Homiletics – Page 13 – EDIZIONI L'ISOLA DI PATMOS

That superficial mediocrity and indolent lukewarmness that prevents us from reaching the road, to truth and life

10 May 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

THAT SURFACE MEDIOCRITY AND INDOLENT SLOWNESS THAT PREVENTS US FROM GETTING TO THE WAY, TRUTH AND LIFE

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We need so much he sees men who stand in the breach as defenders of a people now unable to find God, lost as an orphaned child. The current health emergency has unearthed the most hidden human miseries, even those miseries of the Christian people and his ministers both forgetful of the only life-giving relationship with Christ in favor of virtual relationships and alternative solutions not without noble intentions.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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The Gospel of St. John: 14, 6

Last Sunday Jesus presents himself to us as the door of the sheep and the good shepherd, as the one who is the sure guide to achieving true life [see previous homily, WHO]. In this Easter season, marked by the annoying Covid-19 pandemic, life can only yearn for truth, without capitulating to the lying fatalism of the world, so that it acquires more and more sensibility and value even in infirmity [Liturgy of the Word of this fifth Easter Sunday, WHO]. This high expectation of earthly existence can only come true in collaboration with grace, reaffirming the radical choice of the Risen Lord: in him the cornerstone every life grows in an orderly and well-organized and connected way to build itself as a holy place inhabited by the Spirit of God [cf. Ef 2,21; 4,16].

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And inside the Church, risen bride, the Holy Spirit never ceases to make that question of the Psalm sound firmly 34 which constitutes one of the cornerstones of every interior renewal and of every sure vocational action:

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"There is someone who wants life and longs for days to taste the good?» [cf. Shall 34, 13].

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Let's ask ourselves really, there is still someone who wants to live fully or you want to settle only on the superficial mediocrity and indolent lukewarmness? Our Christian communities are still able to respond to God's invitation to the prophet:

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«I sought among them a man who built a wall and stood on the breach in front of me, to defend the country so that I wouldn't devastate it, but I haven't found it» [cf. This 22,30].

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We need so much he sees men who stand in the breach as defenders of a people now unable to find God, lost as an orphaned child. The current health emergency has unearthed the most hidden human miseries, even those miseries of the Christian people and his ministers both forgetful of the only life-giving relationship with Christ in favor of virtual relationships and alternative solutions not without noble intentions.

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In our hypocrisy, which is sometimes colored with disbelief and sometimes with bigotry, we forgot that we were created exclusively to get to know, love and enjoy God. The life of man on earth, even the most sinful and distant one, it serves no other purpose than to express this awareness: God loves me and I love him. And the measure of this love is the glorious Cross of the Risen One that never shines like this in this time of tribulation to the world as often unique.

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God is looking for lovers, of men who want to live without discounts, without alibi, without compromises, without interference with the world. God makes himself - through the humanity of his Son - a beggar of love, so that man finds the richness of life in him. In this search for love and new life it is urgent to remove the personal self and graft the ego of Christ:

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«I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me " [cf. GV 14,6].

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The three predicates that we find in this Gospel verse are introduced by the solemn divine formula of theI am eimi, of the I Am, formula that leaves no possibility of appeal and misunderstanding but seals the essentiality of the disciples' vocational following. Christ is truly the face of the visible and knowable God who is the Way, Truth and Life. And whoever chooses Christ knows he has to go a different way, make an uncomfortable truth your own, take on a life that demands perfection beyond measure.

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The Way that guides existence it is the Word of Christ, it is the new Torah that has brought the ancient Mosaic Law to perfection and fullness [cf. Mt 5,17], his Gospel is now rule and orientation without gloss.

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The Truth that liberates it is no longer given by that subtle and malicious human wisdom, finally there is an embodied wisdom, pretty who reveals himself and communicates himself in the Word of God who became the son of Joseph and Mary, revealing the man to himself in his true face [cf. GV 19,5]. Life reminds us of the profound bond with God because he is the giver of all life through his Spirit, accepting life means unquestionably accepting God's signature on the created world. In the Gospel of John, Christ is the custodian of the Father's life, it is he who gives it to whoever he wants [cf. GV 5,21; 11,25-26].

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Faith in the Risen One Via, Truth and Life allows us to reach God, this is the goal of every profession of faith so much so that the evangelist John tends to underline it very well in the end of his Gospel:

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«Many other signs made Jesus in the presence of his disciples, but they were not written in this book. These were written, because you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and why, believing, have life in its name» [cf. GV 20,30-31].

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Faith in him leads us to the breach, has us atHere I am, it makes it possible for us to embrace the Father in a time when hugs are denied us. Let's not waste time, we want life, we always want it, let's wish it now!

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Laconi, 10 May 2020

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To stay as close as possible to the faithful in this time of crisis and emergency, the editorial staff of The Island of Patmos informs readers that our author Father Ivano LIGUORI, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Care on Facebook the heading 'THE WORD NETWORK ", offering of three times a week meditations. You can access the edited page from our Father clicking on the logo below:

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO. Following the coronavirus emergency, the Amazon company that prints and distributes our books had to prioritize the distribution of basic necessities. Printing and distribution of books will then resume after 4 May.

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The Bel Pastore is not a devotional iconography, but the possible and achievable model to pursue that Divine Christ Master offers us

3 May 2020/4 Comments/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

THE BEAUTIFUL SHEPHERD IS NOT A DEVOTIONAL ICONOGRAPHY, BUT THE POSSIBLE AND REALIZABLE MODEL TO PURSUE THAT CHRIST DIVINE MASTER OFFERS US

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Whether we are shepherds or sheep it is necessary to go through the Risen Christ because it is the only rule for finding life. We repudiate all other useless doors, all other deceptive shepherds, let's not get confused and end our disappointed days, sick and hungry. Whoever does not go through Jesus is either a thief who wants to use faith to get rich illegally or is a brigand who wants to use faith with violence and aggression.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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File picture: the Supreme Pontiff Francis

On this 4th Sunday of Easter our reflection on the Gospel of John focuses on the figure of the risen Christ presented as the good Shepherd, title that in the Greek original is rendered as the handsome shepherd that is, the exemplary model for all those who are called to be shepherds. This observation leads us today to carry all our shepherds in our hearts: from the Bishop of Rome to the last ordained priest. All of them are vicar shepherds insofar as their life follows that of the only and authentic Shepherd who is the Risen Christ.

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I will be sincere, I have never liked that the judgment on a priest is made up of what he can do or what he can give. Worse still when the priest - or bishop - is identified through his academic qualifications, as new blazons to be exhibited in the plethora of clerical climbers towards career climbing. The only essential title for a priest is given by his being of Christ, inside that undeserved and burdensome mystery of which we will never understand enough the value is enclosed everything necessary to open wide the doors of paradise. For this - I said - I suffer a lot when a priest is deemed worthy or not based on his physical skills, intellectuals, academics, social, organizational, ecclesiastical. It is enough for me to be a priest: convinced of it, happy to be, responsible for it.

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We parish priests know this well when we feel brought to a measure of comparison by the faithful: «That priest organizes many trips and pilgrimages for the parishioners, put numerous aggregation activities in the parish, has equipped the oratory in a magnificent way, can speak to young people, has endowed the Church with all comforts etc .. ». Sorry, but I can only think how in front of all these wonders - certainly useful and right - many super-equipped communities still remain empty, the boys abandon the faith after confirmation, the hunger for the Eucharist and the Word is not filled, the difficulty in remaining faithful to the Gospel represents the norm to get used to in order not to be labeled as rigid.

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Here then is why the Gospel of this Sunday it is extremely important not only for the lay faithful but above all for us ministers, constituted shepherds of the flock of God entrusted to us. Christ in his incarnation takes charge of our human nature and in the events of Easter he elevates it to the glory of God. Our final condition, from a theological point of view, it is decidedly more superior and sublime than what our ancestors experienced in Earthly Paradise.

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Dear Christian friends, this is the work done by the Risen One, from the one who is the Lord, and this work of raising the faithful to the glory of the Father through their daily sanctification is an eminent task of the priests, this is, and it should be the only worry that made us leave everything to follow Christ.

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I can't be satisfied of a flock of faithful satisfied if this is not even holy, satisfaction pertains to immanence, holiness embraces the eternal today of God in a continuous movement of conversion:

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"If anyone wants to come after me, disown yourself, take up his cross every day and follow me. Who will want to save their life, will lose it, but who will lose their life for me, will save her » (cf. LC 9,23-24).

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For this reason the evangelist John tells us today that Jesus is the only door through which the sheep can pass to be holy and full of God. Words that want to indicate the mediation of the One who allows us access to the Father, within a life totally filled with God and that speaks of Him in all the most minute facets.

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This prospect of perfection should not surprise us, because in this month of May we have before us the example of Mary Most Holy, she who is called holy and full of grace, precisely because - through the Son and in view of him - he obtained from God that completeness of life which is the goal of every baptized person. Mary is the first Christian who has fully enjoyed the fruits of the resurrection of the Son.

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Therefore, whether we are shepherds or sheep it is necessary to go through the Risen Christ because it is the only rule for finding life. We repudiate all other useless doors, all other deceptive shepherds, let's not get confused and end our disappointed days, sick and hungry. Whoever does not go through Jesus is either a thief who wants to use faith to get rich illegally or is a brigand who wants to use faith with violence and aggression.

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We pray every day so that our shepherds do not turn into thieves or robbers, this is the task of the whole Church, community that intercedes so that those who are called to sanctify are the first saints to whom we must give thanks to God.

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Jesus is the door of our life, a resurrected life which - if accepted freely and joyfully - is capable of saving from the depths of death and constituting authentic witnesses of life. This is the only message that I wish to meet today in the eyes of the priests, this alone is sufficient, this alone is enough.

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Laconi, 3 May 2020

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To stay as close as possible to the faithful in this time of crisis and emergency, the editorial staff of The Island of Patmos informs readers that our author Father Ivano LIGUORI, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Care on Facebook the heading 'THE WORD NETWORK ", offering of three times a week meditations. You can access the edited page from our Father clicking on the logo below:

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO. Following the coronavirus emergency, the Amazon company that prints and distributes our books had to prioritize the distribution of basic necessities. Printing and distribution of books will then resume after 4 May.

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In the face of the mystery of the Risen Christ we cannot renounce living and reduce ourselves to survive

3 May 2020/6 Comments/in Homiletics/by administrator

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

BEFORE THE MYSTERY OF THE RISEN CHRIST WE CANNOT GIVE UP LIVING AND REDUCE SURVIVING

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My conscience as a man, of Catholic, of priest and Italian citizen therefore requires me to make the following decision: this is the last time I celebrate Holy Mass live on television, because I don't want to become an accomplice in an absurd and mortifying way of doing. Others will decide differently, but I can not, I don't have to and I don't want to do otherwise, because I want to live and not just survive, I want to be a responsible witness of the risen Christ, the only one who frees us from the terror of evil and death.

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John Zanchi

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Siblings,

the effigy of Santa Maria del Conforto, venerated in the Diocese of Arezzo

let's celebrate this Holy Mass to the glory of God and in honor of Santa Maria in the resurrection of the Lord (cf Collection of Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary 15). Saturday is particularly consecrated to Marian devotion, because on Holy Saturday the Madonna was alone on the face of the earth to believe and hope in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead; on Holy Saturday the whole faith of the Church was "enclosed" in the Most Holy Mary, always united in faith obedient to his Divine Son. Because of this, just resurrected, Jesus first appeared to his Holy Mother; about this, I re-read part of what St. John Paul II taught during the General Audience of 21 May 1997:

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«The Gospels report a small number of apparitions of the risen Jesus and certainly not the complete account of what happened in the forty days after Easter. The Virgin, present in the first community of disciples (cf At 1, 14), how it could have been excluded from the number of those who met his divine Son raised from the dead? Indeed, it is legitimate to think that the Mother was probably the first person to whom the risen Jesus appeared. Mary's absence from the group of women who go to the tomb at dawn (CF. Mc 16, 1; Mt 28, 1), it could not perhaps be an indication that she had already met Jesus? This deduction would also be confirmed by the fact that the first witnesses of the resurrection, at the behest of Jesus, it was the women, who remained faithful at the foot of the Cross and therefore more firm in faith. IThe unique and special character of the presence of the Virgin on Calvary and her perfect union with the Son in the suffering of the Cross, they seem to postulate his very particular participation in the mystery of the resurrection. Present on Calvary during Good Friday (CF Jn. 19, 25) and in the Upper Room at Pentecost (cf At 1, 14), the Blessed Virgin was probably also a privileged witness of the resurrection of Christ, thus completing his participation in all the essential moments of the Paschal Mystery ».

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Saint John Paul II therefore teaches that, among the singular supernatural privileges that Our Lady had from God, there was also the appearance of the Son just risen from the dead. For us now the encounter with the risen Jesus takes place first of all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, celebrated in Holy Mass and received in Holy Communion; under the appearances of the consecrated bread and wine it is indeed present, really and substantially the risen Jesus, in body, blood, soul and divinity; that same and same risen Christ that the blessed already enjoy in Paradise, that same and same risen Christ that Our Lady and the first disciples contemplated here on earth in the 40 days of the first Easter, that same and same risen Christ is now communicated to us in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar; the only difference between the blessed in heaven, Our Lady and the first disciples and we are that they contemplate him and contemplated him in vision, for now only in faith under the veil of the Sacrament.

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In Holy Mass and in sacramental communion we therefore enjoy the presence of the risen Jesus who assimilates us to himself and communicates his glorious life to us. But because of the ongoing pandemic, the vast majority of the faithful have for too long been deprived of the grace of participating in the Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion. In the beginning our bishops justified this very serious deprivation as a painful sacrifice and an act of responsibility on the part of the Church, to foster the common struggle against the spread of the disease e, in the emergence of the emergency, this could also be entirely acceptable, waiting to be able to organize safely. But now, continue to deny participation in the Holy Mass and the reception of the sacraments for an indefinite time, exposes our people to serious spiritual risks, more dangerous than physical ones; I list some of them: first of all the danger of believing that faith can be reduced to a simple subjective opinion to be lived only in private, without public and social form and that indeed a religious practice without public rites and manifestations and reduced to the fulfillment of solitary prayers and philanthropic acts would be more pure and mature; then the danger that the Church will be totally enslaved to the state, without any freedom of preaching and action, neither internally nor socially, as happens for example in communist China, origin of this pandemic that afflicts us; therefore the danger that our churches are falsely considered the most dangerous places for public health and our Liturgies main source of spread of the viral infection - while the churches are the places where it is easier to observe the norms of prophylaxis and the celebration of the Sacraments are the least dangerous acts for health -; finally the danger that people mistakenly convince themselves of the uselessness of the Christian faith and of the very existence of the Church.

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It is now clear that many politicians and their self-styled experts, many journalists, many - too many - ordinary people want to exploit the pandemic to annihilate the presence and work of the Church in Italy, forcing Catholics to practice faith even in churches, but the priests in the closed of the sacristies and the faithful in the closed of their own home, isolated from each other.

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So far we have adapted to many spiritual sacrifices with great suffering even in very important things, but now the situation has changed - thanks to God and the sacrifice of many - and it is no longer possible to continue living like this, that is: for fear of physical death, to survive and give up living; die of unemployment so as not to die of viral contagion; die as a Church to continue to survive as single believers barely tolerated by the unbelieving world. Those who do not believe in Christ risen from the dead always and inevitably end up surviving rather than living: «If the dead are not raised, we eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die » (1Color 15, 32), so atheists think and live; but we Christians are the witnesses of Christ risen from the dead and we cannot give up living to reduce ourselves to survive, neither as men nor as Christians.

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This also means that Masses are only televised they have had their time and it is no longer necessary or appropriate to continue celebrating in deserted churches with all our people reduced to a shapeless mass of viewers more or less involved; in many other countries afflicted by the pandemic, they continued to celebrate Holy Mass with the people, certainly with due precautions; now it is possible to start doing it also in Italy, without any permission from anyone - least of all the civil authorities, who have no power to forbid us or allow us what we have to do in churches -; now it is possible to start again to celebrate the sacraments with the people in church, without endangering anyone's physical health, certainly by doing it with that responsibility that we Christians have always abundantly shown and taught to others in times of calamity. Therefore, the live broadcast of the Holy Mass must return as soon as possible to be an exceptional and sporadic fact in the spiritual service only of those who, due to illness or old age, are prevented from participating personally; all the other faithful must be able to return to church as soon as possible to celebrate and receive the sacraments.

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Jesus says: «I am the living bread, down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he will live forever ... Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day ". (GV 6, 51. 54). Jesus says "Do this in memory of me" (LC 22, 19); Jesus doesn't say: «You were holed up in the house each on his own for fear of dying because he does the same; each for himself and God for all ".

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My conscience as a man, of Catholic, of priest and Italian citizen therefore requires me to make the following decision: this is the last time I celebrate Holy Mass live on television, because I don't want to become an accomplice in an absurd and mortifying way of doing. Others will decide differently, but I can not, I don't have to and I don't want to do otherwise, because I want to live and not just survive, I want to be a responsible witness of the risen Christ, the only one who frees us from the terror of evil and death.

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Santa Maria, cheered by your Divine Son just risen from the dead at dawn of Easter, intercede for us and obtain from the glorious Lord the liberation from the pandemic and the courage to profess our faith always and in every place and circumstance (safe or dangerous) and above all get us freedom from the tyranny of worldly power and from reducing us to survive, prisoners and paralyzed by fear of death.

Praised be Jesus Christ!

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Cathedral Church of Arezzo, 2 May 2020

Lady Mass on Saturdays

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The video meditations of the Presbyter Mons. Giovanni Zanchi are available on our page

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO. Following the coronavirus emergency, the Amazon company that prints and distributes our books had to prioritize the distribution of basic necessities. Printing and distribution of books will then resume after 4 May.

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The supplication rings along the way: «Stay with us, Lord, because it is evening »

26 April 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

ALONG THE STREET THE SUPPLICA RINGES: «STAY WITH US LORD WHY IT IS EVENING "

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We are all tired at the moment, deceived into our expectations, disappointed by our intentions, exhausted and fed up with a faith that is increasingly human image, distancing light years from that authentic revelation that we find in Sacred Scripture and that apostolic preaching has brought within our faith communities. These two months of medical exile make us wish - as it was for the disciples of Emmaus - to listen again to the living Scriptures, in which to burn for the presence of the Risen Jesus, inside of of a Sunday community that meets without fear and prohibition.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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In this third Sunday of Easter, from the Gospel it resounds: "Stay with us, because it is evening and the day is now sunset » [LC 24, 29], I believe I correctly interpret the voice of many faithful in this particular historical moment, starting from this beautiful request for mercy from the Gospel of Luke.

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We need, that Jesus remains with us today; we desperately need to stay with him, without more conditions, time has become short and we can no longer afford to waste it.

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We are all tired at the moment, deceived into our expectations, disappointed by our intentions, exhausted and fed up with a faith that is increasingly human image, distancing light years from that authentic revelation that we find in Sacred Scripture and that apostolic preaching has brought within our faith communities. These two months of medical exile make us wish - as it was for the disciples of Emmaus - to listen again to the living Scriptures, in which to burn for the presence of the Risen Jesus, within a Sunday community that meets without fear and prohibitions.

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First of all though, it is necessary to heal a wound that is that which resides in our hardened heart, in the sclerocardia that prevents us from believing everything the prophets said, a broad image to express all those who in the history of humanity have been charged by the Church with the proclamation of the Word and with the authentic interpretation of the same.

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How much Word wasted, how many unheard prophets: from those of the Old Testament, passing through Giovanni Battista up to many good bishops and the last parish priest. We cannot say that Jesus rose without adhering to the proclamation of the Scriptures and without listening to the words of those who were made up by God prophets of this announcement.

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With sadness we must recognize that our ignorance of Jesus Christ, as San Girolamo said, it derives from the non-knowledge of the Word of the Scriptures announced and proclaimed. How sad that the word of so many teachers of the faith today is ridiculed, trivialized and downsized before the unique thought and the politically correct. Precisely in this quarantine we need more than ever the authentic Word of the Scriptures. Word that is in short supply also in us priests, to make way for a palliative presence, human who - over sacramental proclamation - prefers the pampering of closeness. For you see, Dear brothers, we can deeply desire to have many beautiful experiences of Jesus but if we do not listen and adhere to the Word, there is a serious risk of being incredulous and atheists, while basking in sacristy, churchyard or participating in patronal feasts and pilgrimages.

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The beauty of Luca's song this Sunday consists precisely in this unveiling which reveals our paradox of unbelieving believers. We can consider these two men of the family, they are disciples, they are close to Jesus and yet they have a heart distant from Him, incredulous, so much so that the events of the Passion they witnessed are not at all eloquent for their lives but rather become an opportunity for scandal and fearful escape from Jerusalem.

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Indeed, it is not enough to see to believe, just as Tommaso reminded us last Sunday, something more is needed. Is this Moreover it consists in listening to the Word of Scripture and applying it to Jesus, participating in that amazement that what has been written has really come true. In a simple way we must see how God remains faithful to what he said and worked. Here then is that Jesus joins between these two disciples and renounces the Word to them, educates them to a new loyalty. He Word of the Father makes himself Word for these silent unbelievers, igniting in their hearts the desire of the neighboring God who finds his full fulfillment in the Risen One.

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The Word makes their hearts burn so much so that the sacramental sign of the breaking of the bread, in that house where they had found refuge, it becomes an opportune moment for their eyes to open to the Easter truth. It is interesting to note how in the moment in which they recognize the Risen One it disappears, just as it will happen other times in the Easter tales.

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It is not possible for man to dominate the Risen One, it cannot be blocked, you cannot domesticate it for your own purposes. When the Lord opens our eyes with his Word he does it to make us proclaimers and prophets free and faithful.

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In Easter our eyes were opened to see the Lord as the living, the winner over death and sin, not to have the demeaning experience of Adam and Eve whose eyes opened by the fruit of the Tree have only glimpsed the nakedness of sin.

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The disciples of Emmaus, with eyes wide open on Easter salvation, they have been elected as announcers of the Word which they themselves will proclaim to the Eleven gathered in Jerusalem.

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Dear brothers, to make Easter we have to open our eyes well and, with open eyes, also say what the world does not want to hear and refuses, we are called to free our brothers through the faithfulness of the Word of truth announced and proclaimed, made sacrament of salvation in the sign of Sunday Eucharistic bread which we will soon return to break together with our pastors.

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Laconi, 26 April 2020

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To stay as close as possible to the faithful in this time of crisis and emergency, the editorial staff of The Island of Patmos informs readers that our author Father Ivano LIGUORI, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Care on Facebook the heading 'THE WORD NETWORK ", offering of three times a week meditations. You can access the edited page from our Father clicking on the logo below:

.

Visit the pages of our book shop WHO. Following the coronavirus emergency, the Amazon company that prints and distributes our books had to prioritize the distribution of basic necessities. Printing and distribution of books will then resume after 4 May.

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We are all in the brush of Caravaggio who painted the finger of Thomas in the side of the Risen Christ

19 April 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Gabriele

Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

- homiletics -

WE ARE ALL IN CARAVAGGIO'S BRUSH THAT PAINTED THOMAS' FINGER IN THE RISE OF THE RISEN CHRIST

Maybe you can read it in Tommaso's attitude a powder’ of pride and mistrust towards the apostolic community. Then Jesus breaks into the closed doors of his heart and mind. Bring irrefutable proof: those wounds are true and full of love.

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

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Caravaggio, particular: St Thomas unbelieving

today we celebrate the Sunday of mercy, of God's love for man. We can speak of love and mercy in these times of the coronavirus? This is how a dear nurse friend in the red zone from Lombardy replies:

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«Mercy is going out to your comfort zone […] and say yes to God and neighbor. With simple gestures like putting cream on a person, shake a hand or communicate with a glance all the tenderness that I felt inside me, come not only from God but also from all those brothers who are close to me with prayer, with thought, with the messages and every form of good that I tried to remodel so that it could be useful as a love to give ».

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Today we can meditate then together on the mercy and experience of Thomas the Apostle, in tenderness, in truth and joy. We read about it in the Acts of the Apostles:

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“All the believers were together and had everything in common; every day they persevered together in the temple and, breaking bread in the houses, they took food with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people " [At 2, 42-47].

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The word that expresses that whole and ομοθυμαδόν (my mood), term that indicates a profound communion in the first Christian communities. All in fact, Luke the Evangelist writes us, he is cloaked in a communion in faith, in charity and material goods. Therefore communion testifies to the true face of God has the effect of joy and simplicity of heart. True communion in charity and faith shows the love of God and people are converted and decide to become Christians..

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This is the effort that even today the Christian is called to do: be a believer who lives in relationship communions, because there is no mercy in self-sufficient solitude. Selfishness is contrary to mercy and is the root of division; mercy is openness to God and to the other, in an act of self-giving to excess.

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In this sense, the example of Thomas apostle shows us how we open ourselves to God and to the community. His example is perhaps familiar to us.

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Today's Gospel it is divided into two scenes: the first describes the apostles locked inside for fear of the Jews, the arrival of Jesus [GV 19, 23], where there is the sending of the apostles, the foundation of the confession of sins through the Spirit. In the second scene [GV 24, 31], the Apostles are closed inside again, and this time there is also Thomas, who had not believed in the community:

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"If I don't see the sign of the nails in his hands and I don't put my finger in the sign of the nails and I don't put my hand in his side, I do not think so".

Thomas is the person in search of God: he wants to believe only after he has seen and known (as in fact we find the original Greek ίδιο (idiom) deriving from Οἶδα (heard) that indicates “i have seen” so “so”, expression that we find in Sophocles' work Antigone.

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Perhaps, can be read in Tommaso's attitude a powder’ of pride and mistrust towards the apostolic community. Then Jesus breaks into the closed doors of his heart and mind. Bring irrefutable proof: those wounds are true and full of love. With Santa Caterina we can try to read Tommaso's thoughts «and there, in the wound of the side, you will discover the secret of his heart: he loved you and loves you invaluably ". Finally the apostle can burst out "Lord my God!». Truth and Mercy meet. Finally, the apostle can also embark on a self-giving mission, by preaching the mystery of God.

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In Jesus Christ all of us like Thomas, we discover the truth of a tenderness of those who never stop loving us in the face of our frailties. This gives us the joy of new life, Sunday without sunset, that we all begin to live now and we will live in Heaven with Him.

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Rabindranath Tagore wrote: "I dreamed, and I saw that life is joy; I woke up, and I saw that life is service. servii, and I saw that in serving there is joy ".

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We ask God to open our hearts to mercy so that our service to the truth will lead everyone to the joy of the encounter.

So be it

Rome, 19 April 2020

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Staff Blog

Father Gabriele

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Christ's resurrection is that act of perfect saving love that drives away the fear of death in us

12 April 2020/1 Comment/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IS THAT PERFECT ACTION OF SAVING LOVE WHICH PUTS AWAY FROM US THE FEAR OF DEATH

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[…] when I consider Jesus as a deceased, when I see in him the dear extinct to be pitied or when I see in him only a tradition of the past to be respected annually it is difficult to make Easter, it is difficult to find a remedy for fear and death. But Jesus is not a dead man is the Living One, it is the eternal present and I am called to experience this, as it happened to women: "Fear not:; go and tell my brothers that they are going to Galilee: there they will see me ».

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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PDF print format article
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Dear brothers and sisters,

Lamp of the Blessed Sacrament in the parish church of the convent of the Capuchin Friars Minor of Laconi (Oristano)

"Do not be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, the crucifix. It is not here. He is risen as he said " [Mt 28, 1-10].

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These are the words taken from the Gospel of Matthew of this night they announce the Resurrection of Christ to us. n strong announcement that contrasts with two aspects present in the life of each of us: fear and death. And in the face of fear and death, we don't just need to be encouraged, but we need to find someone who will free us from death and put fear away. Easter is the answer to this need. Indeed, first of all, the Angel invites women not to be afraid.

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For the current health crisis each of us is experiencing a time of discouragement and fear. A virus was enough to question our whole life and what seemed until recently normal, today it is no longer. Easter is the event where God through Jesus Christ tells us that man was not created to live in fear, but it was created free and free of all evil. We cannot therefore think of leading a normal life - even of faith - if we allow fear to dominate us. So what is the remedy for fear? It is Jesus, it is knowing that he has not forgotten us, he is also the Living One during this time of trial. Precisely because he is true God and true man he is capable of a hug that saves, which greatly exceeds every sin and every evil in the world.

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Father Ivano Liguori, celebration of the Paquale Triduum in the parish church of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars Minor of Laconi (Oristano)

When we have overcome fear, there remains in us a question that we also see in the hearts of women who go to the sepulcher: when I go in search of Jesus, who am I looking for, a living or a dead person? The angel clearly tells women: «I know you are looking for Jesus, the crucifix », which means you are looking for that Jesus who has been killed. But that Jesus after Friday and Holy Saturday is no longer there, there is no longer a corpse but the Risen One, there is no longer a deceased but the Living.

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Dear brothers, when I consider Jesus as a deceased, when I see in him the dear extinct to be pitied or when I see in him only a tradition of the past to be respected annually it is difficult to make Easter, it is difficult to find a remedy for fear and death. But Jesus is not a dead man is the Living One, it is the eternal present and I am called to experience this, as it happened to women: "Fear not:; go and tell my brothers that they are going to Galilee: there they will see me ».

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Father Ivano Liguori, celebration of the Paquale Triduum in the parish church of the Convent of the Capuchin Friars Minor of Laconi (Oristano)

Today the challenge of the Easter faith takes us to meet Jesus alive in the Galilee of the Coronavirus health emergency. It means bringing the announcement of the living - theExulte Pasquale - in those death situations, of illness, of fear raging in our cities, within our dear nation, worldwide.

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Where is your victory or death, where your victory is or illness? There is not, it ended with the silence of Holy Saturday, today is Easter Sunday, today the life and salvation of Christ wins.

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Dear friends, while experiencing an Easter behind closed doors, in the intimacy of our homes, of our apartments, this does not prevent the Risen One from making himself present. He who entered behind the closed doors to show himself risen to the Apostles, will also manifest to us, gathered on this day in his name. Live Jesus opens wide the doors of our houses, it opens the doors of our fears and enters it as a powerful Savior. It won't be a virus that snatches us from the love of Christ, it will not be a virus that renders the Lord's Passover in vain.

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Risen Christ bless us all and let us get back to the serenity of everyday life soon, not in fear of death but in the joy of life that has no end.

Happy Easter, Christ is truly risen!

Laconi, 11 April 2020

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To stay as close as possible to the faithful in this time of crisis and emergency, the editorial staff of The Island of Patmos informs readers that our author Father Ivano LIGUORI, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Care on Facebook the heading 'THE WORD NETWORK ", offering of three times a week meditations. You can access the edited page from our Father clicking on the logo below:

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This is the page of our shop WHO. Unfortunately our Amazon printing and distribution company has suspended for the time being, following the emergency of the Covid-19 pandemic, the production and distribution of all non-essential items, including books. Therefore, at the moment, our titles are not available.

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Palm Sunday: that obedience so difficult to bring home to many lay Catholics

5 April 2020/7 Comments/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

PALM SUNDAY: THAT OBEDIENCE SO DIFFICULT TO LET MANY LAY CATHOLICS UNDERSTAND

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Precisely in this time of health emergency we need to be saved by Him; precisely in this time of fear it is necessary to surrender our life to the Lord so that he may keep us safe; precisely in this moment of crisis and instability we must follow the Pastors of the Church, burdened with undoubted limits, defects and sins, to rediscover the humility of meekness and to avoid using God for our purposes and discover ourselves disobedient.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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PDF print format article
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where is love and love, God is there

With Palm Sunday let's start the big week, the week which is called holy because each of us will be placed before the Holy One of God, to the Living, to him who takes away the sin of the world. For this reason, in this week of grace, I sincerely wish to invite each of you to make two gestures: the first is called to strengthen faith and the second humility.

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The first gesture we learn it from the crowd of faithful in Jerusalem who exclaim at the sight of Jesus «Osanna» and then spread their cloaks as he passes. Osanna, it is the cry of faith that recognizes the mighty Savior in the Lord Jesus, the expected by the people. The gesture of spreading the cloak, instead, it means giving to the Lord everything we hold dear, it means giving one's life entirely to him for better or for worse.

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Proclaim «Osanna» and spread the cloak, it reminds me that only through the total gift of my existence to the Lord can I find salvation. It is not enough to ask the Lord for deliverance from evil and sin if I hold my life for myself in a selfish way, if I don't leave the Lord free to act within the folds of my life, even in the darkest and most embarrassing ones. Jesus is the total Savior of life, not just some marginal parts of it.

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The second attitude we learn it from Jesus himself, who chooses to enter the holy city on the back of a donkey. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem takes place not in the style of the conquerors of the ancient world but in the style of the humble obedient servant, of him who came to do the will of the Father and not to impose his own. It is through this humility and littleness that Christ will be able to put himself at the service of the apostles in the washing of the feet that will culminate in the gift of life on the cross.. With this gesture Jesus becomes a teacher of meekness, it shows us how God's salvation is not imposed by force but by the determination of meekness.

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If it is our desire to live Holy Week well and come to Easter renewed, let us sing the Victory Hosanna with joy and give our lives to Jesus, and in this delivery we learn humility.

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Precisely in this time of health emergency we need to be saved by Him; precisely in this time of fear it is necessary to surrender our life to the Lord so that he may keep us safe; precisely in this moment of crisis and instability we must follow the Pastors of the Church, burdened with undoubted limits, defects and sins, to rediscover the humility of meekness and to avoid using God for our purposes and discover ourselves disobedient.

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Laconi, 5 April 2020

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To stay as close as possible to the faithful in this time of crisis and emergency, the editorial staff of The Island of Patmos informs readers that our author Father Ivano LIGUORI, Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, Care on Facebook the heading 'THE WORD NETWORK ", offering of three times a week meditations. You can access the edited page from our Father clicking on the logo below:

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Visit our store page WHO. Support our editions by purchasing our books

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Also today, crammed in before the coffins awaiting burial stores, It seems to hear again the lament Marta: "Man, if you had been here, my brother would not have died "

29 March 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

Risen Christ antidote to the coronavirus: "Wake up, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you "

22 March 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Ivano

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

RISEN CHRIST THE ANTIDOTE CORONAVIRUS: "WAKE UP, OR THAT YOU SLEEP, Arise from the dead and Christ will give you light "

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Virus quarantine lets us home, modifying the freedom, habits, needs. But there is a way out. If I have Christ, indeed if I allow Christ to possess me, although I find I barricaded himself in the house, I am free. Fossi also jailed for my faith, as well as they have experienced the apostles, Christ would still make me a free man. If we are with the Lord, any situation can be overcome, the misfortune is to be without Christ, it is wanting to be pastors of oneself. Paradoxically we find out now what our supposed freedom may be limited, As our lives can be blurred, as what we consider real look like in reality to a long sleep.

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Author
Ivano Liguori, Ofm. Capp.

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YOU CAN PURCHASE THE BOOK AT OUR BOOK STORE WHO

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At the end of this quarantine, Christ awaits us like the Samaritan woman at the well of water;

15 March 2020/in Homiletics/by Father Gabriele

Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

- homiletics -

IN QUARANTINE OF THIS TERM, CHRIST IS WAITING FOR US LIKE THE SAMARITAN AT THE WATER WELL

The unfolding of the woman to Jesus, that God is really present, allows the Samaritan first to discover the truth about herself. It leaves out from God and not stop at the surface of herself. Dialogue with God really this is a revelation about themselves, go deep compared to its identity.

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

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PDF print format article
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Dear brothers and sisters,

“Christ and the Samaritan woman at the well”, by Alessandro Fava Vodret. Rome, private collection

in those moments when a whole country is under quarantine, with almost no outdoor activities and plenty of indoor activities within our communities and our families, you can find a bit of time to reflect’ on some issues of our faith that is able to escape to a deep meditation.

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In a basketball game, There is a scheme called "isolation" in which you leave the attacking player alone against the defender. One versus one, isolated from the rest of their teams. In that moment, the attacker must remember well what are its characteristics, his athletic talents, to win the game.

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The isolation scheme It is explained by the basketball player Tony Mitchell [cf. video WHO].

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One of the issues that this Lent It then meditate is the theme of the Real Presence and concrete of God in our lives. The first reading shows us a picture of a little’ particular. We read:

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"Moses did so, under the eyes of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah, because of the protest of the Israelites and because they put the Lord to the test, saying: "The Lord is among us, or not?”».

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If we look the original Jewish, that protest with which the Jewish people turn to God, It is expressed with the word Rib, indicating a form of Judaism in the legal dispute with two, that it is resolved without putting the guilty to death. Here then is that the Jewish people complain all the time and, in that protest, It seems to doubt the prophetic ability to Moses, in a quarrel endlessly. Even after the miracle, the Jewish people is undecided. It is in fact a people who desperately, anxiously serenity and without seeking sensationalist signs. The right broker that is sent, Moses, does not satisfy.

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This can be a meditation for us: our faith is frantic, always looking for signs, miracles and wonders? The Lord asks us to abandon ourselves to him, rereading the events that happen to us with the eyes of faith, without constantly questioning his action with us. We may ask ourselves if we too, as the Jewish people, "Quarrel" with God and its intermediaries, because we do not trust anyone. Hence the question: As we trust concrete real presence of the Lord?

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In this sense the Gospel of the Samaritan He wants to break with the Jewish tradition. It proposes the setting of the Old Testament. The desert, the thirst, and dialogue. But here everything is different. In the dialogue between the woman and Jesus, there is an opening to a dialogue with the You Eternal God. The demand for water, and a little’ an excuse of the Lord, to get in touch with the woman. So who then will tell

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"You said well: "I have no husband". For you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband; What you have said is true '.

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Here then the disclosure of the woman to Jesus, that God is really present, allows the Samaritan first to discover the truth about herself. It leaves out from God and not stop at the surface of herself. Dialogue with God really this is a revelation about themselves, go deep compared to its identity.

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Immediately after is an even unfold the truth about God. For Jesus will tell:

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"I know that Messiah is coming, called Christ: when he comes, He will announce all things ".

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Jesus says to her:

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"It's me (became. I am = Name of God), I speak with you, ".

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Here is the lesson for us on how to build a real genuine relationship and not a frantic search of signs, wonders, reveries: but a living and fruitful dialogue, in the silence of the desert, while Christ Water quenches our thirst for truth.

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We ask the Lord to be getting every day more like the Samaritan woman, and more and more like Mary, that in the prayerful listening tenderness, They became the first preachers of the divine truth.

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In this moment of pain and trial, we priests of Christ we raise more than ever supplications. In our Eucharistic celebrations made without people, for safety reasons you know well, implore God every day Father to preserve the health of bodies and souls of our beloved faithful.

Amen.

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Rome, 15 March 2020

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Staff Blog

Father Gabriele

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

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

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

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