- homiletics -

IL CRISTIANESIMO DA MENÙ DI RISTORANTE CHE SFUGGE LA CROCE E TRASFORMA CRISTO DIO IN UN DELIZIOSO PASTICCINO ALTAMENTE DIGERIBILE

Today more than ever it escapes, even to us consecrated, the sacrificial element of the true experience of faith. For some time now we have created what we could define as a restaurant menu Christianity you enter, you read the card and choose what you like. And so to dominate it is the worst of the emotionality animated by human selfishness.

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The three synoptic Gospels of the Beati Evangelisti Marco, Matteo and Luca, have different characteristics, just like the symbolism with which the Evangelists have been depicted since the early Middle Ages, which came to life at the end of the fifth century with the fall of the Roman Empire.

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Matthew the Evangelist it is depicted with the image of the winged man, because its editing begins with the genealogy of Christ the Lord and Messiah; the Blessed Evangelist Mark with the winged lion, because its editing begins with the narration of the preaching of the Precursor, Blessed John known as the Baptist, who preached in the desert, place inhabited by wild beasts; the Blessed Evangelist Luca with the ox, because its editing begins with the vision had by Zacharias in the Temple of Jerusalem, where animals were sacrificed, among which also oxen.

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The authors of the three synoptic Gospels they follow a similar pattern and narrate the same events of the life of Christ God, despite their stylistic differences. Finally the so-called Fourth Gospel, that of Blessed Evangelist John, depicted with the image of an animal considered at the time the most noble of all the species on earth: the Eagle, she who alone could stare at the sunlight with open eyes.

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The Gospel of Blessed John the Evangelist, which opens with a hymn to the mystery of the incarnation of the Word of God - "And the Word became flesh" - is an admirable hymn in the light of Christ true God and true man, pictured below as a living sun descending from heaven. To Blessed Evangelista Giovanni, defined by the great Fathers and doctors of the Church as the theologian par excellence, the motto is accompanied «Higher than the rest of the revealed secret» [higher than the others - John - he revealed the arcane mysteries of God].

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A characteristic of the Gospel of Blessed Evangelista Matteo it is the narrative precision from which the figure of the historical Jesus takes shape, connected by him to numerous old-testamentary references. All, to testify that Christ had not come to earth to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill [cf.. Mt 5, 17-20]. And the fulfillment was Him, the God made man, the light that shines in the darkness, as the Evangelist John defines it in his prologue, the "God from God light from Light", as the Church Fathers defined it by writing in the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople the I believe that we will soon recite. Or the Entirely, as Saint Augustine called it, that totality in which Christ God is the center, the beginning and the ultimate end of our entire humanism.

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So four personalities of different men, each illuminated by divine grace, who announce the mystery with fixed and timeless words, because as Christ God reveals through the story of the Blessed Evangelist Matthew: «The heavens and the earth will pass away, but my words will never go away " [Mt 24, 32-35], because they are fixed forever through the mystery of passion, the death and resurrection of Christ, God, in the glorious body of which the signs of passion are still impressed; eternal sign of his love consumed for the redemption of man until the torture of the cross, changing the Word that became flesh in the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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And with this we have reached the heart of this Holy Gospel of the Blessed Evangelist Matthew in which Christ the Lord offers us something terrible: «Whoever does not take his cross and follow me, not worthy of me " [see Liturgy of the Word on this thirteenth Sunday of ordinary time, WHO].

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Today more than ever it escapes, even to us consecrated, the sacrificial element of the true experience of faith. For some time now we have created what we could define as a restaurant menu Christianity you enter, you read the card and choose what you like. And so to dominate it is the worst of the emotionality animated by human selfishness. It is the tragedy of faith watered down by little heart that beats, for example, in front of the tender, poignant popular images of the Child Jesus during Holy Christmas, unaware, however, that this is only the beginning of a path that then comes in the pain of the Garden of Olives, to continue with the immense torment of the painful way and the crucifixion.

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Faith is sacrifice, but many have turned it into a worldly right to what I like. Here then are the Catholics who on the one hand call themselves such, on the other, they declare themselves in favor of abortion, or who say "... it is right that two men live together if they love each other, because what matters is love, indeed it is right to give him even a child for adoption ». And here we should clarify what love is and what is not what some call love. As there are other Catholics who claim that it is right, indeed it is charitable to practice euthanasia for a terminally ill patient, why let him suffer? It is inhuman. And to these latter I answered: “Maybe you don't know what the torture of a crucifixion is, but if you talk to an anatomo-pathologist, he will explain to you the pain and also the humiliating reactions that such torture generated in the body of the condemned exposed naked to the sight of all. Well, it seems to you that the Blessed Virgin Mary pleaded to end the sufferings of her Divine Son?».

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Today we have created a monstrous society che insegue una falsa felicità nella quale la vita è senza la malattia e senza il decadimento fisico; la giovinezza senza vecchiaia e la vita senza la morte. A questo modo si è creata una società dell’irreale che rifiuta Cristo, o una comunità cattolica che annacqua il messaggio di Cristo che ci invita ad assimilarci al suo dolore. A quel punto la stessa Santa Messa viene confusa con un incontro tra amici che si ritrovano assieme per fare festa, per rallegrarsi attorno alla mensa. Eppure basterebbe ascoltare le parole della sacra liturgia per comprendere che attraverso il mistero del Santissimo Corpo e Sangue di Cristo si rinnova il divino memoriale della passione, Death and Resurrection, perché l’Eucaristia è il sacrificio vivo e santo … e quando io mi dirigo verso l’altare, non vado a fare un gioioso festino, ma salgo sul Monte Calvario, perché sull’altare si rinnova il sacrificio incruento della passione di Cristo Dio.

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The Holy Father Giovanni Paolo II wrote in 1984 una splendida lettera apostolica in occasione del Giubileo della Redenzione intitolata Salvifici doloris, What does that mean: il valore salvifico della sofferenza. At the time,, il futuro Santo Pontefice aveva appena 62 year old, era un uomo sportivo e pieno di energie. Come mai quella Lettera dedicata al valore salvifico della sofferenza scritta da un uomo che pareva il ritratto della bellezza e della salute? Well, pensiamo al Giovanni Paolo II non del 1984, ma a quello del 2000, quando si ostinava a inginocchiarsi dinanzi al Santissimo Sacramento anche se era ormai sfiancato dalla malattia, tremante e privo di forze, con i cerimonieri pontifici che gli sudavano attorno quando in tutti i modi voleva genuflettersi, ossequioso fino in fondo al monito del Beato Apostolo Paolo «nel nome di Gesù ogni ginocchio si pieghi nei cieli, on earth and under the earth " [Within 2, 10]. Giovanni Paolo II aveva compreso da subito, nello splendore della sua salute, molto prima della sua malattia, l’elemento salvifico del dolore che ci assimila alla croce di Cristo …

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… Quando io fui consacrato sacerdote, inginocchiato dinanzi al vescovo ricevetti il sacro calice e la patena con queste parole: "Receive the oblation of the holy people for the Eucharistic sacrifice. Understand what you will do, imitate what you celebrate. Conform your life to the mystery of the cross of Christ the Lord ". Non mi fu detto … adesso vai a fare festa con gli amici gioiosi attorno alla mensa tra schitarrate, danze e tamburelli. Nella sostanza mi fu detto: adesso sali sul Monte Calvario e mediante il tuo sacrificio conformati al sacrificio di Cristo. This, è l’essenza della nostra fede e, se vogliamo veramente seguirlo, dobbiamo essere consapevoli ― come sta scritto nel Vangelo del Beato Evangelista Luca ― non c’è altra strada che quella indicata da Cristo stesso: "If anyone wants to come after me, rinneghi se stesso, prenda la sua croce ogni giorno e mi segua» [LC 9, 22-25].

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… ma come sarebbe a dire dolore … croce … il Cristianesimo è amore, è gioia! Certain, è l’amore di Cristo morto in croce per la nostra salvezza ed è la gioia della risurrezione del Verbo di Dio fatto uomo e asceso al cielo che siede oggi alla destra del Padre; il Cristianesimo è la gioia di quella risurrezione alla quale noi siamo assimilati, perché come recitiamo nella IIIª Preghiera Eucaristica quando facciamo memoria dei defunti: "He will transform our mortal body in the image of his glorious body". This, è il Cristianesimo, all the rest, per parafrasare il Libro del Qoelet che diceva «vanità di vanità», è solo emotività di emotività. And, tra la fede e l’emotività, la differenza che corre è profondamente sostanziale, perché di mezzo c’è quella croce che l’emotivo superficiale non vuole e che fugge per vivere una falsa fede da menù di ristorante, mentre l’uomo di vera fede è chiamato invece a conformare la sua vita alla croce di Cristo: "He who does not take his cross and follow me, not worthy of me " [Mt 10, 38].

Praised be Jesus Christ!

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Zoverallo di Verbania, 28 June 2020

Casa delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice

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