READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of Joshua Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem, summoning their elders, their leaders, their judges, and their officers. When they stood in ranks before God, Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a state of slavery. He performed those great miracles before our very eyes and protected us along our entire journey and among the peoples through whom we passed. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
PSALM 34 - R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.
In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers.
But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.
The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Second reading from the Letter to the Ephesians Eph 5:21-32
Brothers and sisters: Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
Alleluia, alleluia. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 6: 60-69
Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you? If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him. And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him. Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS (APOSTOLIC VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS TO IRELAND ON THE OCCASION OF THE IX WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES [25-26 AUGUST 2018]) “You have the words of eternal life!” (Jn 6:68)
At the end of this World Meeting of Families, we gather as a family around the table of the Lord. We thank God for the many blessings we have received in our families. And we want to commit ourselves to living fully our vocation to be, in the touching words of Saint Therese, “love in the heart of the Church”.
In this precious moment of communion with one another and with the Lord, it is good to pause and consider the source of all the good things we have received. Jesus reveals the origin of these blessings in today’s Gospel, when he speaks to his disciples. Many of them were upset, confused or even angry, struggling to accept his “hard sayings”, so contrary to the wisdom of this world. In response, the Lord tells them directly: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).
These words, with their promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, are teeming with life for us who accept them in faith. They point to the ultimate source of all the good that we have experienced and celebrated here in these past few days: the Spirit of God, who constantly breathes new life into our world, into our hearts, into our families, into our homes and parishes. Each new day in the life of our families, and each new generation, brings the promise of a new Pentecost, a domestic Pentecost, a fresh outpouring of the Spirit, the Paraclete, whom Jesus sends as our Advocate, our Consoler and indeed our Encourager.
How much our world needs this encouragement that is God’s gift and promise! As one of the fruits of this celebration of family life, may you go back to your homes and become a source of encouragement to others, to share with them Jesus’ “words of eternal life”. For your families are both a privileged place for, and an important means of, spreading those words as “Good News” for everyone, especially those who long to leave behind the desert and the “house of bondage” (cf. Jos 24:17) for the promised land of hope and freedom.
In today’s second reading, Saint Paul tells us that marriage is a sharing in the mystery of Christ’s undying fidelity to his bride, the Church (cf. Eph 5:32). Yet this teaching, as magnificent as it is, can appear to some as a “hard saying”. Because living in love, even as Christ loved us (cf. Eph 5:2), entails imitating his own self-sacrifice, dying to ourselves in order to be reborn to a greater and more enduring love. The love that alone can save our world from its bondage to sin, selfishness, greed and indifference to the needs of the less fortunate. That is the love we have come to know in Christ Jesus. It became incarnate in our world through a family, and through the witness of Christian families in every age it has the power to break down every barrier in order to reconcile the world to God and to make us what we were always meant to be: a single human family dwelling together in justice, holiness and peace.
The task of bearing witness to this Good News is not easy. Yet the challenges that Christians face today are, in their own way, no less difficult than those faced by the earliest Irish missionaries. I think of Saint Columbanus, who with his small band of companions brought the light of the Gospel to the lands of Europe in an age of darkness and cultural dissolution. Their extraordinary missionary success was not based on tactical methods or strategic plans, no, but on a humble and liberating docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It was their daily witness of fidelity to Christ and to each other that won hearts yearning for a word of grace and helped give birth to the culture of Europe. That witness remains a perennial source of spiritual
-->Of course, there will always be people who resist the Good News, who “murmur” at its “hard words”. Yet like Saint Columbanus and his companions, who faced icy waters and stormy seas to follow Jesus, may we never be swayed or discouraged by the icy stare of indifference or the stormy winds of hostility.
But let us also humbly acknowledge that, if we are honest with ourselves, we too can find the teachings of Jesus hard. How difficult it is always to forgive those who hurt us; how challenging always to welcome the migrant and the stranger; how painful joyfully to bear disappointment, rejection, betrayal; how inconvenient to protect the rights of the most vulnerable, the unborn or the elderly, who seem to impinge upon our own sense of freedom.
Yet it is precisely at those times that the Lord asks us: “What about you, do you want to go away too?” (Jn 6:67). With the strength of the Spirit to “encourage” us and with the Lord always at our side, we can answer: “We believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God” (v. 69). With the people of Israel, we can repeat: “We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Jos 24:18).
Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, each Christian is sent forth to be a missionary, “a missionary disciple” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 120). The Church as a whole is called to “go forth” to bring the words of eternal life to all the peripheries of our world. May our celebration today confirm each of you, parents and grandparents, children and young people, men and women, religious brothers and sisters, contemplatives and missionaries, deacons, priests and bishops, to share the joy of the Gospel! Share the Gospel of the family as joy for the world!
As we now prepare to go our separate ways, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord and to the vocation he has given to each of us. Taking up the prayer of Saint Patrick, let each of us repeat with joy: “Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me” [repeated in Irish]. With the joy and strength given by the Holy Spirit, let us say to him with confidence: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).
EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION from HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI ***
Dear Young Friends,
Yesterday evening we came together in the presence of the Sacred Host, in which Jesus becomes for us the bread that sustains and feeds us (cf. Jn 6: 35), and there we began our inner journey of adoration. In the Eucharist, adoration must become union.
At the celebration of the Eucharist, we find ourselves in the "hour" of Jesus, to use the language of John's Gospel. Through the Eucharist this "hour" of Jesus becomes our own hour, his presence in our midst. Together with the disciples he celebrated the Passover of Israel, the memorial of God's liberating action that led Israel from slavery to freedom. Jesus follows the rites of Israel. He recites over the bread the prayer of praise and blessing.
But then something new happens. He thanks God not only for the great works of the past; he thanks him for his own exaltation, soon to be accomplished through the Cross and Resurrection, and he speaks to the disciples in words that sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets: "This is my Body, given in sacrifice for you. This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood". He then distributes the bread and the cup, and instructs them to repeat his words and actions of that moment over and over again in his memory.
What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood?
By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence - the Crucifixion - from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (cf. I Cor 15: 28).
In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life.
Since this act transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word.
To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.
All other changes remain superficial and cannot save. For this reason we speak of redemption: what had to happen at the most intimate level has indeed happened, and we can enter into its dynamic. Jesus can distribute his Body, because he truly gives himself.
___>... Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on.
In vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him.
But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything.
People tend to exclaim: "This cannot be what life is about!". Indeed not. And so, together with forgetfulness of God there is a kind of new explosion of religion. I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery. But to tell the truth, religion often becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.
But religion sought on a "do-it-yourself" basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves.
Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ! Let us seek to know him better and better, so as to be able to guide others to him with conviction.
This is why love for Sacred Scripture is so important, and in consequence, it is important to know the faith of the Church which opens up for us the meaning of Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church as her faith grows, causing her to enter ever more deeply into the truth (cf. Jn 16: 13).
Beloved Pope John Paul II gave us a wonderful work in which the faith of centuries is explained synthetically: the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I myself recently presented the Compendium of the Catechism, also prepared at the request of the late Holy Father. These are two fundamental texts which I recommend to all of you.
Obviously books alone are not enough. Form communities based on faith!
In recent decades, movements and communities have come to birth in which the power of the Gospel is keenly felt. Seek communion in faith, like fellow travellers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East first pointed out to us. The spontaneity of new communities is important, but it is also important to preserve communion with the Pope and with the Bishops. It is they who guarantee that we are not seeking private paths, but instead are living as God's great family, founded by the Lord through the Twelve Apostles.
Once again, I must return to the Eucharist. "Because there is one bread, we, though many, are one body", says St Paul (I Cor 10: 17). By this he meant: since we receive the same Lord and he gathers us together and draws us into himself, we ourselves are one.
This must be evident in our lives. It must be seen in our capacity to forgive. It must be seen in our sensitivity to the needs of others. It must be seen in our willingness to share. It must be seen in our commitment to our neighbours, both those close at hand and those physically far away, whom we nevertheless consider to be close.
....Today, there are many forms of voluntary assistance, .. Living and acting thus, we will soon realize that it is much better to be useful and at the disposal of others than to be concerned only with the comforts that are offered to us.
I know that you as young people have great aspirations, that you want to pledge yourselves to build a better world. Let others see this, let the world see it, since this is exactly the witness that the world expects from the disciples of Jesus Christ; in this way, and through your love above all, the world will be able to discover the star that we follow as believers.
Let us go forward with Christ and let us live our lives as true worshippers of God! Amen.
FAUSTI: Jesus spoke of Himself as the Bread that came down from heaven: eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood makes us live of His Love for the Father and for our brothers and sisters. Now that it has been revealed to the full, he asks to join Him. But he finds the wall of disbelief not only among the Jews, but also among the disciples. They were caught up in a crisis that led many to turn away from Him. The scandal, which the disciples suffered in the synagogue of Capernaum, anticipated what they would suffer on Good Friday, when they saw Him Dead and Raised. His words, which we consider harsh and unacceptable, actually give us the breath of God and open us to His Life: they are words of eternal life, as Simon Peter would say ( 68). Whoever accepts His Word as Son has the gift of God's Spirit and Life. "The Words I have said to you are Spirit and are Life"(6,63). Life comes from the Spirit, not from the flesh, which is alive only through the Spirit. Only those who are sufficiently free from selfishness and fear, are able to open themselves to words of love and trust. Jesus reaffirms that believing in the Son is a gift from the Father. This gift is offered to all his children. If this were not the case, God would not be the Father of all and Jesus would not be the Son, for whom everything was created. Unbelief is the great mystery of man's freedom, who, slave to ignorance and the vice that follows, is incapable of responding to love with love. For this reason, the Son, who knows the Father, will bear the evil of the world on the cross. Many of his disciples, not only some, do not believe, because they find the Word hard and scandalous. Instead of going after Jesus, they draw back from Him. They reverse the direction of their lives and no longer walk "with Him": they distance themselves from the company of the Son, abandon their own truth and return to darkness. This crisis caught many of those who initially followed Him with enthusiasm, until they saw that he did not realize their expectations. The same crisis, even inadvertently, takes every disciple who does not live what he celebrates in the Eucharist. The Eucharist in fact can be a pure memory of the Lord without doing what He did. For this reason, at the Last Supper, John will not recount the institution of the Eucharist, but rather the washing of the feet (13,1...) to show what it means for everyday life. The Twelve are distinct from the other disciples. Jesus asks if they also want to abandon Him. It is not that he wants to provoke a crisis: instead he provokes them to recognize it, to resolve it. The greatest betrayals are consumed in unconsciousness: evil is the bitter fruit of the sweet sleep of oblivion. Peter's answer, on behalf of the Twelve, is an adherence of faith. Peter adheres to Him and to His promise of life, even if he does not understand it and shares the way it is done. He truly loved Jesus and His Words, even if he didn't understand Them. His is a beginning of faith, which will be completed in the following experience, through escapes and denials. Only afterwards will he understand who Jesus is and what His Words mean.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of Joshua
Jos 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b
Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem,
summoning their elders, their leaders,
their judges, and their officers.
When they stood in ranks before God,
Joshua addressed all the people:
“If it does not please you to serve the LORD,
decide today whom you will serve,
the gods your fathers served beyond the River
or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling.
As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
But the people answered,
“Far be it from us to forsake the LORD
for the service of other gods.
For it was the LORD, our God,
who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt,
out of a state of slavery.
He performed those great miracles before our very eyes
and protected us along our entire journey
and among the peoples through whom we passed.
Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
PSALM 34 - R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.
In the Lord shall my soul be praised: let the meek hear and rejoice.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the just: and his ears unto their prayers.
But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things: to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The just cried, and the Lord heard them: and delivered them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
The Lord keepeth all their bones, not one of them shall be broken.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.
The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall offend.
R. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Second reading from the Letter to the Ephesians
Eph 5:21-32
Brothers and sisters:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the church,
he himself the savior of the body.
As the church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the church,
because we are members of his body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
EliminaAlleluia, alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 6: 60-69
Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard, and who can hear it?
But Jesus, knowing in himself, that his disciples murmured at this, said to them: Doth this scandalize you?
If then you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.
But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, who they were that did not believe, and who he was, that would betray him.
And he said: Therefore did I say to you, that no man can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father.
After this many of his disciples went back; and walked no more with him.
Then Jesus said to the twelve: Will you also go away?
And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we have believed and have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.
WORD OF THE LORD
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS (APOSTOLIC VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS
RispondiEliminaTO IRELAND ON THE OCCASION OF THE IX WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES
[25-26 AUGUST 2018])
“You have the words of eternal life!” (Jn 6:68)
At the end of this World Meeting of Families, we gather as a family around the table of the Lord. We thank God for the many blessings we have received in our families. And we want to commit ourselves to living fully our vocation to be, in the touching words of Saint Therese, “love in the heart of the Church”.
In this precious moment of communion with one another and with the Lord, it is good to pause and consider the source of all the good things we have received. Jesus reveals the origin of these blessings in today’s Gospel, when he speaks to his disciples. Many of them were upset, confused or even angry, struggling to accept his “hard sayings”, so contrary to the wisdom of this world. In response, the Lord tells them directly: “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (Jn 6:63).
These words, with their promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, are teeming with life for us who accept them in faith. They point to the ultimate source of all the good that we have experienced and celebrated here in these past few days: the Spirit of God, who constantly breathes new life into our world, into our hearts, into our families, into our homes and parishes. Each new day in the life of our families, and each new generation, brings the promise of a new Pentecost, a domestic Pentecost, a fresh outpouring of the Spirit, the Paraclete, whom Jesus sends as our Advocate, our Consoler and indeed our Encourager.
How much our world needs this encouragement that is God’s gift and promise! As one of the fruits of this celebration of family life, may you go back to your homes and become a source of encouragement to others, to share with them Jesus’ “words of eternal life”. For your families are both a privileged place for, and an important means of, spreading those words as “Good News” for everyone, especially those who long to leave behind the desert and the “house of bondage” (cf. Jos 24:17) for the promised land of hope and freedom.
In today’s second reading, Saint Paul tells us that marriage is a sharing in the mystery of Christ’s undying fidelity to his bride, the Church (cf. Eph 5:32). Yet this teaching, as magnificent as it is, can appear to some as a “hard saying”. Because living in love, even as Christ loved us (cf. Eph 5:2), entails imitating his own self-sacrifice, dying to ourselves in order to be reborn to a greater and more enduring love. The love that alone can save our world from its bondage to sin, selfishness, greed and indifference to the needs of the less fortunate. That is the love we have come to know in Christ Jesus. It became incarnate in our world through a family, and through the witness of Christian families in every age it has the power to break down every barrier in order to reconcile the world to God and to make us what we were always meant to be: a single human family dwelling together in justice, holiness and peace.
The task of bearing witness to this Good News is not easy. Yet the challenges that Christians face today are, in their own way, no less difficult than those faced by the earliest Irish missionaries. I think of Saint Columbanus, who with his small band of companions brought the light of the Gospel to the lands of Europe in an age of darkness and cultural dissolution. Their extraordinary missionary success was not based on tactical methods or strategic plans, no, but on a humble and liberating docility to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It was their daily witness of fidelity to Christ and to each other that won hearts yearning for a word of grace and helped give birth to the culture of Europe. That witness remains a perennial source of spiritual
-->Of course, there will always be people who resist the Good News, who “murmur” at its “hard words”. Yet like Saint Columbanus and his companions, who faced icy waters and stormy seas to follow Jesus, may we never be swayed or discouraged by the icy stare of indifference or the stormy winds of hostility.
EliminaBut let us also humbly acknowledge that, if we are honest with ourselves, we too can find the teachings of Jesus hard. How difficult it is always to forgive those who hurt us; how challenging always to welcome the migrant and the stranger; how painful joyfully to bear disappointment, rejection, betrayal; how inconvenient to protect the rights of the most vulnerable, the unborn or the elderly, who seem to impinge upon our own sense of freedom.
Yet it is precisely at those times that the Lord asks us: “What about you, do you want to go away too?” (Jn 6:67). With the strength of the Spirit to “encourage” us and with the Lord always at our side, we can answer: “We believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God” (v. 69). With the people of Israel, we can repeat: “We too will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Jos 24:18).
Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, each Christian is sent forth to be a missionary, “a missionary disciple” (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 120). The Church as a whole is called to “go forth” to bring the words of eternal life to all the peripheries of our world. May our celebration today confirm each of you, parents and grandparents, children and young people, men and women, religious brothers and sisters, contemplatives and missionaries, deacons, priests and bishops, to share the joy of the Gospel! Share the Gospel of the family as joy for the world!
As we now prepare to go our separate ways, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord and to the vocation he has given to each of us. Taking up the prayer of Saint Patrick, let each of us repeat with joy: “Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me” [repeated in Irish]. With the joy and strength given by the Holy Spirit, let us say to him with confidence: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).
XX WORLD YOUTH DAY
RispondiEliminaEUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION from HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
***
Dear Young Friends,
Yesterday evening we came together in the presence of the Sacred Host, in which Jesus becomes for us the bread that sustains and feeds us (cf. Jn 6: 35), and there we began our inner journey of adoration. In the Eucharist, adoration must become union.
At the celebration of the Eucharist, we find ourselves in the "hour" of Jesus, to use the language of John's Gospel. Through the Eucharist this "hour" of Jesus becomes our own hour, his presence in our midst. Together with the disciples he celebrated the Passover of Israel, the memorial of God's liberating action that led Israel from slavery to freedom. Jesus follows the rites of Israel. He recites over the bread the prayer of praise and blessing.
But then something new happens. He thanks God not only for the great works of the past; he thanks him for his own exaltation, soon to be accomplished through the Cross and Resurrection, and he speaks to the disciples in words that sum up the whole of the Law and the Prophets: "This is my Body, given in sacrifice for you. This cup is the New Covenant in my Blood". He then distributes the bread and the cup, and instructs them to repeat his words and actions of that moment over and over again in his memory.
What is happening? How can Jesus distribute his Body and his Blood?
By making the bread into his Body and the wine into his Blood, he anticipates his death, he accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence - the Crucifixion - from within becomes an act of total self-giving love. This is the substantial transformation which was accomplished at the Last Supper and was destined to set in motion a series of transformations leading ultimately to the transformation of the world when God will be all in all (cf. I Cor 15: 28).
In their hearts, people always and everywhere have somehow expected a change, a transformation of the world. Here now is the central act of transformation that alone can truly renew the world: violence is transformed into love, and death into life.
Since this act transmutes death into love, death as such is already conquered from within, the Resurrection is already present in it. Death is, so to speak, mortally wounded, so that it can no longer have the last word.
To use an image well known to us today, this is like inducing nuclear fission in the very heart of being - the victory of love over hatred, the victory of love over death. Only this intimate explosion of good conquering evil can then trigger off the series of transformations that little by little will change the world.
All other changes remain superficial and cannot save. For this reason we speak of redemption: what had to happen at the most intimate level has indeed happened, and we can enter into its dynamic. Jesus can distribute his Body, because he truly gives himself.
___>... Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on.
EliminaIn vast areas of the world today there is a strange forgetfulness of God. It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him.
But at the same time there is a feeling of frustration, a sense of dissatisfaction with everyone and everything.
People tend to exclaim: "This cannot be what life is about!". Indeed not. And so, together with forgetfulness of God there is a kind of new explosion of religion. I have no wish to discredit all the manifestations of this phenomenon. There may be sincere joy in the discovery. But to tell the truth, religion often becomes almost a consumer product. People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.
But religion sought on a "do-it-yourself" basis cannot ultimately help us. It may be comfortable, but at times of crisis we are left to ourselves.
Help people to discover the true star which points out the way to us: Jesus Christ! Let us seek to know him better and better, so as to be able to guide others to him with conviction.
This is why love for Sacred Scripture is so important, and in consequence, it is important to know the faith of the Church which opens up for us the meaning of Scripture. It is the Holy Spirit who guides the Church as her faith grows, causing her to enter ever more deeply into the truth (cf. Jn 16: 13).
Beloved Pope John Paul II gave us a wonderful work in which the faith of centuries is explained synthetically: the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I myself recently presented the Compendium of the Catechism, also prepared at the request of the late Holy Father. These are two fundamental texts which I recommend to all of you.
Obviously books alone are not enough. Form communities based on faith!
In recent decades, movements and communities have come to birth in which the power of the Gospel is keenly felt. Seek communion in faith, like fellow travellers who continue together to follow the path of the great pilgrimage that the Magi from the East first pointed out to us. The spontaneity of new communities is important, but it is also important to preserve communion with the Pope and with the Bishops. It is they who guarantee that we are not seeking private paths, but instead are living as God's great family, founded by the Lord through the Twelve Apostles.
Once again, I must return to the Eucharist. "Because there is one bread, we, though many, are one body", says St Paul (I Cor 10: 17). By this he meant: since we receive the same Lord and he gathers us together and draws us into himself, we ourselves are one.
This must be evident in our lives. It must be seen in our capacity to forgive. It must be seen in our sensitivity to the needs of others. It must be seen in our willingness to share. It must be seen in our commitment to our neighbours, both those close at hand and those physically far away, whom we nevertheless consider to be close.
....Today, there are many forms of voluntary assistance, ..
Living and acting thus, we will soon realize that it is much better to be useful and at the disposal of others than to be concerned only with the comforts that are offered to us.
I know that you as young people have great aspirations, that you want to pledge yourselves to build a better world. Let others see this, let the world see it, since this is exactly the witness that the world expects from the disciples of Jesus Christ; in this way, and through your love above all, the world will be able to discover the star that we follow as believers.
Let us go forward with Christ and let us live our lives as true worshippers of God! Amen.
FAUSTI: Jesus spoke of Himself as the Bread that came down from heaven: eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood makes us live of His Love for the Father and for our brothers and sisters. Now that it has been revealed to the full, he asks to join Him. But he finds the wall of disbelief not only among the Jews, but also among the disciples.
RispondiEliminaThey were caught up in a crisis that led many to turn away from Him.
The scandal, which the disciples suffered in the synagogue of Capernaum, anticipated what they would suffer on Good Friday, when they saw Him Dead and Raised.
His words, which we consider harsh and unacceptable, actually give us the breath of God and open us to His Life: they are words of eternal life, as Simon Peter would say ( 68).
Whoever accepts His Word as Son has the gift of God's Spirit and Life.
"The Words I have said to you are Spirit and are Life"(6,63).
Life comes from the Spirit, not from the flesh, which is alive only through the Spirit.
Only those who are sufficiently free from selfishness and fear, are able to open themselves to words of love and trust. Jesus reaffirms that believing in the Son is a gift from the Father.
This gift is offered to all his children. If this were not the case, God would not be the Father of all and Jesus would not be the Son, for whom everything was created.
Unbelief is the great mystery of man's freedom, who, slave to ignorance and the vice that follows, is incapable of responding to love with love.
For this reason, the Son, who knows the Father, will bear the evil of the world on the cross.
Many of his disciples, not only some, do not believe, because they find the Word hard and scandalous.
Instead of going after Jesus, they draw back from Him. They reverse the direction of their lives and no longer walk "with Him": they distance themselves from the company of the Son, abandon their own truth and return to darkness.
This crisis caught many of those who initially followed Him with enthusiasm, until they saw that he did not realize their expectations.
The same crisis, even inadvertently, takes every disciple who does not live what he celebrates in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist in fact can be a pure memory of the Lord without doing what He did.
For this reason, at the Last Supper, John will not recount the institution of the Eucharist, but rather the washing of the feet (13,1...) to show what it means for everyday life.
The Twelve are distinct from the other disciples. Jesus asks if they also want to abandon Him.
It is not that he wants to provoke a crisis: instead he provokes them to recognize it, to resolve it.
The greatest betrayals are consumed in unconsciousness: evil is the bitter fruit of the sweet sleep of oblivion.
Peter's answer, on behalf of the Twelve, is an adherence of faith.
Peter adheres to Him and to His promise of life, even if he does not understand it and shares the way it is done.
He truly loved Jesus and His Words, even if he didn't understand Them.
His is a beginning of faith, which will be completed in the following experience, through escapes and denials.
Only afterwards will he understand who Jesus is and what His Words mean.
ISAIA 55 - OGNI MIA PAROLA
RispondiEliminahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqfa4cswzU8