Dear and esteemed listeners of Radio Mater, it is with joy that we begin this broadcast, the first of this year 2018, and we would like to fill it with fruitful seeds for a future with the fragrant flavor of hope. We wish to cross the ideal threshold of the new year with a heritage of faith that can radiate light and comfort to our traveling companions.
The liturgy of the 1st of the year with the words of the Book of Numbers opened the horizon with the divine blessing when we heard these words: «May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face towards you and grant you peace." I would like to place a caress on the faces of lonely people, on those who suffer from illness, from the difficulty of relationships with others, who experience moments of mourning for a premature death. An affectionate caress like that of an angel on the faces of children and grandparents, who look after them and educate them to face life's hardships with courage.
So let's begin this moment of prayer and reflection by invoking the help of Saint Joseph.
Dearest Saint Joseph, this evening too we are faithful to our appointment with you. Today, immediately after the birth of Jesus, we wish to be next to you in your temporary home in Bethlehem. In fact, the country of your ancestor, King David, was Bethlehem.
In the immediate vicinity of the day of the birth of your bride, the Virgin Mary, you pilgrimaged for days and days, to where the Roman emperor wanted you to certify your presence in the land of Judah, the tribe of origin of your family . You, Joseph, are a descendant of David, the shepherd boy anointed king, at whose root there is a royal lineage, of which you are a descendant.
Bethlehem is a nice name not only because it was the birthplace of Jesus, the awaited Messiah of the Jewish people, but also because it has the flavor and fragrance of fresh, freshly baked bread.
Due to its fields sown with wheat, this town inherited the name of Bethlehem which means "house of bread".
In those fields, Ruth gleaned, this young foreign widow who would become the wife of Boz, your ancestor, present in the dynasty handed down by the evangelists Matthew and Luke.
To justify our conversation with you, O Giuseppe, I would like to recall what an important philosopher, friend of Paul VI, Jean Guitton, whom Pope John XXIII had already invited, the only layman at the time, as an auditor at the Second Vatican Council.
Jean Guitton wrote these words: Jesus was born «in a single time, in a single point, - and so - Christ gave to that time, to that place, to that point, an infinite value». Space and time have expanded and have reached us too: in the life of faith we are not spectators of a past, but protagonists of a present. The incarnation, in fact, is the supreme manifestation of God to us, the life of Jesus is not only a particular historical event, fleeting like the birth of a great character, but instead acquires a universal and permanent meaning for all men Of all times.
After the visit of the humble, the shepherds, you, as the head of the family, sit next to little Jesus and Mary, awaiting the arrival of the magi, the wise men who come from far away and will bring their gifts: the symbolic homage of the people, the gold, incense and myrrh, gift to Emmanuel, God made man.
We too, dear Saint Joseph, at the beginning of the new year would like to bring before you and Jesus, the casket of our hopes.
The time of the new year, which has just begun, is a treasure chest full of dreams, desires, hopes, but also of opportunities offered to life that we would not like to waste.
This treasure chest contains success, harmony in the soul, family peace, some tears to shed, some consolations to enjoy.
The future time is a range of elements that Providence offers us as opportunities.
Every event is a solicitation to bring out new energies buried in the qualities of our talents.
You, O Saint Joseph, have seen the smiling faces of the shepherds who returned to their occupations happy; and then, the gospel says: «after seeing Jesus, they reported what had been told them about the child. All those who heard were amazed at the things the shepherds said to them."
The ability to be amazed is a great resource in our human existence.
We cannot forget that life always amazes us, above all because it is always a teacher, which opens the field of our existence and allows us to enter into an increasingly lively relationship with God.
O Saint Joseph, you had the joy of holding Jesus in your arms, and being reflected in the radiant face of your sweet, lovely wife, Mary, happy for the miracle of a singular motherhood.
Every joy has its price, even the joy of enjoying feeling loved has its toll to pay.
You too paid for it, O Saint Joseph, and at a high price. You paid for it with the suffering of doubt about Mary's faithfulness to your love.
How many sleepless nights have you spent with a question that riddled your soul like a probe into living flesh.
The encounter with God is not a reality that can be copied from others, or standardized like a plastic doll, everyone has their own path; for you, Giuseppe was the burning torment of doubt.
Once the torment passed and you were reassured by the angel's announcement, such a great mission took over your human qualities and your fragile shoulders: managing the legal paternity towards Jesus, the son of the Most High, the Ineffable, the Creator of 'universe.
Next Saturday is the feast of the Epiphany, it is up to you, Joseph, to do the honors of these characters who come from the Far East: on that occasion your task as legal father of Jesus began.
When you bring little Jesus to the temple of Jerusalem, there too you will have the honors expressed by two old men, full of years, but with eyes capable of penetrating the future of God in that creature that you return to God, the giver of all life. These two old men, sentinels of an ancient faith, Simeon and Anna, represent the guardians of a humanity attentive to the sound of melodies that announce the presence of God in our daily lives.
In Nazareth, at the beginning of Jesus' public life, you, O Joseph, will be called into question again: your fellow villagers will say: "but isn't this the son of Joseph, the carpenter?".
Joseph, you have been commissioned by the Almighty to guard the light destined to illuminate every man who enters the world, which is why we ask you to help us dispel the darkness from our hearts.
Help those who seek Jesus with a sincere heart find the light. Arouse, above all in our hearts, the will to follow the steps of Jesus and to never forget, even in the adverse seasons of our lives, that your son Jesus is the demonstration of God's infinite love for every person of good will.
As the Jewish people began their exodus, they had a great hope in their hearts: to emerge from slavery to savor the intoxicating and fleeting scent of freedom.
Freedom is always a blank page to be written on the slopes of a desert never known and always to be discovered.
In that journey God intervenes with two elements: a fire that illuminates the camp at night and a cloud that protects the exiles during the day. When the cloud lifted the people set out on their journey and when darkness fell the fire embraced the camp like a guardian of "blessing" who accompanied the new chosen people.
Fire is light, heat, energy, life. The cloud is protection, a sign of divine concern, a guarantee for a goal to be reached.
The best wishes for those who are listening to us and our prayer in solidarity are addressed to God, so that the fire of love and the cloud of blessing accompany the days of next year and for everyone, as a psalm says, it will be a flat path and not rough or constantly climbing.
Christmas carol Adeste fideles
In recent weeks the news has spread of a probable canonization of Paul VI who, perhaps, next October could be counted among the saints, venerated in prayer and looked at as a source of inspiration for our Christian life.
The Church in the last century was led by exceptional popes both in terms of teaching and in terms of life consumed in holiness and shining as a luminous testimony of faith.
A great courage, supported by faith, was the calling of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council by John XXIII. The Council was called with the paternal desire to make a living, vital, springtime presence of Christ flourish in the lives of many Christians and was continued with equal courage and great and heartfelt determination by Paul VI.
Among the lights that traced and illuminated the path of the people of God for over half a century in 1900 was the teaching of Paul VI.
Giambattista Montini was a passionate believer in love with Jesus and his Church who passionately lived the evangelical transition of a difficult change of era.
In the open and broad panorama of Paul VI's magisterium there is an admirable page, almost a luminous source that made the Church walk in the light of an evangelical torch in the varied and complex paths of modern society.
Paul VI scattered "the seeds of the Word" in the fields of modern culture like sparks of light to illuminate the beauties of the soul that every person, every country, living in every latitude brings in its cultural heritage.
For us who look with sympathy and confident confidence at Saint Joseph, in the magisterium of Paul VI there is a significant page that is transparent and luminous like a mirror, which constitutes the synthesis, the soul of his pontificate is the speech that Paul VI gave to Nazareth on his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in this very season: it was January 5, 1964.
In that speech Paul VI compared the house of Nazareth to a teaching chair, to a university of evangelical wisdom.
It seems to me that on that occasion Pope Montini provided the alphabet and grammatical rules to achieve an authentically Christian life.
Paul VI with his characteristic voice, passionate and supported by profound convictions, with the touching naivety of a child, stated: «Oh! how gladly we would like to return to being children and attend this humble and sublime school of Nazareth! How ardently we would like to begin again, close to Mary, to learn the true science of life and the superior wisdom of divine truths! But we are only passing through and it is necessary for us to lay aside the desire to continue to learn, in this house, the never completed formation in the understanding of the Gospel. However, we will not leave this place without having collected, almost furtively, some brief warnings from the house of Nazareth."
Even in this monthly appointment of ours in the house of Saint Joseph, we always ideally keep our eyes attentive to scrutinize and almost kidnap the feelings of Joseph and Mary towards Jesus.
So, really, at the beginning of this year, we intend to visit the house of Nazareth as the ancient village fountain from which to draw the water necessary to live.
On that occasion Paul VI said: «The house of Nazareth is the school where we began to understand the life of Jesus, that is, the school of the Gospel». And he placed four verbs at the foundation of our living faith in Jesus, almost pillars for our Christian existence. Here are the four verbs: «In the house of Nazareth one learns to observe, to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the profound and mysterious meaning of this manifestation of the Son of God».
In that place lost among the hills of Palestine everything becomes an opportunity for admiration. It is precisely this environment that allows us to know who Christ is. «Here we discover - says Paul VI verbatim - the need to observe the picture of his stay among us: that is, the places, the times, the customs, the language, the sacred rites, in short everything that Jesus used to manifest himself in the world".
In Nazareth everything has a voice, everything has a meaning. Here, at this school, Paul VI said, we are first taught silence.
"Oh! if the esteem for silence were reborn in us, (silence) is an admirable and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit: while we are stunned by so many din, noises and sensational voices in the agitated and tumultuous life of our time. Oh! silence of Nazareth, teach us to be firm in good thoughts, intent on the interior life, ready to listen well to the secret inspirations of God and the exhortations of true masters. Teach us how important and necessary are preparation work, study, meditation, the interiority of life, prayer, which only God sees in secret.
Precisely this nostalgia and need for silence were reiterated by Pope Francis.
In the homily of the mass of last January 1st, the Pope, speaking from Our Lady, Mother of God, recalled that «We need to remain silent while looking at the nativity scene. Because in front of the nativity scene we rediscover ourselves loved, we savor the genuine meaning of life. And, looking in silence, let us let Jesus speak to our heart: may his littleness dispel our pride, may his poverty disturb our pomp, may his tenderness move our insensitive heart."
Furthermore, he hoped for the need to «Carve out a moment of silence with God every day to guard our soul; guard our freedom from the corrosive banalities of consumption and the stupors of advertising" and preserve "from the spread of empty words and the overwhelming waves of chatter and clamor".
Taking inspiration from the words of the Gospel passage, in which it was said that the Virgin Mary "guarded all these things, meditating on them in her heart".
Maria, like all mothers, collected in the treasure chest of memories everything that passed before her eyes and reached her ears: «She kept it. She simply looked after her."
Silence and care are like two hands crossed on the chest to embrace the crowd of noble feelings that every mother's heart hears singing in praise of her child.
Keeping words of love is not a useless thing, but it is storing the antibodies that will neutralize the assaults of fear in life.
In the heart of every mother there are antidotes to redeem the aridity of faith that often crosses our days.
Pope Francis just last Monday, January 1st, invited us to start again from the nativity scene "looking at the Mother", who is the image of the mother Church which "is exactly as God wants us, his children, and as his Church wants: a tender, humble Mother , poor in things and rich in love, free from sin, united with Jesus, who keeps God in his heart and his neighbor in his life."
The Christmas holidays and the beginning of the new year invite us to start again with the Mother of Jesus always in our eyes. Pope Francis suggested that «To move forward, we need to go back: start again from the nativity scene, from the Mother who holds God in her arms».
In this moment of musical pause, with the sound of the organ, we want to make the feelings aroused by listening resonate and flourish within us.
Musical cut to organ music
Let's go back to Paul VI again in Nazareth «We understand the way of living in the family. Nazareth reminds us what the family is, what the communion of love is, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; show us how sweet and irreplaceable family education is, teach us its natural function in the social order".
In that speech on the eve of the feast of the Epiphany in 1964, Paul VI touched on one of the fundamental topics of social coexistence: the world of work.
The family of Nazareth in the watermark of a simple life has a lesson to offer us about the world of work. "Oh! home of Nazareth, home of the carpenter's Son! - said Paul VI - Here above all we wish to understand and celebrate the law, severe certainly, but redemptive of human toil; here to ennoble the dignity of work so that it is felt by all; remember under this roof that work cannot be an end in itself, but that it receives its freedom and excellence, not only from what is called economic value, but also from what turns it towards its noble end".
From that artisan workshop Paul VI sent a greeting to the workers of the whole world and wished to show them the great model, their divine brother, the prophet of all the just causes that concern them, that is, Christ our Lord".
Prayer for the world of workers
Musical break
We left it behind a year of life and still in our heart we sing the praise of thanksgiving to God, the giver of life, and in our soul we have a nest egg of hopes that we entrust to Jesus, to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Joseph so that they may fill them with blessing, with spiritual energy to live the three hundred and sixty-five of this year 2018 as a project in the construction site of our life to build an existence.
Affections, projects, reflections, dreams, ambitions, work, casual friendships or deep relationships as well as the numerous daily appointments will become words and facts in the diary of life.
Every day, opening our eyes passionate about life, a panorama of graces will appear to us and a day to offer to God like a pearl. This pearl, as a symbol of life, will at times be as bright and precious as a joyful smile, at other times darkened by worries cwhich will require a boost of kidneys to deal with the effort of traveling uphill.
What is important is that with every awakening we rediscover the desire to greet the new day with the eyes of those in love with life: eyes full of dreams, wonder and amazement to give every dawn the desire for well-being for ourselves and for the others we meet. throughout the day.
Every day is an open door onto a future to be built in collaboration with Jesus in a global project of love. Every day is a call to support God's dream for us. A dream that God delivers to us so that our lives are supported in walking the path of honesty, loyalty and responsibility. God gives us the time of existence to develop our talents, but also for knowing how to associate with the poor with a thousand faces, feeling the anxiety of society's rejects and being able to bring the scent of the holiness of God, raising the bright lamps high so as to be able to read in the eyes of others the desire for great hopes to be realized and sadness to console.
The other night or the other evening we all felt an emotion when crossing the threshold of the new year. We have left the old behind and embraced the new.
As I mentioned earlier, we enter this year with a wealth of dreams, hopes and hidden desires. But let's not forget that we never cross the threshold of a new year without a wealth of memories. We have on our shoulders the pilgrim's bag which holds "the sum of everything that happened before us and everything that happened before our eyes", the good done, the mistakes committed, the seeds of hope that we have made bear fruit .
Thinking about the people we will meet, we always want to have before our eyes the warning that "every person is an asset and a treasure for the society in which we live".
Saint Paul says that "none of us lives for himself" but each one has been sent by God with a task to carry out and a spiritual, moral and social heritage to sow and cultivate to improve the world in which we live.
God grants the gift of time, as a space of earthly existence, as a perennial sign of his goodness towards us. God arrives and manifests his presence of love with the concreteness of facts and with the gifts that the Holy Spirit from Above spreads as light in our spirit.
Many times the presence of the Spirit does not match what we would like, but it is undeniable that even in the painful folds of the rules of nature, He continues to be close to us to give us that silent energy that allows us to overcome adversity.
Christ Jesus is not the teacher who leaves students without guidance and direction or abandons the wounded of life without help. He, in the style of God the Father, Creator and Lord of the world, is the good Samaritan present in daily life and constantly at the helm of our boat to direct us to the port of hope with the task of helping to give birth to a humanly livable world.
In recent days, the shepherds have become the protagonists of the nativity scene and have populated the deserted paths of Bethlehem that led to the cave of the Redeemer Jesus.
In his ministry as an adult, Jesus used the image of the "shepherd" to portray the style of God the Father; first in the centuries preceding his arrival in leading the history of the Jewish people towards the promised land and then with Jesus who presents himself as the good shepherd who is constantly in search of the lost sheep so that they do not get lost. Bewilderment always retains a spark of hope, being lost is slipping into the abyss of nothingness and the most absolute solitude.
When Jesus arrives on this earth he becomes a teacher, worker, winemaker, doctor and, above all, a Samaritan always ready to reach out to help people get up after a fall. Jesus also at the beginning of this year with his birth and above all with his resurrection guaranteed us a lifeblood that comes from the source of the resurrection of Jesus.
Ideally, the birth of Jesus at Christmas joined the sky with the earth, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead joined the earth with the sky: it joined the finite with the infinite and the infinite of God penetrated into the depths of our human essence.
Following Jesus does not exempt us from living our time, even when this time is marked by evil and punctuated by pain and death; indeed, the quotient of our holiness will be given by participation and collaboration in the gift of love, so that, with our passionate and confident living we will be able to help God to be welcomed in faith and hosted with love so that the warmth of God's love reach all men and women.
Also at the beginning of this year 2018 we must pray so that men and women can feel the presence of the Eternal in the depths of their soul and thus truthfully call God by the name of "Father", then it will be the moment of definitive birth and so we will all enter the procession of the joyful dance of the children of God.
The gift of life, our presence in humanity but above all our being Christians urges us to live our existence on this earth as protagonists, participants in events that are developing with the contribution of our ingenuity and the firmness and solidity of a unshakable hope that rests on Christ, the Savior who defeated the ultimate enemy of life: death.
I pray and pray that God allows us to live our days serenely with the awareness that Jesus continues to trust us as ambassadors of his mercy. Because he continues to have unlimited trust in us.
Let us not lose the awareness that at every dawn, the patient and merciful God always relaunches his proposals and we of the large international family of the Pious Union of the transit of an Giuseppe will be next to you, listeners of Radio Mater, with our prayer of solidarity so that a divine caress accompanies you and gives you courage to face every tiring circumstance.
Even if sometimes, in the evening, we find ourselves empty-handed, let us not be discouraged and let us not forget that God, the Almighty, continues to place a credit of trust in our souls and repeats to us: «Come on, it is never too late to return to love me and love each other."
So with much cordiality and gratitude for your kind attention, a Happy New Year 2018!