L'Angolo di Girolamo Savonarola: Catholic homiletics in lean times

THE MYSTERY OF THE EPIPHANY THE RICH AND GIFTS OF THE MAGI: "GOD IS OFFERING THE PERFECT, THE MAXIMUM, DO NOT WASTE ".

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When Mary and Joseph, the Magi offered gold, they did not answer: "Do Not, thank you, l'oro you for data burdens ". They said this because they were aware that God always provides the excellent, the maximum. The scraps, to God, Cain offered them, as we are told in the Book of Genesis. While in the Holy Gospels false love for the poor we are given to us through the figure of Judas, that when Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord Jesus with precious ointment of spikenard, he showed himself falsely outraged at the waste and said that precious oil could be sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to the poor.

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Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo

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Jesus Christ be praised !

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… Unfortunately, in major liturgical solemnities of the year, it is now almost impossible not to lay all the sacred mysteries in the politically correct molasses

The liturgy of the Solemnity of the Epiphany It is characterized by a strong light [text of the Liturgy of the Word, WHO] that reaches all men: "Word was the true light, the one that enlightens every man" [cf. GV 1,9].

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This party, which is celebrated 12 days after Christmas, named after the greek reveal themselves [epiphany] what does it mean “I understand poster”. Word from which it derives surface [epiphany] which means appearance, came, divine presence. Knowing the meaning of words, how often I explain in my homilies and catechesis in my, it is essential to be able to penetrate the mysteries of faith, which have their own vocabulary, precise and specific; and if there is no language, no one can convey the message of truth, indeed there is a risk to distort. The mysteries of faith have indeed their own precise language that is born and grows over the centuries through the wisdom of the Holy Fathers and the great dogmatic councils of the Church.

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With Epiphany It is celebrated the first manifestation of the divinity of Jesus to all humanity. This happens through the formal visit, the supply of highly meaningful gifts and adoration of the Magi, which are of the high dignitaries of a stranger to the Jewish people and the Mediterranean world. The commemoration of Epiphany, which begins in the third century, It includes the divine manifestations of Jesus. In particular: Adoration of the Magi, Jesus' baptism [cf. MC 1,9-11], and the first “sign” in Cana of Galilee through the miracle of the wine [cf. GV 2,1-12], anticipation in his own way the great miracle and sacrifice of the Blood of Christ the Bridegroom of the Church.

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In time, the popular tradition, It decorated with special meanings figures of the Magi: first changing these magicians - term negative today - in magi. It was also stated their number, They were then transformed into King, and they were given a name - Gaspar, Melchior and Balthasar -, along with several physical configurations, so one is the Western world, one Arab and one that the African.

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These hide, from the description that there is made, It seems to be the astronomers, perhaps they are of the Zoroastrian priests from Persia. However, what remains certain is that before the People of Israel are of “foreigners” who do not know the Scriptures, and the Mosaic Law. Yet are these foreigners to other culture and religion “they reveal” Israel and its priests and dignitaries, and they knew what they were waiting, but who had hidden in their underwear. The manifestation of the Messiah to those who were waiting for him was therefore possible for the unexpected intervention of foreign elements. The religious and political world of the time was “illuminated” by the knowledge and wisdom of foreigners held by the Jewish world of Nations [goijm] those in evangelical literature and in that Pauline are referred to as kind, term that primarily indicates the pagans.

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The story of the Epiphany of the Lord and of the three Magi, It can only lead us to a reflection on today's world that seems increasingly invaded by “others”, but with a big difference: yesterday, these foreigners, these "other", ie the magi, following the light of a star they came to show us the coming of the Messiah, and once I had found fell down before him and worshiped him. Today, many of the "other" who often welcome at no prudent common sense, are not at all to worship the Word of God he made man nor to let us know, but to replace the light of God Christ - which for us is the beginning of the center and the goal of our entire humanism [cf. you. Lord Jesus] - With their false star, affinch'essa be lifted up on what little remains of the Christian faith in our Europe was now in advanced de-Christianization. Or in other words: It would be like to throw open the doors of a daycare Herod said it great to make things easier for the massacre of the innocents [cf. Mt 2,1-16]. It might be objected that the Word of God, inviting reception, It admonishes us: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" [cf. Mt 25, 31-46], expression that requires to be understood, however,, not upset. Indeed, to the suffix of this expression and all others that follow, there is theI am of the Word of God, so that in total, exclusive and absolute presents itself as a path, Truth and the Life [cf. GV 14,16]. Because it is in this light that goes Christological understanding the final sentence: "Every time you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me". Taking into account fact that Christ God speaks among other things of "brothers", not about invaders eager to replace and destroy the very root of His Divine Being unique, sole and absolute, Truth and the Life.

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A speech all apart deserve the gifts brought by the Magi, that in addition to their great preciousness have a precise meaning, starting from gold, an excellent conductor of heat symbolizing as such the work of Jesus, who has faithfully transmitted to us the warmth of the Father. Parrot, considered the noble metal by definition, has the characteristic of not oxidize and does not corrode. The gold is then from the first apostolic times the incorruptibility of faith. This is the reason why our Bishops, teachers and guardians of the faith, They were donated gold crosses, sign about the incorruptibility of faith, certainly not about glitz and princely opulence. This is why, the precious species of the Body and Blood of Christ, in the tradition of the Church has always been placed in precious metals. And in this regard know that St. Francis of Assisi, the true one, his brothers sent them around even barefoot, It could even happen that they did not do one meal a day, but when his brother priests sent them to bring Communion to the sick, this li Mandava con le pissidi d'oro, because - said the poor man of Assisi - "Poverty must end below the altar steps».

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Other precious gift is the incense, which when burned form white clouds that rise to the top and that is our prayers and hymns of praise rising to heaven to God the Father.

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Finally, the Mirra, which it is in the form of reddish round grain with a pleasant aromatic odor. These reddish grains remind us of the drops of blood that covered the face of Jesus in Gethsemane, then his head crowned with thorns and finally his whole body whipped and tortured by crucifixion. This Bitter herb [swell, feverfew] in its symbolism reminds us of the sufferings of Christ, whose life has been marked by persecution from childhood, since the flight into Egypt, to follow with misunderstandings, treachery, abandonment, until the climax: His death on the cross.

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When Mary and Joseph, the Magi offered gold, they did not answer: "Do Not, thank you, l'oro you for data burdens ". They said this because they were aware that God always provides the excellent, the maximum. The scraps, to God, Cain offered them, as we are told in the Book of Genesis. While in the Holy Gospels false love for the poor we are given to us through the figure of Judas, that when Mary of Bethany anointed the Lord Jesus with precious ointment of spikenard, he showed himself falsely outraged at the waste and said that precious oil could be sold for three hundred Sklim [shekel, plur. shape, currency of Judea, Latinized in shekel, Sicli] and the proceeds given to the poor. Blessed John the Evangelist, narrating this episode, It notes that the Iscariot did not say this because he loved the poor, but because he was a thief. But most of all, in memory, we should always bring alive the answer given by Jesus: "Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you, but you do not always have me " [cf. GV 12, 1-8].

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A God always provides the excellent, the maximum. And incidentally: to understand how much of that oil nard that Iscariot had estimated three hundred shekels was really valuable, suffice it to say that at the time the pay of a Roman soldier was a penny. The value of that oil then corresponded to almost one year's pay of a soldier.

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Saw the star, the Magi were overjoyed. No matter the astral event itself. What interests us is the sense: "I see it, but not now, io lo behold, but not near: a check star from Jacob " [cf. Nm 24,17]. The star is Christ Himself [cf. AP 22,16], so it is not visible from the palaces of Jerusalem, because human powers have lack of light [cf. Mt 20,25] and the religious powers of ancient Jewish with all their rules have changed religion into slavery, up to burden people beyond measure: "Load the men of unbearable burdens, and those weights you do not touch with a finger!» [LC 11, 46].

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The Star is moving forward and guides the Magi. Blessed Evangelist Matthew describes the joy of the Magi saw the star in the: the light of the Messiah there lights the way, guides us, It is reflected in our lives so as to cover it with the joy that is changed into that gift of grace that transforms the man to return it to his image and likeness of God. The light of Christ illuminates every aspect of life, or as the prophet Isaiah says: “I was found by those who weren't looking for me, I have shown myself to those who did not ask me " [cf. RM 10,20].

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Just lift your eyes to the sky to see the star and then follow, without ever get off the darkness; and the light of Christ we will seize the shadows to envelop us in the mystery of the light of God's Word made flesh.

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In this festival of light, echo the words of the Prologue to the Gospel of John the Blessed Apostle who speaks of the mystery of the Word made flesh: “Light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it " [cf. GV 1,5]. Although yesterday, as unfortunately, many light "has not overcome it", or worse: they try in every way to turn it off, in a world in which, al christocentrism, It has been long since replaced the’man-centrism.

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We pray that before this divine light that manifests and reveals the mystery of the incarnate Word of God, can resonate and then take root in our hearts the desire Pauline:

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"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. This life in the flesh, I live it in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me " [Gal 2, 20].

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the Island of Patmos, 6 January 2019

Epiphany of the Lord Jesus

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L'Angolo di Girolamo Savonarola: Catholic homiletics in lean times

SOME CLARIFICATION SO THAT OUR CHRISTMAS IS LESS POOR AND LESS IDEOLOGICAL: IN TRUTH, BETHLEHEM WAS ALL JUST OUT, JESUS ​​CHRIST IS BORN OF TWO IMMIGRANTS …

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Between 25 and the 26 December we will have to put up with the news reports trickling political correctness that c'informeranno how many glorious cathedrals and basilicas, during Holy Mass on Christmas Night, reference was made to Jesus, poor and refugee. And as the cathedral or the basilica will be prestigious, as the homilist will have raised the bar …

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Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo

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The boy is born, alleluia !

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there was a place, a Bethlehem …

We will devote the homily on the Gospel of this Holy Night the link between the Incarnation of the Word of God made man in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist [see text of the Liturgy of the Word, LC 2, 1-14, WHO].

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In the days before this Holy Christmas, and in those that follow, the divine mystery of this birth has been defined in many ways by the world increasingly worldly and secular, just some examples: Christmas referred to as "party of peace", "Feast of solidarity", "Feast of love between the peoples of diversity and acceptance", of course "feast of the poor" and "party of immigrants'. Let me be clear: I'm not troubled either by the poor or by immigrants, but I believe both our human and Christian duty to help the poor out of their poverty, and the real refugees fleeing from wars and famine to a homeland: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" [cf. Mt 25, 31-46].

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A disturb, it is therefore not the tragedy of poverty, nor the problem of immigration; for five years now to disturb me is another, and especially when on the occasion of Christmas and Easter, now these two ideological categories - poor and real or would-be migrants -, take the place of the Word of God incarnate and the Risen Christ.

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Between 25 and the 26 December so we will have to put up with The newspaper reports that political correctness dripping c'informeranno how many glorious cathedrals and basilicas, during Holy Mass on Christmas Night, reference was made to Jesus, poor and refugee. And as the cathedral or the basilica will be prestigious, as the homilist will have raised the bar. And so, as every January 1, we will have the traditional account given by newspapers and television news on New Year's incidents in Naples, the same will happen in our church ever crashed worldliness, and the 26 December we celebrate the memory of St. Stephen the Martyr with the most detailed reports on lunches that were held in our churches on Christmas Eve and the homilies based on the poor and refugees in the same took place between the night of 24 and the day 25 December, between cribs which have become a monotonous and conformist riot of barges and rescue donuts used to Arrange above the Bambinello Divine just landed on the island of Lampedusa.

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In this Holy Night I would like to recall that at Christmas, the Orbe catholica, celebrates the mystery of the Word of God made man [cf. GV 1, 1-18], not celebrate an unspecified "feast of" solidarity emptied of the divine mystery and filled with worldly secularism. And words are important, because the more diabolical way to destroy the faith, It is emptying the mysteries of the faith of their true meaning and then fill them with another. This means no more memory of the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God who became man by assuming our human nature as illustrated by the Blessed Apostle Paul in his famous Christological hymn [cf. In II 2, 6-11 text WHO], but "party of peace", "Feast of solidarity", "Feast of love between people and acceptance of diversity" ... all with improbable and untruthful references to Jesus, poor and refugee.

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Let us see what to narrate the historical chronicles of the Holy Gospels: the Blessed Virgin Mary, after answering freely with their own "fiat"The messenger of the Lord [cf. LC 1, 26-38], It gives birth months later the only Son of God, It wraps Him in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger. This birth and this deposition in a manger did not happen narrated in ways that Joseph was poor and refugee, but because the two, It tells us how the Holy Gospel we have just proclaimed [LC 2, 1-14], They were traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill the obligation of the census ordered by Caesar Augustus [cf. LC 2, 1-14]. Joseph was a craftsman who played the noble and profitable trade of cabinetmaker, while Mary came from a family perhaps even more wealthy than that of Joseph, just think that the husband of her cousin Elizabeth was a priest of the ancient caste of Abijah [cf. LC 1, 57-80]. Therefore, if Jesus was born in a makeshift place is because, as narrated in the Gospels Saints, there was not an empty seat in any hotel [cf. LC 2, 1-6]; not because Joseph had nothing to pay for the accommodation when the Blessed Virgin was seized by labor pains on that trip, undertaken not by voluntary choice, but for a legal duty imposed obligation to be enrolled [cf. LC 2,1].

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The biggest event in history, the incarnation of God's Word, It is described through the sequence of some basic keywords: give birth, wrap in swaddling, put in a manger. With these plain words it tells of the birth of the Only Begotten Son of God the Father, Jesus, the Light of the World. Because "Christ, while it is of divine nature, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. He appeared in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death on a cross " [Fil 2, 6-11]. His, who is God from God, Light from Light, True God from true God, begotten not made of the same substance as the Father [Nicea-Constantinople Symbol], He sees the light through the eyes of a real man born from the womb of a woman, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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The only begotten Son of God laid in the manger, It constitutes for us a great value mystagogical. In the manger it is in fact lays the food for animals: hay and straw, keeping them high off the ground so you do not dirty. Jesus, placing itself in the manger, He reveals to the world since the birth of what is its true essence: the Word of God made man is to be real nourishment of men.

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Even today Christ is laid in the manger altar or the tabernacle so that everyone can come to Him to worship him as shepherds worshiped the revelers flocked [cf. LC 2, 15-20] and Wizards astronomers said Magi [cf. Mt 2, 1-12], so that everyone can feed on Him in the Holy Eucharist, which it is the mystery of his body and his blood shed. And in the Eucharist Christ is present not symbolically or metaphorically, but really; He is living and real in body soul and divinity.

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Christ redeems and saves mankind through the sacrifice of the cross, immolating himself as the Lamb of God who washes the sin of the world [cf. GV 1, 29-34], making real food, man's true nourishment. The Holy Eucharist is the mystery of mutual transformation: God became man like us, so that we, washed from sin by the blood, through Christ, the bread of life we ​​can transform ourselves into Him, with Him and for Him. Remember what the celebrant recites what makes memory of the dead in the Holy Mass of suffrage? We priests, acting at that moment in persona Christi - certainly not as mere "presidents-playful joyful assembly" -, We recite this beautiful prayer: "He will transform our mortal body in the image of his glorious body" [cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer III]. This, It meant by the mystery of mutual transformation.

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But what is the real Christ the Lord great joy and eternal humanity deposed in swaddling clothes in the manger? The joy of man is Christ received and heard that becomes our food of eternal life: "I am the living bread, down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world " [cf. GV 6, 51]. If Christ does not become our food and live our real lives, man can never know the truth that will set us free [cf. GV 8, 32]. They will never be the words for their own sake to give the man the joy that pervades the Gospel of Blessed John the Evangelist; They never will be unless those empty words instead lead to the mysteries of faith and salvation, empty these mysteries and fill them with another, often mundane and modern paganism.

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As long as man does not eat in a spirit of faith and truth Christ in his flesh sacrificed for our salvation, No real joy will come for him. And the flesh and throbbing of Christ God, yes it takes life in a tender manger, but then she ends up sacrificed on the cross for our redemption. In the end, the glorious body of Christ, He rises from the dead. Because the final epilogue of the Nativity is the resurrection. He tells us the Blessed Apostle Paul: "If Christ had not risen indeed, in vain would our faith, empty is our hope " [cf. The Cor 15,14].

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Our faith is born with the Incarnation of the Word of God deposited in a manger, but it is sealed from the overturned stone of an empty tomb, before which the angel said to the women: "Do not look among the dead for one who lives" [cf. LC 24,5]. The tender manger is just the beginning of the big announcement Christological, while the risen Christ is the eternal, one who affiancandoci in the journey along the Way to Emmaus [cf. LC 24, 13-53], will guide us through the centuries to his kingdom will have no end, towards the eternal.

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From the island of Patmos, 24 December 2018

Christmas night – Nativity of the Lord

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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:

or you can use the bank account:
They were IT 08 (J) 02008 32974 001436620930
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AVAILABLE THE BOOK OF MASS DE L'ISLE OF PATMOS, WHO

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L'Angolo di Girolamo Savonarola: Catholic homiletics in lean times

THIS IS THE CHRISTIAN MYSTIC: THE SOUL OF THE VIRGIN MARY IN THE LORD AND THAT IS AMAZING THAT WE REMEMBER THAT IN THE NAME OF CHRIST REDEEMER every knee should bow

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Certain excesses of popular devotion to one side, old excesses of ecclesiastical caution from the opposite side, They led to forget for a long time another extraordinary figure as that of Mary: that of Joseph. Cautiously he depicted as an old man more or less put in a corner on the sidelines, or variously called in ejaculations with the title of "most chaste spouse". Joseph did not become a saint because he was "chaste", but because he has welcomed and made her the freedom of Mary. Supporting and protecting his own free choice of faith is Mary. The Word was able to embody because this man of great faith - that he was a young man, not that old decrepit place next to the manger, almost as if the stable of Bethlehem was for him the branch of a geriatric unit - protected Mary and the mystery. If not, the end of this young pregnant without a husband, without faith and the love of Joseph it would have been stoning.

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Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo.

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Jesus Christ be praised !

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Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. Work of Domenico Ghirlandaio, fifteenth century, of stolen goods kept at the famous art French House of Art Robberies also known as the Louvre Museum in Paris

The amiable figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary proposta dal Santo Vangelo di questa IV domenica d’Avvento [see text of the Liturgy of the Word, WHO] has been read is interpreted in every way over the centuries, the popular literature to the learned literature. Think of the monumental ode with which Dante opens the XXXIII canto of Paradise with the prayer of St Bernard to the Virgin:

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Virgin mother, daughter of thy Son,
Humble and high beyond,
Fixed term of the eternal counsel.

Tu’ the one that the human nature
nobility yes, that his Factor
Do not disdain to make himself its.

In thy womb rekindled love
For whose warmth in the eternal peace
So this flower has germinated […]

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In theological world attention to the Blessed Virgin He has formed a research discipline and study: mariology, Also created to fix and restore within the ranks of the Catholic faith an issue that has always pervaded certain pockets of faithful, We mainly Mediterranean and the various peoples of Latin America, often animated by the so-called more or less popular faith that often has mutated forms of the Marian cult in Mariolatry; deviation from authentic faith that is our pastoral and priestly duty to correct, always, even when around certain phenomena is big money, rather, especially if around certain phenomena begins to circulate too much money …

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To preach a Gospel passage that speaks of Mary there will be spoiled for choice: We can start the discussion starting from a thousand different ways, and as many say a thousand different things, but the synthesis of Maria are two, He enclosed in a beginning and an ending that will mark the triumph and the beginning of Christological mystery. The beginning of Mary's journey is a yes [cf. LC 1, 26-38]; the end of Mary's projected path first in the mystery of the great start, is the cross that will take us right in front of torn stone of the empty tomb of the Risen.

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The faith and love of the Virgin Mary allow God the Father to realize the mystery. God is knocking at the doors of freedom of this young girl, little more than a teenager, with a request that exceeds all human imagination: God wants to become man. How freely the ancient Eve disobeyed God with the old Adam, with equal freedom Maria says yes, becoming in its way the new Eve humanity. Without many words, without any philosophical and theological discourse, This is the young girl changed the history of humanity; e con quel sì «il Verbo si fece carne e venne ad abitare in mezzo a noi [GV 1, 14].

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Certain excesses of popular devotion to one side, old excesses of ecclesiastical caution from the opposite side, They led to forget for a long time another extraordinary figure as that of Mary: that of Joseph. Cautiously he depicted as an old man more or less put in a corner on the sidelines, or variously called in ejaculations with the title of "most chaste spouse". Joseph did not become a saint because he was "chaste", but because he has welcomed and made her the freedom of Mary. Supporting and protecting his own free choice of faith is Mary. The Word was able to embody because this man of great faith - that he was a young man, not that old decrepit place next to the manger, almost as if the stable of Bethlehem was for him the branch of a geriatric unit - protected Mary and the mystery. If not, the end of this young pregnant without a husband, without faith and the love of Joseph it would have been stoning. It is not by chance, Giuseppe, before receiving the divine illumination, to be just and good man who was, She had thought of her away secretly, thus saving her life [cf. Mt 1,16.18-21.24]

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I said at the beginning that Mary can be accessed starting from a thousand different paths, saying many thousand different things. I would choose the path of the mystic …

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... in the liturgy prior to the Second Vatican Council, the Eucharistic Prayer was recited by the priest in a low voice, and the people kept his head bowed as a sign of humility, hardly daring to look at the great mystery of the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, His true and living presence in the Church. Before the mystery and the ineffable gift of the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, the least we can do is kneel, a sign of humility and adoration. What this should be remembered that our faithful, especially those men who believe they potersene be strutting head-on with his hands crossed on the crotch, perhaps because it afflicted by serious prostate problems? Animo, dear men, urology has made great strides, your problem is solved then!

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The value, humble and adoring dell'inginocchiarsi, We would not last even remembered some of our ceremonies, who against all tradition and ecclesial pedagogy sometimes give godly example to the People of God preaching to young deacons, acolytes, seminarians and altar in full possession of all their best forces and physical functions to sit standing around the altar; everything - note well - in a society where man, perhaps the bishop and the priest even more than many secular, He kneels more and more and more often before the most diabolical human idols, except the mystery of God made man incarnate in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, He died and rose from the dead, after having left the ineffable gift of his presence in the Eucharist Mystery, kneel before which is really minimal "trade union" that can be done.

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What a pain, entering certain churches and find instead of benches with the pews of the rows of chairs or nice movie theater-style chairs, however, cost him much of the old benches!

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The mystique gets on his knees, just as the liturgy makes its knees, because the liturgy is not aesthetic but fatuous creative center and the communion of the divine mystery. The liturgy is not a show of actor priest or of director priest, because of the sacred mystery of the liturgy that realizes we are faithful and devoted servants tools, not creators, not masters. And before the divine mystery we prostrate, and if necessary the good People of God - often much more sensitive and intelligent than they are some of his priests - should also remember certain masters of ceremony, ie that there kneels by custom or old tradition, but for obvious, sensible, adoring and Christian common sense before the ineffable the mystery of faith.

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While no Christian mysticism tends to be individualistic, to ask themselves before the mystery of God head-on and to extol individualism in all its forms, Christian mystical dimension that comes from communion and communitarianism, It rejects all forms of individualism and always has a social aspect and ecclesial, an adoring and liberating dimension that kneel to show even with the body, living temple of the Holy Spirit of God, that dimension of love which the Apostle invites us in his own words: «Nel nome di Gesù ogni ginocchio si pieghi nei cieli, on earth and under the earth; e ogni lingua proclami che Gesù Cristo è il Signore, to the glory of God the Father " [I Phil 2, 6-11].

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The act of contemplation and especially adoration, It is not restricted to private relationship, subjective and personal with God; contemplation and especially the worship, It has a profound inter subjective momentum on the Church and the whole of humanity.

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Mysticism as a mystery: every Christian not only lives in mystery, but it is called to live in communion with the mystery, as he himself mystery and live the mystery of creation. And soon, After the singing of Holy, All we enter into communion with the mystery of the Body and Blood of Christ.

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Think of the mystical and the mystics as people who lived more or less in the clouds or so prodigious lievitavano in floor ecstasy, partly wrong and partly it is simplistic. Indeed, while certain Oriental forms of non-Christian mysticism seek detachment with the body and with the material, Christian mysticism is closely tied to the land, the body and the matter, because in the plans of God the two spheres of heaven and earth are not foreign but unite; and unite in the body and spirit. The mystical elements that realize the sacred mystery and that make the same Christ present among us, are elements of the earth earthbound. Maybe that's why it would be good not to overlap songs and music to important words that often offertory, our faithful, between a tambourine and a schitarrata risk not remember more: "... Through your goodness we have this bread, which earth has given and human hands, we present it to you, become for us the food of eternal life ". Segue, immediately below, just as prayer over wine, while the people should respond - if guitars and tambourines not prevented - "Blessed be God forever".

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The Blessed Virgin Mary that marks the words of Magnificat is a prime example of our mystical based on matter, on the body and on the Earth's size, because thanks to her marks the largest and mystical mystery: The Word became flesh to come to live in the flesh among us. An Incarnate Word with this girl who kneels with the soul and heart, saying: "There, io sono la serva del Signore, be done to me according to his word » [cf. LC 1, 26-38].

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Among the many things Mary teaches us to live with the heart to heaven and down to earth, because in God's mysteries, Jerusalem earthly and heavenly Jerusalem blend together; and melt over the stone of the empty tomb of the Savior, who died physically and that is just as physically rose again for the salvation of the world.

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All this has been possible thanks to the yes of a young girl whose soul is magnified and kneeling in the Lord, thanks to his spirit exulted in God our Savior. So thanks to the yes of a holy man of God, Giuseppe, that first of all, and forward all was and remains for us a wonderful example of true and determined man, who lovingly protected the will of Mary, saying in turn the mystery of God, teaching us to be real men and decided, and to make us love, with him and with Mary the Mother of God, faithful servants of the Lord, so that our souls may be glorified in Him.

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the Island of Patmos, 23 December 2018

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L'Angolo di Girolamo Savonarola: Catholic homiletics in lean times

WHO IS CHRIST THE KING AND WHAT IS TRUTH ?

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The ironic question, "What is truth?», Today it no longer resonates into the common hall of Pontius Pilate, unfortunately it resonates for years inside the visible church, where you risk losing the truth to run after our egocentric cravings individualistic made fables.

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Author
Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo.

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PDF print format article
 

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Jesus Christ be praised !

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Byzantine icon depicting Christ the King

This XXXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time, with the narration of Blessed John the Evangelist, the Holy Gospel gives us the dialogue between Christ the Lord and the Governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate [cf. GV 18, 33-37], focused on kingship and truth [see text of the Liturgy of the Word, WHO].

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The feast of Christ the King It was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 with the intent to manifest the lordship of God over the world in contrast to the forms of modern atheism and to all “ismi“ arisen between the nineteenth and the twentieth century. Of the “ismi“ that humanity is dragged back to the dawn of the third millennium without having them processed yet, but above all without having them resolved. It deserves to clarify that I am referring to the enlightenments, al liberalismi, socialism, of communism, to fascism, to materialisms, of capitalism, to hedonism, to relativism and religious syncretism, to continue with the false ecumenismi until you get to pauperismi and to misericordismi …

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If the Blessed Pius IX realized the consequences of liberal capitalism indifferentist and Marxism during gestation, Pope Pius XI touched the concrete fruit of one and the. Therefore he wanted to propose to humanity the mystery of the cosmic Christ-faith: Christ, the only king of the universe.

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Hence the Supreme Pontiff Pius XI tries again to put Christ on the throne from which he had tried to oust him before, during and after the French Revolution, which extolled so fraudulent three principles far from being invented by the Enlightenment, because they have always been the pillars on which rests the Christian message: freedom, equality and fraternity. But if freedom, which is the greatest gift of God to man, and that is a carrier suffix mystery of creation [cf. Gen 1, 26-31]; if equality, brought to life by our being free creatures created in the image and likeness of God; if the fraternity, that makes us sons in communion with God; But take away the eternal and unchanging foundation that is the Creator, will not be born any Age of Enlightenment, but only the darkness of the alleged reason. And this darkness the supposed purpose will be based on the most satanic human presumptions: You can do without God and to eliminate God from the history of mankind.

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For us Christians, the real reason is Christ the King that recapitulates in himself all things, as expressed by the Blessed Apostle Paul in his letter to the faithful of the Church of Ephesus [Ef 1, 10]. Faced with this opera that encompasses the entire deposit of faith, we are called to penetrate and to let ourselves be penetrated by the mystery of the incarnate Christ, dead and risen. Christ is not a part of our lives, It is the totality of our being and existence, or as he liked to call Bishop Augustine of Hippo and Doctor of the Church: the Christ Allus.

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In the Gospel story of Blessed John the Evangelist, contains the conversation between Jesus Christ and Pontius Pilate focused on the concept of kingship. A conversation that takes place after the Jewish authorities had judged Jesus Christ punishable by death, and brought him into the judgment hall before the Governor of Judea so that they ratify their judgment translating it into a death sentence. Like this, Pontius Pilate, He entered into the judgment hall question to Jesus Christ if he is really the king of the Jews. Meets Christ the Lord: "You say this to you, or have others told you about me?» [GV 18, 34]. And here it should be noted that while in the three Synoptic Gospels Christ the Lord responds indefinable "you say it ', in the Gospel of Blessed John the Evangelist He responds very clearly using the greek word reign, basel, which means kingship [in the Holy Gospels with: the kingdom of heaven, It indicates the kingdom of heaven]. A quel point, the King of the Universe Divine, He tries to make it clear to your partner that his kingship is not of this world. Pontius Pilate, but it is a practical military, in its own way a materialist, He continues to interloquire wondering: "So you are a king?». To which Christ the Lord answers: "You say: I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Whoever it belongs to the truth, hears my voice ".

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What the kingship of Christ is not of this world, it must not lead us to believe that it is only and exclusively over the ground, otherwise why, the Word of God, He would incarnate being born on this earth? That God of Christ the King is indeed a divine kingship, which, however, it is fully embedded in the ground world to be exerted on humanity, albeit in different ways and forms quite different from those that characterize the kingdoms of the earth.

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Pontius Pilate, practical and materialistic military, He can not follow the speeches. What interests him is only to know if Jesus Christ is the king of the Jews; So in part does not want, and partly it is not even able to follow the conversation of Jesus Christ, because from good Roman wants to know the facts and know if that man is the king of the Jews.

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Blessed John the Evangelist, in presenting the key question of Pontius Pilate, so the formula: "You are a king?» [GV 1,37]. With this formulation completely different from the question "Are you the King of the Jews?"That emerges instead in the Holy Gospels Synoptic [Mt 27, 11; MC 15, 2; LC 23, 3] the kingship of Christ transcends the very simplistic concept of "king of the Jews", In fact he is not king of a small region of this land, but of the whole universe, one who - as he writes the Blessed Apostle Paul -, by divine will, once raised from the dead was seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven, above all rule and authority, of each power and domination [cf. Ef 1, 20-21].

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The kingship of Christ, God has then a much larger scale compared to what they think or trying to figure Pontius Pilate: it is placed in a universal dimension in which the royalty of the Redeemer has much broader scope. Christ the Lord is king because through the Incarnation of the Word of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He came into the world "to bear witness to the truth" [GV 18, 37]. It is not by chance, continuing its interrogation, Governor of Judea begins with the question: «What Estin truth», in the Latin text "What is truth?», which translated means "what is truth?» [GV 18, 38]. Question where you could take and interpret a desire to understand, so you know, whereas it is only a rhetorical question formulated in purely ironic way.

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This reflection that will leave you on the Solemnity of Christ the King is that unfortunately it resonates for years inside the visible church, where you risk losing the truth to run after our egocentric cravings individualistic made fables. And this too, two millennia ago, He had said and prophesied the Blessed Apostle Paul in his letter addressed to his disciple Timothy:

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«The day will come, indeed, when they will not endure sound doctrine;, ma, having itching ears they, will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, refusing to listen to the truth to turn to fairy tales " [II Tm 4, 3-4].

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The way they save themselves and save the visible Church from this destructive danger, there it then instructs the Apostle himself:

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“If we ourselves or an angel from heaven preached a different Gospel to you than the one we preached to you, is anàthema! We have already said it and now I repeat it: if any man preach a gospel other than what you accepted, is anàthema».

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there, what is the truth: iThe throne on which is seated Christ the Lord, the King of the Universe, he who recapitulates in himself all things, things in heaven and things on earth [cf. Ef 1, 10]. And if anyone, whoever it is, should preach a different gospel: is anàthema!

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the Island of Patmos, 25 November 2018

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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:

or you can use the bank account:
They were IT 08 (J) 02008 32974 001436620930
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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AVAILABLE THE BOOK OF MASS DE L'ISLE OF PATMOS, WHO

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