Sunday, January 13, 2008

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Baptism of the Lord Epiphany of the Lord

Baptism of Jesus, icon


Matthew 3.13-17: [13] Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized by him. [14] John tried to deter him, saying: "I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?". [15] But Jesus said, "Leave it for now, it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. [16] When baptized, Jesus came out of the water: and lo, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. [17] And a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. "


Dear friends, dear friends,

next Sunday (January 13, 2008) will celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Proposal will be Matthew's version of the story of Jesus' baptism (3:13-17). Already with the first verse is as if Jesus suddenly appeared where people live, suffer, love, and repent of their sins, "Jesus came from Galilee (appears) to Jordan."
Why this need to go to Jordan? What could have committed sins Jesus? If many people went to John, to shake off a deep sense of sin, Jesus goes to Jordan rather than to take on their shoulders all the sin of men. As John the Baptist had guessed, as Jesus coming toward him: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29). That is the Baptism of the Lord becomes the epiphany of God itself dell'incanazione How to become God himself decided through the experience of John's baptism of penance in order to show you the best. We first

in the presence of a real connection (or immersion) of Jesus' baptism in the Baptist's. So much so that John the Baptist begins to argue with him, being the son of a spirituality that could be accepted by the liberation of God, but not so explicitly His incarnation, "John tried to dissuade him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?'."
If, on the one hand, recognized the superiority of Jesus, for another, the Baptist ignores that the baptism of Jesus is precisely by being baptized him well, that is totally immersed in our own human reality. Also made of weakness and sin. Indeed, "there is a baptism which need to be baptized, and are anxious until it is accomplished" (Luke 12:50). For this reason "Jesus said to him: 'Leave it for now, it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness'." Così “Giovanni acconsentì”. A questo punto si comprende, dunque, perché Dio, che ha creato l’uomo senza il suo apporto, non può salvarci senza il nostro consenso (S. Agostino).

Ed ecco però che all’immersione succede l’emersione: cioè la Sua definita rivelazione. Gesù, infatti, “uscì dall’acqua”. Come se proprio l’abbassamento, fino alla morte e alla morte di croce (Efesini), coincidesse col Suo innalzamento glorioso. Se, infatti, una certa spiritualità, preoccupata di affermare anzitutto la grandezza di Dio, ci ha come abituati a immaginarLo distante dagli uomini, tutt’‘altro’ dall’umanità, the revelation that takes place on the occasion of His baptism testifies to something else. While remaining true to Jesus 'other' than any reduction that he could do, however, is no longer 'elsewhere' than in the whole human community.
In Jesus, God Himself is and remains permanently. Because of this extreme vicinanaze and solidarity with us.
If, on the one hand, Jesus has humanized God brings us to another makes even more sense to say that Jesus is so deeply human because God, in His great truth, is the human self. So do not do him much God: "whoever sees me sees the Father" (Jn 14).

humanity of Jesus and pours it this way all divinity, "and behold, the heavens opened." If at the time of his death would then pierced the veil of the temple (Mt 27.51), by God until this moment is no longer hidden from our eyes. Indeed, the same wish fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah is here: "Oh, you would rend the heavens and come down! Before you would have shaken the mountain "(Is 64.1). In this way God made himself visible through its transparent look and deeper than is he who sees Jesus ("he saw"), after that the heavens are wide open, "the Spirit of God descending. "
Who is this Spirit that Jesus sees with His eyes, leaving that invades your heart forever? Where this is expressed full solidarity with the men, then it also becomes clear the fullness of love. As if the sky itself is pouring everything on earth. This Spirit that is now falling on him, it will be also delivered, in virtue of Christ, each of us from the experience of the cross, "had cried again with a loud voice, gave up his spirit" (Mt 27.50) .

The Spirit, in fact, is "like a dove", hovering over the waters, transforms the cosmos out of chaos: "The earth was without form and empty, darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters "(Genesis 1:2). So the baptism of Jesus inaugurates a new creation, finally overcoming the chaos caused by the flood, "the dove returned to him in the evening, and behold, he had a fresh leaf in its beak an olive. So Noah knew that the waters had fallen on the earth "(Gen 8:11).

You start a new spirituality. In Jesus, God not only sees but feels, actually, "And a voice from heaven." In fact, God is above all a "voice" that expresses the same word becomes, then, turning in his Son, who already It embodies and identify it, irradiation. So, if I were to truly listen, we too could become 'like' him: "And a voice from the cloud saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear'" (Mt 17:5) .
Why, then, Jesus is "my beloved Son"? He is truly "these" because it can not be that way. With these traits and not others. Why is "my beloved Son", meaning "beloved." Even the term refers to the image of solemn dell'intronizzazione son of the king. In fact: "'I am', he will say, 'I set my king on Zion, my holy mountain. I will declare the decree: the Lord said: Thou art my Son, today I created thee '"(sl 2:6-7).

is in the Son that God has called for what it is. In fact, in Him I am well pleased. " God, even in Him, He was totally told the men. Only through the humanity of Jesus This and only this, it fills him with immense joy and satisfaction. As if only by doing this, doing that is what the Son himself will decide to do, God would feel really accomplished. Identified. This brings me to the full completion of your own love. Of His being love. God, from the Son has nothing to say. Has nothing to wish for our love.

Dear friends, dear friends, from Sunday to Sunday we are given the great grace to continue to approach to some aspect, some fragment of this unique and divine revelation. The great grace, not just to 'have' God, but to be able to stand before Him to meet him, loving him. Just as he himself has taught us.

To all a good Sunday still

Sunday, January 6, 2008

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The Three Kings (mosaic), the Basilica of Saint Apollinaris in Classe (Ravenna)

Matthew 2:1-12: [1] Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod. Some Magi from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, [2] "Where is the king of the Jews is born? We have seen his star, and are come to worship him. [3] On hearing these words, King Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. [4] together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. [5] They said, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, [6] And thou Bethlehem, land of Juda, art not the least among the clans of Judah, from you shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. [7] Then Herod summoned the wise men, came to tell them the exact time when the star had appeared [8] and sent them to Bethlehem, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found please let me know because I too may go and worship him. [9] had heard the king, they departed. And the star they had seen in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the child was. [10] When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. [11] into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. Poi aprirono i loro scrigni e gli offrirono in dono oro, incenso e mirra. [12]Avvertiti poi in sogno di non tornare da Erode, per un’altra strada fecero ritorno al loro paese.

Cari amicie care amiche,
domenica prossima (6 gennaio 2008), celebreremo la Solennità dell'Epifania del Signore e al Vangelo sarà letto l'episodio dei Re Magi (Mt 2,1-12). Teniamo conto che il primo capitolo di Matteo descrive già un grande viaggio genealogico che, partendo da Abramo, giunge sino a Gesù; mentre il capitolo secondo, dal quale è tratto il nostro brano, segue il singolare viaggio dei Magi che, dall'Oriente, giungono a Betlemme. A quello dei Magi segue la descrizione della Fuga in Egitto e del ritorno Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the land of Galilee, Nazareth. If the first journey to answer the question: "how God comes to us from within human history?", The latter seems rather to answer another question: "how men have tried to achieve exactly this God who came to meet us ? Traveling is in all cultures a great symbolic experience. The same restless need to go say essentially that our whole existence is crossed by a deep desire in the sense that only God can find peace (Augustine). God himself is above all linked to a nomadic hunter like Abraham and Jesus has always been a tireless traveler. What is, therefore, this long journey of the Magi?
First travel to the magi meaning 'ask': "Where is the king of the Jews is born? We have seen his star, and are come to worship." It is an easy to Jesus who is in demand through restlessness. Faced with a culture that sells out answers to the cheap, has awakened the taste of questioning. Without even a healthy intellectual curiosity. If a right-thinking attitude that considers the surface a non-believer and believer differ with regard to the insecurity of questioning the clarity of the first and the second answer, the question is actually the first expression that characterizes those non-believers, pagans, who are precisely the Magi . They seek Jesus as the lover seeks the beloved even before seeing it. As if the questions found its roots in the nostalgia of a truth which precedes it. True believer, then, who will always look for, begging for a truth that is still in his hands. Everyone will be asked to learn the humility of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the nostalgia of its own truth of the Magi. Truth that reaches us only if your wishes, questions with love and humble adoration "for the Father seeks to worship him" (Jn 4:23).
But the question of the Magi is not abstract. It is riddled with cultural beliefs placed. Crossed by open and sincere desire to arrive at an answer able to satisfy the specific categories of intelligence: "Where is the king of the Jews is born? We have seen his star, and are come to worship." If, on the one hand, seeking the exact location where he was born King of the Jews, for another, trusting in the light of a star by them identified, grown now seriously the desire to worship Him. Knowing, therefore, a 'place' to worship a child. There is a restlessness in their research that enables them to read all the signs that the reality of things and history normally offers, plausibly to guide and support their thirst for truth. They are children of a culture that knows how to look at some sequence of events that allows them to glimpse already the birth of the king of the Jews. So, what signs and events may now directing and guiding the thirst for truth which also inhabits also our hearts restless? Of course the believers will not ever give up in passionate dialogue with the various forms of knowledge and the highest achievements of science. But looking
of the Magi, Matthew also opposes the disturbance - the fear of intelligence - just Herod. "And all Jerusalem with him." Not enough to live in the Holy City of Jerusalem, to worship Jesus is not enough a prestigious royal position. Indeed, the same ethnicity and religion will not be able to actually recognize the event of their not even mention the word king of the greatest prophets leads to some laudable result, if intelligence is stiffened by the prejudice of their expectations. Becoming insensitive to the humanity that God has already chosen as his final home: "On hearing these words, King Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them the place where the Messiah was to be born. " Herod knows only ask for the birthplace of the Child, to calm her agitation. Trying to steal the Magi "as long as the star had appeared." We

the conclusion, even ironic, a great fresco: "And the star they had seen at its rising preceded them, till it came and stood over where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. "There is a profound joy that springs from a sincere search. Human intelligence can still continue to discover the light that comes from a star to reach the very source of light:" I am the light of the world "(Jn 8.12 and 9.5). So the joy of the eyes of the heart becomes adoration:" into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshiped him ", opening the gift "Then they opened their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."
But how come the Magi to Bethlehem? How could it be? If there are three gifts, the tradition has always believed that tre fossero anche i Magi. Tuttavia perché non pensare che la modalità – magari anche i tempi – poteva essere diversa. Pure i tempi della ricerca e dell'adorazione dell'Amato potrebbero essere diversificati, per tutti coloro che Lo ricercano con cuore puro. Dio solo ci aspetterà sempre. Ci aspetta comunque. Così come sempre sa aspettare un bambino. La tradizione ortodossa ricorda anche un quarto re magio, che – pur seguendo la stella – non arriverà mai a Betlemme. Nel suo lungo viaggio aveva infatti incontrato dei poveri e per poterli soccorrere aveva dovuto attingere proprio a quel dono prezioso che pure avrebbe voluto regalare a Gesù. Forse altri ancora, dopo lui, non arriveranno a Betlemme, ma sicuramente non potranno never say it has not found someone to help the street. Therefore, without knowing it, they will just adore God made man, because: "Everything you do to one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Mt 25). Everyone is then given a real opportunity to worship the Child. Recognize in the poor and the suffering that will never be lacking on our roads: "The poor you will always have with you" (Jn 12:8).
Whether, therefore, a great party for everyone this Sunday. If we have nothing in our hands, we give even our poverty. In return we would have a great peace. And our faces will light up with joy yet.