(1 Peter 1:3–9)

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1 Peter 1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading. It is kept in heaven for you,

Peter knows what the new reality is that has been created in the Christian and which must be given to every person. It is grace that descends from God. To God, who has given us such a great gift, a hymn of blessing and praise must rise from our hearts. The hymn of blessing is not only gratitude for the gift God has given us; it is also an awareness of the gift. Whoever does not know the gift does not even recognise it and therefore does not bless the Lord. Failure to bless is a sign of not possessing God’s gift. Whoever does not bless the Lord does not know what the Lord has done for him and through him. Hence arises the duty to teach the truth of God, His work.

One cannot teach all this in truth unless one teaches who Christ is in truth. Every ‘diminution’ of Christ becomes a ‘diminution’ of glory and blessing in relation to the Father. Today we see a ‘diminished’ Christian precisely because of the ‘diminution’ that has been made of Christ. But the Father too is ‘diminished’ precisely because of the ‘diminution’ that is taught about the Lord Jesus. Whoever wishes to exalt the Christian must exalt the truth of Christ in all its splendour. Peter holds high the truth of Christ and consequently holds high also the truth of the Father and of the Christian.

The God whom Peter blesses is the “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. He is Father by eternal generation. Before the creation of the world, the Word was with God and was God, because he was begotten by the Father in the ‘today’ of eternity. This ‘today’ is before time, it is timeless, it is eternal. From all eternity and for ever, God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father begets the Son, the Son is begotten by the Father, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. From all eternity and for ever, this is the life of God.

God is blessed because of his ‘great mercy’. Mercy is the richness of divine love, of his heart rich in compassion and pity, which are directed towards man. On the one hand there is God who has everything; on the other there is man who is destitute, devoid of every good. God bends down to this man and fills him with grace.

God’s great mercy is regeneration, new birth, new life, a new calling. These divine gifts are given to us “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. The Father raised Christ, His Son, from the dead. He gave new life to His body. This new life is granted to every Christian. Every Christian is enveloped by the newness of Christ, that is, by His resurrection to new life in Christ Jesus. The Christian has died to what he was before; he has been born into the new life lived in the Risen Jesus.

In Christ we have been begotten for a living hope: this hope is eternal life, which already begins in this world. The Christian is one who bears in his life the signs of Christ’s resurrection; he is one who can live as one who has risen together with Christ already on this earth. The Christian can free himself from sin. The Christian can live by truth, charity, justice and freedom. The Christian can be in the world without belonging to the world. This is the living hope. It is a living hope because it draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus at work within him. Where the resurrection of Christ is not at work, all hope is dead. Living hope is a green tree that bears fruit in every season. Dead hope is a dry tree, good only for being thrown into the fire.

“For an inheritance that does not corrupt, is not defiled and does not fade. It is kept in heaven for you.” The resurrection of Christ does not exhaust its fruits on this earth, and the living hope nourished within us does not end with our death. The Christian does not place hope in the things of the world for the present time. The Christian’s hope is to be called to an eternal inheritance. All the inheritances of this world are corrupted, rot, become tainted, and are swept away by time and history. It is enough to observe what is happening around us to realise that everything passes away. Man can trust in nothing, hope for nothing, expect nothing from the earth and from history. What history creates, history also destroys, and what man does, man also brings to ruin. The inheritance, however, to which the Lord calls us is eternal; it does not end, it does not diminish; indeed, it can become ever greater.

This inheritance is not preserved for us on earth, but in heaven. God awaits to hand it all over to us. For this inheritance, it is truly worth losing everything, every single thing, even our very lives. For this inheritance, we must also be willing to go to the cross, like Christ. What is the point of preserving our bodies for a few days only to then lose both body and soul in the eternal fire? What is the point of having a moment’s inheritance of the world, when the world then takes back that inheritance and our very souls? What is the point of selling Christ for thirty pieces of silver, when history then takes the thirty pieces and even our soul? This is the service history renders us. It gives us nothing for a moment: just long enough to gaze upon it with our eyes, and then robs us of our eternal good. God, however, does not! He asks us for the nothingness of history—which is, after all, His own—to give us the fullness of Himself and His eternal Kingdom. 

https://www.movimentoapostolico.org/formazione/parola-commentata/nuovo-testamento/27-prima-lettera-pietro.pdf

 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)

Easter, «The Resurrection of the Lord»

Mt 26:14–27:66 [5 April 2026]

(Col 3:1–4)

Colossians 3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God;

Colossians 3:2 set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God!

Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Saint Paul exhorts Christians to live their new life to the full. The Christian is invited to realise in concrete terms, in daily life, the mystery that was accomplished in him on the day he was baptised into Christ. On that day, he truly rose to new life with Christ; he was truly enveloped in the glory of the Resurrection; he was truly taken up into heaven with Christ, for spiritually and sacramentally he is in heaven. The Christian is the body of Christ, and the body of Christ is in heaven, seated at the right hand of God; therefore, the Christian too is seated at the right hand of God. In the risen Christ, the Christian too has already made the crossing from this shore to the shore of heaven.

This is his new reality. If he is in heaven, if he is seated at the right hand of God, a new spirituality has been born for him: he must no longer seek the things of the earth, he must seek the things of heaven. But with his body of flesh he is still on earth. He is on earth but to seek the things of heaven, the things of God. On earth he is like a gleaner. The gleaner is in a harvested field. There is much chaff, there are few ears of corn. He must be able to gather all the ears of corn, leaving the chaff in the field. The chaff does not nourish him; the good grain, however, does nourish him. If he gathers chaff instead of ears of corn, he is doing a futile task. So it is with the Christian. He is on earth: there are things that do not belong to heaven, but there are also those that manifest and reveal heaven. He must be able to discard, leave behind, and abandon everything that does not reveal heaven—indeed, that distances one from heaven—in order to devote himself solely to the things that are of heaven, which bring heaven down to earth, for they bring truth, justice, charity, and every other heavenly virtue into this world.

“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” The “things above” are the will of God; the things of the earth, on the other hand, are the will of men. The Christian must walk amidst temptation. On the one hand there are the interests of Christ, which are the building up of the kingdom of God and His righteousness. On the other hand there are the thoughts of man, diametrically opposed to the thoughts of Christ. Those who allow themselves to be overcome by human thoughts forget heaven. How can we act so as not to think of earthly things but of those above? First and foremost, we must have sound discernment between heavenly things and earthly things. Those who do not separate, discern or distinguish live in perpetual confusion. They do earthly things thinking they are heavenly, and do heavenly things as if they were earthly. Having made the necessary distinction, we must bring about the death of sin and the resurrection to the life of truth, aided in this by the grace of God, which we must draw upon daily through unceasing prayer offered up to God, in the awareness that man lives surrounded by the things of the world, and if he neglects the purpose for which he lives, he immediately allows himself to be drawn to the earth, forgetting heaven.

“For you have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God”! St Paul now gives the profound reason that must always inspire the Christian in the constant pursuit of heavenly things. The earth would belong to us if we were still alive. In reality, everything that belongs to the earth no longer belongs to the Christian, for he has truly died in the body of Christ. If he has died, if he has been transformed into a body of glory, he can no longer feed on the things of the earth. He has changed nature; he is a different man; he is no longer the one born according to Adam. Now he is born according to Christ. Just as Christ no longer belongs to the earth, so the Christian can no longer belong to the earth.

This is a mysterious reality. Our life is now hidden with Christ in God. The life we live in our body should be merely an apparent life—that is, a life that appears, but which is not the true life—because the true life of the Christian is that which he lives in his spirit. The true life of the Christian is that which is hidden with Christ in God. It is hidden because it is a life as one raised with Christ. He lives this life in his body of flesh but only as a means to clothe himself wholly in Christ, as a moment in which he strives towards heaven, until the perfect realisation of Christ is completed in him. What the Christian lives in the flesh is only a temporary life, lasting but a few moments. He lives it because something is still lacking for the full realisation of Christ in him. He must therefore act like the gleaner. He must take only what nourishes his spirit, which has been recreated and renewed in Christ Jesus. This is the Christian’s vocation, his mission on earth. But if he does not consider himself a new man in Christ, everything will ultimately be in vain. Everything will prove to be futile. It is then of no value to uphold some principle of sound morality. The Christian is not one who must live for the fulfilment of some moral principle. The Christian must live to bring to fulfilment on earth the mystery that has already been fulfilled for him in Christ. He must live his new, true life; he must abandon his outward life; indeed, he must make this outward life a ladder to reach the true life that is hidden with Christ in God. This is the true vocation of the Christian and this is the daily work he must carry out.

“When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you too will be revealed with him in glory.” The Christian now lives in the time of faith and not of vision. If he could see how much Christ has wrought in him through his Holy Spirit on the day of his baptism, he would be breathless; he would not believe his own eyes. The mystery created at baptism is so lofty, so profound, so vast, that it would leave us awestruck if the Lord were to reveal it to our eyes. But this grace is difficult to realise. We must go to God by faith. We must trust in Him; we must make His Word the sole certainty of our lives.

The Christian sees with the eyes of the flesh the falsehoods that surround and tempt him; he does not see with the eyes of his spirit the invisible truths that should instead draw him towards God. When will the Christian emerge from this world of illusion? When will the true life that he already put on on the day of his baptism—and which is now hidden with Christ in God—be revealed to him? For Saint Paul, all will be fulfilled on the day of the glorious resurrection on the last day. On that day we shall have the full vision of glory, and only then shall we understand the whole mystery of baptism. Now we must simply walk in the light of faith, trusting totally in Christ. Now is the time for obedience and for seeking the things that are of heaven. If, through faith, we seek the things above, we shall gradually taste, though without being able to see it, the mystery of our baptism. We shall contemplate it with the eyes of our spirit, we shall love it, we shall realise it. One thing must be certain: this is the world of appearances, of vanities, of darkness, of deception, of temptation. Those who have passed through this world, overcoming evil and seeking the things above, will be clothed in the glory of Christ in the kingdom of heaven. 

 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)

 (Mt 26:14–27:66)

Matthew 26:17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?’

Matthew 26:18 He replied, ‘Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, “The Teacher sends word to you: My time is near; I will celebrate the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’

Matthew 26:19 The disciples did as Jesus had instructed them and prepared the Passover.

Matthew 26:20 When evening came, he sat down at table with the Twelve.

Matthew 26:21 Whilst they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’

Matthew 26:22 And they were deeply distressed and began to ask him one by one, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’

Matthew 26:23 He replied, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the dish with me—he will betray me.

Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man is going, as it is written about him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had never been born!’

Matthew 26:25 Judas, the betrayer, said, ‘Rabbi, is it I?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’

The word ‘unleavened’ is formed from the privative ‘a’, meaning ‘without’, and ‘zymos’, which is yeast. Unleavened bread is bread made without yeast. According to Jewish tradition, on the eve of Passover, the 14th of Nisan, all yeast had to be removed from the homes, and so the bread was baked without yeast.

The disciples “approached” Jesus. This collegiality among the disciples highlights the ecclesial nature of the account. The Christological aspect, on the other hand, is highlighted by the fact that they all converge upon Jesus, thereby indicating his centrality; furthermore, they ask him where to prepare his Passover: “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover for you?” Jesus also emphasises that this time is his time (v. 18). Jesus is fully aware that the decisive time (kairòs) had come for the fulfilment of the Father’s plan. Kairos is the appointed time, the time of fulfilment.

There is a profound union between Jesus and the disciples; they form a sort of new entity. This involves the disciples being assimilated into Jesus’ own Passover, so that their remembrance of the Lord’s Passover is a way of making his Passover perpetually present and relevant amongst them; indeed, they themselves become the sign of the Lord’s Passover: “The Master sends word to you [...] I will celebrate the Passover at your house with my disciples”.

Jesus’ command to prepare his Passover “at the house of this man” is significant. Not “a man”, but “this man”. The definite article, whilst leaving the man anonymous, nevertheless identifies him within a category of people among whom Jesus has ordered his Passover to be celebrated. This “one” must in fact have been a disciple of Jesus, given that Jesus presents himself to him as the “Master says”. Who is this one? It intrigues us. Behold, this one is I who am reading. The Master sends word to me through his disciples that his time is near and he wishes to eat the Passover with me; he invites me to his supper. The Gospel is written for the reader, not for that one.

“When evening came”, Jesus sat down to eat “with the Twelve” (v. 20); and they eat this Passover, which is not theirs, but the Lord’s. They are part of it nonetheless; they take it in. Even the one who is about to betray Jesus is made, right to the very end, a participant in his Master’s redemptive destiny of death. But for him there will be no salvation: “it would be better for that man if he had never been born” (v. 24).

“One of you will betray me.” Jesus knows who it is that is about to betray him, yet he does not reveal it. Jesus spoke in the future tense, not the past. Had he spoken in the past: “One of you has already betrayed me”, everyone might have suspected the others, but not themselves. Since Jesus speaks in the future, everyone suspects themselves. Everyone thinks it might be they themselves who are betraying him, and asks the Lord: “Is it I, Lord?”. Jesus answers them all, yet in such a prudent and wise manner that he allows each to know it is not they, without however being able to identify who the traitor really is: “The one who has dipped his hand into the dish with me, he will betray me”. In those days there were neither spoons nor forks, but each of the guests took what he needed from the common dish with his hands. Everyone could know it was not him because he had not yet dipped his hand into the dish with Jesus. Yet no one knew who the betrayer was, because they did not know who had already dipped his hand into the dish with Jesus.

There is a certain distance between Judas and the other apostles, which the evangelist Matthew points out to us in the different ways they approach Jesus. Faced with the revelation of the betrayal that is about to take place, the disciples turn to Jesus, calling him ‘Lord’ (v. 22). Judas, on the other hand, sees in Jesus only a ‘Rabbi’ (v. 25) who has let him down. There has been no spiritual growth in him. The rabbi (teacher) is the one who tells you things; you learn them and then do them without him so that you too may become a teacher. It is true that Jesus is one who teaches you things, but above all he is one who loves you and gives his life for you. This is the radical difference between Lord and teacher.

“Woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed.” The Greek expression is “ouai” and was the typical expression of a funeral lament. Jesus weeps for Judas as if he were dead.

Judas was in the Upper Room, the holiest place at that moment, as if to signify that within the holiness of Christ and the Church there will always be the presence of the sinner. Just as Jesus Christ was betrayed by one of his disciples, so the Church will always be betrayed by her children. At the moment of greatest holiness, there will always be the moment of greatest betrayal.

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)

Fifth Lent Sunday (year A)

(Rom 8:8–11)

Romans 8:8 Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:9 But you are not under the control of the flesh, but of the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to him.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification.

Paul does not want anyone to harbour illusions: those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. From the acceptance of this truth arises within us the possibility of a new path. If, on the other hand, we allow ourselves to be overcome by illusion, any path upwards becomes impossible, and it will always be impossible as long as man harbours the illusion of pleasing God whilst in fact God is not pleased with him, because he is guided and led by his flesh. He cannot please God because the flesh seeks self-affirmation and the nullification of God; it seeks the deification of man and consequently the removal of man from God. Whoever lives according to the flesh is in rebellion against God; indeed, God is his enemy, for He is the One who takes away man’s space because He wishes to govern his life. To assert himself in his flesh, such a person desires the death of God.

This dramatic choice became a reality with Jesus Christ. He was put to the cross, because His presence demanded the death of the flesh into which man had fallen. The flesh killed God, hung Him on the wood of the cross, and removed Him from the picture. This opposition will accompany man throughout his life, and will ultimately result either in eternal death or eternal life, either forever far from God or forever close to God.

But we can and must please God. We can and must because we are not under the dominion of the flesh, but under the dominion of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us. “But you are not under the dominion of the flesh,” says St Paul. This is the truth that every Christian must make their own. Escaping the dominion of the flesh means that man has truly been redeemed, set free; the long, arduous, peril-filled journey has begun that will lead him to the heavenly homeland, in complete freedom from all bondage.

Another truth that Paul never ceases to remind us of is that the Christian is under the dominion of the Spirit, as attested by the fact that the Spirit of God dwells within him. The flesh is falsehood, selfishness, disobedience, and separation from God. The Spirit, on the other hand, creates freedom, love, communion, obedience, and submission to God. Therefore, ‘if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to him’: an obvious and banal statement, were it not for the fact that all too easily one presumes to be of Christ. If the Spirit brings about the destruction of the flesh, if the Spirit creates the new man, if the Spirit leads the believer towards the fullness of life and truth, it is also true that whoever is without the Spirit of Christ cannot belong to Christ. He does not belong to Christ because he belongs to the flesh, and even though Christ bought him at a high price by shedding his blood on the cross, if man has returned of his own will under the dominion of the flesh, this man cannot belong to Christ. Belonging to Christ is not simply a matter of belonging due to the fact that, through the sacrament of baptism, man has come out from under the dominion of the flesh to enter into that of the Spirit. This is an initial, nascent belonging. It is necessary for this belonging to be transformed into the habitual indwelling of the Spirit within us. We are Christ’s; we belong to Him because He has bought us with His most precious blood, but we can freely depart from this belonging through our surrender to sin and death.

“And if Christ is in you”: Christ is in us if His Spirit dwells in us. The Spirit dwells in you if man remains in the truth. If the believer has truly conformed his way of life to the Spirit of Christ, then “Your body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification”. Man’s spirit has been filled with the life of Christ, but this life is not a fruit produced from within man, just as a tree naturally produces its fruit. This life comes to him from without; it comes to him because of justification, that is, because of God’s will to make man righteous in Christ.

Justification does not occur automatically, without the participation of man’s will. It is accomplished in man through an act of faith in Christ. Justification is not without faith, for otherwise man would be deprived of his will. Now, what makes men human is precisely the will; without it, they are no longer human. God allows a man to end up in eternal darkness rather than deprive him of his very essence as a man. This is the tremendous mystery of man’s ontological constitution, and within this ontological constitution lies also the mystery of sin. Those who advocate a purely objective justification in which every man is saved and redeemed, those who propose the abolition of hell or its temporary nature, these do not realise that by advocating such theories they destroy themselves in their ontological reality, for they declare themselves not to be men, that is, beings not endowed with will and self-determination.

Unfortunately, today man no longer knows himself, and he does not know himself because he does not know God, and not knowing God, he cannot even know himself. That man does not know himself is attested precisely by the fact that he has destroyed himself in his ontological reality. But the destruction of man attests to another terrible reality. If man does not know himself, it is because the Spirit of truth does not dwell within him. If the Christian does not know himself, it is a clear sign that he has returned to the flesh, for only those who are in the flesh do not know God, and the ignorance in which he lives is to his grave detriment.

The Christian does not have a vocation to mediocrity, or simply to avoid sin. The Christian possesses a vocation to the highest holiness. He is called to develop every gift of grace and truth so that it may bear the greatest fruit. Minimalism, mediocrity and superficiality are not the Christian’s vocation. His vocation is, rather, to attain conformity to the Lord Jesus. Today we are forgetting the vocation we have received. We are living as though we had no vocation to fulfil, indeed as though our body were condemned to sin. Instead, St Paul tells us that a Christian is either one who is taken and led by the Holy Spirit, or is not a Christian.   

 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)

Fourth Lent Sunday (year A)

(Jn 9:1-41)

John 9:8 Then the neighbours and those who had seen him before, since he was a beggar, said, 'Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?

John 9:9 Some said, 'He is the man,' while others said, 'No, he looks like him. ' But he said, 'I am the man.

John 9:10 They asked him, 'How then were your eyes opened?

John 9:11 He answered, 'The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, "Go to Siloam and wash." So I went and washed, and received my sight.

John 9:12 They said to him, 'Where is this man? He answered, "I do not know."

John 9:13 Now they brought to the Pharisees the one who had been blind.

John 9:41 Jesus answered them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains."

Verses 8-9, in presenting the main actors in this inquiry, the people and the blind man, question the identity of the healed blind man, who is described as a "beggar" and who "sat there".  The fact that he was sitting speaks of a condition of life that made the man incapable of any autonomy, placing him on the margins of social and religious life. To accentuate this state of affairs, it is emphasised that his miserable life depended on the generosity of passers-by. But it is his blindness that isolates and immobilises him completely, preventing him from having any normal social relationships. In essence, what is described here is the spiritual state of Israel, blinded by a religiosity based on the letter of the Law, which made it incapable of any spiritual evolution towards God, reducing its relationship to a mere physical execution of the Torah. Israel, therefore, was spiritually broken down. This state of affairs sparks debate in the form of an investigation. The actors in this investigation are 'those who had seen him before'.

We are faced with an investigation set within a confused and uncertain framework, with a succession of conflicting and convulsive opinions: 'Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he looks like him." And he said, "It is I!"' (v. 9). All the verbs are in the imperfect indicative to indicate the continuity of this questioning, of this investigation, which only the healed blind man is able, at least in part, to unravel.

Verse 10 poses the fundamental question: 'Then they asked him, "How then were your eyes opened?"'. This is still a superficial inquiry because it only asks how his healing took place. But here John actually establishes a systematic principle for interpreting signs: when faced with an extraordinary and portentous event, it is necessary to question and investigate how it came about, but without stopping at appearances, rather questioning them, transcending them to arrive at what they express. A second, more profound reading is therefore necessary because miracles, even before being an expression of the irruption of divine power among men, are signs that refer to what they signify in their appearances. Precisely for this reason, the blind man will detail what happened to him, so that, by reflecting on and investigating the sign, we may discover the light that illuminated him (v. 11).

Verses 11-12 report, on the one hand, the testimony of the healed blind man, who describes what happened to him, but without going further (v. 11); on the other hand, the first question of meaning appears: 'Where is this man? (v. 12), which will push the search and investigation of Jesus further, bringing the case to the religious authorities (v. 13).

The first answer the blind man gives to his interlocutors is a generic indication: 'The man called Jesus'. Significant here is the use of the term 'anthrōpos', which indicates a man in a generic, not well-defined sense, thus denoting an still imperfect knowledge of his healer. He certainly knows his name, but only by hearsay ("his name is Jesus"); he knows that through his rituals and commands, the meaning of which he does not understand, he has brought light to his eyes and heart; but he still lacks direct experience, which alone can provide him with full knowledge, bringing his journey of enlightenment to completion. But before reaching this point, he must still face many questions and overcome many obstacles; he must give further testimony, defend and proclaim his saviour himself, and, expelled from the synagogue, come to a necessary choice, that of abandoning his previous life. Only at this point will he meet him and proclaim him "Lord" (v. 38).

But what the healed blind man attested to his interlocutors (v. 11) is still completely insufficient to define who this Jesus really is. It is therefore necessary to find him, to know where he is: 'They said to him, "Where is this man?" He replied, "I do not know."' The name of Jesus is replaced by a pronoun ("this man"), which indicates that knowledge of Jesus is still superficial and therefore needs further investigation before arriving at the name, which in ancient culture indicates the very essence of the person. The outcome of this search, in fact, is ineffective: "I do not know," literally "I have not seen" (ouk oida) and therefore I do not know. It is therefore the absence of seeing, his blindness, that prevented him from grasping "where" his saviour is. Certainly, the healed blind man met Jesus, who healed him, but he had this experience of Jesus while he was still blind, before he had arrived at the pool of Siloam and washed himself with the living water. It was therefore a salvific encounter, yes, but one that required a whole journey to fully see his saviour. That is why he still 'does not know'.

It is therefore inevitable that the search continues, now among the religious authorities, those who should be the light that illuminates Israel. The blind man is taken to the Pharisees to be evaluated by them. The note at the end of verse 13 is significant: 'the man who had been blind', to emphasise, on the one hand, the change in his state of life: from blind to sighted; from unbeliever to believer; and, on the other hand, to indicate that the one on trial here is the one who was once blind, that is, a Jew who later converted to Christianity. In fact, the position taken by this former blind man in favour of Jesus, which becomes increasingly evident as the story progresses, and his final expulsion from the synagogue indicate the break between this former blind man and Judaism.

This, then, is the context in which the trial should be read, with the Pharisees in the role of preliminary investigators and the healed blind man first as a person informed of the facts and then as a defendant. Against this backdrop, the identity of Jesus gradually emerges, culminating in the expulsion of the blind man from the synagogue, an indispensable prerequisite for meeting Jesus and recognising his divinity.

Verse 41, concluding the story, reports Jesus' response to this Judaism that considered itself enlightened by the Torah: "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, 'We see,' your sin remains." The sentence, which is in fact an implicit accusation of presumption, triggers a confrontation between the man born blind, a metaphor for an open and welcoming Judaism that has reached full enlightenment, and this pedantic Judaism, which, convinced of being enlightened by the Torah, and on whose parameters even Jesus had been judged a sinner (v. 16), had closed itself off from any possibility of access to the Mystery. There is therefore no spiritual or cultural evolution for this type of Judaism. Because of its imperviousness to the manifestation of the Christ of God, this Judaism remains in its sin, which for John is unbelief, which in the final analysis is nothing other than the rejection of God.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – 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)

Third Lent Sunday (year A)

(Romans 5:1-2, 5-8)

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul sees believers in Jesus as being in a state of grace. He expresses this state of grace with the word 'justified'. Justification is accomplished. This is the truth that Paul proclaims. The passage from life to death, from sin to grace, takes place, has taken place, and will always take place through faith in Jesus Christ. By using the aorist passive participle (= having been justified), Paul emphasises that this work now belongs to us. He alludes to a specific moment in the life of Christians that belongs to the past: baptism. We are justified "ek pisteōs" - by faith. Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the sacramental place where this justification takes place, which is accessed through faith. We are justified the moment we believe and accept Jesus Christ as the one and only Word of eternal life.

What happens when our justification is accomplished? We are at peace with God. The author of salvation is also the author of peace: there is no true peace except in Christ. This peace was established when we, enemies of God, were reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. Peace is not a state of inner balance, nor is it our peaceful behaviour. Peace is the restoration of our relationship with God, because we are reconciled as a result of justification. When we are at peace with God, we also find peace with other people; we also find peace with creation, which we are to protect and cultivate, as it is a gift entrusted to our care by God so that we may make it a home where people can live with dignity, wisdom and joy. The mistake of man today is to think that there can be peace among men and with creation while man remains in his falsehood and sin. Peace comes only from justification and only as long as man lives as justified.

One is at peace if one is in Christ, one is at peace if one lives in the word of Christ, one is at peace only through Christ. This is the cry that Paul makes resound in his churches, so that they may be convinced that outside of Christ no peace will ever be possible. It is an illusion to think of peace without justification, to think of peace outside of Christ. Peace is Christ, it is in Christ, it is through Christ. He is the way through which a person can go in peace towards another person. Those who exclude Christ close off the path to true peace. Without Christ there can never be peace, because people are not in the truth.

Faith, therefore, is faith in God who has made Christ the only way to salvation. However, our faith in God becomes effective only if it is faith in the work of Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ are one principle of faith, one faith that saves. It is through this faith that we obtain the gift of peace, because it is through this faith that we are justified, that is, God cancels our debt, makes us his children in Christ, and restores us to his friendship. This is peace.

'Through him': Christ is the instrument and the key to access the new condition of life that has been realised in him. The peace mentioned in verse 1 is considered from another perspective in verse 2: it is a grace. Paul says that he has had access to 'this grace in which we stand'. Grace is to be understood as the redemption wrought by Christ through his death and resurrection. Paul is very proud of this grace. And that "we boast" is not the result of human presumption, but is the joy that comes from the awareness of having been chosen and saved through Christ and in Christ, despite our miserable condition as sinners, and which in some way gives us a foretaste of the state of full and definitive glory. Paul boasts in order to magnify and praise the Lord, to bless and exalt him for his great love. All that Paul is, all that believers are and will become, is only by grace, and this is what we must boast about, not our own merits.

Paul's boasting rests on a truth: he is firmly established 'in the hope of the glory of God', that is, he rejoices in the hope of one day sharing in the glory of God, which for the justified will be the crown and the end of all things. Paul knows that immeasurable eternal glory awaits him. This is his strength: the hope that arises in him from faith. This hope should not be thought of as a simple human desire; rather, it is already a certainty, since it defines a reality that already exists and in which we already find ourselves, even if it has not yet been fully and definitively attained. However, we are called to live it now, conforming our lives to this new reality in which we live. Thus, our life is an eschatological life, deeply marked by an 'already' and a 'not yet'.

Those who do not have this hope become entangled in the things of this world and are suffocated as thorns suffocate the good wheat. Today, almost all of us are losing hope in the glory of God. Almost all of us are building a horizontal Christianity, without its fundamental truth. We must recover and strengthen ourselves in the specificity of our faith. We must find pride in our being Catholics, disciples, ministers, ambassadors, heralds of Jesus Christ, in the hope of future glory. If the believer loses sight of hope, his Christian being is purposeless. When true faith dwells in the believer, there is also strong hope; when hope is lacking, it is a clear sign that his faith is weak or non-existent. It is a faith that cannot open the door to eternity, and without the opening of this door, the little faith that resides there will sooner or later be lost, for the characteristic of faith is to walk towards the eternal glory of God in his kingdom of light and eternal peace.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – 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 in comparison – In defence of the faith

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

(Available on Amazon)

Second Lent Sunday (year A)  [Mt 17:1-9]

Matthew 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

Matthew 17:4 Then Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.'

Matthew 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.'

Matthew 17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were very much afraid.

Matthew 17:7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, 'Get up and do not be afraid.

Matthew 17:8 When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus alone.

Matthew 17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Next to Jesus, transfigured and shining with the same light as God, two Old Testament figures of great importance suddenly and unexpectedly appear: Moses and Elijah. The first is the one God chose to free his people from oppression in Egypt and lead them to the land promised to the Patriarchs. Moses is the one who spoke with God face to face, revealing the familiarity that existed between the two. Moses is the one who received the Torah directly from God and revealed it to the people. He was an intercessor, the intermediary of the covenant between God and Israel. Elijah, on the other hand, was the one who opposed the betrayals of the people and their rulers and, defying the wrath of Queen Jezebel and the claims of the priests of Baal, sought to assert God's lordship among the people, putting his own life at risk.

The presence of these characters is also due to the fact that Jesus said in chapter 5 of the Gospel: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets", that is, Jesus did not come to destroy the promises of the Old Testament, contained in the law and the prophets, but to bring them to fulfilment, to completeness. With their presence, Moses and Elijah bear witness to Jesus and show that He is the end to which both the law and the prophets were ordained. These are also the two figures who spoke with God in the Old Testament. Just as Moses and Elijah spoke with God, now they speak with Jesus and him alone. It is not said that Jesus speaks with them, but that they speak with Jesus; it is they who converge on Jesus and not vice versa. There is, therefore, no dialogue. Elijah and Moses, the whole revelation given by God to the fathers, speak with Jesus.

The scene is charged with symbolism and meaning. Matthew included it to convey the new significance of the figure of Jesus in relation to the symbolic figures of the Old Testament. Jesus is not an addition to Moses and Elijah, he is not an extension of them, but their point of convergence. In a certain sense, they define the meaning of his mission and his being: like Moses, Jesus was sent to Israel and to all humanity to free it from the slavery of sin and lead it back to the Father. At the same time, he also acts as a mediator between God and men, a sort of pontiff, connecting humanity to God in a secure and definitive covenant between God and men that will never fail. Similar to Elijah, the prophet who spent his life and put it at risk to reaffirm the worship of God among his people, Jesus also came to restore the Father's will among men, to reveal its demands and to urge them to return to God. Moses and Elijah, therefore, were paradigmatic, typical figures who foreshadowed in themselves the essential traits of the figure of Jesus, in whom they converge and find their fulfilment.

Verse 4 denounces an error of perspective into which Judeo-Christianity will fall: considering Jesus a great figure, a prominent prophet, an important messiah, but one who did not differ from his Old Testament predecessors, represented by Moses and Elijah, but rather was linked to them. Peter, in fact, has Jesus, Moses and Elijah before him and, without any distinction, proposes three tents for them, one for each of them, all three on an equal footing. It is as if Peter, and with him Jewish Christianity, still could not grasp the novelty contained in the mystery of Jesus, whom he places on the same level as Moses and Elijah and associates with them.

With verse 5, we reach the heart of the story, which aims to emphasise Jesus' divine sonship and, therefore, his own divinity. The revelation reaches its climax here, as God himself is now involved in the matter, his presence evoked by two theophanic elements: the cloud and the voice. The first closely recalls the 'shekinah', the glorious presence of Yahweh, while the second is linked to the first and indicates the revelation of God.

The brightness of the cloud contrasts with the verb epeskíasen, 'overshadowed', 'darkened'. It is astonishing how a cloud glowing with divine light can darken and overshadow. In reality, this play on words speaks of revelation and new understanding. What this cloud obscures, in fact, are Jesus, Moses and Elijah, whom Peter had placed on an equal footing, without noting their substantial difference. It is this error, which redefines Jesus along the lines of the Old Testament, bringing him back into it, that is, so to speak, overshadowed, hidden; while within the divine light, the true mystery underlying the person of Jesus is revealed.

The Church has nothing more to take from Moses or Elijah, except those parts that are compatible with the message of Jesus. The evangelist does not say that the Old Testament should be discarded, but that Jesus becomes the norm for interpreting the Old Testament. This is a warning that is more relevant than ever, because there have always been groups that are tempted to emphasise certain norms of the Old Testament and integrate them into the Christian community.

The passage ends (v. 9) with the disciples returning to normal daily life: they come down from the mountain, and it is during this return that Jesus orders them to remain silent about the vision. He forbids them to speak of it before the resurrection, because only then will they understand what the transfiguration is: it is a foretaste of the resurrection. In the meantime, they will allow the mystery they have intuited to mature within them.

It is therefore necessary to wait for the appointed time for Jesus to be understood in his entirety, and this time will only come after Jesus has been glorified ('risen from the dead'). Only then will the meaning of his being, his divinity and his messiahship become clear. Only then will the Scriptures be understood and acquire new meaning; only then, in the Risen One, will the Law and the Prophets find their fulfilment. The mystery must now be shrouded in the silence of an imperfect understanding, which can be intuited but not yet fully grasped. While waiting for the mystery to be fulfilled, silence is necessary so that the mystery is not trivialised or rejected. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – 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)

(1Cor 10,1-6.10-12)

3rd Sunday in Lent (year C)

1Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant, O brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all crossed the sea,

1Corinthians 10:2 all were baptized in relation to Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

Paul, in this passage, refers us to the history of the past, to the lesson of history. He reminds us of the deeper meaning of history, which is the history of salvation. It is said that history is a teacher of life, but the pupils learn nothing. Paul instead says that from the history of Israel one must learn. The history of Israel is not just any history, but it is a way in which divine revelation was historically manifested. Revelation, in fact, was not manifested through the explanation of concepts, but through certain historical facts that are then also read and interpreted. The history of Israel is an exemplary history, so it is right and proper, if one wants to understand Jesus Christ, to see all the sacred history that prepares him. Among other things, this also accustoms us to reading our own little personal history, which is also salvation history because the Lord walks with us.

"For I do not want you to be ignorant": The Corinthians were supposed to know the facts narrated here, but the apostle wants them to know the typological significance that these facts have, and which is not to be ignored. Jesus Christ is the end result of a long journey, and we must know the journey that preceded it. Paul is very respectful of Israel's history and feels he must tell it. He refers us to these examples from the past that are extraordinary events, but they are also events of sin, and yet always instructive because they show what God's way is.

"Our fathers". Christians can consider the ancient Israelites as their fathers, because the Church succeeded the synagogue, and they are the true heirs and children of Abraham.

"They were all": Three times Paul repeats this expression. As if to say that salvation had been given to all. For all were led by the cloud, that is, by the presence of God, and all crossed the sea. All gained freedom from slavery and all were guided by God on the way to the promised land. Hence, on God's part, no exclusion, no preference towards some at the expense of others. He brought all his people out of Egypt, for all he parted the sea, for all he willed the cloud. All were in the condition of grace and truth that would enable them to conquer the promised land and possess it forever.

This universality of grace and truth for Paul is akin to a baptism. There is an immersion also of the children of Israel, even though their baptism is merely a figure of that instituted by Jesus Christ. However, there is a true immersion of the Israelites in the sea and in the 'cloud' and this immersion for them is true salvation, true deliverance.

Israel lived under the cloud, that mysterious cloud that guided the Israelites through the desert and sheltered them from the sun: signifying the presence of God, the Shekinah. To be under the cloud is to be under God's protection. They crossed the sea and were baptised: the passage from the land of slavery, which is Egypt, to the promised land, takes place through the crossing of the Red Sea, and this is a baptism because it signifies the detachment from the slavery of Egypt, liberation and purification, and the journey to the promised land.

"To be of Moses". Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, was a figure of Jesus Christ, and the Israelites led by him to the promised land were a figure of the Christians led by Jesus Christ to heaven. Now, just as Christians through baptism are incorporated into Jesus Christ and made subject to him as their Lord, whose laws they are bound to observe, so for the Israelites the mysterious cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea were a kind of baptism, whereby they remained subject to Moses and obliged to observe his laws. From that moment on, the people were separated from Egypt forever and belonged to the God who liberated them and to the prophet-mediator whom God gave them as their leader.

The mysterious cloud, a perceptible sign of God's presence, and of the favour He bestowed on His people, was a figure of the Holy Spirit, who is given in the baptism of Jesus Christ, and similarly the dry-foot passage through the Red Sea and the consequent deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh, were figures of our deliverance from the bondage of sin through the waters of baptism.

Having stated this truth, Paul reminds us that it is not enough to come out of Egypt to have the promised land. The going out is one thing, the conquest and possession of the land is another. Between going out and conquering the land, there is a whole desert to cross. For the Israelites, the desert lasted for forty years; for Christians it lasts their whole life.

With baptism we come out of the slavery of sin, with a life of perseverance striving to conquer the kingdom of heaven we walk towards the glorious resurrection that will take place on the last day.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - 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

(Buyable on Amazon) 

Ps 17 (18)

This monumental ode, which the title attributes to David, is a Te Deum of the king of Israel, it is his hymn of thanksgiving to God because he has been delivered from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David acknowledges that God alone was his Deliverer, his Saviour.

David begins with a profession of love (v. 2). He shouts to the world his love for the Lord. The word he uses is 'rāḥam', meaning to love very tenderly, as in the case of a mother's love. The Lord is his strength. David is weak as a man. With God, who is his strength, he is strong. It is God's strength that makes him strong. This truth applies to every man. Every man is weak, and remains so unless God becomes his strength.

God for David is everything (v.3). The Lord for David is rock, fortress. He is his Deliverer. He is the rock in which he takes refuge. He is the shield that defends him from the enemy. The Lord is his mighty salvation and his bulwark. The Lord is simply his life, his protection, his defence. It is a true declaration of love and truth.

David's salvation is from the Lord (v. 4). It is not from his worthiness. The Lord is worthy of praise. God cannot but be praised. He does everything well. It is enough for David to call upon the Lord and he will be saved from his enemies. Always the Lord answers when David calls upon him. David's salvation is from his prayer, from his invocation.

Then David describes from what dangers the Lord delivered him. He was surrounded by billows of death, like a drowning man swept away by waves. He was overwhelmed by raging torrents. From these things no one can free himself. From these things only the Lord delivers and saves.

David's winning weapon is faith that is transformed into heartfelt prayer to be raised to the Lord, because only the Lord could help him, and it is to Him that David cries out in his distress. This is what David does: in his distress, he does not lose himself, he does not lose his faith, he remains whole. He turns his faith into prayer. He invokes the Lord. He cries out to Him. He asks Him for help and succour. God hears David's voice, hears it from his temple. His cry reaches him.

God becomes angry because He sees His elect in danger. The Lord's anger produces an upheaval of the whole earth. The earth trembles and shakes. The foundations of the mountains shake. It is as if a mighty earthquake turned the globe upside down. The spiritual fact is translated into such a profound upheaval of nature that one has the impression that creation itself is about to cease to exist. In this catastrophe that strikes terror, the righteous is rescued.

The Lord frees David because he loves him. Here is the secret of the answer to the prayer: the Lord loves David (v. 20). The Lord loves David because David loves the Lord. Prayer is a relationship of love between man and God. David invokes God's love. God's love responds and draws him to safety.

"Wholesome have I been with him, and I have guarded myself from guilt" (v. 24). David's conscience testifies for him. David prayed with an upright conscience, with a pure heart. This he says not only to God, but to every man. Everyone must know that the righteous is truly righteous. The world must know the integrity of God's children. We have a duty to confess it. It is on integrity that truly human relationships can be built. Without integrity, every relationship is tightened on falsehood and lies.

"The way of God is straight, the word of the Lord is tried by fire" (v. 31). What is the secret because God is with David? It is David's abiding in the Word of God. David has a certainty: the way indicated by the Word of God is straight. One only has to follow it. This certainty is lacking in the hearts of many today. Many do not believe in the purity of God's Word. Many think that it is now outdated. Modernity cannot stand under the Word of God.

"For who is God, if not the Lord? Or who is rock, if not our God?" Now David professes his faith in the Lord for all to know. Is there any other God but the Lord? God alone is the Lord. God alone is the rock of salvation. To seek another God is idolatry. This profession of faith must always be made aloud (remember the 'Creed'). Convinced people are needed. A faith hidden in the heart is dead. A seed placed in the ground springs up and reveals the nature of the tree. Faith that is in the heart must sprout up and reveal its nature of truth, holiness, righteousness, love and hope. A faith that does not reveal its nature is dead. It is a useless faith.

"He grants his king great victories; he shows himself faithful to his anointed, to David and his seed for ever" (v. 51). In this Psalm, David sees himself as the work of God's hands. That is why he blesses him, praises him, magnifies him. God's faithfulness and great favours for David do not end with David. God's faithfulness is for all his descendants. We know that David's descendants are Jesus Christ. With Jesus God is faithful for ever. With the other descendants, God will be faithful if they are faithful to Jesus Christ.

Here, then, the figure of David disappears to make way for that of the perfect king in whom the saving action that God offers the world is concentrated. In the light of this reinterpretation, the ode entered the Christian liturgy as a victory song of Christ, the 'son of David', over the forces of evil and as a hymn of the salvation he offered.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - 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

(Buyable on Amazon)