What about established praises?

(Mt 11:20-24)

Whoever enters himself on a path of following Christ, experiences «Prodigies» (vv.20-21.23). Wonders of the Spirit who works, and doesn’t stray from the present; thus preparing the future.

There are those who look at the Lord with the eyes of the past, or with those of a preconceived, theoretical and sophisticated, unreal worldview.

Only the principle of Incarnation [which upsets us] broadens horizons even charismatic ones - and gives breath.

Here in practice, no one needs to remodulate the bottlenecks of the soul.

Our Oasis is paradoxical, and lies in radical passions; in the concert of their flowering that germinates in a crescendo, and does not want to die out.

Because - although rawer than the homologated "film" we see outside of us - it’s the internal world that pulsates richer in interests.

So the withered quintessence wants to split the conditionings’ surface.

It speaks of a present that no longer nourishes us: too much in the head, too much epidermal and distant, incomplete; without added value.

While in the Spirit the heart incessantly desires to change color. The interior is multifaceted, and it really moves us.

Or the whole intimate malaise will write itself in the search for religiosity-spectacle, in adhering to banners [à la page also] or similar little sops.

Starting from other people’s common knowledge, we no longer have the codes to interpret the genius of time.

With blinkers one cannot evaluate oneself, nor discover the plot of God in history, nor even the not purely earthly dimension of his Gifts, everywhere extraordinary - even evident in their scope.

This is the only reward of vocation: another Vision and ‘intelligence’ of oneself and of the whole world, which regenerates in a growing rhythm - makes us reborn in less established ways; not too directing.

It’s cool to have Faith in the kingdom to come, instead of seeing it black.

Believing only in customs or fashions of thought and taking them for granted doesn’t avoid those mechanisms that make us recede.

So, one would allow oneself to be tied in laces, and guide by calculations; to start the personal path not by one’s own Name - but by some synthesis or other people’s science.

Authentic ‘praise’ is in us, and it’s only of the Lord.

He’s the Only One who turns to «cities» perhaps considered enemies and wicked, yet deprived of those convictions that would block them in another kind of perversion.

Absorbed in the «borning life» we let ourselves be overwhelmed by the germinal energy of this Eros, always unprecedented.

We don’t entrust outside - only to breastplates - the spiritual well-being, and our growth.

It is not we who conduct Love.

To internalize and live the message:

Do the signs of Jesus in you debase and fall on deaf ears?

Has the reality in which you live saved and built you up [fetching yourself] or homologated you?

[Tuesday 15th wk. in O.T.  July 15, 2025]

What about established praise?

(Mt 11:20-24)

The new CEI [official Italian] translation makes it clear that Jesus' is not the Face of a capricious, manipulative God.

Whoever embarks on a journey of following in Christ experiences not 'miracles' [by lottery or territory], but 'Prodigies' (vv.20-21.23), Wonders of the Spirit working in the world and for all.

A cousin of mine who was a cloistered nun [once very close and in fact pre-conciliar - now more balanced] told me:

"We had such a closed and severe type of life that we saw Angels by force".

An unfounded visionary paroxysm, or one that abused the forces of the simple - of palliative self-healing, and only compensatory; one that wanders from the present and does not prepare the future.

There are those who look at the Lord with the eyes of the past, or with those of a preconceived, theoretical and sophisticated, unreal worldview.

Only the principle of Incarnation [which turns us upside down] expands horizons, even charismatic ones - and gives breath.

Here in the concrete, no one needs to reshape the narrows of the soul, taking refuge in do-it-yourself mysticism.

Our Oasis is paradoxical, and lies in the radical passions; in the concert of their flowering that germinates in a crescendo, and does not want to die out.

Because - although cruder than the homologised 'film' we witness outside ourselves - it is the inner world that pulsates, rich with interest.

So the withered quintessence wants to crack the surface of conditioning.

It speaks of a present that no longer nourishes us: too much in the head, too epidermic and distant, incomplete; without added value.

Whereas in the Spirit, the heart yearns incessantly to change colour. The interior is multifaceted, and it really moves.

Or else the inner malaise will write itself into the pursuit of religiosity-entertainment, into adherence to banners (even à la page), or similar contentions.

Starting not from the awareness of one's own resources and cosmic vitality, but from the knowledge and disciplines of others - strongly observant or abstract [ancient or all future] - we no longer have the codes to interpret the genius of time.

With blinders on, one cannot evaluate oneself, nor discover God's weave in history, nor even the not purely earthly dimension of his Gifts, everywhere extraordinary - even manifest in their bearing.

This is the only reward of the vocation: another vision and intelligence of oneself and of the whole world, which in an increasing rhythm regenerates - revives in the least established ways; not too directive.

It is no small thing to have Faith in the kingdom to come, instead of seeing it black; and to take on too many duties, with artificial fatigue.

Thus clinging to fantasies or paroxysms, old rhythms that are always the same or cerebral avant-gardism (perhaps under the illusion that it is they who guide or console us - even in the rebirth from the global crisis).

Believing only in customs or fashions of thought and taking them for granted does not avoid those mechanisms that cause us to go backwards.

So one would allow oneself to be ensnared in ties, and guided by calculations; to start one's personal journey not from one's own Name - but from some synthesis or science of others.

And adhere to mass idols, repeatedly come to easy and more comfortable compromise with local customs; so on.

The authentic praise is within us, and it is only of the Lord.

He is the One who turns to 'cities' perhaps considered enemy and evil, yet lacking the 'solid' convictions that would lock them into another kind of perversion.

Of such disorders our Core would inexorably take on - and such a root would become deadly.

Worse than the moralistic one that still surrounds the spiritual affair - hitherto considered the most important level.

In this way, the malaise written within would still spill outside, as on a blackboard.

This would also happen inside and outside to those who believe themselves to be well equipped, and have a tendency not to express themselves seriously.

Sometimes annoyance and the search for the external are in fact an expression of the profound need not to want to feel contact with the situations of the world, which challenges and questions us.

In short, God is the One who does not think he understands everything... without grasping anything.

He knows that every (perhaps future) friend and 'saviour' of his neighbour is a simple person freed from slavery.

And we for this are pilgrims of the Exodus. Not refugees in totems that do not keep motives - nor promises left in the past or future, great or small.

Absorbed in the life that is born, we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the germinal energy of such Eros, always unseen.

We do not entrust spiritual well-being, and our growth, to the outside world - only to armour.

We do not lead Love.

To internalise and live the message:

Do the signs of Jesus in you debase and fall on deaf ears?

Has the reality in which you live rescued and built you up [fetching yourself] or homologated you?

Dear friends, the Kingdom of God is not a matter of honours and appearances but, as St Paul writes, it is "righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rm 14: 17). The Lord has our good at heart, that is, that every person should have life, and that especially the "least" of his children may have access to the banquet he has prepared for all. Thus he has no use for the forms of hypocrisy of those who say: "Lord, Lord" and then neglect his commandments (cf. Mt 7: 21). In his eternal Kingdom, God welcomes those who strive day after day to put his Word into practice. For this reason the Virgin Mary, the humblest of all creatures, is the greatest in his eyes and sits as Queen at the right of Christ the King. Let us once again entrust ourselves to her heavenly intercession with filial trust, to be able to carry out our Christian mission in the world.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 23 November 2008]

6. But that 'meekness and humility of heart' in no way means weakness. On the contrary, Jesus is demanding. His Gospel is demanding. Is it not he who admonishes: 'Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me'? And a little later: 'He who finds his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it' (Mt 10:38-39). It is a kind of radicalism not only in the language of the Gospel, but also in the actual demands of following Christ, the full extent of which he does not hesitate to reiterate often: "Do not believe that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace," he says one day, "but a sword" (Mt 10:34). It is a strong way of saying that the Gospel is also a source of "disquiet" for mankind, Jesus wants us to understand that the Gospel is demanding, and that to demand means to stir consciences, not to allow them to settle down in a false "peace", in which they become more and more insensitive and dull, so that in them spiritual realities are emptied of value, losing all resonance. Jesus will say before Pilate: "I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth" (Jn 18:37). These words are also about the light that he brings to the whole field of human actions, breaking through the darkness of thoughts and especially consciences to make truth triumph in every man. It is, however, a matter of placing oneself on the side of truth. "Whoever is of the truth hears my voice," Jesus will say (John 18: 37). That is why Jesus is demanding. Not harsh or inexorably severe: but strong and unequivocal in calling everyone to life in truth.

7. Thus the demands of the Gospel of Christ penetrate the field of law and morality. He who is the "faithful witness" (Rev 1:5) to the divine truth, to the truth of the Father, says from the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount: "Whosoever therefore transgresses one of these precepts, even the least, and teaches men to do likewise, he shall be counted the least in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:19). And in exhorting people to conversion, he does not hesitate to rebuke the very cities where people refuse to believe: "Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida!" (Lk 10:13), while admonishing each and every one: ". . unless you are converted, you will perish" (Lk 13:3).

8. Thus the Gospel of meekness and humility goes hand in hand with the Gospel of moral demands, and even stern threats to those who do not wish to convert. There is no contradiction between one and the other. Jesus lives by the truth he proclaims and the love he reveals, and this is a love as demanding as the truth from which it emanates. Moreover, love placed the greatest demands on Jesus himself in the hour of Gethsemane, in the hour of Calvary, in the hour of the cross. Jesus accepted and went along with these demands to the end, because, as the evangelist warns us, he "loved to the end" (Jn 13:1). It was a faithful love, for which the day before he died he could say to the Father: "The words you gave me I have given them" (Jn 17:8).

9. As a "faithful witness" Jesus fulfilled the mission he received from the Father in the depths of the Trinitarian mystery. It was an eternal mission, included in the thought of the Father who generated him and predestined him to fulfil it "in the fullness of time" for the salvation of man - of every man - and for the perfect good of all creation. Jesus had the consciousness of this mission at the centre of the Father's creative and redemptive plan; and therefore, with all the realism of truth and love brought to the world, he could say: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:32).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 8 June 1988]

Pope Francis, in his homily at the Mass in the Casa Santa Marta, invites us to reflect on the hypocrisy of the righteous, who live Christianity "as a social habit", do not bring Jesus into their daily lives and thus expel him from their hearts. If we do this "we are Christians, but we live like pagans".

We, who are born into a Christian society, risk living Christianity "as a social habit", formally, with "the hypocrisy of the righteous", who are "afraid to let themselves be loved". And when Mass is over, we leave Jesus in church, "he does not come home with us", in daily life. Woe to us, so we drive Jesus out of our hearts: "We are Christians, but we live like pagans". Pope Francis invites everyone to an examination of conscience, in the homily of the morning Mass celebrated at Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the Gospel of St Luke and Jesus' rebuke to the people of Bethsaida, Chorazìn and Capernaum, who did not believe in him despite the miracles.

Jesus weeps for those who are incapable of love

Jesus "is grieved to be rejected", Francis explains, while pagan cities like Tyre and Sidon, seeing his miracles "surely would have believed". And he weeps, "because these people had not been able to love", while He "wanted to reach all hearts, with a message that was not a dictatorial message, but was a message of love".

We, born Christians, who forget Jesus

Instead of the inhabitants of the three cities, put us, put me, continued the Pope. "I who have received so much from the Lord, I was born in a Christian society, I have come to know Jesus Christ, I have come to know salvation," I was educated in the faith. And very easily I forget about Jesus. Then instead 'we hear news of other people who immediately hear the announcement of Jesus, convert and follow him'. But we, comments the Pontiff, are 'used to it'.

And this habit hurts us, because we reduce the Gospel to a social, sociological fact, and not to a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus speaks to me, he speaks to you, he speaks to each one of us. Jesus' sermon is for each and every one of us. How is it that those pagans who, as soon as they hear Jesus' sermon, go with him, and I, who was born, here, in a Christian society, get used to it, and Christianity is like a social habit, a garment that I put on and then leave? And Jesus weeps, over each one of us when we live Christianity formally, not really.

The hypocrisy of the righteous is fear of letting oneself be loved

If we do this, Pope Francis clarifies, we are a little hypocritical, with the hypocrisy of the righteous.

There is the hypocrisy of sinners, but the hypocrisy of the righteous is the fear of Jesus' love, the fear of letting oneself be loved. And actually, when we do this, we are trying to manage our relationship with Jesus. "Yes, I go to Mass but you stay in the church I then go home".

"And Jesus doesn't go home with us: in the family, in the education of the children, in the school, in the neighbourhood..."

We pretend to have Jesus, but we cast him out

So Jesus remains there in the Church, bitterly comments Francis, "Either he remains in the crucifix or the little picture".

Today can be a day of examination of conscience for us, with this refrain: "Woe to you, woe to you", because I have given you so much, I have given myself, I have chosen you to be a Christian, to be a Christian, and you prefer a half-and-half life, a superficial life: a little yes of Christianity and holy water but nothing more. In fact, when we live this Christian hypocrisy, what we do is drive Jesus out of our hearts. We pretend to have him, but we kick him out. "We are Christians, proud to be Christians", but we live like pagans.

Prayer: you have given me much, I am ungrateful

Each one of us, the Pope concludes, thinks: "Am I Corazìn? Am I Bethsaida? Am I Capernaum?" And if Jesus weeps, ask for the grace to weep also. With this prayer: "Lord, you have given me so much. My heart is so hard that it will not let you in. I have sinned in ingratitude, I am ungrateful." "And we ask the Holy Spirit to open wide the doors of our hearts, so that Jesus may enter, so that we may not only hear Jesus," but hear his message of salvation and "give thanks for so many good things he has done for each of us."

[Pope Francis, s. Marta; Alessandro Di Bussolo (ed.)

https://www.vaticannews.va/it/papa-francesco/messa-santa-marta/2018-10/papa-francesco-omelia-messa-santa-marta-guai-cristiani-ipocriti.html]

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year C)  [6 July 2025]

May God bless us and the Virgin Mary protect us! Even though we are entering the holiday season, I will continue to provide you with comments on the Sunday Bible readings.

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (66:10-14)

When a prophet speaks so much of consolation, it means that things are going very badly, so he feels the need to console and keep hope alive: this text was therefore written at a difficult time. The author, Third Isaiah, is one of the distant disciples of the great Isaiah and is preaching to the exiles who returned from Babylonian exile around 535 BC. Their long-awaited return proved disappointing in every respect because after 50 years everything had changed. Jerusalem bore the scars of the catastrophe of 587 when it was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; the Temple was in ruins, as was much of the city, and the exiles had not received the triumphant welcome they had hoped for.  The prophet speaks of mourning and consolation, but in the face of the prevailing discouragement, he is not content with words of comfort, but even dares to make an almost triumphal speech: "Rejoice with Jerusalem, all you who love her. Rejoice with her, all you who mourn for her" (v. 10). Where does this optimism come from? The answer is simple: from faith, or rather from the experience of Israel, which continues to hope in every age because it is certain that God is always present and, even when all seems lost, knows that nothing is impossible for God. Even in times of great discouragement during the Exodus, it was proclaimed: "Has the Lord's arm been shortened?  (Num 11:23), an image that recurs several times in the book of Isaiah. During the exile, when hope was wavering, Second Isaiah communicated on behalf of God: "Is my hand too short to deliver?" (Isaiah 50:2) And after the return, in a period of great concern, the Third Isaiah, whom we read today, takes up the same image twice, both in chapter 59:1 and in the last verse of today's reading: "The hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants" (v. 14). God, who has delivered his people so many times in the past, will never abandon them. Even on its own, the term 'hand' is an allusion to the exodus from Egypt, when God intervened with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Verse 11 of today's text: "You will be nursed and satisfied at the breast of his consolations" recalls the terrible trial of faith that the people experienced in the desert when they were hungry and thirsty, and even then God assured them of what was necessary.  This reference to the book of Exodus offers two lessons: on the one hand, God wants us to be free and supports all our efforts to establish justice and freedom; but on the other hand, our cooperation is important and necessary. The people left Egypt thanks to God's intervention, and Israel never forgets this, but it had to walk towards the promised land, sometimes with great difficulty. Then, in verse 13, when Isaiah promises on God's behalf, "I will make peace flow like a river," this does not mean that peace will be established magically. The Lord is always faithful to his promises: we must continue to believe that he remains and works at our side in every situation. At the same time, it is essential that we act because peace, justice and happiness need our convinced and generous contribution. 

*Responsorial Psalm (65/66, 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a, 16.20)

 As is often the case, the last verse sums up the meaning of the entire psalm: 'Blessed be God who has not rejected my prayer, who has not denied me his mercy' (v. 20). The vocabulary used shows that this psalm is a song of thanksgiving: "Shout, sing, give him glory... let all the earth bow down before you... I will tell of all his deeds," probably composed to accompany the sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem. It is not an individual who speaks, but the entire people giving thanks to God. Israel gives thanks as always for its deliverance from Egypt with very clear references: "He turned the sea into dry land... they passed through the river on foot"; or: "Come and see the works of God, terrible in his deeds towards men". Even the expression "the works of God" in the Bible always refers to the liberation from Egypt. Moreover, the similarity between this psalm and the song of Moses after the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 15) is striking, an event that illuminates the entire history of Israel: God's work for his people has no other purpose than to free them from all forms of slavery. This is the meaning of chapter 66 of Isaiah, which we read this Sunday in the first reading: in a very dark period of Jerusalem's history, after the Babylonian exile, the message is clear: God will comfort you. We do not know if this psalm was composed at the same time, but in any case the context is the same because it was written to be sung in the Temple of Jerusalem, and the faithful who flock there on pilgrimage foreshadow the whole of humanity that will go up to Jerusalem at the end of time. And if the text of Isaiah announces the new Jerusalem where all nations will flock, the psalm responds: 'Acclaim God, all you of the earth... let all the earth bow down before you... let them sing hymns to your name'. The promised joy is the central theme of these two texts: when times are hard, we must remember that God wants nothing but our happiness and that one day his joy will fill the whole earth, as Isaiah writes, to which the psalm echoes: "Come, listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what he has done for me" (vv. 16, 20). The texts of the prophet Isaiah and the psalmist are immersed in the same atmosphere, but they are not on the same level: the prophet expresses God's revelation, while the psalm is man's prayer. When God speaks, he is concerned with the glory and happiness of Jerusalem. When the people, through the voice of the psalmist, speak, they give God the glory that belongs to him alone: "Shout for joy, all you people of the earth; sing to God, sing praises to his name; give him glory with praise" (vv. 1-3). Finally, the psalm becomes the voice of all Israel: "Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his mercy from me" (v. 20). A wonderful way of saying that love will have the last word.

*Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians (6:14-18)

"As for me, there is no other boast than the cross." Paul's insistence on the cross as his only boast suggests that there is a problem. In fact, the letter to the Galatians begins with a strong rebuke because the believers had very quickly turned from Christ to another gospel, and some were sowing confusion by wanting to overturn the gospel of Christ. Those sowing discord were Jews who had converted to Christianity (Jewish Christians) who wanted to force everyone to practise all the prescriptions of the Jewish religion, including circumcision. Paul then warns them because he fears that behind the discussion about whether or not to be circumcised there lies a real heresy, since only faith in Christ, made concrete by Baptism, saves us, and imposing circumcision would be tantamount to denying this, considering the cross of Christ insufficient. For this reason, he reminds the Galatians that their only boast is the cross of Christ. But to understand Paul, it must be clarified that for him the cross is an event and he does not focus only on the sufferings of Jesus: for him it is the central event in the history of the world. The cross—that is, Christ crucified and risen—has reconciled God and humanity, and has reconciled people among themselves. When he writes that through the cross of Christ, 'the world has been crucified to me', he means that since the event of the cross, the world has been definitively transformed and nothing will ever be the same again, as he also writes in his letter to the Colossians (Col 1:19-20). The proof that the cross is the decisive event in history is that death has been conquered: Christ is risen. For Paul, the cross and the resurrection are inseparable, since they are one and the same event. From the cross, a new creation was born, in contrast to the old world. Throughout this letter, Paul contrasts the regime of the Mosaic Law with the regime of faith; life according to the flesh and life according to the Spirit; the old slavery and the freedom we receive from Jesus Christ. By adhering to Christ through faith, we become free to live according to the Spirit. The old world is at war and humanity does not believe that God is merciful love and, as a result, by disobeying his commandments, creates rivalry and wars for power and money. The new creation, on the contrary, is the obedience of the Son, his total trust, his forgiveness of his executioners, his cheek turned to those who tear his beard, as Isaiah writes. The Passion of Christ was a culmination of hatred and injustice perpetrated in the name of God; but Christ made it a culmination of non-violence, gentleness and forgiveness. And we, in turn, grafted onto the Son, are made capable of the same obedience and the same love. This extraordinary conversion, which is the work of the Spirit of God, inspires Paul to write a particularly incisive formula: Through the cross, the world is crucified for me and I for the world, which means: The way of life according to the world is abolished; we now live according to the Spirit, and this becomes a source of pride for Christians. Proclaiming the cross of Christ is not easy, and when he says, 'I bear the marks of Jesus on my body', he is alluding to the persecutions he himself suffered for proclaiming the Gospel. A final note: this is the only Pauline writing that ends with the word 'brothers'. After arguing with the Galatians, Paul finally finds in his community the brotherhood that binds evangelisers to the evangelised, and the only source of this rediscovered love is 'in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ' (v. 18). 

*From the Gospel according to Luke (10:1-20)

 This page of the Gospel presents Jesus on his way to Jerusalem. After overcoming all temptations and defeating the prince of this world, he must pass on the baton to his disciples, who in turn must pass it on to their successors. The mission is too important and precious and must be shared. First, there is the invitation to pray to "the Lord of the harvest to send workers into his harvest" (v. 2). God knows everything, but he invites us to pray so that we may allow ourselves to be enlightened by him. Prayer is never intended to inform God: that would be presumptuous on our part, but it prepares us to allow ourselves to be transformed by him. He thus sends the large group of disciples on mission, providing them with all the necessary advice to face trials and obstacles that are well known to him. When they are rejected, as Jesus experienced in Samaria, they must not be discouraged but, setting out, they will proclaim to all: "The Kingdom of God is near you" (v. 9).  And they will add: "Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet, we shake off against you" (v. 11). Here are some specific instructions for the disciples. "I am sending you out as lambs among wolves" (v. 3), which indicates that we must always remain meek as lambs, since the mission of the disciple is to bring peace: "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house. If there is a son of peace there, your peace will rest on him'" (vv. 5-6). In other words, we must believe at all costs in the contagious power of peace, because when we sincerely wish for peace, peace truly grows. And if someone does not accept you, do not let yourselves be weighed down by failure and rejection. Every disciple will have a difficult life because, if Jesus himself had nowhere to lay his head, this will also be the case for his disciples. For this reason, they must learn to live day by day without worrying about tomorrow, content with eating and drinking what is served, just as in the desert the people of God could gather manna only for that day. To evangelise, they will take with them only the essentials: "no purse, no bag, no sandals" (v. 4) and "do not go from house to house" (v. 7). There will often be painful choices to make because of the urgency of the mission, and it will be important to resist the temptation of the vanity of success: "Do not rejoice that the demons submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (v. 20). The desire for fame has always been a trap for disciples, but true apostles are not necessarily the most famous. We might think that the seventy-two disciples passed the test well because, on their return, Jesus was able to say, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky" (v. 18).  As he began his final march to Jerusalem, Jesus felt great comfort because of this, so much so that Luke immediately tells us: "At that moment, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles [29 June 2025]

May God bless us and the Virgin protect us. A special remembrance on this Sunday for Pope Leo XIV and his difficult ministry in this time of grave human and spiritual crisis in the world.

*First reading from the Acts of the Apostles (12:1–11)

Jesus was probably executed in April 30. At first, his disciples were very few and did not cause any trouble, but the situation became complicated when they began to perform healings and miracles. Peter was imprisoned twice by the religious authorities: the first time with John, which ended with an appearance before the court and threats; the second time with other apostles whom Luke does not name, who were miraculously freed by an angel (Acts 5:17-20). The religious authorities then had Stephen killed and unleashed a real persecution that drove the most threatened Christians, called 'Hellenists', to leave Jerusalem for Samaria and the Mediterranean coast. James, Peter, John and the rest of the Twelve remained in Jerusalem. In today's episode, the political powers imprison Peter under Herod Agrippa, who reigned from 41 to 44 AD. The nephew of Herod the Great, who reigned at the time of Jesus' birth, Herod Agrippa was careful not to displease either the Roman authorities or the Jews, so much so that it was said that he was Roman in Caesarea and Jewish in Jerusalem. However, in trying to please both sides, he could only be an enemy of the Christians, and it was in this context that, in order to ingratiate himself with the Jews, he had James (son of Zebedee) executed and Peter imprisoned. Peter miraculously escaped again, but what interests Luke much more than Peter's personal fate is the mission of evangelisation: if angels come to free the apostles, it is because the world needs them and God will not allow any power to hinder the proclamation of the Gospel. A historical note: The Jews, reduced to slavery and threatened with outright genocide, were miraculously freed several times and over the centuries proclaimed to the world that this liberation was always the work of God. Unfortunately, in a mysterious reversal, it can happen that those who are charged with proclaiming and accomplishing God's work of liberation end up becoming accomplices to a new form of domination, as happened to Jesus, victim of the perversion of the religious power of his time.  Luke, in his account of Jesus' death and resurrection, highlighted this paradox: it was in the context of the Jewish Passover, the memorial of the liberating God, that the Son of God was put to death by the defenders of God. However, the love and forgiveness of the 'meek and humble' God had the last word: Jesus rose from the dead. And now, in turn, the young Church finds itself facing persecution by religious and political powers, just like Jesus, and once again, this takes place in the context of the Jewish Passover, in Jerusalem. Peter was arrested during the week of Easter, which begins with the Passover meal and continues with the week of Unleavened Bread. The words the angel says to Peter resemble the orders given to the people on the night of the exodus from Egypt (Ex 12:11): "Get up quickly! Put on your belt and your sandals." Luke makes it clear that God is continuing his work of liberation, and the entire account of this miracle is written in the style and with the vocabulary of Christ's passion and resurrection. The scenarios are similar: it is night, there is a prison, there are soldiers, Peter is asleep unlike Jesus, but for both of them the light of God acting rises in the night. In the darkness of trial, Christ's promise to Peter does not fail, because the forces of death and evil will not prevail. The Church, in the throes of history, often repeats Peter's profession of faith: "Now I know that the Lord has sent an angel and rescued me from Herod's hand" (v. 11).

*Responsorial Psalm (33/34, 2-9)

"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them." We sing this psalm after hearing the story of Peter's liberation, knowing that the whole young Church was praying for him. "This poor man cries, and the Lord hears him": faith is crying out to God and knowing that he hears us, as he heard the cry of the community, and Peter was freed. However, Jesus did not escape death on the cross, and Peter, once again a prisoner in Rome, would also be killed. It is often said that everything will be resolved through prayer, but this is not the case, because even those who pray and make novenas and pilgrimages do not always obtain the grace they ask for. So does God sometimes not listen, or when we are not answered as we would like, is it because we have prayed badly or not enough? The answer lies in three points: 1. Yes, God always hears our cry; 2. He responds by giving us his Spirit; 3. He raises up brothers and sisters beside us. 1. God always hears our cry. In the episode of the burning bush (Ex 3), we read: 'God said to Moses, "Yes, I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry under the blows of their overseers. Yes, I know their sufferings." The true believer knows that the Lord is close to us in suffering because he is "on our side," as we read here in Psalm 33/34: I sought the Lord, and he answered me... he delivered me... he hears... he saves... his angel encamps around those who fear him, and he is a refuge. 2. God answers us by giving us his Spirit, as we understand when we listen to what Jesus says in Luke's Gospel: "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. God does not magically make all our worries disappear, but he fills us with his Spirit, and prayer opens us to the action of the Spirit who gives us the strength to change the situation and overcome the trial. We are no longer alone: we read in the responsorial psalm that 'This poor man cries, and the Lord hears him; he saves him from all his troubles... I sought the Lord, he answered me and delivered me from all my fears' (vv. 6-7). Believing that the Lord hears us dispels fear and makes anguish vanish. 3. God raises up brothers and sisters beside us. When, in the episode of the burning bush, God says that he has seen the misery of the people in Egypt and heard their cry, he inspires Moses to free the people: "Now, since the cry of the Israelites has come to me... go, I am sending you to Pharaoh. Bring my people out of Egypt" (Ex 3:9-10). How many times in the experience of suffering has God raised up the prophets and leaders that the people needed to take their destiny into their own hands. Ultimately, the responsorial psalm expresses the historical experience of Israel, where faith appears as a twofold cry: man cries out his anguish like Job, and God always listens and frees him. Man then prays in thanksgiving like Israel, who, despite a thousand vicissitudes, never lost hope, singing: "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall be in my mouth. My glory and my praise is the Lord; let the poor hear and be glad" (vv. 2-3).

*Second reading from the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy (4:6-8, 17-18)

It is thought that the two letters to Timothy were perhaps written a few years later by a disciple of Paul, but everyone agrees that the text we read today is his; indeed, it represents his testament and his last farewell to Timothy. Imprisoned in Rome, Paul is aware that he will be executed and that the moment of his great departure has come, certain that he must appear before God. He therefore looks back on his past, from when Christ seized him like a sword on the road to Damascus, and takes stock of his life using four flashbacks that clearly outline the itinerary of his mission. 1. The first image is linked to worship: "I am already being poured out as a drink offering" (v. 6), alluding to an ancient cult practice called libation, which consisted of pouring a liquid (wine, oil, water, milk or honey) as a sacred offering, symbolising the total gift of life to the deity. Paul uses this image to say that his existence is a total sacrifice to Christ. 2. The second image is linked to navigation: "the time has come for me to leave this life" (v. 6). Paul knows that his journey is almost over after storms and problems of all kinds. He chose the Greek word 'analusis' (dissolution, liberation), used in nautical and military contexts to indicate the loosening of the ropes that hold a ship anchored so that it can set sail for the open sea, and in military contexts to indicate the dismantling of tents in a camp when soldiers leave for a new mission. Paul means that his life is about to be freed from earthly ties to set sail for his homeland, the house of the Father. 3. The third image is linked to the struggle, not violent but internal and spiritual, to evangelise: 'I have fought the good fight' (v. 7). His life is marked by struggles, persecutions, bitter confrontations and betrayals, yet, as he writes later, he has always been delivered "from the lion's mouth" (v. 17). 4. The fourth image is connected to sport: "I have finished the race" (v. 7). The race run in ancient stadiums is a symbol of the Christian who never abandons the missionary path and, at the end, if he keeps the faith, receives the "crown" that the Lord reserves for the true disciples of Christ. This race is not a competition between athletes because each one advances at his own pace towards Christ and "his manifestation". And so, like Jesus and Stephen, at the moment of his execution, Paul forgives those who abandoned him, certain of the Lord's power to deliver him from all evil. And the real danger from which God preserved him is that of renouncing his mission until death. However, this is not a reason for boasting, because he knows that God saved him, and for this reason he sings the song of glory as he is born into true life: 'To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

*From the Gospel according to Matthew (16:13-19)

This episode marks a turning point in the life of Jesus and Peter because as soon as Simon proclaims who Jesus is, he receives from him the mission for the Church. Christ builds his Church on a man whose only virtue is that of having proclaimed what the Father revealed to him: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v. 16). This means that the only true pillar of the Church is his faith in Christ, who immediately responds: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (v. 18). This famous "Petrine" text is built on three symbols: The first is the "rock" that is linked to the Aramaic name Kefa: "You are Peter". In Greek: "Σὺ εἶ Πέτρος (Petros)" means "you are Peter" or "Rock". Jesus changes Simon's name to Peter, giving him a new mission and identity. In the Semitic context, changing a name indicates a change in a person's destiny and reality. Simon thus becomes the rock on which Christ lays the foundation of the Church, which remains his and of which he is forever the irreplaceable "cornerstone." In ancient times, stone was a symbol of stability and security, so building on stone means building on a firm and immovable foundation, and on Peter the Lord begins to give visible form to his community. He promises that his Church, founded on this rock—faith and Peter's mission (see v. 6)—will resist the forces of evil, and Peter thus becomes the first visible shepherd of the community, even though the true foundation and eternal Shepherd is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11). The second symbol is the keys: 'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven'. The keys, a sign of authority and responsibility over a house, are an effective image of the power that Christ transmits to Peter. Entrusting the keys is equivalent to conferring the power to open and close, to allow or deny access. Peter is not the founder and ruler of a kingdom, but the immediate leader who exercises delegated power by guiding the community of believers, teaching and making binding decisions in matters of faith and morals. The third symbol is expressed in the twofold action of binding and loosing: "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (v. 19). The expressions "to bind" and "to loose" were common in rabbinic language and indicated the power to declare something lawful or unlawful, to permit or prohibit certain actions. Applied to Peter, they emphasise his authority to make doctrinal and disciplinary decisions in full fidelity to the word of God (Jn 20:23), an authority he shares in the Church with the other apostles (Mt 18:18), even though Peter retains a unique and pre-eminent role. Finally, Jesus says, 'I will build my Church': it is therefore he who builds and guides the Church that remains forever his, so that we can walk safely because 'the powers of hell will not prevail against it' (v. 18).

+ Giovanni D'Ercole