Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time/B
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Mk 4:35-41) Jesus says to his disciples “Let us go to the other shore”.
In the text of the evangelist Mark there is an allusion to going among the “pagans”, to pass to the non-Jewish shore, to the “pagan” shore of the lake (in fact, in Mk 5:1 it says: “They came to the other shore of the sea, to the land of the Gerasenes”).
“Passing to the other shore”, leaving one’s own securities, abandoning things that are “certain and safe”, going beyond the convictions and horizons of a received education, is an invitation from the Lord, something necessary to really live, to really know ourselves and the true God.
The ‘crossing to the other shore’ is an inner journey made up of many choices, many separations, many fears to be faced. It is the only path that leads us to live in reality – beyond any world we invent to survive in and where we do not feel pain – to know the true God in order to become the persons we can and should be.
Today’s Offertory antiphon is taken from Psalm 16 (Ps 16, 5.6.7) with the following text:
“Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis, ut non moveantur vestigia mea.
Inclina aurem tuam et exaudi verba mea;
mirifica misericordias tuas, qui salvos facis sperantes in te, Domine.”
(Make my steps firm on your paths, that my feet may not waver;
bend your ear and hear my words;
make your mercies admirable, you who save those who hope in you, Lord).
The attached music is by Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), and comes from the Magnum opus musicum published in Munich in 1604 (ORLANDO DI LASSO, Magnum opus musicum [Monachii es typographia Nicolai Hanrici, 1604]). The live performance is by the Musical Chapel of the Milan Cathedral at the Chapter Celebration on 16 June 2024.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
