2. Looking at Jesus in his passion, we see as in a mirror the sufferings of humanity as well as our own personal vicissitudes. Christ, though sinless, took upon himself what man could not bear: injustice, evil, sin, hatred, suffering and, finally, death. In Christ, the humiliated and suffering Son of Man, God loves all, forgives all and gives ultimate meaning to human existence.

We are here, this morning, to take this message from this Father who loves us. We can ask ourselves: what does he want from us? He wants us, as we look at Jesus, to accept to follow Him in His passion in order to share the resurrection with Him. The words that Jesus said to the disciples come to mind at this moment: "The cup that I drink you will also drink; the baptism that I receive you will also receive" (Mk 10:39); "If anyone wishes to come after me..., let him take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 16:24-25).

The 'hosanna' and the 'crucifige' thus become the measure of a way of conceiving life, faith and Christian witness: one must not be discouraged by defeats nor exalted by victories because, as for Christ, the only victory is fidelity to the mission received from the Father. "For this reason God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every other name" (Phil 2:9).

(Pope John Paul II, homily 28 March 1999)

3. St James was the brother of John the Evangelist. They were the two disciples to whom - in one of the most impressive dialogues in the Gospel - Jesus asked that famous question: "Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink? And they answered: 'We can'" (Mt 20:23).

It was the word of willingness, of courage; an attitude typical of young people, but not exclusive to them, but of all Christians, and in particular of those who accept to be apostles of the Gospel. The generous response of the two disciples was accepted by Jesus. He said to them: "My cup you shall drink" (Mt 20:23).

These words were fulfilled in James, son of Zebedee, who by his blood bore witness to the resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. Jesus had asked the question about the cup that the two brothers were to drink, when their mother, as we read in the Gospel, approached the Master, to ask him for a special place for both of them in the Kingdom. But Christ, having ascertained their willingness to drink the cup, said to them: "My cup you shall drink; but it is not for me to grant that you may sit at my right hand or at my left, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father" (Mt 20:23).

The dispute over the first place in the future kingdom of Christ, which his disciples imagined as too human, aroused the indignation of the other Apostles. Jesus then took the opportunity to explain to all that the vocation to his Kingdom is not a vocation to power but to service, "just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28).

[Pope John Paul II, homily Santiago de Compostela 9 November 1982]

Today’s Gospel passage (cf. Mk 10:35-45) describes Jesus who, once again and with great patience, tries to correct his disciples, converting them from the world’s mentality to that of God. The opportunity is given to him by the brothers James and John, two of the very first whom Jesus met and called to follow him. By now they have gone quite a long way with him and in fact belong to the group of the 12 Apostles. Therefore, while they are on their way to Jerusalem — where the disciples anxiously hope that on the occasion of the celebration of Passover, Jesus will at last establish the Kingdom of God — the two brothers take courage, approach the Teacher and make their request: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (v. 37).

Jesus knows that James and John are inspired by great enthusiasm for him and for the cause of the Kingdom, but he also knows that their expectations and their zeal are tarnished by the spirit of the world. Thus he responds: “You do not know what your are asking” (v. 38). And as they are speaking of ‘thrones of glory’ on which to sit beside Christ the King, he speaks of a “cup” to be drunk, of a “baptism” to be received, that is, his passion and death. James and John, always aiming at the hoped-for privilege, say in an outburst: yes, “we are able”! (v. 39). But here too, they do not truly understand what they are saying. Jesus forewarns that they will drink his cup and receive his baptism, that is, that they too, like the other Apostles, will take part in his cross, when their time comes. However, Jesus concludes: “to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared” (v. 40). As if to say: now follow me and learn how to love ‘at a loss’, and the heavenly Father will see to our reward. The way of love is always ‘at a loss’, because to love means to set aside egoism, self-referentiality, in order to serve others.

Jesus then realizes that the other 10 Apostles are angry with James and John, and thus show they have the same worldly mentality. And this offers him inspiration for a lesson that applies to Christians of all times, for us too. He says: “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all” (vv. 42-44). It is the rule of Christians. The Teacher’s message is clear: while the great people of the Earth build themselves ‘thrones’ for their own power, God chooses an uncomfortable throne, the cross, from which to reign by giving his life: “the Son of man”, Jesus says, “also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 45).

The way of service is the most effective antidote against the disease of seeking first place; it is the medicine for status seekers, this seeking first place, which infects many human contexts, and does not even spare Christians, the People of God, nor even the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Therefore, as disciples of Christ, let us receive this Gospel passage as a call to conversion, in order to witness with courage and generosity a Church that bows at the feet of the least, in order to serve them with love and simplicity. May the Virgin Mary, who fully and humbly adhered to the will of God, help us to joyfully follow Jesus on the way of service, the royal road that leads to Heaven.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 21 October 2018]

«Blaspheming the Holy Spirit»

(Lk 12:8-12)

Holy Spirit is a term that translates the Hebrew Ruah haQodesh: impetuous wind, not a stagnant air.

«Spirit»: energy that blows up the personal, community and ecclesial story ... in order to mature and renew it.

Not to confirm the standard, but to dilate the boundaries.

He does this by introducing a sort of sublime quality into reality, (above all) breaking through with an Action that discerns evolution and overturns it, making it a whole other.

«Holy» because it distinguishes the sphere of Life - Holiness - from the swampy one of deadly germs, which turn us to withdrawal and self-destruction.

Today's Gospel was born as an appeal to churches and faithful exposed to hostilities, so that they do not allow themselves to be discouraged by real and genuine witness.

Believers must not give up feeling attracted to the Word’s critical power.

Over time it has the strength to strip the intriguing people of their manias of vain grandeur or perversion, and bring out the Light that unites us, attracts spontaneously, without artifice.

In short, church members who live on Faith-love cannot identify with advantageous lifestyles, typical, non-crucial interpretations of reality.

Other than small transgressions!  It is at the moment of the fundamental threats that we can read the significance of our choice for the Lord.

Lk especially alludes to circumstantial, particular excuses in the search for support: favors of "cultural" paradigms, or of guys who matter.  Eg.  facilitating their own affairs thanks to an ideological servility to the authorities, with adjoining guarantees of way out.

Here comes the danger of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: moving away from the Gospel, believing that Jesus indicates paths of ruin and death, instead of authentic Life.

Today the impulses of the Spirit who renews the face of the earth upset the landscape, not to abandon humanity to pure limits and to an inexorable oblivion.

The path of the one who walks on the Way of Freedom must be fearless, because the Exodus makes us to ourselves; redeemed and sanctified.

Returned to our Core and by the power of the Faith that intertwines our story with the Christ, we will see the impossible Promise fulfilled; things that we not know, sovereignly effective.

We want to exist completely, because we are not gone bad people.

That’is why there are crises, upheavals, and cuts: they lead back to our fragrance, which - this yes - we could lose.

Danger and agitated times come to remind us of our eternal side.  It can only be expressed when the matrix of our being in the field deflects, to prepare us to welcome the unexpected solution.

This is the case even when it seems to others that our life is lost.

In reality, we are gambling it without externality of content, in order to trigger the integral Beauty of the new Youth that we do not know, but which is advancing.

[Saturday 28th wk. in O.T.  October 19, 2024]

"Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit"

(Lk 12:8-12)

"And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven" (Lk 12:10).

Holy Spirit is a term that translates the Hebrew Ruah haQodesh: an impetuous Wind, not a stagnant air.

The latter would be an atmosphere without a vital wave, lacking a forge of relationships; which does not grow: it makes things flat.

"Spirit": energy that throws personal, community and ecclesial affairs into the air... in order to make them mature and renew them.

Not to confirm the standard, but to expand the boundaries.

It is enough to glance at the points dealt with in the recent encyclical on social friendship to realise: borders, the shadows of the closed world, shattered dreams, the end of historical consciousness, without a project for all, world waste, even food waste... etc.

The Spirit introduces a kind of sublime quality into reality, (above all) bursting in with an Action that discerns evolution and turns it upside down, makes it something Other than the stagnant spirit - only willing to reaffirm, celebrate and spread itself.

"Holy" because it distinguishes the sphere of Life - Holiness - from the swampy sphere of deadly germs, which turn us towards retreat and self-destruction.

There was a time when even Catholic 'missionary activity' [even the precious activity of human promotion, imagined as extraneous to 'evangelisation' - an ideal with a 'Protestant' flavour] was conceived in terms of internal proselytism.

Fratelli Tutti, on the other hand, denounces the reality and reminder of the overall scourges: the shortcomings of a common project, the persistence of a 'world gap' and the universal inadequacy of human rights; situations of conflict and fear, progress 'without a common course'... and so on.

Today's Gospel itself was born as an appeal to the churches and the faithful exposed to hostilities, so that they would neither deflect nor allow themselves to be discouraged in their real and genuine witness to Christ in the world.

An appeal that must not be ignored, despite the deep misery and boundaries that continue to lurk in hearts.

Believers must not give up that they are drawn to the critical power of the Word.

In time, it has the power to strip the intriguers of their delusions of vain grandeur or perversion, and bring out the Light that unites us, attracts us spontaneously, without artifice.

Church members who live by Faith-love cannot identify with advantageous lifestyles, outdated and uncritical interpretations of reality, although they are typical of 'doctrine-discipline religions' - or of the various historical denominations.

As Brothers All sadly points out about the encounter between different Christian denominations:

"We cannot forget the desire expressed by Jesus: that all may be One (Jn 17:21). Listening to his invitation, we acknowledge with sorrow that the process of globalisation still lacks the prophetic and spiritual contribution of unity among all Christians" (n.280).

This is an 'unforgivable sin' - in every sense - not a laughable one.

As John Paul II stated: "The 'blasphemy' [in question] does not really consist in offending the Holy Spirit with words; it consists, instead, in refusing to accept the salvation that God offers man through the Holy Spirit, and which works by virtue of the sacrifice of the cross [It] does not allow man to come out of his self-prison and to open himself up to the divine sources of purification" (General Audience 25 July 1990).

Only the work filled with hope meets the teachings of Jesus.

It is the Crucified One who reveals the intimacy of God and man, as well as the distortions of that pious hypocrisy that privileges the spirit of interest and frontier, power, the accumulation of any resources, and disvalues.

In symbiosis with the passage from Luke and the new Magisterium, we can reiterate that it is precisely in the moment of the threats in the situation - today unfortunately also global - that we read the extent of our choice for the Lord.

There are those who rely on transparent fraternity, on the spirit of the sons, on the love that "integrates and gathers" (FT 190-192)... conversely, there are those who seek self-confidence or try to fall back on the usual worldly calculations (vv.11-12), looking for results rather than the fruitfulness of initiating processes (cf. FT 193-197).

So much for petty transgressions!

It is in the moment of fundamental threats that we read the extent of our choice for the Lord.

Lk alludes in particular to circumstantial, particular excuses in the search for support: favours from 'cultural' paradigms, or from people who matter. E.g. by facilitating one's own affairs through ideological and cowardly servility to the authorities, with guarantees of a way out.

All this without ever 'thinking and generating an open universe' (cf. FT 87-127) who knows how to go beyond the 'world of associates' and cordatas - even ecclesial ones, as the current pontiff has reiterated on several occasions [alluding precisely to the prelates themselves].

Here we face the danger of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: distancing oneself from the Gospel by believing that today Jesus is for exclusivism, or a stranger who points out paths of ruin and death, instead of authentic Life.

Of course, there are not a few who may outwardly deny Christ, but they do not reject the meaning of Jesus: they live by his very Spirit [love of neighbour, victory over evil, hope in a more authentic kingdom: v.10; FT 271ff].

The Master and the new magisterial commitment - sounding in unison - intend to shake consciences and make us understand the seriousness of choices contrary to God's plan.

Today, the impulses of the Spirit renewing the face of the earth are upsetting the landscape, but not to abandon humanity to pure limits and inexorable oblivion.

The Tao Tê Ching (xxxiv) writes about our reliance on the Perfect One:

"How universal is the great Tao! He can be on the left as well as the right'. And Master Wang Pi comments: "There is nothing that the universality and superabundance of the Tao does not reach: left and right, high and low. If everywhere it confers and strives, there is nothing it does not reach". Master Ho-shang Kung reiterates: "There is no place it does not reach.

The path of he who walks the Path of Freedom must be fearless, because the Exodus makes us to ourselves; redeemed and sanctified.

With a "heart open to the whole world" (FT 128-153): established in the "local flavour" with a "universal horizon".

Restored to our Core and by the power of Faith that intertwines our story with the personal and cosmic Christ, we will see the impossible Promise realised; things we do not know, sovereignly effective.

Only the Spirit does not go against our eminent nature, therefore it is impermeable, definitive - though it is not. Because it calls us to trust, it does not leave us clinging to shadows, memories, old certainties and commemorations that do not guide our gaze elsewhere.

To foment the museum of vintage details [or to abandon oneself to the wave of fashions, even of thought] is to strand one's mind on the past, on experiences that perhaps were never even put into being.

Simple ideals of another's time, models; archaic theologisations, or conversely hedonistic ones.

We want to exist completely, because we are not gone bad people.

That is why there are crises, upheavals, cuts: they lead back to our fragrance, which - this one - we could lose.

If, on the other hand, we were to remain identified, we would run the risk of not putting ourselves in a snapping position; of not changing our relationships, and letting the energies now present in the round (also within) fade away.

Let us not let them slip away - detracting from the unseen emergencies that call to us.

We have sides to our souls that would otherwise not express themselves, except in the dangers that bewilder, in the difficult and all-encompassing relationships, or in the most painful and finally overwhelming rejections that force us to shift our gaze.

But we must put aside the hasty and opportunistic mind, which immediately seeks to remedy and repair according to stereotypes.

Danger and the busy times come to remind us of our eternal side. It can only express itself when the matrix of our being in the field deflects, to prepare us to welcome the unexpected solution.

Unexpected punishment or defeat will not make us 'like it by force' in society, even ecclesial society, but will allow us to be what we are. And to become ourselves, to discover other views - according to Signature.

This even when it seems to others that our life is lost.

In reality, we are gambling it without externality of content, in order to trigger the integral Beauty of the new Youth that we do not know, but which is advancing.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you live persecution? Curse or Opportunity?

Under threat, insult, slander, trial, mockery, violence, emergency, have you ever thought that Jesus led you down paths of death?

And making the new Magisterium your own, what cut with the indecencies of the past, what youthful horizon, what beauty and differing relationships have you tasted?

Evil is not an anonymous force.

Limit of human liberation

We must be well aware that evil is not an anonymous force acting in the world in an impersonal or deterministic way. Evil, the devil, passes through human freedom, through the use of our freedom. It seeks an ally, man. Evil needs him to spread. Thus, having offended the first commandment, love of God, he comes to pervert the second, love of neighbour. With him, love of neighbour disappears in favour of lies and envy, hatred and death. But it is possible not to be overcome by evil and to overcome evil with good (cf. Rom 12:21). It is to this conversion of the heart that we are called. Without it, the much-desired human 'liberations' disappoint, because they move in the reduced space granted by man's narrowness of spirit, his harshness, his intolerances, his favouritism, his desires for revenge and his death drives. A deep transformation of spirit and heart is necessary to regain a certain clairvoyance and impartiality, a deep sense of justice and the common good. A new and freer gaze will make one capable of analysing and questioning human systems that lead to dead ends, in order to move forward with the past in mind, never to repeat it again with its devastating effects. This required conversion is exhilarating because it opens up possibilities by appealing to the innumerable resources that dwell in the hearts of so many men and women eager to live in peace and ready to commit themselves to peace. Now it is particularly demanding: it is about saying no to revenge, acknowledging one's wrongs, accepting apologies without seeking them, and finally forgiving. For only forgiveness given and received lays the lasting foundation for reconciliation and peace for all (cf. Rom 12:16b.18).

[Pope Benedict, Address to the Meeting in Baabda Lebanon 15 September 2012].

The Spirit gives us a deep relationship with God, who is the source of all authentic human good. All of you desire to love and to be loved! It is to God that you must turn, if you want to learn how to love, and to find the strength to love. The Spirit, who is Love, can open your hearts to accept the gift of genuine love. All of you are seeking the truth; and all of you want to live in truth! This truth is Christ. He is the only Way, the one Truth and the true Life. To follow Christ means truly to “put out to sea”, as is said several times in the Psalms. The way of Truth is simultaneously one and manifold according to the variety of charisms, just as Truth is one while at the same time possessing an inexhaustible richness. Surrender yourselves to the Holy Spirit in order to find Christ. The Spirit is our indispensable guide in prayer, he animates our hope and he is the source of true joy.

[Pope Benedict, Youth Prayer Vigil Paris 12 September 2008]

And when he foretells to his disciples that persecution awaits them, with imprisonment and interrogation, he adds: "Do not worry about what you will have to say, but say what will be given you at that hour: for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit" (Mk 13:11). "The Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you have to say" (Lk 12, 12).

5. The synoptic Gospels record another statement by Jesus in his instructions to the disciples that cannot fail to impress. It concerns "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit". He says: "Whoever speaks against the Son of Man will be forgiven him, but whoever blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him" (Lk 12:10; cf. Mt 12:32; Mk 3:29). These words create a problem of greater theological and ethical magnitude than one might think, on the surface of the text. "Blasphemy" (of which we are speaking) does not really consist in offending the Holy Spirit with words; instead, it consists in refusing to accept the salvation that God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, and which works by virtue of the sacrifice of the cross. . If blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can be remitted neither in this life nor in the life to come, it is because this 'non-remission' is linked, as its cause, to 'non-penitence', that is, to the radical refusal to be converted . . . Now blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the sin committed by man, who claims his supposed 'right' to persevere in evil - in any sin - and thus refuses redemption . . . (It) does not allow man to come out of his self-prison and open himself to the divine sources of purification of conscience and remission of sins' (Dominum et vivificantem, 46). This is the exact inversion of the condition of docility and communion with the Father, in which Jesus lives in prayer and action, and which he teaches and recommends to man as an inner attitude and as a principle of action.

6. In the whole of the preaching and action of Jesus Christ, which flows from his union with the Holy Spirit-Love, is contained an immense richness of heart: "Learn from me, who am meek and humble of heart," he exhorts, "and you will find rest for your souls" (Mt 11:29), but present at the same time is all the firmness of the truth about the kingdom of God, and therefore the insistent invitation to open one's heart, under the action of the Holy Spirit, to be admitted to it and not be excluded from it.

In all of this, the "power of the Holy Spirit" is revealed, and indeed the Holy Spirit Himself is manifested by His presence and action as the Paraclete, the comforter of man, the confirmer of divine truth, the eradicator of the "master of this world".

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 25 July 1990]

Jesus reacted with firm and clear words; he did not tolerate this, because those scribes, perhaps without realizing it, were falling into the gravest sin: denying and blaspheming against God’s Love which is present and active in Jesus. And blasphemy, the sin against the Holy Spirit, is the one unforgivable sin — as Jesus said — because it comes from closing the heart to God’s mercy which acts in Jesus.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 10 June 2018]

XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 6 October 2024

1. It often happens, as on this Sunday, that the Gospel and the first reading refer to each other as if to complete the message that God wants to communicate to us. In the first reading, taken from the book of Genesis, we read: "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone: I want to make him a helper who will be a match for him'" (Gen 2:18- 24). It is best to clarify at once that Genesis is not a history book, but a wisdom text dating back to the 10th century B.C., when a theologian, probably in King Solomon's court, wanted to reflect on the existential anxieties of the human being, asking himself, for example, "Why death? Why suffering? Why so many problems and difficulties in our lives? And to seek an answer, he developed a symbolic tale analogous to the parables of Jesus. The author of the book of Genesis is therefore not a scientist who wants to explain to us the why and when of creation, but rather a believer who wants to help us understand God's plan regarding the human being, with symbolic elements to be well interpreted because we are not talking about a hypothetical first couple of mankind - Adam and Eve - but in general about the origin of mankind and in fact in Hebrew the word Adam is not the name of someone, it means instead 'earth' that is made of dusty soil (adamah). For the creation of woman, the author of the sacred text uses the image of sleep and the rib taken from man. What does the Word of God want to tell us? Firstly, woman is part of creation from the beginning, and while this is a completely obvious fact for us, in those times it was an absolute novelty. In Mesopotamia, Abraham's homeland, it was thought that woman had not been created from the beginning and that man had previously lived well on his own.  The Bible, on the other hand, places the creation of woman right at the beginning and above all introduces her as a gift from God; without her, man could not be happy and humanity would be incomplete. The divinities of the peoples of the time, often rivals among themselves, created men to keep them as slaves; on the contrary, in the Bible God is One and by creating man he places him in the garden of paradise to be happy together with him. The phrase "It is not good that man should be alone" shows that he cares a great deal about our happiness and this constitutes an absolute and important novelty: that is, human sexuality, understood as a love relationship, is beautiful and good, an integral part of the original design of creation, willed by God as an element united to relational enjoyment between man and woman.  The idea of the rib taken from Adam emphasises that the Creator's design is not the domination of man over woman, but their equality in dialogue, which implies both intimacy and distance in a climate of mutual gift. The Hebrew helps us to better perceive why man is called 'Ish' and woman 'isha', two close terms that indicate belonging to the same family, even though one is different from the other.

2. There is one detail on which we focus our attention. In the second chapter of Genesis we read that the Lord asked man to name all the cattle, all the birds of the air and all the wild animals, entrusting him with power over the whole of creation. Adam, however, "found no help to match him" (Gen 2:20); only in front of the woman is his cry full of emotion and gratitude in the sense that he recognises her as part of himself and therefore considers her his "alter ego". In the astonishment of this moment, Yahweh's words take on resonance: "I want to make him a helper who corresponds to him", so that she may be his "interface". And when he specifies that 'it is not good for man to be alone', it is not to be understood that it is bad for man to remain unmarried, but that humanity is complete in its duality of man and woman, in a relationship of dialogue that harmonises intimacy with respect for mutual otherness. Herein lies the vocation of the couple: to be the image of God One and Trinitarian Communion. Another wisdom book of the Old Testament, The Song of Songs, a poetic dialogue between two lovers, reveals the mystery of divine intimacy by resorting to the outbursts, tenderness and intimacy of a loving couple. In Jewish tradition it is proclaimed at Passover/Pesach, which always falls in spring, a time of renewal and flowering, which ties in well with the themes of love and fertility expressed in the Canticle. Even more interestingly, the Jews proclaim the Song of Songs in the Passover celebration, the feast of the Covenant between God and his people, thus taking on a deep spiritual meaning: it is not just a hymn to human love, but a celebration of salvation and spiritual rebirth. Just as the Jews were freed from physical slavery, so divine love gives human life a new beginning. It was original sin that wounded the enchantment of the relationship with God, and this is reflected in the conjugal relationship that has become tiring and difficult because, as St Augustine writes in this regard: "marriage is a good whose union cannot be broken without sin" (De bono conjugali,24)

3. In the gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus a provocative question about divorce, and he, as always, does not answer directly, instead helping them to seek the elements of the answer themselves.  Divorce existed in the Old Testament along with the act of repudiation, but was not codified systematically in the Torah, but only mentioned in Deuteronomy in a specific context without establishing detailed rules (Deut 24:1-4). By Jesus' time it had become a relatively widespread practice and there were different interpretations and practical applications. For Jesus, it is not casuistry that is important, but going back to the original plan of God who created human beings in his image - man and woman - so that the man detached from his family would be united with the woman to form one (Gen 2:24). If the couple reflects the image of God, its vocation can only be indivisibility, indissolubility, so that the conclusion becomes logical: 'So let no man put asunder what God has joined together'. Easy to say and complicated to realise as experience shows. This is because marriage is not a human invention, but God's plan, and it is only possible to bring it to full fruition with His support. That is, goodwill and human resources are not enough to preserve the unity of a couple and family. Only when one prays and lives united to God, with the help of his mercy does what is humanly impossible become a possible reality and the source of peaceful coexistence.  This is the heroism of couples who embrace the Gospel to the point of martyrdom of love in spite of everything: canonised married couples and many others hidden in the simplicity of daily fidelity. They courageously overcome obstacles and accept that the inevitable daily misunderstandings will never break their unity that the Lord has welded with matrimonial consecration. If this is the ideal that should never be hidden or reduced for fear of asking too much of those called to Christian marriage, a question often challenges our communities: what to do with couples who have lost their way or who prefer cohabitation to marriage? Every pastor has the duty to accompany everyone with patience and open-mindedness, especially when lacerating wounds mark their existence. However, while being aware of the existing problems, it would be a mistake to stop believing that only God's love can save the unity of the couple and the family from the shipwreck of divorce. In the gospel, Jesus adds: "because of the hardness of your heart" Moses allowed the writing of an act of repudiation, making it clear that the law is only a stage in divine pedagogy, while the goal always remains the supreme law of love. The risk is therefore 'hardening of the heart', that is, the pretence of being able to rely only on one's own strength. Referring to children, Jesus teaches that if unity in the family is to be preserved, the humble simplicity of the child full of trust in those who love him must be preserved. The secret then is to experience God's merciful love.

Happy Sunday to you all.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

And move the neighbors

(Lk 10:1-9)

Jesus notes that the Apostles are not free people (cf. Lk 9). Their way of being is so grounded on standard attitudes and obligatory behaviors that it translates into impermeable mental armour.

Their predictability is too limiting: it gives no breathing space to the path of those who instead want to reactivate themselves, discover, value surprises behind the secret sides of reality and personality.

That wich remains tied to ancient customs and usual protagonists doesn’t make you dream, it isn’t an amazing appearance and testimony of Elsewhere; it takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The Lord is forced to call the Samaritans [the heretics of religion] gathered elsewhere, not coming from "correct" observances, but able to walk, understand, and not be picky.

The new envoys go on the road helpless. Not being able to count on the usual tricks, they are certainly damaged, defrauded and - if they touch all the exposed nerves - torn to pieces.

But their being modest and not doctoral makes us reflect, arouses new knowledge, and awareness. Thus their spontaneous and innocent friendship.

In blocked situations this "disorder" of new amazements will introduce renewed charm, evoke potential, widen expressive opportunities and everyone's field of action.

Once in a territory, it will be good not to go from house to house: from a makeshift accommodation, to the apartment, the villa, and then the palace, because the search for better comforts makes God's Novelty disappear.

The care of the sick and deviations is a cornerstone of the Mission, because it’s precisely from insecurities or eccentricities that a different Kingdom sprouts, the one that notices and takes charge - in the love of those who do not abandon.

And let no time be wasted by combing the “sitting” environment: even a voluntary removal educates to be free.

The momentum of life will awaken consciences and prevail over the negative: on the path that belongs to us, accusations will count for less and less.

Unlike the fruitless action of the Apostles (Lk 9 passim), the return of the new evangelizers is full of joy and results (vv. 17-20).

It’s the last and different ones who bring down from "heaven" - and replace - the enemies of humanity and of our Gladness (vv. 5-6).

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalom] to be announced, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which complete and fulfil us also spiritually.

Now the flourishing Salvation (life as saved persons) is within reach of all (v.9), no longer a privilege.

The sides judged to be crazy, extraneous or materially inconclusive are preparing our new paths.

In the great Mystery of perceiving oneself as ‘being in the Gift’ - «two by two» (v.1) to live in fullness - the self understands the opposite polarities of its essence.

Only thus ‘widened’ do we become a being with and for the other. On the Way, in the form of the Cross.

[St Luke the Evangelist, October 18, 2024]

Calling the far away, to stir up the near

(Lk 10:1-12.17-20)

And I and You

"Truth is not at all what I have. It is not at all what you have. It is what unites us in suffering, in joy. It is what unites us in our union, in the pain and pleasure we give birth to. Neither I nor You. And me and You. Our common work, permanent amazement. Its name is Wisdom'.

(Irénée Guilane Dioh)

Jesus notes that the Apostles are not free people, that is why they do not emancipate anyone and even prevent any breakthrough (cf. Lk 9).

Their way of being is so grounded in standard attitudes and obligatory behaviour that they result in impermeable mental armour.

Their predictability is too limiting: it gives no breathing space to the path of those who instead want to reactivate themselves, discover and value surprises behind the secret sides of reality and personality.

That which remains bound to ancient customs and usual protagonists does not make one dream, it is not an apparition and amazing testimony of the Other; it takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The Lord is compelled to call the Samaritans (the heretics of religion) gathered elsewhere, not from 'correct' observances - but capable of walking, understanding and not being picky.

At least they do not disprove the Word they proclaim with a life behind the scenes: what you see, they are.

He is practically induced to fly over the Twelve, with insecure but transparent '72s', in the uncertainty of the (many) wolves who feel destabilised.

The new envoys go on the road helpless. Unable to rely on the usual wiles, they are sure to be damaged, defrauded and - if they touch all the exposed nerves - mauled.

But their low and unassuming being makes them think, arouses new knowledge and awareness. Thus their spontaneous and innocent friendship.

Then, in blocked situations, it will be this 'disorder' of new stupefaction that will introduce renewed fascination; evoke potentialities, broaden the possible expressive inclinations, and the field of action of all.

It is the critical witnesses who transmute the world and lead people to praise (because they may have simply regained resources they did not even know they possessed or had lost sight of).

Those who never cease to surprise must beware of the fakers and profiteers who are disturbed by the smile of the newly naive - and very careful. Only here must one be difficult: let there be no more scruples!

Once in a territory, it will be good not to go from house to house: from a makeshift accommodation to the flat, to the villa, then to the palace, because the search for better comforts makes the Newness of God disappear.

Caring for the sick and deviant is a cornerstone of the Mission, because it is precisely from insecurities or eccentricities that a different kingdom sprouts, one that notices and takes charge - in the love of those who do not abandon.

And let us not waste time combing the environment sitting on the false truncated-altar ideology: even a voluntary departure educates to gratuitousness. On the contrary, it is precisely the religious leaders [old-fashioned and otherwise] and their circle devotees who remain attached to positions of social visibility, to the idol of the place, to the disease of the title (without which they do not feel like characters), that astound and reflect.

They are manipulative, and fill our heads with breeziness.

The spy of the sovereign - the 'satan' [his acolytes are many and unsuspected] enemy of humanity's progress - will no longer be relevant.

The momentum of life will awaken consciences and prevail over the negative: on the path that belongs to us, the accusations of the interested overseers will count for less and less.

Unlike the scrupulous but sad and deviant action of the Apostles [Lk 9 passim] the return of the new evangelisers aggregated by direct Calling and without intermediate rituals is full of verve and results (vv.17-20).

It is the last and different ones - not the most well-known and self-referential aggregates - who bring down from "heaven" and replace the Satan-functionaries, enemies of humanity and inclusive Joy (vv.5-6).

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalôm] to be proclaimed, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which also fulfil and realise us spiritually.

Now the blossoming Salvation [saved life, conclusive] is within reach for all (v.9), no longer a privilege.

The sides judged sickly, deranged, suffering, invalid, crazy, or materially inconclusive are preparing our new paths.

In the vocational dynamic, the fixed point does not reside in a satisfactory adherence to criteria of reason, nor in some ingenious elaboration of novelty.

Neither does it lie in the heroicity or fixity of conformed, yet convinced, behaviour.

Our certainty is a surprise that comes.It awakens us, but it resides solely in a perception of the inner eye: in the slight recurring image that dwells there and mysteriously appears, drags and guides.

And cures fears.

The only certainty will be that slight vision that - corresponding and reaffirming its comings and goings - turns each one to its unexpressed personal desire, weaving an ineffable dialogue with the soul and its Way.

The Gift imposes itself upon the intimate scenario, to turn each Name to its destination.

To attract and actualise Future. Of course: not the return to the previous situation that many advocate; today, even in times of global crisis.

There is no other fixed point than our Calling.

It comes to enter into a spousal relationship with the unpredictable and unprecedented work of the personal Faith-Calamite.

Attraction that seduces the soul, frees it from insecurities by infusing it with passion, and demands to be respected.

Only in a vocational and intimately strong sense does the call of the Dream, which emerges to the heart's perception, make us tenacious.

And it revives a wandering existence amidst the storms - like that of a planet adrift - intertwining life with Christ.

It is our Peace in chaos, which also invites introspection.

"Magnet-counter" in the external artifice of being led by others' goals.

Nor is it enough to find a modern antidote to the frenzy that stings us, still making our wandering worse.

Nor is imposing a style that conflicts with the independence of the personal spirit.

A parenthesis is not enough to annihilate the tension of contemporary life.

After all, we do not lack an oasis to reflect on the world, understand ourselves, and friends or those far away.

"I have no peace" - we hear ourselves repeated by people who feel adrift. And this feeling is contagious; rampant today.

How do we proclaim harmony and reconciliation in the home (v.5), in a world besieged by provocations, global maladies and competitions, which if considered responsibly immediately make our wrists shake?

In a New Year's greetings address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, John Paul II summarised four epochal emergencies for the new millennium:

"Life, bread, peace and freedom: these are the great challenges of humanity today".

An outlier for our nature.

How can the man of Faith announce balance and prosperity, if weakness is not protected, if the criterion of nature today seems volatile, if nourishment is not abundant and varied for all, if fraternity is not discernible even in protected environments [at most it is mistaken for generic sympathy for advertising purposes, in a church of events - as Pope Francis says], or if belligerence can have theological motivations (in order not to accept the vital needs of others)... if one does not recognise that one can realise oneself 'in a way that corresponds to one's nature'?

This, in my opinion, is the pivotal point: the prerogative of the Vocation and the inner imagery it arouses; of our response of personal and creative spousal trust.

John Paul said: freedom is light "because it allows one to responsibly choose one's goals and the way to reach them".

Not a light that dazzles, but one that rests, and weaves patterns.

A redeemed light, which becomes relationship, the possibility of sharing; Presence that conveys meaning.

Free will pales, hand in hand with our voluntarism, and even the ability to self-determine for the good is not enough for us. We have always known this.

In his second Satire, Juvenal writes:

"Practices have given you this ringworm/

And to many they give it, like sheep/

Or of swine in a herd one communicates/

To all others scabies and dandruff/

And one grain is enough to spoil a bunch/

From this fashion to uglier matters/

Adagio adagio you will pass: the ladder/

Of vices you will not descend/

In short they will make you one of their own/

Those who at home gird their foreheads".

One must live by Communion, even with oneself, or there is no authentic life.

In the great Mystery of perceiving oneself as a "being in the Gift" - "two by two" (v.1) - to enjoy fullness, the self understands the opposite polarities of its essence.

Only thus expanded do we become a being "with" and "for" the other.

Not infrequently, the sacred proposal isolates us or places us in one-sided watertight compartments, which truncate dreams [not disembodied fantasies, which are corollary to them].

The beautiful ancient customs, or the patterns of abstract sociology, and local styles or customs, determine the tracks of our race: the usual totems of costume. Or the fashions of others; external mannerisms.

Jesus (precisely) notes the failure of his own, who fail to liberate people - and even pretend to prevent it [Lk 9].

So he also calls the Samaritans (v.1), that is, the badly indoctrinated, half-breeds and bastards.

In short, he broadens the horizon of the designated tribes, appealing to pagan nations, for a universal task.

The Lord knows that the 'lay' Faith is not of the circle.It does not willingly conform to models without intimate force; therefore, it does not block evolution, because it makes life out of Relationship and Character.

This, in the midst of all facets of being and history: precisely with and for others, but not outwardly - but firmly within oneself.

In this way, in the friendship of self and neighbour, we become by grace and genuinely much more trustworthy than those who are driven by articulate convictions or strong club voluntarism.

The latter are often very dangerous illusions, if they do not recognise as an absolute value the concrete good of the real man, the right to his Happiness.

Totality or integration resulting from the well-being of a completion in being, no longer reduced.

Messianic Presence [Announcement of the Shalôm] that does not devalue; it does not remain one-sided.

The Falling Spy, and the Little Brains

The spy of the "ruler" - the "satan" [his acolytes are many and unsuspected], the enemy of humanity's progress - will no longer be prominent.

Dethroned from the condition of power over men, it falls into the abyss (v.18).

It means that thanks to the mission in Christ, the momentum of life will prevail over the negative.

In the path that belongs to us, the accusations of the interested overseers will count for zero.

The old kings and prophets had only sighed for the fullness of the Messiah. They felt themselves to be great, but they had not met the Eternal One in superabundance of Person.

They were still slaves to cosmic elements, sometimes subject to the irrational power of evil; often overcome by common thinking, by their own and others' misery, by the attractions of the surrounding worldly reality.

The 'little ones', on the other hand, even today remain open to the Mystery and receive a renewed being.

The wise suppose that the only life is on their side; they think themselves powerful and convincing. They do not need light, nor do they need a Friend.

It is on this level that one of the definitive revelations about the authentic Man that manifests the divine condition is formulated.

The Son blesses the Father for the gift granted to the insignificant in society, and discovers the crux of the Mystery of our communication with the Most High: the spirit of knowing oneself to be in the Family, in its own right.

Ancient religious holiness rested on separation [Qadosh-Santo: it is an attribute of the God who dwells in distinct, remote, inaccessible places] not on essence.

The new name for (domestic) holiness reflected in the Person of Christ and in that of His brethren is no longer synonymous with 'cut off from others and set apart', but with 'United'.

Despite the crutches he wears, he remains in himself 'dignified' and even 'called'; hence enabled to be promoted, without further conditions of ideological or cultic purity.

Father and Son constitute a Mystery of reciprocity and dedication into which only those who wish to receive and welcome themselves in the source - in God, to allow themselves to be enveloped by a Friendship that encompasses the whole being - penetrate.

Dialogue that expands even the smallest qualities, sublimates the unknown and obscure sides of the personality into Pearls; to expand the wave of existence, without chasing the voices of the external world [only apparently vital].

Thus Sending and Mission have as their core the unfolding of the intense quality, of the same intimate and indestructible divine reality: Love.

The only Fire that annihilates the consuming powers, in people, in nations, in history.

Precisely, unlike the scrupulous but sad and deviant work of the Apostles [Lk 9 passim], the return of the new evangelisers aggregated by direct Calling and without intermediate rituals is full of joy and results (vv.17-20).

We recall Tagore: 'If Christians were like their Master, they would have all India at their feet'.

They are the last and different - the new protagonists of the proclamation.

Not the best-known and self-opinionated co-opted succeed in bringing down from heaven and replacing the Satan-functionaries, enemies of humanity and our democratic Joy (vv.5-6).

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalôm] to be proclaimed, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which complement, include and fulfil us spiritually as well.

Now the Salvation [life of the saved] that flourishes is within reach of all who have a caring spirit and virtue as family members. No longer the privilege of circles that feel secure [but lose uniqueness].

Tagore again: 'Kindly, deliberately make yourself small, come into this small abode [...] As a friend, as a father, as a mother make yourself small, come into my heart. I too with my hands will make myself small before the master of the universe; with my small intelligence I will know you and make you known".

The Mystery resists the "learned" who make profession of high wisdom (v.21). 

Conversely, the Kingdom opens to those not imprisoned by conformist and interposed ideas - slaves to thoughts and conventions.

Here is the Hymn of Jubilation (vv.21-24) that introduces the Commandment of Love (vv.25ff).I remember my Augustinian professor of Patristics: he insisted that one of the nicknames earned by the early Christians was 'little brains'.

They were simple people, but full of aptitudes for fullness, and wise new awareness, which astounded the professors and philosophers of the ancient world.

We, too, ask ourselves: what makes us come close to what we are called to do?

Well, perhaps we already know: the sufficiency of those who profess cerebral doctrine - in reality - only leads to falling from the sky.

It annihilates humble self-perception, makes the ability to notice pale; it closes one to forgiveness, to benevolent acceptance, to listening to the soul and to others, to availability. Even to the acumen of innate knowledge, that which belongs to us and would solve real problems.

Precisely those sides that are judged crazy or materially inconclusive - even in the weave of small things - would make us face the external events that beset us... as opportunities for growth.

They are indeed preparing our new paths, and a germ of an alternative society.

To internalise and live the message:

What happened in you when you accepted the modest (and full) status of son?

What new awareness of yourself and the world did you acquire?

Did you also discover outbursts of gratuitousness, as well as gratitude?

The Mission (Effusion) reaches all frontiers

For the Announcement, without knots at the throat

(Lk 10:13-16)

The difference between religiosity and Faith is in the Subject, of Life in the Spirit: it is not we who dispose, set up, new heavens and new earth - but Grace that silently disposes and precedes.

That is why in the Announcement we are not orphans, and with many knots at our throats.

The Master himself is not alone. The witness of even non-disciples is part of Christ's Way to the Father.

Way that comes. It is not the established "internal" commitment that builds a more authentic world with divine traits.

Rather, it is the Kingdom - effusive in itself - that gives rise to the path to the "far", and activates unthinkable scenarios.

They come to us as a proposal for Peace: openness to a wider Plan, and inter-human justice.

The varied experience, the environment full of surprises of non-followers, generates blossoms, of each one - in the discovery of the limit, of one's own deep states - for communion.

No elective reserve; no right of pre-emption. Salvation according to the Father, not "our way".

The Gospel overcomes the barriers of peoples and if necessary leaves behind its cradle of extenuating cultures, locked in a plastered mentality, perhaps intolerant; annoyed at everything.

Those who in full awareness and deliberate consent reject the Word because the world will no longer be 'as it was before' suddenly find themselves without hope, without children, without the possibility of life and expansion.

Without Presence, without the Spirituality of the Covenant - which concatenates every witness to the Son and the Father. And only God can overcome the power of obstacles; internal and external powers.

Only in the torch of the divine condition [authentic Source, measure that Christ lives and amazes us] do we learn the meaning of our being, communicating, going.

The inaccessible interrogates, and becomes very close. It annihilates the exclusive ballasts, which remain in vain.

Thus the Announcement unleashes the Spirit, it opens up unusual doors: even a window onto the inner world. Where opposites already have a right to exist. Indeed, they call to the New Covenant, which teaches us to stand with the sides we do not like.

In this way we will investigate and discover: the struggle of the blocks, of the fears of what we do not want to see outside and inside us, must cease.

Tendencies that we thought should be denied become an unpredictable source of other lights and virtues, intimate and in relationships.

Even and especially the shadows call for the Exodus, a new covenant - where we are not absolutely alone and one-sided, but more complete.

In short, the Mystery that inhabits us transcends the bonds of belief, makes us less divided. Starting from the source of being.

It becomes real, compelling transcendence-immanence; for all. New Life Awareness.

"He who listens to you listens to me, and he who despises you despises me, but he who despises me despises Him who sent me" (v.16).

"For the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him" (Jn 5:22-23).

Scientists and Little Ones

(Lk 10:21-24)

Unlike the fruitless action of the Apostles [Lk 9 passim], the return of the new evangelisers is full of joy and results (vv.17-20). Why?

The leaders looked at religiosity with a view to interest. Professors of theology were accustomed to evaluate every comma from their own ridiculous but supponent knowledge - unrelated to real events.That which remains bound to customs and usual protagonists does not make one dream, it is not an apparition and an astonishing testimony of Elsewhere; it detracts from the expressive richness of the Announcement and life.

The Master rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - on those who are well disposed, and capable of understanding the depths of the Kingdom, in ordinary things.

In short, after an initial moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Master delves deeper into the issues and finds everyone against him, except God and the least: the weightless, but with a great desire to start from scratch.

Glimmering Mystery leavens history - without making it a possession.

At first, even Jesus is stunned by the rejection of those who thought they were already satisfied and were no longer waiting for anything to arouse their habits.

Then he understands, praises and blesses the Father's plan: the authentic person is born from the gutter, and possesses "the spirit of the neighbourhood" (FT no.152).

God is Simple Relationship: He demythologises the idol of greatness.

The Eternal One is not the master of creation: He is Refreshment that refreshes, because He makes us feel complete and lovable; He seeks us out, He is attentive to the language of the heart.

He is Custodian of the world, even of the unlearned - of the "infants" (v.21) spontaneously empty of boastful spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.

Thus the Father-Son relationship is communicated to God's poor: those who are endowed with a family-like attitude (v.22).

Insignificant and invisible without great gifts, but who abandon themselves to the proposals of the providential life that comes, like children in the arms of parents.

With a spirit of pietas that favours those who allow themselves to be filled with innate wisdom. The only reality that corresponds to us and does not present the 'bill': it does not proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Wisdom that transmits freshness in the readiness to receive receive personally the Truth as a Gift, and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realising it.

A simple prayer of blessing, for the simple - this of Jesus (v.21) - that makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and agrees with ourselves.

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalom] to be proclaimed, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which also complete and fulfil us spiritually.

One must live by Communion, even with the "little" in oneself, or there is no authentic life.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you feel when you are told, "You don't count"?

Does it remain a humiliating contempt or do you consider it a great Light received, as Jesus did?