Word of the day

A reading from the Book of Revelation
RV 5:1-10

I, John, saw a scroll in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne.
It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.
Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice,
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth
was able to open the scroll or to examine it.
I shed many tears because no one was found worthy
to open the scroll or to examine it.
One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.
The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed,
enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”

Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne
and the four living creatures and the elders
a Lamb that seemed to have been slain.
He had seven horns and seven eyes;
these are the seven spirits of God sent out into the whole world.
He came and received the scroll from the right hand
of the one who sat on the throne.
When he took it,
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders
fell down before the Lamb.
Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense,
which are the prayers of the holy ones.
They sang a new hymn:

“Worthy are you to receive the scroll
and break open its seals,
for you were slain and with your Blood you purchased for God
those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation.
You made them a kingdom and priests for our God,
and they will reign on earth.”

From the Gospel according to Luke
LK 19:41-44

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it, saying,
“If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes.
For the days are coming upon you
when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides.
They will smash you to the ground and your children within you,
and they will not leave one stone upon another within you
because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

And so, we can dwell a little on this word: family. Because it is a reality that has changed a great deal, and is changing, yet the family remains a key value. But do you know when the true “revolution” of the family took place? Do you know who did it? It is easy to answer, because true newness has been brought to this world by one only: Jesus Christ. The true revolution of the family was done by him. And he also renewed, transformed, the family. In what sense? We are told by an episode of the Gospel, where there is one of those words of Jesus that leave us disconcerted, that throw us into crisis. The three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke tell it. Jesus is preaching in the midst of his disciples and other people, and at a certain point they say to him that his mother and his brethren are outside. Do you remember how Jesus answers? He turns to those around him and says: “Here are my mother and my brethren!”, adding, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother” (cf. Mt 12:46-50; Mk 3:31-35; Lk 8:19-21). This word of Jesus, if we think about it carefully, generates a new way of understanding the family.

Do you see? At the beginning I addressed you by calling you “brothers and sisters”. It is not merely a formula, a conventional turn of phrase. No. It is a reality, a new reality generated by Jesus Christ. And as I was saying, this word of Jesus radically renewed the family, so that the strongest, most important bond for us Christians is no longer that of blood, but of the love of Christ. His love transforms the family, freeing it from the dynamics of selfishness, which derive from the human condition and from sin; he frees it and enriches it with a new bond, even stronger but free, not dominated by the interests and conventions of kinship, but animated by gratitude, recognition, and reciprocal service. (Speeches, Diocese of Asti, 5 May 2023)