Some are scandalized when they learn on Good Friday that "dying with Christ" requires means ranging from faith to economic resources?

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- Our and your Island -

SOMEONE IS SCANDALIZED IN LEARNING ON GOOD FRIDAY THAT TO "DIE WITH CHRIST" YOU NEED MEANS RANGING FROM FAITH TO ECONOMIC RESOURCES?

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«You know how you were freed from that meaningless life you inherited from your fathers: the price of your ransom was not paid in gold or silver, things that pass; you have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ»

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Good Friday of the Year of the Lord 2021

When the Blessed Apostle Paul affirmed: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me " (Gal 2,20), in those who wondered the price he paid to reach this goal? The last was his blood price, when in Rome he was executed by beheading.

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In one of his epistles the Blessed Apostle Peter admonishes us:

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“You know how you were freed from that meaningless life you inherited from your fathers: the price of your ransom was not paid in gold or silver, things that pass; you have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. He sacrificed himself for you as a pure and spotless lamb. God had destined him for this even before the creation of the world; Now, in these times that are the last, he has manifested for you. And you, through him, believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. So your faith and your hope are directed towards God ". (The Pt 1, 18-21)

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To announce these truths a whole series of presuppositions are needed which start first of all from the three theological virtues, which are faith, hope and charity (cf.. The Cor 13,13). But to announce the Holy Gospel of the dead Christ the Redeemer, resurrected and ascended to heaven, to recover the lost, wash the souls of sinners and support the afflicted, very material means are also needed; and not from today, but since the first apostolic age.

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Someone might ask: between the many days of the year and the various holidays and solemnities, there was no day other than Good Friday, to ask help? Or maybe we are talking about money under the agonized cross of Christ? Yup, because in order to bring that redeeming blood to men we need means that are now increasingly scarce, even if our apostolic work is not simply intense, it is often exhausting.

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We trust in your generous help, because we need the means to be able to work to redeem you at a high price, not in gold or silver, but with the precious blood of Christ. Therefore, those who wish to make their contribution reach The Island of Patmos now almost devoid of means, can use the convenient and safe system PayPal or our current account. All the details are at the bottom of this page.

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May God bless you and assist us in this difficult stormy sea on which Peter's boat sails, beaten by increasingly violent waves. This is why our Johannine Island deserves to be supported.

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2 April 2021

Good Friday

 

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Good Friday. The dramatic dialogue between Pontius Pilate and Jesus

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- Meditations by the Fathers of the Island of Patmos -

GOOD FRIDAY. THE DRAMATIC DIALOGUE BETWEEN PONTIUS PILATE AND JESUS

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The answer to Pilate's question "What is truth?Would really be the simplest: "The truth is the man you have in front of you, the Word of God. He is the truth”. On this Good Friday, let us adore the cross to commemorate all this, because it is on the cross that the truth is found, which is the answer to Pilate's question and to our question.

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Author:
Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, o.p.

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The 2 April of 2020 the presbyter Antonio Livi returned to the Father's House, last exponent of the Roman School and co-founder of the magazine The Island of Patmos whose Fathers remember him in prayer on this Good Friday

As a starting point for this reflection let's take the Gospel of the Passion of St. John the Evangelist (18,1 – 19,42)

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«Pilate then reentered the praetorium, he called Jesus and told him: “You are the king of the Jews?”. Jesus replied: “You say this for yourself, or have others told you about me?”. Pilate said: “Maybe I am a Jew? Your people and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?”. Jesus answered: “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jews; but my kingdom is not from here ". Then Pilate said to him: “So you are king?”. Jesus answered: “You say it: I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Whoever it belongs to the truth, listen to my voice ". Pilate tells him: "What is the truth?”».

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There are so many memories that emerge from every Good Friday. A special day from a spiritual point of view, liturgical and, not at least, from a purely human point of view. I have memories of when as a child, in a country of Sabina where I always spent my holidays, one Good Friday I left the house alone and walked along the paths that led to the town's parish. You could go it alone, without any danger. It was three o'clock and like every Good Friday the old parish priest, always in his impeccable cassock, in his steady but sweet gaze he initiated the celebration of the Lord's Passion, wearing a gorgeous and dramatic red planet. With the lay brotherhood of the Good Death who attended and many faithful who filled the church and helped in the liturgy. It had to be the 1992. Not many years ago. I remember how that liturgy was filled with something different, of sacred, of what years later in theological studies I would have known with the name of Sacred and Totally Other.

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I thank God for that Good Friday of 1992, when in silence I left the house and entered the church for that Liturgical Action. Because perhaps it was the first time that I realized on the skin of the great gift of love of Jesus. But beyond the memory of the first living and authentic encounter of the Christ suffering, today, which is no longer the 1992 and that I am a priest, albeit recently, that sense of Totally Other, to enter the drama of Jesus is even more vivid.

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On this Good Friday I wish to dwell on the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus. This is due to a number of reasons. I believe that in the figure and in the words of the Roman administrator, there are a number of facets and themes that concern all of us believers of the Catholic Church. Clerics, religious and laity. Because Pilate somewhat embodies the man of today. All of us today can see something of ourselves in Pilate. Huge civil responsibilities, administrative, social. And above all a discernment on the moral choices to be made. In both cases there is always little, very little time to decide. Making a discernment always and in any case full of voices that follow one another, of false witnesses and half-truths. We are a little’ all Pilate that we try to find out something about Jesus. But let's see his words and the Lord's answers.

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Pilate re-entered the praetorium, he called Jesus and told him: «You are the king of the Jews?». Jesus replied: "You say this to you, or have others told you about me?». The first word is a question for Jesus. To the letter it is a request for clarification of jurisdiction, to assess whether the man in front of him was actually taking the place of the Emperor. Pilate is aware of this. And he wants to go to the bottom. In this sense, he also wonders about the true nature of Jesus. The Roman administrator does not have the means to understand the mystery of Christ. He cannot understand neither the teachings nor the actions of that man who is accused. But he wants to understand what Jesus' true responsibility is. Pilate wants to understand what the place of Jesus is in his life. If you have to accept him as a man, as king or as someone else who still does not grasp.

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Pilate is above all the figure of the seeker of God. By it I mean a person who is growing in faith, who questioned his own atheism; he has an attitude of one who often asks Jesus “Who are you?? You are the king?”. The seeker of God also wonders what Jesus wants from his life. If his teaching is a philosophy, an ideology or an authoritarian Word. This is why Jesus replies to Pilate and to every seeker of God “You say this on your own or you have been told about me?”. It is a continuous reminder that Jesus offers us. To abandon the personal mental patterns or our dominant culture. We seek God first of all with an open heart. In a lively and authentic and life changing Encounter.

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Pilate said: «Maybe I am a Jew? Your people and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?». Jesus answered: «My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jews; but my kingdom is not from here ". The second word is a dry reply from Pilate. Seems a bit’ one of those things that are said just to mumble something in front of an unexpected phrase. But there is also a need to reflect on the fact that Pilate remembers that Jesus was handed over to him. As if the Roman administrator suddenly found himself in front of an unknown person of whom he knew nothing. Here is the difficult discernment to do. And this is a characteristic experience of the seeker of God. For him, as for all of us, Jesus is delivered and passed on by others. We rarely know him alone and never deepen his knowledge alone. There is always someone who talks to us about Jesus: culture, the family, friends… The seeker of God lives this search of his as a community. For believers, in the Church.

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Finally Jesus replies that this is not his kingdom. It is neither of this world nor of here below. Another completely unexpected answer for anyone. So much so that now, Pilate, he has well understood that Christ is not playing hide and seek by leaving evasive words. He says something that escapes him. There is another kingdom, even stronger, more robust and solid even than the Roman Empire. There is a kingdom misunderstood by the members of the Sanhedrin who led Jesus to the authorities and the Romans. There is another kingdom, even stronger, more robust and solid even than the Roman Empire, intent on worshiping Augustus and the pagan Pantheon. Thus Jesus also today shakes the seeker of God. He tells him there is something that goes beyond immanence, political domination and money. There is a kingdom of Trinitarian light, that escapes human logic. Even the most believing and devoted of Catholics, undertakes to enter into this perspective of light. But this is really difficult for anyone, so much so that Pilate, he is now without words, he replies. At that point she told him: "So you are a king?». Jesus answered: "You say: I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Whoever it belongs to the truth, hears my voice ". Yes finally here is the revelation: Jesus is the king, but it is true of truth and charity. For this, to be a witness, martyr of truth was incarnated. This is how Christmas is also fulfilled, celebrated in the middle of winter. In the spring of the world, the spring of man begins. In Jesus Christ: listening to his voice it is possible to make the soul and the human spirit flourish. I'm not Augusto, Socrates or the philosophical schools to renew and give power to man: only the search for the Truth and the Power of Love of Charity, in welcoming Jesus who suffers from the Passion, they offer the definitive answer to the seeker of God.

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The closing of this passage from the Holy Gospel of John it is truly emblematic for our time: Pilate tells him: "What is truth?». This is the question of all of us. A question that, despite the constant prayer, continuous meditation, the continuous dialogue with God, always comes back. St. Augustine, commenting on this passage, however, he was able to tell us what Jesus' silent response is. In Latin: What is truth? It can be anagram as an answer: It is the man who is present. Yet the answer to the question "What is truth?Would really be the simplest: "The truth is the man you have in front of you”.

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This is the final goal. The seeker of God finally finds a solution. Real, authentic concrete. That man who suffers out of love for all humanity. His, it's the truth. On this Good Friday, let us adore the cross to commemorate all this, because it is on the cross that the truth is found, which is the answer to Pilate's question and to our question.

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Rome, 2 April 2021

Passion Friday of Our Lord Jesus Christ

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Dear Readers,

we opened the Facebook page of Editions The island of Patmos on which we invite you to put

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Staff Blog

Father Gabriele

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO and support our editions by purchasing and distributing our books.

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News from the Dominican Province Roman: visit the official website of the Dominicans, WHO

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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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"There was a cricket in a linen field …». Judas also chose the “well possible”: its good, not what Christ proposed to him

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- ecclesial news -

"THERE WAS A CRICKET IN A LINEN FIELD ...". JUDAS ALSO CHOSEN THE “WELL POSSIBLE”: ITS GOOD, NOT WHAT CHRIST PROPOSED TO HIM

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According to the sacramental theologian, those bad guys from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dared to present the marriage of man and woman as a good ordained and blessed by God, while that between two men or between two women as evil.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Browsing on Facebook I could not fail to notice the sharing of a post by the theologian Andrea Grillo which announced the imminent release of one of his contributions in a Catholic magazine entitled: "Blessing: style to give the word to the possible good ".

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The full article will come out tomorrow in the monthly Jesus, direct come on Pauline Fathers founded by Blessed James Alberione. It should be understood that until tomorrow no one will be able to praise or criticize this writing, even if already from the first page shared on the profile Facebook of the theologian you understand the theme of the topic. Blessings will be discussed with clear reference to the facts concerning whether it is permissible or not to bless same-sex couples. And that being said, waiting for the happy publication of this article in a monthly magazine directed by a religious family, instead we can talk about what the sacramental theologian has been writing and saying around for days [See. WHO, WHO, WHO, etc ..].

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The obvious position of the competent dicastery of the Holy See for the orthodoxy of the faith, has aroused discontent from many quarters: from our local blood don Giulio Mignani of the diocese of La Spezia who refuses to bless the palm trees and olive trees on Passion Sunday; to the Germanic clergy who already anticipate homosexual marriage as a sacrament, comparable to that between man and woman if not more noble because, as the ancients claimed, the love omodiretto it is purer because it is not affected by the complications of reproduction (!?).

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Now it is the turn of the theologian Andrea Grillo which - with a note of indisputable academic superiority - frames the reply of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the union of persons of the same sex as a purely Manichean fact that identifies and distinguishes good from evil. In short, a note from bigots who claim to divide the world either all in white or all in black.

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… when aggressive insolence speaks for itself …

According to the sacramental theologian, those bad guys from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith dared to present the marriage of man and woman as a good ordained and blessed by God, while that between two men or between two women as evil. With the aggravating circumstance - specifies this academic who incidentally teaches sacramental theology in three ecclesiastical universities - that this way of doing theology, both as a dogma and as a practice it would reduce in tradition - it is not clear whether that of the Church or which other - the sense of reality and adherence to prophecy.

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In short, after less than thirty lines of presentation of the article, the reasonable doubt arises that it is Andrea Grillo who should deal with his own personal sense of reality and prudence. As a sacramental theologian he should only obey what the Congregation in charge establishes and instead, at the end of the preview of his article, he can afford to begin like this: "If two women and two men who live in communion of life and love" .... sorry but what are we talking about? When a theologian I repeat teaches in multiple academic institutions, uses the expression "communion of life and love" which formulates and frames without a doubt the spousal reality modeled on the relationship that Christ has with the Church, what else should one expect in the continuation of the reasoning?

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The thing is, my dear readers, that we are faced with a theological problem that affects that particular theological virtue which is faith. Homosexuals have nothing to do with it, but nothing at all, absolutely! For some Church personalities it would be appropriate to allow and impart savage blessings at all costs as is done with the like on social network. And if certain realities have not yet been sacramentalized, at least they try to extract consent from the blessing which is a sacramental because, as Don Giulio Mignani had the opportunity to say, a blessing is no longer denied to anyone. It's a bit like saying: “Dear gay brother, now I cannot celebrate your wedding in the Church but I give you the blessing which is a first step to clear your marriage in the future. Because you know, your marriage in the Church is still seen as a suburban wedding but it already has a certain good and value. And given that the Church is not only the center but also the periphery, now grit your teeth and hope for better times ".

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… when aggressive insolence speaks for itself …

I repeat it once again, the problem is not given by people with homosexual orientation, who are dear people, perhaps even better in some cases than many practicing Christians; better than some bishops and many of us priests. The problem is God, which places - He yes - the boundary between good and evil, between holiness and distance from holiness.

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I fear the problem of certain theologians lay o bosomes it is accepting a God who treats us as adults, also placing before us the choice of stumbling "life and death, the blessing and the curse " [cf. Dt 30,19] and who through his Son calls man to the definitive and exclusive choice without deceit:

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"Holy Father, keep those you have given me in your name, so that they are one, like us. When I was with them, I kept in your name those you gave me and I have kept them; none of them have been lost, except the son of perdition, for the Scripture to be fulfilled " [cf. GV 17,11-12].

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In these days of Holy Week and of Passion we tragically relive the story of the man Judas, who did not choose the good that Christ proposed to him but preferred his personal good. An understandable and shareable good, humanly possible, understood as salvation and redemption within the reach of the man in the street, obtained perhaps with the support of the Sanhedrin and some condescending official of the Roman Empire. I am sure that if Judas were to go to trial today he would be acquitted, any lawyer bumblebee would be able to save him because he is basically human, indeed too human.

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Paolo Poli, nursery rhyme The Cricket and the Ant

It is of a human salvation that today we want to be satisfied, a redemption capable of not displeasing anyone and bringing everyone closer, only to fail miserably as it happens when everyone is right.

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We leave the blessings to the Church, to that sacral area that speaks to us of God and that accompanies him. Sweet and precious blessings that flow from a right understanding of sacramental grace and that through it men are willing to receive the main effect of the sacraments and are sanctified in the various circumstances of life [cf. SC, 60; CCC, 1667 e Can. 1166]. Blessing is equivalent to sanctifying, sanctifying is equivalent to seeking the Saint, It gave, who calls everyone to a common conversion and a just resolution of detachment from sin.

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Get blessed without this desire she has fallen into superstition that someone will perhaps be able to help, but not to find God, at least the God incarnate in Jesus, only begotten son of God, who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

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Laconi, 31 March 2021

Holy Week

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Dear Readers,

we opened the Facebook page of Editions The island of Patmos on which we invite you to put

You can open it directly from here by clicking on the logo below:

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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 system PayPal:









or you can use the bank account:

payable to Editions The island of Patmos

IBAN IT 74R0503403259000000301118

CODICE SWIFT: BAPPIT21D21
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 ]