Today we celebrate the solemnity of Mary Immaculate, which takes place within the context of Advent, a time of expectation: God will accomplish what he promised. But on today’s feast day we are told that something has already been accomplished, in the person and the life of the Virgin Mary. Today we consider the beginning of this fulfilment, which is even before the birth of the Mother of the Lord. In fact, her immaculate conception leads us to that precise moment when Mary’s life began to palpitate in her mother’s womb: already there was the sanctifying love of God, preserving her from the contagion of evil that is the common inheritance of the human family.

In today’s Gospel the Angel’s greeting to Mary resounds: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Lk 1:28). God has always thought of her and wanted her in his inscrutable plan, to be a creature full of grace, that is, full of his love. Yet, in order to be filled it is necessary to make room, to empty oneself, to step aside. Just as Mary did, she who knew how to listen to the Word of God and trust totally in his will, accepting it unreservedly in her own life. So much so that the Word became flesh in her. This was possible thanks to her “yes”. To the Angel who asks her to be ready to become the mother of Jesus, Mary replies: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38).

Mary does not lose herself in reasoning, she does not place obstacles in the Lord’s way, but she promptly entrusts herself and makes room for the action of the Holy Spirit. She immediately makes her whole being and her personal history available to God, so that the Word and the will of God may shape and bring them to fulfilment. Perfectly corresponding to God’s plan for her, Mary then becomes the “all beautiful”, the “all holy”, but without the slightest shadow of complacency. She is humble. She is a masterpiece, whilst remaining humble, small, poor. In her is reflected the beauty of God which is all love, grace, gift of self.

I would also like to underline the word with which Mary defines herself in her surrender to God: she professes herself “the handmaid of the Lord”. Mary’s “yes” to God takes on from the beginning the attitude of service, of attention to the needs of others. The visit to Elizabeth which immediately follows the Annunciation testifies this concretely. One’s availability to God is found in one’s willingness to take on the needs of one’s neighbour. All of this without clamour and ostentation, without seeking places of honour, without advertising, because charity and works of mercy needn’t be exhibited as a trophy. Works of mercy are done in silence, in secrecy, without boasting of doing them. Even in our communities, we are called to follow the example of Mary, practicing the style of discretion and concealment.

May the feast of our Mother help us to make our whole life a “yes” to God, a “yes” made of adoration of him and of daily gestures of love and service.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 8 December 2019]

Free of charge: the Near Kingdom and Incarnate Prayer

(Mt 9:35-10:1.6-8)

Jesus distinguishes himself from the Rabbis of his time, because he doesn’t wait for the exhausted and prostrate people (v.36) to go to him: he seeks it.

And the group of his intimates must be involved, both in works of healing and liberation - fraternity motivated by luminous disinterest.

The Lord enters the prayer assemblies with pastoral concern: to teach, not to discuss. He does not give lessons in logical analysis, but he does bring out Who inhabits him.

He proclaims a Kingdom totally different from how it was instilled by the manipulators of consciences - overflowing with detailed convictions, producing intimate coercion, anonymity, loneliness, passivity.

Still today we are looking for a God to experience, loveable, ‘not invisible’.

Thus the Gospel (v.35) announces Grace: the face of the Father - who doesn’t want anything for himself, but gives everything to transmit us his own Life.

A Friend who Comes, who doesn’t force us to "go up" [in the abstract] nor imprisons in guilt, exhausting already submissive creatures - making them even more desolate than before.

Here a Heaven is revealed that makes us feel adequate, doesn’t punish or impress, but promotes and puts at ease.

The Prodigal Father welcomes people as the Son does in the Gospels - as they are; not by inquiring. Rather by dilating.

His Word-event not only reactivates: it replenishes imbalances and enhances them in perspective of real person paths - without judging or disperse, nor break anything.

For such a work of wise recomposition of being, the Master invites to Prayer (v.38) - first form of disciples’ commitment.

Access to different tunies in the Spirit teaches us to stimulate the gaze of the soul, to value and understand everything and everyone.

Therefore - after making them less unaware - Jesus invites his disciples to get involved in missionary work; not to do the learned, nor moral lessons.

They would be scripted without love, which make the sick people feel yet more desperate.

Mission grows from a small but boundless dimension - that of inner perception, which is aware of the needs and mystery of a favourable Presence.

New configurations of understanding, in spirit: fully discovered only in deep Prayer (v.38). Incarnate Prayer.

Prayer does not want to distract us from our deep realization; on the contrary, it guides us - and relocates the soul scattered in the many common practices to be carried out, to its center.

It makes us feel the struding of desire and of understanding the perfect condition: the Father doesn’t intend to absorb our attitudes, but to empower them. Because everyone has an intimate project, a Call by Name, his own place in the world.

It seems paradoxical, but the outgoing Church is first and foremost a problem of formation and internal consciousness.

In short, we recognize ourselves and become aware of things through the Prayer-hunch, unitive.

In Christ it’s not a performance or a devout expression, but an understanding and above all a Listening to the God who in a thousand subtle forms reveals himself and calls.

Thus the fight against infirmities (Mt 9:35-10:1): we recover and win by sharpening our gaze and reinvesting the energy and character even of our own still blurred sides.

All the Free of charge (Mt 10:8) that may spring from it to build life in favor of the brothers, will not sprout as a childish exchange.

The sense of closeness (v.7) to oneself, to others and to reality, will be an authentic - neither programmatic nor alienated - contribution of the Kingdom that reveals itself: Beside.

[Saturday 1st wk. in Advent, December 7, 2024]

Gratitude: the Kingdom at hand and Prayer Incarnate

(Mt 9,35-10,1.6-8)

Jesus differs from the Rabbis of his time because he does not wait for the exhausted and prostrate people (v.36) to come to him: he seeks them out.

And the group of his own must participate, both in works of healing and deliverance - fraternity motivated by luminous selflessness.

He enters prayer assemblies with pastoral anxiety: to teach, not to disquisition. He does not lecture in logical analysis, but lets the One who dwell in him emerge.

He proclaims a Kingdom that is totally different from how it was inculcated by the manipulators of consciences (overflowing with detailed convictions) - who certainly did not exercise gratuitousness.

The ancient doctrines and its protagonists dampened any dissonance and produced the worst: intimate coercion, anonymity, loneliness, passivity.

They inculcated that it was decisive to acquire their flat securities, certainly not to open up to the personal Mystery, to the innate character - fruitfully not conforming to the context.

In fact, they sought to disturb the journeys of the soul, which sometimes wanders to find itself, and which prefers new glimpses to the usual way of seeing - swampy, stagnant.

They did not admit that in each believer could dwell a fundamental option that did not conform to their ideology and way of seeing.

Everything about other people's lives had to work perfectly according to their goals. So they did not preach upheaval, but static.

Nothing new was to happen that would challenge the social balance, their authoritarian influence... and their income.

Nothing different was to be explored and found.

Yet, yesterday as today, within each woman and man resides a volcano of potential energies - which according to the dominant ideology only had to be stifled and aligned.

For all that still drags on, we conversely seek a God to be experienced, who is lovable, not 'artfully' constructed... nor invisible or far removed from our condition.

We want the One who gives breath, and understands us.

This is clearly understood: what we hatch is not a miserable illusion, to be extinguished in favour of external balances.

In fact, the Gospel (v.35) proclaims Grace: the face of the Father - who wants nothing for himself, but gives everything to transmit his own Life to us. And he does this not to deaden our inner energy.

The Glad Tidings proclaim a Friend who comes, who does not force us to "ascend" [in the abstract] nor imprison us within guilt, exhausting the already subdued creatures - making them even more desolate than before.

Here is revealed a Heaven that makes one feel adequate, does not chastise or even impress, but promotes and puts everyone at ease; a Merciful One who is not only good: exclusively good.

The prodigal Father welcomes people as the Son does in the Gospels - just as they are; not inquiring. Rather by expanding.

His Word-event also does not only reactivate: it reintegrates imbalances and enhances them in the perspective of paths as a real person - without judging or dispersing, nor breaking anything.

For such a work of wise recomposition of being, the Master invites to Prayer (v.38) - the disciples' first form of commitment.

Access to different attunements in the Spirit teaches us to stimulate the soul's gaze, to value and understand everything and everyone.

So - after making them less ignorant - Jesus invites his disciples to involve themselves in missionary work; not to act like scholars or moral lecturers.

That would be careless posturing, which makes the hopeless feel even more lost.

The Mission grows from a small but boundless dimension - that of intimate perception, which becomes aware of the needs and mystery of a favourable Presence.

New configurations of understanding, in spirit: fully discovered only in deep prayer (v.38). Incarnate prayer.

It is not meant to distract us from inner realisation; on the contrary, it acts as a guide, and returns the soul, dispersed in the many common practices to be performed, to its own centre.

It makes us experience the yearning and understanding of the perfect condition: the Father does not intend to absorb our aptitudes, but to strengthen them. For everyone has an intimate project, a Calling by Name, their own place in the world.

It seems paradoxical, but the outgoing Church - the one that does not speculate, nor engage in mass proselytising to impress the mainstream - is first and foremost a matter of formation and internal awareness.

In short, one recognises oneself and becomes not unaware of things through prayer-presentment, unitive.

In Christ, it is not performance or devout expression, but rather understanding and first and foremost listening to the God who reveals and calls in a thousand subtle forms.

The commitment to heal the world is not won without an awareness of vocation, nor by allowing oneself to be plagiarised and going haphazardly.Rather, by sharpening our gaze, and reinvesting virtue and character even in our own sides that are still in shadow.

Nor does it remain essential to always cross every boundary (Mt 10:5-6) with a logic of flight.

For not infrequently - unfortunately - only those who love strength start from the too far removed from themselves [from the far off and out of reach].

The 'sheep' lost and weary of trying and trying again - the excluded, the considered lost, the marginalised - are not lacking. They are close at hand, and there is no immediate urge to extricate oneself. Almost as if to exempt oneself from those closest.

The horizon expands itself, if one is convinced and does not like masks or subterfuges.

The sense of proximity to oneself, to others and to reality is an authentic bearer of the Kingdom that is revealed: the Near.

Understanding the nature of creatures and conforming to it in a growing way, all are inspired to change and complete themselves, enriching even cultural sclerosis, without alienating forcings.

Exercising a practice of goodness even with oneself.

Some of the most quoted aphorisms from the Tao culture read: "The way of doing is being"; "he who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened"; "a long journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"; "the master observes the world, but trusts his inner vision"; "if you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place"; "when you accept yourself, the whole world accepts you".

So in the battle against infirmity (Mt 9:35-10:1): we recover and overcome by sharpening our gaze and reinvesting the energy and character even of our own still-dulled sides.

All the gratuitousness (Mt 10:8) that may flow from this to build up life for the sake of the brethren, will burst forth not as puerile [hysterical] reciprocation or engagement.

It will be spontaneous, solid and cheering Love Dialogue, because it will be free of those imbalances that smoulder under the ashes of facade conditioning.

The sense of closeness (v.7) to oneself, to others, and to reality will be an authentic - not programmatic, nor alienated - port of the Reign that is revealed: Beside.

To internalise and live the message:

Does Prayer in Christ shake your conscience?

What consolation do you expect from the God Who Comes?

Perhaps a reward?

Or a gratuitousness that triggers - here and now - true Love-understanding, attentive to the calls of every subtle Voice?

Theme: "Vocations at the Service of the Church-Mission

Dear brothers and sisters,

1. For the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, to be celebrated on 13 April 2008, I have chosen the theme: Vocations at the service of the Church on mission. The Risen Jesus gave to the Apostles this command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19), assuring them: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28: 20). The Church is missionary in herself and in each one of her members. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, every Christian is called to bear witness and to announce the Gospel, but this missionary dimension is associated in a special and intimate way with the priestly vocation. In the covenant with Israel, God entrusted to certain men, called by him and sent to the people in his name, a mission as prophets and priests. He did so, for example, with Moses: “Come, - God told him - I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people … out of Egypt …when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you will serve God upon this mountain” (Ex 3: 10 and 12). The same happened with the prophets.

2. The promises made to our fathers were fulfilled entirely in Jesus Christ. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council says: “The Son, therefore, came, sent by the Father. It was in him, before the foundation of the world, that the Father chose us and predestined us to become adopted sons … To carry out the will of the Father, Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth and revealed to us the mystery of that kingdom. By his obedience he brought about redemption” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 3). And Jesus already in his public life, while preaching in Galilee, chose some disciples to be his close collaborators in the messianic ministry. For example, on the occasion of the multiplication of the loaves, he said to the Apostles: “You give them something to eat” (Mt 14: 16), encouraging them to assume the needs of the crowds to whom he wished to offer nourishment, but also to reveal the food “which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6: 27). He was moved to compassion for the people, because while visiting cities and villages, he found the crowds weary and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (cf. Mt 9: 36). From this gaze of love came the invitation to his disciples: “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” (Mt 9: 38), and he sent the Twelve initially “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” with precise instructions. If we pause to meditate on this passage of Matthew’s Gospel, commonly called the “missionary discourse”, we may take note of those aspects which distinguish the missionary activity of a Christian community, eager to remain faithful to the example and teaching of Jesus. To respond to the Lord’s call means facing in prudence and simplicity every danger and even persecutions, since “a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master” (Mt 10: 24). Having become one with their Master, the disciples are no longer alone as they announce the Kingdom of heaven; Jesus himself is acting in them: “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me” (Mt 10: 40). Furthermore, as true witnesses, “clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24: 49), they preach “repentance and the forgiveness of sins” (Lk 24: 47) to all peoples.

3. Precisely because they have been sent by the Lord, the Twelve are called “Apostles”, destined to walk the roads of the world announcing the Gospel as witnesses to the death and resurrection of Christ. Saint Paul, writing to the Christians of Corinth, says: “We – the Apostles – preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor 1: 23). The Book of the Acts of the Apostles also assigns a very important role in this task of evangelization to other disciples whose missionary vocation arises from providential, sometimes painful, circumstances such as expulsion from their own lands for being followers of Jesus (cf. 8,1-4). The Holy Spirit transforms this trial into an occasion of grace, using it so that the name of the Lord can be preached to other peoples, stretching in this way the horizons of the Christian community. These are men and women who, as Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles, “have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ” (15: 26). First among them is undoubtedly Paul of Tarsus, called by the Lord himself, hence a true Apostle. The story of Paul, the greatest missionary of all times, brings out in many ways the link between vocation and mission. Accused by his opponents of not being authorized for the apostolate, he makes repeated appeals precisely to the call which he received directly from the Lord (cf. Rom 1: 1; Gal 1: 11-12 and 15-17).

4. In the beginning, and thereafter, what “impels” the Apostles (cf. 2 Cor 5: 14) is always “the love of Christ”. Innumerable missionaries, throughout the centuries, as faithful servants of the Church, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, have followed in the footsteps of the first disciples. The Second Vatican Council notes: “Although every disciple of Christ, as far in him lies, has the duty of spreading the faith, Christ the Lord always calls whomever he will from among the number of his disciples, to be with him and to be sent by him to preach to the nations [cf. Mk3: 13-15]” (Decree Ad Gentes, 23). In fact, the love of Christ must be communicated to the brothers by example and words, with all one’s life. My venerable predecessor John Paul II wrote: “The special vocation of missionaries ‘for life’ retains all its validity: it is the model of the Church's missionary commitment, which always stands in need of radical and total self-giving, of new and bold endeavours”. (Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, 66)

5. Among those totally dedicated to the service of the Gospel, are priests, called to preach the word of God, administer the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, committed to helping the lowly, the sick, the suffering, the poor, and those who experience hardship in areas of the world where there are, at times, many who still have not had a real encounter with Jesus Christ. Missionaries announce for the first time to these people Christ’s redemptive love. Statistics show that the number of baptized persons increases every year thanks to the pastoral work of these priests, who are wholly consecrated to the salvation of their brothers and sisters. In this context, a special word of thanks must be expressed “to the fidei donum priests who work faithfully and generously at building up the community by proclaiming the word of God and breaking the Bread of Life, devoting all their energy to serving the mission of the Church. Let us thank God for all the priests who have suffered even to the sacrifice of their lives in order to serve Christ ... Theirs is a moving witness that can inspire many young people to follow Christ and to expend their lives for others, and thus to discover true life” (Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, 26).

6. There have always been in the Church many men and women who, prompted by the action of the Holy Spirit, choose to live the Gospel in a radical way, professing the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. This multitude of men and women religious, belonging to innumerable Institutes of contemplative and active life, still plays “the main role in the evangelisation of the world” (Ad Gentes, 40). With their continual and community prayer, contemplatives intercede without ceasing for all humanity. Religious of the active life, with their many charitable activities, bring to all a living witness of the love and mercy of God. The Servant of God Paul VI concerning these apostles of our times said: “Thanks to their consecration they are eminently willing and free to leave everything and to go and proclaim the Gospel even to the ends of the earth. They are enterprising and their apostolate is often marked by an originality, by a genius that demands admiration. They are generous: often they are found at the outposts of the mission, and they take the greatest of risks for their health and their very lives. Truly the Church owes them much” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, 69).

7. Furthermore, so that the Church may continue to fulfil the mission entrusted to her by Christ, and not lack promoters of the Gospel so badly needed by the world, Christian communities must never fail to provide both children and adults with constant education in the faith. It is necessary to keep alive in the faithful a committed sense of missionary responsibility and active solidarity with the peoples of the world. The gift of faith calls all Christians to co-operate in the work of evangelization. This awareness must be nourished by preaching and catechesis, by the liturgy, and by constant formation in prayer. It must grow through the practice of welcoming others, with charity and spiritual companionship, through reflection and discernment, as well as pastoral planning, of which attention to vocations must be an integral part.

8. Vocations to the ministerial priesthood and to the consecrated life can only flourish in a spiritual soil that is well cultivated. Christian communities that live the missionary dimension of the mystery of the Church in a profound way will never be inward looking. Mission, as a witness of divine love, becomes particularly effective when it is shared in a community, “so that the world may believe” (cf. Jn 17: 21). The Church prays everyday to the Holy Spirit for the gift of vocations. Gathered around the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, as in the beginning, the ecclesial community learns from her how to implore the Lord for a flowering of new apostles, alive with the faith and love that are necessary for the mission.

9. While I entrust this reflection to all the ecclesial communities so that they may make it their own, and draw from it inspiration for prayer, and as I encourage those who are committed to work with faith and generosity in the service of vocations, I wholeheartedly send to educators, catechists and to all, particularly to young people on their vocational journey, a special Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 3 December 2007

BENEDICT XVI

[Pope Benedict, Message for the 45th World Day of Prayer for Vocations]

Lent, the providential time for conversion, helps us to contemplate this stupendous mystery of love. It is a return to the roots of our faith, so that by pondering the measureless gift of grace which is Redemption, we cannot fail to realize that all has been given to us by God’s loving initiative. In order to meditate upon this aspect of the mystery of salvation, I have chosen as the theme for this year’s Lenten Message the Lord’s words: “You received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8). 

2. God has freely given us his Son: who has deserved or could ever deserve such a privilege? Saint Paul says: “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, but they are justified by his grace as a gift” (Rom 3:23-24). In his infinite mercy God loved us, not permitting himself to be blocked by the grievous state of separation to which man had been consigned by sin. He graciously stooped down to our weakness, and made it the cause of a new and still more wondrous outpouring of his love. The Church does not cease to proclaim this mystery of infinite goodness, exalting God’s free choice and his desire not to condemn man but to draw him back into communion with himself.

“You received without paying, give without pay”. May these words of the Gospel echo in the heart of all Christian communities on their penitential pilgrimage to Easter. May Lent, recalling the mystery of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection, lead all Christians to marvel in their heart of hearts at the greatness of such a gift. Yes! We have received without pay. Is not our entire life marked by God’s kindness? The beginning of life and its marvellous development: this is a gift. And because it is gift, life can never be regarded as a possession or as private property, even if the capabilities we now have to improve the quality of life can lead us to think that man is the “master” of life. The achievements of medicine and biotechnology can sometimes lead man to think of himself as his own creator, and to succumb to the temptation of tampering with “the tree of life” (Gn 3:24).

It is also worth repeating here that not everything that is technically possible is morally acceptable. Scientific work aimed at securing a quality of life more in keeping with human dignity is admirable, but it must never be forgotten that human life is a gift, and that it remains precious even when marked by suffering and limitations. A gift to be accepted and to be loved at all times: received without pay and to be placed without pay at the service of others.

[Pope John Paul II, Message for Lent 2002]

"Service" and "gratuitousness": these are the two key words around which Pope Francis built the meditation of the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on the morning of Tuesday 11 June. They are the fundamental characteristics that must accompany the Christian "along the way", the Pontiff said, along that journey, that "going" that always characterises life, "because a Christian cannot remain stationary".

The teaching comes directly from the Gospel: it is there that we find - as highlighted by the passage from Matthew proposed by the liturgy of the day (10, 7-13) - Jesus' instructions for the apostles who are sent. A mission that, said the Pope, is also that of "the successors of the apostles" and of "each Christian, if sent". Therefore, first of all, 'the Christian life is to make a way, always. Not to stand still'. And in this going, what does the Lord recommend to his own? "Heal the sick, preach saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons". That is, "a life of service".

Here is the first fundamental datum highlighted by the Pontiff: 'The Christian life is to serve'. And it is very sad, he added, to see "Christians who at the beginning of their conversion or their awareness of being Christians, serve, are open to serve, serve God's people", and then, instead, "end up serving God's people. This does so much harm, so much harm to the people of God". The vocation of the Christian therefore is 'to serve' and never 'to serve oneself of'.

Continuing his reflection, Francis then moved on to a concept that, he stressed, "goes right to the core of salvation: 'Freely you have received, freely give'. The Christian life is a life of gratuitousness'. It is clear from Jesus' recommendation to the apostles sent that "salvation cannot be bought; salvation is given to us freely. God saved us, he saves us free of charge. He does not make us pay'. It is, the Pope explained, a principle "that God has used with us" and that we must use "with others". And it is "one of the most beautiful things" to know "that the Lord is full of gifts to give us" and that only one thing is asked of man: "that our heart be opened". As in the prayer of the Our Father, where 'let us pray, let us open our hearts, so that this gratuitousness may come. There is no relationship with God outside gratuity'.

Considering this cornerstone of Christian life, the Pontiff then pointed out possible and dangerous misunderstandings. Thus, he said, "sometimes, when we need something spiritual or a grace, we say: 'Well, I'm going to fast now, I'm going to do a penance, I'm going to do a novena...'". This is all well and good, but "let us be careful: this is not to 'pay' for grace, to 'acquire' grace; this is to enlarge your heart so that grace may come". Let us be clear, in fact: "Grace is free. All God's goods are free. The problem is that the heart shrinks, closes and is not capable of receiving so much love, so much gratuitous love'. Therefore 'everything we do to obtain something, even a promise - "If I have this, I will do that" - this is enlarging the heart, it is not entering into haggling with God... No. With God there is no bargaining". With God, 'only the language of love and the Father and gratuitousness applies'.

And if this is true in the relationship with God, it is also true for Christians - 'Freely you have received, freely give' - and, Francis emphasised, especially for the 'pastors of the Church'. Grace "cannot be sold," he reiterated, adding: "It hurts so much when you find pastors doing business with God's grace: 'I will do this, but this costs so much, this so much...'. And God's grace stays there and salvation is a bargain'. All this, he emphatically reiterated, 'is not the Lord. The Lord's grace is free and you must give it freely'. Unfortunately, he explained, in the spiritual life there is "always the danger of slipping into payment, always, even talking to the Lord, as if we wanted to give a bribe to the Lord". But the relationship with the Lord cannot go "down that road".

Therefore, the Pontiff reiterated, no to the dynamic of the type: 'Lord if you do this to me, I will give you this'; but, eventually, yes to a promise so that with it one's heart may be enlarged 'to receive' what 'is gratuitous for us'. And "this relationship of gratuitousness with God is what will help us then to have it with others both in Christian witness and in the pastoral life of those who are pastors of God's people".

"This is how the Pope summed up his reasoning at the end of his homily'. "The Christian life," he said, "is going. Preach, serve, not 'serve of'. Serve and give for free what you have received for free'. And he concluded: 'Let our life of holiness be this widening of the heart, so that God's gratuitousness, God's graces that are there, gratuitous, that He wants to give, can reach our heart.

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 11.06.19]

Illuminator of the blind: what healing, Waiting, definitiveness?

(Mt 9:27-31)

The encyclical Fratelli Tutti [Brothers All] invites us to a perspective look that inspires decision and action: a new “eye”, full of Hope [n.55].

Yet experts (self-confident) do not grasp the - reversed - dignity of the Mystery of God and of humanity.

They know the ambitions, the law, the dictates of others, the fashions, or their ideas; not the upheavals of the soul and life.

So they make us stay like in a cold forest and dedicated to the strong, sterilized or imaginative, but paradoxically wild.

Competition is not lacking, indeed it will be even more subtle consequence, as in the case of eminent ‘apostles couple’ ambitions (just so!).

These “blind men” are the two sons of Zebedee, who - like the others - aspire to primacy.

The healing of those who have sight defects was one of the assets brought by the expected Messiah (Is 29:18; 35:5).

Everything would be turned for the better.

But in his encounters, Jesus operates a spiritual healing, not partial or frivolous and external.

The divine work in woman and man is prodigious, but in the sense that it becomes much deeper than a physical restoration.

The action of awakening the Faith and a new acumen of the soul allow to grasp the Lord’s own project.

This makes us docile to let His design be realized in us, and implemented by God himself.

The allusion is to the House [Church] in which all the characters enter as if it were normal and in a non-polemic context (v.28).

Even the reference to the fact that those in need of ‘enlightenment’ gather there, leads to reading in filigree the echo of ancient baptismal liturgies.

Around Jesus, here is the global sense of Christ’s encounter with believers.

The teaching to which we too, who are always ‘defective of sight’ are introduced by contact with the Master in the reunited community, is expressed in the transition from the title of the son of David (v.27) to that of Lord (v.28).

The blind people to whom myopia is corrected are the leaders and the catechumens, now believers. 

In their experience of Faith they pass from the idea of the glorious Messiah - resembling a ruler - to that of the close Friend and Brother.

This is why his Person opens up to Perception a panorama that prorupts as a rebirth and reversal of the values on the basis of which practical life is invested.

The reason for the thick outer darkness is precisely the ideology of power. It must disappear into the consideration and universe of the disciples.

This is the reason for the so-called messianic silence (v.30). And everything flows «from» another gaze, penetrating.

Such is the definitive intervention of God who elevates vision, dreams, and spirit, and thus activates paths that we do not know.

A new maturity is coming.

[Friday 1st wk. in Advent, December 6, 2024]

Illuminator of the blind: what healing, Expectation, finality?

(Mt 9:27-31)

The encyclical Brothers All invites us to a perspective that provokes decision and action: a new eye, filled with Hope.

It "speaks to us of a reality that is rooted in the depths of the human being, regardless of the concrete circumstances and historical conditioning in which he lives. It speaks to us of a thirst, of an aspiration, of a yearning for fullness, for a fulfilled life, of a measuring oneself against what is great, against what fills the heart and lifts the spirit towards great things, such as truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love. [...] Hope is audacious, it knows how to look beyond personal comfort, the small securities and compensations that narrow the horizon, to open up to great ideals that make life more beautiful and dignified" [n.55; from a Greeting to young people in Havana, September 2015].

Yet the experts - self-confident - do not grasp the (inverted) dignity of the Mystery of God and humanity.

They know ambitions, the law, the dictates of others, fashions, or their own ideas; not the upheavals of the soul and life.

So they keep us as if in an icy forest dedicated to the strong, sterilised or imaginative but paradoxically wild.

Competition is not lacking, indeed it will be an even more insidious consequence, as in the case of the claims (really!) of a pair of eminent apostles.

These are the two sons of Zebedee, who - like the others - aspire to primacy [Mt 20:20-28; Mk 10:35-45 and parallels Lk 22:24-27; Jn 12:26; 13:3-17].

The healing of those with failing eyesight was one of the goods brought by the expected Messiah (Is 29:18; 35:5).

Everything would be transformed for the better.

But in his encounters, Jesus works spiritual healing, not partial or frivolous and external healing.

Fatal misunderstanding was to see him as the doer of amazing things (v.31).

The divine work in man is prodigious, but in the sense that it goes much deeper than a physical healing.

The action of arousing Faith and a new acumen of the soul enable one to grasp the Lord's plan itself.

This makes us docile to let God himself realise it in us.

The allusion is to the House [Church] into which all the characters enter as if it were normal and in a non-polemical context (v.28).

The reference to the fact that those in need of enlightenment gather there also leads one to read in the watermark the echo of ancient baptismal liturgies.

Around Jesus, the overall meaning of Christ's encounter with believers is illustrated.

The teaching to which we too, always defective in sight, are introduced by the contact with the Master in the gathered community is expressed in the passage from the title son of David (v.27) to that of Lord (v.28).

The blind whose myopia is corrected are the leaders and catechumens, now believers. 

In their experience of Faith they pass from the idea of the glorious Messiah - resembling a ruler - to that of the close Friend, Brother of each, Next and eminent in the same way [two blind men].

That is why his Person opens wide to perception an alternative panorama of the mind and heart.

In this way, Mt gives the personality traits of the successful man according to God, as well as the most intimate figure of the community.

The change of the normal viewpoint triggers another life.

It is not an accessory gift, but an essential one. Essential not only for personal fulfilment, but also for Communion [Mt 20:24; Mk 10:41; Lk 9:46. 22:24; Jn 13:12-17. 20:4. 21:20-22].

Here too, in order to extract pearls, it is appropriate to go beyond the conformist and 'proper' - Babelic, fashionable or herd - and banal perspective.

We must learn to better fathom our Calling and what it brings, for there is another balance of things - perhaps yet to be explored.

Higher harmony that lies within life... but beneath the facades: one must dig into every relationship, affair or feeling; examine it better.

And become aware of what is emerging.

Watch out: even and especially in the shaking of storms.

Sometimes it is necessary to take a leap into the dark, to contact one's vocational Seed; to heal the gaze of the soul, and recognise oneself; to blossom.

Discomforts come as a warning: we are moving away from ourselves.

Dark bitternesses here become opportunities to break away from conformist backgrounds and representations.

Commonplaces have been inoculated into us (drop by drop) from petty glimpses, into which perhaps we are already introduced. And perhaps we interpret with a sense of permanence.

Having acquired another angle, we will be glad to realise what we are freed from and what different configurations await the growth of our own innate resources.

The tormented existence is often as if intoxicated, but only when it neither investigates nor notices different solutions to the idea of e.g. of having to enrich oneself with material goods, make a career, having to assert oneself immediately and strike back blow after blow, be respected, appear at any cost - why not, using church life.

This will not be our fulfilment and tranquillity; far from it. Rather, the cravings, intimacies, and other situations we know, are but an escape from our own essence.

Our inner core takes breath and momentum - it is activated - paradoxically by traumas and shadow sides.

All this happens by following the signals of natural Providence.

This vital wave expresses itself in 'words' or glimpses (precisely) of the unconscious that expresses itself, challenging us.

The reason for the outer darkness is here the ideology of power that draws its social realisation from the real darkness.

It must disappear in the consideration and universe of the disciples.

This is the reason for the so-called messianic silence (v.30) imposed by Jesus - although not infrequently the followers of all times later fall back on this and announce the Son of God in reverse (v.31).

In the Message of the "enlightened" family members, the wisdom of the new heart bursts forth as regeneration, rebirth and overturning of the values on the basis of which practical life is invested.

Now, however, let us not proclaim Christ like madmen (v.27), for our "saying" is all "from" another, penetrating gaze.

The witnesses whose vision, reading of things, and dreams have been corrected, are not called upon to violently enter and re-proclaim the old little world of histrionic fashions, of procured mists, or ambiguous misappropriations, of unradiant aggressiveness, and devious anxieties.

Rather, they correct mistakes and try to open pertuosities to dispel the darkness, making breaches and widening fissures of light.

Not because we have a 'positive' attitude - as we say today - but because we understand ourselves: because we grasp the meaning of things in the furrows of history, and by Grace we are enabled to read the sign of the times.

Breaking out of conventional patterns and mechanisms will enable us to correct beliefs, to make an Exodus from surface bitterness.

Not by pretending nothing, but by regenerating together with them - from within.

That is why in the Faith we avoid getting carried away by useless, harmful tensions, because they deviate from our Vocation.

But we penetrate these eccentricities, so that from them other Dreams, different Expectations, unique Images (really close to us) may depart.

This is the Coming that reveals the essential, and overcomes the void.

Presence that helps us give an eccentricity of Ray - and space that is also disharmonious. Without the usual reservoir of conformist, idolatrous, personal, or club fixations [that make horizons pale].

Such is the definitive intervention of God in time, which elevates vision and spirit, and thereby activates paths we do not know.

A new maturity is coming.

To internalise and live the message:

During the Advent season, what do you expect from the divine Coming, and what 'definitive' intervention do you desire?

The Church itself always needs to be evangelised

MUTUAL LINKS BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND EVANGELISATION

15. Whoever rereads, in the New Testament, the origins of the Church, following its history step by step and considering it in its living and acting, sees that it is linked to evangelisation by what is most intimate to it: - The Church is born from the evangelising action of Jesus and the Twelve. It is its normal, desired, most immediate and most visible fruit: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations". Now, "those who accepted his word were baptised and about three thousand joined them . . . And the Lord daily added to the community those who were saved".

- Born, consequently, of mission, the Church is, in turn, sent by Jesus. The Church remains in the world while the Lord of glory returns to the Father. It remains as a sign at once opaque and luminous of a new presence of Jesus, of his departure and of his permanence. It prolongs and continues it. And it is precisely his mission and his condition as evangeliser that, above all, it is called to continue. In fact, the community of Christians is never closed in on itself. In it, the intimate life - the life of prayer, listening to the Word and the teaching of the Apostles, the fraternal charity lived, the broken bread - does not acquire all its meaning except when it becomes a testimony, provokes admiration and conversion, becomes preaching and proclamation of the Good News. Thus the whole Church receives the mission to evangelise, and the work of each is important to the whole.

- Evangelising, the Church begins by evangelising itself. A community of believers, a community of lived and shared hope, a community of fraternal love, she needs to hear again and again what she has to believe, the reasons for her hope, the new commandment of love. As the people of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, it always needs to hear the proclamation of 'the great works of God', which have converted it to the Lord, and to be summoned and reunited again by him. This means, in a word, that it always needs to be evangelised if it is to retain freshness, momentum and strength to proclaim the Gospel. The Second Vatican Council recalled and the 1974 Synod strongly took up this theme of the Church evangelising itself through constant conversion and renewal, in order to evangelise the world with credibility.

- The Church is the repository of the Good News that must be proclaimed. The promises of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, the teaching of the Lord and the Apostles, the Word of Life, the sources of God's grace and kindness, the path of salvation: all this has been entrusted to her. The content of the Gospel, and therefore of evangelisation, she keeps as a living and precious deposit, not to keep it hidden, but to communicate it.

Sent and evangelised, the Church, in turn, sends evangelisers. She puts into their mouths the Word that saves, she explains to them the message of which she herself is the depository, she gives them the mandate that she herself has received, and she sends them out to preach: but not to preach their own persons or their personal ideas, but a Gospel of which neither they nor she are absolute masters and owners to dispose of at their will, but ministers to transmit it with extreme fidelity.

[Pope Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi].

Prophet Isaiah (35: 4-7) encourages those "who are of a fearful heart" and proclaims this marvellous newness which experience has confirmed: when the Lord is present the eyes of the blind are reopened, the ears of the deaf unstopped and the lame man leaps like a hart. All things are reborn and all things are revived, for beneficial waters irrigate the desert. The "desert", in Isaiah's symbolic language, can call to mind the tragic events, difficult situations and loneliness that often mark life; the deepest desert is the human heart when it loses the capacity for listening, speaking and communicating with God and with others. Eyes then become blind because they are incapable of seeing reality; ears are closed so as not to hear the cry of those who implore help; hearts are hardened in indifference and selfishness. But now, the Prophet proclaims, all is destined to change; the "dry land" of a closed heart will be watered by a new, divine sap. And when the Lord comes, to those who are fearful of heart in every epoch he says authoritatively: "Be strong, fear not!" (v. 4).

[Pope Benedict, Faul Valley homily Viterbo 6 September 2009]

5. Jesus emphasises more than once that the miracle he performed is linked to faith. "Your faith has healed you", he says to the woman who had been suffering from haemorrhaging for twelve years and who, when she came up behind him, touched the hem of his cloak and was healed (cf. Mt 9:20-22; Lk 8:48; Mk 5:34).

Similar words Jesus pronounced while healing blind Bartimaeus, who at the exit from Jericho insistently asked for his help, crying out: "Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me!" (cf. Mk 10, 46-52). According to Mark: "Go, your faith has saved you", Jesus answers him. And Luke specifies the answer: "Have sight again! Your faith has saved you" (Lk 18:42).

He makes an identical statement to the Samaritan healed of leprosy (Lk 17:19). While to two other blind men pleading to regain their sight, Jesus asks: "Do you believe that I can do this?" "Yes, O Lord!" . "Let it be done to you according to your faith" (Mt 9:28-29).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 16 December 1987]