; it entails and brings to perfection the acceptance and observance of God's commandments. As Saint John writes, "God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth... And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says ' I know him' but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 Jn 1:5-6; 2:3-6).
Through the moral life, faith becomes "confession", not only before God but also before men: it becomes witness. "You are the light of the world", said Jesus; "a city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5:14-16). These works are above all those of charity (cf. Mt 25:31-46) and of the authentic freedom which is manifested and lived in the gift of self, even to the total gift of self, like that of Jesus, who on the Cross "loved the Church and gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). Christ's witness is the source, model and means for the witness of his disciples, who are called to walk on the same road: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23). Charity, in conformity with the radical demands of the Gospel, can lead the believer to the supreme witness of martyrdom. Once again this means imitating Jesus who died on the Cross: "Be imitators of God, as beloved children", Paul writes to the Christians of Ephesus, "and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph 5:1-2). O Mary, Mother of Mercy, watch over all people, that the Cross of Christ may not be emptied of its power, that man may not stray from the path of the good or become blind to sin, but may put his hope ever more fully in God who is "rich in mercy" (Eph 2:4). May he carry out the good works prepared by God beforehand (cf. Eph 2:10) and so live completely "for the praise of his glory" (Eph 1:12).
6 August, Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord 1993,
FAUSTI - "Let them both grow up together," says the Lord to those who propose to Him to eradicate the tangle. The weed is a poisonous and infesting herb. At first it is not distinguishable from a small plant of wheat, then it takes root so well that, by tearing it away, the same wheat is uprooted. We would like the Christian community to be perfect, pure and flawless, and we are anxious to eradicate the weeds inside and around us. The greatest disasters come precisely from the attempt to eliminate evil. Sacred violence is the worst. "for the sake of good" violates all freedom. The triumph of good will only be at the end, and by God's work. First is the time of patience, ours and His that sees the evil of us and others as a place of mercy, respectively received and accorded. The church is not a sect of the pure; in it there is place for all. And we shall be judged by our own judgment, measured by our own measure. the mercy we shall have used shall be our measure of truth. God's judgment is already given on the cross, where the Son brings upon Himself the evil of the world: to Him our perdition, to us His beauty. Truly the cross, green wood, burns instead of dry wood. The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a grain of mustard, invisible as the head of a pin. Its extreme smallness is scandalously associated with the greatness of the Kingdom. Its greatness is not that of the highest cedars. It is that of the wood of the cross, where the birds find nests. Thus all the trees of the forest know " Who " is the Lord, the One who humbles the high tree and raises the low tree, makes the green tree dry and makes the dry tree germinate. (EZ 17:22-23) He Himself is the green wood that dries up to burn our iniquities and communicate His lifeblood to us. If the little seed thrown becomes the great tree of the cross, that fist of dough gone bad, taken and hidden in three measures of flour, is the Christ buried, hidden for three days in the heart of the earth, will leaven it of new life, free from the old yeast of malice and wickedness. "Thus shall it be at the fulfillment of the world." says Jesus . Two fires will shine: the fire of the wicked that burn like garbage, and the fire of the righteous that shine like the sun. The fulfilment of the world is compared to the harvest, the time when the seed becomes bread and joy. It will be when God has accomplished in the world His work, His Masterpiece: the Face of the Son. Only then, not before, will there be judgment. Already now He has sent the Apostles to sow the Word, by whose listening we are judged. The time, the life we have at our disposal, is over: it has a beginning, a development and a end. In the end, only Love will remain, which never has an end. The fire of God will then make manifest the work of each one. The straw of our selfishness will be burned and what is precious will endure. The sun is the symbol of God. Whoever hears the Word becomes like the Father (5:48) shines of His Glory, like the transfigured Son. What in us will not be filial and fraternal will disappear. Then we will cover ourselves with burning redness for all that we now frequently us proclaim . The listener will be given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom; and the more he has, the more to him will given.
Book of Wisdom
RispondiElimina12,13.16-19.
There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned;
For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.
But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.
And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.
Psalms 86(85
You, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.
Turn to me, have pity on me;
give your strength to your servant.
Letter to the Romans
8,26-27.
Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.
Holy Gospel
of Jesus Christ
t according to
Saint Matthew 13,24-43.
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?'
He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.
Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
He proposed another parable to them. "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.
It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"
He spoke to them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world."
Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,
the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.
They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."
The words of the Popes
RispondiEliminaJesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a field of wheat to enable us to understand that something small and hidden has been sown within us which, nevertheless, has an irrepressible vital force. In spite of all obstacles, the seed will develop and the fruit will ripen. This fruit will only be good if the terrain of life is cultivated in accordance with the divine will. For this reason in the Parable of the Weeds [tares] among the good Wheat (Mt 13:24-30). Jesus warns us that, after the owner had scattered the seed, “while men were sleeping, his enemy” intervened and sowed weeds among the wheat. This means that we must be ready to preserve the grace received from the day of our Baptism, continuing to nourish faith in the Lord that prevents evil from taking root. St Augustine commenting on the parable noted “many are at first tares but then become good grain”, and he added: “if these, when they are wicked, are not endured with patience they would not attain their praiseworthy transformation” (Quaest. septend. in Ev. sec. Matth., 12, 4: PL 35, 1371). (…) Hence if we are children of such a great and good Father, let us seek to be like him! This was the aim Jesus set himself with his preaching; indeed, he said to those who were listening to him: “You... must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
(Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, 17 July 2011)
POPE FRANCIS
RispondiEliminaANGELUS 23 July 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, buongiorno!
Today’s Gospel offers us the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Mt 13:24-43). A farmer, who has sown good seed in his field, discovers that an enemy by night has sown weeds in it, a plant that looks very similar to wheat, but is invasive.
In this way, Jesus talks about our world, which in effect is like a large field, where God sows wheat and the evil one sows weeds, and therefore good and bad grow together. Good and bad grow together. We see this in the news, in society, and even in the family and the Church. And when, along with the good wheat, we see bad weeds, we want to tear them up immediately, to make a “clean sweep”. But today the Lord warns us that to do this is a temptation: one cannot create a perfect world, and one cannot do good by hastily destroying what is bad, because this results in even worse effects: one ends up, as we say, “throwing the baby away with the bathwater”.
There is, however, a second field where we can clean up: it is the field of our heart, the only one where we can intervene directly. There, too, there are wheat and weeds. Indeed, it is precisely from there that both expand into the great field of the world. Brothers and sisters, our heart, in fact, is a field of freedom: it is not a sterile laboratory, but rather an open and therefore vulnerable space. To cultivate it properly, it is necessary on the one hand to take constant care of the delicate shoots of goodness, and on the other, to identify and uproot the weeds, at the right time. So let us look within a bit and examine what is happening, what is growing within me, what grows in me that is good and evil. There is a good method for this: it is called an examination of conscience, which is seeing what happened today in my life, what struck my heart and which decisions I made. And this is precisely to verify, in the light of God, where the bad weeds and the good seed are.
After the field of the world, and the field of the heart, there is a third field. We can call it the neighbour’s field. They are the people we associate with every day, and whom we often judge. How easy it is to recognize their weeds, how we like to “flay” others! And how difficult it is, instead, to know how to see the good grain that is growing! Let us remember, though, that if we want to cultivate the fields of life, it is important to seek first and foremost the work of God: to learn to see the beauty of what the Lord has sown, the sun-kissed wheat with its golden ears, in others, in the world and in ourselves. Brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace to be able to see it in ourselves, but also in others, starting from those who are close to us. It is not a naïve perspective; it is the perspective of one who believes, because God, the farmer of the great field of the world, loves to see goodness and to make it grow to make the harvest a feast!
So today too, we can ask ourselves some questions. Thinking of the field of the world : Do I know how to resist the temptation to generalize, to sweep others aside with my judgments? Then, thinking of the field of the heart : Am I honest in seeking out the bad weeds in myself, and decisive in throwing them into the fire of God’s mercy? And, thinking of the neighbour’s field : Do I have the wisdom to see what is good without being discouraged by the limitations and sluggishness of others?
May the Virgin Mary help us to cultivate patiently what the Lord sows in the field of life, in my field, in the neighbour’s, in everyone’s field.
S.IOANNES PAULUS PP. II
RispondiEliminaVERITATIS SPLENDOR
Walking in the light (cf. 1 Jn 1:7)
88. The attempt to set freedom in opposition to truth, and indeed to separate them radically, is the consequence, manifestation and consummation of another more serious and destructive dichotomy, that which separates faith from morality.
This separation represents one of the most acute pastoral concerns of the Church amid today's growing secularism, wherein many, indeed too many, people think and live "as if God did not exist". We are speaking of a mentality which affects, often in a profound, extensive and all-embracing way, even the attitudes and behaviour of Christians, whose faith is weakened and loses its character as a new and original criterion for thinking and acting in personal, family and social life. In a widely dechristianized culture, the criteria employed by believers themselves in making judgments and decisions often appear extraneous or even contrary to those of the Gospel.
It is urgent then that Christians should rediscover the newness of the faith and its power to judge a prevalent and all-intrusive culture. As the Apostle Paul admonishes us: "Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of the light (for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful words of darkness, but instead expose them... Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil" (Eph 5:8-11, 15-16; cf. 1 Th 5:4-8).
It is urgent to rediscover and to set forth once more the authentic reality of the Christian faith, which is not simply a set of propositions to be accepted with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is a lived knowledge of Christ, a living remembrance of his commandments, and a truth to be lived out. A word, in any event, is not truly received until it passes into action, until it is put into practice. Faith is a decision involving one's whole existence. It is an encounter, a dialogue, a communion of love and of life between the believer and Jesus Christ, the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6). It entails an act of trusting abandonment to Christ, which enables us to live as he lived (cf. Gal 2:20), in profound love of God and of our brothers and sisters.
--->89. Faith also possesses a moral content. It gives rise to and calls for a consistent life commitment; it entails and brings to perfection the acceptance and observance of God's commandments. As Saint John writes, "God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth... And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says ' I know him' but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: he who says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked" (1 Jn 1:5-6; 2:3-6).
EliminaThrough the moral life, faith becomes "confession", not only before God but also before men: it becomes witness. "You are the light of the world", said Jesus; "a city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5:14-16). These works are above all those of charity (cf. Mt 25:31-46) and of the authentic freedom which is manifested and lived in the gift of self, even to the total gift of self, like that of Jesus, who on the Cross "loved the Church and gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25). Christ's witness is the source, model and means for the witness of his disciples, who are called to walk on the same road: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23). Charity, in conformity with the radical demands of the Gospel, can lead the believer to the supreme witness of martyrdom. Once again this means imitating Jesus who died on the Cross: "Be imitators of God, as beloved children", Paul writes to the Christians of Ephesus, "and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph 5:1-2).
O Mary,
Mother of Mercy,
watch over all people,
that the Cross of Christ
may not be emptied of its power,
that man may not stray
from the path of the good
or become blind to sin,
but may put his hope ever more fully in God
who is "rich in mercy" (Eph 2:4).
May he carry out the good works prepared
by God beforehand (cf. Eph 2:10)
and so live completely
"for the praise of his glory" (Eph 1:12).
6 August, Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord 1993,
FAUSTI - "Let them both grow up together," says the Lord to those who propose to Him to eradicate the tangle. The weed is a poisonous and infesting herb. At first it is not distinguishable from a small plant of wheat, then it takes root so well that, by tearing it away, the same wheat is uprooted.
RispondiEliminaWe would like the Christian community to be perfect, pure and flawless, and we are anxious to eradicate the weeds inside and around us. The greatest disasters come precisely from the attempt to eliminate evil.
Sacred violence is the worst. "for the sake of good" violates all freedom.
The triumph of good will only be at the end, and by God's work. First is the time of patience, ours and His that sees the evil of us and others as a place of mercy, respectively received and accorded. The church is not a sect of the pure; in it there is place for all.
And we shall be judged by our own judgment, measured by our own measure. the mercy we shall have used shall be our measure of truth.
God's judgment is already given on the cross, where the Son brings upon Himself the evil of the world: to Him our perdition, to us His beauty.
Truly the cross, green wood, burns instead of dry wood.
The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a grain of mustard, invisible as the head of a pin.
Its extreme smallness is scandalously associated with the greatness of the Kingdom.
Its greatness is not that of the highest cedars. It is that of the wood of the cross, where the birds find nests. Thus all the trees of the forest know " Who " is the Lord, the One who humbles the high tree and raises the low tree, makes the green tree dry and makes the dry tree germinate.
(EZ 17:22-23) He Himself is the green wood that dries up to burn our iniquities and communicate His lifeblood to us.
If the little seed thrown becomes the great tree of the cross, that fist of dough gone bad, taken and hidden in three measures of flour, is the Christ buried, hidden for three days in the heart of the earth, will leaven it of new life, free from the old yeast of malice and wickedness.
"Thus shall it be at the fulfillment of the world." says Jesus .
Two fires will shine: the fire of the wicked that burn like garbage, and the fire of the righteous that shine like the sun.
The fulfilment of the world is compared to the harvest, the time when the seed becomes bread and joy.
It will be when God has accomplished in the world His work, His Masterpiece: the Face of the Son.
Only then, not before, will there be judgment.
Already now He has sent the Apostles to sow the Word, by whose listening we are judged.
The time, the life we have at our disposal, is over: it has a beginning, a development and a end. In the end, only Love will remain, which never has an end. The fire of God will then make manifest the work of each one. The straw of our selfishness will be burned and what is precious will endure.
The sun is the symbol of God.
Whoever hears the Word becomes like the Father (5:48) shines of His Glory, like the transfigured Son. What in us will not be filial and fraternal will disappear.
Then we will cover ourselves with burning redness for all that we now frequently
us proclaim .
The listener will be given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom; and the more he has, the more to him will given.