“One is your teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.” (Mt. 23:1-12) The invitation that Jesus makes to us today is radical. The ‘synodal’ community that He proposes to us demands the renunciation of appearances, of the social scales that place some people higher than others. to strengthen the name of the “Father”, which …
“We have sinned.” (Dan. 9:5) Today the liturgy brings us back to the penitential attitudes that run through this Lenten season. It expects from the Church a change, a renewal, a walk in the ways of God. Francis’ pontificate has had that purpose: the reform of the Church. He promotes the goal to overcome the …
“Go first to be reconciled to your brother.” (Mt. 5:24) It would be worth noting that in “The Sermon on the Mount,” a profile of the Christian in the Gospel of Matthew, the first commandment is V: Thou shalt not kill. And, among the counsels that Jesus gives, which go beyond the Law, there is …
“If your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone?” (Mt. 7:7-10) Today the texts invite us to visit, in the Old Testament, the Book of Esther: the prayer of a woman who touches the heart of God on behalf of her people. Let’s examine our prayer and look at its goals, our …
“Mercy, my God, by your goodness…” (Ps. 50) On this beautiful Lenten journey, the Psalmist puts on our lips the words of David, repentant. The Babylonians, too, repented at Jonah’s preaching. It is us that Jesus invites us to recognize in Him, ‘the sign of Jonah’. Jesus calls his generation “perverse” (Mt. 12:38). They have …
“When you pray, do not use too many words.” (Mt. 6:7) And yet, we do not want to leave the silent and permanent communion “with the one who we know loves us” (St. Teresa). Teresa tells us to sit next to Jesus and watch him speak with his “Abba”; she really teaches us to pray, …
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father…” (Mt. 25:31-46) Where do your goods come from? If you think: it comes from my luck, you are an atheist, says St. Basil, if by God, they have a purpose…. But you, who wrap your goods in the folds of an insatiable avarice… Who is the miser? …
“Do not neglect your own.” (Isaiah 58:7) But does religious fasting still exist? A fast to try to convince God that we are good, or that we are rightly repairing our faults? “The fast that God wants is to loosen the unrighteous chains, to loosen the straps of the yoke, to free the oppressed, to …
“Choose life.” (Deut. 30:19) We have begun Lent, and today we hear from the book of Deuteronomy that we are on the way, that the path proposes various paths to us. “Choose life,” advises us the wisdom of a people who lost 40 years in search of the promised land. When he writes this text, …
Ash Wednesday. “Repent and turn to me with all your heart.” (Jl. 2:12) If you haven’t read it yet, let’s take the pope’s latest encyclical, Dilexit (He loved us!) and carefully study the first chapter on the Heart. It is a profound biblical anthropological reflection on the human condition, just what we need to turn …
