Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?

Sunday 1 APRIL (Mk 14,1-15,47)

Today, the Church reads and meditates on the Passion of the Lord, as it is told in the Gospel according to Mark. We take of it only one passage, the heart, and we will draw out of it those truths that are necessary to our nature, essence, and substance as disciples of Jesus. By highlighting what makes unique, genuine, and solid, the life of Lord Jesus, we can always open to this essential truth and transform the world with it. In fact, the world might be transformed, renewed, elevated only by our essential truth; however, lived in Christ, with Christ, for Christ.

What is the essential truth of Jesus Christ that makes his life unique? It is this: at any time, circumstance, before every man, even in under a sure death sentence, Jesus is the witness of his truth. He is a witness not only with the word but also with all the fruits that flow from his Person which is truth. Jesus Christ is truth in the Person and consequently he is also in the works and words. His Person is truth, and the fruits it produces are all truth, mercy, charity, compassion, great love for all, forever. Jesus is truth in his divine and human nature.

Today Jesus is before the high priest, in the Sanhedrin. They wished they could accuse him, using false witnesses. No false witness might ever hold up before Jesus, even if this were the brainchild of the most perverse, wicked, evil, diabolical, perfidious, and devilish mind. The works of Jesus are so clear, obvious, holy, righteous, and perfect that no falsehood could stand before history. Jesus Christ must and will be sentenced only for the truth, but this must only get out of his mouth. He knows this and when the high priest asks him about his truth, he answers with great certainty, with authentic testimony: “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?”. Jesus replied: “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Now Jesus can also be condemned, but on the basis of his most authentic and holy truth. This is his essence, his divine and human nature and substance, and his mission.

The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none. Many gave false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.  Some took the stand and testified falsely against him, alleging, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and within three days I will build another not made with hands.'”  Even so their testimony did not agree.  The high priest rose before the assembly and questioned Jesus, saying, “Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?” But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him and said to him, “Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One?” Then Jesus answered, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'” At that the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further need have we of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as deserving to die.

The salvation of the world is from the testimony that every one of us must make to the truth. What is the truth of the Christian? And among Christians, what is the truth of the Pope, the bishop, the priest, the deacon, the confirmed, the Baptized, the married, the catechist, the Professional person, of any other man who has become the body of Christ, a living temple of Holy Spirit, an adopted son of God in his Son Jesus Christ? If each and every one might bore witness to his truth, with the words, deeds, his entire life, the world would no longer be illuminated by one single sun, but by millions and millions of suns with the more radiant and luminous light than galaxies of stars. Unfortunately, today it is just the testimony to our own truth that is lacking. We say words, but we are not truth. The truth is not our substance, our nature, our body, and our soul. It is the failure.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, Saints, make us substantially true.

 

Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial

Monday 2 APRIL (Jn 12,1-11)

Maria makes towards the body of Jesus a true prophetic sign: she prepares it in advance for its burial. Judas is a thief. He loves money. He would have even sold the blood of the poor, in order to own much of it. He sees the gesture of Mary and the judges it a waste. It is a real lack of love for the poor. These do not have bread, and Jesus is anointed with such an expensive oil. Why not sell it instead and give them the money? Jesus intervenes and takes the defense of Mary. She made a gesture in anticipation of his burial. This takes nothing away to the poor. The poor are always with you and you can always benefit them at all times.

In this circumstance the mind turns immediately to the command of God: “If one of your kinsmen in any community is in need in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand to him in his need. Instead, you shall open your hand to him and freely lend him enough to meet his need. Be on your guard lest, entertaining the mean thought that the seventh year, the year of relaxation, is near, you grudge help to your needy kinsman and give him nothing; else he will cry to the Lord against you and you will be held guilty. When you give to him, give freely and not with ill will; for the Lord, your God, will bless you for this in all your works and undertakings. The needy will never be lacking in the land; that is why I command you to open your hand to your poor and needy kinsman in your country”” (Dt 15,7-11). It is fair to ask then? Only the poor have the right of our love, or even those who apparently are not poor? Who must be benefited from us? How can we know without any error?

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (The) large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

The solution to the question is posed by the Holy Spirit. Our charity must always be moved by his knowledge and eternal wisdom. He knows what to make of us and of our substances. He knows how to use our lives and our time. He knows where to send us and for how long. He knows which way to go and for through which to return. He knows where to make us live and where ever we must go. If we are in the Holy Spirit, we will always be in the true charity. The Virgin Mary, moved by the Spirit of the Lord, goes to Elizabeth and remains there about three months. The Spirit of God sends her into that house because through it the Lord intended to fulfill his every word uttered about John the Baptist. We do not know why we give charity, and we live charity. We do not know if we make prophetic, or ordinary gestures. The Holy Spirit knows all things, and moves us so that us through the will of our heavenly Father it carried out. Who is not in the Spirit of God, lacks the wisdom of the Law of the Lord and will live it in a purely external, doctrinal, and never sapiential, never true, never present, never prophetic, and never as a true motion of the divine charity.

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

Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me

Tuesday 3 APRIL (Jn 13,21-33.36-38)

The Gospel of this day presents us four figures: Jesus, John, Judas, and Peter. Jesus is the person who has the highest, the truest, the most holy science and self-awareness. He knows what awaits him and how he must behave in every moment of his existence, especially in these last moments of his earthly life. He is conscious that his time has come. He knows who his enemies are. In the Supper Room, he knows that a man who is about to betray him sits at table. He knows and says it in a clear, firm, and resolute voice, under oath: “Verily, verily I say to you one of you shall betray me.” It is not a hypothetical, supposed, and imagined truth. On the contrary, it is an absolute and under oath truth,  uttered solemnly.

Jesus knows all this and does not flinch, does not hide, does not escape his hour. He knows that he must love his own people who are in the world and must love them until the end. The end is beyond death itself. With the Eucharist he goes well beyond death and feeds his own people with his flesh and quenches their thirst with his blood. With his will Jesus is heading towards his passion and death. Definitely he wants to obey his Father without reserve.

John is the disciple whom Jesus loves. He is the disciple who is in his heart. Today he is given the grace to hear the heartbeats of his Master. He will remember these beats for a lifetime and will transform his mission into love. Even God will be presented by him as love; for if Jesus is incarnate love, the Father’s love is eternal, and divine. The Person of Jesus is a Person of love, he is from the Father in eternity as true God; he is from the Virgin Mary in time, as a true man. He is the only person who is born twice: from God and from Mary, in eternity and in time. If the Person is most pure love, God is also most pure love. He is the one that generated him in eternity. Maria has not generated him, he was born from Mary when he was made true man. Jesus knows how to love in every moment, every circumstance, and know how to transform every event of his life into love. This is his science, his holiness, his truth, and his wisdom.

When he had said this, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and (took it and) handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” (Now) none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (If God is glorified in him,) God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you. Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered (him), “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

Judas is the traitor. The petty, mercenary man, and thief. He sells his friend for money. He is a stone. There is no remorse, no desire of repentance in him. It is as if Satan had deprived him of heart, mind, feelings, desires, and will. It is as if he had filled him only with blind and deaf greed. But Peter is the one who is confident. He knows what to do. However, he does not know himself. He does not see his fragility. He still needs to grow, much.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, make us humble and pure at heart.

What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?

Wednesday 4 APRIL (Mt 26,14-25)

Whenever literature, even the specialized theological one, and cinematography, even the one of the elite, and not just the popular one, with a large circulation; are faced with Judah, it is as if they lost the sense and meaning of the truth, of history, of tradition, and of the very revelation.

The Gospel is not a fairy tale, a story, a novel, a historiographical essay. It is the a most pure revelation of the historical truth, in which the whole truth of God is contained. If we lose the historical truth, we might hardly reach the divine truth. It is always from the immanent truth that one reaches the transcendent truth, and it is from the transcendent truth that one receives the light to read and understand all the immanent truth. It is an immanent truth that Judas is the betrayer of Jesus. It is an immanent truth that he did it for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. It is an immanent truth that by a remorse for the evil done to Jesus he has experienced the death of the wicked, the renegades, and the great evildoers. It is an immanent truth that he was a thief. These immanent truths are not told just by anyone, by a historian. A person that has the consolation of the Holy Spirit says them. He says them under revelation. This immanent truth is an absolute truth. There is no other truth concerning Judah.

To this immanent truth, Jesus adds a transcendent one. He says of Judas: “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” An inspired man does not say this, taking down the Holy Spirit’s dictation. God himself says it, since Jesus is true God, true Son of the Father, true Eternal Incarnate Word. What does “ It would be better for that man if he had never been born ” mean?. It means that the non-life is preferable to the future life that awaits him, that is, eternal death. Judas is damned not because he has betrayed the innocent blood, but because he sinned against the Holy Spirit, dying as a desperate person. In fact, the Acts of the Apostles attest that he made the death of the wicked.

Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,  the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

Jesus knowing who Judas is and the deal already agreed upon for the delivery, does not want to take risks and that is why he does not reveal any of his disciples the place in which he would have celebrated Easter. He gives his disciples charged with preparing Supper such vague information as not to be understood except by those who were called upon to perform them. During Supper Jesus would have instituted the Eucharist and the sacrament of the Ministerial priesthood. Never should have that supper been interrupted. It should have been celebrated in the most holy peace. When great things have to be done a great prudence, holy intelligence, and a perfect motion of the Holy Spirit; are require. Jesus is Holy one and his work is holiness.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, teach us the holy prudence.

 

He began to wash the disciples’ feet

Thursday 5 APRIL (Jn 13,1-15)

In the Supper Room, Jesus reveals to his disciples his deepest, holiest, most divine, and most human truth. He tells us what the truth of Godand man is, this truth has only one name: love to the end, never tiring, never losing heart, never failing; in perseverance that never gives up, never recedes, even before death by cross.

However, the love to the end of Jesus is not a love from top to bottom. Instead, it is from bottom to top. Jesus takes the place of the last in the social ladder of the time and loves as the last. As the last he places all others above himself and serves them by washing them with hisblood and nourishing them with his flesh, expiating their sins and redeeming their pains, paying for them with his own life.

What Jesus does in the supper room is only a sign, a prophecy of what he will do on the cross. There, taking the place of sinful humanity, he will let himself be crucified in its stead, he will pay for it every debt, he will submit himself as innocent man to his death in order to wrap itwith his glorious resurrection on the third day. When St. Peter will understand what Jesus is doing in the supper room, he will say: “Slaves, be subject to your masters with all reverence, not only to those who are good and equitable but also to those who are perverse. For whenever anyone bears the pain of unjust suffering because of consciousness of God, that is a grace. But what credit is there if you are patient when beaten for doing wrong? But if you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered  for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (1Pt 2,18-25). In the Supper Room there is the reversal of everything. God becomes a servant. Man is constituted God.

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.” So when he had washed their feet (and) put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

Today, St. Peter does not understand what Jesus is doing. He does not know that the Lord is writing with this gesture his spiritual testament, his new alliance, his new covenant with humanity. From this moment on every man on earth, true or false, must become the servant, bending over in front of his brothers and washing their feet. From this service of love that lasts a lifetime, who is a true disciple of Jesus is recognized.

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

When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished

Friday 6 APRIL (Jn 18,1-19,42) Jn 19,23-37

We can say that every page of Scripture contains a prophecy on Jesus. Law, Prophets and Psalms speak of him; they describe his life, announcehis works, and tell his history. Well, from the cross, before handing his spirit over to the Father, Jesus affirms that all is accomplished. There is no word on Him that has not been accomplished in the most holy perfection by him. St. Paul bears also witness to Lord Jesus of thisawareness and truth: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not “yes” and “no,” but “yes” has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory. But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment. ” (2Cor 1,19-22). Revelation calls Jesus: the faithful Witness: “John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever (and ever). Amen. ” (Rev 1,4-6). “The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s creation, says this” (Rev 3,14). It is the faithful witness notonly because he tells the truth of God, but because he performs it in its entirety. He is the faithful witness by accomplishment.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled (that says): “They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may (come to) believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not a bone of it will be broken.” And again another passage says: “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”

After Jesus died on the cross, John sees two great prophecies being fulfilled: Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. Jesus is the New Temple of God,from whose right side flows the water of life, that the Holy Spirit and the seven channels of the sacramental grace. Even our life is a prophecyof Christ. It is the prophecy of the Word of God. Every day, we, too, like Jesus must be able to say: “So far everything has been made ​​of what I am called upon to perform. Tomorrow the Lord with his grace will help me accomplish what remains to be done.” If the disciple of Jesus, the prophecy of Christ and the gospel; every day could give this testimony, through him real life would start to flourish again on our earth. True life is from the witness.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, always make us faithful witnesses.

  

You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised

Saturday 7 APRIL (Mk 16,1-7)

Jesus had been buried without the proper ritual anointing. The Sabbath was about to fall, the lights of the big day were being turned on and everything had to be done quickly. What could not be accomplished, is postponed until after the Sabbath, being in this most solemn day banned any servile work, including the anointing before burial. In those days every work – and everything was work for the Jews – was strictly forbidden. We know from the Gospel how many difficulties have been created to Jesus on this point of Law of the Lord.

A truth that we must emphasize from the outset is this: women do not even think of a possible resurrection of Jesus. Even though there had been quite three prophecies about the resurrection, these women go to the sepulchre to prepare the body of the Lord to rest forever in that tomb. This is their thinking, their intent, and their work. The Resurrection is for them not even a distant imagination, fantasy, and desire of their hearts. Jesus died. Now they must think only to give him a proper burial. It is the least that they can do to him.

They go to the tomb early in the morning. They are three women. The stone is heavy. They do not have the strength to be able to roll it over, so as to enter the tomb and perform these rites of human compassion. When they come to the tomb, though it was very big the stone is rolled. They enter and see a young man sitting on the right, dressed in a white robe. They are afraid. The white dress is a sign of heaven, divinity, and supernaturalism. They know they are not before a man of the earth. Instead, it is someone that comes from heaven. That is why they are afraid. What could all this mean?

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint him. Very early when the sun had risen, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb. They were saying to one another, “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back; it was very large. On entering the tomb they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe, and they were utterly amazed. He said to them, “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go and tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.'”

The white-robed young man reassures the women. Do not be afraid! You are seeking Jesus of Nazareth, the crucifix. He has risen. He is not here. Here is the place where they had laid him. Simpler words than these to reveal the event that shocked the entire history, do not exist. He has risen. That is it. Nothing more is needed. One must only believe in the fact. Nothing else matters. From the faith one gradually comes to knowledge; not by the learning of details, but because in the faith, Jesus, the Risen One, becomes a part of the life of the disciple. He becomes his very life. Then the understanding will be by transformation, not through learning. He understands the resurrection of Jesus who day by day transforms himself into a person resurrected in him, with him, for him. This is the mystery.

The news must be announced. They must go and tell his disciples that Jesus precedes them into Galilee. They will see him, there. In Galilee, the word that Jesus said to them will be accomplished: “Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’; but after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.” ” (Mt 26,30-32). Jesus asks the women for the faith in the word of the white robed man. He asks the disciples for the faith on the Word of the women. Faith stems from the testimony, from the announcement of the Word. However, the announced Word must be based on the truth of the event that is certain, sure, in our hearts. It is not a Word outside of us. It is a Word is in us and for us. Being it in us and for us, it can be for others.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, make us word of faith for others.

 

He bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in Sunday 8 APRIL (Jn 20,1-9)

As we grow in faith, the process of its more perfect acquisition also changes. Women arrive to the faith in the resurrection through an oral testimony of the man in white robes. They enter the tomb, they see this man with supernatural, celestial characteristics, they listen to his word, and believe in risen Jesus. They go and proclaim the resurrection to his disciples, inviting them to go to Galilee. There would have been the meeting of Jesus with his disciples, there.

John already possesses a strong, nearly ripe faith. The closeness with Jesus led him to hear his every word, to receive all his confidence. Jesus certainly will have revealed him his heart. The Master’s heart already started to beat in the heart of the disciple. To him Jesus had delivered his Mother at the foot of the cross. There is faith and faith. Friendship and friendship. Disciple and disciple. Confident and confident.

Mary of Magdalene goes to the tomb early in the morning. She finds the stone rolled away. She does not enter. She thinks of a theft of Jesus’ body and runs to tell everything to Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, John. The two disciples run to the tomb. John is younger and arrives first. He bends, sees the sheets laid there, but does not enter. He waits for Peter to come. This arrives and enters the tomb first. In the tomb of Jesus, everything is a beautiful order. There is no sign of theft. There is peace. There is no chaos. Jesus was not taken away.

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Before the peace that reigns in the tomb, what is the conclusion of John? He believes in the resurrection of Jesus. He opens to faith in the Risen. Let us ask ourselves: why does not John need any Word to open his heart to the great mystery that took place in Lord Jesus? Why is the peace of the tomb enough for him to open to the faith? The answer is in the contemplative, sapiential, intelligent, and wise spirit of John. When the spirit of a man is without prejudices, free, open, above all, lover of truth and justice and justice a small sign is enough to open up to the great faith.

What is faith in its most mysterious and arcane reality? It is stripping of the self, change of substance, change of thinking, abandonment of our mind, detachment of our spirit, liberation from our history to let oneself be enveloped by a truth that is outside of us. If we are prisoners of the falsehood that is in us, never will we be ready to catch the signs that the Lord scatters along our path. With the falsity in the heart, not even the Word might help us and we will be slaves forever of the evil within that consumes us. John needs no Word. The order of the tomb is enough to him to know that Jesus has risen; and start his life starting from this truth. Risen Jesus in an moment becomes the key to the interpretation of all Scripture. Psalms, Prophets, Law receive their true meaning. Everything becomes understandable starting from this truth. Without this truth, the whole of Scripture is an unfinished, sealed book, a book without a future. Christ is the true future of Scripture and of all humanity. Christ is the hermeneutical key of the universe.

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

Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me
Monday 9 APRIL (Mt 28,8-15)

The lie is not a disguised truth away from us. It is the transformation of history. It is said history what is not. What has not happened is proclaimed as if it happened. It is not said history, what instead is a most pure fact. It is proclaimed a non-event what instead happened before our eyes. When one deceives with history, when one sells himself for history and sells history, what chance do we have to be honest, serious, and true with transcendence, with what is not history?

What happens on the day of the resurrection of the Lord is simply evil. The guards, placed by the chief priests to guard the tomb, go to town and report that Jesus is truly risen. They were present when the stone rolled away by itself. Nobody came to rob the Lord Jesus. They had been placed in custody for this reason: so that nobody came to halter the tomb. What do the chief priests do? They buy the lie of the guards. They pay the counterfeiting of what happened. For a good sum of money they will have to tell the world that Jesus’ disciples were the ones to steal the body while they were sleeping.

For money, one buys and another sells history, life, friends, relatives, even those closest to you. For a vile gain one sells even God, his Gospel, his truth, every ministry in the Church. The history of the Christian faith is sad, very sad even because of this. There was a time when everything was sold, everything was bought, there was a price for everything. Even the grace, heaven were also for sale. Even more so the thirst for money, which according to St. Paul, is the cause of all the evils in the world: “Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. But you, man of God, avoid all this. Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1Tm 6,6-12). For money, many even sell their souls.

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. They assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy (him) and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present (day).

Unfortunately, all history is for sale. One thing to do is this: to be we so honest as to never sell ourselves for money. Sooner or later everyone is given the opportunity of selling their history for a handful of money. To us the obligation not to succumb to this temptation. We can resist, if day by day we build on the poverty in spirit, if we know how to manage all our desires and put a stop to the thoughts of the mind that disturb our journey of gratuitousness in the faith. Walking in poverty, will certainly make us resist this sad, and mournful temptation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, give us the poverty of spirit.

Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?

Tuesday 10 APRIL (Jn 20,11-18)

To the women, that go to the tomb early in the morning, the Word of man with the white robe is enough and they immediately leave the sepulchre. Jesus must not be sought. He is not dead. He is the living one. To John taking a look at the tomb in its interior, seeing the order, peace, and harmony that prevailed in it, was enough; and he immediately, instantly opens to faith. The Scriptures are filled with divine light. Their truth is immediately rekindled. Now it shines in all its splendour. To Mary Magdalene, all this is not sufficient, it is not enough. She needs Jesus Christ. She must see him. She does not care whether dead or alive, as long as she sees him.

To Mary Magdalene, we can apply the Song of Songs, which is the poem in which the pure love searches for the pure love. It seeks, and finds it; it escapes, and seeks it again and again, endlessly, without ever abating the thirst of the other: “On my bed at night I sought him whom my heart loves – I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him whom my heart loves. I sought him but I did not find him. The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city: Have you seen him whom my heart loves? I had hardly left them when I found him whom my heart loves. I took hold of him and would not let him go till I should bring him to the home of my mother, to the room of my parent. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and hinds of the field, Do not arouse, do not stir up love before its own time” (Song of Songs 3,1-5). Mary has this almost eternal thirst for Jesus Christ. Her soul cannot live without the soul of Christ the Lord. Her search is need of life, of nature, spirit, soul, heart, and mind. As for John, the resurrection of Jesus was the hermeneutical key for the intelligence of all the Scriptures, so it is for Mary of Magdalene. Christ is the hermeneutical key of all her human existence. Without Christ her life lacks in truth, wisdom, intelligence, present, and future. Without Christ the Lord, the life of Mary Magdalene is an extinguished wick. She lacks the fire to light it.

But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'” Mary of Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her.

Jesus does not want to let the search of Mary of Magdalene be vain and manifests himself to her. He does not even want Mary to withdraw into a communion of two persons with Lord Jesus: He and her alone. He appears to Mary to teach her that every real research always reaches its end. He tells her to go and announce his resurrection to her brothers, for the search of Christ is always intended to let Jesus be made known to the whole world. Who seeks Jesus, will surely find him. Who finds Jesus is obliged to give him to his brothers. If he does not give him, it is a sign that what he found is not the true Christ, because the essence of Jesus is that of being God’s gift and man’s gift to every other man. God gives us his Only Son for us to donate him. Jesus Christ gives himself in order to be donated. This is the nature, essence, and the substance of Lord Jesus. When we will have understood this truth, we will enter the true dimension of a Christian which is simply a missionary dimension.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make us givers of the Gift.

They set out at once and returned to Jerusalem

Wednesday 11 APRIL (Lk 24,13-35)

The “creators” of the true faith in the hearts of men know it well: the true faith must always be “recreated”. Never can one live in peace, thinking that once it was put into the hearts; there, it remains in them forever. True faith grows, decreases, becomes stronger, it weakens, disappears, and dies. It must always be put on, vivified, purified, elevated, ennobled, always brought into the fullness of divine truth. The workers of the true faith must constantly be alert. When they believe that everything is OK, that is when crises arise, and faith is in danger of foundering.

Today, Jesus turns out to be true “creator, supplier, renovator, purifier, giver” of faith in the hearts of his disciples. He does so with divine wisdom, supernatural intelligence, utmost foresight, the Holy Spirit prudence, and unique strategy. He makes himself a wanderer with the wanderers, ignorant with the ignorant, is introduced into their speeches and with his great wisdom leads these two disciples to put the true faith in the Messiah of the Lord in their hearts.

Now that very day two of them were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning (within us) while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The methodologies and strategies to create faith in a heart change from person to person; however, two things remain stable for ever: the truth of God’s Word, the truth of the “creator” or “renovator” or “purifier” of the faith of the brothers. Without these two realities every one will remain with his weak, fragile, strong, enfeebled, emaciated, and dead faith. It will never be possible to help the faith of brothers without being strong in us the truth on which it is based. We cannot be supportive to others if we ourselves do not possess the truth of our faith in the heart. Jesus Christ is perfect in both truths, the Word and himself.

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

He opened their minds to understand the scriptures

Thursday 12 APRIL (Lk24,35-48)

Today, Jesus teaches us a third way for the true faith to be given to man. The foundation of the faith is always one: the Word of God, its Holy Revelation. We know that the resurrection of Jesus is the hermeneutical principle for understanding according to truth all of the Old Testament revelation. The Apostles are confused. They lack precisely this hermeneutical principle. Jesus reveals himself in his risen body. But they lack the true theological principle that founds in them the truth of what they are seeing. They think they are standing in front of a ghost.

The true reality of God is always a ghost, if we lack the right faith in the Word of the Lord. We are always faced with all kinds of ghosts, when the truth of revelation is not in us. What does Jesus do today? He gives his disciples the immediate understanding of all Scripture. He opens their minds to understand in an instant what the Law, Psalms, and Prophets, say on the Lord’s Messiah. This road is not travelable by all. It is necessary that the person called to “create” the faith in the hearts of his brothers, is overflowing, rich, full of the Holy Spirit, since the intelligence, the knowledge, the wisdom to read, know, interpret the Word is only a fruit and gift of the Spirit of the Lord.

Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

I know a person who one day found himself in grave difficulty before a heart in which faith had to be infused. Arguments were of no avail. Reasoning had no power. Every word of the heart and mind lost value. A non believing girl asked this person the foundation of his faith in Jesus Christ and the Church. That person begins to give her a magnificent lesson in fundamental theology, speaks to her of the signs of credibility, of other things he thought were vital to open her heart to the faith. However, there was a wall before her. His words left her numb. To every sentence, the other person answered with a thousand objections and thousand others difficulties in believing. He felt lost and cried in his heart: “Lord, see, I cannot open this heart to the faith. I have neither your grace nor your truth. I speak of theology, her heart wants something I do not have and I do not think I can ever have. If you came in an instant she would open to your truth, as all the people you met along your way when you were on our earth.” He had not yet finished the prayer, when behind him he sees the Inspirer – Founder of the Apostolic Movement that says to him: “Do not worry.” Then she looks at that girl. The Holy Spirit that was in her penetrates her heart and she immediately burst into tears of purification. It looked as if we were witnessing the meeting of the Virgin Mary with her cousin Elizabeth. One word alone and that heart had become of flesh. This is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, give us this power of God.

Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something

Friday 13 APRIL (Jn 21,1-14)

There is a perfect match between the miracle of the miraculous catch of fish which is at the beginning of the Synoptic Gospels and the storyplaced by John instead at the end of his Gospel: “While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him” (Lk 5,1-11).

Today, in this new context, there are some details that deserve a special attention throughout. The figure of John that always knows how to recognize the Lord emerges. He saw his resurrection when he visited his tomb. Today, he sees Jesus in the man who is on the beach. Why does he alone see, think, and recognize, and the others are like the blind? John was close to the heart of Jesus, he heard his beats, he enjoyed hisgreat love. Not only does he know that his every word is terribly true. He also knows that he, Jesus, is a person that loves with a love that knows how to anticipate any of his disciples’ requests. He knows that that person is Jesus for two reasons: due to his word the fishing is very abundant. His love moved him to light a fire and prepare some food for his disciples. This is the style of Jesus and of no one else.

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord. Jesus came over and took the bread and gave it to them, and in like manner the fish. This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to his disciples after being raised from the dead.

We should also be recognized as disciples of Jesus. How? Through our word that should always be true, just, holy, bringer of peace, and creating mercy and goodness. Through our great love for all.

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

 

Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature

Saturday 14 APRIL (Mk 16,9-15)

The news of the seven demons from which Mary Magdalene was freed by the Lord is told with simplicity by the Gospel of Luke: “Afterward he journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources” (Lk 8,1-3). It’s a sober, simple, and essential story. Nothing more.

On the seven demons here is instead what the Gospel tells us: “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.” ”(Lk 11,24-26). In light of this passage, the condition of Mary of Magdalene was really disastrous. She was truly under the power of the devil in a portentous way.

Remembering this news, the Gospel intends to reveal us one of the special missions of the Messiah. This particular mission is also reminded us by Peter in the house of Cornelius: “What has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” ” (At 10,37-43). To us who think that the Christian religion is to announce only a few moral truth, the Gospel today reveals us that the kingdom of God is built by removing the devil from the heart and body of men, especially from the mind, intelligence, thoughts, and will. A Christianity of words alone, is most pure vanity, futility. It is power against the spirit of evil.

When he had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either. (But) later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

Today, Jesus sends his disciples all over the world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. The Gospel must be given to everyone, always, everywhere, at any time. However, it must be given in the form of the Gospel, namely with the powers of Christ Jesus that are to cast out demons from the lives of their brothers and to free their bodies from every illness and disease. That is, the Gospel is power of speech and works, of signs and wonders. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit, in which all our strength, intelligence, and wisdom, but also the ability of conversion and sanctification. That is why it is necessary that the devil is kicked out of our lives and you can kick him in only one way: abolishing vice, sin, disobedience, imperfection, and every other spiritual bondage. The world is liberated by freed persons and it is sanctified by sanctified persons.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, give us the perfect freedom.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you

Sunday 15 APRIL (Jn 20,19-31)

The beginning of the faith is always born from the encounter between man and his God. Never might there be true faith without this basic principle. Thus was at the beginning of creation: “God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.” ” (Gen 1,28). The Lord God gave man this order: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.”” (Gen 2,16-17).

So it was with Abraham: “The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” “(Gen 12,1-3). That is how it was with Moses: “But the Lord said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.” ” (Ex 3,7-12).  So it was with the prophets. So it was with Christ Jesus, and so it was with the Apostles. After this first founding meeting, faith comes from the testimony together with the gift of the Word. Never without testimony and without Word might the faith start: “Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rm 10,17). Thomas wants to escape this rule. He wants to be an eyewitness. He wants to witness the founding principle of the faith in Christ Jesus, the Risen One.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (Jesus) said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Thomas cannot abolish the rules of the faith. Today, Jesus confirms them all. He cannot appear to remove every doubt to those who do not believe the word of the witnesses. Faith and vision are separated forever. From today on, who wants to believe, he must do it relying on the Word of the witnesses, of those who are heralds of Christ Jesus: his messengers, sent, and ambassadors in order to bring to every man theGood News.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, make us credible witnesses.

So t is with everyone who is born of the Spirit

Monday 16 APRIL (Jn 3,1-8)

We can apply to the Holy Spirit what Scripture says of God’s wisdom, rather can say that the soul of divine wisdom is just the Holy Spirit: “For to men she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God, to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them. Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise. For both we and our words are in his hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts. For he gave me sound knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements, The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun’s course and the variations of the seasons. Cycles of years, positions of the stars, natures of animals, tempers of beasts, Powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots – Such things as are hidden I learned and such as are plain; for Wisdom, the artificer of all, taught me. For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle. For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity. For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her. For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness. And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; And passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets. For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom. For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence; for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom” (Wisdom 7,14-30). Who is born of the Spirit, lives the divine charity with an always alive, and present intelligence. He has no law that guides him, because the Spirit of God, that dwells in him is the one and only Law.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus is a Pharisee, a slave, a prisoner, a convict in a thousand human prescriptions. He is subjected to a “right” where everything is classified, determined, and established. Everything comes from the outside. Nothing from the motion of the Holy Spirit. Jesus destroys this world with only two words. He might never live in this world. In it there is no room for the Holy Spirit and therefore not even for the heavenly Father. In this world of external right man is humiliated, killed, tormented, tortured in his own image and likeness with God. He is deprived of his fundamental relationship with the freedom of the sons of God. Jesus came to create a new world: a world of freedom in charity, of wisdom in truth, of intelligence in right, of wisdom in the very Word of his Father. Jesus comes to give the Spirit of the Lord his place as the guide of every man. When the Spirit of God is the one that guides, there is the true human freedom, there.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, fill us with the Holy Spirit.

We speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen

Tuesday 17 APRIL (Jn 3,7-15)

In the Prologue of his Gospel, the Apostle John has already made the difference among Jesus, John the Baptist, and Moses: “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. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. 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. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'” 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” (Jn 1,1-18). John the Baptist is not the light. Moses is not the perfect knowledge of God. He is only the Law. Jesus is the grace and the truth. He is the only true revealer of the Father, the only true witness of his divine essence. The only true Giver of the Word in its fullness. The one, the only operator and realizer of every promise made by God to the Fathers for the whole span of the Old Testament.

Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 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.”

Jesus is the only true one that possesses the knowledge, the science, the doctrine, the will of the Father, because He is in the bosom of the Father, comes from the bosom of the Father, the Father’s bosom is his eternal home. He is the only credible witness, because not only does he see and know according to fullness of truth all of the Father, but he also lives with the Father in the one divine substance or nature. Between a father and a son of the earth, knowledge is only external, by external vision, by the communion of two lives and two substances, two persons and two histories, even if the person of one is from the person of the other . None of this is between Father and Son. The Son is eternally in the Father and the Father eternally in the Son. This knowledge is most perfect. The Son knows the Father in fullness, the Father knows the Son in fullness. The same knowledge that the Father has of himself, the same knowledge is in the Son. And the same applies also to the knowledge between the Son and the Father. On the contrary, we do not even know ourselves. Sin has obscured all of us: mind, heart, feelings, desires, and aspirations. Even when we give testimony, this is very deceptive. Our memory is always vague. Christ, instead, witnesses what he sees in this moment of the Father. He sees and says. He sees and tells. He sees and announces. He sees and reports. His is the only true witness.

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

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son

Wednesday 18 APRIL (Jn 3,16-21)

The Lord tests Abraham and asks him to sacrifice his son: “Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Ready!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar. Then he said to his servants: “Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the Lord’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” Again the Lord’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing – all this because you obeyed my command.”” (Cf. Gen 22,1-18). To Abraham, God spared the physical sacrifice of his son. It was only a proof of love, listening, and obedience for him. The Lord wanted Abraham to chose God as his one and only future.

However, God does not spare himself the sacrifice of his Only Son. This is his proof of love for all of humanity. How much does the Lord love us? We should say, logically, more than himself, more than his Only Son, more than any other existing reality. He loves us so much as to give his Only Son for our redemption.

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.

However, this gift alone is not sufficient for the salvation of humanity. It becomes salvation if it is welcomed, made our own, made our flesh and our blood. An example is sufficient for us to understand this truth. A very great medicine expert can consume, sacrifice, loose himself in search of a drug to save the world from a deadly pandemic. The drug is found. It is really an antidote against all evil. It can save the world, by itself. However, it saves only those who take, and make it turn into blood of their blood, and life of their death, in their bodies. If it is not assumed, it does not save. The same applies to Jesus Christ, the Father’s gift of salvation against the pandemic of death poured by Satan into our blood with the sin of Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. Assumes Christ who believes in Him; that is, who makes himself a single thing with him by taking his grace, his truth, his Word, and his Gospel. If this assumption does not place, man remains with his illness of death and he will end into eternal death, because of his folly and wickedness. Foolishly he rejected his salvation. Impiously, he did not want to be one life with Jesus Christ. He remains forever in death. There will never be any healing for him. Sin will kill him.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, help us take Christ.

Te does not ration his gift of the Spirit

Thursday 19 APRIL (Jn 3,31-36)

Samson is only invested by the Spirit of the Lord and with the jawbone of an ass knocks out a thousand men: “Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cavern in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are our rulers? Why, then, have you done this to us?” He answered them, “As they have done to me, so have I done to them.” They said to him, “We have come to take you prisoner, to deliver you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.” “No,” they replied, “we will certainly not kill you but will only bind you and deliver you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the cliff. When he reached Lehi, and the Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him: the ropes around his arms became as flax that is consumed by fire and his bonds melted away from his hands. Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass; he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men. Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of an ass I have piled them in a heap; With the jawbone of an ass I have slain a thousand men.” As he finished speaking he threw the jawbone from him; and so that place was named Ramath-lehi. Being very thirsty, he cried to the Lord and said, “You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Must I now die of thirst or fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” Then God split the cavity in Lehi, and water issued from it, which Samson drank till his spirit returned and he revived. Hence that spring in Lehi is called En-hakkore to this day. Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines” (Judges 15,10-20). This is the power of the Spirit of God when he merely lights on a person, when he simply touches him.

For every man who believes in Jesus Christ, professing the faith of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church and daily feeds on grace and truth; the Holy Spirit is given without measure. With the divine power of his seven holy gifts, he invades and pervades our spirit and makes it learned, intelligent, strong, wise, decisive, determined so that we live the Gospel in all its fullness of revelation. And right this is the extraordinary power of the Holy Spirit, given without measure: making sure that all the Gospel is lived; however, not according to antiquated schemes, outdated procedures, forms of the past, methods of yesterday, and the behavior of others. The Holy Spirit gives the perfect customization of the Word of Jesus, making it unique and special for every soul.

The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven (is above all). He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

The Spirit does not give himself. He is given. In the New Testament who gives the Spirit is Christ, it is the Church, it is the Apostles by a sacramental way, it is all disciples of Jesus by way of their holiness and justice. Every disciple of Jesus, in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, must be a carrier and an giver of the Holy Spirit, in the same way as the Virgin Mary, in Elizabeth’s house: “During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”” (Lk 1,39-45). Today, this great miracle must be accomplished in the home of the world. It is the true salvation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints, fill us with the Holy Spirit.

This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world

Friday 20 APRIL (Jn 6,1-15)

A first true multiplication of the oil and then of the loaves is the one told about Elisha: “A certain woman, the widow of one of the guild prophets, complained to Elisha: “My husband, your servant, is dead. You know that he was a God-fearing man, yet now his creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves.” “How can I help you?” Elisha answered her. “Tell me what you have in the house.” “This servant of yours has nothing in the house but a jug of oil,” she replied. “Go out,” he said, “borrow vessels from all your neighbors – as many empty vessels as you can. Then come back and close the door on yourself and your children; pour the oil into all the vessels, and as each is filled, set it aside.” She went and did so, closing the door on herself and her children. As they handed her the vessels, she would pour in oil. When all the vessels were filled, she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” “There is none left,” he answered her. And then the oil stopped. She went and told the man of God, who said, “Go and sell the oil to pay off your creditor; with what remains, you and your children can live.” ” (2Re 4,1-7). “A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barely loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said. But his servant objected, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” “Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha insisted. “For thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'” And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the Lord had said” (2Kings 4,42-44). In Ancient Scripture there are no other cases of multiplication by a miracle. These are the one and only ones. But who was a man of God, formed in the knowledge of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms; knew that multiplication is possible. It is nota n unthinkable and unimaginable thing.

After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (of Tiberias). A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little (bit).” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

We are in a solitary region, far from inhabited centers. Jesus takes the opportunity to test Philip, and he asks him: “Where can we buy bread so that these may eat?”. Note well: Jesus talks about buying. Philip answers him that the crowd is so large that even two hundred denarii are not sufficient, so that each has only one piece of bread. His answer is clear: it is not possible. When you look at history, the answer is always one: it is not possible, never might it be possible. Only a great dreamer could think such a thing. We are not dreamers. We are real, concrete people, with our feet down to earth. Even Jesus is a real, concrete, and down to earth person. However, he is full of faith and Holy Spirit. He is full of the power of God. He knows the Father and the works of his love. He does not dream. Never who is full of faith dreams, yet he does impossible, unthinkable, and non human things.

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

The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing

Saturday 21 APRIL (Jn 6,16-21)

After the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus is strongly tempted by the voices of the crowd. Those who had eaten recognize Jesus as the prophet who was to come and choose to make him their king: “When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.” (Jn 6,14-15). The prophet is the one promised by God to Moses. This prophet would have had to be atrue new Moses, a sure guide, a charismatic leader of the Lord’s people: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the Lord, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let us not again hear the voice of the Lord, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘This was well said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him. If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it” (Cf Dt 18,15-22). This of the crowd is neither a reading nor an interpretation according to God. That is why the decision of the crowd is a true tempting for Jesus Lord.

Jesus knows that the true interpreter of every Word of Scripture is his Father. Every Word came out of the heart of the Father. In the heart of the Father, he must draw upon its truth. That is why he retires to a secluded place, alone, puts himself in prayer, enters the heart of the Father, in which he knows there is the truth of his vocation and mission. The eternal conflict between the world and the man of God will always be one: the interpretation to be given to his vocation and mission. The world wants the man of God according to its thoughts, needs, wants, emergencies and even whims, vices, and sin. The man of God instead knows that only by remaining in the pure and holy will of God he might provide true salvation to his brothers. The will of God is not on the lips of the crowd. It is in the heart of the Father. Everyone who wishes to know and make it entirely his own, must enter it.

While Jesus is on the mountain, the disciples are in the midst of a major storm. There is a contrary wind and the boat moves with difficulty. This is the condition of history. It is always an eternal difficulty. This is because we have usurped God his place. God is the life of every history, not man. God is not only spiritual life, he is also material, social, political, and economic. All life comes from God and God grants it to us through Christ Jesus. Without Christ one is without God and necessarily he is without life. We have no life force in our history. This will always bring us down. It will always cover us with fear, and if not also with terror. It is its job and does it very well, because of our wickedness, idolatry, and atheism.

When it was evening, his disciples went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”

Jesus decides it is time to go back to being the life of his disciples, as the day before he had been the life of that whole crowd. He approaches them walking on the water, but these are afraid. Never had they acquired a similar experience with their teacher. Jesus gets closer, declares himself in his identity. They want to take him into the boat and right away the boat touched the land they were headed to. With Jesus life is instantaneous. We take Jesus into our boat, if we take him in his grace and truth, in his Word and Gospel, in his perfect revelation. Today, many want to take Jesus, but incorrectly. They want his grace without his truth.

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

Repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached to all the nations

Sunday 22 APRIL (Lk 24,35-48)

Jesus has risen. At night, the disciples of Emmaus had returned to Jerusalem and were talking of their experience with him, when Jesus himself comes among them and wishes them peace. Even though they see him, they do not open to the faith. They think they are in front of a ghost. Jesus reassures them. It is right Him. However, the faith has difficulty entering into their hearts. There is something that prevents to fully open to the truth.

Jesus had already said it in the parable of the rich villain. That is how this cries to Abraham while he is in the torments of hell: “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.'” (Cf 16.19-31). Faith has its own dynamics. The signs and visions can help. However, it must always have a solid foundation: the Word of God. Without the Word, out of it, faith will always be a faith of sand, never of solid rock, and never of hard granite. The faith of sand will always crumble.

When the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.  While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts?  Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Now Jesus bases the faith in him on the Word of Scripture and that is why he opens the minds of the disciples to understand what it is written about Him in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Who then is Jesus Christ? Is he the one in whose name conversion and forgiveness of sin must be preached to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. The conversion comes first. Then, the forgiveness of sins follows. Today this is the great mistake of much modern theology. It announces and explains forgiveness, annulling, denying, and putting the conversion out of play, as if this were not necessary. St. Peter did not do this: “Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and they asked Peter and the other apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” Peter (said) to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day»” (Cf.  At 2,36-41).

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

This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent

Monday 23 APRIL (Jn 6,22-29)

The crowd had tasted the bread of the miracle. It was satiated. It goes in search of Christ Jesus, because it wants more. Every day there isneed of bread. Jesus cannot get away by giving it just for a day. And what are they going to eat the other days? Bread must always be given. Neither Jesus, nor his disciples must give this bread of the body. Only our Father in heaven must give it: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil” (Mt 6,24-34). Jesus must lead us to the Father. Then the Father will be the one to give us this bread. Jesus came to give usanother bread, a mysterious bread, that nobody knows yet. His speech is useful to this: to introduce us to the knowledge of this bread.

The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 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.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Jesus begins his great discourse on the true bread of life, making a big distinction. There is the matter and there is a sign. There is the multiplied bread and there is its prophecy. The Jews stopped at the matter, at the multiplied bread, at the hunger and satiety. They did not gobeyond. The multiplication for them was not a sign that opens the mind to a very high transcendent truth. For them, the bread was bread.Nothing more. Now they are here because they want more bread. This bread is given by the Father, not him. He has been commissioned by the Father to give them another bread. He must give them a food that endures to eternal life. That is why the Father sent, constituted, and sealed him. Today, Jesus is revealed as the seal of the Father, the truth of the Father, the guarantee of the Father, and the mediation of the Father. Jesus is entirely from the Father and the Father will never do anything without him. However, the Jews want the other bread, the one for thebody and in order to have it they seem to open to the faith: “What must we do to accomplish the works of God?”. It is not a matter of doing anything. Instead, it is a matter of believing in the one the Father has sent. They must embrace every word that Jesus will tell them. From this reception the true life will be born to them.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, give us the faith in the Son of God.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world

Tuesday 24 APRILE (Jn 6,30-35)

The Jews understand very well. Jesus has just self announced to them as the Sent of the Father, the Prophet of the Father, and the Messenger of the Father. The Father has made him the bearer of his will. Everyone who comes in the name of God, must also be credited by God with signs and wonders. What sign is Jesus ready to make so that they have the certainty that the word of revelation is true?

Basically here’s what the Jews said to Jesus: you present yourself as a new Moses. Moses in the desert gave to the children of Israel manna to eat, not for a day, but for forty years, for all the duration of the desert. Jesus answers by affirming two truths. The first has it that Moses was not the one to give manna to eat. The manna was one of the few miracles, along with that of the quails, that the Lord has made directly:“Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole Israelite community: Present yourselves before the Lord , for he has heard your grumbling.” When Aaron announced this to the whole Israelite community, they turned toward the desert, and lo, the glory of the Lord  appeared in the cloud! The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the Lord , am your God.” In the evening quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “This is the bread which the Lord  has given you to eat. “Now, this is what the Lord  has commanded. So gather it that everyone has enough to eat, an omer for each person, as many of you as there are, each man providing for those of his own tent.” ”” (Cf.  Ex 16,1-36). The second truth is this: that bread did not guard one for eternal life. It only accompanied for some stretch of desert. In fact, not everyone that came out of Egypt entered the Promised Land. Not even Moses and Aaron entered there.

So they said to him, “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?  Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

Now the Lord has decided to give them the true bread. It is the bread which comes down from heaven, the true one. This bread is neither the manna nor any derived from any other organic matter, be it wheat, another cereal, or fruit of any tree on earth. This bread is a Person. It is not a thing. This bread is the one that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Who wants life, as a result, must eat this bread.

The Jews still remain on the material level and ask Christ to give them this bread. Jesus now passes from the symbol to reality. With utmost clarity he tells them: “I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” With these words, matter is excluded forever. From the bread one must go to the person. Jesus is the life of the Jews. If they open to the faith in Him and in every Word that comes out of his mouth, they will enter into life. On the contrary if they close in their unbelief, there will never be life for them. They will remain in their death. Outside of Christ Jesus there is no bread that can keep for eternal life. Any other bread is a loaf of death. Be it a material bread, a bread of doctrine, the bread of science, a bread of religion, a bread of philosophy, an esoteric bread, and a bread of sin. Only one is the bread of life: Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the seal placed by the Father on Jesus

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, give us this bread of life.

But they went forth and preached everywhere

Wednesday 25 APRIL (Mk 16,15-20)

The Gospel of this day raises a serious problem for every conscience. When is a conscience a principle of right action and when it no longer is? When is it alone enough and when it is no longer enough? When is it innocent and instead when is it guilty? Saint Paul gives us the first answer:“All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified. For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus. Now if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of God and know his will and are able to discern what is important since you are instructed from the law, and if you are confident that you are a guide for the blind and a light for those in darkness, that you are a trainer of the foolish and teacher of the simple, because in the law you have the formulation of knowledge and truth –  then you who teach another, are you failing to teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples? You who boast of the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written, “Because of you the name of God is reviled among the Gentiles.” Circumcision, to be sure, has value if you observe the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Again, if an uncircumcised man keeps the precepts of the law, will he not be considered circumcised? Indeed, those who are physically uncircumcised but carry out the law will pass judgment on you, with your written law and circumcision, who break the law. One is not a Jew outwardly. True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter; his praise is not from human beings but from God” (Cf. Rm 2,12-29).

The second the Gospel of Luke: “That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more”(Lk 12,47-48). The third, the Gospel of Mark: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16,15-16). The conscience will be for Jesus a metre of judgment until one does not hear the Gospel. Once he heard and I refuses it, the rejected Gospel is the metre of judgment and eternal condemnation.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.)

Every man must be called to the truth of the Gospel. The conversion to the truth is compulsory for all without distinction. If the truth is not given, the minister of the Word, the missionary of Jesus; is responsible. But if it is given, the listener is the one who is responsible. He listened, and he refused to believe. The Lord will judge him for his refusal.

Virgin Mary, Mother of Redemption, Angels, Saints, give us the true faith in the Word.

The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world

Thursday 26 APRIL (Jn 6,44-51)

The conversion to Christ Jesus is a most pure grace of God. It is the Father’s gift to his Son Jesus Christ. That is how this truth is expressed in the Gospel according to John: “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world” (Jn 17,6-14). In our holy faith everything is of God. We are all a gift that the Father made to his Only Son.

All salvation is the work of the Lord, a beautiful wonder of his love. So Isaiah: “For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; Your descendants shall dispossess the nations and shall people the desolate cities. Fear not, you shall not be put to shame; you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced. The shame of your youth you shall forget, the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember. For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the Lord of hosts; Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth. The  calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath, for a moment I hid my face from you; But with enduring love I take pity on you, says the , your redeemer. This is for me like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah should never again deluge the earth; So I have sworn not to be angry with you, or to rebuke you. Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the , who has mercy on you. O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled, I lay your pavements in carnelians, and your foundations in sapphires; I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of carbuncles, and all your walls of precious stones. All your sons shall be taught by the , and great shall be the peace of your children”(Is 54,3-13). However, the gift alone is not enough. It must be welcomed, and lived. It is necessary to become one only thing, one single life for the faith, with it.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: ‘They shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Today, the Father gives us Jesus Christ as a gift. He offers him to us in a peculiar, particular manner, never given before. He offers him to us as living bread to be eaten. However, not spiritually, but physically, really, and corporally. He offers him to us in flesh to be consumed, in blood  to be drunk. Real flesh, real body, and real blood. It is not a matter of symbolism, image, and figure. The flesh is given in its purest truth. This is the great mystery that Jesus announces today to the Jews. From this faith is their salvation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, strengthen us in this faith.

This saying is hard; who can accept it?

Friday 27 APRIL (Jn 6,53-59)

The Jews are asked a leap of faith, of person, prophecy, and revelation. They are called to declare null the old law and to open to new one,which is given by the Word of Jesus. The blood is life. The life is of God. It must be shed on the ground. It must neither be eaten nor drunk inany way. Here are the prescriptions of God: “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: “Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth. Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon all the creatures that move about on the ground and all the fishes of the sea; into your power they are delivered. Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat; I give them all to you as I did the green plants. Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat. For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting: from every animal I will demand it, and from man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life. If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made. Be fertile, then, and multiply; abound on earth and subdue it.”” (Gen 9,1-7).  

To that date from the Lord to Noah, follows the one given to Moses: “All this the priest shall burn on the altar as the food of the sweet-smelling oblation. All the fat belongs to the Lord. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for your descendants wherever they may dwell. You shall not partake of any fat or any blood.” (Lev 3,16-17). Wherever you dwell, you shall not partake of any blood, be it of bird or of animal. Every person who partakes of any blood shall be cut off from his people.” (Lev 7,26-27).  And if anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, partakes of any blood, I will set myself against that one who partakes of blood and will cut him off from among his people. Since the life of a living body is in its blood, I have made you put it on the altar, so that atonement may thereby be made for your own lives, because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement. That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may partake of blood. “Anyone hunting, whether of the Israelites or of the aliens residing among them, who catches an animal or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. Since the life of every living body is its blood, I have told the Israelites: You shall not partake of the blood of any meat. Since the life of every living body is its blood, anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off. ” (Lev 17,10-14). This law is declared repealed. Now one needs to drink the blood, but it is not an animal blood any more. It could have also been welcomed, some how. We are dealing with the blood of the Son of man, and this is unacceptable. It is the unheard of, the unthinkable, the not even imaginable. Even fantasy must surrender.

Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

This is the logic of the faith: abandoning, leaving, denying the past in order to enter and walk into the present of God. In the past, God was. Now it no longer is, because the Lord is the eternal present, eternal life now, everyday, at this moment. This is his eternity. If we do not makethis clear break with what has been, we cannot walk with God who is the God of today, of this particular time in history. Even the Gospel of yesterday must be abandoned, because today the Holy Spirit leads us into today’s Gospel, because he offers us its perfect truth, the whole truth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, give us the God of today.

We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God

Saturday 28 APRIL (Jn 6,60-69)

Always man moves the axis of truth. We all speak from the fullness of our heart. If the heart is hard, sinful, stubborn, rude, ignorant, stupid, shut up in a prison of a truth of yesterday, of a religious form that is no more, of a thought that was good yesterday but that today must necessarily be changed, he does nothing but to attribute his deafness and hardness of heart to external causes. We know that the Jews are hard of hearing, although God attested them all his love. Thus the prophet Hosea: “When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer. He shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be his king; The sword shall begin with his cities and end by consuming his solitudes. Because they refused to repent, their own counsels shall devour them. His people are in suspense about returning to him; and God, though in unison they cry out to him, shall not raise them up” (Hosea 11,1-7). Might there be a greater love than the one lived by the Father through Christ Jesus? Is there perhaps a highest gift than the personal life as our life and than blood as our blood? The Word he communicates, announces, prophesies us, this unimaginable and unthinkable gift; is said to be hard, heavy, non-digestible, non-edible, and cannot be interiorized. It is a word that must be refused. If you were to accept, then Moses would be repudiated forever. They choose Moses and abandon Jesus.

Jesus does not let himself be intimidated. It is at this moment that he attests and reveals his most high conscience and wise freedom. A religion without truth is useless to man, other than harmful. The religion without truth is a true narcotic for the hardened, supine, and crass consciences. The risk could be to have a truth but without any religion. Jesus chooses the truth without religion. He does not want a religion without truth. The truth of his religion is his body to be eaten and his blood to be drunk. If this truth is not welcomed, then it is right that all go away, including the apostles. What should we say today; we who have built a religion without truth, and consequently without any right, true, and holy morality. We should think about it.

Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Even Peter and the others are placed in front of this choice: a religion without truth, or a truth without religion. Peter chooses the truth without religion and decides to walk with Jesus Christ, trusting in his Word, which is the Word of eternal life. If Christ has words of eternal life, then it means that Moses must agree with Christ, be converted to Him; if today, he still wants to say words of eternal life. Otherwise, his words remain for a past, but are not words for the present, for the today of Jesus. Every day we are asked this choice: welcoming the Christ of today in the truth of the Holy Spirit and abandoning the Christ of yesterday, valid and holy for yesterday, but no longer for today; for today is a day of greater truth because of the Spirit of God.

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

   

 

I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again

Sunday 29 APRIL (Jn 10,11-18)

Everything is from God. Everything is also from man. Without man God can do great things. However, he can do nothing for his salvation and redemption. he always operates this through man, never without him. The shepherds are particular instruments of salvation. Here is the cry of the Lord against them. because of their complete neglect for his flock: “Thus the word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, in these words prophesy to them (to the shepherds): Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them. Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have been given over to pillage, and because my sheep have become food for every wild beast, for lack of a shepherd; because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep; because of this, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: I swear I am coming against these shepherds. I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep so that they may no longer pasture themselves. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. For thus says the Lord God: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land’s ravines and all its inhabited places). In good pastures will I pasture them, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal (but the sleek and the strong I will destroy), shepherding them rightly” (Ez 34,1-16). It is a sad situation, of abandonment. The herd is dispersed. The sheep are against eachother. Each carries out massacres against them. They are totally in disarray.

Jesus comes. He puts himself as the model of the flock. He gives his life for the sheep. He makes the difference with the mercenary, who does not care about the sheep and abandons them in time of danger. He teaches that it is urgent to make only one flock, under only one shepherd.

I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

What is the current condition of the flock of Christ Jesus? It is divided under many shepherds. This is due to the fact that many are not shepherds in Christ, with Christ, for Christ in his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. The truth of the Church is the truth of the Shepherd.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make us be one flock.

  

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly

Monday 30 APRIL (Jn 10,1-10)

When Sirach speaks of the advice to be asked, it puts into evidence a great truth. Where there is a personal interest, never might there be a good advice: “Every counselor points out a way, but some counsel ways of their own; Be on the alert when one proffers advice, find out first of all what he wants. For he may be thinking of himself alone; why should the profit fall to him? He may tell you how good your way will be, and then stand by to watch your misfortune. Seek no advice from one who regards you with hostility; from those who envy you, keep your intentions hidden. Speak not to a woman about her rival, nor to a coward about war, to a merchant about business, to a buyer about value, to a miser about generosity, to a cruel man about mercy, to a lazy man about work, to a seasonal laborer about the harvest, to an idle slave about a great task: pay no attention to any advice they give. Instead, associate with a religious man, who you are sure keeps the commandments; Who is like-minded with yourself and will feel for you if you fall. Then, too, heed your own heart’s counsel; for what have you that you can depend on more? A man’s conscience can tell him his situation better than seven watchmen in a lofty tower. Most important of all, pray to God to set your feet in the path of truth” (Ez 34,1-16). This law also applies to the shepherd. Even the smallest, insignificant personal interest, arranges for the shepherd to become a mercenary, one more interested in himself than in the flock that was given him in custody. Instead flock and shepherd must be one life, one interest, one truth, one love, one present, and one future. The life of a good shepherd are the sheep.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them.  So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who came [before me] are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

Jesus lives for the sheep. He nourishes and refreshes his sheep with his daily sweat, his sacrifice, his renunciation of living for himself; and with a love to the end he feeds them by giving them his flesh to be eaten and quenches their thirst by offering them his blood to be drunk. Jesus is truly the life of his sheep. To be good shepherds, and not thieves and robbers, one must be in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, by Christ, never without Him. Now Christ is not in his Word, in his Gospel without the one, holy, catholic, and Apostolic Church. Jesus Christ is in the Word, in the Gospel, in the grace, in the sacraments of which the custodian is the Church founded on Peter.

Who places himself outside of the Church founded on Peter, never might he feed the flock in the manner of Jesus Christ. Either he lacks the grace or the fullness of the truth. Fullness of grace and truth exist only in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Outside of her there is a partial or total shortage of this nourishment of life for the sheep. What food can be given to the sheep without the Eucharist, without the gift of the Holy Spirit, without the sacramental forgiveness of sins? What truth can be given to the sheep where there is no guarantee that what is given is most pure truth of Lord Jesus? One can be a thief and robber in many ways, including letting the sheep die of hunger.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints, make everybody Church with Peter