February 3^rd 2013. FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 4:21-30

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

Gospel:                                Luke 4: 21-30
Jesus he began to speak in the synagogue, 'This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen'. And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.

They said, 'This is Joseph's son, surely?' But he replied, 'No doubt you will quote me the saying, "Physician, heal yourself" and tell me, "We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside"'.  And he went on, 'I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

'There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah's day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha's time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.'

When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

The public ministry of Jesus begins with a confrontation between the true identity of Jesus and the parochial identity he has in the eyes of his fellow Nazarenes. The same is true for all of us. The Lord wants us to shed our old identities and embark on a journey to discover the wonderful identity that we have in God’s eyes. We are far more than our earthly origins, our family histories and our childhood experiences! But how are we to discover this new and beautiful identity that God has for each of us? The Lord conserves our true identity in the secrecy of his heart, and only reveals it to us when we begin to walk in his ways. Do you wish to discover your true identity, the true meaning of your life? God will begin revealing it to you when you begin to follow him!

The public ministry of Jesus begins with controversy about his identity

In this scene, we are presented with the first event in the public life of Jesus as recounted by the Gospel of Luke. It involves a confrontation that is very much provoked by Jesus himself. As we saw in last Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus went to Nazareth, took the scroll and read the text, and then declared that the Scriptures were being fulfilled in that very moment. There was a severe reaction to his words. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they said. We who are reading the Gospel are well aware that Jesus in NOT the son of Joseph, since Luke gives a detailed account of how Jesus is generated by God from the virginal womb of Mary. Why does the public ministry of Jesus begin with confrontation and controversy about the real identity of Jesus?

Radical following of the Lord requires changing our identity and rejection of the identity that we had previously

At the beginning of a new direction in life, there is always confrontation of this sort. John’s Gospel speaks of the conflict between that which is born of the flesh and that which is born of the spirit. It is not possible to follow God unless we are reborn, unless we move away from what we were and begin the journey of discovering our true identity. In the cases of some of the Apostles, Peter in particular, the encounter with Jesus leads to a change of name, a new identity, a new birth. In Jesus’ own case, the severance of links with his hometown represents a new beginning and direction in life. The story of salvation begins with Abraham, the man who had to leave his paternal home. This is a theme that one finds repeatedly in the Scriptures: the Lord wishes to do something new with us, something that does not depend on who we are, or on the things that we have done previously.

God conserves our true identity in secret, and only reveals it to us when we begin to walk in his ways

The conflict between Jesus and the people of Nazareth in the Gospel is dramatic, and Jesus says some harsh words about how Elijah and Elisha were sent to those who were not born in Israel. The fundamental lesson of the passage is that we must experience some sort of rupture in our lives if we are to enter into the things of God, a rupture with the things that spring from the flesh. This fact is reinforced when we consider that the Second Reading on Sunday is nothing less than St Paul’s great Hymn to Charity which speaks of the extraordinary characteristics of the love that has its origin in God. This is not to negate the flesh, or to deny the fact that we are merely creatures. But there is more to us than our earthly origins. On the 8^th of December, the Holy Father said that the human being can only be understood in the light of grace. My true identity can only be understood in the context of the free gift of love that God bears for me. Jesus breaks completely with the parochial identity that he has in the eyes of the Nazarenes. Just as Jesus unveils his secret identity before the Nazarenes, so too we must discover our secret identity, an identity that is determined by our relationship with God. Our identity is conserved by God and is not revealed until the moment that we begin to walk in his ways

Each of us has a beautiful identity that completely exceeds what other people know about us. God reveals that identity to us as we journey with him

The works of God in us, the true exercise of charity in us, are manifested only when we are reborn in God, and when we break with the identity that we have had since our infancy. The people of Nazareth react to Jesus’ assumption of a new identity, and they say, “We know exactly who you are! You were born here and we know your family!” But Jesus was not born there, and he is not the person that they think he is. In the same way, there is a truth about each one of us that is greater than people realize. There is a beautiful, luminous truth about all of us that is conserved in God, and that God will reveal to us. When God reveals it to us, we must assume that new identity and be changed. If we think of the lives of the saints, St Francis of Assisi for example, many of them left their paternal house and became something that was completely different and even unacceptable to the expectations of their fellow villagers. We too must cease to be obedient to the alliances established by this world. We must cease to be what other people expect and become what we truly are. Each one of us is on a journey of self-discovery in which God reveals our identity to us. It is only in the light of his grace that we begin to understand ourselves.

There is nothing more wonderful than to discover who we are in God’s eyes

A marriage will last only if the spouses leave their families, leave their previous identities, and enter into the graces of the sacrament. A priest is fully himself only if he is completely dedicated to God and has utterly abandoned the identity he had before receiving his vocation. Every Christian friendship is truly itself only if it has moved to a plane where conventional human expectations and role are abandoned. We cannot remain all of our lives as we were when we were children. People may continue to think that I am “the child of Joseph” but the truth is that I am something else of a completely unexpected sort. There is nothing more wonderful than to discover who we are in God’s eyes. There is nothing more wonderful than to be free of the invisible nets and cords that bind us, and to become new creatures altogether.

January 27^th. THIRD SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

Gospel: Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

GOSPEL:                            Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21            
Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have taken place among us, exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received.

Jesus, with the power of the Spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for he has anointed me. 
He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, 
to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, 
to set the downtrodden free, 
to proclaim the Lord's year of favour

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, 'This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen'

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

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Don Fabio holds up this Gospel as an archetype for those who struggle to appreciate the significance of the liturgy. In this week’s Gospel, we see Jesus himself in a liturgical setting, and he shows us how we should behave in a liturgical setting. The Sacred Scriptures are not something to be read in an abstract way. After Jesus reads the passage from the prophet Isaiah, he says, “Today, this text is being fulfilled as you listen to it.” Every week, when we hear the word of God proclaimed to us, we must believe that the word is being fulfilled right now in our lives. The job of the priest giving the homily is to build a bridge between the text and our lives today, so that we can see how the text is coming true in our daily doings. And our job, whenever we read or hear the Scriptures, is to contemplate how that Scripture reveals the true meaning of my life, right now, in this moment. We must never read Scripture for Scripture’s sake, but in order that Scripture might help us to read the significance of our lives.

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Luke gives his reasons for writing the Gospel

The Sunday liturgy is divided into three years A, B and C. This is year C, the year of Luke, and in this week’s reading Luke’s sets down his reasons for writing the Gospel. “Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events . . ., exactly as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses . . ., I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that you may learn how well-founded is the teaching that you have received.”

This is a precious record of the motivation behind the writing of a Gospel. The Gospel was written for a person, Theophilus, who in reality represents all of us, because we are all recipients of the Good News. And the Gospel is intended to demonstrate to us the soundness of the teaching that we have received. This is an interesting point. The Gospel comes after Theophilus receives the teaching about Christ. Theophilus does not first encounter Christ through reading the Gospel. Rather his first encounter is with the Church, which imparts to him the teaching about Christ. Sometimes we give too much importance to the scriptural accounts as if they were the origin of our faith. The origins of faith are rooted in the Church, and in the events which the disciples of Christ (who constitute the Church) experienced. Then the events are written down in an ordered way so that they make sense. Not everything is written down, only that which is relevant to the faith of the one who listens to the account. There is no need to write down secondary details of the life of Jesus. The Gospel text then is produced by the Church. It is not that the Church is a product of the text. St Augustine makes the same point: “Even if all the Bibles in existence were destroyed, it would not be the end of the world, because Christians would still exist.” Christians are the Scriptures incarnated. They are what bring life to the word of God, and in the end this is what counts. Theophilus needs to have a prior experience of this living encounter with the Church. Then, the written Gospel becomes his school, setting the relevant events of the life of Christ in order, with the purpose of educating him.

The first part of the reading for Sunday tells us why Luke wrote the Gospel. The second part tells us how we should approach this or any Gospel

The first part of the Gospel tells us why the Gospel was written and the general purpose it must serve in the life of Theophilus.  The second part of the Gospel gives us a concrete illustration of how the written word must be made relevant to our daily lives. What an amazing text for those of us who struggle to appreciate the significance of the liturgy! We see Jesus taking part in a liturgy; we see how he considers we should behave in a liturgical setting; and we are given a concrete illustration of how we should treat the word of God. Jesus goes into the Synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath as was his custom. He takes the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and reads the extraordinary text about the man sent to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, freedom for the downtrodden and announce the year of the Lord’s favour. He then takes the scroll, puts it back in its place, and sits down. These detailed descriptions emphasize that here we are in a ritual setting. The fact that Jesus sits down recalls the fact that teaching in those days was always done while seated. Jesus sat down before giving the Sermon on the Mount, and he does the same here. The eyes of everyone are fixed on him and he begins to give his teaching. Of course, the Gospel text does not give us a full account of his teaching on this occasion. All that is recorded are the words, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.” The homiletic technique of the Jews was to make connections between the text just proclaimed with some other text. Jesus, instead, goes straight to the point, beginning with the word Today. “Today this text is fulfilled.” The purpose of a homily, Jesus is telling us, is to make the text relevant today, to demonstrate how this text is referring to our situation as it is in this very moment. This is the fundamental purpose of a homily: to make words that were written two or three thousand years ago speak to my life as it is right now. The Psalm says “Your word Lord is a lamp for my path and a light for my steps.” The text that Jesus proclaims in the synagogue regarding liberation is referring to my liberation today. Many preachers analyse texts abstractly, seeking values or abstract meanings that are a temporal, “universal,” valid for all time. But Jesus wishes us to read the Scriptures concretely, applying them to things that are happening in my life right now. If the word of God is to be a “light for my steps” then I must not try to turn it into an abstract object of study. No-one lights a lamp so that they can contemplate the light itself; they light a lamp so that it will shed light on concrete things that need to be seen for practical purposes. Scripture is a light, but what counts are our steps, our lives, our situations today. Luke puts the events of Jesus life in order so that we might have faith and live it today. As Luke says, the account helps us to appreciate the teaching the Church has already given us; it helps us recognize the soundness of the teaching of the Church and aids us in following it.

We must read Scripture not for Scripture’s sake, but for the sake of reading our lives

Homilies are necessary because they make a bridge between the text and today. I need the body of Christ, which is the Church, to help me to make concrete that which I hear in the proclamation of the Scriptures. The Holy Father gives us an extraordinary example of how to illuminate our daily lives by confronting them in a clear and simple manner with the sacred Scriptures. None of us can hope to walk forward unless we have this light for our steps. We must read Scripture, not for Scripture’s sake, but in order to read life itself. By confronting our daily lives with Scripture we come to an understanding of ourselves, our problems, our joys, and the continual workings of the grace of God within us.

To apply Scripture to my daily life, I must look with the understanding, not just with the eyes, as if life could be reduced to just a series of fleeting events

Jesus gives us yet another clue as to how we should approach the sacred texts. “Today the text that you have listened to is being fulfilled.” The congregation is fixing Jesus with their eyes. They are looking for something visible, but Jesus reminds them that it is what is heard that is more important. The true meaning of things is perceived by the hearing, not by the eyes. It is not enough for me to see the things that are happening in my life. I need to understand their meaning. In this sense I must look with my “ears”, with my inner capacity for understanding. The proclamation of Scripture enters my ears and arrives at my heart, revealing to me the action of God in my day to day struggles. It is critical that we attain a perspective on our lives in the light of the word of God. What an amazing thing that this Gospel reveals to us! My life must be contemplated in an interior way. It is not just a series of events. Scripture can help us to uncover the true secret and meaning of our lives, and this goes far beyond what the eyes can see, 

January 20^th. Second Sunday of Ordinary Time
Gospel: John 2:1-11

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

GOSPEL  John 2:1-11

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings,
each holding twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus told the them, “Fill the jars with water.”
So they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.”
So they took it.  And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine,
without knowing where it came from
— although the servers who had drawn the water knew —,
the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first,
and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one;
but you have kept the good wine until now.”
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in Galilee
and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.

The story of the wedding feast at Cana contains many unexpected elements that do not immediately hit the eye. Don Fabio shows us how it contains crucial themes that we must embrace if we are to live the Christian life. The story points out to us the joy and beauty that God has planned for each of us. It demonstrates how we have lost sight of this joy and beauty. It tells us what we must do to experience the fullness of joy that God wishes for us. The headwaiter in the story unwittingly says something that is the key to the entire passage and to the living out of the spiritual life! Please try to read the translation to the end to discover the rich and inspirational jewels buried in this wonderful passage of Scripture!

The miracle at Cana reveals the fundamental elements of the spiritual life

This incredibly rich text has many resonances with other key passages in Scripture, and it evokes many themes of the spiritual life. The importance of the passage is underlined by its closing lines, which state that the miracle at Cana was performed by Jesus as the “beginning of his signs”. In the original Greek, the word for “beginning” is arche, and refers to the first in terms of importance, not only in chronological terms. This sign in Galilee is of primary importance because it contains elements that are fundamental for the whole of John’s Gospel, and also for the spiritual life.

The passage progresses in four stages

The passage is organised in four parts. First of all, there is a wedding feast, and this represents joy, life and love. The encounter between the male and the female represents the origin of life and love. Much of the folklore of various societies is linked to the theme of matrimony. No celebration is given so much care and importance as a marriage celebration. In the second part of the passage, a problem arises. We discover that the joy promised by the wedding feast is missing something. Wine is of primary importance for the celebration because it represents abundance. Water is an ordinary element and represents abstinence, whilst wine is the extraordinary element that represents the joy, colour and flavour of the celebration. The joy and abundance promised in the first part of the passage evaporates in the second part. In the third part there is an intervention of God, an intervention of providence, and this intervention is prompted by the initiative of the Virgin Mary. The intervention of Christ makes humanity capable of achieving something unexpected. Jesus tells the servants what to do, and it is they who physically perform the miracle - a beautiful illustration of the way that Christ works through our hands. In this third part, we see the healing of the deficiency that was manifested in the second part. And what a healing it is! There is now an abundance of wine. In the fourth part of the Gospel, the headwaiter takes centre stage. His role is to highlight the way in which God works. As we have seen, the original problem in the wedding celebration is resolved by divine intervention. But not only that: the wine that is now served is of the highest quality. The headwaiter then makes a comment that is of central importance for understanding the significance of the passage: “Everyone serves good wine first, but you have kept the good wine until now.” We will discuss later why these words are of central importance for the spiritual lives of each of us.

            These four parts are the structural foundation of the spiritual life. Through the miracle of Galilee we can discern a progression that is of fundamental importance for each of our lives. Let us now consider the four parts in greater detail.

First part: God creates us for a beautiful purpose, for a wedding feast of joy.

It is crucially important that we recognize the significance of the wedding feast. God’s plan for us is a plan that is directed towards beauty and joy. We have been created for a beautiful purpose. The deepest truth about humanity is in no way connected to what is negative or evil. Evil is a tumour that can be eliminated. It is not part of the original nature of the human being. Even if sin appears to have invaded every aspect of our existence, it remains an alien element in our lives.

Second part: The wedding feast for which God created us has gone wrong

John’s Gospel begins with the words “In the beginning was the Word.” The book of Genesis begins with the exact same words, “In the beginning . .,” and then it culminates in the creation of man and woman on the sixth day. If we follow the episodes described in the first part of John’s Gospel in the original Greek, then we discover that the wedding feast of Cana occurs on the sixth day of John’s description of events. In this way, John’s description of the event at Cana is a reference to the coming into being of a new creation of man and woman. The entire Old Testament bears witness to the fact that something is amiss in creation. This is alluded to by the fact that at Cana the wine is missing. The original wedding feast for which God created us has gone awry. The mother of Jesus has the wisdom to discern that something is gravely wrong. Mary has a fundamental part to play in this Gospel (we do not have time here to reflect in detail on her crucial role in the resolution of the crisis), and she says to Jesus, “They have no wine.” It is important that we appreciate the state that we are in. We cannot embark on the spiritual life unless, a) we recognize that we have been created for beauty and joy; and, b) we accept that we are betraying this beauty.

Third part: Healing

The third part of the Gospel is centred on the fundamental element of obedience: “Do whatever he tells you.” What is it that heals us? By walking in God’s paths as well as we are able in the impoverished state that we find ourselves. Just as the servants did in the story, the best we can do is fill the bottles with water. But Jesus transforms our water into wine. We must do what we can, but then Jesus takes our efforts and brings them to wondrous fruition.

Fourth part: We come to the fullness of life by living God’s logic, not our logic

Once we have obeyed, once we have had the experience of following his paths, once we have witnessed his power and seen his glory, then we must discover the key that will permit us to remain in this state of joy. This is where the headwaiter takes centre stage. He says, “Everyone gives the good wine first and then the inferior wine. But you have kept the good wine until last.” In other words, God always gives the good wine afterwards. The first headwaiter of history, the serpent in the garden of Eden, teaches Eve to eat first that which tastes good and ignore the consequences. The master of ceremonies in the Cana story represents human wisdom, and he chides the spouse for holding the good wine back. Jesus is the new and authentic master of ceremonies, and he teaches us that we arrive at true light and joy only through the Cross. After the bitterness of obedience comes the sweetness of the new creation. This is the path that we must take if the wedding feast that God has prepared for us is to come to fruition. God gives the good wine, the fullness of joy, only after that fleeting moment in which we undergo the loss, the renunciation, of ourselves. By this “small death” to ourselves in obedience we arrive at the fullness of new life. In this way the story of Cana sets down splendidly the parameters for living the spiritual life.

January 13^th. THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD

Gospel: Luke 3:15-16, 21-22

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

GOSPEL  LUKE 3:15-16, 21-22

The people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”

Don Fabio tells us that the baptism of Jesus is the key by which we are to understand our own baptism. In the Gospel, a contrast is made between the figure of John the Baptist and that of Jesus. John is prescriptive, telling the people how deficient their lives are and what they need to do to prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus, by contrast, is portrayed as someone radically in relationship with his Father in heaven. At the baptism, the heavens are thrown open and we are given a glimpse of the secret life of the Trinity, which is a relation of love. This is the key to understanding our baptism and our vocation as Christians. Salvation is not about busily doing things for God, but is about entering into a relationship of love with God. Life makes little sense if viewed through the lens of success, possessions or praise. But if viewed through the lens of this relationship of love with God, then what beautiful sense it makes! Just as the Father is well pleased with Jesus, so too he is well pleased with us and wishes us to be immersed further in this relationship of love with him.

Luke’s account of the baptism is distinctive because it focuses on Jesus in a moment of prayer

The baptism of Jesus is recounted by the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke in slightly different ways. The peculiar feature of Luke’s account is that it focuses on what happened after the baptism while Jesus was in prayer. Let us examine the passage in detail.

John points out our deficiencies to us, but he cannot bring us wholeness

A feeling of expectancy had grown among the people and they “were asking in their hearts if John might be the Christ.” This expression “asking in their hearts” is a very interesting one. In the Bible, the heart is the centre of the essence of the human being. All genuine actions arise from the heart. People at the time were asking at the deepest level of their beings if John was the expected messiah. During Advent we heard how John had put before the people the things they needed to do in order to prepare for the coming of the Lord. John was the last of the prophets and his preaching was essentially focused on the law. He demanded that people show greater integrity and coherence with respect to the law. All of us are reasonably aware of our faults and the areas in our lives that are deficient. We all know in our hearts that we need a messiah. But is a messiah someone who simply says, “You must try harder. You must have greater integrity. You must change your behaviour for the better”? John the Baptist does have an important role in redemption because we cannot arrive at the threshold of salvation unless we become aware of our need of a saviour. But John is not the messiah. He baptizes with water, an action of immersion in an everyday element. This cannot compare to baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John says openly that he cannot undo the latch of Jesus’ sandal, a reference to a ritual act in Jewish society. If a man was betrothed to a lady, but decided not to go ahead with the matrimony, a second man could publicly undo the strap of the original spouse’s sandal, thereby publicly asserting his right to become the spouse in place of the first. Jesus is our true spouse and John does not wish to take his place. John cannot enter into the intimate heart of our need for a saviour. He can only remain on the outside, pointing the way.

John tells people what they must do, but only Jesus can bring salvation, and he does it by relating directly to his Father in heaven.

Jesus, the true spouse of humanity, does not relate to us on the level of obligation, the level of outlining the things that must be done to better ourselves. Words of prescription or encouragement do not take us very far in the spiritual life. The scene placed before us in Luke’s Gospel is very informative. We have the two men in very different poses. Which one is the Messiah? Which one is the Saviour? John is telling the people the things that they must do to live lives of integrity. Jesus instead is lost in prayer. Jesus is the one who has a direct relation with heaven, and heaven opens. Salvation does not come from us, but from heaven. Salvation descends from above through the generosity of God. This does not mean that we don’t have to do anything. But the initiative comes from above, and our task is to welcome it fervently. When our lives are in crisis, we often do our best to sort out our problems and move on, but we usually find, sooner or later, that we are back where we started. What we are capable of changing with our most supreme efforts is generally very little. Such minor “improvements’ should not be undervalued, but they can never bring us salvation. They do not represent the kind of novelty or complete turning of the page that is the characteristic of salvation.

Salvation does not involve doing things, but entering into the loving life of the Trinity.

Through his baptism Jesus enters into our condition, and while he is in prayer, salvation - the work of God - descends from heaven. The heavens are thrown open, the Holy Spirit comes, and the Trinity, the hidden truth of God, manifests itself. If a human being is to be changed, then he must encounter the hidden truth of God. He must hear the voice of the Father “You are my Son, the beloved. In you I am well pleased.” What do we have here? The one who comes as our messiah is full of love, and he is defined by his relation with his Father, who is love. The one who transforms our condition is one who is in relationship with the God of love, who experiences the love by God, and who in his person constitutes the expression of God’s love.

            Jesus becomes incarnate, takes on our condition, and the heavens are opened on our impoverished humanity. The tragedy of Adam was that he had removed himself from direct relation with God. The Lord had sought him out after the first sin, but Adam hid himself in the bushes. These bushes represent the defence mechanisms by which we hide ourselves for fear of God. In Luke’s Gospel, the people in their hearts were wondering if John was the messiah. There is always the conviction in our hearts that we must do something in order to be saved. But it is God who takes the initiative, and our task is to believe, to welcome, to allow ourselves to be consumed with the knowledge that in us God is well pleased. Through baptism, we are inserted into the mystery of the Holy Trinity, immersed into the relation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Love is the only lens through which to view our lives

Our lives only make sense in the context of love. If we try to make sense of our existence using the criterion of success, then we will find that our lives are a failure. Any material success that we might achieve will be small and insufficient in comparison to the trials of life. If the value of life is measured in terms of possessions, then we always find that we have too little to leave us satisfied. If the meaning of life lies in the affirmation of our egos, then we will always be left frustrated because the ego’s thirst for affirmation can never be satisfied. But if life is understood through the lens of love, then things begin to make sense. Humiliation and suffering are occasions for growth in which we learn how to love.

The baptism of Jesus is the key by which we understand our own baptism

Ultimately, love is all about relationship. The human being in the state of sin is a being that is out of relation with God. He can make what efforts he pleases, but the heavens will not open to him. With Christ, by contrast, the heavens are thrown wide open. In Luke’s account we see him in a moment of prayer. This is not simply an act of concentration and gritting one’s teeth, but is a relation with the Father.  How fortunate we are as Christians to have this revelation of the relational nature of God in Christ! The nature of God is love. We have a tendency to lose sight of this fact, busying ourselves “doing things for God,” instead of opening ourselves to a relationship with God. In every moment, and in everything we do, we must seek to enter into this encounter with God. This is not an obligation imposed by God on us, but a gift given to us in baptism. The Baptism of Jesus helps us to see what our own baptism is, which is our immersion in God, and an experience of how incredibly well pleased he is to have us in relation with him!

January 6^th 2013. FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY

Gospel: Matthew 2:1-12

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Reflection on the Gospel follows the Scripture readings for the Epiphany ...

First Reading  Is 60:1-6

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.
Nations shall walk by your light,
and kings by your shining radiance.
Raise your eyes and look about;
they all gather and come to you:
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters in the arms of their nurses.

Then you shall be radiant at what you see,
your heart shall throb and overflow,
for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you,
the wealth of nations shall be brought to you.
Caravans of camels shall fill you,
dromedaries from Midian and Ephah;
all from Sheba shall come
bearing gold and frankincense,
and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13.

R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Second Reading Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6

Brothers and sisters:
You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace 
that was given to me for your benefit, 
namely, that the mystery was made known to me by revelation.
It was not made known to people in other generations 
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 
that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body,
and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Gospel Mt 2:1-12

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 Christ 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.

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On account of changes to the schedule for the festivities, there was no broadcast of Don Fabio's homily this week. Here are a couple of short reflections (one of which is adapted from the "keeping faith today" website):

The main Christmas story in Matthew's Gospel is the account of the visit of the Magi. This story shows us that Jesus is not only the Saviour of the chosen people.  He has come also for the rest of humankind.  Jesus is not only king of the Jews, but the hope of the Gentiles, all the non-Jewish people of the earth—us.

Only Matthew tells of the wise visitors from the East.  The story introduces a major theme of his gospel: The inclusion of the Gentiles in the promises of Jesus.

Do I place my trust in him? Is he my only King, or do I give my allegiance to other powers/influences/trends/fixations?

What insight and guidance does the Epiphany story offer regarding tensions among Christians, Muslims, and Jews today?

And one last thing . . . The word "Epiphany" means a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of a thing. Today we celebrate the manifestation of the meaning of Jesus to the world. The fact is, however, that many of us do not appreciate the meaning or essence of Jesus for our existence. Let us pray today that we will open our eyes and eyes to the meaning of the birth of Christ as a human being! Let us use our time and the talents of our minds to reflect on the meaning of this wondrous manifestation for each of us! Let the light of this event penetrate our inmost hearts and minds, banishing the darkness from our thoughts and actions!