Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear

THURDAY 30 JANUARY (Mk 4,21-25)

The Word of God is entrusted to man, who is eyes, ears, mouth, heart, intelligence, deductive and argumentative rationality, discernment, learning and experience. A farmer knows that if he does not sow, he does not reap. If he does not plant trees he cannot harvest fruit. If he does not pour his sweat on the earth, he will not be able to eat his bread. He knows it and for this reason he lets himself be consumed every day by his work. Today, we have lost our truth. We want science, but without studying. We want to feed ourselves without fatiguing. We want good by pursuing evil and life by cultivating death. We want the fruits of virtue while in our hearts we let all the weeds of vices grow. We want a harmonious society, but transgressing every commandment that the Lord has placed as a hedge so that in his people neither superstition, immorality, nor idolatry and nor any other injustice could enter. Commandments are not wanted, every spiritual, moral, economic and social disorder remains. If we don’t want Christ, we don’t even want the fruits that ripen from his Gospel. Instead we ask every man for evangelical fruits while we deny and reject the Gospel.

The Apostles of Jesus – and in a hierarchical obedience each of the Lord’s disciples – must be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. They must illuminate the world with the radiant light that emanates from the face of Christ, of the Crucified who is the Risen One. If they, sent by Jesus to illuminate the world, put the light under the bushel or under the bed, one cannot hope that the world will be illuminated. Jesus did not send others. He sent them, his disciples, each with a particular mission. That is how Saint Paul, aware of this very high responsibility, exhorts the Philippians to be the light of the world: “So then, my beloved, obedient as you have always been, not only when I am present but all the more now when I am absent, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work. Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like lights in the world, as you hold on to the word of life, so that my boast for the day of Christ may be that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. But, even if I am poured out as a libation upon the sacrificial service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with all of you. In the same way you also should rejoice and share your joy with me” (Phil 2,12-18). As the sun and the other stars illuminate from above, so too the Apostles and every other disciple must enlighten humanity. This obligation will never fail, because it is the command of Christ Jesus. No man on earth might ever repeal a command that comes from the Lord, from the Redeemer and from the Saviour, because it is the command that comes from the heart of the Father, in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Anyone who has ears to hear ought to hear.” He also told them, “Take care what you hear. The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, and still more will be given to you. To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Nor can it be thought that it is possible to live as true disciples of Jesus in anonymity. The Word of Jesus is life, it is not a theory and a sterile philosophy. Poverty in spirit can be seen and so too purity of heart, meekness, hunger and thirst for justice. Victory over every temptation, the abandonment of every vice aree also seen. But above all we see if we announce or do not announce the Gospel. Since the announcement of the Gospel is a command, if we obey and live this command we are disciples of Jesus, otherwise we have denied and betrayed our vocation and mission and our being disciples of Jesus. But Satan is astute and today he is teaching us, who from disciples of Jesus we are turning into his pupils, that the Gospel is of no use in order to obtain salvation. He does not exist and hell is empty. Eternity is made only of Paradise.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, do not allow Christians to become disciples of Satan.