Master·evangeli.net
Today's Gospel + short theological explanation
The unique dignity of each person
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Pope Francis) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, “modernity” has built a universal brotherhood based on equality, yet we gradually came to realize that this brotherhood, lacking a reference to a common Father as its ultimate foundation, cannot endure. We need to return to the true basis of brotherhood.
As salvation history progresses, it becomes evident that God wants to make everyone share as brothers and sisters in that one blessing. Faith teaches us to see that every man and woman represents a blessing for me, that the light of God’s face shines on me through the faces of my brothers and sisters. Thanks to faith we have come to understand the unique dignity of each person, something which was not clearly seen in antiquity.
—At the heart of biblical faith is God’s love, his concrete concern for every person, and his plan of salvation which embraces all of humanity and all creation, culminating in the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The only "reliable" hope
EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)Today, Jesus Christ calls us to keep a “reliable” hope, a target so big that allows us to confront our strenuous present. This true hope, the great hope that stands firm despite all disappointments, can only be God, Who loves us to the extreme. He who does not know God, even though he may have multiple expectations, deep inside has no hope.
History has proven it: what recreates man is not science, or political-economic actions, but love. When there is absolute love with absolute certainty, then —only then— man is redeemed. Thanks to Jesus Christ, we can be sure of God’s love (Who is not a remote "first cause"), because of the incarnation of His only begotten Son and His total capitulation for us.
—Jesus, your love gives me the possibility to persevere —day after day— in the middle of the natural imperfection of this world. Your kingdom is not a beyond we can imagine, but it is there, where You are beloved.