WEEKLY E-MAGAZINE 44/1-6/2/2021 Carlo Voice Chief Editors- Bro. Ephrem Kunnappally and Bro. John Kanayankal Contributing Editors Very Rev.Joychen Paranjattu, Vicar General- Diocese of Rajkot Rev.Fr. Shanthi Puthusherry, PIME Rev. Fr. Sunny Kuttikkattu CMI Rev. Bro. Philip Kunnumpurath Spiritual Patrons His Holiness Pope Francis HB Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak Coptic Catholic Patriarch HB Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-RahiMarionite Patriarch HB Ignace Joseph III Younan Syriac Catholic Patriarch HB Joseph AbsiMelkite Catholic Patriarch HB Louis Raphaël I Cardinal Sako Chaldean Patriarch HB Gregoire Pierre XX Ghabroyan of Cilicia Armenian Catholic Patriarch HB Mar George Alencherry- Major ArchBishop of Syro-Malabar Church HE Moran Mor Cardinal Cleemis Mar Baselius Catholicos HB Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa Jeruslem Catholic Patriarch HE Cardinal Oswald Gracias, CBCI- Chairman and Archbishop of Bombay HG Joshua Mar Ignatius, Vice Chairman CBCI- Mavelikara Metropolitan Bishop HG Domenico Sorrentino, Assisi-Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino HE Philiopose Mar Stephanose, Syro- Malankara Bishop of Canada HE Mar George Madathikandathil Bishop of Kothamagalam HE Mar Prince Antony Panengadan Bishop of Adilabad HE Thomas Dabre, Bishop of Poone Dr.Nicola Ghori, Postulator Cause of Carlo Acutis Madam Antonia Salzano, Madre de Carlo Acutis Design and Layout : Carlo Brothers Published on the Behalf of Association of Amici di Carlo Acutis Editorial Office: Carlo Voice Upputhara PO Idukki, Kerala, India PIN - 6855505, Mob :7879788105, 9497386004 Manuscripts for Publication, reviews should be addressed to Email [email protected] Website:carlovoice.com illegal copying and reproduction by any means is punishable under the Copyright Laws Homily of His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa January 31, 2021 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Today’s Gospel passage (Mark 1:21-28) outlines in Mark’s characteristic short and concise style the first steps of Jesus’ ministry with his first disciples. The first element to note is that, from the beginning of the Gospel, Jesus does not move alone. He is always accompanied by the disciples (they came to Capharnaum), who in this case are four disciples, whose call we heard last Sunday, who are the first witnesses. Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, in the different synagogues (today in the one of Capharnaum), centers where the people gathered, places where the people came together to pray, to proclaim the Word of God, but also to meet. Jesus presents himself where the population lives, in the ordinary contexts of life, contrary to the Scribes and Pharisees that circulate in their elite circles and did not mix, usually with the simple population. Jesus begins to teach (22,27), and he does it with an authority that generates amazement (22) mixed with fear (27), unlike the Scribes. Those present perceive in him authority different from that of the Scribes and new teaching: “What is this? A new teaching, given with authority” (Mk 1:27). The bystanders are therefore astonished by the authority of Jesus. What is the meaning of this authority, from where does it come? When is a person’s teaching authoritative? When it does not limit itself to teaching the law or interpreting it, Jesus does not speak of something other than himself but speaks of what belongs to him because it is in Jesus that the Kingdom is fulfilled. There is a difference when you talk about what you have heard spoken, what you have learned, or when you talk about yourself, what you care about, what is part of your life. The very inhabitants of Capharnaum report the other reason for this authority: “He commands even the impure spirits and they obey him?” (Mk 1:27). The teaching of Jesus is authoritative because it is liberating teaching. Often, in the Gospel, Jesus will accuse the Scribes and Pharisees because their teachings are oppressive and place heavy burdens on the people’s shoulders. Not so his, which rather liberates, promotes, restores dignity, brings back to the origin. His teaching is new. Not only because he says new things, but because he transforms life, he makes it new. He does not increase the knowledge of his listeners with other knowledge, but he brings about conversion. This teaching, however, is ruinous for someone (Mk 1:24). It is disastrous for those who oppress persons, degrade him, like the impure spirit that took possession of the man in the synagogue. It is also a disaster for those who refuse to enter the dynamic of change, a transformation that Jesus promotes. It is a disaster for those who see their authority, their power threatened. The impure spirit that cries against Jesus does not say anything wrong, unorthodox, but rather correctly proclaims Jesus’ identity, that He is truly the “holy one of God” (1:24). In the impure spirit’s profession of faith, there is missing the precise faith, the humility to welcome Him as the holy one of God. He has felt Jesus as an obstacle, a stumbling block to his power over man, and he does not want to have anything to do with Him (Mk 1:24). But above all, the cross is missing. That profession of faith will be “true” only when his truth will be worshiped under the cross, as the centurion will do on seeing Jesus die like this: “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mk 15:39). In this short Gospel passage, we already find all the themes that will return in different ways throughout the Gospel and constitute the nucleus of the Church’s mission. Jesus, together with his disciples, meets people where he finds them, He goes to them. He teaches with the authority of one who knows he is the consecrated one of God and whose teaching changes the life of those who welcome it because it is a teaching that heals and liberates. His teachings and gestures generate amazement and fear but also rejection and opposition. The Demon will try to hinder the coming of the Kingdom until the time when Jesus will be hanged on the cross, challenging and mocking for the last time the validity of His authority. Be we know that Jesus, on the cross, completed the work of healing that began that day in the synagogue. Biblical Reflection of this week: Very Rev. Fr.Joychen Paranjattu, Vicar General Diocese of Rajkot Jn 3 Bronze Serpent, Moses and Eternal Life Recently, we have been hearing that the right-wing groups have stepped up their anti-Christian campaign in central India, urging villagers to disassociate themselves from Christians and asking Christians to switch to their Religion and to avoid hostility. However, indigenous Christians in Madhya Pradesh state have vowed not to give up their faith under pressure and are prepared to face challenges to safeguard their faith. Today’s Gospel passage invites the reader to have strong faith in Jesus and to live in the light that Christ has brought to this world. God’s wish is not to condemn the world, but to save it through Jesus. This faith in Christ will save the believer and will lead him to eternal life. There is also warning to those who refuse to believe and prefer darkness that they are condemned already. Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole in the middle of the Israelite camp. God had told Moses to do this so the Israelites who murmured against God and Moses and bitten by serpents could express their faith by looking at it and be healed. The bronze serpent was God's way. It was a call to faith in God and to the way of healing He established. Nothing more is known of the bronze serpent until it is mentioned again in 2 Kings 18:4 . There, in the account of King Hezekiah's purging of the Temple, the Bible tells of the destruction of this symbol. Apparently, the bronze serpent had become an object of worship as the Israelites had made offerings to it; it was called Nehusthan (Nehushtan is a combination of the Hebrew words for serpent and for bronze. cf. 2Kgs 18:4). Bronze serpent which became a symbol of God’s mercy towards the Israelites had become a stumbling block. So Nehusthan, as it was called, was broken into pieces. In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus compared His own purpose with that of the bronze serpent. The serpent, lifted up in the wilderness, had been God's chosen way to provide physical healing. Jesus, lifted up on the cross, is God’s chosen way to provide spiritual healing for all afflicted by sin. As the serpent gave life in the wilderness, Jesus gives spiritual life. Faith was necessary to look at the serpent and be healed; faith is necessary to receive the healing (salvation) Jesus gives. His death on the Cross is to unite the believer in eternity with God who created them in His own image and likeness. According to John, there is another moment of the symbol of God’s mercy. The moment of Jesus’ death and Resurrection is considered as a single moment of Jesus’ glorification. This is the moment of God’s mercy. This is the moment or hour when non-Jews will begin to believe in Jesus. Jesus says: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Jn 8:28). It is only with the death and Resurrection of Jesus, we realize how much God loves us and saves everyone by allowing his only son to die for us. Again in Jn 12:32, he says, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself”.