(Jn 13:21-33.36-38)

"I will lay down my life for you" - to lead.

The apostles would give everything to win, not to lose; to triumph, not to be mocked or fed, and to heal the world.

Better to negotiate. Other than washing each other's feet!

Therefore, the Lord wants each of us diners to ask the question whether we are not involved in some betrayal.

Not to guilt and plant ourselves there, but to meet each other: each is an admirer and adversary of the Master.

We are splendour and darkness - coexisting sides, more or less integrated, even competitive.

It is the Resurrection that lurks in the effervescence of life, redeeming then the selfish motives, and transfiguring into collimating energies elsewhere the dark and frictional sides.

Aspects that become like baby food, for each new genesis - which once they have emerged [planted in the earth and pulled up by the roots] can become strengths.

The road is only blocked before the person who continues to have his soul conditioned by old or à la page opinions and evils.

Nothing is revealed there; the prodigy of the transmutation of our abyss will not take place.

The liturgy of the Word brings us into contact with a Jesus pervaded by a sense of weakness; his loneliness becomes acute.

In mission, we too are sometimes at the mercy of despondency: perhaps God has deceived us, dragging us into an absurd enterprise?

No, we are not hired and abandoned to an ignoble logic, to a perverse generation: the force of life itself is strewn with tombstones and has various faces. Beneficial influences.

The favourable path is devoid of prestige, recognised tasks and majesty: they tend to placate us, and not dig in.

Often it is precisely disturbances that improve judgement.

The dripping can stir up the voice of the most authentic part of ourselves, become an incisive echo to find ourselves, and complete ourselves - bringing forward the pioneering heart, instead of holding it back.

The road of trial and imbalance awakens us from the harmful ageing of the spirit.

It recovers contrary energies, opposing sides, and incompatible desires, (allied) passions to which we have not given space.

Even in the torturing experience of limitation, God wants to reach out to our variegated seed, so that it does not allow itself to be plundered - not even by the dismay of having drawn the morsel together and being the traitor.

Nothing is disabling.

There is only one toxic, chronic sphere of death, which annihilates everything and has no active germs in it: that which obscures and detests primary change.

There the horizon narrows and only an abyss remains - or the blandness that infects to make us give up, and retreat relentlessly, deny and regress again.

All that remains are the fears, the half-choices, the neuroses silenced by the compromise that attempts to fill the precious sense of emptiness.

We stand before a Lord reduced to nothing, so that we too may understand ourselves in our defections; in the episodes in which we make useless and deviant contrivances, all measured, that fatigue in vain.

The story of the incomprehensible loneliness of Christ alongside the traitor and the renegade is written in our hearts.

It is all reality, but for salvation, for renewed intimacy and conviction.

The missionary vocation is extinguished and stagnates only by ballasts of calculation and common mentality - where the naked poverty of the discordant being that we are does not shake (nor tinkle).

Without the abandonment undergone, man does not become universal, indeed he tends to attenuate the best instruments of God's power.

On that steppe ground He is giving us the friendship of a shift in our gaze.

Without the restlessness of the deep and humiliating disturbance - without the surrender of one's humanity in extreme weakness - our unsatisfied puppet lingers, content.

Despite admiration for values, it too becomes a residual larva. A caricature of the being we could be: women and men with a contemplative eye.

Completed from within, like Jesus.

To internalise and live the message:

What do I draw when the Lord asks me to risk?

What have unfriendly gestures, and rejection, meant for you in the paradoxical outcomes?

To love is to create: Glory turning the page

Commandment Liberation. Cause Source

(Jn 13:31-35)

Mutual union is the Lord's ultimate will. Jesus entrusts his testament to the disciples with a radical novelty.

Love for one's neighbour was already among the ancient prescriptions, and Christ seems to trace its very formulation (Lev 19:18).

But the Son of God does not only allude to compatriots and proselytes of the same religion. He breaks down the barriers hitherto considered obvious. 

Yet the great novelty is in the fundamental motivation.

Mutual love is on the same line as the encounter with oneself - where by grace and vocation there lurks a possession of riches, growing perfections, that want to surface.From such a treasure chest, knowledge, solid platform, arises the afflatus of being able to give life: but to increase it, make it full and cheer it up - not from external conditioning and tasks to be performed or exploited.

In fact, the commandment is 'new' not only because it is edifying and stimulating, but first and foremost because it reveals one's vocation and the intimate life of God, the relationship between the Father and the Son, assumed.

It is a manifesting bond, which becomes foundation, growing motive and driving force; lucid energy, which gives us the ability to shift our gaze and turn the page: it ushers in a new age, a new kingdom.

The "new" commandment of love - Christ's only delivery - is the figure of the Easter victory, theophany and testimony of his authentic people: "not with measure" (Jn 3:31-36: 34).

The 'without measure' is that of the mystical wedding between the two 'natures', of the intimate friendship that penetrates the Father's life.

Even in the waiting, the unconfined enlivens existence and fulfils it, coming from the experience of substance and vertigo - already in themselves.

It is the life of the Son in us: perception of a constitutive 'being'. So without losing interest in the time of absence.

And to be able to change; intuition of a different (irreducible) "glory" with special characteristics.

Now the morality of religions no longer applies: ours is a vocational and paschal ethic, in the Spirit that renews the face of the earth.

Every purpose, every role, every ministry, is illuminated by the victory of life over death.

In this way, behaviour must be configured to the Mystery.

We live in Christ, the new man: we are no longer under 'proper' duties and prescriptions. The baptismal attitude cannot be measured.

The anointing and the call received respond to the intimate passion, the sense of reciprocity and personal fullness, which transcend.

This is how eminent goals are moved: in participation in the fullness of life, excess that cannot be assimilated to conformity and average horizons.

For a pious Israelite to have glory is to give specific weight to one's existence, and to reveal its full value - but in an elective sense.

"Was it true glory?" - Manzoni asks himself: from glory-vain and vain it rolls down. Quite another is the Glory as the real Presence of God.

Here are the disagreements between community and humanity (people in fullness); liturgy and reality, prayer and listening, theology and life, proclamations and behind the scenes.

While the Synoptics proclaim universal love, the author of the Fourth Gospel is concerned that the unexpressed testimony of the sons not be a blatant denial of the holiness preached to others [by the 'elect'].

As Paul VI said: "Contemporary man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers". Not only for a due and proper assessment of moral consistency, but because they refer back to the Mystery, to divine Gold.

Only if we are placed on the same wave of beauty and fascination as the "Son of Man" do we contribute to not letting it fade away or exclude it: the more human we are without duplicity, the more Heaven is manifested in us.

Of course, it seems impossible to love 'like' Him (v.34), but here the Greek expression has another reading possibility. The original term does not merely indicate an ideal horizon or the lofty measure - unattainable by effort.

"Kathòs" [adverb and conjunction] is endowed with generative as well as comparative value.

The key expression of the passage can be understood as: "Love one another because I have loved you unconditionally" or "Because I have loved you gratuitously, on that very wave of life, you can now love one another".

It means: making our neighbour feel already enabled - adequate and free - is the only unreduced mark of Faith in Christ.

In short, the Father is not the God of prescriptions: He does not absorb our energies, but generates and dilates them.

It does not claim to suffocate and exhaust us.

The badge, the emblem of the full testimony of the sons and daughters of the outspoken community is not its own production.

It retains an indestructible quality of elasticity and relationship that does not dismay, nor does it let arms fall: it gives breath.

It is not the work of fanatical pro- and anti-fans, nor of a devout individualism that preaches the "salvation of one's own soul" - an exasperation of religious piety and the pedestrian retributive morality of "merits".

It is the unfolding of the action of the Son of Man (v. 31) that makes the downtrodden and mean powerful.

The Master is not content to be a queer gregarious, like the heterodox Judas, a zealous apostle in appearance.

"Son of man" indicates Jesus who manifests the Father, the man who makes manifest the divine condition.

The Person who in his human fullness reflects the healthy design of the Origins - possibility for all reborn in Christ.

Carnal feeling is in a hurry to regulate itself on the basis of goals and titles; of achievements and success, or of the perfection and prestige of the beloved. 

It establishes boundaries.Divine Love (and that of the sons) is disproportionate, it has a different conduct: it prevents, it recovers; it does not break understanding, it helps.

Non-wandering Love knows the small, the uncertain and the weak. He knows that they only grow through the experience of the Gift, otherwise they get stuck.

If gratuitousness does not supplant merit, no one grows stronger; on the contrary, all - even the energetic - shrink. It condemns to an external cloak of norms and doctrines, or disembodied abstractions and sophistries.

That is why the 'Son of Man' - the genuine and full development of the divine plan for mankind - is not hindered by public sinners, but by those who suppose of themselves and would have the ministry of making it known!

Divine Glory has nothing to do with uniforms, coats, cockades or epidermal badges; it manifests itself in Communion without prior interdictions, in the service given to the inadequate and unmanifested - from which to hope zero.

Nothing can be integrated then, adding a little something - a simple 'completion' - to the norms of the First Covenant [which did not insist on God-likeness but on mass obedience].

Inclinations of a fundamentalist nature, or mannerisms of circumstance and à la page, the lust for worldly prestige - in reality - divide.

The conviviality of differences encompasses, dilutes, accentuates the amalgam and unites, enriching. It opens to the unusual and unimaginable.

The founders of religions propose a worldview and are static models of behaviour.

They do not envisage an increasing offer (Jn 14:12: "greater works"). Widely personal invitations - deep and sharp, more so than their own.

Jesus is not a predictable 'model' to be imitated.

It is first and foremost - we repeat - a Motive and an Engine: we love like and because Christ. We live by Him, each.

We risk everything because we are within an Event that we have seen, of a Relationship that not only persuades, but leads us and generates beyond; not in a waning way.

We are no longer under a Law that appoints God by obligation, but in the challenge of a gesture that re-creates and gradually realises, making our weakness strong.

So much so that shadow sides become resources and amazement. All without depersonalising; on the contrary, emphasising uniqueness.

This is the "new" commandment.

"Kainòs" is a Greek term that marks difference, eclipses the rest - in the sense that it sums up, surpasses and replaces. It supersedes all commandments: obvious and conditional.

And there will be no better one, because our hope is not Heaven (ready-made), but Heaven on earth.

More than the too far of the old final Paradise with invariable fare and predictable fulfilment. Modic, conformist, sectoral; even there articulated according to roles.

And pyramidal.

Peter's rash generosity does not protect him, however, from the risks connected with human weakness. Moreover, it is what we too can recognize in our own lives. Peter followed Jesus with enthusiasm, he overcame the trial of faith, abandoning himself to Christ. The moment comes, however, when he gives in to fear and falls:  he betrays the Master (cf. Mk 14: 66-72).

The school of faith is not a triumphal march but a journey marked daily by suffering and love, trials and faithfulness. Peter, who promised absolute fidelity, knew the bitterness and humiliation of denial:  the arrogant man learns the costly lesson of humility. Peter, too, must learn that he is weak and in need of forgiveness.

Once his attitude changes and he understands the truth of his weak heart of a believing sinner, he weeps in a fit of liberating repentance. After this weeping he is finally ready for his mission [...]

From the naïve enthusiasm of initial acceptance, passing though the sorrowful experience of denial and the weeping of conversion, Peter succeeded in entrusting himself to that Jesus who adapted himself to his poor capacity of love. And in this way he shows us the way, notwithstanding all of our weakness. We know that Jesus adapts himself to this weakness of ours.

We follow him with our poor capacity to love and we know that Jesus is good and he accepts us.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 24 May 2006]

Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself". If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly "expressed" and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus"64. The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must "appropriate" and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he "gained so great a Redeemer"65, and if God "gave his only Son "in order that man "should not perish but have eternal life"66.

In reality, the name for that deep amazement at man's worth and dignity is the Gospel, that is to say: the Good News. It is also called Christianity. This amazement determines the Church's mission in the world and, perhaps even more so, "in the modern world". This amazement, which is also a conviction and a certitude-at its deepest root it is the certainty of faith, but in a hidden and mysterious way it vivifies every aspect of authentic humanism-is closely connected with Christ. It also fixes Christ's place-so to speak, his particular right of citizenship-in the history of man and mankind. Unceasingly contemplating the whole of Christ's mystery, the Church knows with all the certainty of faith that the Redemption that took place through the Cross has definitively restored his dignity to man and given back meaning to his life in the world, a meaning that was lost to a considerable extent because of sin. And for that reason, the Redemption was accomplished in the paschal mystery, leading through the Cross and death to Resurrection.

The Church's fundamental function in every age and particularly in ours is to direct man's gaze, to point the awareness and experience of the whole of humanity towards the mystery of God, to help all men to be familiar with the profundity of the Redemption taking place in Christ Jesus. At the same time man's deepest sphere is involved-we mean the sphere of human hearts, consciences and events..

[Pope John Paul II, Redemptor hominis, no.10]

In these days of Lent we have seen the persecution that Jesus suffered and how the doctors of the Law raged against him: he was judged under doggedness, with doggedness, being innocent. I would like to pray today for all the people who suffer an unjust sentence because of doggedness.

The prophecy of Isaiah that we have heard is a prophecy about the Messiah, about the Redeemer, but it is also a prophecy about the people of Israel, about the people of God: we can say that it can be a prophecy about each one of us. In essence, the prophecy emphasises that the Lord elected his servant from the womb: twice it says so (cf. Isaiah 49:1). From the beginning his servant was elected, from birth or before birth. God's people were chosen before they were born, even each one of us. None of us fell into the world by chance, by accident. Everyone has a destiny, has a free destiny, the destiny of God's election. I am born with the destiny of being a child of God, of being a servant of God, with the task of serving, of building, of edifying. And this, from the womb.

The Servant of Yahweh, Jesus, served until death: it seemed a defeat, but it was the way to serve. And this underlines the way of serving that we must take in our lives. To serve is to give oneself, to give oneself to others. To serve is not to expect any benefit for anyone other than serving. It is the glory, to serve; and the glory of Christ is to serve even to the point of annihilating himself, even to death, death on a cross (cf. Phil 2:8). Jesus is the servant of Israel. God's people are servants, and when God's people stray from this attitude of serving they are apostate people: they stray from the vocation God has given them. And when each of us turns away from this vocation to serve, we turn away from the love of God. And he builds his life on other loves, many times idolising.

The Lord elected us from the womb. There are, in life, falls: each of us is a sinner and can fall and has fallen. Only Our Lady and Jesus [are sinless]: all the rest of us are fallen, we are sinners. But what is important is the attitude before the God who has chosen me, who has anointed me as a servant; it is the attitude of a sinner who is able to ask for forgiveness, like Peter, who swears that "no, I will never deny you, Lord, never, never!", then, when the cock crows, he cries. He repents (cf. Mt 26:75). This is the way of the servant: when he slips, when he falls, ask for forgiveness.

On the other hand, when the servant is not able to understand that he has fallen, when the passion takes him in such a way that it leads him to idolatry, he opens his heart to Satan, he enters into the night: this is what happened to Judas (cf. Mt 27:3-10).

Let us think today of Jesus, the servant, faithful in service. His vocation is to serve, even unto death and death on a cross (cf. Phil 2:5-11). Let us think of each one of us, part of the people of God: we are servants, our vocation is to serve, not to take advantage of our place in the Church. Serve. Always in service.

We ask for the grace to persevere in service. Sometimes with slips, falls, but the grace at least to weep as Peter wept.

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily 7 April 2020]

Allied Sign. Enchanting Path

(Jn 12:1-11)

As he approaches his 'hour', Christ seems to lose his official features and becomes more and more intimate, within our reach.

His dialogue with men is more interwoven with silent gestures than words.

After yesterday's public day, it is in this way that Jesus makes himself present in the community of family members with no leaders; of brothers and sisters only.

Lord and Master without fuss or triumphs; rather, wanted and forced into hiding.

He is welcomed into a quiet House, that leaves room for emotions, even though an arrest warrant was pending on him.

Church where you can enjoy an air of peace, despite the lack of security - and contrary situations around.

This is how the poor Johannine communities of Asia Minor lived under Domitian - destitute and subtracted from the outward glory, from the hosanna of the crowds. But capable ones of healing both tensions and resistances.

They were small «listening» realities, full of a desire for communion and respectful.

Without too much pressures, they guided the energies in more natural directions. As happens among a few friends.

Climate of conversation and face to face, of wonderfully human and daily life that wants to find a place in us. Where the lesser and unsteady still refresh the Master with delicate homages.

In sharing and mutual understanding, the tiny fraternities made one startle just with daily joy and ‘new life’, transmitted to those who came from all the districts.

They were experiencing Love in simplicity. Empathy that made anyone overcome difficulties and fears.

Friendship that stirred and drew by attraction - in gestures of tender devotion, that released each from attitudes and behaviour that demeaned spontaneity.

Here is the Breaking of Bread: a priceless gesture, beyond social conventions; convincing, because an ‘allied’ free sign.

It did not reject the genuine nature of each person. The Eucharist was not an exclusive fortress.

Even today we can - like Mary - without too much calculation, «anoint the feet» of the Lord: celebrate the Gift of a Way.

The faithful were understanding that their best part could be recognized not in a model circle, but [in purest state] in people with tired feet, and in the Person of that First Coming One always about to depart - by abiding within him.

It meant serving and recognizing oneself, assimilating and consecrating one's own personal journey in that overall one of the Son of God, who became very human and divine Presence, which fills and convinces.

Christ's long Journey is a trace of the ours: from the Father's initiative to the sons’ ability to welcome him, cherish him, venerate him, correspond to him - by simply getting closer to the Roots - and not reject him, if “a loser”.

Here is the homage of friendship.

Only this fills the House of Bethany - the Church that is worth experiencing - with the fragrance of the total and living Christ, and ‘reveals’ him.

Jesus defends the right of love «from within» to express itself freely: where everything becomes possible - even the waste of Gratuitousness that doesn’t weigh the pros and cons.

Without one-sided cunnings, therefore not ruining authentic life and all inner rebirths.

[Holy Monday, April 14, 2025]

Allied Sign. Enchanting Path

(Jn 12:1-11)

As his hour draws near, Christ seems to lose his official features and becomes more and more intimate, within our reach.

Dialogue with men is woven more into silent gestures than words.

After yesterday's public day, it is in this way that Jesus makes himself present in the community of family members without leaders; of brothers and sisters only.

Lord and Master without whirlwind or triumph; rather, sought after and forced into hiding.

He is welcomed into a quiet house, which leaves room for emotion, even though a warrant was hanging over him.

A church where there is an air of peace, even in the absence of security - and countervailing circumstances all around.

This is how the miserable Johannine communities of Asia Minor under Domitian lived: destitute and shunned by the outward glory, the hosanna of the crowds.

But able to heal both tensions and resistance.

He enjoyed the simple atmosphere, without barricades, of true [not just essential] relationships capable of awakening innate tendencies and feelings; opportune to transform discomforts and identifications.

The mental labyrinths of fears and 'appropriate' roles would have trapped the vital energy of sisters and brothers in an outer perimeter, with excess thought and control.

No cage, therefore, that could close the dimension of oneness in love, and of the Mystery, in the circle of influences that would empty the internal processes.

The early assemblies were small, listening, full of a desire for communion, and respectful.

Without too much pressure, they guided energies towards more natural directions. As happens among a few friends.

A climate of conversation and face to face, of wonderfully human, everyday life, which still wants to find a place in us. Where the lesser and shaky (still) restore the Master with delicate tributes.

In sharing and understanding each other, the tiny fraternities made people gasp with daily joy and new life, in the ability to coexist.

Realities transmitted to those who came from all quarters; without first configurations.

It was not yet... the church of plausible, ostentatious and mass events - which then seeks 'the full house' to assert itself eloquently, proselytise, or enrich itself like Judas with other people's resources.

They lived love in simplicity. Empathy that made anyone cross difficulties and fears.

Friendship that stirred and drew by attraction - in the gestures of tender devotion, that released spontaneity from humiliating attitudes and behaviour.

Here was the Breaking of Bread, a priceless gesture, beyond social conventions; convincing because it was an allied, free sign.

It did not reject the genuine nature of each person. The Eucharist was not an exclusive fortress.

Even today we can - like Mary - without too much compunction, anoint the Lord's feet: celebrate the Gift of a Way.

The faithful understood that their best part could be recognised not in a model circle.

In its purest state, sisters and brothers found correspondence in the people with tired feet, and in the Person of that First Coming always about to leave - living in it.

It meant serving and recognising oneself, assimilating and consecrating one's personal Path into the overall Path of the Son of God, who became a human and divine Presence that filled and convinced.

Christ's long Journey is a trace of our own: from the Father's initiative to the children's ability to welcome Him, cherish Him, venerate Him, correspond to Him - simply by approaching the 'roots'.

And not reject it, if 'lost'. Here is the homage of understanding.

Only this fills the House of Bethany - that is, the Church worth experiencing - with the fragrance of the total and living Christ. And reveals it.

In such circumstances, Jesus defends the right of love from within to express itself freely: where everything becomes possible.

Conversely, the cohabitant-habitant deprived of the "waste" of the Gratis and of an ideal Exodus without enchantment, remains stunned by the conditioning of false, all too common spiritual guides.

Opportunistic, cunningly one-sided masqueraders who weigh everything - ruining authentic life and all inner rebirth.

To internalise and live the message:

When do I behave in such a way as to spread the fragrance of gratuitousness?

Is the reality into which I am introduced a hospitable Bethany? Does it help or stifle ministerial surprises?

The arrival of the voiceless takes on the importance of an Easter event and puts everyone in celebration, or in suspicion?

Do you compromise from within... or do you seek approval first?

Immedesimation and freedom. Florilegium

"So what counts above all is the inner value of the gift. In Holy Scripture and according to evangelical categories, 'almsgiving' means first and foremost an inner gift. It means the attitude of openness 'towards the other'" [John Paul II, General Audience 28 March 1979]."Let us think of that moment when Mary washes Jesus' feet with spikenard, so costly: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And Judas detaches himself and makes the bitter criticism: "But this could be used for the poor!" This is the first reference I found, in the Gospel, of poverty as ideology. The ideologue does not know what love is, because he does not know how to give himself" [Pope Francis, homily s. Marta 14/05/2013].

"Let us let him enter our home. Let our lives be invaded by the irrepressible fragrance of the gift. God's immense and gratuitous love becomes flesh, it allows itself to be contemplated on the cross in all its shocking and insane radicality" [Pope Francis].

"The ointment that Mary spreads is the symbol of the nuptial communion with Jesus expressed by the Christian community. We celebrate the call of our Christian communities, represented by Mary of Bethany, to total communion with Jesus, the giver of life. It is he who transforms what should have been the funeral banquet in memory of Lazarus into a banquet of joy. It is he who transforms the unbearable stench of a dead 'quadriduan' into the perfume that floods the house with joy. It is he who protests against all the Judas of the earth, who consider the precious ointment of intimacy with God to be wasted and oppose the poor to the Lord. It is he who rejects the 'practicality' of all those who prefer the efficiency of money to any ecstasy of love, and wistfully reduce to monetary currency even that which has no price. It is he, in short, whom we must seek in the prayer of surrender, in contemplative experience and in the habit of life.

May the Lord preserve us from the error of Judas, who, insensitive to the perfume of spikenard, perceives only the jingle of money, and, instead of perceiving the lustre of oil, allows himself to be seduced by the glitter of silver. What is this perfume of ointment with which we must fill the house, and what is this good perfume of Christ that we must spread throughout the world? The perfume that must fill the house is communion. Of course, like that bought by Mary of Bethany, the oil of communion has a very expensive price. And we must pay for it, without discount, with much prayer, also because it is not a commercial product for sale in our perfume shops, nor is it the fruit of our own titanic efforts. It is a gift from God that we must implore without tiring. But we shall obtain it, I am certain of it; and its perfume will fill our whole Church' [Don Tonino Bello, Lexicon of Communion].

"There is a vertical poverty that affects us all, it is ours. Once recognised, this poverty expresses itself in a gratuitous gesture of adoration, creates the 'useless' space of the liturgy, offers God the firstfruits by taking them out of our mouths. In the life of faith there is an inevitable and lovable waste, an exaltation in pure nothingness: men and women wasting away consecrating themselves to God, time lost in prayer. Adoration is wasteful. What would the Church be if Iscariot's purse were full for the poor and the house of Bethany empty of perfume?" [V. Mannucci].

The Gospel just proclaimed takes us to Bethany, where, as the Evangelist notes, Lazarus, Martha and Mary were giving a supper for the Teacher (Jn 12: 1). This banquet in the house of Jesus' three friends was marked by presentiments of his imminent death: the six days before Easter, the suggestion of Judas, the traitor, Jesus' answer that calls to mind one of the devout burial rites, anticipated by Mary, the hint that they would not always have him with them and the attempt to put Lazarus to death that mirrors the desire to kill Jesus. In this Gospel account there is one gesture to which I would like to draw attention. Mary of Bethany "took 300 grams [a pound] of costly ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair" (cf. 12: 3). Mary's gesture is the expression of great faith and love for the Lord; it is not enough for her to wash the Teacher's feet with water; she sprinkles on them a great quantity of the precious perfume which as Judas protested it would have been possible to sell for 300 denarii. She did not anoint his head, as was the custom, but his feet: Mary offers Jesus the most precious thing she has and with a gesture of deep devotion. Love does not calculate, does not measure, does not worry about expense, does not set up barriers but can give joyfully; it seeks only the good of the other, surmounts meanness, pettiness, resentment and the narrow-mindedness that human beings sometimes harbour in their hearts.

Mary stood at the feet of Jesus in a humble attitude of service, the same attitude that the Teacher himself was to assume at the Last Supper, when, the fourth Gospel tells us, he "rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and girded himself with a towel. Then he poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet" (Jn 13: 4-5), so that, he said, "you also should do as I have done to you" (v. 15): the rule of the community of Jesus is that of love which knows how to serve to the point of offering one's life. And the scent spread: "the house" the Evangelist remarks, "was filled with the fragrance of the ointment" (Jn 12: 3). The meaning of Mary's action, which is a response to God's infinite Love, spreads among all the guests; no gesture of charity and authentic devotion to Christ remains a personal event or concerns solely the relationship between the individual and the Lord. Rather, it concerns the whole Body of the Church, it is contagious: it instils love, joy and light.

"He came to his own home, and his own people received him not" (Jn 1: 11: ) Mary's action is in contrast to the attitude and words of Judas who, under the pretext of the aid to be given to the poor, conceals the selfishness and falsehood of a person closed into himself, shackled by the greed for possession and who does not let the good fragrance of divine love envelop him. Judas calculates what one cannot calculate, he enters with a mean mindset the space which is one of love, of giving, of total dedication. And Jesus, who had remained silent until that moment, intervenes defending Mary's gesture: "Let her alone, let her keep it for the day of my burial" (Jn 12: 7). Jesus understands that Mary has intuited God's love and points out that his "hour" is now approaching, the "hour" in which Love will find its supreme expression on the wood of the Cross: the Son of God gives himself so that many may have life, he descends to the abysses of death to bring man to the heights of God, who is not afraid to humble himself, to make himself "obedient, unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2: 8). In the Sermon in which he comments on this Gospel passage St Augustine addresses each one of us, with insistent words, the invitation to enter this circuit of love by imitating Mary's gesture and really placing ourselves in the sequela of Christ. Augustine writes: "Whatever soul of you wishes to be truly faithful, anoint like Mary the feet of the Lord with precious ointment.... Anoint the feet of Jesus: follow by a good life the Lord's footsteps. Wipe them with your hair: what you have of superfluity, give to the poor, and you have wiped the feet of the Lord" (In Ioh. evang., 50, 6).

[Pope Benedict, homily 29 March 2010]

1. "Paenitemini et date eleemosynam" (cf. Mk 1:15 and Lk 12:33).

Today we do not listen willingly to the word "alms". We feel something humiliating in it. This word seems to suppose a social system in which there reigns injustice, the unequal distribution of goods, a system which should be changed with adequate reforms. And if these reforms were not carried out, the need of radical changes, especially in the sphere of relations among men, would loom up on the horizon of social life. We find the same conviction in the texts of the Prophets of the Old Testament, on which the liturgy often draws during Lent. The Prophets consider this problem at the religious level: there is no true conversion to God, there can be no real "religion" without putting right offences and injustices in relations among men, in social life. Yet in this context the Prophets exhort to almsdeeds.

They do not even use the word "alms", which, moreover, in Hebrew is "sedaqah", that is, precisely "justice". They ask for help for those who are victims of injustice and for the needy: not so much by virtue of mercy as rather by virtue of the duty of active charity.

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, / to undo the thongs of the yoke, / to let the oppressed go free, / and to break every yoke? / Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, / and bring the homeless poor into your house; / when you see the naked, to cover him, / and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" (Is 58:6-7).

The Greek word "eleemosyne" is found in the late books of the Bible and the practice of almsdeeds is a verification of an authentic religious spirit. Jesus makes almsdeeds a condition of access to his kingdom (cf. Lk 12:32-33) and of real perfection (Mk 10:21 and paral.). On the other hand, when Judas—in front of the woman who anointed the feet of Jesus—uttered the remark: `'Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" (Jn 12:5), Christ defended the woman, answering: "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me" (Jn 12:8). Both sentences offer food for deep thought.

2. What does the word "alms" mean?

The Greek word "eleemosyne" comes from "éleos", which means compassion and mercy. Originally it indicated the attitude of the merciful man and, later, all works of charity for the needy. This word, transformed, has remained in nearly all European languages.

In French: "aumône"; Spanish: limosna"; Portuguese: "esmola"; German: "Almosen"; English: "Alms".

Even the Polish expression "jalmuzna" is the transformation of the Greek word.

We must differentiate here the objective meaning of this word from the meaning we give it in our social conscience. As can be seen from what we have already said before, we often attribute, in our social conscience, a negative meaning to the word "alms". Various circumstances have contributed to this and continue to contribute to it today. On the contrary, "alms" in itself, as help for those who need it, as "letting others share in one's own goods absolutely does not give rise to such negative associations. We may not agree with the person who gives alms, because of the way in which he does it. We may also not be in agreement with the person who stretches out his hand asking for alms, in that he does not try to earn his own living. We may disapprove of the society, the social system, in which almsdeeds are necessary. However, the fact itself of giving help to those who need it, the fact of sharing one's own goods with others, must inspire respect.

We see how, in understanding verbal expressions, it is necessary to free oneself from the influence of various incidental circumstances: circumstances that are often improper, which affect their ordinary meaning. These circumstances, moreover, are sometimes positive in themselves (for example, in our case the aspiration to a just society, in which there would be no need of alms. because a just distribution of property would reign there.

When the Lord Jesus speaks of alms, when he asks for almsdeeds to be practised, he always does so in the sense of bringing help to those who need it, sharing one's own goods with the needy, that is, in the simple and essential sense, which does not permit us to doubt the value of the act denominated with the term "alms", but on the contrary, urges us to approve it: as a good act, as an expression of love for one's neighbour and as a salvific act.

Moreover, at a moment of particular importance, Christ utters these significant words: "The poor you always have with you" (Jn 12: 8). He does not mean by these words that changes of social and economic structures are not important and that we should not try different ways to eliminate injustice, humiliation, want and hunger. He means merely that man will have needs which cannot be satisfied unless with help for the needy and by sharing one's own goods with others... Of what help are we speaking? What sharing? Is it only a question of "alms", understood in the form of money, of material aid?

3. Certainly Christ does not remove alms from our field of vision. He thinks also of pecuniary, material alms, but in his own way. More eloquent than any other, in this connection, is the example of the poor widow, who put a few small coins into the treasury of the temple: from the material point of view, an offering that could hardly be compared with the offerings given by others. Yet Christ said: "This poor widow has put in... all the living that she had" (Lk 21:3-4). So it is, above all, the interior value of the gift that counts: the readiness to share everything, the readiness to give oneself.

Let us here recall St Paul: "If I give away all I have... but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor 13:3). St Augustine, too, writes well in this connection: "if you stretch out your hand to give, but have not mercy in your heart, you have not done anything; but if you have mercy in your heart, even when you have nothing to give with your hand, God accepts your alms" (Enarrat. in Ps. CXXV, 5).

We are here touching the heart of the problem. In Holy Scripture and according to the evangelical categories, "alms" means in the first place an interior gift. It means the attitude of opening "to the other". Precisely this attitude is an indispensable factor of "metanoia", that is, conversion, just as prayer and fasting are also indispensable. St Augustine, in fact, expresses himself well: "how quickly the prayers of those who do good are granted! And this is man's justice in the present life: fasting, alms, prayer" (Enarrat. in Ps. XLII, 8): prayer, as an opening to God; fasting, as an expression of self-mastery also in depriving oneself of something, in saying "no" to oneself; and finally alms, as opening "towards others". The Gospel draws this picture clearly when it speaks to us of repentance, of "metanoia". Only with a total attitude—in his relationship with God, with himself and with his neighbour—does man reach conversion and remain in the state of conversion.

"Alms" understood in this way has a meaning which is in a certain sense decisive for this conversion. To convince ourselves of this, it is enough to recall the image of the Last Judgment that Christ gave us:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them: `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:35-40).

And the Fathers of the Church will then say with St Peter Chrysologus: "The poor man's hand is the treasury of Christ, since Christ receives everything that the poor man receives" (Sermo VIII, 4), and with St Gregory of Nazianzus: "The Lord of all things wants mercy, not sacrifice; and we give it through the poor" (De patuperum amore, XI).

Therefore, this opening to others, which is expressed by "help", by "sharing" food, a glass of water, a good word, consolation, a visit, precious time, etc., this interior gift offered to the other man, arrives directly at Christ, directly at God. It decides the meeting with him. It is conversion.

We can find many texts in the Gospel that confirm this, and also in the whole of Scripture. "Alms" understood according to the Gospel, according to the teaching of Christ, has a definitive, decisive meaning in our conversion to God. If alms be lacking, our life does not yet converge fully towards God.

4. In the cycle of Lenten reflections, it will be necessary to come back to this subject. Today, before concluding, let us dwell for another moment on the real meaning of "alms". It is very easy, in fact, to falsify the idea, as we noted at the beginning. Jesus also gave a warning about the superficial, "exterior" attitude of almsdeeds (cf. Mt 6:4; Lk 11:41). This problem is still a living one. If we realize the essential significance that "alms" has for our conversion to God for the whole of Christian life, we must avoid, at all costs, all that falsifies the meaning of alms, mercy, works of charity, all that may distort their image in ourselves. In this field, it is very important to cultivate interior sensitivity as regards the real needs of our neighbour, in order to know in what we must help him, how to act in order not to wound him, and how to behave in order that what we give, what we bring to his life, may be a real gift, a gift not dimmed by the ordinary negative meaning of the word "alms".

.We see, therefore, what a field of work—wide and at the same time deep—opens before us, if we want to put into practice the call "Paenitemini et date eleemosynam" (cf. Mk 1:15 and Lk 12:33). It is a field of work not only for Lent, but for every day. For the whole of life.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 28 March 1979]

Pope Francis, this morning in his homily at Casa Santa Marta, said that one must "live life as a gift, not as a treasure to be kept". Jesus himself taught us this first, when he said that "no one has a greater love than this: to give one's life". The exact opposite, the pontiff stressed, of what Judas did, "who had precisely the opposite attitude", and in fact "never understood what a gift was".

"Let us think of that moment of the Magdalene," Pope Francis explained, "when she washes Jesus' feet with spikenard, so expensive: it is a religious moment, a moment of gratitude, a moment of love. And he detaches himself and makes the bitter criticism: 'But this could be used for the poor!' This is the first reference I found, in the Gospel, of poverty as ideology. The ideologue does not know what love is, because he does not know how to give himself".Judas' mistake was to be impermeable and distant from Christ's love: a loneliness that led him to betrayal. He who loves, on the other hand, 'gives his life as a gift, gives his life out of love, he is never alone: he is always in community, he is in the family'. Besides, the Pontiff warned, he who "isolates his conscience in selfishness" eventually "loses it".

[Pope Francis, homily s. Marta 14/05/2013: https://www.tempi.it/papa-francesco-vivete-la-vita-come-dono-satana-e-un-cattivo-pagatore-sempre-ci-truffa-sempre/]