Wisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:
"I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.
I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss.
Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway."
Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose territory should I abide?
"Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.'
Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.
In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion.
Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain.
I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.
Psalm 147
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs-- who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
GOSPEL OF JOHN 1:(1-9), 10-18 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being
1:4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
1:7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
1:9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.
1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.
1:12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,
1:13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory , the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.
1:15 (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")
1:16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
1:17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
FAUSTI - "God no one has ever seen him . The only-begotten God, who is towards the womb of the Father, He has told of Him" To see the Mother is to be born, to see God is to come to the light of his own face. Nostalgia of Him before whom he is himself, man is desire to see God, His hidden face. But no one has ever seen Him, because, from the beginning, Adam turned his back on Him. We have no image of Him, because the only image and likeness of Him is us, if we stand before Him. Jesus Christ, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, by His works and words, by His life and death, has shown us God, to the point of saying: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (14,9). It is in fact the Word, which for this reason has become "Flesh". The beginning of John's Gospel takes us, with a sweep of the wings, above space and beyond time, beyond every creature, to show us who Jesus is, the man fully qualified to tell us the invisible. With surprise we discover that the One who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children. The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and on the Incarnation have been drawn. It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to heaven. The Word is born from the love of the one who speaks, reciprocated by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love. For this reason, God who is Love is also Word. The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life inside God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father. It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will therefore say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10). At the origin of the world is the Father's Word of light, which nothing can stop: neither darkness, nor death, nor nothingness. Creation is essentially and entirely "good" like the One who made it. And it will remain so, even if man, deceived, has temporarily removed himself from his vocation to respond to the Word. Darkness cannot understand or capture light: it is incapable of welcoming it, but also of destroying it, devouring it and reducing it to itself. If it takes it, it is taken and illuminated by it. The world is created by the Word and Wisdom that precedes it, designs it and makes it, by giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective will the universe be positively meaningful, destined for life and happiness.God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the end of everything, with the man who understands it.
-->Only in him, created on the sixth day, this Word, at work since the first day, find a hearing. He, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word. Every man has inside him the light of the Word. In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love, which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks. The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as his life and light. Every man is "very beautiful" (Gen 1:31) because in his deepest essence he is listening to the Word. And if he responds, his face lights up in the light of God. The Word, just as it was addressed to the Father before creation, after it is also addressed to the world, to orient it to the Father, even before its becoming Flesh. "The world did not recognize it" The Gospel of John, in addition to double meanings, is also full of counter-senses. This is the first one: after having said that everything comes from the Word and that it is addressed to all as the light of life, one would expect a spontaneous recognition of it. Instead, exactly the opposite happens. It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father. Our generation as children of God is the work of God Himself through the Word. It will not be blood or flesh or the will of man to generate us children of God, but the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man, who does the Will of the Father. In becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive. The Word does not take on human "appearance", it does not wear our flesh like a dress, it "becomes" flesh, man, body. God takes on a new relationship with His creature, which is that of putting Himself on a par with her in order to communicate fully with her. God is a real and concrete man: Jesus. Every frailty, weakness and limitation, the being-for-death of our condition, becomes His. And it is precisely His Flesh, and nothing else, that reveals the Glory. The Glory is God Himself, who manifests Himself in His unique beauty. John does not recount the Transfiguration, his whole Gospel is a Transfiguration, an epiphany of God, a contemplation of the Glory in the flesh of the Son. The Son is full of the Gift of the knowledge of the Father. That is why it is the Son, who wants and can communicate the Father to His brothers.
Sirach 24:1-12
RispondiEliminaWisdom praises herself, and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:
"I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist.
I dwelt in the highest heavens, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
Alone I compassed the vault of heaven and traversed the depths of the abyss.
Over waves of the sea, over all the earth, and over every people and nation I have held sway."
Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose territory should I abide?
"Then the Creator of all things gave me a command, and my Creator chose the place for my tent. He said, 'Make your dwelling in Jacob, and in Israel receive your inheritance.'
Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me, and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.
In the holy tent I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion.
Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my domain.
I took root in an honored people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.
Psalm 147
Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your children within you.
He grants peace within your borders; he fills you with the finest of wheat.
He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes.
He hurls down hail like crumbs-- who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!
Ephesians 1:3-14
RispondiEliminaBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places,
just as he chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world to be holy
and blameless before him in love.
He destined us for adoption as his
children through Jesus Christ,
according to the good pleasure
of his will,
to the praise of his glorious
grace that he freely bestowed
on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness
of our trespasses, according to
the riches of his grace
that he lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
he has made known to us the mystery
of his will, according to his good
pleasure that he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time,
to gather up all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
In Christ we have also obtained
an inheritance, having been destined
according to the purpose of him who
accomplishes all things according
to his counsel and will,
so that we, who were the first
to set our hope on Christ,
might live for the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you had heard
the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and had believed in him,
were marked with the seal
of the promised Holy Spirit;
this is the pledge of our
inheritance toward redemption
as God's own people,
to the praise of his glory.
GOSPEL OF JOHN
1:(1-9), 10-18
1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being
1:4 in him was life, and the life
was the light of all people.
1:5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
1:6 There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John.
1:7 He came as a witness to testify
to the light, so that all might believe
through him.
1:8 He himself was not the light,
but he came to testify to the light.
1:9 The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world.
1:10 He was in the world, and the world
came into being through him;
yet the world did not know him.
1:11 He came to what was his own,
and his own people did not accept him.
1:12 But to all who received him,
who believed in his name,
he gave power to become children of God,
1:13 who were born, not of blood or
of the will of the flesh or
of the will of man, but of God.
1:14 And the Word became flesh
and lived among us, and we have seen his glory
, the glory as of a father's only son,
full of grace and truth.
1:15 (John testified to him and cried out,
"This was he of whom I said,
'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'")
1:16 From his fullness we have all received,
grace upon grace.
1:17 The law indeed was given through
Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18 No one has ever seen God.
It is God the only Son, who is close
to the Father's heart, who has made him known.
FAUSTI -
RispondiElimina"God no one has ever seen him . The only-begotten God, who is towards the womb of the Father, He has told of Him" To see the Mother is to be born, to see God is to come to the light of his own face.
Nostalgia of Him before whom he is himself, man is desire to see God, His hidden face. But no one has ever seen Him, because, from the beginning, Adam turned his back on Him.
We have no image of Him, because the only image and likeness of Him is us, if we stand before Him.
Jesus Christ, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, by His works and words, by His life and death, has shown us God, to the point of saying: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (14,9). It is in fact the Word, which for this reason has become "Flesh".
The beginning of John's Gospel takes us, with a sweep of the wings, above space and beyond time, beyond every creature, to show us who Jesus is, the man fully qualified to tell us the invisible.
With surprise we discover that the One who loved to call Himself the Son of Man and proclaimed Himself the Son of God, is the Word who has always been with the Father and is God. This Word, witnessed by wise men and prophets and never known, became Flesh in Jesus, to reveal and give us His own Glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, so that, in Him, we may discover that we are God's children.
The prologue is like the beginning of a symphony, in which the motives are preluded. In the history of theology it is like a mine of precious stones, from which the most important reflections on the Trinity and on the Incarnation have been drawn.
It is a hymn to the Word, Light and Life of everything, where what is said opens to heaven.
The Word is born from the love of the one who speaks, reciprocated by the one who listens: it is generated by love and generates love.
For this reason, God who is Love is also Word.
The Word is addressed not only to the Father, but also to the world: as it is love and life inside God, it is also the source of love and life for every creature. Jesus, Word become Flesh, disposes of life in the same way as the Father.
It is in fact the full gift of the Father to the Son, who will therefore say: "I am life" (14:6) and "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly" (10:10).
At the origin of the world is the Father's Word of light, which nothing can stop: neither darkness, nor death, nor nothingness. Creation is essentially and entirely "good" like the One who made it.
And it will remain so, even if man, deceived, has temporarily removed himself from his vocation to respond to the Word. Darkness cannot understand or capture light: it is incapable of welcoming it, but also of destroying it, devouring it and reducing it to itself.
If it takes it, it is taken and illuminated by it.
The world is created by the Word and Wisdom that precedes it, designs it and makes it, by giving it its "imprinting" of otherness and relationship, of listening and response, of welcome and responsibility, of intelligence and freedom. Only in this perspective will the universe be positively meaningful, destined for life and happiness.God, who with His Word is the beginning of everything, becomes the end of everything, with the man who understands it.
-->Only in him, created on the sixth day, this Word, at work since the first day, find a hearing.
RispondiEliminaHe, with his response, brings creation to the seventh day, to God's rest, becoming himself like the Word.
Every man has inside him the light of the Word.
In his heart shines an inner light, unquenchable. It is the desire for truth and love, which leaves him restless until he has the joy of finding what he seeks.
The Word, which is towards the Father, comes into the world as his life and light.
Every man is "very beautiful" (Gen 1:31) because in his deepest essence he is listening to the Word. And if he responds, his face lights up in the light of God.
The Word, just as it was addressed to the Father before creation, after it is also addressed to the world, to orient it to the Father, even before its becoming Flesh.
"The world did not recognize it" The Gospel of John, in addition to double meanings, is also full of counter-senses. This is the first one: after having said that everything comes from the Word and that it is addressed to all as the light of life, one would expect a spontaneous recognition of it.
Instead, exactly the opposite happens.
It is a process of transformation: the Word makes us become children, putting us in dialogue with the Father.
Our generation as children of God is the work of God Himself through the Word.
It will not be blood or flesh or the will of man to generate us children of God, but the Flesh and Blood of the Son of Man, who does the Will of the Father.
In becoming Flesh, His Gift is complete and definitive.
The Word does not take on human "appearance", it does not wear our flesh like a dress, it "becomes" flesh, man, body. God takes on a new relationship with His creature, which is that of putting Himself on a par with her in order to communicate fully with her.
God is a real and concrete man: Jesus.
Every frailty, weakness and limitation, the being-for-death of our condition, becomes His.
And it is precisely His Flesh, and nothing else, that reveals the Glory.
The Glory is God Himself, who manifests Himself in His unique beauty.
John does not recount the Transfiguration, his whole Gospel is a Transfiguration, an epiphany of God, a contemplation of the Glory in the flesh of the Son. The Son is full of the Gift of the knowledge of the Father. That is why it is the Son, who wants and can communicate the Father to His brothers.