On this Sunday when the Gospel asks us about the true identity of Jesus, we find ourselves transported with the disciples to the road leading to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. Jesus asks them: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29). The moment he chose to ask this question is not insignificant. Jesus was facing a decisive turning-point in his life. He was going up to Jerusalem, to the place where the central events of our salvation would take place: his crucifixion and resurrection. In Jerusalem too, following these events, the Church would be born. And at this decisive moment, Jesus first asks his disciples: “Who do men say that I am?” (Mk 8:27). They give very different answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets! Today, as down the centuries, those who encounter Jesus along their own way give their own answers. These are approaches which can be helpful in finding the way to truth. But while not necessarily false, they remain insufficient, for they do not go to the heart of who Jesus is. Only those willing to follow him on his path, to live in fellowship with him in the community of his disciples, can truly know who he is. Finally, Peter, who had dwelt with Jesus for some time, gives his answer: “You are the Christ” (Mk 8:29). It is the right answer, of course, but it is still not enough, since Jesus feels the need to clarify it. He realizes that people could use this answer to advance agendas which are not his, to raise false temporal hopes in his regard. He does not let himself be confined to the attributes of the human saviour which many were expecting.

By telling his disciples that he must suffer and be put to death, and then rise again, Jesus wants to make them understand his true identity. He is a Messiah who suffers, a Messiah who serves, and not some triumphant political saviour. He is the Servant who obeys his Father’s will, even to giving up his life. This had already been foretold by the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading. Jesus thus contradicts the expectations of many. What he says is shocking and disturbing. We can understand the reaction of Peter who rebukes him, refusing to accept that his Master should suffer and die! Jesus is stern with Peter; he makes him realize that anyone who would be his disciple must become a servant, just as he became Servant.

Following Jesus means taking up one’s cross and walking in his footsteps, along a difficult path which leads not to earthly power or glory but, if necessary, to self-abandonment, to losing one’s life for Christ and the Gospel in order to save it. We are assured that this is the way to the resurrection, to true and definitive life with God. Choosing to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who made himself the Servant of all, requires drawing ever closer to him, attentively listening to his word and drawing from it the inspiration for all that we do.

[Pope Benedict, homily in Beirut, 16 September 2012]

"And who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16:15).

1. As we begin the cycle of catechesis on Jesus Christ, of fundamental importance for Christian faith and life, we feel challenged by the same question that almost two thousand years ago the Master asked Peter and the disciples who were with him. At that decisive moment of his life, as Matthew, who witnessed it, recounts in his Gospel, "When Jesus had come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'People, who do they say that the Son of Man is?' They answered, 'Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or any of the prophets.' He said to them, 'Who do you say that I am?'" (Mt 16:13-15).

We know Peter's blunt and impetuous reply: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). In order for us too to formulate it, not so much in abstract terms, but as an expression of a vital experience, the fruit of the Father's gift (cf. Mt 16:17), each of us must allow ourselves to be personally touched by the question: "And you, who say, who am I? You who hear of me, answer: what am I really to you?". For Peter, divine illumination and the answer of faith came after a long period of being close to Jesus, listening to his word and observing his life and ministry (cf. Mt 16:21-24).

In order to come to a more conscious confession of Jesus Christ, we too must walk, like Peter, a path of attentive, caring listening. We must put ourselves in the school of the first disciples, who became his witnesses and our teachers, and at the same time absorb the experience and testimony of twenty centuries of history marked by the Master's question and enriched by the immense chorus of responses from the faithful of all times and places. Today, as the "Lord and Life-giving" Spirit pushes us towards the threshold of the third Christian millennium, we are called to give with renewed joy the response that God inspires and expects from us, almost as if for a new birth of Jesus Christ in our history.

2. Jesus' question about his identity shows the pedagogical subtlety of one who does not trust in hasty answers, but wants an answer matured through a time, sometimes a long time, of reflection and prayer, in attentive and intense listening to the truth of the Christian faith professed and preached by the Church.

Indeed, we recognise that in the face of Jesus we cannot be content with a merely human sympathy, however legitimate and precious, nor is it sufficient to consider him merely as a character worthy of historical, theological, spiritual or social interest, or as a source of artistic inspiration. Around Christ we often see hovering, even among Christians, the shadows of ignorance, or the even more distressing ones of misunderstanding or even infidelity. There is always the risk of appealing to the 'Gospel of Jesus', without really knowing its greatness and radicality, and without living out what is claimed in words. How many are those who reduce the Gospel to their own measure and make themselves a more comfortable Jesus, denying his transcendent divinity, or nullifying his real, historical humanity, or manipulating the integrity of his message, in particular by not taking into account the sacrifice of the cross that dominates his life and doctrine, nor the Church that he instituted as his 'sacrament' in history.

Even these shadows stimulate us to search for the full truth about Jesus, taking advantage of the many lights that, as once with Peter, the Father has lit up over the centuries around Jesus in the hearts of so many men with the power of the Holy Spirit: the lights of faithful witnesses even to martyrdom; the lights of so many passionate scholars, committed to fathoming the mystery of Jesus with the instrument of intelligence sustained by faith; the lights that above all the Magisterium of the Church, guided by the charisma of the Holy Spirit, has lit up in the dogmatic definitions of Jesus Christ.

We recognise that a stimulus to discover who Jesus really is is present in the uncertain and anxious search of many of our contemporaries so similar to Nicodemus who went "by night to find Jesus" (Jn 3:2) or Zacchaeus who climbed a tree to "see Jesus" (Lk 19:4). The desire to help every man to discover Jesus, who came as a doctor for the sick and as a saviour for sinners (cf. Mk 2:17), urges me to perform the demanding and exciting task of presenting the figure of Jesus to the children of the Church and to every man of good will.

You may remember that, at the beginning of my pontificate, I addressed an invitation to the people of today to "open wide the doors to Christ" (Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, I [1978] 38). Later, in the exhortation Catechesi Tradendae (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Catechesi Tradendae, 5), dedicated to catechesis, making myself the spokesman for the thinking of the bishops gathered in the Fourth Synod, I affirmed that "the essential and primordial object of catechesis is . . the 'mystery of Christ'. To catechise is in a certain way to lead one to scrutinise this mystery in all its dimensions . . .; to unveil in the person of Christ the whole eternal plan of God, which is fulfilled in him . . . He alone can lead us to the love of the Father in the Holy Spirit and can make us participate in the life of the Holy Trinity' (Eiusdem, Catechesi Tradendae, 5).

We will follow this catechetical itinerary together, ordering our considerations around four focal points: 1) Jesus in his historical reality and in his transcendent messianic quality, son of Abraham, son of man and son of God; 2) Jesus in his identity as true God and true man, in profound communion with the Father and animated by the power of the Holy Spirit, as presented to us in the Gospel; 3) Jesus in the eyes of the Church, which with the assistance of the Holy Spirit has clarified and deepened the revealed data giving us, especially with the Ecumenical Councils, precise formulations of the Christological faith; 4) finally, Jesus in his life and works, Jesus in his redemptive passion and glorification, Jesus among us and in us, in history and in his Church until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28, 20).

3. It is true that in the Church there are many ways of catechising God's people about Jesus. Each one, however, to be authentic must draw its content from the perennial source of holy Tradition and sacred Scripture, interpreted in the light of the teachings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, the liturgy, popular faith and piety, in a word of the Tradition living and working in the Church under the action of the Holy Spirit, who - according to the Master's promise - "will lead you into all truth, for he will not speak of himself, but will say all that he has heard and will proclaim to you the things to come" (Jn 16:13). This Tradition we recognise expressed and synthesised particularly in the doctrine of the sacrosanct Councils, gathered in the symbols of faith and deepened by theological reflection faithful to Revelation and the Magisterium of the Church.

What would a catechesis on Jesus be worth if it did not have the genuineness and completeness of the gaze with which the Church contemplates, prays and proclaims his mystery? On the other hand, a pedagogical wisdom is required that, in addressing the recipients of catechesis, knows how to take into account their conditions and needs. As I wrote in the exhortation now cited, Catechesi Tradendae: 'The constant concern of every catechist - whatever the level of his or her responsibilities in the Church - must be to pass on the doctrine and life of Jesus through his or her teaching and behaviour' (John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, 6).

4. Let us conclude this introductory catechesis by recalling that Jesus, at a particularly difficult moment in the life of the first disciples, when the cross loomed close and many were abandoning him, addressed to those who had remained with him another of those questions of his that were so strong, so penetrating and inescapable: "Do you perhaps also wish to leave?" It was Peter again who, as the interpreter of his brothers, answered: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You alone have words of eternal life. We have believed and known that you are the Holy One of God" (Jn 6:66-69). May these catechetical appointments of ours make us ever more willing to allow ourselves to be questioned by Jesus, able to have the right answer to his questions, ready to share his life to the full.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 7 January 1987]

The Gospel passage this Sunday (Lk 9:18-24) calls us to once again confront Jesus “face to face”, so to speak. In one of the rare quiet moments when he is alone with his disciples, he asks them: “Who do the people say that I am?” (v. 18). They responded to him, saying: “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; others say one of the ancient prophets who has risen” (v. 19). Therefore, people esteemed Jesus and considered him to be a great prophet, but they were not yet aware of his true identity, that is, that He was the Messiah, the Son of God sent by the Father for the salvation of everyone.

Then Jesus directly addresses the Apostles — because this is what most interests him — asking: “But who do you say that I am?”. Immediately, on behalf of everyone, Peter responds, “The Christ of God” (v. 20), that is to say: You are the Messiah, the Anointed of God, sent by Him to save his people according to the Covenant and the promise. Therefore Jesus realizes that the Twelve, and Peter in particular, have received the gift of faith from the Father; and for this reason he begins to speak with them openly — this is how the Gospel puts it: “openly” — of what awaits him in Jerusalem. “The Son of Man must suffer many things”, he says, “and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and rise on the third day” (cf. v. 22).

These same questions are proposed to each of us today: “Who is Jesus for the people of our time?”, and more importantly: “Who is Jesus for each of us?”, for me, for you, for you, for you, and for you ...? Who is Jesus for each one of us? We are called to make Peter’s answer our own response, joyfully professing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Eternal Word of the Father, who became man to redeem mankind, pouring out the abundance of divine mercy upon it. The world needs Christ more than ever: his salvation, his merciful love. Many people feel an empty void around and within themselves — perhaps, at certain times, we do too —; others live in restlessness and insecurity due to uncertainty and conflict. We all need adequate answers to our questions, to our concrete questions. Only in Him, in Christ, is it possible to find true peace and the fulfillment of every human aspiration. Jesus knows the human heart better than anyone. This is why he can heal, giving life and consolation.

After concluding the dialogue with the Apostles, Jesus addressed everyone, saying: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (v. 23). This is not an ornamental cross or an ideological cross, but it is the cross of life, the cross of one’s duty, the cross of making sacrifices for others with love — for parents, for children, for the family, for friends, and even for enemies — the cross of being ready to be in solidarity with the poor, to strive for justice and peace. In assuming this attitude, these crosses, we always lose something. We must never forget that “whoever loses his life [for Christ] will save it” (v. 24). It is losing in order to win. Let us remember all of our brothers and sisters who still put these words of Jesus into practice today, offering their time, their work, their efforts and even their lives so as to never deny their faith in Christ. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, gives us the strength to move forward along the path of faith and of witness: doing exactly what we believe; not saying one thing and doing another. On this path Our Lady is always near to us: let us allow her to hold our hand when we are going through the darkest and most difficult moments.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 19 June 2016]

In the riddle, the solution

(Lk 9:7-9)

Jesus, who is he? You can’t give an answer except in the light of his story and his condemnation: nothing to do with one of the spiritualists or miracle-makers who arouses curiosity, as Herod expected.

The contrast between the extraordinary figure expected and the obtuseness of (elusive) judgment ends up leaving things as they are. Worse: it encloses the Mystery and loses its "where" today.

One does not understand the Person of Christ starting from the things we know.

He intends to wipe out all attractive but false idols; however, he doesn’t like the axe of the Baptizer, nor the violent zeal of Elijah.

The new Rabbi wants to value the intuition of consciences, rather than the duties or the desire to analyze behaviors. This is the incredible.

Jesus is not some sort of ‘ghost’ that emerges from the past.

He turns history to completion according to innate and spontaneous impulses, which will let emerge the simple personal and the obvious unheard of.

Each religious group closed the Messiah in its interpretative model, consonant with an environment veined with ancient hopes: defense of goods and customs, "cultural" identity, well-being at the expense of others, expansion, wonders.

The sons’ revolution poses a theme that seeks the authentic Way, near and Elsewhere. The humanity of God.

In short, questioning the Person of Jesus already means beginning to overcome conformist codes and small habitual interpretations; to embrace the irruption of the Eternal.

It’s the very question about the Person dimension that invites us to broaden the horizon and begin an Exodus. It will guide to authentic understanding, and measure; to the reason why we are in the world.

Christ reverses the destiny of the man’s kingdom, and his claims.

Any external combination with even eminent figures of the gallery of the greats of history remains static, partial, too predictable.

Not infrequently deviant, due to the inevitable brain limitations it provides, caging the soul [and immobilizing life].

On the Way, the growth of knowledge of his story, adherence to his depth, and Action of the Spirit, will not allow to persist in fixed thoughts, attachments, commonplaces.

Interpretations, preconceptions or showcases that then permeate all of life and dampen it, depriving it of intoxication.

Completely personal Presence, new Sense, innate Wisdom of ‘nature’; not a specific particularism that does not offer regenerated life - that winks only at itself.

Jesus: he is the Engine, the Way and the Reason for the Journey in the Spirit that is leading us.

His Person in us finds in us a “point” within from which he pours forth the courage to be ourselves, and to no longer seek external approval.

This frees the soul from common or prodigious expectations; from the regrets of conformity. To make us advance from primordial states and beliefs to new Dreams of the being that corresponds and tinkles, that emerges and wants to express itself - humanizing.

To internalize and live the message:

When did you realize that in the enigma about the Person of Christ there is already a cut with the obvious expectation, and a cue - the energy of the solution?

[Thursday 25th wk. in O.T.  September 25, 2025]

Who is Jesus: a question that judges

(Lk 9:7-9)

Jesus, who is he? No answer can be given except in the light of his story and his condemnation: nothing to do with one of the spirits or miracle-makers who arouses curiosity, as Herod expected.

The contrast between the extraordinary figure expected and misunderstood, and the obtuseness of the elusive judgement ends up leaving things as they are. Worse: it encloses the Mystery - the most normal one in the world, but one that remains forever [God's humanity] - and loses its 'whereabouts' today.

One does not understand the Person of Christ from the things we know or try to frame him in the customary criteria of the First Testament; with the common feeling, with the magical models of the time...

He is not one of the ancient prophets, come back to purify the filthiness of the opportunist strings of the Temple, and to mend the practices of ancient religion. He comes to supplant them.

By political exigencies, Herod Antipas is forced to be constantly on the alert for the security of his small kingdom [Galilee and Perea] so the success of the Baptist frightens him.

As Josephus Flavius reports, the king preferred to do away with him for fear of a popular uprising, for which he would have to account to Rome.

But - it is the stupidity of power - once a prophet is beheaded, someone more incisive takes his place.

While the blood of the Baptist was still fresh, news came of a young Rabbi who shocked the minds of the subjects of those lands.

The subversive nightmare returns, more subtle than before: the Son of God does not merely call for an improvement of the situation; he wants to replace it.

He proclaims the Truth of the Father and of authentic man, proposing a germ of an alternative world to the ruthless, pyramidal society of the time.

He intends to sweep away the attractive but false idols; however, he does not like the axe of the Baptizer, nor the violent zeal of Elijah - who had sent down a portentous and unstoppable fire from heaven on his enemies.

Jesus wants to value the intuition of consciences, rather than duties or the eagerness to analyse behaviour. This is the incredible.

The Lord is not some kind of 'ghost' who emerges from the past to make the 'ultimate', in an atmosphere [also of group] that oppresses and expects enhanced or even outsized results.

He turns history to fulfilment according to innate and spontaneous impulses, which will allow the simply personal and the blatantly unprecedented to emerge.

Each religious group enclosed the Messiah in its own interpretative model, consonant with an environment tinged with ancient hopes: defence of goods and customs, 'cultural' identity, well-being at the expense of others, expansion, prodigies.

The revolution of the sons poses a theme that seeks the authentic, proximate Way and Elsewhere - precisely, the humanity of God. In the background, around the corner, but not relegated inside a corner.

In short, to question the Person of Jesus is already to begin to move beyond conformist codes and petty habitual interpretations... to embrace the irruption of the Eternal.

It is the very question about the prominence of Person that invites us not to look at a single banal solution [that of everyone or of some lover of paroxysm].

Rather, to broaden the horizon and begin an Exodus, which will lead us to the authentic understanding and measure; to the reason why we are in the world.

Christ reverses the fate and destiny of the kingdom of man.

Any outward juxtaposition to even eminent figures in the gallery of history's greats remains static, partial, too predictable.

Not infrequently deviant, because of the inevitable cerebral limitations it causes, caging the soul [and immobilising life].

By Way, the growth of knowledge of its story, the adherence to its depth, the Action of the Spirit, will not allow fixed thoughts, attachments, commonplaces to persist in our minds.

Interpretations, preconceptions or window dressing that then impregnate the whole of life and dull it, depriving it of intoxication.

Entirely personal presence, new insight, innate Wisdom of 'nature'; not a specific particularism that does not offer regenerated life - that only winks at itself.

Jesus: he is the Engine, the Way and the Motive of the Way in the Spirit that is leading us.

His Person in us finds a "point" within from which He pours forth the courage to be ourselves, and to no longer seek external approval.

This frees the soul from common, or prodigious expectations; from the regrets of conformity. To advance from primordial states and beliefs to new Dreams of being that corresponds and tinkles, that emerges and wants to express itself - humanising.

To internalise and live the message:

In your opinion, what interpretations and preconceptions dampen the exercise of personal intuition in one's growth, and Evangelisation?When did you realise that in the enigma about the Person of Christ there is already a cut with the obvious of expectations, and a cue - the energy of the solution, even for revival from the global emergency?

As we follow him

To truly know Jesus we must talk to him, dialogue with him as we follow him on his path. Pope Francis focused his homily at the mass celebrated on 26 September 2013 in the chapel of Santa Marta precisely on getting to know Jesus.

The Pontiff took as his starting point the passage from Luke's Gospel (9:7-9) in which Herod wonders who the Jesus he hears so much about is. The person of Jesus, the Pontiff recalled, often provoked questions such as: "Who is this? Where does he come from? Let us think, for example, in the synagogue in Nazareth, when he left for the first time: but where did he learn these things? We know him well: he is the carpenter's son. We think of Peter and the apostles after that storm, that wind that Jesus silenced. But who is he to whom heaven and earth, the wind, the rain, the storm obey? But who is he?"

Questions, the Pope explained, that one can ask out of curiosity or to be sure of how to behave before him. The fact remains, however, that anyone who knows Jesus asks these questions. Indeed, "some", continued the Pope, returning to the Gospel episode, "begin to feel afraid of this man, because he can lead them into a political conflict with the Romans"; and so they think they do not take into greater consideration "this man who creates so many problems".

And why, the Pontiff asked, does Jesus create problems? "One cannot know Jesus," was his answer, "without having problems". Paradoxically, he added, 'if you want to have a problem, go down the road that leads you to know Jesus' and then many problems will arise. In any case, Jesus cannot be known 'in first class' or 'in tranquillity', let alone 'in the library'. Jesus can only be known in the daily journey of life.

And one can get to know him, said the Holy Father, "even in the catechism. It is true! The catechism,' he specified, 'teaches us many things about Jesus and we must study him, we must learn him. In this way we learn that the Son of God came to save us and we understand from the beauty of salvation history the love of the Father'. The fact remains, however, that even knowledge of Jesus through the catechism "is not enough": knowing him with the mind is already a step forward, but "Jesus must be known in dialogue with him. Speaking with him, in prayer, on your knees. If you do not pray, if you do not speak with Jesus,' he said, 'you do not know him'.

Finally, there is a third way to know Jesus: "It is following him, going with him, walking with him, walking his ways. And as you walk with him, you know "Jesus with the language of action. If you know Jesus with these three languages: of the mind, of the heart, of action, then you can say that you know Jesus". Making this kind of knowledge involves personal involvement. "One cannot know Jesus," the Pontiff reiterated, "without involving oneself with him, without staking one's life for him. Therefore, to really know him it is necessary to read "what the Church tells you about him, to speak with him in prayer and to walk the road with him". This is the way and "each one - he concluded - must make his own choice".

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 27/09/2013]

My dear Professor Odifreddi, (...) I would like to thank you for having tried in great detail to engage with my book and thus with my faith; this is largely what I had intended in my speech to the Roman Curia at Christmas 2009. I must also thank you for the fair manner in which you treated my text, sincerely trying to do it justice.

My judgement of your book as a whole is, however, rather mixed in itself. I read some parts of it with enjoyment and profit. In other parts, however, I marvelled at a certain aggressiveness and recklessness of the argumentation. (...)

Several times, she points out to me that theology would be science fiction. In this regard, I am amazed that you nevertheless consider my book worthy of such detailed discussion. Allow me to propose four points on this matter:

1. Is it correct to say that 'science' in the strictest sense of the word is only mathematics, whereas I learnt from you that here too a distinction should be made between arithmetic and geometry. In all specific subjects, scientificity has its own form each time, depending on the particularity of its object. The essential thing is that it applies a verifiable method, excludes arbitrariness and guarantees rationality in the respective modes.

2. At the very least, it should recognise that, in the historical sphere and in that of philosophical thought, theology has produced lasting results.

3. An important function of theology is to keep religion bound to reason and reason to religion. Both functions are of essential importance to humanity. In my dialogue with Habermas, I showed that there are pathologies of religion and - no less dangerous - pathologies of reason. Both need each other, and keeping them continuously connected is an important task of theology.

4. Science fiction exists, on the other hand, within many sciences. What you expound on the theories about the beginning and end of the world in Heisenberg, Schrödinger, etc., I would designate as science fiction in the good sense: they are visions and anticipations, in order to arrive at true knowledge, but they are, in fact, only imaginations with which we try to approach reality. There is, after all, science fiction in a big way even within the theory of evolution. Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene is a classic example of science fiction. The great Jacques Monod wrote some sentences that he himself will surely have included in his work only as science fiction. I quote: 'The appearance of tetrapod vertebrates ... originates precisely from the fact that a primitive fish 'chose' to go and explore the earth, on which it was, however, unable to move except by jumping awkwardly and thus creating, as a consequence of a change in behaviour, the selective pressure thanks to which the robust limbs of the tetrapods would develop. Among the descendants of this daring explorer, this Magellan of evolution, some can run at speeds in excess of 70 kilometres per hour..." (quoted in the Italian edition Il caso e la necessità, Milan 2001, p. 117 ff.). 

In all the issues discussed so far this is a serious dialogue, for which I - as I have already said repeatedly - am grateful. Things are different in the chapter on the priest and Catholic morality, and still differently in the chapters on Jesus. As for what you say about the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can - as you know - only take note of this with deep consternation. I have never tried to disguise these things. That the power of evil should penetrate to such an extent into the inner world of faith is for us a suffering that, on the one hand, we must endure, while, on the other hand, we must at the same time do everything possible to ensure that such cases do not happen again. Nor is it any comfort to know that, according to research by sociologists, the percentage of priests guilty of these crimes is no higher than in other comparable professional categories. In any case, one should not ostentatiously present this deviation as if it were a filth specific to Catholicism.

If it is not permissible to remain silent about evil in the Church, one must not, however, remain silent either about the great luminous wake of goodness and purity that the Christian faith has traced down the centuries. We must remember the great and pure figures that the faith has produced - from Benedict of Norcia and his sister Scholastica, to Francis and Clare of Assisi, to Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, to the great Saints of charity such as Vincent de Paul and Camillus de Lellis, to Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the great and noble figures of 19th century Turin. It is also true today that faith drives many people to selfless love, service for others, sincerity and justice. (...)

What you say about the figure of Jesus is not worthy of your scientific rank. If you pose the question as if nothing is known about Jesus and nothing can be ascertained about him as a historical figure, then I can only strongly urge you to become a little more historically competent. I recommend to you for this especially the four volumes that Martin Hengel (an exegete from the Protestant Theological Faculty in Tübingen) has published together with Maria Schwemer: it is an excellent example of historical accuracy and extensive historical information. In the face of this, what you say about Jesus is rash talk that you should not repeat. That much has also been written in exegesis that is not very serious is, unfortunately, an indisputable fact. The American seminar on Jesus that you cite on pages 105 ff. only confirms once again what Albert Schweitzer had noted about Leben-Jesu-Forschung (Research on the Life of Jesus), namely that the so-called 'historical Jesus' is mostly a mirror of the ideas of the authors. Such unsuccessful forms of historical work, however, in no way undermine the importance of serious historical research, which has brought us true and reliable knowledge about the proclamation and the figure of Jesus. 

(...) Furthermore, I must emphatically reject your claim (p. 126) that I have presented historical-critical exegesis as a tool of the antichrist. In dealing with the account of Jesus' temptations, I have only taken up Soloviev's thesis that historical-critical exegesis can also be used by the antichrist - which is an indisputable fact. At the same time, however, I have always - and in particular in the preface to the first volume of my book on Jesus of Nazareth - made it abundantly clear that historical-critical exegesis is necessary for a faith that does not propose myths with historical images, but claims true historicity and must therefore also present the historical reality of its claims in a scientific manner. That is why it is not even correct for you to say that I would only be interested in meta-history: on the contrary, all my efforts are aimed at showing that the Jesus described in the Gospels is also the real historical Jesus; that it is history that really happened. (...)

With the 19th chapter of your book we return to the positive aspects of your dialogue with my thinking. (...) Although your interpretation of John 1: 1 is far removed from what the evangelist intended, there is nevertheless a convergence that is important. If you, however, want to replace God with 'Nature', the question remains, who or what this nature is. Nowhere do you define it and it therefore appears as an irrational deity that explains nothing. Above all, however, I would still like to point out that in your religion of mathematics three fundamental themes of human existence remain unconsidered: freedom, love and evil. I am astonished that you with a single mention dismiss freedom, which has been and is the core value of the modern age. Love does not appear in your book and there is no information about evil either. Whatever neurobiology may or may not say about freedom, in the real drama of our history it is present as a determining reality and must be taken into account. But your mathematical religion knows no information about evil. A religion that leaves out these fundamental questions remains empty.

My dear Professor, my criticism of your book is harsh in parts. But frankness is part of dialogue; only in this way can knowledge grow. You have been very frank and so you will accept that I am too. In any case, however, I very much welcome the fact that you, through your confrontation with my Introduction to Christianity, have sought such an open dialogue with the faith of the Catholic Church and that, despite all the contrasts, there is no lack of convergence in the core area.

With cordial greetings and all good wishes for your work.

[Pope Benedict, article in La Repubblica 24/09/2013]

1. With last week's catechesis, following the oldest symbols of the Christian faith, we began a new cycle of reflections on Jesus Christ. The Apostolic Symbol proclaims: "I believe . . . in Jesus Christ, his only Son (of God)". The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Symbol, after defining with even greater precision the divine origin of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, goes on to declare that this Son of God 'for us men and for our salvation descended from heaven and . . . became incarnate'. As can be seen, the core of the Christian faith consists of the twofold truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of man (the Christological truth), and is the realisation of man's salvation, which God the Father has accomplished in him, his Son and Saviour of the world (the soteriological truth).

2. If in the previous catecheses we dealt with evil, and sin in particular, we did so also to prepare the present cycle on Jesus Christ the Saviour. Salvation in fact means deliverance from evil, particularly sin. Revelation contained in sacred Scripture, beginning with the Proto-Gospel (Gen 3:15) opens us up to the truth that only God can free man from sin and all the evil present in human existence. God, while revealing himself as the Creator of the world and its providential Orderer, simultaneously reveals himself as Saviour: as the one who liberates from evil, particularly from sin caused by the creature's free will. This is the culmination of the creative project implemented by God's Providence, in which world (cosmology), man (anthropology) and God the Saviour (soteriology) are closely linked.

In fact, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, Christians believe that the world is "created and kept in existence by the love of the Creator, a world certainly placed under the bondage of sin, but liberated by Christ crucified and risen . . ." (Gaudium et Spes, 2).

3. The name 'Jesus', considered in its etymological meaning, means 'Yahweh frees', saves, helps. Before the enslavement in Babylon it was expressed in the form 'Jehosua': a theophoric name containing the root of the most holy name of Yahweh. After the Babylonian enslavement it took the abbreviated form 'Jeshua', which in the translation of the Septuagint was transcribed as 'Jesoûs' from which the Italian 'Jesus' is derived.

The name was quite common, both in the time of the old and the new covenant. It is in fact the name borne by Joshua, who after the death of Moses introduced the Israelites into the promised land: "He, according to the meaning of his name, was great for the salvation of God's elect . . . to give possession to Israel' (Sir 46: 1). Jesus, son of Sirach, was the compiler of the book of Sirach (Sir 50: 27). In the genealogy of the Saviour, recorded in the Gospel according to Luke, we find enumerated 'Er, son of Jesus' (Lk 3:28-29). Among St Paul's co-workers is also a certain Jesus, "called Righteous" (cf. Col 4:11).

4. The name Jesus, however, never had the fullness of meaning that it would take on in the case of Jesus of Nazareth and that would be revealed by the angel to Mary (cf. Lk 1:31ff.) and Joseph (cf. Mt 1:21). At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, people understood his name in the common sense of the time.

"We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth". So says one of the first disciples, Philip, to Nathanael who replies: "Can anything good ever come from Nazareth?" (Jn 1:45-46). This question indicates that Nazareth was not highly esteemed by the children of Israel. In spite of this, Jesus was called "Nazarene" (cf. Matthew 2: 23), or even "Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee" (Matthew 21: 11), an expression that Pilate himself used in the inscription he had placed on the cross: "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" (John 19: 19).

5. People called Jesus "the Nazarene" after the place where he resided with his family until he was thirty years old. We know, however, that Jesus' birthplace was not Nazareth but Bethlehem, a town in Judea, south of Jerusalem. This is attested by the evangelists Luke and Matthew. The former, in particular, points out that because of the census ordered by the Roman authorities, "Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea to the city of David, called Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary his wife, who was with child. Now while they were in that place, the days of childbirth were fulfilled for her" (Lk 2:4-6).

As with other biblical places, Bethlehem also takes on a prophetic value. Referring to the prophet Micah, Matthew recalls that this town was designated as the place of the birth of the Messiah: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are not the smallest chief town of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a leader who shall shepherd my people Israel" (Mt 2:6). The prophet adds: ". . its origins are from antiquity, from the earliest days" (Mt 5:1).

This text was referred to by the priests and scribes whom Herod had consulted to answer the Magi who, having come from the East, asked where the birthplace of the Messiah was.

The text in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 2: 1): "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod", refers to the prophecy of Micah, to which the question in the Fourth Gospel also refers: "Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village of David?" (John 7: 42).

6. From these details we deduce that Jesus is the name of a historical person who lived in Palestine. If it is right to give historical credibility to figures like Moses and Joshua, all the more reason to accept the historical existence of Jesus. The Gospels do not tell us in detail about his life because they do not have a primarily historiographical purpose. However, it is precisely the Gospels that, read with critical honesty, lead to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is a historical person who lived in a specific space and time. Even from a purely scientific point of view, it is not those who affirm, but those who deny the existence of Jesus, as the mythological theories of the past have done and as some scholars still do today, that must arouse wonder.

As for the precise date of Jesus' birth, expert opinions do not agree. It is commonly accepted that the monk Dionysius the Small, when in the year 533 he proposed to calculate the years not from the foundation of Rome, but from the birth of Jesus Christ, fell into error. Until recently, it was believed that this was a mistake of about four years, but the matter is far from settled.

7. In the tradition of the Israelitic people, the name 'Jesus' has retained its etymological value: 'God frees'. Traditionally, it was always the parents who imposed the name on their children. However, in the case of Jesus, son of Mary, the name was chosen and assigned from above already before his birth, according to the angel's indication to Mary in the annunciation (Lk 1:31) and to Joseph in a dream (Mt 1:21). "He was given the name Jesus" - underlines the evangelist Luke - because by this name "he had been called by the angel before he was conceived in his mother's womb" (Lk 2:21).

8. In the plan laid out by God's providence, Jesus of Nazareth bears a name that alludes to salvation: "God delivers", because he is in fact what the name indicates, namely the Saviour. This is testified by a number of phrases in the so-called Infancy Gospels, written by Luke (Lk 2:11): ". . there was born . . . a Saviour", and by Matthew (Mt 1:21): "for he will save his people from their sins". These are expressions that reflect the truth that is revealed and proclaimed throughout the New Testament. For example, the Apostle Paul writes in the Letter to the Philippians: "For this reason God has exalted him and given him the name which is above every other name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord (Kyrios, Adonai) to the glory of God the Father' (Phil 2:9-11).

The reason for the exaltation of Jesus we find in the testimony given to him by the apostles who boldly proclaimed: 'In no one else is there salvation; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which it is established that we may be saved' (Acts 4:12).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 14 January 1987]

"It would be a good habit if every day, at some time, we could say: 'Lord, may I know you and may I know myself' and so go on". This is the suggestion proposed by Pope Francis in the Mass celebrated on Thursday 25 October at Santa Marta. There is no need for "Christians in words" who say the Creed "in parrot fashion", said the Pontiff, inviting people to live the experience of seriously feeling themselves to be sinners.

"If someone," Francis began, "asks us 'who is Jesus Christ', we will certainly say what we learned in catechesis, how he came to save the world, we will say the true doctrine about Jesus: he is the saviour of the world, the Son of the Father, God, man, what we recite in the Creed." But, he pointed out, "a little more difficult will be to answer the question: 'True, but for you, who is Jesus Christ?'". And this is a "question" that "embarrasses us a little, because I have to think and reach into my heart to give the answer".

So, the Pope relaunched, 'for me, who is Jesus Christ? The knowledge of Jesus Christ that I have, what is it? When I say that for me Jesus Christ is the Saviour, it is so,' said the Pontiff, 'but each one of us must also answer from the heart, what we know and feel about Jesus Christ, because we all know that he is the Saviour of the world, that he is the Son of God, that he came to earth to save us, and we can also recount so many passages of the Gospel'.

The direct question remains, however: but 'for me' who is Jesus Christ? Precisely "this is Paul's work," Francis explained in reference to the liturgical passage from the letter to the Ephesians (3:14-21), noting that the apostle "has this restlessness to transmit his own experience of Jesus Christ. In fact, Francis insisted, Paul "did not come to know Jesus Christ by beginning with theological studies; then, he went to see how Jesus Christ was announced in Scripture". On the contrary, 'he came to know Jesus Christ by his own experience, when he fell from his horse, when the Lord spoke to his heart, directly'. And 'what Paul heard he wants us Christians to hear'.

If it were possible to ask Paul 'who is Christ for you?', he would, the Pope said, tell 'his own experience, simple: "He loved me and gave himself up for me"'. But Paul 'is involved with Christ, who has paid for him', and 'this experience Paul wants Christians - in this case the Christians of Ephesus - to have, to enter into this experience to the point where everyone can say: "He loved me and gave himself up for me"'. But it is important 'to say it with one's own experience,' the Pope suggested.

Francis wished to reread a passage from the letter to the Ephesians proposed as the first reading: "May Christ dwell through faith in your hearts, and so, rooted and grounded in charity, be able to understand - there goes Paul - what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

"Paul wants to lead us all to this experience," the Pontiff explained, because it is "the experience he had of Jesus Christ: the encounter with Jesus Christ made him understand this great thing".

But "how can one get there, what is the way?" is the question proposed by the Pope. Perhaps, he added, "I have to recite the Creed many times? Yes, but it is not really the right way to arrive at this experience: it will help, but it is not the right way'. In fact, Francis said, "Paul when he says that Jesus gave himself up for him, that he died for him, he means 'he paid for me' and he recounts his own experience many times in his letters: 'I was a sinner', 'I persecuted Christians'".

To do this, the Pope continued, he 'starts from his own sin, from his own sinful existence, and the first definition Paul gives of himself is "sinner": chosen out of love, but a sinner'. Thus, the Pontiff pointed out, 'the first step to the knowledge of Christ, to enter into this mystery, is the knowledge of one's own sin, one's own sins'.

"We all approach the sacrament of reconciliation and we say our sins," Francis continued. "But," he specified, "it is one thing to say one's sins, to recognise one's sins, and another thing to recognise oneself as a 'sinner', capable of doing anything". In short, 'recognising oneself as dirt'. And 'Paul has this experience'.

It takes, therefore, the knowledge that 'the first step to the knowledge of Jesus Christ is one's own knowledge, of one's own wretchedness, which needs to be redeemed, which needs someone to pay: to pay for the right to call oneself a "child of God"'. In reality, the Pope explained, 'we all are, but' to 'say it, to feel it, there was a need for Christ's sacrifice and, starting from this, Paul goes on with these religious experiences that he has, one after the other, through prayer and charity'.

Here then, the Pontiff reaffirmed, that 'the first step' is 'to recognise oneself as a sinner, but not in theory, in practice'. To say 'I started to do this, I stopped, but if I had gone further down this road, I would have ended up badly, very badly' is 'the root of sin that takes you forward'. So "the first step is this: to recognise yourself as a sinner and tell yourself your miseries, to be ashamed of yourself: that is the first step".

"The second step to knowing Jesus is contemplation, prayer," the Pope said, proposing the simple invocation: "Lord, may I know you". And adding that "there is a beautiful prayer, by a saint: 'Lord, may I know you and may I know myself'". It is a matter, Francis explained, of "knowing oneself and knowing Jesus". And "here we have this relationship of salvation: prayer," the Pontiff relaunched, inviting us "not to be content with saying three, four right words about Jesus" because "to know Jesus is an adventure, but an adventure in earnest, not a child's adventure.

To know Jesus, the Pope continued, "is an adventure that takes you your whole life, because the love of Jesus is without limits". Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the Ephesians: "What breadth, length, height and depth" is an expression to indicate, precisely, that "it has no limits". But "this only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we find: it is the experience of a Christian". And "Paul himself says it: He has all power to do far more than we can ask or think. He has the power to do it'. But "we must ask him: 'Lord, that I may know you; that when I speak of you, I speak not parrot words, I speak words born of my experience, and like Paul I may say: 'He loved me and gave himself up for me' and say it with conviction". This is our strength, this is our testimony".

"Christians of words, we have many; we too, many times we are," Francis warned. But "this is not holiness: holiness is being Christians who work in life what Jesus taught and what Jesus sowed in the heart". To do this one must "know Jesus" with "that knowledge that has no limits: the height, the length, the fullness, everything".

The "first step", the Pope repeated, remains "to know oneself as a sinner: without this knowledge, and also without this interior confession that I am a sinner, we cannot go forward". Then, he recalled, the "second step" is "prayer to the Lord that, with his power, he may make us know this mystery of Jesus who is the fire that he brought to earth."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 26/10/2018]

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year C)  [21 September 2025]

May God bless us and may the Virgin Mary protect us. As we resume our pastoral activities, the word of God guides us to understand where the true riches of life lie. 

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Amos (8:4–7)

This is certainly a grave moment, for this text from the prophet Amos concludes with a solemn formula: 'The Lord swears by the pride of Jacob' (v. 7). 'The pride of Jacob' is God himself, because he is (or should be) the only pride of his people; in other words, the Lord swears by himself. God can only commit himself to himself! But what is God swearing about? He assures that he will not forget "all their deeds", that is, all the misdeeds of Israel that the prophet Amos condemns because they seek only to enrich themselves at the expense of others. Amos is a prophet of the 8th century BC, when Palestine was divided into two kingdoms. A small shepherd from a village in the south (Tekoa, near Bethlehem), he was chosen by God to go and preach in the northern kingdom, also called Samaria after its capital. Under the reign of Jeroboam II, around 750 BC, Samaria experienced a period of economic prosperity, but this prosperity did not benefit everyone. On the contrary, Amos noted that the enrichment of some came at the expense of the impoverishment of others, simply because basic necessities, such as daily bread or sandals, were in the hands of unscrupulous sellers. Thus, the poor had no other solution, in order not to die of hunger or cold, than to sell themselves as slaves, 'buying the needy and the poor for a pair of sandals' (v. 6). Those who suffer injustice may try to seek justice, but whenever there is a trial for fraud or obvious scams, the courts take the side of the rich against the poor simply because the rich pay the judges. Amos says it clearly: 'They turn justice into poison and throw righteousness to the ground' (5:7). Justice itself is distorted, corrupted. The text we have heard is therefore one in which Amos speaks to announce God's judgement, and it is a veritable indictment: he states the facts, then gives his verdict: You crush the poor, you destroy the humble of the earth, and you ask when the new moon festival will be over so that we can sell our grain?  The new moon, the first day of the month (called 'neomenia'), was a holiday: no work, no travel, no commercial activity was allowed because it was a day of rest like the Sabbath. This time of suspension of business served to turn man towards God. But here it seems that it is lived with impatience, because man now has another master: money, and for those whose only thought is profit, a day of rest is a loss. This is why Amos rebukes: 'Hear this, you who trample on the poor... and say, "When will the new moon be over so that we may sell our grain? (v.7). He targets dishonest sellers, for whom trade means fraud, with exorbitant prices and falsified scales. The image of the falsified scales has a double meaning: on the one hand, we understand how a crooked balance can falsify a measurement, but, more profoundly, it means that the whole of society lives on rigged scales. Ultimately, Amos reproaches the people of Samaria for living in falsehood and injustice: the scales are rigged, justice is corrupt, holidays are observed reluctantly and with ulterior motives; in short, everything is rigged. Here, then, is the judgement: 'The Lord swears by the pride of Jacob: I will not forget all their deeds' (v. 7). In other words: You who enrich yourselves unjustly, quickly forget your crimes, and the courts follow you; but the Lord declares that all this must not be forgotten and that you must not become accustomed to injustice. Amos pronounces his warning in the most solemn way possible, because there is a very serious lesson: the first thing God asks of his people is to live in justice, and a society founded on injustice and misery of all kinds can only offend God. Amos is all the more severe because, for a hundred years, the Northern Kingdom has boasted of having eliminated idolatry by abolishing the cults of Baal; but in reality, what Amos reproaches them for is having fallen into an even more dangerous idolatry: that of money.

*Responsorial Psalm (113/[112])

This psalm is the first of those that Jesus sang on Holy Thursday evening before leaving for the Mount of Olives. The first word he sang was Alleluia, which literally means Praise God: Allelu is the imperative, praise; and Ya is the first syllable of the Holy Name. Therefore, it is a psalm of praise, as can be understood from the first word: Alleluia. The composition of this psalm is interesting, consisting of two parts of four verses each, framing a central verse. The central verse is a question: 'Who is like our Lord God? (v. 5) and the two parts contemplate the two faces of the mystery of God: his holiness and his mercy. In his revelation, God has made himself known as the Transcendent, the All-Holy and as the Merciful, the All-Near. To manifest his holiness, his Name, 'the Lord', is repeated, the Name of God, revealed by himself in four letters (YHWH) which, however, are never pronounced. And as we know, in the Bible, when these four letters appear, the Hebrew reader spontaneously replaces them with 'Adonai', which means My Lord, and which does not claim to describe or define God. The term 'Lord', which expresses well the distance between God and us, is used five times, while 'the Name' is used three times, and the verb 'to praise' three times. The great discovery is found in the central verse: 'Who is like our Lord God?': the God of glory is at the same time the God of mercy. The second part of the psalm describes God's action in favour of the smallest and poorest: he lifts the weak from the dust, he raises the poor from the rubbish (v. 7). Among the weak and poor was the barren woman, who lived in constant fear of being rejected: "He settles the barren woman in her home, a joyful mother of children" (v. 9). Sarah, Abraham's wife, experienced this miraculous reversal: the joy of the barren woman who, after several years, found herself with a house full of children. The Bible loves to emphasise these reversals of situation: because nothing is impossible for God. Mary's Magnificat is full of this confident certainty. When, after the Last Supper, Jesus sang this psalm with his disciples as they climbed the Mount of Olives, he felt the verse "he lifts the weak from the dust" in a special way. He was heading towards his death, and he certainly recognised here a proclamation of his resurrection. 

*Second Reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to Timothy (2:1-8)

At the heart of this passage is a phrase that sums up the entire Bible, is central to Paul's thinking, and above all is central to the history of humanity: "God our Saviour wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (v. 4). Every word is important: 'God wants': it is the mystery of his will, that plan of mercy that he had already established in himself to bring the times to their fullness, as the letter to the Ephesians says (cf. 1:9-10). God's will is a will for salvation that concerns all people.  Paul insists on the universal dimension of God's plan: "God, our Saviour, wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth." In sentences like this, the word "and" can be replaced by "that is"; we must therefore understand: God wants all men to be saved, that is, to come to the full knowledge of the truth. And what is truth? It is that God loves us and is always with us to fill us with his love. To be saved means to know this truth according to the biblical meaning of 'knowing': that is, to live it, to allow ourselves to be loved and transformed by it. As long as people do not know God's love, they remain prisoners, and Christ came to set us free. This is why we find the expression 'he gave himself as a ransom for all' (v. 6): each time, the word 'ransom' can be replaced with 'liberation': believing in God's love for all men and living by this love means being saved. So, true prayer, as Paul says, is entering into God's plan to be able to spread the Gospel like a spark that spreads. In the last sentence, Paul's insistence is not so much about outward appearance, but about the state of mind with which we must present ourselves in prayer: "I want men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing." How can we enter into God's plan of love for all if our hearts are full of anger and evil intentions? Most likely, we can glimpse signs of serious difficulties, opposition, divisions, perhaps even persecution, in the community to which this letter was addressed. We cannot make precise assumptions, since we are not even sure of the date of the letter's composition, nor whether it is entirely by Paul or by one of his disciples. But that does not matter: what matters, in every age and in every difficulty, is that we must never forget that God wants all people to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth, that is, of God's love.

*From the Gospel according to Luke (16:1-13)

This text holds a surprise: Jesus seems to be complimenting the swindlers: 'The master praised that dishonest steward because he had acted shrewdly' (v. 8). Be careful not to misunderstand! Jesus calls him dishonest, that is, wicked, because honesty was part of the most basic morality. Therefore, Jesus' intention is certainly not to go against basic morality, and he is careful to point out that the master praises the man for his shrewdness. If Jesus uses a provocative example, it is to make us reflect on something serious, as the last sentence shows: there is an urgent choice to be made between God and money because one cannot serve both God and money. Jesus lists a series of oppositions: between the children of this world and the children of light, between a small thing and a great thing, between deceitful money and authentic good, between the goods of others and what is truly ours. All these oppositions have a single purpose: to make us discover that money is a deception and that devoting one's life to making money is the wrong path; it is as serious as idolatry, which the prophets have always fought against. In the phrase, 'You cannot serve God and money', the verb 'serve' has a religious meaning. There is only one God: do not make idols, because all idolatry enslaves you, and money can become an end in itself and no longer a means. When you are obsessed with the desire to earn money, you quickly become a slave: it is important to beware of what you possess so that you are not possessed by it, as popular wisdom says. The Sabbath was also instituted to rediscover, once a week, the taste of gratuitousness, a way to remain free. Money is deceptive in two ways: first, it makes us believe that it will ensure our happiness, but one day we will have to leave everything behind. In Jesus' words, the expression 'when it fails' (v. 9) is an allusion to death, and there is certainly no great interest in being the richest person in the cemetery! Furthermore, money deceives us if we think that it belongs only to us. Jesus does not despise money, but puts it at the service of the Kingdom, that is, for the good of others, and no one is its owner, but rather its administrator. If it is true that there is no point in being the richest person in the cemetery, it makes a lot of sense to be rich so that others can benefit from it too. The question "if you have not been faithful with dishonest wealth, who will entrust you with true wealth?" (v. 11) helps us to understand that trust is important in the use of money: God trusts us, entrusts us with money of which we are administrators and responsible. All our wealth, of whatever kind, has been entrusted to us as stewards so that we may share it, transforming it into happiness for those around us. This helps us to better understand the previous parable, the story of the steward threatened with dismissal who, in order to save himself, once again gives gifts from his master's goods to make friends who will welcome him. He was completely dishonest, but he was able to quickly find an ingenious solution to secure his future. The cunning here lies in using money as a means and not as an end. It is therefore not dishonesty that Jesus admires, but skill: what are we waiting for to find creative solutions to secure everyone's future? The thirst for gain makes many people inventive; Jesus would like our passion for justice or peace to make us just as inventive! The day we devote as much time and intelligence to seeking ways of peace, justice and sharing as we devote to accumulating more money than we need, the face of the world will change. Ultimately, the moral of the parable can be summarised as follows: choose God decisively and put the same intelligence that you would use to make money at the service of the Kingdom. The children of light know that money is only a small thing; the Kingdom is the big thing, and that is why they do not serve money as a deity, but use it for the good of all.

+ Giovanni D'Ercole