Meditation

The Church has remained faithful to Christ's teaching on fasting which, though coming from the prophets and even being a natural and spontaneous practice in many religions, our Lord confirms with a new meaning. Fasting can be used as preparation; it strengthens prayer and contemplation. Jesus fasts in the desert as a preparation for his public life.
 

John Paul II tells us, while urging us to live by the Grace the lamb has given us: "Pledge to live by the Grace. Jesus was born at Bethlehem precisely for that reason (...). To live by Grace is the supreme dignity, the ineffable joy, the guarantee of peace, the marvelous ideal".
 

Today, Saint Mark tells us how Jesus taught and how the crowd came to Him. In those days, they were as hungry of doctrine as we are today, ignorance being always our worst enemy. Let us not forget the expression: “They will hate no more when they ignore no more”...
 

We are now beginning a new ordinary time. And, we believers are now reminded of the urgent need we have of a sincere and personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the All-Merciful Lord. In this liturgical time, He urges us neither to slacken our pace nor to neglect the necessary forgiveness He offers all of us in his dwelling, the Church.
 

During our daily prayer we long for and hope to hear our Lord's voice. But, perhaps more often than not, we fill it with our own words without allowing us time to listen to what the Lord may wish to tell us. Let us, therefore, take care of our inner silence, which —by avoiding distractions and centering our attention— opens up a space to receive the affections and...

Today, we are clearly shown how Jesus split his working hours. On one hand, He prayed; on the other, He consecrated time to his mission of praying with words and deeds. Contemplation and Action. Prayer and Work. Being with God while amongst men.
 

Today, first Tuesday in Ordinary Time, Saint Mark presents Jesus teaching in the synagogue, and immediately he comments: “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes” (Mk 1, 21). This is quite an extraordinary comment. On one hand, what His listeners admire is certainly not the doctrine but the Master;...
 

To deserve such divine benevolence and complacence, Christ has provided the waters with a regenerating and purifying strength, so that, when baptized, we truly become sons of God. "Maybe someone will wonder: ‘why did He want to be baptized, if He is Holy? Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ was baptized not to be made holy by the waters, but to make holy the waters’" (St Maximus of Turin).
 

Jesus Christ crosses the paths of the lives of many people who are not interested in Him. A little effort would have changed their lives; they would have found the King of Joy and Peace. This requires a willingness to look for Him, to move around, to ask without losing heart —like the Three Wise Men— to leave our comfort, our routine. 
 

Let us, by exercising our faith, move closer to this example of the human behavior of Jesus, thus coming to know and imitate his human dimension as far as we can, learning to love more and more, as we listen to his word, ever growing in faith and trust, until we come to see the face of the Father in him.
 

John Paul II comments that "Rising from the waters of the baptismal font, every Christian hears again the voice that was once heard on the banks of the Jordan River: ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’. From this comes the understanding that one has been brought into association with the beloved Son, becoming a child of adoption and a brother or sister of Christ"

We cannot give what we do not have. So, before we can tell others about the Master, we must already have encountered Him and come to know Him. Only when we know Him well and have allowed Him to enter and direct into our lives, can we share Him with others, as Philip did, and as His disciples have done throughout history.
 

In our Christian life, the essential part is to allow Jesus to gaze into us, to go and see where he stays, to stay with him and to share, and to announce it afterwards. This is the way and procedure followed by the disciples and saints. It is our way.
 

"The Spirit comes down", "baptizes with the Holy Spirit" (John 1.33): Baptism makes us become a "new creation", God’s foster children sharing the divine nature, members of Christ, joint-heirs with Him and temples of the Holy Spirit.
 

The mystery of salvation in Christ is accompanied always by the testimony. Jesus Christ himself is "The Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Rev 3, 14). It is John the Baptist who bears witness with his vision and gaze as a prophet: "Among you stands one who (…) comes after me" (Jn 1,26-27). And this is how the Apostles understand their mission: "God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses" (Acts 2, 32).
 

Today, the Church gratefully reflects on the Virgin's maternity as a model of her own motherhood to all of us. Luke offers the “meeting” of the shepherds and the Boy, who is with Mary —His mother— and with Joseph. Joseph's discreet presence reflects his important mission as guardian of the great mystery of the Son of God.

Today is the last day of the year. Often, mixed feelings —even contradictory ones— can be found in our hearts at this time. It is as though a sample of the different moments we have lived and those we would like to have lived make themselves present in our memories. Today's Gospel can help us pour them out, in order to start the New Year with strength.
 

Today, we contemplate the mystery of the Holy Family. The Son of God begins his path through men in the midst of a plain family. It is the Father's design. The family will always be the irreplaceable human habitat. Jesus has a legal father that “carries” him and a Mother that is always by his side. 
 

Today, the old prophecy is eclipsed leaving the way for the new one: He, who King David had announced when intoning his Messianic Psalms, has at long last entered into the Temple of God! Today is the great day when he, who St. Luke names Simeon will soon abandon this world of darkness to enter the vision of eternal Light: “Lord, now let your servant go in peace;...
 

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs. Embedded within the Christmas celebrations, we cannot ignore the message the liturgy wants to convey to us clarifying two main points regarding, the good news of the birth of Jesus. In the first place, St. Joseph's predisposition in God's design for our salvation, by accepting God's will. 

Today, the liturgy celebrates the festivity of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist. The first day after Christmas, the Church celebrates Saint Stephen's day, the first martyr of the Christian faith. And the following day is the feast of Saint John. Saint John is the one who better and most deeply understood the mystery of the Word Incarnate.

In the narrative of his martyrdom we can find a beautiful Trinitarian allusion: "Stephen, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (Acts 7, 55). His experience was like a taste of the Glory in Heaven. And Stephen died as Jesus did, by forgiving those who sacrificed him...
 

Today, the Savior has been born. This is the good news of this Christmas Eve. Like in every Christmas, Jesus is born again in the world, in each home, in our heart.
 

Today, the Gospel gathers Zechariah's song of praise after the birth of his son. In its first part John the Baptist's father thanks God, and in the second, his eyes look forward into the future. He oozes joy and hope on recognizing the salvation’s action of God toward Israel, which culminates in the coming of the Messiah, prepared by his own son John.
 

The Precursor's birth speaks of the proximity of Christmas. The Lord is at hand!: let's get ourselves ready! When asked who he was by the priests who had come from Jerusalem, he said: “I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert, Make straight the way of the Lord.’” (Jn 1, 23).
 

We are getting close to the end of Advent, a time of conversion and purification. Today, it is the Virgin Mary who is showing us the best way. Mulling over our Mother's prayer —by wishing to make it ours— will help us to become more humble. Mother Mary will help us if we truly ask her.
 

Joy in Elisabeth's soul and face, and in the baby leaping in her womb. The words of Mary's cousin will travel through time: “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”. (Lk 1, 42). The prayer of the Saint’s Rosary, as a source of joy, is one of the new perspectives discovered by Saint John Paul II in his apostolic Letter about the Rosary of the Virgin Mary.
 

We are preparing to celebrate Christmas. The best way to do so is to be with Mary, contemplating Her life and trying to imitate Her virtues in order to receive the Lord with the right heart: What does God expect from me, now, today, at work, with this person I deal with all the time, from my relation with Him? A great deal depends on our response to the little things of every day!
 

Today, the angel Gabriel announces the “supernatural” birth of John the Baptist, the man who will prepare the mission of the Messiah to the priest Zechariah. God, in His loving providence, prepares Jesus' birth along with John's. Elizabeth's sterility is not a problem...

Today, the liturgy of the Word invites us to consider and admire St. Joseph's figure, a truly good man. About Mary, God's Mother, it has been said that she was blessed among women (cf. Lk 1, 42). About Joseph it has been written he was a just man (cf. Mt 1, 19).