1. The promise made by Jesus to Simon Peter, to make him the cornerstone of his Church, is reflected in the mandate that Christ entrusts to him after the resurrection: "Feed my lambs", "Shepherd my sheep" (John 21: 15-17). There is an objective relationship between the conferring of the mission attested by John's account, and the promise reported by Matthew (cf. Matthew 16: 18-19). In Matthew's text there was an announcement. In John's there is the fulfilment of the proclamation. The words: "Shepherd my sheep" manifest Jesus' intention to ensure the future of the Church he founded, under the leadership of a universal shepherd, namely Peter, to whom he said that, by his grace, he would be "stone" and who would have the "keys of the kingdom of heaven", with the power "to bind and loose". Jesus, after the resurrection, gives concrete form to the proclamation and promise of Caesarea Philippi, establishing Peter's authority as the pastoral ministry of the Church, on a universal scale.

2. Let us say at once that this pastoral mission includes the task of "confirming the brethren" in the faith, which we discussed in the previous catechesis. "Confirming the brethren" and "shepherding the sheep" jointly constitute Peter's mission: one might say the proprium of his universal ministry. As the First Vatican Council states, the constant tradition of the Church has rightly held that the apostolic primacy of Peter 'includes also the supreme power of magisterium' (cf.) Both the primacy and the power of magisterium are conferred directly by Jesus on Peter as a singular person, although both prerogatives are ordered to the Church, without however deriving from the Church, but only from Christ. The primacy is given to Peter (cf. Mt 16, 18) as - the expression is Augustine's - "totius Ecclesiae figuram gerenti" (Epist., 53, 1.2), i.e. insofar as he personally represents the whole Church; and the task and power of magisterium is conferred on him as confirmed faith so that it may be confirming for all the "brethren" (cf. Lk 22, 31 f). But everything is in the Church and for the Church, of which Peter is the foundation, claviger and pastor in its visible structure, in the name and by mandate of Christ.

3. Jesus had foretold this mission to Peter not only in Caesarea Philippi, but also in the first miraculous catch of fish, when, to Simon who recognised himself as a sinner, he had said: "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be fishers of men" (Lk 5:10). On this occasion, Jesus had reserved this proclamation for Peter personally, distinguishing him from his companions and associates, including the "sons of Zebedee", James and John (cf. Lk 5:10). Also in the second miraculous fishing, after the resurrection, the person of Peter emerges in the midst of the other Apostles, according to John's description of the event (John 21, 2 ff), almost as if to hand down the memory of it in the framework of a prophetic symbolism of the fruitfulness of the mission entrusted by Christ to those fishermen.

4. When Jesus is about to confer the mission on Peter, he addresses him with an official appellation: "Simon, son of John" (Jn 21:15), but then takes on a familiar and friendly tone: "Do you love me more than these men?". This question expresses an interest in the person of Simon Peter and is related to his election for a personal mission. Jesus formulates it three times, not without an implicit reference to the threefold denial. And Peter gives an answer that is not based on trust in his own personal strengths and abilities, on his own merits. He now knows that he must place all his trust in Christ alone: "Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you" (Jn 21:17). Evidently the task of a shepherd requires a special love for Christ. But it is he, it is God who gives everything, even the ability to respond to the vocation, to fulfil one's mission. Yes, it must be said that "everything is grace", especially at that level!

5. And having received the desired response, Jesus confers on Simon Peter the pastoral mission: "Shepherd my lambs"; "Shepherd my sheep". It is like an extension of the mission of Jesus, who said of himself: 'I am the good shepherd' (Jn 10:11). Jesus, who shared with Simon his quality of 'stone', also communicates to him his mission as 'shepherd'. It is a communication that implies an intimate communion, which also transpires from Jesus' formulation: 'Shepherd my lambs . . . my sheep'; as he had already said: 'On this rock I will build my Church' (Mt 16:18). The Church is Christ's property, not Peter's. Lambs and sheep belong to Christ, and to no-one else. They belong to him as the "good Shepherd", who "lays down his life for his sheep" (Jn 10:11). Peter must take on the pastoral ministry to men redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet 1:19). On the relationship between Christ and men, who have become His property through redemption, is founded the character of service that marks the power attached to the mission conferred on Peter: service to Him who alone is "shepherd and guardian of our souls" (1 Pet 2:25), and at the same time to all those whom Christ the Good Shepherd has redeemed at the price of the sacrifice of the cross. Moreover, the content of this service is clear: just as the shepherd leads the sheep to the places where they can find food and safety, so the shepherd of souls must offer them the food of God's word and his holy will (cf. Jn 4:34), ensuring the unity of the flock and defending it from any hostile incursion.

6. Of course, mission entails power, but for Peter - and for his successors - it is a power ordered to service, a specific service, a ministerium. Peter receives it in the community of the Twelve. He is one of the community of the Apostles. But there is no doubt that Jesus, both through the proclamation (cf. Mt 16:18-19), and through the conferring of the mission after his resurrection, relates in a special way to Peter what he conveys to all the Apostles, as mission and as power. Only to him does Jesus say: 'Shepherd', repeating it three times. It follows that, in the context of the common task of the Twelve, a mission and a power are delineated for Peter, which belong to him alone.

7. Jesus addresses Peter as a single person in the midst of the Twelve, not merely as a representative of these Twelve: "Do you love me more than these?" (Jn 21:15). This subject - the you of Peter - is asked for the declaration of love and is conferred this singular mission and authority. Peter is thus distinct among the other Apostles. Even the threefold repetition of the question about Peter's love, probably in connection with his threefold denial of Christ, accentuates the fact of the conferral on him of a particular ministerium, as a decision of Christ Himself, independently of any quality or merit of the Apostle, and indeed despite his momentary infidelity.

8. The communion in the messianic mission, established by Jesus with Peter through that mandate: "Shepherd my lambs . . .", cannot but entail a participation of the Apostle-Shepherd in the sacrificial state of Christ the Good Shepherd "who lays down his life for his sheep". This is the key to the interpretation of many events in the history of the pontificate of Peter's successors. Over the whole arc of this story hovers that prediction of Jesus: "When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird your garment and take you where you will not" (Jn 21:18). It was the prediction of the confirmation that Peter would give to his pastoral ministry with his death by martyrdom. As John says, by such a death Peter would "glorify God" (Jn 21:19). The pastoral service, entrusted to Peter in the Church, would have its consummation in the participation in the sacrifice of the cross, offered by Christ for the redemption of the world. The cross, which had redeemed Peter, would thus become for him the privileged means to fully exercise his task as "Servant of the servants of God".

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 9 December 1992]

"How does Jesus look at me today?" The question suggested by Francis directly reaches and challenges every Christian with the same force as the "three looks that the Lord had for Peter". Looks that tell of "the enthusiasm of vocation, repentance and mission", the Pope explained in the Mass celebrated on Friday 22 May, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

The passage that recounts the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, the Pontiff noted, "is almost at the end" of John's Gospel" (21:15-19) "We always remember," he continued, "the story of that night of fishing," when "the disciples caught no fish, nothing. And for this "they were a little angry". So "when they approached the shore" and were asked by a man if they had "something to eat", "they angrily" replied, "No!". For truly 'they had caught nothing'. But this man told him to cast the net on the other side: the disciples did so "and the net was filled with fish".

It is "John, the closest friend, who recognises the Lord". For his part, "Peter, the enthusiastic one, threw himself into the sea to get to the Lord first". This is indeed 'a miraculous catch', Francis noted, but 'when they arrived - this is where today's Gospel passage begins - they found that Jesus had prepared breakfast: there was fish on the grill'. So they ate together. Then 'after eating, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter began'.

"Today in prayer," the Pope confided, "the gaze of Jesus on Peter came to my heart". And in the Gospel, he added, 'I found three different looks of Jesus on Peter'.

"The first glimpse," Francis noted, is encountered "at the beginning of John's Gospel, when Andrew goes to his brother Peter and says to him, 'We have found the Messiah'". And "he takes him to Jesus", who "fixes his gaze on him and says: "You are Simon, son of Jonah. You will be called Peter'". It is "the first gaze, the gaze of the mission that, later on in Caesarea Philippi, explains the mission: 'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church': this will be your mission".

"In the meantime," the Pontiff said, "Peter had become an enthusiast of Jesus: he was following Jesus. We remember that passage in the sixth chapter of John's gospel, when Jesus speaks of eating his body, and many disciples at that moment said: 'But this is hard, this word is hard'". So much so that "they began to draw back". Then "Jesus looks at the disciples and says: 'Do you also want to leave'?". And "it is Peter's enthusiasm that replies: 'No! But where shall we go? You alone have words of eternal life!"". So, Francis explained, "there is the first glimpse: the vocation and a first announcement of the mission". And "what is Peter's soul like in that first look? Enthusiastic'. It is "the first time to go with the Lord".

Then, the Pope added, "I thought about the second look". We find it "late on the night of Holy Thursday, when Peter wants to follow Jesus and approaches where he is, in the priest's house, in prison, but is recognised: 'No, I don't know this one!'". He denies him "three times". Then "he hears the cockcrow and remembers: he has denied the Lord. He has lost everything. He has lost his love". Just "at that moment Jesus is taken into another room, across the courtyard, and fixes his gaze on Peter". Luke's gospel says that "Peter wept bitterly". So "that enthusiasm to follow Jesus has become weeping, because he has sinned, he has denied Jesus". But "that gaze changes Peter's heart, more than before". So "the first change is the change of name and also of vocation". Instead "this second gaze is a gaze that changes the heart and is a change of conversion to love".

"We do not know what the look was like in that encounter, alone, after the resurrection," Francis said. "We know that Jesus met Peter, the Gospel says, but we do not know what they said". And so the one recounted in today's liturgy "is a third look: the confirmation of the mission; but also the look in which Jesus asks for confirmation of Peter's love". In fact "three times - three times! - Peter had denied"; and now the Lord "three times asks for the manifestation of his love". And "when Peter, each time, says yes, that he loves him, he gives the mission: 'Shepherd my lambs, pasture my sheep'". Moreover, to the third question - "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" - Peter "was grieved, almost weeping". He is sorry because "for the third time" the Lord "asked him 'Do you love me?'". And he answers him: "Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you". And in return Jesus says: "Shepherd my sheep". Here is "the third gaze: the gaze of the mission".Francis then reproposed the essence of the Lord's "three gazes" on Peter: "The first, the gaze of choice, with the enthusiasm of following Jesus; the second, the gaze of repentance at the moment of that very grave sin of having denied Jesus; the third gaze is the gaze of mission: 'Shepherd my lambs, pasture my sheep'". But "it does not end there. Jesus goes further: you do all this out of love and then what? Will you be crowned king? No'. Indeed, the Lord states clearly: "I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and another will clothe you and take you where you do not want". As if to say: 'You too, like me, will be in that courtyard in which I have fixed my gaze on you: near the cross'.

Precisely on this the Pope proposed an examination of conscience. "We too can think: what is Jesus' gaze on me today? How does Jesus look at me? With a call? With a forgiveness? With a mission?". We can be sure that 'on the road he has taken, we are all under the gaze of Jesus: he always looks at us with love, asks us for something, forgives us something and gives us a mission'.

Before continuing the celebration - "now Jesus comes to the altar," he recalled - Francis invited us to pray: "Lord, you are here, among us. Fix your gaze on me and tell me what I must do; how I must mourn my mistakes, my sins; what courage with which I must go forward on the path that you first made". And 'during this Eucharistic sacrifice', it is appropriate 'that we have this dialogue with Jesus'. Then, he concluded, "it will do us good to think throughout the day of Jesus' gaze on me".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 23/05/2015]

Priestly, different resilience

(Jn 17:20-26)

To protect his intimates from fears of reprisals, Jesus took care to make it clear to what level of realization and consideration he was leading the disciples.

The priority Unity he cares about is that which is introduced by transmitting the divine reciprocity between Father and Son.

It emerges precisely as we allow the ferment that constitutes us sisters and brothers, his Body, to act in us.

If the Church contemplates and displays the Glory of Christ, it is because it has been able to place itself where it ‘belongs’, even to the point of giving life and substance: 'judging' reality too, but from the criterion of the Cross (cf. v.24).

Thus, the experience of Unity in God - the most irrefutable sign of His Presence - was truly profound in the Johannine communities.

Without preclusion, in the assemblies of Asia Minor, the fascination of those aspects of Oneness that were valued by the customary world as imbalances and flaws was revealed.

The first communities were an environment that helped to enhance hidden sides: opportunities for personal enrichment and vocations.

Thus, at the end of the Priestly Prayer, a salient concern emerges in Jesus: the 'Eucharistic' one par excellence.

The Jewish expectation of the Messiah becomes an expectation of Unity [not psychological and trivial, but a Gift from above].

On the subject of Glory, the apostles must not be confused.

Vehicle of Glory is love and the inescapable feasting together - just like in the Eucharist: the same divine Gold coming forth and being offered again.

In prayerful form, the Lord makes a memorial of all those who throughout history will believe in Him, by the word and testimony of the disciples.

Unlike ancient religions, He wants the life of Faith to be characterised not by the “truth” one has, but by the “truth” one makes. And He does not impose a tabula rasa of dreamy eccentricities.

We do not bear witness to the Immense on earth in the coherent capacities of understanding and will according to procedure.

To formulate definitions, it is enough to bring intellectual energies to bear.

To defend, promote and rejoice in life, one must be animated by the Spirit of God himself, in His work of primary Unity.

The earthly love that reflects it is no longer capacity, but possibility.

In its specific weight, the divine Core has nothing immediately satisfying and triumphant about it; on the contrary, much that is helpful and liberating.

In short, the friendship that reveals that which is celestial and primal [not transient and causal] is not in knowing, concatenating, reproducing; in affirming, or renouncing; not even in the succeeding... in parrying blows and advancing.

Nor is a form of Justice that gives each his own sufficient. It recovers opposites.

Father «just» (v.25) refers to the distinction between the world and the small assemblies of mutual adherence in the early days, the only places where life could be perceived.

Only in the reciprocity reflection in the sourcing One was the divine Glory intensely experienced; primordial.

And also for future pilgrims in Him, Christ asks God for Communion - conviviality of differences: not in a one-sided form, but from which to make sense.

Here is the Priestly Prayer of Jesus - which genuinely passes through the centuries; contemporary without wrinkle any.

[Thursday 7th wk. in Easter, June 5, 2025]

Priestly, diverse resilience

(Jn 17:20-26)

Jn seeks to clarify our universal aspiration, and to penetrate the way the Lord makes himself present in the disciples after Easter, so that the world above may approach and inundate, burst into ours.

Heaven influences, exhorts and radically transforms practical existence. 

On earth we can have a direct and all-too-real experience of God, in the summit of discipleship and following, even if it is not immediate.

At the end of the Priestly Prayer, a salient concern emerges in Jesus: the 'Eucharistic' one par excellence.

The Jewish expectation of the Messiah becomes an expectation of Unity [not psychological and trivial, but a Gift from above].

On the subject of Glory, the apostles must not be confused.

The vehicle of Glory is love and the inescapable feasting together - just like in the Eucharist: the same divine Gold that comes to the surface and is offered again.

In prayerful form, the Lord makes memorial of all those who throughout history will believe in Him, through the word and testimony of the disciples, who become the centre of attraction and union.

Unlike ancient religions, He wants the life of Faith to be characterised not by the 'truth' one has, but by the 'truth' one makes.

The weight of the divine manifestation must no longer be traced in formulae and correct dogmas: disputes fester.

God's demonstration before humanity cannot be in an external code that makes everyone dependent, wiping the slate clean of dreamy eccentricities.

We do not bear witness to the Immense on earth in the coherent capacities of understanding and willing according to procedure.

To formulate definitions it is enough to bring intellectual energies to bear. 

To defend, promote and rejoice in life, one must be animated by the same Spirit of God, in His work of primary Unity.

The earthly love that reflects it is no longer capacity, but possibility.

In this way, the divine Nucleus in its specific weight has nothing immediately satisfying and triumphant about it; on the contrary, much that is serviceable and liberating.

If the Church contemplates and displays the Glory of Christ, it is because it has been able to place itself in its proper place, to the point of giving life and substance: 'judging' reality too, but from the criterion of the Cross (cf. v.24).

In short, the friendship that unveils what is heavenly and primal [not transient and causal] does not lie in knowing, concatenating, reproducing; in affirming, or renouncing; not even in parrying blows and advancing.

Nor is a form of 'justice' that gives each his own sufficient - for from division to division it would shatter concord: summum jus summa iniuria; jus summum saepe summa est malitia.

This would crumble any firm polyhedral understanding - and if carried through to the end, would lead to the worst injustices.

Even for future pilgrims in Him, Christ asks God for Communion - conviviality of differences: not in the unilateral form, but from which to take meaning.

The priority Unity he cares about is that which is introduced by transmitting the divine reciprocity between Father and Son.

It emerges precisely as we allow the ferment that constitutes us brothers, His Body, to act in us.

For the world to believe that Jesus is the Envoy, friends must be in the Son and in the Father - as the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son. 

From such a relationship, cemented with intimate immanence, all our unions take their true meaning; weight, transparency, passage, and development.

Fraternities that realise Redemption in history, thanks to a tolerant synergy.

Each person can be in the other, only in the sharing of 'crafted' love.

This is the manifestation [glory] of the divine: a mutual indwelling, which makes us One Body - otherwise one is not credible. Just as the incarnation of God in Christ would not be credible.

Faith is the transmission of authentic glory: Faith and Glory commensurate such concatenation of participation.

And Father "just" (v.25) refers to the distinction between the world and the small assemblies of mutual adherence in the early days, the only places where life could be perceived.

Only in the reciprocity reflected in the One arisen can one live intensely.

The experience of Oneness in God - the most irrefutable sign of His Presence - was indeed profound in the Johannine communities.

Those authentic assemblies were an environment that helped to bring out the hidden sides.

In such churches without preclusion, the fascination of those sides of the Oneness that the customary world valued as imbalances and defects, instead of opportunities for special enrichment: human, cultural, spiritual - and personal callings - was revealed.

The note that makes the assembly of the sons recognisable is precisely the becoming One in the Source of being - not the remaining uniform.

Glory of the beginnings.A different Glory, one that recovers opposites and does not pursue duplicity (perhaps using God's name as a screen and turncoat).

To protect his own from fears of organised and even sacred reprisals [a litmus test of the goodness of values and choices] Jesus took care to make it clear to what level of realisation and consideration he was leading the disciples.

The Trinity is a unique gushing Source; motive, energy, and motor - a true strength, which gives stimulus, form, colour, to the most diverse situations and even to rejection.

It is to be expected that dislikes, attempts at derision and worse will arise towards those who extend the horizon.

Superficial and vain installed do not deserve any credibility. But they are not willing to be unmasked. And they certainly do not renounce counterfeit positions, on which instead they willingly insist.

It also applies to artfully constructed fences over centuries of strife, even between Christian denominations.

Comparing their history of absurd conflicts, this Gospel seems to say: none of them has really experienced the Father.

None of them has seen and understood the face of the other, except for the setting up of a contrived do-nothing identity, built on the most trivial opposition.

As Pope Francis has suggested, this is all to cover up venal interests and fatuous superstitions; nothing else.

On the other hand, men today as they did then - seeing a non-confrontational, servant and poor Church - would contemplate the Crucified One.

They would experience divine glory.

Here is the priestly prayer of Jesus - genuinely transcending the centuries; contemporary without a wrinkle.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you think of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue? Does it enrich or demoralise you?

Do you think it is the opaque and triumphant Church that makes us contemplate the Crucified One, or the transparent and poor one?

Unity in the Church was the focus of Pope Francis' reflection during the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Thursday 21 May. Rereading the passage from the Gospel of John (17:20-26) proposed by the liturgy of the day, the Pontiff first of all underlined how "it consoles everyone to hear this word: 'Father, I pray not only for these but also for those who will believe in me through their word'". This is what Jesus said in taking leave of the apostles. At that moment Jesus prayed to the Father for the disciples and "he also prays for us".

Francis pointed out that 'Jesus prayed for us at that time and continues to do so'. We read in the Gospel: 'Father, I pray for these but for many others who will come'. A not insignificant detail to which, perhaps, not enough attention is paid. Yet, the Pope reiterated, "Jesus prayed for me" and this "is indeed a source of trust". We could imagine 'Jesus before the Father, in heaven', praying for us. And "what does the Father see? The wounds', that is, the price that Jesus 'paid for us'.

With this image, the Pontiff entered into the heart of his reflection. Indeed, he wondered, 'what does Jesus ask of the Father in this prayer?' Does he say, "I pray for them that life may be good, that they may have money, that they may all be happy, that they may lack nothing?...". No, Jesus "prays that all may be one: 'As you are in me and I in you'". At that moment he prays "for our unity. For the unity of his people, for the unity of his Church'.

Jesus, Francis explained, knows well that "the spirit of the world, which is precisely the spirit of the father of division, is a spirit of division, of war, of envy, of jealousies", and that this is present "even in families, even in religious families, even in dioceses, even in the whole Church: it is the great temptation". Therefore "the great prayer of Jesus" is to "resemble" the Father: that is, "as you Father are in me and I in you", in the "unity that he has with the Father".

Someone might then ask: "But, Father, with this prayer of Jesus, if we want to be faithful, can we not chatter against one another?" Or: "Can't we label this one ..., this one is like this, this one is ...?". And "that other one, who has been branded a revolutionary...?". The Pope's answer was clear: 'No'. Because, he added, "we must be one, one thing, as Jesus and the Father are one". And this is precisely 'the challenge for all of us Christians: not to leave room for division among us, not to let the spirit of division, the father of lies, enter into us'. We must, the Pope insisted, 'always seek unity'. Everyone of course 'is as he is', but he must try to live in unity: 'Has Jesus forgiven you? Forgive us all'.

The Lord prays that we will succeed in this. The Pontiff explained: 'The Church is in great need, so much, of this prayer of unity, not only that of Jesus; we too must join in this prayer'. After all, from the very beginning the Church has manifested this need: 'If we start reading the book of the Acts of the Apostles from the beginning,' Francis said, 'we will see that there the quarrels begin, even the swindles. One wants to cheat the other, think Ananias and Sapphira...". Already in those early years, divisions, self-interest, selfishness were encountered. Making unity was and is a real "struggle".

However, we must realise that 'alone we cannot' achieve unity: this in fact 'is a grace'. Therefore, the Pontiff reiterated, 'Jesus prays, he prayed at that time, he prayed for the Church, he prayed for me, for the Church, for me to go on this path'.

Unity is so important that, the Pope noted, "in the passage we read" this word is repeated "four times in six verses". A unity that "is not made with glue". There is in fact no such thing as "the Church made with glue": the Church is made one by the Spirit. This is why "we must make room for the Spirit, so that he may transform us as the Father is in the Son, into one".

To achieve this, Francis added, there is a piece of advice given by Jesus himself: "Remain in me. This too is a grace. In his prayer Jesus asks: "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am" so that "they may contemplate my glory".

From this meditation came a piece of advice: to reread verses 20-26 of chapter 17 of John's Gospel and think: "Jesus prays, prays for me, has prayed and prays for me still. He prays with his wounds, before the Father". And he does so 'so that we may all be one, as he is with the Father, for the sake of unity'. This "should urge us not to make judgements", not to do "things that go against unity", and to follow Jesus' advice "to remain in him in this life so that we may remain with him in eternity".These teachings, the Pope concluded, are found in Jesus' discourse during the Last Supper. In the Mass "we relive" that supper and Jesus repeats those words to us. During the Eucharist, therefore, "let us make room for Jesus' words to enter our hearts and all of us to be witnesses of unity in the Church and of joy in the hope of the contemplation of Jesus' glory".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 22/05/2015]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! For the feast of the Ascension, the first reading and the psalm are common to years A, B, C, while the second reading and the gospel change 

*First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (1:1-11)

These first verses of the Acts of the Apostles recall the conclusion of Luke's gospel, also addressed to a certain Theophilus, and it is interesting to note that one begins where the other ends, that is, with the account of Jesus' Ascension, even though the two narratives do not match perfectly as we can see when reading the texts of Year C. The gospel narrates the mission and preaching of Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles focuses on the missionary activity of the apostles, hence the title. Luke's gospel begins and ends in Jerusalem, the heart of the Jewish world and of the First Covenant; Acts begins in Jerusalem, because the New Covenant continues the First, but ends in Rome, the crossroads of all the world's roads, and the New Covenant goes beyond the borders of Israel. For Luke it is clear that this expansion is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the inspirer of the apostles since Pentecost, so much so that Acts is often called 'the gospel of the Spirit'. Jesus, after his baptism, prepared himself for his mission with forty days of desert, so he prepares the Church for this new missionary phase by appearing to the apostles for forty days and "speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God". In fact, "while he was at table with them", thus during a last supper, he gives the apostles some instructions that can be summarised as: an order, a promise and a sending on mission.

The order: do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fulfilment of the Father's promise that must be fulfilled in Jerusalem since all the preaching of the prophets, especially Isaiah, attributes to Jerusalem a central role in God's plan (cf. Is 60:1-3; 62:1-2). The promise: "John baptised with water, you on the other hand will be baptised in the Holy Spirit not many days from now". This too was known to the apostles, who remembered the prophecy of Joel: "I will pour out my spirit on every creature" (Joel 3:1), and the prophecies of Zechariah: (Zechariah 13:1; 12:10), and of Ezekiel: "I will pour out cleansing water on you and you will be purified... I will put a new spirit in you... I will put my spirit in you" (Ezek 36:25-27). When the apostles ask "whether this is the time when he will rebuild the kingdom for Israel", they show that they have understood that "the Day of the Lord" has dawned and God's plan now demands man's cooperation: with Christ, in fact, the promised Saviour has come, now it is up to human freedom to accept him, and for this the apostles' announcement is necessary. Hence the responsible mission of the apostles who receive the Holy Spirit: "You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit who will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth". The plan that the book of Acts follows is in fact this: first the proclamation in Jerusalem, then throughout Judea and Samaria, and finally it must spread to the ends of the earth. Just as on Easter morning two men in shining garments aroused the women saying: "Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He is not here, he is risen", so, on Ascension Day, "two men in white robes" do the same to the apostles: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (1:11). Jesus will return, we are certain of it, and we proclaim it in every Eucharist when we say 'In blessed hope of the coming of Jesus Christ our Saviour'. Finally, a cloud removes Jesus from human sight: his carnal presence ceases to usher in the spiritual one. A visible sign of this presence of God is the cloud already present at the Red Sea passage (Ex 13:21) and at the Transfiguration (Lk 9:34).

NOTE: The events between the Resurrection and Ascension cannot be reconstructed exactly. In Luke's texts (Gospel and Acts) the narration is essentially identical: Jesus leaves Bethany and takes the disciples to the Mount of Olives recommending that they not leave Jerusalem until they have received the Holy Spirit. The only difference concerns the duration: in the gospel it appears that the Ascension takes place on the evening of Easter itself, whereas in Acts it is made clear that forty days elapse between Easter and Ascension - hence the feast forty days later. In the other gospels little is found about the Ascension: Matthew does not speak of it at all, reporting only the apparition to the women and the sending to Galilee (Matthew 28:18-20). John narrates several apparitions, but omits the Ascension. Mark mentions the Ascension briefly at the end (Mk 16:19). The differences show that the gospels do not aim at a precise geographical account but at emphasising theological aspects: Matthew insists on Galilee, Luke on Jerusalem. In fact, it is in Jerusalem that Jesus had ordered to wait for the Spirit: "Behold, I send upon you him whom my Father has promised; but you remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Lk 24:49).

*Responsorial Psalm (46 (47),2-3,6-7,8-9)

In this psalm Israel sings and acclaims God not only as its king, but as king of the whole earth. Before the exile in Babylon, no king of Israel had imagined that God could be the Lord of the whole universe, and therefore the psalm dates from a late period in Israel's history. God is the king of Israel and therefore in Israel the king did not hold all power because the true king was God himself. The king could not dispose of the law as he pleased and, like everyone else, had to submit to the Torah, i.e. the rules that God had given to Moses on Sinai. On the contrary, according to the book of Deuteronomy, he had to read the entire Law every day and, even sitting on the throne, he was (in principle) no more than an executor of God's orders, transmitted to him by the prophets. In the Books of Kings, kings sought the advice of the prophet in charge before embarking on a military campaign or, in the case of David, before starting the building of the Temple, so that the prophets freely intervened in the lives of kings, strongly criticising their actions. Such a conception of God's sovereignty was even an obstacle to the establishment of monarchy, as was the case when the prophet Samuel, in the time of the Judges, reacted strongly towards the tribal leaders who demanded a king to be like all other nations. To desire to be like other peoples, when one is God's chosen people and in covenant with Him, was something blasphemous, and if Samuel gave in to the pressure, he did not fail to warn of the ruin they were bringing upon themselves. When he anointed the first king, Saul, he took care to point out that he became the custodian of God's heritage because the people remained God's people, not the king's, and the king himself was only a servant of God. During the years of the monarchy, the prophets were charged with reminding the kings of this essential truth. One understands then that in honour of God, this psalm uses the vocabulary that was elsewhere reserved for kings. Even 'terrible' is an expression typical of court jargon and should be understood as follows: the king (God) does not frighten his subjects, but reassures them, and so the enemies are warned that 'our king' will be invincible. The God king of the universe, "the great king over all the earth" (v. 3), acclaimed in every verse of the psalm is precisely the God of Sinai, the "Lord" and in this feast all peoples participate: "All peoples clap your hands, acclaim God with shouts of joy!" so that the universal dimension profoundly pervades the psalm to the point of saying "God reigns over the nations" (v. 9) recognising him as the only God of the entire universe.

NOTE: The real discovery of monotheism occurred only with the Babylonian exile: until then Israel was not monotheist in the full sense of the term, but monolatrist, i.e. it recognised as its own one God - the God of the Sinai Covenant - but admitted that the neighbouring peoples each had their own god, sovereign in their own land and defender in battle. This psalm was therefore probably composed after the return from exile, not in the throne room, but in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem, in a liturgical context evoking God's great plan for humanity, anticipating the day when God will finally be recognised as the Father of all good. We Christians make this psalm our own, and the expression "God ascends amid acclamations" seems well suited for today's celebration of Jesus' Ascension. In paying this splendid homage to Christ, King of the Universe, we anticipate the song that on the last day the children of God finally gathered together will intone: "All peoples, clap your hands! Acclaim God with shouts of joy".

*Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (9:24-28 ; 10:19-23)     

In the first part of this text, the author meditates on the mystery of Christ; in the second part, he draws the consequences for the life of faith with the intention of reassuring his readers, Christians of Jewish origin, who felt a certain nostalgia for ancient worship since in Christian practice there is no longer a temple, nor blood sacrifice, and wondered if this is really what God wants. The author goes through all the rituals and realities of the Jewish religion showing that they are now outdated. He deals especially with the Temple, called the sanctuary, and makes it clear that one must distinguish the true sanctuary in which God dwells - heaven itself - from the temple built by men, which is only a pale image of it. The Jews were rightly proud of the Temple in Jerusalem, but they did not forget that every human construction, by definition, remains weak, imperfect and destined to perish. Moreover, no one in Israel claimed that one could enclose the presence of God in a building, no matter how majestic. The first builder of the Temple, King Solomon, had already said this: "Would God dwell on earth? The heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you; let alone this House that I have built!" (1 Kings 8:27).  For Christians, the true Temple - the place of encounter with God - is no longer a building, because the Incarnation of the Word has changed everything. The place of encounter between God and man is Christ, the God made man, and St John explains this when he narrates Jesus driving the money changers and animal sellers out of the Temple. To those who asked him: "What sign will you show us to do this?" (i.e. "in whose name are you making this revolution?) he replied: "Destroy this temple and in three days I will restore it". Only after the resurrection will the disciples understand that he was talking about his body (Jn 2:13-21). Here, in the Letter to the Hebrews, the same thing is affirmed: only by being grafted into Christ, nourished by his body, do we enter into the mystery of the God who "entered not into a sanctuary made by human hands, a figure of the true one, but into heaven" (Heb 9:24). This occurred with the death of Christ, making clear the centrality of the Cross in the Christian mystery, as confirmed by all New Testament authors. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews specifies later that the culmination of Christ's life-offering is his death, but his sacrifice embraces his entire existence, not just his Passion (cp10). In the passage we read today, the focus is on the sacrifice of the Passion, as opposed to that which the high priest offered each year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). He entered alone into the Holy of Holies, pronounced the unspeakable name of God (YHVH), shed the blood of a bull for his own sins and that of a goat for those of the people, thus solemnly renewing the covenant, and when he left, the people knew that their sins were forgiven. That covenant had to be renewed every year, but the new covenant established with the Father is final in Christ crucified and risen. On the cross, the true face of God is revealed, who loves us to the uttermost, the Father of each one of us, for whom there is no longer any fear of God's judgement. When we proclaim in the Creed that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead, we know that, in God, judgement means salvation, as we read here: "Christ, having offered himself once to take away the sin of many, will appear a second time, without any relation to sin to those who wait for him for their salvation" (Heb 9:28). This certainty of faith enables us to live our relationship with God in full serenity and thanksgiving. But it is important to bear witness to it, as this text exhorts us: "Let us continue without hesitation to profess our hope, for He who promised is faithful" (Heb 10:23). Jesus Christ is "the high priest of future goods" (Heb. 9:11).

*From the Gospel according to Saint Luke (24:46-53)

The synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke differ in their account of the Lord's Ascension, 

Matthew places it on a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had fixed his appointment with the apostles; Mark gives no geographical indication; Luke, on the contrary, places the event on the Mount of Olives towards Bethany. Thus he ends the gospel where it began, in Jerusalem: the holy city of the chosen people from which the revelation of the one God had radiated to the world; the city of the temple-sign of God's presence among men. But also the city of the fulfilment of salvation through Christ's death and resurrection, and the city of the gift of the Spirit. Finally, the city from which the final revelation is to radiate over the universe, and Luke makes Jesus' words ring in our ears: "Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things in order to enter into his glory?" (Lk 24:26). What is new here, in comparison to the three prophecies of his passion uttered by Jesus before the events and the two statements immediately after the resurrection and on the road to Emmaus, is the conclusion of the sentence, which takes the form of a missionary sending of the apostles: "Thus it is written: 'Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and in his name shall be preached to all nations repentance and forgiveness of sins, beginning at Jerusalem. Of this you are witnesses (Lk 24:46-49) For the first Christians it was difficult to explain which passage of Scripture had announced the sufferings of the Messiah and his resurrection on the third day; among the last prophets of the Old Testament the prophecies about the conversion of all nations, beginning with Jerusalem, were much more widespread, as we read in Jeremiah: "On that day they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; all nations shall flock there, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem" (3:17); and in the third Isaiah: "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples" (56:7); "From moon to moon, from Sabbath to Sabbath, every creature shall come and bow down before me" (66:23). Zechariah then develops this theme: "On that day many nations will gather to the Lord and will be a people to me" (Za 2:15), "Many peoples and mighty nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord of hosts" (8:22).Exegetes state that although these reflections are present in numerous psalms, it was above all the songs of the Servant in Deutero-Isaiah (Is 42; 49; 50; 52-53) that inspired the evangelists' meditation and clarified Jesus' expression "It was necessary that::" because in these four canticles emerges the figure of the suffering and glorified Messiah and the proclamation of good for all the nations: "I, the Lord," have called you with righteousness, I have taken you by the hand, I have formed you; I have made you a covenant of the people, a light of the nations" (Is 42:6);

"The righteous, my servant, will justify the multitudes" (Is 53:11). This conclusion of Luke's gospel thus takes on the tones of the liturgy: Jesus, the true High Priest, blesses his own and sends them out into the world, and the people worship and give thanks: "Lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And as he blessed them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven. And they prostrated themselves before him; then they returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and stood in the temple praising God" (Lk 24:50-53). Luke's gospel closes by going back to its beginning, when Zechariah, a priest of the Old Covenant, had heard the announcement of God's salvation (Lk 1:5-19), and the last image that the disciples kept of the Master is a gesture of blessing. This explains why they return to Jerusalem with great joy. In this concluding image is enclosed the mystery of the light and joy of the Ascension, a departure that is not abandonment but the certainty of a different presence, invisible but even more powerful and effective.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Real life in Jesus - condemned for living against the tide

(Jn 17:11b-19)

In Asia Minor, fraternities of the sons of God were easily targeted - harmless, yet considered a bombshell for that system.

World that did not want any alternative truth to enter its social and cultural imaginary.

Introduced in the death-resurrection of Christ, the communities of Faith were living as one big family, united in charity and mutual understanding - not according to already configured social obligations.

In the churches, the warmth of fraternal relationships could be perceived: a nucleus of alternative society to that of the empire, which on the horizon of its well-run universe excluded the access of the humble and needy.

Faith was playing on the edge.

In this context, Jesus asks the Father for an intimate custody of believers, consecrated in Him (vv.11-13.17.19)... not to remove them from tribulation, but for evangelization.

By proceeding the path of Exodus in His own intimates, and immersing Himself in the situations, his Person, Word, and affair prolonged the Gesuan act of the consecration of the world [according to Semitic categories].

Not a kind of protection of sisters and brothers, in the manner of a pagan deity, but to live the fullness of the Beatitudes.

All of this, within the framework of deep discernment, and capacity for incisive action - induced by the fraternal atmosphere and the sense of divine approval, with no more external diktats.

It was the "power" of the «Name» (vv.11-12): the reality of the new Face of the Most High, as revealed in the problematic story of the Son.

Primordial, intimate and empathic Energy, which in the same glorious and paradoxical terms invested the disciples, the called to manifest the divine condition; the becomed ones ‘as Christ’.

Even in the face of hardship, mockery and repulsion of others, in the mutual love lived in community, in the conviviality of the differences of faithful and assemblies, God's therapy and revival was manifested.

The Father revealed Himself unforeseeable love, precisely in the manifestation of this ‘Unity’.

But even Jesus' presence failed to protect Judas from self-destruction.

His case is a special result, precisely because he did not trust in love and the Word of the Life.

Victim of conditioning and calculation by false external guides.

This explains the exclusion of the «world» from Jesus' prayer (v.9).

Jesus promises a counter joy: genuine happiness, the gladness of radical 'differences'.

Not the cheerfulness guaranteed by the opulent and dispersive environment of the cosmopolitan emporium of reference in Jn: Ephesus [especially the harbour and the Artemision].

Christ did not wish to ensure the hilar frenzy of a religiosity contaminated by ambivalence and profit.

«Keeping in the Name» (v.11) should have been: having access to the Father, in the Son; precisely in the Gratis and raw experience of the carpenter's son, so harassed by the authorities.

In Him - by radiating his eccentricity, transparency, and selflessness - to build Unity.

Only in the awareness of this intimate seed pearls and concatenation could disciples devote their lives to witnessing Other beliefs - even in a climate of social intimidation.

Jesus turned his concern into prayer.

[Wednesday 7th wk. in Easter, June 4, 2025]

Real life in Jesus - the condemned for living against the tide

(Jn 17:11-19)

«Holy Father keep them in your Name which you have given me, that they may be One as we are» (Jn 17:11b).

At a time when intermediate social classes were coming to the fore, in a disenchanted environment such as capital Rome, Domitian also attributed himself divine titles in an attempt to stem the conspiracies of the envious senatorial aristocracy that had always been conservative, vain and scheming.

In the East - due to cultural issues - the deification of the emperor was taken more seriously, both by officials and the army ranks, as well as by the religious and social imagery of the crowds, who by mystery custom tended to identify power with sacred connubi.

For these reasons, fraternities of God's children were easily targeted in Asia Minor - harmless, yet considered a bombshell for that system, which did not want any alternative truth to enter its world.

Immersed in the death-resurrection of Christ, the communities of Faith lived as one big family, united in charity and mutual understanding - not according to already configured social obligations.

In the churches, the warmth of fraternal relationships was perceived: a nucleus of an alternative society to that of the empire, which on the horizon of its well-managed universe excluded the access of the humble and needy.

Faith played to the limit.

Thus Jesus asks the Father for an intimate custody of believers, consecrated in Him (vv.11-13.17.19)... not to remove them from tribulation, but for evangelisation.

Proceeding the path of exodus in his own and immersing himself in the situations, his Person, Word and affair prolonged the Jesuit act of consecrating the world according to Semitic categories.

Not a kind of protection of sisters and brothers, in the manner of a pagan deity, but to live the fullness of the Beatitudes.

All this, within the arc of profound discernment, and capacity for incisive action - induced by the fraternal climate and the sense of divine approval, with no more external diktats.

It was the 'power' of the 'Name' (vv.11-12): the reality of the new Face of the Most High, as revealed in the problematic story of the Son.

Primordial, intimate and empathic energy, which in the same terms - glorious and paradoxical - invested the disciples, those called to manifest the divine condition, becoming like Christ.

Even in the face of the hardships, mockeries and repulses of others, in the mutual love lived in community, in the conviviality of the differences of believers and churches, God's therapy and revival was manifested.

The Father was revealing unforeseeable love, precisely in the manifestation of this unity.

But even Jesus' presence failed to protect Judas from self-destruction.

His case is a special result, precisely because he did not trust in love and the Word of Life. Victim of influence and calculation of false external guides.

This explains the exclusion of the 'world' from Jesus' prayer (v.9).

In a closed environment, marked by the combination of 'power religion interest', one cannot be a humanising sign.

Without a life-wave, one cannot experience the sense of the Mystery in the vertigo of sharing, nor any teaching.

Sisters and brother friends must always have the grace to be freed from the world of conformist duties, which sometimes take over.

In this: "sanctified in truth" - for the mission rediscovers the density, internal rhythm and cascading effect of lived reciprocity.

In Jn, such a clear icon of the Lord is pressing in.

In his farewell, he does not demand that anyone kneel before him; rather, he dreams of a spirit of unity between disciples, and - indeed - churches.

It was the only attitude that could make it possible to resist the attacks, marginalisation and flattery of the Roman-Hellenistic world, in particular of Ephesus, the fourth city of the empire.

Jesus promises a counter joy: genuine happiness, of radical 'differences'.

Not the joy guaranteed by the opulent and dispersive environment (especially the port) of the cosmopolitan emporium of reference.

Christ did not wish to ensure the hilarious frenzy of a religiosity contaminated by ambivalences and turncoats.

In this regard, think of the great commerce guaranteed by the Artemision, and many other eminent, spectacular sacred sites, rooted in the urban layout and fabric of city life.

The ideal of the Risen One had to ferment in everyone's heart, even at that ambiguous and worldly point; not... escape into an unreachable tomorrow.

A bond that had its mirror in the intensity of the Father-Son relationship and in the dignity of the shaky and outcast who opened themselves to the Action of the Spirit.

As if to say: what was passed off as venerable had no human-divine foundation.The only sacred sphere had to be the Person and the respect for the profound, dissimilar Truth, proper to the intimate seed of the children; the one without any make-up.

"To 'keep in the Name' was thus to have access to the Father, in the Son. In Him - radiating his eccentricity, transparency and selflessness - build Unity.

Only in the awareness of this connection could the disciples dedicate their lives to witnessing other convictions - even in a climate of social intimidation.

Jesus turned his concern into prayer.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you think of a Jesus condemned for living against the tide? What is the soul and the foundation that you see reflected in the Son? How do you open yourself to the holiness of God? How do you launch yourself into the world? What do you pray for?

1. "For their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:19).

Dear brothers and sisters, today, in the liturgy of this Sunday after the Ascension of the Lord, the Church proclaims the words of Christ's priestly prayer. In the midst of the apostles gathered in prayer in the Upper Room with Mary, the Mother of Christ, these words resound with an echo that is still relevant today. Christ pronounced these words very recently, in his farewell discourse on the evening of Holy Thursday, before entering into the passion.

He then turned to the Father, like so many other times, but in an entirely new way. He asked: "Holy Father, keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we . . . Guard them . . . as I have kept them, as I have watched over them . . . but now I come to you . . I leave the world . . . I ask not that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One . . Consecrate them in truth. Your word is truth . . . Those I have sent into the world, as thou hast sent into the world me. For them I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in the truth" (Jn 17:11 ff.).

2. Here is the great prayer of Christ's heart. Today, it is spoken in this liturgy that we celebrate in the centre of your country, at the foot of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. This is the language of the Redeemer's heart. Here we find expressed the most profound characteristics that marked his whole life, his whole messianic mission. Here comes the moment when this life and this mission come to their end and at the same time reach their climax.

The climax is this: "I consecrate myself". It is a mysterious, profound word, which in a certain sense is equivalent to saying: "I sanctify myself", "I give myself totally to the Father", or even "I sacrifice myself", "I offer my person, my life as a holy offering to God for mankind and, in so doing, they pass from this world to my Father". It is the supreme and definitive word, and at the same time the most elevated word in the dialogue between the figure and the Father. Through this sentence he places, in a certain sense, the messianic seal on the whole work of redemption.

At the same time, in this 'I consecrate myself' the apostles are included; the whole Church is included in it, until the end of time. And so do all of us who are gathered here in front of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In the words of the priestly prayer, the Church is born from the consecration of the Son to the Father, only to be born later on the cross when these words 'become incarnate', when this heart is pierced by the spear of the Roman centurion.

3. Qu'est-ce que Jésus demande pour ses Apôtres, pour l'Eglise, pour nous? Que nous soyons nous aussi consacrés dans la vérité. This Truth is the Word of the living God. Le Verbe du Père, le Fils. Et c'est aussi la parole du Père à travers le Fils. Le Verbe s'est fait chair, puis s'est exprimé, au milieu du monde. Au milieu de l'histoire de l'humanité.

Et en même temps, lui, le Christ, le Verbe incarné, "n'est pas du monde" (Cf. Io. 17, 14), La Parole qu'il a transmise du Père, la Bonne Nouvelle, l'Evangile, n'est pas du monde. Et ceux qui acceptent entièrement cette Parole peuvent facilement attirer sur eux la haine, par le fait de ne pas être du monde.

Et pourtant, seule cette Parole est Vérité. C'est la vérité ultime. C'est la plénitude de la vérité. Elle tait participer à la Vérité dont vit Dieu lui-même.

A travers l'expression pathétique de la prière sacerdotale, à travers la profonde émotion du Cœur du Christ, l'Eglise a conscience, une fois pour toutes, que seule cette Vérité est salvatrice, qu'il ne lui est permis, à aucune condition, de changer cette Vérité pour quelque autre que ce soit, de la confondre avec quelque autre, même si, humainement, elle semblait plus "vraisemblable", plus suggestive, plus adaptée à la mentalité du jour.

Par le cri du Cœur de Jésus au Cénacle et par la Croix qui l'a confirmé, l'Eglise se sent affirmie dans cette Vérité: consacrée dans la Vérité.

La prière sacerdotale est en même temps une grande "supplication" de l'Eglise. L'Apôtre Paul la reprendra en écrivant à Timothée: "Garde le dépôt" (depositum custodi) (1 Tim. 6, 20), ou encore: "Nevous modelez pas sur le monde présent" (nolite conformari huic saeculo) (Rom. 12, 2), autrement dit, ne devenez pas semblables à ce qui est transitoire, à ce que le monde proclame.

3. What does Jesus ask for his apostles, for the Church, for us? May we also be consecrated in the truth. This truth is the Word of the living God. The Word of the Father, the Son. And it is also the word of the Father through the Son: the Word became flesh, then was expressed, in the bosom of the world. In terms of the history of humanity.

At the same time he, Christ, the Word incarnate, "is not of the world" (cf. John 17: 14). The word that he transmitted from the Father, the good news, the gospel, is not of the world. And those who accept this word entirely can easily draw hatred upon themselves, for they are not of the world. And yet, this word alone is truth. He is the supreme truth. He is the fullness of truth. It partakes of that truth of which God himself lives.

Through the passionate expression of the priestly prayer, through the profound emotion of the heart of Christ, the Church is aware, once and for all, that only this truth is salvific, that she is not allowed, under any conditions, to change this truth in favour of any other, to confuse it with any other, even if, humanly speaking, it should seem more plausible, more suggestive, more suited to today's mentality. Through the cry of Jesus' heart in the Upper Room and through the cross that confirmed it, the Church feels consolidated in this truth: consecrated in truth.

The priestly prayer is at the same time a great "supplication" of the Church. The Apostle Paul took it up again when he wrote to Timothy: "Guard the deposit . . ." (1 Tim 6:20), or again: "Do not be conformed to the mentality of this age" (Rom 12:2), in other words, do not become similar to what is transitory, to what the world proclaims.

4. Telle est la grande prière du Cœur du Rédempteur. Elle explique tout le dessein de la Rédemption et la Rédemption trouve en elle son explication.

What does the Son ask of the Father? "Keep my disciples faithful to your name, which you have shared with me, that they may be one, as we are one" (Io. 17, 11).

L'Eglise naît de cette prière du Cœur de Jésus avec la marque de l'Unité divine. Pas seulement de l'unité humaine, sociologique, mais de l'Unité divine "pour qui'ls soient un comme nous" (Ibid. 17, 22), "Comme toi, Père, tu es en moi et moi en toi" (Ibid. 17, 21). This unity is the fruit of love.

"Si nous nous aimons les uns les autres, Dieu demeure en nous . . .". Nous reconnaissons que nous demeurons en lui et lui en nous, à ce qu'il nous donne part à son Esprit . . . Dieu est amour: "Celui qui demeure dans l'amour demeure en Dieu, et Dieu en lui" (1 Io. 4, 12-13. 16).

Il s'agit donc de l'unité qui a son origine en Dieu. L'Unité qui est en Dieu est la vie du Père dans le Fils et la vie du Fils dans le Père, dans l'unité de l'Esprit Saint. L'unité en laquelle Dieu un et trine se communique dans l'Esprit Saint aux cœurs humains, aux consciences humaines, aux communautés humaines.

Cette unité doit être vécue, concrètement, au niveau de chaque famille chrétienne, de chaque communauté ecclésiale, de chaque Eglise locale, de l'Eglise universelle, comme un reflet du mystère de l'unité en Dieu.

Cette unité stimule aussi l'esprit communautaire dans la communauté mondiale.

4. Such is the great prayer of the Redeemer's heart. It explains the whole design of redemption and redemption finds its own explanation in it. What does the Son ask of the Father? "Keep in thy name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are one" (Jn 17:11). From this prayer of the heart of Jesus the Church is born with the sign of divine unity. Not only of human, sociological unity, but of divine unity "that they may be as we are one" (Jn 17:22). "As you, Father, are in me and I in you" (Jn 17:21). This unity is the fruit of love. "If we love one another, God abides in that we abide in him and he in us: he has given us the gift of his Spirit . . . God is love; he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him" (1 Jn 4:12-13. 16).

It is therefore the unity that has its origin in God. The unity that is in God is the life of the Father in the Son and the life of the Son in the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. The unity in which the triune God communicates himself in the Holy Spirit to human hearts, human consciences, human communities. This unity must be lived out concretely, at the level of every Christian family, every ecclesial community, every local Church, the universal Church, as a reflection of the mystery of God's unity. This unity also stimulates the community spirit in society, in the nation, in the world community.

5. "Let them be one, as we are"! The unity inherited from Christ finds its first realisation in marriage and in the family, in that Church which is the home.

Such is the Creator's design from the beginning: 'Man shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh' (Gen 2:24). Such is likewise the destiny of men and women redeemed by Jesus Christ: the sacramental union of spouses becomes the sign of Christ's total love for his Church, of his indissoluble union with it. "This mystery is great" (cf. Eph 5:32). This mutual gift of spouses for life will be inspired by a human love that is total, faithful, exclusive and open to new life (cf. Humanae vitae, 9). Christian spouses will always take it to heart to meditate on God's plan for marriage and the family and to correspond to what God expects of them in their interpersonal relationships, in the transmission of life, in conjugal chastity, in the education of their children, and in their participation in the development of society according to the doctrine of the Church, which I reminded them of in the apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, echoing what the bishops of the whole world had expressed in the 1980 Synod.

I am therefore happy to address myself especially to you, dear spouses and parents who have come to this Eucharist as a family. You know, both through the teaching of the Church and from your own experience, all that is required by the daily renewal of your conjugal and parental love. It acquires, in feelings and actions, a concrete face every day, in which the flesh is the support and expression of unity in the spirit; it presupposes in particular a sensitive attention to the other, an attitude of gratitude for what he is and what he brings to you, a willingness to let what is best in you blossom in him, sharing joys and trials by ceaselessly banishing selfishness and pride, taking time for a sincere dialogue on all that is dear to you, sharing the daily "bread", and, if necessary, forgiveness, as we ask in the "Our Father". In these conditions, your love fills you with joy and shines in your home and beyond.

Above all, never forget that your unity, your fidelity, the splendour of your love are graces that come from God, from the bosom of the Trinity. The sacrament of marriage enables you to draw on it constantly. But it is necessary that you often ask God, who is love, to help you dwell in love (cf. 1 John 4:16). What strength, what testimony, when you have the simplicity to pray as a family, parents and children! Together, before the Father, before the Saviour, your whole life can regain brightness and joy. Then, truly, the family deserves its name of domestic Church.

6. "Father, keep them in your name"! This prayer of Jesus for the disciples, is it not that of parents for their children?

Your deep love between spouses, "in truth", and your common love for your children constitute for them the first book in which they read the love of God.

This reading remains forever inscribed in the memory of their hearts and disposes them to accept, freely, the revelation of God's tenderness. Of course, in our day, family solidarity is not always an easy task. The children whom you have called to life and to whom you have given the best of yourselves, influenced by a society that has its values and its dis-values, sometimes choose other paths, hopefully for a short time. They are, for you, moments of suffering but also of deep devotion. With you, I pray as Jesus did: "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one" (Jn 17:15).

Christian families remain a privileged space for the transmission of the Gospel, not only to their children, but to their neighbours, to the whole Church community. They can offer a hospitable home to those with worries, to children who do not receive enough love at home, to young people who wish to deepen their faith in preparation for confirmation or marriage. In Christian families, young people also learn through the example of their parents to be committed to others, both in the parish and in other places.

Dear parents, the way in which Peter proposes, in the first reading of this service, to choose a new "witness to the resurrection of Jesus", a new apostle (Acts 1:22) has perhaps struck you. This choice was prepared by prayer: "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show us which of these two you have appointed" (Acts 1:24).

The Lord knows the hearts of the young people of this time. He also knows their generosity, sometimes held back by adults. You also know the hearts of your children. Pray that they may discover their vocation and be thankful if they choose the way of the Gospel!

And you, dear children, the most beautiful thing you can ask of your parents is what the apostles asked of Jesus: "Teach us to pray". On the other hand, be happy if your parents do much for others, even if their commitment deprives you, some evenings, of their presence at home. You yourselves always try to be more fraternal among yourselves, in the family. And try to already make your life a service for others. This word of Jesus is also for you: "As the Father sent me into the world, I also sent you into the world".

7. "Quils soient un comme nous sommes un" (Io. 17, 11).Au-delà de la famille, cette prière de Jésus vaut pour toutes les communautés de ses disciples, partout où elles se réalisent, pour vos communautés paroissiales, pour vos mouvements chrétiens largement représentés ici. Puisse-t-on y trouver toujours l'unité héritée du Christ! La fidélité à sa Vérité! L'accueil fraternel et le soutien effectif des membres qui sont dans le besoin, étrangers ou malades.

Je salue ici avec une particulière affection les malades et les handicapés, spécialement ceux qui participaient hier aux "Spartakiades".

Chers Frères et Sœurs,

pour vous - comme pour vos familles et pour tous ceux qui n'ont pas pu être présents ici à cause de l'âge ou de la maladie -, je demande à Dieu, non seulement de vous garder en son Nom, mais de faire de vous, en ce monde, partout où vous conduisent vos relations et votre travail professionnel, les témoins de sa Vérité, de son amour. Pour donner un témoignage direct sur le Christ Sauveur, sur sa Bonne Nouvelle, de façon à faciliter à vos contemporains l'accès à la foi. Et pour contribuer, avec eux, à mettre votre société sur les chemins de la paix, de la justice, de la fidélité, de la fraternité, qui correspondent au Règne de Dieu.

7. "That they may be one, as we are one" (Jn 17:11). Beyond the family, this prayer of Jesus applies to all the communities of his disciples, wherever they are made, to your parish communities, to your Christian movements widely represented here. Vi si possa sempre trovare l'unità ereditata da Cristo! Fidelity to his truth! The fraternal welcome and effective support of people who are in need, foreigners or sick. I greet here with particular affection the sick and handicapped, especially those who participated yesterday in the "Spartakiadi".

Dear brothers and sisters, for you - as for your families and for all those who have been unable to be here because of age or illness - I ask God, not only to keep you in his name, but also to make you, in this world, wherever your social relationships and your professional work take you, Witnesses of his truth, of his love, to bear direct witness to Christ the Saviour, to his good news, so as to facilitate your contemporaries' access to the faith and to help, with them, to set your society on the paths of peace, justice, piety, fraternity, which correspond to the kingdom of God.

8. L'unité héritée des Apôtres, c'est celle de l'Eglise universelle, confiée aux évêques en communion étroite avec le successeur de Pierre. Elle est présente en chacune des Eglises locales, à commencer par la vénérable Eglise qui est à Malines-Bruxelles, Mechelen-Brussel, celle qui est à Antwerpen, à Brugge, à Gent, à Liège, à Namur, que je suis heureux de visiter aussi.

I would particularly like to greet the faithful who have come from the dioceses of Tournai and Hasselt. Le temps nécessairement limité de mon séjour dans votre pays ne me permet pas de vous rencontrer dans vos diocèses mêmes. Mais je vous remercie d'être venus ici en grand nombre pour me rencontrer.

Chers chrétiens du diocèse de Tournai, vous appartenez à un diocèse d'une tradition très riche. Aujourd'hui, vous essayez d'être des témoins fidèles de l'Evangile dans une période difficile. Vous vivez dans une des provinces belges les plus touchées par la crise économique. Comme chrétiens pratiquants, vous êtes souvent une minorité au milieu de beaucoup d'autres personnes que vous aimez et que vous voulez servir. Dans cette situation, je vous encourage à garder la paix et la joie. Car, comme le dit la devise de votre évêque, "la joie du Seigneur, c'est notre force".

8. The unity inherited from the apostles is that of the universal Church, entrusted to the bishops in close communion with the successor of Peter. It is present in Bruges, in Ghent, in Liège, in Namur, which I am happy to visit.

I greet in a special way the faithful who have come from the dioceses of Tournai and Hasselt. The necessarily limited time of my stay in your country does not allow me to meet with you in your dioceses. I thank you, however, for coming here in great numbers to meet with me.

Dear Christians of the Diocese of Tournai, you belong to a diocese with a very rich tradition. Today you are trying to be faithful witnesses of the Gospel in a difficult time. You live in one of the provinces of Belgium most affected by the economic crisis. As practising Christians, you are often a minority among many others whom you love and wish to serve. In this situation, I encourage you to preserve peace and joy, for, as your bishop's motto says, 'the joy of the Lord is our strength'.

Dear Christians of the Diocese of Hasselt, you seek to deepen the faith in your community by means of many pastoral initiatives. There are many young people in your diocese. Thanks to the training received in their movements and spirituality groups, they try to be witnesses of the Gospel wherever they live. Show solidarity in the economic crisis that is hitting you so hard. Continue to develop dialogue between the cultures of natives and immigrants in your diocese. And may the Blessed Virgin, "the reason for our joy", venerated at Tongres, the oldest place of Marian veneration in northern Europe, be for each of you a source of continuous joy!

Yes, in the name of Jesus, I repeat his priestly prayer for each of your Churches, for its bishop, the pastor whose task it is to gather it together in unity, to watch over it as Jesus did over his disciples, to preserve it in fidelity to the name of the Lord, in fidelity to the apostolic tradition, in union with the Apostolic See of Rome, to make it move forward in the love that comes from God.

9. In this place, which is the capital of the country, how can we not think of the Belgian nation as a whole? This land in which you live has had a turbulent history; it has had to struggle to preserve its cultural, economic, administrative, political and even religious personality. The rich personality of this nation and its availability have often been a source of cultural, artistic and economic exchanges with all the countries around it. Do not lose your rich personality, your communion in peace, mutual esteem and dialogue between the different Belgian and foreign communities. Be aware: the things that unite you are more than those that divide you. Cultivate this model of coexistence that can be an example to the world. Found it on love, on respect for the institutions of the nation, its governments and king, in fidelity to the Christian civilisation that has marked you so much.

10. Zusammen mit dem Nachfolger des heiligen Petrus betet die Kirche dieses Landes heute mit den Worten des Psalms:

"Lobe den Herrn meine Seele und alles in mir seinen heiligen Namen!" (Ps. 103:1).

Der Name Gottes ist uns in seiner Fülle durch Jesus Christus offenbart worden. Er ist "unser Vater": Gott, der die Liebe ist, der uns zuerst geliebt hat, der am Anfang wie am Ziel unseres Lebens steht, der uns auf dem Weg ständig begleitet, auch dort, wo das Leben hart mit uns umgeht, auch dann, wenn wir nicht nach dem Maß seiner Liebe gelebt haben; Gott, der uns an seinem göttlichen Leben teilhaben läßt, der uns mit der Freude Christi erfüllt, seines vielgeliebten Sohnes (Cf. I. 17, 13).

Ja, "Vater unser im Himmel, geheiligt werde dein Name, dein Reich komme, dein Wille geschehe . . .!".

Das Gebet, das uns Jesus Christus selbst gelehrt hat, ist tief im Hohenpriesterlichen Gebet des Abendmahlssaales verwurzelt.

"Lobe den Herrn meine Seele, und vergiß nicht, was er dir Guten getan hat" (Ps. 103, 27).

Vergiß es nicht!

Liebe Mitchristen deutscher Sprache, vergeßt nicht das Erbe so vieler Generationen des Bundes mit Gott in der Kirche Christi, vergeßt es nicht!

Chers chrétiens d'expression française, n'oubliez pas l'héritage de tant de générations de l'Alliance avec Dieu dans l'Eglise du Christ, n'oubliez pas!

10. Today, the Church in this country prays together with the successor of Peter in the words of the psalm: "Bless the Lord, my soul, what is in me bless his holy name" (Ps 103:1). The name of God has been revealed to us in the fullness of Jesus Christ: it is "Our Father": God who is love, who was the first to love us, who is at the origin of our life, at its horizon, is continually on the way with us, even if life hurts us, even if we have not lived up to his love; God who makes us share in his divine life, who makes us have the fullness of the joy of Christ, his beloved Son (cf. Jn 17:13).

Yes, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done . . .! The prayer that Jesus Christ taught us is deeply rooted in the priestly prayer of the Upper Room. "Bless the Lord, my soul, do not forget so many of his benefits" (Ps 103:2). Do not forget!

Dear German-speaking Christians, do not forget the heritage of so many generations of God's covenant with the Church of Christ!

Dear Flemish-speaking Christians, do not forget the heritage of so many generations of the covenant with God in the Church of Christ!

Dear French-speaking Christians, do not forget the heritage of so many generations of the covenant with God in the Church of Christ, do not forget!

[Pope John Paul II, homily in Brussels 19 May 1985]

In recent catecheses, we have tried to highlight the nature and the beauty of the Church and we have asked ourselves what it means for each of us to belong to this people, the People of God, which is the Church. We must not forget, however, that there are so many brothers and sisters who share with us the faith in Christ, but who belong to other confessions or to traditions different from ours. Many have resigned themselves to this division — even within our Catholic Church many are resigned — which, in the course of history, has often been the cause of conflict and of suffering, also of war and this is a disgrace! Today too, relations are not always characterized by respect and courtesy.... But, I wonder: we, how do we feel about all this? Are we too, resigned, if not actually indifferent, to this division? Or do we firmly believe that one can and must walk in the direction of reconciliation and of full communion? Full communion, that is, for everyone to be able to partake together in the Body and Blood of Christ.

Divisions among Christians, while they wound the Church, wound Christ; and divided, we cause a wound to Christ: the Church is indeed the body of which Christ is the Head. We know well how much Jesus had at heart that his disciples should remain united in his love. It suffices to consider his words, written in the 17th Chapter of the Gospel according to John, in Jesus’ prayer to the Father when his passion was imminent: “Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (Jn 17:11). This unity was already threatened while Jesus was still among them: in the Gospel, in fact, it is recorded that the Apostles argued among themselves about who was the greatest, the most important (cf. Lk 9:46). The Lord, however, emphatically insisted on unity in the name of the Father, allowing us to understand how much more credible our proclamation and our witness will be if we are first able to live in communion and to love each other. That is what his Apostles, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, would then deeply understand and take to heart, so much so that St Paul would reach the point of imploring the community of Corinth with these words: “I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Cor 1:10).

During her journey in history, the Church has been tempted by the Evil One, who seeks to divide her, and unfortunately it has been marked by deep and painful schisms. They are divisions that at times, have been long and drawn out in time, up until today, which is why it is now difficult to reconstruct all the motivations and especially to find possible solutions. The reasons which have led to the fractures and schisms may be the most diverse: from disagreement on dogmatic and moral principles and on theological concepts and pastoral differences, to political motives and convenience, to disputes caused by dislikes and personal ambition.... What is certain is that, in one way or another, arrogance and selfishness have always been behind these lacerations, rendering us intolerant, incapable of listening and accepting one with a vision or a position different from ours.

Now, faced by all of this, is there something that every one of us, as members of the Holy Mother Church, can and must do? Certainly, there must never be a shortage of prayer, in continuity and in communion with that of Jesus, prayer for the unity of Christians. And together with prayer, the Lord asks us for renewed openness: He asks us not to be closed to dialogue and to encounter, but to welcome all that is valid and positive which is offered even by someone who thinks differently from us or who takes a different stand. He asks us not to fix our gaze on what divides us, but rather on what unites us, seeking to know and love Jesus better and to share the richness of his love. And this means a concrete adherence to the Truth, together with the capacity for reciprocal forgiveness, to feel a part of the same Christian family, to consider oneself a gift for the other and together to do many good things and works of charity.

It is grievous but there are divisions, there are many divided Christians, we have split amongst ourselves. But we all have something in common: we all believe in Jesus Christ, the Lord. We all believe in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, and we all walk together, we are on the journey. Let us help one another! You think this way, you think that way.... In all communities there are good theologians: let them debate, let them seek theological truth because it is a duty, but let us walk together, praying for one another and doing works of charity. And like this, we are in communion on the journey. This is called spiritual ecumenism: to journey on the path of life, everyone together in our faith, in Jesus Christ the Lord. They say that one should not talk about personal things, but I cannot resist the temptation. We are speaking about communion... communion among us. And today, I am so thankful to the Lord because 70 years ago today, I made my First Communion. To make our First Communion we must know what it means to enter into communion with others, in communion with the brothers and sisters of our Church, but also in communion with those who belong to different communities but who believe in Jesus. Let us thank the Lord for our Baptism, let us thank the Lord for our communion, in order that this communion become joint communion with everyone, together.

Dear friends, let us therefore proceed toward full unity! History has separated us, but we are on the path toward reconciliation and communion! And this is true! And we must defend it! We are all on the path toward communion. And when the goal seems too distant, almost unreachable, and we feel gripped by despair, let us be comforted by the idea that God cannot close his ears to the voice of his Son Jesus or fail to grant his and our prayer: that all Christians may truly be one.

[Pope Francis, General Audience 8 October 2014]