predication.net

When Jesus has not given his disciples bread and wine as his flesh and blood, the meaning of the celebration of the Eucharist in the Church would be emptied – it would only be a pious fiction, not a reality that establishes communion with God and among men to one another. Here again, the question arises as to what way of historical verification is possible and appropriate. We must clarify that historical research can only increase the likelihood, but never to absolute certainty, about all the facts. When the certainty of faith should lie only on purely historical verification methods, it would always remain questionable.
I will mention an example from the recent history of exegetical research. The great German exegete Joachim Jeremiah amid a growing confusion of exegetical hypotheses tried with the strictest professional historical and philological approach and the greatest methodological thoroughness to exclude from the amount of preserved material the so-called ipsissima verbalise – Jesus’ own words. He wants to find in them a solid rock that can be believed lean reliably: What Jesus himself really said, on we can build that. Although results of Jeremiah’s work r work results remain significant and from a scientific point of view, they have great weight; there are substantiated critical objections that point at least to the fact that the certainty thus achieved has its limits.
So what can we expect? And what should we expect not to? From a theological point of view, it must be said that if with the history of the most important words and events really scientifically proven impossible, faith would lose its basis. Conversely, as we have said, absolutely unquestionable evidence of every single fact is from the very essence of historical knowledge and cannot be expected. Therefore, it is important for us whether the basic beliefs with today’s exegetical’s full seriousness knowledge full seriousness remain historically possible and credible.
Lots of details can remain open. No factum est from John’s prologue (cf. John 1:14) is valid as a basic Christian category not only in the question itself incarnation, but must also be applied to the Last Supper, cross, and resurrection. The incarnation of Jesus is directed to his sacrifice for men, and this sacrifice again heading for the resurrection. Otherwise,  Christianity was not true. As far as has been said, we must not look at this fact as possible for absolute historical certainty. Still, with the correct reading of the Scriptures, we can recognize my fundamental reliability. Finally, the certainty on which we base our whole existence gives us faith – faith that humbly we attach to the Church’s faith, guided for centuries by the Spirit Saints. From this opinion, we can, by the way, feel free to follow the exegetic hypotheses that you often have. They are indeed pathetically convincing, taking them the very fact refutes persuasiveness conflicting opinions are commonly presented as equally guaranteed.
Based on these methodological principles, I will try to select those questions essential for faith from the discussed problems. Let’s look at them in four pitches. First, let’s think about the date of the celebration of Jesus’ Last Supper, focusing on whether it could be an Easter dinner or not. Second, we will dedicate the texts that inform us about Jesus’ Last Supper. In doing so, we focus on the question of the historical credibility of these reports. Thirdly, I want to try to explain the basic theological content of the Last Supper traditions. Finally, in the fourth subchapter, we will expand our view beyond the New Testament submission. We will focus on the Eucharist’s birth in the Church – that is, on a process that Augustine called the transition from the Last dinner to the “morning sacrifice” (cf. En. in Psalm. 140,5).
As for writing the words Pass ah, Pasha, etc., Joachim Jeremiah, with expertise, showed that this holiday should be called Pass ah. Based on recent research, for example, Ulrich Wilcken writes Pesach. Since this book is written in dialogue with the New Testament, I decided to return to writing, which is found in the New Testament, and therefore I will write Passover.

In this civilized age, we are much debating whether the Messiah came to earth. He was truly God’s son. We have the same doubts as in the days of Jesus that St. John tells us in the Gospels:
“This is really a prophet. Others said: It is the Messiah. But others objected: How can the Christ from Galilee  ?!. (John 7: 41). People have gathered around a person, and everyone is starting to talk about him. They are researching, or is it not the Messiah. His powerful word enchants even the soldiers who had it to arrest. However, there are two counter-arguments.

First: Jesus comes from Galilee, and according to Scripture, the Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. The second, introduced to the people and the Pharisees in it not believed. Those who hold power and knowledge in their hands register a general commotion, and they respond sarcastically and daringly. These are clear signs of an unbalanced reaction, conditioned by fear of losing one’s own power. Evangelist John closes this event in words: “And every man has returned home” (John 7:53); someone carries in his heart a desire better to know Jesus, another, on the contrary, became even more entrenched in his rejection. In fact, we have a picture of the past before our eyes today. Even today, however, there are brave individuals who, like Nicodemus, have proved their unbridled desire
to defy the thinking of the “mighty truthfully.” It was not at all for Christ’s contemporaries easy to believe in, know and follow. Therefore, we must be grateful in our hearts to those who followed him, thus opening the way to salvation to other people by their faith.

Maybe we ask inside, where is Jesus today? Where we can know him
and follow him? This is the only important question that no one can answer for us to respond. Even in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel came out of Egypt, they answered Yahweh, who called him to follow him (cf. Oz 11: 1). Israel also walks in the wilderness, the yokes that lead him to the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire (cf. Ex 13:21). Following is an expression of total adherence, complete submission, which means that it is an expression of faith and obedience. According to St. Paul, to follow Christ is to be like in the mystery of death and resurrection. This analogy, for which God has ordained us from eternity (Rom 8:29), begins with baptism and must be deepened by following, voluntarily uniting in the suffering in which strength develops resurrection (2 Cor 4:10; 13.4). Then Jesus’ promise will be fulfilled: “If anyone he wants to serve, let him follow me; and where I am, there will also be my servant ”(John 12.26). Christ did not come to bring us money and wealth, but love that it culminated on the cross for us, for our sins. We can achieve this love only if we truly become fully like Jesus in his suffering.

During World War II, it happened on the Italian front that an officer gave the order to attack and called: Before! he jumped out of the trench and ran to enemy positions. He thought of soldiers, his example encouraged, they would follow him, but they remained in hiding, none of them went after him but applauded him calling: Bravo, bravissimo! We, Christians, are often such soldiers. We meditate on our leader’s suffering, but we cry when someone stabs us with a pin. We are decorated with characters warriors of Christ, but we prefer to remain in the trenches of our comfort and the shelter of our self-love.
People don’t want to suffer today. And when suffering is necessary for them, they prefer death rather than death would tolerate something. They look like spoiled kids who, when given a slice of bread smeared with honey, honey, lilies, and bread, are discarded. Not so! Not only honey bliss but also hot bread of life. Don’t be afraid of life! Christ delights in his faithful; there is no need to fear. Tears dry up, wounds heal. We really don’t have to worry about anything if we honestly pass our hearts on Jesus’ hands. Let us not be afraid to believe in Christ, his words, and love because Nicodemus too, who was a Jew, believed in Christ and was not afraid of the opinion of the mighty; called.

There is widespread respect for St. Joseph. The feast is not a commanded feast in our country, but various devotions are held in honor of this saint, the holy family’s head, and the Holy Church’s protector.
Respect for St. Joseph was highly recommended and extended by Popes Pius IX, Leo XIII, Benedict XV, Pius XII, Paul VI. and John Paul II. especially in the apostolic exhortation of Redemptions custom. Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Quamquam pluries dedicated the month of March in honor of St. Joseph. Pope Pius X. approved the public litany to St. Joseph. On May 1, 1955, Pope Pius XII appointed. a new holiday called the Feast of St. Joseph, the worker, the groom of the Virgin Mary, the believer, the patron saint of workers.

The first account in the Gospel of St. It begins with Joseph, saying, “James had a son, Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus was born, called Christ” (Mt 1.16).

There is very little talk about St. Joseph in the Gospels. You can still write a resume. Many depict St. Joseph as an old man. Some would like to make Joseph a guardian and protector of Mary rather than a life companion. At the time of the event of the revelation of the Lord, Joseph was much younger. The Gospel does not mention how old he was, but we know that “he united his youth with the youth of Mary.” It is more likely that Joseph did not know what old age looked like, for he died probably before Jesus took public effect.

Joseph noticed an extraordinary perfect soul in Mary. Joseph was touched by the beauty of Mary’s soul, pure and perfect, without blemish. He understood that he must be kept completely clean by Mary. Mary found in Joseph a man soulful for the same purity as she lived.

Joseph’s engagement to the Virgin Mary plays an important role. From Joseph, the couple can learn how to experience the other person’s closeness while avoiding anything that might overshadow, to burn their spiritual beauty. Joseph’s engagement to Mary is a model that should take place in Christian engagement. During the engagement, Joseph found out that Maria was expecting a child. In that case, everyone should be tempted to think that Mary was guilty of fidelity. Mary’s silence could only confirm him. Joseph did not doubt her innocence. The same purity still shone in Mary’s gaze as before conception. Joseph was therefore convinced that Mary was innocent. Only Joseph knew Mary’s virgin purity, and he was convinced in his heart. “Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man, and would not hurt her; so he intended to put her away secretly” (Mt 1:19). He was fair, so he did not appropriate the right to be the father of a child who was not his. On the other hand, he did not want to expose her to disgrace, so he intended to release her secretly. He wanted to do it as considerately as possible. Joseph suffered greatly, thinking that Mary would explain the secret of conception to him, but she remained silent.
God delayed the mission of the angel, almost to the point of separation. The team extended the test to the extreme. The inner suffering that Joseph experienced so sensitively gives his testimony extraordinary value. What was the joy of Joseph when the angel appeared to him: “As he thought about it, an angel appeared to him in the dream of the Lord and said: Joseph, the Son of David, do not be afraid to accept Mary as your wife, for what was done in her is from Of the Holy Spirit ”(Mt 1:20).
This warning caught Joseph’s moment when he secretly wanted to release Mary. Joseph was not just a witness to the mystery of salvation. Because he had the title of Savior’s Father, he was also called to work on this mystery. By the angel’s message, Joseph was not only relieved of the excruciating pain he was in before the proclamation, but now he understood where his bond with Mary led him. Messianic joy blossomed in him. The joy of the whole world was hidden in this joy. Now in Mary he valued not only her virgin purity but also her motherhood. According to the angel’s instructions, he already knew what to do next. He married Mary: “He did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took his wife” (Mt 1:24).

According to Jewish tradition, the fiancée became the bride’s rightful wife when she came to her husband’s house. “So Joseph took Mary as his wife when he invited her to come and live with him.” Joseph supported Mary in his marriage. The Virgin Mary was helped by his constant faithfulness, peaceful and firm courage, complete sincerity and devotion. All this contributed to the strengthening of their union and the flowering of their holy zeal.

Lent is at its peak. It should leave a deep mark on believers, at least like the Greeks from Bethesda of Galilee, who came to Jerusalem before the feast and saw what was happening around Jesus. They wanted to meet Jesus in person. They did not know that Jesus said, “And I when I am lifted from the earth, will draw them all unto me” (John 12:32).
Thus, we can already understand the parable of the wheat grain: “If the wheat grain does not fall into the ground and die, it will be left alone. But if he dies, he will bring forth great fruit. ”(John 12:24). This parable surprised the Greeks and the apostles. Jesus points out the everyday thing: sowing grain for the future harvest, but it ends with a paradox. Jesus speaks of his voluntary death, which will be the beginning of a new life for all people until the end of time.
In the parable of Jesus, Jesus expresses one fundamental truth: the heart and soul of the Christian faith and our Christian life.
Just as the future harvest is possible when the sown grain dies, so the death of Jesus is the hope of humanity for a new life. Fertility and propagation are only a property of grain sown in the ground. Jesus teaches that this vital, seemingly contradictory principle also applies in the supernatural life of grace. The martyrs in the Church are therefore compared to wheat. Tertullian says, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” Ignatius writes of himself as a grain of wheat that must be ground with the teeth of predatory animals: “I am the grain of God, and the teeth of wild beasts grind me, that I may become the pure bread of Christ.”
(M. L., The Whole Year with the Saints, Rome 1988, p. 838)

The Church’s history teaches the great things that they were born only when people were willing to die for their ideals, God.
Jesus’ example and words: “If anyone serves Me, let him follow me! And where I am, there will also be my servant. He who will serve me will be honored by the Father ”(John 12:26) is a challenge not to spare oneself in the service of God and to others. The assassinated US President said in an inaugural speech: “Don’t ask what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.”
In selfless service to God and neighbor, one can only see true love. Jesus does not shy away from the service of love; on the contrary, he says, “For this very hour have I come. Father, glorify your name! ”(John 12: 27-28) During Lent, the Church reminds us of the words then spoken responding to Jesus’ words:“ And there came a voice from heaven, saying, 12.28)

The words of the gospel are inseparable. Just as a Christian cannot choose only what he likes, what suits him when he wants to do God’s will, it has never been popular to talk about voluntary dying, or even that we should not love life. And so, it is not today. And is there anything else going on yesterday, today, and tomorrow? When people do not suffer, don’t sick, do they fail, do not die? Every day it pays to give up, to limit, to forget… Even if one does not want to lose, one loses. If a student wants to acquire knowledge, he must study. That is why he often gives up many pleasant moments, pastimes. And later, when he learns what love is for the other person, he renounces himself, his will, comfort for the other person. When he wants to get something, he works, he tries, and is it not dying?
The gospel of the killing of wheat grains gives the believer courage, strength, and joy because when he lives his life by doing the will of God, loves God, his neighbor, and himself, he must not mourn, suffer, sacrifice, work, and strive, out of love. Faith in God gives him the certainty that everything a person does out of love for God has meaning, purpose, value. A germ, a stalk from the dying wheat grains, and finally, a new grain grows in the class. The resurrection replaces Jesus’ death and, at the end of time, the second coming of Christ, the King of the universe, who separates the good from the bad, the righteous from the unjust. Faith in God moves believers to die to the natural world, the body, to renounce the devil so that by fulfilling the will of God, believers deserve the kingdom of God as a reward from God.
Everyone must act appropriately in his freedom and reason. One in marriage, another in the state of consecrated life, and another as single. However, all in the highest quality of a relationship with God. God must take precedence over the created world. Spiritual before physical.

The meaning of all renunciation is: to have eternal life after life on earth. Every man, believing and unbelieving, suffers and renounces, with the difference that the believer has God’s goal, eternal life. By accepting the words about the wheat grain, as Jesus teaches, the believer is freed from fear, and even more so, he has a greater commitment to the things of God.
We are convinced of the truth of the words by many examples from the environment and history. When the heathen of the first Christians sentenced to death saw singing into the Roman Colosseum, they asked, “What is this teaching?” Which God gives such strength? We know from history what respect, attention, and seriousness the monks, hermits, believers, religious, men, and women, young and old, lived their lives with Christ. They died to the world, and yet they enriched it more as if enjoying the gifts of the world. They did not understand them, mocked them, and blunted them, and yet for many, they became power, light, salt. Their blankets and life have enriched the world more, made it more beautiful, happier than other works done without God.

Those who have dedicated themselves to God have renounced their children, yet their spiritual fatherhood and motherhood have fulfilled their mission. Parents who have embraced every child God has given them have certainly done more than those who have not allowed their child ever to say a father, a mother, and today they cry in romantic movies, go for walks with dogs and cats, and wait to stop some social worker.
How would we react today if the Gentiles, the Greeks of Bethesda of Galilee, turned to us as apostles with the words, “Would we like to see Jesus?” (John 12:21) What would we ask for in Holy Mass? But the world is not only calling us but begging us! An example of life awaits.

The beginning catechist remembers how he once found a card on his chair on the table in the choir: “We would like to see Jesus” (John 12:21). He spoke and acted so that everyone he met, not only students but also colleagues, would share in his love for God. And what about the team? It was hard for him to accept. Today, students and teachers cannot imagine a school without it. And he? He thanks God that someone gave him a card with the words, “We would like to see Jesus” (John 12:21).

So, little is enough, and fasting time will enrich many. The commitment to fasting in the family of “keeping one’s eyes open to Jesus” led everyone to enrich each other. A challenge for us too.

This is especially the case in verse 3: “Eternal life is in that they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
The theme of “life” (zôe) begins with the prologue (cf. John 1,4) blames the whole Gospel of John. Therefore, it is understandable that it also appears in the new liturgy of reconciliation fulfilled in high priestly prayer. According to Rudolf Schnackenburg and others, this verse is a later gloss because, in John 17, the word “life” does not occur. I believe that – as well as the distinction sources in the chapter on foot washing – such an assessment corresponds to a purely academic logic, which considers the composition of a modern professional text as a criterion judging even such a diametrically different way of expressing and thinking as we find in the Gospel of John.
“Eternal life” is not as the modern reader is likely to invoke involuntarily – a life that comes after death because the present life is overlooked. Therefore, it cannot be eternal. “Eternal life” is life itself, life itself, which can be lived in this time and which physical death cannot interfere. That’s what it’s about: grab it already, no real life that no one and nothing can destroy. Such an understanding of “eternal life” is clearly shown in the chapter on the resurrection of Lazarus: “Who believes in me, he will live even if he dies. And no one who lives and believes in me will die forever. “(John 11: 25-126) At the Last Supper Jesus he says to his disciples, “I live, and you too will live.” (John 14:19) and thus points out again that it is characteristic of the disciple of Jesus that he “lives” – that is, that for he found and grasped real life by pure human existence, which everyone is looking for. Inspired by these texts, are the first Christians referred to it as “living” (hoi zôntes). They found what everyone was looking for — life in their own meaning of the word, a full and indestructible life. But what can you get to it? The high priestly prayer is a bit surprising but in a biblical context, thinking quite a proper answer: “Eternal life” a person finds through “knowledge” while taking presupposes the Old Testament notion of knowledge: Cognition creates a community, knowledge is union with the known. However, of course, the key to life is not anything knowledge, but knowledge “of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ” (John 17: 3).for an abbreviated formulation of the content of faith, which shows what is essential in the decision to live as a Christian.

It is a knowledge that faith gives us. A Christian does not believe in many things. In the end, he believes in God; he believes that there is only one true God. However, this God is accessible to man through the one he sent, Jesus Christ: Knowledge God, who becomes a community, and thus a “life,” takes place in an encounter with Christ. In the double expression “God and the one he sent,” an echo can be heard of what repeatedly appears in God’s words in the Book of Exodus: They have to believe in “me,” God, and in Moses, which I sent. God shows His face in His ambassadors in their final form in their Son. “Eternal life” is thus an event of a relationship. Man does not receive it on his own or for himself. He becomes a living person.
Through a relationship with God Himself, which is Life. Let’s approach this typically biblical idea can also be found in Plato, whose work contains the most diverse traditions and reflections on the subject of immortality. We also find in him the idea that man can become immortal by connecting with what is immortal in itself about myself. The more one immerses oneself in the truth, the stronger one connects with it and follows it, the more one binds to do so and fulfills what cannot be destroyed. Because so to speak, he holds the truth, because he relies on what is permanent, he can be sure of life after death — the life of salvation.

What Plato was groping for is revealed with great clarity in Jesus’ words. Man finds life when he clings to the one who is Life itself. Many things can be destroyed on a person. Death of him it can snatch out of the biosphere, but a life that goes beyond that biosphere, real life, it doesn’t stop. Into this real life that John – as opposed to biological life bios – called zôé, one must enter. This life that does not take any man’s death comes through a relationship with God in Jesus Christ. Obviously, after this, “life in a relationship” is necessary to understand a particular way of existence. Science, faith, and knowledge are not whatever consciousness is always present in man, but in the form of existence. Although there is no talk of love at this point, it is clear that The “knowledge” of his Love is transformed into love in the full breadth of her gifts and demands.

The adjective “pure” appears three times in the passage on washing the feet. Evangelist John thus reaches one by one. Of the key concepts of the religious tradition of the Old Testament and world religions in general. So, that man can appear before God to have fellowship with him must be “pure.” But the more he enters the light, the more he feels unclean and realizes the need for cleansing. Therefore, individual religions have created systems of “purification” to allow man access to God.
In the cult precepts of all religions, the precepts concerning purification play a vital role. They give a man an idea of ​​God’s holiness
and of one’s own darkness, from which one must be freed from man could draw closer to God. In practicing com Judaism the time of Jesus involved a ritual purification system of all aspects of human life. In the 7th chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we read about Jesus’ confrontation with understanding ritual purity achieved through ceremonial acts. Paul repeatedly disputed the question of “purity” before God in his letters.
At Mark, we are witnessing a radical turnaround, which Jesus brought into the understanding of purity before God. Purification does not come from ritual acts. A stage of purity or impurity is the human heart, and man’s purity depends on his heart’s state (cf. Mark 7: 14-23). However, the question immediately arises: If the heart can happen clean? Who are these pure-hearted people who can look at God (cf. Mt 5: 8)?

Liberal exegesis expressed the view that Jesus had replaced the ritual understanding of purity with its moral understanding. To the place of the cult and its morality has entered the world. In that case, Christianity would be a purely moral matter, a kind of moral outfit. However, this ignores the novelty of the New his law. This novelty is heard at a time when in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter takes a stand on the proposal in Christ of more creditworthy Pharisees who demanded that Christians out of pagan they underwent circumcision and “kept the law of Moses.” Peter then declared: “God has chosen me from the first days …
That the Gentiles might hear the word of the gospel out of my mouth, and believe … And he made no distinction between them and us when
by faith, he has purified their hearts. “(Acts 15: 5-n). The heart is purified by faith. Faith is the result of God’s inclination toward man. It is just a simple decision of man himself. Faith is possible because God has touched people from within the spirit that opened their hearts and cleansed him. On the subject of purification, which is mentioned only briefly in Peter’s speech, the evangelist John in his report on foot washing and the concept of “sanctification,” deepens in the High Priest’s prayer. In speaking of the vineyard, Jesus assures his disciples, “You are already clean because of the word that I have told you.” (John 15: 3) Jesus’ word permeates their thinking and will, transforms their “hearts,” and opens them to see.
As we consider the great priestly prayer, we come across the same, albeit slightly different, view. It contains Jesus’ request: “Sanctify them the truth. “(John 17:17)” Sanctify “in priestly terminology means: to prepare, to be able to the cult. By this word were called ritual acts that the priest had to perform before appearing to God. “Sanctify them by the truth” – Jesus reminds us of that bath which man preparing for contact with God is true. Into it, man must immerse himself to get rid of the filth that separates him from God. At the same time, we must not forget that John does not mean an abstract concept of truth but realizes that the personified Truth is Jesus himself.

In the 13th chapter of John’s Gospel, the washing of Jesus’ feet appears as a way of purification. The same thing is said, only from a different perspective. The bath that cleanses us is Jesus’ love, which extends to death. Jesus’ word now is ordinary; he himself is the Word. And his word is Truth and Love. It’s basically the same idea as in the apostle Paul’s form that made it harder for us to understand when he said, “His blood justifies us” (Romans 5: 9; cf. Romans 3.25; Ephesians 1: 7, etc.) And the same idea also appears in the great vision of Jesus’ great priesthood in the Letter to the Hebrews. The place of ritual purity was not simply taken by morality but by the gift of meeting God in Jesus Christ. Again, a comparison with Platonic philosophers from the period of late antiquity comes to mind. They also focused on the topic of purification, and the most striking of it is
again at Plótin. According to them, cleansing on one, on the one hand, he achieves through rituals and, on the other hand, and above all, through the gradual ascent of man to the heights of God. At the same time, man is purified of matter; he becomes spiritual and thus also clean.
On the contrary, according to the Christian faith, it is purifying us
incarnate God. It is he who brings all creation together with God. Nineteenth-century spirituality once again understood purity one-sidedly and narrowed it more and more on the area of ​​order in sexual life. That’s right; he rediscovered contempt for matter and corporeality. The wide space of human desire for purity gives us a way
to show the Gospel of John – Jesus himself shows it to us: On, the God-Man, makes us able to meet God. It is essential to become a part of his body, to let penetrate his presence. At this point, it might be appropriate to point out that the transformation of the notion of purification in Jesus’ message is further confirmation of what we spoke in Chapter 2 about the end of animal sacrifice, the cult, and the new temple. If the sacrifices were just an eager stretch after what was to come, and his light and dignity received from this future to which they were to head, similarly, the ritual purification that was part of this cult, it was only as the Church Fathers would say, a transitional stage in the history of the relationship between God and men, a stage that should have taken place open to the future and retreat as soon as it comes what is new.

To cultivate a relationship with God, with oneself and one’s neighbor.
What does the court mean to us? What do we imagine under that word? The court in today’s world should mean good for society and peaceful coexistence because behind us is something that stands for us and will bring order. The importance of this The phenomenon is who is behind it and whether it actually wants good for all of us or is doing it for its own good and harms others.
It is in today’s Gospel that Jesus tells us, “He that hearth my word, and believeth to him, that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not go into judgment, but passed from death unto of life ”(John 5: 17-30).
There is much negative about whether it is a sin against a neighbor or even to each other during man’s action on earth. Our primary task is to take these negatives out of our life to remove and correct what we have done knowingly and voluntarily. Although man is sinful and still will be and has weaknesses to which he always returns, it is necessary, lest we be bothered so much that we will fall into despair, but always when we fall, get back on our feet. So that we know how to fight sin, we must have at least habitual faith. That is, we are aware of God’s protection and the help that will accompany me even when I have sinned. If our effort after purity of heart will be sincere, God will never allow us to be condemned to damnation forever. Let us realize and keep talking: Jesus is here and will always help me. He does not want someone’s evil or damnation; He is the one who is love and knows about our difficulties and weaknesses.

Let us let God work in us, let us not just rely on ourselves, but let us believe your life is complete to Christ because he has overcome and condemned sin in the flesh to us released from his yoke. Woe to the man who knows and is aware of God’s truths and does not do so. Ten
he will feel not only judgment but also eternal damnation. Then God will not look to the position or persons. Fornicators and adulterers will be subjected to this strict judgment (cf. Hebrews 13,4), all who refuse to believe and choose evil (cf. 2 Thess 2:12), ungodly, false teachers, even rebellious angels, evil bishops, and unfaithful widows who they do not remain in their state of widowhood. So what will be the criterion for this test?
The law of Moses for those who refer to it, the law is written in conscience for those who know only this law, the law of freedom for those who have accepted the gospel. But woe to him who will judge his neighbor, for he himself will be judged to the same extent applied to the other (cf. James 2:13; 5:12). If we listen to the Lord’s words and apply them, we will try to live according to them, we believe that he will stand behind us God, who is just and very merciful.

Understanding the natural law
Jesus healed the sick just as the Jews celebrated the Lord’s Day on the Sabbath (cf. John 5: 1-3.5-10).
What did Christ mean by telling us that He had broken the Sabbath? In the Old Testament time, the faithfulness of the Habits’ sabbaths was so great that the Asides preferred to kill how they should break the Sabbath by taking up arms (cf. Mach 2: 32-38). Nowadays, the understanding of Saturday is completely different. Jesus opposes the formalist rigorism of Pharisaic teachers: “Saturday is for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mt 2.27), and the duty of love takes precedence over the material observance of rest.
For the Jews, the Lord’s day is celebrated on the Sabbath, but for Christians, it is Sunday. Sunday’s meaning is that man should devote some of his time, which is a gift from God amount for God’s cult. It may seem to us that the Conference of Bishops is mingling with our life and wants to show us and forbid us how to survive Sunday. Bishops only us they remind, especially believers, what God has put in us, and it is given to us as an integral part of life. It is the job of every believer to understand this divine purpose of Sunday rest and its survival. Sunday’s goal is for a person to gather mentally and physically, strengthen family ties and dedicate themselves to God. But the basis is a different look at legal and illegal work.

A man who is at work all week over papers should rest physically on Sunday, and the one who works all week physically has to rest mentally on Sunday. In addition to our private rest, we have to devote and help others, especially the sick, who need our love. Alone Jesus was touched by so much suffering and allowed the sick to touch him. “He took on our weaknesses and bore our sicknesses ”(Mt 8:17). In His compassion for all who suffer, he goes so far as to identify with them: I was sick, and you visited me ”(Mt 25:36). We should not think like Jews who worshiped feasts of custom and did only what the law showed them. These Jews did not carry love at all and preferred them
was the law as the man himself. Let’s think about what is foremost for us in life, to reach the kingdom of heaven. Let us not cover our eyes if we have ours near our relatives or neighbors and need our help or presence. Let’s not act like that, as if we saw nothing, but let us shake our hand. When Jesus saw the sick, he was not afraid to heal them on Sunday as well, because, for him, the man was more important than material things of this world.

If we love our neighbors more than ourselves, God will never be ours
reproach: “what ye did not do to one of you, neither did you do to me” Mt 25:40.

Complete surrender to God
In today’s word of God, we have heard how the people of Galilee welcomed Jesus because it held marvelous signs. The crowds did not come to him with any fear before God, who came into the world in the human body to offer us eternal bliss, but rather out of curiosity. Jesus turned water into wine, but in this nation, he doubted that he was the son of God.
Already in the Old Testament, God the Father promised a Savior who would redeem the whole world. No, The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, who would be a true profane king and would protect them from surrounding enemies. And here behold, Christ, who was born into a low-income family, will come, and is he even the son of a carpenter and he to be the Messiah and King of the Earth? Only when he comes sure a royal official and says to Jesus, “Lord, come until my child dies” (John 4:49)
As soon as he told him, Jesus saw in him the faith that dwells in his heart, and therefore he says to him, “Go, your son is alive” (John 4:50). A royal official, when he was on his way home, right in front of him, the servants went and said: your child is alive. They told him the hour in which it happened, and he knew that it was when he was with Jesus. And he and the whole believed his house. In healing, Jesus does not look at position or power, but especially at faith, in which man finds true happiness. Our faith should not be based on curiosity or speculation about Jesus or not God at all because these things have long been verified by many scientists and simple people enlightened by the Holy Spirit. It is true that it must be sought and to know all that has taken place in the times of Jesus, but always in the spirit of faith and love.
There is a lot of suffering and inner pain in our time that makes one think about why God inflicts so much suffering on weak people. God did not create us out of love? One of the mistakes of thinking and thinking negatively about God is that we are not completely surrendered to his will, and therefore we cannot come to the root of our daily cross. This distrust of us destroys us, and we often cannot cope with simple problems. We can surrender to God to constantly find Christ in prayer in the Holy Mass and daily sacrifice. Even though we pray and go to Holy Mass, let’s try to do it in this fasting period more focused and so by living faith.
Let us dig in this time of repentance all the more into Jesus’ suffering, and pain triumphantly overcame for us on the cross. Because in the cross is our salvation and strength. Let us welcome Christ with faith that will help us gain eternal bliss.

Introduction: The bishop said when entering the Lenten season: try to improve because I can’t do it … I can only approach God as a penitent. Everyone can approach God by asking for His mercy. Pope Francis gave his message at this time: I want to offer you three points for meditating on this renewal.

1. “So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Cor 12:26) – The Church.
2. “Where is your brother? ”(Gen 4: 9) – parishes and communities.
3. “Strengthen Your Hearts” (James 5, 8)

Let us pray: Almighty God, give us the grace to penetrate deeper into the mystery of Christ by living through the forty days of fasting and to move forward on the path to salvation through a virtuous life.

Reading from the First Letter of Peter (1 Peter 3: 18-22)

Beloved, Christ suffered once and for all for sins, the just for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was killed in the flesh but revived by the Spirit. He came in and preached to the spirits who were in prison. They once did not want to believe when God’s patience in the days of Noah waited for a ship to be built, in which only a few, a total of eight people, were saved from the water. This is a model of baptism that is now saving you. Not by removing bodily filth, but begging with God a clear conscience for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who ascended to heaven, is at God’s right hand, and angels, powers, and powers are subject to him.

We have heard the word of God!

Let’s try to think before the Stations of the Cross: I chose some medicines in the pharmacy and the young saleswoman told me when paying: “Take the attention of our pharmacy. When you pay this amount, we give you a detox – an herbal tea that cleanses your body. Harmful substances accumulate in our body and these need to be put out. They are toxins. These are dangerous for the body and must go away. Detoxification can help … detox! “She said how to use it. She didn’t give it to me, so I told her, “Now is the time of Lent as a preparation for Easter, and the Church also has such means to detox our interior. Appropriate resources should also be taken and used as directed. It probably has something to do with each other. “She said:” I know, I’ve been to ashes, and I’m also trying to use this time in this respect as well. And I also found a detox that I will use to survive this time well. “

Many use various means – detoxes, which should help our body to remove harmful substances. Lent has this purpose, as we heard when entering this holy fasting period: prayer, almsgiving, more modest eating – fasting, and acts of charity are to be given more space in our daily space. On Ash Wednesday, we started the match with us. General Hannibal’s words are very useful here: “We will either find the way or make it.” But it is necessary to remember, as Anselm Grün reminds us: “If you do not purify yourself, you will be bad for others!” Peter makes it clear: “This is a model of baptism that is now saving you. Not by removing bodily filth, but begging for God’s clear conscience for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who ascended into heaven, is at God’s right hand, and angels, powers, and powers are subject to him. ”Pope Francis sent us a message for this time. Let’s try to listen: The Message of the Holy Father Francis for Lent 2015 “Strengthen your hearts” (James 5: 8).

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent is a time of renewal for the Church, communities, and individual believers. Above all, however, it is a “time of mercy” (2 Cor 6: 2). God does not ask us for anything he would not have given us before: “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). He is not indifferent to us. Each of us lies in his heart, knows us by name, takes care of us, and seeks us when we leave him. Each of us is interested in him; his love prevents him from being indifferent to what is happening. However, it happens that when we are well and feel comfortable, we sometimes forget about others (which God the Father never does!), We are not interested in their problems, afflictions and injustices that they undergo … Our heart then falls into indifference: while I I am relatively well and contented, I forget those who are not well. This egoistic, indifferent attitude has taken on a global dimension today, to such an extent that we can talk about the globalization of indifference. This is a scandal that we as Christians have to face.

When God’s people turn to his love, they will find answers to questions that constantly arise in history. One of the most pressing challenges we want to address in this message is the challenge of globalization. Activities. Indifference to one’s neighbor and to God is a real temptation for us Christians as well. Therefore, during each Lenten season, we need to listen to the calls of prophets who are calling out loud to awaken us.

God is not indifferent to the world, but he loves it so much that he sacrificed his Son for the salvation of every human being. In the Incarnation, in his earthly life, in death and resurrection, the Son of God has definitively opened the door between God and man; between the sky and earth. And the Church is like a hand holding this door open – by proclaiming the word of God, by celebrating the sacraments, by witnessing to the faith that works 76 through love (cf. Gal 5: 6). Nevertheless, the world wants to close itself and close this door through which God enters the world and the world comes to God. Therefore, the hand, which is the Church, must never be surprised if they reject, suppress, and injure it. God’s people need renewal so that they do not become indifferent and close in on themselves. Some time ago, a television station conducted a survey: Who else is fasting today? They stated that not only the old but also the young will fast. Nice! It also said, “We should give up what we like best”; “I drink four coffees a day, so I’ll only have two, and I can sacrifice it.” “Potatoes were cooked in almost every house. What Mrs. Mary is preparing is the fastest food. Apart from him, they will not indulge in anything today, “said the addressed people from Lendak.

Another channel: “According to doctors, fasting is also of great health benefit. Miloš Bubán, gastroenterologist: “Fasting is taken not only as prevention but sometimes as treatment. It is sooner after winter when such fatigue of the organism comes, it is also such a cleansing treatment. “It was also said that” All these fasts will trump the models. You fast up to-up. So, what is fasting as it should be? Well, none of those mentioned were confirmed by the prophet Isaiah. What does he think fasting is? Not at all what we imagine under Lent. What is not fasting according to the prophet? , have I chosen such a fast, a day in which a person humbles himself? Twisting your head, putting on a sack, and shooting ashes? Do you call this fasting and a day dear to God? “

Today, the Holy Father Francis entered the Lenten period together with the cardinals of the Roman Curia by celebrating the liturgy of Ash Wednesday in the Basilica of St. Sabina on the Aventine. The Holy Mass was preceded by a traditional procession from the nearby Basilica of St. Anzelma, belonging to the Benedictine. In the homily, the Holy Father Francis pointed out the inner dimension of repentance and conversion, which is reflected in the solicitation of the gift of tears. “Can I cry?” – asked Pope Francis, and continued, “Is the Pope crying? Are the cardinals crying? Are the bishops crying? Are the initiates crying? Are the priests crying? Is crying in our prayers? ”

In the words of the prophet Joel: “Turn to me with all your heart” (2:12). The Holy Father called for such a repentance that comes from the most intimate of the interior. Based on Jesus’ words about the true meaning of alms, prayer, and fasting (Matthew 6: 1-6.16-18), he spoke of the dangers of hypocrisy facing a Christian. “Hypocrites cannot cry, they have forgotten how they cry, they do not ask for the gift of tears,” the pope remarked. Quoting the words of St. Paul: “For Christ, we ask: Be reconciled to God!” (2 Cor 5:20) then emphasized that conversion is not just a human work. It is possible “thanks to the Father’s mercy, who out of love for us did not hesitate to sacrifice his Son.” “Let us be reconciled to God,” the pope said. Today, after the audience, Pope Francis had a book St Peter’s Square handed out: Keep your heart!

Students who were on Erasmus – a study stay in the USA, talked about the aggressiveness of advertising on humans. The most common advertisement: “A bucket of grilled delicacies for only two dollars!” And right after that was an offer of some exercise tools! First, smash what your eyes see and then go to the fitness center – to the torture chamber. There is everything between two possibilities: to squander properly and then put it out of yourself. One is not so strong in one’s attitudes that one can command. It’s not just about human will. It doesn’t work for most. We are not that strong. The Church leads us not only to cultivate body weight to make us look but to be responsible for God’s gifts. Not only to renounce them but also to serve others [1].

If we are to preserve our hearts for God, then with His grace we can detoxify our hearts so that we can serve others by acts of mercy. I don’t remember anyone calling us to cry. Everywhere we hear that we are to impress the world champions, the supermen who are destroying the world and whom everyone envies. Although we know very well that it is different! We know how many embarrassments we do in front of others when we want to show off and fall for our mouths. And how much embarrassment a person can do in front of him! Pope Francis knows our embarrassing situations, so he calls us to weep over his sins. Let us not play the artists of life, but humbly ask for the gift of tears over all hypocrisy, over our weaknesses and sins. No, Pope Francis does not want us to be weeping but those who know how to get to God’s mercy and forgiveness.

One experience of life: In a small town, there are women who