Angelus - January 30, 2012
"Divine authority is not a power of nature. It is
the power of God's love that creates the universe and, incarnating
itself in the Only Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, it heals
the world corrupted by sin."
Dear brothers and sisters!
This Sunday's Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) presents us Jesus, who on the Sabbath preaches in the synagogue of Capernaum the little city on the Sea of Galilee where Peter and his brother Andrew lived. His teaching, which caused the people to wonder, was followed by the liberation of "a man possessed by an unclean spirit" (1:23), who recognizes in Jesus the "Holy One of God", that is, the Messiah. In a short time his fame spread through the whole region in which he traveled proclaiming the Kingdom of God and healing all types of sick people: word and deed. St. John Chrysostom observes how the Lord "adapts his discourse to what is beneficial to his listeners, proceeding from prodigies to words and passing again from teaching his doctrine to miracles" (Hom. in Matthæum 25, 1: PG 57, 328).
The word Jesus addresses to men immediately opens up access to the Father's will and to the truth about themselves. This is not how it went with the scribes, who had to make an effort to interpret the sacred Scriptures with countless reflections. Moreover, Jesus joined the efficaciousness of the word to the signs of liberation from evil. St. Augustine observed that "commanding demons and casting them out is not a human but a divine work"; in fact, the Lord "relieved men of all sickness and every infirmity. Who, seeing his power … would still have doubted that he was the Son, the Wisdom and the Power of God?" (Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi 18.19: PG 25, 128 BC.129 B). Divine authority is not a power of nature. It is the power of God's love that creates the universe and, incarnating itself in the Only Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, it heals the world corrupted by sin. Romano Guardini writes: "Jesus' whole existence is the translation of power into humility … it is sovereignty that here abases itself in the form of servant" ("Power and Responsibility," Regnery, 1961).
Often for man authority means possession, power, dominance, success. For God, instead, authority means service, humility, love; it means entering into the logic of Jesus who stoops to wash the feet of his disciples (cf. John 13:5), who seeks man's true good, who heals wounds, who is capable of a love so great that he gives his life, because he is Love. In one of her letters, St. Catherine of Siena writes: "It is necessary that we see and know, in truth, with the light of faith, that God is the Supreme and Eternal Love, and he cannot will anything if not our good" (Ep. 13 in: Le Lettere, vol. 3, Bologna 1999, 206).
Dear friends, next Thursday, Feb. 2, we will celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the World Day of Consecrated Life. Let us call with confidence upon Mary Most Holy, that she guide our hearts to draw always upon divine mercy, which liberates and frees our humanity, filling it with grace and benevolence, with the power of love.
This Sunday's Gospel (Mark 1:21-28) presents us Jesus, who on the Sabbath preaches in the synagogue of Capernaum the little city on the Sea of Galilee where Peter and his brother Andrew lived. His teaching, which caused the people to wonder, was followed by the liberation of "a man possessed by an unclean spirit" (1:23), who recognizes in Jesus the "Holy One of God", that is, the Messiah. In a short time his fame spread through the whole region in which he traveled proclaiming the Kingdom of God and healing all types of sick people: word and deed. St. John Chrysostom observes how the Lord "adapts his discourse to what is beneficial to his listeners, proceeding from prodigies to words and passing again from teaching his doctrine to miracles" (Hom. in Matthæum 25, 1: PG 57, 328).
The word Jesus addresses to men immediately opens up access to the Father's will and to the truth about themselves. This is not how it went with the scribes, who had to make an effort to interpret the sacred Scriptures with countless reflections. Moreover, Jesus joined the efficaciousness of the word to the signs of liberation from evil. St. Augustine observed that "commanding demons and casting them out is not a human but a divine work"; in fact, the Lord "relieved men of all sickness and every infirmity. Who, seeing his power … would still have doubted that he was the Son, the Wisdom and the Power of God?" (Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi 18.19: PG 25, 128 BC.129 B). Divine authority is not a power of nature. It is the power of God's love that creates the universe and, incarnating itself in the Only Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, it heals the world corrupted by sin. Romano Guardini writes: "Jesus' whole existence is the translation of power into humility … it is sovereignty that here abases itself in the form of servant" ("Power and Responsibility," Regnery, 1961).
Often for man authority means possession, power, dominance, success. For God, instead, authority means service, humility, love; it means entering into the logic of Jesus who stoops to wash the feet of his disciples (cf. John 13:5), who seeks man's true good, who heals wounds, who is capable of a love so great that he gives his life, because he is Love. In one of her letters, St. Catherine of Siena writes: "It is necessary that we see and know, in truth, with the light of faith, that God is the Supreme and Eternal Love, and he cannot will anything if not our good" (Ep. 13 in: Le Lettere, vol. 3, Bologna 1999, 206).
Dear friends, next Thursday, Feb. 2, we will celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the World Day of Consecrated Life. Let us call with confidence upon Mary Most Holy, that she guide our hearts to draw always upon divine mercy, which liberates and frees our humanity, filling it with grace and benevolence, with the power of love.
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