With the figure of John the Baptist we rediscover humility in the precious desert of Advent

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

WITH THE FIGURE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST WE REDISCOVER HUMILITY IN THE PRECIOUS DESERT OF ADVENT

The Forerunner, the Baptist, he is the one who speaks in the desert. Wear very sparse clothing, it fed on plants and locusts. This is the typical condition of someone who is in a purification phase of their life.

 

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

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PDF print format article

 

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Dear friends and readers of The Island of Patmos,

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anyone who has played a sport, for example football, swimming, horse riding…reminds you of an instructor, an educator, or someone who coached and accompanied him until he became a good footballer, swimmer or jockey …

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In today's Gospel the figure of John the Baptist enters the scene. He who acts as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments and who is similar to the coach we met on the football pitch, in the swimming pool or at the riding stables, prepares us for the way. In this case the way of God. He is introduced to us immediately at the beginning of the pericope:

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«In those days John the Baptist appeared to preach in the Judean desert, saying: «Be converted, because the kingdom of heaven is near!». He is the one who was announced by the prophet Isaiah when he said: The voice of one crying in the wilderness:/ Prepare the way of the Lord, / his paths straight!».

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The Baptist tells us many things, including that the ancient Jewish pact will be modified for an epochal and definitive change. Who, Matthew himself, reports the words of the Baptist who announces a conversion for the coming of the kingdom of heaven, which is close. What does he mean by kingdom of heaven? There is no doubt that for us and the time in which we live the Baptist announces the presence of God and the coming of Christ in history. But before this there is an important detail: the same Isaiah quoted in the Gospel text announces the arrival of an announcer, of a precursor in the desert who will accompany the awareness of the coming of God into our lives. Here then is that Jesus is announced in the desert by someone who prepares his way so that all members of the people can welcome him.

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There is a big announcement for us too of the community of believers. Here Battista is in the person of the church, we theologians will say it represents the whole Church that, despite his defections and ours, that we compose it and that we are all sinners born with original sin, she is the one who helps us get to Jesus. God through the whole Church helps us to straighten our crooked paths to get back on the correct path towards God.

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Now the precursor, the Baptist, he is the one who speaks in the desert. He wears very shabby clothing, it fed on plants and locusts. This is the typical condition of someone who is in a purification phase of their life. The Baptist probably lived a form of life similar to that of the Essenes who had their community at Qumran, a Jewish sect, we would say today, strictly observed. He prepares the way in that desert which can be a physical place but also an interior attitude. In the desert you can travel routes in the sand that you didn't know about. All you need is a wise and attentive guide who knows the desert first. Expert as John was for those he wanted to help convert and he did so through the baptism of conversion that he administered. It was certainly not the sacramental baptism that we know today, but a purification rite that took place through the immersion in the waters of the Jordan of those who had decided to confess and recognize their sins. A penitential practice that washed away sins, from faults and imperfections.

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After passing through the desert sand, you really need refreshing water. Even in the life of faith that we live now in this Advent. Let us rediscover what the sacrament of washing and cleansing our soul is for us, that is, confession. In which after having examined the desertifications of all mortal sins, we can receive the outpouring and washing of reconciliation.

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We ask the Lord to rediscover humility as the basis for daily conversion, to travel through our existential deserts and drink from the always thirst-quenching water of God's love.

Amen!

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 3 December 2022

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The Christological great monarchy of the King of the Universe

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE CHRISTOLOGICAL GREAT MONARCHY OF THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE

The subjects of this King are all the believers of his faith, who wait in his hope. And especially they are those who experience the kingdom as a community of believers who love and operate this love starting from this faith and this hope.

 

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

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Dear Letters of The Island of Patmos,

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that of Christ's kingship and lordship over the world is one liturgical solemnity which perhaps escapes us men of the 2022. We are men of our time, born and raised in the shadow of the short century, or even better than the age of totalitarianisms, century that ended twenty-three years ago. For us, democracy and its mediated expression in socio-political systems in which we are represented is a system that we culturally accept. Now I'm in beautiful Florence and, as known to all, the Lords of Florence for many years were the Medici. Lorenzo de' Medici, called the Magnificent, left the signs of the work of its magnificence still visible in the city of Florence.

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Palazzo Vecchio in Piazza della Signoria it evokes in me the glories and royalties of the Medici. But there is another Signoria that today it is necessary to remember. Jesus reminds the Church and the whole world of his Lordship and Monarchy over the world. Jesus reminds us that beyond all political institutions they are a gift for the citizen and for everyone, he is the Lord and king of Our life.

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It's good for us celebrate and meditate on the King: for there to be the Return of the King, Jesus Christ, in our lives too often distracted and lost in the maze of fashions and worldly thoughts. However, this is not an attempt to destroy our being in the world. Today's reflection is precisely to found our presence in ours smart city, knowing that we are sent by the Eternal King, whose throne is the cross. It is there that it expresses its splendor and royalty.

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The cross expresses the profound meaning and absolute diversity of Jesus compared to all other earthly kings. Because he is raised like all other kings, but in a different way. In fact, it expresses the kingdom in a completely opposite way compared to the rest of the world. His Kingdom is charity. Jesus is the king who exercises his dominion in service and total donation to us: the only power, the only scepter of the Lord is the love of those who give themselves to the end. Therefore from that cross radiates the Kingdom announced by Christ himself from the beginning of his preaching [cf.. LC 6,28 – 30].

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The subjects of this King ― and subjects is the right word to use ― are all the believers of faith in him who wait in his hope. And especially they are those who experience the kingdom as a community of believers who love and operate this love starting from this faith and this hope. We faithful are continuously connected and tied to Our King, which accompanies and guides our freedom and responsibility towards personal sanctity. In doing so he makes us all kings.

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Jesus acknowledges with great joy the repentance of the repentant thief who asks if he can be admitted into his kingdom and to which he answers: "Verily I say unto thee: today you will be with me in paradise". The great acknowledgment of one's guilt by the thief whose name we do not know, it is his entrance into the faith, hope and love of Jesus. Which are the conditions of whoever becomes a servant of the King. Jesus welcomes all of this and makes him king in turn, earlier at that time, then definitively in Heaven.

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This is why this solemnity involves all of us. Because from baptism we are all kings, prophets and priests. We are kings because we try to imitate Jesus in the implementation of the Kingdom of Love of the Father and of the Holy Spirit.

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We ask the Lord to enter His Kingdom of Service by exercising the humility of one who recognizes himself as a sinner and is thus exalted in the glory of forgiveness.

Happy journey of royalty to all.

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 19 November 2022

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And if from the American catastrophic filmography we tried to reflect on the true Apocalypse of the Holy Scriptures?

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

AND IF FROM AMERICAN CATASTROPHIST FILMOGRAPHY WE TRY TO REFLECT ON THE TRUE APOCALYPSE OF THE SACRED SCRIPTURES?

“The true martyr is the one who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, and that he no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr".

 

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

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Dear readers of The Island of Patmos,

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this XXXIII Sunday of Ordinary Time places us before a theme that concerns apocalyptic signs and times. In the current lexicon the term Apocalypse frightens us because it evokes something terrible, it sounds like a word that says we will all die at the end of the world. But if we avoid a little’ the filmic American girls who have played a lot on this term, especially in the period of the end of the first millennium (1997–2000) – to which various films such as contributed Deep Impact, Armageddon etc… – we can finally really understand what this word means, without minimizing its importance, but without even being afraid of scenarios that prophesy great disasters and great tragedies.

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Apocalypse is a Greek word (revelation) composta da from (apo) I cover it (calupto) which we could translate as "revealed". So, the Apocalypse is the definitive revelation. The translation itself should reassure us, as it does not mean anything that evokes death, pain and destruction. From this we understand one important thing: Jesus in today's song came to offer a ultimate revelation and decisive for all those who will be his witnesses. Jesus therefore describes the path that every disciple and apostle is called to take until completion. Until we land in Paradise. To this end, it draws inspiration from an everyday circumstance:

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“While some spoke of the temple and the beautiful stones and votive offerings that adorned it, he said: “There will come days when, of all that you admire, there will not be stone upon stone that will not be destroyed".

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The announcement of the end of the Temple and beautiful stones is really fortissimo for the listener. In fact, Jesus has before him the splendid Temple begun by King Herod ten years ago, which employed a hundred thousand workmen and a thousand priests who were specially trained as masons. The Temple factory was started in 20 a.C. and continued for a very long time due to the numerous decorations. It will be finished with white stones of white limestone only in the 64 after Christ, and was destroyed in 70 by the emperor Titus Vespasian during the first Jewish war and was only functional for six years. So Jesus, at this time, he is describing a Temple filled with votive gifts to God. That "stone upon stone will not remain" has a value that goes beyond the destruction of the monumental work that stands before the interlocutors.

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This destruction heralds a great event: the first Temple to be destroyed will be the body of Christ, in the days of his passion. That apocalyptic event will truly reveal God's love for his neighbor. The stones of the Temple, which were also a place of encounter with God, they will be reduced with respect to the post-Easter meeting place, which will be Christ himself. To this destruction of the Temple, each of us who are disciples and followers of Jesus is called to this offering of self in our daily crosses. This is what the Apocalypse of his witnesses is, that is, the most important revelation that Jesus offers us today:

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“You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head perish. By your perseverance you will save your souls".

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Jesus foretells us that his following will bring us antipathy and hatred. But at the same time it reassures us that we need not fear anything. Indeed, our testimony as true believers generates confusion and opposition from all those who do not recognize the truth. It shakes their conscience together with those who do not want to leave their comfort zone to the point of doing everything to silence us. We will therefore be those who are the apocalyptics, the revealers of a greater truth. The Lord asks us to persevere despite the difficulties and contrasts of the world, because this testimony of truth up to white martyrdom, it will save ourselves first. Here, then, is the central nucleus of today's teaching, avoiding catastrophic rereadings.

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About white martyrdom and testimony of following Christ, scrive Thomas Sterne Elliott:

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“The true martyr is the one who has become the instrument of God, who has lost his will in the will of God, and that he no longer desires anything for himself, not even the glory of being a martyr".

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We ask the Lord to become authentic witnesses of his love, become instruments of the Trinity, to testify to the whole world that the end is the true beginning of every man, but that that end must be reached after a life of love and dedication to God and neighbor.

Amen.

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Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 12 November 2022

 

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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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If a woman marries seven men and remains widowed of all, on the day of the resurrection, which of them will be her husband?

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

IF A WOMAN MARRIES SEVEN MEN REMAINING WIDOW OF ALL, ON THE DAY OF THE RESURRECTION, WHICH OF THEM WILL BE HER HUSBAND?

 

“Those who are judged worthy of the future life and resurrection from the dead, they take neither a wife nor a husband: in fact they can no longer die, because they are equal to the angels and, for they are children of the resurrection, they are children of God".

 

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

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Dear Readers of The Island of Patmos,

"So the woman, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be?? For all seven had her to wife"

this Sunday prompts us to reflect on the theme of the resurrection of the flesh, therefore of our daily relationship with God. A relationship of love and vital momentum towards us, like that of a tender and affectionate Father who never frees himself from his children, which, however, at the same time empowers individual freedom.

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In Holy Gospel of today Jesus must first of all answer the question of the Sadducees who use the law of the Levirate to try to trap him and make him contradict. The present Levirate Law — in Genesis and Exodus — required the widow of a Levite to marry her brother and bear children, who would then be recognized as offspring of the first husband. So, the Sadducees exacerbate this Law which created precise constraints on the members of the priestly caste, because they believed neither in the resurrection of the flesh nor in the immortality of the soul. Here then is the question-trap:

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"So the woman, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be?? For all seven had her to wife".

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Jesus knows well that that question is asked to question his words and his work. It serves the Sadducees to discredit him in front of the crowds that had begun to follow him, but to answer and overcome the fallacious objection it offers an articulated answer. The central point of the answer lies in these words:

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“Those who are judged worthy of the future life and resurrection from the dead, they take neither a wife nor a husband: in fact they can no longer die, because they are equal to the angels and, for they are children of the resurrection, they are children of God".

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The children of God are children of the resurrection and they never get married. This is in summary the Lord's answer which explains how marriage - a reality definitively consecrated by Jesus when he blessed the wedding at Cana and transformed the water into wine - is a dual path and a couple's journey, but first and foremost a path to personal and spousal holiness. Therefore a path that accompanies the couple until the resurrection.

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This is the deep meaning: there is life after death. From the beginning of our existence we have always been accompanied by the Lord. We were born and we will never die again. Therefore God, ever since we were tiny embryos in our mother's womb, he has always showered us with love. With Baptism we then entered the perspective of Children of God: that is, adopted by God as children to be nourished and sustained at all times. Between us and God there is a radical and dependent relationship. Without Him we can do nothing.

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Understand well that there is a horizon that goes beyond matter and horizontality. There is a dimension of eternity to which we are all called. Then it's up to us, to our freedom and our free will to respond responsibly and freely before the vocation to eternity that awaits us. Let's rediscover it in such a way as not to end up in conjectures of pure ephemerality, typical of the Sadducees.

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Scriveva Soren Kierkegaard: "Nothing finished, not even the whole world, can satisfy the human soul that feels the need for the eternal».

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We ask the Lord to rediscover our thirst for eternity, to ground our every daily act of kindness and love in the Love of Jesus, the one who decided to love us to the end.

Amen

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Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 5 November 2022

 

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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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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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The meek is not a sheep but a lion, an eagle that has received the gift of the strength of the Holy Spirit

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE MITE IS NOT A SHEEP BUT A LION, AN EAGLE THAT HAS RECEIVED THE GIFT OF THE FORTRESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

When we live the beatitudes we enter into the mastery of Jesus: we are men and women made in the image of the Son. Small Trinitarian images. This is the theological-anthropological nuance of the beatitudes. At the same time it makes us see the goal that all the children of God, we believers take it together as a community and as a Church.

 

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

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PDF print format article

 

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Communion of Saints

A few years ago a beautiful film came out with the late Sean Connery: Discovering Forrester. It's the story of Jamal Wallace, a young black boy from the Bronx who befriends an elderly writer, William Forrester, who will be able to give many important lessons to Jamal, because he will be able to grasp gifts and potential in the boy. Jamal credits Forrester with a certain mastery. And also the great gift of knowing how to make the most of his abilities.

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This story helps us introduce the Today's Holy Gospel in which Jesus, divine teacher, teaching the beatitudes, it allows us to become saints in a personal way and at the same time in a community way. In the Gospel passage, Jesus decides to climb a mountain. Exactly as Moses did when giving his great five speeches. He sits down and takes a master's position:

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«Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the mountain: He sat down and his disciples came to him. He started talking and taught them.".

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Being seated on the mountain has an important meaning in the imagination of those who saw and observed this scene. Going up and sitting on the mountain is a sort of plastic representation of going up and sitting in the chair, in an important and solemn way, during which Jesus exposes the Great Charter of his teaching: the Beatitudes.

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The manifesto of the life of every disciple, believer and apostle of Jesus, we live in the practice of virtue which then has the beatitudes as its goal. On one side, so, the introduction of the first verse is clear and important. Jesus sits down - from the throne, we would say today -, he takes the floor and teaches them by teaching. It makes the crowds participate in divine knowledge and explains the criteria on which God himself judges and acts. The Beatitudes are in fact God's gift to man and to the Church.

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When we experience the beatitudes we enter into the mastery of Jesus: we are men and women made in the image of the Son. Small Trinitarian images. This is the theological-anthropological nuance of the beatitudes. At the same time it makes us see the goal that all the children of God, we believers take it together as a community and as a Church. Let us live the virtues and beatitudes as brothers. This is at the same time the theological-ecclesial nuance. Therefore Jesus lays out the plan for man and for the Church: the Great Charter of the beatitudes through which we can all become saints.

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The beatitudes they tell something of a journey towards a path of perfection where we will all shine and be an image of God for other men. But let's try to comment on just one of the beatitudes, which I think is more to be rediscovered in this time: "Beati and miti, because they will inherit the earth". Obviously, the “myth”, it's not there rockstar, the footballer, the actor … not even a heroic and epic narrative. Here Jesus means the meek as one who does not behave in an annoying way, that does not attack, who knows how to love without invading freedom and taking the gifts of others, but above all without envying the gifts of others, giving substance to that terrible sin which is envy of the grace of others. The meek is the one who lives the virtue of fortitude and remains calm in distressing situations. Or to clarify: the meek is not a sheep but a lion, an eagle that has received the gift of the fortitude of the Holy Spirit which strengthens steadfastness of mind. Thus the myths, in their fortress, they will inherit the earth. Because the earth is the vital sign. It is the place where the Spirit penetrates to make the harvest fruitful. Therefore, inheriting the earth means having a soul capable of welcoming the Holy Spirit and doing great works of love and tenderness towards others..

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In this time of great tensions and polarizations of ideas and opinions, where it is very easy to get into verbal confrontation, especially on social media which are swarming with anonymous keyboard lions, but also in real life, we ask the Lord precisely this: to rediscover meekness. Or as Chilo wrote, one of the seven Spartan sages:

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«If I know strong, be gentle and peaceful, so that those around you have respect for you rather than fear".

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We ask the Lord the grace of living the beatitudes in a time of great uncertainty, showing us rooted in His Love and becoming saints of our time, that is, small stars in the dark sky of our time, just as one of our greatest Italian poets wrote, Dante, Canto XXXIII in Paradise: «The love that moves the sun and the other stars».

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Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 1November 2022

on the Solemnity of All Saints

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NOTE

Song movie An American in Rome to the new film A Roman in Florence — Father Gabriele was transferred from the Roman Convent of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to the Florentine Convent of Santa Maria Novella, where our readers who live in those areas of Tuscany can find it.

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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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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

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The prayer, the unjust judge and the nagging widow

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

PRAYER THE UNJUST JUDGE AND THE NESSING WIDOW

 

«Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to always pray, tirelessly "

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

The church of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, where Father Gabriele was transferred and where he celebrated his first Holy Mass today

On this XXIX Sunday of ordinary time the Holy Gospel offers us a great and precious teaching on prayer [see liturgy of the word WHO]. In many other passages he described the importance of acts of mercy and charity towards God and neighbour. Today the central theme is instead prayer:

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«Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to always pray, tirelessly "

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An unceasing prayer. Very often in the eyes of the contemporary world prayer is a boring practice, which is to be avoided, because they are old or because they are considered something outdated. On the contrary, prayer is first of all intimacy with God. One being with him in dialogue with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit: three People who listen to us and talk to us. It is not a dialogue for the deaf, as unfortunately often happens today, in communications via WhatsApp, Telegram or even in person. I remember a book from a few years ago, l’Ulisse at James Joyce. One of the protagonists, Molly, a long internal monologue begins. Talk about topics that are also messy with each other. Lying on a bed. Then it answers itself. It turns to Jesus and God. But materially he doesn't listen to them.

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Instead, Jesus came to tell us to open our hearts unceasingly to God, because it is a dialogue that will change your life permanently. Not just life, but every day we entrust ourselves to Him in prayer. Like this, to make it clearer, Jesus tells his followers the parable of the unjust judge and the insistent widow. What the Lord wants to underline is the insistence of the widow, despite the situation of injustice that she lives. At the end of his insistence is granted. So at the end of the parable he says:

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“Listen to what the crooked judge says. And God will not perhaps do justice to his elect, who cry out to him day and night? It will probably make them wait a long time? I tell you he will do them justice promptly. But the Son of Man, when will, find faith on earth?».

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Prayer is then our tenacious action. To entrust ourselves to God in our moments of suffering, in the injustices we live, in our spiritual aridity. Because the Lord knows everything about us and in prayer he continually feeds us with his grace and his gifts of the Holy Spirit. Prayer therefore prepares us to receive other graces and other greater gifts. But as Jesus himself says at the end with a rhetorical question, prayer is what feeds faith. That faith, theological virtue, that the Lord has generated in us and wants to find each day, because faith is falling in love with God. It is the most beautiful love of all.

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The prayer it is therefore that action which allows us to be ever more in love and fervent in charity towards God and our neighbour. In the Catholic tradition there are different types of prayer: the vocal one, the singing, meditation and contemplation. For us Dominicans, contemplative prayer is very important. When you do the temple: contemplation is like becoming a temple, become one with Jesus. So, an entry into the depths of Jesus: a relationship of intimacy in charity and truth.

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We ask the Lord to become more and more believers who pray to God with heart and spirit, so that we can wet our existential deserts with the rain of the tender and deep love of those who have loved us to the end.

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Florence, 15 October 2022

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NOTE

Father Gabriele was transferred from the Roman convent of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to the Florentine one of Santa Maria Novella, where this Sunday he celebrated his first Holy Mass and preached for the first time.

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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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

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From financial wolves to accumulators and rich in grace: “Poverty is lacking many things, all avarice

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

FROM FINANCIAL WOLVES TO ACCUMULATORS AND RICH IN GRACE: «POVERTY IS LACKING MANY THINGS, TO THE GREED EVERYONE»

 

“But God said to the rich farmer: "Fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you. And what you have prepared, whose it will be?”. So it is with those who accumulate treasures for themselves and are not enriched with God".

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

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PDF print format article

 

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Dear readers of The island of Patmos,

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In Gospel of this XVIII Sunday Ordinary Time, Jesus condemns greed or avarice, hence the immoderate accumulation of goods. A theme that may seem far from us small and medium-sized workers. Accumulation is not just about goods and treasures related to money or property. This was Jordan Belfort's experience, broker and financial entrepreneur, whose story was also told in the film 2013, The Wolf of Wall Street. At the beginning of his career he began with fraudulent investments and earnings, with an increasingly messy and flawed attachment to money. This will lead him to completely destroy his life by reducing him to drug addiction and the destruction of his friends and loved ones, up to prison.

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Today Jesus wants to offer us this teaching, he clearly says it in this pericope:

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“Be careful and keep away from all covetousness because, even if one is in abundance, his life does not depend on what he possesses".

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The life of each of us does not depend on good money. But it depends on the primary and essential good which is God. It is He who, if we trust, he gives us all the other goods and the means to reach the ultimate goal: Holiness and the eternal encounter with Him in Paradise. To clarify this, the Lord tells the parable of the rich man and his countryside. Here it calls again to the real dependence we have on God, that decides our life and our death. But even more: in this parable Jesus says a much stronger phrase, taking up the ending of his narration:

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“But God said to the rich farmer: "Fool, this very night your life will be demanded of you. And what you have prepared, whose it will be?”. So it is with those who accumulate treasures for themselves and are not enriched with God".

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True wealth to which we are all called is then the wealth in God. A wealth that does not accumulate by shopping on Amazon, playing on the stock market, or buying real estate. It is the wealth of those who truly have and are filled with the presence and grace of God.

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Jesus does not ask us to live as miserable, like poor people looking for a pauperistic form in which misery is our aim. He asks us to relocate all goods to obtain the richness of the Presence of God, which today you can get as a free gift, especially in the Sacraments and the Eucharist. A spiritual wealth that is obtained by free gift, when we grow in prayer and meditation: this is the treasure of the doctrine taught by Jesus which leads our every life. Got all this then, the Lord will not let us lack other material goods as well.

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The Roman author Pubblio Sirio wrote, in its Judgments: “Poverty is lacking many things, to avarice all".

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We ask the Lord to heal from the morbid attachment to all material and ephemeral realities, to learn to draw from the Trinitarian treasures of eternal life.

Amen.

Rome, 31 July 2022

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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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Dear Readers,
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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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Solemnity of Corpus Domini - The Eucharistic Mystery is the real sign and presence of Jesus, nourishment of joy for the Christian

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE EUCHARISTIC MYSTERY IS THE SIGN AND REAL PRESENCE OF JESUS, NURSING OF JOY FOR THE CHRISTIAN

 

Receiving Eucharistic Bread and Wine helps us to become “little” Jesus and to live every day with joy and spontaneity. So, from intimacy with him in the Eucharist, Charity arises, which Jesus himself describes in the Gospel.

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

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Dear Readers of The Island of Patmos,

tthe Dominican singers of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva perform the Eucharistic hymn composed by St. Thomas Aquinas

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi it shows us that at the Last Supper Jesus gave us the sacrament of his presence and deepest intimacy: the Eucharist.

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Let's imagine one of the last dinners which we did together with friends: their jokes, their jokes, also their many stories that often gave us joy and serenity. Here then is the Lord, at his Last Supper, he gives us his whole person, all his joy, serenity and grace. This last supper is presented to us from San Paolo, in the oldest account of the institution of the Eucharist:

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"Brothers, I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks, he broke it and said,: “This is my body, that's for you; Do this in memory of me". In the same way, after dinner, also the cup, saying: “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood; do this, every time you drink it, in memory— of me "".

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Of that Holy Supper we know, from the evangelical chronicles and from the apostolic letters that Jesus and the apostles are gathered in a banquet to share food. This important moment is intertwined in their journey of faith with the Lord. They are officiating a Jewish dinner, that of Easter, still known today as order (seder), in which Jesus inserts two new elements: bread and wine. Elements of the fields and the fruit of human labor. The Lord blesses this bread and this wine that he has taken with him.

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Jesus blesses God for the gifts of the fruits of the earth. On the contrary, Adam and Eve had stolen the fruit, instigated by the snake: they had taken that food without blessing God and indeed almost cursing it. In this way, Adam and Eve created division between them and God. Jesus, on the contrary, bless that new food, reversing the perspective of sin: bread and wine become elements of communion between men and God.

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For this the Lord immediately offers the bread and wine to the apostles, changing its material and visible substance into His Most Holy Body and His Most Holy Blood. To be honest, I don't know how immediately the apostles themselves understood what was happening. At the end of the dinner they sang the hymn, the psalm 135 in which it says «Give thanks to the Lord for being good, because his mercy is eternal ". After consuming Jesus Bread and Jesus Wine, the apostles have a new heart: therefore only at the end do they intuit the great miracle that happened at the Last Supper.

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This miracle it is presented to us again every time when we participate in Mass. Every time we receive the Eucharist we assimilate Him, who at the same time assimilates us to him. It makes us full of new strength, bursting, Divina, with which no impediment can hinder us. Receiving Eucharistic Bread and Wine helps us to become “little” Jesus and to live every day with joy and spontaneity. So, from intimacy with him in the Eucharist, Charity arises, which Jesus himself describes in the Gospel.

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We ask the Lord the grace of today to make Holy Communion and to walk in the eternal paths of the love of Charity and to inflame the whole world with its grace.

Amen.

Rome, 18 June 2022

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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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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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With “The heart elsewhere” towards a path of obedience to the Father, to be truly disciples of Christ

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

CON THE HEART ELSEWHERE TOWARDS A PATH OF OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER, TO TRULY BE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

 

The new law of love is not the kind of emotional and sentimental love that today seems to be a bit’ what is sought by the current culture and by slogan of television and TV series on platforms online.

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

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PDF print format article

 

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Easter time it is time for personal rediscovery and rebirth in faith. A faith that requires love and obedient listening. A bit like in an old film from 2003, The heart elsewhere, in which the young Nello, professor of classical literature, falls in love with Angela, blind from birth. Angela trusts Nello, he knows how to listen to him and if necessary he knows how to obey him. And she does it not because she is blind, but because she loves him. There are so many difficulties that arise in the course of such a difficult and contrasted story, but what maybe, for this, leads to a surprise ending in this film in which love and listening are the heart of the whole story.

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The Gospel of Blessed John the Evangelist today offers a section of Jesus' long farewell discourse, in which the Lord speaks of these themes. In the first part of this section we read that the center of all the Lord's action is love:

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«I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. As I loved you, you also must love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for each other "

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The love of charity that's what Jesus asks: to love God and neighbor above all else. This concretely implies seeking with all one's strength the good of God and neighbor. Therefore, seeking the construction of the civilization of love, first of all, build a personal and community common good. Trying to avoid and avert the injustices that happen in our life, at work, with friends and even with family.

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From love for God the observance of the ten commandments comes to life, the exercise of the virtues and all the moral teachings of Jesus. Because here the Lord teaches us that Love is listening to a profound word, that of God himself who speaks to our lives to the point of filling them with hope, joy and serenity. So, the new law of love is not the kind of emotional and sentimental love that today seems to be a bit’ what is sought by the current culture and by slogan of television and TV series on platforms online. Jesus asks of us a love that is radically founded in the Trinity, in our faith and our existence. Because salvation sprang from the Trinity, especially in the glorification of Jesus on the cross. The Lord speaks of this glorification at the beginning of the passage:

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"Now the Son of man has been glorified, and God was glorified in him. If God was glorified in him, God too will glorify him for his part and glorify him immediately ".

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This glory it begins to materialize in the moment of Judas' betrayal, running away from the last supper, shortly after having received the Eucharist and the Sacred Priestly Order from Christ the Lord. Even in the moment of the greatest betrayal, like that of Judas Iscariot, the Lord teaches us that there is a moment of maximum self-giving to the other. It seems paradoxical, but it is the moment when the extremes meet, all not by chance. Because Jesus decided to love to the end, to the extreme. Therefore also to love Judas who betrays him to the end, without ever repenting. Judas is the one who disobeys the golden rule of love. He doesn't know how to welcome such a strong and totally innovative message and decides to love in his own way. He decides to love the idol, the idea of ​​God he has in mind: the idea of ​​a triumphant God over the Empire.

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The glory of the Lord it will also be transmitted to us. We will rise again post mortem if we act diametrically opposite to Judas. Learning to obey the Lord.

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The invitation of the Risen One it still gets so strong today in 2022. The whole community of believers in Christ, all of us, let us return to listening in filial obedience to the words that God inspires in us and that he says through the Church and her pastors. In this way we will be able to build the kingdom of Christ already now, a kingdom not made up of political offices or roles of power, but based exclusively on care and attention towards our neighbor, in which we will see the face of Jesus imploring our love.

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Lord today we ask you for the gift of your Life-giving Spirit, because we are witnesses and credible believers of your love, so that we arouse the yearning to pray to universal love throughout the world.

Amen.

Rome, 15 May 2022

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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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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

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IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
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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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We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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This Sunday's Holy Gospel reminds us that we are a bit traitors and adulterers’ everyone

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE HOLY GOSPEL OF THIS SUNDAY REMINDERS US THAT WE ARE A LITTLE ALL OF TRAITORS AND ADULTERS

 

"An infinity of passions can be contained in a minute like a crowd in a small space"

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

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PDF print format article

 

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Dear Readers of The Island of Patmos,

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The Holy Gospel of this fifth Sunday of the season of Lent puts us before a dimension of darkness and light. On one side, a story of betrayal and adultery. On the other, the great love and welcome of Jesus for those who are repentant.

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A little’ traitors and adulterers we all are, every time we sin out of weakness. We have a bitter absinthe to assimilate: we are sinners and tend to be fragile. We easily break up a bit’ to be carried away by passions, from affection, with anger, from rash judgment. Or as Gustave Flaubert writes in Madame Bovary:

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"An infinity of passions can be contained in a minute like a crowd in a small space".

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Pror for this very reason, we are loved more by the Lord who helps us recognize our sins and welcomes our forgiveness. Today, the gospel story tells us about the adulterous episode. The text tells us that it is early morning in the Temple. Jesus is there to teach after he had been on the Mount of Olives, plausibly in prayer. Scribes and Pharisees then try to set a trap for the Lord. Called an adulterous woman they ask Jesus:

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«”Maestro, this woman was caught in adultery. now Moses, in the Law, He commanded us to stone such women. What do you think?”. They said this to test him and to have reason to accuse him ".

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Jesus was being tested, closed in a dialectical trap: if in fact he had replied not to stone the woman, he would have explicitly said to disobey and therefore not to be consistent with the Mosaic law, of which Jesus himself had said he was a follower. But if he replied to stone her, scribes and Pharisees could have accused him of not being consistent with his teaching on love. In both cases, it was easy to accuse the Lord of inconsistency and discredit him.

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Test the Lord it is also the temptation of today's culture, for this the severe warning resounds more than ever: “It has been said: You will not tempt the Lord your God " [LC 4, 12]. It is easy to accuse always and in any case of inconsistency, of little witness and truthfulness the Church and the Catholics. In fact, it is easy to pretend that others are perfect, while we can afford any action. Here then is that Jesus, to the trap of Pharisaic perfectionism, responds with skill:

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"Which one of you is without sin, be the first to throw the stone at her ".

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An excellent answer. Able to synthesize human nature. Above all it is an answer for us: no one is without sin. No one can judge, let alone condemn another. We can judge and condemn the actions of another, but without ever establishing that our sinful brother is permanently lost. This we can also refer to the wrongs we have done, to sins committed towards others. But above all to the sins that others have worked towards us. Remind us of how much the one who has hurt us is a sinful and fragile person. This is why we can make the Lord's words our own:

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«Donna, where am I? Has no one condemned?» […] I don't condemn you either; go and from now on don't sin anymore ".

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This is the central teaching: the Lord came to try to make us overcome the hidden form of Pharisaic perfectionism. Being Catholic does not mean that you are already perfect and holy by now, but continually strive for this perfection and holiness. E, when we are wrong, we can do nothing but entrust ourselves to the Lord. Because He gives us the grace and all the help necessary to avoid sinning.

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We ask the Lord to grow in humility and in the acceptance of oneself, to welcome grace and spread the teaching of forgiveness in charity throughout the world.

Amen.

 

Rome, 2 April 2022

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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.

.

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

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.

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______________________

Dear Readers,
this magazine requires management costs that we have always faced only with your free offers. Those who wish to support our apostolic work can send us their contribution through the convenient and safe way PayPal by clicking below:

Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

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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We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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