Soap Notes/ Ot Sample

about 11.2 to 11 Mt in Mt 3.1 to 12

Second Sunday of Advent / A

Lectio divina on Mt from 3.1 to 12

Come, Lord, King of Justice and peace

Invoking
"Send your Holy Spirit, the Comforter in our souls and make us understand the Scriptures he inspired; and allow me to interpret in a worthy manner, so that the faithful gathered here will to profit. " "God our Savior ... I pray for this people on it sends the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus comes to visit, talk to the minds of all have hearts to faith and lead you to our souls, God of Mercy." (Cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini, 16).

Read
1 In those days came John the Baptist preached and 2dicendo in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 3Egli fact is he of whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight! 4E him, John wore clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Allora Jerusalem, throughout Judea and the whole area along the Jordan went out to him sixth were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 7Vedendo many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who made you believe he can escape the wrath to come? So 8Fate a fruit worthy of conversion, 9th do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father. " Why I say that from these stones God can raise up children to Abraham. 10Già the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11Io baptize you in water for repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12Tiene hand shovel and clean up his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. "

A moment of silent meditation so that the Word can enter into us and enlighten our lives.

useful steps to meditation
Is 11.1 to 10, 40.3 to 5, from 41.18 to 20, 43.19, 5.18 to 20 am, Rm 1.18; Jer 15.7; 46.22, Rev. 14.14, Psalm 140.

Understanding
The prophet Isaiah is the prophet key Advent of the Lord. This Sunday we have "a bigger" (Mt 11:11): John the Baptist. The Evangelist John in his gospel, has its size in three ways: in person, witness and morally.
The preaching of John the Baptist is nothing more than to his audience the same preaching of Jesus, starting from That same call to conversion: "the kingdom of heaven is near." There remains additional time for conversion. The physical shape of his figure, dress, food, voice, the river is the background or the time about which we speak, to accept the invitation.
The first step is to put ourselves before the Lord and listen to His Word so that it reaches to the heart and transform it.

Meditation
v. 1: In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea. The Evangelist Matthew presents the coming of John the Baptist in the Judean Desert as the coming of Elijah the Tishbite (cf. 1 Kings 17:1): says nothing about him, but only the name and the "nickname" which indicates the mission of the one who plunges into the water as the sign of the desire for purification.
John was to "preach". The main thing is the proclamation of the Word. He is the one who announces, declares, underwear (Greek etymology of the Prophet). Now this is preaching "in the desert." The desert as we know, there is nothing but death. But the desert is the place where the hope of every pious Israelite (cf. Ex 15.22 to 18.27), the meeting between the groom and the bride (cf. Hos 2:12). There the Lord of life makes all things new (Revelation 21:5). The desert is
the place where it will be the salvation: "Behold, I make a new thing: now it springs forth, do you not see? I will make a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert "(Is 43.19).
v. 2: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." John preached, saying, "Repent." This word (from the greek metanoein) wants to give the "change our way of thinking." In the Gospel of Matthew, the phrase is repeated fifty times, while the other evangelists, Luke and Mark, they prefer to use the expression "Kingdom of God" which means exactly the same reality, a reality that has nothing to do with the kingdoms of this world.
Moreover, these are the expression in addition to being the first words that proclaims the Baptist (Matt. 3:2), are the words that Jesus announced the beginning of his mission (Matt. 4:17), and are the first words that will preach the disciples when they are sent on a mission (Mt 10:7). Matthew wants to show this John as the forerunner preparing the way for Christ who comes, as the followers and disciples who continue his mission.
The call of the Baptist is a call to return to God, seems like a tape recorder that has been on forever and that every prophet cried. To convert, change direction, turn to this that can change our lives as miserable and dissolute, authentic and joyful in life, you need to change attitudes, change our way of thinking, turn our interest in the way of being in God John
the same cry of the prophets adds a more sublime: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The term is full of joyful hope and corresponds to God's plan that all are called to implement at all stages and aspects of life. A spiritual kingdom is to be pursued with God, near us, around us and within us.
v. 3: For he is the one about whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight make his paths From this verse, Matthew presents the Baptist closer telling which is the place that John occupies in God's plan already had Isaiah foretold this coming in advance and its function. He called on the exiled Jews to organize themselves for the return from exile in Babylon, paving their way into the desert (See Is 40,3-59-11).
John the Baptist is the "voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight!"
How many times today, as in the days of John the Baptist, the voice of one who proclaims the word of the Lord, as a voice crying in the wilderness of our cities, where houses are side by side the windows open almost close to each other, but each lives in isolation, alone in a desert. The call is pressed to prepare the way of the Lord. He is very discreet, not pushy, expected to express a wish to accept it.
vv. 4-6: And he, John wore clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, throughout Judea and the whole area along the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
John leads an ascetic life. He was not dressed in fine clothes, not sumptuous feast. He lived in austere, As prophets, approaching the style of Elijah (see 2 Kings 1:8). The "voice crying in the wilderness" is not unheard but reaches all and all approach to understand and to repent. When a person is genuine, people perceive it and rushes to get directions to an authentic life worth living. "Where God's voice vibrates, no stops in straw fires, it is not mass suggestion that soon fades away: it is the individual who is hit to the bottom and is called to a personal decision" (W. Trilling). A voice crying in the desert sounds of our life, a life that, once cleansed of sin by virtue of the redemptive work of Christ is waiting to flourish.
vv. 7-8: Seeing many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who made you believe he can escape the wrath to come? too many rush to the preaching of John the Baptist Pharisees and Sadducees to be baptized. The Baptist whip bitterly, calling them "brood of vipers." These, in the course of the Gospel will prove this (see 12.34, 23.33). John's intention is to prepare the way for the Lord to open the eyes of the listener and make sure that they are not overwhelmed by the poison of the snake, and does it with his fiery character, impetuous. Even the prophet Isaiah apostrophised the Israelites this: 'unlocking poisonous snake eggs "(Is 59.5).
The day of Yahweh is described as "imminent wrath." It is a day of light but of darkness. This day "outside" and will be violent, lightning as well as describes the prophet Amos: "Woe to those who await the day of the Lord! What you are to the Lord's Day? Darkness and not light! As a man fled when he comes upon a lion and a bear, as when entering the house, putting his hand on the wall and a snake bites him. Would it not be darkness, not light, the Lord's Day? Darkness, without any glory? "(5.18 to 20 Am). Pouò None feel safe, even in his life who has made a security (if we want a feel good conscience), the day the Lord will be for him. The Evangelist Matthew
continues this verse 7 saying that the day of the Lord will surely come, but will be different for those who will do penance.
Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of conversion. In greek text the word fruit is singular, as correctly read in translation offered by the CEI in the new lectionary. As a result we are called to bear? Ripe fruit hanging from the tree which brings salvation to humanity lost when the fruit of a tree came death because of sin? Even Jesus says to his disciples at the last dinner: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and I that you should go and bear fruit, fruit that will last" (Jn 15:16). The conversion must prove with facts: the total orientation towards God and correspond to a new life. We are called to bring to the world the same fruit that brought Mary, the Holy One. She gave us the blessed fruit of her womb with the availability Immaculate fully the Word of God! There is only one way to bear fruit like you be willing to listen to the voice of the Lord and put it into practice. "Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother, sister and mother" (Mk 3:35).
v. 9: And think not I can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father. " Why I say that from these stones God can raise up children to Abraham. Sometimes it happens that we take refuge behind our good works or our pious devotion. The Gospel tells us that is not enough. Even the Israelite who claims to be a descendant of Abraham, is not enough. It is necessary to true conversion, a radical change of faith to understand the truth that it radiates light. In front of it you are free to be enlighten the mind to discern the path in front of us and walk in the wake of the One who comes to bring salvation, or close the intelligence and continue on the path to enlightenment placing trust in riches, power, dominion going toward disintegration. Blessed JH Newman made it clear that this new approach to the Word of God should be read thus: "Here in live is to change and be perfect is to have changed often."
v. 10: Already the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The verse describes two categories of trees. But it also describes a short time for discernment. Return to us the word "fruit". The description that accompanies the word fruit in the original greek is good. Beautiful, because what is good is beautiful, and it's good not only in appearance, but also within. This aesthetic that we find in the Word of God, the sacred author describes it this way: "God saw that everything was beautiful" (Gen 1,4.10.12.18.21.25.31). One who makes discernment must find its beautiful fruit in the One who has given birth to such beauty! There is great need for discernment, because many things that attract the eye by their outward appearance, actually inside are full of rot and lead to perdition. The image of the ax at the root of the tree expresses the urgency of repentance.
v. 11: I baptize you in water for repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Here begins the proclamation of the Messiah. The expression "for conversion" is characteristic of Matthew to mean not the effect, but the purpose of the baptism of John. The "consigned" is stronger and baptize in the Holy Spirit and fire. In the Gospel of John the Baptist says that openly declares: "I am not the Christ, but I am sent before him. Who has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Now my joy is complete. He must increase but I must decrease "(Jn 3:28-30). Giovanni Battista
fully assumes his tenure as precursor. Humanity prepares to welcome the One who takes his own flesh to get at one with you The gift that the groom will be the Holy Spirit. Isaiah had foretold: "Finally, we will be in the Spirit is poured, the wilderness becomes a garden" (32.15) and again "I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, my blessing upon your descendants" (44 3).
The fire was distinguished. There will be the focus of the trial, but there will also be the fire of love.
v. 12: He is holding a shovel and clean up his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. It seems that John advances the way to talk to Jesus Jesus We know that his talk is drawn from life. Here too we have a picture taken from life. And in this picture we have a strong claim to say what the Lord wants everyone to be purified and each is taken from every vain thing to enjoy life and enjoy meeting with the lover of humanity forever. The focus of much referred to is none other than the power that creates and makes all things new. A people living the nonsense will be made new spiritual people could, in turn, by the grace of God, to make everything beautiful.
no choice but to accept the invitation of St. Paul: "Therefore I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you can distinguish the best and always be complete and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God "(Philippians 1:9-11).
Joy is the feeling that emerges in the announcements of the prophets of the Old Testament when they perceive that the Lord is coming in the midst of his people to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (cf. Lk 4:18).

The Gospel in the mind of the Church Fathers
voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). Openly declares that the things referred to in the prophecy, namely the advent of the glory of the Lord and the manifestation of salvation to all mankind of God, will take place not in Jerusalem but in the desert. And this has created historically and literally, when John the Baptist preached the coming of God's healing in the desert of Jordan, where just appeared salvation For Christ and God's glory appeared clear to all when, after his baptism, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit, descending as a dove, rested upon him and rang the voice of the Father bore witness to the Son: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him "(Mt 17:5). But all this must also be understood in an allegorical sense. God was going to be in that desert has always been rough and inaccessible, that it was humanity. This fact was a desert, completely closed to the knowledge of God and right and crossed to each prophet. That voice, however, requires a way to open it to the Word of God commands us to smooth out the rough terrain and steep that leads to it, because being able to enter it, Prepare ye the way of the Lord (cf. Mal 3:3).
Preparation is the evangelization of the world, is the comforting grace. They communicate to mankind the knowledge of God's salvation, "Go on a high mountain, you who bear good tidings to Zion, lift up your voice with strength, you who bear good tidings to Jerusalem" (Is 40.9).
Before there was talk of the resounding voice in the wilderness, now, with these expressions, it alludes, in a rather picturesque, the most immediate heralds the coming of God and his coming itself. In fact, before we talk about the prophecy of John the Baptist and then of the evangelists. But what is the Zion to which relate those words? Of course that first was called Jerusalem. Also it was a mountain, as the Scripture when he says: "The Mount Zion, where did you get home" (Ps 73.2) and the Apostle: "You have come to Mount Zion" (Heb. 12.22 ). But in a sense than the Zion, which makes note of the coming of Christ, is the choir of the apostles, chosen from among the people of the circumcision. Yes, this is indeed the Zion and Jerusalem who accepted God's salvation and that is placed over the mountain of God, is founded, namely, sull'unigenito Word of the Father. She commands a mountain to climb first to the sublime, and announce, then, the salvation of God Who
figure is, in fact, the one who bears good news if the ranks of the evangelists? And what it means to evangelize and may even lead to all men, and especially the cities of Judah, the good news of the coming of Christ on earth? (From 'Remarks on the prophet Isaiah " of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, Chapter 40 verses. 3.9; PG 24, 366-367).

In those days came John preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near", etc.. In John we must examine the place, preaching, dress, food, and this to remind us that the truth of the facts is not compromised, if the reason for the inner intelligence subject to the fulfillment of the facts. He could be there for him to preach, a more appropriate, a dress more comfortable and more suitable food, but under the facts is an example in which his act is in itself a preparation. It comes in the Judean Desert, desert region to the presence of God, not the people, and how empty the house of the Holy Spirit, not of men, so that the place of preaching attested to the abandonment of those to whom the preaching had been addressed. As the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he also launches a call to repentance, by which he comes back from the error, it distracts us from the guilt and there is a commitment to renounce the vices after blushing, because he wanted the Judean desert to remember that he was to receive one in whom is the kingdom of heaven, never to be empty in the future, provided they have purified from the vices of the past by confession of repentance. The garment woven with camel hair indicates the exotic appearance of this prophetic preaching: it is with the remains of unclean beasts, which are trimmed, which is as the preacher of Christ in us and everything was above or useless or sordid is made holy by the abbot of a prophet. The surround himself with a belt is a provision effective for every good work, in the sense that we have our city will for any kind of service to Christ. For food, he also chooses locusts fleeing man and fly away whenever we feel there: are we, when we move away from each word of the prophets and any relationship with them leaving us similarly take away from our jump shots . With a wandering will, with works ineffective, with plaintive words, with a stay of foreigners, we are now what is the nourishment of the saints and fulfillment of the prophets, being chosen at the same time to provide the wild honey from us, food sweeter, not extracted from the hives of the law but from our forest tree trunks. Preaching, therefore, in this dress, John calls the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism "brood of vipers" exhorts them to produce a "fruit worthy of repentance" and not to boast that it "Father Abraham", because God, by stones, is able to raise up children to Abraham. Is not required because the carnal descent, but the legacy of faith. Thus the prestige of descent is exemplary of the actions and the glory of the breed is preserved imitation of faith. The devil is no faith, Abraham's faith, one fact has demonstrated its bad faith at the time of man's disobedience, the other is judged by faith. It is therefore acquire the customs and way of life of either the other by the affinity of a relationship that makes those who have faith are descendants of Abraham through faith, and those which have not changed in the offspring of the devil are in disbelief, as the Pharisees are called race adders and the glory of having a holy father they are forbidden, as stones and rocks rise children to Abraham and they are asked to bear fruits worthy of repentance, so that those who had had before your father the devil ridiventino children of Abraham for the faith with those who rise from the stones. The dark trees at the root of the right shows the power that acts in Christ, because it shows that, cutting down and burning trees sterile preparing the ruin of unnecessary disbelief in view of the conflagration of the proceedings. And the work on the pretext that the law was useless for salvation, and that he had presented himself as a messenger to those who were to be baptized in view of the duty of repentance of the prophets, in fact, was to distract from their sins, while he was just Christ save those who believe, John says that he baptizes with a view to repentance, but that will be a stronger, whose shoes he is unworthy to instruct the lead, leaving the glory to the apostles to carry everywhere preaching, because they were reserved for to announce their good standing with the peace of God, therefore, makes allusion to the hour of our salvation; our opinion, when he says about the Lord: "He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire" - as those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be consumed by the fire of trial - and having a winnowing fan, will clean up its threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. " The work of winnowing is to separate what is productive from what is not. Put in the hand of the Lord, this is the verdict of his power with mortar fire of the proceedings that the grain must be stored in the barns and are the fruits reached maturity of believers, on the other hand, the chaff, and emptiness of useless men sterile. (Hilary of Poitiers, In Matth. 2, 2-4).

Some questions for personal reflection and comparison
Perhaps no one will tell us what role the heart of God and for God that is the case then the question we can make it. Deep within ourselves, we like the Baptist? We live our lives in the size of the testimony, as the voice of those who cry in the wilderness?
am also convinced that the Lord calls me to be a lamp to my contemporaries?
Like the Baptist, I can lead others to Jesus? I live my life in humility as the Baptist to be the "friend of the groom?

Praying
during Advent, The church prays Psalm 71 (72) to express the expectation of his king of peace, the liberator of the poor and oppressed. We invoke the wisdom that comes from heaven to guide us into communion with Christ our Savior.

God gives the king with your opinion,
the son of the king with your justice, justice
he may judge thy people with righteousness, and your poor
.

In his days justice shall flourish and peace abound
,
until the moon.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the ends of the earth.

He delivers the needy when he cries
and the needy who are helpless,
has pity on the weak
and the poor and save the lives of the needy.

His name endure for ever, before the sun continues
his name.
be blessed in him

all kindreds of the earth and all nations call him blessed.

contemplative act
The season of Advent is a special time for us to grow in a personal relationship with God through prayer and penance, in relationship with others, through reconciliation and forgiveness, and in relationship to creation, through respect and peace. St. Augustine said: "I fear the Lord that passes." The passage of the Lord may find us at this moment in our lives distracted and superficial.