Sunday, December 19, 2010 VI
FESTIVAL OF ADVENT OF DIVINE MATERNITY '
DEAR MARY,
this week found plenty of material, use it in the days before Christmas, though I hope to send a message with any comments yet Christmas.
Reading Isaiah 62, 10 - 63, 3b
in those days. Isaiah said, "Go through, go through the gates, / cleared the way for the nation, Build up, build the road / Remove the stones, / raised a banner for the peoples." Here is what the Lord does hear / ends of the earth: / 'Tell the daughter of Zion: / "Behold, here comes your savior, / lo, he has with him the prize / reward and its preceding it." / They will be called "Holy People" / "Redeemed of the Lord." / And thou shalt be called Sought, / "City not abandoned". " "Who is this coming from Edom, / Bozrah with garments dyed red, / beautiful in her dress, / which extends into the fullness of his strength? ". / 'I who speak in righteousness, And I'm big on saving. " / "Why is your red dress / and your clothes like those who presses in the press?". / "In the tub I pressed alone / and none of my people he was with me."
Letter of Paul to the Philippians 4: 4-9
Brothers, always be happy in the Lord, again I say: be happy. Your kindness is known to all. The Lord is near! Be anxious for nothing, but in all circumstances you present your requests to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus In conclusion, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is honorable, what is virtue and what is worthy of praise, this is the subject of your thoughts. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, put them into practice. And the God of peace will be with you!
Luke 1, 26-38th
at that time. The angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man of the house of David, named Joseph. The Virgin name was Mary. Came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." But she was very upset and wondered what was the meaning of a greeting like this. The angel said to her: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God and behold, conceive a son, and you shall call his name Jesus will be great and will be called Son of the Lord God will give the throne of his father David and reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will never end. " Then Mary said to the angel: "How can this be, since I do not know man?". And the angel said: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the cover you with his shadow. So who will be born will be holy and will be called the Son of God And behold, Elizabeth, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren nothing is impossible with God '. Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord done to me according to thy word. "
COMMENT
reading the prophet Isaiah 62.10-63.3 b
This beautiful text could be entitled "the song of return" and at the same time, "the song of the encounter with the Bridegroom."
The author has lived for almost three centuries after the prophet Isaiah, however, just below the name of Isaiah, were also collected writings that concerned later.
Chapter 62 starts (not shown here) with: "For Zion's sake I'll keep silent." Finally, the prophet says, opens the Word of God that so far had become distressingly absent. Thus was overshadowed any hope, the tragedy of war loomed without a possible future, and the distance put at risk the wait and then faded away, even the best of the faithful people, the lure of love granted by God in time. But now the Lord speaks, and ensures that "people will see your righteousness (of Zion)." Here are so beautiful wedding pictures.
will not be used the adjective "Abandoned, devastated," but the new name for Jerusalem will be "my joy, married, because the Lord will find His delight in you ... and your land will be her husband." (62.1 to 4). On completion of the nuptial image, the image of Jerusalem began secure, with solid walls and "sentinels, all day and all night, do not ever hold their peace." (62.6). They continue to talk, ask, call, check the guards, day and night, in respect of those approaching the city, guaranteeing peace and security.
At this point, the text of the invitation today's formula, to those who now live in security in the holy city, to open the doors and welcome those who return from the dispersion to be the holy people. Is restored to the unit and those who live in Jerusalem have to worry about receiving, to pave the road to free her from the stones, to make it easy. In that case, the exiles will triumph and will be "like a banner for the peoples." So it can be shown to all nations that this release is the result of the meeting with "your Savior." New titles still come back to the splendid city, "City sought, not abandoned city."
The Prophet continued: "You are approaching a mysterious" (63.1). Obviously
sentinel screams from this mysterious character and puts the essential questions, before it can enter the city. And the respondent says, showing his impressive size and his ability to judge and to win over the people. No one else has been able to give freedom to his people, but only he has won. He who knocks at the door of the city is the powerful image of a warrior who has won all the armies and back, covered in blood, winner. Her red dress is like that of one who presses the grapes after harvest. It cries out to the guard who won, and won for itself: "No one was with me."
And all the text, which makes us feel for the crudeness of the message (and continues even more dramatic later), expresses the power of God, totally free and powerful, that freedom from a nightmare, from a siege by the prospect of a massacre secure. Reappeared on the horizon for the release and return, unexpected, when the trust seemed to have disappeared, despite promises and assurances of God
he wins and returns to being the one who redeems his people. Indeed it is the only bride resplendent with which it is totally in love. She offers her beauty and splendor and put it back on the throne.
Letter of Paul to the Philippians 4.4 to 9
In the letter to the community of Philippi, founded on his second missionary journey (49-52 AD) Paul probably wrote from Ephesus, during a prison, even though the texts do not speak exactly to a prison in this city but remember only Caesarea and Rome.
And yet, in Ephesus there was a riot because the silversmiths, due to the success of the new preaching of Paul, had dropped the sale of silver shrines of Artemis, much venerated at Ephesus (Acts 19, 23-41) . Recalling his stay in this city, Paul speaks of a permanent "between tears and tribulation" (Acts 20:19).
because the letter could have been written around 57 AD Paul
death feels close, and yet feels joy and wish to share with him (2:17).
The first part of this text (4:4-5) and the third part (4, 8-9) have, as a reference, the nearness of God, while in the central part (4, 6-7), Prayer opens his life to the world of God through a deep communication of thanksgiving, supplication and prayers. The peace of God will guard the hearts and minds of everyone in Jesus
In this text, Paul urges us to keep intact the peace of Christ:
- keep away every shadow of unease;
- pray with confidence, saying to God your troubles and He will give you peace,
which is full harmony with Him, above all and beyond all intellectual effort
accident
- this peace, however, does not detract from the concrete and critical examination, to understand what is
, what is just, virtuous and worthy of praise;
- believer grows in responsibility to assess and appreciate the world what really matters
;
- you need a standard of discernment: It is important to deal with the teaching and conduct of the apostle, and then the whole Church because, in
Christian community, in particular, is can learn to understand what is true and right in the eyes of God
What should distinguish the Christian community, and that it shall make known to all, is the "goodness" (referring to the "gentleness of Jesus" (2 Cor .10,1) as a model for Paul and for the community). It 's a royal dowry. Only those who do not have to defend fiercely their privileges can be allowed to have power and mercy. Now community has a heavenly calling, "The Lord is near." So it helps to an attitude of deep faith linked to the salvation of Jesus goodness, mercy, not to bring balance angustiarsi because everything is measured by the Lord. The concerns and anxieties threaten the joy and therefore must be offered to God with requests, prayers, intercessions and "thanksgiving" for all (4.6). Then, the peace of God will guard the hearts of all.
Reading of the Gospel according to Luke 1.26-38th
The Gospel of Luke tells us that, finally, the waiting is done through the centuries
message and God's choice for Maria. The mysterious encounter with the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary is told with their schemes and languages \u200b\u200bof the Old Testament.
The town of Nazareth is unknown in the Bible as insignificant, and yet here
is the beginning of the presence of the Son of God among us. And 'the Lord who makes a gift, but
needs, as always, acceptance and availability of those who knows
taken seriously. In the story, to make the Alliance, were called before the people of Israel, and Jerusalem, but all is revealed to be incapable. The angel is from Mary. And the dialogue is developed with this young woman is presented as the Jerusalem saved, as the daughter of Zion (Zep 3:14; Zac 9:9): "Rejoice, O beloved (what did you the favor of God), the Lord is with you. "
the disturbance of Mary that is not considered at the angel answered and reassuring showing the future of the child. The guarantee of a son would go crazy with joy every Jewish girl, Maria, however, stops at 'question: "How is that possible?" because it wants to have clarity on its possible different behavior. To say' yes' to God implies a conversion of life. And the revelation is widening again, and ensures that the angel
Mary must be reassured, should not change anything about his plans. In the background image is crucial for the people of Israel. Mary is like the free people of the exodus that walks in the shadow of God (Exodus 40:35, Num 9 , 18:22, 10:34).
The Lord will work alone and we will simply require great trust and loyalty.
"Mary becomes the new Zion, like on the hill of historical Jerusalem, there were the living symbol of the Presence of God in history (the Palace of David) and space (the temple) and the smoke of sacrifices and incense evoked transcendence God reaches out to man, so Mary is the center of Jerusalem eschatological (end) because it is presented to humanity in her womb the Son of God "(Ravasi).
Then Mary uttered her "yes" free and conscious, without placing barriers, and without
consult others. He knows that everything is in its trust. So this is the day when Christ began his pilgrimage in the world. For now, only in Mary. It 'started Christmas.
It 's a text where the names are repeated with the insistence of the characters. God knows us by name and we are precious in his sight.
DEPTH:
I propose the second predicate of Advent P. Cantalamessa TOOK TO THE POPE. LOOK HOW IS THE THEME OF THE GIFT DEELLA eternal life that Christ gives us in his Nativity
"VI proclamation of eternal life" (1 Jn 1:2)
1. Secularization and secularism
In this meditation we look at the second rock that meets the evangelization in the modern world, secularization. In the Motu Proprio with which Pope established the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the new evangelization is said that it "is at the service of the particular Churches, especially in those territories of ancient Christian tradition which most clearly manifests the phenomenon of secularization."
Secularization is a complex and ambivalent. It can mean the autonomy of earthly realities and the separation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar, and in this sense, it is not only not against the Gospel, but it is in one of its deep roots. We may, however, indicate a whole set of attitudes contrary to religion and faith for which you prefer using the term secularism. Secularism is the secularization as scientism and rationalism is the scientific rationality. Dealing
obstacles or challenges that faith meets the modern world, we refer exclusively to this negative sense of secularization. Even so defined, the phenomenon of secularization has many faces depending on the fields in which it occurs: theology, science, ethics, biblical hermeneutics, culture in general, everyday life. In this meditation, I take the term in its primordial. Secularization, as secularism, in fact, stem from the word "saeculum" which in common usage has come to indicate the present tense ("the eon today, "according to the Bible) as opposed to Eternity (the eon future or" forever and ever, "the Bible). In this sense, secularism is synonymous with time, reduction of reality to the one-dimensional earth.
The fall of the horizon of eternity on the Christian faith has the effect that the sand was thrown on a flame: the suffocating, turns it off. The belief in eternal life is one of the conditions of possibility of evangelization. "If we have hope in Christ only for this life-exclaims St. Paul - are to be pitied more than all men" (1 Cor 15:19).
2. The Rise and Fall of the idea of \u200b\u200beternity
recall briefly the history of belief in life after death, will help us measure the novelty brought by the Gospel in this field. In the Old Testament Jewish belief states that only belatedly. Only after the exile, of the failure of the expected time, you, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe resurrection of the flesh and of reward after death of the righteous, and even then not at all (the Sadducees, you know, did not share this belief) .
This blatantly contradicts the claim that (Feuerbach, Marx, Freud) that explain the belief in God with a desire for eternal reward, as the projection earthly afterlife expectations dashed. Israel believed in God, many centuries before that in an eternal reward in the afterlife! It is, therefore, the desire for eternal reward that produced the belief in God, but faith in God that produced the belief in an afterlife reward.
The full revelation of eternal life we \u200b\u200bhave, in the biblical world, with the coming of Christ. Jesus is not based on the certainty of life eternal nature of man (the immortality of the soul), but on "the power of God," which is a "God of the living and the dead" (Luke 20.27-38) . After Easter, this theological foundation, the Apostle adds the Christological: Christ's resurrection from the dead. On it, the Apostle founded the faith in the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life: "If you announce that Christ is risen from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead? ... Now Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who died "(1 Cor 15, 12.20).
Also in the greek-roman are witnessing an evolution in the conception of the afterlife. The oldest idea is that real life ends with death, it is only after an existence of ghosts, in a world of shadows. A new recording with the appearance of the Orphic-Pythagorean religion. In its view, the true self of man is the soul, freed from prison (sema) of the body (soma), can finally live his true life. Plato gives a dignity to this discovery, philosophical, relying on the spiritual nature, and therefore immortal soul [1].
This belief remains, however, a minority, which is reserved for the initiates to the mysteries and the followers of special philosophical schools. At the mass persists the belief that the old real life ends with death. They note that the words addressed to the Emperor Hadrian himself close to death:
Little lost soul and gentle,
companion and guest of the body,
t'appresti hours to ascend to places
colorless, arduous and bare
where you will not have the usual entertainment.
A moment with the banks still look
family
things that certainly we will never see more ... [2].
Of course against this background that the impact had to have the Christian message of life after death infinitely fuller and more joyous than the earthly one can also understand why the idea of \u200b\u200beternal life and the symbols are so common in burials Christian catacombs.
But what happened the Christian idea of \u200b\u200beternal life for the soul and body, after he had triumphed on the idea of \u200b\u200bpagan "darkness beyond death"? Unlike the time present in which atheism is primarily expressed in the denial of the existence of a Creator, in the nineteenth century it is preferably expressed in the denial of an afterlife. Accepting the claim of Hegel, that "Christians in heaven wasting energy for the earth," Feuerbach and Marx especially fought the belief in life after death, under the pretext that it alienates land commitment. The idea of \u200b\u200bpersonal survival in God, it replaces the idea of \u200b\u200bsurvival in the present and future society.
Little by little, the suspicion has fallen on the word eternal oblivion and silence. Materialism and consumerism have did the rest in affluent societies, making even appear unseemly that we are still forever among educated people and in step with the times. All this clearly had a backlash on the faith of believers that has been made on this point, shy and reticent. When we heard the last sermon on eternal life? We continue to pray in the Creed: "Et vitam venturi Expecto resurrectionem mortuorum et saeculi": "look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come", but without giving too much weight to these words. Kierkegaard was right when he wrote: "The afterlife has become a joke, a need not just so uncertain that no one respects it, but rather even longer perspective, to the point that you are having fun even at the thought that there was a time when this idea turned the whole of existence "[3].
What is the practical effect of this eclipse of the idea of \u200b\u200beternity? St. Paul refers to the intention of those who do not believe in the resurrection from the dead: "We eat, drink, tomorrow we die" (l Cor 15:32). The natural desire to live forever, distorted, becomes a desire, or frenzy, to live well, that is pleasant, even at the expense of others, if necessary. The whole earth becomes what Dante said of his time in Italy as "the flower bed that makes us so ferocious." The fall of the horizon of eternity, human suffering and hopelessly seems doubly absurd.
3. Nostalgia for eternity
also about secularism, as scientism, the most effective response is not to fight the opposite error, but to shine again in front of people the certainty of eternal life, relying on the inherent strength that has the truth when it is accompanied by the witness of life. "For an idea, wrote an ancient Father, you can always offer a different idea and review a different opinion, but what may deny a life?"
We also rely on the correspondence of this truth to the desire more deep, though suppressed, the human heart. A friend who reproached him, almost as a form of pride and arrogance, his desire to eternity, Miguel de Unamuno, who was not an apologist for the faith, said in a letter:
"I'm not saying that we deserve a afterlife, or that the logic we prove it, I say that we need it, deserve it or not, that's all. I say that what passes does not satisfy me, I thirst for eternity, and that without this, everything I do not care. I need, I need it! Without it there is no joy in life and the joy of living has nothing to say. It's too easy to say: 'We need to live, one must be content with life'. And those who are not satisfied with it? "[4].
not those who want to eternity, he added on the same occasion, showing contempt for the world and life on earth, but rather those who do not want: "I love life so much that losing it seems to me the worst of evils. Not truly love life those who enjoy themselves, day after day, without caring to know whether they will lose it all or not. " Augustine said the same thing: "they do not always live datur, quid prodest good things in life?", "What use is it to live well, if it is not given to live forever?" [5]. "Everything but the eternal, the world is in vain," he sang one of our poets [6].
the people of our time cultivating in my heart this need for eternity, without perhaps having the courage to confess to others and even to themselves, we can repeat what Paul said to the Athenians: "What you seek without knowing , I proclaim "(cf. Acts 17:23).
The Christian response to secularism in the sense that we understand it here, is not based, as for Plato, on a philosophical idea-the 'immortality of the soul - but on an event. The Enlightenment had posed the famous question how we can tap into eternity, while you are in time and how to give a historical starting point for an eternal consciousness [7]. In other words, how one can justify the claim of the Christian faith promises eternal life and eternal equally threatening a penalty for acts performed in time.
The only valid answer to this problem is one that is based on faith in the incarnation of God In Christ, the eternal came into time, manifested in the flesh before he can make a decision for 'eternity. Thus the evangelist John speaks of eternal life: "I proclaim the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us" (1 Jn 1, 2).
4. Eternity: a hope and a presence
For the believer, eternity is not, as you can see, only a hope, it is also a presence. As we experience every time you make a real act of faith in Christ, that whoever believes in him, already has eternal life (cf. 1 Jn 5:13), and every time we receive communion, because it "is given to us the pledge of future glory "(" Futurae pignus gloria nobis datur "), and every time we hear the words of the Gospel are" words of eternal life "(Jn 6:68). Even St. Thomas Aquinas says that "grace is already the beginning of glory" [8].
This presence of eternity in time is called the Holy Spirit. He is described as " the guarantee of our inheritance "(Eph 1:14, 2 Corinthians 5:5), and was given to us because, having received the first fruits, we yearn for the fullness. "Christ - writes sant 'Agostino - gave us the earnest of the Holy Spirit with which he, however, that there could not deceive, he wanted to make sure the fulfillment of his promise. What has he promised? He promised eternal life in the Spirit is the guarantee that has given us [9].
Among the life of faith and eternal life in time there is a relationship similar to that which exists between the life of the embryo in the womb and the baby, once born. Cabasilas writes:
"This world brings gestation, the inner man, new, created in God, until he, here shaped, molded and become perfect, is not generated at that perfect world that does not age. In the embryo so that while it is dark and fluid in the existence, nature prepares for life in the light of the saints is so [...]. For the embryo, however, the future life is absolutely the future: Do not come to him with no light, nothing that is this life. Not so for us, since the next century as it was poured and this commisto this [...] So now it is already granted to the saints not only be positioned at and prepare for life, but to live and work in it "[10 ].
There is a story that illustrates this comparison. There were two twins, a boy and a girl, so smart and precocious that, even in the womb, already talked to each other. The girl asked the brother: "Will there be life after birth?". He replied: "Do not be ridiculous. What makes you think there is something out of this dark, narrow space in which we find ourselves? The child, making courage: "Maybe there is a mother, in short, someone who has put us here and that will take care of us.." He said, 'See you maybe a mother somewhere? What you see is all there is. " You again: "Do not you feel it too sometimes as a pressure on the chest that increases day by day and pushes us forward?". "On second thought, he replied, it is true, I hear it all the time." "See, he concluded triumphantly, the little sister, this pain may not be for nothing. I think there is preparing for something bigger than this small space. "
We may use this nice little story when we announce the eternal life to people who have lost faith in it, but keep the nostalgia and perhaps expect the Church, such as a child, help them to become aware of their yearning for this.
5. Who are we? Hence we come from? Where are we going?
There are questions that people do not cease to arise from the world began and men of today are no exception: "Who are we? Where we come from? Where do we go. " In his "Ecclesiastical History of the English people," the Venerable Bede tells how the Christian faith he made his entrance in the north of England. When the missionaries arrived from Rome in Northumberland, the king summoned a council of dignitaries Edwin to decide whether to allow them or not, to spread the new message. One of them stood up and said
"Suppose, O king, this scene. You sit down to dinner with your ministers and leaders: it's winter, a fire is burning in the middle and warms the room while bellows out the storm and the snow falls. A bird comes from an opening in the wall and immediately exits the other. While it is in, is protected from winter storm, but after enjoying the quick warmth, just disappears from view, lost in the dark winter from which it came. This appears to us the life of men on earth: we ignore all of what follows and what precedes it. If this new doctrine brings us something more secure about what I say that must be upheld "[11].
wonder that the Christian faith can not return to England and the European continent for the same reason why I made his entrance: as the only one that has a definite answer to be given to large questions of mortality. The best opportunity to convey this message to the funerals. In them, people are less distracted than in other rites of passage (baptism, marriage), they question their own destiny. When you are crying over a deceased loved one, you cry even to himself. I was crying "about her and her, about me and for me," Augustine writes of the death of his mother Monica [12].
I once heard an interesting program on BBC called "secular funeral" or "humanities", with the live recording of the performance of one of them. At one point he felt the officiating, saying to the present: "We should not be sad. Living a good life, fulfilling, for seventy years (the age of the deceased) is something that you should be grateful. " Thankful to whom?, I wondered. Such a funeral does not make it clear that the total defeat of the man before his death.
The occasion is the funeral of evangelization which can be worn in two ways: either because there is no minister of the Church in a genuine sense of humanity that leads to an interest of the deceased, crying, as Jesus did, in the pain of others, or why do not you go over the plan of human pleasantries and did not have the courage to announce the great news of Christ's victory over death.
Cardinal Newman we have chosen as special master in this Advent jute to complete our discussions so far with an unspoken truth. He does it with the poem "The Dream of Gerontius," set to music by English composer Edgar Elgar. A true masterpiece of deep thoughts, lyrical inspiration, choral and liturgical drama.
describes the dream of an elderly neighbor who feels the end, but we know that this is Newman himself at a particular moment of his life. Thoughts on the meaning of life, death, the abyss of nothingness that is sliding, overlapping the comments of the onlookers, the praying voice of the Church: "On this world, Christian soul" ("proficiscere, soul Christiana) , the conflicting voices of angels and demons pounding on his life and reclaim his soul. The time of death from time to eternity is described with images very effective:
"I feel in me an indescribable lightness, and a sense of freedom
, as if I myself finally
and never had been before. What peace!
no longer hear the incessant beat of time, nor my
wheezing, shortness or the wrist;
not a moment is different from what comes after "[13].
The last words that the soul speaks in the poem are those with which you start serene, and even eager, to Purgatory:
'll sing you my Lord and my love away: -
take me away, because as soon
may arise, and ascend up there.
And see Him in the everlasting truth of the day "[14].
For the emperor Hadrian, death was the move from the shadows, John Newman for the Christian it is the transition from shadow to reality, "former umbris et imaginibus in veritatem", as he wanted it written on his grave.
What, then, the truth that Newman does not oblige us to pass over in silence? That the transition from time to eternity is not straight and the same for everyone. There is a case to be addressed and a case that is reported as very different hell or heaven. That Newman's spirituality is austere, at times almost austere, reminiscent of the Dies Irae: "Along my earthly life, says the soul of Gerontius his guardian angel - the thought of death and the Judgement was very terrible for me: I had always before, and I saw the Judge severe even in the Crucifix. " But for this may be a useful corrective in an age inclined to take everything lightly and joking, as Kierkegaard said, with the thought of eternity!
6. Go to the house of the Lord!
A renewed faith in eternity, we need not only for evangelism, ie for the announcement to make to others, we need even before, to give a new impetus to our journey toward holiness. The weakening of the idea of \u200b\u200beternity is also acting upon the believers, they decrease in the ability to face suffering with courage and the trials of life.
Think of a man with a balance in hand: one of those scales that stand with one hand and have a side plate on which to weigh things from the other and a track bar that holds the weight or measure. If it falls to earth, or lose the measure, all that is put on the plate is lifted above the bar on the ground and tilts the balance. Everyone has the upper hand, even a handful of feathers.
So when we lost the weight, the measure of all that is eternity and things earthly suffering easily shed our blood on the ground. Everything seems too heavy, too. Jesus said, "If your hand is an obstacle to you, cut it off if your eye is a barrier, tear it is better to enter life with one hand or one eye, rather than both being thrown into the fire ever "(cf. Mt from 18.8 to 9). But we, having lost sight of eternity, there is already too much to ask that we close our eyes to an immoral show.
St. Paul dares to write: "This slight momentary affliction of the weight it gives us a huge weight and eternal glory, because we do not fix our gaze on things seen, but at the invisible. Things are visible for a moment, those seen are eternal "(2 Cor 4.17 to 18). The weight of affliction is "light because temporary, that is huge because of the glory forever. For this reason the Apostle can say, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom 8:18).
In Hebrew psalter is a group of psalms, called "Psalms of Ascent" or "songs of Zion." The Psalms were sung when the pilgrims Israelites "rose" a pilgrimage to the holy city, Jerusalem. One of them begins: "I was glad when they said" go to the house of the Lord "(Ps. 122, 1). These psalms of ascents are now become the psalms of those in the Church, are on their way to the heavenly Jerusalem is our psalms. Commenting on his initial words of the psalm, Augustine told his faithful
"We run because we go to God's house, because we run this race is not tired, because we get to a destination where there is no fatigue. We run to the house of the Lord and our soul rejoices for those who repeat these words. They have seen before us home, they view of the apostles and told us: Hurry, hurry, come back! "We go to the house of the Lord" [15].
We have before us, in this chapel, a beautiful mosaic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem, with Mary, the Apostles and a long procession of saints Eastern and Western. There they silently repeat the call: "Hurry, hurry, come back." In the face of every difficulty and problem, we repeat with St. Bernard: "Quid hoc aeternitatem?" Who cares for this eternity?; Also repeat, with the poet: "Everything, except the eternal, the world is futile ".
[1] See M. Pohlenz, Man greek, Florence 1967, p. 173ss.
[2] Animula vagula, blandula, translated by Lydia Storoni Mazzolani.
[3] S. Kierkegaard, Postscript final, 4, in Works, edited by C. Fabro, Florence 1972, p. 458.
[4] Miguel de Unamuno, "Cartas de Miguel de Unamuno y inéditas Pedro Jiménez Ilundain," ed. Hernán Benítez, Revista de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, vol. 3, no. 9 (January-March 1949), pp. 135. 150.
[5] S. Augustine, Treatises on the Gospel of John, 45, 2 (PL, 35, 1720).
[6] Fogazzaro, "A Night," in Poems, Milan, Mondadori, 1935, pp. 194-197.
[7] GE Lessing, Über den Beweis des Geistes und der Kraft, ed. Lachmann, X, p.36.
[8] S. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-IIae, q. 24, article 3, ad 2.
[9] S. Augustine, Sermo 378.1 (PL, 39, 1673).
[10] N. Cabasilas, Life in Christ, The 0.1-2, ed. edited by U. Blacks, Torino, UTET, 1971, pp.65-67.,
[11] Bede, Ecclesiastical History Anglorum, II, 13.
[12] S. Augustine, Confessions, XII, 33.
[13] The Dream of Gerontius, Newman Poet, edited by L. Obertello, Jaka Book, Milano 2010, p.124
[14] Ib, p. 156.
[15] S. Augustine, in Enarrationes Psalmos 121.2 (CCL, 40, p. 1802).
ROMAN RITE OF ADVENT III
Gospel: Mt from 1.18 to 24
So Jesus Christ was begotten: His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, because he was a righteous man and did not want to accuse her publicly, she thought of her away secretly.
But while he was considering these things, behold, an angel appeared in his dream the Lord and said: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. In fact, the child is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and she will give birth to a son and you shall call his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. "
All this happened because it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son to him will be given the name Emmanuel," which means "God with us" .
When he awoke from sleep, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his bride. COMMENT
higher in us the truth of Jesus Christ and more perfect our morality. More correct is the knowledge of our Redeemer and Savior and the greater will be our holiness. It is our morality which tells us what is true in us the knowledge of Jesus is our holiness shows us what we really possess the light of Christ. The
little morality and lack of holiness attested to the world that we do not know Jesus as Lord. If you knew the truth, our behavior, our lives, our actions, everything would be different in us. Because we live in a very low morality is a sign that the science of Christ in us is very low. The confession that Christ is a fruit of our mind and our desire that the God who became flesh and dwelt among us.
All our actions are relevant to the faith in us, the truth, the light which we walk. Joseph still does not know the holiness of Mary, the mystery does not know who is living in her womb. Its decisions are not relevant to the truth of Mary and Jesus are proportionate to his justice. He makes decisions of Justice staff, not of divine truth that is happening in history. But he is right man then and always ready to receive the greatest truth that God makes known his heart, his will, to his mind.
Jesus was immediately heralded as the Christ, the Lord's Christ. He is not the fruit of marital love between a man and a woman united in holy matrimony. He is Mary, who is a virgin. Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not even the union of soul and body that make up the human person. Jesus is not human. Jesus is a divine person. It is the Only Begotten of the Father, who is eternal, without beginning, without end, because it is generated by the Father for ever and ever, forever and ever. Jesus, a divine Person, is true God and true man, a true son of God and true son of the Virgin Mary.
Why Jesus? He comes to free his people from their sins. Here is Jesus' mission: to free every man from his sin. Salvation is in the abolition, cancellation, eradication, cancellation of sin and its power in military in our members. He alone is the Savior from sin. No one else. All the others not only live with their sins. They have no strength to save their fellow man. This is the difference which exists between Christ and any other religion other coexist with sin. That Christ is the only one who removes, deletes, cancels it.
Virgin Mary, Mother of Redemption, Angels and Saints, give us salvation from sin.
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