Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)  [18 January 2026]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. Today begins the week of prayer for Christian unity (18-25 January) and Ordinary Time resumes.

First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (49:3-6)

This passage belongs to a group of four texts from the prophet Isaiah, called the "Songs of the Servant". They date back to the dramatic period of the Babylonian Exile (6th century BC) and are addressed to a discouraged people who wonder if God has forgotten them. The prophet, however, announces a decisive word: Israel is still God's servant. The Covenant is not broken; God has not only not abandoned his people, but entrusts them with an even greater mission. In this song, the Servant is not a particular individual, but the people of Israel as a whole, as the text clearly states: 'You are my servant, Israel'. Its vocation is equally clear: to manifest the glory of God. This glory is not abstract, but concrete: it is God's work of salvation, identified here with the return from exile. The liberation of the people will be the visible proof that God is the saviour. Thus, those who have been saved become witnesses of salvation before the world. In the ancient mindset, the defeat and deportation of a people could seem like the failure of their God; liberation, on the other hand, will manifest to the pagan peoples the superiority of the God of Israel. Being a "servant" therefore means, on the one hand, the certainty of God's support and, on the other, a mission: to continue to believe in salvation and to bear witness to it, so that other peoples may also recognise God as saviour. This explains the final announcement: 'I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth'. God's plan concerns not only Israel but all humanity. Here, the messianic expectation evolves profoundly: the Messiah is no longer an individual king but a collective subject, the people of Israel, who do not exercise political power but carry out a mission of service. One difficulty remains: if the Servant is Israel, how can he "gather Israel"? Isaiah is actually addressing the "Remnant," the small group of faithful who did not lose their faith during the exile. This Remnant has the task of bringing the people back to God, that is, of converting them. But this is only the first stage: the rise of Israel becomes the initial sign of the plan of universal salvation. Finally, the prophet insists on the divine origin of this message: it is not the fruit of human invention, but the word of the Lord. In the midst of discouragement, a confession of humble and profound trust resounds: the Servant's strength is not in himself, but in God.

decisive role of the faithful Remnant. +The foundation of everything: strength comes from God alone, not from man.

*Responsorial Psalm (39/40) 

The statement in Psalm 39/40 – "sacrifice  and offering  you do not desire" is surprising, because the psalms were sung in the temple itself, while sacrifices were being offered. In reality, the meaning is clear: what matters to God is not the ritual itself, but the attitude of the heart that it expresses. This is why the psalmist can say: "You have opened my ears"... then I said: "Here I am, I am coming". The whole Bible recounts a long educational journey in understanding sacrifice, which goes hand in hand with the revelation of the true face of God. To sacrifice means "to make sacred", to enter into communion with God; but the way of doing so changes as we understand who God really is. Israel did not invent sacrifice: it was a common practice among the peoples of the Near East. However, from the beginning, biblical faith introduces a decisive difference: human sacrifices are absolutely forbidden. God is the God of life, and cannot ask for death in order to draw closer to Him. Even the story of Abraham and Isaac shows that 'sacrificing' does not mean killing, but offering. Over the centuries, a true conversion of sacrifice took place, concerning first and foremost its meaning. If God is thought of as a being to be appeased or bought, sacrifice becomes a magical gesture. If, on the other hand, God is recognised as the one who loves first and gives freely, then sacrifice becomes a response of love and gratitude, a sign of the Covenant and not a commodity to be exchanged. Biblical pedagogy thus leads from the logic of 'giving in order to receive' to the logic of grace: everything is a gift, and man is called to respond with the 'sacrifice of the lips', that is, with thanksgiving. The substance of sacrifice also changes: the prophets teach that the true sacrifice pleasing to God is to give life, not to give death. As Hosea says (6:6): 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'. The ultimate ideal is the service of our brothers and sisters, expressed in the Songs of the Servant of Isaiah: a life given so that others may live. Psalm 39/40 summarises this journey: God opens man's ear to enter into a dialogue of love; in the New Covenant, sacrifice becomes totally spiritual: 'Behold, I come'.

*Second Reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1:1-3)

This text celebrates the dignity of those of us who are baptised. It is chosen for this Sunday, which marks the return to ordinary time in the liturgy: ordinary does not mean trivial, but simply in the order of the year. Every Sunday we celebrate extraordinary events: here St Paul reminds us of the greatness of our title as Christians. According to Paul, we are those who invoke the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, recognising him as God. To say 'Lord' means that Jesus is the centre of our life, of history and of the world. This is why Paul calls us 'holy people': being holy does not mean being perfect, but belonging to God. Baptism consecrates us to Him, and the community deserves to be honoured in the Eucharistic celebration. If Jesus is not truly our Lord, we must question our faith. Paul emphasises the name of Christ several times in his letter, showing that our relationship with Him is the foundation of Christian life. All Christians are 'called': Paul himself did not choose to be an apostle, but was called by God on the road to Damascus. The word Church (ecclesia) means 'called', and every local community is called to reflect God's universal love. The mission is universal, but accessible: God does not ask us for extraordinary gestures, only willingness to do His will, as today's Psalm reminds us: 'Behold, I am coming'. The Eucharistic liturgy echoes Paul's words: in the gesture of peace and in the greeting 'The Lord be with you', we are immersed in the grace and peace of Christ. This text is particularly suitable for the week of prayer for Christian unity: it reminds us of what unites Christians throughout the world, called to be seeds of a new humanity, which one day will be reunited in grace and peace around Jesus Christ. The historical context of this letter: Corinth was a city of great wealth and poverty, a crossroads between the Adriatic and the Aegean, with a mixed population and marked social contrasts. The Christian community founded by Paul reflected these differences. The letter to the Corinthians that we read today is probably the first to have come down to us, written around 55-56 AD, in response to specific questions from the community.

From the Gospel according to John (1:29-34)

John the Baptist solemnly proclaims: "I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God." At that time, the title "Son of God" was synonymous with Messiah: to recognise this in Jesus meant to announce the Messiah awaited by Israel. Every king of Jerusalem received the anointing and the title of Son of God as a sign that the Spirit was guiding him; but unlike previous kings, Jesus is the one on whom the Spirit 'sleeps' permanently, indicating that his entire mission will be led by the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist also describes Jesus as 'the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'. The figure of the lamb evokes three images: the Paschal Lamb, a sign of liberation; Isaiah's Suffering Servant, innocent and bearing the sins of others; the lamb offered by God, as in Abraham's trial with Isaac. Jesus is therefore the Messiah, the liberator of humanity, but he does not immediately eliminate sin: he offers us the possibility of freeing ourselves from it by living guided by the Spirit, with love, generosity and forgiveness. Salvation is not for one man alone, but for all believers, the 'Body of Christ'. The new humanity begins in Jesus, through his obedience and his full communion with God, offering a model of new life.

*Origen, in his commentary on the Gospel of John, writes: 'Thus John calls Jesus the Lamb of God: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." With these words, John declares that Christ, the one who was before him, is the one who takes away the sins of the world.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Sitting and keeping eyes on the accounting records, only then rich - nay, ‘sir’

(Mk 2:13-17)

At the time when Mk drafted his Gospel, in the communities of Rome a friction arose over the kind of eligible participation in meetings, and on Breaking the Bread.

Opinions conflict that confronted one against the other the group of converts from paganism and the Judaizers.

Mk narrates the episode of Levi [avoiding explicitly calling him Matthew] to accentuate his derivation - and in this way describing how Jesus himself had faced the same conflict: without any ritual or sacred attention, except to man.

The evangelist thus intended to help the faithful to understand the leap from common religiosity to Faith in the Person of Christ, and trust in the brethren, without distinction.

To this end, the Gospel passage emphasizes that the apostles themselves (v.15) had not been called by the Lord at all to the rigourous segregation practice typical of ethnic-purist beliefs.

Mk’s Good News is that life of Communion is neither a gratification, nor a recognition.

The Eucharist is not a reward for merits, nor a discrimination in favor of sacral marginalization.

Prohibition must be replaced by friendship. Intransigence must be supplanted by indulgence, hardness by condescension.

The disciples of the Lord must share existence with anyone - even public sinners like the son of Alpheus.

This without first demanding any license, nor long disciplines of the arcane - or practices that celebrate distances [such as ablutions that preceded the meal].

In the parallel text of Mt 9,9-13 the tax collector is explicitly called by name: Matthew, in order to emphasize the identical appeal to the community.

Matathiah means «man of God», «given by God»; precisely «Gift of God» [Matath-Yah].

According to the direct teaching of Jesus himself - even towards one of the apostles - the only impurity is that of not giving space to those who ask for it because they have none.

The Lord wants to share with transgressors, not because of an ideological banality: it is the invitation to recognize themselves. Not to subject ourselves to some demeaning paternalism, but because allowing ourselves to be transformed from poor or rich into 'lords' is an asset.

«And it happens that He lies [at canteen] in His House and many tax collectors and sinners were lying down with Jesus and his disciples, because they were multitudes and they followed him» (v.15).

«They were lying down at canteen»: according to the way of celebrating solemn banquets by ‘free’ men - now all free.

How wonderful, such a ‘monstrance’! A living Body of Christ that smells of concrete Union, conviviality of differences - not of rejections for transgression!

It is such all empathetic and regal the beautiful awareness that paves the way and makes credible the content of the Announcement (v.17) - although it impacts the susceptibility of the official teachers.

But Jesus inaugurates a new kind of relationship, and a New Covenant, of fruitful divergences - even within us.

It is not ‘perfection’ that makes us love the Exodus.

[Saturday 1st wk. in O.T.  January 17, 2026]

But can he participate in the rite?

(Mk 2:13-17)

Jesus does not exclude anyone from his friendship. The good proclamation of the Gospel consists precisely in this: in the offer of God's grace to the sinner! In the figure of Matthew, therefore, the Gospels propose to us a real paradox: the one who is apparently furthest from holiness can even become a model of welcoming God's mercy and allow us to glimpse its wonderful effects in his own existence.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 30 August 2006].

At the time when Mk wrote his Gospel (civil war in the year of the four Caesars) friction arose in the communities of Rome over the kind of permissible participation in meetings, and the Breaking of Bread.

Conflict of opinion pitted the group of converts from paganism and the Judaizing group against each other: the latter did not like habitual contact with those far from their mentality, but rather distinction.

Friction arose both in the assemblies and in the quality of everyday fraternal life. E.g. those from Judaism did not like to enter the homes of pagans - much less did they like to share the table with the (supposedly) defiled.

These church brethren were accustomed to still sacredly consider it profane to have any contiguity with anyone, or even to accept the judged infected.

The devout conception of moral subdivisions led them to believe that it was necessary to keep newcomers at a distance, under the simple suspicion that they had perhaps not adapted to the (as yet undemythologised) identity weight of Semitic traditions.

The evangelist narrates the episode of Levi [avoiding explicitly calling it Matthew] to accentuate its paradoxically cultic and Semitic derivation.

Thus Mk wants to describe how Jesus himself faced the same conflict as above: without any ritual or sacral attention, except to man.

In short, according to the Master, in the journey of Faith, the relationship with the distant and different, and our own hardships or hidden abysses, have something to tell us.

Mk intended to help the Judeo-Christian faithful to understand the leap of Faith in itinere - compared with common religiosity, full of absurd beliefs, separations, squeamish attitudes.

The discriminating opening is hope in life itself, which comes and calls to surrender artificial positions, so here is the possibility of inserting the teaching, the story, the Person of Christ.

He leads to existential reliance, to global trust; to believing the story of the public sinner, who is everyone, to be his own.

To proceed on such a Path one starts from the unexpressed energies of one's own primordial states, recognised, assumed, made personally fruitful and dilated in one's brothers and sisters; without distinction.

To this end, the Gospel passage emphasises that in its time the apostles (v.15) had by no means been called by the Lord to the same rigorous practice of segregation typical of ethno-purist beliefs, which nevertheless prevailed around them.

Therefore, the believers of the late 60s did not have to keep themselves apart: rather, they needed to learn how to break the isolation of the norms of social and cultic conformity.

The Father is Friendly Presence.

The Glad Tidings of that pericope is that the life of fraternity and coexistence is not gratification or recognition.

The Eucharist is therefore not a reward for merit, nor a discriminator in favour of sacred marginalisation - or adult casuistry.

God does not complicate our existence, burdening it with too many obligations and duties that weigh down our days and our whole life; on the contrary, He sweeps them away.

For this reason, the figure of the new Rabbi touched people's hearts, without borders.

In short, for us too, prohibition must be replaced by friendship. Intransigence must be supplanted by indulgence; harshness by condescension.

In such an adventure we are not called to forms of disassociation: we start with ourselves.

Thus one arrives without hysteria at micro-relationships, and without ideological charges, at the current even devout mentality.

No more bogus goals, superficial objectives, obsessions and useless reasoning, nor mechanical habits, ancient or others' [never reworked in themselves].

With such an experience of inner excavation and identification, women and men of Faith must share life with anyone - even with known transgressors like the son of Alphaeus; seeing themselves in them, laying down artifices.

Without first demanding any license, nor long disciplines of the arcane or pious practices that celebrate detachment, such as the ablutions that preceded the meal.

In the parallel text of Matthew 9:9-13, the tax collector is explicitly called by name: Matthew. This is to emphasise the same content - the identical call to community. 

Matathiah in fact means 'man of God', 'given by God'; precisely 'Gift of God' (Matath-Yah) [despite the anger of the official authorities].

According to the direct teaching of Jesus himself - even with regard to one of the apostles - the only impurity the Father does not tolerate is that of not giving space to those who ask for it because they have none.

The Lord wants full communion with transgressors, not because of an ideological banality: it is the invitation to acknowledge, confess, agree, share.

Not to subject his intimates to some form of humiliating paternalism: knowing oneself to be incomplete and allowing oneself to be transformed from poor or rich into 'lords' is a resource.

"And it came to pass that He reclined at Canteen in His House, and many publicans and sinners were reclining with Jesus and His disciples, for they were multitudes and followed Him" (v.15 Greek text).

"They were stretched out [at table]": in keeping with the way solemn banquets were celebrated by 'free' men - now all free.

How wonderful, such a 'monstrance'! A living Body of Christ that smells of concrete union, conviviality of differences - not rejection by transgression!

It is this empathetic and regal beautiful awareness that smoothes out and makes credible the content of the proclamation (v.17) - even though it strikes the susceptibility of the official teachers.

From now on, the division between believers and non-believers will be far more humanising than between "born again" and not, or pure and impure.

A whole other carat - the principle of a saved life that unfolds and overflows beyond the clubs.

Christ also calls, welcomes and redeems the Levi in us, that is, the more rubric - or worn-out - side of our personality.

Even our unbearable or rightly hated character: the rigid one and the - equally our - rubricist one.

By reintegrating opposites, it will even make them flourish: they will become inclusive, indispensable, allied and intimately winning aspects of the future testimony, empowered with genuine love.

Being considered strong, capable of leading, observant, excellent, pristine, magnificent, performing, extraordinary, glorious, unfailing... damages people.

It puts a mask on us, makes us one-sided; it takes away understanding. It floats the character we are sitting in, above reality.

For one's growth and blossoming, more important than always winning is to learn to accept, to surrender to the point of capitulation; to make oneself considered deficient, inadequate.

Says the Tao Tê Ching [XLV]: 'Great uprightness is like sinuousness, great skill is like ineptitude, great eloquence is like stammering'.

The artificial norm (unfortunately, sometimes also the unwise leadership) makes one live according to success and external glory, obtained through compartmentalisation.

Jesus inaugurates a new kind of relationship, and 'covenants' of fruitful divergence - a New Covenant, even within ourselves.

Here, the Word alone 'Follow Me' (v.14) [not 'others'] creates everything.

The Master's Wisdom and the multifaceted art of Nature [exemplified in the crystalline wisdom of the Tao] lead all to be incisive and human.

It is not 'perfection' that makes us love Exodus.

To internalise and live the message:

What is your spiritual and human strength? How was it generated?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Continuing the series of portraits of the Twelve Apostles that we began a few weeks ago, let us reflect today on Matthew. To tell the truth, it is almost impossible to paint a complete picture of him because the information we have of him is scarce and fragmentary. What we can do, however, is to outline not so much his biography as, rather, the profile of him that the Gospel conveys.

In the meantime, he always appears in the lists of the Twelve chosen by Jesus (cf. Mt 10: 3; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13).

His name in Hebrew means "gift of God". The first canonical Gospel, which goes under his name, presents him to us in the list of the Twelve, labelled very precisely: "the tax collector" (Mt 10: 3).

Thus, Matthew is identified with the man sitting at the tax office whom Jesus calls to follow him: "As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, "Follow me'. And he rose and followed him" (Mt 9: 9). Mark (cf. 2: 13-17) and Luke (cf. 5: 27-30), also tell of the calling of the man sitting at the tax office, but they call him "Levi".

To imagine the scene described in Mt 9: 9, it suffices to recall Caravaggio's magnificent canvas, kept here in Rome at the Church of St Louis of the French.

A further biographical detail emerges from the Gospels: in the passage that immediately precedes the account of the call, a miracle that Jesus worked at Capernaum is mentioned (cf. Mt 9: 1-8; Mk 2: 1-12) and the proximity to the Sea of Galilee, that is, the Lake of Tiberias (cf. Mk 2: 13-14).

It is possible to deduce from this that Matthew exercised the function of tax collector at Capernaum, which was exactly located "by the sea" (Mt 4: 13), where Jesus was a permanent guest at Peter's house.

On the basis of these simple observations that result from the Gospel, we can advance a pair of thoughts.

The first is that Jesus welcomes into the group of his close friends a man who, according to the concepts in vogue in Israel at that time, was regarded as a public sinner.

Matthew, in fact, not only handled money deemed impure because of its provenance from people foreign to the People of God, but he also collaborated with an alien and despicably greedy authority whose tributes moreover, could be arbitrarily determined.

This is why the Gospels several times link "tax collectors and sinners" (Mt 9: 10; Lk 15: 1), as well as "tax collectors and prostitutes" (Mt 21: 31).

Furthermore, they see publicans as an example of miserliness (cf. Mt 5: 46: they only like those who like them), and mention one of them, Zacchaeus, as "a chief tax collector, and rich" (Lk 19: 2), whereas popular opinion associated them with "extortioners, the unjust, adulterers" (Lk 18: 11).

A first fact strikes one based on these references: Jesus does not exclude anyone from his friendship. Indeed, precisely while he is at table in the home of Matthew-Levi, in response to those who expressed shock at the fact that he associated with people who had so little to recommend them, he made the important statement: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners" (Mk 2: 17).

The good news of the Gospel consists precisely in this: offering God's grace to the sinner!

Elsewhere, with the famous words of the Pharisee and the publican who went up to the Temple to pray, Jesus actually indicates an anonymous tax collector as an appreciated example of humble trust in divine mercy: while the Pharisee is boasting of his own moral perfection, the "tax collector... would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!'".

And Jesus comments: "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Lk 18: 13-14).

Thus, in the figure of Matthew, the Gospels present to us a true and proper paradox: those who seem to be the farthest from holiness can even become a model of the acceptance of God's mercy and offer a glimpse of its marvellous effects in their own lives.

St John Chrysostom makes an important point in this regard: he notes that only in the account of certain calls is the work of those concerned mentioned. Peter, Andrew, James and John are called while they are fishing, while Matthew, while he is collecting tithes.

These are unimportant jobs, Chrysostom comments, "because there is nothing more despicable than the tax collector, and nothing more common than fishing" (In Matth. Hom.: PL 57, 363). Jesus' call, therefore, also reaches people of a low social class while they go about their ordinary work.

Another reflection prompted by the Gospel narrative is that Matthew responds instantly to Jesus' call: "he rose and followed him". The brevity of the sentence clearly highlights Matthew's readiness in responding to the call. For him it meant leaving everything, especially what guaranteed him a reliable source of income, even if it was often unfair and dishonourable. Evidently, Matthew understood that familiarity with Jesus did not permit him to pursue activities of which God disapproved.

The application to the present day is easy to see: it is not permissible today either to be attached to things that are incompatible with the following of Jesus, as is the case with riches dishonestly achieved.

Jesus once said, mincing no words: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me" (Mt 19: 21).

This is exactly what Matthew did: he rose and followed him! In this "he rose", it is legitimate to read detachment from a sinful situation and at the same time, a conscious attachment to a new, upright life in communion with Jesus.

Lastly, let us remember that the tradition of the ancient Church agrees in attributing to Matthew the paternity of the First Gospel. This had already begun with Bishop Papias of Hierapolis in Frisia, in about the year 130.

He writes: "Matthew set down the words (of the Lord) in the Hebrew tongue and everyone interpreted them as best he could" (in Eusebius of Cesarea, Hist. Eccl. III, 39, 16).

Eusebius, the historian, adds this piece of information: "When Matthew, who had first preached among the Jews, decided also to reach out to other peoples, he wrote down the Gospel he preached in his mother tongue; thus, he sought to put in writing, for those whom he was leaving, what they would be losing with his departure" (ibid., III, 24, 6).

The Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew or Aramaic is no longer extant, but in the Greek Gospel that we possess we still continue to hear, in a certain way, the persuasive voice of the publican Matthew, who, having become an Apostle, continues to proclaim God's saving mercy to us. And let us listen to St Matthew's message, meditating upon it ever anew also to learn to stand up and follow Jesus with determination.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 30 August 2006]

5. Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ's power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in man". He alone knows it.

So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.

[Pope John Paul II, homily at the beginning of his pontificate 22 October 1978]

With his mercy Jesus also chooses apostles 'from the worst', from among sinners and the corrupt. But it is up to them to preserve "the memory of this mercy", remembering "from where one has been chosen", without getting head over heels or thinking of making a career as officials, pastoral planners and businessmen. It is the concrete testimony of Matthew's conversion that Pope Francis re-proposed while celebrating Mass at Santa Marta on Friday 21 September, on the feast day of the apostle and evangelist.

"In the Collect Prayer we prayed to the Lord and said that in his plan of mercy he chose Matthew, the publican, to constitute him an apostle," the Pontiff immediately recalled, who indicated as a key to reading "three words: plan of mercy, choose-choose, constitute".

"As he was leaving," Francis explained, referring precisely to the Gospel passage from Matthew (9:9-13), "Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, 'Follow me. And he got up and followed him. He was a publican, that is, a corrupt man, because for money he betrayed his country. A traitor to his people: the worst".

In fact, the Pope pointed out, some might object that 'Jesus has no common sense in choosing people': 'why did he choose out of so many others' this person 'from the worst, from nothing, from the most despised place'? Moreover, the Pontiff explained, in the same way the Lord "chose the Samaritan woman to go and announce that he was the messiah: a woman rejected by the people because she was not really a saint; and he chose many other sinners and made them apostles". And then, he added, 'in the life of the Church, so many Christians, so many saints who were chosen from the lowest'.

Francis recalled that 'this consciousness that we Christians should have - from where I was chosen, from where I was chosen to be a Christian - must remain throughout life, remain there and have the memory of our sins, the memory that the Lord had mercy on my sins and chose me to be a Christian, to be an apostle'.

So 'the Lord chooses'. The Collect prayer is clear: 'Lord, you chose the publican Matthew and made him an apostle': that is, he insisted, 'from the worst to the highest place'. In response to this call, the Pope noted, 'what did Matthew do? Did he dress up? Did he begin to say 'I am the prince of the apostles, with you', with the apostles? Am I in charge here? No! He worked all his life for the Gospel, how patiently he wrote the Gospel in Aramaic'. Matthew, the Pontiff explained, 'always had in mind where he was chosen from: from the lowest'.

The fact is, the Pope reiterated, that "when the apostle forgets his origins and begins to make a career, he distances himself from the Lord and becomes an official; who does a lot of good, perhaps, but is not an apostle". And so "he will be incapable of transmitting Jesus; he will be a fixer of pastoral plans, of many things; but in the end, a businessman, a businessman of the kingdom of God, because he has forgotten from where he was chosen".

For this reason, Francis said, it is important to have 'the memory, always, of our origins, of the place where the Lord has looked at me; that fascination of the Lord's gaze that called me to be a Christian, to be an apostle. This memory must accompany the life of the apostle and of every Christian".

"In fact, we are always used to looking at the sins of others: look at this, look at that, look at that other," the Pope continued. Instead, "Jesus told us: 'please do not look at the mote in other people's eyes; look at what you have in your heart'". But, the Pontiff insisted, "it is more fun to speak ill of others: it is a beautiful thing, it seems". So much so that "to speak ill of others" seems a bit "like honey candy, which is very good: you take one, it's good; you take two, it's good; three... you take half a kilo and your stomach hurts and you're sick".

Instead, Francis suggested, 'speak ill of yourself, accuse yourself, remembering your sins, remembering where the Lord has chosen you from. You were chosen, you were chosen. He took you by the hand and brought you here. When the Lord chose you, he did not do things by halves: he chose you for something great, always'.

'Being a Christian,' he said, 'is a great, beautiful thing. We are the ones who stray and want to stay in the middle, because that is very difficult; and to negotiate with the Lord' saying: 'Lord, no, only up to here'. But "the Lord is patient, the Lord can tolerate things: he is patient, he waits for us. But we lack generosity: he does not. He always takes you from the lowest to the highest. So he did with Matthew and he did with all of us and he will continue to do". 

Referring to the apostle, the Pontiff explained how he 'felt something strong, so strong, that he left the love of his life on the table: money'. Matthew "left the corruption of his heart to follow Jesus. Jesus' gaze, strong: "Follow me!". And he left", despite being "so attached" to money. "And surely - there was no telephone at that time - he must have sent someone to say to his friends, to those of the clique, of the group of publicans: 'come and have lunch with me, for I will make feast for the master'".

So, as the Gospel passage tells us, 'they were all at table, these: the worst of the worst in the society of that time. And Jesus with them. Jesus did not go to lunch with the righteous, with those who felt righteous, with the doctors of the law, at that time. Once, twice he also went with the latter, but at that moment he went with them, with that syndicate of publicans'.

And, Francis continued, 'the doctors of the law were scandalised. They called the disciples and said, 'how is it that your master does this, with these people? He becomes impure!": eating with an impure person infects you, you are no longer pure". Hearing this, it is Jesus himself who "says this third word: 'Go and learn what it means: 'mercy I want and not sacrifices'". For "God's mercy seeks all, forgives all. Only, he asks you to say: 'Yes, help me'. Only that".

"When the apostles went among sinners, think of Paul, in the community of Corinth, some were scandalised," the Pope explained. They would say, "But why do you go to those people who are pagans, they are sinful people, why do you go there?" Jesus' answer is clear: "Because it is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick: 'Mercy I want and not sacrifices'".

"Matthew chose! He always chooses Jesus," the Pontiff relaunched. The Lord chooses "through people, through situations or directly". Matthew is "constituted apostle: he who constitutes in the Church and gives the mission is Jesus. The Apostle Matthew and many others recalled their origins: sinners, corrupt. Why? Because of mercy. For the design of mercy".

Francis recognised that 'understanding the Lord's mercy is a mystery; but the greatest, most beautiful mystery is the heart of God. If you want to get right to the heart of God, take the path of mercy and allow yourself to be treated with mercy'. This is exactly the story of "Matthew, chosen from the money-changer's desk where taxes were paid. Chosen from below. Established in the highest place. Why? For mercy'. In this perspective, the Pope concluded, "we learn what 'mercy I want, and not sacrifice' means".

[Pope Francis, at St. Martha's, Osservatore Romano, 22.09.2018]

Religiosity and Faith: unusual crossroads of Tenderness

(Mk 2:1-12)

Jesus teaches and heals. He does not announce the Sovereign of religions, but a Father - attractive figure, who neither threatens nor punishes, but welcomes, dialogues, forgives and makes us grow.

The opposite of what the official guides conveyed, linked to the idea of an archaic, suspicious and prejudiced deity, which discriminated between friends and enemies.

God expresses himself not in oppressive forms, but in the way of the family and interhuman Covenant: He doesn’t enjoy the perfect, sterilized and pure, but offers to all his Love without requirements.

In fact, imperfection is not an expression of sin, and in any case sin is not an absolute force (v.7).

The Lord’s co-workers bring to Him all the paralytics, that is, those who are stuck and continue to stay in their stretchers - where perhaps those of the common opinion have laid them down.

They are people who in life do not seem to proceed either in the direction of the Eternal, nor go to others. They cannot even meet themselves.

Only personal contact with Christ can untie these vegetating corpses from their depressing pond.

God’s friends «come bringing to him a paralytic supported by four» (Mk 2:3): they come from everywhere, from the four cardinal points; from very different origins, even opposite - that you do not expect.

They do everything to lead the needy to the Master, but sometimes they find themselves in front of a waterproof crowd, which does not allow a direct personal relationship (vv.3-4).

What to do? A dismantling action. Work pleasing to the Father - and which the Son evaluates as an expression of Faith (v.5)!

Faith that thinks and believes «an open world that makes room for everyone» [FT n.155].

The "synagogues" unbearable, on the contrary, promote a “binary division” [FT n.156] that attempts to «classify».

In short, there are refractory clubs that claim to appropriate poor Jesus. Therefore their "headquarters" must be uncovered and opened wide (v.4) - with extreme decision, in order not to make life pale.

We note that not the right stages, but only the unusual initiative overcomes the pond of the structures taken hostage - where you should just line up, wait for the turn, settle satisfied... and doze off.

The impetus for the demands of full, insightful life can and must overcome every sense of false collective compactness.

No sign of joy from the authorities (vv.7-8) who only draw negative diagnoses - instead people are enthusiastic (v.12).

Mk’s passage makes us understand that the ‘paralytic’ problem is not his discomfort, the sense of oppression, the apparent misfortune.

These are not the ruptures in the relationship with life and with God.

On the contrary, the impediment becomes a paradoxical reason for seeking therapy, and research of ‘vis-à-vis’.

The eccentric configurations - considered miserable - in fact contain secret doors, immense virtues, and the cure itself.

Even, they drive towards a new existence. They urge us, and oblige us to a personal relationship with our Lord. Almost looking for the Resemblance.

In short, we are called to choose in a very unusual way, compared to clichés.

And according to the Gospels the initiative of personal Faith is the decisive fork in the way - road of the impelling and universal desire to live completely.

Unusual crossroads of the Tenderness and Faith.

[Friday 1st wk. in O.T.  January 16, 2026]

Uncovering and opening "synagogues": unusual crossroads of Tenderness

(Mk 2:1-12)

Paralysis and punishment: different Tenderness [introduction].

The episode bears witness to the harsh clash between the synagogue and the first fraternities of Faith, where without prior conditions of ritual or legal purity all were invited to share the table and the breaking of bread.

On the Lord's ideal delegation, a fraternal practice (unknown to others) of mutual forgiveness and even cancellation of contracted debts, up to the communion of goods, was already in force in the early churches.

A reality capable of putting any person back on their feet and moving forward, even the wretched - starting with their conscience (v.3), stifled by a religion that accentuated the sense of unworthiness.

According to popular belief, conditions of penury or misfortune were a punishment.

Jesus, on the other hand, is the One who restores a horizon of authenticity to believing, new awareness and hope to the person suffering from paralysis - that is, unable to go towards God and towards men.

"I say to you, get up, take your stretcher and go to your house" [Mk 2:11; cf. Mt 9:6; Lk 5:24].

Starting from what we are - that is, already resourceful, beyond all appearances - we live by Faith the same state as the "Son of Man" (v.10).

Such is the requirement of the Risen in the Lord: those who manifest the Person in fullness - in the divine condition.

In Christ we can free ourselves from the constraints that made us live horizontal, prone and ankylosed.

Recovering dignity, we can now stand upright and promote life; thus return to the House that is truly ours [Mk 2:10-12; cf. Mt 9:6-7; Lk 9:24-25].

For the experts, the forgiveness announced by the Lord is not only an offence against their supposed prestige and spiritual rank, but a sacrilege and blasphemy.

After all, how else can the masses - on the part of these destructive leaders - be appealed to, if not by intimidating them and making them feel inadequate, sterile, incapable, unempowered, with no way out?

The whole life of the people was conditioned by obsessions of impurity and sin.

Instead, the Master reveals that the divine propensity is only to forgive in order to enhance - and the attitude of - the man of Faith, to be born again and to help do so.

Indeed, the Father's gratuitousness is seen in the action of expectation and understanding exercised by the most authentic men of God: those capable of chiselling healthy environments.

Not only by their own virtue, but because tolerance introduces new, unknown forces; different powers, which overturn situations.

They allow other energies to pass through, creative and regenerating to the unhealthy - conversely deadly, unfortunately, where one does not promote oneself.

Only Jesus is the One who makes visible and manifest the healing that seemed mission impossible. And before physical, making us flourish again from the fears of false morality or devotion, which imposes absurd curbs on autonomy.

The young Rabbi's proposal does not drown us under a heap of impersonal arrogance. It heals the blocked, puts them back in the race.

"Jesus has the power not only to heal the sick body, but also to forgive sins; and indeed, physical healing is a sign of the spiritual healing that his forgiveness produces. In fact, sin is a kind of paralysis of the spirit from which only the power of God's merciful love can free us, enabling us to get back up and get back on the path of good" [Pope Benedict, Angelus 22 February 2009].

The Lord's "brothers" [cf. parallel passages Mt 9:1-8 and Lk 5:17-26] do all they can to lead the needy to the Master.

Often, however, they find themselves before a crowd of hijackers of the Sacred that does not allow for a face-to-face, personal, immediate relationship.

The critical impetus and love for the needs of the needy for a full life must then overcome the 'cultural', ethical, doctrinal and ritualistic sense of belonging - which only traces and reiterates.

Unfortunately, no sign of joy from the authorities [Mt 9:3; Mk 2:6-8; Lk 5:21] - but people are enthusiastic [Mt 9:8; Mk 2:12; Lk 5:26]. Why?

Another kind of world

Jesus teaches and heals. He does not announce the God of religions, but a Father - an attractive figure, who does not threaten, nor punish, but welcomes, dialogues, forgives, makes one grow.

The opposite of what was conveyed by the official guides, linked to the idea of an archaic, suspicious and prejudiced divinity, which discriminated between friend and foe.

The Father expresses himself in non-oppressive forms, in the manner of the family and inter-human covenant: he does not enjoy the perfect, sterilised and pure - he offers his Love to all without requirements.

For imperfection is not an expression of guilt, but a condition - and in any case sin is not an absolute force (v.7).

It is this awareness that gives rise to liberated people and a new order: 'to forge bonds of unity, of common projects, of shared hopes' [Fratelli Tutti, n.287]. 

The Lord's co-workers bring to Him all the paralytics, that is, those who are stuck and continue to lie in their stretchers (where perhaps those of common opinion have laid them down).

These are people whose lives seem to proceed neither in the direction of the true God nor to others. Nor can they meet themselves.

Only personal contact with Christ can release these vegetating corpses from their depressing pond.

The friends of God "come bringing to him a paralytic borne by four" (Mk 2:3): they come from everywhere, from the four cardinal points; from very different, even opposite origins - which you would not expect.

They expose themselves to lead the needy to the Master, but sometimes find themselves in front of an impermeable crowd [precisely, of hijackers of the Sacred] that does not allow a direct, face-to-face personal relationship.

They do not let us in - instead we want to put ourselves before Him (v.4): sometimes we are like blackmailers and subjected to procedures, otherwise you do not pass; you are out.

Paraphrasing Pope Francis's third encyclical again, we could say that even in the selective or hierarchical access paths of Faith "the lack of dialogue means that no one, in the individual sectors, is concerned with the common good, but rather with obtaining the advantages that power procures, or, at best, with imposing one's own way of thinking" [no.202].

What to do? A dismantling action, without diplomatic negotiations or requesting permission - an overthrow (of proximities, pyramids and gateways) completely emancipated from reverential fears!

A work very pleasing to the Father... and which the Son values as an expression of Faith (v.5)!

Faith that thinks and believes in "an open world where there is room for everyone, which includes the weakest and respects different cultures" [FT n.155].

Some insufferable 'synagogues' conversely advocate 'a binary division' [FT No.156] that attempts to classify.

There are exclusive, refractory cliques and clubs which claim to appropriate poor Jesus... backwards.

Hence their congregations or 'synagogues' or 'houses of prayer' must be uncovered and thrown wide open (v.4) - with extreme decisiveness.

Such 'seats' turn God's presence on earth upside down and disrupt the lives of the derelicts, who have real urgencies - not interest in cultivating unintelligible formulas, cultic purities or other sophistications.

No more proper compliments, mirrors for the larks à la page, and 'proper' customary procedures!

Only in the concreteness of the incarnate Faith does man regenerate and discover his own divine powers - which are then the humanising ones: to put himself and his brothers and sisters back on their feet.

With Christ, one advances without any more regulated authorisations to be begged at times to scandalous dummies that make life pale.

So, let us note that there are no steps taken, but only unusual initiative overcomes the pond of devout structures taken hostage by regulars or disembodied thinkers.

Where one would only have to queue up, wait one's turn, settle... be content with ready-made organisational charts, and doze off, or disperse.

The critical impetus and love for the full, discerning life needs of all of us in need must overcome the sense of feigned collective compactness.

It must outclass all 'cultural', moral, doctrinal and ritual affiliations - which it only makes up and reiterates.

Thus, no sign of joy from the authorities (vv.6-7) who only draw negative diagnoses - while the people are enthusiastic (v.12).

Obviously, the customary and the 'new' unchurched judge Jesus to be a blasphemer: they have been uneducated 'in this fear and distrust' [FT no.152].

They do not love humanity, but rather their worldview, their doctrines, their codes, their milestones; a few beautiful rubrics - from purely ritualistic holiness. All papier-mâché.

They do not protect people, but only their vested interests, correct protocols and acquired positions; possibly fashions of thought for their own benefit. Ropes that get in the way of our development.

In short, we are called upon to choose in a very unusual way, compared to the cliché of wicked preaching - which has never been able to reconcile esteem... with imperfection, error, diversity.

According to the Gospels, there is another, decisive crossroads: the path of defending the privileges of a caste that gags God in the name of God, or the path of the impelling, universal desire to live fully, to the full.

To this we are called, as opposed to conformist ways: to choose in an unusual, profound and decisive way, to reconcile de-centred uniqueness, truth, imperfection, our exceptionalism.

Otherwise, the soul rebels. It wants to be with Jesus at the front, not behind the crowd, even of believers - démodé or glamour.

The passage from the Synoptics makes it clear that the problem of the 'paralytic' is not his discomfort, his sense of oppression, his apparent misfortune. 

These are not the breaks in the relationship with life and with God.

On the contrary, the impediment becomes a paradoxical reason to seek 'therapy', and vis-à-vis.

Unthinkable - perhaps insulting - to the outline.

The eccentric configurations, considered miserable, in fact contain secret doors, immense virtues, and the cure itself.

Indeed, they guide towards a new existence. They urge, and 'oblige' us to an immediate relationship with our Lord. Almost as if seeking His likeness.

Breathing in the common thought and tracing the trajectories of others, even those considered "intimate to God", the stiffening would have remained.

No unpredictable Salvation would have broken through.

In short, according to the Gospels there is only one non-negotiable, crossroads, decisive value: the desire to live fully, in a truly integrated way; in the first person.

Unusual crossroads of Tenderness and Faith.

To internalise and live the message:

What arouses your sense of admiration for the Power of God? Are you enthusiastic about physical or inner miracles?

Where do you most frequently hear: 'Son, your sins are forgiven [...] Get up and go'? Do the others seem healthy and spiritual environments to you?

What kind are your works of faith? In sectors?

Marked by successful milestones and negotiations with the distrustful installed (so that they are accepted and mistaken for Tenderness)?

98. We are all very familiar with the episode of the paralytic who was brought to Jesus to be cured (cf. Mk 2:1-12). For us today, this man represents all our brothers and sisters in Africa and elsewhere who are paralyzed in different ways and, sadly, often in great distress. In the light of the challenges that I have described briefly, drawing on the comments of the Synod Fathers, let us reflect on the attitude of those who carry the paralytic. He himself cannot come close to Jesus without the assistance of those four people of faith who braved the physical obstacle of the crowd as a sign of their solidarity and their complete trust in Jesus. Christ “saw their faith”. He then removes the spiritual obstacle when he says to the paralysed man: “Your sins are forgiven”. He removes what prevents the man from rising. This example invites us to grow in faith and, in turn, to show solidarity and creativity in relieving those who bear heavy burdens, thus opening them to the fullness of life in Christ (cf. Mt 11:28). Before the obstacles, both physical and spiritual, that stand before us, let us mobilize the spiritual energies and the material resources of the whole body which is the Church, convinced that Christ will act through the Holy Spirit in each of her members.

[Pope Benedict, Africae munus]