Meditation

Today, the image presented by the Gospel is that of Jesus who “wept over” (Lk 19, 41) for the fate of the chosen city that did not recognize the time and visitation of its Savior. Knowing, as we do, the latest news about this city, it would be easy to apply this lamentation to the city which —is both— holy and a source of separation.
 

Today, the Gospel proposes to us the parable of the pounds: an amount of money that a noble man gives out to his servants, before leaving for a far country. First, let us pay attention to the occasion provoking Jesus' parable. He was “getting near” Jerusalem, where He was to face his Passion and his subsequent resurrection.

St. Maximus said: “There is nothing God loves more and pleases him best as a man converting with true regret.” Let him help me to make it come true today.
 

Today, the blind beggar Bartimaeus (cf. Mk 10, 46) gives us a complete lesson about faith, expressed with total simplicity in front of Christ. It would be good for us to repeat, every now and then, Bartimaeus' prayer: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” (Lk 18, 37). It is so profitable for our soul to feel destitute! Because we certainly are so though, unfortunately, very seldomly are we willing to admit it. 

Today, the Gospel speaks to us of the last coming of the Son of man. The liturgical year is about to end and the Church presents the “parusia” to us, while at the same time the Church wants us to think of our last days: death, judgment, hell or heaven. A journey destination conditions its planning.

Today, when the last days of the liturgical year are getting near, Jesus exhorts us to pray, to open ourselves to God. We may think as the family parents who —every day!— are expecting to receive from their sons some words showing their loving affection.
 

Pondering over this lesson of Jesus Christ, St. Augustine says: "What are we therefore to say? Will those who do these things all die, that is, those who get married, plant vineyards and build? Not them, but those who boast of all that, those who place all these things before God, those who are willing to offend God for all these things this very moment".

The great event of the last day will be a universal accomplishment, but it also happens in the little microcosm of each one's heart. It is there where we must actually seek the Kingdom. Heaven can be found deep inside us, where we must also find Jesus.
 

Thanks to the sacrifice of his life for us, Jesus Christ has made God’s living temple from believers. This is why the Christian message reminds us that all human beings are a sacred reality, where God dwells, and that it cannot be profaned by using it as a means.

Today, the Gospel message is not based on the master's attitude, but on the servant's. Jesus, with a parable, invites his apostles to consider the stance of service: the servant should fulfill his duties without expecting any reward: "Do you thank this servant for doing what you commanded?" (Lk 17, 9). 

Today, the Gospel speaks of three important topics. In the first place, our behavior with children. If in other occasions childhood has been praised, on this one we are warned of the evil we can cause them.
 

Today, Jesus makes it clear his claim about resurrection and eternal life. Sadducees doubted, or even worse, they ridiculed the belief in eternal life after death, which was defended —instead— by the Pharisees and we also defend it.
 

Faithfulness to small things falls within our reach. Our days are usually formed by what we call as “very normal things”: the same job, the same people, some pious practices, our family... And it is in these ordinary realities where we must fulfill ourselves as persons and grow in holiness. “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones;...

Which is for us our life's treasure? We should rather examine our desires so that we may find out where do we keep our treasure... St. Augustine tells us: "Your continuous yearning is your continuous voice. If you stop loving, your yearning will be silent".
 

St. Augustine tells us that Jesus Christ, God and Man, gives us an example of humbleness by removing the “tumor” of our arrogance, “for, though great is the misery of a haughty man, greater still is the mercy of the humble God.”

At least once a year, we Christians wonder what is the sense of life and what is that of our death and resurrection. It is on All Souls' day, which St. Augustine has separated from All Saints' Day.

Today, we celebrate the reality of the Mystery of Salvation. A reality that we evince in the “Creed” and which is very comforting: “I believe in the communion of saints.” All saints, who have already passed from death into eternal life, from the Virgin Mary on, form a unity; they represent the Church of the Blessed, whom Jesus congratulates: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God” (Mt 5, 8).

The Lord invites all of us to give ourselves unconditionally to all men, motivated only by our love to God and to our brothers in the Lord. "And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again" (Lk 6, 34).
 

The divine forgiveness provokes the conversion of Zaccheus; this is one of the originalities of the Gospel: God's forgiveness is free; it is not that God forgives us because of our conversion, but the other way round: God's mercy sort of impels us to feel grateful and reciprocate accordingly.
 

Jesus says with words whatever He is, whatever He has in his heart: He is not looking to be honored but to honor; He does not think of his honor, but of his Father's glorification. He does not think of himself but of the other. Jesus' whole life is a revelation of who God is: “God is love”.
 

Today, we may contemplate a full day in the life of Jesus. A life with two clear sides: prayer and action. If, as Christians, we are to imitate Jesus' life, we cannot miss any of these two dimensions. All Christians have certain moments for praying and certain others for action, even those who are consecrated to a contemplative life. The length of time for each one may, of course, vary. 

With this attitude, the Lord set out the rules giving guidance on how the messengers of the Gospel should have to behave in front of the persecutions they would be facing through the centuries to come: not to be afraid of any temporal power. 

Let's stop “being too clever by half” and to make so many calculations. Let's hurry up to enter by the narrow gate, restarting as many times as needed, and trusting in His mercy. St. Josemaria says “All that which worries you for the moment, is of relative importance. What is of absolute importance is that you be happy, that you be saved.”
 

Parables encouraging patience and the hopeful certainty; parables referring to the Kingdom of God and to the Church, and that are also applied to the growth of this same Kingdom in each of us.
 

Today, we can see how Jesus carries out an action that loudly proclaims his interpretation of messianic fulfillment. And how, in front of it, the ruler of the synagogue gets outraged and scolds people for coming to be healed on a Saturday: "There are six days in which to work; come on those days to be healed and not on the Sabbath" (Lk 13, 14).
 

Love, to be able to look with tender eyes —that is, with God's eyes— at the person or event we have in front of us. Saint John Paul II encourages us to “promote a spirituality of communion”, that —among other things— indicates “above all the heart's contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us.”
 

Today, Jesus' words invite us to ponder over the inconveniences of hypocrisy: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none” (Lk 13, 6). The hypocrite makes believe to be what he is not. 

The II Vatican Council, in the Constitution Gaudium et spes (n. 4), updates today's Gospel: “The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel (…). We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.”
 

Jesus would like to see the fire of charity and virtue already burning. As if He would be referring to it in passing! He has to undergo a baptism, that is, the trial of the Cross, and He feels anguished until it is all over. It’s only natural, Jesus has plans, and He is in a hurry to see them accomplished. We could say He has a “Divine Impatience.” 

Today, upon reading this fragment of the Gospel, we realize that each person is an administrator: when we are born, we all receive a heredity of genes and capabilities to fulfill ourselves in our life. We discover that these capabilities, and our very life, are just a gift from God, inasmuch we have not done anything to deserve them.