predication.net

People tend to say: “This is worthless!” Unnecessarily taking further steps for the sake of the other. It is resignation over the condition of another person or society. It makes no sense to waste precious time and energy that we can creatively invest and use to develop something else. We are discussing breaking a stick over an unavoidable reality and a hopeful investment in another. Today’s Gospel opens this space for us. In this, Jesus does not put a napkin in front of his mouth and explicitly says: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs and do not cast your pearls before swine…” Even though for the Jews, “dogs” and “swine” were the traditional names of the Gentiles, in this case, Jesus focuses on the evaluation of the students’ activity and its effectiveness.

This is not an assessment of a person who rejects the message. But it’s about evaluating an activity that has meaning and direction from a silly one. He does not break a stick over a person. Instead, it is an invitation to invest energy and creativity in those in which the authenticity of life becomes visible. We are talking about a change in mindset. That is, the message of Christ offered by us cannot be filled with style, as if it were a comfortable sofa, the purchase of which will bring comfort and virtual happiness. Here, Christ opens the space for creativity and reflection.

That is, love does not judge but thinks creatively. Indeed, it would be ridiculous to throw the Bread of Life and the Word of God in front of a person who does not know how to appreciate them. However, the love and sensitivity of the evangelist lead to thinking about when, where, and how to help the neighbor to be ready to receive them. Throwing the Truth between the eyes without preparation brings rejection and more hardening. Acting in such a way is disrespectful to man and also to the Truth.

On the contrary, good preparation and the announcer’s personal example work wonders. But that takes a lot of time and patience, which we need to get used to. It may be time to work on it.

The Gospel text (Luke 1, 57-66.80) gives an excerpt about his birth. Apart from the Lord Jesus and John the Baptist, the Gospels no longer describe the circumstances of proclamation and birth itself.

We are witnessing an exciting paradox that Luke presents to us in his gospel. The proclamation and birth of John the Baptist through the outer luster exceeds the proclamation and birth of Jesus Christ. Zechariah is a priest; the declaration takes place in the holiest place for Judaism – in the shrine of the Jerusalem Temple. John’s birth occurs in the joyful atmosphere of a family and relatives who have come to rejoice with gifted parents. In contrast, Jesus’ proclamation takes place to a young girl in a private house in the unknown Nazareth in Galilee, which has a reputation as a pagan region. Jesus’ birth takes place in poverty and seclusion. The evangelist invites the reader to trust not what he sees but what the word of God says.

The Prophet of the Supreme

Luke intended, on the one hand, to highlight the performance of John the Baptist, but at the same time to show that John himself, despite his miraculous conception, is not the Messiah but the prophet who prepared the way for the Lord Anointed. The words are heard about John the Baptist in Zechariah’s hymn: “…you will be called the prophet of the Supreme… “(Lk 1.76). In the proclamation of Jesus, the angel says: “… Will be called the son of the Supreme… “(Lk 1,32). Similarly, a miraculous child is picked up when visiting Elizabeth, which Mary wears under her heart (cf. Lk 1.39). John the Baptist was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth into a priestly family, where the priesthood was inherited from father to son. So John was waiting for the priest to be sent to the temple in Jerusalem. God set a different path for him, not the priest’s path but the prophet’s. His parents accept God’s plan. It also suggests a different name from the father’s.

In contrast to the established practice of giving the descendant a name after the parents or ancestors of the genus, Elizabeth and Zechariah, in joint agreement, provide a name that the angel already called him when proclaiming Zechariah in the temple. The name John, in Hebrew Johann, means the Lord is merciful. At that moment, Zechariah will return to speech, and as a first thing he will do, he will sing the mercy of the Lord, which he has shown them and the whole nation.

The son’s birth in old age, his unique name, and the sign of the loss and return of speech to his father raise a reasonable question: “What will this boy be like? “(Lk 1,66). God begins to fulfill his promises to the nation of Israel and all of humanity immediately in John. He will be a prophet who will prepare the way for the Messiah of the Lord.

Circumcision is a physical sign to the Jewish nation of the covenant that God made through Abraham with the entire country. Circumcision Day is a celebration of this continuing union of God with Israel. It is performed on the eighth day after birth, only on male offspring. The father announces the name of the son. At the birth of her daughter, her father announces her name in the synagogue on the first Saturday after birth.

Punished Zacharias?

I want to touch on one more question. Why was the righteous Zechariah punished for disobedience, only for asking a sign from God? After all, he and his wife were of advanced age; their doubts were justified. Moreover, in Scripture, other biblical figures have asked God for a sign, received it, and yet bound it without harm. After all, the Virgin Mary asked the angel: “How does this happen, I don’t know the man? “(Lk 1,34) The difference is that Mary did not ask for any sign because she did not doubt God’s omnipotence ( whether God could do such a thing ), but he asks about the way it will happen.

Human life is too short to understand all the contexts that events bring. How often has it happened to us that, with a distance of time, perhaps up to a dozen years, we have understood the significance of an event in our lives? Biblical texts present many events in which the first word of God was not the only one, and man is expected to trust God. Just mention the story of Abraham, from whom God first asks for the sacrifice of a son. However, he then shows him not to cover his hand on his son (cf. Gn 22). God belongs to the first word – challenge, invitation, and the second, rasp. Last word, word of fulfillment. The reaction of John’s father after regaining speech is the best explanation for us to understand this passage correctly. The first thing Zechariah did was not pour anger at God’s address, but he gave a wonderful hymn in which he glorified God. He understood God’s actions correctly, realized his failure, and waited patiently for this “second word “of the God he had received.

By mammon we can understand all created things to which man devotes so much attention, time and effort. Such things as wealth, status, power, health, beauty – are very good and useful, even necessary in certain circumstances. And it is good if one can get money or education, fix one’s health, dress nicely, etc. The sense of the value of a thing is something positive and promotes man’s creative relationship to the world (J. Pietraszko). But only as long as it does not turn into greed and blindness. With too much care, man becomes a servant of those created things, their slave: his money, his success, his popularity – while they are supposed to serve us, not the other way around! If man subdues the created things, if he has dominion over them – he can do with them what he likes, and therefore he can put themat the service of God.

And to serve God means to give God our intelligence, our health, our energy, our talents and abilities, so that through us He may reveal His Providence, accomplish His will and carry out His plans, so that through us He may continually create the world, sanctify it and bring it salvation. And this is the true benefit of created things. As Bertold Brecht said, Every thing belongs to him who makes it better. And this is the realization of the kingdom of God, which today is said to be sought first. Then God will “add” to us all that we will need for the building of that kingdom. To the man who puts everything at God’s disposal – God, for His part, also puts everything at his dispos

Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The secret of happiness lies in the accumulation of wealth that comes from a loving heart. Jesus’ teaching many times shows the human wisdom that is characteristic of the wisdom tradition of Israel. Already in Proverbs we read, “Do not be anxious to be rich and restrain your ingenuity” (Prov 23:4).

In another place, when a young man asks him what he must do to be perfect, Jesus replies, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mt 19:21). The only wealth that will never be lost is the love that each of us has invested during the time we have been given. St. John of the Cross said that at the end of our lives we will be judged by our love, that is, by our concrete commitment to love and service to God and our neighbors.In this Gospel passage, however, the Lord does not call us to give up the natural human tendency to accumulate wealth in order to prepare wisely for the future by saving some money for a time when we will need it. Rather, he insists on the kind of wealth we are to accumulate: heavenly treasures.If it is true that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”, the opposite statement is also true: “where your heart is, there you lay up your treasure”. Therefore, from time to time it helps to reflect on where our heart is, how we spend our time, what our concerns are. We become aware of whether we are only in our own things, or whether there is room in them for others. Whether the reason for our existence is generous service to God and people. This is how St. Josemaría explained the secret of happiness: ‘What is needed to achieve happiness is not a comfortable life, but a heart in love’ (Beard, para. 795).

Jesus calls and frees S writer Karl Zuchart wrote the novel Die, a fool, in which he describes the life of a philosopher, scholar, teacher, and adviser to King Henry VIII, also a saint – Thomas Morus. The writer puts the words in the king’s mouth addressed to Thomas: Die, fool! Why crazy? He was smarter than the king! Tomas was a religious person. He was aware that he must not agree to the king’s sin, even at the cost of his life. Therefore, he was a fool in the eyes of the king, but he is a darling in the eyes of God. Tomáš Morus believed Christ’s words and proved with his own life the truth of the words from today’s Gospel. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, even his life, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever follows me and does not carry his cross cannot be my disciple » Lk 14, 26-27. In fact, these are two very close, although different teachings, on the basis of which a person becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus. More clearly, Jesus addresses each of us if we want to count ourselves as his followers. Above all, the Lord Jesus points out the relationships that should arise between the members of our family, between us and our environment, how we should understand these relationships if we want to belong to Jesus. He also discusses our relationship with material goods so that we can remain faithful to the Lord Jesus. The words of the Lord Jesus, which touch on relationships with other people, amaze us, if not offend us at all: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, even his own life, he cannot be mine disciples” (Luke 14:26). Strange words. Should we doubt that they were spoken by Jesus, who tells us that children should love their parents, that spouses should live in love and forgiveness? yes, Jesus says so. This statement seems to have struck fear into numerous groups of believers, and therefore the exegetes explain that the term “hate” must not be taken in the sense of our colloquial speech, because it does not refer to aggression. In reality, however, the Lord Jesus teaches us to love God and our neighbor.

 Only the Lord Jesus can free us from the state of sin, which means that we cannot show love, nor can we maintain it in our relationship with sinners when sin separates us from God, because then it also separates us from our brothers. A sinner cannot love as he should. It would be wrong to admit that the Lord Jesus tells us to hate someone, on the contrary, Jesus wants to strengthen love in us. With his help, we can learn love and show it appropriately to others.

Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). After committing sin, we are also his enemies. Lord Jesus also died for our sins, and that is why he wants to work with us when he says: “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 13:24). This means experiencing again and again the mystery of death and resurrection with the Lord Jesus, and thus overcoming the evil way of love in ourselves, so that we can learn true love from the Lord Jesus through a change in ourselves. Saint Paul writes to Philemon, who has a slave, Onesimus. The slave runs away from him. Onezim meets Paul, who is in prison and accepts the teachings of the Lord Jesus there. Paul baptizes him and he becomes, as it were, Paul’s son. In this spirit, Paul writes a letter to Philemon, which he sends after Onesimus. In the letter, he points to love, that is, to the teaching of Christ, which Philemon and Onesimus also believed. So love must change everything. Therefore, Philemon should realize that although Onesimus is still his slave, but in the teaching he received from him, they are both brothers. Slave and master. Paul writes these words very psychologically, which is a wonderful thought for this time. Paul could have kept Onesimus with him as a helper in prison, but he sends him back to Philemon with the belief that this is how Philemon will truly show his love for the Lord Jesus.

Jesus also points out our correct relationship to material things, with two stories – parables about a man who wants to build a tower and a king who wants to wage war. Both make the same mistake. They lack responsible preparation for events. After all, common sense says that if you want to build something, first calculate whether you have it, whether you will be able to cover the costs you will need for the construction. Similarly, even if you want to start a fight against a stronger one, it is better to choose an agreement instead. With these words, the Lord Jesus confirms how it is necessary to have money for construction and the power of weapons for war, so it is necessary to renounce one’s desires and wishes, which could harm the soul, and thus I could not become a friend of Christ. This is not just a kind of partial, but a total friendship with the Lord Jesus. These words of the Gospel tell us that the multitudes who follow Jesus, which includes us, Jesus does not want to lie. Whoever wants to follow him must realize that it will cost him something. Therefore, a person must make a decision freely and voluntarily.

God on the cross is defeated before the world. But on the third day he is the biggest winner. Let’s realize that the student is not above the teacher. So, if we want to be disciples of Jesus, we must be able to take a proper attitude towards our own life. We often get caught up in nice words. Then we will make many things easier for ourselves. But let’s look a little further than the end of the nose! What will happen when we have to leave this world? Do we want to experience disappointment? He who began to build and could not finish will be laughed at. Do we also want to know ridicule at the end of our lives? He who wanted to go against the odds will be defeated. Do we also want to feel the most terrible defeat when we meet Jesus, our Judge? These words speak to us because no things, whether material or spiritual, no person, even the sweetest, no career and power of the disciple must prevail over the true love that is God! Therefore, let us not be afraid, let us try to control ourselves, to command ourselves when it comes to things beneficial for the salvation of the immortal soul. On the other hand, if we keep what God requires of us, He will repay us a hundredfold here on earth and once in eternity.

When the famous pagan teacher of rhetoric – Libanius – was dying, the students asked: Whom do you recommend as your successor? John of Antioch of Syria, if the Christians had not won him! John was baptized at the age of 20. He sat with this pagan teacher, but he also studied with Bishop Meletios, who also initiated him into the Holy Scriptures. He was amazingly humble. He was ordained as a preacher in Constantinople in the Church of Hagia Sophia, in the Temple of Wisdom. He soon earned the nickname “Goldilocks” for his eloquence in proclaiming God’s word. The emperor wanted to have him with him. However, John was faithful to Christ. He admonished, reprimanded, encouraged without exception, whether it was the common people or the emperor. He preached the living Gospel. Empress Eudoxia hated John because his sermons interfered with her plans. John could not be bought or intimidated. He was not afraid of the cross he carried as a preacher. Eudoxia banished him from the city. The people cried, the empress cheered. But not for long. On the night that John left Constantinople, there was a strong earthquake. Everyone saw the finger of God in this for the exiled John. The emperor called him back. John always put God first. He feared God more than men. He considered it more an honor to fulfill the will of God than the will of people. This is a lesson for us as well. Let us not make God sad by sin! Every sin is a betrayal of God’s love. Let’s realize that what made John great can make us, too. He was not afraid of intimidation, threats, oppression, because that’s when we announce our baptism. Then we are leaven, salt, light for this world. John was still in exile twice. There, too, he proved his faithfulness and devotion to God. He wasn’t afraid. On the way to exile, he fell exhausted in the town of Komane in Little Armenia.

Did we understand? The greater the sacrifice, the greater the reward. The reward in the case of the Lord Jesus awaits us, partly already here on earth with a clear conscience, but especially in eternity. Let us examine our conscience if we are not preferring something else, someone else, before God, so we are setting ourselves up for ridicule when we will not be able to finish our tower here on earth, because we will be called away, and maybe soon. Or do we want to oppose God who called us to this world and want to fight against him, stomp, insult, not fulfill our duties?! Tomáš Morus did not betray his convictions. He didn’t sign. And the king’s words: – Die, fool! – he said not to Tomáš, but to himself! Tomas lives… 

“LOVE your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5, 44); these words of Christ belong to the most distinctive features of his preaching. Perhaps they often contrast with our most immediate reactions. We realize that these are not words that require a superficial response, as if we are being asked to yield to those who do us wrong; it is much more: we must love and pray.

“Jesus’ words are clear (…). And it is not an option, and it is a command (…) He knows very well that loving our enemies is beyond our ability, so he became a man: not to leave us as we are, but to transform us into men and women capable of greater love, the love of theirs and our Father (…). This command to respond to insults and evil with love, created a new culture in the world: the culture of mercy (…). It is a revolution of love, the protagonists of which are the martyrs of all times”[1].

To achieve this, we place all our hope in grace. “I want to keep your precepts, never leave me” (Ps 119, 8), we pray in the psalm. God’s help works not only in our will but also in our minds and hearts. “I believe that I have no enemies,” wrote St. Josemaría at the time of the persecution. “In my life, I met people who hurt me, positively harmed me. I don’t think they’re enemies: I’m too small to have them. However, from now on they are included in the category of my benefactors, so I can entrust them to our Lord every day”[2].

God sends rain on the good and the bad…

“WHAT REASON DO YOU HAVE not to love?” asks St. John Chrysostom. “That’s the other answered your kindness with insults? That he wanted to shed your blood in gratitude for your favors? But if you love for Christ, these are reasons to love all the more. Because what destroys the friendships of this world strengthens the love of Christ. How? First, that ungrateful person is the cause of a greater reward for you. Secondly, this one needs more help and more intensive care”[3]. How gray the world would be if all people were the same and all were equally pleasant to us! This is not the reality, and Jesus asks us to love, pray for and serve everyone. To think otherwise reminds us of Cain’s words burning with envy and hatred: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gn 4:9).

If we turn our gaze to Christ, his love for all people will be heard in our soul: “That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. After all, he makes the sun rise on the bad and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5, 45). “Today it will do us good to remember an enemy – I think each of us has one – who has done us wrong, or who wants to do us wrong, or who is trying to do us wrong. Let’s pray for him. Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace to love him”[4]. However, we don’t have to think about distant places, battlefields, or powerful enemies. Maybe even at home, we must fight to understand, forgive, and not hold grudges against our brother, daughter, or husband. How often have we seen grace make possible what we could not imagine before?

To bring the battlefield into our own lives…

“PEOPLE WITHOUT THE DESIRE TO CORRECT themselves are those who cease to pay attention to their own sins to focus on the sins of others,” writes St. Augustine. “They are not looking for what needs to be fixed, but what they can bite. And since they cannot justify themselves, they are always ready to accuse others”[5]. Accepting the task of loving our enemies means that we also learn to focus on our weaknesses, mistakes, and everything that has yet to be identified with Christ. This attitude is imbued with a much greater practical realism because what we can change with God’s help is what we have in our hearts. We leave the imaginary battlefield – the lives of others – to fill the world with the good of a much closer struggle. We let God change the course of history while we fix the one we have.

“We must be able to excuse everyone, and we must be able to forgive everyone. We will not call the unjust righteous, we will not say that insulting God is not an insult to God, and we will not call evil good. However, we will not respond to evil with other evil, but with clear teaching and good deeds: we will drown evil in the abundance of good (cf. Rom 12, 21)”[6]. It’s not that we don’t correct ourselves when circumstances call for it. It’s not about naivety but quite the opposite: acquiring God’s wisdom. A mature, generous, prudent love can forget wrongs, ignore errors of appreciation, gain courage, and imitate Christ on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23, 34). We can ask Our Lady, Queen of Peace, to teach us to love all her children, to pray for those who may have harmed us, and to help us transfer the battlefield to our souls: to fight against ourselves and not against others.

The years of the synodal pilgrimage 2023-2024 will undoubtedly go down in the history of the Church. One innovation succeeds the other in such a fast staccato that the faithful cannot digest the innovation properly, and the next batch is already coming. After last year’s Fiduccia supplicants declaration, “the masculinization of the Church,” and the announcement of various other innovations, such as the ordination of deaconesses, the abolition of celibacy, the Vatican has announced the publication of a document tomorrow, the description of which does not bode well.

According to the portal Katholisch.de, it will be a document concerning the function and primacy of the Roman bishop (pope), and in it, allegedly, ” the pope wants to reduce his supremacy. ” According to the aforementioned liberal and certainly well-informed portal, the text ” could have far-reaching consequences – and Francis indicated a major concession “

The text was prepared by the Vatican Dicastery for Christian Unity, under the leadership of Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch. I think the fact that in his presence, they gave Holy Communion to Protestants and calls for the involvement of both Protestants and Orthodox in the synodal journey is sufficient evidence of his views and attitudes:

According to Katholisch.de, the document “could fundamentally change the relationship between the Christian churches in the East and the West “.

The document will be titled “Bishop of Rome” and subtitled “Primacy and synodality in ecumenical conversations and responses to the encyclical UT unarm saint.”

The project received broad support from Pope Francis, and the portal Katholisch.de, in line with the expected innovations, emphasizes that from the beginning of his pontificate, he referred to himself primarily as the ” Bishop of Rome ” and ordered the revival of the title “Patriarch of the West “.

These indications of the localization of papal power are, of course, unassailable and legitimate on paper. The Pope is really, like St. Peter, the bishop of Rome, and is also the patriarch of the West. In addition to being the patriarch of the East, North and South. However, the fact that only certain historical signs are emphasized and others are silenced or diminished does not bode well. Combined with the deluge of ecumenical phraseology and, even worse, uncontrolled, arbitrary, chaotic and self-destructive practice, the expected text may become another nail in the coffin in which they have been trying for more than 60 years to deposit the exclusivity of the Catholic Church.

The portal Katholisch.de, with an infallible and years-cultivated sense of smell of everything that is pleasing heterodox for them, is already hotly asking:

However, the central question still remains open: Does the Pope continue to claim a superior position among the representatives of the Christian Church? ( Katholisch.de probably has in mind here some abstract church, i.e. a compound of all churches, within which the Catholic Church is only one of many and together with them creates the mentioned Christian church; ed. note) The Catholic Church considers this supremacy, known as the “primacy of the Pope” has been maintained since the early Middle Ages. (But, but, so the Catholic media doesn’t believe in the dogma of papal primacy? Doesn’t it believe Jesus commissioned St. Peter and gave him the keys? And they are obedient, vaccinated and accompanying; editor’s note) The last time, in 1870, The First Vatican Council supported and expanded this universal claim to power in dogma and canon law.”

Well, it seems that for some highly “obedient” Catholics, these ” questions of dogmatics and canon law ” obviously mean nothing. Paradoxically, on the one hand, they question the authority and exclusivity of the papal office as such, but on the other, they constantly call for obedience to Pope Francis and send anyone who dares to criticize his heterodox statements straight to schism, even though they do not argue for it. On the contrary, such an argument about schism can be a denial of the dogmatically binding teaching about the primacy of the Roman bishop.

But Katholisch.de eloquently explains these dogmas: “These decisions, as such, which arose in the crunch of time, should now be relativized and reinterpreted. “

Boom, and there it is. Nothing less and nothing more: the First Vatican Council, because it was interrupted by the demise of the Papal State (and never completed), according to liberals, took place in a ” time crunch ” and therefore its dogmatic statements will now be ” relativized and reinterpreted “.

Fortunately, something like that in II. The Vatican Council is not possible. He had a wide field of time at his disposal and thus could thoroughly work on his comprehensive documents so that they no longer need to be relativized because they are so nebulous and ambiguous that any interpretation clings to them like a glove.

According to official Vatican statements, the new document, as Katholisch.de writes,” aims to present a proposal for a renewed form of the papal office that could be recognized by other churches .” The portal even adds:

” Some in the Vatican believe that it is possible that, under the proposal, the pope will meet with other patriarchs and church leaders of the same level to consult with them.

The first meeting of this kind could take place in 2025 on the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, which is still recognized today by almost all Christian churches. At that time, it was also possible to agree on a common procedure for determining the date of Easter between the Eastern churches and Rome, which was abandoned only later. According to information from the Vatican, Pope Francis is ready to meet the Eastern churches on this symbolically important issue. “