Dialogo e Solstizio

Mar 12, 2025 Written by don Giuseppe Nespeca

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Angolo dell'ottimista

The only totalitarianism that is fine

Whole-heartedly. I emphasise, here, the adjective 'whole'. Totalitarianism in politics is bad. In religion, on the other hand, our totalitarianism in the face of God is perfectly fine. It is written: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These precepts which I give thee today, let them be fixed in thy heart; thou shalt repeat them to thy children, thou shalt speak of them when thou sittest in thy house, when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. You shall bind them to your hand as a sign, they shall be like a pendant between your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your doors". That "all" repeated and bent into practice with such insistence is truly the banner of Christian maximalism. And it is right: God is too great, too much He deserves from us, for us to throw to Him, as to a poor Lazarus, just a few crumbs of our time and heart. He is infinite good and will be our eternal happiness: the money, the pleasures, the fortunes of this world, in comparison with Him, are barely fragments of good and fleeting moments of happiness. It would be unwise to give so much of us to these things and so little of us to Jesus. Above all things. Now we come to a direct comparison between God and man, between God and the world. It would not be right to say: "Either God or man". One must love "and God and man"; the latter, however, never more than God or against God or equal to God. In other words: God's love is indeed prevalent, but not exclusive. The Bible declares Jacob holy and beloved of God, shows him working seven years to win Rachel as his wife; "and they seemed to him but a few days, those years, so great was his love for her". Francis de Sales comments on these words: "Jacob," he writes, "loves Rachel with all his strength, and with all his strength he loves God; but he does not love Rachel as God nor God as Rachel. He loves God as his God above all things and more than himself; he loves Rachel as his wife above all other women and as himself. He loves God with absolutely and sovereignly supreme love, and Rachel with supreme marital love; the one love is not contrary to the other, because Rachel's love does not violate the supreme advantages of the love of God". And for your sake I love my neighbour. Here we are faced with two loves that are "twin brothers" and inseparable. Some people it is easy to love; others, it is difficult; we do not like them, they have offended us and done us harm; only if I love God seriously, do I come to love them, as daughters of God and because he asks me to. Jesus also laid down how to love one's neighbour: not only with feeling, but with deeds. This is the way, he said. I will ask you: I was hungry in the person of my least brothers, did you give me food? Did you visit me when I was sick?

The Catechism translates these and other words from the Bible into the double list of the seven corporal and seven spiritual works of mercy. The list is not complete and should be updated. Among the hungry, for example, today, it is no longer just about this or that individual; there are whole peoples.

We all remember the great words of Pope Paul VI: 'The peoples of hunger today dramatically challenge the peoples of affluence. The Church trembles before this cry of anguish and calls each one to respond with love to his brother'. At this point charity is joined by justice, because - Paul VI goes on to say - "private property does not constitute for anyone an unconditional and absolute right. No one is authorised to reserve for his own exclusive use what exceeds his need, when others lack the necessary". Consequently, 'every exhausting arms race becomes an intolerable scandal'.

In the light of these strong expressions, we see how far we - individuals and peoples - are still from loving others 'as ourselves', which is Jesus' command.

Another command: forgive offences received. It seems as if the Lord gives this forgiveness precedence over worship: "If therefore you present your offering on the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go first to be reconciled with your brother and then return to offer your gift".

The last words of the prayer are: Lord, may I love you more and more. Here too there is obedience to a command from God, who has put the thirst for progress in our hearts. From stilts, caves and the first huts, we have moved on to houses, palaces, skyscrapers; from travelling on foot, on the back of a mule or camel, to carriages, trains, planes. And we still want to progress by ever faster means, reaching ever more distant destinations. But loving God - we have seen it - is also a journey: God wants it more and more intense and perfect. He said to all his own: 'You are the light of the world, the salt of the earth'; 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect'. This means: love God not a little, but a lot; do not stop at the point where you have arrived, but with His help, progress in love.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 27 September 1978]

34 Last modified on Wednesday, 12 March 2025 05:10

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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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