L'Evangile dans ma vie/ The Gospel in my life

Gospel text

(Mt 13,31-35): 

Jesus put another parable before them, «The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that a man took and sowed in his field. It is smaller than all other seeds, but once it has fully grown, it is bigger than any garden plant; like a tree, the birds come and rest in its branches».

He told them another parable, «The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and buried in three measures of flour until the whole mass of dough began to rise». Jesus taught all this to the crowds by means of parables; He did not say anything to them without using a parable. So what the Prophet had said was fulfilled: ‘I will speak in parables. I will proclaim things kept secret since the beginning of the world’.

The Application

Pope Benedict XVI says that the Kingdom of God is not reduced to place, time and space, rather, it is Jesus Himself. Thus, little of Jesus in our life, is capable of transforming us totally into Christ. Though we are limited and weak, if we allow the Holy Spirit to act, Jesus who is living in us, is capable of changing everything. We need to trust the Lord and remain always watchful and open for divine inspirations and impulsions.

As I have said yesterday, I believe that God wishes to speak to us, according our needs and situations. He uses the parables so that we may understand the matter easily. He never refuses anything to a sincere searcher of God, because the divine revelation is gratuitous and universal in nature. Many at times, we don’t wish to know God and refuse to accept the divine inspirations, because they don’t come according to our expectations and terms.

Action of the day: Allow this little mustard seed to grow in you.

«He did not say anything to them without using a parable»

Fr. Josep Mª MANRESA Lamarca
(Valldoreix, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, the Gospel shows us Jesus preaching to his disciples. He does so, as is His custom, in the form of parables, using simple everyday images to explain the great hidden mysteries of His Kingdom. In this way he could be understood by everyone from the most highly educated to the simplest of individuals.

«The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed» (Mt 13:31) The mustard seed is so tiny it is almost invisible, but if we take good care of it and water it properly... it ends up becoming a large tree. «The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast that a woman took and buried in three measures of flour (...)» (Mt 13:33). The yeast is invisible, but if it weren't present the dough would not rise. Such is the way for life lived as a Christian, the life of grace: you don't see it externally; it doesn't make a sound, but… if one lets it introduce itself in one's heart, divine grace nourishes the seed and converts people from sinners to saints.

We get this divine grace through faith, through prayer, through the sacraments, through love. But this life of grace is, above all, a gift that we must wait and hope for, that we must desire with humility. A gift which the wise and learned of this world do not know how to appreciate, but that Our Lord God wants to transmit to the humble and uncomplicated.

It would be great if, when He looks for us, he finds us, not in the group of the proud, but amongst the humble, the ones who recognize themselves as weak sinners, but very grateful for, and trusting in, the goodness of the Lord. This way the mustard seed will grow into the large tree, the yeast of the Word of God will bring about for us the fruit of eternal life because «the more the heart is lowered in humility, the higher it is raised to perfection» (Saint Augustine).

Texte de l'Évangile

(Mt 13,31-35): 

Il leur proposa une autre parabole: «Le Royaume des cieux est comparable à une graine de moutarde qu'un homme a semée dans son champ. C'est la plus petite de toutes les semences, mais, quand elle a poussé, elle dépasse les autres plantes potagères et devient un arbre, si bien que les oiseaux du ciel font leurs nids dans ses branches».

Il leur dit une autre parabole: «Le Royaume des cieux est comparable à du levain qu'une femme enfouit dans trois grandes mesures de farine, jusqu'à ce que toute la pâte ait levé». Tout cela, Jésus le dit à la foule en paraboles, et il ne leur disait rien sans employer de paraboles, accomplissant ainsi la parole du prophète: «C'est en paraboles que je parlerai, je proclamerai des choses cachées depuis les origines».

«Il ne leur disait rien sans employer de paraboles»

Abbé Josep Mª MANRESA Lamarca
(Valldoreix, Barcelona, Espagne)

Aujourd'hui, l'Évangile nous présente Jésus prêchant à ses disciples. Et il le fait de sa façon habituelle, à travers les paraboles, c'est-à-dire en employant des images simples et courantes pour expliquer les grands mystères cachés du Reine. De cette façon, tout le monde pouvait comprendre, depuis les gens avec un haut niveau d'éducation, jusqu'à ceux pour qui ce n'était pas le cas.

«Le Royaume des cieux est comparable à une graine de moutarde…» (Mt 13,31). Les graines de moutarde ne sont presque pas visibles. Elles sont très petites, mais si on les soigne bien et on les arrose… elles finissent par se transformer en un arbre immense. «Le Royaume des cieux est comparable à du levain qu'une femme enfouit dans trois grandes mesures de farine...» (Mt 13,33). La levure ne se voit pas, mais si elle n'y était pas, la pâte ne lèverait pas. La vie chrétienne, la vie de la grâce est similaire: elle ne se voit pas depuis l'extérieur, elle ne fait pas de bruit, mais… si on la laisse s'introduire dans notre cœur, la grâce divine fait fructifier la semence et convertit les personnes de pécheresses à saintes.

Cette grâce divine nous est donnée par la foi, à travers la prière, les sacrements et la charité. Mais cette vie de la grâce est tout d'abord un don qu'il faut attendre et souhaiter avec humilité. Un don que les sages et les connaisseurs de ce monde ne savent pas juger à sa juste valeur, mais que Dieu Notre Seigneur veut faire arriver aux humbles et aux plus simples.

Espérons que lorsque Dieu nous cherche, il puisse nous trouver, non pas dans le groupe des orgueilleux, mais bien des humbles, qui se reconnaissent faibles et pécheurs, mais reconnaissants et confiants en la bonté du Seigneur. De cette façon, la graine de moutarde se transformera en un arbre immense; de cette façon, la levure de la Parole de Dieu travaillera en nous les fruits de la vie éternelle. Car «plus le coeur s'abaisse par humilité, plus il s'élève vers la perfection» (Saint Augustin).

For the past two weeks we have been meditating on the sower and the grains. Particularly last week we looked into the feeling of the sower. Today we are invited to discover how the Lord sows the seeds in our hearts. Zachariah and Mary had the Angel of the Lord. Moses saw the fire and heard the voice. If God chose to speak to Moses in  a storm, He chose to speak to Elijah, in the murmur of a breeze. God speaks to us according to our human condition, our ability to understand and particularly according to our present  status life.

Salamone is called to make a choice, with just discernment before God, imposing an irrevocable decision on himself, without giving him a moment to breathe. Young man, just taken the responsibility of a king, is asked to decide, here and now, something important for life. Happily, that day Salamone lived in the Lord according to the guidance of his Father, mediating on the wonders that the Lord has done during the reign of his father. Certainly, he will express his choice, which will please God. A thinking purely divine, at the service of the Lord, searching the means to accomplish the divine will.

God who is free will always leave us in our freedom. He will never impose himself. Saint Thomas Aquinas tells us that God cannot save us against our own will.  Man is called to listen to this God of freedom and patience because God has already listened to us and patiently marching with us. He knows our present, past and the future. How can a sensible person ignore a life-giving source?

If man listens to the Lord, in that listening he will discover that treasure hidden in a field and the pearl of great value that he searches in his life.  It is not for nothing that men of great power in the history have decided to leave everything to follow the Lord, in poverty and obedience.  It is in their emptiness that they allowed God to fill them.  Self-emptying before God is, self-fulfilling in God. It is in our emptiness that we make ourselves worthy to receive the divine grace.

Today we must ask ourselves two questions. The first one is this, are we listening to the Lord? Are we looking for the treasure and what kind of treasure that we are searching for?  The man who found the treasure, sold everything, so that he could buy it. Are we willing to lose everything to get the treasure that God has given us? Are we ready for self-emptying ?

As we listen to this story, let us not make the mistake of looking at life, as if, everything is a work of man. The treasure that the man found, was already existing. He only discovered it. It is not we who have found this treasure, it is the Lord who has put it before us, so that it may be visible to us. We already know that in the story of the disciples of Emmaus, it was not the disciples who wanted the Lord to stay with them, but it was the Lord who wanted them to stay with the Lord.  He was accompanying them  and made them to discover the resurrection while celebrating the Eucharist. St. Gregory the Great says in his homily on Mary Magdalene's encounter with the Lord, "the one she sought outwardly was the one who taught her inwardly to seek him.

My friends in Jesus Christ, believe me, this desire to search for the Lord, thirst for divinely things, don’t come without a divine intervention. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading, "Those whom he had intended beforehand, he also called; and those whom he called, he made righteous; and those whom he made righteous, he gave them his glory. "It is now up to us to answer Him. Surely we cannot afford everything with human means. We have to sell; it may cost us everything we have earned. Let's have the courage to search for the treasure and not be afraid to sell everything that we have, to possess the divine graces. And we'll be happy and joyful all our lives. Amen.

Gospel text

(Mt 20,20-28): 

The mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down to ask a favor. Jesus said to her, «What do you want?». And she answered, «Here you have my two sons. Grant that they may sit, one at your right and one at your left, when you are in your kingdom». Jesus said to the brothers, «You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?». They answered, «We can». Jesus replied, «You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those for whom the Father has prepared it».

The other ten heard all this and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to him and said, «You know that the rulers of the nations act as tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you; whoever wants to be more important in your group shall make himself your servant. And if you want to be first, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man who has come, not to be served but to serve and to give his life to redeem many».

«Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?»

Mons. Octavio RUIZ Arenas Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization
(Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today’s fragment of the Gospel narrates an episode that places us in front of a situation which is not unusual in the various Christian communities. Indeed, John and James have been very generous leaving behind their households and their nets to follow Jesus the Christ. They have heard the Lord announce a Kingdom and offer eternal life but they still fail to understand the new dimension the Lord puts forward to them. It is because of this that their mother is going to ask for something which is good enough, but which doesn’t go beyond a simple human ambition: «Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom» (Mt 20,21).

Similarly, we listen to the Lord and follow Him, like the first disciples, but not always do we fully understand his message; we then sometimes follow our personal interests and ambitions within the Church. We forget that when we accept the Lord we have to give ourselves wholly and with full trust in Him; that we cannot think in obtaining the glory without having accepted the cross.

The answer Jesus gives them puts the stress precisely on this aspect: in order to have a share in his Kingdom what matters is to drink from his same «cup» (see Mt 20, 22), i.e. to be ready and willing to give our own life for the love of God and dedicate ourselves to the service of our brethren with the same merciful attitude that Jesus showed. In his first homily Pope Francis emphasized that in order to follow Jesus we have to carry our cross, because «when we make our way without the cross, when we confess a Christ without his cross, we are not disciples of the Lord».

As a consequence, following Christ demands from us great humility. From the minute of our Baptism we have been called to be his witnesses in order to transform the world. But this transformation will only be achieved if we are able to be servants of our brethren, with a spirit of great generosity and self-giving, but always joyful because we are following and making the Lord present.

Texte de l'Évangile

(Mt 20,20-28): 

Alors la mère de Jacques et de Jean, fils de Zébédée, s'approcha de Jésus avec ses fils et se prosterna pour lui faire une demande. Jésus lui dit: «Que veux-tu?». Elle répondit: «Voilà mes deux fils: ordonne qu'ils siègent, l'un à ta droite et l'autre à ta gauche, dans ton Royaume». Jésus répondit: «Vous ne savez pas ce que vous demandez. Pouvez-vous boire à la coupe que je vais boire?». Ils lui dirent: «Nous le pouvons». Il leur dit: «Ma coupe, vous y boirez; quant à siéger à ma droite et à ma gauche, il ne m'appartient pas de l'accorder; il y a ceux pour qui ces places sont préparées par mon Père».

Les dix autres avaient entendu, et s'indignèrent contre les deux frères. Jésus les appela et leur dit: «Vous le savez: les chefs des nations païennes commandent en maîtres, et les grands font sentir leur pouvoir. Parmi vous, il ne doit pas en être ainsi: celui qui veut devenir grand sera votre serviteur; et celui qui veut être le premier sera votre esclave. Ainsi, le Fils de l'homme n'est pas venu pour être servi, mais pour servir et donner sa vie en rançon pour la multitude».

«Pouvez-vous boire à la coupe que je vais boire ?»

Mgr. Octavio RUIZ Arenas Secrétaire du Conseil pontifical pour la promotion de la Nouvelle Evangélisation
(Città del Vaticano, Saint-Sige)

Aujourd'hui, l'épisode que nous raconte ce passage de l'Evangile nous met face à une situation qui arrive assez souvent dans les diverses communautés chrétiennes. En effet, Jean et Jacques ont fait preuve de générosité en abandonnant leur maison et leurs filets de pêche pour suivre Jésus. Ils ont entendu le message du Seigneur annonçant un Royaume et offrant la vie éternelle, mais ils n'arrivent toujours pas à comprendre la dimension de ce que propose le Seigneur et c'est pour cela que leur mère demande quelque chose de bon mais qui reste au niveau des aspirations purement humaines : "ordonne qu'ils siègent, l'un à ta droite et l'autre à ta gauche, dans ton Royaume". (Mt 20,21)

De la même manière, nous entendons et suivons le Seigneur, comme l'ont fait les premiers disciples, mais parfois nous n'arrivons pas à saisir l'exactitude de son message et nous nous laissons emporter par des intérêts personnels ou des ambitions à l'intérieur de l'Eglise. Nous oublions qu'en acceptant le Seigneur, nous devons nous donner à Lui entièrement et avec confiance, que nous ne pouvons pas penser à obtenir la gloire sans accepter d'abord la croix.

La réponse de Jésus met précisément l'accent sur cet aspect: pour faire partie de son Royaume, l'important c'est d'accepter de boire de la même "coupe" (cf. Mt 20,22), c'est-à-dire, être prêts à donner nos vies pour l'amour de Dieu et nous consacrer au service de nos frères, avec la même attitude miséricordieuse que Jésus. Dans sa première homélie, le pape François souligné que pour suivre le chemin de Jésus il faut porter sa croix, car " Quand nous marchons sans la Croix, quand nous édifions sans la Croix, quand nous confessons un Christ sans Croix, nous ne sommes pas des disciples du Seigneur."

Suivre Jésus exige, par conséquent, une grande humilité de notre part. Depuis le baptême nous avons été appelés à être ses témoins afin de transformer le monde. Mais nous ne réussirons cette transformation que si nous pouvons être les serviteurs des autres, dans un esprit de grande générosité et de dévouement, mais toujours dans la joie de suivre le Seigneur et de faire ressentir sa présence.

Gospel text

(Mt 13,18-23): 

Jesus said to his disciples, «Now listen to the parable of the sower. When a person hears the message of the Kingdom but without taking it to himself, the devil comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed that fell along the footpath. The seed that fell on rocky ground stands for the one who hears the word and accepts it at once with joy. But this fickle and has no roots. No sooner is he harassed or persecuted because of the word, than he gives up. The seed that fell among the thistles is the one who hears the word, but then the worries of this life and the love of money choke the word, and it does not bear fruit. As for the seed that fell on good soil it is the one who hears the word and under-stands it; this bears fruit and produces a hundred, or sixty, or thirty times more».

The Application

God the Sower, always sows the seeds, the Word of hope, of life, and He leaves us free to welcome it. Before sowing it, He prepares us, so that we are ready to welcome it and in return we can give the fruits. For this, we must listen to this Word of life, understand it and put it into practice. Without understanding this Word and without knowing the depth of its meaningand its importance in life, it is difficult to put it into practice.

With God's grace, we can easily discern the quality of our heart, the soil in which the Lord sows the seeds. How do we welcome and understand this Word? Let us be sincere in our re-reading of life. If our heart is stony soil or brambles, we must act immediately, if not, we will lose even the Word of Life that God is sowing in our heart today.

Action of the day : Be open and sincere

«Now listen to the parable of the sower»

Fr. Josep LAPLANA OSB Monk of Montserrat
(Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we contemplate God as a good and magnanimous farmer, who has so richly sown his field. He has not spared anything for the redemption of man; He has vested everything in his own Son Jesus Christ who, as the seed sown in the good soil (death and burial), with his saint Resurrection has become our own life and resurrection.

God is a farmer who knows how to wait. Time belongs to the Father, for He is the only one to know about the day or the hour (cf. Mk 13:32) of the harvest and threshing. And God waits. And we must also wait while synchronizing the watch of our hopes with God's design of salvation. St. James says: «See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains» (Jas 5:7). God waits on the crop that grows thanks to his grace. And we must also stay on our toes; we must collaborate with God's grace by giving him our cooperation and opposing no obstacles to this transforming action of God.

God's crop, which here on earth, grows and bears fruit, is a feat visible through its effects; we can see them in actual miracles and in clamorous examples of saintliness of life. There are plenty of people that after having heard all the words and din of this world are hungry and thirsty for the authentic Word of God, wherever it is, alive and incarnated. There are thousands who live their belonging to Jesus Christ and to the Church with the same enthusiasm than in the first times of the Gospel, because the divine word «finds the soil where to germinate and bear fruit» (St. Augustine); we must therefore raise our morale and look at our future with the eyes of the faith.

The success of the crop does not depend upon our human strategies or upon our marketing techniques, but upon God's initiative of salvation “rich in mercy” and upon the efficiency of the Holy Spirit, that can transform our lives so we can bear the delicious fruits of charity and of contagious joy.

Texte de l'Évangile

(Mt 13,18-23): 

«Vous donc, écoutez ce que veut dire la parabole du semeur. Quand l'homme entend la parole du Royaume sans la comprendre, le Mauvais survient et s'empare de ce qui est semé dans son coeur: cet homme, c'est le terrain ensemencé au bord du chemin. Celui qui a reçu la semence sur un sol pierreux, c'est l'homme qui entend la Parole et la reçoit aussitôt avec joie; mais il n'a pas de racines en lui, il est l'homme d'un moment: quand vient la détresse ou la persécution à cause de la Parole, il tombe aussitôt. Celui qui a reçu la semence dans les ronces, c'est l'homme qui entend la Parole; mais les soucis du monde et les séductions de la richesse étouffent la Parole, et il ne donne pas de fruit. Celui qui a reçu la semence dans la bonne terre, c'est l'homme qui entend la Parole et la comprend; il porte du fruit à raison de cent, ou soixante, ou trente pour un».

L’Application

Dieu le Semeur, sème toujours les grains, la Parole de l’espérance, de la vie et Il nous laisse libre de l’accueillir. Avant de le semer, Il nous prépare, pour que nous soyons prêts de l’accueillir et en retour que nous puissions donner les fruits. Pour cela, il faut écouter cette Parole de vie, la comprendre et la mettre en pratique. Sans comprendre cette Parole et sans connaitre la profondeur de son sens de la vie, il est difficile de la mettre en pratique.

Avec la grâce de Dieu, nous pouvons facilement discerner la qualité de notre cœur, le terrain dans lequel le Seigneur sème les grains. Comment accueillons-nous et comprenons-nous cette Parole ? Soyons sincère dans notre relecture de la vie. Si notre cœur est un sol pierreux ou les ronces, il faut agir immédiatement, si non, nous perdrons même la Parole de Vie que Dieu sème aujourd’hui dans notre cœur.

«Vous donc, écoutez ce que veut dire la parabole du semeur»

Abbé Josep LAPLANA OSB Moine de Montserrat
(Montserrat, Barcelona, Espagne)

Aujourd'hui, nous contemplons Dieu comme le cultivateur altruiste et magnanime qui est en train d'ensemencer à pleines mains. Il ne fût point avaricieux dans la rédemption de l'homme, car Il a tout dépensé dans son propre Fils Jésus-Christ, qui à l'image de la semence enterrée (mort et sépulture) est devenu vie et résurrection grâce à sa sainte Résurrection.

Dieu est un cultivateur patient. Le temps appartient au Père car Lui seulement connaît le jour et l'heure (cf. Mc 13,32) de la moisson et du battage. Dieu attend. Et nous aussi nous devons attendre en synchronisant l'horloge de notre espérance avec le dessein salvifique de Dieu. Saint Jacques nous dit: «Voyez le cultivateur: il attend les produits précieux de la terre avec patience, jusqu'à ce qu'il ait fait la première et la dernière récoltes» (Jas 5,7).

Dieu attend la moisson et la fait pousser avec sa Grâce. Et nous ne pouvons nous permettre de dormir non plus, car nous devons collaborer avec la grâce de Dieu en assurant notre coopération, sans placer des obstacles à cette action transformatrice de Dieu.

La culture de Dieu qui naît et pousse ici sur la terre est un fait bien visible par ses effets; nous pouvons le voir dans les miracles authentiques et dans les perçants exemples de sainteté de vie. Beaucoup sont ceux qui, après avoir entendu tout les mots et les bruits de ce monde, ont faim et soif d'entendre la Parole de Dieu, authentique, là où elle se trouve, vive et incarnée. Il y a des milliers de personnes qui vivent leur appartenance à Jésus-Christ et à l'Église avec le même enthousiasme qu'au commencement de l'Évangile, car la parole de Dieu «a trouvé une terre où elle peut germer et porter du fruit» (Saint Augustin); nous devons, donc, remonter notre morale et faire face au futur avec un regard de foi.

Le succès de notre moisson ne réside donc pas dans des stratégies humaines ni dans le marketing, mais dans l'initiative salvatrice de Dieu “riche en miséricorde” et dans l'efficacité du Saint-Esprit, qui peut transformer nos vies pour nous permettre de porter des fruits savoureux de charité et de joie contagieuse.

Gospel text

(Mt 13,10-17): 

The disciples went up to Jesus and asked, «Why do you speak to them in parables?». Jesus answered, «To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but not to these people. For the one who has, will be given more and he will have in abundance. But the one who does not have will be deprived of even what he has. That is why I speak to them in parables, because they look and do not see; they hear, but they do not listen or understand. In them the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled: ‘Much as you hear, you do not understand; much as you see, you do not perceive’. For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their ears hardly hear and their eyes dare not see. If they were to see with their eyes, hear with their ears and understand with their heart, they would turn back and I would heal them.

»But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For I tell you that many prophets and upright people would have longed to see the things you see, but they did not, and to hear the things you hear, but they did not hear it».

The Application

God has His own way of dealing with the people. Since He is a God of justice, He responds to the need of the people, according to the mission that He wishes to confines to them. The divine justice is based on love and compassion, which responds to the expectation of the people, in a balanced and coherent way.

Today Jesus is inviting us to see all that the Lord has done to us, rather than looking into what we haven’t received from Him. « But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear. » If God has chosen to speak to the disciples in explicit way, then, He is going to entrust them the mission of explaining these parables to the people.

Many at times, we are like the Emmaus disciples, who understand the inner movements in a later day. God knows how to prepare us, when to propose to us and will certainly give us the necessary grace and courage in due time, to accomplish His will. Let’s have patience and learn to surrender to the divine will.

Action of the day : Be patience and listen.

«Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear»

Fr. Manel MALLOL Pratginestós
(Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we remember the “encomium” Jesus Christ addressed to those around him in those days: «Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears, because they hear» (Mt 10:16). And we wonder: can Jesus' words be also intended for us, or only for those who saw and heard him directly? It looks like they, who were lucky enough to share their lives with Jesus, and physically and sensibly remained by his side, should be the only blessed ones. Whereas we should rather belong in the group of the upright people and prophets —without being either the upright ones or the prophets!— we would have liked to see and hear.

But we should not forget the Lord is referring to righteous people and prophets before his arrival, before his Revelation: «For I tell you that many prophets and upright people would have longed to see the things you see, but they did not» (Mt 10:17). The fullness of time is brought with him, and we find ourselves in this fullness; we are already in Christ's time, in Salvation's time... Certainly, we have not seen Jesus with our own eyes, but we have, indeed, known him. We do know him. We have not heard his voice with our own ears, but we have definitely heard his words. We do hear them. The knowledge our faith gives us, even though not perceptible, is a true knowledge, which brings us near the truth making us, therefore, feel happy and jubilant.

Let us be grateful to our Christian faith, let us be joyous. Let us try to make our relationship with Jesus not a remote one, but as close as possible one, as that of those disciples, who were by his side, who saw and heard him, treated him. Let us not look at Jesus from today to yesterday, but from today to today; let us actually share his time, a never-ending time. Prayer —to speak with the Lord— and the Eucharist —to receive him— assure us this nearness to him, and make us really happy while looking at him with the eyes and ears of our faith. «Receive, therefore, God's image, that you lost because of your bad deeds» (St. Augustine).

Texte de l'Évangile

(Mc 3 ,31-35):

31 Alors arrivent sa mère et ses frères. Restant au-dehors, ils le font appeler.

32 Une foule était assise autour de lui ; et on lui dit : « Voici que ta mère et tes frères sont là dehors : ils te cherchent. »

33 Mais il leur répond : « Qui est ma mère ? qui sont mes frères ? »

34 Et parcourant du regard ceux qui étaient assis en cercle autour de lui, il dit : « Voici ma mère et mes frères.

35 Celui qui fait la volonté de Dieu, celui-là est pour moi un frère, une sœur, une mère. »

«Celui qui fait la volonté de mon Père qui est aux cieux, celui-là est pour moi (…) une mère»

Abbé Pere SUÑER i Puig SJ
(Barcelona, Espagne)

Aujourd'hui, l'Évangile se présente, d'emblée, surprenant: «Qui est ma mère?» (Mt 12,48), Jésus demande. Il semble que le Seigneur emploie une attitude méprisante envers Marie. Certainement pas. Ce que Jésus veut laisser ici tout à fait clair c'est que devant ses yeux —les yeux de Dieu!— la valeur décisive d'une personne ne demeure pas dans le fait de la chair et du sang, mais dans la disposition spirituelle d'accueil de la volonté de Dieu: «Puis, tendant la main vers ses disciples, il dit: ‘Voici ma mère et mes frères. Celui qui fait la volonté de mon Père qui est aux cieux, celui-là est pour moi un frère, une sœur et une mère’» (Mt 12,49-50).

Or, à ce moment-la, la volonté de Dieu était qu'Il plût évangéliser ceux qui l'écoutaient et que ceux-là pussent l'écouter. Ceci était plus primordial que n'importe qu'elle autre valeur, sans égard pour son importance. Pour faire la volonté du Père, Jésus-Christ avait laissé Marie et maintenant il devait prêcher loin de sa maison.

Mais, qui a été plus disposée à faire la volonté de Dieu que Marie? «Voici la servante du Seigneur; que tout se passe pour moi selon ta parole» (Lc 1,38). C'est pour cela que saint Augustin dit que Marie, a d'abord reçu la parole de Dieu dans l'esprit par obéissance, et, seulement après, elle a conçu dans son sein pour l'Incarnation du Verbe.

En d'autres mots: Dieu nous aime dans la mesure de notre sainteté. Marie est très sainte et, conséquemment, elle est très aimée. Cependant, être des saints, n'est pas la raison pour laquelle Dieu nous aime. Au contraire, parce qu'Il nous aime nous pouvons devenir saints. Le Seigneur est toujours le premier à nous aimer (cf. 1Jn 4,10). Marie nous l'apprend lorsqu'elle dit: «Il s'est penché sur son humble servante» (Lc 1,48). Aux yeux de Dieu nous sommes très peu; mais Il veut nous agrandir, nous sanctifier.

Gospel text

(Jn 20,1-2.11-18): 

Now, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. She ran to Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. And she said to them, «They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don't know where they have laid him».

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she bent down to look inside; she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, and the other at the feet. They said, «Woman, why are you weeping?». She answered, «Because they have taken my Lord and I don't know where they have put him». As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him. Jesus said to her, «Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?». She thought it was the gardener and answered him, «Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him». Jesus said to her, «Mary». She turned and said to him, «Rabboni» —which means, Master. Jesus said to her, «Do not cling to me; you see I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: ‘I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God’. So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, «I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me».

The Application

Transcendence and the dark side of life, both are invisible to the naked eye.  Each one of us live our life, well conditioned by these invisible elements. This is why Mary Magdalene was no longer able to see and perceive the presence of angels. God alone sees everything that is invisible in us, outside of us, and helps us to discover them.

Today, Mary Magdalene is invited to discover her Lord, her lover, whom she believed to be dead and disappeared.  The Lord assures her, "Woman, why do you weep? ", He is alive and before you. She is suprised to discover not only her Lord who dwelt in her heart, but also the Lord of Lords, the Lord of the universe: dead to the world and risen to all the believers. He will call her, 'Mary', in an affective way that He always called her.

It was the Lord who asked her to seek Him, so that she might become the first witness of the resurrection. She will seek Him and find Him. This encounter will transform her from an ordinary woman to an apostle to the apostles. What a gift! She will say to the apostles of the Lord, "I have seen the Lord. » Do you wish to be part of her story ?

Action of the day : Search the Lord and He will surprise you.

 «Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’»

Fr. Antoni CAROL i Hostench
(Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, we celebrate with joy Saint Mary Magdalene. With joy and benefit for our faith!, because her trail could very well be ours. Magdalene came from afar (cf. Luke 7: 36-50) and she did go very far... Indeed, at the dawn of the Resurrection, Mary looked for Jesus, found the risen Jesus and met Jesus’ Father, "Our Father". That morning, Jesus Christ discovered her the most important fact of our faith: that she was also God’s daughter.

In Mary of Magdala’s itinerary, we discover some important aspects of our faith. In the first place, we admire her courage. Though a gift from God, faith requires courage from the believer. Generally, we tend towards what we can see, what can be seized with our hand. God being essentially invisible, faith “represents the risky enterprise of accepting what plainly cannot be seen as the truly real and fundamental. It involves a leap out of the tangible world” (Benedict XVI). Mary, by seeing the risen Christ can also "see" the Father, the Lord.

On the other hand, the "leap to faith" «is reached through what the Bible calls conversion or repentance: only he who changes receives it "(Benedict XVI). Was not this Mary’s first step? Should not this also be a reiterated step in our lives?

In the conversion of Magdalene, there was much love: she did not spare any perfumes for her Love. Love!: here is another "vehicle" of faith, because we neither hear, nor see or believe whom we do not love. In John’s Gospel it clearly appears «believing is to listen and, at the same time, to see (...)». In that dawn, María Magdalena takes risks for her Love, she listens to her Love (to hear Him saying "Mary" is enough for her to recognize Him) and she meets the Father. «On the morning of Easter (...), María Magdalena, is asked to contemplate Him as He ascends to the Father, and finally to her full confession "I have seen the Lord" (Jn 20:18)» (Pope Francis).