Mar 26, 2025 Written by 

Attaching great importance to the judgement of others on us

Pope Francis [...] returned to one of his mother ideas: the importance for the Christian, and not only, of reading a few lines of the Gospel every day. For a believer the gospel is not a book like any other but, since Jesus is the Incarnate Word of the Father, the collection of his words makes possible a particular efficacy of the action of the Holy Spirit within each one of us.

In reality, however, we often forget this and this happens because we do not know how to combine the words spoken two thousand years ago with our daily lives. The secret to making the gospel a daily presence is to discover that it is already in itself "a daily presence".

The Sunday on which the Pope asked us to return to giving importance to the Gospel was, for example, the Sunday on which the first half of the football championship ended: that is, the first half of a championship that is the first (and hopefully the last) without a public.

There were a lot of goals and surprising results and, according to the experts, this was largely due to the absence of a public: there are players, especially the younger ones,' said Fabio Capello, for example, 'who score more goals without a public, they perform better, because they have more courage.

It is, in a macroscopic way, the problem we all have: giving enormous importance to the judgement of others on us. We all feel the urge to be in the group because being in the group, in the social organisation, makes us feel protected, 'on the right side', we are not alone in facing life. But it is precisely this atmosphere of security that is often the chain that keeps us in prison, that prevents us from being ourselves and that drives us to betray our aspirations.

Each one of us, here is the lesson that comes to us from a championship such as this, has 'an audience' to which we are more or less consciously accountable: and the gospel could help us precisely to rid ourselves of this to a good extent. Jesus Christ, whether we believe he was God or not, was certainly a person who went against the expectations of his 'audience': whether they were the relatives, friends or the powerful of his time.

In a discussion, Christ tells the Pharisees that it is impossible for them to follow him, not because they do not know in their hearts that he is right, but because, by following him, they would have lost the consensus of their group. "How can you believe, you who take glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that comes from God alone?" (John 5:44).

We understand for ourselves that reading a sentence like this in the morning before going to the office or entering into an important relational dynamic would be infinitely liberating: and this regardless of whether one is a believer or a practitioner. That is why Bergoglio's words on the gospel have universal value.

[https://www.agi.it/blog-italia/idee/post/2021-01-28/campionato-senza-pubblico-papa-francesco-vangelo-11184640/]

 

7 Last modified on Wednesday, 26 March 2025 04:25
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

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Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, they should bear witness to him and lead people towards him. When we speak of this task in which we share by virtue of our baptism, it is no reason to boast (Pope Benedict)
I cristiani sono popolo sacerdotale per il mondo. I cristiani dovrebbero rendere visibile al mondo il Dio vivente, testimoniarLo e condurre a Lui. Quando parliamo di questo nostro comune incarico, in quanto siamo battezzati, ciò non è una ragione per farne un vanto (Papa Benedetto)
Because of this unique understanding, Jesus can present himself as the One who reveals the Father with a knowledge that is the fruit of an intimate and mysterious reciprocity (John Paul II)
In forza di questa singolare intesa, Gesù può presentarsi come il rivelatore del Padre, con una conoscenza che è frutto di un'intima e misteriosa reciprocità (Giovanni Paolo II)
Yes, all the "miracles, wonders and signs" of Christ are in function of the revelation of him as Messiah, of him as the Son of God: of him who alone has the power to free man from sin and death. Of him who is truly the Savior of the world (John Paul II)
Sì, tutti i “miracoli, prodigi e segni” di Cristo sono in funzione della rivelazione di lui come Messia, di lui come Figlio di Dio: di lui che, solo, ha il potere di liberare l’uomo dal peccato e dalla morte. Di lui che veramente è il Salvatore del mondo (Giovanni Paolo II)
It is known that faith is man's response to the word of divine revelation. The miracle takes place in organic connection with this revealing word of God. It is a "sign" of his presence and of his work, a particularly intense sign (John Paul II)
È noto che la fede è una risposta dell’uomo alla parola della rivelazione divina. Il miracolo avviene in legame organico con questa parola di Dio rivelante. È un “segno” della sua presenza e del suo operare, un segno, si può dire, particolarmente intenso (Giovanni Paolo II)
That was not the only time the father ran. His joy would not be complete without the presence of his other son. He then sets out to find him and invites him to join in the festivities (cf. v. 28). But the older son appeared upset by the homecoming celebration. He found his father’s joy hard to take; he did not acknowledge the return of his brother: “that son of yours”, he calls him (v. 30). For him, his brother was still lost, because he had already lost him in his heart (Pope Francis)
Ma quello non è stato l’unico momento in cui il Padre si è messo a correre. La sua gioia sarebbe incompleta senza la presenza dell’altro figlio. Per questo esce anche incontro a lui per invitarlo a partecipare alla festa (cfr v. 28). Però, sembra proprio che al figlio maggiore non piacessero le feste di benvenuto; non riesce a sopportare la gioia del padre e non riconosce il ritorno di suo fratello: «quel tuo figlio», dice (v. 30). Per lui suo fratello continua ad essere perduto, perché lo aveva ormai perduto nel suo cuore (Papa Francesco)
Doing a good deed almost instinctively gives rise to the desire to be esteemed and admired for the good action, in other words to gain a reward. And on the one hand this closes us in on ourselves and on the other, it brings us out of ourselves because we live oriented to what others think of us or admire in us (Pope Benedict)
Quando si compie qualcosa di buono, quasi istintivamente nasce il desiderio di essere stimati e ammirati per la buona azione, di avere cioè una soddisfazione. E questo, da una parte rinchiude in se stessi, dall’altra porta fuori da se stessi, perché si vive proiettati verso quello che gli altri pensano di noi e ammirano in noi (Papa Benedetto)

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