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Movimento Impegno e Testimonianza - Madre dell’Eucaristia
Via delle Benedettine, 91 - 00135 Rome - Italy
Tel. +39-063380587
mov.imp.test@madredelleucaristia.it
Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of November 15,2009
33rd Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Dan 12:1-3; Ps 15; Heb 10:11-14,18; Mk 13:24-32
It is a great joy to start the new week under the
banner of Eucharist, the banner of love, participation and widening of the Word
of God.
You know the reasons still preventing us from meeting together to widen it in
the Bible classes, so the youth advised me to explain the Sunday readings with
the intensity and depth of Bible sessions.
And today is the most suitable moment. If while reading the passages you did
not understand much, do not be ashamed, in fact, even the commentators of these
texts do not have a common understanding. I do not want to show them all, else
you get bored, but I will explain the most pertinent to the Holy Scripture.
Let us start immediately with a clarification. We have two truths of faith:
"Unity and Trinity of God" and "Jesus, true God and true Man".
Let us pause before Jesus, humbly bow our heads and say, "Lord, tell us
about You!". He can speak to us, either through inspiration or through
previous studies. In Christ, one only person, there are two natures: human nature
and divine nature. Early theologians, the Fathers of the Church, stated: "Double
kind uniting in one person".
For instance, with regard to knowledge, Jesus has both the human knowledge,
which He gradually acquires over time, and the divine omniscience. Beware of
this claim, as some heretics while reading the last passage of the Gospel, "But
about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in Heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father" (Mk 13:32), came to the conclusion that if Jesus
is not omniscient, then He is not God! Do you understand where they got to?
Instead, if you keep in mind the human knowledge of the person of Christ, you
see that, in this case, the gradual learning is taken into account.
When Jesus was teaching, He was not referring only to those people, few or many,
who were listening before Him, but also to all the people who, along the years,
would have known the H. Gospel. I hope you understand this point and if someone
would try mislead you, you will be sufficiently prepared to respond.
Jesus is therefore a theandric reality, this word derives from Greek and is
composed of Tèos: God and Andròs: man, that is, true God and true
man. When you say, "My God, Jesus, I recognize You as my God, I recognize
You as my brother", is a correct statement, for the brotherhood between
us and Christ is based precisely on the participation we have in the common
Humanity. However, be careful! Every action performed by Jesus Christ has infinite
value, for it is not exclusively made up of human nature, but embraces the whole
person, so even the divine nature. So it is fair to say "God is suffering"
because suffering is a part of human nature, but Jesus is also true God, so
the suffering rises to an infinite value.
Now you clearly understand the theological reason why many times we said that
it would have been sufficient the few drops of blood pouring out during Baby
Jesus circumcision to save the world, because even if it is a human action,
the theandric reality of Christ rises it to an infinite value. This is a clear
point that you must keep in mind.
Let us begin with the H. Gospel. Here there is reference to a dual ending: the
end of Jerusalem and the end of the World. For the Jews the destruction of Jerusalem
would end human life, hence they identified the end of Jerusalem with the end
of the World.
In the Sacred Scripture, when speaking of the Lord's Day: "In those days,
after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its
light, stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the Heavens will be shaken"
(Mk 13:24-25), they always point to the actions of God, the end of Jerusalem
is an action of God, which anticipates the experience, knowledge and acceptance
of the end of the world. And you must also bear in mind that God (and Jesus
is God) knows the future, so when He talks about "tribulation" He
is referring to the siege around Jerusalem, which will lead to the destruction
by the Romans.
Even the next sentence: "The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give
its light, stars will fall from the sky and the powers that are in Heaven shall
be shaken" (Mk 13:24-25), points out to the destruction of Jerusalem. In
fact, the evidence of the historians of that time tells us that in the years
immediately preceding the end of Jerusalem there were upheavals, earthquakes
and seaquakes. While we men do not know what will happen in a week or month,
Jesus, being God, knows the future and had announced what would have preceded
the destruction of Jerusalem.
"Then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and
glory" (Mk 13, 26). This is a quick passage, here Jesus goes from the end
of Jerusalem to the end of the world and this is difficult to understand. We
too have not fully understood all that the Lord told us, we need time, we need
further investigations and explanations.
Do not take this image from a literal point of view, rather do read this sentence
from a potential point of view. Here the Lord wants to say: "What I have
foretold is coming true, unfortunately for you, because of your rejection of
God". You will remember when Jesus, going up the Calvary, said to Himself:
"O Jerusalem Jerusalem, how often I wanted to gather your children together
as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you people were unwilling!"
(Lk 13:34). Here again there is an image showing us the great suffering of Jesus
who, even with His infinite love, was rejected by men. Well then, although this
opportunity has been lost through men's fault, Jesus is not discouraged, but
through other sufferings, is trying to snatch men from the greatest disgrace:
the loss of God!
After all these centuries, thanks to the light of the Holy Spirit, we have been
able to understand what is written in this passage of the Gospel.
I think it is the last verse of the yesterday's Gospel: "But when the Son
of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Lk 18:8). This passage is
not just about the end of the world, but every intervention of God. Eucharistic
miracles, the Trinitarian theophanies and the Episcopal ordination are the great
interventions of God that have taken place here, in the thaumaturgic place,
thus the meaning of the passage is: "When God will work something great,
will the world accept it? Will it show faith regarding these actions?".
You see how important it is to know the Word of God!
Then He resumes again the discourse about the end of the world. "And he
will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends
of the earth to the ends of the heavens" (Mk 13:27). This statement means
that salvation is available to everyone. He does not say: "those who have
been baptized, who have known the Gospel, who have received the sacraments",
but "the elect" in general. "Elect" is the one who is called,
chosen. Every man is called, every man is chosen by God regardless of culture,
practicing religion and position he has in society. What matters is that man
would freely respond to this "election" from God. However - it is
not me saying it, but it is repeated many times in the letters of God - there
are two people who had no choice. Who are they? Bishop and Marisa: "I did
not ask him if he wanted to become Bishop, I said to him: You are Bishop".
And so it was and continues to be so.
"When you see these things...", back to the discourse on the destruction
of Jerusalem, "...you know that He is near", that is, His day is at
hand. "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled",
He is not referring to the end of the world, but to the destruction of Jerusalem.
We are at around 36 - 37 AD; the end of Jerusalem took place in the seventies.
Do a calculation: there is a generation in between. Hence "this generation
shall not pass away before all this has been achieved". "Heaven and
earth will pass away but my words shall not pass away" (Mk 13:30), i.e.
Jesus' teachings are good for all ages, for all nations, for every individual.
And in this way I believe that the Gospel is more understandable, more acceptable.
The letter to Hebrews begins with the comparison between the Jewish priesthood
and the only true and eternal priesthood, the one of Christ and those who participate
in His priesthood.
The priests of the Jewish people would give non-stop offerings to God through
the sacrifice of animals, but they were limited offerings, which did not reach
purification and redemption, they were merely symbolic to remind Jews that they
had to purify, as far as possible, through repentance of sins and observance
of the Decalogue, which was essential for them. These sacrifices were used to
give an incentive to keep men, as far as it was possible at that time, in contact
with God.
Christ is in a completely different situation, having offered one only sacrifice
for sins. It is now clear: he suffered, shed blood, in a certain sense He "exaggerated"
in suffering, and made sure that this suffering was taken up by His divine nature.
What is the final effect? Total perfection!
When a validly ordained priest, anywhere, is celebrating the H. Mass, is not
making a sacrifice different from yesterday, or different from what will make
tomorrow; but it is the same infinite sacrifice of Christ, for He is God.
We say "he makes it actual", hence he is making actual something that
has already happened. We humans, because we are limited and small, are not even
able to make actual a day of our life. But God can do it because there is no
limit for the Lord, neither of space nor time. Thus Jesus Christ is the same
Jesus who in a moment, during the H. Mass, will live the passion, death and
resurrection. Each of us, by attending the H. Mass, can live Christ's Passion
beginning from the Garden of Gethsemane, the Sanhedrin, Pilate's hall and up
to Calvary, just as Our Lady experienced it and who was under the Cross with
John. There is no difference, in fact, and while changing the appearance, substance
and reality are the same.
Then here is Christ who, having accomplished the mission the Father entrusted
Him with, is by divine privilege, at His right. And, for the sacrifices He faced
through His humanity, is a winner who gradually will be able to defeat all of
his enemies, the last enemy to be defeated will be death. This sentence is not
mentioned here, but it is Paul stating it in another passage: "And since
that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice
he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (Heb 10:13-14).
What does this mean? Christ - if we comply with Him - is not just taking away
our sins, but He is leading us to such a high condition that Paul himself, repeating
Christ's exhortation, is describing it in this way: "You'll be perfect
as your Father in Heaven".
Just think, those who are sanctified are made perfect! Perfect, I say! We should
not give it a trivial and common explanation. By saying "perfection"
you are doing today a new discovery. We reach a level of holiness and spiritual
height that man alone could have never achieved. If you get to this level of
perfection it is thanks to God's intervention.
Here's an example: Imagine a scale going from sin to perfection. In this scale
sainthood comes first, which is attained through the forgiveness of sins; one
would stop here and it would be already a big thing, keeping the current state
of grace. But what is Christ doing? On His own initiative and with His power
elevates men's holiness, elevating it to a higher level than they could have
achieved.
As St. Augustine is reminding us, for the sanctification there is the need of
human consent: "God created you without asking your consent, but He does
not save you without your consent". After the consent you reach sanctification
and man is all in one with Christ. Christ gives us an additional gift, He brings
us even higher. Here is perfection: we get much higher than what human nature
is capable of achieving!
Then there is prophet Daniel who, with his eye enlightened by God, allows us
to pierce through time, centuries and reach the end of the world.
Again, we should not interpret the Word of God according to a strict grammatical
and syntactical meaning, or else we get confused.
When in the Scripture you read this sentence: "And many of those who sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to
shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan 12:2), it does not mean that some
people wake up and others will not. That "many" refers to the multitude:
the multitude of men will wake up. They will wake up because there will be the
final resurrection: there will be another great and miraculous intervention
of God. And rightly so, according to the vision of God, as man is composed of
soul and body, the body must follow the soul's condition in the final situation.
The soul will be perfect or sanctified and at this point, whatever imperfection
had been taken away and deleted. But man is not worthy to be before God, has
no right to go to Heaven! It would have been sufficient and quite great if man
were happy in the Waiting Garden, where one can see the Virgin Mary and Jesus,
true God and true man, but not the mystery of God.
To get to enjoy the beatific vision we need another intervention by God in order
to render the human condition able to contemplate divinity. In fact, the difference
between human condition and divine condition is infinite, hence man is in no
way able to fill this unlimited distance; then it is God giving us a chance
by putting us in a position to view Him.
Here it is, we can say, the last great gift, the last great gift that God, by
His free and sovereign initiative, is granting men so that they may really get,
whilst not being worthy, the infinite and eternal joy that will never fade.
But it is a joy that has "potential" and "growth" value.
That is to say, the more we will know God in the beatific vision, the more we
will love Him. The more we love Him, the more we grow in His likeness that is
expressed in the presence of grace; hence we will be in a never ending growth
of spiritual beauty!
I told you what the Lord has inspired me, in times of particular sufferings
as the day I experienced yesterday and I give it to you. Make the best use of
it! I hope that everything I have explained would not only remain a source of
joy from a literary, theological or abstract point of view, but also a reality
of life for the salvation of the world, for the rebirth of the Church and for
the glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Praised be Jesus Christ!