I would like to praise you forever, Lord
What is God?
- Tell me, what is God, oh beautiful lights?..
Order! - The stars have answered me.
- Say, what is God, beautiful flowers?
- Beauty! - Answer me the roses.
- Tell me, what is God, my Mother? And she, looking at the Crucifix:
“Love is God,” she told me… Love purer than the light of day.
Father Leonardo Castellani
The dead are not in the cemetery, the place of the "mortal remains", but they continue their existence in the fullness of God, this is the meaning of "They will rest from their labours".
The rest to which the author refers does not indicate the cessation of activities, but the divine condition, as the Creator who "did the work he had done and rested on the seventh day" (Gn 2,2).
With death the individual rests on the works carried out in his earthly existence, but he is called to collaborate in the creative action of God by communicating life to men: "Whoever has entered into his rest also rests from his works, as God from his own" (Heb 4:10).
Death does not lead to an eternal rest in the sense of a divine idleness for all eternity, but to active and life-giving collaboration with the action of the Creator.
In this creative action the love that the deceased had for his loved ones is not weakened, but enriched with the same power of love of the Father. Death does not relax human relationships, but it enhances them.
The only thing that man brings with him to the new dimension of life are the works carried out in his earthly existence. The works by which man has transmitted life to others, are his wealth, what have made eternal life already in this existence, triggering in the individual a process of transformation that is not stopped by death, but enhanced.
Father Alberto Maggi
(Montefano, 2 November 2012)
Before the earth was created,
He knew you by your name
You had a special purpose,
Because of you He came...
Knowing you would stumble,
Sin would not define,
The uniqueness of your purpose,
Thus He whispers
"You are mine"
What are you looking for? You asked me.
I heard it while reading a father.
It was not with words that you spoke,
Tell me if I can answer.
In life you never limited me,
But the answer, how will I explain?
I was looking for you and you always loved me,
I may have been a nun, but also a mother.
Maybe it's late, but my consolation,
It will be your face, to see it in heaven
When my soul will take flight.
I seek you, remove the veil,
Make my soul love you with zeal.
My good Jesus: You are my longing!
Today (Sunday), the priest began his homily with a story. He told us that a man wrote a letter, I think to a priest, but it could have been to a newspaper. In it, he explained that he would no longer attend Mass because he had been going to Mass for 20 years and couldn't remember a single homily. He felt he was wasting his time. This started a discussion, and many people wrote letters for or against his position. Until one letter put an end to the discussion. In it, a man explained that he had been married for 20 years and that his wife had prepared thousands of meals for him, but he couldn't remember a single day's menu. However, he was certain that the food had nourished him and his body. The priest continued by telling us that every prayer has an answer, although it's often not the answer we expect. Furthermore, prayer brings us closer to God, which is why it's important to pray. And as Jesus told us: just as the unjust judge granted justice to the widow because of her persistence, even more so God, who is a good and loving Father, will hear our prayers. The Father also told us that impossible things become possible through prayer. And I remembered the ceasefire in the Holy Land. Something that seemed endless, and now the end of the war is a reality. Thank you to those who worked for peace, but also to the thousands of human beings who prayed for peace. Blessed be God.
How good God is to forgive us
Only going to the confessional
And he does it all to love us.
For it does not please him to condemn us.
And we must go to confession
Well this is very necessary
And so arm us with his grace
It is something very extraordinary.
Let us draw near, repentant.
To the fountain of mercy:
He offers it to us because we are his.
So we will have a new day
And forgiven, let us begin
To give thanks, honor and glory.
In this way, mercy is, in a certain sense, contrasted with divine justice and is revealed, in many cases, not only more powerful than it, ...
