Foreign glory (or religious culture that produces models and slaves)

(Lk 17:11-19)

The impure had to stay out of the way: anything that differed from the dominant thinking was undermined.

According to the ancient religious scheme, the places of the 'infected' were considered equivalent to cemeteries.

Diseases were imagined as punishments for transgressions.

But leprosy - a disease that corrodes from within - was the very symbol of sin [yet here it seems that it is the observant who are the walking image of death].

Any recovery was considered a miraculous resurrection.

And before being readmitted into society, all (supposed) sins had to be atoned for.

Jesus replaces the nerve-wracking complexity of these arcane and superstitious procedures with a very simple path to recovery.

In this way, he destroys archaic, superstitious idolatrous devotion, replacing it with a proposal for real life.

This passage is exclusive to Luke, but in all the Gospels the term 'village' has strongly negative connotations.

'Villages' are places where the Lord is not welcomed. There is no room for the new there, and if it takes root, it becomes an obligatory tradition.

They are territories and swamps of reduction, of stubborn confirmation, of wanting to reproduce consolidated thoughts and impose more or less seraphic customs on anyone. We know them.

In the Church, the 'village' mentality is one of certainty at all costs.

It is the typical conviction of those who consider themselves sacramentally correct and entitled to marginalise, chase away, reject, keep away, and disregard.

The passage can be read on several levels.

The Master walks with the Apostles and addresses them (Lk 17:1-11), but suddenly he seems to find himself alone (v. 12). It is as if the 'lepers of the village' were none other than his own [at that time, no one affected by the disease could live in residential areas].

The impurity contracted by the disciples and also by us today depends precisely on the damaged condition, decay and corruption of the reduced and infected environment.

The latter makes regeneration impossible - because in it the followers themselves (who seem close) sometimes close themselves off, all grouped together.

The ten lepers represent us.

The number itself indicates a totality (like fingers).

But right here, if we are at least made aware of the separation from the realisation of our face, here is the first step towards personal involvement with the Lord.

We all have signs of non-life.

Those who consider themselves to have arrived and to be free from pathologies put up fences to protect themselves and their world, but remain there, awkward.

When, on the other hand, they realise that development has not yet flourished, a sense of tolerance towards others is triggered, and the personal spring that overcomes empty, intimate, or coerced adherence.

Even in the first assemblies of those called to be children and brothers, a self-satisfied and isolationist mentality sometimes manifested itself towards the pagans who presented themselves at the threshold of the community.

The newcomers - scrutinised by the veterans who could not tolerate differences - cried out, appealing directly to Christ himself.

The question arose - still relevant today:

'You who are at the head [v. 13 Greek text], you who command the church, what do you think of your own? What do you say about this village mentality?

"Do the first ones who believe they have the right to shun others really have the right to do so?"

"Has the Father you proclaimed become exactly like the grim God of religions?"

In fact, the 'lepers' are not asking for healing, but for compassion.

In short, the Call is 'internal'.

This means that it is precisely the phenomena of the acquired role or ministry - perhaps colonialist - that should be healed.

Conditioned by false guides, we too often approach Christ in an abstruse, wrong way: asking him for 'mercy'.

One does not ask a Friend or a Father for 'mercy'.

This is why Jesus is clear. Those who consider themselves unclean or want to be pitied must go elsewhere, to the official religion.

Everyone is complete, and this can be seen in the choice of the stranger who alone understands and returns to Christ.

No one needs to punish themselves by submitting to conformist protocols.

But then it was the priests of the Temple who verified and decided whether the already healed (!) could be readmitted into society.

In short, all of us sinners are made pure not by miracles that come down like lightning, but in the Exodus.

A journey that moves us away from a putrid and diseased environment - well before anyone checks, makes trivial recommendations, and dictates the rhythm of petty practices.

It is only the 'village' that makes us - and considers us - impure... because we do not resemble it!

All we need to do is break free from ghettoising thoughts and customs to gain serenity and motivation: we will no longer feel rejected and singled out.

We will discover ourselves and God with us.

He made us this way for a special Mission; not modelled on prototypes to be copied as if we were idiots: but as supremely lovable children.

The Father sees us as perfect, and in his own time he will bring forth amazing pearls from our supposed or intruding unworthiness.

Inadequacies in the 'village', which make up and complete the baggage of our precious personality and unique Vocation.

Coincidentally, we only realise ourselves spiritually by crossing local 'cultural' barriers.

Even by disobeying orders, but transgressing them (vv. 14ff.)!

In this way, Jesus does not contemplate inquisitors.

We must allow ourselves to be controlled solely by the Spirit, who already animates us.

This is a decisive issue. In fact, the meaning of the text does not concern the thanks that must be given!

Jesus is not saddened because he sees a lack of gratitude and good manners, but because only a foreigner gives 'glory to God' (v. 15).

That is, he recognises him as his personal Lord - in a relationship, precisely, without mediation.

That personal 'Eucharistic act' [...] 'and fell on his face at his feet' (v. 16 Greek text) has a strong, spousal meaning of perfect reciprocity on the Way.

All within the horizon of a crucial choice - not peaceful, nor calm and do-gooder, but decisive - between a life of exclusive quality or death.

Although marginalised from the 'sacred enclosures' of the Temple in the Holy City, it is precisely those who are distant and rejected (considered bastards and enemies) who immediately understand what does not disfigure the face of their humanity.

Here Luke quotes the term alloghenès (v. 18) carved in large letters on the tablets affixed to the first of the internal parapets of the Sanctuary of Jerusalem [the one that, under penalty of death, prevented pagans from participating in Jewish cultic sacrifice].

But on closer inspection, in the third Gospel, the models of Faith are all 'strangers': the centurion, the prostitute, the haemorrhaging woman, the blind man, and so on.

They immediately perceive the signs of Life, the signs of God!

Others who are more settled or attracted to normality are content to be reintegrated into the old and common religious practice, returning to the usual impersonal things and mass worship.

Yet those who readjust to the ways of the world become enslaved; they lose track of themselves and of Christ (v. 17).

They become slaves once again to a conformist, conventionalist mentality that is unquestioned and dominated by 'permanence'.

According to the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, the preservation of differences is the criterion of true fraternity, which does not destroy extroverted peaks.

In fact, even in a relationship of deep love and coexistence, 'there is a need to free oneself from the obligation to be the same' [Amoris Laetitia, n.139].

Pope Francis again:

'While solidarity is the principle of social planning that allows unequal people to become equal, fraternity is what allows equal people to be different' [Message to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, 24/04/2017].

In short, by walking our own personal path with optimism and hope, we come to meet the living Christ; not the clamour of the Temple [ancient or fashionable].

It no longer sends precious messages; it only takes notes. It beats in our heads, but it does not touch us inside.

It will trap us in a web of predictable thoughts, hostile surveillance, induced customs, and so on.

Domestications devoid of affinity with events of specific weight - without the allied step of people of a particular culture and sensitivity.

Those who are healing the world.

Despite their ostensible belonging, behind sacred official scenes, relationships often loosen; they do not regenerate.

In those territories, models and prototypes, codes and patents, the obtuseness of petty prima donnas - figures of narrow-mindedness - are often born.

Instead, if recognised [as in the case of the Samaritan], a Presence in our favour allows us to rediscover, discover and understand.

It proceeds unrivalled through all our states of mind - without any more remorse for duties that do not belong to us.

Such Friendship allows us to recover the fixed points of truly intimate human codes, enhancing - outside the lines - both the system of recognition of ourselves and the authentic and unrepeatable way of honouring God in our brothers and sisters.

No longer the exclusive privilege of the elect and the best... all of whom are undecisive.

Regarding the essential divine willingness to embrace differences as riches, we recall the teaching of the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah, who advocated the unparalleled immediacy of personal dialogue - where the wisdom of analysis and the experience of intoxication come together:

"He brings enlightenment upon you so that through it you may reach Him; He brings it upon you to remove you from the hands of others; He brings it upon you to free you from the slavery of creatures; He brings it upon you to bring you out of the prison of your existence towards the heaven of contemplation of Him."

A new, full, definitive life.

People of faith detach themselves from external religious identity: they dream, love and invent paths; they deviate and do not follow a path already traced.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

This Sunday's Gospel presents Jesus healing 10 lepers, of whom only one, a Samaritan and therefore a foreigner, returned to thank him (cf. Lk 17: 11-19). The Lord said to him: "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well" (Lk 17: 19). This Gospel passage invites us to a twofold reflection. It first evokes two levels of healing: one, more superficial, concerns the body. The other deeper level touches the innermost depths of the person, what the Bible calls "the heart", and from there spreads to the whole of a person's life. Complete and radical healing is "salvation". By making a distinction between "health" and "salvation", even ordinary language helps us to understand that salvation is far more than health: indeed, it is new, full and definitive life. Furthermore, Jesus here, as in other circumstances, says the words: "Your faith has made you whole". It is faith that saves human beings, re-establishing them in their profound relationship with God, themselves and others; and faith is expressed in gratitude. Those who, like the healed Samaritan, know how to say "thank you", show that they do not consider everything as their due but as a gift that comes ultimately from God, even when it arrives through men and women or through nature. Faith thus entails the opening of the person to the Lord's grace; it means recognizing that everything is a gift, everything is grace. What a treasure is hidden in two small words: "thank you"!

Jesus healed 10 people sick with leprosy, a disease in those times considered a "contagious impurity" that required ritual cleansing (cf. Lv 14: 1-37). Indeed, the "leprosy" that truly disfigures the human being and society is sin; it is pride and selfishness that spawn indifference, hatred and violence in the human soul. No one, save God who is Love, can heal this leprosy of the spirit which scars the face of humanity. By opening his heart to God, the person who converts is inwardly healed from evil. 

"Repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15). Jesus began his public life with this invitation that continues to resonate in the Church to the point that in her apparitions, the Virgin Most Holy has renewed this appeal, especially in recent times. Today, let us think in particular of Fatima, where precisely 90 years ago, from 13 May to 13 October 1917, the Virgin appeared to the three little shepherd children: Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco. Thanks to radio and television link-up, I would like to be spiritually present at this Marian Shrine where Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone has presided on my behalf at the concluding celebrations of this most important anniversary. I cordially greet him, the other Cardinals and Bishops present, the priests who work at the shrine and the pilgrims who have come from every part of the world for the occasion. Let us ask Our Lady for the gift of true conversion for all Christians, so that they may proclaim and witness consistently and faithfully to the perennial message of the Gospel, which points out to humanity the path of authentic peace.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus, 14 October 2007]

“Mga kaibigan” (Dear friends)  

“Maraming salamat sa inyong lahat” (I warmly thank you all).  

I would have liked to visit you at your homes, but it was not possible. I thank you for coming to meet me instead. I thank you for representing others who wanted so much to come but were unable to do so. Being with you today brings great joy to my heart. I greet you with affection and hope you know how much I have looked forward to this meeting.  

During my previous pastoral visits to Africa and Brazil, I met other men and women suffering from leprosy. These encounters left a deep impression on me, because I was able to appreciate the loving patience and courage with which they live despite their trials and adversities.  

1. I am here in the name of Christ Jesus to remind you of his extraordinary love for all his brothers and sisters, but especially for each one of you. The Gospels bear witness to this truth. Think for a moment how often Jesus showed his concern by transforming situations of need into moments of grace. In the Gospel of Saint Luke, for example, Jesus is approached by ten lepers who ask to be healed. The Lord commands them to show themselves to the priests, and on the way they are healed. One of them returns to give thanks. In his gratitude, he demonstrates a faith that is strong, joyful and full of praise for the wonder of God's gifts. Clearly, Jesus touched the very core of this man's being with his love.  

2. Again in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, we are presented with a leper who asks Jesus to heal him, but only if it is his will. How grateful the man is when his request is heard! He sets out to spread the joyful news of the miracle to all those he meets. Such great happiness comes from the man's faith. His words, "if you are willing, you can make me clean," reflect a willingness to accept whatever Jesus desires for him. And his faith in Jesus was not disappointed! Dear brothers and sisters, may your faith in Jesus be no less firm and constant than the faith of these people in the Gospels.  

3. I know that your affliction involves intense suffering, not only through its physical manifestations, but also because of the misunderstandings that many people in society continue to associate with Hansen's disease. You often encounter very old prejudices, and these become a source of even greater suffering. For my part, I will continue to proclaim before the world the need for even greater awareness that, with appropriate help, this disease can indeed be overcome. For this reason, I ask everyone everywhere to give ever greater support to the courageous efforts being made to eradicate leprosy and to treat effectively those who are still affected by it.  

4. I pray that you will never be discouraged or embittered. Wherever and whenever you encounter the Cross, embrace it as Jesus did, so that the Father's will may be done. May your suffering be offered for the benefit of the whole Church, so that you may say with St Paul: "Therefore I am glad in my sufferings... and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the sake of His Body, which is the Church..." (Col 1:24).  

Three days ago, I beatified sixteen martyrs of Nagasaki in your country. Among them is Blessed Lazarus of Kyoto, who was a leper. How we rejoice at the help that Blessed Lazarus gave to the missionaries as a translator and guide. Ultimately, his commitment to spreading the Gospel cost him his life; he died shedding his blood for the faith. His love for Christ brought him much suffering, even excruciating pain! He experienced misunderstanding, rejection and hatred from others in his service to the Church! But with the strength of God's grace, Blessed Lazarus bore witness to the faith and merited the precious gift of the crown of martyrdom.  

Dear friends, I invite you to imitate the courage of Blessed Lazarus who is so close to you. Share the convictions of your faith with your brothers and sisters who suffer with you. Recall the love of the doctors, nurses and volunteers who care for you so generously. Work to build a living community of faith, a community that supports, strengthens and enriches the universal Church. Here is your service to Christ! Here is the challenge for your life! Here is where you can manifest your faith, your hope and your love!  

May God bless you, dear brothers and sisters! May he bless all those suffering from leprosy in this country! May he bless your families, your friends and all those who care for you! “Ai higit sa lahat, inihahabilin ko ang aking sarili sa inyong panalangin, sa inyong pagmamahal” (And above all, I commend myself to your prayers and your love).

[Pope John Paul II, Address at the Tala Leprosarium, Manila, 21 February 1981]

Today, I would like to focus on the prayer of thanksgiving. And I take my cue from an episode recounted by the Evangelist Luke. While Jesus was on the way, ten lepers approached Him, begging: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (17:13). We know that those who had leprosy suffered not only physically, but also from social marginalization and religious marginalization. They were marginalized. Jesus did not back off from meeting them. Sometimes, he went beyond the limitations imposed by the law and touched the sick — which was not permitted — he embraced and healed them. In this case, there was no contact. From a distance, Jesus invited them to present themselves to the priests (v. 14), who were designated by law to certify any healings that had occurred. Jesus said nothing else. He listened to their prayer, he heard their cry for mercy, and he sent them immediately to the priests.

Those 10 lepers trusted, they did not remain there until they were cured, no: they trusted and they went immediately, and while they were on their way, all 10 of them were cured. The priests would have therefore been able to verify their healing and readmit them to normal life. But here is the most important point: only one in the group, before going to the priests, returned to thank Jesus and to praise God for the grace received. Only one, the other nine continued on their way. And Jesus points out that that man was a Samaritan, a sort of “heretic” for the Jews of that time. Jesus comments: “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (17:18). This narrative is touching.

This narrative, so to speak, divides the world in two: those who do not give thanks and those who do; those who take everything as if it is owed them, and those who welcome everything as a gift, as grace. The Catechism says: “every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving” (n. 2638). The prayer of thanksgiving always begins from here: from the recognition that grace precedes us. We were thought of before we learned how to think; we were loved before we learned how to love; we were desired before our hearts conceived a desire. If we view life like this, then “thank you” becomes the driving force of our day. And how often we even forget to say “thank you”.

For us Christians, thanksgiving was the name given to the most essential Sacrament there is: the Eucharist . In fact, the Greek word means precisely this: thanksgiving . Eucharist: thanksgiving. Christians, as all believers, bless God for the gift of life. To live is above all to have received life. All of us are born because someone wanted us to have life. And this is only the first of a long series of debts that we incur by living. Debts of gratitude. During our lives, more than one person has gazed on us with pure eyes, gratuitously. Often, these people are educators, catechists, persons who carried out their roles above and beyond what was required of them. And they stirred gratitude within us. Even friendship is a gift for which we should always be grateful.

This “thank you” that we must say continually, this thanks that Christians share with everyone, grows in the encounter with Jesus. The Gospels attest that when Jesus passed by, he often stirred joy and praise to God in those who met Him. The Gospel accounts of Christmas are filled with prayerful people whose hearts are greatly moved by the coming of the Saviour. And we too were called to participate in this immense jubilation. The episode of the ten lepers who are healed also suggests this. Naturally, they were all happy about having recovered their health, thus being allowed to end that unending forced quarantine that excluded them from the community. But among them, there was one who experienced an additional joy: in addition to being healed, he rejoices at the encounter with Jesus. He is not only freed from evil, but he now possesses the certainty of being loved. This is the crux: when you thank someone, you express the certainty that you are loved. And this is a huge step: to have the certainty that you are loved. It is the discovery of love as the force that governs the world. Dante would say: the Love that “moves the sun and other stars” (Paradise, XXIII, 145). We are no longer vagabonds wandering aimlessly here and there, no: we have a home, we dwell in Christ, and from that “dwelling” we contemplate the rest of the world which appears infinitely more beautiful to us. We are children of love, we are brothers and sisters of love. We are men and women of grace.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us seek to remain always in the joy of the encounter with Jesus. Let us cultivate joyfulness. The devil, instead, after having deluded us — with whatever temptation — always leaves us sad and alone. If we are in Christ, there is no sin and no threat that can ever prevent us from continuing our journey with joy, along with many fellow travel companions.

Above all, let us not forget to thank: if we are bearers of gratitude, the world itself will become better, even if only a little bit, but that is enough to transmit a bit of hope. The world needs hope. And with gratitude, with this attitude of thanksgiving, we transmit a bit of hope. Everything is united and everything is connected, and each one can do their part wherever they are. The path to happiness is the one that Saint Paul described at the end of one of his letters: “Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit” (1Thess 5:17-19). Do not quench the Spirit, what a beautiful project of life! Not quenching the Spirit that we have within leads us to gratitude.

[Pope Francis, General Audience, 30 December 2020]

Brethren all and ourselves

(Lk 11:27-28)

In ancient mentality, the joy of the mother was the full-blown greatness of the son.

Jesus contests that the authenticity of Bliss may be linked to relations of clans and physical kinship, or to social clamour.

The Lord dismantles every outward appearance. He rejects this crude way of conceiving the fortune of life.

Full Happiness depends on the perception of one’s essential roots, and the precious uniqueness that we are - it does not come to us by social tracing, or by the type of belonging that has always been.

It’s precisely here that the Word of God introduces us into the understanding of the unrepeatable reason why we were born, and drags us in an integral energetic way; making us new every day.

The Word lives in our Eternal side; it is beyond time, and it seems to make us become strangers. Yet it’s not a disharmonious rival.

As we travel to the Goal we do not know, we advance with it. Without definitions first.

Thus the brothers; each in the unfolded and original Word, for growth. Without judgments first.

Sacred Scripture is the key to reading the facts; an Event that crosses us, and at the same time a sort of genetic code.

Intuition and nose for things that allows everyone to relive Christ in a serene and trusting way, despite any worn-out sides of the personality.

Every joy of human relations in the home thus becomes a platform for our leap towards the wider human Family. A wonder.

In this Exodus, particular affections are gradually integrated by discoveries, by an unexpected mission, by the qualitative life of universal sharing.

«Blessed rather are those who listen to the Word of God and guard [it]» (v.28).

Mary generated the Messiah, but - even more - she made the Word uncommon Person.

His true title of glory - what matters about Her - is to have been able to accept the proposal of a path of growth that has rewritten all expectations and history.

In their processes, the secret life with God and the codes of the soul acquire breath and enjoy the loss of already recognized advantages.

In this way, even in devotion to the Mother of God, we want to recognize the value of a journey in progress. 

The ability to field unusual sides, distinct characters; make room inside, then generate them, and feed them.

Often, in fact, costumes or fixed beliefs do not unlock difficult situations, nor allow to activate transformational turns.

They become slipknot laces.

Conversely, the Way of Exodus in the Lord gives an experience of discovery, and revival of virtues to which we have not yet given complete flowering.

Just like for the Mother: in integral Joy, not through quietisms - nor with rivalries that distance us away from brothers all and from ourselves.

[Saturday 27th wk.  in O.T.  October 11, 2025]

Brothers all and ourselves

(Lk 11:27-28)

"At first attachment may look like love, but as it develops it becomes more and more clearly the opposite, characterised by clinging, holding back, fear" (Jack Kornfield).

In the ancient mentality, the joy of the mother was the proclaimed greatness of the son.

Jesus disputes that the authenticity of the Beatitude can be linked to clan relationships and physical kinship, or to social impressions.

The Lord dismantles all externality. He rejects this crude way of conceiving the blessedness of life.

One is not happy because of an illustrious surname or blood. Even being the nephew of a cardinal or king would mean nothing.

Full Happiness depends on the perception of one's essential roots and the precious uniqueness that we are - it does not come to us from a tribe, from social recollection, or because we have always belonged.

It is here that the Word of God introduces us into an understanding of the unique reason why we were born, and draws us into integral energy; making us new every day.

The Word lives in our Eternal side; it is beyond time, and seems to make us foreign. Yet it is not a disharmonious rival.

Travelling towards the Goal we do not know, we advance with it. Without definitions first.

Thus the brothers; each in the unfolded and original Word, for growth. Without judgments first.

Sacred Scripture is a key to reading events; an event that passes through us and at the same time a kind of genetic code.

Sense that allows each one to relive Christ in a serene and confident manner, despite any frayed sides of the personality.

Every joy of human relationships in the home thus becomes a platform for our leap towards the larger human family. An astonishment.

In such an exodus, particular affections are gradually supplemented by discovery, by an unthinking mission, by the qualitative and blissful life of universal sharing.

Mary generated the Messiah, but even more she made the Word an uncommon Person.

Her true title to glory - what is worthy of her - is having been able to accept the proposal of a path of growth that rewrote expectations and history.

Those who cling to the more ordinary aspects of material existence, or of consortia - and to the all-too-poor assurances [to which we gladly cling, however] - risk entering into a terrible crisis when so many assurances crumble.

The personal and social difference between mediocre religiosity and the ideal trajectory of faith?

In their trials, the secret life with God and the codes of the soul gain breath and enjoy the loss of already recognised advantages!

"Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and [keep it]" (v.28).

Blessedness', fullness of being and humanisation, demands a detachment from habitual situations, even of small parental ties - to which we cling.

Sometimes even institutional 'charisma' (or 'kinship') prejudices come to naught.

Customary manners, routine domestications, so many imprisoned emotions, but also group codes... can be an obstacle to the development and flowering of the inner seed that belongs to us.

Thus, even in the devotion to Mary we want to recognise the value of a journey in progress.

We wish to grasp how to welcome the Vocation - be it individual, relationship, community, and the Logos of God itself.

And how to try to understand them in depth, letting them shape our destination.

Let us then seek how to make space within, respecting the distinct characters.

In addition, precisely by re-weaving the knots of being, we might guess how to re-weave the identity-personal character with creative input.

How then to give birth to the other as it proceeds. How to suckle it and nourish it with gradually more solid food, and accompany it, support it.

Finally, how to radiate it, so that it also overflows and unleashes around it the Spirit of Life that ennobles creaturely dignity - exalting its aspirations.

Ancient piety referred to a project of unilateral coexistence, which nevertheless nourished the individual soul in an intimate way.

But sometimes too much 'knowing how to be in the world' [around] did not bring out the unusual sides, which also demanded space.

This also applies to us; especially in times of global crisis.

Avoiding what is surprising does not build communion in the epochal Newness of the divine Spirit: that is, conviviality of differences.

Well, although situated in an era of emergency, the wide-ranging hazard of Faith instead proposes to us a 'fire' of life, of passion.

Here is an alternative intoxication, truly satisfying. A brio that overcomes tacit, suffocating convictions.

Faith's life wants precisely to break the conformist uniformity and its trance of blocks, languages and ties (a slipknot).Conformities or opinions that do not unblock difficult situations, nor enable transformational breakthroughs.

They become [it is worth repeating] slipknots.

Conversely, the Way of Exodus in the Lord gives an experience of discovery and revival of virtues to which we have not yet fully blossomed.

As with the Blessed Mother: in integral Joy, not through quietisms - nor with revenge that distances us from our 'brothers and sisters' and from ourselves.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you feel that your personal story still lies in death, and is not yet redeemed by an Easter victory?

For what reason?

To what full Hope or idea of fortune - to what and to Whom - are you attached?

Or do you allow yourself to be seduced by quietisms, manipulators, and winning mindsets?

Moreover, that Light deep within the shepherd children, which comes from the future of God, is the same Light which was manifested in the fullness of time and came for us all: the Son of God made man. He has the power to inflame the coldest and saddest of hearts, as we see in the case of the disciples on the way to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:32). Henceforth our hope has a real foundation, it is based on an event which belongs to history and at the same time transcends history: Jesus of Nazareth. The enthusiasm roused by his wisdom and his saving power among the people of that time was such that a woman in the midst of the crowd – as we heard in the Gospel – cried out: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you!”. And Jesus said: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Lk 11:27-28). But who finds time to hear God’s word and to let themselves be attracted by his love? Who keeps watch, in the night of doubt and uncertainty, with a heart vigilant in prayer? Who awaits the dawn of the new day, fanning the flame of faith? Faith in God opens before us the horizon of a sure hope, one which does not disappoint; it indicates a solid foundation on which to base one’s life without fear; it demands a faith-filled surrender into the hands of the Love which sustains the world.

“Their descendants shall be known among the nations, […] they are a people whom the Lord has blessed” (Is 61:9) with an unshakable hope which bears fruit in a love which sacrifices for others, yet does not sacrifice others. Rather, as we heard in the second reading, this love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:7). An example and encouragement is to be found in the shepherd children, who offered their whole lives to God and shared them fully with others for love of God. Our Lady helped them to open their hearts to universal love. Blessed Jacinta, in particular, proved tireless in sharing with the needy and in making sacrifices for the conversion of sinners.  Only with this fraternal and generous love will we succeed in building the civilization of love and peace.

[Pope Benedict, homily at Fatima 13 May 2010]

20. The Gospel of Luke records the moment when "a woman in the crowd raised her voice" and said to Jesus: "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!" (Lk. 11:27) These words were an expression of praise of Mary as Jesus' mother according to the flesh. Probably the Mother of Jesus was not personally known to this woman; in fact, when Jesus began his messianic activity Mary did not accompany him but continued to remain at Nazareth. One could say that the words of that unknown woman in a way brought Mary out of her hiddenness.

Through these words, there flashed out in the midst of the crowd, at least for an instant, the gospel of Jesus' infancy. This is the gospel in which Mary is present as the mother who conceives Jesus in her womb, gives him birth and nurses him: the nursing mother referred to by the woman in the crowd. Thanks to this motherhood, Jesus, the Son of the Most High (cf. Lk. 1:32), is a true son of man. He is "flesh," like every other man: he is "the Word (who) became flesh" (cf. Jn. 1:14). He is of the flesh and blood of Mary!43

But to the blessing uttered by that woman upon her who was his mother according to the flesh, Jesus replies in a significant way: "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Lk. 11:28). He wishes to divert attention from motherhood understood only as a fleshly bond, in order to direct it towards those mysterious bonds of the spirit which develop from hearing and keeping God's word.

This same shift into the sphere of spiritual values is seen even more clearly in another response of Jesus reported by all the Synoptics. When Jesus is told that "his mother and brothers are standing outside and wish to see him," he replies: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it" (cf. Lk. 8:20-21). This he said "looking around on those who sat about him," as we read in Mark (3:34) or, according to Matthew (12:49), "stretching out his hand towards his disciples."

These statements seem to fit in with the reply which the twelve- year-old Jesus gave to Mary and Joseph when he was found after three days in the Temple at Jerusalem.

Now, when Jesus left Nazareth and began his public life throughout Palestine, he was completely and exclusively "concerned with his Father's business" (cf. Lk. 2:49). He announced the Kingdom: the "Kingdom of God" and "his Father's business," which add a new dimension and meaning to everything human, and therefore to every human bond, insofar as these things relate to the goals and tasks assigned to every human being. Within this new dimension, also a bond such as that of "brotherhood" means something different from "brotherhood according to the flesh" deriving from a common origin from the same set of parents. "Motherhood," too, in the dimension of the Kingdom of God and in the radius of the fatherhood of God himself, takes on another meaning. In the words reported by Luke, Jesus teaches precisely this new meaning of motherhood.

Is Jesus thereby distancing himself from his mother according to the flesh? Does he perhaps wish to leave her in the hidden obscurity which she herself has chosen? If this seems to be the case from the tone of those words, one must nevertheless note that the new and different motherhood which Jesus speaks of to his disciples refers precisely to Mary in a very special way. Is not Mary the first of "those who hear the word of God and do it"? And therefore does not the blessing uttered by Jesus in response to the woman in the crowd refer primarily to her? Without any doubt, Mary is worthy of blessing by the very fact that she became the mother of Jesus according to the flesh ("Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked"), but also and especially because already at the Annunciation she accepted the word of God, because she believed it, because she was obedient to God, and because she "kept" the word and "pondered it in her heart" (cf. Lk. 1:38, 45; 2:19, 51) and by means of her whole life accomplished it. Thus we can say that the blessing proclaimed by Jesus is not in opposition, despite appearances, to the blessing uttered by the unknown woman, but rather coincides with that blessing in the person of this Virgin Mother, who called herself only "the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk. 1:38). If it is true that "all generations will call her blessed" (cf. Lk. 1:48), then it can be said that the unnamed woman was the first to confirm unwittingly that prophetic phrase of Mary's Magnificat and to begin the Magnificat of the ages.

If through faith Mary became the bearer of the Son given to her by the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, while preserving her virginity intact, in that same faith she discovered and accepted the other dimension of motherhood revealed by Jesus during his messianic mission. One can say that this dimension of motherhood belonged to Mary from the beginning, that is to say from the moment of the conception and birth of her Son. From that time she was "the one who believed." But as the messianic mission of her Son grew clearer to her eyes and spirit, she herself as a mother became ever more open to that new dimension of motherhood which was to constitute her "part" beside her Son. Had she not said from the very beginning: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Lk. 1:38)? Through faith Mary continued to hear and to ponder that word, in which there became ever clearer, in a way "which surpasses knowledge" (Eph. 3:19), the self-revelation of the living God. Thus in a sense Mary as Mother became the first "disciple" of her Son, the first to whom he seemed to say: "Follow me," even before he addressed this call to the Apostles or to anyone else (cf. Jn. 1:43).

[Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Mater]

Jesus’ words enkindled great scandal: he was saying that God decided to manifest himself and accomplish salvation in the weakness of human flesh. It is the mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation of God is what provoked scandal and presented an obstacle for those people — but often for us too. Indeed, Jesus affirms that the true bread of salvation, which transmits eternal life, is his very flesh; that to enter into communion with God, before observing the laws or satisfying religious precepts, it is necessary to live out a real and concrete relationship with him. Because salvation came from him, in his incarnation. This means that one must not pursue God in dreams and in images of grandeur and power, but he must be recognized in the humanity of Jesus and, as a consequence, in that of the brothers and sisters we meet on the path of life. God made himself flesh. And when we say this, in the Creed, on Christmas Day, on the day of the Annunciation, we kneel to worship this mystery of the incarnation. God made himself flesh and blood; he lowered himself to the point of becoming a man like us. He humbled himself to the extent of burdening himself with our sufferings and sin, and therefore he asks us to seek him not outside of life and history, but in relationship with Christ and with our brothers and sisters. Seeking him in life, in history, in our daily life. And this, brothers and sisters, is the road to the encounter with God: the relationship with Christ and our brothers and sisters.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 22 August 2021]