Mt 25:1-13
A reading for the memorial of St. Hildegard of Bingen
Then the kingdom of Heaven will be like this: Ten wedding attendants took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones, though they took their lamps, took no oil with them, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. Read More
1 Cor 15:12-20
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ cannot have been raised either, and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is without substance, and so is your faith. Read More
Memory of Our Lady of Sorrows
Jn 19:25-27
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. Read More
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Phil 2:6-11
Christ, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. Read More
1 Cor 12:12-14.27-31a
For as with the human body which is a unity although it has many parts – all the parts of the body, though many, still making up one single body – so it is with Christ. We were baptized into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same Spirit to drink. Read More
Isa 61:9-11
A reading for the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary
Their race will be famous throughout the nations and their offspring throughout the peoples. All who see them will admit that they are a race whom Yahweh has blessed. I exult for joy in Yahweh, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in a cloak of saving justice, like a bridegroom wearing his garland, like a bride adorned in her jewels. Read More
Ex 32:7-11,13-14
Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for your people whom you brought here from Egypt have become corrupt. They have quickly left the way which I ordered them to follow. They have cast themselves a metal calf, worshipped it and offered sacrifice to it, shouting, “Israel, here is your God who brought you here from Egypt!” Read More
As we had seen in yesterday’s meditation, our life begins to concentrate and simplify when we orient ourselves towards love and truth.
In no way can a life that focuses solely on the material preservation of existence be understood as “simplicity” and desirable. Nor is true simplicity related to a lack of intellectual aptitude, which, not understanding the deeper contents, simply takes what is most comprehensible. Read More
NOTE: In today’s and tomorrow’s meditation, we will leave the usual framework of daily meditations, usually based on the reading or the Gospel of the day, to develop a theme that is very significant for our spiritual life: simplicity.
Simplicity, properly understood, is a great value. Indeed, simplicity does not mean simplifying all things and not being able to think in a differentiated way. Rather, in its essence, true simplicity means that we look at all things from God’s perspective, so that each is given its rightful place. It is the Holy Spirit who puts everything in order, both in the inner and in the outer life. Read More
Micah 5:1-4a
Thus says the Lord: “But you (Bethlehem) Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, from you will come for me a future ruler of Israel whose origins go back to the distant past, to the days of old. Hence Yahweh will abandon them only until she who is in labour gives birth, and then those who survive of his race will be reunited to the Israelites. Read More
