FAUSTI - "PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST SECOND MARK" (Mk 14:1-15:47) "While He was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, while he was at the table, came a woman who had an alabaster vase, full of scent of pure nard, of great value; she broke the alabaster and poured it on his head" "How much for this waste?" These words about the woman express well my feeling before the passion of the Lord: why this waste of Love? Couldn't He spare Himself a bit? Whoever understands this excess enters into the mystery of God. Mark gives the central account of our faith with this very delicate scene. In the whole Gospel, the gesture made by the woman is the only one that Jesus accepts and approves without reservation. Only He understands her and only she understands Him. What she does is called a beautiful work, the Gospel. It is the bride's response to the Bridegroom, she does what He Himself will do. The plot to kill Him and the betrayal are the dark frame that acts as a counterpoint to the brightness of the scene, and indicate the situation of those who are not on the side of the woman. The story is a precious vase, from which the scent of many hidden mysteries exhales. In fact, the anointing of women is the Consecration of Jesus who, in addition to being a Messiah, also a Prophet, Priest, Altar and Victim, reveals to us what faith is: to recognize Jesus, poor and dying, as our Lord and Savior, loving Him with all our hearts. Moreover, what this woman does is a figure of what Jesus will do on the Cross: the vase of His Body will be broken and the perfume of God will come out throughout the earth. In Him in fact dwells corporally all the fullness of the divinity (Col 2:9). His perfume will expand precisely from the Cross, where His Name will be known and glorified even by the most distant persons. "There prepare for us": Jesus says to the disciples, indicating how to find the place of the banquet. It is Thursday, Easter Eve. Four times the verb prepare comes out and four times the term Easter. For this reason it is necessary to identify what the teacher calls "my resting place, where I can eat Easter with my disciples". The whole Gospel of Mark is a long introduction to the narration of the death and resurrection of Jesus and wants to lead us to this place, where the Eucharist is celebrated, our Easter. Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed, who consciously and freely gave Himself for us. He is our Easter, liberation from all evil. "While they were eating, Jesus said: one of you will deliver me. Then comes the night. Since for the Jews the sunset marks the change of date, we are at the beginning of Friday, his sixth day in Jerusalem. In the account of Genesis on this day God created man, who immediately departed from Him. From then on, He began to search for him, crossing every distance to reach him. The cross, now imminent, will be the farthest point, beyond which he will not be able to escape. There He will finally meet him.
Jesus gives Himself to a community of people who betray Him, deny Him and flee. He already knows that, despite good will, we are unable to do anything else. And He gives Himself, not "despite", but "for this". He announces it in advance because we know that His Love, free and sovereign, pours out on us gratuitously, not for our merits, but rather by predicting our demerits. "This is My Body. This is My Blood of the Covenant," says Jesus on bread and wine at the last meal with his own. A sacrifice of man to God is part of every religion. Christianity, on the other hand, is based on God's sacrifice to man. Jesus' Last Easter becomes the Lamb's Supper, the Banquet where we feed on Him, remember His Passion, drink of His Spirit and receive the pledge of future Glory. "(Lumen Gentium 11), the Eucharist truly is everything and gives us everything: it is all Creation that becomes the Body of the Son, it is all humanity assumed into His Flesh, it is God who gives Himself to man.the disciple knows His own unworthiness and the dignity of the gift, and lives this distance with joyful love, adoring silence and song of praise. It is filial life, the source of fraternal life. Around the table, in Communion with Him, the Community is born among us. If it is true that the Church makes the Eucharist, it is because even before the Eucharist makes the Church. "Three times you will deny me" This is how the baptism of Peter begins, to which Jesus makes us aware of the two fundamental truths of faith: the sin of man and the forgiveness of God. In front of His Love, which is given up for all, Jesus foresees and predicts the fall of Peter and of all. But His Grace, far from fading, is fully manifested in the surrender of the disciples, and promises His faithfulness beyond death. After I am resurrected, I will go before you to Galilee. Our sin, as a measure of His Mercy, is the place of encounter and knowledge of God. "Stay here and watch over" says Jesus to Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemane. They are the three chosen witnesses, called first to contemplate the suffering of God for the evil of the world. Whoever stays here and watches over sees the great mystery: the passion of his Lord for him. In the transfiguration the Father called him "Son", now, in disfigurement, the Son calls: "Abba, Father" There on the Tabor the humanity of Jesus let his Divinity shine forth, here, in the garden, the Divinity lets all his humanity shine forth - which, clothed in our inhumanity, manifests its Glory. The agony in the garden is the window on the most intimate ego of Jesus. His words open us to His relationship as Son with the Father, precisely at the most decisive moment of His Life. The disciples insist three times on closing their eyes. But the scene remained imprinted in their memory as the supreme revelation of the Son and our salvation. Son is He who fulfills the Will of the Father. It is the happy night of our salvation in which the Lord of life plunges Himself into all our nights, carrying the light of the Name everywhere.(FAUSTI)
FAUSTI - "PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST SECOND MARK"
RispondiElimina(Mk 14:1-15:47) "While He was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, while he was at the table, came a woman who had an alabaster vase, full of scent of pure nard, of great value; she broke the alabaster and poured it on his head" "How much for this waste?" These words about the woman express well my feeling before the passion of the Lord: why this waste of Love? Couldn't He spare Himself a bit? Whoever understands this excess enters into the mystery of God. Mark gives the central account of our faith with this very delicate scene.
In the whole Gospel, the gesture made by the woman is the only one that Jesus accepts and approves without reservation. Only He understands her and only she understands Him. What she does is called a beautiful work, the Gospel.
It is the bride's response to the Bridegroom, she does what He Himself will do.
The plot to kill Him and the betrayal are the dark frame that acts as a counterpoint to the brightness of the scene, and indicate the situation of those who are not on the side of the woman.
The story is a precious vase, from which the scent of many hidden mysteries exhales. In fact, the anointing of women is the Consecration of Jesus who, in addition to being a Messiah, also a Prophet, Priest, Altar and Victim, reveals to us what faith is: to recognize Jesus, poor and dying, as our Lord and Savior, loving Him with all our hearts.
Moreover, what this woman does is a figure of what Jesus will do on the Cross: the vase of His Body will be broken and the perfume of God will come out throughout the earth. In Him in fact dwells corporally all the fullness of the divinity (Col 2:9).
His perfume will expand precisely from the Cross, where His Name will be known and glorified even by the most distant persons.
"There prepare for us": Jesus says to the disciples, indicating how to find the place of the banquet. It is Thursday, Easter Eve. Four times the verb prepare comes out and four times the term Easter.
For this reason it is necessary to identify what the teacher calls "my resting place, where I can eat Easter with my disciples".
The whole Gospel of Mark is a long introduction to the narration of the death and resurrection of Jesus and wants to lead us to this place, where the Eucharist is celebrated, our Easter.
Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed, who consciously and freely gave Himself for us.
He is our Easter, liberation from all evil.
"While they were eating, Jesus said: one of you will deliver me. Then comes the night.
Since for the Jews the sunset marks the change of date, we are at the beginning of Friday, his sixth day in Jerusalem.
In the account of Genesis on this day God created man, who immediately departed from Him.
From then on, He began to search for him, crossing every distance to reach him.
The cross, now imminent, will be the farthest point, beyond which he will not be able to escape.
There He will finally meet him.
Jesus gives Himself to a community of people who betray Him, deny Him and flee. He already knows that, despite good will, we are unable to do anything else. And He gives Himself, not "despite", but "for this". He announces it in advance because we know that His Love, free and sovereign, pours out on us gratuitously, not for our merits, but rather by predicting our demerits.
RispondiElimina"This is My Body. This is My Blood of the Covenant," says Jesus on bread and wine at the last meal with his own. A sacrifice of man to God is part of every religion.
Christianity, on the other hand, is based on God's sacrifice to man.
Jesus' Last Easter becomes the Lamb's Supper, the Banquet where we feed on Him, remember His Passion, drink of His Spirit and receive the pledge of future Glory. "(Lumen Gentium 11), the Eucharist truly is everything and gives us everything: it is all Creation that becomes the Body of the Son, it is all humanity assumed into His Flesh, it is God who gives Himself to man.the disciple knows His own unworthiness and the dignity of the gift, and lives this distance with joyful love, adoring silence and song of praise. It is filial life, the source of fraternal life. Around the table, in Communion with Him, the Community is born among us. If it is true that the Church makes the Eucharist, it is because even before the Eucharist makes the Church.
"Three times you will deny me" This is how the baptism of Peter begins, to which Jesus makes us aware of the two fundamental truths of faith: the sin of man and the forgiveness of God.
In front of His Love, which is given up for all, Jesus foresees and predicts the fall of Peter and of all. But His Grace, far from fading, is fully manifested in the surrender of the disciples, and promises His faithfulness beyond death. After I am resurrected, I will go before you to Galilee.
Our sin, as a measure of His Mercy, is the place of encounter and knowledge of God.
"Stay here and watch over" says Jesus to Peter, James and John in the garden of Gethsemane.
They are the three chosen witnesses, called first to contemplate the suffering of God for the evil of the world. Whoever stays here and watches over sees the great mystery: the passion of his Lord for him.
In the transfiguration the Father called him "Son", now, in disfigurement, the Son calls: "Abba, Father" There on the Tabor the humanity of Jesus let his Divinity shine forth, here, in the garden, the Divinity lets all his humanity shine forth - which, clothed in our inhumanity, manifests its Glory.
The agony in the garden is the window on the most intimate ego of Jesus. His words open us to His relationship as Son with the Father, precisely at the most decisive moment of His Life. The disciples insist three times on closing their eyes. But the scene remained imprinted in their memory as the supreme revelation of the Son and our salvation. Son is He who fulfills the Will of the Father.
It is the happy night of our salvation in which the Lord of life plunges Himself into all our nights, carrying the light of the Name everywhere.(FAUSTI)