SINGING TO GOSPEL (cf. Eph 1:17-18) R. Hallelujah, hallelujah. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ illuminate the eyes of our heart to make us understand what hope he has called us to. R. Hallelujah.
He started sending them. + From the Gospel according to Mark 6,7-13 At that time, Jesus called the Twelve to Himself and began to send them two by two and gave them power over impure spirits. And he ordered them not to take anything but a stick for the journey: neither bread, nor bag, nor money in the belt; but to wear sandals and not to wear two tunics. And he said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay until you leave there. If somewhere they do not welcome you and listen to you, go and shake the dust under your feet as a witness to them. And they departed and proclaimed that the people would convert, cast out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them. Word of the Lord.
FAUSTI - "Call forth the twelve and began to send them" The Twelve were first called each one individually to follow him. Then they were formed as a community to "be with him". Now they are sent to the brothers in two by two. This passage is a "travel breviary", so that the senders do not forget to reproduce the Face of those who send them. It is the identity card of the Apostolic Church, that is, sent by Jesus - whose mission was in poverty - and passed through failure, concealment, powerlessness and smallness. Those sent to their brothers and sisters receive the greatest gift of the Father: they are fully associated with the Son, who shares in the mystery that he proclaims. With the sending of the twelve, Jesus is no longer alone. He began to be the first of many brothers, a grain that had already multiplied. This first mission to Israel is already a harvest that is sown for a later one, which will be ever more abundant, until the end of time, when all men will eat the bread of the Son. The proclamation of the Gospel is always in poverty, because it proclaims the Cross that has conquered the world. More than what needs to be said, Jesus shows concern for what needs to be. What you are, he cries out louder than what you say. It is true that the Word of God is effective in itself; it is not my testimony that makes it credible. However, my counter-attestation has the power to make it incredible. In evil I always have greater power than in good: I cannot create a flower, but I can destroy it! The poverty that Jesus "orders" comes from the joy of those who have discovered the treasure (Mt 13:44), and leads to victory over the sin of the world - which consists in the desire to have, to have power and to appear, mortal instruments devised by the fear of death. His poverty is not a deprivation, but a supreme value, rather the sum of the values of his life. For God, being Love, is poor. His having is His being, and His being is being of the other, in the gift of Himself of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Father, in the one Spirit. For us too, poverty is the condition for love. For as long as you have things, give things, when you have nothing, give yourself. Only then do you truly love and can share. Moreover, what you have divides you from the other, what you give, unites you, and makes you in solidarity with him. As long as you are not poor, everything you give is just an exercise of power. Already in the A. Testament poverty, smallness and impotence are the means that God chooses to overcome. In fact, he chose what is foolish and weak to confuse the wise and the strong, what is ignoble, despised and nothing, to reduce to nothing the things that are (1 Cor 1:27). On the other hand, we know the grace of our Lord Jesus who, from being rich, became poor so that we might become rich through His poverty (2 Cor 8:9). Peter and John had learned this lesson well when they performed the first miracle of the nascent Church. They made the cripple walk with the words: "I have neither gold nor silver, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, walk". (Acts 3:6). If they had had silver and gold, they would have done a good work, maybe an institute for cripples! But faith can only come from the announcement made in weakness, because it is a free response to the Word of Christ. For this reason Paul presents himself in weakness, with much fear and trepidation, placing all his wisdom in Christ, and in Christ Crucified (1 Cor 2:2). And he says: "When I am weak, it is then that I am strong (2 Cor 12:10), strong in trust in God, whose weakness is stronger than men. Jesus sends his people into poverty, just as the Father sent him.
SINGING TO GOSPEL (cf. Eph 1:17-18)
RispondiEliminaR. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
illuminate the eyes of our heart
to make us understand what hope he has called us to.
R. Hallelujah.
He started sending them.
+ From the Gospel according to Mark 6,7-13
At that time, Jesus called the Twelve to Himself and began to send them two by two and gave them power over impure spirits. And he ordered them not to take anything but a stick for the journey: neither bread, nor bag, nor money in the belt; but to wear sandals and not to wear two tunics. And he said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay until you leave there. If somewhere they do not welcome you and listen to you, go and shake the dust under your feet as a witness to them. And they departed and proclaimed that the people would convert, cast out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them.
Word of the Lord.
FAUSTI - "Call forth the twelve and began to send them" The Twelve were first called each one individually to follow him. Then they were formed as a community to "be with him".
RispondiEliminaNow they are sent to the brothers in two by two. This passage is a "travel breviary", so that the senders do not forget to reproduce the Face of those who send them. It is the identity card of the Apostolic Church, that is, sent by Jesus - whose mission was in poverty - and passed through failure, concealment, powerlessness and smallness.
Those sent to their brothers and sisters receive the greatest gift of the Father: they are fully associated with the Son, who shares in the mystery that he proclaims.
With the sending of the twelve, Jesus is no longer alone. He began to be the first of many brothers, a grain that had already multiplied.
This first mission to Israel is already a harvest that is sown for a later one, which will be ever more abundant, until the end of time, when all men will eat the bread of the Son.
The proclamation of the Gospel is always in poverty, because it proclaims the Cross that has conquered the world.
More than what needs to be said, Jesus shows concern for what needs to be.
What you are, he cries out louder than what you say.
It is true that the Word of God is effective in itself; it is not my testimony that makes it credible.
However, my counter-attestation has the power to make it incredible.
In evil I always have greater power than in good: I cannot create a flower, but I can destroy it!
The poverty that Jesus "orders" comes from the joy of those who have discovered the treasure (Mt 13:44), and leads to victory over the sin of the world - which consists in the desire to have, to have power and to appear, mortal instruments devised by the fear of death.
His poverty is not a deprivation, but a supreme value, rather the sum of the values of his life.
For God, being Love, is poor. His having is His being, and His being is being of the other, in the gift of Himself of the Father to the Son and of the Son to the Father, in the one Spirit.
For us too, poverty is the condition for love.
For as long as you have things, give things, when you have nothing, give yourself.
Only then do you truly love and can share.
Moreover, what you have divides you from the other, what you give, unites you, and makes you in solidarity with him.
As long as you are not poor, everything you give is just an exercise of power.
Already in the A. Testament poverty, smallness and impotence are the means that God chooses to overcome.
In fact, he chose what is foolish and weak to confuse the wise and the strong, what is ignoble, despised and nothing, to reduce to nothing the things that are (1 Cor 1:27).
On the other hand, we know the grace of our Lord Jesus who, from being rich, became poor so that we might become rich through His poverty (2 Cor 8:9).
Peter and John had learned this lesson well when they performed the first miracle of the nascent Church. They made the cripple walk with the words: "I have neither gold nor silver, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, walk". (Acts 3:6).
If they had had silver and gold, they would have done a good work, maybe an institute for cripples! But faith can only come from the announcement made in weakness, because it is a free response to the Word of Christ.
For this reason Paul presents himself in weakness, with much fear and trepidation, placing all his wisdom in Christ, and in Christ Crucified (1 Cor 2:2). And he says: "When I am weak, it is then that I am strong (2 Cor 12:10), strong in trust in God, whose weakness is stronger than men.
Jesus sends his people into poverty, just as the Father sent him.