XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear brothers and sisters, Fiat!

“Lord, increase our faith!” Faith is a gift from God, and at the same time it’s our response, our commitment, our trust in the Lord who fills all things. We have received the gift of Faith in Baptism (remember the lighted candle), Faith that we have learned by our parents and grandparents, by Priests and catechists, in various situations of our Christian growth.

Jesus speaks of a mustard seed … If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we could transform our whole life. That converted St. Paul. When he wrote to his disciple , through the Word of God, he spoke also to us. ” I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God.” ” God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” ” Do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord “. ” Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.” On each of these expressions we can feed the good will to build our human and Christian life with faithfulness and true joy.

Jesus then concluded by inviting us to true humility which is full generosity in simplicity: ” When you have done all you have been commanded to do, say, ‘We are useless servants. We have done no more than our duty. “

So, we can see and indicate the model for the Christian, he is called to give witness to his faith, to profess before the world that Jesus is Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. So St. Paul proclaimed his faith in Jesus Christ before the authorities of his time, at the cost of his life.

To bear witness to the Divinity and Jesus Christ’s love for men, it is necessary that the Lord grants us the gift of fortitude. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God gives us the gift of fortitude with which we can overcome the difficulties and trials of life and  give witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We need a gift that makes up for the weakness of human nature and that may enable us to resist and persevere.

The Christian life is based on the fundamental decision to adhere to Christ, to follow and imitate Him in spiritual communion with Him, our brother, the Lord and Savior of all men.

In all circumstances of our life, amidst joys and sacrifices, at work and at rest, in the risk and temptation, and even in the painful point of death, the Christian knows that Jesus Christ preceded him and taught him how to go to God.

Luisa, in her spiritual experience, needed so much fortitude especially to face all the difficulties that her path  had. A fortitude whose Luisa understood its origin: from obedience and meditation on the Passion of Jesus.

Obedience is an unshakable wall, and such it renders the soul. Not only this, but in order to be unshakable, it is necessary for one to be strong and robust, and obedience communicates divine strength, in such a way that, in the face of the divine strength it possesses, all things are weak; so much so, that while obedience can move anything, nothing can move it.

The virtues and the merits Jesus acquired for man in His Passion, are as many towers of fortitude on which everyone can lean along the journey on the way to Eternity. But man, ungrateful, running away from these towers of fortitude, leans on mud and conducts himself along the way of perdition.

The Church can not neglect the duty of its testimony. The task of witnessing is undertaken  by every Christian who is disciple of Christ, by reason of the gifts that he received; he is a witness and a living instrument of the mission of the Church; he is called to bear witness to God’s plan in Christ over the entire universe; he must be a prophet of the joy of living and must proclaim with his life, “the admirable works of God.”

Through the testimony of Christians, the Lord Jesus continues to live among men on the path of history, even in our days and forever.

don Marco