FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
November 25, 2022 34th Friday
WORD of the DAY
Then I saw thrones; those who sat on them were entrusted with judgment. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image nor had accepted its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to life and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
(Rev 20:4a)
How shall I live this Word? 
In this passage, we find two categories of people, the beheaded and those who had not received the mark of the beast on their forehead and hand.
We are the beheaded when we do not act on the basis of our own heads (full of selfishness, pride, etc.), but try to conform ourselves to Jesus and put into practice what is written in the Gospel of Luke 11:28, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and observe it!”
We are the people who do not have the mark of the beast on their forehead and on their hand when we think (mark on the forehead) and act (mark on the hand) according to God’s logic. The passage from Saint Paul in the letter to Galatians 5 is illuminating, 19-21a, “Moreover, the works of the flesh are well known: fornication, impurity, lewdness, idolatry, sorceries, enmities, strife, jealousy, dissensions, divisions, factions, envies, drunkenness, orgies, and things like that.”
How not to accept the invitation of St. Paul in Galatians 5:16 to walk according to the Spirit in order to experience its fruits (Galatians 5:22: “love, joy, peace, magnanimity, benevolence, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control”) and give “witness to Jesus and to the Word of God”.
Lord, help me to abandon my reasoning, often twisted, and put Your teachings into practice.
The Voice of Pope Francis – General Audience May 7 2014
The moment we welcome Him and host Him in our hearts, the Holy Spirit immediately begins to make us sensitive to His voice and to direct our thoughts, feelings, and intentions according to the heart of God. At the same time, He always leads us to turn our inner gaze to Jesus, as a model of our way of acting and relating to God the Father and to our brothers and sisters.
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E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Claudio Del Brocco
