In today’s Gospel the Evangelist Luke writes about Jesus who, on the way to Jerusalem, enters a village and is welcomed into the home of two sisters: Martha and Mary (cf. Lk 10:38-42). Both welcome the Lord, but they do so in different ways. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet and listens to his words (cf. v. 39), whereas Martha is completely caught up in preparing things; at a certain point she says to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me” (v. 40). Jesus responds to her: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her” (vv. 41-42). 

In bustling about and busying herself, Martha risks forgetting — and this is the problem — the most important thing, which is the presence of the guest, Jesus in this case. She forgets about the presence of the guest. A guest is not merely to be served, fed, looked after in every way. Most importantly he ought to be listened to. Remember this word: Listen! A guest should be welcomed as a person, with a story, his heart rich with feelings and thoughts, so that he may truly feel like he is among family. If you welcome a guest into your home but continue doing other things, letting him just sit there, both of you in silence, it is as if he were of stone: a guest of stone. No. A guest is to be listened to. Of course, Jesus’ response to Martha — when he tells her that there is only one thing that needs to be done — finds its full significance in reference to listening to the very word of Jesus, that word which illuminates and supports all that we are and what we do. If we go to pray, for example, before the Crucifix, and we talk, talk, talk, and then we leave, we do not listen to Jesus. We do not allow him to speak to our heart. Listen: this is the key word. Do not forget! And we must not forget that in the house of Martha and Mary, Jesus, before being Lord and Master, is a pilgrim and guest. Thus, his response has this significance first and foremost: “Martha, Martha why do you busy yourself doing so much for this guest even to the point of forgetting about his presence? — A guest of stone! — Not much is necessary to welcome him; indeed, only one thing is needed: listen to him — this is the word: listen to him — be brotherly to him, let him realize he is among family and not in a temporary shelter. 

Understood in this light, hospitality, which is one of the works of mercy, is revealed as a truly human and Christian virtue, a virtue which in today’s world is at risk of being overlooked. In fact, nursing homes and hospices are multiplying, but true hospitality is not always practised in these environments. Various institutions are opened to care for many types of disease, of loneliness, of marginalization, but opportunities are decreasing for those who are foreign, marginalized, excluded, from finding someone ready to listen to them: because they are foreigners, refugees, migrants. Listen to that painful story. Even in one’s own home, among one’s own family members, it might be easier to find services and care of various kinds rather than listening and welcome. Today we are so taken, by excitement, by countless problems — some of which are not important — that we lack the capacity to listen. We are constantly busy and thus we have no time to listen. I would like to ask you, to pose a question to you, each one answer in your own heart: do you, husband, take time to listen to your wife? And do you, woman, take time to listen to your husband? Do you, parents, take time, time to “waste”, to listen to your children? or your grandparents, the elderly? — “But grandparents always say the same things, they are boring...” — But they need to be listened to! Listen. I ask that you learn to listen and to devote more of your time. The root of peace lies in the capacity to listen.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of listening and of service and of attentive care, teach us to be welcoming and hospitable to our brothers and our sisters.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 17 July 2016]

Not from the precept, but from the overthrow

(Lk 10:25-37)

«You are a fool and a samaritan!» - so the Jewish leaders (Jn 8:48). «No, I am not crazy...»: this is how the Stranger defended himself from the accusation that the fanatics moved to him, of being a possessed, obsessed and mentally ill.

Yet he quietly accepted the infamous title of «Samaritan»... epithet that designated one out of the loop, a vilified by decent people. 

An excluded person from the sacred enclosure; practically alien, irritating, avulsive, heretic and impure: a «bastard» and deranged who allowed himself to preach love in all decisions [heart], at every moment [life], with any of the resources [forces], not excluding intelligence, nor the others’ legitimate desire for the full being (v.27).

Well, the non-careless perception and the very sensitive work of a "mestizo" seem to be those of God!

They answer the crucial, intimate question: «Who loves me first, so that feeling welcomed, adequate and appreciated, I too can love my neighbour?» (v.29).

We know the Gospel passage. Those obsessed with ritual purity [the ministers who had just officiated] become ruthless.

And here is a new Decalogue, with an accumulation of "verbs" of the «take charge»:

«He came near, and saw him, moved to piety, went down, poured out his first aid, wrapped the wounds, loaded the wretched on the mount, brought him in the abode that receives everyone, took care, pulled out money».

Finally He exposed himself, with special regard also for a thoughtful and further look: «I will return to pay, where necessary».

The Ten authentic new Decrees deify us without deception, in harmony with the plan and the feeling of the Father in our favor: neither He nor his intimates ‘pass beyond’ the victims.

Promise and concern that ramify on our future: when there should be something else to be put in addition, the Friend Rescuer will give it in more and always.

From here Love starts: from Someone who considers us, without conditions.

Therefore, despite the risk of becoming entangled in the situation, even the common sons of God ‘notice’ the wounds, and does not “neglect” the shaky persons.

They identifiy with, preferring to challenge the events - redeeming the beaten, cornered as refusals that now await only the coup de grâce.

He’s a God of concrete experience; without patterns. And He tells us:

We are totally lovable in every condition, not "wrong" or marked for life.

From this awareness springs the desire and energy of altruistic love - even unknown and without reputation.

As the encyclical Brothers All emphasizes, so it will be possible to «start from below and, case by case, act at the most concrete and local levels, and then expand to the farthest reaches of our countries and our world, with the same care and concern that the Samaritan showed for each of the wounded man’s injuries» (n.78).

In the desert of Judah, on an engraved stone of a caravanserai that a tradition wanted to identify as the Everyone’s Home [image of the Church] to which Jesus referred in the parable - more or less halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho - an anonymous pilgrim wrote in medieval Latin:

«If even priests and the churchmen pass over your anguish, know that Christ is the good Samaritan, who will always have compassion on you, and in the hour of your death He will introduce you in the eternal Inn. Whoever you are, He will take you there».

[Monday 27th wk. in O.T.  October 6, 2025]

Not from the precept, but from the overthrow

(Lk 10:25-37)

"You are a fool and a Samaritan!" - accused the Jewish leaders (Jn 8:48). "No, I am not mad...": this is how the Stranger defended himself against the accusation that the fanatics made against him, that he was possessed, obsessed and mentally ill.

Yet he calmly accepted the infamous title of 'Samaritan'... an epithet designating one who was out of the loop, vilified by decent people. 

One excluded from the sacred enclosure; practically an outsider, an irritant, an outsider, a heretic and impure: a 'bastard' and unbalanced, uninterested in his career, in the face of which one had to find strength in coalition.

The ancient religion seemed to have achieved tried and tested balances, sustained by the leadership of the interested alliance between throne and altar. Yet there was nervousness and dissatisfaction in the faithful.

The leaders quoted Scripture from memory, but to create restrictions - demonising those who did not immediately recognise them as 'authority'.

According to the Law - Leviticus and Numbers - the rules of purity prevented those who officiated in the Temple from touching a wounded person.

But the practitioners of the sacred do not understand that ancient procedures are worthless if they cause suffering to others.

By sacralising their own grievances, the legalists in the parable imagine that they do not have to learn anything, so they become perhaps worse than the insensitive and qualunquist: to us they appear rather, cruel and inhuman.

When there is a conflict between religious norms and the good of the brothers, they already have their excuses ready: they do not even notice the others. Painful events do not call them out, do not concern them.

In this way, even the traps of the vain against Jesus were never dialogue: always projections.

And the questions were only hurled to ridicule him, not to understand - question - or create freedom.

In short: what matters to some is the integrity of the doctrine-discipline and the prestige of the institution (which rules it).

Yet we ask ourselves: how much is the joy of humanity, and the good of the unfortunate, worth?

The man of 'titles' has no doubts whatsoever.

On the other hand, the careless perception and sensitive work of a 'half-breed' seem to be those of God himself!

The Lord gladly narrated his proposal of sharing, and of the new face of the believer.

Let us say it in words closer to us:

"Listen... no curtains: Love has no end point, and the believer is not one who obeys external provisions, but one who resembles God!".

After a brief reflexive gasp that he tried to disguise, the disposition expert retorted:

"Nice to say, of course; but how is it done in practice?".

And Jesus:

"In the same way as you think and equip yourself and desire fullness of life for yourself: in every decision [heart], in every moment of the way [life], with any of your resources [strength], not excluding intelligence" (cf. Mk 12:29-31), nor the legitimate desire for the life of others (v.27).

Already boiling over, the veteran squabbler played his last cards:

"I have to put a boundary on my neighbour, don't I?! And I justify myself again: who is 'my' neighbour?" (Lk 10:29).

"That is: who ever listens and loves me first, so that I can really do to others what I always desire for myself, even to those far away and enemies?"

"They do not feed us... and perhaps do not even respect us! So who is first 'to me' neighbour?"

Again the doctor of the law 'stood over', looming over the onlookers; but the different Rabbi did not flinch.

In conversations he was often forced (and accustomed) to lift his head, looking up at his interlocutor.

Everyone posed as an expert and chosen one, ready to scrutinise and judge; no one to be a disciple, subordinate and servant like him.

This is how he had behaved both with Zacchaeus (Lk 19:5) and with the adulteress - perhaps caught in the act by the group of peepers and watchers of public decency in Jerusalem (Jn 8, vv. 2.6-8.10; Greek text).

That carpenter's son proclaimed Father the One who related from below, without prior judgement; who made himself the Servant of man, putting himself on a par with the least.

In short, the crucial question was:

"Who loves me first, so that by feeling welcome, adequate and appreciated, I too may love my neighbour"?

The young Rabbi then told a story, to emphasise who is neighbour - He who is first Intimate and Close to us; so that we too are generated to proximity.

The ancient list of the Ten Commandments had over time become almost only an underlining of natural transience.

It was a code that imbued and exhausted the very souls most attentive to the ideal of perfection.

The last of the famous Words was summarising, but terrible: "Thou shalt not covet"!

It had spread dramatic lacerations and a sense of emptiness in the affairs of those closest to them who continued to attempt the impossible adventure.

Thus, the obsessives of ritual purity [priest and sacristan who had just officiated] became - by Law - ruthless.Instead, here proclaimed - by the stranger who had just arrived - a new Decalogue, with an accumulation of "verbs" of "taking charge":

"He came near, saw him, moved to pity, went down, poured out his first aid, bound up his wounds, loaded on his horse, carried to the dwelling that welcomes all, took care, brought out money".

Finally, he expounded, with special regard also for a caring and additional outlook: 'I will return to pay, where necessary'.

The authentic Ten New Decrees deify us without deception, in keeping with the Father's plan and feeling on our behalf: neither He nor His "pass over" victims.

In short, the Lord announced a different "Sacrifice".

In the custom of the time, through worship, the victim was supposed to be taken out of profane contact, in a bloody manner; on an altar.

With this sacral practice, the priests ideally introduced the victim into the world of the Most High, through the shedding of blood or a holocaust.

Instead, the Messiah did not want to distance the criteria of sanctification from the lives of ordinary people.

That which is made sacred [sacrifice: sacer-sacrum facere] must never depart from reality. It does not pass into the sphere of purity by means of a 'separation' from the weekday unclean.

For Jesus it is Communion - conviviality of differences - that transfigures the ordinary into the "Holy", because such a relationship makes the weak strong; and lifts all from misery.

Promise and concern that branch out into our future: when there is something else to be added, the Relief Friend will give it more and always.

This is where Love starts: from Someone who considers us, unconditionally.

Therefore, despite the risk of getting entangled in the situation, even the ordinary child of God notices and does not pass over the shaky person.

He identifies with it, preferring to defy the unknowns - and redeem the beaten, cornered like a reject who now only awaits the coup de grace.

He is a God of concrete experience; without schemes. And he tells us:

We are totally lovable in every condition, not 'wrong' or scarred for life.

From such awareness springs the desire and energy of selfless love - even unknown and without reputation.

As the encyclical Fratelli Tutti emphasises, so it will be "possible to start from the bottom and case by case, to fight for what is most concrete and local, to the last corner of the homeland and the world, with the same care that the wayfarer of Samaria had for every wounded man's wound" (No.78).

In the wilderness of Judah, on an engraved stone of a caravanserai that one tradition has identified as the Everyone’s House [image of the Church] to which Jesus referred in the parable - more or less halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho - an anonymous pilgrim wrote in medieval Latin

"If even priests and churchmen pass over your distress, know that Christ is the Good Samaritan, who will always have compassion on you, and at the hour of your death will bring you into the eternal inn. Whoever you are, He will take you there".

18. Love of neighbour is thus shown to be possible in the way proclaimed by the Bible, by Jesus. It consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. Going beyond exterior appearances, I perceive in others an interior desire for a sign of love, of concern. This I can offer them not only through the organizations intended for such purposes, accepting it perhaps as a political necessity. Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave. Here we see the necessary interplay between love of God and love of neighbour which the First Letter of John speaks of with such insistence. If I have no contact whatsoever with God in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and I am incapable of seeing in him the image of God. But if in my life I fail completely to heed others, solely out of a desire to be “devout” and to perform my “religious duties”, then my relationship with God will also grow arid. It becomes merely “proper”, but loveless. Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me. The saints—consider the example of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta—constantly renewed their capacity for love of neighbour from their encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its real- ism and depth in their service to others. Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a “commandment” imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).

[Pope Benedict, Deus Caritas est]

The different commandments of the Decalogue are really only so many reflections of the one commandment about the good of the person, at the level of the many different goods which characterize his identity as a spiritual and bodily being in relationship with God, with his neighbour and with the material world. As we read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "the Ten Commandments are part of God's Revelation. At the same time, they teach us man's true humanity. They shed light on the essential duties, and so indirectly on the fundamental rights, inherent in the nature of the human person".22

The commandments of which Jesus reminds the young man are meant to safeguard the good of the person, the image of God, by protecting his goods. "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness" are moral rules formulated in terms of prohibitions. These negative precepts express with particular force the ever urgent need to protect human life, the communion of persons in marriage, private property, truthfulness and people's good name.

The commandments thus represent the basic condition for love of neighbour; at the same time they are the proof of that love. They are the first necessary step on the journey towards freedom, its starting-point. "The beginning of freedom", Saint Augustine writes, "is to be free from crimes... such as murder, adultery, fornication, theft, fraud, sacrilege and so forth. When once one is without these crimes (and every Christian should be without them), one begins to lift up one's head towards freedom. But this is only the beginning of freedom, not perfect freedom...".23

14. This certainly does not mean that Christ wishes to put the love of neighbour higher than, or even to set it apart from, the love of God. This is evident from his conversation with the teacher of the Law, who asked him a question very much like the one asked by the young man. Jesus refers him to the two commandments of love of God and love of neighbour (cf. Lk 10:25-27), and reminds him that only by observing them will he have eternal life: "Do this, and you will live" (Lk 10:28). Nonetheless it is significant that it is precisely the second of these commandments which arouses the curiosity of the teacher of the Law, who asks him: "And who is my neighbour?" (Lk 10:29). The Teacher replies with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is critical for fully understanding the commandment of love of neighbour (cf. Lk 10:30-37).

These two commandments, on which "depend all the Law and the Prophets" (Mt 22:40), are profoundly connected and mutually related. Their inseparable unity is attested to by Christ in his words and by his very life: his mission culminates in the Cross of our Redemption (cf. Jn 3:14-15), the sign of his indivisible love for the Father and for humanity (cf. Jn 13:1).

Both the Old and the New Testaments explicitly affirm that without love of neighbour, made concrete in keeping the commandments, genuine love for God is not possible. Saint John makes the point with extraordinary forcefulness: "If anyone says, 'I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen" (Jn 4:20). The Evangelist echoes the moral preaching of Christ, expressed in a wonderful and unambiguous way in the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:30-37) and in his words about the final judgment (cf. Mt 25:31-46).

15. In the "Sermon on the Mount", the magna charta of Gospel morality,24 Jesus says: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them" (Mt 5:17). Christ is the key to the Scriptures: "You search the Scriptures...; and it is they that bear witness to me" (Jn 5:39). Christ is the centre of the economy of salvation, the recapitulation of the Old and New Testaments, of the promises of the Law and of their fulfilment in the Gospel; he is the living and eternal link between the Old and the New Covenants. Commenting on Paul's statement that "Christ is the end of the law" (Rom 10:4), Saint Ambrose writes: "end not in the sense of a deficiency, but in the sense of the fullness of the Law: a fullness which is achieved in Christ (plenitudo legis in Christo est), since he came not to abolish the Law but to bring it to fulfilment. In the same way that there is an Old Testament, but all truth is in the New Testament, so it is for the Law: what was given through Moses is a figure of the true law. Therefore, the Mosaic Law is an image of the truth".25

Jesus brings God's commandments to fulfilment, particularly the commandment of love of neighbour, by interiorizing their demands and by bringing out their fullest meaning. Love of neighbour springs from a loving heart which, precisely because it loves, is ready to live out the loftiest challenges. Jesus shows that the commandments must not be understood as a minimum limit not to be gone beyond, but rather as a path involving a moral and spiritual journey towards perfection, at the heart of which is love (cf. Col 3:14). Thus the commandment "You shall not murder" becomes a call to an attentive love which protects and promotes the life of one's neighbour. The precept prohibiting adultery becomes an invitation to a pure way of looking at others, capable of respecting the spousal meaning of the body: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment'. But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment... You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'. But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt 5:21-22, 27-28). Jesus himself is the living "fulfilment" of the Law inasmuch as he fulfils its authentic meaning by the total gift of himself: he himself becomes a living and personal Law, who invites people to follow him; through the Spirit, he gives the grace to share his own life and love and provides the strength to bear witness to that love in personal choices and actions (cf. Jn 13:34-35).

[Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor nn.13-15]

Today the Gospel presents the well-known parable of the “Good Samaritan” (cf. Lk 10:25-37). When questioned by a doctor of the law on what is necessary to inherit eternal life, Jesus invites him to find the answer in the Scriptures, and says: “You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself” (v. 27). There were, however, different interpretations of who was intended as “neighbour”. In fact, that man also asks: “And who is my neighbour?” (v. 29). At this point, Jesus responds with the parable, this beautiful parable — I invite all of you to take up the Gospel today, the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, verse 25. It is one of the most beautiful parables in the Gospel. And this parable has become the paradigm of Christian life. It has become the example of how a Christian should act. Thanks to the Gospel of Luke, we have this treasure. 

The protagonist of the brief narrative is a Samaritan who, along the road encounters a man stripped and beaten by robbers, and takes care of him. We know that the Jews treated Samaritans with contempt, considering them as outsiders to the chosen people. Thus, it is no coincidence that Jesus chooses precisely a Samaritan as the positive character in the parable. In this way he seeks to overcome prejudice, by showing that even a foreigner, even one who does not know the true God and does not attend his temple, is capable of acting according to His will, showing compassion for a needy brother and helping him with all the means at his disposal.

Along that same road, before the Samaritan, a priest and a Levite had already passed — that is, people dedicated to the worship of God. However, on seeing the poor man on the ground, they continued on without stopping, probably so as not to be contaminated with his blood. They had prioritized a human rule — not to be contaminated with blood — linked to worship, over the great commandment of God who wants mercy above all. 

Jesus therefore, offers the Samaritan as an example — precisely one who did not have faith! Let us also consider the many people we know, perhaps agnostics, who do good. As a model, Jesus chooses one who was not a man of faith. And this man, by loving his brother as himself, shows that he loves God with all his heart and with all his strength — the God whom he does not know! — and at the same time expresses true religiosity and full humanity. 

After recounting this very beautiful parable, Jesus again addresses the doctor of the law who had asked Him “Who is my neighbour?”, and Jesus asks him: “Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbour to the man who fell among the robbers?” (v. 36). In this way he throws the question back to his interlocutor, and also overturns the mindset of us all. He makes us understand that based on our criteria, it is not we who define who is neighbour and who is not, but it is the person in a situation of need who must be able to recognize who is his neighbour, that is, “the one who showed mercy on him” (v. 37). Being able to have compassion: this is the key. This is our key. If you do not feel compassion before a needy person, if your heart is not moved, it means that something is not right. Be careful; let us be careful. 

Let us not allow ourselves to get carried away by egotistical insensitivity. The capacity for compassion has become the touchstone of Christians, indeed of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus himself is the Father’s compassion towards us. If you go along the street and see a homeless person lying there and pass him by without looking at him or you think: “well, it’s the effect of wine. He is a drunk”, do not ask yourself whether the man is drunk; ask yourself whether your heart has hardened, whether your heart has turned to ice. This conclusion indicates that mercy towards a human life in a state of need is the true face of love. This is how one becomes a true disciple of Jesus and the face of the Father is manifested: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). And God, our Father, is merciful because he is compassionate. He is able to have this compassion, to draw near to our suffering, our sin, our vices, our miseries.

May the Virgin Mary help us to understand and above all to experience ever more the unbreakable bond between God, our Father, and concrete and generous love for our brothers and sisters, and may she give us the grace to be compassionate and to grow in compassion.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 14 July 2019]

(Lk 17:5-10)

Increase Faith? The Gift is not a material alms, but an Appeal. Therefore Jesus doesn’t even answer - nevertheless he makes us reflect on the results of the eventual adhesion.

A minimum involvement would suffice and extraordinary results would be produced in the world (v.6); in communities, in families, in personal life.

We would achieve the impossible and important. The real problems would be solved. Even the simplest actions would be transformed.

Very provocative words, those of Jesus, that neither condemn a priori nor demonize the Way contrary to his.

But he puts us on notice about how things work in the pyramidal environment (vv.7-9).

«When you have done all that you have been "ordered"...» (v.10).

The Lord alludes to the obedience of the Torah, and would like to free us from the obsessive, limiting, petty and anxiety-inducing yoke of the ancient Law. 

It produces impoverishment of souls.

It’s as if the Lord were saying:

«Try along to follow the predictable, plastered, shock-free model... Try and you will see on your skin what inconclusiveness, what lacerations and disasters it produces!».

In a perspective of Faith and human growth in Christ, the standard scheme (limiting) «subjected-Sovereign» must be abandoned.

It removes expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The welcoming-likeness Faith will lead us instead to grow from ‘useless’ slaves to Sons; collaborators and allies of the Father.

From narrow submissive and obedient slaves, to family members, friends and consanguineous-resembling.

Otherwise we will remain in the childish condition of big kids and roundsmen «of no account» (v.10) who do not express themselves or reinterpret, but remain subjected and do only "what they must".

The religion of merits and roles is deleterious; it produces malaise, it goes on by inertia and with a defensive attitude.

It does not reinvent the present, nor does it open the future.

It does not listen to needs, rather it pushes us to imprint relationships on the basis of selfishness, even spiritual.

Here we no longer look at what spontaneously appears - forcing our faculties to all predictable, conformist assessments.

Life therefore impoverishes, desertifying itself, because it’s intimidated.

Becoming an absurd farce that Jesus doesn’t want: a jumble of swampy attitudes, unable to reactivate us - inattentive to special actions that turn routine into adventure.

To paraphrase the encyclical Brothers All, in those conditions it would sound «like madness» also to elaborate «great goals for the development of our entire human family» (n.16).

There would be no sense of the Mystery, never perceiving it in the furrows of history: we would drag ourselves into remedies, protecting only the usual grind newspaper.

Therefore no unexpected change, no unexplained transformation, no exceptional recovery (v.6).

No unpredictability would see the ‘sacred’ in the thousand situations that Providence invents, stimulating new answers.

The mystic Ibn Ata Allah - Master of the two Sciences [wisdom of analysis and experience of mystical inebriation] - argued:

«If you want that the door of the fear is opened to you, look at what from you goes to Him. If you want that the door of the Hope is opened to you, look at what comes from Him to you».

[27th Sunday in O.T.  (year C), October 5, 2025]

Luke 17:5-10 (1-10)

Forgiveness and Faith: a living Encounter

Free, eccentric, forward-looking: the sacrament of humanity as such

(Lk 17:1-6)

Knowledge of God is not a confiscated good or an acquired and already seized science: it moves from one action to another, incessantly; it is realised in an ever-living Encounter, which neither blocks nor dissolves us.

Typical is the experience of the 'little ones' [mikròi v.2]. Since the earliest communities of faith, they have been those who lacked security and energy; unstable and without support.

The 'little ones' have always been the beginners, the newcomers who have heard about Christian brotherhood but who are sometimes forced to stand aside or give up the journey.

But the criterion of welcome, tolerance, and communion, even of material goods, was the first and main catalyst for the growth of the assemblies.

Indeed, it is the source and meaning of all the formulas and signs of the liturgy.

The existential and ideal centre to converge on. For a proactive and transformative Faith.

In the Spirit of the Master, even for us, the reconciliation of friction is not simply a work of magnanimity.

It is the beginning of the future world. The beginning of an unpredictable and indescribable adventure. And with it, we are suddenly reborn: we come into direct contact with Christ. He who does not extinguish us at all.

Hence the Christian forgiveness of children, which is not... 'looking on the bright side' and 'turning a blind eye': rather, it is God's Newness that creates an environment of Grace, propulsive, with enormous possibilities.

A force that bursts in and paradoxically allows the dark poles to meet, instead of shaking them off. Genuinely eliminating comparisons, words and useless ballast that block the transparent Exodus.

A dynamic that leads to the indispensable and essential: to shift one's gaze. Teaching us to notice our own hysteria, to know ourselves, to face anxiety and its cause, to manage situations and moments of crisis.

A malleable virtue that allows us to listen intimately to our personal essence.

Therefore, solid, broad empathy that introduces new energies; it brings together one's deepest states, even standard life... arousing other knowledge, different perspectives, unexpected relationships.

Thus, without too much struggle, it renews us and curbs the loss of truthfulness [typical of circumstantial manners]. It accentuates the capacities and horizons of Peace - breaking down primates and stagnant equilibriums.

The discovery of new aspects of our being conveys a sense of greater completeness, thus spontaneously stemming external influences, dissolving prejudices, and preventing us from acting on an emotional, impulsive basis.

Rather, it places us in a position to reveal the hidden and astonishing meaning of being. Unfolding the crucial horizon.

Activating 'Forgiveness' is a free restoration of one's character, of all lost dignity, and much more.

By setting aside judgements, the art of tolerance broadens our gaze [even our inner gaze]. It improves and enhances the dull aspects; those that we ourselves had detested.

In this eccentric way, it transforms those considered distant or mediocre [mikroi] into trailblazers and brilliant inventors. Because what was unthinkable yesterday will be clarification and traction tomorrow.

Confusion will acquire meaning - precisely thanks to the thinking of minds in crisis, and to the actions of the despised, the intruders, those outside any circle or predictability.

A life of pure Faith in the Spirit: that is, the imagination of the 'weak'... in power.

Because it is the paradoxical mechanism that evaluates the crossroads of history, activates passions, creates sharing, and solves real problems.

And so it supplants difficult moments (bringing us back to the true path) by orienting reality towards concrete good.

Making it fly towards itself.

The 'victory-or-defeat' alternative is false: we must get out of it. It is in this 'void' and Silence that God makes his way.

The mystery of Presence, which overflows. New Covenant.

Increasing Faith: a boring, intimidated life, or the door to Hope

Perhaps we too have been taught that we must ask for faith, so that God will increase it. Instead, we have a say, but not in the sense of an advance to be made to Heaven.

Faith is a gift, but in the sense of a proposal and relational initiative, face to face, which requires a welcoming perception. Therefore, it does not grow by falling from a package - as if from a precipice, or by infusion from above. Even by forcing it and convincing the Father.

Nor is it a simple assent linked to a good-natured character. It is not a baggage of notions that some people have and demonstrate in the right way; others less so, or not at all.

When falling in love, one can be more or less involved!

Faith is not believing that God exists, but adhering to a spontaneous suggestion that (without impositions) guides us to disregard reputation.

A person of faith does not mind expenses or risks, even for the lives of others. They put particular customs on hold; they do not put the affections of their circle first. They forgive without limits.

We often agree only in part and accept a little something - perhaps until love goes all the way, or calls us into question.

So too our minds, our affections, our chain of values, and the small world to which we are attached.

Increasing Faith? The Gift is not a present, but a Call.

Therefore, Jesus does not even respond to such a ridiculous request - nevertheless, he makes us reflect on the results of possible adherence.

A minimal involvement would suffice, and extraordinary results would be produced in the world (v. 6); in communities, in families, and in personal lives.

We would achieve the impossible and the important. Real problems would be solved. Even the simplest actions would be transformed.

Then there are great events planted in the heart of every person, which we may consider unachievable: e.g. universal brotherhood, victory over hunger, a dignified and beautiful life for all, a world and a Church without volatile, corrupt and vain people.

Since we consider these situations impossible, we do not even begin to build them - we immediately give up.

But maturity is the fruit of secret sides, not of impervious mental armour.

As a Nobel Prize winner said: 'The innocent did not know that their project was impossible, so they achieved it'.

And it is not that after a life spent in service – under the orders of the Principal – in the afterlife we will finally command, on the basis of the rank we have achieved [although even this may have been handed down to us].

One of the wonders that faith in Christ accomplishes in us - here and now - is to make us aware of the beauty and joy of having the freedom to step down from our pedestals, in order to promote a full life (for everyone).

And at the 'end of the month' – at the 'reckoning' or 'payday' – we will not finally become bosses – at least not in heaven!

Because God is Communion, conviviality of differences; and does not accept the servant-master scheme, even as a reward.

Jesus' words are very provocative, yet they do not condemn a priori or demonise the Way contrary to his own.

But he warns us about how things work in a pyramidal environment (vv. 7-9).

'When you have done all that you have been "commanded" to do...' (v. 10).

The Lord alludes to obedience to the Torah, and would like to free us from the obsessive, limiting, petty and anxiety-inducing yoke of ancient religious law. 

It produces artificial and false hierarchies, social collapse, and the impoverishment of souls.

It is as if the Lord were saying:

"Go ahead and follow the predictable, pious, correct, rigid and uneventful model...

Try it and you will see for yourselves what inconclusiveness, what lacerations and disasters it produces.

Go ahead and experience it, so you will realise it, once and for all!"

From the perspective of faith and human growth in Christ, we must abandon the limiting standard model of 'subject-Sovereign' imposed by Moses.

How boring! People and friendship cannot be put in the bank!

And after the first discoveries, there is no going back to cultivating bonds - otherwise, obligatory behaviour will cause us big problems.

They will take away the expressive richness of the Proclamation and of life.

Perhaps we already know what it means to feel like numbers, to copy the (theatrical) emancipation of others and consequently seek external compensation; or to fill ourselves with ulterior motives, thus cheating and spoiling.

'Try to be satisfied with official, conformist and normalised religiosity, instead of engaging in research and discovery without compensation; in the Exodus and in the adventure of adhering to a higher level of Love! You will see what an impediment to change, what a degradation of relationships, what a life full of resentment, insipid and empty!'.

Faith in acceptance and similarity will instead lead us to grow from useless slaves to Children; collaborators and allies of the Father.

From narrow-minded, submissive and obedient followers to family members, friends and blood relatives who resemble us.

Otherwise, we will remain in the childish condition of 'worthless' children and servants (v. 10) who do not express themselves or reinterpret, but remain subjugated and only do 'what they must'.

The religion of merits and roles is deleterious; it produces malaise. It manages the real estate empire but moves forward by inertia and with a defensive attitude.

It does not reinvent the present, nor does it open up the future.

It does not listen to needs, but rather pushes us to base our relationships on selfishness, even spiritual selfishness.

Here, we no longer look at what arises spontaneously, forcing our faculties into predictable, conformist assessments.

Life thus becomes impoverished, desertifying itself because it is intimidated.

It becomes an absurd farce that Jesus does not want: a jumble of stagnant attitudes, incapable of reactivating us, inattentive to the special actions that transform routine into adventure.To paraphrase the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, in those conditions it would sound 'like delirium' even to elaborate 'great goals for the development of all humanity' (n.16).

The sense of Mystery would be lacking, never perceived in the furrows of history: we would drag ourselves along with remedies, protecting only the daily grind.

The relationship of Friendship and Gratuitousness would be replaced by an induced model (and in Italy, unfortunately, we know it well).

A model that does not allow us to encounter ourselves and others; indeed, it would even distort our relationship with God.

Salaried employees - less human and less unique - means less 'divine': everything already known, guided and predicted, as in the plots of puppets on any stage.

No unexpected changes; no inexplicable transformations.

No exceptional recovery, no astonishing human and cultural wonders (v.6).

No unpredictability that discerns the 'sacred' in the thousand situations that Providence invents, stimulating new responses.

The mystic Ibn Ata Allah - Master of the Two Sciences [wisdom of analysis and experience of mystical ecstasy] - argued:

'If you want the door of fear to open, look at what goes from you to Him. If you want the door of Hope to open, look at what comes from Him to you'.

To internalise and live the message:

What would you like to do for God? How do you live Hope?

Dear brothers and sisters, every liturgical assembly is a place of God's presence. Gathered together for the Holy Eucharist, disciples of the Lord are immersed in Christ's redeeming sacrifice, they proclaim that he is Risen, is alive and is the Giver of life, and witness that his Presence is grace, strength and joy. Let us open our hearts to his Word and welcome the gift of his presence! All the texts of this Sunday's Liturgy speak to us of faith, which is the foundation of the whole of Christian life. Jesus taught his disciples to grow in faith, to believe and to entrust themselves increasingly to him, in order to build their own lives on the rock. For this reason they asked him "increase our faith!" (Lk 17: 5). What they asked the Lord for is beautiful, it is the fundamental request: disciples do not ask for material gifts, they do not ask for privileges but for the grace of faith, which guides and illumines the whole of life; they ask for the grace to recognize God and to be in a close relationship with him, receiving from him all his gifts, even those of courage, love and hope. 

Jesus, without directly answering their prayer, has recourse to a paradoxical image to express the incredible vitality of faith. Just as a lever raises something far heavier than its own weight, so faith, even a crumb of faith, can do unthinkable, extraordinary things, such as uproot a great tree and plant it in the sea (ibid.). Faith trusting in Christ, welcoming him, letting him transform us, following him to the very end makes humanly impossible things possible in every situation. The Prophet Habbakuk also bears witness to this in the First Reading. He implores the Lord, starting with a dreadful situation of violence, iniquity and oppression. And even in this difficult, insecure situation, the Prophet introduces a vision that offers an inside view of the plan that God is outlining and bringing to fulfilment in history: "He whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith" (Hab 2: 4). The godless person, the one who does not behave in accordance with God, who trusts in his own power but is relying on a frail and inconsistent reality that will therefore give way, is destined to fall; the righteous person, on the other hand, trusts in a hidden but sound reality, he trusts in God and for this reason will have life.

[…]

The second part of today's Gospel presents another teaching, a teaching of humility that is nevertheless closely linked to faith. Jesus invites us to be humble and suggests the example of a servant who has worked in the fields. When he returns home, the master asks him to go on working. According to the mentality of Jesus' time the master had every right to do this. The servant owed his master total availability; and the master did not feel under any obligation to him for having carried out the orders he had received. Jesus makes us aware that, before God, we are in a similar situation: we are God's servants, we are not his creditors but are always indebted to him, because we owe him everything since everything is a gift from him. Accepting and doing his will is the approach to have every day, at every moment of our life. Before God we must never present ourselves as if we believe we have done a service and deserve a great reward. This is an illusion that can be born in everyone, even in people who work very hard in the Lord's service, in the Church. Rather, we must be aware that in reality we never do enough for God. We must say, as Jesus' suggests: "we are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty" (Lk 17: 10). This is an attitude of humility that really puts us in our place and permits the Lord to be very generous to us. In fact, in another Gospel passage, he promises people that "he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them" (cf. Lk 12: 37). Dear friends, if we do God's will today with humility, without claiming anything from him, it will be Jesus himself who serves us, who helps us, who encourages us, who gives us strength and serenity.

[Pope Benedict, homily in Palermo, 3 October 2010]

2. The conciliar text, presenting the Church as a 'prophetic community', relates this character to the function of 'witness' for which it was willed and founded by Jesus. In fact, the Council says that the Church 'spreads the living witness of Christ'. The reference to Christ's words in the New Testament is clear. First of all, to those addressed by the risen Lord to the Apostles, and reported in the Acts: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8). With these words, Jesus Christ emphasises that the fulfilment of the function of witness, which is the particular task of the Apostles, depends on the sending of the Holy Spirit promised by him, which took place on the day of Pentecost. By virtue of the Paraclete, who is the Spirit of truth, witness to Christ crucified and risen becomes the commitment and task of the other disciples as well, and in particular of the women who, together with the Mother of Christ, are present in the Upper Room in Jerusalem as members of the very first ecclesial community. Indeed, the women had already been privileged, because they were the first to bring the news and were witnesses of Christ's resurrection (cf. Mt 28:1-10).

3. When Jesus says to the Apostles, "You will be my witnesses" (Acts 1:8), he is speaking of the witness of faith in a sense that finds a particular fulfilment in them. For they were eyewitnesses of Christ's works, they heard his words with their own ears, and they received the truths of divine revelation directly from him. They were the first to respond with faith to what they had seen and heard. Thus Simon Peter, when he confessed on behalf of the Twelve that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). And again, near Capernaum, when some began to abandon Jesus after the proclamation of the Eucharistic mystery, Simon Peter himself did not hesitate to declare: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God" (Jn 6:68-69).

4. This particular witness of faith by the Apostles was a "gift from above" (cf. James 1:17). It was so not only for the Apostles themselves, but also for those to whom they would then and later transmit their witness. Jesus said to them: “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been entrusted to you” (Mk 4:11). And to Peter, in view of a critical moment, he gives the assurance: “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers” (Lk 22:32). We can therefore say, on the basis of these significant pages of the New Testament, that if the Church, as the People of God, participates in the prophetic office of Christ, spreading the living witness of Him, as we read in the Council (cf. LG 12), such a witness of the faith of the Church finds its foundation and support in the witness of the Apostles. This witness is primordial and fundamental to the prophetic office of the whole People of God.

5. In another conciliar constitution, Dei Verbum, we read that the Apostles, "in their oral preaching, by their example and their institutions, transmitted both what they had received from the lips, the company and the works of Christ, and what they had also learned through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." But others, together with the Twelve, also carried out Christ's mandate to bear witness to the Gospel: namely, "those Apostles (such as Paul) and men of their circle who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, set down in writing the proclamation of salvation" (DV 7). "What was handed down by the Apostles includes everything that contributes to the holy conduct of the People of God and to the growth of faith, and thus the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes" (DV 8). As can be seen, according to the Council there is a close relationship between the Church, the Apostles, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is the line of continuity between the Christological mystery and the apostolic and ecclesial institution: a mystery that includes the presence and continuous action of the Holy Spirit.

6. Precisely in the Constitution on Divine Revelation, the Council formulates the truth about Tradition, through which the apostolic witness endures in the Church as a testimony of the faith of the entire People of God. "This Tradition of apostolic origin progresses in the Church with the assistance of the Holy Spirit; for understanding, both of the things and of the words handed down, grows, both through the reflection and study of believers, who meditate on them in their hearts (cf. Lk 2:19. 51), and through the experience given by a deeper understanding of spiritual things, and through the preaching of those who, in the episcopal succession, have received a sure charism of truth. That is to say, the Church, in the course of the centuries, strives unceasingly towards the fullness of divine truth, until the words of God are fulfilled in her" (DV 8). According to the Council, therefore, this striving for the fullness of divine truth, under the guidance of the Spirit of truth, is realised through understanding, experience (i.e. a vivid understanding of spiritual things) and teaching (cf. DV 10). In this area too, Mary is a model for the Church, inasmuch as she was the first to “treasure all these things and ponder them in her heart” (Lk 2:19, 51).

7. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the community professes its faith and applies the truth of faith to life. On the one hand, there is the effort of the whole Church to better understand revelation, the object of faith: a systematic study of Scripture and continuous reflection or meditation on the profound meaning and value of the Word of God. On the other hand, the Church bears witness to the faith with her own life, showing the consequences and applications of revealed doctrine and the superior value that results from it for human behaviour. By teaching the precepts promulgated by Christ, she follows the path that He opened and manifests the excellence of the Gospel message. Every Christian must "acknowledge Christ before men" (cf. Mt 10:32) in union with the whole Church and have "irreproachable conduct" among non-believers so that they may come to faith (cf. 1 Pt 2:12).

8. In these ways, indicated by the Council, the "sense of faith" through which the People of God participate in the prophetic office of Christ is developed and transmitted through the "communal" witness of the Church. "And indeed," we read in Lumen gentium, "by that sense of faith, which is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the People of God, under the guidance of the sacred magisterium, to which they faithfully conform, accept not the word of men, but truly the word of God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13), adhere unfailingly to the faith once delivered to the saints (cf. Jude 3), and with right judgement penetrate it more deeply and apply it more fully in their lives" (LG 12). The conciliar text emphasises the fact that the "sense of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth". Thanks to this "sense", in which divine "anointing" bears fruit, "the People of God, under the guidance of the sacred magisterium . . . adheres unfailingly to the faith" (LG 12). "The universal body of the faithful, who possess the anointing of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Jn 2:20, 27), cannot err in matters of faith, and manifests this property through the supernatural sense of faith of the whole people, when - from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful - it shows its universal consent in matters of faith and morals" (LG 12).

It should be noted that the conciliar text clearly states that this "consensus in matters of faith and morals" is not the result of a referendum or plebiscite. It can only be understood correctly if we keep in mind the words of Christ: "I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to little children" (Mt 11:25).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 13 May 1992]