Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
And he has made the world firm, not to be moved. Your throne stands firm from of old; from everlasting you are, o Lord.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed: holiness befits your house, o Lord, for length of days.
“You must be born from above”
Fr. Xavier SOBREVÍA i Vidal (Sant Just Desvern, Barcelona, Spain)Today, Jesus talks about the difficulty of foreseeing and knowing the action of the Holy Spirit: in fact, it “blows where it wills” (Jn 3:8). He ties it to the testimony He is also giving about and the need to be born from above. “You must be born from above.” (Jn 3:7), clearly says the Lord; a new life is necessary to have access to eternal life. It is not enough to "get by" to reach the Kingdom of Heaven; a new life, regenerated by the Spirit's action, is needed. Our professional, family, sporting, cultural, playful and, most of all, pious life, must be transformed by our Christian feelings and by God's action. Everything must be transversely impregnated by His Spirit. Nothing, but nothing at all, should make us stay outside the renewal God's Spirit, offers us.
A transformation where Jesus Christ is the catalyst. He, who previously had to suffer the Crucifixion and then resurrect, is who will send us God's Spirit. He who has come from above. He who has shown His power and His goodness, through His many miracles. He who always does His Father's will. He who has suffered to the last drop of blood for us. Thanks to the Spirit He will send us, we “shall be able to ascend to the Kingdom of Heaven; by the Spirit we obtain his filial adoption; by the Spirit we are allowed to call God our ‘Father’, to participate of Christ's Grace and to receive the right to share the eternal glory” (Saint Basil the Great).
Let us give the Spirit's action our warmest welcome, let us listen to Him and let us apply His inspirations so that each one of us —wherever we should be— can set up a good and noble example that inflames Christ's light.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“By his coming, Christ brought with him all newness.” (Saint Irenaeus)
“With his newness, he is always able to renew our lives and our communities, and even if the Christian message has known periods of darkness and ecclesial weakness, it will never grow old.” (Francis)
“The baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment or at the Easter Vigil). The Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be ‘born of water and the Spirit’ (Jn 3:5).” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 1238)
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September 2023
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September 29th
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels
Gospel and commentary video
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