Readings: 1 Kgs 18: 41-46; Ps 65:10, 11, 12-13; Mt 5: 20-26
- Dear Brothers and sisters,
May the Lord give you peace!
This evening we are celebrating together the Eucharist before the blessing of a new important social and cultural centre dedicated to The Three Wise Men, the Magi. After this celebration we will bless Dar El Majus, the House of the Magi.
- The Gospel of today offers us a special prospect from which we can look at this event. The verse that introduces the Gospel is the key that opens us to interpret the meaning of what we are doing: “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). The new centre dedicated to the Magi is an expression of Christian Charity that means of gratuitous love.
- In the Gospel we heard the very strong words of our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples: “I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5: 20). Moreover, it is through a crescendo of examples that Jesus teaches us the difference between the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees and the righteousness of those who are called to live like sons and daughters of God our Heavenly Father.
- What is the difference? The difference is based firmly in a profound change of attitude. The sense and meaning of righteousness before Jesus Christ was a “negative” righteousness: “Thou shalt not kill”. This is a very important principle and, living in this land, we understand very well how important this commandment pronounced in the “negative” is. But for those who are called to live as children of God this is just the beginning of a long journey towards love. This new righteousness is not negative but positive and proactive: the new righteousness is love, true love, gratuitous love, love for the others that searches reconciliation and forgiveness, love for the others that reaches the highest point in self-giving, in martyrdom, in the gift of one's life for the sake of our brothers and sisters.
- I would like to conclude this short reflection and express a personal desire and wish: “I would like that Dar El Majus, which we will bless at the end of this celebration, may become a place in which everyone will be able to experience the new righteousness of Jesus, a place in which people, especially the young generation, learn about the new righteousness of Jesus, which is love, charity, reconciliation and peace.