Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart

Sunday 1 JANUARY (Lk 2,16-21)
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Except for Mary and Joseph, nobody knew that Child. Nobody knew who he really was. Today the news run fast because there is an army of journalists who not only do they spread what happens, they often create artfully the news for a particular purpose, often for a scandal or for some other secret intention of the heart. What does man do? He believes it as if it weregospel, lacking in any spirit of intelligence, wisdom, right and sound discernment.

The Lord has also his journalists. He possesses an army of angels that reveal his mysteries to man, that is, his saving acts in our history. Here’s what happened in the Holy Night: “Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a saviour has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”” (Lk 2,8-15).

The shepherds do not go to Bethlehem as curious persons and even as spectators of a celestial event that was revealed to them. They go as real protagonists. They go like real journalists, who not only see the external fact, the mere chronicle of events. They see, they become aware of the truth of the words spoken by the angel, and give the people present the real meaning of that birth. Before them there is not a child like all the other children that are born. In that cradle of straw there is their Saviour. The Lord Messiah lies in it. All are faced with a supernatural event. It is the event that fulfills all the promises God made to the fathers.

So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

If we Christians, real journalists of God, his real special envoys in the events of history, put into the facts the truth of the Gospel; announced with courage and firmness of heart; every man would be brought and transported into the supernatural state of his life. Instead, because of us, almost all live in a mortifying immanence. Without the shepherds, all the others saw a barn, some straw, a manger, a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in it. Nothing more. Without the Christian, a true journalist God, his true special envoy, every man sees only earth, death, disasters, inhumanity, poverty, spiritual misery, and a thousand other miserable things that attest to a profound degradation of man. We, the disciples of Jesus, put in this profound immanence the very high transcendence of the Gospel and the world opens to hope, starts to live again, discovers that there is another world, another life, other expectations. This is our sin: we have all become mute journalists, unable to announce the truth, to utter words of knowledge and divine wisdom. The mystery is incomprehensible. But if we announce, reveal, disclose, and manifest it, little by little one can get into it, he can understand the meaning, we can make it our life.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, always give us a real word.

Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie

Monday 2 JANUARY (Jn 1,19-28)
To understand the Gospel of this day we have to delve a little into the history of the time. The uproar caused by John was very high. To find one similar to him, perhaps we must go back to the days of Elijah. Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Amos, Joel, Zechariah; and all others that appeared in history, they can hardly be compared to John the Baptist for the “fuss” and “uproar” that they arose around their persons. It was so much that many thought they were before the Messiah. Might perhaps the Messiah that comes create more uproar than the one caused by John?

The Jews, careful paladins and guardians of the true religion, want to see clearly and that is why from Jerusalem they send a delegation so that it questioned John and had him tell the truth about his person and mission. According to the Old Testament God had promised three comings: that of the prophet: “A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you from among your own kinsmen; to him you shall listen. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kinsmen, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him” (Cf Dt 18,15-22); the one of Elijah: “Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, Before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day, To turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with doom” (Mal 3,23-24): and the one of the Messiah: “And when your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins, and I will make his kingdom firm. It is he who shall build a house for my name. And I will make his royal throne firm forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me. And if he does wrong, I will correct him with the rod of men and with human chastisements; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from your predecessor Saul, whom I removed from my presence. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.'” (2Sam 7,8-17). Since in Israel for many centuries there had no longer seen anything similar, here is that the suspicion arises: surely God has fulfilled one of his promises. Which one? That is why the three questions posed to John. However, this is neither the prophet, nor Elijah, nor the Messiah.

And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites (to him) to ask him, “Who are you?” he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.” So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?” He said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, “Make straight the way of the Lord,”‘ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Some Pharisees were also sent. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Who then is John? He is simply the voice of one crying in the desert: “Make straight the path of the Lord.” Applying to himself the prophecy of Isaiah, John testifies the imminent coming of the Lord among his people. The path must be made straight because the Lord is about to come. And there is a very big difference between him and the Lord who is about to come. He is not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal. He cannot even be either as a slave or humble servant, so great is he who comes later. The greatness of Jesus dos not just concern the mission, first of all it concerns his person, which is not human, even if he is a true man. Jesus is a divine person. He is an incarnate divine person. He is true God and true man. He alone possesses this dual nature and the divine Person. Every other man is simply a man.

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

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world

Tuesday 3 JANUARY (Jn 1,29-34)
Jesus is announced by John the Baptist as the Lamb of God that takes the sin of the world away. Amen, Jesus dies like the real Lamb of God: “Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may (come to) believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not a bone of it will be broken.” And again another passage says: “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.” (Jn 19,31-37).

He is not the Lamb of the Old Passover: “On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up” (Ex 12,3-10).

Instead, he is the Lamb of the New Passover, the one of the prophecy of Isaiah. He is the Lamb that takes away the sin of mankind and atones in his body: “He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured, While we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our offences, crushed for our sins, Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; But the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth” (Is 53,3-7).

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him. I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’ Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

Jesus is the Lamb of God and his Messiah. This is attested by the Holy Spirit that descends and remains on Him. Combining these two realities of Jesus: Lamb and Messiah, we must confess that his mystery is really great. He gives life by dying.

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

We have found the Messiah

Wednesday 4 JANUARY (Jn 1,35-42)
The mission of John the Baptist was not that of making disciples for himself, but of preparing their hearts to welcome the Messiah and Redeemer. The angel reveals this truth at the time of the announcement of his birth; and also Zechariah, at the time of his circumcision: “He will be filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.” (Lk 1,15-17). And you, child, will be called prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow, to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Lk 1,76-79). Not only to the world of the Jews, but also to his disciples he testifies who Jesus is: “The Lamb of God.” Every man is obliged to tell the truth on the other man. Life is born from the truth. We are all called to be witnesses of the truth, not only of heavenly truth, but also of that of the earth, the one which is at hand.

All are called to follow the supreme truth, once it has been known. Two of John’s disciples abandon him and go after Jesus. Jesus notices that they were following him, he stops and asks: “What are you looking for?”. They said, “Rabbi, where do you live?”. And he: “Come and see.” There is no simpler dialogue than this. So the Fourth Gospel from the very beginning wants to teach us that the word alone is not enough to complete the testimony received in a person. It is necessary to see his real history, the one lived in the daily life, in the simplest things. It is associating that gives the width of the truth. We almost always have an official, formal knowledge, made of words, programs, proclamations, letters, documents. What is missing is the personal knowledge, made of direct experience. God has come upon our earth so that we knew in our everyday petty life, made of thousands of problems, thousands of expectations, thousands of requests, thousand of anxieties, and thousand of hopes to be achieved.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas” (which is translated Peter).

After this experience that lasts almost a whole day, they went beyond the testimony of John the Baptist. To them Jesus is not only the Lamb of God. He is also and above all the Lord’s Christ. That is what Andrew says to his brother Peter: “We have found the Messiah”. What we were looking for is not John the Baptist, but Jesus of Nazareth. He is our Messiah. He is the one everyone is expecting. Andrew brings Simon to Jesus. He wants to introduce him. He knows that from the meeting a new life can start for his brother. The whole Gospel of John is built on the meeting. Truly the encounter with Jesus changes the existence and gives it a supernatural dimension. By changing him his name, Jesus gives Simon a new vocation. This is how Jesus fits in the wake of his Father who called and changed the name to indicate that they had by now entered a new life, a new mission, and a new vocation.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us meet Jesus.

 

Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel

Thursday 5 JANUARY (Jn 1,43-51)
According to this account of vocations, Philip is the first that was called directly by Jesus, after his meeting with Andrew, John, and Simon. He was told only one word: “Follow me.” The story is so essential, as to not even report the answer of the person called. But we know that Philip becomes immediately, instantly witness of Jesus; in fact, he finds Nathanael and tells him: “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the Law and also the Prophets: Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael is skeptical, reluctant. He objects: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”. At these words, to Philip remains nothing left but to invite him to gain directly the experience with Jesus. Come, see and then you become aware yourself that what I am saying is true.

Jesus sees Nathanael that is coming to meet him and says of him: ” Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” He has some doubts and tells them. He has some perplexities and manifests them. He does not keep things hidden in the heart, pretending or living on pure hypocrisy. At that time Nazareth was not considered a city from which the Messiah could have arisen, even because the Scripture spoke with holy clarity. The city of the Messiah of the Lord was Bethlehem. The prophecy announced this, and he believed this. When the heart is pure, even if there are prejudices, cultural malformations, various theological errors, even heresies, and the like in it; when it comes in contact with the truth, all these things at once give way to the true, full, and holy light.

The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And he said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Nathanael is struck by the words of Jesus and asks him: “How do you know me?”. “Who told you about me? ‘”. And Jesus: “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathaniel knows that it is not enough to see someone to get to know his heart. If Jesus Christ has seen and read his heart, he is much more than a person like any other. He certainly is the bearer of a great mystery. What Philip said, then is true. Here is his profession of faith: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.” As it can be seen with this profession of faith, the truth on Christ is almost perfect: “He who comes after me: to him I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal,” “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, “‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me “;” ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.” “Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.” “Rabbi,” “Messiah,” “Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth.” “Rabbi, you art the Son of God, you are the king of Israel.” Now is missing only the conclusion of Jesus, which completes this process of faith by affirming: “Verily, verily, I say to you: you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” Jesus is constituted the sole Mediator between God and every man. Between Heaven and Earth. Even Angels must go through him if they want to communicate with men. No one might ever think of not needing Lord Jesus. Everything is in Christ. All for Christ. Everything with Christ. Nothing without Him

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, obtain the true faith in Jesus.

Where is the newborn king of the Jews?

Friday 6 JANUARY (Mt 2,1-12)

The Gospel of this day reveals to us that Jesus is God’s gift to all of humanity. Nobody has an exclusive right of Lord Jesus. Nobody might ever say: Christ is mine alone. Because He is of all, of every man: saint, sinner, just, unjust, unfair, idolatrous, wicked, impious, pure, impure, honest, dishonest, believer, atheist, son of Abraham and the Gentiles. Indeed, Christ is of the whole creation: visible and invisible belong to him and he is called to be head over all.

The ways to come to Christ the Lord are extremely mysterious. God does not speaks only the language of revelation, of apparitions, of sending his holy Angels; he also speaks the language of history, of creation. The whole universe becomes voice through which one can come to Jesus Christ. The Magi, of the Gospel according to Matthew, come to Christ through the star. They are interpreters of the signs of the heaven and they notice something different, never happened before. They follow that sign. They come to Jerusalem. They inform themselves. They are sent to Bethlehem. The star appears again, accompanies them, leads them into the house where the Child with Mary and Joseph are.

However, this story teaches us another very great truth. To listen to the voice of the Lord Jesus, to come up to Christ Jesus it is necessary that the heart is humble, poor, small, without arrogance, pride, envy, stupidity, foolishness. Otherwise, the injustice that reigns in it will always obscure the voice of God, annulling and canceling it. Herod is satiated with his reign. He has no need of salvation. Even the scribes are satiated of rational knowledge. They have no need of salvation. They send to Bethlehem. They do not go. They have no need of Christ Jesus, of their Messiah and Lord.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was greatly troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it has been written through the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; since from you shall come a ruler, who is to shepherd my people Israel.'” Then Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage.” After their audience with the king they set out. And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. They were overjoyed at seeing the star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.

However, Herod is also cruel, merciless. He sees in the born King of the Jews a threat to his kingdom and decides to kill the child. However, the Lord reigns on Jesus, who always keeps watch so that no harm is done to him. Knowing the secret intentions of Herod, God orders the Magi to return to their country by another road. The evil king must not know the house where his Beloved, his Dear Son is living. After having offered gold, frankincense and myrrh, they return to their country, but by another way. In the sign of the gifts, they reveal us who that child that they worshipped is. He is a king, indeed, the King of the universe, the King of heaven and earth. He is God. He is the Lord through whom the heavenly Father made the visible and invisible universe. However, this God, this King is surrounded by so much suffering. The shadow of the cross looks already on him, and it almost covers him. In fact, as soon as the Magi leave, he must also take refuge in the land of Egypt.

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

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand

Saturday 7 JANUARY (Mt 4,12-17.23-25)
Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness. He does not start his preaching from Jerusalem, the religious heart of God’s people. He starts from Galilee, a region far removed from Judea, a pagan land, because of its proximity to the neighboring pagan peoples. Thisannounced the prophecy and Jesus fulfills it in its entirety: “First he degraded the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the end he has glorified the seaward road, the land West of the Jordan, the District of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as men make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, And the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever”(Is 8,23-9,6). Jesus is not a light among the many lights that illuminate our earth. Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness of the world. All other lights before Jesus must proclaim themselves non lights, if they really love man and want his greatest good. Every other light must annul itself in Christ and in him find its truth.

When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people. His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

The conversion is a real change of heart, mind, thoughts, wishes, desires and expectations. It is a strong step, abandonment, and loss. St. Paul understood well what the conversion is when he affirms: “If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law I was blameless. (But) whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it, since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ (Jesus). Brothers, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus” (Cf. Phil 3,3-14). This is the true conversion. We are all called to it. We must always walk towards it.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, give us the true conversion.

 

You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased

Sunday 8 JANUARY (Mk 1,7-11)
John the Baptist is considered by the people a strong man, a true prophet of the living God. Many also come to think that he is the Messiah. The witness he gives of himself does not allow these thoughts to arise in the heart. He is not strong. He is weak. He is so small that as not worthy to stoop down and untie the straps of the sandals of him who is about to come. He certainly is the strong one; rather, he the strong one of God, he is the strong God, the mighty God, the God Almighty. On the contrary, John is simply and purely a man, even though he is full of the Holy Spirit. Nothing more. Between him and the Messiah there is the abyss of eternity, divinity, holiness, truth, and of absolute love.

Another big difference is in the mission. He baptizes with water. This is an external sign of a will that has accepted the invitation to conversion, of a repentant heart that freed himself of his sins, of a spirit that is purified from the various falsehoods and errors of which he was the victim. The man that receives this baptism remains just as he is. No change in his nature. This was a nature of sin and nature of sin remained. There was no ontological leap, no radical change, no new creation in it. What David used to say to the Lord after his horrible sin of adultery and murder applies to it: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me(Psalm 51 (50) 7-14). In the Baptism of John the new man is not born.

Instead, everything changes with the baptism of Jesus He will not only baptize in the water, but in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a consuming, destroying, annihilating, but also recreating, renewing, and sanctifying fire. He takes the old man, melts him in the fire of his love, purifies him from all dross of ancient evil; he makes him entirely new, regenerates him, makes him share in the divine nature, he fills him with sanctifying grace, re-creates him as a totally new creature, and makes him a spiritual person. With him the new humanity rises. In the baptism of Jesus a real new birth takes place. We are true children of God by adoption, true generation from God by faith: “But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God” (Jn 1,12-13). “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”” (Jn 3,1-8). This is the fundamental difference between John’s baptism and the one of Jesus.

And this is what he proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit.” It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him. And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Receiving the Baptism in the Jordan River, Jesus is as if he washed, stripped himself of his will in order to give it entirely to the Father. The Father receives the gift of Jesus, and consecrates him his Messiah, attesting to his truth. Jesus is not only the Servant of the Lord. He is much more. He is his Son, the beloved. He him he put his delight. From this moment on the earth has its Savior, its Redeemer.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us live as new creatures.

 

Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men

Monday 9 JANUARY (Mk 1,14-20)
The Lord does not love the confusion. He does not want the dispersion of his flock. Men must not get lost just while they are seeking thetruth. This was happening as soon as Jesus had started his mission: “After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, where he spent some time with them baptizing. John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people came to be baptized, for John had not yet been imprisoned. Now a dispute arose between the disciples of John and a Jew about ceremonial washings. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing and everyone is coming to him.” John answered and said, “No one can receive anything except what has been given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said (that) I am not the Messiah, but that I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease.” The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven (is above all). He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy” (Jn 3,22-35). The big honesty of John is not enough for the confusion to stop. John is arrested, and Jesus can carry out his divine mission with divine clarity. No one will be led into error any more.

The conversion is a true passage from the Old Testament to the Gospel that Jesus is announcing. To enter the kingdom of God one mustabandon Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, all prophets and the righteous of the Old Testament. These are not the Truth of God’s kingdom. They are indicating lights are all converging towards Jesus the Lord. Now that Jesus came and started his mission, all these lights mustbe turned off so that only the light of Christ shines and burns, illumines and warms, lights the hearts of truth and utmost justice. After all this is the conversion that Jesus asks: the unconditioned passage to his Word. He is the origin, truth, understanding, and also the trueinterpreter of the Word. He is the truth of those who preceded him. He is the true interpreter of all prophecy. He is the witness of thefulfillment of every promise of God.

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

Conversion necessarily requires faith in the Gospel. With the conversion one changes direction to his life. He abandons the past. But thenew is not given by the conversion itself. However, it is offered by the Word that Jesus announces, proclaims, teaches, and preaches. Tothis Word one must grant full faith, without any restriction of the mind and heart, of the soul and spirit. The ancient Word of God is not declared false. It is simply said not perfect, not completed, not brought to an end. The end term of the Law and the Word is the Gospel.The Gospel is the full light that gives splendour of truth to all the Old Testament. If we do not start from this certainty we understandnothing of conversion and nothing of faith.

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

He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him

Tuesday 10 JANUARY (Mk 1,21b-28)
The people listen to Jesus speak, and immediately make a statement that deserves to be understood in its most profound truth: “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes”. Let us ask ourselves what this authority with which Jesus speaks is. Why is his word different from that of the scribes? Jesus drew his Word from his own life. HisWord was a breath of life, truth, wisdom, and intelligence. It was a breath of the Holy Spirit.

When this breath reached a well disposed, humble, small heart, eager to know the Lord, in this heart a true miracle happened. It burst open, broke, all that was not the truth of God came out and the true science of the Almighty was introduced in its place. If the breath of life of the Virgin Mary had produced this great miracle in the house of Zechariah: “During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”” (Lk 1,39-45); much more could operate the vital breath of Lord the Christ. The heart full of truth, testified to the power of the Word that had entered into it. This is the authority of Jesus.

On the contrary, the scribes did not speak by a vital breath. Jesus calls their teaching a human words learned by heart: “He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.’ You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’ Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”‘ (meaning, dedicated to God), you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother. You nullify the word of God in favour of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”” (Mk 7,6-13).This teaching could have never gotten into a simple and pure heart. This heart is allergic to lies, falsehoods, heresies, slanders that are said about his Lord and God.

Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

People not only are affected by the vital breath of Jesus that changes and transforms their hearts. They are also seized by the powerwith which Jesus commands the unclean spirits. These owe him a prompt and immediate obedience. Jesus silences them. He knows howdangerous the word of the evil spirit is. Even if true, it is always an imprudent word, uttered not in due time, said to destroy the educational project of God towards his people I know. People witness what they see. This is true for Jesus, but it is also true for us. We are also seen by the world for what we are.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us disciples with authority.

 

Let us go on to the nearby villages

Wednesday 11 JANUARY (Mk 1,29-39)
It is wonderfully instructive to read the Gospel paying attention to every event that was taking place due to Jesus or around him. After Jesus taught in the synagogue and healed the man possessed by an unclean spirit, he goes to the house of Simon. They talk to him of Peter’s mother-in-law that is lying in bed with a fever. He approaches her, lifts her up taking her by the hand, the fever leaves her immediately and she begins to serve them. Being Saturday, Jesus cannot make many miracles. The sick cannot be transported from one place to another and even those that are able to walk cannot make long journeys.

The sun sets. The day of rest ends. The daily work habits can be resumed. Patients can be transported. Many are sick and many the possessed that are outside the door, where Jesus dwells. The whole town comes running to see what he would have done. Jesus heals many who are suffering from various diseases and casts out many demons. After this great work of mercy, Jesus allows himself a little rest. Early in the morning he gets up and goes to pray in a lonely place by himself. Jesus never neglects the appointment with the Father. The prayer is for him a source of true spiritual recharge. The Father manifests him his will and gives him the strength to be able to carry it out. Every encounter with the father always takes place in the communion of the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth: the truth of God, and the truth of man.

On leaving the synagogue he entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Simon’s mother-in-law lay sick with a fever. They immediately told him about her. He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them. When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

During the night and at the first lights of dawn many other sick and possessed have come and they are all before the home, waiting for Jesus to come and heal them. Simon and those who were with him put on his trail. When they find him they tell him. Many are those who are seeking him because they expect some miracles from him. However, the heart of Jesus Christ is not moved by the urgency, necessity, and people’s needs. He is not the servant of the masses. Instead, he is the servant of the Lord, the who came to do only the will of his Father, today, tomorrow, and always. He must do just this: always obeying God. That is what the prophecy says of him and he does this with a prompt and ready obedience: “Sacrifice and offering you do no like, the open ear, you do not ask for holocaust or sacrifice for sin. Then I said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire but my ears you have opened burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.” I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;  I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help. I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness  from the great assembly” (Psalm 40 (39) 7-11). Obedience in Christ is the true engine of his charity, mercy, and piety. In all things God alone is Lord of his life. This truth is lacking today to our charity and compassion. It is a sign that God is not the Lord of our lives, since we are the ones to give us our daily vocation. The vocation comes from God alone, and also the manner of its operation. The whole Church today is in great pain. There is a lot of autonomy from God

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us true servants of the Lord.

 

It was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly

Thursday 12 JANUARY (Mk 1,40-45)

The thaumaturgical omnipotence of Lord Jesus has no limits. To him only a single word is sufficient and all the visible and invisible, animate and inanimate, spiritual and material universe, is placed immediately under his command. The obedience of the creature is immediate, instantaneous, without any delay or lapse of time. Today a leper comes to Jesus and asks him for his healing, entrusting himself to his will: “If you want, you can make me clean.”

It has been said that the compassion of Christ toward man is neither ruled by his heart nor by his will, but by the heart of the Father and his eternal will. This is the great mystery that surrounds Jesus and that makes the difference with every other man. We all, whether more or less, let ourselves be guided and moved by our hearts not only toward the good, and much more toward the evil. Man feels to be lord and master of his every action, feeling, motion of the heart and mind. He is not a true servant of the Lord, because his will is not given all to his God. This is cannot said of Jesus. He is all and always of his Father. The Gospel reminds us of a moment in which he was strongly tempted to get his will. He bowed in prayer, and the temptation was overcome: “Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” (And to strengthen him an angel from heaven appeared to him. He was in such agony and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.) When he rose from prayer and returned to his disciples, he found them sleeping from grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”” (Lk 22,39-46). The intense, strong, tenacious prayer always makes us give our will to the Lord. Even in this Jesus is a true Master.

A leper came to him (and kneeling down) begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean. Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once. Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. He remained outside in deserted places, and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

Jesus knows his mission. He manifested it in full in the synagogue of Nazareth: “He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” ” (Lk 4,16-19). The sign in him is not an end in itself. It must produce a real process of faith. Faith is always to the Word, to which one must obey with prompt and expeditious response. The risk that we stopped at the sign is very high. This is why Jesus warns sternly the miraculously cured to be silent, not to say anything to anyone. The miracle for the miracle is not the expression of the mission of Jesus. On the contrary, the faith yes, that is a perfect expression. The one that had been healed does not obey Jesus and discloses his recovery to the four winds. With what result? That Jesus could no longer openly enter a town. He remained out in deserted places. But people flocked to him from every where. It is easy to confuse our work of compassion, piety, and mercy. It is easy to stop at the material gift received without opening at all to the faith in the Word of the Gospel. To us the obligation to never let ourselves never be misled from the just and holy compassion.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us instruments of true faith.

 

Child, your sins are forgiven

Friday 13 JANUARY (Mk 2,1-12)

 

In ancient Israel God alone forgave sins. The priest performed only the sacrifice of atonement for the forgiveness of sins, but he wasnever the one to give forgiveness. David sins grievously against the Lord. Here is his prayer to implore forgiveness from his God: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51 (50), 3-14).

That is how another Psalm prophesizes about forgiveness and remission of sins: “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!” (Psalm 32 (31) 1-11). Jesus meets the paralytic and what does he tell him: “Son, yoursins are forgiven.” It is a scandal, because he takes the credit for divine powers.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum after some days, it became known that he was at home. Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there asking themselves, “Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming. Who but God alone can forgive sins?” Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, “Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, pick up your mat and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth” –  he said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home.” He rose, picked up his mat at once, and went away in the sight of everyone. They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”

A true prophet, a true messenger of God, cannot have together a powerful word for one thing and one false word for another. The Word of the prophet is always the word of God, both when he works wonders and when he announces and proclaims the forgiveness of sins. The whole religious history of mankind changes. From this moment on man is the one to be appointed by God as an instrument for the forgiveness of the sins of his brothers.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, help us in the true faith

 

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners

Saturday 14 JANUARY (Mk 2,13-17)
How much difference there is between the style of Jesus and our own. To teach we need a chair, a spacious hall, a pulpit, a lectern, excellent microphones. We have the tools and we create ever more powerful and advanced ones. But then when we speak, we teach doctrines which are precepts of men and we often do not even know how to do this, so great is our ignorance of things concerning God and his mystery. Another foolish thing we do is this: ended our “lesson”, we strip of our doctrine and every other science and we dive into the “everyday” foolish and stupid of our vain and tortuous reasoning. It is as if there were an “intellectual schizophrenia” in us. By obligation, in some moments we think in one way and then our lives betray what we have proclaimed.

Another thing we do is this: we set up a restricted group, we leave the others, and we get stuck in our false certainties of science, doctrine, truth, wisdom, intelligence, and holiness. This was the style of the Pharisee in the time of Jesus. He closed himself in the circle of his false holiness from which he judged the world and turned it away from him because it was considered sinful, polluted, and stained. He was the only saint, the only just, the only perfect one. All the others were wretched, miserable, and unforgivable sinners. This is the result of human pride that blinds the heart and clouds the mind and prevents us from knowing ourselves and the depth, height, width, and every other thickness of our sin. He is always a great sinner, the one that judges and despises his brothers, starting from his supposed righteousness and holiness.

Jesus comes and recomposes everything. The Master is always a master, in every moment of his life, in the city and the countryside, in the synagogues and in villages, squares and by the sea. The Master has no dead time, waiting time, and time of non teaching. Every encounter is a training, a lesson of truth, justice, and holiness; however, done with utmost and infinite love. Jesus does not close himself in the circle of his disciples. Rather these are the first that he forms, trains, teaching them all his mystery. Jesus is for every man. Every person, saint or sinner, just or unjust, far or near, believer or nonbeliever, daughter of Abraham or of the Gentiles, was entrusted him by the Father so that he gives him his most pure truth. No man might ever be turned away. All must be welcomed, trained, educated, healed, cured; receive the miracles in the soul, spirit, body. His is a true universal mission. He is of the whole world.

Once again he went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, 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 sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus heard this and said to them (that), “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

The Pharisees want him like them, sealed in his doctrine, holiness, justice, science, and truth. He must not be open to sinners, to the far from God. All this world is to be discarded. Jesus tells them that he came for the scrap of humanity, for all the world that is rejected and turned away by them. The doctor is a doctor for the sick. The same applies for the saint who is the saint of sinners, of the true which is the truth for those who do not possess it, of the righteous that must go to the unjust and of the one that possesses God so that he gives him to all those who do not know him. This is the difference between selfishness and charity. Selfishness shuts itself in its castle of spiritual poverty. Charity opens its treasures to those in need of truth, love, justice, forgiveness, and mercy. There is a difference between a robber and a life-giver.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us real givers of life.

 

Behold, the Lamb of God

Sunday 15 JANUARY (Jn 1,35-42)
Jesus is now presented by John the Baptist to the world and to his disciples as the true Lamb of God. Two great prophecies are fulfilledin him: “On the tenth of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one and shall share in the lamb in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs. None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up. “This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord!” (Ex 12,3-11).

Isaiah fulfills the prophecy of Exodus: “Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, A grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, Though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. (But the Lord was pleased to crush him in infirmity.) If he gives his life as an offering for sin, he shall see his descendants in a long life, and the will of the Lord shall be accomplished through him. Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days; Through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear. Therefore I will give him his portion among the great, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; And he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offences” (Is 53,7-12). If Jesus is the true Lamb of God, then it is right that all consume his flesh and all drink his blood. The liberation from death that hangs over us is in this Lamb.

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, ”Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).

There are no other lambs in the world. While in the Old Covenant everyone procured his lamb, a new one every year. Jesus Christ is theone and only Lamb of the New Covenant. He is the Lamb that was immolated once and for and all are called to eat his flesh and all to drink his blood. The Letter to the Hebrews is comforting: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Heb 13,8). Revelation shows us he is the one that has the key of history in his hands: “They sang a new hymn: “Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.” (Rev 5,9-10).

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, support us in the faith.

 

No one pours new wine into old wineskins

Monday 16 JANUARY (Mk 2,18-22)

Every action that a man does, is true if it comes out of him and turns into a great work of charity, mercy, compassion, almsgiving, andperfect justice. In the Old Testament, God himself had given to fasting this truth: “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your labourers. Yes, your fast ends in quarrelling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.” If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the Sabbath a delight, and the Lord ‘S holy day honourable; If you honour it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice –  Then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Is 58, 3-14). Here is fasting taught by theLord: abstaining from all evil to the brothers, become covered with high, excellent, powerful, great, and immense charity towards them.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and objected, “Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

Jesus comes and preaches just this fast: “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” (Mt 5,3-12). What did John’s disciples and the Pharisees wish Jesus did to them? That his fast, the real one, the one based on the law of the most perfect love;were transformed into a vain work before God and the brothers. Not being able to answer, because his truth would not have beenunderstood; he wisely tells a parable that says the whole mystery, but without exposing the Lord.

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

 

That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath

Tuesday 17 JANUARY (Mk 2,23-28)
For hunger, according to the code of the Alliance, you could enter the camp of the neighbour draw what was necessary. But you could not take anything out of it: “When you go through your neighbour’s vineyard, you may eat as many of his grapes as you wish, but do not put them in your basket. When you go through your neighbour’s grain field, you may pluck some of the ears with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbour’s grain” (Dt 23,25-26). The action of the disciples is legal, according to God. They are not committing anyiniquitous work. They are hungry. They respect the law of the Lord. They are picking the heads of grain with their hands. They use noscythe.

To the Pharisees, fierce scrutinizers of every action of their brothers, with the sole intent of finding in it something that was contrary to the Law of Moses; accuse the disciples of violating the Sabbath. Being it a day of absolute rest, they cannot pluck ears, they cannot rubthem with their hands. This is a real job. It is not lawful. It is not allowed. It cannot be done. According to their interpretation, on Saturday, no work could have been done and plucking ears and rubbing them with their hands was quite a real job. These are damages that are introduced in the Law of the Lord when the wicked heart of a man takes possession of and gives it interpretations according to the whims of his mind. The man is totally forgotten in all of his holiest needs and in the place of the man a law is placed which is no longer the law of charity, mercy, piety, compassion, and supreme justice.

As he was passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to make a path while picking the heads of grain. At this the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry? How he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his companions?” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. That is why the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Jesus is the Holy One of God, his true interpreter, the living memory of the Father’s will. However, he cannot say this. The hearts are too hardened to understand his truth. He can only appeal to Scripture, which contemplates cases of necessity that lead to transgression without sin of the law of the Lord: “David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling to meet him and asked, “Why are you alone? Is there no one with you?” David answered the priest: “The king gave me a commission and told me to let no one know anything about the business on which he sent me or the commission he gave me. For that reason I have arranged a meeting place with my men. Now what have you on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find.” But the priest replied to David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that.” David answered the priest: “We have indeed been segregated from women as on previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men are consecrated – even for a secular journey. All the more so today, when they are consecrated at arms!” So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from the Lord’s presence and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away. One of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; his name was Doeg the Edomite, and he was Saul’s chief henchman. David then asked Ahimelech: “Do you have a spear or a sword on hand? I brought along neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king’s business was urgent.” The priest replied: “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Vale of the Terebinth, is here (wrapped in a mantle) behind an ephod. If you wish to take that, take it; there is no sword here except that one.” David said: “There is none to match it. Give it to me!”” (1Sam 21,2-10). Before the hunger of a man, the sacredness of thingsends up. The man to be cared of, fed, and saved comes first.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, teach us the true Law

 

Grieved at their hardness of heart

Wednesday 18 JANUARY (Mk 3,1-6)

Jesus is always a specially observed one by the Pharisees. With his teachings he was destroying all their false, hypocritical, unhealthy, poisonous security. Their religion had nothing to do with the will of his Father. But he cannot say it in a clear way. He will say it unequivocally a few days before he dies; by which time his lot had already been decided: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the kingdom of heaven before human beings. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves. “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’ Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If one swears by the altar, it means nothing, but if one swears by the gift on the altar, one is obligated.’ You blind ones, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? One who swears by the altar swears by it and all that is upon it; one who swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it; one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who is seated on it. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. (But) these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the memorials of the righteous, and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have joined them in shedding the prophets’ blood.’ Thus you bear witness against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets; now fill up what your ancestors measured out! You serpents, you brood of vipers, how can you flee from the judgment of Gehenna?” (Mt 23,12-33).This religion is a bomb with a high potential of destruction. Jesus can not defuse it at this moment. He would risk the immediatestoning. He needs all the wisdom and divine knowledge in order to begin to demolish it gradually, without them even noticing it. He will be able to defuse this bomb only by paying with his life.

Again he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

Now Jesus performs the miracle; however he must first attract the people on his side. These must act as his defensive wall, otherwise he could be hit on the spot with some stones, always at hand. Everyone knows that the good must always be done, in every day of the week. When you do good, out of love, the greatest charity, you do not break any of the Lord’s laws. Placed this principle in the heartsof the people present, Jesus heals the man with the withered hand, without doing any work. By simply saying: “Stretch out your hand.”Nobody in their right mind would say that this is a job. The Pharisees and the Herodians immediately go out and take counsel againstJesus to put him to death. He is destroying their religion. They will destroy Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, give us the true religion.

 

Those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him

Thursday 19 JANUARY (Mk 3,7-12)
By now everyone knows that there is no need to ask Jesus to do some miracle for them. Suffices simply touching him and the miracle happens, it is carried out. However, it is not only one that touches him, it is hundreds of them. The crowd that followed him, came from all sides. They came from Galilee, from Judea, from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, from the region of Tyre and Sidon. Every one came with a hope in his heart: it is enough for me to touch him and certainly I will be healed.

This faith caused all of them to rush upon and touch him. How does one go about to speak, preach, teach, and train if all push you and whoever throws you to one side and who to the another? How does one go about to give this so numerous a people the will of the Father, if he is in the physical condition of not even being able to open his mouth? Even if Jesus could have spoken, they certainly would not stay and listen to him. Everyone thought how he could throw himself on him before the others, in order to be healed. This is the real situation Jesus finds himself in, today.

However, Jesus is the man of wisdom and understanding beyond measure. He always overcomes every feeling, will, desire, temptation, test, pressure on the part of men with his wisdom, which he grew in more and more everyday. The ministry of wisdom and intelligence is just this: overcoming every folly and foolishness that were to turn into a real impediment for us to be able to do the will of God. Since every day foolishness and ignorance are presented with ever greater virulence, we are obliged to respond with wisdom and intelligence that grow in us out of all proportion; otherwise, we will surely succumb. Jesus never fell in a single test or temptation because of his supreme wisdom.

Jesus withdrew toward the sea with his disciples. A large number of people (followed) from Galilee and from Judea. Hearing what he was doing, a large number of people came to him also from Jerusalem, from Idumea, from beyond the Jordan, and from the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him. He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, “You are the Son of God.” He warned them sternly not to make him known.

Here is the wisdom of Jesus: he asks to be provided with a boat. He distances himself a little from the shore, the necessary for him to be no longer surrounded and jostled; and in this way can teach the crowd the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The miracle without itstruth is not the end of the ministry of Jesus. He came to lead every man to the Father, and not to leave him curled up into himself,even if he first was in a state of illness and now is in a state of perfect health. In pure immanence he was before. In pure immanence he is after.

Instead, Jesus must liberate man from his immanence and carry him into a state of transcendence. He must unhook him from himself and hook him to his Father in heaven. Never might this unhooking and hooking happen with a mere miracle. The Word must always be added to it. This is the most pure way for the will of the Lord to be know on our lives; and for us to lend him our most immediate obedience. The miracle must manifest us that Jesus is the true sent by God, his true prophet, and servant. He can speak to us in the name of God, because he comes from God and by his command he acts and operates, teaches and instructs. He is the only true, perfect, full, thorough, revealer of the Father. When man understands this truth, he can save his life, if he wants, because he can free it from immanence and transport it into the highest transcendence. He can hook it up to God, from whom his true salvation is. This is why Jesus gives a secondary importance to the miracle, the only importance of a sign.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, hook us up to the heavenly Father.

 

That they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach

Friday 20 JANUARY (Mk 3,13-19)
We know the call of some apostles. It is direct or indirect according to the Gospel from which we draw the news. The Synoptics speak of a direct call: “As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (Mt 4,18-22).

In John, however it is mostly indirect: “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, ”Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). Then he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Kephas” (which is translated Peter). The next day he decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.” It does not matter to know through which path a vocation arose, whether direct or indirect. On the contrary, it is Important to know that every vocation arises from the heart of the Father. He is the only source of every ministry.

He went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him. He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons: (he appointed the twelve:) Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.

The Twelve were constituted so that they stayed with him. Tomorrow, they must live out all the mission of Jesus. That is why they must know everything of their Master and Lord: words, deeds, actions, procedures, relations, teaching, answers, dialogues, and attitudes . It is as if they were to impregnate themselves with Lord Jesus, in order to be a perfect “image” of Him in the world. The association with Jesus gives them the correct depth, when tomorrow they must be the ones to carry out his mission on the same model and example. For this reason they must never get distracted, but must always be alert, vigilant, prudent, cautious, wise and intelligent; so as to learn everything from such an elevated Master, as to be the only true Master on our earth. They must also go preach with the authority of casting out demons. While Jesus is alive, they must gain an intense experience of how much sacrifice and abnegation the mission entails. So that by following Jesus Christ they can be ready to fulfill their mandate, when they will spread throughout the whole world and will announce the coming of the kingdom of God. Without the daily contact with Jesus, it is easy to lose sight of the mystery and be transformed into vain announcers.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us be one only thing with Jesus

 

Making it impossible for them even to eat

Saturday 21 JANUARY (Mk 3,20-21)
Jesus is the eternal Wisdom made flesh. But he is also the perfect human wisdom. There is in him a full correspondence of conformity between his divine and human wisdoms. The latter is always a reflection of the former. That is why in Jesus there has never been even the least discrepancy or dissonance between the two wisdoms: the eternal and the human. The Person of the Word always lives filled with all wisdom, intelligence, strength and virtue.

That is how the Ancient prophecies announced him: “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord. Not by appearance shall he judge, nor by hearsay shall he decide, But he shall judge the poor with justice, and decide aright for the land’s afflicted. He shall strike the ruthless with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Justice shall be the band around his waist, and faithfulness a belt upon his hips” (Is 11,1-5). 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” (Is 42,1-4).

Jesus being perpetually governed by the highest, truest, most profound, sublime wisdom and prudence, fortitude, and every sound discernment; never might any one, if he is wise and intelligent, doubt that he can do something less good. All his work is most pure goodness. Even his self-giving, on this occasion, to the crowd, to make it the greatest possible good, is the result of his wisdom and intelligence. In this moment nothing can be done nothing but what it is been operated. Otherwise, surely Jesus would have left everybody and would have gone elsewhere. Either a man is perfectly wise or he is not. The perfectly wise always carries out works of wisdom. On the contrary, who is not perfectly wise, today behaves one way and tomorrow in another. However, Jesus is perfectly, fully, thoroughly wise, without measure, without limit. What he accomplished is most pure obedience to the eternal wisdom of the Father, who from high in heavens, in the communion of His Holy Spirit, governs every word, decision, act, work, and event of his Only Son.

He came home. Again (the) crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

What do his family members and relatives think – the generic term does not allow for any identification, however, it is to be presumed with certainty that there is not the presence of his Mother, by reason of the wisdom that rules her heart – and what do they say? “Jesus is beside himself.” He has lost his mind. He no longer knows how to govern himself. They must be his custodians. They must look after him. They cannot leave him alone. When the wise is not understood, not welcomed, ill evaluated and judged; it is a sign that our wisdom is not true wisdom. We are not in the fullness of wisdom when we do not know how to evaluate the works of wisdom. Foolishness, ignorance, pride, and spiritual arrogance always prevent us from understanding the works of true wisdom. On the contrary, if we placed ourselves in holy humility, and asked God for a little light, we would understand that the other is infinitely beyond our knowledge and we would let him operate in peace. Rather we would put ourselves in his service, in order to learn from him how to live of perfect wisdom and how to behave in fullness of intelligence. When there is no humility, never might the works of wisdom be known and even appreciated.

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

 

Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men

Sunday 22 JANUARY (Mk 1,14-20)
The conversion Jesus asks for is not easy and not even simple to welcome. Let us enter historically into a request of Jesus and we will understand the difficulty for a disciple of Moses to be able to welcome the Word, or the Gospel of Jesus the Lord: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”” (Jn 6,48-65).  A Jew had to pour the blood on the floor. And it was animal blood. Now Jesus tells him that he must drink human blood. That is what conversion means: skipping the whole existing ritual law and entering into a new vision of reality, truth, justice, and holiness. Jesus asks for the passage from Moses to him. From the word of Moses to his word. From the Ancient to the New Covenant. Jesus asks for a real leap in the faith, an almost infinite leap.

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfilment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they abandoned their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

This jump is not just for the children of Abraham, and the disciples of Moses. It is for every person living in this world. Even he must abandon his “Moses”, whoever he is, wherever place he comes from: from God, from men, from the underworld, and surrender completely, in body, soul, spirit, thoughts, heart, feelings, in every decision and in fullness of obedience to the Word of Jesus This step is the conversion. It is not going from one morality to another, but from one person to the Person constituted by God our Savior, Redeemer, and Messiah. Since every man must pass to him, and this is valid until the end of the world; today, Jesus calls those that tomorrow, after his glorious resurrection, must go throughout the world to announce this divine will. The called, having tomorrow to announce Christ, his Word, and also carry out his works; they must see all of Jesus and they must all learn from him. That is why it is fitting that they walk behind him and allow themselves to be educated, trained, and formed in the knowledge of his mystery.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, teach us the true conversion.

 

He will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin

Monday 23 JANUARY (Mk 3,22-30)

There is the fact and the interpretation of it. There is the story and the reading of it. There is the man that acts and the intelligence ofall his work that the other is called to possess. The interpretation, reading, intelligence are of who interprets, reads, and understands.

When the heart of the wicked reached the saturation point in his evil, sin, folly, idolatry, and pride; it is as hard as granite and reads in the key of evil even the most sacred things. Here’s how the Psalm speaks of this heart: “In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. He lies in wait near the villages; from ambush he murders the innocent. His eyes watch in secret for his victims; like a lion in cover he lies in wait. He lies in wait to catch the helpless; he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net. His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.” Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. Why does the wicked man revile God? Why does he say to himself, “He won’t call me to account”? But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out. The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land. You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror (Psalm 10 (9), 2-10). Only God can save from the heart of the wicked. He alone can deliver.

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Another Psalm prophesies this way on the heart of the wicked: “I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good. Even on their beds they plot evil;  they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights. For with you is the fountain of life;  in your light we see light. Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. May the foot of the proud not come against me,  nor the hand of the wicked drive me away. See how the evildoers lie fallen— thrown down, not able to rise!” (Psalm 36 (35), 1-13). Jesus was persecuted by the wicked heart throughout his public life. At the end he was nailed to the cross by the same heart. So great is its power of evil. The wicked is warned. If he commits the sin against the Holy Spirit, destroying God’s truth with slander, lies, false testimony; there is eternal hell for him.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, free us from this sin.

 

Who are my mother and (my) brothers?

Tuesday 24 JANUARY (Mk 3,31-35)
Today, the Mother of Jesus with some of her relatives go visit the Lord. This episode takes place immediately after the two events previously examined, the one concerning his own who had declared him out of himself and the other the one of the infamous accusation of the Pharisees who declared him possessed by Beelzebub: He came home. Again (the) crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.”” (Mk 3,20-22).  We know the answer of Jesus on this false testimony. For who sins against the Holy Spirit there is neither forgiveness on earth nor in heaven. He is guilty of eternal death.

We know that the Virgin Mary is always moved by the Holy Spirit. She does nothing that but listening to his inner voice. We do not know the reason why she wishes to see Jesus. We ignore the reasons for her presence. She knew well that Jesus was called to do only the will of the Father. Jesus had given her this teaching when he was twelve years old, in the temple in Jerusalem: “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them” (Lk 2,47-50). From this moment on Jesus was always left free so that he could only do the will of his Father. Jesus can only be moved by the Holy Spirit of God. No one else might ever have any power over him. This is his eternal statute and this is his one and only law.

His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers (and your sisters) are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and (my) brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. (For) whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

They stay out. They do not enter. However, they send to call Jesus. A crowd was sitting around him and they tell him: “Behold, your mother, your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” Since no one was able to get close to Jesus and take the news with discretion, the request of the mother and his brothers was shouted to the Lord. So everybody was aware of this their desire. Jesus’ reply is immediate: “Who is my mother and who are my brothers? My mother and my brothers, you who do the will of God.” What does Jesus mean to tell us with this answer? Does he maybe deny His Mother? Does he perhaps repudiate her as his Mother? None of this.

The logic of Jesus is only one and it applies to everyone, without exception, including his Mother: “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” (cf Mt 10,34-39). In Jesus the will of God comes first. In the will of God he establishes every relationship with people. But who does the will of God? Who allows Jesus to be able to carry out only and always the will of his Father. He does not love who were to hinder him, because he does not do the will of God. In this circumstance, the Virgin Mary is not the one that sends to call Jesus, but his relatives. However, these are not moved by the Holy Spirit, they are governed by their own hearts. Mary knows that she must respect Jesus the Lord and she respects him with adoring silence.

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

 

Proclaim the gospel to every creature

Wednesday 25 JANUARY (Mk 16,15-18)
In one of Isaiah’s prophecies it is said that the Messiah would have brought his word not only to the nations, but also to far, and remote islands: “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” (Is 42,1-12).

That is how another prophecy of the same prophet announces the Messiah of the Lord: “Hear me, O coastlands, listen, O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me. You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory. Though I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength, Yet my reward is with the Lord, my recompense is with my God. For now the Lord has spoken who formed me as his servant from the womb, That Jacob may be brought back to him and Israel gathered to him; And I am made glorious in the sight of the Lord, and my God is now my strength! It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the survivors of Israel; I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth»” (Is 49,1-6).

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents (with their hands), and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Now let us ask ourselves: might ever a single man carry out a mission so broad and wide as to embrace the whole earth? Even if it wereto do it running fast across the nations of the world, what would result be? Certainly none. Here is then how the wisdom of God carries out this prophecy. The Messiah of the Lord comes onto our earth and associates to his ministry and his mission an infinite number ofother men. He constitutes them his apostles, his envoys, his missionaries, his person, his presence, his grace, his truth, and with his ownpowers. St. Paul is the perfect model of the true missionary of Jesus. Seized by Christ the Lord on the road to Damascus, he consecrated all his life to the mission. He forms, takes care of, and guards the Christian communities in the truth of Lord Jesus, in his grace, and in his hope. He defends them from the attacks of the false truth about God and the religion of their Fathers. He opens the minds and hearts of many to embrace Jesus Christ as their only Lord and God.

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

 

The kingdom of God is at hand for you

Thursday 26 JANUARY (Lk 10,1-9)
Before Moses, the Lord works with just one man. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are the interlocutors through whom the Lordfrom time to time carries out his work of salvation. With the birth of God’s people at Sinai, one person alone is no longer enough; it isnot sufficient to govern a great multitude. The participation in the mission and the official investiture are needed. The elders that must help Moses in the government of the whole people are instituted: “Then the Lord said to Moses, “Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know for true elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the meeting tent. When they are in place beside you, I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will bestow it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself. So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Gathering seventy elders of the people, he had them stand around the tent. The Lord then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied. Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also, and they prophesied in the camp. So, when a young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.” But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!” Then Moses retired to the camp, along with the elders of Israel” (Cf. Num 11,16-17.24-30).

Jesus comes. Not only does he have a people to train, to educate, and to lead into righteousness. The Father entrusted him the whole world. However, he is limited, finite in his flesh,. How to reach every person across the length and also the history of the earth? By making other people share in his mission and his powers. Participation is an essential rule for the mission. Without it, no mission of evangelization can ever be accomplished, because of the vastness of time and space. The finite can never include the infinite, the partial never the total, the moment never the whole history. What was valid for Lord Jesus, it is also valid for each of his disciples.

After this the Lord appointed seventy (-two) others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the labourers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out labourers for his harvest. Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a peaceful person lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the labourer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’

This is why the disciple of the Lord every day must pray to the Master of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest. This prayer is one of his precise obligations. The mission which is on his shoulders is universal, for all, forever. However, he is finite, limited, partial,temporary. How does he go about overcoming his limitations of nature? Adding countless people to his mission. Sharing it with otherworkers. However, he cannot instill the vocation in the hearts. This is an exclusive work of God. To the Lord he will ask to put into the hearts the will to be missionaries of his reign. The prayer must be continuous. It must mark the passing hours of his day.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, help us pray.

 

Without parables he did not speak to them

Friday 27 JANUARY (Mk 4,26-34)
Today Jesus reveals us how great the power of the Word of His Father is. When the true Word of God is sown in a heart, it takes root in it and gradually begins to bear its fruit of salvation or perdition. Nothing is the same as before. Here is how the prophet Isaiah speaks of this creative word of the Lord: “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near. Let the scoundrel forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; Let him turn to the Lord for mercy; to our God, who is generous in forgiving. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it. Yes, in joy you shall depart, in peace you shall be brought back; Mountains and hills shall break out in song before you, and all the trees of the countryside shall clap their hands. In place of the thorn bush, the cypress shall grow, instead of nettles, the myrtle. This shall be to the Lord ‘s renown, an everlasting imperishable sign” (Is 55,6-13).

If the Word of God is the creative, because it shares in the same omnipotence of its Author, why do not we say, do not we teach, do not we preach it; do not we form the hearts and minds starting from it? We do all this because God and his Word cannot be divided. It is not possible to take the word of the Lord and leave God in his Heaven. The Word of God must always be spoken by God, by him said and taught. For this to happen, God must be in our hearts, our minds, our soul, our every thought and desire; he must also be in our body. This should reflect the whole of divine holiness. If God is not in us, even His word will never be in our mouth; and then we say words of the earth, of men, words of down here that are without any power of redemption.

He said, “This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how. Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come.” He said, “To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it? It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade.” With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it. Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.

The Word of the Lord is in everything compared by Jesus to a seed that is cast upon the earth. Whether the farmer sleeps or is awake, night or day, the seed has its own particular life that comes outside of itself. To the sower belongs only the duty of controlling its growth so that he can harvest it at the right time and put the precious fruit in his barns. Another truth of the Word of God is this: it does not create in a single day a new, holy and perfect universe. On the contrary, it works very slowly. At first, its action is almost invisible, so small it is. But, then, with the passage of time, everything takes form and consistency. But even in this latter case, the man who sows the Word is asked to know how to wait. God never operates without time. To the Lord, a thousand years are like a night shift. Unless we learn to work with God’s time, our haste can produce disasters in his kingdom. But with the patience proper of the farmer we wait for the growth of the seed and the fruits will come in abundance.

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

 

Let us cross to the other side

Saturday 28 JANUARY (Mk 4,35-41)
The whole creation comes from the creative Word of God. As men and angels, being endowed with will, can rebel against their Lord and God; and in fact, they have and will always rebel; inanimate matter obeys its Lord with ready and solicitous obedience. It is sufficient that the Lord says one only Word and his works bow before his will and lend him immediate listening. So the Psalm: “Praise the Lord.Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars. Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for at his command they were created, and he established them for ever and ever— he issued a decree that will never pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding, you mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and women, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendour is above the earth and the heavens. And he has raised up for his people a horn, the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart. Praise the Lord” (Psalm 148,1-14).

No creature might ever resist the command of his Lord and God. Jesus is on the boat. With the disciples, they are reaching the other shore. The wind is raging. The waves lift the boat. The disciples are in a panic. They have lost control. They go neither forward nor can they go back. Not knowing what to do any more, they wake up the Master who sleeps on a pillow and ask him to intervene. Jesus gives only a nod to the sea and winds and instantly it is as if there had never been one single breath of breeze on the lake. Peace descends on the water and the boat can go forward again to the other side. Between Jesus and creation there is the relationship that exists between the Creator and his creature. This owes him prompt the immediate, solicitous, and instantaneous obedience.

On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

When we walk with Jesus we must trust Him fully, completely. He does not need to be awake to govern his creation. This already obeys him by nature. By obedience it stirs and by obedience it calms down. This is what we must learn from Jesus and this is the faith he asks of us: we must have only one worry: living with Him, in Him, for Him. Then, whether nature, history, men remain calm or stir; both, calm and agitation are a test for us. In agitation we risk to fall into the temptation of having being abandoned. In calm, an even stronger temptation: we can think of being self sufficient, of not needing Him. This temptation is more common and universal than we think. Many perish more for the calm than for the agitation. In agitation the prayer rises to the Lord; in calm, instead, one forgets about him and falls to the non-action, laziness, non work, and non commitment. We hand ourselves over to idleness and sloth and our spiritual life withers and dies within a few days. This is why we are called to live each moment of our life in fullness of faith and total trust in the Lord our God, no matter what happens around us.

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

 

What is this?

Sunday 29 JANUARY (Mk 1,21-28)
Salvation is from listening to the Word of God. If this is given in its purity and integrity, it always produces a fruit of conversion, redemption, and holiness. However, if it is altered, forged, transformed; if it is added and removed to it, not being the word of God anymore, it might not produce any fruit of true salvation; and man succumbs under the weight of his sins, his transgressions, his fragile and weak humanity.

In the people of God the gift of the Word has always created serious problems. That is what Jeremiah announces: “Your crimes have prevented these things, your sins have turned back these blessings from you. For there are among my people criminals; like fowlers they set traps, but it is men they catch. Their houses are as full of treachery as a bird-cage is of birds; Therefore they grow powerful and rich, fat and sleek. They go their wicked way; justice they do not defend By advancing the claim of the fatherless or judging the cause of the poor. Shall I not punish these things? says the Lord; on a nation such as this shall I not take vengeance? A shocking, horrible thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests teach as they wish; Yet my people will have it so; what will you do when the end comes?” (Jer 5,25-31).

In another passage the same prophet says: “Even the stork in the air knows it seasons; Turtledove, swallow and thrush observe their time of return, But my people do not know the ordinance of the Lord. How can you say, “We are wise, we have the law of the Lord “? Why, that has been changed into falsehood by the lying pen of the scribes! The wise are confounded, dismayed and ensnared; Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, of what avail is their wisdom? Therefore, I will give their wives to strangers, their fields to spoilers. Small and great alike, all are greedy for gain, prophet and priest, all practice fraud. They would repair, as though it were nought, the injury to the daughter of my people: “Peace, peace!” they say, though there is no peace. They are odious; they have done abominable things, yet they are not at all ashamed, they know not how to blush” (Jer 8,7-12). Every prophet complains of the great lie in the transmission of the Word of God by those who, by ministry, and mission, were called upon to perform this office of real life among the people of the Lord.

Then they came to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!” The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him. All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.” His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.

Jesus comes and notices the same disaster in the transmission of the Word of his Father. He makes of his life a continuous teaching, training, and preaching. He speaks from the heart of his Father to the hearts of his brothers; he tells them the Word in its fullness of truth, mercy, piety, compassion, justice, and holiness. The people note the difference and say publicly. There is a gulf of authority between the Word of Jesus and that of the scribes. Those of their scribes were words artificially glued to each other. Apparently beautiful and important, they remained outside the heart of men. They did not move it to conversion, and to repentance. On the contrary, the one of Jesus was a Word anointed with the Holy Spirit. It entered the heart. It touched it. It drives it to true conversion. This is the extraordinary authority of the Word of the Lord: the conversion of the heart.

Virgin Mary, Mother of Redemption, Angels, Saints, always give us the true Word

 

Announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you

Monday 30 JANUARY (Mk 5,1-20)
Jesus is in a pagan territory. No Word of God reigns in it. Where God does not reign and rule the hearts, it can be seen it by the value a man acquires. That our modern societies and civilizations, our world of wealth and technology are with no true God, is witnessed by the endless falsehoods that govern man, by now reduced to the status of a machine. The human person lost its dignity, because it was deprived of its truth. It is an object, a thing. Like any other object and everything else, it has no eternal value. Its value is just momentary, occasional, passionate, and highly perishable.

Today it is right this truth that Jesus teaches us through the liberation of the possessed and permission granted the legion of demons to enter into the swine. A herd of pigs cannot be worth the life of a man. A market economy cannot destroy the truth of the human person. The common market cannot abolish the sacredness and holiness of a man, his supernatural origin, his otherworldly purpose. One cannot make a pig, a cow, a goat, a calf, and a bear out of a man. Man is infinitely more. Yet, today a cat and a dog are worth more than an elder.

They came to the other side of the sea, to the territory of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him. The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him, crying out in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”) He asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.” And he pleaded earnestly with him not to drive them away from that territory. Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside. And they pleaded with him, “Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.” And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned. The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside. And people came out to see what had happened. As they approached Jesus, they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind. And they were seized with fear. Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. Then they began to beg him to leave their district. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But he would not permit him but told him instead, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.

Before the collapse of values ​​which we see every day because of the paganization and secularization of the contemporary world, announcing some indefeasible principle on man has no value. We must respond effectively. Man must be liberated from demonic possession of falsehood and deceit. We must invite those who have been released, to announce the great compassion and mercy of God, that gave them the truth, the freedom and true humanity. This is the challenge that awaits us. We cannot think of saying ethical principles to the world. We must present ourselves with the power of Christ Jesus, with his divine powers and cast the devil that is nestled in the heart of man. If we do not have this power, this determination, this faith, it is useless to talk. There is no need to preach. Satan must be put back into his hell and only the disciple of Jesus can do this work.

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

 

Do not be afraid; just have faith

Tuesday 31 JANUARY (Mk 5,21-43)

When one starts with the faith, he must endure in the faith to the end. Never must he give up in his trust placed entirely in his Lord.Our heart is weak, sick, shaky, and small. It gives up easily before the first difficulty, the first obstacles, the first tests. One does not always come through. He backs out quite soon. How is it possible then to begin with the faith and finish with a greater faith? The answeris not in us, but in the others. We need supporters, invigorating persons of the faith, those who strengthen us in it, raise us up, guide us,support us, and encourage us so that we never go back. If this help is not close to us, it is the end of our faith. Once the faith is lost,you immediately lose the charity and the hope. Even in this ministry, Jesus is for us all the insuperable Teacher, Guide, and Example.

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 8 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 haemorrhages 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.

Not only is Jesus the one that must do the material miracle of the healing of a sick or even dead person. He is above all the one that has to raise, establish, verify, strengthen their faith in him on the part of any person that stands before him. If we imitated Jesus andbecame for all our brothers supporters of their faith, certainly the people of God would awaken from his sleep of spiritual death. Today,the greatest sin against the faith is the loneliness of the one who lives it. Faith alone cannot be pursued. It needs the help of fellow believers. We should all be like the mother of the seven Maccabee brothers: “Most admirable and worthy of everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her hope in the Lord. Filled with a noble spirit that stirred her womanly heart with manly courage, she exhorted each of them in the language of their forefathers with these words: “I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which each of you is composed. Therefore, since it is the Creator of the universe who shapes each man’s beginning, as he brings about the origin of everything, he, in his mercy, will give you back both breath and life, because you now disregard yourselves for the sake of his law.” Martyrdom of Mother and Sons»” (cfr 2Mac 7, 20-23). Without this support, the faith canalso be lost forever.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints, make us supporters of true faith.