{"id":26848,"date":"2012-01-29T21:00:24","date_gmt":"2012-01-30T01:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/01\/pope-shows-us-that-true-author\/"},"modified":"2012-01-29T21:00:24","modified_gmt":"2012-01-30T01:00:24","slug":"pope-shows-us-that-true-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2012\/01\/pope-shows-us-that-true-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope shows us that “True authority is humble service in love”"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe homilies and brief Angelus talks of the Pope really set the stage for what we ought to pay attention to in our spiritual life. His thinking is clear, and germane. Today is no different. How is it that we recognize and<\/u> live within the authority of Jesus?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n

\"Healing<\/a><\/p>\n

This Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 1.21 to 28) presents us with
\nJesus, on the Sabbath day, as he preached at the synagogue at Capernaum, the
\nsmall town where Peter and his brother Andrew lived on the lake of Galilee. In
\nhis teaching, which arouses the wonder of the people, following the liberation
\nof “a man with an unclean spirit” (v. 23), who recognizes in Jesus as
\nthe “saint of God,” that is, the Messiah. In a short time, his fame
\nspread throughout the region, which he travels announcing the Kingdom of God
\nand healing the sick of all kinds: word and deed. St. John Chrysostom observes
\nhow the Lord “alternates the speech for the benefit of those who listen,
\nmoving on from wonders to words and again passing from the teaching of his
\ndoctrine to miracles” (Hom. on Matthew 25, 1: PG 57, 328).<\/span><\/div>\n


\nThe word that Jesus speaks to men immediately opens access to the will of the Father and the truth about themselves. It was not so, however, for the scribes, who struggled to interpret the Holy Scriptures with countless reflections. Furthermore, to the efficacy of the word, Jesus united the signs of deliverance from evil. St. Athanasius observes that “commanding and driving out demons is not human but divine work ‘, in fact, the Lord “distanced men from all diseases and infirmities. Who, seeing his power … still doubted that he was the Son, the Wisdom and Power of God? ” (Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi 18:19: PG 25, 128 BC.129 B). Divine authority is not a force of nature<\/b>. It is the power of the love of God who created the Universe and, in becoming incarnate in His only begotten Son, in coming down to our humanity, heals the world corrupted by sin<\/u>. Romano Guardini writes: “The whole life of Jesus is a translation of power in humility … Here is the sovereignty that lowers itself to the form of a servant<\/b>” (Power, Brescia 1999, 141,142).<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
For man<\/u>, authority often means possession, power, control success<\/i>. For God<\/u>, however, authority means service, humility, love<\/b>; it means entering into the logic of Jesus who stoops to wash the disciples’ feet (cf. Jn 13.5), who seeks the true good of man, who heals wounds, who is capable of a love so great as to give up his life, because he is Love. In one of her Letters, Saint Catherine of Siena<\/u> writes: “We must see and know, in truth<\/u>, with the light of faith<\/u>, that God is the supreme and eternal Love, and desires nothing else but our good<\/b> “(Ep. 13 in: The Letters, vol. 3, Bologna 1999, 206).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dear friends, on Thursday, February 2, we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple, the World Day for Consecrated Life. With confidence we invoke Mary Most Holy that she may guide our hearts to always draw from divine mercy, which frees and heals our humanity, filling it with every grace and benevolence, through the power of love.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I offer a warm welcome to the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors present at this Angelus prayer. In this Sunday’s Gospel we hear how the unclean spirit recognizes Jesus as the “Holy One of God”. Let us pray that, despite the distractions of life and the apparent progress of evil, we may continue to put our faith in the Lord Jesus who is “the way, the truth and the life”. I wish all of you a good Sunday. May God bless you!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The homilies and brief Angelus talks of the Pope really set the stage for what we ought to pay attention to in our spiritual life. His thinking is clear, and germane. Today is no different. How is it that we recognize and live within the authority of Jesus? This Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 1.21 to 28) … Continue reading Pope shows us that “True authority is humble service in love”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2926,1943,2927,32081,2503,2928,2076],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}