Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?

1 JULY (Mk 5,21-43)

Faith starts from the revelation God does of Himself in history through words and events intimately linked. The revelation of God in history tells us two great truths: that God is Almighty, Lord, and Creator of all things from nothing; that every event in history is subject to his will, that He is the one God who governs all things. Everything is subject to his providence, his will, and his judgment; that God gave his Word of truth to his faithful servants, the prophets, and that these have acted with his omnipotence. They manifested the power of his word with their word.

This manifestation of omnipotence is through the prayer, the command, the will, the gestures, the works done by them which are infinitely superior to every other man and for this reason impossible to any created being, in whose hands there is not the finger of God. We note this truth with Moses, before whose omnipotence, the same magicians of Egypt recognize the presence of the finger of God that works great wonders.

Though the magicians tried to bring forth gnats by their magic arts, they could not do so. As the gnats infested man and beast, the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” Yet Pharaoh remained obstinate and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had foretold. (Ex 8, 12-15).

The history of Jesus attests that he is the true man of God. His True sent. Nobody can do the work he is doing, if God is not with him. Jesus immediately proved to be a powerful man in word and deed. However, he did not yet express his full power. History did not reveal what he is capable of doing. Nevertheless, people know that he can free from disease, suffering from any illness. Jairus knows all this and begs him to heal his daughter. The hemorrhaging woman also knows this, however she does not beg him with her mouth. She believes that it is sufficient only touching his cloak.

When Jesus had crossed again (in the boat) to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live.” He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, “If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured.” Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who has touched my clothes?” But his disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?'” And he looked around to see who had done it. The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.” While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official’s house arrived and said, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.” He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. So he went in and said to them, “Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep.” And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child’s father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded. He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat.

The historical experience that Jesus is greater than death itself is still lacking. The resurrection of Jairus’ daughter offers also us this truth. Now we have a perfect view of who Jesus is: he is the Lord over all of creation. Everything obeys him.

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

 

Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go

2 JULY (Mt 8,18-22)

Following a person to accomplish his own mission, to proclaim his Gospel, to be clothed of his own powers, is an absolute novelty and it is onlyof Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament kings were by birth, priests by the descent from Aaron, the prophets chosen by God from time to time. There was no following in the Old Covenant. The prophetic following is recognized, but only in one case.

A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. But the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” “Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus,” the Lord said to him. “When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel, and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah, as prophet to succeed you. If anyone escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill him. If he escapes the sword if Jehu, Elisha will kill him. Yet I will leave seven thousand men in Israel – all those who have not knelt to Baal or kissed him.” Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please, let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and I will follow you.” “Go back!” Elijah answered. “Have I done anything to you?” Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat. Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant. (1Kings 19,13-21).

Another case is that of Joshua who was in the service of Moses. We know then that he was also his successor in the guide of the people toward the Promised Land.

Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and they beheld the God of Israel. Under his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself. Yet he did not smite these chosen Israelites. After gazing on God, they could still eat and drink. The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and, while you are there, I will give you the stone tablets on which I have written the commandments intended for their instruction.” So Moses set out with Joshua, his aide, and went up to the mountain of God. The elders, however, had been told by him, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are staying with you. If anyone has a complaint, let him refer the matter to them.” After Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled upon Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord was seen as a consuming fire on the mountaintop. But Moses passed into the midst of the cloud as he went up on the mountain; and there he stayed for forty days and forty nights. (Ex 24,9-18).

In the New Testament one is the mission, one is the body, one the grace, one the truth, one the work of salvation and redemption, entrustedby God to Jesus, This is the only Saviour, the only Redeemer, the only mediator between God and humanity. He will carry out this mission untilthe end of time, associating to himself other men and constituting them his apostles, his disciples, his instruments, his ministers, his ambassadors, his heralds, giving them his power, his grace, his truth, his very life.

When Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side. A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” Another of (his) disciples said to him, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.”

There is no autonomy in the mission. Everything must be lived according to the will of the Father, executing instantly his every orders. Jesusknows this and says it to those who want to follow him. Going behind him is not knowing where you go, where you stop, where you can rest, when you are awake and when you can sleep. Always in the order and command of the Heavenly Father. Every need must disappear.

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

Put your finger here and see my hands

3 JULY (Jn 20,24-29)

Never had God given such overwhelming evidence of his truth. When Moses prayed to the Lord to show him his face, his wish was granted only in part. Moses did not have the joy of seeing God’s face. He saw only the back from the cave in the rock: “Then Moses said, “Do let me see your glory!” He answered, “I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, ‘Lord’; I who show favors to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will. But my face you cannot see, for no man sees me and still lives. Here,” continued the Lord, “is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. When my glory passes I will set you in the hollow of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face is not to be seen.” The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the former, that I may write on them the commandments which were on the former tablets that you broke. Get ready for tomorrow morning, when you are to go up Mount Sinai and there present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and no one is even to be seen on any part of the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to go grazing toward this mountain.” Moses then cut two stone tablets like the former, and early the next morning he went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, “Lord.” Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their fathers’ wickedness!” Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said, “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own» (Ex 33,17-34,9).

Why so much complacency on the part of Jesus to Thomas, who, in order to believe, wants to put his finger in the hole of the nails and his hand in the pierced side by the spear? Jesus hears the request of Thomas in order to give the world the infallible certainty of his glorious resurrection. In Thomas there is all of humanity that is in front of Jesus and this confesses that Jesus is truly risen. He touched him. He put his hands in the place of nails. That Jesus that appears and then disappears is really the Crucifix, the Jesus that had performed signs and wonders among the people.

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.”

However, once the prove is given, everyone is has placed before his own responsibility. If he does do not believe, it is due to unbelief, and not to lack of prove. If he does not believe, he is guilty of eternal death, because he will die in his sin. This does not mean that the evidence of history on which the faith in Jesus Christ is founded must not be offered any more. Every one of his disciples must be proof of the resurrection of the Lord, today. His resurrection to new life is a prove. His life made of charity, mercy, piety, forgiveness, reconciliation, compassion, truth, victory over vice, and elimination of sin in every form is a prove. The creative and all-powerful Word that changes history in the eyes of those who are invited to faith is also a prove. Without this prove it is unlikely that faith can start in a heart. The prove is the support of the Word of God that is announced and that is given. Risen Christ is not seen, because today one must see the body of Christ that rose from sin, from vice, and from the spiritual death.

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

If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine

4 JULY (Mt 8,28-34)

The only case in the Old Testament which speaks of the devil turning away from a person’s life we find in the Book of Tobit. In all other caseshe is presented as the tempter, the one that has a will contrary to God’s and that in any way, deceiving, he wants it to be thought and will of the creature. “When they had entered Media and were getting close to Ecbatana, Raphael said to the boy, “Brother Tobiah!” He answered, “Yes, what is it?” Raphael continued: “Tonight we must stay with Raguel, who is a relative of yours. He has a daughter named Sarah, but no other child. Since you are Sarah’s closest relative, you before all other men have the right to marry her. Also, her father’s estate is rightfully yours to inherit. Now the girl is sensible, courageous, and very beautiful; and her father loves her dearly.” He continued: “Since you have the right to marry her, listen to me, brother. Tonight I will ask the girl’s father to let us have her as your bride. When we return from Rages, we will hold the wedding feast for her. I know that Raguel cannot keep her from you or let her become engaged to another man; that would be a capital crime according to the decree in the Book of Moses, and he knows that it is your right, before all other men, to marry his daughter. So heed my words, brother; tonight we must speak for the girl, so that we may have her engaged to you. And when we return from Rages, we will take her and bring her back with us to your house.” Tobiah objected, however: “Brother Azariah, I have heard that this woman has already been married seven times, and that her husbands died in their bridal chambers. On the very night they approached her, they dropped dead. And I have heard it said that it was a demon who killed them. So now I too am afraid of this demon. Because he loves her, he does not harm her; but he does slay any man who wishes to come close to her. I am my father’s only child. If I should die, I would bring my father and mother down to their grave in sorrow over me. And they have no other son to bury them!” Raphael said to him: “Do you not remember your father’s orders? He commanded you to marry a woman from your own family. So now listen to me, brother; do not give another thought to this demon, but marry Sarah. I know that tonight you shall have her for your wife! When you go into the bridal chamber, take the fish’s liver and heart, and place them on the embers for the incense. As soon as the demon smells the odor they give off, he will flee and never again show himself near her. Then when you are about to have intercourse with her, both of you first rise up to pray. Beg the Lord of heaven to show you mercy and grant you deliverance. But do not be afraid, for she was set apart for you before the world existed. You will save her, and she will go with you. And I suppose that you will have children by her, who will take the place of brothers for you. So do not worry.” When Tobiah heard Raphael say that she was his kinswoman, of his own family’s lineage, he fell deeply in love with her, and his heart became set on her”. (Tb 6, 10-19).

Satan wants to conquer everything: body, soul, spirit, mind, thoughts, wishes, and desires. This way for the man there will be no chance of salvation. But even to this man, who is totally at the mercy of the devil, the Lord manifests his love, his goodness, and his mercy. The onlyliberation from the power of the devil which is impossible with God is when a man falls into the sin against the Holy Spirit. In this case a manis already a damned on this earth. He is prey to Satan for eternity.

When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

Why does Jesus agree that the demons end up into the swine? To teach all men that a person’s life is worth more than all the beasts of the earth. These were created for man, not man for the animals. He wants to teach us that for the true salvation of a person it is right that all goods of the earth are sent down the drain. If we do not put this truth in the heart, we have not understood anything about Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints help us to think like Jesus.

  

Why do you harbor evil thoughts?

5 JULY (Mt 9,1-8)

In the Book of the Levite forgiveness of sins was hard work, and almost difficult. For every sin there was a particular sacrifice to be offered to the Lord. With the prophets forms and manners gradually began to change. Prayer became the form and essence of the cancellation of sins.The Psalms attest to this change. David composed a psalm to ask forgiveness of his fault, the remittance of his transgression.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your loving-kindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You will delight in  righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar. (Psalm 51 (50), 1.21).

With Jesus a radical change takes place. It is he who takes the initiative and without any explicit request, he gives the forgiveness of sin. This offer of forgiveness for the Pharisees is a scandal. No man can forgive sins. Only God can forgive these. These men ignore that God forgives ifwe forgive, he cancels if we cancel, he forgives if we forgive, he condones if we condone. There is no bigger novelty than this: for God to forgive sin it is required our forgiveness. We are not talking of forgiveness through the sacramental way. We speak of the way that he taught us in “Our Father” and in every other teaching of the Gospel.

He entered a boat, made the crossing, and came into his own town. And there people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Courage, child, your sins are forgiven.” At that, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” Jesus knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why do you harbor evil thoughts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”  – he then said to the paralytic, “Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home.” He rose and went home. When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe and glorified God who had given such authority to human beings.

Today Jesus teaches us that sin is not forgiven only through a sacramental way. This way is the sovereign one, for the absolution in the nameof God and it is always necessary. However, this is often ineffective if the man does not forgive, does not condone, does not remit the sin of his brother. This path must exist together with the another and it is also sovereign. That is how this way is taught us by St. James: “Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. Elijah was a human being like us; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit” (James 5,13-18). This way must always be lived at all times in every human relationship, if one wants the Sacrament to bear fruit of peace, reconciliation, and great forgiveness.

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

Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do

6 JULY (Mt 9,9-13)

The sacrifice to be offered to God is forgiveness, compassion, mercy, piety, almsgiving, acceptance of the poor, needy, sinner, miserable, weak, fragile, naked, thirsty, hungry, stranger, prisoner, and pilgrim. This is the true sacrifice pleasing to God, the true religion that we mustalways practice. This is the feast to be celebrated in honor of the Lord: lifting the poor and needy. So Amos: “For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me, that you may live, but do not seek Bethel; Do not come to Gilgal, and do not cross to Beer-sheba. For Gilgal shall be led into exile, and Bethel shall become nought. Seek the Lord, that you may live, lest he come upon the house of Joseph like a fire That shall consume, with none to quench it for the house of Israel: Woe to those who turn judgment to wormwood and cast justice to the ground! They hate him who reproves at the gate and abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore, because you have trampled upon the weak and exacted of them levies of grain, Though you have built houses of hewn stone, you shall not live in them! Though you have planted choice vineyards, you shall not drink their wine! Yes, I know how many are your crimes, how grievous your sins: Oppressing the just, accepting bribes, repelling the needy at the gate! Therefore the prudent man is silent at this time, for it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, that you may live; Then truly will the Lord, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim! Hate evil and love good, and let justice prevail at the gate; Then it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will have pity on the remnant of Joseph. (Cf. Am 5,1-27).

The same truth is taught us by the prophet Hosea. The Lord does not love the magnificent cult that serves to conceal selfishness, hypocrisy, transgression of the commandments, the absence of any compassion and mercy, piety and benevolence towards the poorest of the country.

“Let us know, let us strive to know the Lord; as certain as the dawn is his coming. He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.” What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your piety is like a morning cloud, like the dew that early passes away. For this reason I smote them through the prophets, I slew them by the words of my mouth; For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than holocausts. But they, in their land, violated the covenant; there they were untrue to me. Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with blood. As brigands ambush a man, a band of priests slay on the way to Shechem, committing monstrous crime. In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: there harlotry is found in Ephraim, Israel is defiled. For you also, O Judah, a harvest has been appointed. (Hos 6,1-11).

Jesus attests his great love for sinners, which is forgiveness, reconciliation, conversion, repentance, return to the house of the Father, obedience to his commandments. The Pharisees are scandalized and accuse him of complicity with the world of evil. Evil for them is the help given to sinners to be converted and live. Evil is working for the return into the will of God of those who have been so far off. Evil is preaching the Gospel to those who do not know it and live on the fringes of legality.

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples. The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He heard this and said, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

The Pharisees live a holiness without man and this is the worst of holiness; for it is a holiness without the truth of God, his mercy, his infinitetruth, his forgiveness, his grace, and the possibility of every man to be welcomed by the love of his Father in heaven. It is a holiness ofhypocrites and whitewashed sepulchres.

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

  

You are not far from the kingdom of God

7 JUNE (Mk 12,28b-34)

What does loving the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might mean? Let us read what the Lord says to Moses,and we will understand it in fullness of truth.

“These then are the commandments, the statutes and decrees which the Lord, your God, has ordered that you be taught to observe in the land into which you are crossing for conquest, so that you and your son and your grandson may fear the Lord, your God, and keep, throughout the days of your lives, all his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life. Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that you may grow and prosper the more, in keeping with the promise of the Lord, the God of your fathers, to give you a land flowing with milk and honey.

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. Bind them at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

“Later on, when your son asks you what these ordinances, statutes and decrees mean which the Lord, our God, has enjoined on you, you shall say to your son, ‘We were once slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and wrought before our eyes signs and wonders, great and dire, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and his whole house. He brought us from there to lead us into the land he promised on oath to our fathers, and to give it to us. Therefore, the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes in fear of the Lord, our God, that we may always have as prosperous and happy a life as we have today; and our justice before the Lord, our God, is to consist in carefully observing all these commandments he has enjoined on us” (Cf. Dt 6,1-15).  

Loving means listening, obeying, putting into practice every word that came, comes, and will come out of the mouth of God. Man’s life, both the present and the future ones are from the perfect obedience to the voice of his God, who has not spoken only yesterday; he speaks today, and tomorrow and always. In relationship with God and the neighbor, nothing is left to the mind or heart of man. Mind, heart, and strengthmust be totally committed to obedience, listening, and the realization of every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

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

The sacrifice that the Lord asks of every believer in him is only one: the offering of our minds, our hearts, our whole body, the denial of ourselves, our thoughts, our will, and our desires; so that we can hear his voice and lend it ready and instant obedience. It is God who commands love and its modalities. It is He who day by day reveals us the historicity of our love, inspiring it through his Holy Spirit. The Christian becomes this way a careful, perennial, and tireless listener of his God. This sacrifice is not offered in the morning and not even inthe evening. It is offered to the Lord at every moment, every hour, every instant of our day. It is the holocaust of our thoughts and our will to Him so that He can love through our bodies every man according to his will and not ours. When we understand this truth, it is then that we can call us true disciples of our God.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints make us true disciples of Jesus, the faithful Listener, the immediate Obedient to every desire of his Father, the perfect Holocaust in honor of his God and Lord on the altar of the cross.

And they took offense at him

8 JULY (Mk 6,1-6)

Wisdom is a gift that from God directly descends into a heart and wraps it of truth, justice, prudence, temperance, wisdom, patience and allother virtues. Who possesses wisdom lives with the fullness of the Holy Spirit in his heart.

Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men’s desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate. For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude. For the first step toward discipline is a very earnest desire for her; then, care for discipline is love of her; love means the keeping of her laws; To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility; and incorruptibility makes one close to God; thus the desire for Wisdom leads up to a kingdom. If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of the peoples, honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever. Now what wisdom is, and how she came to be I shall relate; and I shall hide no secrets from you, But from the very beginning I shall search out and bring to light knowledge of her, nor shall I diverge from the truth. Neither shall I admit consuming jealousy to my company, because that can have no fellowship with Wisdom. A great number of wise men is the safety of the world, and a prudent king, the stability of his people; so take instruction from my words, to your profit. (Wis 6,12-25).

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. (Wis 7,22-30). 

Not only is Jesus filled with all heavenly, divine wisdom; every day, he grows in a more and more overflowing way in it. What do the people of Nazareth do? They take offense because Jesus is wise, judging him not worthy of owning such a gift due to his humble origins. As if wisdom belonged to a category of men. It is a free, gratuitous, and inscrutable gift, dependent only on the divine will.

He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching.

That of the inhabitants of Nazareth is a faith with no historical memory, without revealed truth, without knowledge of the mystery of God. It is a human faith, made ​​of carnal, earthly thoughts, and without any reference to the supernatural. It is a faith incapable of true, sounddiscernment of precise historical acts that are offered so that one fully enters into the mystery of salvation. Not only is this faith poor, it is also harmful. It is a faith that leads to mistaken, biased, approximate, unjust judgments, lacking any truth. It is a faith that does not bringtruth and as a consequence it excludes from the true redemption. Such a faith kills, and does not vivify.

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

If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured

9 JULY (Mt 9,18-26)

With Jesus faith enters a very high dimension. Never up to now had a person’s body been regarded as a source of miracle. Everything was based on the almighty word of the Lord. It was either God who said, and things happened, or it was the man of God that said in the name of God and things were fulfilled. Sometimes it was God who promised, and things were accomplished. Other times, it was man who with a heartfelt prayer, made with the tears of the heart, tore God the hoped for grace. It is the case of Anna: “When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters, but a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, though the Lord had made her barren. Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her that the Lord had left her barren. This went on year after year; each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Lord, Peninnah would approach her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat. Her husband Elkanah used to ask her: “Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you refuse to eat? Why do you grieve? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Hannah rose after one such meal at Shiloh, and presented herself before the Lord; at the time, Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost of the Lord’S temple. In her bitterness she prayed to the Lord, weeping copiously, and she made a vow, promising: “O Lord of hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the Lord for as long as he lives; neither wine nor liquor shall he drink, and no razor shall ever touch his head.” As she remained long at prayer before the Lord, Eli watched her mouth, for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk, said to her, “How long will you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up from your wine!” “It isn’t that, my lord,” Hannah answered. “I am an unhappy woman. I have had neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the Lord. Do not think your handmaid a ne’er-do-well; my prayer has been prompted by my deep sorrow and misery.” Eli said, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” She replied, “Think kindly of your maidservant,” and left. She went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and no longer appeared downcast. (1Sam 1,4-18).

Previously there had been the prayer of Isaac for his wife Rebecca. Rachel was also heard in her prayer: “Isaac entreated the Lord on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The Lord heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant. But the children in her womb jostled each other so much that she exclaimed, “If this is to be so, what good will it do me!” She went to consult the Lord, and he answered her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still within you; But one shall surpass the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”(Gen 25,19-23).Then God remembered Rachel; he heard her prayer and made her fruitful. She conceived and bore a son, and she said, “God has removed my disgrace.” So she named him Joseph, meaning, “May the Lord add another son to this one for me!” (Gen 30,22-24). But in memory of Holy Scripture a faith so strong is not remembered. But also in memory of Holy Scripture, such omnipotent, holy, and strong personis not to be found before now.

While he was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples. A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.” And from that hour the woman was cured. When Jesus arrived at the official’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, “Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they ridiculed him. When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose. And news of this spread throughout all that land.

The faith of the hemorrhage woman must teach us that every one of us needs be capable of great discernment; and distinguish person fromperson, man from man, woman from woman, prayer from prayer, faith from faith, love from love, and hope from hope. Before a new realityyou cannot live with an ancient faith. The updating of the faith is of vital necessity for all. A faith that is always new and live is a source of life.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels and Saints give us this new, alive faith.

The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few

10 JULY (Mt 9,32-38)

That of the “sheep without a shepherd” is the dominant theme throughout the Old Testament, especially in the prophetic revelation. All the prophets see the spiritual disaster of the Lord’s people, and attribute it to bad shepherds who do not take care of the sheep entrusted to them. God sees this situation of universal disbandment; and through the prophet Jeremiah promises that he himself would have sent shepherds after his own heart: “Return, rebellious children, says the Lord, for I am your Master; I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will appoint over you shepherds after my own heart, who will shepherd you wisely and prudently. When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, says the Lord, They will in those days no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord!” They will no longer think of it, or remember it, or miss it, or make another. At that time they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne; there all nations will be gathered together to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will walk no longer in their hardhearted wickedness. In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers as a heritage. I had thought: How I should like to treat you as sons, And give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful among the nations! You would call me, “My Father,” I thought, and never cease following me. But like a woman faithless to her lover, even so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord. A cry is heard on the heights! the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children, Because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the Lord, their God. Return, rebellious children, and I will cure you of your rebelling. “Here we are, we now come to you because you are the Lord, our God. Deceptive indeed are the hills, the thronging mountains; In the Lord, our God, alone is the salvation of Israel. The shame-god has devoured our fathers’ toil from our youth, Their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, let our disgrace cover us, for we have sinned against the Lord, our God, From our youth to this day, we and our fathers also; we listened not to the voice of the Lord, our God.”” (Jer 3,14-25).

Even Jesus, the good shepherd sent by God to gather his scattered flock, sees that the sheep are in a miserable state. Apart from true God, He is also a true man and no man, due to his structural limitations, which are of his nature, even if most holy; might gather all the sheep of God that are in the world. Jesus knows that there is need of many shepherds, many workers, many people who dedicate themselves to this ministry. However, who must send shepherds is his Father. It is up to him to send shepherds after his own heart. Nevertheless, man must remind him it with a heartfelt, uninterrupted prayer, without any rest. However, the prayer must be the result not of a need that he sees, but of his immense love for the sheep he wants all in the fold of God: all safe, all redeemed, and all starting down the path of holiness.

As they were going out, a demoniac who could not speak was brought to him, and when the demon was driven out the mute person spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons.” Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”

It is compassion for the sheep that must transform our hearts into a house of perennial prayer from which one voice arises: “Lord Send workers into your harvest. I lay down my life for the salvation of your sheep. But I cannot reach them all. I am a finite, limited, and small person, I have little might. For your name’s sake, for the love of Jesus Christ, the good shepherd of all your sheep, give still and always shepherds after your heart.” When the heart pray for love, compassion, mercy, from Heaven the Lord listens and the workers flock and the sheep find refreshment.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, become our voice before God and ask for workers for his harvest. Angels, and Saints intercede without interruption.

A hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life

11 JULY (Mt 19,27-29)

Every man thinks according to the measure of holiness which is in his heart. The still “animal” or “natural” man thinks according to the flesh, while the “spiritual” man or the one governed by the Spirit of the Lord thinks according to the fullness of the evangelical truth. This distinction of thought, evaluation, discernment is thus revealed by St. Paul.

When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms. Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone. For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1Cor 2,1-16).

Peter follows Jesus, walks behind him; however, he is still a completely “natural”, and “animal” man. He is still not full of Holy Spirit, he has not been transformed into a completely spiritual person, that is, governed by the thought of Jesus Christ. His request pours from a heart that still thinks in terms of immediate, and material interest. However, Jesus does not disdain the heart of Peter and responds according to the measure of his faith and his state of elevation or current growth. Currently he is a child in his faith and Jesus reassures him in his smallness. This is precisely the wisdom of Jesus

Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.

Every day we, too, are faced with people who are highly spiritual, people who have passed the first and second degree of the ascetic path and live almost to the summit of their uniting perfection with God. The man who is before us is often a “natural”, and “animal” man that understand nothing about God’s heart. We are also asked to robe ourselves with the same knowledge of Jesus and in the Holy Spirit to find the right answer that allows a greater and greater progress in the sequel of Jesus. Now Peter knows that he has not lost anything. He knows he will have one hundred times as much in time and eternity. He knows that with Jesus the gain is always high, very high. He can follow him with peace in his heart. Then, tomorrow he we will grow and realize his past infant thinking and will be amazed at his precedent spiritual littleness. However, he will understand that his brothers who are now as he was, are also in need of his great wisdom in order to be able to grow as he did and become “spiritual” beings.

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

Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts

12 JULY (Mt 10,7-15)

The interpretation St. Paul gives this word of Lord Jesus deserves to be known, wisely understood, and holily lived. Love for the Gospeldemands that his person does not even live of Gospel. Let us listen to his word.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? Although I may not be an apostle for others, certainly I am for you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. My defense against those who would pass judgment on me is this. Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a Christian wife, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Kephas? Or is it only myself and Barnabas who do not have the right not to work? Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating its produce? Or who shepherds a flock without using some of the milk from the flock? Am I saying this on human authority, or does not the law also speak of these things? It is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is God concerned about oxen, or is he not really speaking for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope, and the thresher in hope of receiving a share. If we have sown spiritual seed for you, is it a great thing that we reap a material harvest from you? If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we still more? Yet we have not used this right. ⁴ On the contrary, we endure everything so as not to place an obstacle to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform the temple services eat (what) belongs to the temple, and those who minister at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel. I have not used any of these rights, however, nor do I write this that it be done so in my case. I would rather die. Certainly no one is going to nullify my boast. If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast, for an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it! If I do so willingly, I have a recompense, but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my recompense? That, when I preach, I offer the gospel free of charge so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law – though I myself am not under the law – to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law – though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ – to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it. Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. (1Cor 9,1-27).

St. Paul gives the words of Jesus a holy, authentic, true and perfect interpretation. Nothing is lawful for a missionary, if the Gospel were to endure even the slightest damage. If it were to be exposed to non credibility due to the man that brings it. The life of Gospel demands ourdaily dying and any other renunciation.

As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. Do not take gold or silver or copper for your belts; no sack for the journey, or a second tunic, or sandals, or walking stick. The laborer deserves his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, look for a worthy person in it, and stay there until you leave. As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you. Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words – go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet. Amen, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints make us wise for the Gospel.

You will be hated by all because of my name

13 JULY (Mt 10,16-23)

Paul is in prison, a prisoner. That is how he bears witness to the great men of the earth: “Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak on your own behalf.” So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. “I count myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am to defend myself before you today against all the charges made against me by the Jews, especially since you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. And therefore I beg you to listen patiently. My manner of living from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my people and in Jerusalem, all (the) Jews know. They have known about me from the start, if they are willing to testify, that I have lived my life as a Pharisee, the strictest party of our religion. But now I am standing trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors. Our twelve tribes hope to attain to that promise as they fervently worship God day and night; and on account of this hope I am accused by Jews, O king. Why is it thought unbelievable among you that God raises the dead? I myself once thought that I had to do many things against the name of Jesus the Nazorean, and I did so in Jerusalem. I imprisoned many of the holy ones with the authorization I received from the chief priests, and when they were to be put to death I cast my vote against them. Many times, in synagogue after synagogue, I punished them in an attempt to force them to blaspheme; I was so enraged against them that I pursued them even to foreign cities. “On one such occasion I was traveling to Damascus with the authorization and commission of the chief priests. At midday, along the way, O king, I saw a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions. We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Get up now, and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness of what you have seen (of me) and what you will be shown. I shall deliver you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I send you, to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated by faith in me.’ “And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance. That is why the Jews seized me (when I was) in the temple and tried to kill me. But I have enjoyed God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here testifying to small and great alike, saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses foretold, that the Messiah must suffer and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.” But Paul replied, “I am not mad, most excellent Festus; I am speaking words of truth and reason. The king knows about these matters and to him I speak boldly, for I cannot believe that (any) of this has escaped his notice; this was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.” Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You will soon persuade me to play the Christian.” Paul replied, “I would pray to God that sooner or later not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am except for these chains.” (Cf. At 26,1-32).

Every man of God is a bearer of a great mystery. His life is entirely in the hands of God, who knows how to use him in order to bear witness toJesus Christ.

“Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. But beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

This faith must move the disciple of Jesus: either as a free person or as a prisoner, either in a place or in another, either in life or in death; it is God who chooses the mode of testimony.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints give us this most pure faith.

So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows

14 JULY (Mt 10,24-33)

Jesus asks us to live the Gospel, offering Him our whole life. That is how this same truth was already announced in the Old Testament.

But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their King forever. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect. But the wicked shall receive a punishment to match their thoughts, since they neglected justice and forsook the Lord. For he who despises wisdom and instruction is doomed. Vain is their hope, fruitless are their labors, and worthless are their works. Their wives are foolish and their children wicked; accursed is their brood. Yes, blessed is she who, childless and undefiled, knew not transgression of the marriage bed; she shall bear fruit at the visitation of souls. So also the eunuch whose hand wrought no misdeed, who held no wicked thoughts against the Lord – For he shall be given fidelity’s choice reward and a more gratifying heritage in the Lord -Lord’s temple. For the fruit of noble struggles is a glorious one; and unfailing is the root of understanding. But the children of adulterers will remain without issue, and the progeny of an unlawful bed will disappear. For should they attain long life, they will be held in no esteem, and dishonored will their old age be at last; While should they die abruptly, they have no hope nor comfort in the day of scrutiny; for dire is the end of the wicked generation. (Wisdom 3,1-18).

The Gospel is lived up to the supreme witness, pouring out life for it. Giving life to the Gospel is finding it entirely glorious in the blissfuleternity. Taking it out of the Gospel is to losing it for eternity. How do you give life to the Gospel? You give by delivering it to the truth that itcontains and announces. The truth of the Gospel are the Beatitudes. Who gives life to the Gospel, must be a man, a person of the Beatitudes; that is, a person, a man, entirely consecrated to the good according to the way and the form of Jesus Christ. No complicity with evil. No act of our life might be lived in the will of men, if this is contrary to the will of God.

No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

You cannot live as Christians in secret, in hiding, in the desert, in retirement from the world. The Gospel is the witness to be made to ChristJesus before the world. The Gospel is the leaven of the world, the salt of the earth, the light of the Gentiles. The Gospel requires a public,clear confession, always present of loyalty to it when a man asks you the truth to be lived in the intimacy of the conscience, in secret in thedesert, far from the city of men, out of its institutions. The Gospel is fighting, combating against the prince of this world and this is not in the desert. It is in the heart of the city.

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

He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two

15 JULY (Mk 6,7-13)

The words Jesus addresses his disciples today, over the centuries have been differently interpreted and differently also lived. Even St. Pauland St. Peter interpret and live these words of Lord Jesus. Here is what they teach.

Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: “In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.” Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left; through glory and dishonor, insult and praise. We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful; as unrecognized and yet acknowledged; as dying and behold we live; as chastised and yet not put to death; as sorrowful yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing and yet possessing all things. (2Cor 6,1-10).

So I exhort the presbyters among you, as a fellow presbyter and witness to the sufferings of Christ and one who has a share in the glory to be revealed. Tend the flock of God in your midst, (overseeing) not by constraint but willingly, as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly. Do not lord it over those assigned to you, but be examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is revealed, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. (1Pt 5,1-4).

Jesus himself, after his resurrection, entrusting the mission to the Twelve, did not abolish these words, he entrusts them to the Holy Spirit, so that He is the one to interpret them with divine authority along the course of the centuries. He must remember every thing according to the fullness of historical, and never absolute truth, since man is a historical, and not an absolute being.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you” (Jn 14,15-17.25-26). “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn 15,26-27). “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16,12-15).

These words of Jesus are not absolute, they are historical. It is the Holy Spirit that must give them the correct interpretation according totime, place and circumstance, in history.

He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick – no food, no sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.” So they went off and preached repentance. They drove out many demons, and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

If the Holy Spirit is not powerful, strong in us, we risk giving these words an absolute value, transforming them from evangelical into anti evangelical words, from words of witness into words of anti witness. It is very easy, without the Spirit of God in us, to disguise the whole Gospel, making it unacceptable, and not credible.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, Saints make us strong in the Holy Spirit.

 

 

Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth

16 JULY (Mt 10,34-11,1)

Who chooses the Gospel, has already chosen martyrdom, the shedding of his blood, the offering of all his life to God as a sacrifice. From the Old Testament we know the law that regulates the offering of a holocaust to the Lord: the consummation by fire of the entirevictim. Nothing had to be given to man. On the contrary, everything was of the Lord.

The Lord called Moses, and from the meeting tent gave him this message: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any one of you wishes to bring an animal offering to the Lord, such an offering must be from the herd or from the flock. “If his holocaust offering is from the herd, it must be a male without blemish. To find favor with the Lord, he shall bring it to the entrance of the meeting tent and there lay his hand on the head of the holocaust, so that it may be acceptable to make atonement for him. He shall then slaughter the bull before the Lord, but Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall offer up its blood by splashing it on the sides of the altar which is at the entrance of the meeting tent. Then he shall skin the holocaust and cut it up into pieces. After Aaron’s sons, the priests, have put some burning embers on the altar and laid some wood on them, they shall lay the pieces of meat, together with the head and the suet, on top of the wood and embers on the altar. The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerershall first wash with water. The priest shall then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. “If his holocaust offering is from the flock, that is, a sheep or a goat, he must bring a male without blemish. This he shall slaughter before the Lord at the north side of the altar. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall splash its blood on the sides of the altar. When the offerer has cut it up into pieces, the priest shall lay these, together with the head and suet, on top of the wood and the fire on the altar. The inner organs and the shanks, however, the offerer shall first wash with water. The priest shall offer them up and then burn the whole offering on the altar as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. “If he offers a bird as a holocaust to the Lord, he shall choose a turtledove or a pigeon as his offering. Having brought it to the altar where it is to be burned, the priest shall snap its head loose and squeeze out its blood against the side of the altar. Its crop and feathers shall be removed and thrown on the ash heap at the east side of the altar. Then, having split the bird down the middle without separating the halves, the priest shall burn it on the altar, over the wood on the fire, as a holocaust, a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. (Lev 1,1-17).

The world is the high priest that must take the Christian, wash, cleanse, sacrifice, and burn him wholly on the fire of the gospel truth ina sacrifice of sweet odor. This is the great mystery that must be carried out in every one of Jesus’ disciples.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’ “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” When Jesus finished giving these commands to his twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

Who is the world that must offer the Lord our lives in sacrifice and burnt offering? It is the father, mother, brother, sister, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, husband, wife, neighbor, boyfriend, girlfriend, and every other person the Christian enters into a relationship with. Even another Christian, not a true disciple of Jesus, can be transformed, like Judas; into a Priest to make the offering to the Lord of our lives. Who out of respect or out of love for man, whoever he may be, does not let himself be offered, but withdraws his offering, never might he be worthy of Jesus Christ. He loved man more than the Lord. He did not loose his life for Christ, never might he find it intact in the kingdom of heaven. He consecrated it to the world, the worldwill deliver it to him in the eternal perdition. This is the law of the holocaust.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints make us holocaust for the Lord.

 

 

 

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!

17 JULY (Mt 11,20-24)

Tyre and Sidon are proud, haughty cities; they were destroyed by their own sin.

Thus the word of the Lord came to me: As for you, son of man, utter a lament over Tyre, and say to Tyre that is situated at the approaches of the sea, that brought the trade of the peoples to many a coastland: Thus says the Lord God: Tyre, you said, “I am a ship, perfect in beauty.” In the midst of the sea your builders placed you, perfected your beauty. With cypress from Senir they built for you all of your decks; Cedar from Lebanon they took to make you a mast; From the highest oaks of Bashan they made your oars; Your bridge they made of cypress wood from the coasts of Kittim. Fine embroidered linen from Egypt became your sail (to serve you as a banner). Purple and scarlet from the coasts of Elishah covered your cabin. Citizens of Sidon and Arvad served as your oarsmen; Skilled men of Zemer were in you to be your mariners; The elders and experts of Gebal were in you to caulk your seams. Every ship and sailor on the sea came to you to carry trade. Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as warriors; shield and helmet they hung upon you, increasing your splendor. The men of Arvad were all about your walls, and the Gamadites were in your towers; they hung their bucklers all around on your walls, and made perfect your beauty. (Cfr. Ez 27,1-28.26).

Sodom and Gomorrah are cities of unnatural lust. The request that is made ​​to Lot, on the night before their destruction, attests to it. It is a gruesome story.

The two angels reached Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he got up to greet them; and bowing down with his face to the ground, he said, “Please, gentlemen, come aside into your servant’s house for the night, and bathe your feet; you can get up early to continue your journey.” But they replied, “No, we shall pass the night in the town square.” He urged them so strongly, however, that they turned aside to his place and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking cakes without leaven, and they dined. Before they went to bed, all the townsmen of Sodom, both young and old – all the people to the last man – closed in on the house. They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them.” Lot went out to meet them at the entrance. When he had shut the door behind him, he said, “I beg you, my brothers, not to do this wicked thing. I have two daughters who have never had intercourse with men. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you please. But don’t do anything to these men, for you know they have come under the shelter of my roof.” They replied, “Stand back! This fellow,” they sneered, “came here as an immigrant, and now he dares to give orders! We’ll treat you worse than them!” With that, they pressed hard against Lot, moving in closer to break down the door. But his guests put out their hands, pulled Lot inside with them, and closed the door; at the same time they struck the men at the entrance of the house, one and all, with such a blinding light that they were utterly unable to reach the doorway. (Gen 19,1-14).

These proud, haughty, lustful unnatural cities on the day of judgment will have a lot less hard than the cities of Galilee. Jesus teaches this truth.

Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

The Lord, the righteous judge, judges man according to the grace received and to the ministry that was entrusted him. One is God’s judgment on the Pope, the Cardinal, the Bishop, the Priest, the Deacon, the Religious persons, the Consecrated men and women; andanother is the judgment on the Christian Layman. There is difference of judgment between who knew Christ and rejected him, andamong those who have never heard talking of Jesus the Lord. Everyone needs to know on what he will be judged by the Lord, so that he can prepare a judgment of salvation and not of perdition, of eternal life and not of damnation forever.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints give us this wisdom.

 

 

 

All things have been handed over to me by my Father

18 JULY (Mt 11,25-27)

The Psalm teaches us that every man is made in a particular, unique way by his Lord and God. Every man carries an eternal vocation, a mission that is his alone and no one else’. It is right that everyone makes this truth his own.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.  You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,  Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”  Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;  Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139 (138) 1-24).

Even Jesus, since he is a true and perfect man, other than the true and perfect God, he has been woven by the Heavenly Father with a unique mission, which is his alone and no one else’: from the day the Lord made the man up to the advent of the new heavens and new earth, and for all the days of eternity. This mission is sung this way by Christ Jesus himself in a magnificat of praise and blessing to his Father.

At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. 

Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and humanity. His mediation is of grace, truth, revelation, eternal life, justification, redemption, sanctification, love, compassion, mercy, and justice. It is a descending and ascending mediation. Through him, God gives himself in his mystery to man; through him man goes up to God. In Christ every exchange between God and men takes place. In Him and for Him the remission of sins and reconciliation occur. In Him and for Him the mystery of salvation is fulfilled.

The Father gave the Son everything. The everything is universal. Even creation, which was made through him, was placed in his hands for its eternal salvation. Nothing of what is created can go to God except through the Son. This is not a Christian, and Catholic truth. This is the truth, the only truth which is to be called anthropological truth, from which every other truth of man and on man receives its approval of justification or refutation, because it does not belong to the essence of the creature made by God in his image and likeness. This mystery must be affirmed, announced, proclaimed, declared, preached, taught with firmness, without any hesitation, any psychological subjection, and any fear. It cannot be imposed on anyone; however, it must be preached and proclaimed to all, so that all know where their full and perfect truth is. All know that only Lord Jesus is the truth of man, because He is God’s truth, from which today and always is the truth of man. Without the truth that comes from Christ the Lord, darkness will always envelop the earth.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption; Angels, and Saints insert us in this mystery. Make us be one only thing, one only truth, one only life, and one only revelation, with it.

 

 

 

Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart

19 JULY (Mt 11,28-30)

The Old Testament teaches us that human life comes from the knowledge and welcome of wisdom in his heart. This is a true prophecy.

Does not Wisdom call, and Understanding raise her voice? On the top of the heights along the road, at the crossroads she takes her stand; By the gates at the approaches of the city, in the entryways she cries aloud: “To you, O men, I call; my appeal is to the children of men. You simple ones, gain resource, you fools, gain sense. “Give heed! for noble things I speak; honesty opens my lips. Yes, the truth my mouth recounts, but the wickedness my lips abhor. Sincere are all the words of my mouth, no one of them is wily or crooked; All of them are plain to the man of intelligence, and right to those who attain knowledge. Receive my instruction in preference to silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. (For Wisdom is better than corals, and no choice possessions can compare with her.) “I, Wisdom, dwell with experience, and judicious knowledge I attain. (The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;) Pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth I hate. Mine are counsel and advice; Mine is strength; I am understanding. By me kings reign, and lawgivers establish justice; By me princes govern, and nobles; all the rulers of earth. “Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than pure gold, and my revenue than choice silver. On the way of duty I walk, along the paths of justice, Granting wealth to those who love me, and filling their treasuries. “The Lord begot me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet the earth and the fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world. “When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, Playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of men. “So now, O children, listen to me; instruction and wisdom do not reject! Happy the man who obeys me, and happy those who keep my ways, Happy the man watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts; For he who finds me finds life, and wins favor from the Lord; But he who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death.” Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding”.  (Pro 8,1-9,6).

The eternal Wisdom in Christ Jesus became flesh and came to dwell among us, in order to give us grace and truth, to fill us to the brim with eternal life, and to give us back our essence that we had lost on the day of the first sin. All is from this incarnate Wisdom, and without it there is no true lifein the heart of a man. Even in this, its mediation is universal. All life in all its forms is from this Wisdom.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

But what does exactly going to Christ Jesus in order to be restored by him mean? It means taking upon us his yoke which is light, his burden, which is sweet, his Law which can be lived, and his Gospel which can be observed. The restoration is a result of our obedience to the Word of Jesus. One goes to him, takes his Law, his Gospel, his Word, and observes it with an upright conscience, in fullness of faith, with charity in his heart and with a readyand solicitous obedience, and restoration, peace, and consolation invade the body, soul, and spirit. All of man will feel the presence of the grace ofJesus Christ that surrounds the heart and fills it of true peace.

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

 

 

 

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath

20 JULY (Mt 12,1-8)

God is the Lord of man. It is attested by the Law that he gives to his people.

“Then God delivered all these commandments: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, inflicting punishment for their fathers’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation; but bestowing mercy down to the thousandth generation, on the children of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave unpunished him who takes his name in vain. “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. No work may be done then either by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. “Honor your father and your mother, that you may have a long life in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you. “You shall not kill. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass, nor anything else that belongs to him.”” (Ex 20,1-17).

Today, God has given his Lordship on man to Christ Jesus. He is today the Lord of the Law, of the Prophets, of the Psalms. He is the true interpreter of the will of the Father. He is the true exegete of every Word uttered previously by God in the Old Testament. It is he who gives the fulfillment to the Law, to the Prophets, and to the Psalms. It is attested by the New Law that he gives to all those who want to be people of God. This new Law is the commandment of love lived in the spirit of the Beatitudes.

When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven (Cf. Mt 5,1-20).

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath because He is Lord of the Holy Law of God and knows what meaning, value, content, and truth the Father has put in his provision. The Jews are not lords of the Law and therefore cannot give meanings according to their hearts to the Law and the Prophets. Jesus cangive interpretations and meanings according to his heart, because He is one with the Father’s heart. The heart of the Father and the heart of ChristJesus are one heart.

At that time Jesus was going through a field of grain on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry, how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering, which neither he nor his companions but only the priests could lawfully eat? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests serving in the temple violate the Sabbath and are innocent? I say to you, something greater than the temple is here. If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned these innocent men. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus invites the Pharisees to remain in their role when they are faced with the Law of his Father. Never might any man interpret itunless he is in the heart of the Father.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints make us only one heart with Jesus.

 

 

 

When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place

21 JULY (Mt 12,14-21)

Jesus is the Messiah of the Lord, his anointed One, his Christ. In him every prophecy, every word previously revealed by God in the Old Testament; is fulfilled. We can define the Prophet Isaiah, the evangelist of Jesus before Jesus by divine revelation.

Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching. Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness. I am the Lord, this is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols. See, the earlier things have come to pass, new ones I now foretell; Before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth: Let the sea and what fills it resound, the coastlands, and those who dwell in them. Let the steppe and its cities cry out, the villages where Kedar dwells; Let the inhabitants of Sela exult, and shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give glory to the Lord, and utter his praise in the coastlands. The Lord goes forth like a hero, like a warrior he stirs up his ardor; He shouts out his battle cry, against his enemies he shows his might: I have looked away, and kept silence, I have said nothing, holding myself in; But now, I cry out as a woman in labor, gasping and panting. I will lay waste mountains and hills, all their herbage I will dry up; I will turn the rivers into marshes, and the marshes I will dry up. I will lead the blind on their journey; by paths unknown I will guide them. I will turn darkness into light before them, and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them, and I will not forsake them”” (Cf. Is 42,1-25).

The heart of Jesus is great. All the merciful, compassionate, and charitable heart of the Father, who does not want the death of the sinner, but that he gets converted and lives; lives in it. Jesus came to reveal to every man the greatness and the universality of God’s love. Nobody might and must feel to be excluded from this love. There is a place of honour in the heart of the Father for every one. Jesus gave everybody a place of honour in his heart.

But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him to put him to death. When Jesus realized this, he withdrew from that place. Many (people) followed him, and he cured them all, but he warned them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight; I shall place my spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Jesus came to announce justice to the nations, that is, the perfect will of God. He is not the Messiah of a people, the Saviour of a nation, the Redeemer of a race. He is the Messiah of every people, every nation, every race, and every language. He is the Saviour of the world. His mediation of grace and truth is universal. Who lets himself be announced justice by Lord Jesus returns into his true humanity. Who refuses to welcome his light, and perseveres in the darkness of evil remains in his death. Jesus does not come to impose justice with force. He announces it with gentleness, respect, kindness, and compassion, by bending and taking upon himself all our infirmities. He gives hope to everyone. He inspires everyone with trust. His life is not a failure, even though it could look like it in appearance. He is that wise doctor who knows how to treat sicknesses, diseases, and every other spiritual and physical suffering. His is a true announcement of true salvation. The Gospel attests that never was a single man disappointed by Jesus. Even the greatest sinners who sought salvation, have obtained it. This is the great miracle of love that we all are called to show, today, tomorrow, and always. No miracle will ever be greater than this.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints teach us this miracle.

 

 

 

He saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them

22 JULY (Mk 6,30-34)

Jesus is the man of the universal compassion. He has always a gesture of love for everybody. He never holds back in front of the spiritual and material needs of the crowd. His is true Holy Spirit wisdom and intelligence. He always serves everyone, without ever having anyone be missing in anything. The Father put all his divine compassion in his heart. What his Father did for Israel, Jesus does it for every person, nobody excluded.

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. How could I give you up, O Ephraim, or deliver you up, O Israel? How could I treat you as Admah, or make you like Zeboiim? My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you. They shall follow the Lord, who roars like a lion; When he roars, his sons shall come frightened from the west, Out of Egypt they shall come trembling, like sparrows, from the land of Assyria, like doves; And I will resettle them in their homes, says the Lord. (Hoseah 11,1-11).

The apostles return from the first mission. They are tired and need a little rest. Jesus knows what the limits of a body, even the strongest, are and he respects them. He always obeys the laws of nature. If there this obedience to the truth of man was not in him, he could not be our Master. He does everything with wisdom and love, intelligence and wisdom, perfect divine and human sciences. One just cannot rest among the crowd. This has its own exigencies. That is why it is right to go to a solitary place, apart, away from the people always in need of everything.

The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Jesus begins with his disciples. However, he is not like the priest and the Levite who pass before the man that ran up against robbers and was left half dead by the roadside; and do not stop because they have to pay to God the service of the temple worship in Jerusalem. If the disciples want, they can also rest without him. He works and the disciples rest. There are things that the disciples must do and things that Lord Jesus must do. The disciples must rest. Jesus must go meet the crowd.

Before Jesus, there is an army left to itself; they are all like sheep without a shepherd. He cannot abandon these people. He is the shepherd of every one of them. A shepherd must always feel compassion for his sheep. He must also give up rest and sleep for them. A sheep cannot suffer and be abandoned to herself by the shepherd, not caring for it, letting it be consumed by sickness or be devoured by the wolf due to his negligence. Jesus is divinely diligent in his ministry. That is why he approaches the crowd and teaches them many things. He teaches the Gospel of God, reveals the truth of the Father, communicates the rules in order to live with love and truth, opens the doors of hope, and points the way to true life. Great, divine, and heavenly is the compassion of Jesus. We must all learn from it if we want to love truly.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints teach us true love. We want to live all the compassion of Jesus in order to be his witnesses.

 

 

 

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower

23 JULY (Jn 15,1-8)

In the Old Testament life, all life flows out to man from wisdom. One of the images of wisdom is the vine. Here is what Sirach announcesof wisdom.

Wisdom sings her own praises, before her own people she proclaims her glory; In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, in the presence of his hosts she declares her worth: “From the mouth of the Most High I came forth, and mist like covered the earth. In the highest heavens did I dwell, my throne on a pillar of cloud. The vault of heaven I compassed alone, through the deep abyss I wandered. Over waves of the sea, over all the land, over every people and nation I held sway. Among all these I sought a resting place; in whose inheritance should I abide? “Then the Creator of all gave me his command, and he who formed me chose the spot for my tent, Saying, ‘In Jacob make your dwelling, in Israel your inheritance.’ Before all ages, in the beginning, he created me, and through all ages I shall not cease to be. In the holy tent I ministered before him, and in Zion I fixed my abode. Thus in the chosen city he has given me rest, in Jerusalem is my domain. I have struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of the Lord, his heritage. “Like a cedar on Lebanon I am raised aloft, like a cypress on Mount Hermon, Like a palm tree in En-gedi, like a rosebush in Jericho, Like a fair olive tree in the field, like a plane tree growing beside the water. Like cinnamon, or fragrant balm, or precious myrrh, I give forth perfume; Like galbanum and onycha and sweet spices, like the odor of incense in the holy place. I spread out my branches like a terebinth, my branches so bright and so graceful. I bud forth delights like the vine, my blossoms become fruit fair and rich. Come to me, all you that yearn for me, and be filled with my fruits; You will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to have than the honeycomb. He who eats of me will hunger still, he who drinks of me will thirst for more; He who obeys me will not be put to shame, he who serves me will never fail.” (Cf. Sir 24,1-34).

Jesus is the eternal Wisdom, made flesh, that came among us to give us grace and truth. There are no branches without vine. There can be no vine without branches. Vine and branches are one. If the branch is freed from the vine, it no longer produces any fruit. So it iswith man, if he unties himself from Jesus Christ he can really do nothing. He is in all similar to a branch put in the ground to dry to be burned in the fire.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

The truths contained in this allegory of Jesus are numerous. Too bad no one believes in them any more. It is as if Jesus had never spoken and never prophesied the reality of every one of his disciples. Today everything is thought and lived without Christ Jesus, outside of him, far from his body. Nobody thinks that really the Father of Heaven cuts and prunes, grafts and drives away from the vine, taking care of it at all times so that it produces much fruit.

Others think that the sacramental way is sufficient for to be united with Christ Jesus. Jesus does not speak of this way. On the contrary, he speaks of the way of the Word. Remains in Christ who remains in his Word. He is outside of Christ who is outside of his Word, even ifby sacrament he is in Christ. If he does not become also by Word – and the end is right this – the sacrament is exposed to nullity. It is given, but it produces no fruit because the fruits of a Christian are the Word of the Lord lived out in all its entirety, without adding and taking anything off. The Word is everything for a disciple of Jesus and everything must be finalized so that the Word is always lived in full.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us remain in the Word.

 

 

 

 

Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?

24 JULY (Mt 12,46-50)

The Psalm we chose to help us understand the Gospel of this day, we must not deceive us. On the contrary, it serves to show us, not only in the negative, but also in the positive, all the needs of the Lord’s Word. When a person chooses to live all of the Word of the Lord, every day in the current affairs a chasm is caused around him that keeps him away from the whole world. It is as if God put a wall of fire around him, similar to the one located around Jerusalem – Again I raised my eyes and looked: there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. “Where are you going?” I asked. “To measure Jerusalem,” he answered; “to see how great is its width and how great its length.” Then the angel who spoke with me advanced, and another angel came out to meet him, and said to him, “Run, tell this to that young man: People will live in Jerusalem as though in open country, because of the multitude of men and beasts in her midst. But I will be for her an encircling wall of fire, says the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.”” (Zac 2,5-9)– to guard and protect him from everybody, friends and enemies, good and bad people, saints and sinners; so that this person is only God’s and no one else’s. No one must have any power over the man of God. Only God might rule  over him and nobody else.

The chosen Psalm reveals us the gulf between the man of God and the empire of evil, that wished it could pounce and tear him to pieces to lead him into the kingdom of darkness and eternal death. But never might God allow his faithful servant to be somehow torn by the powers of evil and of the world. Never might he let him be destroyed in his mission. He must take care that everything goes according to his will. The righteous is always, and only in the hands of the Lord.

Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Dishonor has covered my face. I have become estranged from my brothers And an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. Those who sit in the gate talk about me, And I am the song of the drunkards. But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your loving-kindness, Answer me with Your saving truth. Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink; May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters. May the flood of water not overflow me Nor the deep swallow me up, Nor the pit shut its mouth on me. Answer me, O Lord, for Your loving-kindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies! You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You. Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none.  They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69 (68) 8-22).

Jesus must not even be placed in the hands of his Mother. Jesus is not at the disposal of his Mother, but only of his Father in Heaven. They can meet when the Father wants they meet; and the Father decided that they will have to meet on the Calvary at the feet of Crucified Jesus. That is why the Virgin Mary must wait a few more days. Currently there is no reason for them to meet. This is the daily sacrifice that each of us must give to the Lord: the separation from the affects, because the saving mission which was given to us requires it.

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. (Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”) But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Jesus does not reject his Mother. He tells what must her role be. Always living in the will of God, because it is only in the Will of God that they might encounter.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints give us the present will of God.

 

 

 

But to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many

25 JULY (Mt 20,20-28)

The Psalm teaches us that no man is able to redeem his life. The whole man, in full, from birth to death, in every thought, action, relationship, work, feeling, will, must always be from his God. He alone can redeem him from evil. He alone can lead him to the good. He alone can save him now and in eternity. The only true life pours only from him. This is the truth about man.

Hear this, all peoples; Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,  Both low and high, Rich and poor together. My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.  I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever—That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay. For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish And leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have called their lands after their own names. But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of those who are foolish, And of those after them who approve their words. ^[i]Selah. As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning, And their form shall be for Sheol to consume So that they have no habitation. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah. Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself—And though men praise you when you do well for yourself—He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish. (Psalm 49 (48), 1-21). 

Jesus comes. He is a real man. What does he say about himself as a real man? That he gives his life in ransom of many. This is thesublime novelty that the Gospel brings us. Jesus is a real Redeemer, a real Saviour, because he is able to free not one man but all menfrom sin and the power of darkness. He is the only one who can do this. Never might anyone else do it, because every other person needs him to be redeemed and for him the words of the psalm are valid: no one might ever redeem his life.

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

James and John certainly did not yet understand anything of the mystery of Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus did not call them so that they govern men, but to make them “redeemers” and “saviours” in Him, with Him, for Him. There is only one way to be “redeemers”, “saviours “, offering the own life as a ransom for others. There is huge difference between offering the personal life and dominating andoppressing others. Life is offered by taking the last place, becoming the servant of all, taking on the personal shoulders the sin of theworld and expiating it with charity until the end.

For who wants to give his life as a ransom, the place is always one: that of the servant, any ministry or office that is assigned him by God. That is what Jesus did. That is what every one of his disciples must do. In his kingdom, there is no place for those who do not want to serve and do not want to be “redeemers, saviours“ like him, follow his example.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us be servants of all.

 

 

 

But blessed are your eyes, because they see

26 JULY (Mt 13,16-17)

That the Old Testament prophets and righteous men desired to see the days of the Son of man, that is of the Messiah of the Lord, is a truth announced by Christ and confirmed by the Old Simeon. The Psalm reveals also this desire and expectation.

The Jews answered and said to him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed?” Jesus answered, “I am not possessed; I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks it and he is the one who judges. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” (So) the Jews said to him, “Now we are sure that you are possessed. Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area. (Jn 8,48-59).

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted (and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” (Lk 2,25-35).

Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord.  This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation.  The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords ^[j]to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I give thanks to You; You are my God, I extol You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His loving-kindness is everlasting. (Psalm 118 (117) 19-29).

The Messiah, the Expected of nations, was the one that would have made the peace of God reign on our earth: peace unlike any otherhuman peace. His days will be of a true spiritual tranquility, like those of Adam before his sin. It suffices reading the prophet Isaiah, and one will realize the splendor and beauty of his reign. A paradise on Earth. For this reason all died with this hope in his heart: “I am dying, but certainly the Messiah will come. Peace will reign on our earth.”

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Jesus came. All the world is hostile to him. The disciples do not understand. The Pharisees oppose him. The scribes contest him. Thehigh priests are against him. Crowds exploit him. Jesus lives a cosmic loneliness. Their expectations of sin do not correspond to the giftof grace and truth that Jesus announces them. A true conversion and the abandonment of every false idea fabricated by the mind of the Lord Jesus are needed. The new world, the world of peace, is in the Word of Jesus, not outside of it.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us enjoy Christ.

 

 

 

Hear then the parable of the sower

27 JULY (Mt 13,18-23)

Today, Jesus reveals to us the depths of the human heart. The Ancient Scripture has already revealed that the heart is an unfathomable abyss. Nothing is deeper than the mystery of a heart.

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.  Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, From the tumult of those who do iniquity, Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword. They aimed bitter speech as their arrow, To shoot from concealment at the blameless; Suddenly they shoot at him, and do not fear. They hold fast to themselves an evil purpose; They talk of laying snares secretly; They say, “ Who can see them?” They devise injustices, saying, “We are ready with a well-conceived plot”; For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep. But God will shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they will be wounded. So they will make him stumble; Their own tongue is against them; All who see them will shake the head. Then all men will fear, And they will declare the work of God, And will consider what He has done. The righteous man will be glad in the Lord and will take refuge in Him; And all the upright in heart will glory. (Psalm 64 (63) 1-11).

A sower of the Word must know this of God when he announces the Gospel, and proclaims the good news: before him there is always a gap, never might he know the fruits of his preaching. But if the Holy Spirit gives him the reading of the heart, due to a special grace, he will know who stands before him and what great caution he must use so that no harm comes from the gift from to the heart of the Word. The Gospel attests that Jesus knew the malice that there was in the heart of everyone. The Gospel of John confirms this truth:“While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well” (Jn 2,23-25). But Jesus always knew this unknown gulf to those to whom the Lord did not give the reading of the heart. That is why the preacher of the Gospel must be simple as doves but wise as serpents. The heart of a man is always unpredictable. Never might one fathom it fully. When you think you know it, it is then that it escapes and always surprises you. It is never mastered, never conquered, and never sure. It is surprisingly shifting, changing. Only the Holy Spirit is the one that can stabilized it, creating it new and making it stable more and more every day.

“Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.”

The sower goes out to sow. He cannot choose whom to give and not to give the Word. He is obliged to give it to everyone, to all, always. Since he does not know the heart, he does not know what there is in it and even what his reaction of today will be might be that could already be different tomorrow; it is a duty to proclaim the Word, without any prior judgment or worse prejudice. He must announce it in the same way as Jesus Christ: preaching, telling, explaining, narrating, using the parable and allegory, and every other literary genre. His responsibility ends here: in the wise, intelligent, prudent, and shrewd gift of the Word to the hearts. Then, the responsibility of the man to whom the Word was given begins. It is up to him to make bear fruit in the heart, so that it becomes essence, substance, his own body, and his life. By so doing, he will always be immune from the great temptation of the vanity of his work or inadequacy. His mission is not that of gathering fruit; it is, instead that of the daily sowing of the Word of salvation. The gathering of fruit does not belong to him, but to those whom God has established.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us true and wise sowers.

 

 

 

His enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat

28 JULY (Mt 13,24-30)

To understand this parable well it is sufficient to read two passages of Scripture. In Adam and Eve the enemy of man has sown weed ofpride.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die! No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. (Gen 3,1-7).

Saint Paul knows this well and proclaims it with great firmness. He sowed the good seed of the Word of God and an army of falsebelievers the weeds of the anti gospel.

I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by (the) grace (of Christ) for a different gospel (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach (to you) a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed! Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it, and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions. But when (God), who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus. (Gal 1,6-17).

It is always so until the end of the world. The good apostles of Jesus sow in the hearts the good Word of Jesus, the Gospel of salvation, while the bad shepherds or bad apostles sow the weeds of heresy, falsehood, error, slander. They sow the thought of man which is the opposite of the thought of God. However, this is an unequal struggle. The children of darkness are smarter than the children of light.Those devote themselves to evil twenty-four hours out of twenty-four. After a few seconds we are already tired and we retire for theproper rest. Those have at their disposal numberless means and every day they created more excellent ones. To sow the Word to those who come to church, because the Lord still sends them to us out of pity, we do not care even to have a proper sound system. So little is our love for the Word, the Gospel, the Good News to be sown in their hearts for their eternal salvation.

He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints give us the love for the Word. We want to announce it by making it; say it by witnessing it in a perennial novelty of life.

 

 

 

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

29 JULY (Jn 6,1-15)

With the exception of the manna which descended directly from heaven in the form of seeds like coriander, in the Ancient Scripture a few cases of bread or of other food multiplication for the sustenance of man; are known. Elijah and Elisha are the prophets that operatethese wonders. However, it is always the Lord that gives the bread in a mysterious, unseen way, for righteousness and obedience of whoobserves his Covenant.

“Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you propose. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Then you can prepare something for yourself and your son. For the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.'” She left and did as Elijah had said. She was able to eat for a year, and he and her son as well; The jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, as the Lord had foretold through Elijah. (1Kings 17,13-16).

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.” (2Kings 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).

Today, Jesus performs an amazing miracle, never done before. With five small barley loaves feeds five thousand people. A great, very great deal. However, it is only a sign of what he is about to do: giving himself as food and drink of eternal life to all men, until the end of history. One body, the same, always, to every man. That body that he received from the Virgin Mary, that body transformed into light and spirit by his glorious resurrection,will be the nourishment for all the pilgrims to eternity. This is the recondite meaning, hidden in the multiplication of the loaves. The Jews do not seeand do not think this way.

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.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints teach us the truth of the sign.

 

 

 

 

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

30 JULY (Mt 13,31-35)

God always starts with a small number. With man it is always the case. If we read the story of creation according to Genesis, we notice that every other thing has been created in large numbers: stars, trees, fish, and animals. God made of man a single pair. He even created only Adam first and then from Adam he made Eve. The same applies to the whole history of salvation. Noah is saved with eight people in all. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are a small number. Even in Israel there was a time when the Lord has begun with a small remainder. Jesus himself speaks of a little flock. The Psalm sings this action of God in which all his wisdom is manifested.

When they were only a few men in number, Very few, and strangers in it.  And they wandered bout from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes: “ Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.” And He called for a famine upon the land; He broke the whole staff of bread. He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him.  The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free. He made him lord of his house And ruler over all his possessions, To imprison his princes at will, That he might teach his elders wisdom. Israel also came into Egypt; Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And He caused His people to be very fruitful, And made them stronger than their adversaries. (Psalm 105 (104) 12-24).

Jesus comes. He announces the mystery of the kingdom of God. It is in all similar to a mustard seed. Very small indeed. However, once a new plant comes up from it, this becomes so large as to allow the birds of the air to make nests in its branches. This is the vitality of the kingdom of God. It begins with a few people: one, two, three, ten, twelve, fifteen, and twenty; but then the vitality and omnipotence of the grace make it be developed in an unthinkable way. However, the secret is just one: that the seed is a true seed and not a grain of sand. The seed has the principle of life in its womb. The grain of sand is dead. When in a converted heart there is the principle of the supernatural life, this explodes and conquers many other souls, in an almost “natural” way.

He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation (of the world).”

Another image of the kingdom of God is the yeast. There is a great disproportion between the flour to be fermented and the yeast that is used. The former is a lot, the latter is very little. Yet, the yeast has so much vitality in itself as to ferment a large mass of dough. However, it must be true yeast, or the dough remains unleavened. If the Christian is a true Christian, a true disciple of Jesus, his true witness, his true body, a true son of God, true temple of the Holy Spirit, a true regenerated, a true evangelical man; with his new life, gradually, he will be able to ferment a lot of dough.

However, the secret of the kingdom of God is one: time. In order to grow, the mustard seed needs time. To ferment the dough, yeast also needs time. The kingdom of God is not built without time. However, time necessitates long endurance, a life totally committed to spreading the kingdom of God. We do not build the kingdom around us for two reasons: because we are not true Christians, and because, even if we are, we are for a short time. Then, we get tired of being it; for a person is not a Christian for one day, but for a life time; and perseverance tires out. We all start well. We all end up bad. Tiredness overcomes us and we do not persevere.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, and Saints make us be persevering.

 

Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field

31 JULY (Mt 13,36-43)

Hell is an essential, fundamental, and primary truth of our faith. Jesus came to save us and salvation is from hell, from eternal death, from the loss of God forever. The eternal perdition is presented in the parable of the weeds as a fiery furnace in which all the wickedand workers of iniquity will be cast. In Psalm it is man himself, the pious and the righteous, who asks the Lord for this eternal punishment, while his enemies are still alive. We are still in the Old Testament.

O Lord, in Your strength the king will be glad, And in Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!  You have given him his heart’s desire, And You have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.  For You meet him with the blessings of good things; You set a crown of fine gold on his head. He asked life of You, You gave it to him, Length of days forever and ever. His glory is great through Your salvation, Splendor and majesty You place upon him. For You make him most blessed forever; You make him joyful with gladness in Your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the loving-kindness of the Most High he will not be shaken. Your hand will find out all our enemies; Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger; The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath, And fire will devour them.  Their offspring You will destroy from the earth, And their descendants from among the sons of men.  Though they intended evil against You And devised a plot, They will not succeed. For You will make them turn their back; You will aim with Your bowstrings at their faces. Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength; We will sing and praise Your power. (Psalm 21 (20), 1-14).

In the New Testament there is always this great distinction of faith between heaven and hell, between the just and the reprobate, between blessed and cursed, between living and dead. This distinction is eternal truth, gospel truth, and revealed truth. Denying it, it isdeclaring conversion, penance, Christian asceticism, holy life, and virtue useless.

“Instead, you inflict injustice and cheat, and this to brothers. Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1Cor 6,8-11). “Now the works of the flesh are obvious: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions, occasions of envy, drinking bouts, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5,19-21). We know that the law is good, provided that one uses it as law, with the understanding that law is meant not for a righteous person but for the lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the unchaste, practicing homosexuals, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. (1Tm 1,8-11).

The Parable of Jesus teaches us that good and evil until the advent of the new heavens and new earth will have to live in the same field, in the same Church, in the same community, in the same family. Wherever there is man, there is good and evil, there.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.

The time of the end will come with death. Every one will present himself before God to give an account of the good and evil, said,thought, worked while he was in his body. The good is rewarded with Paradise. Evil reproved with eternal disgrace.

Virgin Mary, Mother of Redemption, Angels, and Saints free us from eternal punishment.