Month: May 2018

Sion’s Authority

Sion´s authority is a paternal and maternal authority; it is never imposed, it never forces anyone’s will. God himself… leaves us the merit of our free actions and we shall do as He did. B4 page 208

Charity and Symphaty

“So when there was question of sheltering in your house the catechumen, whom providence was offering to you, I would have been very glad to hear from you a word of charity and sympathy for an act of love in which the heart of Sion is directly involved. (Who could providence send us today? Maybe not Catechumen but………..) This would have been a kind feeling suggested by the spirit of God. After this reaction you could have explained to me in all simplicity the obstacles the inconveniences and the inspiration of human prudence. You did the opposite. Without even toughing the main question  you come out with such an exaggerated flow of words enumerating the difficulties that I had to withdraw without a single word when faced with your objections …” Letter by Fr. Theodore to Sr. Desiree Ricardo August; Book 4, page 209; 29th 1860

Pentecost-Shavuot

“When the sickle has begun to cut the ears, you will begin to count seven weeks. Then you will celebrate the feast of weeks” (in Hebrew: hag ha-shavuot, cf. Deut 16:9). Seven weeks (and even fifty days, cf. Lev 23:16) after the barley harvest at Pesah, the feast of Shavuot celebrates the end of the wheat harvest (in Hebrew: hag ha-katsir, cf. Ex 23:16). Later, the Exodus from Egypt was grafted onto the agricultural feast of Pesah, and the gift of the Torah onto the agricultural feast of Shavuot: From one harvest to the other, from spring to summer, the time of maturation, the passage from an external, physical liberation to a spiritual liberation. For Jewish tradition sees the gift of the Torah as the goal of the exodus from Egypt: “Let my people go that they may serve me”,  as Moses repeats tirelessly to Pharaoh in the Lord’s name (cf. Ex 4:22; 5:1; 7:16.28; 8:16; 9:1.13; 10:3). The service meant here is none other than welcoming the Torah and putting the commandments into practice …