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OMELIE / Omelie EN

25 ott 2020
25/10/2020 – 30th Sunday in O. T. – A

25/10/2020 – 30th Sunday in O. T. – A

 Reading 1 EXO 2,20-26 * Psalm 17 * Reading 2 1THES 1,5-10 * Gospel MT 22, 34-40

 

Let us begin by considering the praise Saint Paul is addressing the Christians in Thessaloniki. He says they are an example of faith for all the Christians in the Greek peninsula. In fact, they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven”. To convert from the idols to God is a radical change of life. The idols in fact are the personification of the virtues, but above all of men's vices. Idols justify everything, instead God gives precise rules, all directed towards love, even by fighting and winning over the desires of the flesh and the instinctive passions. The way of the idols is the easy one, God's is difficult and tiring. Everybody however realise that the easy way, despite the initial enjoyment, brings to bitterness and suffering, while God's hard way brings to joy and peace. “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven”: this the apostle says to the faithful believers. They have changed not only their way of living, but also their desires. In fact, they have begun to “await his Son”! We know from experience that desires are important, because they give courage and they push to action. If we await the Son of God, our heart brings us to look for being enjoyable for Him!

The way to live of the Christians in Thessaloniki furthermore is attracting the attention of the Pagans, the apostle says, so much so that all the people in the region are talking about them. In this way the faith, the good news of God the Father's love become flesh in Jesus Christ, reaches many people: they will go themselves to look for the Lord! The apostle's words remind me of a saying I have heard years ago, which continues to be alive and inspirational in me: “May you talk about the Lord only when you are asked, but live in a way to be asked”! We Christians need to live in a way to arise curiosity, healthy and holy curiosity, the curiosity which can get people closer to the Lord. Moses was moved by curiosity when he approached the thorny bush which was burning without being consumed! The Greeks were moved by curiosity when they approached Jesus in order to see Him! The citizens of Malta were moved by curiosity when Paul, bitten by a viper, did not die! How many will be moved by curiosity when they will see that you love and help those who have offended you, when you are not taking into account rudeness or little games at your expenses at your workplace, when you will enquire about the health of those who are not even greeting you! How many, curious about your peace, will ask you how can you not complain about the pain from your sickness! Someone will even ask you how you can drive the car peacefully and let everyone pass you, despite having urgent and important committments. Then you will answer. And your answer will be motivated by your love for the Lord Jesus: you will not be happy about a superficial answer, but you will tell of your faith, and you will tell, without being authoritarian, about the beauty of your God and Father.

Even Jesus takes advantage of the Pharisees' question, despite being cheeky, to help them look for the Father. We welcome gratefully and joyfully His answer. “The greatest and the first commandment” is to offer the whole heart and the whole soul and the whole mind to God, to that God we know is Father. In every moment of the day, during every worrying time, during all the free time our thankfulness to Him will be constantly there, and we will be able to see everything as a gift of His, and we will do everything with a feeling of gratefulness. We will love Him so much to want to give the signs of His love to our brethren too: we will cover them in kindness, in mercy, affection, fraternal regards. Love towards the neighbor will be the sign of our love towards God, love for God will be the source and the support of our love for the neighbor. And so two loves become one, two commandments are the warmth and light of a single flame, different petals of a single flower. Such a harmonious love will be the base of a behaviour that makes use of all ten commandments in order to describe and live its many layers. They who live this love sparks the curiosity of the world, which will ask us, giving us the opportunity to announce the Gospel to it. And so we begin or continue too to be missionaries of the Father’s and Jesus' love for those who run into us. This is the support that the missionaries spread around the world like the most.