14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 11:25–30)

Matthew 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

What did the Father delight in? It pleased him to give everything to the Son. The Son may communicate his knowledge of the Father to whomever he wishes, for he is the sole Mediator through whom we may come to the Father. In other words, the divine omnipotence of the Father, Lord of creation, is transferred to Jesus. In this way, a sort of identification is created between the Father and the Son, who, by virtue of this transfer, interpenetrate one another.

The Father and the Son know one another through their communion in the divine nature and through eternal generation. The transfer of powers from the Father to the Son is not a mere legal authorisation to act in the Father’s name and on his behalf, as if Jesus were some sort of legal representative of the Father. When we speak of God, no distinction can be made between the Father’s own attributes and the Father himself, for those attributes of the Father are the Father himself. For this reason, the power of the Father given to the Son is in reality the Father himself giving himself to the Son, and it is precisely this mutual interpenetration that makes the two one, whilst maintaining the respective distinction of their own roles, so that the Father is not the Son, nor is the Son the Father. The identity between the two lies in their common and unique divine nature. This is why the Father lives in the Son and the Son in the Father; this is why the revelation of the Son is the very revelation of the Father, and the work of Jesus is the work of the Father, so that Jesus becomes the historical face of the Father, the historical locus of his manifestation.

Since no one else, apart from the Son, knows the Father, no one else can reveal him to us. The revelation that the Father brings about in the Son is a gift of love, reserved solely for those who are able to receive it. It is not the wise who can know the Father, for the Father is known within a relationship of gratuitousness, in a love that is both received and given. If this is lacking, it is impossible to experience God.

‘Come to me…’. This calls upon human will. God’s gift is for everyone, and we are invited to come. But God’s gift is not for those who are sated, who are well-off, who live in the abundance and wealth of this world’s possessions. They are not invited. To them, Jesus Christ is of no use; he serves no purpose. They have everything; they have no need of Christ. On the other hand, all those who are weary and burdened do need Christ. They are weary from the hard labour of living life, of making it through to the end of the day. They are weary from the grave difficulties they encounter day after day on their journey. These difficulties are both material and spiritual. Oppression, on the other hand, is an additional burden placed upon the shoulders of those who are already weary. It is as if a person who is already carrying an unbearable weight were to have yet another, even heavier one added to it. To these people, who have no prospects for the future, Jesus says to come to Him.

“And I will give you rest.” This rest recalls the rest of the seventh day, the Sabbath, which is the fulfilment of creation. Man remains forever unfulfilled because he is unable to fulfil love, to fulfil the law. If you go to Jesus, Jesus gives you rest, fulfilment. The fulfilment of man is God. This is the rest. Rest, moreover, is synonymous with the Promised Land; exile ends, the Exodus ends: at last you arrive home. So, in response to all the efforts of the Law that point the way to life, Jesus gives you life, gives you a home, gives you rest. And there man rests because there he is at home; that is, he becomes a son, not through his own efforts, but by going to Jesus and accepting his rest.

When our humanity returns to its true nature, it is freed from the bondage of sin, from the oppression of evil, from the gruelling toil of disobedience. It enters into the refreshment bestowed by the Lord’s friendship, which is the fullness of joy. Jesus’ refreshment is the gift of true freedom. Falsehood oppresses; the truth sets us free. Jesus’ refreshment is the gift of adopted sonship, of the Father’s House rediscovered. This is the refreshment of Jesus Christ: man’s return to the Father’s House and the gift of his ancient, lost dignity.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 10:37–42)

Matthew 10:39 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. 

Matthew 10:40 Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 

The disciple is called to make a fundamental choice, upon which everything will subsequently be reoriented and in which everything will find its full meaning. Consequently, whoever spends their life in pursuit of their own well-being and self-affirmation will, at the end of the day—that is, at the moment of life’s end—lose everything, for all their efforts to improve it will inevitably be thwarted by death. Conversely, those who have devoted their lives to Christ and to seeking his will will, in reality, have gained it, for such a life—which appears lost according to human reasoning—will find its fulfilment in Christ himself, to whom they have dedicated themselves and on whom they have staked everything.

There is, therefore, an underlying motivation that drives the entire, complex dynamic of life: the affirmation of one’s own self or the affirmation of Christ in one’s life. These two opposing underlying motivations will give rise to the fundamental choice that will shape and define one’s existential orientation, creating a way of life centred on oneself or on Christ. The ultimate outcomes will be diametrically opposed.

Within us there is a dual life: one which we might call material and temporal, and the other spiritual and eternal. Jesus means to say: ‘Whoever denies me in order to preserve their temporal life loses eternal life; but whoever, faced with the choice of renouncing me or their temporal life, bravely faces death, will find eternal life.’ Everyone, therefore, for the love of Christ, must always be ready to offer their life to martyrdom, just as Christ offered his for the love of the Father’s will. It is, however, in this total loss that life is found again. By losing it on earth, we shall be given a new and resplendent life in heaven; we lose it in time, we gain it for all eternity. If, on the other hand, we hold on to it but lose Christ, we lose both Christ and our whole life for all eternity. It is a choice: either time or eternity; either earth or heaven; either the moment or forever; either paradise or hell. Each person will receive according to their choice.

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” The verb “to welcome” is crucial; it defines the fundamental attitude that must characterise anyone who encounters the proclamation. The Kingdom must be welcomed because it does not impose itself on humankind, but offers itself to it. To welcome means knowing how to step aside in order to create within oneself a space to receive Christ.

With these words, Jesus also demonstrates the dignity of the disciples. They do nothing other than carry on Jesus’ mission. Whoever welcomes the disciples welcomes Jesus himself; and to welcome Jesus is to welcome God, for one sent as a messenger shares in the same dignity as the one who sent him. In this way, a chain is formed which, from the disciples, through Jesus, leads back to the Father, who, in his Son, is the one who sends the disciples themselves. This close interconnection creates a sort of identification and union-communion amongst those who are active in proclaiming the Gospel, so that behind the apostles and Jesus stands the very figure of the Father, who is the source of every sending and every proclamation.

The word of the twelve disciples is the word of Christ. The word of Christ is the word of the Father. Whoever receives the word of the twelve disciples receives the word of Christ and therefore receives the word of the Father. One thing, however, must be made clear: this is true only if the disciple’s word is the word of Christ, always. If the disciple is rejected because he speaks the word of Christ, Christ is rejected and the Father is rejected. Those who listen are responsible for this rejection. If, on the other hand, the disciple is rejected because he speaks his own words, not those of Christ, then those who reject him are rejecting him, not Christ, who is not behind or within the words he speaks. When a disciple of Jesus substitutes his own words for those of Jesus, he becomes a ravenous wolf. One must always be on one’s guard against him.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, in the mystery of the Trinity

Jesus’ prophetic discourse (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 10:26–33)

Matthew 10:26 Do not, therefore, be afraid of them; for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be made known. 

Matthew 10:27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.

Matthew 10:28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear him who has the power to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.

If Jesus commands us not to be afraid, it means that fear is present. It is not merely the fear for my own life, but also the fear that good will fail; that good will always remain veiled, hidden, that people will not understand it—this too is the fear we have, as well as the fear that everything is in vain. Then there is the tragedy that if good fails, it is something truly grave: where is God? This is the disciples’ fear. A primary reason, in fact, that justifies the “do not be afraid” is that everything that now seems incomprehensible will be revealed: “there is nothing hidden that will not be revealed, nor any secret that will not be made known”. There is a veil, a concealment that will be removed and unveiled. Let us try to understand.

The great veil of God is the Cross. On the Cross He reveals Himself and makes Himself manifest as love, and just as it is in the life of Jesus so it will be in the life of the disciple: what appears to be defeat will in reality be revealed as victory. Everything is played out between the present and the future, between man’s today and God’s tomorrow. In other words, the obscure meaning of the present, in which man is called to live, finds its full understanding in the divine light of the Risen Jesus. Only this light is capable of illuminating humanity and revealing to it the hidden meaning of its history. Thus, all of history is nothing other than a progressive unveiling of the mystery of God.

Whilst verse 26 states a general principle upon which to base one’s lack of fear, verse 27 puts it into concrete practice. There is, in fact, a parallelism in the terms such that the former explain the latter: the ‘hidden’ finds its counterpart in ‘darkness’; the ‘revealed’ is reflected in ‘light’; the ‘secret’ is linked to ‘ear’; the ‘known’ is found in ‘roofs’. Furthermore, the verbs in verse 26, which are impersonal (“there is nothing”, “will not be revealed”, “will not be known”), become personal in verse 27 and have clearly defined subjects: I-you, Jesus-disciples. We thus move from the principle to its concrete realisation.

Jesus is instructing his disciples, speaking to them in private, in secret, away from the crowd—that is, not in public but in private. There is a contrast between the stage of proclamation in Jesus’s time, carried out discreetly, and the stage of the disciples’ preaching, in which they are required to proclaim the message of salvation courageously and publicly. The apostles are those to whom the secret is revealed. This secret and hidden teaching must not remain secret and hidden forever. It must be proclaimed to the whole world publicly, in a way that is audible and understandable to all. Jesus now speaks to them almost in silence. It will then be they who speak to the whole world, proclaiming his message, his Word, his teaching, after the Paschal event. Then, behold, what is in the darkness will be spoken in the light, and what is now merely whispered in private to a few people will reach everyone. So good is not defeated; do not fear. Do not be afraid; history is in God’s hands.

The whole conflict revolves around the confrontation between man and God, with whom the disciple must engage in the course of his mission. At the root of this confrontation lies the implicit question of whether it is better to obey God or men. This is the daily reality the disciples are faced with: they are called to proclaim and bear witness to truths that so annoy men that the latter do not hesitate to physically eliminate them. Jesus holds out to the disciples the possibility of a violent death, but urges them not to fear men who can at most deprive them of their physical life. They must rather fear God, who in judgement can condemn them to eternal damnation. It is worth enduring martyrdom to obtain eternal life in heaven.

We are terribly afraid of dying, and yet we die all the same. Our life is not the body; our life is the fact that we are children of God. This is the eternal life we already live now; it is this that we must not lose, for the other we will lose anyway, and those who try to save it by any means fail to do so. Therefore, let not the fear of death govern our lives. We must, instead, fear losing the meaning of our lives.

God is master of soul and body, of life and death. Therefore, let us fear Him. Today, when there is no longer any fear of God, people have endless phobias. Why? Because without the fear of God, death becomes the absolute thing to be avoided. If, on the other hand, we place the fear of God at the centre—that is, if we take into account that God is our Father, who has given us life—then our lives are transformed.

Gehenna, from the Hebrew ‘ghe-Hinnom’ (Valley of the River Hinnom), was a sort of precipice situated to the south-west of Jerusalem. In this valley, temples had once been erected to the god Moloch, to whom children were sacrificed according to Canaanite pagan rites, in which the Jews also participated. King Josiah (640–609 BC), in reforming and restoring the true worship of God, had these temples demolished and reduced the valley to a dumping ground for rubbish and corpses that could not be buried, where everything was burned. The fire here was therefore perpetual. Hence, by analogy, Gehenna came to represent the place of all impurity subjected to eternal fire, that is, Hell. This concept was taken up in the New Testament, where the term Gehenna denotes the place of eternal perdition and divine judgement.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 9:36 – 10:8)

Matthew 10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over impure spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. 

Matthew 10:2 The names of the twelve apostles are: first, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 

Matthew 10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; 

Matthew 10:4 Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot, the one who later betrayed him. 

Verse 1 opens with the verb ‘to call’ in the aorist participle (proskalesàmenos), which indicates a specific action in time, from which the call arose. Every salvific act always begins with a call, which originates from God himself, and every call is closely linked to a mission. The mission, therefore, is the meeting point between the divine will and man’s willingness to become a bearer of salvation, on behalf of and in the name of God.

The divine call also possesses a transforming power; it bestows a new identity upon the one called. It is significant that in the Genesis account of creation, God, after creating, calls his creature by name. The creative act, in fact, calls things into being, but it is only by defining them by name that they are given substance and identity. In the Bible, the name expresses the very being of the person and indicates their essence. To know the name is, in a sense, to know the person, to enter into their intimacy; whilst to bestow a name is to exercise one’s power over them. This is why God, after creating the animals, presented them to man so that he might bestow a name upon them, thereby establishing a hierarchical order amongst things.

Similarly, the people of Israel at the foot of Sinai are defined by Yahweh as his own, a people of priests and a holy nation. Their liberation from Egypt was not, therefore, sufficient to make them God’s people; it was necessary for God to define their essence (through the Torah and the Covenant), so that the people might stand before God and the nations with a distinct identity and, thus, as a valid representative of God amongst men. The call, therefore, also pertains to the establishment of a new reality. Ultimately, it signifies belonging to the One who calls. 

Being called by God leads man to become God’s very own possession. The verb ‘to call’ in Greek is ‘kaléō’, but here Matthew, to express the calling of the Twelve, uses a particularly significant verb: ‘proskaléō’; it is composed of the preposition “pros” + “kaleō”, and literally means “to call towards oneself”, “to draw to oneself”. It is not, therefore, a call to attract the attention of the one called, but indicates a summons, which in turn implies an existential reorientation, making the one called, in effect, God’s own. It is no coincidence that the disciples called are described with the possessive adjective “his”, to indicate how this call becomes a sort of appropriation of the one called by God, a consecratory election on his part. Similarly, this was also the case at the foot of Sinai, where God defines his people as “his own” and, consequently, also as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex 19:4–6).

A second term that characterises the disciples is the number “twelve”. The number is clearly symbolic and alludes to the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating in those called the new messianic community, destined to give birth to a new people, the new Israel, generated no longer according to the flesh, but in faith. The apostles represent the holy remnant of Israel, the spiritual fathers of the renewed people of God. It is, therefore, a new creation, signifying the replacement of the old Israel according to the flesh, which rejected Jesus’ message, with the new one generated by the Spirit, where all the divine promises may be fulfilled.

The calling is perfected through the necessary conferral of the power that comes from Jesus: “he gave them power”. Jesus grants the apostles supernatural powers, entirely similar to those He Himself possessed. Essentially, there are two such powers: that of casting out unclean spirits and that of performing every kind of healing. Jesus places unclean spirits and every physical affliction that sin has brought upon humanity under the power conferred upon the disciples. Nothing can resist them. Everything is subject to them. With these powers, what Jesus can do, the Twelve can also do. To grant authority or power means that a sort of identification is formed between the one who confers authority and the one who receives it. Jesus, therefore, extends himself into the disciples, becoming, himself, active within them through his power.

The mission of the disciples, therefore, is the continuation of Jesus’ own mission. Consequently, the disciples’ work is the very work of Christ. The authority given to the disciples, however, is not absolute, but is directed towards the realisation of a salvific plan, which manifests itself in casting out unclean spirits and healing every sort of disease and infirmity. In other words, the disciples’ work is aimed at establishing the Kingdom of God amongst men, which finds its exact opposite in man’s submission to the power of unclean spirits, which generate sickness and infirmity in man.

It should be noted that the disciples’ primary task is not to go about teaching doctrine to people. The specific task of the disciple will be to impart life to others by casting out demons. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

The Body and Blood of Christ (year A)

(1 Cor 10:16-17)

1 Corinthians 10:16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? And the bread which we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:17 Because there is one loaf, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

Here we see the fundamental reason that compels us to flee from idolatry, and it is closely linked to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, during which everything was done just as Jesus had done at the Last Supper. The cup was taken and blessed, the bread was taken and broken. The very words that Jesus had spoken over the cup and the bread were also spoken, so that after these words the bread and the cup were and are the body and blood of Christ.

The cup of blessing is the Eucharistic cup, which we bless, that is, consecrate. Consecration is called a blessing because it is preceded and followed by various prayers. It is also ‘communion’ (Greek koinōnia = participation, communion) with the blood of Christ, so that whoever drinks from this chalice—that is, from the wine it contains—becomes a participant in and drinks the blood of Jesus, and remains intimately united with him. Similarly, the Eucharistic bread, which we break, is communion with the body of the Lord, and whoever eats this bread remains intimately united to Christ. If drinking from this chalice and eating this bread is to share in the blood and body of Christ, this is clear proof that Christ is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist. Everyone, then, drinks the blood of Christ; everyone eats the body of Christ. A communion so profound with Christ is created that it surpasses every other form of communion existing on earth. It is a communion that unites Heaven and earth.

By participating in the Eucharist, by partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we enter into communion with him; we form one body. That is to say, our Eucharist, which is the very heart of the whole Christian life, is eating this bread, which is Him, and living in communion with Him. By living in communion with the Son of God, I become what I am, a child of God; I attain my identity, my truth. If I do not eat this bread, I am not what I ought to be; I do not attain my identity: I destroy myself.

To eat and drink the chalice is to enter into communion with the body and blood of Christ, and by eating and drinking Christ we are transformed into what He is: into a spiritual, holy nature, even in our body and not only in our soul. This truth is so evident that Paul does not want it to be accepted merely as a principle of faith, but as an act of the intellect. Faith, on the other hand, consists in accepting that the blessing and the words spoken over the bread and the cup transform the bread into the body of Christ and the cup into the blood of Christ. This truth cannot be deduced by reason. It is a proclamation of faith, a testimony of the apostles who heard Christ’s command, lived it out themselves first, and then understood the significance of what Christ had done for them and for all who would believe in his name. The apostles also received the authority to carry this out for the rest of their lives, passing this power on to their successors and to those they chose as elders within the community of believers.

Since spiritual things cannot be seen, they are expressed through signs, that is, through gestures, and thus through ritual; therefore, the bread and wine are signs. They are necessarily expressed through signs, because words are not adequate to express them, and behind those signs we see an infinite meaning that God has shown us through his word.

What signs are bread and wine? They are signs of nourishment, of sharing a meal, of communion, of family, of life: eating and drinking signify life. Behind these signs, what does revelation tell us? It is the gift that Jesus made of his body. It tells us that he is our life and that he gave his life for us. So, these signs become the memorial, that is, they bring back to my heart all the love of God who gives his life for me. We understand how necessary the sign is for the rite. That is why that small piece of bread is so very important: it is everything, because it is all that God wishes to give us, that is, himself. Since he cannot give himself in a visible way, and we need the visible, he signifies this to us through a small sign.

I do not know if we manage to grasp the full value of the rites. If one views the rite with triviality and superficiality, for that person the rite has no meaning whatsoever. If, on the other hand, one views it with depth of understanding, through the sign one will see that the full meaning of God’s saving work is revealed. Then, we understand what it means that that bread and that wine are communion with the body of Christ which is given for us; they are communion with the very life of God in the Son, through which we become children, we become like Christ: divinised. I hope that we Christians today know this too: those who were there at the beginning knew it.

The Eucharistic celebration concludes with: “Ite, missa est”. In the early Church of Rome, there was the following custom: once the celebration was over, the bishop would entrust some pieces of the Eucharistic bread to the deacons, so that they might take them to the faithful who had been unable to attend in person, or to the priests who would preside over the Eucharist in smaller churches. In this sense, the words “missa est” should be interpreted as “we have already sent the communion”, or “[the offering] has been sent”. Thus, the Eucharist concludes with a mission to others. If you have experienced the Father’s table, you are sent out into the whole world to bear witness to all; you are like the Son sent into the world.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All generations will call me blessed

Catholics and Protestants compared – In defence of the faith

The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

Most Holy Trinity (year A)

(2 Cor 13:11–13)

11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, strive for perfection, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.

12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints send you their greetings.

13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 

This is the grand finale of St Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. It is a marvellous summary of how the path to Christian holiness is fulfilled within the community.

“Rejoice”. For there to be joy, the truth of Christ must dwell in your hearts, and there must be pure faith in God. In this certainty, the Christian must always grow. Can a person maintain joy whilst living in a world of suffering and sin? The answer is yes, because when one is in the joy of God, everything else becomes bearable; everything else is transformed into a hymn of honour and glory to the Lord our God. Jesus Christ sent his own into the world to bring this certainty.

“Strive for perfection”. Baptism does not make us perfect; it sets us on the path to perfection. Each of us will be responsible for ourselves in order to attain the perfection to which the Lord calls us. Perfection is the attainment of the way of life of Christ within us. To live as Christ lived does not mean to do the things he did, but to obey the Heavenly Father as he obeyed.

“Encourage one another”. On the path towards perfection, we are not alone. We walk together with others; we form a community; we are a people marching towards the attainment of the promised land, which for us is paradise. On this long journey, which is at times hard and tiring, we must support one another, encourage one another, and offer a helping hand to help and be helped. Sometimes a single word, a gentle reminder, or a word of encouragement is enough to prevent the other person from becoming disheartened, losing courage, or turning back. Encouragement must be a fruit of love that flows from our hearts filled with Jesus Christ. If Jesus is not in our hearts, we cannot offer encouragement; such encouragement could prove harmful to the other person, as it might be misinterpreted as a harsh judgement, or worse, as humiliation. When, however, the love of Christ overflows within us, the other person sees it, grasps it, and can allow themselves to be saved by it, resuming the path of perfection towards the attainment of salvation.

“Have the same attitude”. This is the attitude of “likeable” people who know how to show empathy. All too often our Christian community presents an unfriendly face, and those who are very devout and practising often come across as unfriendly. It is certainly not authentic devotion if going to Mass so often and spending so much time in church results in an unfriendly demeanour, so that when faced with others, instead of “feeling together”, we clash. Our encounter with God must enable us to have the same mind, to become likeable, capable of good relationships with others. We know what these shared sentiments must be: they are those that were in the heart of Christ Jesus, namely, to be among our brothers and sisters as one who serves, not as one who is served.

“Live in peace”. There is no letter of Paul that does not echo this invitation, that is not a heartfelt appeal for peace. Peace is a gift from God, but like every gift, it depends on the will of man, who must be the one to desire to preserve the peace that God has placed in his heart.  

“And the God of love and peace will be with you.” By bringing about peace, believers will have the joy of  experiencing God’s presence among them. God offers Himself first; if man opens the door to Him, He remains in his heart and in his life. If, on the other hand, man closes the door to Him—and he can close it at any moment—God leaves His dwelling place and Satan takes His place, settling in the heart of man and leading him towards evil.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This blessing, or prayer—one of the most beautiful Trinitarian texts in the New Testament—has become the opening greeting in the Holy Mass.

In the original Greek, there is no verb corresponding to the “be” in the English translation. The liturgy uses the singular “is” because it is a single reality: the Trinitarian mystery. The grace of the Lord Jesus is one and the same as the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. They are not three things that add up but a single reality, and so the Greek text, correctly, does not use the verb. The Latin is a perfect copy of the Greek: “Dominus vobiscum”, that is, “The Lord be with you”. The verb ‘to be’ is not there.

The formula “The Lord be with you” seems more assertive (that is, it affirms a reality) than a wish. Since in the Eucharistic celebration we are gathered as a community of believers, as the Body of Christ, then “The Lord be with you” becomes an acknowledgement of reality: The Lord is present because we, his members, are gathered together to form his body, which is the Church.

Charis (grace), agapē (divine love), and koinōnìa (communion). The three divine Persons are characterised by these three aspects, which are, however, almost synonymous. Grace, love and communion signify being together with affection, friendship and goodness, and the community can constitute itself as the Church of God only if it continually receives this style that unites the Trinitarian life. The Church is the reflection of the Trinity; the Church can be the Church only if it lives by Trinitarian love.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

Pentecost (year A)

(1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13)

1 Corinthians 12:3 ...no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit;

1 Corinthians 12:5 there are different kinds of service, but the same Lord;

1 Corinthians 12:6 there are different kinds of working, but the same God works all things in all people.

1 Corinthians 12:7 And to each is given a special manifestation of the Spirit for the common good:

All those who are not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can do nothing but allow themselves to be moved and carried away by their impulses. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, leads to the true confession of who Jesus is. Whoever is in the Spirit sees everything according to the truth. If they do not see according to the truth, they are not in the Spirit. Therefore, whoever is in the Holy Spirit cannot speak a lie about Christ. Likewise, no one can speak the truth about Christ unless under the working of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, any spirit that does not lead us to love Jesus is not a good spirit, whatever manifestation it may have. If it does not lead us to love Jesus, it is from the devil. Any spirit that does not lead to loving Christ leads to perdition.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who works all things in all” (vv. 4–6). There is mention three times of diversity and three times of unity. Unity is attributed to the Spirit, who is the Holy Spirit; to the Lord, who is Jesus; and to God, who is the Father. In essence, the Trinity forms the backdrop to our diversity and unity, for the Trinity is the primary source of diversity and unity. Diversity is necessary for relationship, for love. In love, diversity becomes unity. Since God is love, then love requires diversity; and diversity is the very place of union, whereas for us, generally, diversity is the place of conflict, because we do not accept diversity. Today, people seek to abolish diversity. There is unity in non-identity, in the destruction of the person.

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.” Here we have the word charismatōn. It derives from the same root as the term “grace” – charis – meaning “manifestations of grace” and therefore “gifts”. The charism itself is a particular grace through which we can manifest God’s riches to the world. A charism is grace because it is given freely to man. No one can take personal pride in it, precisely because it is a charism, that is, a grace bestowed.

Having established this first truth, Paul immediately affirms another. Whilst there are many charisms, there is only one Author: the Holy Spirit of God. Why does Paul feel the need to emphasise this truth? The pagans believed that a person’s various gifts were to be attributed to different gods, one of whom gave wisdom, another strength, and so on. Lest the Christians should think that something similar applied to the various gifts bestowed upon them, the Apostle warns them that, although the gifts are diverse, there is but one Spirit from whom they proceed. Furthermore, by saying that the Spirit is the sole source of the grace within us, he wishes to invite the Corinthians to recognise the Lordship of God in every work He accomplishes through us.

“There are different kinds of ministry.” Ministry, diakoniōn, means: diaconies, services. Thus he introduces another concept: every charism, every gift we have, is a service to others.

“There is but one Lord.” All these services are established and governed by the supreme will of the one Head of the Church: the Lord Jesus. Thus, all our service finds its origin in Jesus, who made himself a servant to all; and every gift finds its model in Jesus.

“And there are various kinds of working.” The term “works” translates the term energēmātōn, which derives from the word normally used to denote “work”. Even the works we perform in the service of the Kingdom of God must be traced back to God the Almighty Father, who from on high strengthens our will and infuses energy and vigour into the body so that we may act in accordance with God. It is God who stirs up both the will and the action.

“But there is but one God.” For the third time, Paul asserts that there can be no divisions among men based on “gifts”, for it is the same God who bestows the gifts in all their diversity. And precisely because all gifts proceed from God, they can be directed only towards a purpose worthy of God. Every person is an instrument in God’s hands. If God uses one instrument for one thing and another instrument for another, can the instrument perhaps become jealous, act with envy, or ask the Lord why He uses me and not the other, or why He uses the other and not me?

If God has ordained that one person should exercise a ministry with a particular charism and another should act according to a different ministry and with an equally distinct charism, who is man to say to God: ‘Why have you made me this way and why have you made me different from others?’ If it is God who works in us, then it is right to pray to the Lord that he may act in us according to the gift with which he has enriched us, but also that he may strengthen the gift with which he has enriched others.

In these verses we find the profound framework of the structure of community life and also of married life, namely diversity and unity. These are not a threat to one another, but are necessary for one another; otherwise, it is impossible to live. This is a vast subject because it applies both on a strictly personal level and on a social level. These are fundamental values in which the destiny of humanity is at stake, that is, how we live out who we are.

“Now to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (v. 7). Any gift that does not lead to the common good is no longer a gift; it would be a gift, but we are using it in the opposite way. Everything I have and am serves to love God and my neighbour, and whatever does not lead in this direction we are misappropriating, and therefore using it in a diabolical way. All gifts are gifts from God, but we can make right or wrong use of them.

A ministry, a gift, a charism, a grace is not for the person who receives it; it is for the common good. Everyone must feel enriched by the charism of another. From this principle set out by Paul arises a serious problem of conscience for every Christian. If the charism of another is for my benefit, can I neglect it, can I refuse to make use of it if it is necessary for me?

To ignore another’s charism, to make no use of it, to refuse to allow this charism to bear abundant fruit is a sin that turns against me. If another’s charism is for me, by depriving myself of it, I deprive myself of the nourishment I need. Rejecting another’s charism—and above all, rejecting it out of a guilty conscience—places me in serious danger of failing in my Christian life, because I deprive myself of the support and nourishment that the Lord has placed at my side.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

Ascension of the Lord (year A)

(Mt 28:16–20)

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

Matthew 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

Verses 19–20 are devoted to the mission entrusted to the apostles, who are to go out into the world clothed in the same authority as Jesus Christ. It is a mission with specific objectives and the means to achieve them. First and foremost is proselytism, as indicated by the verb ‘mathēteusate’, ‘to make disciples’ through making known. The aim of the mission is ‘to make disciples’. The Christian is a disciple, one who establishes a close and personal relationship with Christ: the disciple bonds with the person of the teacher and commits to sharing his very vision of life. The apostles must go to every people. They must leave Galilee. They must go beyond the borders of Israel. The whole world awaits them. They must teach all nations.

Thus, God’s message is not addressed to a single people, but to all nations, so that no nation may claim or assert that it is God’s chosen one. When a people thinks it has God on its side, it uses Him to dominate others. When a people feels itself to be the chosen people, it is always dangerous, because in the name of this election it believes it has a duty towards other peoples: to dominate them. On the US one-dollar bill it says “In God we trust”, as if they had mistaken God for the Federal Reserve. Their resource lies in the dollar, not in God. Make “all” peoples [my] disciples – says Jesus – so that no people may claim superiority over others.

Secondly, there is baptism, which serves as an instrument of incorporation into the new faith. Baptism is administered “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. It is, therefore, an instrument that leads the new believer into the bosom of the Trinity, placing them in close relationship with it, whose life they now share. Indeed, baptism is “in” the name; it is an entering “into the name”, entering into a relationship of fidelity. The mission is conceived as gathering the nations around the proclamation of salvation, to lead them all back into the bosom of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the same time, “name” in the singular (not “names”) emphasises the uniqueness of the three Persons of the Trinity.

The third aspect is teaching, expressed by the verb “didáskō”. This concerns all the things that Jesus commanded. The apostles must not limit themselves to baptising. They must teach those who have been baptised how to fulfil God’s will. Their teaching must be twofold, in every respect like that of Jesus: through word and deed. They must show visibly – and not merely by hearing – how to observe all that Jesus commanded. If teaching lacks the visible dimension, it is no longer true teaching; rather, it is incomplete teaching. It bears no fruit. Just as Christ taught, so must they teach the whole world. This is the law of true evangelisation. All the rest is sterile theory.

Now Jesus makes them a great promise: “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He will be with them until the end of the ages. With this faith, the Apostles must present themselves before every person. The presence of Jesus is not merely one of companionship. It is an active presence. Jesus will work in them and through them his great works of salvation and redemption. Yesterday and today, tomorrow and always, this is how the evangelisation of the nations must be carried out.

The Gospel of Matthew ends as it began. At the beginning, the name of Emmanuel, God with us, was announced to us, as had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah (Mt 1:23). Now he assures us that that prophecy has become a permanent reality: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” In other words, Jesus continues to be Emmanuel, God with us. History is made up of many ‘days’ and every day Jesus is with us. It is not every other day, or days in between: every day, in the everyday reality of life. What a tragedy it is to have relegated the Lord to heaven and not to have realised that the Lord is with us every day, a Lord whom we believe has not fallen silent with time, but who continues to speak even if he is not heard.

In concluding his Gospel, Matthew formulated Jesus’ final words to his disciples on the model of the closing words of the Hebrew Bible, which ends with the Second Book of Chronicles, with the words of Cyrus, King of Persia, the one who granted freedom to the Jews deported to Babylon: 

2 Chronicles 36:23 ‘Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has commanded me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to his people, may his God be with him, and let him go!’

By Cyrus’ decree, the Israelites were invited to leave Babylon, the land of captivity, and go to Judea, the land of freedom; with Jesus, the disciples must go out from Judea to all nations. Cyrus’ decree was to go and build a temple; through the apostles, Jesus will build a new temple – the Church – and this is the extraordinary conclusion of this Gospel.

Furthermore, the Gospel of Matthew begins with the words: “Biblos geneseōs Iēsou Christou” (Mt 1:1), “The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ”. In other words, it begins with the words of the first book of the Bible (Genesis), and concludes with those of the last book of the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles): it is a way of encapsulating the entire history of the people of Israel in Jesus. From the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, everything is encapsulated in Jesus, and now it is not over; we must roll up our sleeves – and, conscious that he is present, go out to all people.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

6th Easter Sunday (year A)

(John 14:15-21)

John 14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:16 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever,

John 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

John 14:19 A little while longer and the world will no longer see me; but you will see me, because I live and you will live.

John 14:20 On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.

John 14:21 Whoever receives my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and reveal myself to him.

Love comes first, and then the keeping of the commandments. One loves Christ, and for this reason one keeps the commandments. Love for Christ is an overwhelming force. When this force is in the heart, one is even capable of martyrdom. If we allow ourselves to be taken by the love of Christ, in this love we will rediscover love for ourselves, and in rediscovering love for ourselves we will also rediscover the right love for others. Whoever does not allow themselves to be won over by the love of Christ will never be able to keep his commandments. The commandments in themselves are an obligation, a duty, a burden. But through the love of Jesus, the commandments are transformed into a desire, into a will. We give our lives to Jesus so that Jesus may love through us. But who can create in us the love for Christ and thus the love to fulfil his will?

If we wish to love Jesus, if we ask him to become our very life, he comes to our aid and fulfils our desire. How? Jesus will pray to the Father, and the Father will give us another Paraclete, so that he may remain with us always. The Paraclete is the Advocate, but also the Teacher, the Helper, the Support, the Inspirer, the Guide, the One who takes us by the hand and leads us to Christ, so that in Christ, with Christ, through Christ, we may have access to the Father. The Paraclete is the ‘fruit’ of the prayer of Jesus Christ. The Father gives him to all who love Christ and keep his commandments. 

The Holy Spirit is given through the sacraments. He acts in the sacraments. He regenerates us and makes us children in the Son. He makes us witnesses of Christ. He consecrates us and makes us priests of Christ. Through the Holy Spirit acting within him, the priest forgives sins and transforms a piece of bread and a few drops of wine into the Body and Blood of Christ the Lord. The Holy Spirit acts – as was once taught – “Ex opere operato non ex opera operantis”. This teaching is true. Otherwise, we would have no certainty regarding the validity of any sacrament. One thing that is rarely taught, however, is this: conversion, the drawing to Christ, and the sanctification of people take place through the Holy Spirit acting within the Christian, whoever they may be – a lay faithful or a priest. The love of Christ living within the Christian becomes and is transformed in them into the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit draws them to Christ, converts them to Him, conforms them to Him, and makes them like Him. The stronger the love of Christ within us, the greater is the power of the Holy Spirit at work within us.

The Paraclete Spirit is the Spirit of truth. In the Spirit we know the truth of the Father and the truth of the Son. The Spirit is also our truth. If we are in the Holy Spirit, we know one another. If we are not in the Spirit, we will never be able to know one another. But why can the world not receive the Spirit of truth? Because the world is under the power of the prince of this world, who is a spirit of deception and falsehood. Those who live in the world must first leave the world behind. Having abandoned the world and allowed themselves to be seized by Christ, they love Christ, observe his commandments, and receive the Spirit of truth. What happened on the day of Pentecost must happen every day.

For us, receiving the Holy Spirit does not require leaving the world. A mere two or three years of attending catechism classes is enough. A rational education in the truths of our holy faith is enough. This is utter folly. If one does not leave the world, one does not receive the Spirit! The Spirit does not work in those who remain in the world; He works in those who leave the world. The Christian is called to leave the world, that is, to leave sin, lies, falsehood and idols. Conversion from idols to God is an indispensable condition for the Holy Spirit to act and work in us and through us.

Being in darkness, the world neither sees nor knows the Spirit of truth. The disciples will know the Holy Spirit because the Spirit will remain with them and be within them. The Holy Spirit will be the soul of their soul, the heart of their heart, the spirit of their spirit, the feeling of their feelings, the will of their will, the thought of their thoughts. They will know Him because He will dwell within them, abide in them, and make Himself known to them. Knowledge of the Holy Spirit does not come about through rational means. Rather, it comes through the spiritual transformation of our entire life. Only He can bring about this transformation. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)

5th Easter Sunday (year A)

(John 14:1-12)

John 14:1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 14:2 In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you;

John 14:3 and when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be too.

John 14:4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’

John 14:5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is about to leave his disciples. His death on the cross will surely trouble their hearts, shake their faith, and purify it of all the imperfections that had accumulated upon it over the years. Faith must be shaken from time to time; otherwise, the dust of the superstructures that the minds and thoughts of men constantly add to it becomes too great. The death on the cross of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, must shake the faith of the people of the Covenant in order to give it its proper and true heavenly dimension. Every earthly thought must be measured against faith in the crucified and risen Messiah. It is a grace when our faith is shaken by God. A faith that is not pure, not aligned with God’s thoughts, always produces turmoil. If Jesus’ disciples wish to have a purified faith, they must begin to believe in the crucified Messiah. This is where the true journey of faith begins for every person.

Jesus presents his death as a round-trip journey. But where is Jesus going, and why is he going? He is going to his Father’s house. He is going to prepare a place for his disciples. In his Father’s house there are many mansions, many places. No one can count them. These places, however, must be prepared and assigned. Jesus goes, prepares the places, and assigns a specific place to each of his own. Everyone in Heaven can have their own home or dwelling. Heaven has no limit of space.

Jesus does not merely leave, does not merely go, does not merely prepare a place for each of his own, but he returns. He returns to take all his disciples with him. Where he is, they too must be. Where he dwells, they must dwell. This is the truth of love: eternal communion; being one with the beloved for all eternity. A love that divides, separates, or fades away is not love. Love is endless. Only Jesus can bestow eternity and truth upon our love. Those without Christ will never know the truth and eternity of his love. They cannot, because only Christ is eternity and truth. Our society has lost the truth and eternity of love. This means it has lost Christ.

The disciples already know – or at least ought to know – where Jesus is about to go and also the path he must take. The place is the Father’s house, his Heaven. The path is the cross. It is the cross that is the ladder by which Jesus ascends to his Father. Jesus had pointed to this path both as his own path and as the path of every one of his disciples. However, this path was impossible for them to accept, as their faith had not yet been shaken by the death on the cross.

Thomas says with extreme clarity and simplicity that they do not know where Jesus is going. If one does not know where the other is about to go, how can one know the path he must take? To Thomas, Jesus replies with equal simplicity: “I am the way, the truth and the life”. “I am the way”: In the Old Testament, the way was the Law, but Jesus is the way that brings to fulfilment every other path previously laid out. It is the perfect, complete way, to which nothing can be added and nothing taken away. Whoever wishes to go to the Father must walk in his Word.

“I am the truth”: Truth is the very essence of God, which is the essence of Christ Jesus. It is the essence of both his divinity and his humanity. Jesus is the truth that makes us conform to him. No one else is the truth. Whoever wishes to be true, to become true, must be made a partaker of this one and only truth that makes every person true.

“I am the life”: Jesus’ life is eternal life; it is the life of God, which must be shared with all who believe in his name. Jesus is the new tree of life. Whoever feeds on him becomes eternal life, just as Christ is eternal life. Whoever does not feed on him will never become eternal life. They will remain in their falsehood and in their death.

Now Jesus speaks a thought that deserves our full attention: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” This statement allows for no exceptions. Whoever wishes to go to God must do so through Christ, through his way, his truth, his life. Whoever does not wish to go to God through Jesus Christ simply does not go to God. Jesus Christ is not one of many paths leading to the Father. He is the only way. There are no others. This means that no religion possesses the way, the truth, and the life to reach the Father. Only Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. All religions, at best, are impure, imperfect, and unfulfilled ways, truths, and lives—not brought to their fulfilment—or they are even false and deceitful ways, truths, and lives. Not even the Old Testament is the way, the truth and the life. It is an incomplete way. It lacks the truth and eternal life. Truth and eternal life are given by Christ.

Today, many children of the Church no longer possess this faith. They do not know that salvation is to be accomplished today. It is today that salvation is found only in Christ. No one else can make the true man. Where the true man is not made, there salvation is not fulfilled. The true man must be built on earth, in history. This is the mission of the Church.  

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)