The true dignity of man

Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Easter

“Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.” If we think a little bit about this, we can see that among the gifts from God, there is one especially which should catch our attention. It is the greatest gift given by God and it outshines every other thing He ever made. It is His work for which He especially cares with a particular interest. This masterpiece is nothing else but man himself. We are, as Saint James asserts, some beginning of His creatures.

It is certainly not a matter of chronology. We are not the beginning of his creatures according to the succession of time since it appears that we were created after all other creatures on the 6th day, just before God rested on the 7th day from all His work which He has done. So, being some beginning of His Creatures means that God thought about us before every other Creature and that He Has created others for men.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Cappadocian Fathers – and not the least – says that "among all the marvels of the world, no one can push man into the background. Man probably even surpasses all the other creatures because none of these is in the image of God except him." Saint Bernard admonishes us: "Agnosce, o homo, dignitatem tuam, agnosce gloriam conditionis humanae – recognize, O man, thy dignity, recognize the glory of human condition."

What exactly is our dignity? God is Spirit and Word. Saint Gregory of Nyssa says again that our "human nature is very close to this. Look at yourself. You will see speech and thought, images of the true Spirit and the true Word." God is also love. And there is love in us. This is what makes the difference between us and animals.

But you might ask: “what about the angels? They are superior to us.” Yes, you are right, but they are superior to us according to their nature. Nevertheless God has given to us a precious good that not even the angels have received. He became one of us. And the Word was made flesh! This is our greatest dignity which every man must recognize. Ignoring, denying or despising the truth of the Incarnation, apart from the fact that it is a sin against God, is a snub against mankind. For that reason, we must let the world know that Jesus Christ is God made man who came to save us. We must! It is not we may if we wish, but we must! And “we” is each one of us who are present now, each one of you who are listening to me now.

How can someone recognize his dignity if he ignores who is at its origin? Human Rights may be something good in itself, but speaking only of Human Rights without any reference to God is an illusion, or a lie when it is deliberately wanted by the enemies of the Religion. It would be good not to forget that the Universal Declaration of the Human Rights is purely a product of the French Revolution which was violently hostile to the Church. Pope Pius VI condemned it.
Bishop Gaume, a great defender of the Catholic Faith in the XIX century wrote about the Revolution: "If you unmask the Revolution and ask her: Who are you? She will answer: I am not what you think I am. Many speak of me but few know me. I am not Freemasonry, nor rioting, nor the changing of the monarchy into a republic, not the substitution of one dynasty for another, not temporary disturbance of public order. I am not the shouts of Jacobins, nor the fury of the Montagne, nor the fighting on the barricades, nor pillage, nor arson, nor the agricultural law, nor the guillotine, nor the drownings. I am neither Marat nor Robespierre, nor Babeuf nor Mazzini nor Kossuth. These men are my sons but they are not me. These things are my works but they are not me. These men and these things are passing objects but I am a permanent state... I am the hatred of all order not established by man and in which he himself is not both king and god. I am the proclamation of Human rights against the rights of God!"

There is one thing that Lucifer has never swallowed. This is to worship a man. Many Fathers believe this is the reason the demons refused to obey God. “ Non serviam – I will not serve!” God would have revealed His plan of Incarnation to the angels. So, Christ is also the stumbling block for them. Some of them, in Lucifer’s camp, refused to humble themselves in front of an inferior being. Others, faithful like the Archangel Saint Michael recognized the Divine Supremacy of God. If it is God’s will that they must adore a man, let it be. “Quis ut Deus? – Who is as God?”

The Declaration of Human Rights is nothing else than the echo of the beginning. "I will not serve. I will not serve God. Let us make man believes he is himself God! Let us make him a God!" Dear Brethren, we live today in a world that made man a God, and we cannot accept this. We cannot accept, because we know the truth about God and man and we must let this truth known. Here is your vocation, lay people living in the world: to Christianize again our society, by doing well your duties and being good example at your work, by refusing to cooperate in evil works, by improving your mind with reading, attending conferences or classes about the teaching of the Church and by praying.

We must be a barrier to the Revolution. We must show what the true dignity of man is. It is to have been created in the image of God and to be loved by Him. The true face of our dignity is not shown by Human Rights. The true face of our dignity is the face of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our glory is the glory of His Resurrection. We must choose our King: Jesus or Caesar. And Caesar has many names and many faces. Caesar is every man, every institution and every power opposed to the Reign of Jesus. There are many Caesars today. But there is only one Lord, only one Redeemer, and only one God. We must choose Him and only Him. This is our liberty, our dignity and our honor. And when someone has the honor to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, he should consider well the way he acts. There are certain things, certain fashions, certain behaviors and certain activities absolutely incompatible with our title of Christians.

If man has already a certain dignity by his nature, Christian has another dignity of another order. Saint Leo the Great exhorts us: "Christian, recognize your dignity. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness."

We are members of the Body, having Christ for head. Let us follow Him and not the new Caesars of the world. For that, let us follow the advice given by Saint James: Wherefore casting away all uncleanness, and abundance of naughtiness, with meekness receive the ingrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

May Our Lady who crushes the head of the serpent protect us against the spirit of the world and help us to keep our dignity of Children of God and to remain brave and zealous soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Apparition de l'Archange Saint Michel au Mont Gargan

8 mai : Apparition de l'Archange Saint Michel

au Mont Gargan

Nous trouvons dans les histoires ecclésiastiques le récit de diverses apparitions de l'Archange saint Michel, et nous voyons, tant en Orient qu'en Occident, un certain nombre d'églises consacrées en son honneur.

Si Dieu veut que nous honorions tous les Anges, à plus forte raison est-ce Sa Volonté que nous rendions hommage à celui des Esprits célestes qui leva contre Lucifer et les mauvais Anges l'étendard du combat et de la victoire. Le nom de l'Archange Michel signifie: Qui est comme Dieu? C'est, en effet, le cri d'indignation par lequel il rallia autour de lui les Anges fidèles. On représente saint Michel comme un beau jeune homme, le pied levé sur la tête d'un dragon qu'il transperce de sa lance.

Parmi les faits merveilleux qui nous attestent la protection de saint Michel sur l'Église, il faut mentionner son apparition à Rome, où saint Grégoire le Grand l'aperçut dans les airs, remettant son glaive dans le fourreau pour marquer la cessation de la peste et l'apaisement de la colère de Dieu. Mais le 8 mai est destiné à rappeler une apparition non moins merveilleuse, sur le mont Gargan, dans le royaume de Naples.

En l'an 492, un homme, nommé Gargan, faisait paître dans la campagne ses nombreux troupeaux. Un jour, un taureau s'enfuit dans la montagne, où on le chercha d'abord vainement. On tira une flèche; mais cette flèche revint blesser celui qui l'avait tirée. Devant cette merveille, on crut devoir consulter l'évêque voisin. Le prélat ordonna trois jours de jeûne et de prières. Au bout des trois jours, l'Archange saint Michel apparut à l'évêque; il lui déclara que cette caverne où le taureau s'était retiré était sous sa protection, et que Dieu voulait qu'elle fût consacrée sous son nom et en l'honneur de tous les Anges. Accompagné de son clergé et de son peuple, le pontife se rend à cette caverne, qu'il trouve déjà disposée en forme d'église. On y célèbre les divins mystères, et bientôt, dans ce lieu même, s'élevait un temple magnifique où la Puissance divine a opéré de grands miracles.

De tout temps la sainte Église a eu la plus grande vénération pour le glorieux Archange, elle a favorisé son culte, établi des confréries en son honneur; elle nous le montre présentant à Dieu les âmes des justes trépassés et nous invite à l'invoquer pour obtenir, à l'heure de la mort, le dernier triomphe sur les esprits des ténèbres. Ses apparitions à sainte Jeanne d'Arc sont célèbres. Il est regardé comme l'un des grands protecteurs de l'Église et de la France.

(Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année)

En ce jour anniversaire de la victoire de 1945, il peut être bon de se rappeler l'importance de la mission de Saint Michel dans l'histoire de notre pays.

Saint Michel et la France

A chaque nation, comme à chaque individu, Dieu a donné un Ange tutélaire, un Ange pour la guider, l'éclairer dans sa marche à travers les siècles ; la soutenir, la protéger dans ses luttes avec les autres peuples, tant qu'elle reste fidèle à sa mission providentielle. Tel est l'enseignement des Pères de l'Eglise et de la sainte Ecriture.

Quel est donc l'Ange gardien de la France ? C'est saint Michel, prince des phalanges célestes et glorieux vainqueur de Lucifer.Comme Dieu avait autrefois choisi les Hébreux parmi les nations païennes, pour conserver et défendre, sous l'égide de saint Michel, la gloire de son nom ; ainsi a-t-il élu le peuple Franc pour être, parmi les nations chrétiennes et sous les auspices du grand Archange, le bouclier et l'épée de son Eglise.Cet honneur, ce privilège divin semble tout d'abord réservé à Constantin, qui tire l'épouse du Christ des catacombes ; mais ses successeurs ne comprennent pas leur mission ; ils ne répondent pas à l'appel divin, et ils disparaissent devant les invasions barbares. Alors saint Michel, apparaissant au mont Gargan, cherche un nouveau peuple pour défendre l'Eglise de Dieu que l'arianisme essayait d'étouffer de toutes parts.Ce nouveau peuple de Dieu est trouvé ; c'est le peuple Franc violemment implanté sur le sol gaulois, peuple ignorant de la foi chrétienne, mais de pur de toute hérésie. Son chef, tout païen qu'il est, a même pleuré au récit de la passion du Sauveur.Pour mieux signaler et cimenter son alliance avec le peuple Franc, Dieu lui envoi son Archange, l'Ange des combats et des triomphes. Après la bataille de Tolbiac, où Clovis entrevit saint Michel, disent certains auteurs, combattant avec lui et lui procurant merveilleusement la victoire, le roi Franc se fait baptiser à Reims, et son baptême devient celui de son peuple.A dater de ce jour, la France marche à la tête des nations. Toujours sûre de son angélique allié, elle porte partout la lumière avec les libertés sacrées de la foi chrétienne. Partout où elle passe, les chaînes tombent, la tyrannie disparaît, la barbarie recule épouvantée.

Ainsi se réalisent, avec une étonnante célérité, les paroles du pape Anastase à Clovis et à sainte Clotilde qui avaient mis la France sous la protection spéciale du glorieux Prince de la milice céleste. "Daigne le Seigneur, leur écrivait le pontife, accorder à vous et à votre royaume sa divine protection ; qu'il ordonne à saint Michel, qui est votre prince et est établi pour les enfants de votre peuple, de vous garder dans toutes vos voies, et de vous donner la victoire sur tous vos ennemis."Avec le secours de l'Archange saint Michel, la France grandit et prospère ; elle mérite le nom glorieux de Fille aînée de l'Eglise.Une des marques éclatantes de la suzeraineté de saint Michel sur la France, c'est sa prise de possession du sol de notre pays. Qui ne connaît, au moins de nom, le mont Saint-Michel ? Qui n'a maintes fois entendu parler de ce rocher de granit qui se dresse entre la Normandie et la Bretagne, sur le littoral de la Manche ? C'est sur ce rocher que saint Michel veut un sanctuaire. En 708, il apparaît trois fois à saint Aubert, évêque d'Avranches, et lui demande une chapelle sur la cime de ce mont, auquel de fréquents naufrages avaient valu le nom sinistre de Tombe au péril de la mer.

Aujourd'hui, ce sanctuaire de saint Michel, transformé par le génie des siècles, par la foi et la renaissance de nos pères, est ce qu'on nomme la merveille de l'Occident et l'un des plus célèbres pèlerinages.Ainsi le mont Tombe, jadis abri du démon et collège de druidesses, est devenu le siège d'honneur et le trône de saint Michel qui, une fois de plus, triomphait de Satan à la place même où celui-ci avait dominé avant le règne de la croix.C'est du rocher du mont Saint-Michel qu'a jailli, comme un torrent, cette foi chevaleresque qui a converti et civilisé l'Europe entière. C'est là que Charlemagne et saint Louis vinrent tour à tour s'agenouiller ; que les Normands, avec Rollon, leur chef, furent adoucis et christianisés, et que Charles VII, remonté sur le trône, se rendit en action de grâces. Plus tard, les sectes hérétiques ont beau inonder la France d'erreurs et de sang, le mont Saint-Michel demeure toujours une forteresse inaccessible à leurs atteintes. Emblème et rempart de la foi, il reste debout au milieu des tempêtes de l'océan, sans en être ébranlé, parce que l'Archange n'a jamais cessé de le couvrir de ses ailes et avec lui toute la France.Voilà pourquoi le peuple Franc, malgré tant d'égarements, reste dans le monde ce qu'il a toujours été, l'ouvrier des grandes choses de Dieu. Même dans notre siècle, où l'on dirait parfois qu'elle a échangé l'étendard de l'Archange contre celui de Satan, n'est-ce pas la France qui, de son sein généreux, a fait sortir et épanouir sur le globe les œuvres de la Propagation de la Foi et de la Sainte-Enfance, œuvres magnifiques qui ont donné tant d'accroissement à l'Eglise, tant d'âmes à Dieu, surtout dans les pays où Satan règne encore par les ténèbres du paganisme ?

O saint Michel, pitié pour notre chère France ! Daignez l'abriter encore sous vos ailes, malgré son ingratitude et ses fautes ; daignez la couvrir de votre bouclier, surtout en ce moment où l'Enfer la dispute au Ciel avec un acharnement effroyable ! Par votre puissant concours, ô divin Protecteur, puisse notre patrie échapper aux étreintes de l'impiété et de la démoralisation qui l'avilissent ; puisse-t-elle redevenir le foyer de la vraie civilisation, la digne fille aînée de l'Eglise, le héraut et le champion de Dieu parmi les nations modernes !

Extrait de "L'Ange Gardien" n°5, Septembre 1895, pp.147-150

Saint Michel, gloire de la France

Saint Michel n'est pas seulement le protecteur, le gardien de la foi de la France, il est encore le promoteur de sa gloire, ainsi que l'attestent les grandes pages de notre histoire nationale.Que l'orgueil apostat de notre temps rejette cette vérité, qu'il refuse effrontément de voir le doigt de Dieu, le surnaturel, dans la marche du peuple franc à travers les siècles, il n'effacera point de notre histoire le souvenir du rôle glorieux de saint Michel. Il faudrait effacer aussi les fastes de la grandeur de la France, fastes qui prouvent que l'illustre Prince du ciel, accomplissant sa mission divine, est venu, d'une manière souvent visible, au secours de notre chère patrie.Dès la formation du peuple franc, à la fin du V° siècle, Clovis prie le Dieu de Clotilde sur le champ de bataille de Tolbiac, et aussitôt les Allemands, éblouis par une vision semblable à celle dont saint Michel avait déjà épouvanté les ennemis de Constantin, prennent la fuite en désordre.Charles-Martel, Charlemagne, ont senti si merveilleusement l'assistance de l'invincible Archange, que le premier envoie son épée au mont Saint-Michel, et le second, au retour de son expédition contre les Saxons, fait peindre l'image de saint Michel sur les drapeaux, avec cette devise : Voici Michel qui m'a secouru.Deux fois, au moins, les croisés voient ce glorieux Archange marcher à l'avant-garde comme leur guide en de lointains pays, et guerroyer à leur tête pour décider la victoire.

Plus tard, quand la France agonisait sous l'invasion des armées anglaises et sous les coups des défaillances suprêmes, n'est-ce pas encore saint Michel qui suscite et dirige Jeanne d'Arc, gloire de la France et libératrice de notre patrie ? dans des visions merveilleuses, l'Archange conte à l'humble bergère des montagnes des Vosges la grande pitié qui était au royaume de France ; il lui donne à profusion lumière te force pour remplir se glorieuse mission ; il fait d'une enfant de seize ans une sainte héroïne qu'il mène constamment triomphante à travers les dangers et la mort. A la bataille d'Orléans, que Jeanne d'Arc gagna le 8 mai, une des fêtes de l'Archange, saint Michel apparut lui-même visiblement sur le pont, racontent les chroniqueurs de l'époque, au moment de l'assaut, et en repoussa les Anglais.La protection de saint Michel fut si manifeste dans la noble mission de la vierge de Domremy que, pour perpétuer le souvenir des victoires qui rendirent à notre beau pays sa gloire, son indépendance et sa nationalité, on fit frapper la monnaie à l'effigie de l'Archange, et louis XI institua l'ordre si célèbre des chevaliers de saint Michel. Sur les étendards, au-dessous de l'image de saint Michel, on lisait les deux devises tirées du prophète Daniel : Voilà que Michel, un des premiers princes, vient à mon secours. – Personne ne vient à mon aide en tout ceci, si ce n'est Michel, votre prince. Le royaume de France s'appela plus que jamais le royaume de saint Michel : Regnum Michaelis, et on s'empressa de rétablir partout les inscriptions que les Anglais avaient fait disparaître : Saint Michel, prince et patron de la France, priez pour nous !

Si l'on parcourait ainsi, siècle par siècle, les annales de nos délivrances et de nos plus glorieux combats, nous verrions toujours saint Michel au poste qu'il a bien voulu prendre avec nous et pour nous. Nous constaterions avec Louis XIV lui-même, qui ne manquait pas de placer ses glorieuses entreprises sous la sauvegarde de celui qui est à la fois l'Ange des combats et l'Ange de la paix, que toute gloire acquise en dehors de son inspiration et de son aide n'est qu'une gloire éphémère et fatale à la patrie.

La France, hélas ! en a fait la triste expérience au commencement de ce siècle.Plus récemment encore, il y a vingt-cinq ans à peine, notre patrie n'a-t-elle pas éprouvé combien il est téméraire de ne compter que sur le nombre des soldats et le courage humain pour arrêter les invasions et éviter les malheurs ? Aujourd'hui même, veut-elle comprendre qu'il y a des invasions plus redoutables que celles des armées ennemies ? que le joug de l'erreur et de l'irréligion est plus pesant que celui de l'étranger ? Ce joug est cependant plus dangereux, car on ne tue pas facilement une nation, mais elle se suicide, lorsque l'impiété y devient à l'ordre du jour. N'est-ce pas l'état de la France ?Puisse-t-elle, après toutes ses infortunes, remonter aux véritables sources de sa grandeur, et revenant s'agenouiller aux pieds de l'Archange tutélaire dont elle a top oublié le culte et les bienfaits, retrouver dans les plis du même drapeau et les élans de sa foi, et le secret de son antique gloire ! Puisse l'Archange, de son côté, oublier nos ingratitudes et montrer bientôt que ce n'est pas en vain que les peuples l'honorent !

Extrait de "L'Ange Gardien" n°6, Octobre 1895, pp.183-185

Donec Dies inlucescat!

Donec dies inlucescat

et

Lucifer oriatur

in cordibus vestris.

(2 Pet. 1,19)

Sermon for the third Sunday after Easter

God shows the light of His truth as the collect of this Mass says. This is the little blazing light of the paschal candle we have seen during Easter Vigil from which we lighted all other candles. This symbolizes the souls of the faithful enlightened by the truth of Jesus resurrected and who are the light of the world. For those who have been baptized and received the title of Christians, this is such a gift from God for which they must be thankful. The others, who are still in the darkness, need the light of God to return into the way of righteousness, as the collect asserts.

At the very beginning of the Creation, God made the light, which was good as He saw, and separated the light from the darkness. At the very end of time, Christ, who is the light of the Nations, will separate the sheep from the goats, according to His mission of Good Shepherd as we saw last Sunday. Only the sheep will be introduced to the eternal pasturelands while the goats will definitively cast away into the darkness.

At the very beginning, God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. The very last Day of this world will be the Day of the Lord, the Day of His visitation and the Day of the Judgment. The first Christians waited for this Day with Hope as we should also do. There is no reason to fear for the Disciples of Christ. It will be the Day of glory for them. For the others, it might be a Day of confusion and of reprobation, in fact, a night rather than a day.

Between the beginning and the end, is the course of time. In the center, is a major event, which is a renewal of the Day of the Creation and an anticipation of the Last Day; this is the Day of the Resurrection. The week of Easter is totally impregnated with this verse of the Psalm 117 used every day as a Gradual during Mass or as an Antiphon during the Divine Office: Haec Dies quam fecit Dominus: exsultemus et laetemur in ea - This is the day which the Lord has made: let us be glad and rejoice therein.

Pope John Paul II gave a commentary of this Psalm during the general audience of February 12th 2003. I would like to connect this commentary with the collect of today. This Psalm is a hymn of confidence and gratitude to the Lord. The verse 22 refers to the Passion and the Resurrection of Christ: The stone which the builders rejected; the same is become the head of the corner. Christ is this stone, the rock! Pope John Paul II quotes Saint Ambrose: We will therefore let St Ambrose guide our meditation with his Exposition of the Gospel according to Luke. Commenting on Peter's profession of faith at Cesarea Philippi, he recalls that "Christ is the Rock" and that "Christ did not refuse to give this beautiful name to his disciple so that he too might be Peter, and find in the rock the firmness of perseverance, the steadfast solidity of the faith".
Ambrose then introduces the exhortation: "Try hard also to be a rock. However, to do this, do not seek the rock outside yourself but within yourself. Your rock is your actions, your rock is your thoughts. On this rock your house is built, so that it may never be battered by any storm of the evil spirits. If you are a rock, you will be inside the Church because the Church is on the rock. If you are inside the Church, the gates of hell will not prevail against you"

Christ is the Rock. We, as Christians, are other Christ. Today, the Church prays and intercedes for us: grant to all those who profess themselves Christians to reject those things which are contrary to that name, and follow such things as are agreeable to the same. We can reject the things which are contrary to the name of Christian precisely by becoming a rock. This presupposes a total fidelity to Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church, with no compromise with the world.
Dear Brethren, we have to be strong, because it is easy to choose the side of the world; it is much easier than choosing the camp of the Saints. The world shall rejoice! These are the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel. The world shall rejoice! It shall rejoice, because it knows only the terrestrial joys. But it also shall rejoice at our tribulations. Being a Christian means to be a stone rejected by the builders of the world. Look, Europe has already disowned its Christian roots! Say something not politically correct against the Jews or the Muslims, and you will be taken to the Court. Say or do something against the Christians, especially against the Catholics, nobody cares. A new world is built since the French Revolution. And this new world doesn’t want Jesus Christ. The darkness want to recover its territories. It seems that Jesus has gone. It is a profound sadness for his disciples. But let them don’t forget his words: Amen, amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

We are waiting for the Day of the Lord which will come soon. Jesus attests it through the pen of Saint John at the end of the Apocalypse: Surely I come quickly. The answer of the faithful is Amen! Come Lord Jesus! (Ap 22,20)
A true disciple of Jesus loves Him and wants to see Him. May Our Lady give us this love and desire. May she help us to keep his words until the Day when He will come again. Saint Peter tells us with beautiful words: And we have the more firm prophetical word: whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. – Donec dies inlucescat et Lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris.(2 P 1, 19)

Let us live with the Hope of this day, which could be today, if we listen to the voice of God and are faithful to it. Hodie si vocem eius audieritis nolite obdurare corda vestra - Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts (Ps 94)… because the Day of the Lord is already…today!

The good Shepherd

Sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday

Today’s liturgy is particularly comforting. It shows us the face of Christ as the Good Shepherd. Ego sum pastor bonus – I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd tells Himself what he does for us: He gives His life for His sheep. He knows it. The words of Jesus always come true. He truly knows and loves us. Knowledge and love imply a certain closeness. The knowledge of a being is the possession of this known being by the intellect of the one who knows. A perfect knowledge involves a very close closeness, or intimacy if it is about persons. For example, the Bible uses the word ‘to know’ to signify the union between spouses. Adam knew Eve his wife: who conceived and brought forth Cain.

In this way, we can say that knowledge is productive. As Saint Thomas Aquinas points out, we use the same word to express the conception of a baby and the conception of an idea. In God, knowledge is eminently productive, simply because the act of His intellect is His own substance. In other words, for God, being and knowing are the same thing. God’s knowledge of Himself is so perfect and so intense that it produces something which is similar to Himself. There is always a similitude between the object known and thought and the intellect which knows and thinks it. And because in God, the act of knowing or thinking is the same as the act of being, the fruit of the knowledge of Himself by God is God Himself, known as the Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Father conceives His Son from all eternity.
And God also knows us. There are so many things to say about this. He knows us means He has created us. In fact, He creates us would be better, since there is no time for God. He knows us; He loves us; he creates us: all these expressions are synonymous. God thinks about us before we already exist, and because He thinks about, us we exist. the Psalm 138 says: Mirabilis facta est scientia tua. In English we say: Thy works are wonderful. But the exact translation for ‘scientia’ is science or knowledge. Nevertheless the word ‘works’ is not false because the science of God is His works. And the Psalm 138 signifies this fact very well. Praising the knowledge of God, this Psalm claims His supremacy. Thy knowledge is become wonderful to me: it is high, and I cannot reach to it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. More precisely God knows each of us very well: Lord, thou hast proved me, and known me: Thou hast know my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts afar off: my path and my line thou hast searched out. And thou hast foreseen all my ways: for there is no speech in my tongue. Behold, O Lord, thou hast known all things, the last and those of old: thou hast formed me, and hast laid thy hand upon me.

God knows us. He also loves us. God’s act of loving is one and the same with his act of being, as it is also for His knowing. God is love. Deus caritas est, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled it recently. Father Cantalamessa, preacher to the Papal Household, said, in his sermon for Good Friday in Saint Peter’s Basilica, that if we had to keep only one sentence from the Bible, it should be this one, from the first epistle of Saint John: God is charity. This is the perfect summary of the entire Bible because it expresses what God is. God is charity.
We have to use human words to speak about God and our words are often inadequate and not precise enough. In fact, who God is can be perfectly and totally expressed in only one word, which is His Son, the Uncreated Word. The Father sees Himself in the Son and delights in this contemplation as the Son delights in reflecting His Father. And from this mutual love between the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost proceeds.

The Incarnation of the Word is the visible expression in the world of the Divine Life within the Blessed Trinity. God is now visible, through the Person of the Son, the Good Shepherd who knows and loves us.
Dear Brethren, I think we can wonder. And we should wonder. How is it possible that God loves us so much, to such a degree, that the Son assumed our nature, became one of us and died for us? As Saint Paul asserts, it is truly a stumbling block unto the Jews, and foolishness unto the Gentiles. Whatever the reasons are for God’s love for us, it is a fact that He loves us. The reason for His love is perhaps, simply, that He is love. Or maybe there are no other reasons for loving than love itself!

The Good Shepherd knows us and loves us. But what about us. Do we know Him? It is important to think about this because the sheep know their Shepherd. I mean, they really know Him. They can recognize His voice and they listen to it and heed it. It is not about a kind of academic knowledge that everyone can obtain just by opening a catechism. Well, Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Son of God made man, true God and true man and who came into the world to redeem us. Excellent! You know your catechism. But the true and good sheep know more about their Shepherd than these basic definitions printed in a catechism. They recognize His voice as Mary Magdalene did when He called Her Mary. The sheep have more than an intellectual knowledge of Jesus. They have the knowledge of the heart, the knowledge which allows us to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth as Saint Paul Says again. This is the kind of knowledge that comes with love, which is not necessarily the case with the mere intellectual knowledge of God. You can know your catechism perfectly as well as the teachings of the Church, just as you can know Mathematics or History, and live far from God. In spite of your erudition, you are not able to recognize and hear the voice of Jesus when he calls you.

But the deep and true knowledge of God, which is obtained not only by studies but also through prayer and meditation, necessarily goes with love. In fact, they call each other. The more you love God, the more you want to know about Him and the more you know Him, the more you love Him. Then, you follow your Shepherd spontaneously, just because you love Him and you trust in Him. You acknowledge that He is your Shepherd and that only He can lead you to the eternal pasture where you will be for eternity introduced into the great mystery of the Love of the Blessed Trinity.

So dear Brethren, let us turn to Our Lady, so that she can teach us how to open the ears of our soul and hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. It is the invitation that Saint Benedict addresses to us in his rule: Listen, O my son, to the precepts of thy master, and incline the ear of thy heart, and cheerfully receive and faithfully execute the admonitions of thy loving Father. Incline the ear of thy heart…. This is the condition for following Jesus. May Our Lady help us to do it!