READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah Is 50:4-7
The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians Phil 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Mark Mk 15:1-39
As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.” The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted again, “Crucify him.” Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha —which is translated Place of the Skull — They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER Jesus suffered betrayal by the disciple who sold him and by the disciple who denied him. He was betrayed by the people who sang hosanna to him and then shouted: “Crucify him!” (Mt 27:22). He was betrayed by the religious institution that unjustly condemned him and by the political institution that washed its hands of him. We can think of all the big or small betrayals we have suffered in life. It is terrible to discover that a well-founded trust has been betrayed. From deep within our heart a disappointment surges up that can even make life seem meaningless. This happens because we were born to be loved and to love, and the most painful thing is to be betrayed by someone who promised to be loyal and close to us. We cannot even imagine how painful it was for God who is love. (Homily St. Peter’s Basilica, 5 April 2020)
THE JESUITS - The entire Gospel of Mark is an introduction to this scene. The title of the Gospel is, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Finally for the first time a man says "Truly this man is the Son of God!". What does Mark want to do? He wants to show us that face of God that man has never seen. Man abandoned God because he thought He was a terrible God, vengeful, punishing; he abandoned Him and finds a God, instead, who loses Himself for the man who abandoned Him and He Himself experiences abandonment. A God who instead of condemning, lets Himself be condemned; instead of judging, He lets Himself be judged; instead of killing, He lets Himself be killed; instead of stealing life, He gives life. The Cross is something you never cease to contemplate. The last miracle is precisely the healing of the blind man, because contemplating the Cross one understands everything. On the one hand, one understands the reality of evil, which is so great, there is so much of it: evil is so great that it reduces even God. On the other hand, we contemplate the infinite love of God that is placed there and redeems us. Practically, the Cross is seen as the new Genesis, the new creation, the new man is created. It is also seen as the end of the world, because on the Cross the world ends; it is seen as Easter, the definitive exodus towards freedom; it is seen as the Gospel of Mark. It contains something of the whole of Scripture. In fact, Jesus will say in John, "All is accomplished!" Every Word on the Cross becomes reality, fulfillment . While Mark is concerned to say: our God is a man who is crucified, which is the fundamental datum of the Christian faith, that flesh of a Man reveals who God is. On the Cross, God expresses Himself totally, He has nothing more to say beyond the Cross and to give, because He gives Himself and thus reveals Himself as God. And it is precisely in the humanity of Jesus that God is revealed, nothing else. . Our power is to dominate others, to destroy others and ultimately ourselves. And He is exactly the opposite: in Him because He does not respond to violence with violence, He does not save Himself, but He gives Himself, He remains on the Cross. Not only the passers-by, not only the titled, but also those who are with Him do not understand Him and insult Him. Which means that the Cross really is stupidity for all human wisdom and impotence for all human desire. In reality it is the wisdom of God and power of God, it is the wisdom and power of love that saves us. The sixth hour is noon, it is the hour of the full sun, it becomes darkness over the whole earth; the sun is the symbol of life, the cosmic symbol of life, it darkens the sun at mid-day. And it darkens the sun until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out. In this cry of Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" there is the cry of all humanity that has forsaken God and I explain: not all of us have forsaken God, but we do not feel evil because we do not love God. God who loves us feels that abandonment, that is, the evil that we do is felt by Him who loves us, not by us. Therefore, all humanity that has abandoned God, all the evil of all humanity is felt by this Man who is God. He feels the evil of abandonment and dies of this evil.
Paul says: "I thought I knew nothing else among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified". There is all his wisdom. Bonhoeffer also said: "The Cross and the Crucifix is the distance that God has placed between Himself and the idol", the infinite distance that exists between God and all our imaginations about God. And it is that abyss, that mystery that the more you scrutinize it, the more you understand God and the more you understand man. The centurion is the farthest person there is, the commander of the firing squad the one who killed Him. Now he sees: the last miracle was to see. He sees because he is there, because he is there in front of Him, because he sees Him expire and he sees Him expire like this. All the miracles of the Gospel want to lead us to be there to see what happens. To see One like this: "Truly this man was the Son of God". He was not because He is not anymore, because now I understand that He was also before, but before I could not understand it, that is why I understand that He was also before Son of God, because He is One who knows how to love like this, this is God.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Is 50:4-7
The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
and I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
my face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians
Phil 2:6-11
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFrom the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 15:1-39
As soon as morning came,
the chief priests with the elders and the scribes,
that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Again Pilate questioned him,
“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them
one prisoner whom they requested.
A man called Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
The crowd came forward and began to ask him
to do for them as he was accustomed.
Pilate answered,
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in reply,
“Then what do you want me to do
with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”
They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,
handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
They clothed him in purple and,
weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.
They knelt before him in homage.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
dressed him in his own clothes,
and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,
a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha
—which is translated Place of the Skull —
They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Then they crucified him and divided his garments
by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
“The King of the Jews.”
With him they crucified two revolutionaries,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those passing by reviled him,
shaking their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes,
mocked him among themselves and said,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe.”
Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said,
“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed
and gave it to him to drink saying,
“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
Here all kneel and pause for a short time.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion who stood facing him
saw how he breathed his last he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaJesus suffered betrayal by the disciple who sold him and by the disciple who denied him. He was betrayed by the people who sang hosanna to him and then shouted: “Crucify him!” (Mt 27:22). He was betrayed by the religious institution that unjustly condemned him and by the political institution that washed its hands of him. We can think of all the big or small betrayals we have suffered in life. It is terrible to discover that a well-founded trust has been betrayed. From deep within our heart a disappointment surges up that can even make life seem meaningless. This happens because we were born to be loved and to love, and the most painful thing is to be betrayed by someone who promised to be loyal and close to us. We cannot even imagine how painful it was for God who is love. (Homily St. Peter’s Basilica, 5 April 2020)
RispondiEliminaTHE JESUITS -
The entire Gospel of Mark is an introduction to this scene. The title of the Gospel is, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Finally for the first time a man says "Truly this man is the Son of God!".
What does Mark want to do? He wants to show us that face of God that man has never seen. Man abandoned God because he thought He was a terrible God, vengeful, punishing; he abandoned Him and finds a God, instead, who loses Himself for the man who abandoned Him and He Himself experiences abandonment. A God who instead of condemning, lets Himself be condemned; instead of judging, He lets Himself be judged; instead of killing, He lets Himself be killed; instead of stealing life, He gives life.
The Cross is something you never cease to contemplate.
The last miracle is precisely the healing of the blind man, because contemplating the Cross one understands everything. On the one hand, one understands the reality of evil, which is so great, there is so much of it: evil is so great that it reduces even God.
On the other hand, we contemplate the infinite love of God that is placed there and redeems us.
Practically, the Cross is seen as the new Genesis, the new creation, the new man is created.
It is also seen as the end of the world, because on the Cross the world ends; it is seen as Easter, the definitive exodus towards freedom; it is seen as the Gospel of Mark.
It contains something of the whole of Scripture.
In fact, Jesus will say in John, "All is accomplished!"
Every Word on the Cross becomes reality, fulfillment .
While Mark is concerned to say: our God is a man who is crucified, which is the fundamental datum of the Christian faith, that flesh of a Man reveals who God is.
On the Cross, God expresses Himself totally, He has nothing more to say beyond the Cross and to give, because He gives Himself and thus reveals Himself as God.
And it is precisely in the humanity of Jesus that God is revealed, nothing else.
. Our power is to dominate others, to destroy others and ultimately ourselves.
And He is exactly the opposite: in Him because He does not respond to violence with violence, He does not save Himself, but He gives Himself, He remains on the Cross.
Not only the passers-by, not only the titled, but also those who are with Him do not understand Him and insult Him. Which means that the Cross really is stupidity for all human wisdom and impotence for all human desire. In reality it is the wisdom of God and power of God, it is the wisdom and power of love that saves us.
The sixth hour is noon, it is the hour of the full sun, it becomes darkness over the whole earth; the sun is the symbol of life, the cosmic symbol of life, it darkens the sun at mid-day.
And it darkens the sun until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out. In this cry of Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!" there is the cry of all humanity that has forsaken God and I explain: not all of us have forsaken God, but we do not feel
evil because we do not love God.
God who loves us feels that abandonment, that is, the evil that we do is felt by Him who loves us, not by us. Therefore, all humanity that has abandoned God, all the evil of all humanity is felt by this Man who is God. He feels the evil of abandonment and dies of this evil.
Paul says: "I thought I knew nothing else among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified".
RispondiEliminaThere is all his wisdom. Bonhoeffer also said: "The Cross and the Crucifix is the distance that God has placed between Himself and the idol", the infinite distance that exists between God and all our imaginations about God.
And it is that abyss, that mystery that the more you scrutinize it, the more you understand God and the more you understand man.
The centurion is the farthest person there is, the commander of the firing squad the one who killed Him. Now he sees: the last miracle was to see.
He sees because he is there, because he is there in front of Him, because he sees Him expire and he sees Him expire like this.
All the miracles of the Gospel want to lead us to be there to see what happens. To see One like this: "Truly this man was the Son of God".
He was not because He is not anymore, because now I understand that He was also before, but before I could not understand it, that is why I understand that He was also before Son of God, because He is One who knows how to love like this, this is God.