Ask and it will be given to you

Thursday 1 MARCH (Mt 7,7-12)

Asking, seeking, and knocking in the scripture is never one-sided. One always lives in a trilateral dimension: “God – we – neighbour”. Theneighbour asks us. We give to neighbour. We ask God. God gives us and we give again and always to the neighbour, in a constantexchange of gifts that never stops. Here’s how the Book of Sirach announces this essential dimension of ours: “The vengeful will suffer the Lord’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbour’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the Lord? Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins? If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbour; of the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults” (Sir 28,1-7). In another step so the mind is enlightened believer: “To a poor man, however, be generous; keep him not waiting for your alms; Because of the precept, help the needy, and in their want, do not send them away empty-handed. Spend your money for your brother and friend, and hide it not under a stone to perish; Dispose of your treasure as the Most High commands, for that will profit you more than the gold. Store up almsgiving in your treasure house, and it will save you from every evil; Better than a stout shield and a sturdy spear it will fight for you against the foe” (Sir 29,8-13). This is the law of asking: one asksin order to give. He gives in order to ask. Asking and giving must be one single thing in us.

Jesus comes and does not annul this law. He inserts it into a great truth of faith; this way opening our hearts to a hope against all hope. God is the Good, the Holy One, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Beneficent, and the Patient. God to man is a Gift without end, without measure, without time, and without circumstances. When man resorts to Him, in his heart, he must have the assurance that his prayer will be answered for sure. However, who prays must always observe the trilateral dimension: “God – we – neighbour”. If this dimension will not be respected, never might God grant our petition because only the merciful will find mercy and only the pious will find piety. Never might who is spiteful at heart appeal to God. He will not be heard.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.

Man is placed by Christ Jesus as a measure of his fulfillment. St. Paul had well understood this rule and thus he formalizes it for the community of the Philippians: “Still, it was kind of you to share in my distress. You Philippians indeed know that at the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, not a single church shared with me in an account of giving and receiving, except you alone. For even when I was at Thessalonica you sent me something for my needs, not only once but more than once. It is not that I am eager for the gift; rather, I am eager for the profit that accrues to your account. I have received full payment and I abound. I am very well supplied because of what I received from you through Epaphroditus, “a fragrant aroma,” an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. My God will fully supply whatever you need, in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father, glory forever and ever. Amen”(Phil 4,14-20). Need for need, urgency for urgency, and necessity for necessity. This is the measure of the mercy we offer the Lord. If we are expansive, He will be very expansive.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us always merciful.

 

Go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift

Friday 2 MARCH (Mt 5,20-26)

God has always sought people who were in the midst of their brethren, instruments of true reconciliation, true forgiveness, and creatorsof friendship between him and his creatures. That is how Sirach speaks of Noah: “Noah, found just and perfect, renewed the race in the time of devastation. Because of his worth there were survivors, and with a sign to him the deluge ended; A lasting agreement was made with him, that never should all flesh be destroyed” (Sir 44,17-18). Due to Noah, life was not destroyed on our earth.

St. Paul sees himself in Christ. He knows he was constituted by God a true instrument, minister, herald, and an apostle of reconciliation:“For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Consequently, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2Cor 5,14-5,2).

The reconciliation, which is the fruit in our hearts of the forestalling love of God, of his eternal charity, that has always thought for us a pact of eternal friendship; needs the cooperation and effective participation of every disciple of Jesus The true disciple of Jesus mustbe a true instrument of reconciliation to every man. However, in a special way, he must be concerning all those whom he knows they have something against him; not necessarily because they have done something wrong, but because the others think about it. EveryChristian is called by Jesus to always be a reconciler. Never must he leave outstanding issues. He must always seek peace with all. He isa son of peace and an operator of it.

I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raqa,’ will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

Jesus lived all this law of reconciliation, on the Cross: “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” They divided his garments by casting lots” (Lk 23,33-34). The disciple of Jesus must always live forever this law of reconciliation toward every man.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us true instruments of reconciliation with each man, peacemakers in the truth of Lord Jesus.

So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect

Saturday 3 MARCH (Mt 5,43-48)

The imitation of God is the only rule of truth for every one of his worshipers. Who worships the Lord in spirit and in truth, must act as he does, behave like he behaves, think as He thinks, and want what He wants. This means that we must constantly look to him, without ever turning our sight away from his life. This means that it is not to the God of yesterday, that we must look, for example, the God of Exodus, of Joshua, of David, of the Prophets, of the Psalms, and of the Wisdom of Israel. This revelation tells us how God has revealed himself to them gradually, day after day, adding more and more truth and charity to his knowledge.

When we stop the revelation yesterday, we have the God of yesterday, not the God of today. But we are called to walk with the God of today, of this particularly work of history. An example will help us understand everything. If we look to the God of Exodus, we have a God. If we look to the Book of Wisdom, which narrates the events of Exodus and understands them in the light of a thousand and more years of revelation, we have a totally different God. It is the same God, but with a charity and a truth that are presented in a perfection achieved in a millennium of education and training of the people. If then we go to Revelation, which presents the same God, there is yet another world of truth and charity, there.

Who then will lead us into the fullness of the truth of our God and Lord? Jesus Christ came and revealed to us the immense love of the Father. However, revelation and understanding are not the same thing. The cross of Christ is a manifestation of the divine charity. But have we understand the cross in the fullness of its mystery of love and truth? Of course not. How do we go about to enter into the heart of this revelation, in which the whole essence of our God is contained? Christ the Lord himself gives the answer to us: “I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you. “I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. Coming of the Advocate “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16,4-15). It is the Spirit of the Lord that day by day must introduce us into the mystery of the divine charity, so that we are in his perfect image.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

There is an infinite difference between a pagan and a Christian love. The love of a Christian is a love towards the enemies, it is prayer towards the persecutors, it is vicarious atonement for all of their sins, it is offering of our life to death for the life of every other man, it is always full selflessness, and it is freedom of every human interest. It is also making oneself poor with the poor and sinners with sinners, for their redemption, salvation, and well-being.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; teach us this love.

This is my beloved Son. Listen to him

Sunday 4 MARCH (Mk 9,2-10)

How important the transfiguration of Jesus was is attested by St. Peter in his Second Letter: “Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this “tent,” to stir you up by a reminder, since I know that I will soon have to put it aside, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. I shall also make every effort to enable you always to remember these things after my departure. We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God” (2Pt 1,12-21).

God reveals himself in a precise, punctual time in our history. But not always understanding the truth of that event is captured at that very moment. Even this truth is taught us this way by Jesus the Lord: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”” (Jn 13,1-11). Themystery of a divine act is always fraught with eternal truth. At the time, we understand little. Then the Holy Spirit will be the one tolead us towards the truth.

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them. As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

Today, Peter knows that between his thought and the one revealed by God there is an infinite abyss. God is with Jesus Christ. The Law and the Prophets are with Christ Jesus. He is not with Jesus Christ. This is a ditch that he must fill if it wants to be with Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us of Christ Jesus

 

For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you

Monday 5 MARCH (Lk 6,36-38)

The Lord has always revealed himself as the compassionate, the merciful, the God full of love, compassion, and infinite charity. Thisfeature of our God is already in the Law of the Covenant given to the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai: “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. “If you lend money to one of your poor neighbours among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbour’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate” (Ex 22,20-25).

God’s mercy is so great, as to overcome every sin and resistance of man: “On Mount Sinai you came down, you spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances, firm laws, good statutes, and commandments; Your holy Sabbath you made known to them, commandments, statutes, and law you prescribed for them, by the hand of Moses your servant. Food from heaven you gave them in their hunger, water from a rock you sent them in their thirst. You bade them enter and occupy the land which you had sworn with upraised hand to give them. “But they, our fathers, proved to be insolent; they held their necks stiff and would not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and no longer remembered the miracles you had worked for them. They stiffened their necks and turned their heads to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of pardons, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in mercy; you did not forsake them. Though they made for themselves a molten calf, and proclaimed, ‘Here is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and were guilty of great effronteries, yet in your great mercy you did not forsake them in the desert. The column of cloud did not cease to lead them by day on their journey, nor did the column of fire by night cease to light for them the way by which they were to travel. “Your good spirit you bestowed on them, to give them understanding; your manna you did not withhold from their mouths, and you gave them water in their thirst” (Ne 9,13-20). Have we the same strong, and irresistible mercy of God, able to reduce the resistance of evil, sin, in order to overcome it?

Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful. “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

Who is God? He is the charity that saves. The mercy that redeems. The compassion that ransoms. The loyalty that awaits conversion.The mercy that knows how to bend on the infinite wounds that corrode our flesh and reduces it into decay. It is the kindness that nevergives up, never stops. It is the one that always overcomes evil with good. Our God does not wait for man to ask him for forgiveness. He precedes him. He knocks at his heart. He offers it to him. In Christ our God has paid all our debt by shedding his blood on the cross. What does Jesus want from us? The perfect imitation of God. He wants that we, too, are transformed into tools that know only how to love. Everything else in the relationship with the brothers does not interest them. It is out of their Christian nature, substance, and essence. As the nature of God is most pure love without any defect. So our Christian nature must be: most pure charity without any defects, exceptions, limitations, and pauses. Judging and condemning the brothers are works against our new nature of God. Never must these things be done​​. Forgiveness, the law of the new nature, must always be given to all. Giving without measure is also the law of thenew Christian essence. If a Christian gives without measure, the Lord also will give him without measure. That is how God is.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us in God’s image.

The greatest among you must be your servant

Tuesday 6 MARCH (Mt 23,1-12)

St. James, true interpreter, in the Holy Spirit, of the thought of Christ Jesus; teaches that who wants to be a teacher for others, mustbe it from the personal holiness: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you realize that we will be judged more strictly, for we all fall short in many respects. If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we also guide their whole bodies. It is the same with ships: even though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination wishes. In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions. Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire. It exists among our members as a world of malice, defiling the whole body and setting the entire course of our lives on fire, itself set on fire by Gehenna. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. This need not be so, my brothers. Does a spring gush forth from the same opening both pure and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water yield fresh. Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. Wisdom of this kind does not come down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace” (Jm 3,1-18).

If we do not talk from the holiness, we are false teachers, because we are false witnesses of Christ Jesus, who is the Holy One of God. To the false testimony the scandal is also added. We say, but we do not do. We are a bad example and furthermore, with our behaviorwe justify all the sins, and the same non faith of those who have not yet come to Jesus Christ and his Gospel. The responsibility of the Christian is great. Faith in Christ passes through his holiness, which is faithful to his Word.

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels. They love places of honour at banquets, seats of honour in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Jesus does not want his disciples to live in the manner of the scribes and Pharisees of his time. He wants them to start from humility, which is love that strips itself of any search of earthly glory, renunciation to all selfishness, disposition of the heart and mind to become servants of the brothers, with the word and the example, so that their faith in Jesus Christ grows every day until reaching perfection. The Christian must be a true servant of the faith of every other man. Nothing more. Nothing less. Servant of the faith, and only of it.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us true servants of the brothers.

  

Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant

Wednesday 7 MARCH (Mt 20,17-28)

How infinite is the abyss of thought that exists between Christ Jesus and his disciples. Jesus sees himself as the Servant of the Lord: “He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; There was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood.  (But the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offences” (cf. Is 52,13,53,12). He wants each of his disciples as a servant of the Lord. He wants each of his followers as a perfect imitator of his serviceof love, salvation, and redemption.

As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve (disciples) aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.” He replied, “My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left (, this) is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The disciples see themselves as the mighty men of David: “These are the names of David’s warriors. Ishbaal, son of Hachamoni, was the first of the Three. It was he who brandished his battle-ax over eight hundred slain in a single encounter. Next to him, among the Three warriors, was Eleazar, son of Dodo the Ahohite. He was with David at Ephes-dammim when the Philistines assembled there for battle. The Israelites had retreated, but he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand grew tired and became cramped, holding fast to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory on that day; the soldiers turned back after Eleazar, but only to strip the slain. Next to him was Shammah, son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had assembled at Lehi, where there was a plot of land full of lentils. When the soldiers fled from the Philistines, he took his stand in the middle of the plot and defended it. He slew the Philistines, and the Lord brought about a great victory…” (Cf. 2Sam 23,8-19). They want to be above others, not servants of the othersout of love, charity, holiness, redemption, and every other good. The flaw in their thinking is a misrepresentation of the truth of the Messiah of God. This is the offspring of David, but he will not be the Messiah in the manner of David and even Jesus’ disciples might be servants of Christ the Lord in the manner of the thirty mighty men of the ancient king.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us true disciples of Jesus.

 

They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.

Thursday 8 MARCH (Lk 16,19-31)

God knows only one law. His is always and only the Law of charity, compassion, mercy, piety, almsgiving. There must be no obstacles, limitations, and hindrances in love. We are the life of the other. Here’s how Tobi teaches his son Tobias how to be the life of others,especially the poorest: “Through all your days, my son, keep the Lord in mind, and suppress every desire to sin or to break his commandments. Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing. For if you are steadfast in your service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly. “Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, and God’s face will not be turned away from you. Son, give alms in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, distribute even some of that. But do not hesitate to give alms; you will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity. Almsgiving frees one from death, and keeps one from going into the dark abode. Alms are a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High for all who give them. “Be on your guard, son, against every form of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father’s tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from of old: all of them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the land. Therefore, my son, love your kinsmen. Do not be so proud hearted toward your kinsmen, the sons and daughters of your people, as to refuse to take a wife for yourself from among them. For in such arrogance there is ruin and great disorder. Likewise, in worthlessness there is decay and dire poverty, for worthlessness is the mother of famine. “Do not keep with you overnight the wages of any man who works for you, but pay him immediately. If you thus behave as God’s servant, you will receive your reward. Keep a close watch on yourself, my son, in everything you do, and discipline yourself in all your conduct. Do to no one what you yourself dislike. Do not drink wine till you become drunk, nor let drunkenness accompany you on your way. “Give to the hungry some of your bread, and to the naked some of your clothing. Whatever you have left over, give away as alms; and do not begrudge the alms you give. Be lavish with your bread and wine at the burial of the virtuous, but do not share them with sinners. “Seek counsel from every wise man, and do not think lightly of any advice that can be useful.  At all times bless the Lord God, and ask him to make all your paths straight and to grant success to all your endeavours and plans. For no pagan nation possesses good counsel, but the Lord himself gives all good things. If the Lord chooses, he raises a man up; but if he should decide otherwise, he casts him down to the deepest recesses of the nether world. So now, my son, keep in mind my commandments, and never let them be erased from your heart” (cf. Tb 4,5-19). Our charity for our brothers and sisters opens the heart of God to his great charity towards us. We are the life for the others. God makes himself, and becomes our life. We give hope to the heart of the other. God gives hope to our heart. Our mercy for others is the measure of that of God toward us.

There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’ Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’  He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'”

The eternally blessed is God’s gift, but also the fruit of our mercy, charity, devotion to the brothers. This is the law of the Lord and it isan inviolable law. Those who want to enjoy tomorrow’s Paradise of our God, to do that the earth is not hell for his brothers, they sharethe property that you own, giving little, those who have little, who very much. If we have given, not even God will give us and we will end up in eternal damnation and perdition. Mercy is the only key to Paradise.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us this holy key.

This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance

Friday 9 MARCH (Mt 21,33-43.45-46)

The covenant with God is based on a bilateral pact. God gives himself to man. Man gives himself to God. God gives himself under the form of life, of all physical, spiritual, political, economic, social, and sapiential life, in time and eternity. Man gives himself to God with the perfect obedience to every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. In Isaiah, God laments the betrayal of the Covenant by his people. He does it through a particular song, which is that of the vineyard: “Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; He spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; Within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes. Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do to my vineyard: Take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it.  The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his cherished plant; He looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!” (Is 5,1-7). The people do not give their life to God. God will no longer be able to give his life to the people. Conversion, the people’s return to the sworn Covenant, the signed Covenant is needed. Either conversion, or death. Either return to the Covenant with absolute fidelity, or destruction, devastation, and exile.  

“Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

The parable of Jesus adds to the ancient teaching the persecution of all the prophets sent by God to call the people again so that it returned to the Alliance opened to the listening of every Word that comes today and always out of the mouth of God. It reveals us that even Jesus will receive the same lot of the messengers of the Lord. The truth of the parable is this: they know that Jesus is the Son of God, his heir, and decide to kill him to get them in the possession of the vineyard. As one can understand, in the killers of Jesus there is a satanic, diabolical will of perfect autonomy from God. God is the one they reject. That is how this truth is taught us by the Apostle John: “You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They belong to the world; accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world, and the world listens to them. We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us, while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us. This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.” (1 Jn 4:4-6). There is always a theological, before than a Christological or ecclesial truth. One rejects the Church and Christ, because he does not want to worship God according to the perfection of truth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us true worshipers of God.

While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him

 Saturday 10 MARCH (Lk 15,1-3.11-32)

The mercy of God has only one name: welcome. It is encapsulated in this sentence:
“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him”. Today, Jesus reveals us his Father’s heart, as the one and only law of our mercy, piety, compassion, hospitality. We are thethat older son who refuses to welcome his brother, because he had abandoned his father’s house, squandering his many assets. The father is not interested about the goods. These are not the object of his love. Object of his love is only one: his son that was lost and that now is alive again.

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. Then he said, “A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”‘ So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'”

Our heart is not mean because it is incapable of loving, welcoming, and forgiving. On the contrary, it is so because we constitute it the only measure for the heart of our heavenly Father and for that of every one of our brothers. Today, in particular, we passed the veryscribes and Pharisees. We ask God for revenge, justice, immediate trial, and eternal hell for those who do us harm. We have surpassedthe very quest for justice that we find in Psalm: “Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, The day of Jerusalem, Who said, “Raze it, raze it To its very foundation.” O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, How blessed will be the one who repays you With the recompense with which you have repaid us. How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones Against the rock.“(Ps137 (136) 7-9). The parable says almost nothing about the greatness of the Father’s love. For our conversion and salvation He gave usfrom the Cross, his only Son, his Beloved, and his eternal love.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; teach us the true mercy.

Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up

Sunday 11 MARCH (Jn 2,13-25)

The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple was a catastrophe for the people of the Lord. It was the sign that God had abandoned the children of Israel. That is how Ezekiel describes the abandonment the Lord does of his temple in Jerusalem: “I looked and saw in the firmament above the cherubim what appeared to be sapphire stone; something like a throne could be seen upon it. The glory of the Lord rose from over the cherubim to the threshold of the temple; the temple was filled with the cloud, and all the court was bright with the glory of the Lord . The noise of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far as the outer court; it was like the voice of God the Almighty when he speaks. the glory of the Lord  rose from over the cherubim to the threshold of the temple. These lifted their wings, and I saw them rise from the earth, the wheels rising along with them. They stood at the entrance of the eastern gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was up above them. Such were the living creatures I had seen by the river Chebar; I now recognized to be cherubim. Each ohad four faces and four wings; something like human hands were under their wings. Their faces looked just like those I had seen by the river Chebar; each one went straight forward” (Cf. Ez 10,1-22). It is a time of exile, famine, pestilence, sword, and destruction.

Even at the death of Jesus, the Lord abandons the temple in Jerusalem. From now on, Jesus will be the true, the living, and the holy temple of the Lord: “From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “This one is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. ut the rest said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.” But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!””(Mt 27,45-54). God inhabits in Christ Jesus and in his mystical body, a living, and holy body. A body which is spread in the city of men, in their very houses, in the factories, throughout the fields, over the mountains, and through the volleys. The body of the universal presence.

Since the Passover of the Jews was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money-changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen, and spilled the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables, and to those who sold doves he said, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.” His disciples recalled the words of scripture, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” At this the Jews answered and said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken. While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Jesus purifies the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews ask him for a sign that attests to his mission of true prophet of the Lord. Here it is: you destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again. They do not understand. They read the words of Jesus, physically; they lack the true reading: the spiritual one. This will come after.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us this spiritual reading.

No prophet is accepted in his own native place

Monday 12 MARCH (Lk 4,24-30)

Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth. He reveals the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah of the Lord. The listeners do not believe. Jesus attests them just this. The sign of the truth of a prophet is exactly given by the non faith of those of his country and he cites the case of Elijah: “After some time, however, the brook ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land. So the Lord said to him: “Move on to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have designated a widow there to provide for you.” He left and went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was gathering sticks there; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a bit of bread.” “As the Lord, your God, lives,” she answered, “I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a couple of sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'” She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; The jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah” (1Kings 17,7-16).

Even Elisha healed of leprosy only a foreigner, and not his fellow citizens and countrymen: “When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. The prophet sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the Lord his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him. “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (Cf. 2Kings 5,1-27). Jesus is a true prophetsince he is in the same line of Elijah and Elisha. Moreover, apart from Moses, who worked wonders for about forty years, no otherprophet or sent by the Lord has performed miracles in the strict meaning of the Word. Seen things this way, Jesus is in the line of the true prophets. These are true for the true Word they say. Theirs is a word which is always carried out. Once that it has been uttered,the fulfilment will certainly come to pass.

And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

The Word needs time, sometimes even long. Those of Nazareth disdain and want to kill Jesus, making him fall down the cliff on whichtheir city was located. Jesus goes into their midst and gets on his way again. His hour has not arrived.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the true wisdom.

Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full

Tuesday 13 MARCH (Mt 18,21-35)

God’s forgiveness is always conditioned on our forgiveness. We are the ones who give the Lord the measure with which he must forgive us. That is how this truth was preached by the Book of Sirach: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the Lord’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbour’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Should a man nourish anger against his fellows and expect healing from the Lord? Should a man refuse mercy to his fellows, yet seek pardon for his own sins? If he who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbour; of the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults” (Sir 27,30-28,7). 

The Psalm reveals us that sin might only be forgiven. Never might anybody redeem himself: “Hear this, all peoples; Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, Both low and high, Rich and poor together. My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him— For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay” (Cf. Psalm 49 (48) 1-21). A man can never redeem eventhe smallest venial sin. It must always will be forgiven him. God forgives us if we forgive our brothers. He has mercy on us, if we havecompassion for our neighbor. This truth is absolute. It applies to everyone, always, everywhere. Who wants forgiveness from God, must forgive.

“Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

The debt of this man is huge, priceless. An eternity would not suffice. It is infinite. The Lord in his great mercy erases everything. Theamnesty is total, full, and perfect. However, this man forgets the absolute condition and that is that the cancellation is given if we also cancel. Since he does not cancel, not even God cancels and puts his debt on his shoulders again. It is the eternal prison, since the debtis infinite and therefore not payable.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us rich of forgiveness and mercy.

I have come not to abolish but to fulfill

Wednesday 14 MARCH (Mt 5,17-19)

The real problem of the Law of the Lord has been and always will be one: its perfect actualization of the historical time. The Commandments, in their synthetic formulation, cannot encompass all cases in which man will come to find himself. Therefore, the need arises, the necessity to put them into a concrete, practical, current, and almost daily effect. It’s true. The Lord commands that nothing must be added and nothing taken away from his Law: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal-peor: the Lord, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone that followed the Baal of Peor; but you, who clung to the Lord, your God, are all alive today. Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy. Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, ‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’ For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?” (Dt 4,1-8). This does not mean that the Law must not be actualized, concretized, made explicit, shown in its truth in each case, moment by moment, condition by condition, and minute by minute.

The same Book of Exodus takes us to this truth. In fact, the Law has just been given, the tablets were delivered to the children of Israel; and right away, the Lord himself feels the urge to explain his Law by adding four long chapters. This without mentioning the following law of Leviticus and Numbers. To give fullness to his Law the Lord uses four holy ways: The prophecy, wisdom, Christ the Lord, and the Holy Spirit. The prophecy adds from time to time God’s will to the will of God and opens the revelation to its perfect completion. Wisdom gives revelation a timely updating. Who is in wisdom it is as if he were always walking with the will of God; certainly not the absolute one, but the one that in the instant sanctifies the situation and conforms it to the divine will. Jesus Christ comes and gives full completion to revelation, carrying out and realizing all the ancient prophecies and promises of God. Revelation is completed with him. This is no longer in progress. It is declared complete, perfect, and exhaustive. Nothing can be added and removed. However, it has not yet been understood in its full truth. For this reason Jesus left us his Holy Spirit, who is the interpreter and the divine, and eternal Actualizer of every revelation of the mystery of God and man.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

How much the Law and the Prophets have taught is not declared abolished by Jesus Christ. On the contrary, it is brought into the fullness of its truth. Today and always everything must be read, interpret, and understand from the fullness of Christ. Who excludes Christ, from any real understanding of the mystery of God is excluded. In Christ, the mystery makes itself history, life, understanding, truth, love, salvation, redemption, righteousness, and holiness. Without Christ, out of Him, it is an empty word that gives no salvation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the fullness of Christ.

 

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters

Thursday 15 MARCH (Lk 11,14-23)

The libel shows a bad, wicked, idolatrous heart, destroyer of the truth of God and man. With the slander the gates of the kingdom of heaven are closed for us: “O Lord, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, Nor does evil to his neighbor, Nor takes up a reproach against his friend; In whose eyes a reprobate is despised, But who honors those who fear the Lord; He swears to his own hurt and does not change; He does not put out his money at interest, Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken” (Psalm 15 (14) 1-5). Never might an evil heart live in the tent of the Lord.

Slander kills more than the sword. The damage that a single calumny causes are so great as to prevent the eternal salvation for generations and generations to an entire people. That is how Sirach speaks of the evils of slander and of the false and misleading word:“Cursed be gossips and the double-tongued, for they destroy the peace of many. A meddlesome tongue subverts many, and makes them refugees among the peoples; It destroys walled cities, and overthrows powerful dynasties. A meddlesome tongue can drive virtuous women from their homes and rob them of the fruit of their toil; Whoever heeds it has no rest, nor can he dwell in peace. A blow from a whip raises a welt, but a blow from the tongue smashes bones; Many have fallen by the edge of the sword, but not as many as by the tongue. Happy he who is sheltered from it, and has not endured its wrath; Who has not borne its yoke nor been fettered with its chain; For its yoke is a yoke of iron and its chains are chains of bronze! Dire is the death it inflicts, besides which even the nether world is a gain; will not take hold among the just nor scorch them in its flame, But those who forsake the LORD will fall victims to it, as it burns among them unquenchably! It will hurl itself against them like a lion; like a panther, it will tear them to pieces. As you hedge round your vineyard with thorns, set barred doors over your mouth; As you seal up your silver and gold, so balance and weigh your words. Take care not to slip by your tongue and fall victim to your foe waiting in ambush” (Sir 28, 13-26). For the slander against Christ Jesus, today there is still a nation that is out of the fullness of his truth; and it is not known how long it will still stay there. One single slander leads into falseness generations and generations of people. The evils that it causes can last all along history and the consequences are truly eternal, because they can alienate many from reaching the kingdom of heaven.

He was driving out a demon (that was) mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute person spoke and the crowds were amazed. one of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that (I) drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armour on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Jesus works with the finger of God, with his omnipotence. His detractors speak against him, saying that his works are done because the power of Satan acts in him. This wicked, evil, cruel, pitiless word has just one goal: turning every man away from Lord Jesus, declaring him an enemy of God and a friend of Satan. This strategy of envy and pride always manages to win the hearts of those who are weak, fragile, incapable of sound judgment, due to the sin that reigns in their hearts.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints; free us from all slander.

You are not far from the kingdom of God

Friday 16 MARCH (Mk 12,28b-34)

That is how the commandment of love toward God was proclaimed by the Lord through his servant Moses: “These then are the commandments, the statutes and decrees which the Lord, your God, has ordered that you be taught to observe in the land into which you are crossing for conquest, so that you and your son and your grandson may fear the Lord, your God, and keep, throughout the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life. Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the Lord, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey. “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates” (Dt 6,1-9). 

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that (he) answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

The commandment toward our neighbor also comes from God through Moses: “Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Revere your mother and father, and keep my Sabbaths. When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of grain. Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God. “You shall not steal. You shall not defraud or rob your neighbour. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day labourer. You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbour’s life is at stake. I am the Lord. You shall not degrade your daughter by making a prostitute of her; else the land will become corrupt and full of lewdness. Stand up in the presence of the aged, and show respect for the old; thus shall you fear your God. When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity. You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees”” (Cf. Lev 19,1-37). As you can see this commandment is not left to the free interpretation of your own heartor to the of fleeting and momentary feelings. The love of the neighbour is dictated by the will of God, in all its parts. Nothing is left to man. Everything comes from God.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; teach us the true love.

He would not even raise his eyes to heaven

Saturday 17 MARCH (Lk 18,9-14)

The humble, the poor, are “protected categories, loved” by the Lord. Thus the Book of Sirach: “But offer no bribes, these he does not accept! Trust not in sacrifice of the fruits of extortion, For he is a God of justice, who knows no favourites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet he hears the cry of the oppressed. He is not deaf to the wail of the orphan, nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint; Do not the tears that stream down her cheek cry out against him that causes them to fall? He who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal, Nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds, judges justly and affirms the right. God indeed will not delay, and like a warrior, will not be still Till he breaks the backs of the merciless and wreaks vengeance upon the proud; Till he destroys the haughty root and branch, and smashes the sceptre of the wicked; Till he requites mankind according to its deeds, and repays men according to their thoughts; Till he defends the cause of his people, and gladdens them by his mercy. Welcome is his mercy in time of distress as rain clouds in time of drought” (Sir 35,14-26). Even the Virgin Mary in her Magnificat proclaims the same truth, contrasting pride and humility, wealth and poverty: “He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty” (Lk 1,51-53).. Truly the humble penetrates the heart of God, in which there is every richness in mercy, piety, compassion, and all abundance of charity.

There is no place for the proud in the heart of God, because in their hearts there is room neither for the Creator and nor for the creature. The proud man is pleased with himself. He is full of himself. The others stay in his way. They cannot even stand in his presence. That is why he despise, humiliates, destroys them in his spiritual and material misery. They forget that the Lord treats them as they treat their brothers. Since they have no mercy on the wretched and the poor, never might God take pity on them. Mercy generates mercy. Pride, pride. Hypocrisy, hypocrisy. Perversion, perversion. They have what they produce. They isolated themselves in their castle of evil, they will live in eternal loneliness in the fire of hell, without any comfort.

He then addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The prayer of the Pharisee is sad. It is a praise of his nothing. His holiness is in a few miserable things: in paying the tithe and in fasting twice a week. That is it. Nothing more. He, then, is not unjust, he is not an adulterer, he is not a thief; however, according to his measure of injustice, adultery, theft, and not according to divine truth and the pure commandment of the Lord. He uses his spiritual nothingness exaggerated by his pride, as a yardstick to judge, condemn others, declare them unworthy to present themselves in the presence of his God. The God of the Pharisee is in all proud, arrogant, presumptuous like him. He must not tolerate the presence of a poor sinner into his temple. How different is instead the God of Jesus Christ. He is the God that forgives, welcomes, celebrates when the sinner is converted and returns to his home. This is the God we love

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us love the God of Jesus.

People preferred darkness to light

Sunday 18 MARCH (Jn 3,14-21)

There is a huge difference between the bronze serpent lifted up in the desert and Lord Jesus, raised on the cross for our eternal redemption. Here’s what happened according to the story of the Book of Numbers: “From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road, to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the Lord sent among the people saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray the Lord to take the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses, “Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover.” Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered” (Num 21,4-9). The people did not believe in the Word of their God and Lord. They starts murmuring. Without faith one cannot cross a desert. The desert is death. The Lord educates his people, demanding them a strong faith in his word, not in the bronze serpent. The serpent is at the center of the camp, but only as a sign of faith in the Word of the Almighty.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Jesus is not only a sign of faith. He is the faith, because He is the way, the truth and the fife. Our faith is not simply in Him, it is also from Him, with Him, and for Him. It is not outside of us, distant from us, like for the bronze serpent. True faith comes when we and he become one only thing, one life, one truth, one body, and one reality. When we identify so closely with him that he is no longer distinguished from us and we from him, although we remain distinct persons from him, but no longer separated from Him. When this mystery of unity is carried out, our faith in him is true. Otherwise it will always be incomplete, partial, imperfect, unable to operate true salvation in the world. Never a faith that does not save us fully might save others.

How does the world respond before Christ lifted up upon the Cross? Closing and jailing itself in its falsity. Falsehood constitutes man an operator of false things; and false things are all bad, because they spring from a not pure, unholy, untrue, unfair heart, not emptied from the malice that reigns in it. We know what Jesus says of the heart: “But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”” (Mk 7,20-23). Christ came to help us all to make the transition to the truth. However, he is the truth, not another woman and not another man. The truth is lived becoming us one truth in Him, with Him, and for Him. Either we are true from Him, or we are not true. Either we let ourselves be made true in Him, or never might we be it.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us true in Christ Jesus.

It is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her

Monday 19 MARCH (Mt 1,16.18-21.24a)

The Virgin Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph does not know this divine truth, this supernatural conception. It is the first and last in history. However, he is a right man. He does not want to apply to the Virgin Mary the law of Deuteronomy, which that is how itruled everything in two passages: “When a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and therefore he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house: if on leaving his house she goes and becomes the wife of another man, and the second husband, too, comes to dislike her and dismisses her from his house by handing her a written bill of divorce; or if this second man who has married her, dies; then her former husband, who dismissed her, may not again take her as his wife after she has become defiled. That would be an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring such guilt upon the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage” (Dt 24,1-4).This is the first provision. That is how the second reads: “If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has relations with her, you shall bring them both out to the gate of the city and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbour’s wife. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. “If, however, it is in the open fields that a man comes upon such a betrothed maiden, seizes her and has relations with her, the man alone shall die. You shall do nothing to the maiden, since she is not guilty of a capital offense. This case is like that of a man who rises up against his neighbour and murders him: was in the open fields that he came upon her, and though the betrothed maiden may have cried out for help, there was no one to come to her aid. “If a man comes upon a maiden that is not betrothed, takes her and has relations with her, and their deed is discovered, the man who had relations with her shall pay the girl’s father fifty silver shekels and take her as his wife, because he has deflowered her. Moreover, he may not divorce her as long as he lives” (Dt 22,23-29). Joseph is moved from his righteousness to let the Virgin Mary live in the most absolute silence her condition. He wants to wriggle his way out. That child does not belong to him. It is not his.

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him.

The Lord always comes to the aid of his and saves them. What does he say to Joseph through his angel in a dream? That Mary and the child belong to him, they are his. Mary as an ever virgin, and untouched bride. The Child as his true son. He must adopt him, giving himhis legal paternity. He must make of that Child the son of David, the Son of the promise. That Child will be the one who will save hispeople from their sins. What was the answer of Joseph? Of immediate, most ready obedience. He wakes up and does everythingaccording to the command of the Angel. Not always does justice say the present will of God. That is why the prayer is always necessary so that the Lord reveals us his will in every particular situation in our lives.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us true knowledge.

Rise, take up your mat, and walk

Tuesday 20 MARCH (Jn 5,1-16)

The miracles in Jesus are a sign of his truth. However, man often turns them into a solution of an immediate need. That is the way Jesus reacts against this transformation: “Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”” Jn 6,26-27).

The prophet Isaiah reveals us the value of the sign: “Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; Then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe. The burning sands will become pools, and the thirsty ground, springs of water; The abode where jackals lurk will be a marsh for the reed and papyrus. A highway will be there, called the holy way; No one unclean may pass over it, nor fools go astray on it. No lion will be there, nor beast of prey go up to be met upon it. It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk. Those whom the LORD has ransomed will return and enter Zion singing, crowned with everlasting joy; They will meet with joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning will flee” (Is 35,3-10). It is true. Jesus heals out of pity, mercy, compassion, but always as a sign: in order to attest that the Messiah of the Lord is among his people. The sign must lead the hearts to the true faith.

After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep (Gate) a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.'” They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a Sabbath.

The Jews had built an artificial religious world, real plastic, impermeable to every supernatural truth. They were averse to the actualrevelation of God. They had stopped at Moses. They had forgotten that the Lord after Moses had spoken many more times, revealinghimself in such a great way, as to make the law of Moses appear light years away from the fullness of the truth of God. For this JesusChrist gives signs in the Gospel according to John: just to shake up this artificial, insensitive world of plastic and open it to the currenttruth of their Lord and God, who asks for a faith for today which is not the one of yesterday; because today he gives a further word, and it must be welcomed in the heart by giving it an immediate obedience. Not even the healed understands the sign. No even he perceivesthe truth of his Healer. Rather he delivers Jesus to his opponents, precisely due to the lack of this science of the sign and its truth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the intelligence of the signs.

Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him
Wednesday 21 MARCH (Jn 5,17-30)

The Jews have a law of no salvation, no redemption, no charity, and no true justice. They do not have the God of today. They live with the God of yesterday. And not that, because this God lacks in a thousand and more years of revelation. On the contrary, Jesus is living with the God of this moment, this hour, rather this moment. He knows what in this particular work in history the Father is asking him and he carries it out with prompt and immediate obedience. Jesus and the Father are living a relationship of perfect communion in the truth of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the Jews are without the Spirit of the Lord. They have the letter of the Law, but not its truth. The truth of the Law is given only by the Spirit of the Lord that they do not have and never might possess until the will fight the only one that can give them him without measure, with utmost abundance.

The Jews accuse Jesus of violating the law of the Sabbath. Jesus replies simply that he is doing everything in perfect imitation of the Father. The Father acts on Saturday and he also does. If God, who is the absolute Lawgiver, carries out a work on the Sabbath, the Son can also do it. Every man can do it. If God on the Sabbath cannot refrain from loving with great piety and compassion, his creatures, even Jesus might never stop. Every man is called to the perfect imitation of the heavenly Father. This is his vocation.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.  Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

The Father constituted his Son one and only Mediator. He placed everything in his hands. Whatever is of the Father is of the Son. We must pay the same tribute to the Son, the same honor, the same faith, and the same obedience which we pay to the heavenly Father. Without any difference. As nothing is impossible to the Father, so nothing is impossible to the Son. The Father gives life and also the Son does. The Father raises and also the Son raises. The Father creates and also the Son creates. The Father is the life and also the Son is the life. There is between the Jews and Jesus Christ so high a difference of divinity, mediation, obedience, and listening, as to exclude any possible meeting point. With Jesus one can meet only by being converted to Him, welcoming him in his truth, listening to his Word, obeying him in his every command. Jews and Christ are not on the same level. Not even as to the truth and understanding of the Law. They have a stale Law, without God and without man. They have a Law without truth and holiness, without life. Jesus has a Law of life, truth, sanctity, and perfect justice.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints; give us the fullness of Christ.

For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me

Thursday 22 MARCH (Jn 5,31-47)

Who is Jesus, this man that upsets the paths of men and reduced to nothing the thoughts of the hearts? This man that shows a new face of the Father, a face of compassion, mercy, piety, true sanctity, perfect justice, unconditioned love? This man who says that He and the Father are one? This man beside whom every falsehood which is in the heart appears instantly, according to the teachings of the Book of Wisdom? Here is what the prophecy proclaims of the right Man par excellence: “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, Because his life is not like other men’s, and different are his ways. He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.” These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls’ reward” (Wisdom 2,12-22). Jesus really is that sign of contradiction so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. This is his truth.

“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life. “I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

What does Jesus say to the Jews today? A very simple truth. If they knew God, they would know even Him. Since they do not know God him, they cannot even know him and never they will know him. Why do the Jews not know God, even though they make a genuine profession of faith? They do not know him because the true Word of God has been shattered, crushed, crushed, made vain by their thoughts. God is their thought, their will, their heart, their every feeling. God is their sin, their injustice, their vices, their false interpretations of the Law and the Prophets. The real problem is not Christological. However, it is theological. When they know the true God, they will also know that Christ is from the full truth of his Father and they will welcome him.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the pure truth of God

The one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true

Friday 23 MARCH (Jn 7,1-2.10.25-30)

It’s true. The Messiah of God is from the seed of David: “And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements; but I will not withdraw my favour from him as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul, whom I removed from my presence. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'” (2Sam 7,12-16). He will be born in Bethlehem. “But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.” (Mi 5,1-4).

Jesus says that the ancient prophecies are inadequate, imperfect, must be updated on his life, his history, his eternity, and hisincarnation. He comes from the bosom of the Father: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (Cf. Jn 1,1-18). This truth is veiled in the Old Scriptures. Now is the time that it must be placed in full light. The “origins” of Christ are in time, but before that in eternity. They are from David, but long before, eternally, they are from God.

After this, Jesus moved about within Galilee; but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but (as it were) in secret. So some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Messiah? But we know where he is from. When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.

Jesus always declared his truth. He is the witness of the truth. What is the truth of Lord Jesus? Only one: He is from the Father. The Father sent him. The father today tells him what to do and what not to do. The Father governs his entire life. Jesus did not come from himself. He does not come from himself, even today. If he is in Jerusalem today he is there because the Father sent him. He commanded him to bear him witness. What is the greatest testimony that Jesus made the Father? That the Father is not a solitary God.He is the God that generated him and generated him in the today of eternity. God is a true Father. He is the Father of his Only Son. There is a substantial difference of truth about our God. He is one in the nature but triune in the Persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the true faith on the Father.

Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?

Saturday 24 MARCH (Jn 7,40-53)

The prophecy of Isaiah announced that a great light would have appeared right from Galilee. Jesus begins his ministry from this pagan land: “First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land West of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. Anguish has taken wing, dispelled is darkness; for there is no gloom where but now there was distress. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, And the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts” (Is 8,23-9,6).

Who does not know the Law is not cursed. It is instead the one who transgresses it seriously in particular cases or who were to declare it repealed, and no longer valid: “’Cursed be the man who makes a carved or molten idol – an abomination to the Lord, the product of a craftsman’s hands – and sets it up in secret!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who moves his neighbour’s landmarks!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who misleads a blind man on his way!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who violates the rights of the alien, the orphan or the widow!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who has relations with his father’s wife, for he dishonours his father’s bed!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who has relations with any animal!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who has relations with his sister or his half-sister!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who has relations with his mother-in-law!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who slays his neighbour in secret!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who accepts payment for slaying an innocent man!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ‘Cursed be he who fails to fulfil any of the provisions of this law!’ And all the people shall answer, ‘Amen!’ ” (Dt 27,15-26). The curse is a very serious thing for the Scripture and never can it be attributed to those who do not deserve it, because they do not enter the rules established by the Lord.

Some in the crowd who heard these words said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this one.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” Then each went to his own house,

The Jews are deaf, blind, and hardhearted. They are averse to any help that might come them from the outside. Their spiritual condition is worst, and diabolical. There is no possibility of conversion. Their sin has totally blinded them. They are blind and they declare themselves sighted people accusing the whole world of blindness.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the sight of the truth.

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified

Sunday 25 MARCH (Jn 12,20-33)

Today, Jesus talks of exaltation. The Scripture also talks of exaltation regarding the Messiah of the Lord, but not according to the intention and truth of Jesus. Jesus talks of exaltation on the cross. On the contrary, the Scripture of exaltation after the cross:  “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him –  so marred was his look beyond that of man, and his appearance beyond that of mortals – So shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it” (Is 52,13-15). “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2,6-11). The latter exaltation is the result of the former. The exaltation of the resurrection is the birth of the exaltation on the cross.

This former exaltation is called in Scripture: “contempt,” “piercing”, “vicarious death”, atonement for us: “He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed” (Is 53,3-5). “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and petition; and they shall look on him whom they have thrust through, and they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only son, and they shall grieve over him as one grieves over a first-born. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem shall be as great as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. On that day there shall be open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, a fountain to purify from sin and uncleanness. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be mentioned no more; I will also take away the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land” (Cf. Zec 12,9-13,6). This piercing and this contempt will produce the world’s redemption, its salvation.

Now there were some Greeks among those who had come up to worship at the feast. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honour whoever serves me. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Jesus is the true seed of wheat that falls to the ground, and dies in order to generate salvation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us true science of Jesus.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus

Monday 26 MARCH (Lk 1,26-38)

The wombs of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Anna, and Elizabeth were barren. The Lord speaking with Abraham makes Sara this promise,after waiting a lifetime: “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There in the tent,” he replied. One of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah will then have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, just behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped having her womanly periods. So Sarah laughed to herself and said, “Now that I am so withered and my husband is so old, am I still to have sexual pleasure?” But the Lord said to Abraham: “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I really bear a child, old as I am?’ Is anything too marvelous for the Lord to do? At the appointed time, about this time next year, I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.” Because she was afraid, Sarah dissembled, saying, “I didn’t laugh.” But he said, “Yes you did.” ” (Gen 18,9-15). Life is in God’s hands and He manifests man his omnipotence. All isfrom his Word, from his blessing, and from his immense and infinite love.

Maria is not sterile. She is a virgin. She can conceive. The Lord has set to do big, extremely big things for her: She must conceive, but without the help of man. She must generate a child, but remaining forever a virgin. She is the only woman in the world that gives birth to a son remaining forever a most pure virgin. This is one of the great things done by God for her. In this sense, Mary is the only one in the history of salvation. But she could not be it. In his omnipotence, the Lord could, if he wanted, arrange that other virgins canconceive by his grace alone. This is possible in the order of the divine Almightiness. Eve was taken from man by God. This is alsouniqueness, that in the omnipotence of God could be repeatable, even if God will not repeat it ever again, eternally. There is a very great thing that can never be repeated in history. Not even God might ever do it. This thing is the one, and only, forever.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her

Who is born of Mary is not merely a man, as it happened with all other women. In Mary the Father’s only Son, his eternal Word is born:“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Cf. Jn 1,1-18). As there is only one birth in heaven, in eternity; sothere is only one birth on earth of the Son of the living God. God has done the great thing only in Mary and for her. He made it by ​​the work of his Holy Spirit, which alighted on her and made ​​her Mother of the Eternal Word. No other woman might ever be the Mother of the Son of the Most High. Jesus is the incarnate God and he is born only from her.

Angels, Saints, teach us the true greatness of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God.

You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above

Tuesday 27 MARCH (Jn 8,21-30)

Today, with very simple words, Jesus announces to the Jews the eternal, divine, and heavenly difference that separates him from them. “You belong to what is below “; that is, you are made of earth, Teman Eliphaz said to Job, wanting to convince him of sinning: “For a word was stealthily brought to me, and my ear caught a whisper of it. In my thoughts during visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, Fear came upon me, and shuddering, that terrified me to the bones. Then a spirit passed before me, and the hair of my flesh stood up. It paused, but its likeness I could not discern; a figure was before my eyes, and I heard a still voice: “Can a man be righteous as against God? Can a mortal be blameless against his Maker? Lo, he puts no trust in his servants, and with his angels he can find fault. How much more with those that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed more easily than the moth! Morning or evening they may be shattered; with no heed paid to it, they perish forever. The pegs of their tent are plucked up; they die without knowing wisdom.” (Job 4,12-21). To the earth, that is, to the natural misery of which they are already made up, they will each add their personal sin which is falsehood, iniquity, wickedness, lie, deceit, false witness, slander, libel, hate, and envy against Christ Jesus.

Lord Jesus instead states of himself: “I belong to what is above”, that is, he is “made up” of eternity, deity, equality with God, his Father. He is full of grace and truth. He is just, holy, immaculate, wise, erudite, intelligent. He knows how to always operate the good. He is moved by his infinite charity. he has a conscience that always attests him to be in the truth of God. He lives in the Father and for the Father. His thoughts are those of God, and not those of the earth. His will is that of his Father, not the one made of sin, malice, wickedness, and evil. He is another thing from us. The distance is not only eternal and divine. It is also wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, charity, love, justice, holiness of his real body. He is without hate, without envy, jealousy, pride, greed, malice, wickedness. He is only goodness, mercy, truth, compassion toward all, forever.

He said to them again, “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said (to them), “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

This is the real mystery that is right for us to ponder. If Jesus is a most holy person – and it is right of true holiness his visibility of charity, compassion, mercy, love, piety, truth, justice, obedience, and attention to every man – why do the Jews oppose themselves to this not divine, not celestial, not invisible good, not far from them; but historical, concrete, visible good, done before their eyes? It is proper of man to look, to desire, to long for the greater good; to walk towards the truth, to want justice, and enjoy charity. In the Jews this has become impossible because of their envy, pride, greed, and hatred. The sinner that is in them blinded, destroyed them; erased all traces of wisdom and understanding in them; has depraved their very nature. When this happens – and it can happen in every man – the mind closes, the heart becomes of stone, one wants and desires only the evil.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; free us from this disaster.

If God were your Father, you would love me

Wednesday 28 MARCH (Jn 8,31-42)

St. Paul distinguishes the children of light from the sons of darkness, by the work that each one does: “I say, then: live by the Spirit and you will certainly not gratify the desire of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you may not do what you want. But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ (Jesus) have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit. Let us not be conceited, provoking one another, envious of one another” (Gal 5,16-26). Work and fruit of the Holy Spirit is the wisdom, intelligence, knowledge and discernment in the perfect distinction between good and evil; between what is God’s will and what, instead, is not God’s will.

Who sees Jesus, can never be confused. Never have doubts, uncertainties, and perplexities. He might never say: “Maybe this is good and that is bad.” In Jesus there is the absolute good, always, before every man. From his mouth only a word of most pure truth comes out, always in accordance with the present will of God. If the Jews do not possess this sound and wise discernment, it is a sign that the Spirit of the Lord is not in them. The fruit they produce are not according to the Spirit of God; they are instead according to the flesh. If they are according to the flesh, they are because sin reigns in them. This is why Jesus can say of them that they are not sons of Abraham. They are not because Abraham has always done the works of God. He walked in his will. He obeyed to his every command. He carried out every order received by the Lord.

Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if a son frees you, then you will truly be free. I know that you are descendants of Abraham. But you are trying to kill me, because my word has no room among you. I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.” They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham. But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God; Abraham did not do this. You are doing the works of your father!” (So) they said to him, “We are not illegitimate. We have one Father, God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.

God is one, not two. His work is one, not two. God is indivisible in his truth, holiness, justice, charity, mercy, and piety. Either Jesus Christ is Son of God and they are not. Or they are children of God and Jesus is not. We could do this reasoning if we did not know the works of God. Since we know the works of God we must affirm that the true Son of God is Jesus Christ, since he does the works of the Father. While the Jews are not true children of God, because they do not do the works of God, of whom they declare to be children. The work reveals our true progeny, whether we are children of God or of the devil, of good or of evil, of justice or injustice, of falsehood or truth. Every tree produces according to its nature. Jesus is the incarnate truth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us of nature of truth.

Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM
Thursday 29 MARCH (Jn 8,51-59)

What Jesus affirms today on his word, had already been announced by the Book of Wisdom. Immortality, Word, and Wisdom become, are one only thing: “Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men’s desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude. For the first step toward discipline is a very earnest desire for her; then, care for discipline is love of her; love means the keeping of her laws; To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility; and incorruptibility makes one close to God; thus the desire for Wisdom leads up to a kingdom. If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of the peoples, honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever” (Wisdom 8,12-18). “For her sake I should have immortality and leave to those after me an everlasting memory. I should govern peoples, and nations would be my subjects- terrible princes, hearing of me, would be afraid; in the assembly I should appear noble, and in war courageous. Within my dwelling, I should take my repose beside her; For association with her involves no bitterness and living with her no grief, but rather joy and gladness. Thinking thus within myself, and reflecting in my heart That there is immortality in kinship with Wisdom, and good pleasure in her friendship, and unfailing riches in the works of her hands, And that in frequenting her society there is prudence, and fair renown in sharing her discourses, I went about seeking to take her for my own” (Wisdom 8,12-18). “But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy. For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you. For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality” (Wisdom 15,1-3). Jesus does not say incomprehensible, never heard of things. He is saying only the most pure truth. Death is in disobedience. Therefore, life and immortality are in the obedience. Today – and this is absolute novelty – Jesus declares that his Word is that wisdom that has immorality as a fruit.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” (So) the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

Another clear and unequivocal truth is his assertion of divinity. It is given by what Jesus says of himself: “Before Abraham was, I Am.” “I Am” is the name of God and belongs only to Him. Jesus, making his the name of God, attests that He is God, equal with God, in front of God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be” (Jn 1,1-3). This is the most pure truth of Jesus. He does not belong to what is below. He belongs to what is above. He is God and is from God, because he is the eternal Son of the Father. To this revelation the Jews react, trying to stone him. Jesus hides and gets out of the temple. His death is not this, and not even his hour.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; give us the truth of Jesus.

 

You, a man, are making yourself God

Friday 30 MARCH (Jn 10,31-42)

In the dispute with the Jews, Jesus had claimed to be equal to the Father: “The feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was winter.  And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.The Father and I are one.”” (Jn 10,22-30). To this statement the Jews consider Jesus a blasphemer and want to stone him. Jesus knows that the moment is very dangerous. Suffices a nothing, and the first stone could have been thrown by anybody.

Immediately, instantly, he resorts to the Scripture, to found his truth: “God takes His stand in His own congregation; He judges in the midst of the rulers. How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah. Vindicate the weak and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. They do not know nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. “Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.” Arise, O God, judge the earth! For it is You who possesses all the nations!” (Psalm 82 (81) 1-8). Now it is not the time to establish the difference that exists between Him, the true Son generate by the Father, and all others who are children of election, adoption, creation, and will. On the contrary, it is time to calm the agitated souls and bring peace into their hearts. The way is only one: putting the Jews before the truth that comes from the Scripture. Wisdom, intelligence, study, doctrine, and knowledge must always come to our aid in the proclamation of the truth. The truth must always be defended with science and intelligence.

The Jews again picked up rocks to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”‘? If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came, and scripture cannot be set aside, can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize (and understand) that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (Then) they tried again to arrest him; but he escaped from their power. He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained. Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.” And many there began to believe in him.

But Jesus Christ is the truth. The truth is Jesus Christ. He is the witness of the truth and this time adds a sentence which in itself could also be accepted, since it poses no direct problems of nature, but only of obedience: “So that you may realize (and understand) that the Father is in me and I am in the Father “. However, the spirits are angry and every little dissonance with their thought is a cause of death by stoning for Lord Jesus. Jesus escapes from their hands and this time leaves the temple and takes refuge in the desert. It is the time not to talk any more with the Jews. One single word not understood would have been for them a just cause for immediate stoning. However, Jesus cannot die by stoning. He must die only by crucifixion. He must be raised.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us wise in the truth.

He prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation

Saturday 31 MARCH (Jn 11,45-56)

Today Caiaphas utters a mysterious, arcane prophecy: Jesus must die so that the scattered children of Israel are gathered. That is how Isaiah had prophesied on the coming of the Root of Jesse: “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips. Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; The calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall be neighbors, together their young shall rest; the lion shall eat hay like the ox. The baby shall play by the cobra’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord, as water covers the sea. On that day, The root of Jesse, set up as a signal for the nations, The Gentiles shall seek out, for his dwelling shall be glorious. On that day, The Lord shall again take it in hand to reclaim the remnant of his people that is left from Assyria and Egypt, Pathros, Ethiopia, and Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the isles of the sea. He shall raise a signal to the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel; The dispersed of Judah he shall assemble from the four corners of the earth” (Is 11,1-12). What the prophecy does not say and thatCaiaphas adds is that all this will happen through the death of Jesus Christ. The Death of the Messiah of God is the way to the unity of God’s children.

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to kill him. So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”

Surely this is a very mysterious passage. A man decides the death of Christ Jesus and his words are true prophecy for us. This is anunfathomable mystery. The wickedness of man, his evilness, and his heart of stone may at any time be used by God to manifest his will,to fulfill his wishes. If this is true – and history tells us that it is true – then we are also asked to have the same eyes, heart, mind, wisdom, and intelligence of the Apostle John in order to discern any prophecy that the Lord makes reach us through history. Then, even a terrorist attack could prove to be true prophecy, true tidings of salvation. However, if we do not have the intelligence and wisdom of the Spirit of the Lord, we will see everything with the eyes of flesh and sin. Prophecy eludes us and sin triumphs.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints; make us of perfect discernment.