Allocution, Sunday, October 4
Thank you to everyone who makes this radio broadcast possible today, October 4, the twenty-seventh Sunday of ordinary liturgical time.
Today a fragment of the gospel according to Saint Matthew, chapter 21, verses 33 to 43, is read in all the Catholic churches of the world.
…
This parable of the evil vinedressers is the story by God’s people of the loving path that He proposes to us. This parable shows us God’s faithfulness to his people, whom he always forgives.
God is persevering in his love. He creates man in his image and likeness and the first men of humanity reject him. They prefer the style of selfishness, they prefer the path of the devil, the liar, and they put aside living as children of God and brothers of all.
After sin God says to the devil: The offspring of the woman will crush your head, thus announcing the arrival of the Son of God made man.
And a long preparation for centuries is coming.
God chooses good people as a testimony to offer, one of these people is Abel, but his brother Cain was envious of Abel for the simple reason that he was very good and pleased God.
Cain, instead of imitating his brother Abel, kills him. This is told to us in chapter 4 of the book of Genesis.
God shows us Noah, a very good man, who always obeyed his Father God even though the earth was full of evil and violence. And the flood comes and the bad men disappear and God saves Noah and his family. This is told to us in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis.
God wants his people to be good, and he chooses Abraham and his wife Sarah, despite being older, Isaac is born, from whose descendants the people of God will arise. Isaac is an announcement of Jesus Christ when God tests Abraham’s faith. This is told to us in chapter 22 of the book of Genesis.
Another good person that God shows is Joseph, son of Jacob, grandson of Isaac. José, very good and loved by his father, is hated by his brothers who sell him. And as God brings good out of evil, Joseph becomes the savior of his brothers. This is told to us in chapter 37 of the book of Genesis.
God the Father chooses Moses to guide his people and gives him the Ten Commandments:
- Love God above all things.
- Do not swear by the name of God on phalluses.
- Sanctify the day of the Lord.
- Honor father and mother.
- Do not kill.
- Do not commit impure acts against sex.
- Do not steal.
- Do not give false testimonies or lie.
- Do not commit adultery.
- Do not covet other people’s property.
We find these commandments in the book of Exodus, chapter 20, verses 1-17 and the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 5, verses 1-21.
The people who live the Ten Commandments will be very happy, but God’s people did not live them and God remained determined to love his people despite their rejection and sent them prophets, who spoke instead of God himself.
The prophet Isaiah said: The Virgin is pregnant and will have a son whom she will name Emmanuel (Welcome), who will be Jesus Christ. Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14.
The prophet Jeremiah writes: The Lord says to his people: Stand in the highways and ask along the ancient paths where the best way is. Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse 16.
Ezekiel, to whom God says: I am going to send you to the Israelites, a disobedient people who have rebelled against me also by God insists on the best way for his people in chapter 2, verse 3.
The prophet Daniel: The living God remains forever and his kingdom will never be destroyed. Chapter 6, verse 26.
God never tires of continuing to love his people even though these people reject him.
(Song)
And the love of God does not tire and despite so much rejection he sends his Son, who is God from eternity and becomes man in the virginal womb of Mary. He is born poor in the cave of Bethlehem, he spends his time doing good, teaching the mercy of God the Father towards the sick and sinners. The people of Israel, loved by God, crucify him. The cross, to which innocent Jesus was cruelly nailed, is the place of ultimate humiliation.
By contemplating the crucified one, we unite our pain with His and offer it to God the Father for the happiness and salvation of those we love. But the crucified one has risen, he has lived again forever. The risen Lord allowed himself to be touched by his disciples, ate with them and showed them the holes of the nails in his hands and the hole of the wound in his heart.
He has ascended to heaven where he awaits us in his House. He has sent us his Spirit so that we may be faithful to him as individuals, families, his church and his people.
(Song)
God’s rejection of the one who harms the most is the one who leaves him aside.
Little Yuri comes home from school. Upon entering the house, he slams the door. You can tell he’s very angry. His father, observing him, calls him to talk. Before he can say anything, Yuri exclaims:
-Father, I am very angry! My friend had no right to do to me what he did to me! I wish the worst for him! He dies!
The father, a simple but wise man, listens patiently. The boy continues:
-My best friend humiliated me in front of everyone! I can’t stand it! I hope I fall ill and can’t go to school!
Without saying a word, the father gestures for the child to follow him. He grabs a sack of coal and goes out to the patio behind the house.
The father opens the bag and says:
-Do you see that white sheet that is hanging? Imagine that he is your friend and for every bad wish you have against him, throw a piece of coal at him! When you finish the whole bag, let me know.
The father withdrew, although he was watching his son without him realizing it.
Yuri found that very funny, and got to work. The sheet was far away and, therefore, only a few pieces of charcoal reached it, staining it. When he finished, he told his father.
This one, approaching, asked him:
-How do you feel now?
-Tired, but happy, because I have hit many pieces of charcoal on the sheet!
The father looks at the child, who still does not understand the meaning of what he has done, and, lovingly, says:
-Come with me, my son, I want to show you something.
They both enter the house and arrive at a room where there was a huge mirror.
-Look at you!, his father tells him.
Yuri looked at himself, and got a tremendous scare when he saw a figure completely black from charcoal, in which only the eyes and teeth were visible.
The father then tenderly expressed to him:
-Son, look at the sheet and you will see that it has only gotten a little stained, while you are all dirty with charcoal. When we wish evil on others, what happened to you, Yuri, happens to us: they are very little affected by our bad wishes, while they stain us a lot. If we do not avoid it, the residue of resentment always stays with us. Don’t you think it would be better to talk to your best friend and try to fix things, like friends you have always been?
That is what God the Father invites us to.
(Song)
The good lived and shared goes down in history.
Two brothers, one single and the other married, owned a farm whose fertile soil produced abundant grain that they both shared equally. At first, everything was going perfectly. But there came a time when the married brother began to wake up with a start every night with this thought: “It’s not fair. My brother, who is single, takes half of the harvest; But I have a wife and five children, so in my old age I will have everything I need. Who will take care of my poor brother when he is old? You need to save for the future much more than you currently save, because your need is obviously greater than mine.”
Then he would get out of bed, go stealthily to where his brother lived and put a sack of grain into his brother’s barn.
The single brother also began to wake up at night and say to himself: “This is an injustice. My brother has a wife and five children and takes half of the harvest; But I don’t have to support anyone but myself. Is it fair that my poor brother, whose need is greater than mine, receives the same as me?
Then he would go with a sack of grain to his brother’s barn.
One day they got out of bed at the same time and stumbled while carrying bags of grain.
Many years later, when both had already died, the news spread. Then the citizens of the place decided to erect a temple in the same place where both brothers had met, because they did not believe that there was a more sacred point than that in the entire city.
(Song)
Today the Church reminds us that Saint Francis of Assisi is in heaven. We listen to one of his teachings.
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is no fear or ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there is no anger or restlessness. Where there is poverty with joy, there is no greed or avarice. Where there is stillness and meditation, there is no worry or dissipation. Where there is fear of God that guards the entrance, there is no enemy that has a way of entering the house. Where there is mercy and discretion, there is no superficiality or hardening.
Of those sent by God to his people, tell the phone number 78624000 who catches your attention the most. We will give away a rosary so that they can pray it in the days around October 7, the day of the Virgin of the Rosary.
God speaks to us for the last time today through the Letter to the Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 to 9.
…
May the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, descend upon all the sick, the suffering, their families and friends and remain forever. Amen.
(Song).