Let us renew our ‘yes’ today
to the call we have received
so to remain faithful to Jesus
April 7th, 2020
Holy Tuesday
(Draft)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear Brothers, on this Tuesday of the Holy Week that we are living, let us meditate together on the passage of the Gospel of the Evangelist John that announces the betrayal suffered by Jesus. Being betrayed after having given Love, only Love, is unbearable and a source of total suffering. Jesus experienced the betrayal; He overcame it and defeated it; He experienced it several times.
John leads us to meditate on the betrayal of Judas and then, on that of Peter.
In the life of Jesus, it is striking that, at a specific moment, that of the hardest test for Jesus, two of His own friends, two men called to be His friends, betray Him: both were called and both fell. Certainly, Judas’ betrayal cannot be compared to Peter’s denial. Judas did what no man should ever have done (either man or woman) towards the Lord, handing Jesus over to the Pharisees so that He could be put to death. Never should that man have done what he did!
Peter had a moment of weakness, a serious one, denying knowing the One to whom he promised to give his life, but from that moment onwards, from that moment of weakness, Peter got up, wept and won.
These episodes make us ponder the importance of the call received and the importance of persevering in doing everything to remain faithful to the call, never failing, never betraying the call. The call of the Lord comes for everyone. We are all called to follow and love the Lord, to remain faithful to him in fullness. There is the time of the first ‘yes’ and then, there is our daily life, during which we are called to renew that ‘yes’ every day, moment after moment, without ever failing. In this, we find example and comfort in Mary Most Holy and in St Joseph who, in front of a great call, the greatest call, have abandoned themselves to the Lord saying ‘yes’, without fear. Heaven called them and helped them, comforting and encouraging them. Here is the “Fear not!” addressed by Heaven to them both. And Mary and Joseph did not fear, they surrendered their will, they answered ‘yes’ and remained faithful, never betraying. The same did Maria Giuseppina Norcia, She who is our Spiritual Mother, She who gave life to this Church, She who is our example, our everything, She to whom we consecrated our lives when we set foot in the New Jerusalem. She is the perfect example for us all; She was called by Jesus to renew the moment of love She experienced when She was a child, She never hesitated, even when in trial, to say ‘yes’ on that 15 May 1974, joining her will to the will of He who was calling her, in that moment, to a great Mystery, in helping Him to bring to completion the Plan of Salvation prepared by the Father for this humanity, for us all, in these times. She did not hesitate, she said ‘yes’ on that day and she renewed that ‘yes’ every day, carrying out the call She received till the end, in spite of the many trials and of many bitternesses caused to Her by those who were not worthy to belong to Her life; but in spite of the pains and trials, in spite of the betrayals that Her Heart had to endure, She remained faithful to Jesus and never betrayed.
Here is the example for us; here are the examples for us. Here is the example of Mary Most Holy, the example of St Joseph and the example of this extraordinary Woman that the Father has given us in these times; and here is the example of Jesus, Man and God, who lived His childhood and His adolescence always remaining faithful and obedient to His parents, and then remaining faithful and obedient to the Holy Father who is in Heaven, till the end, fulfilling the Father’s will to the end, embracing the Cross for love of us and overcoming evil, leaving evil nailed to that Cross.
Here is our Jesus and His victory, and here is our meditation of today, in our desire to imitate His life and thus to achieve victory. To do this, we must strive to remain faithful, always, in every circumstance, in trial and in joy. It is a solemn promise that we make to God at the moment of our ‘yes’ to the call and we want to remain faithful; a solemn promise, just as solemn is the promise that spouses make to each other at the moment they say ‘yes’, promising mutual fidelity, mutual love, striving every day to remain faithful to that promise, with all their heart and will, entrusting themselves to God, asking for His grace in order to overcome every trial of daily life. Here it is that with prayer, with living trust in God and with the help of our brothers, everything can be done; every trial can be overcome, every difficulty can and must be overcome.
Judas did not trust in prayer nor in his Jesus, nor in his brethren; for this reason Judas fell, betrayed and has lost his soul for eternity.
Woe to those who now teach that Judas would not have been lost! Judas has lost his soul. Woe to those who have betrayed the Son of Man! Woe! Never should they have been born!
Peter, on the other hand, although he denied Jesus, was able to cry over his mistake, as Jesus teaches us; he returned to the Mother and his brothers who understood him in his drama and helped him to get up again. Thanks to the Love of the Mother of God, to the love of his brothers and to his sincere repentance, Peter returned to shine even more brightly, becoming that strong stone that Jesus had called to Himself, to be the bulwark of his brothers and to be the bulwark of those who over time would have called themselves Christians.
Therefore, on their example, today we want to renew our ‘yes’ to the call received and ask for God’s grace, trusting in prayer and relying on the help of our brothers, so that today we can renew our ‘yes’ and remain faithful to Jesus forever.
May Jesus, Mary Most Holy and St Joseph, united with Maria Giuseppina, obtain for us this grace: to always remain faithful and never betray our Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.