Psalm 14

Psalms 14:1 Psalm. Of David.

Lord, who shall dwell in your tent?

Who will dwell on your holy mountain?

Psalms 14:2 The one who walks without fault,

who acts justly and speaks truthfully,

Psalms 14:3 who does not take up a false charge against his neighbour,

does no wrong to his neighbour

or take up a reproach against his neighbour.

Psalms 14:4 The wicked are despised in his sight,

but honours those who fear the Lord.

Even if he swears to his own hurt, he does not change;

Psalms 14:5 He does not lend money at interest,

and does not accept gifts against the innocent.

He who walks in this way

will remain steadfast forever.

The psalm is by David. Through him, the Holy Spirit expressed these words. This psalm lists eleven actions that make a man righteous. Some of these actions, such as the prohibition of lending at interest or corruption in court, are provided for in the Torah, but others are not, demonstrating that David is a prophet who goes beyond the line of justice drawn by the Torah. From a cultic point of view, it is a liturgical psalm, a true 'penitential act' because the pilgrim had to have a purified soul in order to enter the temple. It is a gesture that is also performed at the beginning of Mass ('I confess to almighty God...') which precedes the actual celebration of the rite.

To enter the temple, the Torah required external purity, which was linked to the observance of certain practices. The psalmist goes further: God demands inner purity. God is interested in the heart of man, the purity of the heart. David manifests that law written in the hearts that will be fulfilled by Jesus. The psalm expresses the journey towards God, the arrival at the tent of the Lord, and the dwelling there. The pilgrim goes to the temple, but in the end he also dwells there, not in the sense of living in the temple but in the sense of meeting the Lord and having communion with Him. This is what we experience in the Eucharist.

The psalmist's questions - Who will dwell in your tent? Who will live on your holy mountain? - are questions about the future of man. Man does not live only in the present or in the historical future. He also lives for an eternal future, after his death. This future can be lived on the mountain of life that belongs to the Lord, or in the valley of perdition and death without the Lord. Who will dwell with the Lord for eternity? Who will dwell forever in his house? This question must be answered. The Psalm gives a very clear answer.

To live eternally with God, certain laws must be observed: walk blamelessly, practise justice, speak truth (v. 2). The first requirement ("He who walks blamelessly") conditions all the others. The Hebrew word 'tāmîm' means 'righteously'. Walk blamelessly (i.e. righteously) and practise justice... those who keep God's word and live in obedience to his commandments. Speak truth... those who are righteous, because only the righteous have God, who is truth, in their hearts. If man puts God in his heart, he will always speak the truth. But if God is not in the heart, or if one even thinks that he does not exist, what truth can one utter with one's mouth if it is absent from the heart? 

To ascend and dwell on the mountain of the Lord, one must always have a pure, holy tongue (v. 3). Never should it be used to spread slander, falsehoods or defamation. No harm should be done to one's neighbour, either physical or spiritual. No insults should be hurled at one's neighbour. One's neighbour must be helped, never trampled on, never insulted. One must live in peaceful brotherhood with one's neighbour.

Those who wish to ascend the mountain of the Lord must have no connection with the wicked (v. 4). The wicked must be considered despicable in their eyes. There must be no communion with them. Rather, those who fear the Lord must always be honoured. Those who wish to dwell with God must stay away from the ungodly and associate with those who fear the Lord.

Another necessary thing that must be done: one must keep one's oaths. One must always keep one's word, even if it is to one's detriment, even if it is against one's own interests. The righteous must always be righteous. Since they must dwell in the kingdom of light, theirs must be a path of light. How far removed is the conception of many Christians today from that of the psalmist. It is as if we had destroyed in a few years a heritage of truth built up over millennia.

Usury is a sin severely condemned by the Church, which has always been opposed to usurers, so much so that in the Middle Ages this type of lending was practised only by Jews. Verse 5 seems to have been written today. There is no place for usurers on the holy mountain of the Lord. They have fed, like thirsty vampires, on the blood of their fellow men, and there can be no place for them with God because there was no place in their hearts for the needy.

Nor shall those who take bribes against the innocent ascend the holy mountain of God. Those who condemn the innocent, whatever their motive, should know that there is no place for them on God's mountain. The problem of corruption in the judiciary was also topical in the Bible. Judges who received compensation ruled in favour of the strong and against the weak. The righteous, on the other hand, embrace the cause of the innocent without monetary incentives. If Christians had the courage to proclaim these ancient truths, the world would breathe a different light. Unfortunately, Christians preach salvation at a low price, indeed at no price, even at the price of sin, and the world is plunging into chaos for lack of truth and morality.

The psalm, with all its very concrete requests, highlights that liturgy and life, prayer and existence, must never be separated. A Christian who limits himself to going to Mass on Sundays is not a good Christian, because the practice of worship cannot be separated from works. There would be a huge divide between his prayer (liturgy) and his life (existence).

The content of the psalm leads us not to have a magical view of liturgy and prayer; the psalmist wants to instil the concept that liturgy-prayer without consistency in life is empty. The acts indicated in these verses are not to be performed upon entering the temple; rather, they are behaviours that must characterise the life of the believer. Furthermore, our faith cannot be an intimate one [me and my God] because our relationship with God is valid precisely because others exist. If we do not live in a community, we cannot even love the Lord.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

Psalm 18

Psalms 18:1 To the choir director. A psalm of David.

Psalms 18:2 The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the work of his hands proclaims the firmament.

Psalms 18:3 Day to day pours forth speech

and night to night conveys its message.

Psalms 18:4 There is no speech, nor are there words

whose voice is not heard.

Psalms 18:5 Their voice goes out into all the earth

and their words to the ends of the world.

Psalms 18:6 He has set a tent for the sun

which comes forth as a bridegroom from his chamber,

and rejoices like a young man running his course.

Psalms 18:7 He rises from one end of the heavens

and his way reaches to the ends of the earth;

nothing is hidden from his heat.

This psalm has been divided by the liturgy into 18 A and 18 B. The first part of the psalm (vv. 2-7) is a song to the Creator of the universe. In the second part (vv. 8-15), there is a hymn to the Torah, that is, to the divine law, to the word of the Lord. The two parts of the psalm deal with how man can attain knowledge of God; first by deduction, observing the visible heavens, and then through the teaching of the Torah, the Word of God. These are respectively the material and spiritual spheres. The unity between the two parts is achieved through the symbolism of the sun: without the physical light of the sun and the spiritual light of the Word of God, there would be no life on earth. God reveals himself to all by illuminating the universe with the splendour of the sun and enlightens the faithful with the radiance of his Word contained in his revealed law. It is significant, in fact, that the law, in the second part of the Psalm, is outlined with solar attributes: As the sun gives physical light to the earth (vv. 6-7), so the law is the lamp that gives spiritual light to man (vv. 8-9).

The order, beauty and harmony of the universe proclaim the glory of God. The firmament proclaims itself to be the work of God's hands. The existence of the heavens is a song to the glory of God. Those who look at the firmament cannot but confess that it is the work of the Lord's hands. The majesty of creation provides proof of a Creator God even more majestic than creation itself. Those who do not see the infinite beauty of their Creator in the beauty of creation are fools. But those who are not fools raise a great hymn of praise to the Creator.

The day that passes on conveys the news that there is a Creator to the day that comes, entrusting it to it so that it may pass it on in turn. Even the night that passes on conveys the news to the night that comes, so that it too may proclaim this truth and pass it on in turn to the night that follows it. No day wants the other day to forget its Lord, and so no night wants the other night to stop telling of God's wonders. The truth of God must remain stable forever.

Day and night silently pass on the news to each other. No one hears them speak. They pass on the news naturally, by the fact of succeeding each other, of being. It is enough for the night to rise and the starry sky to shine in all its splendour, and immediately the hymn of praise to its Creator and Lord begins. It is enough for the day to dawn and the contemplation of God's works becomes a song of praise and blessing to its Author. This truth should also apply to man. All it takes is for a man to come into the world for a hymn of thanksgiving to be sung to his Maker and God. There is no greater miracle in nature than the birth of a new human life. Yet man is the only being who does not pass on this news.

There is no place on earth where day and night do not sing the glory of the Lord. From every corner of the universe, the extraordinary greatness of God appears. From every corner of the universe, the hymn of glory and blessing rises to God. The message of creation concerning the glory of God reaches all nations and is understandable to all.

In the sky there is something extraordinarily beautiful, great and luminous. God has set the sun in the sky (v. 6). It is as if the sun were at the centre of God's works. It is as if it were the most excellent work. Its light and warmth reflect God's power. The sun is also compared to a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. It is the image of the bridegroom who loves his bride and is loved by her. The sun rises to give joy and warmth to the whole earth. It rises to awaken it from its night-time slumber. It rises to bring it back to life. The sun is the material life of the earth. That is why it is a symbol of God. The sun rises and completes its cycle to give life to the whole earth. So is God. He rises and comes to bring his light of truth to all men.

The sun passes and the earth is warmed. God is the eternal light that gives life and warmth. But above all, he gives the life of truth to every man. The sun is a symbol of God, but above all it is a symbol of the Word of God. It is the Word of God that is the true light that enlightens every man. Just as plants and animals and even human beings draw their life from the warmth of the sun, so the Word of God must generate life in every human being. It is enough to listen to it, to live it. It is enough to let ourselves be warmed by its light and life will blossom within us. Nothing else needs to be done. It is enough just to live it, to absorb it. The light of the sun is absorbed. The light of the Word of God must also be absorbed. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Gal 6:14-18)

Galatians 6:14 As for me, may I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, as I have been to the world.

While others can boast because they are good, because they have many disciples, because they observe the law, because they are circumcised, Paul says: I would like to boast of one thing, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is Paul's spiritual programme. Every action, every gesture must serve only to fulfil his fundamental choice: the choice to be crucified with Christ and to crucify the world in Christ. A crucified man is a cursed man, but a man crucified in Christ is blessed and chosen by heaven. From Christ onwards, the cross, a sign of death, will be carried as a sign of life and glory. Whoever looks to the One who was pierced will be saved.

The cross is the opposite of pride; it is ignominy. It is like saying, 'I boast of the worst thing there is, because the cross is the worst thing there is.' Paul boasts of the cross because in the cross he understood the essence of God; he understood that on the cross the Lord Jesus loved us. This is the boast of the Christian: to understand the mystery of the cross and to understand the mystery of God's love. Those who understand this love say: I am crucified for the world; but what does it mean that I am crucified for the world? The world for me died through the cross; it no longer has its charm, it no longer has its appeal, because I no longer live for myself, for my selfishness, for my old self; I live for this love that He gives me freely, so I am dead to myself, I live for Him; it is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me; the life I live in the flesh, I live in the love of the Lord who loved me and gave himself for me.

Those who choose the cross give themselves fully to the Lord, and this gift is not expressed in doing this or that, but in making themselves available to the Lord, in listening to His will. Choosing the cross means renouncing one's own plans, ideas, thoughts and views, so that the Spirit can guide our lives where and when He wants. Thus, to crucify the world means that we deny it, condemn it, reject it, bury it so that it no longer reigns over us, so that it does not invade our lives, so that it does not tempt us and make us abandon Christ, the only source of life and blessing.

This world is the world of the flesh, of sin and death, which stands in contrast to the new creation in Christ. We crucify the world by removing from our hearts its thoughts, its ideas, every influence and every feeling that contrasts with the will of God expressed and manifested in the word of Christ. The world is crucified by openly condemning its works, its opposition to God, its satanic will to oppose everything that is a moral reference point in human conduct. Today we condemn the world... but do we crucify it? The answer is no. We do not crucify it because we have conformed to its thinking, which is the thinking of Satan and not of Christ.

In this, the Church must acknowledge many failures among her children. They live by rituals but not by faith; by functions but not by the Word; by traditions but not by holiness; they live by outward appearances and formalities but not by listening to the Word of Christ. The world does not crucify itself unless it lives by faith, by the Word, by listening, by holiness, by great interiority, by the constant motion of the Holy Spirit.

"The world has been crucified to me, as I to the world." Paul is crucified, that is, dead to this old world of evil, which is unable to separate him from Christ, and he himself has been crucified to the world, since the world can take nothing from him except the testimony of the cross of Christ. This is the profound experience that Paul offers to everyone, and this is what he boasts about, this is what it is right to boast about, and may heaven grant that we may all boast about this.

If the disciple of Jesus does not crucify the world, he will not be crucified by the world. The two crucifixions are the cause of each other. The disciple of Jesus crucifies the world, the world crucifies the disciple of Jesus. First, the disciple of Jesus must choose to follow Christ faithfully, and it is in this choice that the world is crucified, but it is also in the realisation of this choice that the world crucifies the Christian. Everything therefore depends on the disciple of Jesus, and if the world does not crucify us, it is a sign that we have not crucified the world.

Therefore, it is very easy to know whether we are of Christ or not. We need only observe how the world treats us. If the world crucifies us, it is a clear sign that we have crucified the world. When the world no longer crucifies us, it is clear that we have slowed down our journey in faith, or even strayed from the right path and immersed ourselves (too) in the thoughts and logic of the world.

In this verse, Paul summarises the profound experience of Christian life and the core of the entire Letter to the Galatians, namely the meaning of the cross as a source of pride, as glory, as a revelation of God and as a radical change of life: the old man dies and the new man is born, whose measure is the love of God and no longer his own selfishness and desires.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon) 

(Mt 16:13-19)

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

Matthew 16:14 They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?

Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'

Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

Matthew 16:18 And I say to you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The Gospels are not works written in haste, but the meticulousness with which they were composed and structured indicates that they were studied and composed at length by people who were truly skilled and capable in the art of narrative and communication. They are works of great intellectual depth and have purely theological, doctrinal and pastoral purposes.

In this passage, Peter solemnly and elaborately confesses that Jesus is the true Messiah and the true Son of God. However, the passage is also one of the most discussed and contested in the history of Christianity since the Protestant Reformation, because of the words that Jesus spoke to Peter, which conferred incredible authority on him. On the one hand, therefore, there is the Catholic world, which sees in it the theological and divine foundation of the papacy; on the other, the Protestant world, which seeks to diminish its significance, often grasping at straws. Unfortunately, time and space do not allow us to deal with this issue.

Jesus introduces his disciples to the truth about himself through a seemingly simple question that appears to be thrown out there. He asks what people say about the Son of Man, that is, about him, Jesus. Verses 13-14 report the rumours circulating about him, a sort of homemade statistical survey, which results in a summary of titles that highlight the complex and multifaceted mystery of his person: John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, a prophet. We are at the heart of the Christological question of Matthew's Gospel, which sees two groups of people in confrontation: the men, who are strangers to the group of disciples, and the disciples themselves. The former propose solutions according to the Old Testament pattern; the latter point to a new perspective. It is therefore a confrontation between a group that bases its understanding of Jesus on the Old Testament, and thus tends to explain Jesus according to the patterns of the past, and a group that, breaking away and opposing the first, points to Jesus as the new salvific event of the Father. This confrontation takes place in Caesarea Philippi.

The city stood at the foot of Mount Hermon, near the source of Nahr Banyas, one of the three sources of the Jordan River, one of which was believed to be the gateway to the kingdom of death. In Hellenistic times, the cave from which the river sprang was sacred to the Greek god Pan. Jesus takes his disciples as far away as possible from the influence of the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Peter's confession takes place in a pagan area.

The people, seeing the miracles that Jesus performed, thought he was one of those extraordinary figures who were to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus is considered a man of the past, and if he is a man of the past, he will certainly perform the same works that all those servants of the Lord performed in the past. The people's response indicates their inability to detach themselves from the Old Testament canons; they cannot read reality except through the filter of the Mosaic Law.

Even today, people want Jesus to be like all other men. If he is like all other men, he cannot do anything special. He will do what all other men do, in the manner of all other men. Man, instinctively, is accustomed to thinking of God, the Lord Jesus, in all his religious categories, finding a place for him in his filing cabinet.

"But who do you say that I am?" Jesus is not interested in what people think. Jesus is interested in his disciples knowing who he is, because every falsehood they introduce into his Person and his mission will have consequences for all humanity. The salvation of humanity is linked to the truth about Jesus.

Peter gives an immediate answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Messiah of God. The Messiah of God is the Son of the living God. We are at the summit of Christological faith: Jesus is not the Baptist raised from the dead, he is not Elijah, nor Jeremiah or one of the ancient prophets, a view that tends to bring the event of Jesus back within the more understandable and comfortable Jewish faith, but he is 'the Christ, the Son of the living God'. Jesus is not a man of the past. In Christ there is a mystery that goes far beyond all of Israel's past. In Christ there is something completely new. Jesus is not only the Messiah of Israel. He is the Messiah of Israel because he is the Son of the living God.

Calling Jesus 'Son of God' redefines the very term 'Messiah', recognising him not simply as a man sent by God, but as God himself, who becomes incarnate in Jesus and whose divine nature is recognised, so that Jesus becomes the 'Davar' of the Father. The Hebrew term 'davar' means 'word', but not in the sense of a simple voice or sound, but as a word that is also action, in which speaking and acting coincide. The Davar, therefore, designates an event that is accomplished through the Word and in the Word itself; a Word that becomes an event. For this reason, Jesus can be defined and considered as the very action of the Father.

Linking together the two titles "Christ and Son of God" constitutes the summit of Christological faith, since it means bringing together the messianic expectations in the shocking novelty of the divine sonship of the man Jesus, who is thus also confessed as God. It means attributing to the Messiah, always conceived as a man, the very divinity of Yahweh.

In response to the profession of faith, which reveals the true identity of Jesus, Peter is declared blessed. Blessedness has always signified the close relationship between man and God. Man is declared blessed because he is overshadowed by the presence of God. Blessed, therefore, indicates a kind of election that God bestows on his faithful, but it also indicates the choice that man has made in favour of God, placing himself on his side. In any case, it is a relationship and a privileged condition in which the blessed person is placed. Peter's declaration of blessedness, therefore, places Peter within the very sacredness of God and defines him as a kind of person consecrated to Him.

Peter's blessedness, therefore, depends on a divine election, which has allowed him to access the mysteries of the saving plan being fulfilled in Jesus. This is why Peter is blessed, because he is made a participant in the saving plan and, therefore, placed in a condition of divine privilege. Particularly interesting is the contrast between the two expressions 'flesh and blood' and 'my Father in heaven'. It is as if to say that the mystery of the person of Jesus cannot be attained by human efforts, since this mystery far surpasses them, being hidden in the very secret of the Father who is in heaven. Understanding Jesus is therefore a gift from above, a revelation that is realised only if man places himself before God in a humble attitude of welcoming faith, without pretending to understand, since God gives but does not allow himself to be robbed. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

Body and Blood of Christ

(1 Cor 11:23-26)

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread

1 Corinthians 11:24 and, having given thanks, broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 11:25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Paul hands down to us the ancient account of the institution of the Eucharist. "I received... I handed on" is the technical formula for speaking of things handed down: it is the tradition that is handed on. Paul did not receive it from men. He clearly states that his source is the Lord himself. Jesus himself taught him what happened at the Last Supper. An important detail is specified in this transmission. Jesus instituted the Eucharist on the night he was betrayed. There is an opposition between Christ and Judas. Judas betrays the Lord and hands him over to the high priest who wanted to kill him. Jesus, on the other hand, hands himself over to the whole world so that through him it may receive life.

In the Eucharist, read in the context of Judas' betrayal, we understand the greatness of the gesture that Jesus made. It is a handing over, both that of Judas and that of Christ. Judas hands him over to evil, to those who wanted to kill him; Jesus, on the other hand, hands himself over to humanity under the species of bread and wine. Jesus' gesture of giving himself begins with taking the bread in his hands. What happens does not happen accidentally; it happens by will. Jesus wanted to institute the Eucharist and he did so by taking the bread in his hands and raising it from the table.

Jesus gives thanks for the bread he holds in his hands. This is important because one can take it without giving thanks, saying, 'It is mine'—that is, stealing it, not recognising that it is a gift from the Father. 'Gave thanks' is the Greek word 'eucharistēsas', from which we get 'Eucharist'. Together with giving thanks, Jesus performs another rite on the bread: he breaks it. Breaking bread is the first great sign of communion. Everyone eats from a single loaf.

Not only does Jesus take the bread, give thanks, and break it, but he also says something unheard of. No one had ever said such a thing before: that bread is his body, and this body is for them. Jesus gives himself as nourishment for his disciples under the appearance of bread. The eye sees bread, the touch feels bread, the taste tastes bread, but the soul eats the body of Christ, true, real, substantial.

"Do this in memory of me." Not only are the disciples invited to take the bread that is the body of Christ and eat it. From this moment on, they themselves must do what Christ has done. They too must take the bread, give thanks, break it and say the same words as Jesus Christ, they must say them in his name, with his authority. Jesus' command to the apostles is a true act of handing over authority to do what he did. When the priest gathers the community and takes the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and pronounces the same words spoken by Jesus, he does exactly what Jesus did in the Upper Room: he transforms that piece of bread into the body of Christ. This is the miracle that takes place in the Eucharist.

Outwardly, everything seems the same as before. But the senses deceive us. They cannot see beyond; we need a spirit formed in the true faith to grasp the truth of that gesture and lead us to a profound act of faith in the mystery that Christ accomplished in the Upper Room, and above all in the other mystery, namely, the power he gave his apostles to do the same in his memory, acting in the name and person of Christ.

What Jesus did for the bread, he also does for the chalice, symbol of the blood that inaugurates the new covenant. He performs the same gestures on the chalice as he did on the bread. Every sacrifice in the old Law involved the violent death of the animal being sacrificed. By making his body a sacrifice, Jesus anticipates his death on the cross. The next day, he is made a 'sacrifice of atonement' for humanity.

The Eucharist is the new covenant, because God gives his life for man while man kills him. Therefore, this covenant can no longer be broken. If you kill me, I give my life for you, so you can no longer break this covenant, and it is in this covenant that we know who God is: infinite love. In the old Law, blood was sprinkled. God was symbolised by the altar on which the blood was poured, while the people were sprinkled with it. Thus, God and the people were united by a blood covenant.With Christ, blood is shed for the new covenant, but unlike the blood of calves and goats, which united God and the people, this time it is the blood of God that unites the people to God, but not by sprinkling, but by ingestion—it is drunk. Jesus' disciple is invited to drink the blood of Christ, which is the blood of God. He is invited to drink it in order to make a covenant with God. According to the Law, blood was life, and it is the life of Christ that the disciple drinks in order to become what Christ is: divine and eternal life, holy and true life.

We must understand the enormous value that all this has in the Church. It is not a ritual: it is life. Then there are people who go to Mass because they like the priest, because he celebrates a beautiful Mass: they go to Mass for something else, not because they like the priest!

Twice Jesus says, 'Do this'. It is an imperative: this is to be done!

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul sees the believer in a state of grace. He expresses this state of grace with: "[we are] justified"; justification has been accomplished. This is the truth that Paul proclaims. The passage from life to death, from sin to grace, takes place, has taken place, and will always take place through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ, through his death and resurrection, has given us the effects of his work; we have been "justified." By using the aorist passive participle (= having been justified), Paul emphasises that this work now belongs to us. He alludes to a specific moment in the life of Christians that belongs to the past: baptism. This is a fundamental biblical fact.

We are justified "ek pisteōs", "by faith". It is a movement from a place and indicates the source from which this justification flows. Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the sacramental place where this justification takes place, which is accessed through faith and not through the works of the law. We are justified the moment we believe and accept Jesus Christ as the one and only Word of eternal life.

What happens when our justification is accomplished? We are at peace with God. The author of salvation is also the author of peace: there is no true peace except in Christ. This peace was established when we, enemies of God, were reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Peace is not a state of inner balance, nor is it our peaceful behaviour. Peace is the restoration of our relationship with God, because we are reconciled as a result of justification.

When we are at peace with God, we also find peace with other people; we also find peace with creation, which we are called to protect and cultivate, as it has been entrusted to our care by God so that we may make it a home where people can live with dignity, wisdom and joy. The mistake of man today is to think that there can be peace among men and with creation while man remains in his falsehood and sin. Peace comes only from justification and as long as man lives justified. 

We are at peace if we are in Christ, we are at peace if we live in the Word of Christ, we are at peace only through Christ. This is the cry that Paul makes resound in his churches, so that they may be convinced that outside of Christ no peace will ever be possible. It is an illusion to think of peace without justification, to think of peace outside of Christ. Peace is Christ, it is in Christ, it is through Christ. He is the way through which a person can go in peace towards another person. Those who exclude Christ close the door to true peace. Without Christ there can never be peace, because people are not in the truth.

Faith, therefore, is faith in God who has made Christ the only way to salvation. So our faith is in God, but it only becomes effective if it is faith in the work of Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ are one principle of faith, one faith that saves. There is no faith in the Father that is not faith in the Son, and there is no faith in the Son that is not faith in the Father. This unity must always be safeguarded, proclaimed and defended.

It is through this faith that we obtain the gift of peace, because it is through this faith that we are justified, that is, God cancels our debt, makes us his children in Christ, and restores us to his friendship. This is peace.

It should be noted that Jesus Christ is called Kyrios - Lord - to indicate the sovereignty, the divine nature of the Messiah. Kyrios is a term repeatedly used in the Septuagint for Yahweh, and accredits Jesus as the Emmanuel, God with us.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books:

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Rom 8:8-17)

Romans 8:8 Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:9 But you are not under the control of the flesh, but under the control of the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to him.

Paul does not want anyone to be under any illusions: those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. This is the truth. From the acceptance of this truth arises in us the possibility of a new path. If, on the other hand, we allow ourselves to be conquered by illusion, everything ends; every path upwards becomes impossible, and will always be impossible as long as man has the illusion of pleasing God, while God does not like him because he is guided and led by his flesh.

The flesh wants self-affirmation and the annulment of God; it wants the deification of man and, consequently, the removal of man from God. Those who live according to the flesh are in revolt against God; indeed, God is considered an enemy, the one who takes away space from man because he wants to rule his life. In order to affirm himself in his flesh, he wants the death of God.

This drama became reality with Jesus Christ. He was crucified, condemned to death, because his presence required the death of the flesh in which man had fallen. The flesh killed God, hung him on the wood of the cross, and took him away. This opposition between the flesh and God will accompany man throughout his life, then it will be transformed either into eternal death or eternal life, either forever far from God or forever close to God.

We can and must please God, because we are not under the dominion of the flesh, but under the dominion of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us: 'But you are not under the dominion of the flesh'. Through baptism, man has died to the dominion of the flesh and has risen with Christ to new life. This is the truth that every Christian must make his own. Through baptism, a change of kingdom has taken place, from the kingdom of the flesh to the kingdom of the Spirit. This passage is real and true, even if it remains to be fulfilled until the end, until the resurrection of the body. This faith must be the light that moves every action of the Christian, the force that drives him towards the conquest of full freedom in Christ. He is now free; slavery is over, and the long, arduous journey full of dangers that will lead him to his heavenly homeland, in complete freedom from all slavery, has begun.

"...but of the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you." The truth that Paul never ceases to remind us is that Christians are under the dominion of the Spirit, and this is attested to by the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in them. However, Paul does not say "since," but "eiper," "if indeed," or "if this is so." Paul likes to insinuate doubt, to make us more attentive and more solicitous of the things of God.

There is now only one principle of life that must reign in Christians, and this principle is the very life of God that must become the life of believers. The flesh is falsehood, selfishness, disobedience, and separation from God. The Spirit, on the other hand, creates freedom, love, communion, obedience, submission to God; it creates in man the death of his flesh that makes him a slave to sin. This is the mission of the Spirit in the Christian. For this reason, every baptised person in whom the Spirit of the Lord dwells cannot be under the dominion of the flesh, because the Spirit is the destruction of the flesh. When we speak of being in the flesh or in the Spirit, we touch on the ontology of the believer and, therefore, his very essence, and we highlight how being a believer and being baptised deeply involve the person at every level, making him a new creature.

"If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him." This is an obvious and trivial statement, were it not for the fact that we too easily presume to belong to Christ. If the Spirit brings about the destruction of the flesh, if the Spirit creates the new man, if the Spirit leads the believer to the fullness of life and truth, it is also true that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ cannot belong to Christ. He does not belong to Christ because he belongs to the flesh, and even if Christ bought him at a high price by shedding his blood on the cross, if man has fallen back and returned of his own free will under the dominion of the flesh, this man cannot belong to Christ. Belonging to Christ is not simply a matter of belonging due to the fact that through the sacrament of baptism man has left the dominion of the flesh to enter that of the Spirit. This is an initial, incipient belonging. It is necessary that this belonging be transformed into the habitual dwelling place of the Spirit within us. We are Christ's, we belong to Him because He bought us with His most precious blood, but we can freely leave this belonging through our surrender to sin and death.In this case, the Spirit no longer dwells in us and we are no longer Christ's, we no longer belong to him. Therefore, true belonging to Christ is only that which is transformed into the habitual dwelling place of the Spirit. Any other belonging is not true, it is false, because the Spirit does not guide our steps, does not enlighten our minds.

Here, then, is the whole purpose of preaching, evangelisation, and the celebration of the sacraments: to belong to God not through sacramentalisation, not through aggregation, not because we are the visible Church, but through listening, through fulfilling His will, through realising His word. This work can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)   

(Luke 24:46-53; Acts 1:1-11)

Luke 24:46 "Thus it is written, Christ shall suffer and rise from the dead on the third day

Luke 24:47 and in his name shall be preached to all nations repentance and forgiveness of sins, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:48 Of this you are witnesses.

Luke 24:49 And I will send upon you that which my Father has promised; but you remain in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high."

Luke 24:50 Then he led them out to Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

Luke 24:51 While he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.

Acts 1:4 While he was at table with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait until the promise of the Father was fulfilled, "the one," he said, "which you have heard from me:

Acts 1:5 John baptized with water; ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence."

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power from the Holy Spirit who will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth".

From Jerusalem, in an expansive manner, the proclamation of salvation spreads, embracing the whole of humanity. The centrality of Jerusalem is evident in Luke from the very beginning of his Gospel, which opens in the very heart of Jerusalem, the Temple, and at the most sacred moment, that of worship, and around which the entire childhood of Jesus revolves. Now, with v. 48 there is the investiture of the entire apostolic group as official witnesses of the events of salvation, of which they are constituted depositaries. In other words, the apostolic group receives the mandate for its mission, being constituted in authority by the Risen One Himself. An investiture from which not only the mission is generated, but also serves as the constitutive foundation of the Church itself, which originates precisely from the mandate of the Risen One.

In the face of the entrustment of the mission, placed at the foundation of the Church, constituting it in authority with God and with men, v. 49 foreshadows how this mission will take full effect with the anointing of the Holy Spirit: "And I will send upon you that which my Father has promised". Jesus does not mention the Holy Spirit, but only the "promise of my Father".

Luke defines the Holy Spirit as the "promise of the Father", although nowhere in Luke's Gospel does such a promise appear in explicit terms. In order to understand which promise Luke is referring to and where it is mentioned in his Gospel, it is necessary to continue the search in Acts 1:4-5 where he says that "While he was at table with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait until the promise of the Father was fulfilled that, he said, which you have heard from me: John baptised with water, but you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit not many days from now". The reference here is to Lk 3:16: "John answered and said to them all, 'I baptise you with water; but there cometh one mightier than I, unto whom I am not worthy to untie even the strap of his sandals: he shall baptise you in the Holy Ghost and fire'. A promise, which will see its fulfilment in Acts 1:8 where it speaks of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. 

The end of Luke's Gospel is here touching the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles and joining with these. The extremes, therefore, touch each other and join them, creating a sort of communicating vessels in which the event Jesus, now Risen, pours himself into the Church, continuing in it his saving action. 

The promise of the Father - the gift of the Holy Spirit - is followed by the recommendation: "remain in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high". The city spoken of is clearly Jerusalem, the place of the fulfilment of the mystery of salvation, brought about in the death-resurrection of Jesus, but whose efficacy finds its full fulfilment only in the gift of the Holy Spirit, who is the power of God working in those who believe. 

Luke closes his Gospel in an unusual way with respect to evangelical tradition, recounting Jesus' ascension into heaven. He is the only one among the evangelists to make a separate specific treatment of it. 

The ascension puts an end to Jesus' activity in Jerusalem, to leave it as an inheritance to his own. This is why Jesus performs a blessing action (v. 50), the meaning of which is to transmit his spiritual inheritance on the apostolic community, which will have to continue its mission, precisely starting from Jerusalem. The blessing placed on the apostolic group closely recalls the Genesis image of the creation of man, on whom God placed his blessing, accompanied by the command to be fruitful and multiply, filling the whole earth. This is the mission with which the entire apostolic group was invested, and the blessing is therefore not to be understood as a simple and touching gesture of greeting, but imprints on that germinal group of the nascent church the sign of divine fruitfulness. The term blessing in Hebrew is, in fact, 'berakah', which derives from 'berek', meaning 'knee', a euphemism for the genital organs, which are the organs in charge of generation and therefore, by their nature and function, synonymous with fertility. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul - Romans 9-11

(Buyable on Amazon)                                                                           

6th Easter Sunday (year C)

(Rev 21,10-14.22-23)

Revelation 21:10 And the angel carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, shining with the glory of God.

Revelation 21:11 Its radiance is like that of a most precious gem, like a crystalline jasper stone.

Revelation 21:12 The city is enclosed by a great and high wall with twelve gates: over these gates stand twelve angels and names written, the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

An angel leads John to contemplate in vision the bride, the wife of the Lamb, on a high mountain, in order to be able to admire the city from above, emphasising the importance and transcendent character of the bride. In order to be able to contemplate this revelation, a special influence of the Spirit is needed, which drives one upwards, in the direction of the divine. The great and high mountain is indeed the place of God's revelation, see for instance Moses ascending Mount Nebo from where God shows him the land of Canaan. 

The holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem, descends from heaven, 'resplendent with the glory of God'. The first indication the angel gives us could not be higher. Coming from God, the bridal city possesses his 'glory'. The risen Christ, the only proper bearer of the Father's glory, has communicated this glory to his city-bride. Particularly enlightening is a reference to the fourth Gospel, where, referring to all those who believe in him, Jesus expresses himself as follows: "And the glory that you have given to me, I have given to them, that they may be as we are one" (Jn 17:22). 

God has clothed Jerusalem with his glory, and God's glory is his divinity. Jerusalem has been as if deified by God, clothed with his light, cloaked with the redemption of Christ the light of the world.  

It is important to know the concept of the city. To speak of the city is to speak of the dynamic that has sustained human history, beginning with the building of the first city at the time of Cain, who "became the builder of a city" (Gen 4:17). Human history can be depicted as the history of the building of a city, which, from Cain onwards, takes on troubling characteristics. Cain, after killing his brother, sets up a reality that has its charm, as a place where a civilisation develops, but carries within it a seed of violence, which, however hidden, invariably explodes when the time comes. Revelation also speaks of the fall of Babylon, in which "the blood was found ... of all those who were slain on earth" (Rev 18:24); the blood of all the slain from Abel onwards, the blood of all the rejected brothers: the city, from Cain onwards, is built on a foundation soaked in that blood. Now, the new Jerusalem is shown, which in its name recalls the ancient Jerusalem, a city that in the history of salvation saw the blood of Christ shed, but which carried within itself a sacramental value, a promise: God wants to manifest himself and bring to fulfilment his nuptial intentions with humanity.    

The illumination of the new city is placed in correspondence with the reflection of a precious gem, whose extraordinary quality - 'most precious' - and splendour is emphasised. What depicts what is most beautiful is used to describe the magnificence of Jerusalem. What is more beautiful than a most precious gemstone and a crystalline jasper stone? Nothing. What is more beautiful than God? Nothing. God is beauty itself, he is the author of all beauty. Jerusalem is clothed in the same beauty as God.  

"As a crystalline jasper stone": Jasper is a beautiful, precious stone, of different colours, mostly reddish, sometimes green, brown, blue, yellow and white, which communicates a sense of beauty and joy. The city is built in such a way as to attract, and this is precisely because the glory of God dwells in it.    

The inevitable comparison is with the 'old' Jerusalem which, with its monarchy, temple and priesthood had become the symbol of the people, of the covenant with God and of the divine dwelling among men. The renewal of the city means the renewal of the covenant. John, using biblical symbols and apocalyptic language, announces the newness of the covenant, the new relationship with God.    

The great and high wall indicates delimitation and at the same time stability, security and protection, but not closure; for twelve, three for each cardinal point, are the openings that connect the city with the rest of the world.

The twelve angels indicate angelic protection, they stand guard over the twelve gates like sentinels. Since the city is of heavenly origin, it must have heavenly guardians. According to Gen 3:24, the cherubim were the guardians of Eden, the garden of God, and since the new Jerusalem is the eschatological counterpart of Eden, the angelic guards at its gates are definitely appropriate. The wall, the gates, the guards, were for the protection and defence of the city; here, where there is no longer any fear of enemies, it all stands for the idea of the perfect peace and security enjoyed by the saved, because nothing dangerous will ever enter the holy city. 

The twelve gates have the written names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, although the names are not specified, because John is interested in the symbolic meaning of the number twelve and not in the individual tribes. The many gates emphasise the importance of access to the city. The association of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel with the gates of the new Jerusalem, signifies that the Old Testament is the gate necessary to enter into faith in Christ, but it also signifies that God has not denied his people, they are an integral part of the new Jerusalem. John alludes to the perfect continuity between the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament Church.

One enters the city of God through the gate of revelation that God gave to the patriarchs of Israel. The culmination of this revelation is Jesus Christ. Old and New Testament are the one and only revelation of God, the one and only Word of the Lord, the one and only way of salvation and redemption for all mankind. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul - Romans 9-11

(Buyable on Amazon)

5th Easter Sunday (year C)

(Rev 21:1-5a)

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

Revelation 21:2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, from God, ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

John contemplates the fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth" (Is 65:17; 66:22). God had already manifested his will to make a new heaven and a new earth in the context of the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian exile, celebrating a new splendour for Jerusalem like the joy of a bride preparing for her wedding. Revelation takes up the imagery to announce the fulfilment: the dwelling place of sinful humanity must undergo a transformation that will make it fit to be the dwelling place of a renewed and holy humanity. The apocalyptic concept of the re-creation of heaven and earth finds an anthropological application with the Apostle Paul, who speaks of Christians as a "new creation" (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).  

John also says that "the sea was no more", that is, the presence of the negative and evil, synonymous with the demonic, is no more. The sea represents dangers, chaos. Recall the primeval abyss of Gn 1:2 ("darkness covered the abyss") and the waters of the flood of Gn 7:11 ("all the springs of the great deep erupted"). The chaotic and disturbing power from which the satanic beast had emerged (Rev 13:1) disappears. The sea will also separate and keep peoples apart from one another, while future humanity will form one family.

In this new heaven and new earth, even Jerusalem, the city of God, his dwelling place on earth, will be new. The Greek adjective "kainēn" is not meant to indicate a chronological newness, but a qualitative newness: something that never existed before. Jerusalem, descending from the new heaven onto the new earth, adorned like a bride awaiting her bridegroom to celebrate the wedding. John recapitulates the whole unfolding of human history in the manner of a bride leaving her father's house to meet her bridegroom. The image of the bride indicates that the relationship with God is based on love and service, and no longer on laws and rituals.  

The bride is not Israel, a people who regarded the Kingdom as a human achievement based on religious merit, but is the new humanity that possesses the Spirit, recreated by Jesus. The new Jerusalem is all the righteous, the saints, the martyrs; it is the glorious society of the resurrected in glory, triumphantly ascending to heaven, descending to celebrate the eternal wedding with the Lamb and take possession of the new creation. The new Jerusalem is the glorious Church in each of her children. Glorious in soul, but also in body, which has been resurrected and created new in everything like the glorious body of Christ. The Bride (nymphēn) is ready for the Bridegroom because the consummation of the wedding takes place in the glory of the resurrection.

For the saints of the Lord, there will no longer be any possibility of falling into disobedience, since they are made one in Christ, and this unity between God and his creatures takes place through the celebration of an eternal marriage, of which the earthly one is only an image. It no longer matters to be a man or a woman, the marriage takes place not on the level of the individual but on the level of the human race. We might ask ourselves what sense it can have in eternity to still be man or woman made not for each other but both for the Lord. The answer is given to us by Jesus himself when he says that in the kingdom of heaven there will be neither those who marry nor those who are married but we will all be like angels. With regard to the angels, however, it must be understood that there is a spiritual diversity whereby they are divided into groups and even hierarchies, of which Scripture gives us some names: principalities, powers, dominions, thrones, etc. Therefore, while there is only one way of relating to Christ, the relationship that follows cannot be uniform and undifferentiated.

The new Jerusalem indicates both the people of God in their fullness of glory and the new environment in which they find themselves. Thus what on earth was the 'holy city', made so by belonging to God and the presence of the temple, now becomes the new Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is surpassed, the 'new' Jerusalem, in fact, does not have, like the first, an earthly origin: it comes directly from 'heaven'. Whereas Jerusalem was the centre of God's kingdom on earth, the new Jerusalem is the centre of God's new kingdom in the new heavens and new earth. New are the heavens, new is the earth, new is the kingdom, new is the capital city of the kingdom. New is everything that belongs to this kingdom and this creation. 

The new Jerusalem, because it descends from heaven, is of divine origin: God is the architect and builder of the city. It is 'holy' because it is consecrated to God. St. Paul also speaks of the Jerusalem up there and calls it our mother, indicating how for the Christian community the new creation has already begun. 

The new Jerusalem does not remain in heaven, in transcendence, it is seen as 'descending', and descent indicates a movement towards immanence. But immanence is no longer what it was before; now it is adapted to accommodate the divine. John sees this Jerusalem descending from heaven with an ongoing action ('katabainousan' is a present participle), in other words, the new Jerusalem is not created out of nothing and instantly. Moreover, God's own action is paralleled by an action proper to God's people - the 'bride' of the Lamb - who throughout the course of history make their wedding garments to prepare for the wedding.  

The symbolism of the new Jerusalem is complex. It symbolises the saints, but at the same time it is distinct from the saints: the city is "like" a bride; if it is like a bride, it is not the bride, or at least it is not only the bride. It is both city and bride; city insofar as it represents the dwelling place or glorious state of the saved after the final judgement; bride insofar as it personifies the inhabitants of the heavenly city, objects of an ineffable love and united forever to their Saviour in a spousal relationship.    

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul - Romans 9-11

(Buyable on Amazon)