Bread of pilgrims for an happy walk

 Corpus Christi - Year B - June 2, 2024

 

Roman Rite

Ex 24 : 3-8 ; Ps 116; Heb 9, 11-15; Mk 14: 12-16. 22-26.

Corpus Christi

 

Ambrosian Rite

Sir 16.24 to 30; Ps 148; Rm 1.16 to 21; Lk 12.22 to 31

Second Sunday of Pentecost

 

 

1) Presence in the world, to save it

On this Sunday in which we celebrate Corpus Christi[1], the feast of praise and thanksgiving, the Church not only celebrates the Eucharist but solemnly takes it in procession proclaiming publicly that the sacrifice of Christ is for the salvation of the whole world. We must bring Christ on the roads of the world because He, whom the fragile veil of the Host species hides, came to earth just to be "the life of the world" (Jn 6: 51).

With this procession we become announcers therefore missionaries, and people with a holy goal, namely pilgrims.

We are missionaries because, walking together united around the body of the One who is the Lord of the universe and of history, we bring Christ to the world and with him the announcement of the peace he has left to us, and that the world cannot give. Our Eucharistic procession allows us to witness with humble joy that in the little white Host, which the priest leads devoutly, is the answer to the most pressing questions. There is the comfort for every most excruciating pain. There is the pledge for the fulfillment of that burning thirst for happiness and love that everyone carries in the secret of his or her heart.

We are pilgrims because we go toward the eternal heavenly home. We are pilgrims, not only for the restlessness of the eternal that we possess together with every human being, but by vocation.   Christ calls us to share his friendship and his mission. We are not alone on our pilgrimage: we walk with Christ, the Pilgrim that renews God's presence on the roads of the world, the Pilgrim with pilgrims on the road to Emmaus. Emmaus means the place where Christ broke himself as the Bread of life, the bread of angels, the bread of pilgrims, "panis angelorum, factus cibus viatorum " (Sequence of today's Mass), that gives us the strength to continue the journey with Him, for Him and in Him.

Today, "the feast of Corpus Christi, we have the joy not only of celebrating this mystery, but also of praising and singing it in the streets of the city where we live. May the procession that takes place at the end of the Mass express our gratitude for all the journey that God has made us travel through the desert of our poverty, to get us out of the servile condition, feeding on his Love through the Sacrament of his Body and Blood" (Pope Francis)

To be able to make the journey of life, represented by today’s procession, we must feed on the Eucharist, this bread of the angels who became food for people hungry for truth, love, and freedom.

Amazed at the great closeness of Christ who dwells in our Churches, is in our hands, and is longing to dwell in us, we just must take as food Him, who "took our flesh and our blood so that His flesh and His blood could be our life "(Card. John Henri Newman).

Let us have the same amazement of the Virgin Mary who contemplated with an ecstatic look the face of Christ in Bethlehem as well as in Jerusalem. From the Cradle to the Cross Our Lady did not stop looking with loving faith at the face of the Son, holding it with pity in her arms at birth and at his death. May our heavenly Mother be the model of love which should inspire our worship of the Eucharist. In this way we will experience that the Eucharist is not a simple devotional gesture, but a gesture of life that affects life.

 

2) Present in the PRESENCE.

The mystery[2] of the Eucharist has three aspects: sacrifice, communion, and presence. The Feast of the Body of the Lord celebrates a particular aspect, that of a real presence. We cannot and we should not separate the three aspects peculiar to this mystery. However, that does not prevent us today from reflecting primarily on the mystery of the real presence so that we can be present in this Presence who gives himself completely to us.

"Every time we make an act of faith in the Real Presence of Christ, we make a gesture that is superior to the one of the people of Israel that has walked across the Red Sea. There, Israel ran from the land of exile to a land of freedom. Here, we go from this world to the Father’s world thanks to the Eucharist". (Brother Divo Barsotti).

On October 15, 2013, in a meeting of Pope Benedict XVI with some children making their First Communion, one of them, Andrea, asked the question "My catechist, preparing me for the day of my First Communion, told me that Jesus is present in the Eucharist. I do not see him. “Benedict XVI replied: "Yes, we do not see him, but there are many things we do not see that exist and are essential. For example, we do not see our reason, yet we have reason. We do not see our intelligence and we have it. We don’t see our soul and yet it exists, and we see its effects because we can speak, think, decide ... Nor do we see, for example, electricity and yet we see that it exists. We see how this microphone works; we see lights. In a word, the very deepest things, that real things that sustain life and the world, we do not see, but we can see and feel their effects. Electricity we do not see, but we see light. And so on. Even the risen Lord we do not see with our eyes, but we see that wherever Jesus is, people change, improve. It creates a greater capacity for peace, reconciliation ... We do not see the Lord himself, but we see the effects, and, in this way, we can understand that Jesus is present. Let us go to meet this invisible but strong God that helps us to live well ".

The core of Benedict XVI’s answer really hits the mark "Indeed the things invisible are the most profound and important." Ultimately, it is the secret that the fox reveals to the Little Prince of the beautiful book of Antoine de Saint-Exupery "Here is my secret. It is very simple: one sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye "[3].

A few lines above I have proposed the Virgin Mary as a model of a person adoring the Present, the Son of God who had taken her flesh. Now I propose another example: Mary Magdalene.  Let us be present to Christ in the tabernacle in the same way this woman showed up at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching (Lk 10, 39). She certainly was glad to see Jesus more than to listen to his words. His holy face, his eyes, his smile, his forgiveness touched the heart of Mary Magdalene. Jesus is the same in the Most Holy Sacrament. Just let us be at his feet like Mary in the joy of being with Him.

There is also the example of the farmer, a parishioner of the Curé of Ars. This simple and humble worker of the earth, after a day in the fields, was in the church looking at the tabernacle without opening his mouth. When asked by his Holy priest "What do you say at this time of worship?", the farmer answered, "I look at Him and He looks at me." When Jesus looks at a soul, He gives to it his likeness - said St. Teresa of Avila - but this soul must not stop to fix his gaze on Him. When St. Peter, walking on the water, took off his eyes from Christ to watch the storm, he began to sink. Peter learned the lesson and taught us to keep our eyes on the face of the Lord "as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Pet 1: 19). If we give time to Christ in prayer and in worship, we will receive as a gift Christ himself who reaches out and pulls us out of the water in which we are drowning.

"Adoration is essentially an embrace with Jesus in which I say, 'I am yours and I beg you also to be with me'" (Benedict XVI). The adoration of the Sacrament is always the preparation and the thanksgiving of Mass. It is the moment par excellence in which we develop, and we make grow in us the complete donation of ourselves. In fact, the significance of the Eucharistic adoration is not just to kneel in front of the presence of Christ in the sacrament, but also to unite us to the offering pure and perfect of our Savior. The adoration of the Eucharist gives us the desire and the strength to put ourselves without hesitation in the hands of God, in total and happy abandonment in Him.

An example of this offering of self comes from the consecrated Virgins in the world. These women with their life experience what their heart believes and loves. They show that it is possible to live in a Eucharistic way through their total offering to Christ / Eucharistic Bridegroom. These women testify that every consecration to the Lord must always be expressed by the full offering of self. “The Eucharistic mystery also has an intrinsic relationship to consecrated virginity, in as much as the latter is an expression of the Church's exclusive devotion to Christ, whom she accepts as her Bridegroom with a radical and fruitful fidelity.  In the Eucharist, consecrated virginity finds inspiration and nourishment for its complete dedication to Christ. "(Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 81).

            With a life that is nourished by the Body of Christ, the consecrated women show that virginity is not only the ability to offer themselves completely as a gift to God, but also to accept the gift of God, the choice of God.

With their life nourished by the Eucharist, they are visible witnesses of the love of the invisible God in the simplicity of everyday life showing that human life can become Eucharist. They show that prayer becomes life and life becomes prayer.

 

 

Spiritual Reading

Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church

(Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4) 



 

O precious and wonderful banquet!

Since it was the will of God’s only begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods. Moreover, when he took our flesh, he dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.

 

O precious and wonderful banquet that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.

 

It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating Passover with his disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.

 

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[1] This festivity, in its historical form, was founded in the 13th century and has developed widely in the Catholic communities around the world. However, the beginning of this fest can be seen already in the first "procession" made of the apostles who surrounded Christ, and, taking him in their hearts as the Eucharist, exited the Upper Room to go to the Mount of Olives. It was Holy Thursday.

[2] For those who believe, "mystery" is not something dark, where there is nothing to understand. On the contrary, it is something very deep, where there is always something new to discover, and of which we can never say to have reached the bottom. 

[3] Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “The little Prince”

Le pain des pèlerins pour un chemin heureux

Fête du Saint-Sacrement - Année B –  2 juin 2024

 

Rite Romain

Ez 24, 3-8; Ps 115; He 9, 11-15; Mc 14, 12-16. 22-26.

Fête du Saint-Sacrement

 

Rite Ambrosien

Sir 16,24-30; Ps148; Rm 1,16-21; Lc 12,22-31

II Dimanche de Pentecôte

 

 

            1) Présence dans le monde, pour le sauver

            En ce dimanche, où nous fêtons le Saint-Sacrement[1], fête de louange et de remerciement, l’Eglise célèbre non seulement l’Eucharistie mais elle la porte aussi en procession solennellement, annonçant publiquement que le sacrifice du Christ est pour le salut du monde entier. Il faut apporter le Christ sur les routes du monde car Celui que les espèces fragiles de l’Hostie voilent est venu précisément sur terre pour être «  la vie du monde » (Jn 6, 51).

            Cette procession fait de nous des « annonceurs », autrement dit des missionnaires, et des personnes marchant vers une sainte destination, c’est-à-dire des pèlerins. 

            Nous sommes missionnaires parce qu’en marchant unis autour du Corps de Celui qui est le Seigneur du cosmos et de l’histoire, nous apportons le Christ au monde entier et avec Lui l’annonce de cette paix qu’Il nous a laissée et que le monde ne peut donner.  Notre procession eucharistique nous permet de témoigner, humblement et joyeusement, que cette petite Hostie blanche, portée par le prêtre avec dévotion, renferme la réponse aux interrogations les plus pressantes. On y trouve le soulagement à la plus atroce des souffrances. En gage, il y a la satisfaction de cette soif brûlante de bonheur et d’amour que chacun porte en soi, dans le secret de son cœur. 

            Nous sommes pèlerins parce que nous allons vers la patrie éternelle, la patrie céleste. Nous sommes pèlerins non seulement par souci de l’éternel,  comme tout être humain, mais aussi par vocation. Jésus Christ nous appelle à partager son amitié et sa mission. Nous ne sommes pas seuls dans notre pèlerinage: le Christ marche avec nous. Pèlerin, Il renouvelle la présence de Dieu sur les routes du monde, il est le Pèlerin des pèlerins sur la route d’Emmaüs. Emmaüs désigne l’endroit où Jésus se rompt lui-même comme Pain de la vie, Pain des anges, Pain des pèlerins « panis angelorum, factus cibus viatorum – »   (Séquence de la messe d’aujourd’hui) qui nous donne la force de reprendre le chemin avec Lui, pour Lui, en Lui. 

Aujourd'hui, fête du Saint Sacrement, nous avons la joie non seulement de célébrer ce mystère, mais aussi de le louer et de le chanter dans les rues de la ville où nous habitons. La procession que nous ferons à la fin de la messe, exprime notre gratitude pour tout le pèlerinage que Dieu nous a fait parcourir à travers le désert de notre pauvreté, nous sortir de la condition servile, nous nourrir de son Amour par le Sacrement de son Corps et du son sang (Pape François).

            Donc pour accomplir le chemin de la vie, sur lequel repose tout le sens de la procession d’aujourd’hui, il faut se nourrir de l’Eucharistie, de ce Pain des anges qui s’est fait nourriture pour les hommes, affamés de vérité, d’amour et de liberté. 

            Etonnés de la très grande proximité du Christ qui habite nos Eglises, qui est dans nos mains et qui n’attend rien d’autre que pouvoir demeurer en nous, il nous faut juste nous nourrir de Lui qui «  a pris notre chair et  notre sang pour que Sa chair et Son sang puissent être notre vie » (Card. John Henri Newman).

            Essayons d’avoir le même étonnement que la Vierge Marie qui contemplait le visage du Christ avec extase, à Bethléem comme à Jérusalem. Du Berceau à la Croix, la Vierge n’a jamais cessé de regarder avec foi et amour le visage du Fils et de le serrer dans ses bras avec pitié, après sa naissance et après sa mort. Que notre Mètre céleste soit ce modèle d’amour qui inspire notre adoration eucharistique ! De cette manière nous vivrons  l’Eucharistie non pas comme un simple geste de dévotion, mais comme un geste de vie, un geste qui a de l’influence sur la vie.

 

            2) Présents à la PRESENCE.

            Le mystère[2] eucharistique a trois aspects: sacrifice, communion et présence. La Fête-Dieu célèbre surtout un de ces aspects, celui de la présence réelle. Nous ne pouvons pas et ne devons pas séparer les trois aspects de ce mystère, mais cela ne nous empêche pas de réfléchir principalement au mystère de la présence réelle, pour être présents  à cette Présence, qui se donne à nous totalement.

            «Chaque fois que nous faisons preuve de foi en la Présence réelle du Christ, nous faisons un acte beaucoup plus grand  que celui d’Israël qui a traversé la Mer Rouge. Dans ce cas-là, Israël est passé d’une terre d’exil à une terre de liberté. Nous, grâce à l’eucharistie,  nous passons de ce monde au monde du Père. (D. Divo Barsotti)

            Le 15 octobre 2005, lors d’une rencontre entre Benoît XVI et les enfants de la première communion, André posa cette question: « Ma catéchiste, en me préparant au jour de ma première communion, m’a dit que Jésus est présent dans l’Eucharistie. Mais comment ? Je ne le vois pas ! ». Benoît XVI répondit: « En effet, nous ne le voyons pas, mais il y a tant de choses que nous ne voyons pas et qui existent et sont essentielles. Par exemple, nous ne voyons pas notre raison, toutefois, nous avons la raison. Nous ne voyons pas notre intelligence, et pourtant nous l’avons. En un mot, nous ne voyons pas notre âme et toutefois, elle existe et nous en voyons les effets, car nous pouvons parler, penser, décider…  De même, nous ne voyons pas, par exemple, le courant électrique ; toutefois, nous voyons qu’il existe, nous voyons que ce micro fonctionne, nous voyons les lumières. En un mot, ce sont précisément les choses les plus profondes, qui soutiennent réellement la vie et le monde, que nous ne voyons pas, mais nous pouvons en voir et en ressentir les effets. Nous ne voyons pas l’électricité, le courant, mais nous voyons la lumière. Et ainsi de suite. Nous ne voyons donc pas non plus le Seigneur ressuscité avec nos yeux, mais nous voyons que là où est Jésus, les hommes changent, deviennent meilleurs. Il se crée une plus grande capacité de paix, de réconciliation, etc. Nous ne voyons donc pas le Seigneur lui-même, mais nous en voyons les effets : c’est ainsi que nous pouvons comprendre que Jésus est présent ; comme je l’ai dit, les choses invisibles sont précisément les plus profondes et les plus importantes. Allons donc à la rencontre de ce Seigneur invisible, mais fort, qui nous aide à bien vivre ». 

            Le cœur de la réponse de Benoît XVI va droit au but : «  Les choses invisibles sont précisément les plus profondes et les plus importantes ». Au fonds, c’est le secret que révèle le renard au Petit Prince du joli récit d’Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: « Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux »[3]. 

            Tout à l’heure j’ai proposé la Vierge Marie comme modèle de personne adorant le Présent, le Fils de Dieu qui avait pris sa chair. Maintenant je propose en exemple une autre Marie: Marie Madeleine. Présentons-nous au Christ dans le tabernacle comme cette femme se présenta aux pieds du Seigneur et se mit à écouter sa parole » (Lc 10, 39). Celle-ci était certainement plus contente de voir Jésus que d’écouter ses paroles. Le saint visage de cet homme, son regard, son sourire, son pardon, touchait le cœur de Marie Madeleine. C’est le même Jésus dans le Très Saint Sacrement. Mettons-nous tout simplement à ses pieds, comme Marie, dans la joie d’être avec Lui. 

            Il y a aussi l’exemple d’un paysan, paroissien du Saint curé d’Ars. Cet humble et modeste travailleur de la terre, après une journée dans les champs, passait du temps à l’église et regardait le tabernacle sans ouvrir la bouche. A la question de son saint curé: « Que dites-vous en ce moment d’adoration? », le paysan répondit: «  Je le regarde et il me regarde ». Quand Jésus a regardé une âme,   Il lui donne sa divine ressemblance – disait sainte Thérèse d’Avila – mais il faut que cette âme  ne cesse de fixer sur lui seul ses regards. Quand saint Pierre, en marchant sur les eaux quitta le Christ du regard pour regarder la tempête, il commença à couler. Pierre apprit la leçon et nous enseigne encore aujourd’hui à fixer le regard sur le visage du Seigneur « comme sur une lampe brillant dans un lieu obscur jusqu’à ce que paraisse le jour et que l’étoile du matin se lève dans vos cœurs » (2 Pt 1,19). Si nous donnons du temps au Christ, dans nos prières et tout particulièrement dans l’adoration, nous aurons en don le Christ lui-même qui nous tend la main et nous tire hors de l’eau.

            « L'adoration, dans son essence, est un baiser à Jésus, dans lequel je dis: "Je suis à toi et je prie afin que toi aussi, tu demeures toujours avec moi" » (Benoît XVI). L’adoration du saint sacrement est toujours une préparation et un acte de grâce de la messe. Celle-ci constitue le moment de choix pour développer et faire grandir en nous le don de soi, complètement. En effet l’adoration eucharistique ne signifie pas seulement se mettre à genou devant la présence du Christ dans le sacrement, mais également de nous unir au don pur et parfait de notre Sauveur. L’adoration eucharistique nous donne le désir et la force de nous mettre sans hésitation dans les mains de Dieu, de nous abandonner totalement et joyeusement à Lui. 

            Les Vierges consacrées vivant dans le monde sont un parfait exemple du don de soi. Ces femmes manifestent par leur vie que leur cœur croit et adore. Elles témoignent qu’il est possible de vivre eucharistiquement en s’offrant totalement au Christ – Epoux eucharistique. Ces femmes témoignent que toute consécration au Seigneur ne saurait s’exprimer sans se donner entièrement à Lui. « le Mystère eucharistique a aussi un rapport intrinsèque avec la virginité consacrée, en tant qu'elle est expression du don exclusif de l'Église au Christ, qu'elle accueille comme son Époux avec une fidélité radicale et féconde. Dans l'Eucharistie, la virginité consacrée trouve inspiration et nourriture pour sa donation totale au Christ »(Benoît XVI,  Sacramentum Caritatis, 81).

            Par leur existence qui se nourrit du Corps du Christ, les femmes consacrées montrent que la virginité n’est pas seulement être capable de s’offrir complètement à Dieu, mais savoir accueillir le don de Dieu, le choix de Dieu.

            Par leur vie alimentée par l’Eucharistie, elles sont des témoins visibles de l’amour de Dieu invisible, montrant dans la simplicité de la vie quotidienne que la vie humaine peut devenir eucharistie. Elles montrent que la prière devient vie et la vie devient prière.

 

 

Lecture (quasi) Patristique

SAINT THOMAS D'AQUIN

(Opusculum 57, in festo Corporis Christi, lect. 1-4)


 

Le mystère de l'Eucharistie.

 

Le Fils unique de Dieu, voulant nous faire participer à sa divinité, a pris notre nature afin de diviniser les hommes, lui qui s'est fait homme.

 

En outre, ce qu'il a pris de nous, il nous l'a entièrement donné pour notre salut. En effet, sur l'autel de la croix il a offert son corps en sacrifice à Dieu le Père afin de nous réconcilier avec lui ; et il a répandu son sang pour qu'il soit en même temps notre rançon et notre baptême : rachetés d'un lamentable esclavage, nous serions purifiés de tous nos péchés.

 

Et pour que nous gardions toujours la mémoire d'un si grand bienfait, il a laissé aux fidèles son corps à manger et son sang à boire, sous les dehors du pain et du vin.

 

Banquet précieux et stupéfiant, qui apporte le salut et qui est rempli de douceur ! Petit-il y avoir rien de plus précieux que ce banquet où l'on ne nous propose plus, comme dans l'ancienne Loi, de manger la chair des veaux et des boucs, mais le Christ qui est vraiment Dieu ? Y a-t-il rien de plus admirable que ce sacrement ? ~

 

Aucun sacrement ne produit des effets plus salutaires que celui-ci : il efface les péchés, accroît les vertus et comble l'âme surabondamment de tous les dons spirituels !

 

Il est offert dans l'Église pour les vivants et pour les morts afin de profiter à tous, étant institué pour le salut de tous. Enfin, personne n'est capable d'exprimer les délices de ce sacrement, puisqu'on y goûte la douceur spirituelle à sa source et on y célèbre la mémoire de cet amour insurpassable, que le Christ a montré dans sa passion.

 

Il voulait que l'immensité de cet amour se grave plus profondément dans le cœur des fidèles. C'est pourquoi à la dernière Cène, après avoir célébré la Pâque avec ses disciples, lorsqu'il allait passer de ce monde à son Père, il institua ce sacrement comme le mémorial perpétuel de sa passion, l'accomplissement des anciennes préfigurations, le plus grand de tous ses miracles ; et à ceux que son absence remplirait de tristesse, il laissa ce sacrement comme réconfort incomparable.

 

 

 

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[1] Cette fête, dans sa forme historique, est apparue au 13ème siècle et s’est largement développée dans les communautés catholiques du monde entier. Toutefois, on peut déjà voir un début de cette fête dans la première « procession » que les apôtres avaient formée. Après avoir entouré le Christ, ils sont sortis du cénacle pour se diriger vers le mont de mont des oliviers, emportant dans leurs cœurs l’eucharistie. C’était le Jeudi saint.

[2] Pour un croyant,  le “mystère” n’est pas quelque chose d’obscur, où il n’y a rien à comprendre. Au contraire, il s’agit de quelque chose de si profond qu’il y a toujours quelque chose de nouveau à découvrir. Nous ne pouvons jamais dire avoir atteint le fond.

[3] A. de Saint-Exupéry, le Petit prince,  Milano 1979, p. 98.

 

Pane dei pellegrini per un cammino lieto

Corpus Domini  - Anno B –  2 giugno 2024

 

Rito Romano

Es 24, 3-8; Sal 115; Eb 9, 11-15; Mc 14, 12-16. 22-26.

Corpus Domini

 

Rito Ambrosiano

Sir 16,24-30; Sal 148; Rm 1,16-21; Lc 12,22-31

II Domenica di Pentecoste

 

 

            1) Presenza nel mondo, per salvarlo

            In questa domenica in cui si festeggia il Corpus Domini[1], festa di lode e di ringraziamento, la Chiesa non solo celebra l’Eucaristia, ma la reca solennemente in processione, annunciando pubblicamente che il Sacrificio di Cristo è per la salvezza del mondo intero. Bisogna portare Cristo  sulle strade del mondo, perché Colui che le fragili specie dell’Ostia velano è venuto sulla terra proprio per essere “la vita del mondo” (Gv 6, 51).

            Con questa processione siamo annunciatori cioè missionari, e persone con una meta santa cioè pellegrini.

            Siamo missionari perché camminando uniti attorno al Corpo di Colui, che è il Signore del cosmo e della storia, portiamo Cristo al mondo intero e con Lui l’annuncio di quella pace che Lui ci ha lasciato e che il mondo non può dare.  La nostra processione eucaristica ci permette di testimoniare con umile gioia che in quella piccola Ostia candida, che il Sacerdote porta devotamente, c’è la risposta agli interrogativi più assillanti. C’è il conforto di ogni più straziante dolore. C’è, in pegno, l’appagamento di quella sete bruciante di felicità e di amore che ognuno si porta dentro, nel segreto del cuore. 

            Siamo pellegrini perché andiamo verso l’eterna patria celeste. Siamo pellegrini non soltanto per l’inquietudine dell’eterno, che possediamo in comune con ogni essere umano, ma per vocazione. Cristo ci chiama a condividere la sua amicizia e la sua missione. Non siamo soli nel nostro pellegrinaggio: con noi cammina Cristo, Pellegrino che rinnova la presenza di Dio sulle strade del mondo, Pellegrino con i pellegrini sulla strada di Emmaus. Emmaus significa il luogo dove Cristo spezza se stesso quale Pane della vita, Pane degli angeli, Pane dei pellegrini “panis angelorum, factus cibus viatorum -” (Sequenza della Messa di oggi) che ci dà la forza di riprendere il cammino con Lui, per Lui, in Lui. 

Oggi, “festa del Corpus Domini, abbiamo la gioia non solo di celebrare questo mistero, ma anche di lodarlo e cantarlo per le strade della città dove abitiamo. La processione che si fa al termine della Messa, possa esprimere la nostra riconoscenza per tutto il cammino che Dio ci ha fatto percorrere attraverso il deserto delle nostre povertà, per farci uscire dalla condizione servile, nutrendoci del suo Amore mediante il Sacramento del suo Corpo e del suo Sangue” (Papa Francesco) 

            Dunque per poter compiere il cammino della vita, che la processione di oggi significa, occorre cibarsi dell’Eucaristia, di questo Pane degli angeli che si è fatto cibo per gli uomini, affamati di verità, di amore e di libertà. 

            Stupiti della vicinanza grandissima di Cristo, che abita nelle nostre Chiese, che sta nelle nostre mani, che non aspetta altro che dimorare in noi, non ci resta che prendere come cibo Lui, che “ha preso la nostra carne e il nostro sangue perché la Sua carne e il Suo sangue possano essere la nostra vita” (Card. John Henri Newman).

            Cerchiamo di avere lo stesso stupore della Vergine Maria che con sguardo rapito contemplava il volto di Cristo a Betlemme come a Gerusalemme. Dalla Culla alla Croce la Madonna non smise di guardare con fede amorosa il volto di Figlio e di stringerlo con pietà tra le sue braccia non appena nato e non appena morto, sia la nostra Madre celeste il modello di amore a cui deve ispirarsi la nostra adorazione eucaristica. In questo modo vivremo l’Eucaristia non come semplice gesto devozionale, ma come gesto della vita e che influisce sulla vita.

 

            2) Presenti alla PRESENZA.

            Il mistero[2] eucaristico ha tre aspetti: sacrificio, comunione e presenza. La festa del Corpo del Signore soprattutto celebra un aspetto, quello della presenza reale. Non possiamo e non dobbiamo separare i tre aspetti propri di questo mistero, ma ciò non ci impedisce oggi di riflettere principalmente sul mistero della presenza reale, per essere presenti a questa Presenza, che si dona completamente a noi.

“Ogni qualvolta noi facciamo un atto di fede nella Presenza reale del Cristo noi facciamo un atto che è molto superiore e quello di tutto Israele che ha passato il Mar Rosso. In questo caso, Israele passò dalla terra dell'esilio a una terra di libertà. E noi grazie all’Eucarestia passiamo da questo mondo a quello del Padre.” (D. Divo Barsotti).

            Il 15 ottobre 2015, nell’incontro di Benedetto XVI con i bambini della prima Comunione, uno di loro, Andre fece questa domanda: “La mia catechista, preparandomi al giorno della mia prima Comunione, mi ha detto che Gesù è presente nell'Eucaristia. Ma come? Io non lo vedo!”. Benedetto XVI rispose: “Sì, non lo vediamo, ma ci sono tante cose che non vediamo e che esistono e sono essenziali. Per esempio, non vediamo la nostra ragione, tuttavia abbiamo la ragione. Non vediamo la nostra intelligenza e l’abbiamo. Non vediamo, in una parola, la nostra anima e tuttavia esiste e ne vediamo gli effetti, perché possiamo parlare, pensare, decidere... Così pure non vediamo, per esempio, la corrente elettrica, e tuttavia vediamo che esiste, vediamo questo microfono come funziona; vediamo le luci. In una parola, proprio le cose più profonde, che sostengono realmente la vita e il mondo, non le vediamo, ma possiamo vedere, sentire gli effetti. L’elettricità, la corrente non le vediamo, ma la luce la vediamo. E così via. E così anche il Signore risorto non lo vediamo con i nostri occhi, ma vediamo che dove è Gesù, gli uomini cambiano, diventano migliori. Si crea una maggiore capacità di pace, di riconciliazione... Quindi, non vediamo il Signore stesso, ma vediamo gli effetti: così possiamo capire che Gesù è presente Andiamo dunque incontro a questo Signore invisibile, ma forte, che ci aiuta a vivere bene”. 

            Il cuore della risposta di Benedetto XVI colpisce davvero nel segno: “Proprio le cose invisibili sono le più profonde e importanti”. In fondo è il segreto che la volpe rivela al Piccolo Principe del bel racconto di Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “Ecco il mio segreto. E’ molto semplice: non si vede bene che con il cuore. L’essenziale è invisibile agli occhi”[3].

            Poco sopra, ho proposto la Madonna come modello di persona adorante il Presente, il Figlio di Dio che aveva preso la sua carne. Adesso propongo come esempio un’altra Maria: la Maddalena. Presentiamoci al Cristo nel tabernacolo come questa donna si presentò ai piedi del Signore e ascoltava la sua parola (Lc 10, 39). Certamente era era più contenta di vedere Gesù più che di ascoltare le sue parole. Il suo volto santo, il suo sguardo, il suo sorriso, il suo perdono toccavano il cuore di Maria Maddalena. Gesù è lo stesso nel SS.mo Sacramento. Semplicemente mettiamoci ai suoi piedi come Maria, nella gioia di essere con Lui. 

            C’è anche l’esempio del contadino, parrocchiano del Santo Curato d’Ars. Questo umile, semplice lavoratore della terra, dopo una giornata nei campi stava in chiesa e guardava il tabernacolo, senza aprire bocca. Alla domanda del suo Santo parroco: “Che dici in questo tempo di adorazione?”, il contadino rispose: “Io guardo Lui e Lui guarda me”. Quando Gesù guarda un’anima, Lui le dona la sua somiglianza - diceva Santa Teresa d’Avila – ma occorre che quest’anima non smetta di fissare solamente su di Lui il suo sguardo. Quando San Pietro camminando sulle acque tolse gli occhi da Cristo per guardare la tempesta, cominciò ad affondare. Pietro imparò la lezione e ci insegna anche oggi a tenere fissi gli occhi sul volto del Signore “come a lampada che brilla in un luogo oscuro, finché non spunti il giorno e la stella del mattino si levi nei vostri cuori” (2 Pt 1,19). Se diamo tempo a Cristo nella preghiera e, in particolare, nell’adorazione avremo come dono Cristo stesso che ci tende la mano e ci tira fuori dall’acqua che affoga.

            “L’adorazione nella sua essenza è un abbraccio con Gesù, nel quale gli dico: ‘Io sono tuo e ti prego sii anche tu sempre con me’” (Benedetto XVI). L’adorazione del Ss.mo Sacramento è sempre preparazione e ringraziamento della Messa. Essa costituisce il momento per eccellenza nel quale sviluppiamo e facciamo cresce in noi l’offerta di noi stessi, completamente. In effetti, il significato dell’adorazione eucaristica non è solo quello di mettersi in ginocchio davanti alla presenza di Cristo nel sacramento, ma anche di unirci all’offerta pura e perfetta del nostro Salvatore. L’adorazione eucaristica ci dona il desiderio e la forza di metterci senza esitazione nelle mani di Dio, in totale e lieto abbandono in Lui. 

            Un esempio ditale offerta di sé ci viene dalla Vergini consacrate nel mondo. Queste donne manifestano con la vita ciò che il loro cuore crede e adora. Esse testimoniano che è possibile vivere eucaristicamente mediante la loro offerta totale a Cristo – Sposo eucaristico. Queste donne testimoniano come ogni consacrazione al Signore deve esprimersi sempre mediante l’offerta completa di sé. “il mistero eucaristico ha anche un intrinseco rapporto con la verginità consacrata, in quanto quest’ultima è espressione della dedizione esclusiva della Chiesa a Cristo, che lei accoglie come suo Sposo con fedeltà radicale e feconda. Nell’Eucaristia la verginità consacrata trova ispirazione e nutrimento della sua dedizione totale a Cristo”(Benedetto XVI,  Sacramentum Caritatis, 81).

            Con un’esistenza che si alimenta del Corpo di Cristo, le donne consacrate mostrano che la verginità non è soltanto capacità di offrirsi completamente in dono a Dio, ma la di accogliere il dono di Dio, la scelta di Dio.

            Con la loro vita alimentata dall’Eucaristia, sono testimoni visibili dell’amore di Dio invisibile mostrando nella semplicità della vita quotidiana che la vita umana può diventare eucaristia. Così mostrano che la preghiera diventa vita e la vita diventa preghiera.

 

 

Lettura (quasi) Patristica

San Tommaso d’Aquino, dottore della Chiesa

(Opuscolo 57, nella festa del Corpo del Signore, lect. 1-4)

 

O prezioso e meraviglioso convito!

L'Unigenito Figlio di Dio, volendoci partecipi della sua divinità, assunse la nostra natura e si fece uomo per far di noi, da uomini, dèi. 

Tutto quello che assunse, lo valorizzò per la nostra salvezza. Offrì infatti a Dio Padre il suo corpo come vittima sull'altare della croce per la nostra riconciliazione. Sparse il suo sangue facendolo valere come prezzo e come lavacro, perché, redenti dalla umiliante schiavitù, fossimo purificati da tutti i peccati. 

Perché rimanesse in noi, infine, un costante ricordo di così grande beneficio, lasciò ai suoi fedeli il suo corpo in cibo e il suo sangue come bevanda, sotto le specie del pane e del vino.

O inapprezzabile e meraviglioso convito, che dà ai commensali salvezza e gioia senza fine! Che cosa mai vi può essere di più prezioso? Non ci vengono imbandite le carni dei vitelli e dei capri, come nella legge antica, ma ci viene dato in cibo Cristo, vero Dio. Che cosa di più sublime di questo sacramento? 

Nessun sacramento in realtà è più salutare di questo: per sua virtù vengono cancellati i peccati, crescono le buone disposizioni, e la mente viene arricchita di tutti i carismi spirituali. Nella Chiesa l'Eucaristia viene offerta per i vivi e per i morti, perché giovi a tutti, essendo stata istituita per la salvezza di tutti.

Nessuno infine può esprimere la soavità di questo sacramento. Per mezzo di esso si gusta la dolcezza spirituale nella sua stessa fonte e si fa memoria di quella altissima carità, che Cristo ha dimostrato nella sua passione. 

Egli istituì l'Eucaristia nell'ultima cena, quando, celebrata la Pasqua con i suoi discepoli, stava per passare dal mondo al Padre.

L'Eucaristia è il memoriale della passione, il compimento delle figure dell'Antica Alleanza, la più grande di tutte le meraviglie operate dal Cristo, il mirabile documento del suo amore immenso per gli uomini.

 

 

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[1] Questa festa, nella sua forma storica, è sorta nel secolo 13° e si è sviluppata ampiamente nelle Comunità cattoliche in tutto il mondo. Tuttavia l’inizio di questa festa può essere visto già in quella prima “processione” composta dagli apostoli, che circondavano Cristo e nello stesso tempo portandolo nei loro cuori come Eucaristia, uscirono dal cenacolo verso il monte degli Ulivi. Era il Giovedì santo.

[2] Per chi crede, “mistero” non è qualcosa di oscuro, in cui nulla c’è da capire. Al contrario, si tratta di qualcosa di così profondo, in cui c’è sempre qualcosa di nuovo da scoprire e mai possiamo dire di averne raggiunto il fondo.

[3] A. De Saint-Exupery, Il piccolo principe,  Milano 1979, p. 98.

 

Trinity: God is love

Holy rinity - Year B –May 26, 2024

 

 Roman Rite

Dt 4, 32-34.39-40; Ps 33; Rom 8: 14-17; Mt 28: 16-20

Ambrosian Rite

Ex 33.18-23; 34.5-7a; Ps 63; Rom 8.1-9b; Jn 15.24-27

 

1) God is love.

Today we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity that dwells in our hearts.

The dogma of the Trinity is not the result of mythological fantasies or of abstract philosophical meditations. Neither it is a cold theological formulation which offers the pretext of saying that the Trinity is a mystery so detached from our life that more than one Christian feels empowered to ignore it. The Trinity is a great Mystery, which overcomes our mind, but that speaks deeply to our heart, because in its essence it is nothing else than the explication of the expression of St. John: "God is love" (1 Jn 4, 8. 16).

It is the heart that supports the mind in believing that God is

              -  the Creator and the merciful Father,

              -  the Only Son, eternal Wisdom incarnate, dead and risen for us,

              -  the Holy Spirit that moves everything, cosmos and history, towards the full final recapitulation. Three Persons who are one God because the Father is love, the Son is love and the Spirit is love. God is all and only love, pure, infinite and eternal love.

            By revealing this mystery of God-Love, Jesus, the Son of God, made us know the Father who is in Heaven and has given us the Holy Spirit, the Love of the Father and of the Son. Therefore, "the Trinity is a communion of divine Persons who are one with the other, one for the other, one in the other. This communion is the life of God, the mystery of love of the Living God" (Pope Francis).

            In addition to the teaching of the Pope, I am also helped by an image taken from Saint Catherine di Siena. This great holy woman uses a simple and illuminating image: that of the fish that lives and moves in the waters of the boundless sea. The fish lives in water and of water, and the water enters in it. This little creature does not know how big, powerful and beneficial is the element in which he lives; however, it is in in the sea that the fish lives, plays, grows and multiplies.

 

Similarly, the same thing happens to man in front of the Mystery of God Trinity. The human being is too small to understand it, however, by grace, the life of God flows in him, by grace God bends over him and speaks to him with the tenderness of the Father, the confidence of the Brother, and the strength of Love. While remaining mysterious, the reality of love of the One and Triune God envelops the person who lives in it and lives of it. Therefore, the liturgy of this solemnity, while making us contemplate the stupendous mystery from which we come and towards which we are going, renews for us the mission of living in communion with God and in communion among us on the model of divine communion.

This entails accepting and witnessing together the beauty of the Gospel and living with one another, one for the other, one of the heart of the other. In this way, we will reflect the splendor and love of the Trinity and we will be missionaries of charity with the power of God's love that dwells within us.

 

 2) The Church as a missionary pilgrim of love.

Indeed, the Christian is missionary by nature. The Gospel of this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity also reminds us of this. In the third reading (the Gospel) the Church makes us listen to the passage that tells of the risen Jesus who appears on a mountain to his disciples and says: "Go therefore and make disciples all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything what I have commanded you "(Mt 28, 19-20).

Let us take seriously the invitation that Christ renews to us today, accepting and taking the Gospel of love into the world.

In fact, Christians are not so much proclaimers of a discourse as they are of the One who has words of eternal life in Love.

The God/ Love revealed by Jesus is not a philosophical-theological principle to be believed. He is not the most perfect God who, from his cold isolation, commands precepts to be observed. He is not even the "god" of a religiosity put at our service to get out of our failures, our incapacities or our fears. God is a mystery of relationship, of communion: an infinite relationship of love, of true love, of love that gives itself totally. We have been created by this love and out of love, "we were created in the image of divine communion" (Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, 178). We are called to be missionaries of this communion of love. This mystery of love is concrete and close to us more than we think, and we live it in practice when, especially in the most important or critical moments in which we mostly need God, we make the sign of the cross. Marking ourselves with this holy sign, almost without being fully aware of it, we invoke God One and Triune saying: "In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit". Not only do we invoke God Trinity to help us, but we praise him with the prayer "Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... Amen" that Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Missionary of Charity in name and in fact, often said in this way: "Glory to the Father-Prayer, and to the Son-Poverty, and to the Holy Spirit-Zeal for souls. Amen-Maria. "

 

3) The Trinity and the Consecrated Virgins.

Saint Teresa of Avila describes the understanding and the existential value of this Mystery speaking of her spiritual journey that has developed in the direction of "loving tenderness". Christ has led her to the Father and has entrusted her to the Holy Spirit, and Teresa has "experienced" the mystery of the three divine Persons: a paternal personwho attracts, embraces, comforts and solicits; a spiritual person who warms her and captivates her inwardly while the filial person of Christ continues to invite and prepare Teresa for the mystical marriage that was celebrated in the Carmel of Avila during Mass on November 18, 1572. 

The lives of the consecrated Virgins in the world continue in their own way the experience of this great Spanish Saint. With a complete gift of themselves in the hands of the Bishop, these women testify in a special way the Trinitarian dimension of Christian life.

In fact, virginity is in some ways the deification of man: "One cannot make better praise of virginity except by showing that it deifies those who participate in its pure mysteries to the point of making them in communion with the glory of God, the only truly holy and immaculate, admitting them in his own familiarity through purity and incorruptibility "(Saint Gregory of Nyssa, De Virginitate, 1, 1-2, 256 s.).

            Therefore, virginity originates from the Trinity and lives in the Trinity, linked as it is to the generation of the Son by the Father and brought as a gift to men by the Word, who comes into the world in the same way as it is generated by the Father, virginally by a Virgin. This is how in the Christian, virginity produces effects like those that occurred "in Mary, the Immaculate, when all the fullness of the divinity that was in Christ shone in her (...). Jesus no longer comes with his physical presence, but lives spiritually in us and, with him, brings us the Father "(Ibid, 2).

 It is clear that this ideal of life characterized by spiritual virginity is proposed to all Christians, even to the married one, as a requirement of perfection. But Saint Gregory and the other Fathers of the Church clearly see that whoever chooses virginity, abstaining from marriage and imitating Jesus and Mary, rediscovers the original integrity in which man was created or, as the holy bishop of Nyssa says, the condition of "the first man in his first life" (Ibid, 12, 4. 4; 416 s).

 

 

Patristic reading

Saint Agustin of Hyppo (354 – 430)

De Trinitate

Conclusion of Chap. 28

 

O Lord our God, we believe in Thee, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. For the Truth would not say, Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, unless Thou wast a Trinity. Nor wouldest thou, O Lord God, bid us to be baptized in the name of Him who is not the Lord God. Nor would the divine voice have said, Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God, unless Thou wert so a Trinity as to be one Lord God. And if Thou, O God, weft Thyself the Father, and weft Thyself the Son, Thy Word Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit your gift, we should not read in the book of truth, “God sent His Son;” nor wouldest Thou, O Only-begotten, say of the Holy Spirit, “Whom the Father will send in my name;” and, “Whom I will send to you from the Father.” Directing my purpose by this rule of faith, so far as I have been able, so far as Thou hast made me to be able, I have sought Thee, and have desired to see with my understanding what I believed; and I have argued and labored much. O Lord my God, my one hope, hearken to me, lest through weariness I be unwilling to seek Thee, “but that I may always ardently seek Thy face.” Do Thou give strength to seek,, who hast made me find Thee, and hast given the hope of finding Thee more and more. My strength and my infirmity are in Thy sight: preserve the one, and heal the other. My knowledge and my ignorance are in Thy sight; where Thou hast opened to me, receive me as I enter; where Thou hast closed, open to me as I knock. May I remember Thee, understand Thee, love Thee. Increase these things in me, until Thou renewest me wholly. I know it is written, “In the multitude of speech, thou shalt not escape sin.” But O that I might speak only in preaching Thy word, and in praising Thee! Not only should I so flee from sin, but I should earn good desert, however much I so spake. For a man blessed of Thee would not enjoin a sin upon his own true son in the faith, to whom he wrote, “Preach the word: be instant in season. out of season.” Are we to say that he has not spoken much, who was not silent about Thy word, O Lord, not only in season, but out/of season? But therefore it was not much, because it was only what was necessary. Set me free, O God, from that multitude of speech which I suffer inwardly in my soul, wretched as it is in Thy sight, and flying for refuge to Thy mercy; for I am not silent in thoughts, even when silent in words. And if, indeed, I thought of nothing save what pleased Thee, certainly I would not ask Thee to set me free from such multitude of speech. But many are my thoughts, such as Thou knowest, “thoughts of man, since they are vain.” Grant to me not to consent to them; and if ever they delight me, nevertheless to condemn them, and not to dwell in them, as though I slumbered. Nor let them so prevail in me, as that anything in my acts should proceed from them; but at least let my opinions, let my conscience, be safe from them, under Thy protection. When the wise man spake of Thee in his book, which is now called b the special name of Ecclesiasticus, We speak,” he said, “much, and yet co eshort; and in sum of words, He is all.” When, therefore, we shall have come to Thee, these very many things that we speak, and yet come short, will cease; and Thou, as One, wilt remain “all in all.” And we shall say one thing without end, in praising Thee in One, ourselves also made one in Thee. O Lord the one God, God the Trinity, whatever I have said in these books that is of Thine, may they acknowledge who are Thine; if anything of my own, may it be pardoned both by Thee and by those who are Thine. Amen).