The aim is to help young lay people become protagonists. The basic aim is always to search for the roots of their faith and a more courageous choice as regards faith.
Participants:
H.E. Mons. Domenico Sigalini
ROMANIA Codruta Fernea Daniel Fr Felix Roca- BULGARIA Fr Stefan Manolov – MOLDOVA Fr Mihai -Balan GEORGIA Fr Filippo Alieni ofm cap- ITALIA Monica Del Vecchio – FIAC Maria Grazia Tibaldi
Via skype Bulgaria Fr Petko Valov UKRAINE Fr Jacek Uliaz Fr Volodymyr Malchyn Secretariat
Homly by H.E. Mons.Domenico Sigalini
Woe unto you! Mt 23, 13-22
Very often we hear in the Gospel that Jesus turns to a particular category of co-nationals, who approached Him to ask Him questions and to try to trap and upset Him: the Pharisees. They were a category of people who were very tied to the law, observed it scrupulously, very often excessively formal; in actual fact however, they knew the Torah very well; which is more than a law. It is the global project of God for every person and for humanity. They dedicated themselves to help others observe the law. Very often, however, they were preoccupied by formulas at the expence of the substance. They were sure of themselves and so unable to accept the novelty which was Jesus Himself.
This is a fault, not only in the Jewish religion, but is a temptation which taints every organized religion. Even we, today’s Christians, have a good dose of phariseeism, when we do not let ourselves be provoced by the Word of God, but load it with our pretensions, with our ways of thinking, with our own egoism. And we are doubly at fault, because we have the Holy Spirit which defends the person of Jesus in us from our comfortable deformations.
And yet Jesus confronts them with a series of “woe unto you” which makes one’s flesh creep. Woe unto you who preach well and act foul; woe unto you who do all you can to trap people into your way of praying and worshiping and enslave them to your judgements. Woe unto you who want to guide others without realizing that you are blind and thus lead to ruin those who listen to you.
These are reprimands which are not time-bound; they apply even today to our superficial way of living and to our attachments to religion which have nothing to do with faith but are only soulless traditions which suit us and which we want to keep for fear of appearing to be aging. It is good to consider that these apply even to us, who, maybe, not to be seen as pharisees, we have abandoned our religion and have made up another one which is more comfortable for us.We try to consider civil marriages, in old deconsecrated churches with sermons and liturgical symbolism, as Church liturgy.
Is this healthy secularism or a bad conscience which a faith throws out of the door but enters through the window?
Listening to the reprimands from Jesus about our set way of life is a hopeful sign for a good and beautiful life, which only He can give us!
