Why did we Fathers of the magazine The Island of Patmos not talk about the Synod?? Because we are priests and theologians, not gossips who excite the irrational moods of the populace

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WHY HAVE WE FATHERS OF THE MAGAZINE THE ISLAND OF PATMOS NOT TALKED ABOUT THE SYNOD? BECAUSE WE ARE PRIESTS AND THEOLOGIANS, NOT GOSSIPARIES THAT EXCITE THE IRRATIONAL MOODS OF THE PEOPLE

Even before it began, this latest Synod was preceded by proclamations from unspecified internet experts who sowed terror not so dissimilar to that of the Hamas terrorists, to give a completely absurd-paradoxical hyperbolic example. If in fact Hamas terrorists kill innocent civilians, this other type of terrorist kills, in the increasingly lost faithful, the little that remains in them of faith and ecclesial feeling, of being members of the living body that is the Church.

— News in brief —

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In one of my latest articles to which I refer you (see WHO) I spoke about the decline of the principle of authority in relation to social media, where even the least imbecile can launch into dealing in a grotesque and surreal way with topics that are the subject of complex historical debates on a scientific level, historical, social, politico, theological…

We the Fathers of this magazine we have convinced ourselves that when faced with certain desolations the ancient saying of Publius Terentius Afro is valid (190-159 a.C), universally known as Terence: «They are silent, praise them enough» (They are silent and in doing so they praise). With this maxim, the famous Roman playwright of probable Berber origin meant that sometimes silence prevents words from being expressed, also clearly, end up being distorted or even deliberately misunderstood by those who are inclined to misunderstand or look for any excuse for a dispute. From this maxim by Terenzi was born the famous popular saying "a beautiful silence was never written".

A personal note: for reasons that need not be explained, during this last Synod I had the opportunity to come and go from Martha House Sancthae several times, to meet and speak with various bishops from various parts of the world, clarifying the obvious that I certainly don't need to clarify, because the whole thing, for me as for many other scholars and theologians, it falls within the scope of obvious things about which there would be absolutely nothing to discuss. But, as I wrote in my previous article (see WHO) sometimes it is necessary to explain especially the things that seem obvious to us, in this crazy decadent world in which a boundless army of people thinks of giving maximum and unappealable sentences with a Tweet o a post su Facebook, after having fed themselves on the blogs of people who speak and discuss complex issues that they really don't know about practice and rigor.

Even before starting this latest Synod was preceded by proclamations from unspecified internet experts who sowed terror not so dissimilar to that of Hamas terrorists, to give a completely absurd-paradoxical hyperbolic example. If in fact Hamas terrorists kill innocent civilians, this other type of terrorist kills, in the increasingly lost faithful, the little that remains in them of faith and ecclesial feeling, of being members of the living body that is the Church (cf.. With the 1, 18).

For weeks we have read and heard proclamations in which certain web terrorists gave the best of themselves to disorient simple and increasingly lost Catholics by foreseeing the imminent customs clearance of priestly celibacy and married priests, women priests, or at least women deacons, the blessing at the altar of homosexual couples and so on to follow. And all these elements that to define as fantastic is just an understatement, they were announced as certain, indeed presented as taken for granted.

At the end of the Synod the Supreme Pontiff Francis spoke publicly, clarifying that priestly celibacy would not be affected in any way, reiterating what we have known for centuries: priestly celibacy, which has its roots since the first apostolic era and which has great value on a spiritual level, ecclesial and pastoral, it is not a dogma of faith but an ecclesiastical discipline. There is proof that even in the Catholic Church there have always been Eastern Rite priests who are married and have families. Having said this, the Holy Father reiterated that he does not intend in any way to modify ecclesiastical discipline on the celibacy of priests belonging to the Latin rite community, specifying that nothing similar "will happen under my pontificate".

Regarding the issue of women priests, the Supreme Pontiff Francis had already expressed himself several times in the past, therefore he did nothing but reiterate the pronouncement given in definitive form by his Holy Predecessor John Paul II which clarified for the present and future future: «The Church does not have the power to grant sacred priestly ordination to women» (cf.. WHO).

If in the preparatory stages of the Synod there was talk of the LGBT world, from the draft of the final document this acronym has completely disappeared, to the certain displeasure of that cheerful character Father James Martin supported not long ago with an article in the well-known pseudo-Catholic weekly slush Christian, originally born as Christian family, which he announced: «Pope Francis has restored dignity to LGBTQ people and this is a blessing for everyone» (cf.. QUI). So no blessing to the happy rainbow couples under the steps of the altars for the obvious reason that the Church, with the excuse of blessing the people who always need to be blessed, is not so naive and unprepared to end up blessing what for Catholic doctrine and morality remains the sin against nature (Catechism, n. 2357), which as such cannot be blessed, not even with the excuse of only blessing people. This is a topic on which the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had already expressed its opinion (cf.. WHO). Several times over the last few years I have written and explained that the Church has the duty to welcome the sinner, especially the worst sinners, because if she did not do so she would betray the mission that Christ God has entrusted to her (cf.. Mt 9,13), always being careful, however, never to welcome sin, which cannot be welcomed, much less blessed.

This is why we remained silent, because we are priests, theologians and above all men of faith aware that even today the Church is experiencing very delicate moments, or if we want even confused and sad, In any case, she will never be able to betray the mission that Christ God has entrusted to her to meet the whims of the world, because God chose us from the world but we are not of the world (cf.. GV 15, 18-19).

Let's move on and conclude with two elements. The first: the essence of ecumenical councils and synods of the Church; The second one: the unusual attitude, perhaps even questionable and ambiguous of the Supreme Pontiff Francis.

The Catholic Hamas terrorists who have carried out campaigns for months and weeks aimed at exciting people, now at terrorizing them, they demonstrated first of all that they have no idea what councils and synods are in the two-thousand-year history of the Church. First let's see the difference between the two: by ecumenical council we mean, as the word itself says, an extraordinary event that involves all the bishops of the universal Church. The term “ecumenical” in fact it derives from Greek world (oikoumene) and it means universal. Otherwise instead, the Synod, which can be local or even global, it involves a slice of the episcopate, or invited and selected participants, which can also represent Catholic universality, but which do not constitute an ecumenical council, that is, that most important and solemn act of the Church which requires and implies the participation of the entire Catholic episcopate.

In both cases, whether it is an ecumenical council or a synod, participants are simply not entitled, but precisely the duty to discuss everything and its exact opposite. In discussions they can, indeed, even the most unlikely or even absurd hypotheses must be raised. Perhaps the great Fathers and Masters of classical scholasticism did not do this, often starting in their disputes even from surreal and paradoxical elements, in order to stimulate the speculative sense and arrive at wise judgments? What does this take to make clear to the aggressive blogger or to those who have a sentence on Twitter they have solved problems that have not yet had a definitive answer for centuries. Therefore, than certain fringes of the episcopate, that is, the inevitable Germans and Northern Europeans, have raised certain questions, It shouldn't have surprised anyone, including hardcore bloggers and tweeters, if only they had known the rudiments of Church history.

The Supreme Pontiff Francis for its part remains an enigma, as I defined it in an old article of mine from 2013 commenting on his first ones 100 days of pontificate (see WHO) where I compared him to the Pied Piper of Amelin, which deserves enormous credit: having made all the mice come out for what they really are, after they had hidden themselves in the most false and calculated condescension for thirty years under the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. At least today, thanks to this Augusto Pifferaio, we get to know the mice one by one for what they are and what they really think. This will make it especially difficult for them, or rather, really impossible to be able to recycle it at the next change of helmsman of Peter's boat, given that a 87 years and with health problems of no small importance, the Supreme Pontiff Francis will certainly not last forever. If so tomorrow, as if nothing had happened, a playful cardinal even went so far as to lower himself into a manhole to reconnect electricity to the inhabitants of an illegally occupied building (see WHO), if he showed up with three meters of cappa magna and a galero on his head - something that certain chameleons would be capable of doing because by their nature they lack the very sense of modesty - we would all ask him: "But you, Were you perhaps not the one who, under the pontificate of Francis, went in trousers and rolled up shirt sleeves to bring coffee in the evening to the tramps who had transformed Bernini's colonnade into a public urinal?, after showing off gold cufflinks and artfully pleated purple robes under the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI?”.

For the umpteenth time the Supreme Pontiff Francis brought them together, speak and vent in a Synod, causing them all to come out into the open again. Once the discussions were over he announced "then we'll see", concluding with a "see you next year", assuming of course that the Holiness of Our Lord is always alive.

Of the two one: or we are faced with a man who alone is crazier and more deranged than Joanna of Castile, Henry IV and Ludwig II of Bavaria all three combined, or we are faced with a man who in a very difficult and complex historical moment did what was best and most appropriate to have been done, using his state grace wisely and prudently, although at the moment his actions cannot be understood. In fact we cannot affirm either one thing or the other, because we lack the elements to be able to do it. Maybe it will take many years, but one day history will clarify the great "enigma" for us Francesco, how I defined it in 2013 after the first ones 100 days of his pontificate, revealing him as the right man who rode out an extraordinarily delicate season in the best way.

the Island of Patmos, 29 October 2023

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The love that comes from charity is the foundation of Christianity

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Homiletic of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE LOVE THAT BORN FROM CHARITY IS THE FOUNDATION OF CHRISTIANITY

Jesus teaches us that there is no love for God that is very great, devoted and authentic, and that it does not become love towards our neighbor. A love of charity which therefore means acting according to concrete and real works, to help others also grow in holiness. Therefore as the Provencals said, in love you either grow or diminish.

 

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

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Dear readers of The island of Patmos,

«It's obvious: l'Love waxes or wanes and never stays the same'. We find this beautiful phrase in an ancient one Provençal Love Code. This maxim contains one of the fundamental laws of love which is continuous growth in the donation of oneself to others and to God. Love is a common experience that we have all experienced at least once in our lives. The foundation, therefore, of our human love, what love of charity and tenderness is always the love of God which being eternal, He asks us to love with an eternal love too.

This cornerstone is enclosed In the Gospel of this XXX Sunday of Ordinary Time, where the fundamental law of Christianity is stated. A true Copernican revolution within Judaism and the Greek world- romano. An absolute novelty where the center of everything is the relationship of love between God and man.

Once again we find the Pharisees all united to hold a council against Jesus Christ. Last week went badly for him, when they had sent the Herodians to try to turn him against the Romans. This time they send a doctor of the law, an expert who asks him a trap question. Which 613 Jewish precepts (take it easy) you think is more important, according to the Jewish hierarchy? This is also a trick question, according to the fallacy of false dichotomy. From i 613 There was in fact a hierarchy and importance to the precepts. Regardless of whether or not we remember this hierarchical scale - which for Jesus was simple - the trap consisted in listening to Jesus' response, whatever the answer would have been, reply that the precept cited was instead the least important one. In tal modo, they wanted to discredit and show Jesus' lack of connection with Jewish tradition and with God. Jesus once again frees himself from this argumentative trap. And he exploits the situation to offer the center and core of the teaching of Christianity. Jesus responds:

«”You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind”. This is the great and first commandment. The second one is similar to that one: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets ".

The news it consists first of all in the formulation of these two precepts. The first is taken from Deuteronomy 6,5 and it is linked together with the law of Holiness that we find in Leviticus 19,18. Here then is the inseparable link between love for God and neighbor already present and prefigured in the Old Testament and is then made explicit and announced by Jesus. This answer breaks any counter-answer. And it is an answer that is still valid for us today.

Jesus teaches us that there is no such thing as love towards God who is very great, devoted and authentic, and that it does not become love towards our neighbor. A love of charity which therefore means acting according to concrete and real works, to help others also grow in holiness. Therefore as the Provencals said, in love you either grow or diminish. We grow in love towards God because the works of mercy continually fuel our choice of faith which is a relationship with the eternal You of God, perennially in love with his creation and therefore with humanity. At the same time, to love with charity is to choose to engage responsibly in the Church, so that all other believers can encounter Christ through us. If you stop loving, also our life and our joy, little by little they fade. Thus our person also becomes more and more closed in on himself. Jesus asks us to put our authentic and tender love into circulation.

We ask the Lord the strength and courage of generous and merciful action, to all grow united on the path of holiness that leads to eternal life.

Amen.

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 29 October 2023

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"You will love your neighbor as yourself". On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets "

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

«YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF» ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS DEPEND ON THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS

Jesus immediately went further with the surprising novelty which has no parallels in ancient Jewish literature: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. They, going back to the will of the Legislator, discerns that love of God and neighbor are inseparable from each other: one does not exist without the other.

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In the lectionary, the discussion with the Sadducees regarding the resurrection was omitted, we arrive, with the gospel of this XXX Sunday in Ordinary Time, to a new diatribe that opens with Jesus questioned by his adversaries, ma, Once again, to test it.

"During that time, i farisei, having heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together and one of them, a doctor of the law, he questioned him to test him: «Maestro, in the Law, what is the great commandment?». She answered him: «You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind". This is the great and first commandment. The second one is similar to that one: "You will love your neighbor as yourself". On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets ". (Mt 22,34-40)

These are the last days of Jesus in the holy city of Jerusalem, before the arrest and passion, and he knows that the circle around him is increasingly narrowing. The Pharisees enter the scene again on our Gospel page, and among them a doctor of the law, a theologian we would say, an expert in the Holy Scriptures, who once again addresses him by calling him: Rabbi (Maestro, teacher). In fact, something like this had never been seen before, that a carpenter had taken it into his head to teach and give advice on the Torah, on how to honor God, on what is permissible and what is prohibited. This was not well received as Ben Sira attested at the beginning of the third century BC: «He who is free from toil will become wise»1; and in the Gospels there is never mention of an exegetical school of Jesus. The surprising interpretations of the Torah, which allow him to counter the dialectical pitfalls of his adversaries, they will not be replicated by his disciples. If Jesus is called rabbi (maestro) it is because of his authority and ability to delve into Scripture creatively. However, he is not the kind of teacher who trains students, to transmit their exegetical methods to them. While in rabbinic Judaism, which will assert itself after the destruction of the second Temple in 70, the student is destined to replace e, if possible, to surpass the master in wisdom, Jesus' disciples will remain such forever, without the possibility of emulating him in the intellectual field.

It was precisely the rabbis who had identified it in the Law, tor, more than ten words (Is 20,2-17), ben 613 precepts, so the question posed to Jesus seems relevant and was about simplification: «Maestro, in the Law, what is the great commandment?». It was a debated topic as evidenced by this rabbinical response: «Rabbi Simlaj these:

«On Mount Sinai they were announced to Moses 613 commandments: 365 negative, corresponding to the number of days of the solar year, e 248 positive, corresponding to the number of organs in the human body… Then came David, who reduced these commandments to 11, as it is written [in Ps 15]… Then came Isaiah who reduced them to 6, as it is written [in Is 33,15-16]… Then came Micah who reduced them to 3, as it is written: «What does the Lord ask of you, if not to practice justice, love pity, walk humbly with your God? » (Me 6,8) … Then Isaiah came again and reduced them to 2, as it is written: «Thus says the Lord: Observe law and practice justice" (Is 56,1) … Finally Habakkuk came and reduced the commandments to just one, as it is written: «The just will live by his faith» (Ab 2,4)» (Babylonian Talmud, Makkot, 24a).

Jesus replied highlighting, Once again, his ability to refer to what is fundamental and then propose a surprising novelty, tying a second commandment to the main one, declaring them similar and making both a rope on which the entire structure of the remaining commands is balanced, indeed the entire complex of the Word of God. If they detach from it they fall to the ground. This is the meaning of the verb Creamy ― I hang ― del verso v.40, that is, being hung, suspended, penzolare; which was made with depend: «On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets».

Where Jesus found the foundation to justify the greatness of the first commandment? In prayer, in this case that of Shemà (Listen) which opened and closed the day of the religious Jew and in particular that of shabbat, Saturday:

«Listen, Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is only one. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your life and with all your mind" (Dt 6,4-5). And he said: «This is the great and first commandment».

Then Jesus immediately went further with the surprising novelty that it has no parallels in ancient Jewish literature: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lv 19,18). They, going back to the will of the Legislator, discerns that love of God and neighbor are inseparable from each other: one does not exist without the other. The command to love your neighbor is, in the Gospel of Matthew, the most cited Old Testament text: it is also found in Mt 5,43 e 19,19. It means that Jesus insisted on this precept, but also that for Matthew it was particularly necessary to remind believers in Christ, when they will no longer be understood and welcomed by their own people; Unfortunately, even from their own Jewish brothers.

Not surprisingly in our text the second commandment is defined as equal - ὁμοία - to the first, with the same importance and the same weight, while the evangelist Luke even unites them in one great commandment: «You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor» (LC 10,27). Jesus thus makes a bold and decisive innovation, and he does it with the authority of someone who knows that you cannot love God without loving people.

Love being a human feeling it cannot be said to represent a proper of the christian, instead, faith in Jesus is, the Christ, Son of the Father who revealed himself. And at the heart of this process is the manifestation of God as love. As everyone knows, the authors of the New Testament who explored the depth of this mystery are Paul and John. Precisely the latter, in one of his letters he stated that "God is love" (1GV 4,8.16) and who "loved us first" (1GV 4,19). Saint Paul will give us the gift of the hymn to charity (1Color 13). All these words addressed in the first instance to the disciples of Jesus of all times, they are now the distinctive sign of those who believe in him, so much so that Giovanni himself affirmed it: «If one says: I love God and hate his brother, he's a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he sees, he cannot love God whom he does not see. And this is the commandment we have from him: who loves God, you love your brother too" (1GV 4,20-21). And this is because the reference will always be to Jesus who placed himself as a point of comparison: «From this everyone will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for each other " (GV 13,35); that is, that love that puts "the new commandment" into practice, that is, last and definitive, left to us by him: “Love one another as I have loved you” (GV 13,34; 15,12).

To return to the example of the suspended rope the Christian will always find himself walking on this subtle path, avoiding leaning too much on one side and losing the balance of the other. Love towards God and towards others remains in constant balance and both do not constitute the emblem of a season. Even now, in the Church, greater emphasis is placed on solidarity and welcoming the poor and miserable, the Christian will always be a “man for all seasons”2. And according to the teaching of Jesus there will always be someone who, walking down the unsupervised slope from Jerusalem to Jericho, could run the risk of finding themselves half dead: compassionate love will be the answer (LC 10,25-37).

Saint Augustine also seems to think so:

«Enunciating the two precepts of love, the Lord does not recommend that you love your neighbor first and then love God, but he puts God first and then his neighbor. But since you still don't see God, you will deserve to see it by loving your neighbor. Therefore love your neighbor, and look within yourself at the source from which love of neighbor flows: you'll see us, as much as possible, It gave. So start by loving your neighbor. Break your bread with those who are hungry, and bring the homeless into your home; if you see a naked person, news, and do not despise those who are of your flesh. By doing so, what will happen? Then your light will burst forth like a dawn (Is 58,7-8). Your light is your God. He is the morning light for you, because it comes to you after the night of this world. He neither rises nor sets, always shines… By loving your neighbor and taking an interest in him, you will walk. What path will you take, except that which leads to the Lord God, to the one we must love with all our heart, with all my soul, with all your mind? We have not yet arrived at the Lord, but we always have our neighbor with us. Therefore bring the one with whom you walk, to reach the One with whom you wish to remain forever"3.

from the Hermitage, 29 October 2023

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NOTE

1 [Farmers, blacksmiths, potters, and all the manual laborers who toil day and night for wages] «Without them a city cannot be built, no one could stay or move around there. But they are not sought for the council of the people in the assembly they do not have a special place, they do not sit in the judge's seat and do not know the provisions of the law. They make neither education nor law shine,
they do not appear among the authors of proverbs, but they consolidate the construction of the world,and the job they do is their prayer" (Sir 38,24. 33-34)

2 Sylvester R. S., The “Man for All Seasons” Again: Robert Whittington’s Verses to Sir Thomas More, Huntington Library Quarterly, Vol. 26, no 2,1963, pp. 147-154.

3 Augustine of Hippo, Commentary on the Gospel of Saint John, Homily 17, 7-9 (see WHO)

 

 

 

Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

 

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Dear Readers,
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If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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