The manifestations of God's power on earth: nothing external

(Mk 8:11-13)

Jesus comes up against unbelief. It comes from various blinders and parties taken, or (especially in the disciples) arises from carelessness.

The Lord turns away from those who test him and those who reject what is God-given, claiming to fix how he should act.

The Son of Man respects each person who follows him, but makes it clear that decisions and even before that, lack of acute perception prevent the encounter and redemption of life.

In this perspective, believers do not live to "prove". Christ himself does not wait for us in subliminal and miraculous manifestations, but on the shore of an earthly spirituality.

Value does not need applause (a double-edged sword) - the mask of the artificial proposal, and inauthentic life.

Humanising correspondence does not grow with the multiplication of dizzying signals.

God does not coerce the unconvinced, nor does He overpower them with trials; thus He gains a heritage of Love in growth.

His authentic Church, without clamour or persuasive stance - seemingly insignificant - is all gathered in intimate unity with its Firstborn: native, portentous and regenerative power - solid and real.

The Pharisees sought overt solutions full of impression, but they could know them far better within their own souls and lives.

Incarnation: there are no other valid signs than the occurrences and new relationships - with oneself and others - which bring forth the very and unheard-of Person of the Risen One (the one without wrappings).

The Eternal is no longer the pure transcendence of the Jews, nor the summit of wisdom of the ancient world.

The sign of the Most High is the story of Jesus (alive in us). It opens the exciting road that leads to the Father.

We trust in Christ, so no spiritual drugs that delude us of happiness.

This is the meaning of the new Creation: in the surrender to the Spirit - but all concrete (not mannered) and proceeding dragging the alternative reality.

His Person is a unique signal, which dissolves the many ersatz religion of fears, fetters, established roles.

Tares that would like to imprison him in 'ally' doer of seductive and immediately resolving miracles.

Some into a simple temple purifier or a white mill character - and so are we, if we allow ourselves to be manipulated.

The 'Pharisees' Jesus addresses are those back in his communities (cf. vv.10-11) who wanted to frame the Messiah in the pattern of normal expectations to which they had always been accustomed.

Already they were fed up with it....

In these 'veterans' there was no sign of conversion to the idea of the Son of God as a Servant, trusting in dreams without prestige.

In them? No trace of a new idea - no change of pace that would mark the demise of the blatant, dehumanising - and also sacred - society of the outside.

The popular leaders sometimes miss the significance of the only living Sign: Jesus the Food of Life.

Because of them, not the distant ones, the Lord "groans in the spirit" (v.12 Greek text) - even today, saddened by so much blindness.

Life is indeed precluded to those who cannot shift their gaze.

Immediately after Mk 8:15 he refers to the danger of the dominant ideology that made the leaders themselves lose their objective perception of events.

A 'leaven' that was coarse but rooted in the painful experience of the people - that stimulated puffery even in the disciples, contaminating them.

To the first of the class it might have seemed that Jesus was a leader like Moses, for he had just fed the starving people in the desert (vv.1-9).

But the rejection is stark: Mark makes it sharp by emphasising both the Master's sense of suffering and his radical, peremptory denial.

To save the needy people there is no other way but to start from within.

Then proceeding towards a fullness of being that permeates, approves us, and allows us to break our lives in favour of our brothers.

There is no escape. Only communion with the hidden source of one's own eminent Self and respectful and active dialogue with others saves one from a closed group mentality.

In this way, no club is allowed - claiming monopolistic exclusivity over God and souls (Mk 9:38-40) with an explicit claim to discipline the multitudes.

The community of the Risen One abhors the competitive conception of religious life itself, if it is a sacred reflection of the imperial world and of a society that cramps and embitter the existence of the little ones.

It would be a sick life in the pursuit of even apparent prestige.

Conversely, in fraternal realities the first "will be last of all and servant of all" (Mk 9:35).

Therefore, it is imperative to avoid a pyramid mentality and discard mentality creeping into the faithful. 

A spirit of competition that then inexorably ends up seeking refuge in hypocritical miraculism, a substitute for a life of Faith.

The Master does the same to educate the members of the Church who remain - some still do - affected by a sense of superiority towards the crowds and outsiders.

A feeling of chosen and privileged people (Lk 9:54-55) that was infiltrating even the primitive communities.

To those who do not want to open their eyes except to have their senses captured by phenomena all to be discerned - because despite the official creed they profess, they remain tied to an ideology of power - the Lord never reserves impressive confirmations coming "from heaven" (v.11) that would be the paradoxical validation.

The only sign is and will be his living Church: the 'victory' of the Risen One pulsating in all those who take him seriously.

Without fixed hierarchies - under the infallible guidance of the Call and the Word - the children know how to reinterpret, even in an unprecedented way.

Such is the prodigy, embodied in the thousand events (of history, of personal and community life); in the impossible recoveries, recoveries and revaluations.

The authentic Messiah bestows no cosmic display.

No festival that forces spectators to bow their heads in the presence of such shocking glory and dignity - as if he were a heavenly dictator.

And no shortcut lightning.

Over the centuries, the Churches have often fallen into this 'apologetic' temptation, all internal to devotions of arid impulse: to look for marvellous signs and flaunt them to silence opponents.

Stratagems for a trivial attempt to shut the mouths of those who ask not for experiences of parapsychology, but rather for testimonies with little withering and without trickery or contrivance: of concrete disalienation.

Not bad, this liberation activity of ours in favour of the last, and one that holds fast; not clinging to the idea of a ruffian with triumphalist or consolatory aspects.

We prefer the wave of Mystery.

We yearn to be guided by an unknown energy, which has a non-artificial goal in store - led by the eminent but intimate and hidden Friend (exclusive in us).

We will be one humanity in the Master, on the Right Path and belonging to us. Even on broken and incomplete paths, even of bewilderment.

In commentary on the Tao Tê Ching (i) Master Ho-shang Kung writes:

"The eternal Name wants to be like the infant that has not yet spoken, like the chick that has not yet hatched.

The bright pearl is inside the oyster, the beautiful gem is in the middle of the rock: however resplendent it may be on the inside, on the outside it is foolish and insipid'.

All of this is perhaps rated 'unconsciousness' and 'inconclusiveness'... but it bears what we are - expressing another way of seeing the world.

Within ourselves and within the Call of the Gospels we have a fresh power, approving the path different from the immediately normal and the glaringly obvious.

A Call that is enchantment, delight and splendour, because it activates us by questioning.

A Word that does not reason according to patterns.

A heartfelt plea, which is not impressed by exceptional things, by plays that suffocate the soul in search of meaning and authenticity.

Genuine Wonder, an indomitable impulse nested in the dimension of human fullness, and that does not give up: it wants to express itself in its transparency and become reality.

A kind of intimate Infante: it moves in a way that is judged 'abstruse', but puts things right, inside and out.

The free and life-giving testimony, attentive and always personally ingenious, will be innate and unprecedented, biting, inventive without shrewdness, unpredictable and not at all conformist.

It will unleash and unceasingly re-energise a convinced, singular, incisive experience of Faith - despite the fact that it may appear losing and unsuccessful, unhonourable and senseless.

Far more than miracles, the pleas of our essence and reality will make us recognise the call and action of God in people and in the fabric of history.

Invitations that can germinate other astonishments and prodigies of divine-human goodness, than paroxysmal visions seasoned with neurosis and empty sentimentality, or magic.

The only sign of salvation is Christ in us - without seams, or grand hysterical gestures.

The image and likeness of the new humanity; the manifestation of God's power on earth.

For authentic conversion: nothing external.

To internalise and live the message:

What is the nature of your search for evidence?

How does your Sign (making believe) differ from gimmicks, acts of force, or what others would have you spread?

15. Having reached the end of his life, Saint Paul asks his disciple Timothy to “aim at faith” (2 Tim 2:22) with the same constancy as when he was a boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). We hear this invitation directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world. What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end.

[Pope Benedict, motu proprio Porta Fidei]

1. There is no doubt that in the Gospels Christ's miracles are presented as signs of the kingdom of God, which has entered human and world history. "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come among you," says Jesus (Matthew 12:28). No matter how many discussions are made and have been made on the subject of miracles (to which Christian apologists have responded), it is certain that it is not possible to detach the "miracles, wonders and signs" attributed to Jesus, and even to his apostles and disciples working "in his name", from the authentic context of the Gospel. In the preaching of the apostles, from which the Gospels principally originate, the early Christians heard eye-witness accounts of those extraordinary events, which occurred in times close by and were therefore verifiable from what we might call a critical-historical perspective, so that they were not surprised by their inclusion in the Gospels. Whatever the contestations of later times, from those genuine sources of Christ's life and teaching one thing emerges for certain: the apostles, evangelists and the entire early Church saw in each of those miracles the supreme power of Christ over nature and its laws. He who reveals God as Father, Creator and Lord of creation, when he performs those miracles by his own power, reveals himself as Son consubstantial with the Father and equal to him in his lordship over creation.

2. Some miracles, however, also present other aspects that are complementary to the fundamental meaning of proof of the divine power of the Son of Man, in order to the economy of salvation. Thus, speaking of the first "sign" performed in Cana of Galilee, the evangelist John notes that through it Jesus "manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him" (Jn 2:11). The miracle is therefore performed for a purpose of faith, but it takes place during a wedding feast. It can therefore be said that, at least in the intention of the evangelist, the "sign" serves to highlight the whole divine economy of the covenant and grace that in the books of the Old and New Testaments is often expressed with the image of marriage. The miracle of Cana of Galilee could thus be related to the parable of the wedding feast that a king made for his son, and to the eschatological "kingdom of heaven" that "is similar" to just such a banquet (cf. Mt 22:2). Jesus' first miracle could be read as a "sign" of this kingdom, especially if one considers that since "Jesus' hour" had not yet come, i.e. the hour of his passion and glorification (Jn 2:4; cf. 7:30; 8:20; 12:23.27; 13,1; 17,1), which is to be prepared by the preaching of the "Gospel of the kingdom" (cf. Mt 4,23; 9,35), the miracle obtained through Mary's intercession can be considered as a "sign" and a symbolic announcement of what is to come.

3. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, which took place near Capernaum, can be read even more clearly as a "sign" of the salvific economy. John relates it to the speech Jesus gave the following day, in which he insists on the necessity of procuring "the bread that does not perish" through "faith in him who sent me", and speaks of himself as the true bread that "gives life to the world" and indeed of the one who gives his flesh "for the life of the world". This is a clear foreshadowing of the salvific passion and death, not without reference and preparation for the Eucharist that was to be instituted the day before his passion, as the sacrament-bread of eternal life (Jn 6:29,33.51.52-58).

4. In turn, the storm calmed on the Lake of Genesaret can be reread as a "sign" of Christ's constant presence in the "boat" of the Church, which many times throughout history is exposed to the fury of the winds during stormy hours. Jesus, awakened by the disciples, commands the winds and the sea to be becalmed. Then he says to them, "Why are you so fearful? Have you no faith yet?" (Mk 4:40). In this, as in other episodes, one can see Jesus' desire to inculcate in the apostles and disciples faith in his operative and protective presence even in the most stormy hours of history, in which doubt about his divine assistance could infiltrate the spirit. Indeed, in Christian homiletics and spirituality, the miracle has often been interpreted as a "sign" of Jesus' presence and a guarantee of trust in him on the part of Christians and the Church.

5. Jesus, who goes towards the disciples walking on water, offers another "sign" of his presence, and ensures constant vigilance on the part of the disciples and the Church. "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid," Jesus says to the apostles, who had taken him for a ghost (cf. Mk 6:49-50). Mark points out the astonishment of the apostles "because they had not understood the fact of the loaves and their hearts were hardened" (Mk 6:52). Matthew reports the question of Peter who wants to go down to the water to meet Jesus and records his fear and plea for help when he feels himself sinking: Jesus saves him, but gently rebukes him: "Man of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt 14:31). He also adds that "those who were in the boat prostrated themselves before him, exclaiming: 'You are truly the Son of God'" (Mt 14:33).

6. The miraculous peaches are for the apostles and the church the "signs" of the fruitfulness of their mission if they remain deeply united to the saving power of Christ (cf. Lk 5:4-10; Jn 21:3-6). In fact, Luke includes in the narrative the fact of Simon Peter throwing himself at Jesus' knees exclaiming: "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinner" (Lk 5:10). John in turn follows the narration of the fishing after the resurrection with Christ's command to Peter. "Shepherd my lambs, feed my sheep" (cf. Jn 21:15-17). It is a significant juxtaposition.

7. It can therefore be said that Christ's miracles, the manifestation of the divine omnipotence with regard to creation, which is revealed in his messianic power over men and things, are at the same time the "signs" through which the divine work of salvation is revealed, the salvific economy that with Christ is introduced and definitively implemented in human history and is thus inscribed in this visible world, which is also always a divine work. People who - like the apostles on the lake - seeing Christ's "miracles" ask themselves: "Who is ...? who is this, whom even the wind and the sea obey?" (Mk 4:41), through these "signs" are prepared to receive the salvation offered to man by God in his Son.

This is the essential purpose of all the miracles and signs performed by Christ in the eyes of his contemporaries, and of those miracles that throughout history will be performed by his apostles and disciples in reference to the saving power of his name: "In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, walk!" (Acts 3:6).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 2 December 1987].

https://disf.org/giovanni-paolo-ii-salvezza-miracoli

There are people who know how to suffer with a smile and who preserve "the joy of faith" despite trials and illness. It is these people who "carry the Church forward with their everyday holiness", to the point of becoming authentic points of reference "in our parishes, in our institutions". In Pope Francis' reflection on the "exemplary patience of the people of God", offered on Monday 17 February during the Mass in the Chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, there are therefore echoes of Sunday afternoon's meetings with the parish community of the Roman suburb of Infernetto.

"When we go to the parishes," said the bishop of Rome, "we find people who suffer, who have problems, who have a disabled child or have a disease, but they carry on with life with patience". They are people who do not ask for "a miracle" but live with "the patience of God" reading "the signs of the times". And it is precisely of this holy people of God that "the world is unworthy", said the Pope, expressly quoting chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews and affirming that also "of these people of our people - people who suffer, who suffer many, many things but do not lose the smile of faith, who have the joy of faith - we can say that of them the world is not worthy: it is unworthy! The spirit of the world is unworthy of these people!".

2

 The Pontiff's reflection on the value of patience started, as usual, from today's liturgy: the passage from the Letter of James (1, 1-11) and the passage from the Gospel of Mark (8, 11- 13).

"Consider it perfect joy, my brothers, when you suffer all kinds of trials": commenting on these words taken from the first reading, the Pope noted that "it seems a bit strange what the Apostle James tells us". It almost seems - he observed - "an invitation to be a fakir". Indeed, he asked, "how can undergoing a trial give us joy?". The Pontiff went on to read the passage from St. James: 'Knowing that your faith, when put to the test, produces patience. And patience completes his work in you, so that you may be perfect and whole, lacking nothing'.

The suggestion, he explained, is "to bring life into this rhythm of patience". But 'patience,' he warned, 'is not resignation, it is something else'. Patience means in fact 'bearing on our shoulders the things of life, the things that are not good, the bad things, the things that we do not want. And it is precisely this patience that will make our life mature'. Those, on the other hand, who have no patience "want everything immediately, everything in a hurry". And "whoever does not know this wisdom of patience is a capricious person", who ends up behaving just "like capricious children", who say: "I want this, I want that, I don't like this", and are never satisfied with anything.

"Why does this generation ask for a sign?" the Lord asks in Mark's Gospel passage in response to the Pharisees' request. And so he meant, said the Pope, that 'this generation is like children who if they hear music of joy do not dance and if they hear music of mourning do not cry. None of it is good!" In fact, the Pope continued, "the person who has no patience is a person who does not grow, who remains in the whims of children, who does not know how to take life as it comes," and only knows how to say, "It's this or nothing!"

When there is no patience, "this is one of the temptations: to become capricious" like children. And another temptation of those "who have no patience is omnipotence", encapsulated in the claim: "I want things at once!". This is precisely what the Lord is referring to when the Pharisees ask him for "a sign from heaven". In reality, the Pontiff pointed out, "what did they want? They wanted a show, a miracle'. It is after all the same temptation that the devil proposes to Jesus in the desert, asking him to do something - so we all believe and this stone becomes bread - or to throw himself down from the temple to show his power.

In asking Jesus for a sign, however, the Pharisees "confuse God's way of acting with a sorcerer's way of acting". But, the Holy Father pointed out, "God does not act like a sorcerer. God has his own way of going forward: the patience of God'. And we 'every time we go to the sacrament of reconciliation we sing a hymn to God's patience. How the Lord carries us on his shoulders, with what patience!".

3

 "The Christian life," is the Pope's suggestion, "must unfold to this music of patience, because it was precisely the music of our fathers: the people of God". The music of "those who believed the word of God, who followed the commandment that the Lord had given to our father Abraham: walk before me and be blameless!" 

The people of God, he went on, quoting again from chapter 11 of the Letter to the Hebrews, 'suffered much: they were persecuted, they were killed, they had to hide in caves, in caves. And they had the joy, the gladness - as the Apostle James says - of greeting the promises from afar'. It is precisely this 'patience that we must have in trials'. It is "the patience of an adult person; the patience of God who carries us, supports us on his shoulders; and the patience of our people," the Pontiff noted, exclaiming: "How patient our people are even now!"

The Bishop of Rome then recalled that there are so many suffering people who are able to 'carry life on with patience. They do not ask for a sign', like the Pharisees, 'but they know how to read the signs of the times'. Thus "they know that when the fig tree sprouts, spring comes". Instead, the "impatient" people presented in the Gospel "wanted a sign" but "did not know how to read the signs of the times. That is why they did not recognise Jesus".

The Letter to the Hebrews, said the Pope, clearly says that "the world was unworthy of God's people". But today "we can say the same of these people of our people: people who suffer, who suffer many, many things, but do not lose the smile of faith, who have the joy of faith". Yes, even of all of them "the world is not worthy!". It is precisely 'these people, our people, in our parishes, in our institutions', who carry 'the Church forward with their everyday, every day holiness'.

In conclusion, the Pope reread the passage from St James that he also proposed at the beginning of his homily. And he asked the Lord to give "patience to all of us: the joyful patience, the patience of work, of peace", giving us "the patience of God" and "the patience of our faithful people who are so exemplary".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily 17 February 2014].

 Copyright © Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

(from: L'Osservatore Romano, daily ed., year CLIV, n.039, Mon. 18/02/2014)

(Mt 5:17-37)

Abolish or bring to Completion [vv.17-19]

Religious criticized converts to the Faith for being transgressors and against the wealth of Tradition.

Thus while some emphasized salvation by Faith alone in Christ and not by works of Law, others did not accept the Spirit freedom that was increasingly manifested in those who began to believe in Jesus Messiah.

New, more radical currents were already desirous of leaving aside his history and his Person, to get rid of them, and take refuge in a generic, spineless independence.

Mt helps to understand the disagreement: the direction of the Arrow shot from Judaic Scriptures is the right one, but it has no unanimous and totally clear cue, nor the strength to reach the Target.

The evangelist harmonizes the tensions, emphasizing that authentic observance does not allow us to bracket the historical, real Christ - perhaps by remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions or models, He makes Himself present in the facets of the most diverse currents of thought. He’s not a one-sided, nor an abstract binary.

New Words, ancient Words, and the Spirit who renews the face of the earth, are part of a unique Drawing.

And only in the Risen One does our harvest come to complete life - full aim of the Law - becoming forever.

First debt: a superior Justice [vv.20-26]

Mt helps disputants to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and grasp the attitude of "continuity and cut" given to them by the Lord: «You have heard that [...] Now I say to you» (vv.21-22).

The ideal of ancient religiosity was to appear pure before God; Jesus brings out its objective: the superior Justice of the Love.

The splendor, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God are not produced in observing, but in the possibility of manifesting Him Present.

The Life of God transpires into a world not of pure and sterilized phlegmatic disciples, but in a conviviality of differences that Resembles Him.

Revelation of equal dignity [vv.27-32]

In Semitic marriage norm, the woman was assessed as a patrimony of the husband: even in the First Testament the sin of adultery was valued as a sort of serious violation of the male’s right of property [as well, impurities of blood].

Jesus reveals the value of the person as such, and brings to the fore the innermost sense of the approaches and transgressions, wich harm and offend the existence of the weak.

He even introduces the announcement of equal dignity between man and woman.

Marriage is a community of love; not a union that can be dissolved by whim and material calculus.

The opportunism of bullies condemns the defenceless person - who then (abandoned) for a living will be condemned to suffer other violations of self (v.32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for a harsh intransigence towards every trivial deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent without protections.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also envisages painful amputations. Carrying out the gravest sacrifices can release the strong from his delirium.

In short, an attraction without self-giving does not express the person to the person; it’s the unripe fruit of immaturity and leads to alienation.

The woman - ie the unsteady and innocent, who loves more, and more seriously - is not a creature liable to mockery, nor reducible to possession, thing, consumer good, merely useful to arrogant man of the home.

The perfection of Gratis, the deficiency of the stools [vv.33-37]

Yes when it is yes, No when it is no. There is no need to give strength to trust: the theatrics of bombastic formulas only admit the conviction that “the other” cannot be fully trusted.

Total transparency in relationships does not need «stools» to support it. Good relations, the ideal of justice, and our whole life, come to perfection in a limpid manner.

Let’s get to the theological point: what counts for God is the Person, not his symbolic expressions or merits - fake props to the you-for-you, to be set out in the window to hijack it.

Face to face is worth the whole lot: far more than what sounds by ear, and much more than accounting than the woman and man have observed or not.

The Father is impressed by his creaturely masterpiece, not by performances, nor by the smokescreen of conformist expressions: rituals, acronyms, set phrases.

There is nothing higher than our Face. We do not have to improve except by his Gratuitousness, wich is far more reliable and effective than our not infrequently vain and homologising observances.

The power we have in dowry cannot even affect the natural color of a hair (v.36): this is the reality - behind the grand scenes that we put up to avoid admitting that... something is wrong.

The integrity that counts is quiet, transparent, spontaneous, forthright, sincere. Needless to make and repeat oaths, to deceive even God.

[6th Sunday in O.T.  (year A), 15 February 2026]

(Mt 5:17-37)

Law and Spirit

To break down or to fulfil: Law and Spirit

(Mt 5:17-19)

Faced with the precepts of the Law, different attitudes emerge. On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established, and on the other, there are those who omit or disregard the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, he was attentive to the deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'break' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided allowing himself to be minimised in the casuistry of morality that fragmented fundamental choices - and made them all superficial, without a fulcrum.

Legalistic rigidity tended to equate the codes... with God. But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, Word and Person: global discipleship.

In the early communities, some believers believed that the rules of the First Testament should no longer be considered, as we are saved by Faith and not by works of the Law.

Others accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but could not bear the excess of freedom with which some brothers in the church lived his Presence. 

Still tied to an ideal ethnic background, they believed that ancient observance was obligatory.

There was no shortage of believers carried away by an excess of fantasies in the Spirit. Some, in fact, rejected the Hebrew Scriptures and considered themselves detached from history: they no longer looked at the story of Jesus.

Matthew seeks a balance between emancipation and closure.

He writes his Gospel to support converts to the Faith in Christ in the communities of Galilee and Syria, accused by their Judaizing brothers of being unfaithful to the Torah.

The evangelist makes it clear that Jesus himself had been accused of serious transgressions of the Law of Moses.

The trajectory of the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a consistent and totally clear starting point, nor does it have the strength in itself to reach its target.

The arrow of the Torah has been shot in the right direction, but only in the Spirit of the Beatitudes can a living assembly gain momentum to reach Communion.

The Gospel passage is concerned with emphasising that the ancient Scriptures, the historical story of Jesus, and life in the Spirit must be evaluated as inseparable aspects of a single plan of salvation.

Lived in synergy, they lead to the conviviality of differences.

The God of the patriarchs makes himself present in the loving relationship of communities, through faith in Christ, who expands his own life in their hearts.

The Living One transmits the Spirit that spurs all creativity, overcomes closed-mindedness, opens up, and invites.

[In us, Jesus of Nazareth becomes a living Body - and the joy of doing so manifests Him (starting from the soul) in Person and in full Faithfulness].

Reaching out to our brothers and sisters and going to God thus becomes easy, spontaneous, rich and very personal for everyone: the Strength comes from within.

New words or ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth, are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total fascination of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full objective of the Law - becoming 'forever'.

To internalise and live the message:

Has the law on stone remained rigid within you, or do you feel an impulse towards a new Covenant?

Do you sense within yourself an actualised and irresistible desire for good, which rediscovers everything in the Scriptures and energises the Word in the various tastes of doing?

Demolish or Fulfil

    Faced with the precepts of the Law, distant attitudes manifest themselves.

On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established; on the other, there are those who omit or despise the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, He was attentive to the spirit and deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'destroy' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided even more being minimised in the casuistry of morality.

This ethical obsession - still alive in the early brotherhoods - fragmented and eroded the meaning of fundamental choices, rendering them all superficial and without focus.

In this way, a legalistic sclerotisation was produced, which easily tended to equate the codes... with God.

But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, spirit of the Word, and Person: global following in those same incomparable appointments.

The faithful of the communities of Galilee and Syria were criticised by the old-fashioned Jews.

These observant Jews accused their co-religionists who had converted to the new personal, creative Faith of being transgressors and contrary to the depth of the common Tradition.

Thus, some emphasised salvation through faith alone in Christ and not through works of the law. Others did not accept the Freedom that was growing precisely in those who were beginning to believe in Jesus the Messiah.

New, more radical currents already wanted to disregard his history and his Person, to get rid of him and take refuge in a generic 'avant-garde' or 'freedom of spirit' - without backbone, vicissitudes or conjunctions.

Matthew helps us to understand the conflict: the direction of the arrow shot from the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a clear and consistent starting point, nor the strength to reach its target.

The evangelist harmonises the tensions, emphasising that authentic observance is not formal fidelity [obedience to the 'letter'].

The spirit of fundamental fulfilment does not allow us to put the whole Christ and his trials and tribulations in brackets, perhaps remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions in the power of election, nor 'breaking down' (v. 17) ancient and identified or particular ways of being, He is present in the facets of the most diverse currents of thought.

New words, ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total charm of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full goal of the Law - becoming forever.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you evaluate the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Prophets?

How do you deal with situations in harmony with the Voice of the Lord and in his Spirit?

First debt: greater Justice

(Mt 5:20-26)

    "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

In the churches of Galilee and Syria, there were different and conflicting opinions about the Law of Moses: for some, it was an absolute to be fulfilled even in detail, for others, it was now a meaningless ornament (v. 22).

The contenders resorted to insults to ridicule the opposing side.

But as the Tao Tê Ching (xxx) says: "Where armies dwell, thorns and brambles grow." Master Wang Pi comments: "He who promotes himself causes disorder, because he strives to assert his merits."

Matthew helps all the brothers of the community to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and to understand the attitude of 'continuity and cutting' given to them by the Lord: "You have heard that [...] Now I say to you" (vv. 21-22).

The 'arrow' of the ancient codes has been shot in the right direction, but only understanding its significance in the spirit of harmony sustains its journey until it provides the energy necessary to hit the 'target'.

The ideal of ancient religiosity was to present oneself pure before God, and in this sense the official theologian scribes of the Sanhedrin emphasised the value of the rules they believed were hidden in the 'prison of the letter' of the First Testament.

The Sadducees - the priestly class - focused on the sacrificial observances of the Torah alone.

The Pharisees, leaders of popular religiosity, emphasised respect for every traditional custom.

The teaching of the professionals of the sacred produced in the people a sense of legalistic oppression that obscured the spirit of the Word of God and of Tradition itself.

Jesus brings out the objective: the greater Justice of Love.

The splendour, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God is not produced by observing, but by the ability to manifest it as Present.

The right attitude before the Father becomes - in Jesus' proposal - the right position before one's own history and that of one's neighbour.

The first 'debt' is therefore a 'global understanding': here the Eternal One is revealed.

Justice is not the product of accumulating righteous deeds for the sake of merit: this would manifest pettiness, detachment and arrogance (a type of man with unquestionable thinking).

The new Justice pursues complicity with evil to the secret roots of the heart and ideas. But not to accentuate guilt, nor to make us pursue external dreams.

Observance that does not remain in friendship, in tolerance even of oneself, in Christ who guides, would arise from an ambiguous relationship with the norm and doctrines.

We can neglect the childish need for approval.

The Life of God transpires in a world not of pure and phlegmatic, sterilised or unilateral people, but in a conviviality of differences that resembles him.

To internalise and live the message:

Where do you find the emotional nourishment you need?

What do you think of exclusive groups and their idea of a decisive court?

The Revelation of equal Dignity

(Mt 5:27-32)

In Semitic marriage law, women were considered the property of their husbands: they were not considered legal persons, but rather possessions of men, who could act as masters.

Even in the First Testament, the sin of adultery was considered a serious violation of the male's right of ownership, as well as a possible impurity of blood [the mixing of which was abhorrent].

This may seem strange to our mentality, but it carried more weight than the moral transgression itself.

Jesus, on the other hand, reveals the value of the person as such.

He brings to the fore the meaning of approaches and violations that harm and offend the existence of the weak.

He even introduces the proclamation of equal dignity between men and women.

Marriage is a community of love, not a union that can be dissolved on a whim or for material gain.

This situation will end up censuring the defenceless person - who will then [abandoned] be condemned to suffer further violations of themselves in order to survive (v. 32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for harsh intransigence towards any pedestrian deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent who are without protection.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also proposes painful amputations. Making the most serious sacrifices can free the 'strong' from their delusions.

An attraction without self-giving does not express the person to the person; it is the unripe fruit of wandering immaturity and leads to alienation.

Women – that is, the weak and innocent, who love more and more seriously – are not creatures to be mocked, nor can they be reduced to possessions, things, consumer goods, useful only to the master of the house.

Albertine Tshibilondi Ngoyi writes:

'African women are neither a reflection of men nor slaves. They feel no need to imitate men in order to express their personality. They exude an original civilisation through their work, their personal genius, their concerns, their language and their customs. They have not allowed themselves to be colonised by men and the prestige of male civilisation'.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a frivolous attitude and a poor choice of lifestyle?

Don't you believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity?

Do you reflect on how to invest the energies that run through your calling and mission?

To internalise and live the message:

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a light-hearted approach and poor life choices?

Do you not believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity? Do you reflect on how you invest the energy that drives your calling and mission?

The perfection of the Free, the deficiency of stools

Clear and distinct

(Mt 5:33-37)

'Yes when it is yes, no when it is no'. There is no need to reinforce trust.

Every oath - even a sacred one - is a loophole that does not heal a reality that is already dead.

The theatre of bombastic formulas only admits the conviction that the Other cannot be fully trusted.

Total transparency in relationships does not need stools for support. 

It is ridiculous to try to encourage reciprocity by inventing the crutch of the oath, which reinforces a person's word with something greater than themselves [capable of punishing them in the event of non-compliance; then whatever will be, will be].

Good relationships, the ideal of justice, credit, and our whole life, come to perfection in a clear way.

There is no need to beat about the bush, to become artificial, to rely on other precautions that then take back one's word, even if they are well prepared and perfectly staged.

Let us come to the theological point: what matters to the Father is the Person, not his symbolic expressions or his 'merits' - fake props in a face-to-face encounter, to be displayed in the window to divert him.

The face-to-face encounter is worth the whole game: much more than what sounds good to the ear, far beyond the accounting of what women and men have accomplished.

Our strong loyalty before God is not there; on the contrary, we need it. It is useless to hide the dust under a carpet of high-sounding mottos and rants.

Even a pile of 'perfectly' fulfilled works of the law provides no support.

In fact, the scaffolding may seem sublime and phenomenal, but it is superficial (often unfortunately insincere: castles made of paper and papier-mâché) and has a dual purpose.

The Father is impressed by his creative masterpiece, by the sincere heart of women and men; not by the smoke and mirrors of impersonal displays set up for the occasion.

Nor is he flattered by ritual expressions, acronyms, clichés, or even heroic deeds that risk damaging the foundations of personality and the Call by Name.

There is nothing higher than our 'face'; the rest is cunning and falsehood.  Dangerous tricks.

The puritanical laity used to say, 'The greater the forms, the less the truth'. Not: give credence.

Actions, behaviours, clear words. This is what counts. 

In short, we must not 'improve' ourselves according to external models and facsimiles - nor organise more events - except with His Free Gift, which is much more reliable, permanent and effective than our [conforming and sometimes vain] observances.

The power we have cannot even affect the natural colour of a hair; this is the reality - behind the grand scenes we set up so as not to admit that... something is wrong.

The integrity that matters is calm, transparent, spontaneous, frank: it cannot be ours. It is useless to make and remake 'oaths' to deceive even God.

To internalise and live the message:

Did you find yourself a merchant at the last fair? Have you ever expressed yourself like a forger?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Sunday’s Liturgy we continue to read Jesus’ so-called “Sermon on the Mount”. It is contained in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel. After the Beatitudes, which are the programme of his life, Jesus proclaims the new Law, his Torah, as our Jewish brothers and sisters call it. In fact, on his coming, the Messiah was also to bring the definitive revelation of the Law and this is precisely what Jesus declares: “Think not that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them”.

And addressing his disciples, he adds: “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:17,20). But what do this “fullness” of Christ’s Law and this “superior” justice that he demands consist in?

Jesus explains it with a series of antitheses between the old commandments and his new way of propounding them. He begins each time: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old…”, and then he asserts: “but I say to you”…. For example, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘you shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgement’. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement” (Mt 5:21-22). 

And he does this six times. This manner of speaking made a great impression on the people, who were shocked, because those words: “I say to you” were equivalent to claiming the actual authority of God, the source of the Law. The newness of Jesus consists essentially in the fact that he himself “fulfils” the commandments with the love of God, with the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within him. And we, through faith in Christ, can open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit who makes us capable of living divine love. 

So it is that every precept becomes true as a requirement of love, and all join in a single commandment: love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself. “Love is the fulfilling of the Law”, St Paul writes (Rom 13:10). 

With regard to this requirement, for example, the pitiful case of the four Rom children, who died last week when their shack caught fire on the outskirts of this city, forces us to ask ourselves whether a more supportive and fraternal society, more consistent in love, in other words more Christian, might not have been able to prevent this tragic event. And this question applies in the case of so many other grievous events, more or less known, which occur daily in our cities and our towns.

Dear friends, perhaps it is not by chance that Jesus’ first great preaching is called the “Sermon on the Mount”! Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God and bring it to the Chosen People. Jesus is the Son of God himself who came down from Heaven to lead us to Heaven, to God’s height, on the way of love. Indeed, he himself is this way; all we have to do in order to put into practice God’s will and to enter his Kingdom, eternal life, is to follow him.

Only one creature has already scaled the mountain peak: the Virgin Mary. Through her union with Jesus, her righteousness was perfect: for this reason we invoke her as Speculum iustitiae. Let us entrust ourselves to her so that she may guide our steps in fidelity to Christ’s Law.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus, 13 February 2011]

These two mountains – Sinai and the Mount of the Beatitudes – offer us the roadmap of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbour. The Law and the Beatitudes together mark the path of the following of Christ and the royal road to spiritual maturity and freedom.

The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem negative: “You will have no false gods before me; . . . do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness...” (Ex 20:3, 13-16). But in fact they are supremely positive. Moving beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love which is the first and greatest of the commandments: “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. . . You will love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:37, 39). Jesus himself says that he came not to abolish but to fulfil the Law (cf. Mt5:17). His message is new but it does not destroy what went before; it leads what went before to its fullest potential. Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the Law to fulfilment (cf. Gal 5:14).

[Pope John Paul II, from his homily on the Mount of Beatitudes, 24 March 2000]

Today’s Gospel reading (cf. Mt 5:17-37) is on the “Sermon on the Mount” and deals with the subject of the fulfilment of the Law: how should  I fulfil the Law, how can I do it? Jesus wants to help his listeners take the right approach to the prescriptions of the Commandments given to Moses, urging them to be open to God who teaches  us true freedom and responsibility through the Law. It is a matter of living it as an instrument of freedom. Let us not forget this: to live the Law as an instrument of freedom, which helps me to be freer, which helps me not to be a slave to passion and sin. Let us think about war, let us think about the consequences of war, let us think of that little girl who died due to the cold [temperatures], in Syria the day before yesterday. So many calamities, so many. This is the result of passion, and people who wage war do not know how to master their passions. They do not comply with the law. When one  gives in to temptation and passion, one is not the master and agent of one’s own life, but rather one becomes  incapable of managing it with willingness and responsibility.

Jesus’ discourse is divided into four antitheses, each one expressed by the formula: “You have heard that it was said... But I say to you”. These antitheses refer to as many situations in daily life: murder, adultery, divorce and swearing. Jesus does not abolish the prescriptions concerning these issues, but he explains their full meaning and indicates the spirit in which they must be observed. He encourages us to move away from the formal observance of the Law to substantive observance, accepting the Law in our hearts, which is the centre of the intentions, decisions, words and gestures of each of us. From the heart come good and bad deeds.

By accepting the Law of God in our heart, one understands that, when one does not love one’s neighbour, to some extent one kills oneself and others, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships. And this applies to what I have said about war and also about gossip, because words kill. By accepting the Law of God in our heart one understands that desires must be guided, because one cannot obtain everything one desires, and it is not good to give in to selfish and possessive feelings. When one accepts the Law of God in one’s heart, one understands that one must give up a lifestyle of broken promises, as well as move from the prohibition of perjury to the decision not to swear at all, behaving sincerely to  everyone.

And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in such an all-encompassing way. That is why he offers us the help of his love: he came into the world not only to fulfil the Law, but also to give us his grace, so that we can do God’s will, loving him and our brothers and sisters. We can do everything, everything, with the grace of God! Indeed,  holiness is none other than guarding God’s freely given  grace. It is a matter of trusting and entrusting ourselves to him, to his Grace, to that freedom that he has given us, and welcoming the hand he constantly extends to us, so that our efforts and our necessary commitment can be sustained by his help, overflowing with goodness and mercy.

Today Jesus asks us to continue on the path of love that he has indicated to us and which begins from the heart. This is the path  to follow in order to live as Christians. May the Virgin Mary help us to follow the path traced by her Son, to reach true joy and to spread justice and peace everywhere.

[Pope Francis, Angelus, 16 February 2020]

And move the neighbors

(Lk 10:1-9)

Jesus notes that the Apostles are not free people (cf. Lk 9). Their way of being is so grounded on standard attitudes and obligatory behaviors that it translates into impermeable mental armour.

Their predictability is too limiting: it gives no breathing space to the path of those who instead want to reactivate themselves, discover, value surprises behind the secret sides of reality and personality.

That wich remains tied to ancient customs and usual protagonists doesn’t make you dream, it isn’t an amazing appearance and testimony of Elsewhere; it takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The Lord is forced to call the Samaritans [the heretics of religion] gathered elsewhere, not coming from "correct" observances, but able to walk, understand, and not be picky.

The new envoys go on the road helpless. Not being able to count on the usual tricks, they are certainly damaged, defrauded and - if they touch all the exposed nerves - torn to pieces.

But their being modest and not doctoral makes us reflect, arouses new knowledge, and awareness. Thus their spontaneous and innocent friendship.

In blocked situations this "disorder" of new amazements will introduce renewed charm, evoke potential, widen expressive opportunities and everyone's field of action.

Once in a territory, it will be good not to go from house to house: from a makeshift accommodation, to the apartment, the villa, and then the palace, because the search for better comforts makes God's Novelty disappear.

The care of the sick and deviations is a cornerstone of the Mission, because it’s precisely from insecurities or eccentricities that a different Kingdom sprouts, the one that notices and takes charge - in the love of those who do not abandon.

And let no time be wasted by combing the “sitting” environment: even a voluntary removal educates to be free.

The momentum of life will awaken consciences and prevail over the negative: on the path that belongs to us, accusations will count for less and less.

Unlike the fruitless action of the Apostles (Lk 9 passim), the return of the new evangelizers is full of joy and results (vv. 17-20).

It’s the last and different ones who bring down from "heaven" - and replace - the enemies of humanity and of our Gladness (vv. 5-6).

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalom] to be announced, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which complete and fulfil us also spiritually.

Now the flourishing Salvation (life as saved persons) is within reach of all (v.9), no longer a privilege.

The sides judged to be crazy, extraneous or materially inconclusive are preparing our new paths.

In the great Mystery of perceiving oneself as ‘being in the Gift’ - «two by two» (v.1) to live in fullness - the self understands the opposite polarities of its essence.

Only thus ‘widened’ do we become a being with and for the other. On the Way, in the form of the Cross.

[St Cyril and Methodius, February 14]