Відео

Excellent

☦️🌼✝️🌺☔💐🍇🍓🌺🌍For Lulu JosePB Aper Josephine ElpidioBarzaga ReneSaguisag FloyQuintos Antonia Valentina Isabel Aurora Florangcell Juanito LorenzoA RenatoM LorenzoDV JaimeSin RayAgramon TomOG ClementeLopez TomOS Archie TomG ChitoB Vienna ChitoG🎀💮🍒🌊🈴💃🇻🇦🌹🌻

🌊🈴💃🌸🌼🍉💐Madonna della Strada UNTIER OF KNOTS never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection was ever left unaided our petitions pls esp the personal ones🍞🦋🌻🇻🇦🌹

Amazing sermon. Amen. May God continue to bless you and to watch over you.

👏👏👏

Text: "It’s not fair, is it? That only a few get to be here for this solemn, holy feast. I mean, Jesus has hundreds, if not thousands of followers, disciples who would gladly share this supper with him. Just a few days ago, he was publicly hailed as the Messiah entering into Jerusalem with the waving of palms and the singing of songs. But the crowds, the general public… they don’t get to be here for the Lord’s Supper. Just twelve men in a small room. One of them is a traitor, one of them will deny him this very night, and all but one of them will simply flee when trouble hits. Yet these twelve men get the privilege, the unfair advantage of actually being with the Lord, to physically receive communion with him while the world outside must do without. And there’s not even a pandemic! Why, why would Jesus be so unfair, so… exclusive with the greatest gift he’s ever given? Because he is human as well as divine. Human beings must be particular. They must be in a specific time and place. From the very beginning of Christianity, there have been people who find it scandalous, downright shocking and unfair to believe that the almighty, infinite, eternal God would limit himself to such a specific time and place. That he chose the Israelites and not the rest of the world… that he chose 2000 years ago and not before or after… that he chose these twelve men and not everyone else. Yet that is the reality of the Incarnation, of God becoming Man and, like all men, he can only be with so many people at one time. Aren’t they lucky? Yes, and no. There are some young men, and perhaps those not so young, wo are right now thinking “I wish I could have Mass even in a lockdown.” They may be afraid to admit it, but this unusual experience has made them realize that they do, in fact, want to be a priest because being a priest comes with a certain access to Jesus in the Eucharist that others do not have. Is it fair that I have a chapel in my house, adoration and Mass every day? I don’t know, but the fact is I do. Boys and men who want the same should realize that that very desire is a good sign they are called to be a priest. I pray for such men to accept this blessed call and ask that you do the same. But this Gospel is not about the perks of the priesthood! Indeed, these twelve men may be “lucky” in one sense, but quite unlucky in another. Judas’ special privilege is his downfall. His proximity to Jesus makes his sin more serious and opens him to full demonic possession. We do not dogmatically require you to believe such, but it has always been the dominant opinion of theologians - great saints among them - that Judas’ abuse of his proximity to Jesus ultimately landed him in Hell. From those to whom much is given, much is expected. Yes, there is room for a healthy fear, a holy fear of the Lord. Yet today is about Love, not fear. Focus instead on the Love to which these “lucky” Apostles are called. “Love one another as I have loved you.” “If I the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.” The chosen few, the specially favored are favored not for their sake, but for the sake of others. Indeed, Christianity inverts privilege wholesale. The greater one’s proximity to Jesus, the more one is put at the service of those not so close. In a certain sense, the ones who don’t get to be at the Last Supper are lucky because they just gained twelve new servants whereas the twelve become servants - foot-washers - of the whole world. They may enjoy being close to Jesus and receiving communion while others do not, but they are not just the beneficiaries of exclusive access. They are agents of universal access. It is good for their own souls, yes, but they also represent and serve the souls of all the rest. And this is the theme for the Triduum this year: Exclusive access and universal representation. Tonight, Holy Thursday, we see how the Apostles, the priests who share in Christ’s own priesthood, have exclusive access to the service of Christ. They represent the world in receiving that service, charged with bringing it to the world in person. Jesus, in a particular time and place, is using the specificity, the particularity of that time and place to initiate a universal process. He washes their feet, they wash the feet of others, and those others in turn wash the feet of still more. Without discounting our human nature, Jesus seeks to transcend the limitations of that nature and reach everyone. Christianity is a representative religion. Christ represents us to the Father, offering himself in our place for our sins. So, he calls chosen men to represent others to him and so on. Why is this good news in the time of a pandemic? Because it means that, even though you are not here in person, you are here through your representative. I, and every priest, and, in a different way, those few laity chosen to assist the priests at Mass, are representing you, making you present to God as we offer the Mass for us all. As Christ washes my feet - as he showers his blessings upon me and others - he is, through me, showering blessing and grace upon you though you are not here just as the many disciples were not present at the Last Supper. Of course, God is not limited by representation. He is always and everywhere present and able to do what he pleases. His infinity means he is able to have a personal relationship with each and every finite person who wants one. But we need to be represented and we need to represent others. By representing each other, we are both expressing our desire for the infinite and strengthening our relationship with each other as finite human beings. You are not alone. God knows you and loves you. Even though you are not here, you are here through me. Even though those you love are not close to God, they are close to God through you. Jesus washes my feet, I wash yours, and you wash the feet of one another, of people I could never reach on my own. My exclusive access to God is ultimately an instrument of God’s access to us all. Is it fair that only a few could be at the Lord’s Supper that first time? Is it fair that only a few can be here when it is made present now? I don’t know, but I know that God is at work and that the work of God is Love."