Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

- homiletics -

CHRISTMAS IS THE FEAST OF TENDERNESS OF GOD MADE MAN COME TO LIVING AMONG US

Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation, the glory of each of us in the Lord. We are the dream that the baby Jesus is doing sleeping in the arms of Mary. Let's believe with firm faith and Trinitarian Crowned the dream of each of us: the Word was made flesh, Really, coming to dwell in our midst, truly, in the flesh, with his spirit and his divinity.

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Salvador Dali: Nativity, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe

Merry Christmas to all! And the Lord warm our hearts with his warmth and joy of children. The Liturgy of the Word of this Holy Night gives us a prophetic song, an Apostle Paul's Letter and one of Luke's Gospel passage that recounts the birth of the Word of God made man, the redeemer [texts of Liturgy of the Word: WHO].

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All in life we ​​waited and witnessed the birth a grandson, a cousin, of a child. Here then there is Christmas for this family celebration: the party of the tenderness of God who became man. But there is something more, as Jean-Paul Sartre wrote about love:

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"The lover wants to be" worldwide "for sweetheart means that arises side of the world".

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The small child in the manger It is our whole world, therefore,: the one who gives meaning and direction to our nights. Let's see why, first reading the prophetic words of Isaiah:

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"Because each shoe soldier marching booming / and every cloak drenched in blood / will be burned, Data feed the fire. / Because a child is born to us, /He has been given to a child. / On his shoulders is the power ".

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It is noted an obvious contrast built by Isaiah of the soldier who has power and defense in the rumble, into violence, in the blood, in fire, and announced that the baby is defenseless, vulnerable, tender and devoid of force. The announced is Jesus, who has the power of agape. And the child will show naked, as it is really: that man will show who really is the man. That is the living being created in God's image, in its physicality and fragility and awaiting the grace of God to be holy. The child announced by Isaiah is Jesus showing us that we live among the torment of vulnerability and divine grace. This is also announced by St. Paul in his Letter to Titus:

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"My son, It appeared the grace of God, which brings salvation to all men and teaches us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live in this world with sobriety, with righteousness and piety ".

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The story of Jesus' birth really squeeze the heart and gives us another big announcement. To better understand this we divide the text into three parts. From the first moment in which St. Luke tells us:

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"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be of the whole earth. This first census was made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to be enrolled, respective cities'.

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The Evangelist Luke shows that God enters the world in Jesus, at a given moment in history, because God, which it is in History, It is made visible in its historic mission and visible, objectively verifiable and by testimonial to all. So God does not act in theory: It does not remain in heaven, but it draws near, concrete next to us. This brings us to the second moment:

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"While [Joseph and Mary] you were there, time came for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, She wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because for them there was in its slot '.

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Really poignant. I wonder how it is possible to find a place to allow the birth of a mother, I do not know how it was possible for men of the time. Mary and Joseph, however, are not discouraged, and at the end of Jesus' birth, wrapped by human bands of Mary, wrapped by the love of Giuseppe. God lets himself be wrapped in our swaddling clothes. From this we pass the third time:

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"An angel of the Lord appeared to [of the shepherds] the glory of the Lord shone around them. [..] the angel said to them,: “Don't worry: there, you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: today, the City of David, is born for you a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. This sign for you: You find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger ' ".

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Here at this point is a wonderful exchange: God had let enveloped by human; it's here, the shepherds, They allow themselves to be enveloped by the light of divine love transmitted by the Angel. So the man is stripped from its internal divisions, from its fragility, its divisions, from his sin nuclei and poured a greater love. Each of us at Christmas is wrapped by this Angel of Light. Every person of good will, Christmas Eve is part of this wonderful exchange and becomes God's masterpiece. Crediamoci all tonight: Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation, the glory of each of us in the Lord. We are the dream that the baby Jesus is doing sleeping in the arms of Mary. Let's believe with firm faith and Trinitarian Crowned the dream of each of us: the Word was made flesh, Really, coming to dwell in our midst, truly, in the flesh, with his spirit and his divinity.

Amen!

Rome, 24 December 2019

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The angle dell'omiletica of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE GREATEST SCIPPO THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST canonized saint BY CHRIST HIMSELF WAS A THIEF CONVERT THE SUPREME KING OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE LAST MINUTES OF LIFE

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Of this poor crucified thief We not know much, According to tradition the man would be called Dismas, But we know him and with certainty the final destination: heaven. Needless to say, although it should be said and remember it: we are ahead of the first canonized saint of church history, and the whole work of Christ himself, not of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which will come only after centuries.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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Christ and the Good Thief, Titian Vecellio (1477 – 1576)

always moved Rest in front of this beautiful expression of good thief, manifesting a truly extraordinary faith: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom " [LC 23,42]. He appeals to the Master using his name, it is rare in the Gospels ask someone to Christ in this way, and the fact is explained by the awareness that in Jesus is made a kingdom that does not disappoint, capable of doing real justice in front of the evil of sin.

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Therein lies the true meaning of Christ's kingship, he does not save himself in the manner of human rulers, as claimed by the crowd shouting furiously from under the cross, but saves the man who begs for forgiveness and mercy.

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This good thief, through his faith entirely in God, It performs a real misappropriation, a daring leap into Christ the King in order to fully redeem its existence. For this robber salvation begins in today: "Verily I say unto thee: Today will be with me in Paradise ". It is an adverb of time with theological value, the one chosen by the evangelist Luke, which it produces as a salvation for Zacchaeus immediate [cf. LC 19,1-10].

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Of this poor crucified thief We not know much, According to tradition the man would be called Dismas, But we know him and with certainty the final destination: heaven. Needless to say, although it should be said and remember it: we are ahead of the first canonized saint of church history, and the whole work of Christ himself, not of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which will come only after centuries.

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At the conclusion Liturgico, the liturgy of this Sunday leads us to reflect not so much the end of our existence but rather the end [see Liturgy of the Word, WHO]. How do Jesus reign in our lives? In today soil? In what way our lives become right?

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We know that with Jesus, trusting in Him, we can really be saved even if our actions appear to condemn, even if the world we live says otherwise, even when our personal history seems contradicting.

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"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom ", it is a beautiful prayer to be repeated every day, which is equivalent to the invocation of the publican in the Temple: "Hate, be merciful to me a sinner! ' [LC 18,13]. They are acts of faith that make the kingship of Christ who came to destroy the works of the accuser of man [cf. AP 12,10] and introduce us into a kingdom of justice and peace that, through the mercy, recovers all our dissonance and infidelity, until it opens the doors of his kingdom which has no end, as we say in our profession of faith.

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Laconi, 23 November 2019

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the personal blog by Father Ivano

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

- homiletics -

"EVERY DAMN SUNDAY". We climb WALLS OF HELL ONE AT A TIME CENTIMETER, TO BE ABLE TO WIN THE MOST ARDUA OF ALL THE MATCHES OF LIFE

Al Pacino plays the coach of a team football American; before a difficult match spurs them with a beautiful speech. In this long speech, invites players to climb the walls of Hell one centimeter at a time. That is to win the hardest game. To succeed in order, He urges them to work as a team: because it alone can not win.

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Movie poster

Readings of this XXXII Sunday in Ordinary Time [see Liturgy of the Word WHO], It reminds me of a beautiful sports movie, titled Every damn Sunday. Al Pacino plays the coach of a team football American; before a difficult game encourages players with a beautiful speech. In this long speech he invites them to climb the walls of Hell one centimeter at a time, that is, to win the hardest game. To succeed in order, He urges them to work as a team: because it alone can not win. No one can win only.

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This example filmic introduces the topic today. Nobody wins alone, no one redeems itself. This is a concept which introduces us to read the Old Testament in which we read:

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"It is better to die at the hands of men, by God when you have the hope of being raised again by him; But for you there will not really resurrection for life " [2Mac 7,1-2.9-14].

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This song shows us the tenacity and loyalty of the Maccabees, which together resist oppression pagan, denying the eating of forbidden food to the Israelites, and so become unclean before God. That is the desire to remain holy and united to God. We note that every brother speaks on behalf of all. I maccabei, with the idea of ​​the resurrection of the limbs, scandalized the Greeks, for which the flesh is the prison of the body and must die. Together, not only they are not afraid to tell the truth, but also to die to be reborn. This also indicates a very compact in the group. This force is multiplied by a fellowship with one another and with God. From what it seems fair to say that: towards the resurrection it goes with the other, through a path of communion and community in the truth.

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For us, this should help us to create bonds of communion. United, with faith in Jesus Christ. For where we are gathered in his name, He is among us. This also let us remember in the defense and protection of life activities, which it is not a disposable good in man's hands. At the same time turn away the divisions and create that communion which leads to resurrection, as we listen to the reading of the Holy Gospel Luke:

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"Now that the dead rise again, He has indicated it also Moses about the bush, when he says: "The Lord is the God of Abraham, God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ". God is not dead, but of the living; for all live to him " [LC 20,27-38].

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Previously Jesus explained that in Paradise nothing belongs to anyone. The wife a widow will not be of any of several brothers. And Christ will be with us all, distinct from Him, united with the Trinity in Him. This union with eternal life is through the resurrection of Jesus is an instrument. So to be understood that "for him": Jesus gives salvation because being the head of the mystical body transmits salvation limbs: even to us all. This opening takes place with a certainty to salvation: that the resurrection does not expect passively but by the life of faith. Because the glue is and will be him and he is the center of faith and being operational by it.

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Then writes Saint Paul in the second reading:

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"For the rest, siblings, pray for us, because the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, as it did among you " [2Ts 2,16-3,5].

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Paul writing to a community, He asks this community to pray for another community, Recalling in this sense, the concept of koinonia [the greek: Communion]. It asks you to pray that the Word will spread and so that they are delivered from evil fundamentally. This liberation is through the union of hearts and in the race and glorifying the word of the Lord. So it runs all together, to eternal life and glorifying the Lord in the moral life of the virtues, the exercise of charity, especially by praying and meditating on the word of God. For us, too, this is a strong invitation to come back on a few verses of the Word of God every day, ruminating constantly that you generate a continuous meditation with God Logos. The mutual support in His word means necessary and effective, along with the sacraments.

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We ask the Lord every day, his grace and she joined our freedom, our uniqueness and sacredness can make flames united in the light of Christ to the world fell into the thick darkness of the culture of death.

Amen.

Rome, 10 November 2019

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

PRAYER FROM THE TERRIBLE QUESTION: "WHEN THE SON OF MAN WILL RETURN, HE WILL FIND FAITH ON EARTH?»

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In life everyone has or has had deep friendships, and depending on how much time we spent with our friend, of what we shared with him, our love for him or her increases. He wrote the philosopher Aristotle: "Friendship is a soul dwelling in two bodies, a heart that lives in two souls ".

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Salvador Dali: Girl at the window

in this XXIX Sunday of ordinary time, the liturgy offers us considerable food for thought [see Liturgy of the Word, WHO]. In life everyone has had, of hectares, deep friendships and, depending on how much time we spent with our friend, of what we shared with him, our love for him or her increases. He wrote the philosopher Aristotle:

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"Friendship is a soul dwelling in two bodies, a heart that lives in two souls ".

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This being as one It is therefore made possible by an open and sincere dialogue that believers becomes possible for us making us one with the Lord through the most lively and fruitful dialogue: prayer. Just this tell us about the songs today. Let's start from the first reading Old Testament:

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"Moses said to Joshua,: "Choose us some men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill, with the rod of God "in hand" [Is 17,1]

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The Jewish People It is supported by Moses while fighting the Amalekites, one of the armies of the most aggressive and therefore quite hard to defeat. Moses joined army Jewish, for which invokes God to support them.

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For us prayer thus indicates a union with those in spiritual warfare, but also it is wanting in a test phase. Praying can mean continually invoke the strength and support of God towards those who suffer and can be a moral fatigue, physics, spiritual. Prayer is therefore first call upon God as support for those we love. It's intercession as almost get in the middle between God and his people. This is why Jesus himself asks his disciples never to stop praying, as explained the Gospel passage:

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"During that time, Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray, tirelessly " [LC 18, 1].

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In the parable of the Lord ago so see how the widow turns continually to the judge gets tired of hearing it kick, and eventually fulfills. With this provocation of Jesus to the disciples becomes evident: the judge who has no relationship with the widow, can not resist the constant complaints. The Lord instead has an intimate relationship with us, if we ask the right thing by prayer, We will hear us. The unceasing prayer, at the same time he teaches us to ask the Lord, but at the same time to learn to ask what is needed for us.

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That final question of Jesus: "When the son of man returns, find faith on the earth " [LC 18,1] also shows a connection between faith and prayer. Faith feeds the prayer and at the same time the prayer is nourished by faith. Even a dying faith or underactive through prayer rediscovers life, because all our life of faith finds nourishment in prayer and in the sacraments.

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At this point then we see how they pray unceasingly. He says St. Paul speaking to Timothy: please ceaselessly if we pray with the word of God:

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"But you keep balance in what you have learned and are convinced, knowing from whom you learned it and that from childhood you know the Holy Scriptures: They are able to instruct for salvation, which is obtained through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, to convince, correcting and training in righteousness, That the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work " [2 TM 3, 14-16]

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The word of God is God and it helps to do good works, especially works of charity that help us become saints. If we pray with the Word of God, It becomes a continuous way of praying. There are many ways to pray, therefore, with the word of God, such as read a short passage from the Gospel day, before going to work. Or to make a longer prayer there is lectio divina, as reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation of God's word.

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The German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: "To pray is to catch your breath before God; pray is to rely on God ".

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We ask the Lord to help to ensure the vital oxygen our prayer becomes day by day, and united to the sacraments, both the lungs with which to breathe a life of joyful faith, satisfaction and fullness of himself.

Amen.

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Rome, 19 October 2019

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It is now available the second book of Editions The island of Patmos, visit our shop page WHO. Support our editions by purchasing our books

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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
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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

WHICH IS THE REAL VISIBILITY authentic Christian? THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

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A certain humility ecclesiastical flavor moth has unfortunately become accustomed to flaunt a false humility - when strategically seeking the last place - expect the glorification and prestige coveted. With this false humility, which unfortunately today in the Church save very few, there is a serious risk that it also distorts the virtue of charity. Indeed, when the charity is made to show off power and prestige, obtain favors, transpose gains up to the speculation you can rest assured that there is more charity.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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carry the cross of Christ

This XXII Sunday Ordinary Time, It reminds us of one of the classics of Christian spirituality, The imitation of Christ, in particular in the part in which it warns: «Then love and to be esteemed» [He loves to be not known and felt nothing (cf.. lib. I, cap. 2, v. 15)].

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If we think about the way of life we lead today, even as believers, This warning sounds completely irrational and even a little 'offensive. No one likes it be forgotten, we live in an era that demands visibility along with the underlining of egocentrism and of person. At this point, We crossed the limits of narcissism, we are pushed us beyond, maybe to a point of no return.

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The liturgy of this Sunday We assist us in this drift ego, by teaching that Christ gives to the Pharisees during a lunch [see Liturgy of the Word, WHO]. The passage in Luke asks its believers on the subject of humility to introduce a beautiful reflection on the way to work actively charity without hiding ulterior motives.

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Humility is the Christian virtue that makes us more like Christ, who "he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross" (Fil 2,8). Unfortunately, this virtue is not easily conquered if we become able to ask for it with the Holy Spirit and unless we adapt our feelings, the sentiments of Christ Jesus during his earthly life.

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Humility is a grace you need to take every day since none of us is immune from pride reputarsi, by virtue of the fact that original sin is explicitly a sin of pride. Although redeemed by Christ through baptism into His death and resurrection, the wound of original sin still disturbs us right through the nefarious sin of pride. And from pride come cascading all other vices and sins.

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The same devil - character now denied by a certain group of emancipated Christians, adults as well as theologians [see previous article, WHO] - is the father of pride and rebellion originated from the desire to overcome God and to take his place. Jesus in the Gospel urges us to desire the last place because our value lies not in the event of a power or a worldly prestige but in the exclusive relationship with the Father.

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Remember the Blessed Father Francis in its Yellow:

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"Blessed is the servant, do not you think best, when it is praised and exalted by men, when it is considered vile, simple and despicable, because what man is before God, It is and no more " [cf.. Yellow Cards Nineteenth, FF 169]

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For this man is called to be small and love this exceedingly small size because that is where his treasure is hidden.

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A certain ecclesiastical humility the taste of mothballs has unfortunately become accustomed to flaunt a false humility - when strategically seeking the last place - expect the glorification and prestige coveted. With this false humility, which unfortunately today in the Church save very few, there is a serious risk that it also distorts the virtue of charity. Indeed, when the charity is made to show off power and prestige, obtain favors, transpose gains up to the speculation you can rest assured that there is more charity.

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The recompense, according to the teaching of the Kingdom, It is not the trading currency of the disciple and this is true in secular realities in those sacred: "You received, freely give " [cf.. Mt 10,8].

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The charity is evident in the care of the needy, of the sick, the prisoner, the distant, the lost of faith, the confusing, the sinner, of the heretic, apostate and so to follow, both free and urges, It deprives many arguments that turn into socio-psychological discipline. The Christian charity only speaks of God, and God through His Son humbled himself on the cross to teach us to love to the total gift of ourselves. The theology of humility and last place coincides with the Calvary, a hard lesson to swallow.

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The last place It is certainly an uncomfortable place but it is the safest outpost of paradise that man could wish on earth.

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Cagliari, 31 August 2019

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

payable to Editions The island of Patmos

IBAN IT 74R0503403259000000301118
in this case, send us an email warning, because the bank
It does not provide your email and we could not send you a
thanks [ isoladipatmos@gmail.com ]

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