Meditation

St. Augustine says: "Let us reply to our father and to our mother: ‘I love you in Christ, not instead of Christ’". In following Jesus even our love for life must rank as a second priority. To follow Jesus, after all, entails to embrace the Cross. Without the Cross there is no disciple.

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

Charity understood as that kind of love that links us, through them, to the same Father, to the very same Christ Redeemer and to the same Holy Spirit. The kind of love that makes them supportive and solicitous with us. Therefore, it is not that we venerate the saints only because of their exemplarity. 

Today, it is common to speak of the love towards the brethren, christian justice, etc. but the love towards God is seldom spoken.

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”.
 

The Pharisees realize that their hypocrite behavior cannot be justified and this is what keeps them silent. In this passage a very clear lesson is shining through: the need to understand that saintliness is to follow Christ —to full enamorment— and not to coldly fulfill some legal precepts. 

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 prescind of any of these two dimensions. All Christians, even those who are consecrated to a contemplative life, have, and must have, certain moments for praying and certain others for action. 

It goes without saying that his doctrine is marvelous and appealing; but it entails some demands, which are not so attractive any more. But, should this man live the Gospel according to his own liking, with a “customized moral”, which would his salvation probabilities be?

This seed is the Word; it is also the Eucharist that is planted in us through Communion. Our Lord Jesus Christ compared himself to "a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies (…). But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (Jn 12, 24).

God's words should help us to examine our own religious experience and to find out whether the intermediations we use actually bring us into communication with God and with life. St. Augustine's phrase, "Love and do what you will", can only be understood as the correct experience of intermediations.
 

We often complain when we say: —I do not know how to pray. Let us then follow the example of the blind man in the Gospel: He insists on calling Jesus, and he tells him what he needs with just three words. We need more faith? 

Jesus' words invite us to ponder over the inconveniences of hypocrisy: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vine-yard and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none" (Lk 13, 6). The hypocrite makes believe to be what he is not.

As St. John of the Cross reminds us, we live in a world, which the very God treaded on and made beautiful. St. Teresa of Calcutta saw the signs of the times, and the times have understood St. Teresa of Calcutta. Let her invigorate us. Let us keep on looking upwards without losing sight of our earth.

The Gospel presents us Jesus as a person of great ambitions: "I have come to bring fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Lk 12, 49). Jesus would like to see the fire of charity and virtue already burning.

"Knowing his master's will" (Lk 12, 47), is what we identify as our “conscience”, and it is what makes us responsible for our actions. It is a matter of justice and love on our side, to generously respond to Mankind, and towards each one of its living beings.

Thinking of heaven and hell should not detract us from our duties down here, but it is a healthy and incarnated thought, and it deserves the Lord's congratulations: "Happy are those servants if he finds them awake when he comes at midnight or daybreak!" (Lk 12, 38). 

In St. Luke's feast —the Evangelist of Christ's gentleness and meekness— the Church proclaims this Gospel where the main traits Christ's apostles must have, are established.

Jesus overturns so much this world’s categories that He gives an entire new approach to human activities. The most praiseworthy assignment is no better than the smallest job we can carry out to identify ourselves with Christ; with more love for God and for our brothers.

In any case, "the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say" (Lk 12, 12). In this respect, St Cyril of Jerusalem emphasized it while affirming "the Holy Spirit, who dwells in those well predisposed, teaches us, as a doctor, what we have to tell".

"Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees" (Lk 12, 1). It is hypocrisy and it is only an appearance of goodness, a mask made with cloth of many striking colors, which hide vices and moral deformities, dastardly infections of the spirit and microbes that tarnish the mind and, consequently, our very existence.

We may mull over the meaning, acceptance and treatment given to the prophets: "I will send prophets and apostles and this people will kill and persecute some of them" (Lk 11, 49). They were persons of any social or religious condition that received the divine message and were imbibed by it;...

The good shepherd goes before the flock. Good parents are models to follow: example attracts. Good educators make a point of living by the virtues they teach. This is being coherent. Not only to a point, but fully: living a life close to the tabernacle, the devotion to the Mother of God, some small services at home,...

St. Basil used to say, "he who is prudent must be mostly afraid of living pending of others' opinion". If we are witnesses to Christ, we must know that the truth will always shine through. This is our mission amidst these men we share our live with, while trying to keep us clean after the model of man God has revealed to us in Christ. 

Christ's sweet —but stern— voice admonishes those who believe they certainly deserve a “ticket” for Paradise, just because they may say: "Jesus, how wonderful you are!". Christ has paid the price of our salvation without excluding anyone, but, all the same, some minimum conditions must be kept.

We can see how Jesus —who loves us— wants us all to enter the Kingdom of God. Hence, the strong warning to the “rich”. They are also called to enter the Kingdom. But they do face more difficult challenges to open themselves to God. 

We hear the best compliment Jesus could make of his own Mother: "Surely blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it as well!" (Lk 11, 28). With this reply, Jesus Christ does not reject the enthusiastic praise that plain woman dedicated to his Mother, but He acknowledges it and goes even further,...

We are amazed to see how Jesus is preposterously “accused” of driving out demons "by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the demons" (Lk 11, 15).

The Gospel is a catechesis by Jesus on prayer. He solemnly asserts that the Father always listens to him: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you" (Lk 11, 9).

We can see right away that the prayer, according to Jesus, is something like a “father-son” kinship. That is, a family matter based on a relation of closeness and love. The image of God as a father speaks to us of a relationship based on affection and intimacy, not on power and authority.

On the path of sainthood not any two souls are exactly alike. We all try to love God, but within our own style and personality, without imitating anyone. Our models are Christ and the Mother of God. Do you resent how others treat God? Try to learn from his personal piety.