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The temptation offers the opportunity to make a leap forward, improve, purify and consolidate the choices of faith. It also involves the risk of error: “For the fascination of evil obscures true values”—says the author of the Book of Wisdom—"and restless desires undermine a simple heart” (Wis 4:12). Temptation is not a provocation to evil but a stimulus to growth, a necessary step to reach maturity.
Lent is a privileged time to return to ourselves, nourish, and let the divine grow within us. It is a time to listen to God’s Word. It is not a superficial, distracted listening, almost fearful that the message will penetrate too deeply into the mind and heart, causing a disturbance, but a more profound listening that requires radical changes of direction in our lives.
In the Church of the first centuries, the baptized were called the enlightened ones because the light of Christ had opened their eyes. Christians should be those who see well, know how to choose the correct values ??in life, and can indicate the right path to those who grope in darkness.
After proclaiming the disciples blessed because they are poor, hungry, crying, and persecuted, Jesus addresses the crowds and enunciates a shocking principle: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you … and pray for those who treat you badly" (vv. 27-28). Four imperatives—love, do good, bless, and pray! This does not leave any doubt about how a Christian should behave in the face of evil. This is unequivocal evidence that Jesus rejects the use of violence in the strongest terms.
Our life is a precious capital that God has placed in our hands, and it must be productive. What are the values at play? What are the actions that will bump up the capital? Some are in great demand, and most people are betting everything on them: success at any cost, career, money, health, glory, appearances, and the pursuit of pleasure. Will it be the right choice?
Today’s readings present some characters who are called to carry out a mission of proclaiming the Word of God. They all have the same reaction: they feel unworthy, incapable, and inadequate. Isaiah declares himself to be a man of unclean lips. Peter asks Jesus to turn away from him because he knows he is a sinner. Paul says that the Risen One was manifested to him, but “as to an abortion,” that is, as an imperfect being, one born abnormally.
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Presentation of the Lord which occurs forty days after the birth of Jesus and is also known as Candlemas day, since the blessing and procession of candles is included in today's liturgy.
Today’s passage resumes from the last verse of last Sunday and recounts what happened in the synagogue of Nazareth when Jesus proclaimed the beginning of the year of grace (v. 21). The difficulties of this text are few, and also the interpretations given are varied. It is not clear why the inhabitants of Nazareth suddenly pass from admiration for Jesus to insults and then the attempt to lynch him. He did not say anything provocative. Why do they react this way?
Paul was determined “to arrest and bring to Jerusalem man or woman belonging to the Way” (Acts 9:2) when he walked toward Damascus. He was convinced of being on the right path, of walking the straight paths, those marked by the Torah and the sacred traditions of his people. Stubbornly anchored to his religious convictions, he was not even touched by the doubt that some of his ideas and some of his choices were to be called into question.
The word of God does not act magically. However, it is equipped with irresistible energy and, when it falls on fertile ground when accepted with faith, it produces extraordinary effects. “Truly blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it as well” (Lk 11:28). The privileged place for this hearing is the community meeting. On the ‘Day of the Lord,’ the Risen One addresses his word to the assembled community.
There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
We are at the beginning of public life and Luke wants the Christians of his communities - already baptised - to read the Gospel as addressed expressly to them. He invites them to set out on the journey, to move their steps, still uncertain, in the footsteps of the Master who has been baptised like them, and walks at their side.
The pagans have therefore recognized as their king and their God, the child of Bethlehem and offered him their gifts. The Magi have become the symbol of people around the world who are led by the light of Christ. They are the image of the Church, made up of people of every race, tribe, language, and nation. Entering the Church does not mean giving up one’s identity. Every person and every race maintain their cultural characteristics. With these, they enrich the universal Church. Nobody is so rich as not to need anything and not so poor as not to have anything to offer.
- May the Lord bless and protect you.
- May the Lord shine his face on you and be gracious to you.
- May the Lord direct his gaze on you and give you peace.
Christians have always connected the traditional New Year’s Day festival to a motif of their faith. MARY MOTHER OF PEACE. Grant us a Happy New Year2022
The family is the privileged place of formation and education, but not the only one. There is a community in which the child must be integrated to grow, mature, meet others and learn to be welcoming, freely available, cooperative, tolerant, and forgiving. Narrowing horizons, complacently retreating into the small world of affections and interests, enclosing oneself within narrow borders that ignore universal brotherhood is a dangerous idolatry of the family institution.
At Christmas, God reveals the immensity of His unconditional love. This is his justice. All people are invited to contemplate with wonder and let themselves be freed from fear because "there is no fear in love. Perfect love drives away fear, for fear has to do with punishment: those who fear do not know perfect love"(1 Jn 4:18).
We celebrate the Christmas liturgy during the night to reproduce, meaningfully, the darkness dispelled by the Word of the Creator, the darkness of the human condition brightened by the coming of the Savior. To internalize the message, we repeat: “On those who live in darkness, the light of a Child shines.”
Today's readings present us with a series of situations and minor characters in whom God has worked wonders. They are an invitation to recognize—as Mary did—our poverty and to dispose of ourselves to welcome the work of salvation that the Lord comes to accomplish. "Great things will the Lord do for the poor who trust in him."
What does a person ask of life, if not happiness? The Hebrew Bible employs something like twenty-seven synonyms to express feelings of joy. Nothing is more contrary to the Bible, then, than the religion of sorrow, of mourning, of the frowning faces that we sometimes see in our Sunday assemblies. But how can we achieve joy? Is wealth, good health, success enough? Who can be considered genuinely blessed?
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
