The historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth

For a deeper knowledge of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, it is obviously necessary to refer to the Gospels and the books cited in the bibliography.

Chronology of the life of Jesus

I will speak here about some fundamental biographical facts, starting from the birth of the Nazarene.

You can read here the first part of this historical research article about the The historical figure of Jesus.

Christmas: does what the Gospels tell us make sense?

From the Gospel of Luke (chapter 2) we know that the birth of Jesus coincided with a census announced throughout the land by Caesar Augustus: "In those days Augustus Caesar decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire". This first census was taken when Quirinius ruled in Syria.
So they all went to register, each to his own town.

What do we know about it? From what we read in lines VII, VIII and X of the transcript of the Res gestae of Augustus, located in the Ara PacisIn Rome, we learn that Caesar Octavian Augustus took a census on three occasions, in 28 B.C., 8 B.C. and 14 A.D., of the entire Roman population.

In ancient times, conducting a census of that size obviously had to take some time for the procedure to actually be completed. And here is another clarification from the evangelist Luke that gives us a clue: Quirinius was the governor of Syria at the time this "first"census.

Well, Quirinius was governor of Syria probably from 6-7 A.D. On this question there are discordant opinions of historians: some hypothesize, in fact, that Quirinius himself had an earlier term of office. (1) in the years 8-6 B.C.

Others, on the other hand, translate the term ".first" (which in Latin and Greek, being neutral, can also have an adverbial value)as "first" or rather "before Quirinius became governor of Syria". Both hypotheses are admissible, so it is probable what is narrated in the Gospels about the census that took place at the time of Jesus' birth (2).

We add, then, that the practice of these censuses provided that one went to the village of origin, and not to the place where one lived, for registration.It is plausible, then, that Joseph went to Bethlehem to be searched.

Do we have other temporal clues? Yes, the death of Herod the Great, in 4 B.C., since he died at that time and, from what is narrated in the Gospels, about two years had to pass between the birth of Jesus and the death of the king.which would coincide precisely with 6 BC.

As for the dies nataliswhich is the actual day of Jesus' birthFor a long time it was assumed that this would be fixed on December 25 at a later period, to coincide with the dies Solis Invicti, a feast of pagan origin. (probably associated with the cult of Mithras).and thus replaces the pagan commemoration with a Christian one.

Recent discoveries, from the inexhaustible Qumran, have made it possible to establish that, however, this may not have been the case, and that we have reasons to celebrate Christmas on December 25.

We know, therefore, always from the evangelist Luke (the most richly detailed account of how Jesus was born) that Mary became pregnant when her cousin Elizabeth was already six months pregnant.. Western Christians have always celebrated the Annunciation of Mary on March 25, which is nine months before Christmas..

The Easterners also celebrate the Annunciation to Zechariah on September 23rd. (father of John the Baptist and husband of Elizabeth). Luke goes into even more detail when he tells us that, when Zechariah learned that his wife, already at an advanced age like him, would become pregnant, he was serving in the Temple, being of priestly caste, according to the class of Abijah.

However, Luke himself, writing at a time when the Temple was still in operation and the priestly classes were following their perennial shifts, does not offer, taking it for granted, the time in which the class of Abijah was to serve. Well, numerous fragments of the Book of Jubilees, found at Qumran, have allowed scholars such as the French Annie Jaubert and the Israeli Shemarjahu Talmon, to reconstruct with precision that Abijah's shift took place twice a year:

Corresponding to the last ten days of SeptemberThe festival is in perfect harmony with the oriental festival of September 23rd and six months before March 25th, which would lead us to suppose that the birth of Jesus really took place in the last decade of December: maybe not exactly on the 25th, but around there.

Qumran QUMRAN is a city on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, 19 km south of Jericho, located in the foothills of the mountains of the Desert of Judah extending into the plain of the lake from which it is only 2 km away. A torrid and desert-like place (the only source is Ein Feshka, a few kilometers further south). A narrow, steep road, now asphalted, leads to a terrace surrounded by ravines and completely exposed to the torrid and relentless sun; on it are the ruins of Qumran. The site, although never directly mentioned in the Bible, is of great biblical interest because of the important discoveries made there in the years 1947-58.

Life: so much ado about nothing?

We continue with the excursus in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

We have seen that, around 6 B.C., both Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the Abijah class, and her cousin Mary, who, according to Christian scripture, was a virgin and betrothed to a man of the house of David named Joseph, became pregnant.

Josédue to the census announced by the emperor Augustus (where men had to return to their family's hometowns to register)., he went to the city of David, Bethlehem, and there his wife Mary gave birth to a son whom he named Jesus.

The Gospels then relate that the Magi came from the East after seeing a star to worship the new king of the world, foretold by the ancient scriptures, and that Herod, having learned that the prophecy about the Messiah, the new king of Israel, was to be fulfilled, decided to kill all male children two years old and under.

Episode of which we find some traces in Flavius Josephus but of which no one else tells; on the other hand, as Giuseppe Ricciotti points out, in a context like that of Bethlehem and its surroundings, sparsely populated, and especially at a time when the life of a child was of little value, it is difficult to imagine that anyone would bother to notice the violent death of some poor infant son of no one important.

Having come to know in some way the intentions of Herod (Matthew's gospel speaks of an angel who warns Joseph in a dream), mother, father and newborn son flee to Egypt, where they remain for a few years.until the death of Herod (therefore, after 4 B.C.).

Except for Luke's reference to Jesus, who, at the age of twelve years, during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, was lost by his parents who later found after three days of searching while discussing doctrinal matters with the doctors of the Temple, nothing more is known about the childhood and youthful life of the Nazarene., until its effective entry into the public scene in Israel, which can be placed around 27-28 AD..

When he must have been about thirty-three years old, shortly after John the Baptist, who must have begun his ministry a few months or a year earlier, more or less. We can go back to the time of the beginning of the preaching of Jesus thanks to an indication contained in the Gospel of John (the most accurate, from a chronological, historical and geographical point of view): Disputing with Jesus in the Temple, the Jewish notables object, "In forty-six years was this temple built, and will you raise it up in three days?"

If we calculate that Herod the Great began the rebuilding of the Temple in 20-19 B.C. and consider the forty-six years of the Gospel sentence, we find ourselves right in the year 27-28 B.C.

The ministry of John the Baptist

In any case, it preceded only a little that of Jesus and, according to the evangelists, John represented only the forerunner of the man from Galilee, who was the true messiah of Israel.

John, who is believed to have been, at the beginning of his life, an Essene, certainly separated himself, as demonstrated above, from the rigid elite doctrine of the Qumran sect. He preached a baptism of penitence, by immersion in the Jordan. (in an area not far from Qumran)precisely to prepare for the advent of the deliverer, the messiah king.

Of himself he said, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord." (Gospel of John 1:23). However, he was soon killed by Herod Antipas. (3)tetrarch of Galilee and son of Herod the Great.

John's death did not prevent Jesus from continuing his ministry.. The man from Nazareth preached peace, love of enemies and the coming of a new era of justice and peace, the Kingdom of God.which, however, would not be what his Jewish contemporaries expected of him. (and how anticipated by the same prophecies about the Messiah). That is, an earthly kingdom in which Israel would be delivered from its oppressors and dominate other nations, the Gentiles, but a kingdom for the poor, the humble and the meek.

The preaching of Jesus

To which we will return in more detail in the next paragraph, initially appeared to be very successfulespecially because, the Gospels tell us.

Accompanied by a large number of prodigious signals (multiplication of loaves and fishes by thousands; healings of lepers, the lame, the blind and the deaf; resurrection of the dead; transformation of water into wine). However, after encountered considerable difficulties, when Jesus himself began to suggest that he was much more than a man, or proclaimed himself to be the son of God.

In addition, he clashed harshly with the religious elite of the time. (the Pharisees and scribes, whom he called "vipers" and "vultures"). by proclaiming that man was more important than the Shabbat and the Sabbath rest (and, in the Pharisee conception, the Sabbath was almost more important than God). and that he himself was even more important than the Temple in Jerusalem.

Nor did he like the Sadducees, with whom he was no less harsh, and who, for their part, together with the Herodians, were his greatest adversaries, since they Jesus was loved by the crowds and they feared that the people would rise up against themselves and the Romans.

All this lasted about three years

Three Passovers are mentionedThe first one, on the account of the life of Jesus, by the evangelist John, as we have said, is the most accurate in correcting the inaccuracies of the other three evangelists and in pointing out neglected details, even from the chronological point of view.

After which the Nazarene went up to Jerusalem for the last time to celebrate the Passover. Here, besides a cheering crowd, Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees and Herodians were waiting for him, who conspired to kill him, arrested him, taking advantage of the treachery of one of his disciples. (Judas Iscariot) and handed him over to the Romans. After a summary trial, the procurator or prefect, Pontius Pilate, washed his hands and crucified Him.

The death of Jesus on the Cross

All the evangelists agree in fixing the death of Jesus on the cross on a Friday. (the parasceve) within the Easter holidays.

Giuseppe Ricciotti, enumerating a series of possibilities all analyzed by scholars, comes to the conclusion that the exact date of this event, in the Jewish calendar, is the 14th day of the lunar month of Nisan. (Friday, April 7) 30 A.D.

So, if Jesus was born two years before Herod's death and was about thirty years of age (possibly thirty-two or thirty-three) at the beginning of his public life, must have been about 35 years old when he died.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus suffered the most excruciating deathThe "Roman Empire" was reserved for slaves, murderers, thieves and those who were not Roman citizens: the crucifixionHe was then subjected to an equally terrible torture which, in Roman custom, preceded crucifixion: the flagellation (described by Horace as horribile flagellum)inflicted with the terrible instrument called flagrum, a whip with metal balls and bone nails that tore the skin and tore shreds of flesh.

The cross used could be of two types: crux commissa, T-shaped, or crux immissa, dagger-shaped. (4)

From what we read in the Gospels, once condemned, Jesus was forced to carry the cross (most likely the cross beam of the crux immissa, the patibulum) at a height just outside the walls of Jerusalem (Golgotha, exactly where the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher stands today).. In that place, according to Roman procedure, he was stripped.

Other details of the punishment can be learned precisely from the Roman custom of crucifying those condemned to death: they were tied or nailed with their arms extended to the scaffold and raised on the vertical post already fixed to the ground. On the other hand, the feet were tied or nailed to the vertical post, on which a kind of support seat protruded at the level of the buttocks.

Death was slow, very slow and accompanied by unbearable suffering.The victim, raised from the ground no more than half a meter, was completely naked and could hang for hours, if not days, shaken by tetanic cramps and spasms due to the impossibility of breathing properly, as the blood could not flow to the extremities which were strained to the point of exhaustion, as well as to the heart and lungs which could not hatch properly.

We know from the evangelists, however, that Jesus' agony did not last more than a few hours. (from the sixth hour to the ninth hour), probably due to the enormous loss of blood (hypovolemic shock) due to flagellation and that, after death, was placed in a new tomb, excavated in the rock near the site of the crucifixion. (a few meters away).

And here ends the story of the life of the "historical Jesus" and begins that of the "Christ of faith".The Gospels later read that after three days, Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, appearing first to some women (something unheard of, at a time when a woman's testimony was worthless)The first time that Paul of Tarsus, at the time of his ascension to heaven at the right hand of God, was alive, he was still alive, as Paul of Tarsus specifies, at the time of his ascension to heaven at the right hand of God. (around 50) Paul himself was writing his letters.

Who said it was: the kerygma

The story of the "historical Jesus" is the story of a failure, at least an apparent one: perhaps, in fact, the greatest failure in history.

Unlike other characters who have marked the course of time and have been engraved in the memory of posterity, Jesus did practically nothing exceptional, from a purely human point of view, or rather macrohistorical: he did not lead armies to conquer new territories, he did not defeat hordes of enemies, he did not accumulate quantities of booty and women, slaves and servants, he did not write literary works, he did not paint or sculpt anything.

Considering, then, the way in which his earthly existence ended, in mockery, in disappointment, in violent death and in anonymous burial, as he did, therefore, to quote a friend who asked me precisely this question, A "bandit killed by the Romans" to become the cornerstone of history? Well, it seems that what was said about him, that he was "the stone rejected by the builders, but which has become the cornerstone." (Acts 4:11)Isn't that a paradox?

If, on the other hand, we look at the course of events in his life from a "..." point of view, we can see that he is a "man of the future".microhistorical"In other words, in terms of the influence he had on the people he came across, on those he would have healed, moved, affected, changed, then it is easier for us to believe in something else that he himself would have told his followers: "you will do even greater things".

It was his disciples and apostles, therefore, who initiated his missionary work and spread his message throughout the world.. When Jesus was alive, his message, the "gospel" (the good news)The fact is that it had not crossed the borders of Palestine and, in fact, from the way its existence ended, it also seemed destined to die.

A new and unstoppable force

And at the same time small and hidden, it began to ferment like yeast in that little corner of the East, in a way, I repeat, completely inexplicable, given that, as Paul of Tarsus testifies to us, the difficulty in the propagation of the gospel lies not only in the paradox that it containsthat is, in proclaiming  (something unheard of until then) Blessed are the little ones, the lowly, the humble, the children and the ignorant, but also in having to identify the gospel itself with a person who had died in utter ignominy and who later claimed to have risen from the dead.

Paul, in fact, defines this announcement, the cross, "for the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and for the Gentiles foolishness", "for the Jews ask for signs, and the Greeks seek wisdom". (First Letter to the Corinthians 1, 21-22).

As already mentioned, this is not the place to discuss this topic, as the objective of this paper is simply a look at the "Historical Jesus" and not to the "Christ of faith".

However, it can already be stated that one is not understandable without the otherI will therefore only provide a few hints about what was, in fact, the focal point of the message of Jesus of Nazareth, the heart of the Gospel. (εὐαγγγέλιον, euanguélion, literally good news, or good announcement).i.e. the kerigma.

The good news

The term is of Greek origin (κήρυγμα, from the verb κηρύσσσω, kēryssō, which is to shout like a crier, to spread an announcement).. And the announcement is this: the life, death, resurrection and glorious return of Jesus of Nazareth, called Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit.

According to Christians, this work constitutes a direct intervention of God in history.God who becomes incarnate in a man, who lowers himself to the level of creatures in order to raise them to the dignity of his children, to free them from the slavery of sin. (a new Easter) and from death and to give them eternal life, by virtue of the sacrifice of his only begotten Son.

This process by which God stoops down to man has been defined κένωσις (kénōsis)also a Greek word that literally indicates a "...".emptying"God lowers himself and empties himself, in practice stripping himself of his own prerogatives and his own divine attributes in order to give them, to share them with man, in a movement between heaven and earth. That presupposes, after the descent, also an ascent, from earth to heaven: the théosis (θέοσις)the elevation of human nature that becomes divine because, in Christian doctrine, the baptized person is Christ himself. (5). In fact, the humiliation of God leads to the apotheosis of man.

The concept of kerygma constitutes, from a historical point of view, a fundamental fact to understand how, from the beginning of Christianity, this proclamation and identification of Jesus of Nazareth with God, and the fact of his identification with God, is a fundamental factor in the development of the Church. was present in the words and writings of his disciples and apostles, constituting, among other things, the very reason for his death sentence by the notables of Judaism at the time.

Its traces are found, in fact, not only in all the Gospels, but also and above all in the Pauline letters. (whose wording is even older: the first Letter to the Thessalonians was written in 52 A.D.[2]).In them, Paul of Tarsus writes Paul himself tells of having previously learned, namely, that Jesus of Nazareth was born, died and rose again for the sins of the world, according to the scriptures.

There is no doubt, therefore, that the identification of the "historical Jesus" with the "Christ of faith" is not at all late, but immediate and derived from the same words used by Jesus of Nazareth to define himself and attribute to himself the prophecies and messianic images of the entire history of the people of Israel.

The pedagogy of the Nazarene

Another interesting aspect is the method: it "educa" (etymologically the Latin term educĕre presupposes driving from one place to another and, by extension, taking something out)., and does so as an excellent teacher, as he points to himself as an example to follow.

In fact, from the analysis of his words, his gestures, his actions, Jesus seems almost not only to want to carry out a work by himself, but to want those who decide to follow him to do so with him, to learn to act like him, to follow him in the ascent towards God, in a constant dialogue that is concretized in the symbols used, in the places, in the contents of the scriptures.

It almost seems to mean, and in fact does say: "Learn from me!". The phrase we have just quoted is contained, among other things, in a passage from Matthew's Gospel in which Jesus invites his followers to be like him in meekness and humility (ch. 11:29).

In meekness, in humility, in not reacting with violence or disrespect, his figure remains coherent also from a literary point of view, not only intellectually: firm, constant until death, never in contradiction.

Jesus teaches his followers not only not to kill, but to lay down their lives for others.not only not to steal, but to undress for others; not only to love friends, but also enemies; not only to be good people, but to be perfect like God. And in doing sodoes not indicate an abstract model, someone far away in time and space or a divinity lost in the heavens: he points to himself. He says: "Do as I do!".

His pilgrimage through the land of Israel

It also seems to be an expression of his mission that begins, with the baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, at the lowest point of the Earth. (the banks of the Jordan around Jericho) and culminates in what was considered, in the collective imagination of the Jewish people, the highest point: Jerusalem.

Jesus descends, like the Jordan (whose Hebrew name ירדן, Yardén, means "he who descends"). to the Dead Sea, a deserted, despoiled and low place, to lead upward, where he would have been "lifted up from the earth" and "drawn all to himself." (John 12:32)but in a completely different sense than one would have expected from him.

It is a pilgrimage that finds its meaning in the very idea of the Jewish pilgrimage to the Holy City.The "Songs of Ascents" were sung during the main feasts, while ascending from the plain of Esdraelon or, more frequently, from the road from Jericho to the mountains of Judea.

By extension, this idea of pilgrimage, of "ascension", can be found in the modern concept of "ascent". from עלייה ('aliyah). emigration or pilgrimage to Israel of Jews (but also Christians) going to the Holy Land to visit the country or stay and live there (and define themselves עולים, 'ōlīm - from the same root 'al - i.e., "those who ascend")..

In fact, the name of the Israeli airline, the The Al (אל על)means "to the top". (and with a double meaning: high is the sky, but "high" is also the Land of Israel and Jerusalem in particular).

Finally, the overturning of the very idea of "world dominatorThe "the one that his contemporaries had hoped for, takes place in the so-called Sermon on the Mount, the programmatic discourse on the mission of Jesus of NazarethBlessed are not the rich, but the poor in spirit; not the strong, but the weak; not the mighty, but the humble; not those who wage war, but those who seek peace.

And then, last but not least, the great message of consolation to mankind: God is fathernot a collective father, in the sense of a protector of this or that people against others, but a tender father, a "daddy". (Jesus calls him thus in Aramaic: אבא, abba). for every man, as the biblical scholar Jean Carmignac explains it very well (6) :

For Jesus, God is essentially Father, just as He is Love (1 John 4:8).

Glory to God the Father

Jesus is above all the "Son" of God in a way that no one could have imagined before him, so that God is for him "the Father" in the strictest sense of the term. This paternity of the Father and this filiation of the Son also imply participation in the one divine nature.

This theme occupies such a central place in the preaching of Jesus that the incarnation of the Son is intended to give men "the power to become children of God." (Jn 1:12) and that his message could be defined as a revelation from the Father (John 1:18)to teach men that they are God's children (1 John 3:1).

This truth assumes, through the mouth of Jesus, such importance that it becomes the basis for his teachingThe purpose of good works is the glory of the Father. (Matthew 5:16)The fullness of the moral life consists in being merciful as the Father is merciful (Matthew 6, 14-15; Mark 11: 25-26), the entrance to the kingdom of heaven is reserved for those who do the will of the Father (Matthew 7, 21), the fullness of the moral life consists in being merciful as the Father is merciful (Matthew 6, 14-15; Mark 11: 25-26), the entrance to the kingdom of heaven is reserved for those who do the will of the Father (Matthew 7, 21). (Luke 6:36) and perfect as the Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

From this paternity of God an obvious consequence follows.having the same "Father", men are in reality brothers who should love each other and treat each other as such. There is a fundamental principle that inspires all the morality and spirituality of Christianity and that the Gospel had already explicitly proclaimed: "You are all brothers [-] because one is your Father in heaven". (Matthew 23:8-9).

 Thus ends our journey in search of the "historical Jesus", with the awareness that, for believers and non-believers alike, his figure will forever remain the greatest and most fascinating mystery of history.

References throughout the article

  1. This hypothesis would be supported by the Tombstone of Tivoli (in Latin Lapis o Titulus Tiburtinus).
  2. Go to note 9 on Dionysius the Lesser.
  3. We read in Flavius Josephus (Ant. 18, 109-119): "Herod had John, called the Baptist, put to death. Herod had him put to death, even though he was a just man who preached the practice of virtue, inciting to live with mutual justice and with piety toward God, so that he might receive baptism. [Men from all sides had gathered with him, for they were enthusiastic when they heard him speak. Herod, however, fearful lest his great authority should induce the subjects to revolt, for the people seemed disposed to follow his advice, thought it safer, before anything new arose, to remove him out of the way, otherwise he might perhaps have to repent later, if any conspiracy should take place. Because of these suspicions of Herod he was imprisoned and sent to the fortress of Macherus, of which we have spoken before, and there he went." Another example of a non-Christian source confirming what is told in the Gospels.
  4. The one we know today, which is likely given that, as we know from the Gospel of Matthew, a titulum was placed on Jesus' head, a title that carries the motivation for the death sentence.
  5. In the preface to Book V of the work Adversus haereses (Against Heresies), St. Irenaeus of Lyons speaks of "Jesus Christ who, because of his superabundant love, became what we are in order to make us what he is".
  6. The proximity of the written sources found on Jesus is an argument that impresses historians, since the oldest manuscripts containing the New Testament date back to the beginning of the third century, while, for example, the oldest complete manuscript of the Iliad dates back to the tenth century.
  7. Jean Carmignac, Ascoltando il Padre Nostro. La preghiera del Signore come può averla pronunciata Gesù, Amazon Publishing, 2020, pag. 10. Traduzione dal francese e adattamento in italiano di Gerardo Ferrara.

Reference bibliography:

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"The priest finds his reason for being in the Eucharist."

Jeus Jardin has found his vocation in the Eucharistleaving his nursing career to follow God's invitation to become a priest.

Coming from a non-practicing family, this Filipino priest who, after resisting God's call for a time, offers us his testimony of how he ended up surrendering to the voice that asked him to consecrate himself to Him alone.

God writes straight in crooked lines and creates authentic works of art. This is the case of Father Jeus Jardin, a Filipino priest of the Archdiocese of Davao, who came to know the love of God in his childhood and adolescence, despite coming from a non-practicing family, thanks to the important role of his grandmother.

When he had already taken the big step to become a priest, and even with the opposition of his parents, he ended up leaving the seminary a short time later. He studied nursing and went on to work as a university professor. But those letters that God had instilled in his heart would not be erased, until, finally, he had to surrender to the evidence about the path he had to follow.

He had a good life and had even obtained permission to practice nursing in the United States, but he knew he was called to a much higher mission. So, in humility and eight years later, he asked to re-enter the seminary to be finally ordained. priest in 2017. And he saw that everything was well done.

A call to the heart

"God always has his way of making his will known through the desires of each heart, and the same thing happened with me, because I felt that the Lord kept calling me to the priesthood," he explains in this interview.

Jeus confesses that his heart told him that, if he wanted to be happy, he had to return to his origins, in this case, to the seminary. In reality, his life was going well, but neither money nor the fear of losing everything he had achieved professionally could not overcome God's call. "I saw that happiness did not come from there, and my heart felt it," he adds.

When he re-entered the seminary, his bishop decided to send him to study at the Bidasoa International Seminar and the University of Navarra, thanks to a study grant from the CARF Foundation, which allowed him to strengthen and confirm his priestly vocation.

Learning to be a priest

"I was in Pamplona for seven years, five as a seminarian in Bidasoa and two as a priest. Pamplona is my second home. As a seminarian, I had formators who are truly men of God, who taught me not only with their words, but also with their own lives, what a priest is like," says Jeus Jardin with conviction.

His years in Pamplona not only gave him a solid intellectual formation, but, citing specifically Bidasoa, the University of Navarra and, in his second stage in Spain, the Cristo Rey residence on Padre Barace Street in Pamplona, he assures that it was in these places "where they taught me to be a priest, a friend and a person, and that is why I can say that they have taught me a lot".

Now it is Jeus Jardin himself who transmits this same spirit in the seminary of his archdiocese, where he shows young people the great challenges facing priests today. In his opinion, these are the best pieces of advice to face them: "try to know one's limitations and not exceed them; value the times of prayer and spiritual direction; and learn to rest with Our Mother and the Lord". In addition, he stresses the importance of the Holy Mass: "the priest finds his fundamental reason for being in the Eucharistis the reason for his priesthood".

Do not be afraid of silence

In the face of the vocation crisis that seems to be plaguing the Church at the moment, Father Jeus is hopeful and assures us that "the Lord is always calling, although to hear his voice we need to be able to listen and not be afraid of silence, because the Lord calls, but his voice is subtle".

To the young people who have already heard this call, he invites them not to be afraid to respond. "In my experience, I see how I was very afraid to leave the things I had: that I would earn less money, that I could not have a house or a car. But the Lord is a good payer. We are not called only to have material goods. We are called to a transcendent life, to a life in communion with God. That is where our happiness lies," he adds.

As his most memorable moment as a priest, he recalls one in which he was able to experience Providence in a very clear way, where he had to put into practice everything he had previously learned. "In the seminary where I am now as bursar, we faced an outbreak of COVID with about 75 people infected among seminarians and priests.

My test was negative, but, because of the charge I had, I decided to be with all those who were sick. We were able to live together and survive, and really experience God's providence. The days of quarantine with the seminarians and priests have become unforgettable days for me," he recalls.

Finally, this priest from the Philippines wants to express his gratitude to the benefactors of the CARF Foundation who have done him so much good, first as a seminarian and then as a priest: "Thank you all very much. Your support makes it possible for seminarians and priests like me to receive the necessary formation for the task of being a pastor. May God repay you.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday

We have ahead of us a path marked by prayer and sharing, by silence and fasting, in expectation of living the joy of Easter.

We begin Lent with Ash Wednesday and Scripture tells us: "Now, O oracle of the Lord, turn to me with all your heart with fasting, with weeping, with mourning. Rend your hearts and not your garments; turn to the Lord your God, for he is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, rich in mercy; and he repents of threats" Joel 2:12-13.

These are words pronounced by the prophet when Judah was plunged into a deep crisis. Its territory was desolate. A plague of grasshoppers had passed through, which had devastated everything; they had eaten everything that grew in the field, even the buds of the vineyards. They had completely lost all the crops and fruits of the year.

In the face of these misfortunes Joel invites the people to reflect on their way of life in the previous years. When everything was going well for them, they had forgotten God, they did not pray, and they had forgotten their neighbor.. They were confident that the land was bearing fruit on its own and it seemed to them that they owed nothing to anyone. They were comfortable doing what they were doing and did not think it was necessary to live life any other way.

The crisis they were going through, Joel suggests, should make them realize that they could do nothing on their own, with their backs to God. If they had peace and food, it was not because of their own merits. All this is a gift from God, for which it is necessary to be thankful.. Hence the urgent call for change: convert wholeheartedly with fastingwith weeping, with mourning, with weeping, with weeping, with mourning, tear your hearts: change!

Hearing such strong words from the prophet, perhaps we can think: Okay, okay, let the inhabitants of Judea change, but I don't have to change: I'm quite comfortable as I am!

It's been a long time since I've seen a grasshopper, I have good things to eat and drink every day, I have several movies to watch, this week I have several games to win,... and I'm not in a hurry because the finals are still far away and I will study seriously when they arrive..

I don't know about you, but I'm always too lazy to get serious about changing anything in Lent. The truth is that it is not a particularly pleasant time like, for example, the Christmas.

Lent, a time for reflection

Listening to the responsorial Psalm, we may have thought something similar: "In your great compassion and mercy, O Lord, have mercy on me and forget my sins. Wash me thoroughly from all my transgressions and purify me from my sins".

cuaresma-ayuno-abstinencia-limosna-oración-miércoles-de-ceniza
Lent is a time of forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Thursday, "every Friday, unless it coincides with a solemnity, abstinence from meat, or other food determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed; fasting and abstinence are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday." Code of Canon Law, canon 1251.

And even in repeating "Mercy, Lord, we have sinned," perhaps it occurred to us inside to say: But I have no sins, ... in any case "little sins". I don't do wrong to anyone, I haven't robbed any bank, I haven't killed anyone, in any case, only "little things" of little importance. And, besides, I have nothing against God, I have not wanted to offend him, why should I say that I have sinned or beg for his mercy?

If we look at things this way, the words of St. Paul in the second reading may sound repetitive, but they raise the tone, pressing: "Brethren, we act as Christ's messengers, and it is as if God himself were exhorting you through us. In the name of Christ we ask you to be reconciled to God".

Am I so important and what I do so important that today everyone comes against me: the prophet Joel, David with his Psalm, and St. Paul pressing?

Well, the truth is yes, I am important to the Lord. None of us is indifferent to God, we are not just another number among the millions of people in the world. It's me, it's you. Someone you are thinking about, someone you miss a little, someone you want to talk to.

Haven't you ever been happy, after leaving class tired, to receive a message on your cell phone from someone you like and who asks you: "Do you have any plans this afternoon? Well, finally, someone who thinks of me! In general, one of the most pleasant things is to see that there are people who love us, who think of us, and call us to see us and spend a nice time together.

Lent, a time to look to God

This week while reading the Bible I came across some words of human love, which are divine. They are the refrain of a song from the Song of Songs sung by the beloved to his beloved. They go like this: "Turn around, turn around, Shulamite! Turn around, turn around, I want to see you". Qty 7.1.

In fact, it seems that more than singing, they invite you to dance: "Turn around, turn around, Sulamita! Turn around, turn around, I want to see you". In Hebrew it sounds good: šubi, šubi šulamit, šubi, šubi... it even has its rhythm. The verb šub means "turn back, turn aroundbut it is the verb that in the Hebrew Bible also means "...".become".

These words of the Song help us to understand what is happening today. God, the beloved, invites each of us to dance, telling us: "turn around, turn around, I want to see you".

The invitation to conversion is not the scolding of someone demanding who is angry with what we do, but a loving call to turn around to meet Love face to face. No one pushes us to scold us. Someone who loves us has remembered us and sends us a message so that we can meet and talk in depth, opening our hearts.

Lent, a time of conversion

Good. But, in any case, "I have no sins" what am I going to become?

There are many ways to explain what sin isI believe that Holy Scripture also helps us to clarify what it is. In Hebrew "sin" it is said jattatDo you know what the antonym is in the Bible, the word that expresses the concept "bet on"? jattat? In Spanish, perhaps we would say that the opposite of sin is "sin".good deed"or some theologian would say that "grace". In Hebrew, the antonym of chattat is šalom, peace.. This means that for the Bible neither "sin" nor "peace"are exactly the same as for us.

In the book of Job it is said that that man whom God invites to reflect and change, will experience šalom (peace) in his tent and when they search his dwelling, there shall be no jattat (nothing will be missing) cf. Jb 5:24.

They were nomads and for them the tent was their home. A house is in "sin" when something necessary is missing or when what is there is untidy. It is in "peace" when it is a pleasure to see it and to be there: everything is well installed, clean and in its place.

When we look inside ourselvesPerhaps our heart and soul are like our bedroom or the apartment in which we live: with the bed unmade, the table without removing the leftovers from dinner, with newspapers lying on the sofa, or the sink full of dishes waiting for someone to wash them. How our heart and soul feel at ease when we clean up the junk and tidy up!

That is why in confession, when we make a clean sweep of the jattat we carry inside, they give us absolution and tell us "....go in peace (šalom).", you are in order.

This week we begin LentOn the day of Ash Wednesday, the Lord calls us with love: 'turn around, turn around, I want to see you'.

He loves us and knows us well. He knows that sometimes we are a little careless, and he wants to help us clean up so that we may recover serenity, peace and joy.

How can we make the most of these days of Lent?

That is why St. Paul insists so strongly: "in the name of Christ we ask you to be reconciled to God", and why delay? why put it off for another day? St. Paul also knows us and hurries us alongLook, now is the favorable time, now is the day of salvation.

This Ash Wednesday, we can surely find a confessor in any church, who in five minutes will help us to get in shape.

And, once, with everything in order, the Gospel of the Holy Mass we hear that Jesus himself gives us some interesting clues to make resolutions that help us rediscover the joy of loving God and others..

Time of generosity

The first thing he suggests is that we realize that there are many people in need. around us, near and far from us, and we cannot remain indifferent to those who suffer.

In the first reading we remembered that, in the face of the grasshopper crisis in Judea, Joel said that it is necessary to tear out one's heart, to share the suffering with those who are suffering.

Today we are living in a deep crisis. Millions of people are unemployed. Many suffer, we suffer with them, the lack of work and all the needs that this brings with it. We cannot ignore their problems, as if nothing happened, nor close our hearts. They must notice that we are with them.

With those who die every day from the coronavirus pandemic or in the Mediterranean fleeing from the terror of war, or seeking a dignified life for themselves and their families in the tragedy of the migration crisis. In other parts of the world, too, daily life is even more difficult than here, and they urgently need help. "When you give alms, Jesus says, let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing; so your alms will remain secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you." Mt 6:3-4. GenerosityThis is a good first resolution for Lent.

There is also another type of "almsgiving", which does not seem so, because it is very discreet, but it is very necessary. Today we are generally very sensitive to the aspect of care and charity in relation to the physical and material good of others, but we are almost completely silent about the spiritual responsibility towards our brothers and sisters. This was not so in the early Church.

This effective form of "almsgiving" is fraternal correction: help each other to discover what is not going well in our lives, or what can go better. Are we not Christians who, out of human respect or simple comfort, conform to the common mentality, instead of warning our brothers and sisters about ways of thinking and acting that contradict the truth and do not follow the path of goodness?

Even if we have to overcome the impression that we are meddling in the lives of others, we must not forget that it is a great service to help others.. It will also be good for us to let ourselves be helped. "A gaze that loves and corrects, that knows and recognizes, that discerns and forgives is always needed." cf. Lk 22:61as God has done and does with each one of us.

Time for prayer

Along with almsgiving, prayer. "You, Jesus tells us, when you go to pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is in the hidden place, and your Father, who sees in the hidden place, will repay you." Mt 6:6.

Prayer is not the mere mechanical recitation of a few words we learned as children; it is a time of loving dialogue with the one who loves us so much.. These are intimate conversations where the Lord encourages us, comforts us, forgives us, helps us to put our lives in order, suggests to us how we can help others, fills us with encouragement and joy of life.

Ash Wednesday and Lent, a time of fasting

And, thirdly, along with almsgiving and prayer, fasting. Not sad, but happyJesus also suggests in the Gospel: "You, when you fast, cleanse your head and wash your face, so that your fast may be noticed, not by the people, but by your Father, who is in the secret place; and your Father, who sees in the secret place, will reward you". Mt 6:17-18.

Nowadays many people fast, depriving themselves of appetizing things, and not for supernatural reasons, but to keep in line or improve their physical shape. It is clear that fasting is good for the physical wellbeing, but for Christians it is, in the first place, a "therapy" to cure everything that hinders us from adjusting our life to God's will.

In a culture in which we lack nothing, going a little hungry one day is very good, and not only for the health of the body. It is also good for the soul. It helps us realize how hard it is for so many people who have nothing to eat.

It is true that fasting means abstaining from food, but the practice of piety recommended in Sacred Scripture also includes other forms of deprivation that help to lead a more sober life.

Therefore, it is also good for us to fast from other things that are not necessary but that we find it difficult to do without. We could go on an Internet fast, limiting our use of the Internet to what is necessary for work, and dispensing with aimless surfing. It would be good for us to have a clear head, read books and think about interesting things. We could also fast from going out drinking on the weekend, it would be good for our pocket, and we would be fresher to talk quietly with friends. Or we could fast from watching movies and series on weekdays, it would be good for our study.

Would it be all right if we fasted for a whole day from mp3 and similar formats, and walked down the street without headphones, listening to the wind and the birds singing?

To deprive oneself of the material food that nourishes the body (on Ash Wednesday or during Lent), of the alcohol that gladdens the heart, of the noise that fills the ears and the images that quickly follow one another on the retina, facilitates an interior disposition to look at others, to listen to Christ and to be nourished by his word of salvation. By fasting we allow him to come and satisfy the deepest hunger we experience in our innermost heart: the hunger and thirst for God.

In two days, priests and deacons will impose ashes on our heads while saying: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". These are not words to frighten us into thinking of death, but to put us in reality and help us find happiness. Alone we are nothing: dust and ashes. But God has designed for each and every one of us a love story to make us happy.

As the poet Francisco de Quevedo said, referring to those who have lived close to God in their lifetime, who will keep their love constant beyond death, "dust they shall be, but dust in love."

We begin the season of Lent. A joyful and festive time to turn to the Lord and see Him face to face.. šubi, šubi šulamit, šubi, šubi... "Turn around, turn around, tells us once againturn around, turn around, I want to see you." These are not sad days. They are days to make way for Love.

We turn to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of Fair Love, so that in contemplating the reality of our life, even if our limitations and defects are obvious, we may see the reality: "dust we shall be, but dust in love".

Mr. Francisco Varo PinedaDirector of Research at the University of Navarra. Professor of Sacred Scripture at the Faculty of Theology.

 

Lenten Message 2025 of Pope Francis

Dear brothers and sisters:

With the penitential sign of ashes on our heads, we begin the annual pilgrimage of Holy Lent, in faith and hope. The Church, mother and teacher, invites us to prepare our hearts and to open ourselves to God's grace so that we can celebrate with great joy the Easter triumph of Christ, the Lord, over sin and death, as St. Paul exclaimed: "Death has been conquered. Where is your victory, death? Where is your sting?" ( 1 Cor 15:54-55).

Jesus Christ, dead and risen, is indeed the center of our faith and the guarantor of our hope in the great promise of the Father: eternal life, which he has already realized in him, his beloved Son (cf. Jn 10:28; 17:3) [1].

In this Lent, enriched by the grace of the Jubilee Year, I wish to offer you some reflections on what it means to walk together in hope and to discover the calls to conversion that God's mercy addresses to all of us, personally and as a community.

First of all, to walk. The Jubilee motto, "Pilgrims of Hope," evokes the long journey of the people of Israel toward the Promised Land, narrated in the book of Exodus; the difficult journey from slavery to freedom, willed and guided by the Lord, who loves his people and always remains faithful to them.

We cannot recall the biblical exodus without thinking of so many brothers and sisters who today are fleeing situations of misery and violence, seeking a better life for themselves and their loved ones. A first call to conversion arises here, because we are all pilgrims in life.

Each one of us can ask ourselves: how do I allow myself to be challenged by this condition? Am I really on the way or a bit paralyzed, static, fearful and hopeless; or satisfied in my comfort zone? Am I looking for ways to liberate myself from situations of sin and lack of dignity? It would be a good Lenten exercise to confront ourselves with the concrete reality of an immigrant or pilgrim, letting them challenge us, in order to discover what God is asking of us, to be better travelers towards the Father's house. This is a good "examination" for the wayfarer.

Secondly, let us make this journey together. The vocation of the Church is to walk together, to be synodal [2]. Christians are called to journey together, never as solitary travelers. The Holy Spirit urges us to go out of ourselves to go towards God and towards our brothers and sisters, and never to close in on ourselves [3].

Walking together means being artisans of unity, starting from the common dignity of children of God (cf. Gal 3:26-28); it means walking side by side, without trampling on or dominating the other, without harboring envy or hypocrisy, without letting anyone be left behind or feel excluded. We are going in the same direction, towards the same goal, listening to one another with love and patience.

This Lent, God asks us to check whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work, in parish or religious communities, we are capable of walking with others, of listening, of overcoming the temptation to close ourselves in our self-referentiality, taking care only of our own needs.

Let us ask ourselves before the Lord if we are capable of working together as bishops, priests, consecrated and lay people, at the service of the Kingdom of God; if we have an attitude of welcome, with concrete gestures, towards the people who approach us and those who are far away; if we make people feel part of the community or if we marginalize them [4]. This is a second call: conversion to synodality.

Thirdly, let us travel this path together in the hope of a promise. May the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), the central message of the Jubilee [5], be for us the horizon of the Lenten journey towards Easter victory. As Pope Benedict XVI taught us in the Encyclical Spe Salvi, "human beings need unconditional love.

He needs that certainty that makes him say: "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present, nor future, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature can separate us from the love of God, made manifest in Christ Jesus our Lord" ( Romans 8:38-39). Jesus, our love and our hope, is risen [7], and he lives and reigns in glory. Death has been transformed into victory, and in this lies the faith and hope of Christians, in the resurrection of Christ.

This is, therefore, the third call to conversion: that of hope, of trust in God and in his great promise, eternal life. We must ask ourselves: do I possess the conviction that God forgives my sins, or do I behave as if I could save myself? Do I long for salvation and invoke God's help to receive it? Do I live concretely the hope that helps me to read the events of history and impels me to commit myself to justice, fraternity and care for the common home, acting in such a way that no one is left behind?

Sisters and brothers, thanks to the love of God in Jesus Christ, we are protected by the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope is "the anchor of the soul," sure and steadfast. In it the Church prays that "all may be saved" ( 1 Tim 2:4) and hopes that one day she will be united to Christ, her Spouse, in the glory of heaven. This is how St. Teresa of Jesus expressed herself: "Wait, wait, for you do not know when the day or the hour will come. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, although your desire makes the certain doubtful, and the short time long" (Exclamations of the soul to God, 15, 3) [9].

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, intercede for us and accompany us on our Lenten journey.

Rome, St. John Lateran, February 6, 2025, memorial of Saints Paul Miki and companions, martyrs.

FRANCISCO.

[1] Cf. Dilexit nos (24 October 2024), 220.

[2] Cf. Homily at the Holy Mass for the canonization of Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini and Blessed Artemides Zatti (October 9, 2022).

[3] Cf. ibid.

[4] Cf. ibid.

[5] Cf. Bull Spes non confundit, 1.

[6] Encyclical Letter Spe salvi (30 November 2007), 26.

[7] Cf. Sequence of Easter Sunday.

[8] Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1820.

[9] Ibid., 1821.

Ash Wednesday: when is it, what is it celebrated and its meaning?

"Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

The imposition of ashes reminds us that our life on earth is fleeting and that our final life is in Heaven.

When is Ash Wednesday?

The Lent is a time of forty days, which begins with Ash Wednesday y ends on Maundy Thursday, before the Mass in coena Domini (the Lord's Supper) with which the Paschal Triduum begins. This is a time of prayer, penance and fasting. Forty days that the Church marks for the conversion of the heart.

This Christian feast has the singularity of changing its date every year. Resurrection of the Lord which is the celebration that marks the liturgical calendar.. It can take place between February 4 and March 10. It is always celebrated on Wednesday.

Meaning of Ash Wednesday

The purpose of receiving the ashes is to remind us of our origin, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return". With a symbolic sense of death, expiration, humility and penitence, the ashes help us to look inside ourselves.

This look at one's interiority, of recognizing one's mistakes and wanting to rectify them, enters into the dynamics of the two key words of Lent. By recognizing our sins, we regret and wanting to change them, we become.

It is a day of light in the life of the Christian that allows us to recognize that we are weak and that we need the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus to be able to live with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Why do they impose ashes on us?

In the Church this tradition has lasted since the ninth century and exists to remind us that, at the end of our life, we will take with us only what we have done for God and for others.

The Wednesday On Ash Wednesday, the priest traces the sign of the cross with ashes on our forehead to symbolize penitence and repentance, while repeating the words of imposition of ashes that are inspired by the Holy Scriptures:

  • "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." Genesis, 3, 19
  • "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel." Mark 1,15

These words serve to remind us that our final place is in Heaven. Their purpose is to immerse us more intensely in the paschal mystery of Jesus, in his death and resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity.

The ashes are the remains of what has been consumed, of the branches blessed on the Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, of the previous year. A sign that reminds us of our closeness to sin.

One can also look at oneself in the fire that has produced those ashes. That fire is divine love and the Lentarises, like that fire that burns under the ashes: this is a reminder of God's presence in our lives.is the realization that God, through Christ, makes himself poor for the enrichment of our life through his poverty.

A time of preparation and purification of the heart begins. A path to reach the goal of being filled with God's love.

What is celebrated on Ash Wednesday?

Ash WednesdayIt is a feast of repentance, of penance, but above all of conversion. It is the beginning of the Lenten journey, to accompany Jesus from his desert to the day of his triumph, which is Easter Sunday..

Que se celebra el miércoles de ceniza
Pope Francis when he was Cardinal of Buenos Aires, Argentina in February 2013. Celebrating the Ash Wednesday Holy Mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral (by Filippo Fiorini, Pangea News).

It should be a time to reflect on our life, to understand where we are going, to analyze how our behavior is with our family and in general with all the beings that surround us.

At this time, as we reflect on our life, we must convert it from now on into a following of Jesus, deepening our understanding of His message of love and approaching the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this Lenten season.

This Reconciliation with God is integrated by Repentance, Confession of our sins, Penance and finally Conversion:

  • The repentance must be sincere and it is good that it begins with the Examination of Conscience.
  • The confession of our sins is expressed by the priest in the sacrament of confession.
  • The penance The first thing we must do, of course, begins with the one imposed on us by the priest, but we must continue it with prayer, which is intimate communication with God, and with fasting, which represents renunciation.
  • Finally, the Conversion which represents the following of Jesus. Remembering the word of Jesus, listening, reading the Gospel, meditating on it and believing in it. Transmitting his message with our actions and our words.

In remembrance of the day on which Jesus Christ died on the Holy Cross, "every Friday, unless it coincides with a solemnity, abstinence from meat, or other food determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed; fasting and abstinence are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday." Code of Canon Law, canon 1251

Fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesdays

To live this time in the best possible way, the Church proposes three key activities, aimed at fostering spiritual growth and a certain interior mortification: prayer, abstinence and fasting. These three forms of penance demonstrate an intention to be reconciled with God, oneself and others.

Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fasting and abstinence:

  • The fasting consists of eating only one large meal a day.
  • The abstinence is not to eat meat, it is obligatory from the age of 14 and fasting from the age of 18 until the age of 59.

This is a way of asking God's forgiveness for having offended Him and to tell Him that we want to change our lives to please Him always.

Making sacrifices

Whose meaning is "making things sacred", we must do them with joyfor it is for the love of God. If we do not do so, we will cause pity and compassion and lose eternal happiness. God is the one who sees our sacrifice from heaven and is the one who will reward us..

"When ye fast, appear not sad, as the hypocrites do, who disfigure their faces that men may see that they fast: verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. You when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that men may not see that you fast, but Your Father who is in secret: and Your Father who sees in secret will reward you. " Mt 6:6"

On the other hand, fasting is aimed at achieving mastery over our instincts in order to free our heart.

As Jesus said: "Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Learning to put aside that which we want to eat or drink, to give place to God in our life, is another excellent way to live Lent." Catechism of the Catholic Church 2043

The alms

At this time, the Church proposes another practice of generosity and detachment, almsgiving. It is the voluntary renunciation of different worldly satisfactions. with the intention of pleasing God and with charity towards our neighbor. Knowing how to put aside to put the neighbor above the material things, restores the natural order to our interior.

Prayer for Ash Wednesday

The prayer with an open heart is the best way to prepare for Easter.. Prayer sincerely opens our heart to the presence of the Father. It allows us to recognize the littleness of our being and to understand the need for God in our own existence.

Constant dialogue with God, conscious meditation on his word, is the personal relationship that every Christian should aspire to. It is becoming stronger, the fruit of that relationship that is established in speaking with Him.

Prayer is the valve that oxygenates the soul. It is the encounter with the unconditional love that is Christ.

We are the mud of sin but the dust of ashes invites us to convert and believe in the Gospel, putting everything in the hands of the Lord and not in our own hands because only He is the one who frees us from death and the corruption of our life.

Bibliography:

Catholic.net
Opus Dei.org 
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Vaticannews

YouTube, where Stephen started to become a priest

"On YouTube I heard atheists claiming that Christianity has no logical basis and I realized I didn't know the fundamentals to defend my faith."

Stephen Sharpe is a young religious from Maryland, United States. He was born on January 5, 1994. After studying at Loyola University Maryland and working in a military technology company, he discovered that his true vocation was not in the secular world, but in the service of God. During a study program in Spain, he became acquainted with the community of the Servants of God. Mother's Home and, during a retreat, he strongly felt the call to the priesthood.

Today, he has been a member of this community for seven years, giving himself completely to God and preparing to become a priest at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (PUSC), in Rome, where he is studying the first cycle of the biennial propaedeutic of Philosophy, before entering the first cycle of Theology.

Meet Stephen

His name is Brother Stephen Sharpe, he is 31 years old (born in 1994) and is from Maryland, USA. He belongs to a religious community called the Servants of the Home of the Mother. He has been with the Home for 7 years and, during this time, has been able to work with young people in Ireland, the United States and Spain.

He is deeply grateful to the CARF Foundation for giving him the opportunity to begin his studies at PUSC, where he is preparing intellectually to become a priest. He loves his vocation as a servant and looks forward to one day serving the Church as a priest.

He has a twin brother who is also his best friend. He recently got married and they are still very close, despite the distance. He also has an older brother who is expecting his first daughter. Their mother, who raised them in the faith, taught them by her example the importance of putting God at the center of life.

Doubts in adolescence, YouTube and the longing to believe in God

During his adolescence, he began to feel a deep thirst for a deeper understanding of his existence. Existential questions began to trouble him and he longed for answers. Around the age of 15 or 16, he began to ask himself: "What is the meaning of life?What is the meaning of my life, why am I here, how do I know that God really exists?" One day, while on YouTube, he heard atheists mocking Christianity and claiming it had no logical basis.

stephen-sharpe-youtube-vocacion-sacerdote

It was then that he realized that he did not know the fundamentals to defend his faith and understood that, if he did not begin to educate himself intellectually, he would run the risk of losing it.

"That realization spurred me into action: I started reading the Bible, apologetics books, watching YouTube discussions and praying more deeply, asking God to help me understand and guide me through my confusion," Stephen recounts.

During this period, he became increasingly convinced that belief in the existence of God was indeed a logical position. He was never an atheist, but his conviction in the existence of God became firmer. "When this change happened, I remember feeling the desire to become a priest. That longing took hold of my heart and never left. My reasoning was simple: if God exists, then the most meaningful thing I can do is to live completely for Him, as a priest. However, I kept that desire secret and did not act on it immediately."

After graduating from high school, he attended Loyola University Maryland, where he studied international business. He worked as an intern at Textron, a U.S. military technology company specializing in unmanned aircraft for military use.

Despite these accomplishments, there was a voice inside him that told him he did not belong in that world. "My heart longed for something else: I wanted to give myself completely to God, not to anything of this world. The desire to be a priest kept growing and, after four years, it became impossible to ignore."

Spain and the Servants of the Mother's Household

A study opportunity in Spain became providential for the meeting with the Servants of the Home of the Mother, a community of seminarians and priests, who receive help from the CARF Foundation, through partial study grants.

The Servants of the Home of the Mother are a religious community born under the inspiration of the Gospel and the charism of its founder, Mr. Rafael Alonso. They feel chosen by God through the Virgin Mary and live their spirituality with a strong identification with Jesus Christ, making their souls an exclusive sanctuary for God. Their vocation is based on fidelity to the Pope, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church.

Their life revolves around the Eucharist, celebrating Holy Mass daily and dedicating time to adoration. They practice prayer, penance, and the recitation of the rosaryThey also follow a community life based on fraternity and obedience, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the protection of the Virgin Mary. They also follow a community life based on fraternity and obedience, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the protection of the Virgin Mary.

Its mission is to serving the Church with joy and selfless love and are very active in the social networks, particularly on YouTube, where they have several channels and audiovisual productions in several languages, among them Catholic Stuffwhere they try to present the Gospel in a way that appeals to young people while remaining faithful to the doctrine of the Catholic Church. 

"Meeting the Servants was a grace. I had the opportunity to study in Spain, thanks to a program at my university. I lived in Alcalá de Henares, where I became involved in the local youth group and attended daily Mass. One day, during Mass, I met a group of sisters, brothers and priests who belonged to a community called Hogar de la Madre.

Their authenticity, integrity and zeal impressed me deeply. One of the brothers invited me to a weekend retreat following the method of St. Ignatius of Loyola, directed by the Superior General, Don Felix Lopez".

That retreat became the most profound spiritual experience of his life. "I was overwhelmed. As I meditated on the life of our Lord; my heart absorbed the truths of the faith as if hearing them for the first time."

stephen-sharpe-youtube-vocacion-sacerdote

After retirement, he returned to the United States to finish his university studies, but he was no longer the same. He had discovered what he had been searching for all his life: the fullness of truth. After much discernment, he decided to leave everything, his university career, his professional career, his country and join the Home of the Mother, dedicating his life entirely to God.

The priesthood, a vocation that is not easy

Being a priest is not an easy calling, but it is the result of a deep inner struggle and faith in God: "loving Jesus is the secret of true happiness.".

At first, it was not easy. Although he felt the call to be a priest, Stephen had to face many internal struggles. In fact, it took a huge psychological and spiritual leap to even consider joining this community. But the more he prayed, the clearer he saw that God was indeed calling him.

"Seven years later, I can honestly say that these have been the happiest years of my life, not because I have not suffered, but because, in giving my life to God, I have begun to discover (and continue to discover) that loving Jesus is the secret of true happiness."

Throughout these years, he has participated in various apostolates and is deeply grateful to be able to study at the Santa Croce (Santa Cruz), thanks to the help of the CARF Foundation, which has done so much for hundreds of young seminarians like him, in the hope of helping others to discover the truth of Jesus Christ.

Gerardo Ferrara, Degree in History and Political Science, specialized in the Middle East. Head of the student body at the University of the Holy Cross in Rome.

Mary's school

In the Mary's school we learn what we all need. She, as forerunner and mother of the Church, and at the same time as the first disciple, is the model and heart of Christian and ecclesial discernment.

Mary custody meditating

In the scandal of the manger (a feeding trough for animals), Mary learns that God wants to be close and familiar. That he comes in poverty and brings joy and love, not fear. And that he wants to become food for us. There she contemplates the beauty of God lying in a manger.

While others simply pass by and live, and some are amazed, the Virgin Mary kept - guarded, guarded - all these things, meditating on them in his heart (Lk 2:19; cf. also v. 51).

Interweaving events

Her attitude is the expression of a mature and fruitful faith. From the dark stable of Bethlehem, she gives birth to the Light of God in the world. As a foretaste of what is to come, Mary passes, already now, through the cross, without which there is no resurrection.

And so Mary, Francis finds, helps us to overcome the clash between the ideal and the real.

By guarding and meditating. One could say, as the Pope does later, that this happens in Mary's heart and prayer: because she loves and prays, Mary, before, during and after her prayer, is able to see things from God's point of view.

"First of all, Mary is a guardian, that is, she does not disperse. She does not reject what happens. She keeps everything in her heart, everything she has seen and heard. The beautiful things, like those that the angel had told her and those that the shepherds had told her. But also the difficult things to accept: the danger of becoming pregnant before marriage, now the desolate narrowness of the stable where she gave birth. This is what Mary does: she does not select, but guards. She accepts reality as it comes, she does not try to disguise it, to make up her life, she keeps it in her heart."

And then there is the second attitude. How does Mary guard? He does it meditating, interweaving the events:

"Mary compares different experiences, finding the hidden threads that unite them. In her heart, in her prayer She performs this extraordinary operation: she unites the beautiful and the ugly; she does not keep them apart, but unites them. And for this reason," the Pope says, "Mary is the Mother of Catholicity, because she unites, not separates. And so she captures the full meaning, the perspective of God.

Escuela de María
"...Mothers know how to protect, they know how to hold together the threads of life...", says Pope Francis.

The look of the mothers

Well, "this inclusive gaze, which overcomes tensions by keeping and meditating in the heart, is the gaze of mothers, who do not separate tensions, but guard them and thus life grows. It is the look with which so many mothers embrace the situations of their children. It is a concrete gaze, which does not lose heart, which does not become paralyzed in the face of problems, but places them in a broader horizon".

Mothers," she continues, "know how to overcome obstacles and conflicts, they know how to instill peace. They are able to transform adversity into opportunities for rebirth and growth. They do this because they know how to guard. Mothers know how to protect, they know how to hold together the threads of life, all of them.".

Today we need "people who are capable of weaving threads of communion, who contrast the too many barbed threads of divisions. And mothers know how to do that," says Francis.

The Pope insists on the capacity that mothers and women have for this: "Mothers and women look at the world not to exploit it, but to give it life: looking with the heart, they manage to keep dreams and concreteness together, avoiding the drift of aseptic pragmatism and abstraction".

She likes to emphasize that the Church is a mother and a woman. "And the Church is a mother, she is such a mother, the Church is a woman, she is such a woman."

And he deduces, as he has done on other occasions, this consequence, for the Church:

"That is why we cannot find the place of woman in the Church without reflecting her in the heart of a woman-mother. That is the place of woman in the Church, the great place from which other more concrete, more secondary places derive. But the Church is mother, the Church is woman".

And it ends with an exhortation for this new year: "...that, as mothers give life and women protect the world, let us all work to promote mothers and protect women".

Ramiro Pellitero Iglesias, Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Navarra.