Address, Sunday, December 13, Third Sunday of Advent

Allocution June 25, 2023

25 June, 2023 NIDAK 245 Views 0 Comments

Today, June 25, the twelfth Sunday in ordinary time, the gospel according to Saint Matthew, chapter 10, verses 26 to 33, is heard in all Catholic churches.

(Gospel)

Sometimes we are afraid because we forget that God is our Father and goes next to us.

A boy was on a boat hit by a storm and he started playing balls on the deck and a sailor shouted to him: Boy, you’re crazy! You are not afraid?

The boy responded: I’m not afraid, because the captain of the ship is my dad.

Sometimes they scare pregnant women and tell them countless difficulties, but she continues forward knowing that she carries within her the wonder of the blessed fruit of her husband’s love and with trust in God Daddy and with the affection of her husband, of her Mom, from the family, gave birth to the son and there was a great party and fear was conquered, each of us knows that.

When the child begins to take the first steps, if the grandmothers make him afraid that he may fall, he becomes paralyzed, but fortunately the father and mother invite him to continue taking steps and if he falls, the father picks him up and caresses him. , lifts him up and invites him to continue taking steps.

Fear cannot stop our lives, our path. Ships were not created to be in port, but to sail and even if there is contrary wind and bad weather, they sail with their precious cargo to the designated port.

Life is meant to be lived, life is made to grow, each person in life has a goal, an illusion, and no fear can paralyze us and, overcoming fear, we walk, we fight, we progress.

We have a great goal: To form a beautiful family where full love reigns and we try despite the fact that some tell us that it is impossible.

We thank God for all those who fight tirelessly to build a beautiful family and try every day despite yesterday’s failure.

We thank God for all those who have a painting of the Heart of Jesus and the Virgin of Charity in their home and ask for the family blessing and ignore those who criticize them.

We thank God for all those who on Sundays give thanks to the Lord creator, savior, sanctifier of our families.

We thank God for all those who persevere in good actions even though some scare them by telling them that they are wasting time but continue to sow well.

Fear knocked at the door; faith went to open. There was no one.

(Song)

The Pope, recovered from his operation, spoke in Vatican Square last Sunday.

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I wish to express my gratitude to those who, in the days of my admission to the Gemelli Polyclinic, have shown me affection, concern and friendship, and have assured me of the support of prayer. This human and spiritual closeness has been of great help and comfort to me. Thank you all, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Today, in the Gospel, Jesus calls by name – calls by name – and sends the twelve Apostles. When sending them, he asks them to announce only one thing: “Go proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Mt 10:7). It is the same announcement with which Jesus began his preaching: the kingdom of God, that is, his lordship of love, has become close, it is coming among us. And this is not news among the others, but the fundamental reality of life: the closeness of God, the closeness of Jesus.

(Song)

In fact, if the God of heaven is near, we are not alone on earth and in difficulties we do not lose faith either. This is the first thing to tell people: God is not distant, but is Father. God is not distant, he is Father, he knows you and loves you; He wants to hold your hand, even when you go down steep and difficult paths, also when you fall and have a hard time getting up and getting back on the path; He, the Lord, is there, with you. What’s more, often in the moments when you are weakest you can feel his presence strongest. He knows the way, He is with you, He is your Father! He’s my father! He is our Father!

(Song)

We stay with this image, because announcing that God is close is inviting us to imagine ourselves as a child, who walks hand in hand with his father: everything seems different to him. The world, large and mysterious, becomes familiar and safe, because the child knows that he is protected. He is not afraid and learns to open up: he meets other people, he finds new friends, he joyfully learns things he didn’t know and then he returns home and tells everyone what he has seen, while the desire to grow up and do things grows within him. what he has seen his father do. This is why Jesus starts from here, because the closeness of God is the first announcement: by being close to God we overcome fear, we open ourselves to love, we grow in goodness and feel the need and joy to announce.

(Song)

If we want to be good apostles, we must be like children: sit “on the knees of God” and from there look at the world with trust and love, to witness that God is Father, that He alone transforms our hearts and gives us that joy and that peace that we ourselves cannot achieve.

(Song)

Announce that God is near. But how to do it? In the Gospel Jesus advises not to say many words, but to make many gestures of love and hope in the name of the Lord; not say many words, but make gestures: “Heal the sick,” he says, “raise the dead, purify lepers, cast out demons.” They received it freely: give it freely” (Mt 10:8). This is the heart of the ad: the free testimonial, the service. I tell you one thing: the “talkers” always leave me perplexed, with their much talking and doing nothing.

(Song)

At this point, let’s ask ourselves some questions: do we, who believe in the near God, trust Him? Do we know how to look forward with confidence, like a child who knows that he is carried in his father’s arms? Do we know how to sit on the Father’s knees with prayer, with listening to the Word, approaching the Sacraments? And, finally, close to Him, do we know how to instill courage in others, to become close to those who suffer and are alone, to those who are far away and also to those who are hostile to us? This is the concretion of faith, this is what counts.

And now we pray to Mary, to help us feel loved and to transmit closeness and trust.

(Song)

Some time ago, a public teacher was hired to visit children admitted to a large hospital in Mexico City. Their task was to guide them in their homework so that they would not be too far behind when they could return to class.

One day, this teacher received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. He took the child’s name, the hospital name, and the room number, and the child’s classroom teacher on the other end of the line told him:

-Now we are studying nouns and adverbs in class. I would appreciate it if you would help him with his homework so he doesn’t fall behind the others. It wasn’t until the teacher arrived at the child’s room that she realized she was in the hospital’s burn unit. No one had prepared her for what she was about to discover on the other side of the door.

Before he was allowed in, he had to put on an apron and a sterile cap because of the possibility of infection. They told him not to touch the child or the bed. She could stay close but had to speak through the mask she was forced to wear.

When he finally finished washing and dressed in the prescribed clothes, he took a deep breath and entered the room. The little boy, horribly burned, suffered a lot. The teacher felt uncomfortable and didn’t know what to say, but she had come too far to turn around and leave.

Finally he was able to stutter:

-I’m the hospital teacher and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs.

Afterwards, it seemed to him that it was not one of his best sessions.

The next morning, when he returned, one of the nurses in the burn unit asked him:

-What did he do to that boy?

Before she could finish a list of apologies, the nurse interrupted her by saying:

-Does not understand me. We were very worried about him, but since you came yesterday his whole attitude changed. He is struggling and now responding to treatment…

It’s as if he had decided to live.

The boy himself explained to her after some time that he had completely abandoned hope and felt like he was going to die, until he saw that special teacher. Everything had changed when he realized something. With tears of happiness in his eyes, the little boy so badly burned that he had given up all hope, expressed it like this:

-They wouldn’t have sent a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs for a dying boy, would they?

Hope is the predominant factor that keeps alive the flame that develops our projects. If you lose hope for something, you lose motivation and everything about it seems meaningless. It is then not difficult to imagine what would happen if hope of living is lost. Everything seems to collapse, and the will can do nothing because it is paralyzed by the feeling of “meaninglessness.” It is a terrible situation that can have terrible consequences. But a small word of hope is enough to awaken all the senses, to mobilize everything that was paralyzed. Because we begin to find a fundamental meaning in life, which gives answers to many questions about existence, about being. It is important to keep the hope of tomorrow alive, the certainty that life is also here tomorrow is important…

If tomorrow we have “nouns and adverbs”, that means there is… a tomorrow

And then the motivation to continue in search of the most precious treasure is renewed. The happiness…

Lord of all creation, listen to us.

Father of infinite goodness, look at us

by your hallowed name, protect us

to enter your Kingdom, allow us

always do your will, grant us

with your bread every day, feed us

our many sins, forgive us .

How do we deal with those who offend us, tell us

and never, ever, let us fall into temptation.