We have just sung the Sequence: "Dogma datur christianis, / quod in carnem transit panis, / et vinum in sanguinem - this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine". 

Today we reaffirm with great joy our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery that constitutes the heart of the Church. In the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis I recalled that the Eucharistic Mystery "is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's infinite love for every man and woman" (n. 1). 

Corpus Christi, therefore, is a unique feast and constitutes an important encounter of faith and praise for every Christian community. This feast originated in a specific historical and cultural context: it was born for the very precise purpose of openly reaffirming the faith of the People of God in Jesus Christ, alive and truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is a feast that was established in order to publicly adore, praise and thank the Lord, who continues "to love us "to the end', even to offering us his body and his blood" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 1). 

The Eucharistic celebration this evening takes us back to the spiritual atmosphere of Holy Thursday, the day on which in the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, Christ instituted the Most Holy Eucharist. 

Corpus Christi is thus a renewal of the mystery of Holy Thursday, as it were, in obedience to Jesus' invitation to proclaim from "the housetops" what he told us in secret (cf. Mt 10: 27). It was the Apostles who received the gift of the Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but it was destined for all, for the whole world. This is why it should be proclaimed and exposed to view: so that each one may encounter "Jesus who passes" as happened on the roads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea; in order that each one, in receiving it, may be healed and renewed by the power of his love. Dear friends, this is the perpetual and living heritage that Jesus has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood. It is an inheritance that demands to be constantly rethought and relived so that, as venerable Pope Paul VI said, its "inexhaustible effectiveness may be impressed upon all the days of our mortal life" (cf. Insegnamenti, 25 May 1967, p. 779). 

Also in the Post-Synodal Exhortation, commenting on the exclamation of the priest after the consecration: "Let us proclaim the mystery of faith!", I observed: with these words he "proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding" (n. 6). 

Precisely because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must not be surprised if today too many find it hard to accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since the day when, in the synagogue at Capernaum, Jesus openly declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as food (cf. Jn 6: 26-58).
This seemed "a hard saying" and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as now, the Eucharist remains a "sign of contradiction" and can only be so because a God who makes himself flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of the world throws human wisdom into crisis. 

However, with humble trust, the Church makes the faith of Peter and the other Apostles her own and proclaims with them, and we proclaim: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6: 68). Let us too renew this evening our profession of faith in Christ, alive and present in the Eucharist. Yes, "this [is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, / to his precious blood the wine". 

At its culminating point, in the Sequence we sing: "Ecce panis angelorum, / factus cibus viatorum: / vere panis filiorum" - "Lo! The angel's food is given / to the pilgrim who has striven; / see the children's bread from heaven". And by God's grace we are the children. 

The Eucharist is the food reserved for those who in Baptism were delivered from slavery and have become sons; it is the food that sustained them on the long journey of the exodus through the desert of human existence. 

Like the manna for the people of Israel, for every Christian generation the Eucharist is the indispensable nourishment that sustains them as they cross the desert of this world, parched by the ideological and economic systems that do not promote life but rather humiliate it. It is a world where the logic of power and possessions prevails rather than that of service and love; a world where the culture of violence and death is frequently triumphant. 

Yet Jesus comes to meet us and imbues us with certainty: he himself is "the Bread of life" (Jn 6: 35, 48). He repeated this to us in the words of the Gospel Acclamation: "I am the living bread from Heaven, if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever" (cf. Jn 6: 51). 

In the Gospel passage just proclaimed, St Luke, narrating the miracle of the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed the multitude "in a lonely place", concludes with the words: "And all ate and were satisfied" (cf. Lk 9: 11-17). 

I would like in the first place to emphasize this "all". Indeed, the Lord desired every human being to be nourished by the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is for everyone. 

If the close relationship between the Last Supper and the mystery of Jesus' death on the Cross is emphasized on Holy Thursday, today, the Feast of Corpus Christi, with the procession and unanimous adoration of the Eucharist, attention is called to the fact that Christ sacrificed himself for all humanity. His passing among the houses and along the streets of our city will be for those who live there an offering of joy, eternal life, peace and love. 

In the Gospel passage, a second element catches one's eye: the miracle worked by the Lord contains an explicit invitation to each person to make his own contribution. The two fish and five loaves signify our contribution, poor but necessary, which he transforms into a gift of love for all.
"Christ continues today" I wrote in the above-mentioned Post Synodal Exhortation, "to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged" (Sacramentum Caritatis, n. 88). 

Thus, the Eucharist is a call to holiness and to the gift of oneself to one's brethren: "Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world" (ibid.). 

Our Redeemer addressed this invitation in particular to us, dear brothers and sisters of Rome, gathered round the Eucharist in this historical square. 

I greet you all with affection. My greeting is addressed first of all to the Cardinal Vicar and to the Auxiliary Bishops, to my other venerable Brother Cardinals and Bishops, as well as to the numerous priests and deacons, men and women religious and the many lay faithful. 

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration we will join in the procession as if to carry the Lord Jesus in spirit through all the streets and neighbourhoods of Rome. We will immerse him, so to speak, in the daily routine of our lives, so that he may walk where we walk and live where we live. 

Indeed we know, as the Apostle Paul reminded us in his Letter to the Corinthians, that in every Eucharist, also in the Eucharist this evening, we "proclaim the Lord's death until he comes" (cf. I Cor 11: 26). We travel on the highways of the world knowing that he is beside us, supported by the hope of being able to see him one day face to face, in the definitive encounter. 

In the meantime, let us listen to his voice repeat, as we read in the Book of Revelation, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me" (Rv 3: 20). 

The Feast of Corpus Christi wants to make the Lord's knocking audible, despite the hardness of our interior hearing. Jesus knocks at the door of our heart and asks to enter not only for the space of a day but for ever. Let us welcome him joyfully, raising to him with one voice the invocation of the Liturgy: 

"Very bread, Good Shepherd, tend us, / Jesu, of your love befriend us.... /You who all things can and know, /who on earth such food bestow, / grant us with your saints, though lowest, / where the heav'nly feast you show, / fellow heirs and guests to be". 

Amen!

[Pope Benedict, homily, 7 June 2007]

1. "Ecclesia de Eucharistia vivit" - "The Church draws her life from the Eucharist". The Encyclical Letter on the Eucharist, which I signed last Holy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord's Supper, begins with these words. Today's Solemnity of "Corpus Christi" recalls that evocative celebration and at the same time makes us relive the intense atmosphere of the Last Supper. 

"Take; this is my body... This is my blood" (Mk 14: 22-24). Let us listen again to Jesus' words while he offers his disciples the bread that has become his Body and the wine that has become his Blood. In this way he inaugurates the new paschal rite: the Eucharist is the sacrament of the new and eternal Covenant. 

With those acts and words, Christ brings to fulfilment the long ordinances of the ancient rites, mentioned just now in the First Reading (cf. Ex 24: 3-8). 

2. The Church returns constantly to the Upper Room as to the place of her birth. She returns to it because the Eucharistic gift establishes a mysterious "oneness in time" between the Passover of the Lord and the perennial making present of the paschal mystery in the world and in every generation (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 5). 

This evening too, with deep gratitude to God, let us reflect in silence before the mystery of faith - mysterium fidei. Let us contemplate it with that profound feeling which, in the Encyclical, I called "Eucharistic amazement" (ibid., n. 6): immense and grateful wonder at the Sacrament in which Christ wanted "to concentrate" forever his entire mystery of love (cf. ibid., n. 5). 

Let us contemplate the Eucharistic face of Christ, as did the Apostles and later, the saints of all the centuries. Let us contemplate him above all by learning at the school of Mary, "woman "of the Eucharist' in her whole life" (ibid., n. 53), the One who was "the first "tabernacle' in history" (ibid., n. 55). 

3. This is the meaning of the beautiful tradition of Corpus Christi which is renewed this evening. With it, the Church that is in Rome also shows her constitutive link with the Eucharist, and professes joyfully that she "draws her life from the Eucharist". 

Her Bishop, the Successor of Peter, and his Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood also draw their life from the Eucharist; men and women Religious, consecrated lay people and the baptized all draw their life from the Eucharist. 

Christian families in particular, to whom a few days ago the Diocesan Ecclesial Convention was dedicated, draw their life from the Eucharist. Dear families of Rome! May the living presence of Christ in the Eucharist foster the grace of marriage in you and allow you to progress on the path of conjugal and family holiness.Draw from this wellspring the secret of your unity and love, imitating the example of the Blessed husband and wife, Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrochi, who began their days by partaking in the Eucharistic Banquet. 

4. After Holy Mass, we will set out praying and singing for the Basilica of St Mary Major. With this procession we want to express symbolically our existence as pilgrims, "viatores", bound for the heavenly homeland. 

We are not alone on our pilgrimage: Christ, the Bread of life, walks with us: "panis angelorum, factus cibus viatorum" - "Lo the angel's food is given to the pilgrim..." (Sequence). 

May Jesus, the spiritual food that nourishes the hope of believers, sustain us on this journey towards Heaven and strengthen our communion with the heavenly Church. 

The Most Holy Eucharist, a glimpse of Heaven appearing on earth, pierces the clouds of our history. A glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem, it lights up our journey (cf. Ecclesia de Eucharistia, n. 19). 

5. "Ave verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine": Hail, true Body of Christ, born of the Virgin Mary! 

The soul melts into wonder and adoration before so sublime a Mystery. 

"Vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine". From your death on the Cross, O Lord, flows life for us which never dies. 

"Esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine". O Lord, obtain that each one of us, nourished by you, may face all of life's trials with confident hope, until the day when you will be our viaticum for the last journey to the Father's house. 

"O Iesu dulcis! O Iesu pie! O Iesu, fili Mariae! - O sweet Jesus, O pious Jesus! O Jesus, Son of Mary!".

Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, 19 June 2003]

The Gospel presents us the narrative of the miracle of the loaves (cf. Lk 9:11-17) which takes place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is intent on speaking to the thousands of people, performing healings. As evening falls, the disciples approach the Lord and say to him: “Send the crowd away, to go into the villages and country round about, to lodge and get provisions” (v. 12). The disciples too were tired. In fact, they were in a remote place, and the people had to walk and go into the villages in order to buy food. And Jesus sees this and responds: “You give them something to eat” (v. 13). These words astonish the disciples. They do not understand; perhaps they even become angry and they reply: “We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we are to go and buy food for all these people” (ibid).

Instead, Jesus invites his disciples to carry out a true conversion from the mind-set of ‘everyone for themselves’ to that of sharing, beginning with that little that Providence puts at our disposal. And he immediately demonstrates that he is quite clear about what he wants to do. He tells them: “Make them sit down in companies, about fifty each” (v. 14). Then, taking the five loaves and two fish in his hands, he addresses the heavenly Father and utters the prayer of blessing. Next, he begins to break the loaves, divide the fish and give them to the disciples, who distribute them to the crowd. And the food does not end until everyone has had their fill.

This miracle — a very important one, so much so that it is recounted by all the Evangelists — demonstrates the Messiah’s power and, at the same time, his compassion: Jesus has compassion for the people. Not only does that prodigious gesture endure as one of the great signs of Jesus’ public life, but it also foretells what will be, in the end, the memorial of his sacrifice, namely, the Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and his Blood offered up for the salvation of the world.

The Eucharist is the culmination of Jesus’ entire life, which was a single act of love toward the Father and brothers and sisters. There too, as with the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus took the bread in his hands, raised a prayer of blessing to the Father, broke the bread and gave it to his disciples; and he did the same with the cup of wine. But in that moment, on the eve of his Passion, with that gesture, he wished to leave the Testament of his new and eternal Covenant, a perpetual memorial of the Paschal Mystery of his death and resurrection. The feast of Corpus Christi invites us to renew each year the wonder and joy of this wondrous gift of the Lord which is the Eucharist. Let us receive it with gratitude, not in a passive, habitual way. We should not grow accustomed to the Eucharist and go to Communion as a habit: no! Each time we approach the altar to receive the Eucharist, we must truly renew our “amen” to the Body of Christ. When the priest says “the Body of Christ”, we say “amen”: but let it be an “amen” that comes from the heart, a committed one. It is Jesus; it is Jesus who saved me; it is Jesus who comes to give me the strength to live. It is Jesus, the living Jesus. But we must not become accustomed: each time as if it were the first Communion.

Processions with the Most Holy Sacrament, which are taking place throughout the Catholic Church during this Solemnity, are expressions of the eucharistic faith of the holy People of God.

[Pope Francis, Angelus, 23 June 2019]

Two masters: what outlet for what we carry inside

(Mt 6:24-34)

How to avoid selling oneself for an idol, and not commit suicide by subjecting the breath of the soul to something ephemeral, instantaneous and partial?

Identifications, calculation of interests and artificial material goods empty the Core of being and do not show the solution.

The experience of Fatherhood in Faith is the sacred place that recovers the meaning of the original life; the vital intuition, of nature, that illuminates what’s appropriate to pursue in order to overturn the doubtful or shrunken existence.

Awareness of agreement with the natural order grafts more lymph.

Cosmic vision helps to direct the forces that emerge, revolutionizes hopes, nourishes boldness, suggests the orientation of events in uniqueness, and sublimates the same quality of coexistence.

The «son» who notices others and doesn’t accumulate, does not lose anything - but acquires another march: he experiences a Father who takes care of his own history, and expands life by building even on the dark sides.

The believer aware of being accompanied always manages to take another step.

He knows that nature spontaneously fills the voids, and it does so with a mysterious and supreme wisdom of balances.

Only on this new territory do we become solicitous of the great themes, but without the anxiety that bewilders us.

We gladly accept even the precariousness and situations of weakness: nourished by God’s ‘rest’ - and as in His «rural rhythm» - we know that needs and defects hide the most beautiful surprises of the journey.

The scene of the examples Jesus draws from nature is an echo of the conciliatory life dreamt for us by the Father.

It introduces the quintessence of Happiness from within. Joy that makes one aware of existing in all personal reality.

A paradoxical intuition of fullness of being, in the limit that belongs to us - which then overcomes the fear of not living up to it.

In fact, the Gospel passage shows the value of genuine, silent, inconspicuous things, which however live in us - they are not "shadows". And we perceive them without effort or brain commitment.

We often ask whether God really participates in our doubts, expectations and torments, or vice versa indifferent.

Sometimes even the Psalms seem to make blasphemous accusations to the Eternal, which impute Him of little attention to the events of the righteous.

Even great saintly figures experienced serious upheavals; anxieties and trepidations that were long hidden, because [in a framework of conformist serenity] they were considered unedifying.

Instead it’s quite normal - indeed, healthy and profitable - to feel the old hopes waver, and welcome in full the failures, negative emotions or other surrounding clouds.

The problem is that from an early age we are accompanied by the instinct of the search for security, and unfortunately in many cases we try to have the same attitude even in the path believer.

On the contrary, life in the Spirit detach itself - flowing into the more of the Faith and the Mystery, which ‘work’.

The Way proposed by Jesus has a non-moralistic tone, devoid of complexes, in view of the dedication to Today’s missionary life and the harmonious growth of belonging to the Faith at various levels (all to be discovered).

In its quiet power, here is the astonishment that doesn’t kill the soul. And the natural world has the keyword.

[Saturday 11th wk. in O.T.  June 21, 2025]

Two masters: what outlet for what we carry inside

(Mt 6:24-34)

We often wonder whether God is really a participant in our doubts, expectations and torments, or conversely indifferent.

Sometimes even the Psalms seem to address blasphemous accusations to the Eternal One, accusing Him of lacking attention to the affairs of the righteous.

Even great saintly figures have experienced serious turmoil; turmoil that was long hidden from us, because it was considered unedifying (in a picture of conformist serenity).

Instead, it is quite normal - indeed, healthy and beneficial - to feel old hopes wavering, and to fully embrace failures, negative emotions or other clouds that surround us.

The problem is that from an early age the instinct of seeking security accompanies us, and unfortunately in many cases we try to have the same attitude on the believing path as well.

Instead, life in the Spirit detaches itself from the vacuous institutional religious spiritual affair of the masses (which promises much and delivers nothing)... in the more of Faith and Mystery, which operate.

The point of reference is not the chronicle of homo faber ipsius fortunae - which is not by chance a pagan motto.

The soul does not willingly remain in a world characterised by petty antagonism, which demands to rush into the temporal action-reaction mechanism.

Frictions must be welcomed and reworked, for in them lies an intimate secret of growth.

[Thus, for example, he who wants to fight us will do us the greatest favour in life. Welcome it. It will be an opportunity to disengage from the immediate, and develop alternative - preparatory - energies of our unthinkable developments].

In this sense, let us accept the Father, who relentlessly compels us to shift our gaze - so that we spread our wings and arrive elsewhere, at the point we did not know before.

Otherwise, in the cloak of haste to adjust and reaffirm, we might trust other impulses - the ones that offer (illusory) security and block the flow of life, making it swampy and predictable.

The certainties of food, or roles, of gain and sense of power, even the slave mentality of holidays (...) then like any idol, demand everything: one becomes a lackey of a master who demands attention.

The attachment or even the adoration of mammon [Aramaic mamônâ, from 'aman - to support, to make foundation] gratifies, certainly; but on the spur of the moment.

Even to the point of deluding oneself that accumulation can make one experience divine intoxication. At most, however, by granting some alms.

The coryphaei of material opulence promptly say: "Trust me, the important thing is to keep for oneself and to be in the practical tally" - also because in today's Gospel passage, Jesus seems naive.

Yet Christ insists on proposing a non-servile relationship with goods. In terms of the fullness of being, one gains immensely more in welcoming the providential power of the Life that Comes.

In the rural imagery, the Lord alludes to the experience of wandering Israel.

In the Exodus, God had educated the people so that they could conquer the land of freedom and abandon the land of slavery - reassuring, not humanising.

In the wilderness, one could not accumulate property, nor pitch a permanent tent; not even hoard lasting food. Nothing was to enchant the people but the destination itself.

Certainly, the affliction of the poor is not that of the rich.

However, money does not eliminate anxieties - rather it artificially drives one to a monstrous expenditure of energy (always denying one's deep, dreamy being).

First the sacrifices to achieve positions, then those to defend them; and in the meantime, the frustration at not having advanced further.

That is, the anguish in measuring the difference between real goals and soul desires - both in the sense of totality and specific vocation.

Jesus suggests that we face reality with a new heart, respectful of the natural character. Otherwise, we would become ill.

We are serene in the eminent self that belongs to us - not in combing the lower self.

That is why we allow ourselves to be guided by non-artificial inclinations: radical, innate, germinal - which spontaneously contact the deep layers of the essence and destiny that belongs to us.

We do this not because we are gullible, but out of deep instinct, and because we have already experienced the cycle of 'death and resurrection': the dynamism of Love that has projected us somewhat out of time.

Here the negative and limit experiences have been able to activate harmonising (not subjective but propulsive) overall energies, cosmic outside and acutely divine within us. They will do so again.

Providence is the infallible Guide of the inner, natural, genuine world: the rhythm of being, the powerful [but spontaneous] step of the process of Faith must take over.

How, then, is it possible to avoid selling oneself for an idol, and not committing suicide by enslaving the soul's breath to something ephemeral and partial?Identifications, calculations of interests and artificial material goods empty the Core of being and do not make us see the authentic solution.

The experience of Paternity in Faith is the sacred place that recovers the sense of the original life; the vital intuition, of nature, that illuminates what should be pursued to overturn the doubtful or shrunken existence. 

All this, in the feeling that creation, personal innate vocation and human society are closely united in deep meaning and growth. Here the awareness of agreement with the natural order grafts more lymph.

Cosmic vision and personal character help us direct the forces that emerge, revolutionising expectations, nurturing boldness, suggesting the direction of events, in oneness.

Thus, truly sublimating the same quality of living and personhood.

The son who takes notice of others and does not accumulate, loses nothing - but rather gains another gear: he experiences a Father who takes care of his own history, and expands his life by building even on the dark sides.

The believer who is aware of being accompanied always manages to take another step. He knows that nature spontaneously fills in the gaps, and does so with a mysterious and supreme wisdom of balance.

It is only on this new territory that links the chronicle to history that we become solicitous of the great issues, but without the hassle that goes astray.

We willingly accept even precariousness and situations of weakness: nourished by God's rest - and as in his rural rhythm - we know that our needs and faults hide the most beautiful surprises of the journey.

The Way proposed by Jesus has a non-moralistic tone, devoid of complexes, in view of dedication to the missionary today and the harmonious growth of belonging in the Faith at various levels (all to be discovered).

In its quiet power, here is the astonishment that does not kill the soul. And the natural world has the key word.

"Man has lived in a state of bewilderment and fear until he discovered the stability of the laws of nature: until then the world remained foreign to him. The laws discovered are nothing other than the perception of the reigning harmony between reason, proper to the human soul, and the phenomena of the world. This is the bond by which man is united with the world in which he lives, and he feels great joy when he discovers this, for then he sees and understands himself in the things that surround him. To understand something is to find something of our own in it, and it is this discovery of ourselves outside ourselves that fills us with joy' (Rabindranath Tagore).

To internalise and live the message:

Who is your Lord or master? What totally occupies your horizon? Do you feel it is something that matches or sells your humanity?

Conclusion Spontaneous inclusion

The scene of examples that Jesus draws from nature - an echo of the conciliatory life dreamt for us by the Father - also introduces us to the Happiness that makes one aware of existing in all personal reality.

Indeed, the Gospel passage shows the value of genuine, silent, unremarkable things, which nevertheless inhabit us - they are not 'shadows'. And we perceive them without effort or cerebral commitment.

In the time of epochal choices, of the emergency that seems to checkmate us - but wants to make us less artificial - such awareness can overturn our judgement of substance, of the small and the great.

Indeed, for the adventure of love there is no accounting or clamour.

It is in God and in reality the 'place' for each of us without lacerations.

The hereafter is not imprecise.

One does not have to distort oneself for consent... least of all for the 'Heaven' that conquers death.

The destiny of oneness does not go to ruin: it is precious and dear, as it is in nature.

One must glimpse its Beauty, future and already present.

Once immediate gain has been marginalised - or any social guarantee that does not devour the value of littleness - there will no longer be any need to identify with the skeletons of established or disembodied, sophisticated, and fashionable thought and manners.

Nor will it matter to place oneself above or in front: rather in the background, already rich and perfect, in the intimate sense of the fullness of being.

Thus we will not have to trample on each other (cf. e.g. Lk 12:1)... even to meet Jesus.

"We are absolutely lost if we lack this particular individuality, the only thing we can truly call our own - and whose loss is also a loss for the whole world. It is most precious also because it is not universal' (Rabindranath Tagore).

"If globalisation claims to make everyone equal, as if it were a sphere, this globalisation destroys the distinctiveness of each person and each people".[78] This false universalist dream ends up depriving the world of the variety of its colours, its beauty and ultimately its humanity. Because 'the future is not "monochromatic", but, if we have the courage, it is possible to look at it in the variety and diversity of the contributions that each person can make. How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace without us all being equal!" [Fratelli Tutti n.100].

To internalise and live the message:

Did a persecution happen to you that - while you would have preferred other near goals - brought out the very originality of your vocational physiognomy?

This invitation to trust in God’s steadfast love is juxtaposed with the equally evocative passage from the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus urges his disciples to trust in the Providence of the heavenly Father, who feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field and knows all our needs (cf. 6:24-34).

This is what the Teacher says: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘what shall we wear?’. For the Gentiles seek all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all”.

In the face of the situations of so many people, near and far, who live in wretchedness, Jesus’ discourse might appear hardly realistic, if not evasive. In fact, the Lord wants to make people understand clearly that it is impossible to serve two masters: God and mammon [riches]. Whoever believes in God, the Father full of love for his children, puts first the search for his Kingdom and his will. And this is precisely the opposite of fatalism or ingenuous irenics. Faith in Providence does not in fact dispense us from the difficult struggle for a dignified life but frees us from the yearning for things and from fear of the future.

It is clear that although Jesus’ teaching remains ever true and applicable for all it is practised in different ways according to the different vocations: a Franciscan friar will be able to follow it more radically while a father of a family must bear in mind his proper duties to his wife and children. In every case, however, Christians are distinguished by their absolute trust in the heavenly Father, as was Jesus. It was precisely Christ’s relationship with God the Father that gave meaning to the whole of his life, to his words, to his acts of salvation until his Passion, death and Resurrection. Jesus showed us what it means to live with our feet firmly planted on the ground, attentive to the concrete situations of our neighbour yet at the same time keeping our heart in Heaven, immersed in God’s mercy.

Dear friends, in the light of the word of God of this Sunday I ask you to invoke the Virgin Mary with the title “Mother of divine Providence”. To her let us entrust our life, the journey of the Church and the events of history. In particular, let us invoke her intercession so that we may all learn to live in accordance with a simpler and more modest style, in daily hard work and with respect for creation, which God has entrusted to us for safekeeping.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 27 February 2011]

7. These notions of divine providence offered to us by the biblical tradition of the Old Testament are confirmed and enriched by the New. Of all the words of Jesus that it records on this subject, particularly poignant are those recorded by the evangelists Matthew and Luke: "Therefore do not be troubled, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things; seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be given you besides" (Matthew 6: 31-33; cf. also Luke 12: 29-31).

"Will not two sparrows be sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's bidding. As for you, even the hairs of your head are all counted; therefore have no fear: you are worth more than many sparrows!" (Mt 10:29-31; cf. Lk 21:18). "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Count ye not more than they? . . . And why do you toil for clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow: they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon, with all his glory, dressed like one of them. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow will be thrown into the oven, will he not do much more for you, people of little faith?" (Mt 6:26-30; cf. Lk 12:24-28).

8. With such words, the Lord Jesus not only confirms the teaching on divine providence contained in the Old Testament, but he takes the discourse further in what concerns man, every single man, treated by God with the exquisite delicacy of a father.

Undoubtedly, the stanzas of the psalms extolling the Most High as man's refuge, protection and comfort were magnificent: thus, for example, in Psalm 90: "You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High and dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, say to the Lord: 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust' . . . For thy refuge is the Lord, and thou hast made the Most High thy dwelling place . . I will save him, because he has put his trust in me; I will exalt him, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him; with him I will be in misfortune" (Ps 90:1-2. 9. 14-15)

9. Very beautiful expressions; but Christ's words attain an even greater fullness of meaning. In fact, the Son pronounces them, who "scrutinising" all that has been said on the subject of Providence, bears perfect witness to the mystery of his Father: a mystery of Providence and paternal care, which embraces every creature, even the most insignificant, like the grass of the field or the sparrows. How much more man, then! This is what Christ wants to emphasise above all. If divine Providence shows itself so generous towards creatures so inferior to man, how much more will it care for him! In this Gospel page on Providence we find the truth about the hierarchy of values that is present from the beginning in the Book of Genesis, in the description of creation: man has primacy over things. He has it in his nature and spirit, he has it in the care and attention of Providence, he has it in the heart of God!

10. Jesus also insistently proclaims that man, so privileged by his Creator, has a duty to cooperate with the gift received from Providence. He cannot, therefore, be content with the values of sense, matter and utility alone. He must seek above all "the kingdom of God and his righteousness" because "all these things (earthly goods) will be given to you as an addition" (cf. Mt 6:33).

Christ's words direct our attention to this particular dimension of Providence, at the centre of which is man, the rational and free being.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 14 May 1986]

At the centre of this Sunday’s Liturgy we find one of the most reassuring truths: Divine Providence. The Prophet Isaiah presents it as the image of maternal love full of tenderness, and thus says: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (49:15). How beautiful is this! God does not forget us, not one of us! Everyone by name and surname. He loves us and doesn’t forget. What a beautiful thought.... This invitation to trust in God finds a parallel on a page of Matthew’s Gospel: “Look at the birds of the air”, Jesus says, “they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.... Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Mt 6:26, 28-29).

However, thinking of the many people who live in precarious conditions, or even in a poverty offensive to their dignity, these words of Jesus could seem abstract, if not illusory. But actually they are relevant, now more than ever! They remind us that you cannot serve two masters: God and wealth. As long as everyone seeks to accumulate for themselves, there will never be justice. We must take heed of this! As long as everyone seeks to accumulate for themselves, there will be no justice. Instead, by entrusting ourselves to God’s providence, and seeking his Kingdom together, no one will lack the necessary means to live with dignity.

A heart troubled by the desire for possessions is a heart full of desire for possessions, but empty of God. That is why Jesus frequently warned the rich, because they greatly risk placing their security in the goods of this world, and security, the final security, is in God. In a heart possessed by wealth, there isn’t much room for faith: everything is involved with wealth, there is no room for faith. If, however, one gives God his rightful place, that is first place, then his love leads one to share even one’s wealth, to set it at the service of projects of solidarity and development, as so many examples demonstrate, even recent ones, in the history of the Church. And like this God’s Providence comes through our service to others, our sharing with others. If each of us accumulates not for ourselves alone but for the service of others, in this case, in this act of solidarity, the Providence of God is made visible. If, however, one accumulates only for oneself, what will happen when one is called by God? No one can take his riches with him, because — as you know — the shroud has no pockets! It is better to share, for we can take with us to Heaven only what we have shared with others.

The road that Jesus points out can seem a little unrealistic with respect to the common mindset and to problems due to the economic crisis; but, if we think about it, this road leads us back to the right scale of values. He says: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Mt 6:25). In order to ensure that no one lacks bread, water, clothing, a home, work, health, we need to recognize that all people are children of the Father who is in Heaven and, therefore, brothers among us, and that we must act accordingly. I recalled this in the Message for Peace of 1 January this year: the way to peace is fraternity — this going together, sharing things with one another.

In the light of this Sunday’s Word of God, let us invoke the Virgin Mary as Mother of Divine Providence. To her we entrust our lives, the journey of the Church and all humanity. In particular, let us invoke her intercession that we may all strive to live in a simple and sober manner, keeping in mind the needs of those brothers who are most in need.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 2 March 2014]

(Mt 6:19-23)

«Where your Treasure is, your heart will be there» (v.21). It’s not a tasteless personal or institutional problem; on the contrary, it is indispensable for to find again yourself.

Ignoring it means giving additional breath to it, making grow out of proportion; making it even more out of time and difficult to read - and identify its therapies.

In order to understand and activate different resources, each community must go through the moments of the most severe verification - overcoming the stumbling block ‘forward’, "outgoing".

In the form of Relationship, everything opens up intense life - which integrates and goes beyond self-love, the thirst for domination.

This frees us from the "old", that is, it closes a cycle of paths already developed - to make us return as newborns.

Hope that has weight dismantles the inessential; it expels the noise of thoughts that are no longer in tune with our growth, and introduces dreamy energies, a wealth of possibilities.

There will be initial resistance, but development is predisposed.

Hope sacrifices ballasts and activates us according to the ‘inner divine’. It opens the doors wide to a new phase, brighter and corresponding.

The earth’s treasures quickly blind; likewise they pass: suddenly. The age of global crisis slams it in our face.

Yet, it’s a necessary pain.

We understand: the new paths are not traced by goods, but by the Void that acts as a cavity.

The religiosity good for all seasons gives way to the unprecedent life of Faith.

Here lies the Art of discernment and pastoral care: it should be able to introduce new competitive, different energies - cosmic and personal - that prepare unpublished, open and free synthesises.

We know this; and yet in some intriguing circles and business connections, the lust for possession does not allow them to see clearly.

The dulling of eyes sick with robbery prevailed. First here and there, gradually occupying the soul.

As if to say: there is another experience of the "divine", indifferent.

And the litmus test is precisely that of the petty scrutinizing (vv.22-23) that holds back. With the gaze that closes the horizon of existence.

Instead, in the attempts and paths of Faith that are not satisfied, life becomes bright with creative Love that blooms again, and puts everyone at ease.

Even the old can re-emerge in this new spirit, this time perennial. Because there are other Heights. Because what makes intimate to God is nothing external.

The authentic Church aroused by clear ‘visions’ always reveals something portentous: fruitfulness from nullity, life from its effusion, birth from apparent sterility.

A river of unthinkable harmonies will reconnect the reading of events and the action of believers to the work of the Spirit, without barriers.

Because when someone surrenders their normalized thinking, and settles getting down, the new advances.

The choice is now inexorable: between death and life; between greed and «darkness» (v.23), or Happiness.

The first step is to admit that you have to make a journey.

To internalize and live the message:

Where is your Treasure? Is your heart and eye simple?

Have you ever experienced sides that others judge to be inconclusive [from a material point of view] and instead have prepared your new paths?

[Friday 11th wk. in O.T.  June 20, 2025]

(Mt 6:19-23)

«Where your treasure is, there your heart will be» (v.21). This is not an abused, insipid personal or institutional issue; it is one for easy irony.

To ignore it is to give it further breathing space, making it grow out of all proportion; making it even more out of time and difficult to read - and to identify its treatment.

All this, however, must be done by putting precipitation in brackets... in the spirit of broader understanding. It is understood that in order to grasp itself within and activate different resources, each community must go through moments of the most severe verification.

Even for denominational churches with a wide and prestigious tradition, the awareness of being losers in this respect today is indispensable to find oneself. Overcoming the 'forward', 'outgoing' stumbling block.

We read in the Encyclical Spe Salvi n.2 ["Faith is Hope"]:

"Hope is a central word in biblical faith - to the point that in several passages the words 'faith' and 'hope' seem interchangeable [...].

How decisive it was for the awareness of the early Christians that they had received a reliable hope as a gift, is also shown where Christian existence is compared with life before faith or with the situation of the followers of other religions [...].

Their gods had proved questionable and no hope emanated from their contradictory myths. Despite the gods, they were 'godless' and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. 'In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus' (In nothing from nothing how soon we fall back) says an epitaph from that era [...].

It appears as a distinctive element of Christians that they have a future: it is not that they know in detail what awaits them, but they know on the whole that their life does not end in a vacuum.

Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does the present also become liveable. So we can now say: Christianity was not just 'good news' - a communication of hitherto unknown content.

In our language we would say: the Christian message was not just 'informative', but 'performative'. This means: the gospel is not just a communication of things that can be known, but a communication that produces facts and changes lives.

The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown wide open. He who has hope lives differently; he has been given a new life'.

In the form of the Relationship, everything opens up intense life - which integrates and overcomes self-love, the thirst for domination.

This liberates from the 'old', that is, it closes a cycle of paths already set - to make us return as newborns.

The Hope that has weight dismantles the inessential; it expels the noise of thoughts that are no longer in tune with our growth, and introduces dreamy energies, a wealth of possibilities.

There will be initial resistance, but development sets in.

Hope sacrifices ballasts and activates us according to the 'divine within'. It opens the door to a new, brighter, corresponding phase.

Earth's treasures quickly blind; likewise they pass away: suddenly. The age of global crisis shoves it in our faces.

Yet, it is a necessary pain.

We understand: the new paths are not traced by goods, nor by devout memories, but by the Void, which acts as a gap to common, taken for granted, reassuring easiness.

Religiosity good for all seasons gives way to the unprecedented life of Faith.

This is where the Art of discernment and pastoral work comes in: it should know how to introduce new competitive, dissimilar energies - cosmic and personal - that prepare unprecedented, open, gratuitous syntheses.

We know this, and yet in some prestigious and already wealthy circles, the greed to possess under the guise of necessity does not allow them to see clearly.

It happens even to long-standing consecrated persons - it is not clear why such greedy, perfunctory duplicity.

Do we still want to emerge, raising more confusions? After all, we are dissatisfied with our mediocre choices.

At the beginning of the Vocation, we felt the need for a Relationship that would bring Meaning and a Centre to our feriality...

Then we deviated, perhaps out of dissatisfaction or for reasons of calculation and convenience - then the dullness of our robbing eyes prevailed. First here and there, gradually occupying the soul.

Even in some church leaders and circles of prominence, the basis of existence has become the volume of ropey business [scheming gangs, Pope Francis would say].

In multiple realities, the vain scene, the bag of commerce, the thrill of getting on the board, have supplanted real hearts - and eyes themselves.

As if to say: there is another experience of the 'divine', which is a doomsday: between one Psalm and another, better than Love becomes feeling powerful, secure, celebrated, respected around.

[God and accumulation give different orders? No problem: let it be understood that one does it for 'his' Glory].

So much for the common good.Not a few people are realising that counting is the most popular sport in various multi-multiple companies, fantastically embellished with events and initiatives (to cover what is really 'worth').

And litmus test is precisely that mean-spirited scrutiny (vv.22-23) that behind dense scenes, holds back, even judges, and keeps a distance from others.

Such is the gaze that closes the horizon of existence: the immediately at hand, and of circumstance, counts.

A seemingly superabundant belief - coincidentally without the prominence of Hope - is condemning us to the world's worst denatality rate.

The panorama of our devoutly empty villages and towns is discouraging.

But one revels in one's own niche, and in the small or grandiose situation.

The important thing is that everything is epidermically adorned.

Under the peculiar bell tower that sets the pace for the usual things, many people keep 'their' too much to themselves. Content to sacralise selfishness with grandiose proclamations, or more modestly, with the display of beautiful statues, customs, banners, colourful costumes and mannerisms.

Instead, according to the Gospels, in attempts and paths of Faith that are not satisfied with an empty spirituality, life becomes bright with creative Love that flourishes, and puts everyone at ease.

Even the old can re-emerge in this new spirit. For there are other Heights. For what makes one intimate with God is nothing external.

The authentic Church aroused by limpid 'visions' - without papier-mache and duplicity - always reveals something portentous: fruitfulness from nullity, life from the outpouring of it, birth from apparent sterility.

A river of unimagined attunements will reconnect the reading of events and the action of believers to the work of the Spirit, without barriers.

For when normalised thinking gives way, and settles down, the new advances.

The choice is now inexorable: between death and life; between longing and "darkness" (v.23), or Happiness.

The first step is to admit that one must make a journey.

To internalise and live the message:

Where is your Treasure? Is your heart and eye simple?

Have you ever experienced sides that others judge to be inconclusive (from a material point of view) and instead have prepared your new paths?