Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE LITTLE PRINCE AND KING OF KINGS: CHRIST AND THE BEST PART

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"That's my secret. it's very simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye".

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

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Mary and Martha, Byzantine icon

Dear brothers and sisters,

the Liturgy of the Word of this 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time offers us the story of Jesus' visit to the house of Mary and Martha [text of the Liturgy of the Word, WHO].

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In the famous fable of Antoine de Saint Exupèry, The little Prince, there is a beautiful meeting between the little prince and the fox. In their chat, the prince and the fox gradually weave a deep friendship between serious and facetious. Before saying goodbye, the fox says one last thing to the little prince:

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"That's my secret. it's very simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye".

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Questa storia it is a help to understand the beautiful teaching of Jesus today: the prayer and the look it gives us. A look of love and truth on all things. The gaze of Jesus on the people and events of the world.

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In the first reading of Genesis, Abraham meets the three men at the Oaks of Mamre:

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"My Lord, if I have found grace in your eyes, non passare oltre senza fermarti dal tuo servo» [GN 18].

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According to the exegetes and the fathers of the Church, the three men described in this passage are an anticipation of the revelation on the Trinity. In fact, Abraham turns to the Triune Lord. He addresses a spontaneous prayer, moving and at the same time authentic. He asks the Lord to stop, to stay with him. Abraham offers an affectionate prayer; he offers his house and above all his soul so that God may dwell there.

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In the Gospel of Luke we find a difference between Martha's attitude and that of Mary. Marta fact not wrong in being at the service of Jesus, Mentre rassetta, sistema, cleans, in short, he does things home. For Jesus reproaches to fret, weary, leaving out "what is the best part".

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Every action, even hidden home service and suspicion can become an offering to the Lord. This can also become a prayer, if indeed that our service is implemented focusing attention on Jesus: He is the best part, without which we can do nothing. Maria, it's there in front and listen, she is the one who seems to have understood this teaching best. It is indeed there, silenziosa, but not for this in the grip of laziness. Mary is there praying in a contemplative way: pray with the heart, knowing that all the essential is in that invisible relationship, but true with Jesus.

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The sense of prayer it is therefore a true and profound friendship with the Lord. However, a friendship that does not simply remain an individual relationship with the Lord, but opens up to others.

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In fact, St. Paul writes in the second reading:

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“I became a minister, according to the mission entrusted to me by God towards you to bring […] the hidden mystery, but now manifested to his saints " [With the 1,25].

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Prayer opens wide the doors of the mission, that is, to be sent to others to announce what we have received in our encounter with the Lord; prayer develops into a practical action with which we all manifest that hidden mystery of God himself. We manifest it with our life, our works of charity e, paradossalmente, We manifest the mystery of God's mercy in our being repentant sinners.

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Everyone, therefore, become ministers, not only the clergy and religious: all of them become those who administer and give, according to their abilities, God's gift to the next. It is the greatest gift, the only invisible to the eye really essential to the heart of those who feel physically and spiritually isolated and abandoned.

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May the Lord grant us all the welcoming and prayerful embrace of Jesus, to feel loved until the end of time.

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Amen.

Rome, 21 July 2019

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