predication.net

We know the principle: Loving people always have something to say. A kind word also belongs to love. If the word dies, love will also become bitter. And that both in prayer and in deed.  Jesus says: “Do not judge… Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye…” (Mt 7:1,3). At first glance, it is clear that Jesus’ words speak of magnanimity. Love your enemies, “..with what measure you will measure you, such…” (Mt 7:2) and “…pray for those who insult you” (Lk 6:27-28). This is no longer an external manifestation of magnanimity, but a basic virtue, which God himself teaches us. We see the magnanimity of God that he did not spare his only Son and sacrificed for us on the cross. He loves even those who do not return his love and live in enmity against him. His love far surpasses our love.

Christ’s words raise many questions. How does the Church fulfill this command? Do Christians live by these words? Church of Christ, how are you? Is it possible to escape from the answers to these and similar questions? What about statistics on anger, trials, murders, hatred, but also alcoholism…? Church of Christ, what are your members, your hands, feet, eyes, and ears…? These and other questions are not just a poetic metaphor. It is necessary to give a personal answer to these and similar questions, but an answer on behalf of the Church is also expected. Each individually and all together. Christ does not divide us into loved ones and rejected ones. Whoever accepted the sacrament of baptism assumed obligations and rights. And this includes loving your neighbors, forgiving and forgetting insults, but also doing acts of mercy. The world needs witnesses. Witnesses of love. There is no place in their hearts for revenge. Christ does not entrust anyone with the role of avenger. The Church does not entrust anyone with the right of retaliation. We must not forget the memento. The great fighter for human rights, a black man, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and a great and fearless follower of Christ, Martin Luther King, who was shot by an assassin for his beliefs, said in response to these words: “Do to us what you will, but we will not stop loving you.” We realize that we are to love those who do not love us. Jesus gives the commandment of love to every person. The commandment of love binds every believing Christian. Every Christian receives an example from Christ. Christ died for our sins. 

St. Basil says: “Man is a creature commanded to become God.” And St. Athanasius says: “The Son of God became man, that the sons of men might become the sons of God.” Blessed John Paul II. in the encyclical “Redemptor hominis” (art. 8) writes: “Christ united himself with every person”, and every person is at least potentially grafted into Christ. In this light, the statement of St. Augustine is very instructive: “How many times have we thought that we hate the enemy and we hated the brother

Many of us may sometimes wonder: What is hidden in that name? Does the name express something specific, does it hide something, or does it mean something special? Shakespeare also dealt with a similar question and answered it as follows: “A rose, by whatever name, would still smell just as lovely.” Of course, he was right. The name we give to a thing does not determine its essential nature. A rose would be just as beautiful. and fragrant, even if we decide to call it, say, a mouse’s ear or a rabbit’s ear. In our culture, names are not as important as they were, for example, in the ancient Jewish culture. We can say that for us, names are primarily a means of identification: so that we can mark the thing we are talking about in communication, and that the listener imagines the same thing as us.

For example, if the parents have two sons, they name one Peter and the other Paul. Then they know which is which. And that’s how they address them. For us, names are simply some kind of labels that we attach to a person at birth, and which the person then carries throughout his life. Of course, not all names are liked by people. There are cases when people cannot get used to their name when they internally reject it, and there are even those who change it. The use of names in the Holy Scripture, as many of us know, is special. Names usually expressed something. They were given with a clear intention. Sometimes they expressed thoughts or feelings that the children’s parents felt about their birth. Let’s look at the name Isaac, for example. This name can be translated as “laughter”. When Abraham and Sarah had a child in their old age, they called him Laughter.

This name probably expressed to them how they felt when they faced the miraculous and unexpected event of the birth of their son. Another time, the name given to the child was a kind of proclamation or expression of faith. For example, the name Elijah. It means “Yahweh is my God”. The child Elijah was born at a time when tensions were growing in Israel over the worshipers of Baal. And so his parents wanted to express their devotion to the God of Israel in this way. In our Gospel today, there is an account of the naming of a little Jewish boy, John the Baptist. It is necessary to remember what preceded the event about which today’s Gospel writes. Elizabeth, his mother, was already old when she became pregnant. She and her husband Zacharias were childless until then. Her pregnancy was too much for both of them, but especially for Zacharias. Although he wanted a child, he was unable to believe in God’s promise that a child would be born to them. When it came down to it, he somehow couldn’t process it internally. Therefore he was given nine whole months to keep his mouth shut and his mind open, and to think and meditate properly on all this. He was simply speechless.

When a child was born, according to Jewish tradition, on the eighth day, circumcision and the naming of the child were to take place. Dad should have done it. But the father was incapable because he was mute. Therefore, the Relatives simply assumed that, according to custom, he would be called after his father, Zacharias. But Elizabeth intervened. “He shall be called John,” which meant “God is gracious.” The surprised relatives consulted Zacharias about this, who agreed. Yes, this was exactly what he felt too. He remembered what the angel had told him at his conception: “he shall be great before the face of the Lord.” And just after this, his mouth opened. As soon as his mouth opened, it caused a truly justified astonishment among the neighbors. “Whatever this will be boy?” It is the same as many parents feel when their child is born: “What will become of him, of her?” How will this child change the world? Will he be a person who loves people, suffers for people, is loved by people, respected, honored, and sought after? Or will he be a selfish, self-centered individual whose only object of respect and will get attention? What does this name mean? If someone asked us or our parents this question, they would probably answer: “I have no idea.”

Names were not given to us – certainly in the vast majority of cases – because they carried some special meaning. They were simply given to us as a kind of label so that our parents and other people could identify us. But even this is not a negligible fact. On the contrary, it is a very important fact. My name is just my name. My name means me. When someone hears my name, they think of me. And it emerges not only in my face and form but also in my qualities and characteristics. The opposite is also true: when I hear my name, I pay attention. And that even if it sounds inconspicuous, quietly, somewhere in the crowd. I strain my ear. And I wonder what they’re talking about. In this sense, my name is me. Someone once said: The sweetest music on earth is the sound of my name.” And it’s true. Our names can be words that have no special meaning. Well, they are important to us. My name is me. My name expresses me as a person. For me, it is what sets me apart from the crowd and makes me unique. What does my name mean? The definitive answer depends on me. Each of us represents something in the minds of those who know us. And when people hear your name or my name, they think of something.

What do they come up with?  What do they think of it? What feeling fills them? Will a feeling of pleasantness or resistance, sympathy or hatred arise in them? Does my name convey honesty or dishonesty? Kindness or cruelty? Pleasantness or arrogance? A name represents a person and a person represents a certain lifestyle. What our name symbolizes ultimately depends on us. John grew up, and thanks to his deeds, the surname “Baptist” was added to his name.  And so he became a great name for us. He was the forerunner of Christ and this Christ he publicly presented and brought to the scene when he baptized him.  He did not receive his surname at birth. He was given based on deeds of life.  Many names and surnames are known in history, which were given to people based on their deeds in life: for example, Ivan the Terrible, Pippin the Short, Peter the Great, John Chrysostom, Basil the Blessed, etc. What surname could I get?

What do we consider our treasures? Why?
Jesus tells us clearly and emphatically: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). Jesus encourages, guides, directs, directs, and takes care of his “little flock”, the Church. This is what Jesus cares about so that the Church takes the most correct attitude towards the world. The Church must guard its teaching, which God has entrusted to it, that is, the Church must be vigilant and always be ready to fulfill God’s will. Jesus gave the Church the gift of words of encouragement: “Have your loins girded and your lamps fastened” (Lk 12.35). We are taught the responsibility of knowing God’s will. If we live in the presence of God, then moths, rust, and thief do not destroy our treasure.

Some religions greet each other: “Memento mori.” – Remember death.”
A greeting for us as a call and an address, so that we too live in the constant presence of God. In today’s society, both in the economic, cultural, political, and sports fields, the principle of staying awake, being vigilant, being on guard if we want to prove something, succeed, and gain – more vigilance means lasting, eternal values. It is therefore a challenge for us in spiritual matters that the Lord, that is Jesus, finds us at his coming to be awake when he knocks, that is in the hour of our death. The words “blessed shall be” those whom he finds ready, watching, speak of the reward that Jesus himself “will gird himself, and seat them, and shall minister.” That is the reward of a wise steward who faithfully discharges his duties.

Our time is more often, more and more talked about as apocalyptic. We have signs that call us to be vigilant. We must have a burning heart. In natural life, we can recognize the steps of the expected. Shouldn’t this apply in the spiritual life? How often are the words of a preacher, confessor, or exerciser such steps for us? We know it’s not a scare. To live in the presence of God, it is enough to read today’s Gospel again. It is worth renouncing everything that means nothing before God. Take up your cross and follow the Crucified One. Let’s mature to a state in our life, to live whole and completely with God. Indeed, only He can give us the real thing that we need. He cannot disappoint, lead astray, or promise what He cannot fulfill… He is truly the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
He realizes that there are also false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, bloodthirsty hyenas, trained fraudsters, and killers of human happiness in our surroundings… We need to live in the presence of God and help others so that they are not led astray and deceived by the aforementioned.

Mankind is beginning to understand each other not because it has learned a foreign language, but because all people are talking about the same thing.

Places where we’ve felt uncomfortable or associated with bad experiences (theft, accident, pain), we like to skirt around. For us, they are monuments to evil. It’s so human…

If Jesus were only human, he would certainly have avoided the apostles who did not stay by his side, except for John. After the resurrection, he would have fled to the Father in heaven as soon as possible to complain to Him about what we had done to him. But He is not merely a man, so as the Risen One, He would spend forty days in a glorified body among His own. He is in no hurry to go anywhere and today, without a hint of remorse, He will visit those who have failed.

Quite simply, the magic of God’s love transcends the limits of our reasoning. Jesus does not want to come before the Father alone. This is the logic of the heaven from which he came and where the love of the community of persons is lived out. That is why he wants to come to the Father with those whom his blood has won. He comes out of communion and will gladly reveal himself in it.

Jesus will present his wounds to men as healed, filled with the glory of God. These wounds were touched by God the Father in the Resurrection (a theme dear to Pope Francis), so Easter morning does not belong to reproaches and the bringing up of old grievances. In this way, even today, we can identify the presence of God. As the theologian Thomas Halík says, God is there where, together with the Apostle Thomas, we touch the wounds of the world, the wounds of the people with whom Jesus identifies.

This is what Chiara Amirante has been doing in Rome for several decades. She has immersed herself in the underground Termini railway station, where she touches the wounds of the world. At night, she encounters a world of drugs, prostitution, and human wreckage. What led her to do this?

The descent of Jesus into the depths of the earth after death. In one of her poems, she describes her mission this way, “My home is the world, my earth is heaven, my homeland is the heart of every man. And in every man I meet is my treasure; in the endless darkness is my light; in the anguish of suffering humanity crying out is my heart.”

Before we get to the connection of Chiara and the Spirit, let’s look at the opposite of Pentecost, the building of the Tower of Babel. It is the condition of humanity that no longer understands each other, even though they speak one language. One of the Jewish interpretations of the Tower of Babel connects this to the history of the possession of the land.

People after Adam was greedy, trying to grab more and more land, to expand their possessions. As they acquired more and more land to add to their land, they began to move away from their home. Sometimes they happened to get lost on the way home, so they decided to build a tall tower near their home. Even from a distance, it could be seen, and they were able to return.

To build the tower, bricks were needed in large quantities. The people agreed that whoever provided the most bricks would get more land. The different clans invented a language among themselves by which they argued so that the competition would not find out how many bricks they had brought. Thus, new dialects were created. And that’s when God decided, “Okay, that’s the way you wanted it, that’s the way it’s going to stay.” This midrash captures that behind human misunderstanding is a desire to possess that clouds reason.

During Pentecost, the exact opposite happens. The twelve nations are present. They each have their language and yet they understand each other because they are united not in the possession of possessions and the description of their achievements, but in the glorification of God. Mankind begins to understand each other, not because they have learned a foreign language, but because all the nations are speaking the same thing – praising God for his works.

This is how the true unity of people all over the world comes about. This is the Catholicity that unites people of different nations, languages, and periods of history. This is the universality of the Church that we experience when St. Augustine, Francis de Sales, Therese of Lisieux, or Faustina Kowalska speak to us with their spiritual experience.

When the Holy Spirit enters the heart of a person, his tongues teach us a new, universal language. What happens then? What does he tell us then? The result of some football match? Or what the weather will be like on vacation? These are unimportant things. The Holy Spirit is always guiding us and telling us about God’s work, telling us about God. It is the Spirit of the Son, the Spirit of Christ, that connects us to God. We receive the Spirit to see how God is working in our lives.

“It illuminates the lived, the suffered, the studied, the experienced, but in a new light. In emptiness, he has nothing to illuminate.”
Let us return to the man of the Spirit, to Chiara Amirante. In her book, Only Love Remains, she describes how the Holy Spirit stands by every work to serve all. The first members of the community, gathered at Rome’s Termini station, were approached by her courage to encounter in the Roman underworld people who lived as if without a soul. She suggested that together they turn to the Holy Spirit, who makes it possible to be born from above, to pass from death to life.

After nine days of preparation, the young people asked many questions about the existence of God, about his love, asking why they had to experience so much suffering to discover this joy. In the meantime, they were attending the chapel with the Eucharist, but it was not doing them any good. It was as if the young people were entering a gas chamber. After a while, they had to run out of there.

They began the day of Pentecost with simple singing, invoking the Holy Spirit. “I explained to them that it was important to turn this song into a prayer… After a few spontaneous prayers, we sang again. Then the Lord surprised us, and we experienced the special effects of His action – the experience of Pentecost was so palpable that none of us could hold back our tears.

The strange thing was that these were people who had not shed a tear for many years. As a matter of principle, they could not let themselves cry, because, in the streets and prison, it would be considered a sign of extreme weakness,” Chiara, founder of the New Horizons movement, describes Pentecost in the community.

This community has imitated the disciples of Jesus who chose to be together today, even though they could have used the time differently. Chiara and her group were ready, and the Holy Spirit came with a ministry of enlightenment.

Illuminating the lived, the suffered, the rehearsed, the experienced, but in a new light. In the void, he has nothing to illuminate. Then we would be like the blonde who was reproached with a vacuum in her head and she concluded that it was better to have a vacuum in her head than nothing…

“The Savior knows and respects human needs and concerns; however, it gives things not only the right value but also the right place in the order of values. First, in the Lord’s Prayer, he teaches us three petitions that relate to the worship of God and the fulfillment of God’s order, and only then does he present the petition for earthly needs. At the same time, the Lord teaches us to pray for “today’s bread”, i.e. for the necessary things for today, never for luxury, much less for securing the entire future. The Christian puts his earthly concerns in God’s hands with confidence. Man will still have the obligation to work and plan, but the fear of the future, despair, and bitter profiteering of the economic struggle will cease. Efforts, worries, and work that can be placed in God’s hands cannot break a person – on the contrary, they have the sign of eternity. In the spirit of this request, material interests are a secondary concern and are therefore a peaceful matter…” states J.

An old legend was recorded in old reading books about how God wanted to help a man who lived by hunting and therefore often went hungry. He showered him with wheat from the sky. But before the man could understand God’s gift, the devil pounced on him. He furiously ground the grain between the stones, and what he did not grind, he buried in the ground and poured water over everything. Let it be destroyed and let it rot in the ground. But the man began to dry the white mass – the dough – on a stone under the hot sun and baked the first bread. The buried wheat came up and man learned to sow and reap. And so the devil, who wanted to destroy God’s gift, actually helped God’s plan.

The legend expresses an idea known to our ancestors: faith in God’s providence. No one will destroy or thwart God’s plans. But if we turn to God with trust, he will repay our trust many times over. And that’s even if it’s our daily bread, everything we need to live. Heavenly Father is still at the helm of the ship of our spiritual life; he will also take care of our other needs in his wisdom, love, and omnipotence.

What can we do to make people admire us? We are not ashamed, we are not afraid, people don’t care … and they will do everything to be pretty, famous, powerful, “celebrities”, what if others laugh at them.

The Lord Jesus advises: “Be careful and do not do your good deeds in front of people so that they will admire you…” (Mt 6:1). Jesus addresses that those who truly want to belong to him must focus their piety on the inside of their lives, to the sincerity of their actions and the selflessness with which they do them. The Gospels often talk about the Lord Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees. Yes, they were pious, and they did a lot of good, and yet he criticizes them. We must notice that the Lord Jesus fundamentally does not criticize good deeds, but the evil intention of those who do them. Their pride. Thus, he points out that the Pharisees are not concerned with the glorification of God but with their glorification. They did well so that people would praise them for it. They acted so that people would notice them. He also says to our address: “… don’t blow your trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and the streets so that people will praise them. I tell you the truth: They have already received their reward” (Mt 6:2).

And that is enough for us to understand that for such deeds they have already received their reward, and therefore they will not receive another one from God. However, we receive instruction on how a good disciple of Christ should behave properly: “But when you give alms, let your left hand not know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms will remain hidden. And your Father will reward you because he sees even in secret” (Mt 6,3-4). God wants us to act without witnesses because God is present everywhere and is our greatest witness of love. God wants us to they also acted out of selfless love, and that means we don’t expect anything here on earth, but only in eternity, and already here on earth, we want to praise God. By God. Because the words of the Lord Jesus are being fulfilled: “And your Father will reward you, for he sees even in secret” (Mt 6:4).

For example, prayer only makes sense when it comes from within. Fasting is effective for our salvation only when it washes away our sins, and that means when a person does it sincerely when he acknowledges his sinfulness, error, and fall… After all, no one needs to know about this, and it is also more beneficial when people don’t notice us, and it’s not noticeable. Yes, we realize that a pious person does not perform the prescribed deeds and does it only for self-gratification and the favor of people. However, the pious is the one who does good deeds to glorify God and at the same time leaves the reward to God, whether he accepts this manifestation of piety from him or not, and that means whether he receives and what kind of reward he receives.

Let’s ask our conscience – how is it with our piety, prayers, and sacraments – is it always aimed at my sanctification, enrichment, or for people to see me? How much do I try to devote myself to God in secret at home, for example in prayer, and acts of love without claim to reward? Don’t I want to be pious only to myself?

We choose meals in the restaurant. We decide our culture… We choose our friends… Jesus says: “…be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”! (Mt 5:48). Love simply embraces all professions, embraces all times and places, and is eternal. We are to show mercy to our neighbors. Jesus tells us this very clearly in today’s Gospel. Our Lord goes even further and asks us to show love and do good deeds, especially to those who have no way to repay us. We are even to love and to pray even for our enemies. Such perfection can be achieved only when we look to Christ nailed to the cross and draw strength from him.

A man named Dapozzo spent eight years in a Nazi concentration camp. When he returned home to his family, he confided all that he had to fight there, saying: “I used to be of a strong frame, but then I did not weigh more than 45 kg, and my whole body bore the marks of the wounds I had received. I had a broken right shoulder without treatment. On the evening of Christmas 1943, the commander called me. I stood in front of him half naked and barefoot. He was at a table decorated with the choicest delicacies. I was to assist the starving women at his royal dinner. And yet I tried my best, as a Christian, to like him. After the meal, the second lieutenant brought coffee and cookies. The commander liked them, he looked at me and said: “Your wife is an excellent cook, Dapozzo!” I did not understand what he meant. He explained it to me himself: “For years my wife has been sending you cakes, which I have always enjoyed immensely.” The temptation to hate him was unbearable. My wife and my four children saved from their small allowances of flour, butter, and sugar to send me those cakes, … and this man always ate them. I asked the commander to at least let me smell the cakes to remind me of home. He refused, yelling, “Raus! Out!” After the war, I found a trace of this commander. He changed his name and led a simple life, trying not to attract attention. In 1953, I went to visit him with a friend. He didn’t recognize me. So I introduced myself: “I’m number 17531. Do you remember Christmas 1943?” Horror seized him. “Have you come to take revenge on me?”, he asked in an expressionless voice. Instead of answering, I opened a large package in front of him. It had delicious cakes. I asked his wife if would she be so kind as to make us coffee. Then we shared the cakes and the four of us drank coffee. We were quiet the whole time. The commander wept and said: “How could you forgive me?” I answered him: “For the love of Christ.”

Yes, we are to forgive. It is right, Christian, that for the love of Jesus, we want to love even our enemies… Let’s take these words of Jesus into our lives.

When we were still small children, we had the experience of taking our first steps, when they called to us: “Come to me!” And we gladly stepped towards our father or mother, because we loved them and were sure that the way to them would be completely safe. Jesus addresses us: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). And perfection is when Jesus expects from us “.give to whoever asks you…” (Mt 5:42)

Saint Paul calls and addresses the members of the first Christian communities to whom he addresses his letters as “saints”. The Second Vatican Council reminds the Christians of today that their first and fundamental vocation is: the vocation to holiness. This vocation was given by God to everyone. Holiness is not only the task of priests and religious, but it is a commitment for every Christian. Where does our call to holiness come from? The source of our holiness is Jesus Christ. The soul of holiness is love. Love of God and neighbor. Just as Jesus tells us when he answers the question, “Which commandment is the greatest?” His answer is: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” (Mt 22:36).

Faith and hope will disappear, we will no longer need them in eternity. However, love reaches heaven, and heaven is the goal of holiness. Saint Thérèse of Lisieux understood the same thing. He considers that if the Church forms one body, composed of many members, there must not be one member missing. That member is the most necessary and noblest, and that is the heart; a heart that burns with love. If the Church did not have this love, the apostles would not proclaim the Gospel, the martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love simply embraces all professions, embraces all times and places – it is eternal. We are even to love and pray for our enemies. Such perfection can only be achieved when we look to Christ nailed to the cross and draw strength from him. This power is hidden in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. The path of Jesus’ holiness is also our path. Let us trust the Lord on the path of our holiness. He is Emmanuel, God with us, and therefore there is never a reason to lose hope.

It is right, Christian, that for the love of Jesus, we want to love even our enemies… Let’s take these words of Jesus into our lives… St. Paul compares the Church Community to a magnificent building. Every believer is one stone in the wall of this work. And we know that for the safety of a large structure, it is essential that every stone is reliable. In the same way, the holiness of the Church is divided among its members. Dear saints, let us remain faithful to this noble vocation – holiness, which Jesus gave us because we are his friends and he loved us to the point of death.