Dialogo e Solstizio

Mar 17, 2026 Written by don Giuseppe Nespeca

font size decrease font size increase font size
Print

Angolo dell'apripista

Salvation: Gift

Salvation "cannot be bought or sold" because "it is a totally free gift". But to receive it God asks us to have "a humble, docile, obedient heart". Pope Francis said this in the Mass celebrated on Tuesday morning 25 March in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, inviting "to celebrate and give thanks to God" because "today we commemorate a definitive stage in the journey" towards salvation "that man has made since the day he came out of paradise".

It is precisely "for this reason that today we celebrate: the celebration of this journey from a mother to another mother, from a father to another father", the Pontiff explained. And he invited us to contemplate "the icon of Eve and Adam, the icon of Mary and Jesus", and to look at the course of history with God who always walks with his people. Thus, he continued, "today we can embrace the Father who, thanks to the blood of his Son, became one of us, and saves us: this Father who awaits us every day". Hence the invitation to say "thank you: thank you, Lord, because today you say to us that you have given us salvation".

In his reflection, the Pontiff started from the mandate given to Adam and Eve: the commitment to work and dominate the earth, and to be fruitful. 'It is the promise of redemption,' he explained, 'and with this commandment, with this promise, they began to walk, to make a way'. A "long road", made up of "many centuries", but which began "with disobedience". Adam and Eve in fact "were deceived, they were seduced. They have been seduced by Satan: you will be like God!". Pride and pride" prevailed in them, so much so that "they fell into the temptation: to take the place of God, with pride enough". It is precisely "that attitude that only Satan has totally in him".

Adam and Eve "made a people". And "they did not make this journey alone: the Lord was with them", who accompanied humanity along an itinerary "that began with disobedience and ended with obedience". To explain this, Pope Francis recalled, "the Second Vatican Council takes a beautiful phrase from St Irenaeus of Lyons that says: the knot that Eve made with her disobedience Mary untied with her obedience". Moreover, he added, the Church also explains this path with a prayer that reads: "Lord, you who wonderfully created humanity and restored it, restored it more wonderfully...". It is therefore "a path where the wonders of God are multiplied, they are more!".

God therefore always remains "with his people on their journey: he sends prophets and he sends people to explain the law". But "why," the Pontiff wondered, "did the Lord walk with his people with such tenderness? To soften our hearts' is the answer. And indeed Scripture explicitly reminds us of this: I will make your heart of stone a heart of flesh.

In essence, the Lord wants to "soften our hearts" so that they can receive "that promise that he had made in paradise: for one man sin entered, for another man salvation comes". And it is precisely this 'long journey' that has helped 'all of us to have a more human heart, closer to God; not so proud, not so sufficient'.

"Today," the Pope explained, "the liturgy speaks to us of this journey of restoration, of this stage in the journey of restoration. And it speaks to us of obedience, of docility to the word of God'. A thought, the Pontiff pointed out, that "is very clear" in the second reading, taken from the letter to the Hebrews (10:4-10): "Brothers, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to eliminate sins".

Hence the statement that "salvation is not bought, it is not sold. It is given, it is free'. And since 'we cannot save ourselves from ourselves, salvation is a gift, totally free. As St Paul writes, it cannot be bought with 'the blood of bulls and goats'. And if 'it cannot be bought', to 'enter into us this salvation demands a humble heart, a docile heart, an obedient heart, like that of Mary'. Thus "the model of this path of salvation is God himself, his Son, who did not esteem it an irrenounceable good to be equal to God - Paul says so - but annihilated himself and obeyed even unto death and death on a cross".

What then does 'the path of humility, of humiliation' mean? It simply means, Pope Francis concluded, 'to say: I am man, I am woman, and you are God! And to go before, in the presence of God, as a man, as a woman in obedience and docility of heart".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 26/03/2014]

62 Last modified on Tuesday, 17 March 2026 03:20

Rate this item

1
2
3
4
5

(0 votes)

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".

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Latest from don Giuseppe Nespeca

Previous
« It is not a team badge

Next
Joy and Hope, or abstract world »

back to top

Thus, paradoxically, from a sign of condemnation, death and failure, the Cross becomes a sign of redemption, life and victory, through faith, the fruits of salvation can be gathered (Pope Benedict)

Così la Croce, paradossalmente, da segno di condanna, di morte, di fallimento, diventa segno di redenzione, di vita, di vittoria, in cui, con sguardo di fede, si possono scorgere i frutti della salvezza (Papa Benedetto)

[Nicodemus] felt the fascination of this Rabbi, so different from the others, but could not manage to rid himself of the conditioning of his environment that was hostile to Jesus, and stood irresolute on the threshold of faith (Pope Benedict)

[Nicodemo] avverte il fascino di questo Rabbì così diverso dagli altri, ma non riesce a sottrarsi ai condizionamenti dell’ambiente contrario a Gesù e resta titubante sulla soglia della fede (Papa Benedetto)

Those wounds that, in the beginning were an obstacle for Thomas’s faith, being a sign of Jesus’ apparent failure, those same wounds have become in his encounter with the Risen One, signs of a victorious love. These wounds that Christ has received for love of us help us to understand who God is and to repeat: “My Lord and my God!” Only a God who loves us to the extent of taking upon himself our wounds and our pain, especially innocent suffering, is worthy of faith (Pope Benedict)

Quelle piaghe, che per Tommaso erano dapprima un ostacolo alla fede, perché segni dell’apparente fallimento di Gesù; quelle stesse piaghe sono diventate, nell’incontro con il Risorto, prove di un amore vittorioso. Queste piaghe che Cristo ha contratto per amore nostro ci aiutano a capire chi è Dio e a ripetere anche noi: “Mio Signore e mio Dio”. Solo un Dio che ci ama fino a prendere su di sé le nostre ferite e il nostro dolore, soprattutto quello innocente, è degno di fede (Papa Benedetto)

We see that the disciples are still closed in their thinking […] How does Jesus answer? He answers by broadening their horizons […] and he confers upon them the task of bearing witness to him all over the world, transcending the cultural and religious confines within which they were accustomed to think and live (Pope Benedict)

Vediamo che i discepoli sono ancora chiusi nella loro visione […] E come risponde Gesù? Risponde aprendo i loro orizzonti […] e conferisce loro l’incarico di testimoniarlo in tutto il mondo oltrepassando i confini culturali e religiosi entro cui erano abituati a pensare e a vivere (Papa Benedetto)

The Fathers made a very significant commentary on this singular task. This is what they say: for a fish, created for water, it is fatal to be taken out of the sea, to be removed from its vital element to serve as human food. But in the mission of a fisher of men, the reverse is true. We are living in alienation, in the salt waters of suffering and death; in a sea of darkness without light. The net of the Gospel pulls us out of the waters of death and brings us into the splendour of God’s light, into true life (Pope Benedict)

I Padri […] dicono così: per il pesce, creato per l’acqua, è mortale essere tirato fuori dal mare. Esso viene sottratto al suo elemento vitale per servire di nutrimento all’uomo. Ma nella missione del pescatore di uomini avviene il contrario. Noi uomini viviamo alienati, nelle acque salate della sofferenza e della morte; in un mare di oscurità senza luce. La rete del Vangelo ci tira fuori dalle acque della morte e ci porta nello splendore della luce di Dio, nella vera vita (Papa Benedetto)

duevie.art

don Giuseppe Nespeca

Tel. 333-1329741

Disclaimer

Questo blog non rappresenta una testata giornalistica in quanto viene aggiornato senza alcuna periodicità. Non può pertanto considerarsi un prodotto editoriale ai sensi della legge N°62 del 07/03/2001.
Le immagini sono tratte da internet, ma se il loro uso violasse diritti d'autore, lo si comunichi all'autore del blog che provvederà alla loro pronta rimozione.
L'autore dichiara di non essere responsabile dei commenti lasciati nei post. Eventuali commenti dei lettori, lesivi dell'immagine o dell'onorabilità di persone terze, il cui contenuto fosse ritenuto non idoneo alla pubblicazione verranno insindacabilmente rimossi.