Second Easter Sunday [27 April 2025]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. In these days, as we pray for our Pope Francis departed for the house of the Father, let us insistently invoke the light of the Holy Spirit on the Church and in particular on the cardinals who will have to elect the one whom the Lord has chosen to lead his Church after Pope Francis. 

*First Reading From the Acts of the Apostles (5:12-16) 

Here is a presentation of the first Christian community that seems almost too good to be true (In the Acts of the Apostles there are four summaries of life in the early days of the Church Acts 2:42-47 the best known and most detailed; Acts 4:32-35 emphasises the communion of goods; Acts 5:12-16 highlights the miracles and growth; Acts 6:7 brief summary of the spread of the gospel). However, we must not infer from this that everything was perfect because in the coming Sundays we will see all sorts of difficulties: the first Christians were men, not supermen. Why then does St Luke present this ideal picture? Because he wants to encourage us too to walk in the same direction: a fraternal community is an indispensable condition for the proclamation and witness of the gospel. Since the apostles followed Christ's command, the contagion of the gospel was irresistible: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8) and nothing could prevent the nascent Church from developing. St Luke notes that "all used to be together in Solomon's porch". We are still in Jerusalem, given that Christ's resurrection is close in time, exactly in the Temple of Jerusalem under Solomon's porch (the entire eastern wall of the Temple was actually a colonnade that ran along a wide covered corridor, a place of passage and meeting, accessible to all as it was not part of the area reserved for Jews only). After Jesus' death and resurrection, the apostles, being and remaining Jews, continued to attend the Temple. Indeed, their Jewish faith had been strengthened as they had seen the Old Testament promises fulfilled in the Easter events. Only later and progressively would the division between Christians and the Jews who did not recognise Jesus as the Messiah take place, although already in this text there is a first sign of this: "none of the others dared to associate with them", which tells us that the Christians already formed a distinct group within the Jewish people. Luke draws a parallel here with the beginnings of Jesus' preaching: 'The crowds from the towns near Jerusalem also flocked, bringing sick people and people tormented by unclean spirits, and all were healed'; in the gospel he had written the same thing about Jesus: 'At sunset, all who had sick people suffering from various infirmities brought them to him.... even demons came out of many' (Lk 4:40-41). If he insists on the healings of Peter and the apostles, the message is clear: he continues the work of the Messiah through the apostles and says to his community: it is up to you to take the witness of the apostles because Christ is counting on you. And it is interesting to note that, thanks to the testimony of the apostles, the crowds were not joining the apostles, but through the apostles, to the Lord: "More and more, believers were being added to the Lord, a multitude of men and women". This is an important detail because conversions are not the work of the apostles, but of Christ who acts when the community is made up of people with "one heart" and "by this all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). St Peter and the other apostles did not present themselves as supermen, indeed Peter said to Cornelius, who had knelt before him: "Stand up. I too am a man." (Acts 10:26). If there is a lack of signs and miracles in our communities, is it not an invitation to live sincerely in the love of Christ? 

*Responsorial Psalm (117 (118), 2-4, 22-24, 25-27a)

Psalm 117 (118), already sung at the Easter Vigil and on Easter Day, returns and we find it every Sunday of ordinary time in the Office of Lauds (Liturgy of the Hours). For Jews, this psalm is about the Messiah; we Christians recognise in it the Messiah expected throughout the Old Testament, the true king, the victor over death. Like other psalms, this one too must be meditated upon on two levels: from the perspective of the Jewish expectation of the Messiah, and in the light of the converts' faith in the risen Christ. For the Jews it is a psalm of praise that begins with Alleluia, the meaning of which is "praise God" and which sets the tone for the whole. It consists of twenty-nine verses where the word Lord (the famous four letters of the Name of God in Hebrew YHWH) returns more than thirty times, or at least Yah, which is its first syllable, and they are all phrases, a true litany, of praise for the greatness, love and work of God towards his people. The sung psalm accompanies a sacrifice of thanksgiving during the Feast of Tents, which lasts eight days in the autumn. The most visible ritual for foreigners at this feast takes place outside the Temple. During the entire week everyone lives in huts made of branches, the Huts or Tabernacles (Sukkot is the name of the feast), commemorating the desert tents and the protective shadow of God in the Exodus. Inside the Temple there are celebrations whose common point is the renewal of the Covenant (and during which pilgrims wave branches or rather a bunch, the lulav, consisting of a palm, a myrtle branch, a willow branch and a cedar. Finally, a large procession takes place around the altar holding these bunches of lulav while singing psalms interspersed with Hosanna, which means either 'God saves' or 'God, save us'. There are rites of libation of water poured out by the altar (cf. Jn 7:37) and on the evenings before the last day a great lighting of the Women's Courtyard in the Temple with four golden candelabra, fuelled with oil and wicks made from discarded priestly garments, and the light thus produced was so intense that it illuminated the whole of Jerusalem. It is therefore a feast of fervour and joy, anticipating the coming of the Messiah: thanks are given for the salvation that has already been accomplished, and one welcomes the salvation that the Messiah who will not be long in coming will bring: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord"). When Jesus proclaims himself to be the true "light of the world" (Jn 8:2), he probably does so after the conclusion of the feast with the living memory of that luminous rite. In the verses chosen for today's liturgy, all the elements of the feast of Tabernacles are missing, but not the joy in the hearts of believers: "This is the day that the Lord has made: let us rejoice in it and be glad ... Let Israel say: His love is forever". In order to narrate the goodness of the Lord throughout the history of Israel, the psalm tells of a king who, after a merciless war, was victorious and thanks God for having sustained him: "They pushed me, they knocked me down, but the Lord was my help" (v.13), "All the nations surrounded me: in the name of the Lord I destroyed them" (v.10), and again: "I will not die, but I will live and proclaim the works of the Lord" (v.17). Indeed, the story of this king is told of the Israel that came close to annihilation throughout its history, but the Lord raised it up, and now sings on the Feast of Tabernacles: 'I will not die, but I will live and proclaim the works of the Lord'. Israel knows that he must bear witness to the works of the Lord, and from this knowledge he drew the strength to survive all his trials. For us Christians, the Jewish feast of the Tents finds an echo in Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, but above all, the exultation of this psalm befits the Risen One whom the evangelists, each in his own way, have presented as the true king (Matthew in the visit of the Magi, John in the Passion narrative). Meditating on the mystery of the rejected and crucified Messiah, the apostles discovered a new meaning in this psalm: Jesus is truly "the one who comes in the name of the Lord", a stone rejected by the builders, rejected by his people, Christ is the cornerstone of the foundation of the new Israel. This psalm was sung in Jerusalem on the occasion of a thanksgiving sacrifice, and Jesus has just performed the thanksgiving sacrifice par excellence: He is the new Israel who gives thanks to the Father in an eternal act of thanksgiving, bringing about between God and humanity the new Covenant in which humanity is a loving response to the Father's love.

Note The Cornerstone: On this expression, see the commentary on Psalm 117 (118) for Easter Sunday.

* Second Reading From the Book of Revelation of St John the Apostle (1:9-11a.12-13.17-19)

For six consecutive Sundays we will read passages from the Book of Revelation as the second reading, a great opportunity to familiarise ourselves with one of the most fascinating books of the New Testament, seemingly difficult and in need of some effort. "Apocalypse" means revelation, unveiling in the sense of removing a veil, and John reveals the mystery of history hidden from our eyes, and because he has to show us what we do not see, the book speaks to us with visions ("see" or "look" is used five times in today's passage alone). In common hearings Apocalypse is synonymous with catastrophe, a bad misunderstanding, because Revelation like the whole Bible is Good News. In their literary genre, apocalypses, like the entire Bible, communicate God's love and the ultimate victory of love over all evil. For us, who live in a different cultural context, it remains almost impossible for us to perceive why this symbolic language and to understand to whom the author is addressing himself. In reality, he uses the language of visions because all books of the same genre were born in a period of strong persecution of Christians (between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. several apocalypses were written by different authors). St John makes this clear: 'I, John, your brother and companion in tribulation, kingdom and perseverance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On Patmos he was in exile, not on holiday, and being in the midst of persecution, this text circulated secretly to comfort the communities. The main theme is the final victory of those who were oppressed: you are persecuted and your persecutors prosper, but do not lose courage because Christ has overcome the world. The forces of evil can do nothing against you as they are already defeated and the true king is Christ. John states this at the beginning: "I, John, your brother and companion in tribulation, kingdom and perseverance in Jesus. To prevent the persecutors from understanding, stories from other times are told using fanciful visions so as to discourage the uninitiated from reading them. For example, St John misrepresents Babylon, whom he calls the great prostitute, but it is understood that he is talking about Rome. In short, the message of every Revelation is that the forces of evil will never prevail. In today's reading, Christ's victory is shown in this grandiose vision: it is Sunday, the Lord's Day, enraptured by the Spirit John hears a voice as powerful as a trumpet, and among seven golden candlesticks there appears to him a being of light, a 'son of man'. Son of man is in the New Testament an expression used to refer to the Messiah, the Christ. He falls at his feet as he listens to him: "Fear not! I am (i.e. the very name of God YHWH) the First and the Last and the Living One. I was dead, but now I live ... and I have the keys of death and the underworld."  This is a vision that is for the service of the brothers: "Write down the things you have seen", i.e. encourage them and know that past, present and future belong to me. We perceive here the promise of Christ: "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (Jn 11:25).

Note: Exegetes agree that John is the author of the Revelation written during the reign of the Emperor Domitian (81-96) even though this emperor did not organise a systematic persecution of Christians. However, John's community lives in a climate of insecurity: he himself is exiled and there is mention of martyrs throughout the book. Christians are confronted with the demands of the imperial cult promoted by Domitian, and it seems that some local governors showed particular zeal. Moreover, the Christians encountered opposition from the Jews who remained hostile to Christianity. This also seems to emerge from the letters to the seven Churches. There are also other examples of Apocalypse. In the Old Testament, the book of Daniel contains an apocalyptic message written around 165 BC by Daniel to encourage his brothers persecuted by the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes. He too does not attack the problem directly, but narrates the heroic deeds of some faithful Jews during Nebuchadnezzar's persecution four centuries earlier (6th century BC). Only on the surface is this a history lesson, but for those who know how to read between the lines, the message is clear. Here, finally, is an example of Apocalypse in recent history: at the time of Russian rule over Czechoslovakia, a young Czech actress composed and performed several times in her country a play about Joan of Arc: evidently, the story of Joan driving the English out of France in the 15th century was not the Czechs' first concern; and if the scenario had ended up in the hands of the occupying power, it would not have compromised anyone. But for those who could read between the lines, the message was clear: what a young girl of nineteen was able to do, with God's help, so can we.

*From the Gospel according to John (20:19-31)  

"Shalom, peace be upon you!" This is the first word spoken by the risen Jesus. The disciples remembered his last sentence on the cross: "All is accomplished", which closes the account of the Passion in the fourth gospel (Jn 19:30). The evangelist at that moment understood that God's plan was completely fulfilled and with this evidence he now narrates this first apparition. Jerusalem, in the very name Yerushalaïm, bears the Hebrew word shalom, and it is here that Jesus announces and gives, that is, makes effective, his peace: Shalom! He thus greets them twice and, now recognised with God, this word is not a wish, but a gift already realised: by saying peace he gives it and makes it effective.  It is always urgent to believe that Christ by rising has brought us peace even if concrete situations show a world marked by hatred, violence and wars. This is because peace is already there, but it does not come with a wave of a magic wand: it must first be born in the hearts of believers and then spread through the joy that the disciples had "when they saw the Lord". The risen Jesus always appears "on the first day of the week" so that for Christians, this day has become the first day of the new times. The seven-day week reminded the Jews of the seven days of creation, while the new week linked to Christ's resurrection is the beginning of the new creation. For this reason, when the evangelist speaks of the first day of the week, he does not merely provide chronological precision, but invites us to understand that Sunday, from the Latin dies dominicus, is a day consecrated to God, the day of the new creation in which the plan of salvation is accomplished. On the very first day of the week, as the prophet Ezekiel had announced: "I will put my own Spirit within you", Jesus "breathed" on the disciples and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit". John deliberately picks up the term we find in Genesis ( 2:7): (God breathed into the nostrils of the man moulded with dust "a breath of life" (nėšāmāh linked to rûah; in Greek pnoē) and he became a living being) and inaugurates the new creation by blowing upon the apostles his Spirit (pneûma hágion), "the first gift given to believers", as the fourth Eucharistic prayer recalls. In the Bible, the Spirit is always given for a mission and Jesus also sends the disciples to announce to the world the one indispensable truth: God is Mercy. This mission is urgent because man dies if he does not know the truth, as Jesus says: "he who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8:34) because he does not know God's love. There is no other mission than to reconcile men with God: everything else follows from this. "Whose sins you forgive will be forgiven", we could translate it like this: announce that sins are forgiven and be ambassadors of universal reconciliation. The mission that the Father entrusts to you is urgent and indispensable, and if you do not go, the novelty of reconciliation will not be announced. In this context the phrase: 'those whom you do not forgive will not be forgiven' could be understood in this sense: if you do not bring your brothers and sisters to know God's love (if you do not forgive) they will live outside his love (they will not be forgiven).   What trust and what responsibility! God's plan will only be definitively fulfilled when we, in turn, have fulfilled our mission: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you". The first sin, which is at the root of all the others, is not to believe in God's love: therefore, I send you, move without delay to proclaim God's love to all'.

Note 'That day, the first day of the week': in the Hebrew reading of the Creation narrative, this first day was called 'Day ONE' in the sense of 'first day' but also 'unique day', because in a sense it encompassed all the others, as the first ear of the harvest heralds all the harvest... And the Jewish people still await the New Day that will be God's day, when He will renew the first Creation.

Today, Divine Mercy Sunday, I propose a prayer that I take from the book of the Holy Trinity Mercy Shrine in Maccio (Como). The Most Holy Trinity is Infinite Mercy

"Most Holy Trinity, Infinite Mercy, Mercy, Inscrutable Light of the Father who creates; Mercy, Face and Word of the Son who gives Himself; Mercy, Penetrating Fire in the Spirit that gives life; Most Holy Trinity, Mercy that saves in the unique gift of His Triune Being, I trust and hope in you! You, who have given yourself to us, make us all give ourselves to you! Make us witnesses of your Love in Christ our Redeemer, our brother and our King! Most Holy Trinity, I trust in you!"

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Genesis Rebirth Judgment

(Jn 3:16-21)

Every man confronted with the Mystery does not fully comprehend what he feels until he accepts the bet and is introduced into a new existence.

The old life presents only bills to be paid, which always resurface; conversely, the new Calling supplants judgment’s categories and the normalized choices.

We pass as if through an emptying of the heart, which in its cosmic and personal virtue acquires a generative sense.

Life in the Spirit proceeds by new Births, blowing where it will. Not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, but in a disconcerting manner.

Reality present and operative, albeit inexplicable - but enriching, letting us to penetrate [or that plunge us to force] into another configuration.

‘Another’ kingdom, which in the «Son of man» unites the two worlds.

Eternity’s Level that immerses those who welcome it into the unique relationship with the Father and his exuberant Life.

«’From there’ He will come to judge» is an article of the Apostles’ Creed, in some Latin traditions:

Success or failure in life will be evaluated "from the Cross", i.e. with the criterion of the new ‘perception’, Gift of self, and Renewal to the core.

Reversal of perspectives; visual overthrow.

Hope’ Source and a new leap forward: where humiliation is transformed into authentic Birth and triumph of the indestructible Life.

This the Bliss that discovers hidden treasures and precious pearls behind our dark sides.

Here even the persecutions of enemies and mockers become vectors that introduce different energies; they force us to improve track.

And it was imagined that divine life only belonged to the celestial sphere - instead it paradoxically comes within our reach.

Nicodemus knew: in the desert many had fallen victim to snares. But Jesus makes it clear that the Israelites hadn’t been gratuitously healed by a bronze effigy, but by ‘lifting up their eyes’.

The Secret is «from on High» (v.7), off the scale.

The Lord refers to this episode and interprets it as the setting for his own teaching; a symbol of his extreme event.

It is for a new Genesis of one's own being and of the criteria for which one's life is at stake, that the Crucified One becomes the reference point for each of our choices.

Those who contemplate Him already have within themselves the full, acute and total meaning of the Scriptures, and the very Life of the Eternal.

In rabbinic style, Mt 25 uses the image of the Last Judgment to recall the importance and consequences of the choices we make.

Jn speaks of a Judgment that takes place in the Present, which is ‘only redemption’ on our exclusive favor: for a life as saved persons.

According to a Wisdom that gives rise to and makes us hear quite a few unexpected opinions.

Thus, while employing different backgrounds and language, both Mt and Jn find themselves in the same «truth» (v.21). Judgment is pronounced from the Cross.

Discrepancies are as of now commensurate on the Person of the Son. The Judgment has already begun.

[Wednesday 2nd wk. in Easter, April 30, 2025]

Genesis Rebirth Judgment

Jn 3:16-21(7-21)

Every man confronted with the Mystery does not fully comprehend what he feels, until he accepts the wager and enters into a new existence.

The old life presents only bills to be paid, which always resurface; conversely, the new Calling supplants normalised categories of judgement and choices.

One passes as through an emptying of the heart.

For the Tao [Way] Tê Ching (xxi) says:

"The contentment of those who have the virtue of emptiness, only to the Tao does it conform. For creatures, the Tao is indistinct and indeterminate [...] in its bosom it holds images [...] in its bosom it holds archetypes [...] in its bosom it holds the essence of being! This essence is very genuine [...] and so it consents to all beginnings.

Outside the cosmic and personal Way, man's existence has no generative meaning.

Even the spiritual affair of the experienced and well-adjusted person stagnates until he can no longer silence the great questions of meaning, his fiction, or sloth.

Life in the Spirit proceeds by new Births and breathes forth where it will.

Not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, manners, respectability, skills, or instruction booklets: in a disconcerting way - but it brings different refreshment, and even sudden peace.

It is a reality present and operative, albeit inexplicable - yet enriching, allowing us to penetrate or plunge into another configuration of reality.

Another realm, which in the 'Son of Man' unites the two worlds.

Nicodemus was master of the Old Testament alone. He would check any stagnation or progress by comparing them to the wisdom of the things of God on a more than familiar basis.

But not infrequently our growth proceeds in leaps and bounds - not even according to natural 'intelligence'. Let alone the spiritual life.

It is not enough to practise and go along with the ideas of the fathers or the fashionable ones, nor to remain in agreement with normal intentions.

Assimilating other people's knowledge and acquiring already expected expertise is not infrequently junk that blocks true developments - those that belong to us.

Unfortunately, in religious life one often proceeds mechanically, and there seems to be no need to allow oneself to be saved or surprised by events.

At most we are exposed to a few breezes, enslaved to earthly languages, limited to the dimension of "phenomena" that are all on the surface - that exclude and dismiss Christ.

In the bewildering adventure of Faith, the divine Project and the radical Work of the Son do not unfold in a reasonable manner, but by Love without measure.

It is the level of Eternity that puts those who receive it into the unique tu-per-tu with the Father and his exuberant Life.

The Spirit's unit of measure is different from that of the agreed customs. Its impetus is elusive Wind, "visible" only in its ecclesial and personal effects.

The Secret is "from above" (v.7), out of scale. It lurks in the unpredictability of crossroads, surpluses, and new creations.

Bliss does not proceed by arguments to boredom: it protrudes or pales.

In this way, one can often hold the Eucharist or the Scriptures in one's hand and not realise that the road already taken can only give illusions of spiritual doctoring.

"Thence shall he come to judge" is an article of the Apostles' Creed.

Success or failure in life will be evaluated "from the Cross", i.e. with the criterion of the new perception, Gift of self and Renewal to the core.

Reversal of perspectives; reversal of views.

It is a source of Hope and a new leap forward: where humiliation is transformed into authentic Birth and triumph of indestructible Life.

This is the Beatitude that uncovers blooms, hidden treasures and precious pearls, behind our dark sides.

Here even the persecutions of enemies and mockers become vectors that introduce different energies, compelling us to improve.

And one imagined that divine life only belonged to the celestial sphere; instead it paradoxically comes within our reach.

Nicodemus knew: in the wilderness many had fallen victim to snares, but Jesus makes it clear that the Israelites had not been gratuitously healed by a bronze effigy, but by having 'raised their eyes'.

The Lord refers to this episode and interprets it as the setting for his own teaching; the symbol of his extreme event.

Those who contemplate it already have within themselves the full, acute and total sense of the Scriptures, and the very Life of the Eternal.

In this sense, it is necessary to be "born from above", to shift contemplative perception, to recognise ourselves, and to keep our eyes on true love.

It is because of a new Genesis of our own being and of the criteria by which we stake our lives, that the Crucified One becomes the reference point for all our choices.

Not out of sorrowful masochism and feigned consolation. Not to use it as a jewel.

Not an amulet; not an emblem placed by force upon the heights, which would indicate the conquest of territories.

Not even the sacralisation of an environment, or a 'cultural' figure.In rabbinic style, Mt 25 uses the image of the Last Judgement to recall the importance and consequences of the choices we make.

In Jn, the theme of the Judgement seems reversed: it is as if we were the ones "judging" God - in the sense that in his presence we are and will be disarmed, recognising that his Heart is far greater than our own.

So too in the experience of the life of Faith, which attracts and opens up the impossible future.

Indeed, the Fourth Gospel excludes the Father judging the sons. Jn speaks of a Judgment that takes place in the Present, which is only redemption - for our sake alone: for a life of the saved.

"When" God acts he creates. He justifies: he does something new, global, unparalleled.

It does not repeat. It gives birth to other excesses, in varied grooves, in the fabric of history, "imposing" just positions - first of all where there is no justice.

According to a Wisdom that gives rise to quite a few unexpected opinions.

While employing different backgrounds and language, both Mt and Jn find themselves in the same "truth" (v.21).

The Judgement is pronounced from the Cross - according to criteria that differ from worldly criteria, which are always hasty or mannered (and trivial).

The Lord makes his opinions heard and seen, in the face of all events and choices - warning against the options of authentic death.

The work of those who mismanage and waste life "shall burn, and he shall be punished; yet he shall be saved, but as by fire" (1 Cor 3:15).

The dissimilarities are already commensurate with the Person of the Son. The Judgment has already begun.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you consider to have been your births? What about your genuine choices?

Are you still in the direction of the wind of the ancient fathers or the fashions around you?

Do you unfurl your sails according to the direction of the Wind of the Spirit, which throws up your securities, even group or denominational ones?

What do you admire, and what have you placed 'high' in your life? Is this straw already finished and burnt?

What has so far exalted you, and did you think could elevate you instead?

He so loved, and gave

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Here is the heart of the Gospel, here is the foundation of our joy. For the content of the Gospel is not an idea or a doctrine, but is Jesus, the Son whom the Father gave us that we might have life. Jesus is the foundation of our joy: it is not a beautiful theory on how to be happy, but it is experiencing being accompanied and loved on life's journey. "He so loved the world that he gave his Son". Let us dwell, brothers and sisters, for a moment on these two aspects: "he so loved" and "he gave".

First of all, God so loved. These words, which Jesus addresses to Nicodemus - an old Jew who wanted to know the Master - help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked upon us with love, and out of love He came among us in the flesh of His Son. In Him He came to seek us in the places where we went astray; in Him He came to lift us up from our falls; in Him He wept our tears and healed our wounds; in Him He blessed our lives forever. Whoever believes in Him, says the Gospel, is not lost (ibid.). In Jesus, God has spoken the final word over our lives: you are not lost, you are loved. Always loved.

If listening to the Gospel and practising our faith does not enlarge our hearts to make us grasp the greatness of this love, and perhaps we slip into a serious, sad, closed religiosity, then it is a sign that we need to stop for a while and listen again to the proclamation of the good news: God loves you so much that he gives you his whole life. He is not a God who looks down on us indifferently from on high, but He is a Father, a loving Father who involves Himself in our history; He is not a God who rejoices in the death of the sinner, but a Father concerned that no one is lost; He is not a God who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the blessing embrace of His love.

And we come to the second word: God 'gave' his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself and offers us his life. He who loves always comes out of himself - do not forget this: he who loves always comes out of himself. Love always offers itself, gives itself, spends itself. The power of love is precisely this: it shatters the shell of selfishness, it breaks the banks of over-calculated human securities, it breaks down walls and overcomes fears, to make itself a gift. This is the dynamic of love: it is making a gift of oneself, giving oneself. He who loves is like that: he prefers to risk giving himself rather than atrophy by keeping to himself. That is why God comes out of himself, because 'he has loved so much'. His love is so great that it cannot help but give itself to us. When the people walking in the desert were attacked by poisonous snakes, God made Moses the bronze serpent; In Jesus, however, lifted up on the cross, He Himself came to heal us of the poison that gives death, He became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son so that whoever looks at him and believes in him may be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more one loves, the more one becomes capable of giving. This is also the key to understanding our life. It is good to meet people who love each other, who love each other and share life; you can say of them as you do of God: they love each other so much that they give their lives. It is not only what we can produce or gain that counts, what counts above all is the love we know how to give.

And this is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Hence the Church's invitation on this Sunday: 'Rejoice [...]. Rejoice and be glad, you who were in sorrow: be filled with the abundance of your consolation" (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think back to what we experienced a week ago in Iraq: a tormented people rejoiced with joy; thanks to God, to his mercy.

Sometimes we look for joy where there is none, we look for it in illusions that vanish, in dreams of our ego's greatness, in the apparent security of material things, in the worship of our image, and so many things... But the experience of life teaches us that true joy is to feel loved gratuitously, to feel accompanied, to have someone who shares our dreams and who, when we are shipwrecked, comes to rescue us and lead us to a safe harbour.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021].

"God is love" (I Jn 4: 16): in this simple affirmation the Evangelist John has enclosed the revelation of the entire mystery of the Triune God. And in meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus, foretelling his passion and death on the Cross, affirms: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16).

We all need to draw from the inexhaustible fountain of divine love, which is totally manifested to us in the mystery of the Cross, in order to find authentic peace with God, with ourselves and with our neighbour. Only from this spiritual source is it possible to draw the indispensable interior energy to overcome the evil and sin in the ceaseless battle that marks our earthly pilgrimage toward the heavenly homeland.

[Pope Benedict, Penitentiary Course Audience 16 March 2007]

Our meeting today puts us into direct contact with the depths of the mystery of God’s love. We are in fact taking part in Vespers in honour of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which enable us to live and experience the reality of God’s love for man. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). God loves the world and will love it to the end. The Heart of the Son of God pierced on the Cross and opened is a profound and definitive witness to God’s love. Saint Bonaventure writes: “It was a divine decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open his sacred wide with a lance . . . The blood and water which poured out at that moment was the price of our salvation” (The Liturgy of the Hours, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, Office of Readings, Second Reading).

With trembling hearts and in humility we stand before the great mystery of God, who is love. Here today, in Gliwice, we wish to express to him our praise and immense gratitude.

It is with great joy that I come to you today, because you are dear to me. All the people of Silesia are dear to my heart. When I was Archbishop of Kraków I would go each year on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Piekary and we would gather there for prayer in common. I greatly appreciated every invitation. For me it was always a profound experience. However, this is the first time that I have come to the Diocese of Gliwice, because it is a young diocese which was established just a few years ago. Therefore, receive my cordial greeting, which I send first of all to your Bishop Jan and to his Auxiliary Bishop Gerard. I also greet the clergy, the families of Religious men and women, all consecrated persons and the faithful people of this Diocese. I am pleased that my travels on this pilgrimage in our homeland include Gliwice, a city which I have visited many times and of which I have special memories. With great joy I visit this land of men and women who are accustomed to hard work: it is the land of the Polish miner, the land of steel mills, mines and industrial furnaces; but it is also a land with a rich religious tradition. My thoughts and my heart open today to all of you here present, to all the people of Upper Silesia and of the entire land of Silesia. I greet all of you in the name of the one Triune God.

2. “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). These words of Saint John the Evangelist constitute the theme of the Pope’s pilgrimage in Poland. On the eve of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 this joyous and impressive news of a God who loves needs to be spread anew throughout the world. God is a reality which is beyond our human capacity to understand fully. Since he is God, our reasoning is unable to grasp his infiniteness, nor can his limitlessness be confined within narrow human dimensions. It is he who measures us, who rules over us, guides us and understands us, even though we may be unaware of it. This God, however unattainable in his essence, has made himself close to men and women by his paternal love. The truth of God who is love constitutes a kind of summing up and at the same time the high point of everything that God has revealed about himself, of what he has told us through the Prophets and through Jesus Christ about what he is.

God has revealed this love in various ways. First, in the mystery of creation. Creation is the work of God’s omnipotence guided by wisdom and love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you”, God says to Israel through the lips of the Prophet Jeremiah (31:3). God has loved the world which he has created, and above all things in the world he has loved man. Even when man turned away from this original love, God did not stop loving him and raised him up from his fall, because he is Father, because he is Love. In the most perfect and definitive way, God has revealed his love in Christ — in his Cross and in his Resurrection. Saint Paul will say: “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive with Christ” (Eph 2:4-5). In this year’s message for youth I wrote: “The Father loves you”. This magnificent news has been placed in the heart of believing men and women who, like the disciple whom Jesus loved, rest their heads on the Master’s breast and listen to what he confides to them: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21).

“The Father loves you” — these words of the Lord Jesus are at the very heart of the Gospel. At the same time, no one shows more clearly than Jesus how demanding this love is: “he became obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8) and thus taught in the most perfect way that love waits for a response from men and women. It demands fidelity to the commandments and to the vocation which each person has received from God.

3. “We know and believe the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16).

By grace, men and women are called to the Covenant with their Creator, to give a response of faith and love which no one else can give for them. This response has not been lacking here in Silesia. For whole centuries you have responded to God with your Christian lives. Your history shows you always united with the Church and her Pastors, strongly attached to the religious traditions of your forebears. In a particular way, the long post-War period — up to the changes which took place in our country in 1989 — was also for you a time of great trial of faith. You faithfully stood by God, withstanding atheism and the secularization of the nation and the battle against religion. I remember how thousands of workers in Silesia, at the Shrine of Piekary, repeated with firm resolve the motto: “Sunday belongs to God and to us”. You have always been aware of the need for prayer and for places where prayer could be better raised to God. Therefore you were never without the willingness of spirit or the generosity to work for the construction of new churches and places of worship, which sprang up in large numbers during that period in the cities and towns of Upper Silesia. You also had at heart the well- being of the family. For this reason you spoke up for the rights of families, especially the right for your children and for young people to be freely educated in the faith. You would often gather at shrines and in many other places dear to your hearts to give expression to your attachment to God and to bear witness to him. You would also invite me to those community celebrations in Silesia. I was always eager to proclaim the word of God, for you needed comfort during the difficult period of struggle when you fought to preserve your Christian identity, and you needed strength to obey “God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Looking at the past, we give thanks to Providence today for that test of faithfulness to God and to the Gospel, to the Church and to her Pastors. It was also a test of the responsibility of the nation, of our Christian homeland and of its thousand-year heritage, which despite the many great trials did not suffer destruction or sink into oblivion. It happened this way because you “know and believe the love God has for us”, and you responded always with love to God.

4. “Blessed are they who walk not in the counsel of the wicked . . . but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditate on his law day and night” (Ps 1:1- 2).

We have listened to these words of the Psalmist in the short reading at today’s Vespers service. Remain faithful to the experience of the past generations who lived in this land with God in their hearts and prayer on their lips. In Silesia may there ever prevail faith and sound morality, a true Christian spirit and respect for divine law. Preserve as your greatest treasure that which for your ancestors’ was a source of spiritual strength. Your forebears included God in their lives; in him they overcame every manifestation of evil. An eloquent expression of this is the miners’ greeting “God be good to you!”. Keep your hearts always open to the values proclaimed by the Gospel, cherish them; for they define your identity.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I also wanted to let you know that I am aware of the difficulties, fears and hardships which you are now experiencing, the fears and hardships afflicting the work sector in this Diocese and in all of Silesia. I am aware of the dangers which this state of affairs poses especially for many families and for the life of society as a whole. A careful consideration is needed both of the causes and of possible solutions. I have already spoken of this during my pilgrimage to Sosnowiec. Today I address once more all my fellow countrymen in our homeland: build the nation’s future on love of God and love of man, on respect for God’s commandments and on the life of grace! Indeed, happy are they, and happy is the nation, who take delight in the law of the Lord.

The knowledge that God loves us should make us love all men and women, without exception and without separating them into friends and enemies. Love of man consists in desiring what is truly good for each person. It consists also in concern to guarantee this good and to reject every form of evil and injustice. We must strive always and with perseverance to seek the paths of just development for all people, “to make life more human”, as the Council says (Gaudium et Spes, 38). May love and justice flourish in our country, producing daily results in the life of society. Thanks only to love and justice can this land become a happy home. Without great and authentic love there is no home for man. Even should great successes be achieved in the area of material development, without love and justice he would be condemned to a life without any real meaning.

“Man is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 24). He has been called to share in God’s life, he has been called to the fulness of grace and truth. His own greatness, the value and dignity of his humanity, he finds precisely in this vocation.

May God who is love be the light of our lives today and in the times to come. May he be the light of our homeland. Build a future worthy of man and his vocation!

I place you, your families and your problems at the feet of our Most Blessed Mother, who is venerated in many shrines in this Diocese and in all of Silesia. May she teach love of God and love of man, as she practised it in her own life.

To all, “God be good to you”!

[Pope John Paul II, homily in Gliwice 15 June 1999]

“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). This is the heart of the Gospel; this is the source of our joy. The Gospel message is not an idea or a doctrine. It is Jesus himself: the Son whom the Father has given us so that we might have life. Jesus is the source of our joy: not some lovely theory about how to find happiness, but the actual experience of being accompanied and loved throughout the journey of life. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son”. Brothers and sisters, let us dwell on these two thoughts for a moment: “God so loved” and “God gave”.

First of all, God so loved. Jesus’ words to Nicodemus — a Jewish elder who wanted to know the Master — help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked at us with love, and for the sake of love, he came among us in the flesh of his Son. In Jesus, he went in search of us when we were lost. In Jesus, he came to raise us up when we fell. In Jesus, he wept with us and healed our wounds. In Jesus, he blessed our life forever. The Gospel tells us that whoever believes in him will not perish (ibid.). In Jesus, God spoke the definitive word about our life: you are not lost, you are loved. Loved forever.

If hearing the Gospel and practicing our faith don’t enlarge our hearts and make us grasp the immensity of God’s love — maybe because we prefer a glum, sorrowful and self-absorbed religiosity — then this is a sign that we need to stop and listen once more to the preaching of the Good News. God loves you so much that he gave you his entire life. He is not a god who looks down upon us from on high, indifferent, but a loving Father who becomes part of our history. He is not a god who takes pleasure in the death of sinners, but a Father concerned that that no one be lost. He is not a god who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the comforting embrace of his love.

We now come to the second aspect: God “gave” his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself; he offers us his life. Those who love always go out of themselves. Don’t forget this: those who love go out of themselves. Love always offers itself, gives itself, expends itself. That is the power of love: it shatters the shell of our selfishness, breaks out of our carefully constructed security zones, tears down walls and overcomes fears, so as to give freely of itself. That is what love does: it gives itself. And that is how lovers are: they prefer to risk self-giving over self-preservation. That is why God comes to us: because he “so loved” us. His love is so great that he cannot fail to give himself to us. When the people were attacked by poisonous serpents in the desert, God told Moses to make the bronze serpent. In Jesus, however, exalted on the cross, he himself came to heal us of the venom of death; he became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son, so that whoever looks at him and believes in him will be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more we love, the more we become capable of giving. That is also the key to understanding our life. It is wonderful to meet people who love one another and share their lives in love. We can say about them what we say about God: they so love each other that they give their lives. It is not only what we can make or earn that matters; in the end, it is the love we are able to give.

This is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Here we see the meaning of the Church’s invitation this Sunday: “Rejoice... Rejoice and be glad, you who mourn: find contentment and consolation” (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think of what we saw a week ago in Iraq: a people who had suffered so much rejoiced and were glad, thanks to God and his merciful love.

Sometimes we look for joy where it is not to be found: in illusions that vanish, in dreams of glory, in the apparent security of material possessions, in the cult of our image, and in so many other things. But life teaches us that true joy comes from realizing that we are loved gratuitously, knowing that we are not alone, having someone who shares our dreams and who, when we experience shipwreck, is there to help us and lead us to a safe harbor.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021]

Scientists and Lowlies: abstract world and incarnation

(Mt 11:25-30)

The leaders looked at religiosity with a view to interest. Professors of theology were accustomed to evaluate every comma on the basis of their own knowledge, ridiculous but supponent - unrelated to real events.

That which remains tied to customs and the usual protagonists does not make one dream, it’s not an apparition and astonishing testimony of Elsewhere; it detracts expressive richness of the announcement and life.

The Lord rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - about those who are well disposed, and able to understand the depths of the Kingdom, in ordinary things.

In short, after an initial moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Christ delves deeper into the themes and finds himself all against, except God and the least ones: the weightlesses, but eager to start from scratch.

Glimpse of the Mystery that leavens history - without making it a possession.

At first even Jesus is stunned by the rejection of those who considered themselves already satisfied and no longer expected anything that could overcome habits.

Then He understands, praises and blesses the Father's plan: the authentic Person is born from the gutter, and possesses «the sense of neighborhood» (FT n.152).

The Creator is simple Relationship: He demystifies the idol of greatness.

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

He is Custodian of the world, even of the unlearned ones - of the «infants»  (v.25) spontaneously empty of boastful spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.

Thus the Father-Son bond is communicated to God’s poor: those who are endowed with the attitude of family members (v.27).

Insignificant and invisible without great external capacities, but who abandon themselves to the proposals of the provident life that comes, like babies in the arms of parents.

In this way, with a pietas’ Spirit 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 doesn’t proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Sapience that transmits freshness in the readiness to personally receive, welcome, re-temper the Truth as a Gift, and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realizing it.

A simple blessing prayer, for the simple ones - this of Jesus (v.25) - which makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and gets along well with ourselves.

The new ones, the nullities, the voiceless and invisible do not think in terms of doctrine and laws [vv.29-30: unbearable "yoke" that crushes people, and concrete, particular vocations] but in terms of life and humanity.

Thus they enrich the fundamental and spontaneous experience of Faith-Love, satisfying, fulfilling it without mannerisms or intimate forcing.

While the exteriority of the pyramidal world, the distrust of those who want “to count", the anxiety of a competitive society, impoverish the gaze and contaminate the vital wave.

We, too, do not appreciate too much the energy of the 'models', nor the aggressive power of the “big guys”.

Rather than only with the “big” and external, we wish to live by Communion - even with the 'small' self, or there will be no loveliness, no authentic life.

To internalize 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

[St Catherine of Siena, April 29]