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XXX Sunday of Ordinary Time

icon of the Pharisee and the publican, Church of the Transfiguration (Marietta, Georgia)

Luke 18:9-14: [9] And he said this parable to some who prided themselves on being righteous and despised others: [10] "Two men went to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a publican. [11] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself: O God, I thank you that I am not like other men, thieves, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on. [13] And the publican, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying: O God, have mercy on me a sinner. [14] I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself sarà esaltato».

Cari amici e care amiche,

domenica prossima (28 ottobre 2007) si celebra la XXX domenica del Tempo Ordinario. La lettura continua del Vangelo di Luca propone l’ascolto della parabola del fariseo e del pubblicano (18,9-14). Al termine della parabola precedentemente raccontata (la vedova che importunava un giudice che non credeva in Dio), Gesù aveva chiesto: “Quando il Figlio dell’uomo tornerà troverà ancora la fede sulla terra?” (18,8). La fede è un dono così delicato che il Figlio dell’uomo è persino disposto a non trovarla sulla terra. L’amore, infatti, non si impone mai. Semplicemente si propone. In questo senso God seems to be willing to accept that even believers lose their faith that has been deposited in their hearts.

Inspired by this line of interpretation - the fragility of the condition of faith in which every believer is to be - it is clear that the parable of the Pharisee and the publican, immediately following Jesus' question about the faith, responds to our personal question about this gift. This is, in fact, the conclusion of Jesus: "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." As the public (public sinner) out of the Temple 'justified' the Pharisee (religious officialdom cultured representative par excellence) vanishes 'condemned'. If the gift of faith for all, tax collectors and Pharisees, is not the official claims that the self-righteous religious principle, but rather and above all a humble heart and conscious of their sinfulness. As the psalm also says: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, you, God will not despise a broken and humbled heart" (51.17). In this sense, one might even conclude, paradoxically, saying on the ground until someone has the courage to riconoscre his sin before God, one thing is certain: the faith will continue to sussitere on earth!

But this parable touches especially the major theme of prayer. It says that: "Two men went to the temple to pray." Both want to pray, going to the Temple that is not only high above the city, but symbolically expresses in its very architecture, tall and solemn, the need that man has a meaning beyond itself. Almost forgotten. In prayer - which is above all deeply human action - the man would first like to find and recognize God as the beginning and ladies. But here the underlying attitude change, because "the one a Pharisee and the other publish. "

The Pharisee's prayer while being an expert, introduces us to understand what prayer is not. As is "standing, standing 'before God', spend time with him as his partner, but the deepest intention of his heart is not to relate to God, but above all by himself, since in fact" prayed to himself. "
is also aware that the prayer of thanksgiving is certainly the highest expression of the prayer: "O God, I thank you," but the real reason for his thanksgiving (Eucharist) is all about himself, because " are not as other men, thieves, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay my tithes. " The
publish "instead of" - in fact excluded by law from being able to deliver a prayer at the Temple well done - quickly introduces us to the deep meaning of prayer and Christian prayer, "standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven." Though it remains true that he did not practice with the required frequency the Temple - but for himself he can not practice properly - however publish this reveals a deep sense of God A 'timor Domini' so transparent that, as such, is sufficient to keep His presence "would not even raise his eyes to heaven." As to his own hands, which are often served to listing fees and count money, do not rise solemnly to heaven. Rather, according to His presence with them, very simply, "beat his breast." Like the crowds, the sight of Jesus crucified, "saw what had happened they returned smiting their breasts" (Luke 23.48). So, realizing more and more deeply the love of God and His mercy, the audience ends to sense the deeper truth about himself: "O God, have mercy on me a sinner." Do not ask for any recognition for himself and for what is identified it truly is.

listening to this parable we are certainly not in front of a treatise on prayer. If we had started from the primacy and importance of prayer of thanks as the so-called prayer of the Pharisee, we could then goes on to list other important expressions of the human ability to pray. And the publican, without much cogitation, is set before us as an essential image of the same Christian faith, faith as Jesus taught us a prayer, its made of great neglect, immediate confidence, a humble and honest reading of himself.
Indeed, in this view, the mind is the same prayer of Jesus Prayer ‘Padre nostro’ secondo la versione essenziale del Vangelo di Luca (11,2-4). Per un verso, ritroviamo nei suoi tratti più veri il senso della preghiera, anzitutto come lode e ringraziamento: “Padre sia santificato il tuo Nome, venga il tuo regno, sia fatta la tua volontà”, mentre, la seconda parte: “dacci ogni giorno il pane nostro, quello quotidiano, e rimetti a noi i nostri peccati, anche noi infatti li rimettiamo ad ogni nostro debitore e non indurci nella prova.”, ripropone in modo più disteso e sentito la preghiera stessa del pubblicano.

Cari amici e care amiche, sicuramente è importante imparare a pregare. Ma allora dobbiamo saper passare dal semplice desiderio – che talvolta rimane sin troppo astratto, tanto da non concretizzarsi mai – ad un esercizio paziente e umile, stando alla sequela stessa di Gesù. Il Maestro indiscusso della preghiera e di ogni forma di preghiera. Gesù, passando tra noi per parlarci di Dio, ha segnato definitivamente il senso ultimo della preghiera dell’uomo e di ogni uomo. In Lui Dio Si è definitivamente incarnato, umiliato e realizzato. Indicandoci, nell’esperienza della Sua croce, il cammino che solo ci conduce a libertà. Così, la condizione umile e definita della nostra carne, dentro questa nostra storia, rimane lo spazio concreto che porta a compimento anche la nostra esistenza. Per questo diciamo ogni giorno “sia fatta la tua volontà”. Not to mention some important information that Jesus always addressed his "he told them a parable about the importance of praying ceaselessly" (Lk 18:1) and again: "Pray not to fall into temptation" (Luke 22.40 ).

Jesus, the "Right" (Luke 23.47), which only justifies - "you were redeemed at a price '(1 Cor 7:23) -, and give you His peace fill your heart with hope again.

What is a good Sunday for all.

Msx Roms Sets How To Patch A Msx-rom?

Dedication of the Cathedral Church (the Ambrosian rite)

Assisi, San Damiano Crucifix (detail)

As Francis walked near the church of San Damiano, was inspired to enter. Andatoci taken to pray fervently before the image of the Crucified One, who spoke to him with touching kindness, "Francis, you do not see that my house is falling apart? It should be 'and therefore restauramela. Trembling and bewildered, the young man replied, "I will do so gladly, Lord." But he had misunderstood, thinking it was the church, for its antiquity, threatening ruin next. For those words of Christ he made himself immensely happy and radiant, which had been felt in the soul really to turn the message Crucifix (Franciscan Sources, 1411). Here is the prayer of Francis before the crucifix: "Most High, glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my heart. And give me true faith, certain hope and perfect charity, sense and knowledge, Lord, that your holy and true command. Amen.

John 10.22-30: [22] appealed in those days in Jerusalem the Feast of Dedication. It was winter. [23] Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon's porch. [24] So the Jews gathered around him, saying, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. " [25] Jesus answered, "I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name, these I bear witness, [26] but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. [27] My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life and they shall never perish, and no one can snatch them out of my hand. [29] My Father, who has given me is greater than all and no one can snatch them from the hand of my Father. [30] I and the Father are one. "


Dear friends, dear friends,

next Sunday (October 21, 2007) occurs, according to the Ambrosian Rite, the Feast of the Dedication of the Cathedral. Just as "recurred in those days in Jerusalem the Feast of Dedication" of the Temple, to be brought to the Gospel in occasione di questa festività liturgica (Gv 10,22-30). Addirittura l’Evangelista Giovanni nota che “era d’inverno”. Questa festa faceva memoria della riconsacrazione del Tempio che era stato profanato, come ricorda il I Libro dei Maccabei (4,36). Era come se il Signore, dopo che il Suo popolo era stato esiliato, volesse tornare ad avere una casa in mezzo al Suo popolo.

Proprio questo introduce una prima domanda: ma dove abita Dio? Ad esempio: stando al vecchio catechismo la risposta risulta già chiara: “Dio è in cielo, in terra e in ogni luogo: egli è l’immenso”. Come dire che se Dio è ‘immenso’, allora non è circoscritto in un luogo preciso, ma la Sua presenza si dilata al punto da riuscire ad abbracciare ogni realtà creata.
Se tutto questo dice un aspetto vero della realtà di Dio (o del divino in genere), tuttavia gli uomini, in forza della loro stessa natura religiosa, hanno sempre cercato di delimitare uno spazio entro il quale collocare la presenza del loro Dio. Non c’è, infatti, una religione che non si esprima spazialmente in un tempio, in una ‘chiesa’. Ecco, dunque, sorgere edifici sacri maestosi, con cupole eleganti e campanili o minareti che mirano al cielo. Se, per un verso, è importante affermare che Dio è dappertutto, per un altro è pure comprensibile l’esigenza di circoscriverLo in uno spazio sacro, più ristretto and harvest. Where its presence becomes more intense, almost more accessible and recognizable.

This requirement, which includes the rest of the Lord very well because it characterizes the way we feel and think about God, but may be not only restrictive to Him, but also dangerous in front of a properly human and social development. For one thing, it never lacked the risk of forcing God in the forms of ideological and functional until late in jail and forced to obey God in some of our whim. Transforming it into an idol which have for our use and consumption.
In this way, 'my God' is no longer the God of the other as 'my church' non è quella di un altro o degli altri. Così sono nati e si sono sviluppati certi fanatismi religiosi, tutti i cosiddetti fondamentalismi religiosi e le stesse guerre di religione, combattute in nome di un Dio che, requisito dagli uni, non poteva certo essere a disposizione degli altri.
Ma Dio non accetterà mai d’essere privato della libertà d’essere Se stesso. In questo modo, tutte le volte che i teologi di tutte le religioni hanno tentato di costringere il mistero di Dio in formule troppo rigide e sicure, Dio stesso Si sottrae alle loro cattedre e alle loro facoltà. Così come – per stare a un discorso più circoscritto e cristiano – tutte le volte che una confessione cristiana ha preteso di ergersi con ideological authoritarianism to state, absolute, some aspect of faith, inevitably the God who revealed Jesus you feel uncomfortable and difficult to be detected and announced.

: It is God who has the right to decide and decide exactly where to live. And, therefore, to determine how and where it needs to be put into your home. But then: how God takes men home? Where exactly is left to identify and achieve? In short: Where dwells the God of Jesus? Meanwhile
would be interesting to go back to an episode of the Second Book of Samuel, where the prophet Nathan to King David expresses the desire to build a house of the Lord. But the Lord that night said to Nathan: 'Go e riferisci al mio servo Davide: Dice il Signore: Forse tu mi costruirai una casa, perché io vi abiti? Ma io non ho abitato in una casa da quando ho fatto uscire gli Israeliti dall’Egitto fino ad oggi; sono andato vagando sotto una tenda, in un padiglione. Finché ho camminato, ora qua, ora là, in mezzo a tutti gli Israeliti, ho forse mai detto ad alcuno dei Giudici, a cui avevo comandato di pascere il mio popolo Israele: Perché non mi edificate una casa di cedro?” (7,6-7). Come dire che non è Davide o non siamo noi che possiamo costruire una casa al Signore, ma è piuttosto Lui che vorrebbe costruire una casa a noi. Anzi una casa per restare in mezzo a noi.
Certo il passaggio è delicato, ma estremamente important and decisive: the house, the house that God has always wanted to build and establish in our midst and we have a precise and unambiguous name for Christians: Jesus is called

Here it would be interesting to take some expressions of the Gospel of John - who, after all, belongs to the Gospel passage also proposed for next Sunday - which in some passages he loves to weave the reality of living with the image of God, dell'inabitare. Passages in which Jesus, with loving accents unspeakable, really speaks to the fact that the Father dwells in Him and He in the Father: "Do you not think that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say unto you, do not speak of My, but the Father who dwells in me does his works "(Jn 14:10), and again:" Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me "(Jn 14:11).

Perhaps my writing there will be an introduction to a little 'far from the Gospel passage that the liturgy of the Dedication of the Cathedral we propose to play next Sunday. Not so. Rereading it is not difficult to understand passages and expressions, replayed in this perspective becomes more clear and obvious. On the one hand, there are the Pharisees that being in 'their' temple attack Jesus with their questions: "So the Jews gathered around him, saying: 'Up will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly '"the other, which is Jesus - properly identified with the Temple, as it is, first, the house of his father, responds to them with great sincerity:" I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. "
What, then, is decisive and important in this situation to some extent as dialectic, of misunderstanding and suspicion between the Pharisees and Jesus? Be His sheep, to be attentive to him, and just being fiercely on his side, feeling humble sheep del Suo gregge: “Le mie pecore ascoltano la mia voce e io le conosco ed esse mi seguono. Io do loro la vita eterna e non andranno mai perdute e nessuno le rapirà dalla mia mano. Il Padre mio che me le ha date è più grande di tutti e nessuno può rapirle dalla mano del Padre mio. Io e il Padre siamo una cosa sola”.

Questo è anche il senso profondo e ultimo della nostra appartenenza ecclesiale. Questo è, soprattutto, il senso, il motivo per il quale di domenica in domenica ci raduniamo in una chiesa per celebrare l’Eucaristia di Gesù. Lui che “non ha una pietra dove posare il capo” (Mt 8,20 e Lc 9,58) ci insegni a saper stare, a saper abitare là dove qualcuno soffre, là dove Hopefully someone, or perhaps disappointed, no longer knows who and how to hope again. In fact, "not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners "(Mk 2:17). Jesus, sent by the Father, where there lives a man to listen, to love. Any man who is waiting or not.
this fills us with great hope. This gives us immense joy. Is it not so? Good Sunday to all.

Don Walter Magni