Oct 10, 2024 Written by 

Let us enter into the truth and the freedom that comes from the truth

The first characteristic which the Lord requires of his servant is fidelity. He has been entrusted with a great good that does not belong to him. The Church is not our Church but his Church, the Church of God. The servant must account for how he has managed the good that has been entrusted to him. We do not bind people to us; we do not seek power, prestige or esteem for ourselves. We lead men and women toward Jesus Christ, hence toward the living God. In so doing, we introduce them into truth and into freedom, which derives from truth. Fidelity is altruism and, in this very way, liberating for the minister himself and for all who are entrusted to him. We know how in civil society and often also in the Church things suffer because many people on whom responsibility has been conferred work for themselves rather than for the community, for the common good. With a few strokes the Lord sketches an image of the wicked servant, who begins by grovelling and beating the workers, thereby betraying the essence of his responsibility. In Greek, the word for "fidelity" coincides with the word for "faith". The fidelity of the servant of Jesus Christ also consists precisely in the fact that he does not attempt to adapt faith to the fashions of the times. Christ alone has the words of eternal life and we must bring these words to the people. They are the most precious good that has been entrusted to us. There is nothing sterile or static about such fidelity; it is creative. The master rebuked the servant who, attempting to avoid all risk, had buried the money given to him in the ground. With this apparent fidelity, the servant had in reality set aside the good of his master to dedicate himself exclusively to his own affairs. Fidelity is not fear but rather is inspired by love and by its dynamism. The master praises the servant who has invested his goods profitably. Faith demands to be passed on: it was not given to us merely for ourselves, for the personal salvation of our own souls, but for others, for this world and for our time. We must bring faith into this world so that it may become in it a living force; in order to increase God's presence in the world.

[Pope Benedict, homily for episcopal ordination 12 September 2009]

36 Last modified on Thursday, 10 October 2024 03:19
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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The Church invites believers to regard the mystery of death not as the "last word" of human destiny but rather as a passage to eternal life (Pope John Paul II)
La Chiesa invita i credenti a guardare al mistero della morte non come all'ultima parola sulla sorte umana, ma come al passaggio verso la vita eterna (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
The saints: they are our precursors, they are our brothers, they are our friends, they are our examples, they are our lawyers. Let us honour them, let us invoke them and try to imitate them a little (Pope Paul VI)
I santi: sono i precursori nostri, sono i fratelli, sono gli amici, sono gli esempi, sono gli avvocati nostri. Onoriamoli, invochiamoli e cerchiamo di imitarli un po’ (Papa Paolo VI)
We find ourselves, so to speak, roped to Jesus Christ together with him on the ascent towards God's heights (Pope Benedict)
Ci troviamo, per così dire, in una cordata con Gesù Cristo – insieme con Lui nella salita verso le altezze di Dio (Papa Benedetto)
The Church is a «sign». That is, those who looks at it with a clear eye, those who observes it, those who studies it realise that it represents a fact, a singular phenomenon; they see that it has a «meaning» (Pope Paul VI)
La Chiesa è un «segno». Cioè chi la guarda con occhio limpido, chi la osserva, chi la studia si accorge ch’essa rappresenta un fatto, un fenomeno singolare; vede ch’essa ha un «significato» (Papa Paolo VI)
There are also serious, dangerous omissions and we have to recognize with healthy realism that in this way things are not all right, it is not all right when errors are made. However, we must also be certain at the same time that if, here and there, the Church is dying because of the sins of men and women, because of their non-belief, at the same time she is reborn (Pope Benedict)
Ci sono anche cadute gravi, pericolose, e dobbiamo riconoscere con sano realismo che così non va, non va dove si fanno cose sbagliate. Ma anche essere sicuri, allo stesso tempo, che se qua e là la Chiesa muore a causa dei peccati degli uomini, a causa della loro non credenza, nello stesso tempo, nasce di nuovo (Papa Benedetto)
Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to each other in the lists of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3, 4; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13), but also because there is very little information about them, apart from the fact that the New Testament Canon preserves one Letter attributed to Jude Thaddaeus [Pope Benedict]
Li consideriamo insieme, non solo perché nelle liste dei Dodici sono sempre riportati l'uno accanto all'altro (cfr Mt 10,4; Mc 3,18; Lc 6,15; At 1,13), ma anche perché le notizie che li riguardano non sono molte, a parte il fatto che il Canone neotestamentario conserva una lettera attribuita a Giuda Taddeo [Papa Benedetto]
Faith, as we have seen with Bartimaeus, is a cry [Pope Francis]. Pacify my soul, make it your Heaven, your beloved Dwelling Place, your Resting Place [Elizabeth of the Trinity]
La fede, lo abbiamo visto in Bartimeo, è grido; la non-fede è soffocare quel grido [Papa Francesco]. Pacifica la mia anima, rendila tuo Cielo, tua Dimora prediletta, Luogo del tuo riposo [Elisabetta della Trinità]
A “year” of grace: the period of Christ’s ministry, the time of the Church before his glorious return, an interval of our life (Pope Francis)
Un “anno” di grazia: il tempo del ministero di Cristo, il tempo della Chiesa prima del suo ritorno glorioso, il tempo della nostra vita (Papa Francesco)

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