Reporting of Federici Studies Center
“(…) Jesus' response is as follows: I didn't find much faith, such great faith, throughout the Kingdom of Israel. And here are the children of the Kingdom, that is, the Jews, they will be kicked out, in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, while instead they will come to sit at the table with the Patriarchs, in the celestial banquet of Paradise, men who come from all over the world, from the four corners of the world. Ecco, this passage from the Gospel reminds us once again of this tragedy, which is the real tragedy, of the people of Israel who had once been the chosen people, who gave humanity the Messiah. Newspaper propaganda this week, of television, of the radio, he will tell you that the tragedy of these people is the one that happened about sixty years ago, during the last war; but it's not like that. The real one, terrible, tragedy that still weighs on them is that their majority has denied the Messiah, of having denied the Son of God, of having lost Jesus. This is real evil, the greatest of sufferings.
And so here we are, following the example of Saint Paul, we must not have hatred towards our enemy, but of Charity and, if the opportunity presented itself, give food to our enemy who is hungry and give drink to our enemy who is thirsty, that is, to forgive and do good; and truly desire the great Good that frees them from this weight that still crushes them, that is, to find Faith. That Faith they found, Instead, i Pagani: represented by this Roman centurion, even if they didn't find it right away, although they did not find it without conflict and without blood being shed (…)”.
(21 January 2018, Third Sunday after the Epiphany: homily by Don Francesco Ricossa in the San Luigi Gonzaga church in Albarea, Ferrara).
