Oct 27, 2024 Written by 

Faith is not simply a result of our search

1. In the Incarnation, God fully reveals himself in the Son who came into the world (cf. Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 9). Our faith is not simply the result of our searching for God. In Jesus Christ, it is God who comes in person to speak to us and to show us the way to himself.

The Incarnation also reveals the truth about man. In Jesus Christ, the Father has spoken the definitive word about our true destiny and the meaning of human history (cf. ibid., 5). “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). The Apostle is speaking of the love that inspired the Son to become man and to dwell among us. Through Jesus Christ we know how much the Father loves us. In Jesus Christ, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, each one of us can share in the love that is the life of the Blessed Trinity. 

Saint John goes on: “Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God” (1 Jn4:15). Through faith in the Son of God made man we abide in the very heart of God: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words open to us the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: the love and compassion of Jesus is the door through which the eternal love of the Father is poured out on the world. In celebrating this Mass of the Sacred Heart, let us open wide our own hearts to God’s saving mercy! 

2. In the Gospel reading which we have just heard, Saint Luke uses the figure of the Good Shepherd to speak of this divine love. The Good Shepherd is an image dear to Jesus in the Gospels. Answering the Pharisees who complained that he welcomed sinners by eating with them, the Lord asks them a question: Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? “And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them: 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep'” (Lk15:5-6). 

This parable highlights the joy of Christ and of our heavenly Father at every sinner who repents. God’s love is a love that searches us out. It is a love that saves. This is the love that we find in the Heart of Jesus.

[Pope John Paul II, homily in St Louis 27 January 1999]

0 Last modified on Sunday, 27 October 2024 03:55
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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Here is the entire Gospel! Here! The whole Gospel, all of Christianity, is here! But make sure that it is not sentiment, it is not being a “do-gooder”! (Pope Francis))
Qui c’è tutto il Vangelo! Qui! Qui c’è tutto il Vangelo, c’è tutto il Cristianesimo! Ma guardate che non è sentimento, non è “buonismo”! (Papa Francesco)
Christianity cannot be, cannot be exempt from the cross; the Christian life cannot even suppose itself without the strong and great weight of duty [Pope Paul VI]
Il Cristianesimo non può essere, non può essere esonerato dalla croce; la vita cristiana non può nemmeno supporsi senza il peso forte e grande del dovere [Papa Paolo VI]
The horizon of friendship to which Jesus introduces us is the whole of humanity [Pope Benedict]
L’orizzonte dell’amicizia in cui Gesù ci introduce è l’umanità intera [Papa Benedetto]
However, the equality brought by justice is limited to the realm of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him (Dives in Misericordia n.14)
L'eguaglianza introdotta mediante la giustizia si limita però all’ambito dei beni oggettivi ed estrinseci, mentre l'amore e la misericordia fanno si che gli uomini s'incontrino tra loro in quel valore che è l'uomo stesso, con la dignità che gli è propria (Dives in Misericordia n.14)
Since God has first loved us (cf. 1 Jn 4:10), love is now no longer a mere “command”; it is the response to the gift of love with which God draws near to us [Pope Benedict]
Siccome Dio ci ha amati per primo (cfr 1 Gv 4, 10), l'amore adesso non è più solo un « comandamento », ma è la risposta al dono dell'amore, col quale Dio ci viene incontro [Papa Benedetto]
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)

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