«Vidimus gloriam eius»

On Christmas, four Masses can be celebrated: in the vigil, during the night, at dawn and during the day. The first three Masses are more “narrative”: the gospels we hear in them tell us what happened that day in Bethlehem. The Mass which is celebrated during the day, instead, has a more “reflective” character; its purpose is not to inform about the events, but to unveil the mystery hidden in those events. The liturgy of this Mass shows who is the Infant who is born today in Bethlehem. It does it especially through the second reading and the gospel, in which we have heard the beginning of the respective books.

«Apparuit gratia Dei»

We are celebrating the Vigil Mass of Christmas. Security reasons advised against celebrating the Mass during the Night; but, since the liturgical norms allow it, we have heard the readings of the Night Mass. I would like to highlight the contrasts present in these readings: it will help us to grasp the meaning of this celebration.

«Conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto»

On this Sunday we commemorate the events immediately prior to Christmas, especially the incarnation, which is not only an event, but the “mystery kept secret for long ages, but now manifested” to us, as Saint Paul says in the second reading.

«Ego vox»

On the last Sundays, we were saying that this year we will read the gospel of Mark, and today we have heard a selection from the gospel of John. The reason is that Mark is the shortest of the gospels, and so, on several occasions this year, the liturgy will supplement it with passages from John. Usually, scholars emphasize the differences between John and the synoptic gospels; but in this case we cannot but take note of the concordance between them.

Tradurre o interpretare?

Hanno fatto molto scalpore le dichiarazioni rilasciate da Papa Francesco durante il programma di TV2000 Padre nostro andato in onda mercoledí scorso 6 dicembre. «Non ci indurre in tentazione» non sarebbe, secondo il Pontefice, una buona traduzione:

Anche i francesi hanno cambiato il testo con una traduzione che dice “non lasciarmi cadere nella tentazione”, sono io a cadere, non è lui che mi butta nella tentazione per poi vedere come sono caduto, un padre non fa questo, un padre aiuta ad alzarsi subito.

Sembrerebbe che si tratti di una novità (l’unica vera novità è il fatto che dal 3 dicembre scorso, prima domenica di Avvento, in Francia è stata introdotta nella liturgia la nuova traduzione del Padre nostro: qui); in realtà, si tratta di una questione che si trascina da decenni.

«Rectas facite semitas eius»

As we were saying last Sunday, this year we will read the gospel of Mark, probably the first gospel to be written. Unlike Matthew and Luke, who start their gospels with an infancy narrative, Mark begins his account straight with the public ministry of Jesus, which opens with his baptism at the Jordan. But, before speaking of the baptism, Mark introduces the baptizer, namely John, the son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, the cousin of Jesus.

«Gratia plena»

I think the best way to understand the meaning of today’s celebration is to consider the preface of this Mass. At the beginning of the Eucharistic Prayer, addressing God, the priest says: “You preserved the most Blessed Virgin Mary from all stain of original sin, so that in her, endowed with the rich fullness of grace, you might prepare a worthy Mother for your Son and signify the beginning of the Church, his beautiful Bride without spot or wrinkle. She, the most pure Virgin, was to bring forth a Son, the innocent Lamb who would wipe away our offences; you placed her above all others to be for your people an advocate of grace and a model of holiness.”

Una nuova narrazione?

Il Professor Massimo Introvigne ha rilasciato nei giorni scorsi una lunga intervista alla rivista Formiche. È uno di quei casi strani in cui vorresti tanto che ciò che stai leggendo fosse vero, ma ti accorgi, con dispiacere, che non lo è.

«Utinam dirumperes caelos et descenderes!»

Today we begin a new liturgical year. In the three-year cycle of readings, 2017-2018 will be the “Year B,” during which we shall read the second of the synoptic gospels, namely Mark. The liturgical year opens with the Advent Season, which is a time of preparation for the commemoration of the first coming of the Lord, two thousand years ago, and likewise a time of expectation of his second coming, at the end of time. Advent usually lasts four weeks; this year it will be shorter—only three weeks—as the fourth Sunday falls on Christmas Eve, December 24. The first two weeks should especially turn us to the second coming of the Lord; the third week instead should be an immediate preparation for the solemnity of Christmas. Today’s readings emphasize some points of the first part of Advent. Saint Paul, in the second reading, says that we are waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is his second coming, and assures us that “he will keep us firm to the end.” The gospel is a call for watchfulness: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.” We know for certain that the Lord will come; when, we do not know. That is why we have to watch.

«Separabit eos ab invicem»

Today is the last Sunday of the liturgical year. On this day the Church celebrates the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ King of the Universe. In a sense, this celebration sums up the whole liturgical year: Christ the King is the Son of God who became man and was conceived of the Virgin Mary, was born in Bethlehem of Judea, was baptized by John at the Jordan, announced the kingdom of God, “went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38), suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, on the third day rose again from the dead and finally ascended into heaven. In the gospel of Luke, we read a parable, where Jesus says that “a nobleman went off to a distant country to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return” (Lk 19:12). Jesus was speaking of himself: with his ascension, he left for a far country to receive the title of king; some day he will come back “in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him.” It is the scene that today’s gospel presents to us: that Jesus, who once came as savior, at the end of time will come back as king and judge.

Definitività delle sentenze

La Chiesa Romana celebra oggi la memoria liturgica di San Gelasio I, Papa (secolo V). Originario dell’Africa, fu eletto al supremo pontificato nel 492. È ricordato principalmente per la ferma opposizione allo scisma acaciano e per la strenua difesa del primato della sede romana contro le pretese, civili ed ecclesiastiche, di Costantinopoli. Morí il 21 novembre del 496 e fu seppellito nella basilica vaticana. La sua celebrazione liturgica viene anticipata a oggi per la coincidenza con la memoria della Presentazione della Beata Vergine Maria. Riportiamo, per la sua attualità, un brano tratto da una lunga lettera da lui scritta ai Vescovi della Dardania (regione corrispondente all’attuale Macedonia e Serbia meridionale), con la quale dimostra che Acacio, Patriarca di Costantinopoli dal 471 al 489, era stato giustamente condannato con sentenza definitiva della Sede Apostolica.

Q

Mother of Divine Providence

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lady of Divine Providence, Titular of this church and Patroness of our Mission. This celebration gives us the opportunity to reflect briefly upon some important points of our catholic faith. We find them in the title with which we venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary today. We usually call her “Our Lady of Divine Providence,” but her proper name is “Mother of Divine Providence.”

A proposito di Apostolato della preghiera

I Barnabiti sono indissolubilmente legati all’Apostolato della preghiera. Il movimento nacque in Francia nel 1844, a opera dei Gesuiti (Padri Gautrelet e Ramière), ma in Italia fu diffuso dai Barnabiti. A partire dal 1864, ne assunsero la direzione il Padre Antonio Maresca (1831-1891) prima e il Padre Giovanni Battista Vitale (1849-1916) poi. Furono loro a curare anche l’edizione italiana del Messaggero del Sacro Cuore. Si deve al Padre Maresca inoltre l’iniziativa di costruire a Roma un santuario in onore del Sacro Cuore (l’attuale basilica nei pressi della Stazione Termini), iniziativa che presto però si arenò a causa della mancanza di fondi e fu poi portata a termine grazie all’intervento di Don Bosco. Dopo la morte del Padre Vitale (1916), la direzione dell’Apostolato della preghiera passò, anche per l’Italia, non senza resistenze, nelle mani dei Gesuiti.

Obviam Sponso

The end of the liturgical year is approaching. There are only three weeks left in Ordinary Time. When we began to read the gospel of Matthew, which has kept us company during this year, we said that such gospel is divided into five parts, each of them made of a narrative section and a discourse. Up to now we have read four of these discourses: the sermon on the mount, the missionary or apostolic discourse, the sermon of parables and the discourse on the Church. In chapters 24 and 25 we find the fifth discourse of Matthew’s gospel, the so-called “eschatological discourse,” that is, a sermon about final things. During this last discourse Jesus tells three parables; today we have heard the second of them, the parable of the ten virgins. This parable is precisely about the parousia, namely the second coming of Christ, represented by the bridegroom. The virgins stand for the disciples, who await the coming of the Lord. All of these virgins have their lamps; but five of them, along with their lamps, take the oil supply, while the other five don’t. The first ones are labelled as wise; the others as foolish.

Errare humanum est...

Un lettore, dopo aver letto il post del 31 ottobre, mi ha fatto la seguente richiesta: «Potrebbe raccontarci di cosa c’era scritto nel Catechismo olandese che — mi pare di capire — provocò il “rigetto” e quindi il ritorno a un catechismo universale?».

«Dicunt et non faciunt»

It is more than one month that, in Sunday gospels, we witness controversies between Jesus and the religious leaders of the Jews. Up to now, Jesus has criticized them indirectly, especially through parables; now instead he starts to attack them frontally, reproaching them with hypocrisy. Chapter 23 of Matthew’s gospel is an indictment of the scribes and the Pharisees. A substantial portion of it consists in a series of seven “woes” against them: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites…” for this and that reason.

Lo scongelamento del Concilio

Su Avvenire del 30 ottobre scorso è apparsa una intervista sulla Humanae vitae al Vescovo emerito di Ivrea, Mons. Luigi Bettazzi (a destra nella foto, ai tempi del Concilio). Ci si potrebbe chiedere quale sia la strategia del quotidiano della Conferenza episcopale italiana a proposito dell’enciclica di Paolo VI, visto che dieci giorni prima aveva pubblicato un articolo di Luciano Moia (qui) dello stesso tenore; ma lasciamo perdere: ormai abbiamo capito che, dopo cinquant’anni, è giunta l’ora di rottamare l’Humanae vitae. Non mi sembra però giusto far finta di nulla quando dalla bocca di un successore degli Apostoli, per quanto emerito, escono una serie di enormità come quelle che si leggono nell’intervista suddetta.

«Quis ascendet in montem Domini?»

The Psalmist wonders, “Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord? (Quis ascendet in montem Domini?) or who may stand in his holy place?” And he answers his own question this way, “One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean, who desires not what is vain.” Which means, in order for us to stay with the Lord, we have to be clean of heart. Purity of heart is a key element in today’s liturgy: we find it in all readings. This means that holiness and purity of heart coincide; holiness consists in purity of heart.

Fase B?

L’11 ottobre scorso ricorreva il XXV anniversario della pubblicazione del Catechismo della Chiesa Cattolica, avvenuta nel 1992, in occasione del trentennale dell’apertura del Concilio Vaticano II. La ricorrenza è stata celebrata con un incontro organizzato dal Pontificio Consiglio per la promozione della nuova evangelizzazione (a cui, dal 2013, è stata trasferita la competenza per la catechesi, precedentemente affidata alla Congregazione per il clero). Ai partecipanti all’incontro il Papa ha rivolto un discorso, che ha avuto una certa risonanza mediatica soprattutto per l’auspicio, in esso manifestato, che nel Catechismo sia dato «uno spazio piú adeguato e coerente con [le] finalità espresse [nel discorso]» al tema della pena di morte, e per il ricorso all’immagine della naftalina per stigmatizzare una concezione errata di tradizione. Come spesso avviene, la concentrazione sui dettagli ha fatto perdere di vista il quadro d’insieme. Probabilmente il discorso del Papa meritava una maggiore attenzione, che non fosse solo quella appuntata su alcuni aspetti, tutto sommato, marginali.

«Mandatum magnum»

The controversies between Jesus and the Pharisees continue. This time a scholar of the law, that is, a scribe puts Jesus to the test, asking him about a question rather common among rabbis at that time: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”—literally, “Which is the great commandment (mandatum magnum) in the law?” Why did rabbis discuss this issue? Because they enumerated a good 613 precepts in the Bible. We have had a sample of these precepts in the first reading. So, it was understandable for rabbis to discover which was the greatest commandment. Evidently, they also had problems with catechesis: how to teach people so many commandments? It was absolutely necessary to focus on the essentials. It is true that, among the more than six hundred precepts, there are the ten commandments given by God to Moses; but they are still ten. Is it not possible to find one commandment which can summarize the other ones and on which all others depend?