This generation asks for a sign

A reading from the holy gospel according to Mark (8, 11-13)

The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

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The four gospels are full of signs Jesus performed openly. Some signs Jesus performed because people in need asked him. We see him cleansing the lepers, giving sight to blind men, healing the sick that were brought to him and raising Lazarus from the dead. Others he performed on his own initiative like when he raised from the dead the son of the widow at Nain and when he fed thousands of people in a deserted place with only some loaves of bread and a few small fish. Many saw Jesus doing these things and heard him preach the good news. These signs by themselves spoke clearly about who Jesus was.

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU HEAR

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark (4, 21-25)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

This is the word of the Lord.

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At first sight, this gospel selection seems mysterious, at least. On further reflection, we see that these Jesus sayings are quite straightforward. This paragraph, in fact, is made up of two very short parables inserted in chapter four by the evangelist Mark, but which do not really form part of the sequence of the other parables about the Kingdom of God.

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JOSEPH, MARY AND JESUS

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. (Mt 2,13-15.19-23)

Now after they [the wise men] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” … When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

The light shines in the darkness

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. (John 1,1-18)

Today, Christians all over the world are celebrating Christmas. Unfortunately, some celebrate it only as a winter festival without letting Christ occupy his rightful place in what is really, and always has been, His birthday. Others are not allowed to celebrate their Christian faith and are persecuted, some of whom are killed mercilessly, as Jesus himself pointed out (Lk 21, 12-19). Many, many others celebrate this day in a Christian way and do all they can for people to put Christ back into Christmas and in their lives.

L'unità dei cristiani è una priorità per lei?

"Mai avere paura della tenerezza"

L'unità dei cristiani è una priorità per lei?

«Sì, per me l'ecumenismo è prioritario. Oggi esiste l'ecumenismo del sangue. In alcuni paesi ammazzano i cristiani perché portano una croce o hanno una Bibbia, e prima di ammazzarli non gli domandano se sono anglicani, luterani, cattolici o ortodossi. Il sangue è mischiato. Per coloro che uccidono, siamo cristiani. Uniti nel sangue, anche se tra noi non riusciamo ancora a fare i passi necessari verso l'unità e forse non è ancora arrivato il tempo. L'unità è una grazia, che si deve chiedere. Conoscevo ad Amburgo un parroco che seguiva la causa di beatificazione di un prete cattolico ghigliottinato dai nazisti perché insegnava il catechismo ai bambini. Dopo di lui, nella fila dei condannati, c'era un pastore luterano, ucciso per lo stesso motivo. Il loro sangue si è mescolato. Quel parroco mi raccontava di essere andato dal vescovo e di avergli detto: "Continuo a seguire la causa, ma di tutti e due, non solo del cattolico". Questo è l'ecumenismo del sangue. Esiste anche oggi, basta leggere i giornali. Quelli che ammazzano i cristiani non ti chiedono la carta d'identità per sapere in quale Chiesa tu sia stato battezzato. Dobbiamo prendere in considerazione questa realtà». 

Dall'intervista di Andrea Tornelli con papa Francesco su Natale, fame nel mondo, sofferenza dei bambini, riforma della Curia, donne cardinale, Ior e prossimo viaggio in Terra Santa

VATICAN INSIDER - ANDREA TORNIELLI - 15/12/2013

HE DOES NOT SAVE HIMSELF

Feast of Christ the King

A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (Lk 23, 35-43)

The people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” This is the word of the Lord
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Whose wife shall the woman be?

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” For they no longer dared to ask him another question. (Lk 20, 27-38)

Today’s gospel selection presents us with a question the Sadducees asked Jesus: “In the resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” Now, this woman, the Sadducees said, was married to seven brothers. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the immortality of the soul, resurrection and angels, made up the story based on a Law of Moses that obliged brothers to marry the widow of a childless brother, so as to “raise up children for his brother”. This question was thought as a trap. They were not sincere, and they did not want Jesus to clarify for them the reason for this law, and this question worked against them.