Easter Season

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God, almighty Father,

You have absolute power over the world,

and yet You respect the freedom of people,

even of those who persecute Your faithful.

Make us realize that our faith

does not protect us against the evil

which people bring upon one another,

but that You want us to build according to Your plan

a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

Help our faith to stand the test

when our meager efforts fail.

We ask You this through Christ our Lord.

2) Gospel Reading - John 14:27-31a

Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, 'I am going away and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me."

3) Reflection

• Here begins the farewell of Jesus, in John 14:27. At the end of chapter 14 He ends the conversation, saying, “Come now, let us go!” (Jn 14:31). But instead of leaving the room, Jesus continues to speak for three more chapters: 15, 16, and 17.  At the beginning of chapter 18, we see the following phrase: “After He had said all this, Jesus left with His disciples and crossed the Kidron valley where there was a garden which He entered with His disciples.” (Jn 18:1). In Jn 18:1, there is the continuation of Jn 14:31. The Gospel of John is like a beautiful building constructed slowly, rock on top of rock, brick upon brick. Here and there, there are signs of rearrangement or adaptation. In some way, all the texts, all the bricks, form part of a building and are the Word of God for us.

• John 14:27: The gift of Peace. Jesus communicates His peace to the disciples. The same peace will be given after the Resurrection (Jn 20:29). This peace is an expression of the manifestation of the Father, as Jesus had said before (Jn 14:21). The peace of Jesus is the source of joy that He communicates to us (Jn 15:11; 16:20,22,24; 17:13). It is a peace which is different from the peace which the world gives us. It is different from Pax Romana. At the end of the first century the Pax Romana was maintained by force and violent repression against the rebellious movements. Pax Romana, as a policy of the Roman government,  guaranteed institutionalized inequality between the Roman citizens and the slaves. This is not the peace of the Kingdom of God. The peace which Jesus communicates is what in the Old Testament is called “shalom.”  It is the complete organization of all life around the values of justice, fraternity and equality.

• John 14:28-29: The reason why Jesus returns to the Father. Jesus returns to the Father in order to be able to return immediately. He will say to Mary Magdalene, “Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father” (Jn 20:17). Going up to the Father, He will return through the Holy Spirit which He will send (cf. Jn 20; 22). Without the return to the Father, He will not be able to stay with us through the Spirit.

• John 14:30-31a: That the world may know that I love the Father. Jesus had ended the last conversation with the disciples. The prince of this world wanted to impose himself on the destiny of Jesus. Jesus will die. In reality, the prince of this world, the Tempter, the Devil, has no power over Jesus. The world will know that Jesus loves the Father. This is the great witness of Jesus which impels the world to believe in Him. In proclaiming the Good News, it is not a question of spreading doctrine or imposing Canon Law, or of uniting all in one organization. It is above all a question of living and radiating what the human being desires and has deeper in his heart through intimacy with God: love. Without this, the doctrine, the Law, the celebration, will only be a wig on a bald head.

• John 14:31b: Come now, let us go. These are the last words of Jesus and the expression of His decision to be obedient to the Father, revealing His love. In the Eucharist, at the moment of the consecration, in some countries, it is said, “On the day before His passion, voluntarily accepted.”  In another place Jesus says, “This is why the Father loves Me: because I lay down My life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own free will.  I have power to lay it down so I have power to take it up again, and this is the command that I have received from My Father.” (Jn 10:17-18)

4) Personal questions

• Jesus says, “I give you My peace.” How do I contribute to the building of peace in my family and in my community?

• Looking into the mirror of the obedience of Jesus toward the Father, how could I improve my obedience to the Father?

• Jesus told His disciples beforehand so that they would believe. Do I need to “see” beforehand in order to believe, or do I see everything with faith and trust?

• We also have choices to lay down our “life” for others every day – in charity and denial of self in order to serve others in our daily “life”. Do I volunteer my “life” every day, all day, or only sometimes or only when asked?

5) Concluding Prayer

All Your creatures shall thank You, Yahweh,

and Your faithful shall bless You.

They shall speak of the glory of Your kingship

and tell of Your might. (Ps 145:10-11)

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord God, loving Father,

we look for Your presence

in the temple of nature

and in churches built by our hands,

and You are there with Your people.

But above all, You have made Your temple

right in our hearts.

God, give us eyes of faith and love

to recognize that You live in us

with Your Son and the Holy Spirit

if we keep the word of Jesus Christ,

Your Son and our Lord for ever.

2) Gospel Reading - John 14:21-26

Jesus said to his disciples: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, "Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. "I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name -- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."

3) Reflection

• Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John is a beautiful example of how the catechesis was done in the communities of Asia Minor at the end of the first century. Through the questions of the disciples and the responses of Jesus, the Christians formed their conscience and found an orientation to address their problems. In chapter 14, we find the question of Thomas and the answer of Jesus (Jn 14:5-7), the question of Philip and the response of Jesus (Jn 14:8-21), and the question of Judas and the answer of Jesus (Jn 12:22-26). The last phrase of the answer of Jesus to Philip (Jn 14:21) forms the first verse of today’s Gospel.

• John 14:21: I shall love Him and reveal myself to Him. This verse presents the summary of the response of Jesus to Philip. Philip had said: “Show us the Father and then we shall be satisfied!” (Jn 14:8). Moses had asked God: “Show me your glory!” (Ex 33:18). God answered: “My face you cannot see, for no human being can see Me and survive” (Ex 33:20). The Father cannot be shown. God lives in inaccessible light (1 Tim 6:16). “Nobody has ever seen God” (I Jn 4:12). But the presence of the Father can be experienced through the experience of love. The First Letter of Saint John says: “He who does not love does not know God because God is love”. Jesus tells Philip: “Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and reveal Myself to him”. By observing the commandment of Jesus, which is the commandment to love our neighbor (Jn 15:17), the person shows his love for Jesus. And whoever loves Jesus, will be loved by the Father and can be certain that the Father will manifest Himself to him. In the response to Judas, Jesus will say how this manifestation of the Father will take place in our life.

• John 14:22: The question of Judas is the question of all. The question of Judas: “Lord, what has happened that You intend to show Yourself to us and not to the world?” This question mirrors a problem which is real even today. Sometimes, among us, Christians, there arises the idea of being better than the others and of being loved by God more than others. Do we attribute to God distinction among people?

• John 14:23-24: The answer of Jesus. The answer of Jesus is simple and profound. He repeats what He had just said to Philip. The problem is not if we, Christians, are loved more by God than others, or that the others are despised by God. This is not the criteria for any preference by the Father. The criteria of the Father is always the same: love. “If anyone loves Me, he will observe My word, and My Father will love him and We shall come to him and make a home in him. Anyone who does not love Me does not keep My words”. Independently of whether the person is Christian or not, the Father manifests Himself to all those who observe the commandment of Jesus which is love for neighbor (Jn 15:17). In what does the manifestation of the Father consist? The response to this question is engraved in the heart of humanity, in the universal human experience. Observe the life of the people who practice love and make their life a gift for others. Examine their experience, independently of religion, social class, race or color. The practice of love gives us a profound peace and it is a great joy that they succeed to live and bear together pain and suffering. This experience is the reflection of the manifestation of the Father in the life of the person. It is the realization of the promise: “I and the Father will come to him and make our home in him.

• John 14:25-26: The promise of the Holy Spirit. Jesus ends his response to Judas saying: I have said these things to you while still with you. Jesus communicates everything which He has heard from the Father (Jn 15:15). His words are a source of life and they should be meditated on, deepened, and updated constantly in the light of the always new reality which surrounds us. For this constant meditation on His words, Jesus promises us the help of the Holy Spirit: “The Consoler, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.

4) Personal questions

• Jesus says: We will come to him and make our home in him. How do I experience this promise?

• We have the promise of the gift of the Spirit to help us understand the word of Jesus. Do I invoke the light of the Spirit when I prepare myself to read and meditate on Scripture?

• Do I keep His word in a way that allows the Father and the Son to dwell in me continuously, or is it only on good days or certain times?

5) Concluding Prayer

Day after day I shall bless You,

I shall praise Your name for ever and ever.

Great is Yahweh and worthy of all praise,

His greatness beyond all reckoning. (Ps 145:2-3)

John 13:31-35

1. LECTIO

a) Opening prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us understand the mystery of the Church as community of love. When you gave us the new commandment of love as the charter of the Church, you told us that it is the highest value. When you were about to leave your disciples, you wished to give them a memorial of the new commandment, the new statute of the Christian community. You did not give them a pious exhortation, but rather a new commandment of love. In this ‘relative absence’, we are asked to recognize you present in our brothers and sisters. In this Easter season, Lord Jesus, you remind us that the time of the Church is the time of charity, the time of encounter with you through our brothers and sisters. We know that at the end of our lives we shall be judged on love. Help us encounter you in each brother and sister, seizing every little occasion of every day.

b) Reading:

31 When he had gone, Jesus said: Now has the Son of man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon. 33 Little children, I shall be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and, as I told the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come.
34 I give you a new commandment: love one another; you must love one another just as I have loved you. 35 It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognise you as my disciples.

c) A moment of prayerful silence:

The passage of the Gospel we are about to meditate, recalls Jesus’ farewell words to his disciples. Such a passage should be considered a kind of sacrament of an encounter with the Person of Jesus.

2. MEDITATIO

a) Preamble to Jesus’ discourse:

Our passage is the conclusion to chapter 13 where two themes crisscross and are taken up again and developed in chapter 14: the place where the Lord is going; and the theme of the commandment of love. Some observations on the context within which Jesus’ words on the new commandment occur may be helpful for a fruitful reflection on their content.

First, v.31 says, «when he had gone», who is gone? To understand this we need to go to v. 30 where we read that «as soon as Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. It was night». Thus the one who went out was Judas. Then, the expression, «it was night», is characteristic of all the «farewell discourses», which take place at night. Jesus’ words in Jn 13,31-35 are preceded by this immersion into the darkness of the night. What is the symbolical meaning of this? In John, night represents the peak of nuptial intimacy (for instance the wedding night), but also one of extreme anguish. Other meanings of the dark night are that it represents the moment of danger par excellence, it is the moment when the enemy weaves plans of vengeance against us, it expresses the moment of desperation, confusion, moral and intellectual disorder. The darkness of night is like a dead end.

In Jn 6, when the night storm takes place, the darkness of the night expresses an experience of desperation and solitude as they struggle against the dark forces that stir the sea. Again, the time marker "while it was still dark" in Jn 20:1 points to the darkness which is the absence of Jesus. Indeed, in John’s Gospel, the light of Christ cannot be found in the sepulchre, that is why darkness reigns (20:1).

Therefore, “farewell discourses” are rightly placed within this time framework. It is almost as if the background colour of these discourses is separation, death or the departure of Jesus and this creates a sense of emptiness or bitter solitude. In the Church of today and for today’s humanity, this could mean that when we desert Jesus in our lives we then experience anguish and suffering.

When reporting Jesus’ words in 3:31-34, concerning his departure and imminent death, John recalls his own past life with Jesus, woven with memories that opened his eyes to the mysterious richness of the Master. Such memories of the past are part of our own faith journey.

It is characteristic of “farewell discourses” that whatever is transmitted in them, especially at the tragic and solemn moment of death becomes an inalienable patrimony, a covenant to be kept faithfully. Jesus’ “farewell discourses” too synthesize whatever he had taught and done so as to draw his disciples to follow in the direction he pointed out to them.

b) A deepening:

As we read the passage of this Sunday of Easter, we focus, first of all, on the first word used by Jesus in his farewell discourse: “Now”. «Now has the Son of man been glorified». Which «now» is this? It is the moment of the cross that coincides with his glorification. This final part of John’s Gospel is a manifestation or revelation. Thus, Jesus’ cross is the «now» of the greatest epiphany or manifestation of truth. In this glorification, there is no question of any meaning that has anything to do with “honour” or “triumphalism”, etc.

On the one hand there is Judas who goes into the night, Jesus prepares for his glory: «When he had gone, Jesus said: “Now has the Son of man been glorified, and in him God has been glorified. If God has been glorified in him, God will in turn glorify him in himself, and will glorify him very soon” (v.31-32). Judas’ betrayal brings to maturity in Jesus the conviction that his death is «glory». The hour of death on the cross is included in God’s plan; it is the «hour» when the glory of the Father will shine on the world through the glory of the «Son of man». In Jesus, who gives his life to the Father at the «hour» of the cross, God is glorified by revealing his divine essence and welcoming humankind into communion with him.

Jesus’ (the Son’s) glory consists of his «extreme love» for all men and women, even to giving himself for those who betray him. The Son’s love is such that he takes on himself all those destructive and dramatic situations that burden the life and history of humankind. Judas’ betrayal symbolises, not so much the action of an individual, as that of the whole of evil humanity, unfaithful to the will of God.

However, Judas’ betrayal remains an event full of mystery. An exegete writes: In betraying Jesus, «it is revelation that is to blame; it is even at the service of revelation» (Simoens, According to John, 561). In a way, Judas’ betrayal gives us the chance of knowing Jesus better; his betrayal has allowed us to see how far Jesus loves his own. Don Primo Mazzolari writes: «The apostles became Jesus’ friends, whether good friends or not, generous or not, faithful or not, they still remain his friends. We cannot betray Jesus’ friendship: Christ never betrays us, his friends, even when we do not deserve it, even when we rebel against him, even when we deny him. In his sight and in his heart we are always his “friends”. Judas is the Lord’s friend even at the moment when he carries out the betrayal of his Master with a kiss» (Discourses 147).

c) The new commandment:

Let us focus our attention on the new commandment.

In v.33 we note a change in Jesus’ farewell discourse. He no longer uses the third person. The Master now addresses “you”. This «you» is in the plural and he uses a Greek word that is full of tenderness “children” (teknía). In using this word and by his tone of voice and openness of heart, Jesus concretely conveys to his disciples the immensity of the tenderness he holds for them.

What is also interesting is another point that we find in v.34: «that you love one another as I have loved you». The Greek word Kathòs «as” is not meant for comparison: love one another as I have loved you. Its meaning may be consecutive of causal: «Because I have loved you, so also love one another».

There are those who like Fr. Lagrange see in this commandment an eschatological meaning: during his relative absence and while waiting for his second coming, Jesus wants us to love and serve him in the person of his brothers and sisters. The new commandment is the only commandment. If there is no love, there is nothing. Magrassi writes: «Away with labels and classifications: every brother is the sacrament of Christ. Let us examine our daily life: can we live with our brother from morning till night and not accept and love him? The great work in this case is ecstasy in its etymological sense, that is, to go out of myself so as to be neighbour to the one who needs me, beginning with those nearest to me and with the most humble matters of every day life» (Living the church, 113).

d) For our reflection:

- Is our love for our brothers and sisters directly proportional to our love for Christ?
- Do I see the Lord present in the person of my brother and sister?
- Do I use the daily little occasions to do good to others?
- Let us examine our daily life: can I live with my brothers and sisters from morning till night and not accept and love them?
- Does love give meaning to the whole of my life?
- What can I do to show my gratitude to the Lord who became servant for me and consecrated his whole life for my good? Jesus replies: Serve me in brothers and sisters: this is the most authentic way of showing your practical love for me.

3. ORATIO

a) Psalm 23:1-6:

This psalm presents an image of the church journeying accompanied by the goodness and faithfulness of God, until it finally reaches the house of the Father. In this journey she is guided by love that gives it direction: your goodness and your faithfulness pursue me.

Yahweh is my shepherd,
I lack nothing.
In grassy meadows he lets me lie.
By tranquil streams he leads me
to restore my spirit.
He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.
Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death
I should fear no danger,
for you are at my side.
Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.
You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup brims over.
Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life.
I make my home in the house of Yahweh
for all time to come.

b) Praying with the Fathers of the Church:

I love you for yourself, I love you for your gifts,
I love you for love of you
And I love you in such a way,
That if ever Augustine were God
And God Augustine,
I would want to come back and be who I am, Augustine,
That I may make of you who you are,
Because only you are worthy of being who you are.
Lord, you see,
My tongue raves,
I cannot express myself,
But my heart does not rave.
You know what I experience
And what I cannot express.
I love you, my God,
And my heart is too limited for so much love,
And my strength fails before so much love,
And my being is too small for so much love.
I come out of my smallness
And immerse my whole being in you,
I transform and lose myself.
Source of my being,
Source of my every good:
My love and my God.
(St. Augustine: Confessions)

c) Closing prayer:

Blessed Teresa Scrilli, seized by an ardent desire to respond to the love of Jesus, expressed herself thus:

I love you,
O my God,
In your gifts;
I love you in my nothingness,
And even in this I understand,
Your infinite wisdom;
I love you in the many varied or extraordinary events,
By which you accompanied my life…
I love you in everything,
Whether painful or peaceful;
Because I do not seek,
Nor have I ever sought,
Your consolations;
Only you, the God of consolations.
That is why I never gloried
Nor delighted in,
That which you made me experience entirely gratuitously in your Divine love,
Nor did I distress and upset myself,
When left arid and small.
(Autobiography, 62)

Easter Time

1) Opening prayer

Lord our God,

you are distant and unknown, and yet so near

that You know and love and save us

through Your Son Jesus Christ.

May He be present in us and in our actions

that we may do the same works

of justice, truth and loving service

and thus become the sign to the world

that Your Son is alive

and that You are a saving God

now and for ever.

2) Gospel Reading - John 14:7-14

Jesus said to his disciples: "If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to Jesus, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."

3) Reflection

• John 14:7: To know Jesus is to know the Father. The text of today’s Gospel is the continuation from yesterday. Thomas had asked: “Lord we do not know where You are going, how can we know the way?” Jesus answers: “I am the Way, I am Truth and Life! No one can come to the Father except through Me.” And He adds: “If you know Me, you will know the Father too. From this moment you know Him and have seen Him”. This is the first phrase of today’s Gospel. Jesus always speaks of the Father, because it was the life of the Father which appeared in all that He said and did. This constant reference to the Father provokes Philip’s question.

• John 14:8-11: Philip asks: “Lord, show us the Father and then we will be satisfied!” This was the desire of the disciples, the desire of many in the communities of the beloved disciple and it is the desire of many people today: What do people do to see the Father whom Jesus speaks so much? The response of Jesus is very beautiful and is valid even now: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know Me! Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father!” People should not think that God is far away from us, distant and unknown. Anyone who wants to know who God the Father is, it suffices that he look at Jesus. He has revealed Him in His words and the actions of His life! “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me!” Through His obedience, Jesus identified Himself totally with the Father. At every moment He did what the Father asked Him to do (Jn 5:30; 8:28-29.38). This is why, in Jesus, everything is a revelation of the Father! And the signs and works are the works of the Father! As people say: “The son is the face of the father!” This is why in Jesus, and for Jesus, God is in our midst.

• John 14:12-14: The Promise of Jesus. Jesus makes a promise to say that His intimacy with the Father is not His privilege only, but that it is possible for all those who believe in Him. We also, through Jesus, can succeed in doing beautiful things for others as Jesus did for the people of His time. He intercedes for us. Everything that people ask Him for; He asks the Father and always obtains it, as long as it is to render service. Jesus is our advocate. He defends us. He leaves but He does not leave us defenseless. He promises that He will ask the Father and the Father will send another advocate or consoler, the Holy Spirit. Jesus even says that it is necessary for Him to leave, because otherwise the Holy Spirit will not be able to come (Jn 16:7). And the Holy Spirit will fulfill the things of Jesus in us, if we act in the name of Jesus and we observe the great commandment of the practice of love.

4) Personal questions

• To know Jesus is to know the Father. In the Bible the word “to know a person” is not only an intellectual understanding, but it also presupposes a profound experience of the presence of the person in one’s life. Do I know Jesus?

• Do I know the Father?

• Do my works reveal the Father and the Son to others at all times?

5) Concluding Prayer

The whole wide world has seen

the saving power of our God.

Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth,

burst into shouts of joy! (Ps 98:3-4)

The flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth

Matthew 2:13-23

1. LECTIO

 a) Opening prayer:

God, our Creator and Father, You decreed that Your Son, generated before the dawn of the world, should be like us in all things through His incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the working of the Holy Spirit. Send that same life-giving Spirit upon us, so that we may become ever more docile to Your sanctifying action, allowing ourselves to be gently transformed by the same Spirit into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ Your Son, our brother, savior and redeemer.

b) A reading from the Gospel of Matthew:

13 After they had left, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and His mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with Him.' 14 So Joseph got up and, taking the child and His mother with him, left that night for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: I called my son out of Egypt. 16 Herod was furious on realizing that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men. 17 Then were fulfilled the words spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 18 A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenting and weeping bitterly: it is Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more. 19 After Herod's death, suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, 'Get up, take the child and His mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.' 21 So Joseph got up and, taking the child and His mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. 22 But when he learned that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the region of Galilee. 23 There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene.

c) A moment of silence:

so that the Word of God may penetrated into our hearts and enlighten our life

2. MEDITATIO

a) A key to the reading:

Matthew’s Gospel has been called “the Gospel of the Kingdom”. Matthew invites us to reflect on the coming of the kingdom of heaven. Some have seen in the structure of his Gospel narration a drama in seven acts that deal with the coming of this Kingdom. The drama begins with the preparation for the coming of the Kingdom in the person of the boy Messiah and ends with the coming of the Kingdom in the suffering and triumph of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Son of God. 

The Gospel passage presented to us for reflection is part of the so-called first act where Matthew introduces to us the person of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Matthew’s is the Gospel that often quotes the Old Testament to show that in Christ the law and the prophets are fulfilled. Jesus, the fulfillment and perfection of the Scriptures, came into the world to re-establish the kingdom of heaven already proclaimed in the covenant made by God with His people. With the coming of Christ, this covenant is no longer reserved for the Jewish people alone but is extended to all peoples. Matthew addresses himself to a community of Christian Jews, persecuted by the synagogue, and invites it to be open to the gentiles. He is the wise scribe who knows how to draw from his treasury that which is old and new. His Gospel was first written in Aramaic and then translated into Greek.

Matthew 2:13-23 is part of the section that deals with the birth and childhood of “Jesus Christ son of David, son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1). Jesus is the son of His people, but He is also son of the whole of humanity. In His genealogy we find foreign influences (Mt 1:3-6). After Mary His mother, the first called to pay homage to the newborn Messiah are the Magi (Mt 2:11). With His light, the Messiah draws the wise to Himself and offers them salvation (Mt 2:1-12). The Magi receive this salvation, unlike Herod and the troubled citizens of Jerusalem (Mt 2:3).

From the very time of His birth, Jesus relives the painful experience of His people in exile, humbled again and again. The Gospel shows us this by telling us of the flight into Egypt and the murder of the innocents. The drama of these events unfolds before us in the following details:

i) The angel who appears in a dream to Joseph after the Magi leave, and the flight into Egypt (Mt 2:13-15).

ii) Herod who becomes aware of the deceit of the Magi and kills all the male children in Bethlehem (Mt 2:16-18).

iii) The death of Herod and the “clandestine” return of the Holy Family, not to Bethlehem but to Galilee (Mt 2:19-23).

The theme of kings killing those whom they fear is common in the history of every royal dynasty. Apart from this scene of Herod seeking out the child Jesus to kill Him, in Bible literature in the Old Testament we find similar stories. In the first book of Samuel, Saul who has been rejected by the Lord feared David and sought to kill him (1 Sam 15; 18; 19; 20). Michal and Jonathan help David to flee (1 Sam 19; 20). Again in the first book of Kings, King Solomon in his old age, unfaithful to the God of his fathers and with a perverted heart, commits what is evil in the sight of the Lord (1 Kings 11:3-13). For this, the Lord raises up an adversary against Solomon (1 Kings 11: 14), Hadad the Edomite, who during David’s reign flees and takes refuge in Egypt (1 Kings 11: 17). Another of Solomon’s adversaries is Jeroboam who takes refuge in Egypt to get away from the king who wanted to kill him (1 Kings 11: 40). Such were the dangers of a degenerate kingdom. In the second book of Kings, this time in the context of the siege of Jerusalem, “In the ninth year of his [Nebuchadnezzar’s] reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month” (2 Kings 25:1) of the year 589, we read of the sacking of Jerusalem and of the second deportation of the people in the year 587 (2 Kings 25:8-21). The people who “remained in the land of Judah” (2 Kings 25:22) submit to Gedaliah who was appointed governor by Nebuchadnezzar.  “Ishmael […] and ten men with him […] murdered Gedaliah, as well as the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him”. Then from fear of the Chaldeans, they fled into Egypt (2 Kings 25-26). In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we also find the story of Uriah “another man, too, who used to prophesy in the name of Yahweh” (Jer 26: 20). Uriah flees into Egypt because king Jehoiakim sought to kill him. The king in fact did find him in Egypt and killed him (Jer 25: 20-24).

With these events as background to the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, Matthew shows us Jesus, from His very childhood, as partaking of the fate of His people. Egypt, for Jesus, becomes the place of refuge, as it was for the patriarchs:

- Abraham who “went down into Egypt to stay there for the time, since the land was hard pressed by the famine” (Gen 12:10).

- Joseph was threatened by his brothers who sought to kill him out of envy and was then sold to merchants who led him into Egypt and sold him to Potiphar (Gen 37:12-36).

- Israel (Jacob) who goes to Egypt called by his son Joseph (Gen 46:1-7).

- The family of Israel (Jacob) that goes to Egypt to establish themselves there (Gen 46–50; Ex 1:1-6).

Matthew turns the citation from Hosea 11:1 upside down: “I called my son out of Egypt”, and interprets it as if God called his son Jesus to flee into Egypt (Mt 2:15). The original meaning of Hosea was that the Lord called his son Israel to leave Egypt in order to start a nation. Jesus’ flight into Egypt and the killing of the innocents of Bethlehem remind us of the oppression of Israel in Egypt and the killing of all the new-born males (Ex 1: 8-22).

The prophecy applied to the murder of the innocents is taken from the book of consolation made up of chapters 30 and 31 of the book of Jeremiah. The lamentation is connected to the promise of the Lord who consoles Rachel, Jacob’s (Israel’s) spouse, mother of Joseph, who according to tradition was buried close to Bethlehem, and promises her that she will be rewarded for her sorrow, her children who are no longer will come back (Jer 31: 15–18).

When they come back from Egypt after the death of Herod, Joseph decides to live in Galilee in a city called Nazareth. Jesus will be called the Nazarene. Later also, His disciples will be known as Nazarenes (Acts 24:5). Apart from indicating the name of a city, this name may also refer to the “shoot”, that is the «neçer» of Isaiah 11: 1. Or it may refer to the rest of Israel, the «naçur» (see Isa 42: 6).

b) Questions for personal reflection:

i) What strikes you most in this passage from Matthew?

ii) What does the kingdom of heaven mean for you?

iii) How does the kingdom of heaven differ from earthly kingdoms?

iv) Matthew introduces us to the person of Jesus as one who becomes one with the fate of His people. Read the passages cited in the key to the reading so as to reflect and pray on the events of the people of God, with which Jesus identified Himself. What are similar situations in our world? Ask yourself what you can do to better the conditions where you live and work, especially if they are at variance with the kingdom of heaven.

3. ORATIO

a) Personal prayer in silence.

b) Conclude the lectio divina with this prayer:

Merciful Father, grant that we may follow the examples of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, so that we may always be strong in the trials of life until the day when we may share in Your glory in heaven. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

4. CONTEMPLATIO

May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts. (Col 3:15)

1) Opening prayer

God of the poor and the humble,

we thank You today for choosing Mary

as the Virgin Mother of Jesus, Your Son.

Her faith and willing service

opened the way to Your new world.

Dispose us to seek Your will

and to cooperate with Your plans

that we too, like Mary,

may give to the world its Savior

Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord.

2) Gospel Reading – Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

He went in and said to her, “Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favor! The Lord is with you.” She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, “Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favor. Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His ancestor David; He will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and His reign will have no end.”

Mary said to the angel, “But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?”' The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.”

Mary said, “You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

3) Reflection

• The visit of the angel to Mary reminds us of the visit of God to different women of the Old Testament: Sarah, mother of Isaac (Gen 18: 9-15), Anne, mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1: 9-18), the mother of Samson (Judg 13: 2-5). All of them announced the birth of a son with an important mission in God’s plan.

• The account begins with the expression “in the sixth month”. It is the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth. The need of Elizabeth, a woman advanced in age who is expecting her first son with the risk of delivery, is the background of this entire story. Elizabeth is mentioned at the beginning (Lk 1:26) and at the end of the visit of the angel (Lk 1:36,39).

• The angel says, “Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favor, the Lord is with you!”  Similar words were said also to Moses (Ex 3: 12), to Jeremiah (Jer 1: 8), to Gideon (Judg 6: 12) and to others with an important mission in God’s plan. Mary is surprised at the greeting and tries to understand the significance of these words. She is practical. She wants to understand. She does not accept just any invitation.

• The angel answers: “Do not be afraid!” Just as it happened in the visit of the angel to Zechariah, the first greeting of God is always: “Do not be afraid!” Immediately the angel recalls the promises of the past which will be fulfilled thanks to the son who will be born and who is to receive the name of Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High and in Him the Kingdom of God will be realized. This is the explanation of the angel in such a way that Mary is not afraid.

• Mary is aware of the mission which she is about to receive, but she continues to be practical. She does not allow herself to be drawn by the greatness of the offer and knows her condition. She examines the offer through criteria which she has available. Humanly speaking, it was not possible: “But how can this come about? I have no knowledge of man.”

• The angel explains that the Holy Spirit, present in God’s Word since the creation (Gen 1: 2), is able to realize things which seem impossible. This is why the Holy One who will be born of Mary will be called Son of God. The miracle repeats itself right up to today. When the Word of God is accepted by us, something new happens, thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit! Something new and surprising such as a son born of a virgin or a son born to a woman of advanced age, like Elizabeth, whom all said was barren, that she could not have children! And the angel adds, “See, your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible with God”.

• The response of the angel clarifies everything for Mary, and she surrenders: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.” Mary uses for herself the title of a servant, Handmaid of the Lord. This title from Isaiah represents the mission of the people not as a privilege, but rather as a service to other people (Is 42:1-9; 49:3-6). Later Jesus will define His mission as a service: “I have not come to be served, but to serve!” (Mt 20:28). He learned from his Mother!

4) Reflection

• What struck you the most in the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary?

• Jesus praises his Mother when He says: “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” (Lk 11:28). How does Mary relate to the Word of God during the visit of the angel?

5) Concluding Prayer

To Yahweh belong the earth and all it contains,

the world and all who live there;

it is He who laid its foundations on the seas,

on the flowing waters fixed it firm. (Ps 24: 1-2)

Jesus’ witness concerning John the Baptist

Matthew 11:2-11

1. Let us invoke the Holy Spirit

 Spirit of God,

who at the beginning of creation

hovered over the abyss of the universe

and transformed the great yawn of things

into a smile of beauty,

come down again on earth

and grant it the thrill of its beginnings.

This world that is growing old,

touch it with the wing of Your glory,

Restore to us the primordial joy.

Pour Yourself without measure on all our afflictions.

Hover once more over our old world in danger.

And, finally, the desert will once more be a garden

and in the garden the tree of justice will flower

and the fruit of justice will be peace.

Spirit of God, who by the banks of the Jordan

descended in Your fullness on Jesus’ head

and proclaimed Him Messiah,

overshadow this portion of the mystical Body

gathered before You.

Adorn it with a robe of grace.

Consecrate it with unction

and invite it to bring the good news to the poor,

to bandage the wounds of broken hearts,

to proclaim freedom to slaves,

release to prisoners

and announce the year of mercy of the Lord.

Free us from the fear of not coping.

May our eyes radiate superhuman transparency.

May our hearts emit courage blended with tenderness.

May our hands pour out the blessing of the Father

on all that we touch.

Grant that our bodies may be resplendent with joy.

Clothe us with nuptial robes.

Gird us with girdles of light,

because, for us and for all, the Bridegroom will not delay in coming.

T. Bello 

2. The Gospel text

2 Now John had heard in prison what Christ was doing and he sent his disciples to ask Him, 3 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?' 4 Jesus answered, 'Go back and tell John what you hear and see; 5 the blind see again, and the lame walk, those suffering from virulent skin-diseases are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the good news is proclaimed to the poor; 6 and blessed is anyone who does not find Me a cause of falling.' 7 As the men were leaving, Jesus began to talk to the people about John, 'What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swaying in the breeze? No? 8 Then what did you go out to see? A man wearing fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces. 9 Then what did you go out for? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet: 10 he is the one of whom scripture says, Look, I am going to send my messenger in front of you to prepare your way before you. 11 'In truth I tell you, of all the children born to women, there has never been anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. 

3. Let us pause and read the Gospel text again

- Let us whisper quietly the words of the Gospel and let them slowly pass from our tongue to our mind and from our mind to our heart.

Let us quietly savor some of these words…

- We are gathered around Jesus and we are listening to what the disciples are asking of Him concerning John: this is a serious question from those who have the power to change history.

- Jesus’ answer takes on a staid tone, but it wounds our heart as with a spear: it is clear that the awaited Messiah is Himself!

- Let the questions, doubts, desires and hopes run freely around the Word of Jesus.  Let them confront and engage with it.

Gradually an answer will come, even though it may be partial: not in the arguments, but when looking squarely at “He who is to come” and who is speaking to you now. Do not weary of repeating his Word in a soft voice and of keeping it in your heart, above and within all the doubts and problems of your day. 

4. Let us take a closer look at Matthew’s text

= Our passage comes at the beginning of a new section of the Gospel (11: 2–12, 50). This is a series of tales concerning Jesus’ activity after His discourse on the apostolate. There are not many miracles, but the Evangelist stresses the polemic between Jesus and His adversaries in growing intensity for the whole of the rest of the Gospel.

In all probability, the text reflects the early theological debates between the Christians and the disciples of John concerning the nature of Jesus’ mission.

= John in his prison…: It is a long time since Matthew has made reference to the Baptizer (the last mention is in 4: 12) and now he tells us he is in prison and it is only later that he will tell us the circumstances of his imprisonment (14:3-12).

* John’s prison, as it was for all, is a place apart, a kind of “world apart” which makes him almost a stranger to normal life and twists the perception of news received from outside. Thus, the question of the Baptizer is not surprising even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as “more powerful” (3:11) and as the eschatological judge whose “winnowing-fan is in his hand”  (3:12), bowing before Him humbly and in fear (cf. 3:11).

= [When he] had heard what Christ was doing…: the expression “Christ was doing”, used here to recall what Jesus was doing, anticipates the answer He will give to John’s question.

* John the Baptist, while in prison, hears news of Jesus: we too every day, while we are in our “prisons” of solitude and distance from God or of suffering, hear “something” that comes from various sources and we feel troubled.

It is often difficult to distinguish between the good news of the Gospel and so many other matters that take place in our daily lives!

And yet, what Jesus does are the things that “the Christ does”, even if we are not always aware of this, just as in the case of John.

= Are you the one who is to come, or have we got to wait for someone else? When John was baptizing whole crowds in the Jordan, he had described a strong Messiah who would punish severely the sins of all: “The one who follows me is more powerful than I am, and I am not fit to carry His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fan is in His hand. He will clear his threshing-floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out” (Mt 3:11-12). In that severity that cracked like a whip in view of conversion and, thus, of salvation, John had read the seal of the mercy of YHWH. Suffering in prison, made fragile by a sense of failure and powerlessness, victim of the injustice and arrogance against which he had fought all his life, it seemed to John that evil was winning and he is upset. Immersed irreversibly in that fog, he is no longer capable of seeing clearly the power of God in action in the works of Jesus.

* It is lawful to speculate: Jesus was revealing Himself gradually as the Messiah, but He did so by breaking the canons of the Jewish ideal and the usual interpretations of Sacred Scripture: He was not “doing justice”, he was not separating the good from the bad like the sieve separates the good wheat from the chaff; He preached conversion energetically but pardoned sinners; He showed Himself to be “meek and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29), open and available to all, a stranger to all vulgar ways of contesting the system. It is, therefore, possible to think that John was in crisis because Jesus did not correspond to the Messiah whom he expected and whom he had constantly preached; so, he sends a delegation to Jesus to ask Him some questions and for them to report to him a word that might enlighten this mystery of contradictions: “Who are You, Jesus? What do You say of Yourself? How can we believe in You when before arrogance and injustice You show Yourself as a patient, merciful and non- violent Messiah?”

Who of us has not tried to form a more precise idea of the One in whom we believe and His ways of acting, when life has made us meet so many contradictions and injustices, even in the Church? Who of us has not struggled to see and interpret correctly the signs of the active presence of the Lord in our own history? It is difficult to welcome a God who is “different” from our designs and so we must not accuse the Baptist, because we too are subject to the temptation of wanting God to have our feelings and tendencies and who might even be a little vindictive in carrying out “justice”. Often we would like to have a God made in our image and likeness, but “My thoughts are not your thoughts, your ways are not My ways…” (Isa 55:8).

= Jesus answered, Go back and tell John what you hear and see: Jesus does not answer quickly and directly, but shows clearly the facts that result from His actions that are changing history and realizing the old prophecy concerning the Messiah. Thus, He does not give an answer “for immediate use”, but the disciples must go back to John and refer to him what they themselves have heard and seen, because the healings, resurrections and liberations are unequivocal signs of the messianic nature of Jesus of Nazareth.

Every day we must learn to proclaim the good news beginning from what we feel and see. Fraternal witness is indispensable to communicate the Gospel.

* Christ submits humbly to the questioning and answers showing the disciples of John a true and personal method of understanding and of proclaiming: "Go back and tell John what you hear and see". The fourth Evangelist recalls the same method in his first letter: “Something which has existed since the beginning that we have heard, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word, who is life – this is our subject. That life was made invisible: we saw it and we are giving our testimony, telling you of the eternal life which was with the Father and has been made visible to us. What we have seen and heard we are telling you so that you too may be in union with us” (1Jn 1:1-3). This was the missionary method used by the early Church: the method learned from the incarnation of the Word.

A true and efficient proclamation must pass through a simple and modest communication of personal experience: words without fanfare of a life woven by faith.

= The blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor: In these words, a collection of various quotations from Isaiah (28:18-19; 35:5-6; 42:18; 61:1), we find the core of Jesus’ answer and of our passage. The Lord presents His own works not as judgement and power, but as divine blessing for those of the people in need.

It is significant that the prophetic passages quoted make no reference to leprosy and death that the Evangelist puts into Jesus’ mouth. This emphasizes the newness that Jesus brings to His manner of fulfilling the prophecies concerning the Messiah awaited by Israel

The works of Jesus are great, but He is one of the “little ones” who are His chosen ones, He is one of “the poor of JHWH” who already sees the cross at the end of His journey as man. This is unbearable for anyone expecting a triumphant Messiah. Blessed are they who hear and see with a heart full of faith.

* Indirectly Jesus invited John himself to hear and see what He teaches and does. Thus the last of the prophets might recall and now recognize that what Jesus says and does corresponds to the great messianic prophecies so richly contained in the Old Testament.

This is the mechanism of the “religious memory” without which faith will never be enkindled and, especially, may never survive the blows of scandal that life brings with it: the works of God in the past are the signs of His fidelity to the promises and the pledge of His future works.

Committing ourselves to recall every day the “great things” that God worked for us and in us (cf. Lk 1:49) does not mean falling into sterile reiteration, but gradually bringing the seed of the active grace of God to the very depths of our being, so that it may grow and bear fruit. The Eucharist too is a memorial: it is “the memorial of the Pasch of the Lord”, a living and actual memorial of the salvation offered to each one of us.

= Happy is the man who does not lose faith [is not scandalized]in Me: The word “scandal” comes from the Greek: the “stumbling stone” prepared to strike a person by surprise. Notwithstanding the meaning that we usually attribute to this word, in the Bible “scandal” may be either negative or positive.

Jesus is one who “scandalizes” His fellow citizens by His poor origins not well suited to a glorious Messiah; He scandalizes the Pharisees with His cutting words; He scandalizes the disciples of John with His way of doing things not according to foreseen plans and He scandalizes His own disciples with His infamous death.

Jesus, however, does not praise those who scandalize the little ones or those who are an occasion of scandal (cf. Mt 5:29) to the faith or morals thus leading others into wrong ways.

The kind of scandal we need is the one that comes from living the Gospel in a radical manner that shakes us from our habits of life and from our mind-set.

We too are called to “scandalize” the world with the scandal of the Gospel showing by our lives that we must not submit to uses and customs that are at variance with the Christian faith, by refusing compromises that could provoke injustices, by looking after the poor and the least.

= What did you go out into the wilderness to see?: Notwithstanding the weakness shown by the questions put by John, Jesus describes His precursor with enthusiasm as a prophet who by his burning words unites the living and incontestable signs of his privileged connection with God in whose name he speaks to the People. Rather, with this pressing series of six rhetorical questions and three positive statements, Jesus says that John is more than a prophet: he is the one of whom the ancient Scriptures of the fathers speak, the messenger who prepares the way of the Lord (Mt 3:3) as the old prophets had said (Mal 3:1; Ex 23:20). Nevertheless, the Lord quickly explains the reasons for His affirmation: these may even be too evident to His listeners.

= Of all the children born of women, a greater than John the Baptist has never been seen: John is not only an eminent prophet and precursor of the Messiah (because it is now clear that Jesus considers Himself as such), but he is also great as a man, greater than his contemporaries and those of past ages. This is an entirely personal kind of praise that Jesus addresses to Herod’s prisoner and not merely a hyperbole. With these words, Jesus anticipates the comparison between John the Baptist and Elijah, which He will make explicit in verse 14: “he, if you will believe me, is the Elijah who was to return”.

* The expression “of all the children born of women” has a typically Semitic flavor, but it also alludes to the mystery of Jesus’ origin: He too is “born of woman”, but only in what concerns the flesh, because His human-divine genesis goes well beyond His simple humanity.

Our birth as “children of God” in faith is also wrapped in mystery: “who were born not out of human stock or urge of the flesh or will of man but of God himself” (Jn 1: 13). We are “born of woman” but we are not meant for this earth, rather for the Kingdom of heaven where we shall be judged according to our faith and the works of faith, fruits of the welcome we give to our baptismal grace.

= Yet the least …: this part of the sentence (perhaps an early gloss) seems to put a limit on the enthusiastic presentation of the Baptist. Although he is great among men, yet John is small in the Kingdom, because there everything is measured according to criteria quite different from those on earth: the measure of the new times that are coming and have begun with the human coming of the Son of God. Those who belong to this completely new generation are greater than any of those who lived in preceding times, even than John the Baptist.

* The contrast between “great” and “small” is created precisely to make it clear to all believers that to be great one has to become ever smaller. In his human “greatness”, John is presented by Jesus as the least in the Kingdom and thus even for John it is necessary for him to “become small” in the hands of God. It is the same requirement every day for each of us who are tempted to be like the “great” and “powerful”, at least in our desire! 

5. Let us pray the Word and thank the Lord

God of our joy, giver of every salvation (Psalm 146)

Yahweh keeps faith for ever,

gives justice to the oppressed,

gives food to the hungry;

Yahweh sets prisoners free.

Yahweh gives sight to the blind,

lifts up those who are bowed down.

Yahweh protects the stranger,

He sustains the orphan and the widow.

Yahweh loves the upright,

but He frustrates the wicked.

Yahweh reigns for ever,

Your God, Zion, from age to age. 

6. From the Word to contemplation

Lord Jesus

who “are about to come”,

do not delay any more

and listen to the cry of the poor

who look to You for

salvation, justice and joy.

Grant us clear eyes and a pure heart

so that we may be able to discern

Your active and fruitful presence

also in the events

of our “today”

that looks so grey

and empty of rays of hope!

Come, Lord Jesus!

"The Spirit and the bride say: 'Come!'.

And those who listen repeat: 'Come!'.

Let those who thirst, come;

those who wish may draw the water of life freely.

He who bears witness to these things says:

'Yes, I shall come soon!'.

Amen.

Come, Lord Jesus.” (Rev 22:17,20)

2nd Week of Advent 

1) Opening prayer

God of power and mercy,

open our hearts in welcome.

Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy,

so that we may share His wisdom

and become one with Him

when He comes in glory,

for He lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

3) Reflection

• Certain texts of the Gospel reveal their significance to us when we place them in the background of the Old Testament. This is how the very brief and very beautiful text of the Gospel of today is. In this text there are echoes of two themes greatly loved and recalled by the Old Testament, one from Isaiah and the other one from the so called Wisdom Books.

• Isaiah speaks of the Messiah, the Servant, and represents him as a disciple who is always looking for a word of comfort so as to be able to encourage those who are discouraged: “The Lord has given me a learned tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning, he awakens my ear that I may hear him as a master” (Is 50: 4). And the Messiah Servant launches an invitation: “Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money come! Buy and eat; come buy wine and milk without money, free” (Is 55: 1). These texts were present in the memory of the people. They were like the songs of our childhood. When people listened to them, there is nostalgia. The same with the words of Jesus: “Come to me!” revived the memory of the nostalgic echo of those beautiful texts of Isaiah.

• The Books of Wisdom represent the divine wisdom as a woman, a mother who transmits to her sons her wisdom and tells them: “Buy her without money, put your necks under her yoke, let your souls receive instruction. She is near, within your reach. See for yourselves; how slight my efforts have been to win so much peace” (Si 51:25-27). Jesus repeats this same phrase: “You will find rest!”.

• Because of His way of speaking to people, Jesus awakens their memory and thus their hearts rejoiced and said: “The Messiah, so greatly awaited for, has come!” Jesus transformed the nostalgia into hope. He made people advance a step forward. Instead of fixing themselves on the image of a glorious Messiah, king and dominator, taught by the scribes, the people changed their opinion and accepted Jesus, Messiah Servant. A humble and meek Messiah, welcoming and full of tenderness, who made them feel at ease: the poor together with Jesus.

4) Personal questions

• Is the Law of God a light yoke which encourages me, or is it a weight which gets me tired?

• Have I felt sometimes the lightness and the joy of the yoke of the Law of God which Jesus has revealed to us?

5) Concluding Prayer

Bless Yahweh, my soul,

from the depths of my being, His holy name;

bless Yahweh, my soul,

never forget all his acts of kindness. (Ps 103)

John the Baptist’s proclamation in the desert

Matthew 3:1-12

1. Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit that I may learn to be small like Zaccheus, small in moral stature, but also grant me strength to lift myself a little from the earth, urged by the desire to see You passing during this time of Advent, to know You and to know that You are there for me. Lord Jesus, good master, by the power of Your Spirit, arouse in our hearts the desire to understand Your Word that reveals the saving love of the Father.

2. Read the Word

1 In due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed this message in the desert of Judaea, 2 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.'

3 This was the man spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘A voice of one that cries in the desert, “Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.”’

4 This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather loin-cloth round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, 6 and as they were baptized by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins.

7 But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, 'Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming retribution? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, 9 and do not presume to tell yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father," because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these stones. 10 Even now the axe is being laid to the root of the trees, so that any tree failing to produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown on the fire.

11 I baptize you in water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I, and I am not fit to carry his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing-fan is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.'

3. A moment of silent prayer

Each one of us is full of questions in our hearts for anyone who listens to us, but above all we need to listen, knowing that it is Jesus who is speaking to us. Allow yourself to be led to your interior self where the Word echoes in all its weight of truth and love, in all its therapeutic and transforming power. Prayerful silence demands that we remain “inside”, that we stand completely at the feet of the Lord and use all our energy to listen to Him alone. Stop and listen.

4. To understand the Word

a) The manner in which the plot of the passage is expressed:

In this Sunday of Advent we are presented with the figure of John the Baptist, a challenging personality, as Jesus once said about John the Baptist in describing his personality: “What did you go out to see, a reed blowing in the wind?” (Mt 1:7). The profile of the Baptist that the liturgy puts before us is in two main sections: 3:1-6, the figure and activities of John; 3:7-12, his preaching. Within these two sections we may detect smaller matters that define the expression of this text. In 3:1-2 John is presented as the one who preaches «repentance» because «the kingdom of heaven is close at hand». This cry is like a thread running through the whole of John’s activity and is repeated in 3:8,12. The reason for this call to repentance is given as the imminent judgement of God which is compared to the cutting of every dry tree to be thrown into the fire to be burnt (3:10) and to the winnowing done by farmers on the threshing-floor to separate the wheat from the chaff which is also to be burnt in the fire (3:12). The image of fire which characterizes the last part of our liturgical passage shows the urgency of preparing oneself for the coming of God’s judgement.

The text presents the following:

Matthew 3:1-3: in this first small part «the voice crying in the desert» of Isaiah 40:2 is identified with the voice of the Baptist who invites all to repentance «in the desert of Judea»;

Matthew 3:4-6: there follows a brief section which, in a picturesque manner, describes the traditional figure of John: he is a prophet and an ascetic; because of his prophetic identity he is compared to Elijah; indeed he dresses like the Tishbite prophet. A geographical and special detail describes the movement of many people who come to receive the baptism of immersion in the waters of the Jordan, in a penitential atmosphere. The influence of his prophetic activity is not limited to one place but embraces the whole region of Judea including Jerusalem and the area around the Jordan.

Matthew 3:7-10: a special group of people comes to John to receive baptism, these are the «Pharisees and Sadducees». John addresses them with harsh words that they may stop their false religiosity and pay attention to «bearing fruit» so that they may avoid a judgement of condemnation.

Matthew 3:11-12: here the meaning of the baptism in relation to repentance is made clear and especially the difference between the two baptisms and the two protagonists: the baptism of John is with water for repentance; the baptism of Jesus “the more powerful who comes after” John, is with the Spirit and fire.

b) The message of the text:

In a typical biblical-narrative style, Matthew presents the figure and activity of John the Baptist in the desert of Judea. The geographical indication is meant to situate the activity of John in the region of Judea, whereas Jesus will carry out his activity in Galilee. For Matthew, the activity of John is entirely oriented towards and subject to “the one who is to come”, the person of Jesus. Also John is presented as a great and courageous preacher who foretells the imminent judgement of God.

The message of the Baptist consists of a precise imperative, “repent” and an equally clear reason: “for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. Repentance is foremost in the Baptist’s preaching even though at first its content is not yet clear. In 3:8, however, the fruits of repentance are revealed to give new direction to one’s existence. Such a revelation, on the one hand, is typical of prophets who wanted to make repentance as concrete as possible through a radical detachment from whatever until now was held as valuable; on the other hand, the revelation goes beyond and means to show that repentance is a turning towards “the kingdom of heaven”, towards something new which is imminent, together with its demands and prospects. It is a matter of giving a decisive turn to life in a new direction: the “kingdom of heaven” is the foundation and gives meaning to repentance and not just any human efforts. The expression “kingdom of heaven” says that God will reveal Himself to all and most powerfully. John says that this revelation of God is imminent, not distant.

The prophetic activity of John, with the characteristics of the figure of Elijah, is meant to prepare his contemporaries for the coming of God in Jesus. The motifs and images through which the figure of the Baptist is interpreted are interesting, among them the leather loin-cloth around his waist, sign of recognition of the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 1:8); the garment made of camel hair is typical of the prophet according to Zacharias 13:4. This is a direct identification between the prophet Elijah and John. This interpretation is obviously an answer of the Evangelist to the objection of the Jews of the time: how can Jesus be the Messiah, if Elijah has not yet come?

Through his prophetic activity, John succeeds in moving whole crowds just as Elijah had led back the whole people to faith in God (1 Kings 18). John’s baptism is not important because of the great crowds that come to receive it, but because it is accompanied by precise commitments of repentance. Besides, it is not a baptism that has the power to forgive sins. Only the death of Jesus has this power. However, it presents a new direction to give to one’s life.

Even the «Pharisees and Sadducees» come to receive it, but they come in a hypocritical spirit, with no intention of repenting. Thus they will not be able to flee God’s judgement. John’s invective towards these groups, covered in false religiosity, emphasizes that the role of his baptism, if received sincerely with the decision to change one’s life, protects whoever receives it from the imminent purifying judgement of God.

How will such a decision of repentance become evident? John does not give precise indications as to content, but limits himself to showing the motive: to avoid the punitive judgement of God. We could say that the aim of repentance is God, the radical recognition of God, directing in an entirely new way one’s life to God.

Yet the «Pharisees and Sadducees» are not open to repentance in so far as they place their faith and hope in being descendants of Abraham: because they belong to the chosen people, they are certain that God, by the merits of the father, will give them salvation. John questions this false certainty of theirs by means of two images: the tree and the fire.

First, the image of the tree that is felled: in the OT this refers to God’s judgement. A text from Isaiah describes it thus: «Behold the Lord, God of hosts, who tears the branches with deafening noise, the highest tips are cut off, the peaks are felled». The image of the fire has the function of expressing the “imminent anger” which will be manifested at God’s judgement (3:7). In a word, they show the pressing imminence of God’s coming; the listeners must open their eyes to what awaits them.

Finally, John’s preaching contrasts the two baptisms and the two persons: John and the one who is to come. The substantial difference is that Jesus baptizes with the Spirit and fire whereas John only with water, a baptism for repentance. This distinction emphasizes that the baptism of John is entirely subordinate to the baptism of Jesus. Matthew notes that the baptism with the Spirit has already taken place, namely in Christian baptism, as told in the scene of Jesus’ baptism, whereas baptism with fire must still come and will take place at the judgement that Jesus will perform.

The aim of John’s preaching, then, is to present a description of the judgement that awaits the community through the image of the chaff. The action of the farmer on the threshing-floor when he cleans the wheat from the chaff will also be the action of God on the community at the judgement.

5. A meditation

a) Expecting God and repentance:

In his preaching John reminds us that the coming of God in our lives is always imminent. He also invites us strongly to a repentance that purifies the heart, renders it ready to meet Jesus who comes into the world of men and women and opens it to hope and universal love.

An expression of St. John Henry Newman may help us understand this new direction that the Word of God suggests is urgent: «Here on earth to live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed frequently». To change is to be understood from the point of view of repentance: an intimate change of heart. To live is to change. If ever this urge to change grows dim, you would no longer be alive. The book of the Apocalypse confirms this when the Lord says: “You are reputed to be alive yet are dead” (3:1). Again, “to be perfect is to change frequently”. It seems that St. John Henry Newman wanted to say: «Time is measured by my repentance”. This time of Advent too is measured through the project that God has for me. I must constantly open myself, be ready to allow myself to be renewed by Him.

b) Accepting the Gospel:

This is the condition for repentance. The Gospel is not only a collection of messages, but a Person who asks to enter into your life. Accepting the Gospel of this Sunday of Advent means opening the door of one’s own life to the one whom John the Baptist defined as more powerful. This idea was expressed well by John Paul II: “Open the doors to Christ…” Accept Christ who comes to me with His firm word of salvation. We recall the words of St. Augustine, who used to say, “I fear the Lord who passes by”. Such a passing by of the Lord may find us at a time of life when we are distracted or superficial.

c) Advent – a time for interior souls:

A mystical evocation found in the writings of Blessed Elisabeth of the Trinity helps us discover repentance as a time and occasion to immerse ourselves in God, to expose ourselves to the fire of love that transforms and purifies our lives: «Here we are at the sacred time of Advent which more than any other time we could call the time for interior souls, souls who live always and in all things “hidden in God with Christ”, at the center of themselves. While awaiting the great mystery [of Christmas]… let us ask Him to make us true in our love, that is to transform us… it is good to think that the life of a priest, like that of a Carmelite nun, is an advent that prepares the incarnation within souls! David sings in a psalm that the “fire will walk ahead of the Lord”. Is not love that fire? Is it not also our mission to prepare the ways of the Lord by our union with the one whom the Apostle calls a “devouring fire”? On contact with Him our souls will become like a flame of love that spreads to all the members of the body of Christ that is the Church”. (Letter to Rev. Priest Chevignard, in Writings, 387-389).

6. Psalm 71 (72)

With this psalm, the Church prays during Advent to express the expectation of her king of peace, liberator of the poor and of the oppressed.

Rule your people with justice

God, endow the king with Your own fair judgement,

the son of the king with Your own saving justice,

that he may rule Your people with justice,

and Your poor with fair judgement.

In his days uprightness shall flourish,

and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.

His empire shall stretch from sea to sea,

from the river to the limits of the earth.

For he rescues the needy who call to him,

and the poor who have no one to help.

He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the needy from death.

May his name be blessed for ever,

and endure in the sight of the sun.

In him shall be blessed every race in the world,

and all nations call him blessed.

7. Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, led by the powerful and vigorous word of John the Baptist, Your precursor, we wish to receive Your baptism of Spirit and fire. You know how many fears, spiritual laziness and hypocrisies reside in our hearts. We know that with Your fan, little wheat would be left in our lives and much chaff, ready to be thrown into the unquenchable fire. From the bottom of our hearts we pray, Come to us in the humility of Your incarnation, of Your humanity full of our limitations and sins and grant us the baptism of immersion into the abyss of Your humility. Grant us to be immersed into those waters of the Jordan that gushed out of Your wounded side on the cross and grant that we may recognize you as true Son of God, our true Savior. During this Advent take us into the desert of nothingness, of repentance, of solitude so that we may experience the love of Spring. May Your voice not remain in the desert but may it echo in our hearts so that our voice, immersed, baptized in Your Presence may become news of love. Amen.