Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci
Of the Order of Preachers
Presbyter and Theologian

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Father Gabriele

From football matches to the Holy Gospel: the most difficult commandment is to love one's enemies

catechesis & pastoral -

FOOTBALL MATCHES FROM THE HOLY GOSPEL: THE MOST DIFFICULT COMMANDMENT IS TO LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

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The enemies that we must love, They may be terrorists Isis, the Freemasons, Mafia or false progressives. Just to name a few. An enemy that is a person but that unleashes violence, ideological and physical, against our being faithful to the Church of Jesus Christ.

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Author
Gabriele Giordano Scardocci, o.p.

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tefferugli of hooligans

In the Gospel of St. Matthew we find the famous warning that urges us to love our enemies:

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«… you have heard it said: You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy; but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and it sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans? And if you only greet your brothers, what do ye more? Do not even the Gentiles? So be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect " [Mt 5, 43-48].

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Before becoming a monk I always had different hobby artistic and sporting nature. I have always loved football and I also practiced until they are entered the Order of Preachers. I remember an incident related to football, I was very surprised that. It happened during a match of Serie B.

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The fans of Ternana and Perugia, given the geographical proximity, ordinarily do not love. When their teams meet, the respective supporters they always generate accidents and scuffles and the police are needed to avoid the worst. During one of these matches, there were clashes. A Perugian fan found himself on the ground, ready to be lynched by opponents. But at that moment a girl from Terni arrived who hugged him and put a scarf from her team around his neck. In this way, saved the opponent from taking so many blows. The names of the protagonists of this story were never known. but yet, this episode, it led me to reflect on the theme of the love of enemies.

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Also the passage that I have chosen to meditate today his The Island of Patmos come back to this topic: Love your enemies! Per me, it represents the central core of Jesus' message on love. The request that the Lord expresses towards his listeners seems truly impossible. Indeed, Evangelical Greek expresses this love with ἀγάπαω [agapao], which becomes a typical verb of the love of Christianity. A love, that is, which leads to giving one's whole self to the service of one's neighbor.

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In this passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew, the agape [love] it is carried to its maximum consequences. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the distinction that the New Testament places in relation to the term enemy. Indeed, there is the fearsome Enemy of which St. Paul speaks: the devil. There are various references that St. Paul makes to the Devil, one of these in one of the letters addressed to the disciple Timothy, precisely where it illustrates what the requirements of the bishop must be [cf. The Tm 3,6].

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It is impossible to pray and give oneself for the Devil. Jesus does not ask to give ourselves for him. The Devil from the moment of his creation made an eternal profession of disobedience to God and to all creation. Stupendous are the words of Faust by Marlowe, in which Mephistopheles, a devil, he claims:

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“I am the spirit that continually denies: I'm right; because what exists is worthy of being destroyed: and it would have been better if nothing ever came into existence. Now therefore all that you men say is sin, destruction, what you call bad in sum, is my special element ".

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The Devil deeply hates and continues to hate all of creation in the first place. And in the first place we, religious. He hates us because he sees in our profession of obedience to God a direct opposition to him. The devil, which is the great divider, he continues and will continue to instigate his degenerate suggestions: relativism, and totalitarianism, modernism, false progressivism ... just to name a few. Ma, next to the Devil, there are other enemies: the men. The Lord refers to these enemy-men when he asks us to love them. Like this, if you decide to love, it is necessary to love all humanity.

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The love that Christ asks of us, his Church, it is a universal love. It is therefore no coincidence that the Church of Christ is called the Catholic Church, or: universal. We recall incidentally that the term "catholic" derives from the Greek against all [kata olon], a neoplatonic category of the philosopher Plotinus which with it indicates "according to the whole". This definition was not of a spatial-geographical type but a qualitative one. Indeed, for the first great Fathers of the Church, to be or to become Catholic meant that "nothing is human".

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In the Catholic Christian dimension it is therefore necessary to love one's enemies and be above one of the fashions of the present time: the fashion of revenge. Or even another of the fashions that unfortunately has infected some Catholics who refer to other Catholics as enemies using these expressions as "we are waiting for them at the, we pray to God that they die soon "e “delicacies” similar …

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We are in the Catholic Church or in the Colosseum as gladiators? Perhaps this is the attitude that Jesus asked of us and continues to ask us to have? Therefore, the enemies we must love, they could be Isis guerrillas, the Freemasons, Mafia or false progressives. Just to name a few. An enemy that is a person but that unleashes violence, ideological and physical, against our being faithful to the Church of Jesus Christ.

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How is it possible to love them? Just with a look under the form of eternity it is possible to fully grasp the teaching of Christ. Jesus tells us love your enemies and you will be children of God, and you will be perfect.

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In our incessant offering of prayer for them, we will try to convert them, to make us children of God for them. Children of God for those who hate us. Be perfect like our Father in Heaven, it implies showing God on one's face to the enemy, as the martyrs of today are doing. At the same time it means welcoming what God is allowing in the action of our enemy. Just think of the gory effects of the Passion. Centurions cause violence and death on Jesus. Jesus allows it and at the same time gives himself to them. The effect is the same redemption of those pagan Romans.

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If we really want to be then, with the grace of God, his consecrated, and one day future priests, we cannot exempt ourselves from the commandment of love for enemies. Really then we will be salt of the earth [cf. Mt 5, 13-16] every act of enmity will unfold in a single universal prayer to God who died on the cross for love.

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It is in our essence as Dominican friars, finally being a cross from which love flows. Otherwise, the cross prostration that we did on the day of our profession, it risks being only a theatrical action. A splendid stage act. We would have been perfect actors, which in Greek is equivalent to perfect hypocrites [the greek hypocrite, hypocrites, comes the word actor].

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It is up to each of us to choose whether we have professed from hypocrites or as true children of God e, as far as I'm concerned, from sons of San Domenico, consecrated for Christ in the various states of life.

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sweet Jesus, Jesus love! [cf. St. Caterina da Siena]

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Rome, 17 November 2018

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«You will know the truth and the truth will set you free» [GV 8,32],
but bring, spread and defend the truth not only of
risks but also the costs. Help us supporting this Island
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thanks [ isoladipatmos@gmail.com ]

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Change the Our Father at the behest of the Supreme Pontiff, while there are those who pray that the Lord's Prayer changes the ruling of the Supreme Pontiff style

- ecclesial news -

CHANGE OUR FATHER FOR WANT OF POPE, WHILE THERE IS WHO PRAY THAT OUR FATHER CHANGE THE STYLE OF GOVERNMENT OF POPE

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Faced with a moral decline and unprecedented doctrinal like the one we are experiencing, Apparently someone has found something better to do than use a word of Our father and the opening of Gloria as of of weapons of deterrence …

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Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

The Italian Episcopal Conference It established - obviously in full, total, collegial and synodal freedom of God's children -, modification of Prayer Our father in the new edition of the Roman Missal [cf. WHO], where the phrase "lead us not into temptation" becomes "not into temptation". Wanting, they could use the expression "and lead us not into temptation", But, at the “exposure” used by the Waldensian Evangelical Community, They have preferred an expression of “abandonment”, perhaps considering that ever, as in this modern age, we have abandoned ourselves. The substance, however, remains the same: the Catholics, like the Protestants, They have altered expression that is rooted in the most ancient texts, as we shall soon see. E and receive, as the seconds, both they have claimed: the return to the true origins of the texts.

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The Church Father Tertullian [Carthage 155 - Carthage 227], explains that the Our father, Prayer that the Word of God Himself taught us [cf. Mt 11, 1] "It is the synthesis of the whole Gospel". This statement should lead at least to the use of the total caution when even touch a single sigh of this.

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As for the phrase "offending" which recites: «And lead us not into temptation» [and lead us not into temptation], in speech n. 57 dedicated to the Passo del Beato Matteo Evangelista [cf. Mt 6, 9-13], the Holy Doctor of Bishop Augustine of Hippo Church is very clear and thorough in explaining that God can not do evil, however, it allows that it operates through Satan and the fallen angels with him which implement. Of course, God does not tempt anyone to sin, however, it allows the forces of evil induce Christians to fall into it. All of this, It is contained in the beginning of creation, founding premise of which they are freedom and man's free. Equally enlightening comment Our father and the phrase “offending” We were given to us by the Holy Doctor of the Church Thomas Aquinas, that tracing largely the Ipponate says:

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"God perhaps leads to evil, When do we say “Do not take us in tentation”? Reply it says that God causes evil in the sense that He permits, since because of its many previous sins subtracts the man to grace, failed which falls into sin ' [ San Tommaso Aquino, Comment on the Our Father, 6].

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

Before the Hipponate e dell’Aquinate, another Father of the Church, The holy bishop Cyprian of Carthage [Carthage 210 - Carthage 258], He explains that God can give power to the Devil in two ways: for our punishment, If we have sinned, or for our glorification, but if we accept the evidence. Is this, says the holy Bishop and Doctor [cf. Latin patrology of the Migne – Vol. IV (C)yprianus carthaginensis The Lord's Prayer], It was for example the case of Job: "There, everything belongs to me I will deliver; just do not keep your hand on him " [Gb 12, 1]. The Lord Himself, at the time of his passion, dice: "You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above" [cf. GV 19, 11]. So when we pray for not enter into temptation, we remember our weakness, lest anyone consider complacently, no one become proud insolently, no one attribute the glory of his loyalty or his passion, when the Lord himself teaches us humility when he says: «Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. The spirit is burning, but the flesh is weak " [MC 14, 38].

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Another great Father of the Church, Origene [Alexandria 185 - Threw 254], to comment on the "and lead us not into Tentazioni"Part of the Blessed Apostle Paul writing to the people of Corinth says:

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"No temptation has overtaken you that is not human; God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also make the way out and the strength to bear it " [ The Cor 10, 13].

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Clarifies so Origen:

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"What, then, does the command of the Savior to pray to lead us not into temptation, since God himself almost tempts us? He says Judith, addressing not only to the elders of his people, but to all who would read these words: "Remember what worked with Abraham, and how he tried Isaac, and all that happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria who was tending the flock of Laban, his mother's brother; because not as cleansed them to try their hearts, He - the Lord - that plagues amend it to those who approach him, punish us too ". Even David, when he says: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous", It confirms that this is true for all the right. The Apostle, around you, He says in Acts "so that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" [At 14, 22]» [Origene, Commentary on the Our Father].

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

However it is not excluded that in the near future, a team exegetes See to it as soon as possible also to change the page of the Gospel of the Blessed Evangelist Matthew tells of the devil that tempts man Jesus in the desert [cf. Mt 4, 1-11], where the divine Son did not approach the Divine Father wondering: "And do not forsake the temptation», place that the Creator allowed Satan to induce him into temptation.

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They will then intervene biblical scholars to rewrite and update also various biblical passages in accordance with the Directive new management e according to the "epoch-making revolution" underway, seen that God tests us and strengthens us by allowing us to be tempted. We can not forget that man is immersed in temptations since its fall triggering the entry into the scene of the world and of humanity's original sin. We read in the Old texts testamentary: "Son, If you come to serve the Lord, prepared the temptation » [Sir 2,1]. But above all remember that the Church, in hardly suspect documents, since it is one of the constitutions of Vatican II, many thought the council of councils, Remember that the temptation is tied to the value of the freedom that man is the "sign of the divine image" [The joy and hope, 8].

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Another text to be corrected is surely that of the Letter to the Hebrews where the Author, taking literature of Psalms, It explains how the same men dared to groped God:

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do not harden your hearts
as in the rebellion,
the day of temptation in the wilderness,
I tried putting myself where your fathers tested,
though I had seen my works for forty years [EB 3, 8-9].

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So let's go to the oldest sources, because for half a century in this part are spectators and victims of the acts and the various "revolutions" of those who want to get back to basics. Several times I have explained in my writings that certain theologians, under the pretext of origins that actually never existed in ancient history, Instead they want to impose their modern thought. But if we want to talk of origins, then it suffices to say that the Prayer Our father, in the ancient and original Aramaic text, recital:

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

The phrase "offending" proclaims the exact words letter: "And lead us not into temptation".

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When the original text Our father it was translated from Aramaic to greek, to avoid loading the phrase with a long circumlocution is used only a verb meaning "lead" or "let":

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And if the greek is not an opinion, the "offending" phrase literally translated reads just: "Do not take us in tentation". (D)these two texts arises the third translation, the Latin, altogether fitting and true to the original greek text:

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Our father who art in heaven:

Hallowed be thy name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done,

As in the sky, and in the ground.

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

And lead us not into temptation,

but free nos a malo.

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

For the lovers of returns to basics it should be remembered that the phrase "indicted" "Do not lead us into temptation", comes from the Greek εἰσενέγκῃς, from which the faithful Latin translation induce, that the Italian language is just as faithfully translated induce. That said it is a must and ask rigor: realize the fans back to the very origins, that, these circumstances, this “mistake” Today finally corrected, It dates back to the times of the first apostolic times?

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If the patristic texts known for centuries are those currently known, If the ancient languages ​​and their faithful translations are those that are, this is when each, without being induced to any temptation, He can draw from itself its own conclusions, given that in the name of an unspecified return to basics has altered that original is such that since the Aramaic and Greek remotest origins, and that before the Latin and well before the current modern languages.

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…It deserves to always have a good dictionary

The problem perhaps lies behind this latest quarrel, I'm afraid it has little theological and much sociopolitical, all with more or less clear strategies. Or to better explain the problem: the Catholic Church is experiencing a period perhaps most tragic of its entire history. We are in a climate of great doctrinal decay from which came to life a deep moral crisis, because the moral crisis, the Church always comes from a doctrinal crisis. It goes without saying that not a day goes by now, without some bishop or priest you do not jump to the headlines almost always very serious scandals. The decadence and moral crisis, Priests from the College ended up infecting the College of Bishops, and below the College of Cardinals. Our credibility crisis ranges now between the tragic and the comic-grotesque. It is therefore strange that at a time without historical precedents as what we are experiencing, you do not find something better to do than remodel the words of Our father he was born in Gloria.

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This story recalls the story of the dictator Saddam Hussein accused of hiding arsenals of weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons were never found, But, with all the political and economic implications that followed, there have been two wars in the Gulf that have destabilized the political and economic structures. Like this, soon after, there was talk of … of weapons of deterrence.

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Faced with a moral and doctrinal decay Without precedents like the one we are experiencing, it seems that some have found nothing better to do than use a word of Our father and the opening of Gloria as of of weapons of deterrence, convinced and sure that nobody would have understood and discovered their game …

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and non eisenegkῃs us into temptation

And lead us not into temptation, but free nos a malo.

And don't lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen !

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the Island of Patmos, 16 November 2018

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An explanation to "lead us not into temptation," the Dominican theologian Joseph Barzaghi [to open the video click on the image]

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«You will know the truth and the truth will set you free» [GV 8,32],
but bring, spread and defend the truth not only of
risks but also the costs. Help us supporting this Island
with your offers through the secure Paypal system:

or you can use the bank account:
They were IT 08 (J) 02008 32974 001436620930
in this case, send us an email warning, because the bank
It does not provide your email and we could not send you a
thanks [ isoladipatmos@gmail.com ]

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THE BOOK OF HOLY MASSES DE THE ISLAND OF PATMOS, WHO

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