I want mercy and not sacrifice...". (Mt 9:13).

The one who speaks these words is Jesus Christ: He who offered the most perfect sacrifice of Himself to God. This sacrifice was simultaneously the supreme revelation of the Father, who is God "rich in mercy" (Eph 2:4). During Lent, the Church meditates on her knees on this mystery: the mystery of sacrifice and mercy, and seeks to build her inner life and service from it. One must enter very deeply into this mystery of Christ's sacrifice in order to fulfil each day, with the strength that comes from it, the mission of mercy, that is, of love, which in Christ is always greater than any evil.

It is necessary to enter very deeply into the mystery of Christ's sacrifice in order to make all service to those who are in need of our mercy flow from it every day: the service of the Church and of all people of good will.

[Pope John Paul II, Angelus 29 March 1981]

There are "two roads". And it is Jesus himself, with his "gestures of closeness", who gives us the right indication as to which one to take. On the one hand, in fact, there is the road of the "hypocrites", who close their doors because of their attachment to the "letter of the law". On the other, however, there is "the road of charity", which passes "from love to the true justice that is within the law". Pope Francis said this at the Mass celebrated on Friday morning, 31 October, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

In practice, the Pontiff said, "these people were so attached to the law that they had forgotten justice; so attached to the law that they had forgotten love". But 'not only to the law; they were attached to the words, to the letters of the law'.

Precisely this way 'of living, attached to the law, distanced them from love and justice: they cared for the law, they neglected justice; they cared for the law, they neglected love'. Yet "they were the models". But "Jesus finds only one word for these people: hypocrites!". One cannot, in fact, go "into all the world looking for proselytes" and then close "the door". For the Lord was dealing with "men of closure, men so attached to the law, to the letter of the law: not to the law", because "the law is love", but "to the letter of the law". They were men "who always closed the doors of hope, of love, of salvation, men who only knew how to close".

Only "in the flesh of Christ", in fact, does the law "have full fulfilment". Because "the flesh of Christ knows how to suffer, he gave his life for us". While "the letter is cold."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 01/11/2014]

New Wineskins and vocational Freedom

(Mk 2:18-22)

Fasting is a regenerative principle that has a unique healing power, both detoxifying and essential.

It activates the energies of ‘humanity’ and at the same time of ‘diversity’.

This silent practice addresses the deep layers, the internal dimension, which becomes the guide and we risk ignoring.

Fasting was a sign of profound religiosity, therefore the disciples of Jesus - who did not fast, on the contrary their life had a festive character - were more or less assimilated to sinners.

Although there were no formal prescriptions, in observant circles it was pious practices that had become customary [linked to precisely marked days].

In Semitic beliefs, fasting was in particular expressive of the embarrassment and affliction of the devout man in the expectation of the Messianic times, which were delaying.

This is why Jesus associates fasting with mourning. It no longer has meaning in life as the unhindered wedding feast that He inaugurates.

Fasting remains as a sign of waiting for fulfillment, but now sadness no longer has any decisive relevance.

In the time of the Church that makes the Risen present, the renunciation of gorging is not a form of penance but of Hope (v.20).

And it serves to keep the hearts of Bridegroom’s friends clear of vanities, with a form of identification with the poor.

In other communities, the Judaizers tried to reduce the pure Faith - foundation and enthusiastic participation - to whatever beliefs and practices [that didn’t make everyone feel free and adequate].

In fact, a large part of the Jews converted to Christ were inclined to nostalgia that resulted in impediment.

In the communities of Roman-Pagan extraction to whom Mark addressed, there was a strong desire to free the Risen One from fetters [disciplinary fixations, timetables, calendar].

The believers perceived Him to be 'alive' - accomplices of the new humanising character they experienced day by day.

Under the confusion and violence of the ongoing civil war, the evangelist wanted to orient his assemblies in the late 60s not to cling to false securities.

Even today the Lord's proposal stands out - because it doesn’t claim to prepare the Kingdom, but rather welcomes and listens to it.

It will be Christ-in-us alone to nourish us towards an uninterrupted and growing way, in the commitment to start afresh in the task of ‘finding ourselves’ and emancipating the world - in a climate of austerity, balanced.

The Call of the Gospels remains respectful, concrete and strongly prophetic at the same time, because it arouses attention to people, to reality, and our joy - much more than to unsolicited standards of improvement, or other patches (v.21).

By not overwhelming or imposing artificial loads on believers, the life of Faith brings freedom into play [and thus makes it known to us] so that we become aware and assume it in order to be able to invest as Grace, charge, resource of novelty.

The renouncing and mortifying mechanisms, of individualistic perfection, are alien from the start - unless they are designed for the sharing of goods.

Jesus doesn’t come to make a small group of followers seated on the chair of austerity, but to communicate that the relationship with God is a celebration.

Fasting pleasing to the Father lies in the lucid experience of one's own unrepeatable eccentricity and Call, in freeing oneself from the selfishness that holds back, in bringing relief to one's neighbor.

For this reason the Church has almost completely abolished the precept of external fasting, while it intends to commit more to forms of limitation in favor of the uncertain, humble and needy.

[Monday 2nd wk. in O.T.   January 19, 2026]

(Mk 2:18-22)

Fasting has travelled through all religious and mystical traditions, because it is intended to bring women and men closer to their own profound essence - to listening to themselves, to the codes of the sacred, to the inner cosmos, to their vocation, to the sacred pages - in the expectation of transformation.

One entrusts oneself to a different wisdom - less noisy - that can activate processes of metamorphosis, precisely by making a void from the intrusions of homologated thought, from external habits or conformisms that tend to overwhelm the personality.

By detaching, the torments will vanish, replaced by other interests and lucid dreams; aroused by the new breakthrough to our eternal side, and by that reliance on the core of being that is still creating us.

Psycho-physical and supernatural unity is a prodigious organism, which can clear away the fog and enhance its capacities with various forms of suspension and cleansing, even mental cleansing - which will take us where we need to go.

But in the specifics of the children of God, all this is aimed at sharpening the gaze in the sense of knowledge, discovery, surprise of unsuspected singular and missionary capacities and qualities. Those that flow from the discovery of the eminent Self, from one's own founding Relationship - to become uniqueness of exceptional relationship with others, in the Exodus that corresponds to us.

Fasting is a principle of regeneration that has a unique healing power, both detoxifying and essential. It activates the energies of one's humanity and at the same time one's diversity.

This silent practice addresses the deep layers, the inner dimension, which become the guide (and we risk ignoring).

But here, understanding dissimilarities remains indispensable. For us, it is a gesture of openness!

Other kinds of diets or athleticism are not infrequently deviant: their very nonmeaning brings sadness and even depression.

Fasting remains a sign of waiting for the fulfilment, but now the sadness is meaningless.

In the time of the Church that makes the Risen One present, the renunciation of gorging is not a form of penitence but of hope (v.20).

And it serves to keep the heart of the Bridegroom's friends clear of vanities, with a form of identification with the poor.

But Jesus does not come to make himself a group of followers sitting on the chair of austerity, but to communicate that the relationship with God is a feast!

In short, fasting pleasing to the Father lies in the lucid experience of one's own unique eccentricity and calling, in freeing oneself from the selfishness of grabbing for oneself, and bringing relief to one's neighbour.

It creates life, not diminishes it.

Fasting was a sign of deep religiosity, so Jesus' disciples - who did not fast, indeed their existence had a festive character - were likened more or less to sinners.

Although there were no formal prescriptions, these were pious practices that became customary in observant circles [here seriousness was everything] linked to precisely marked days.

In Semitic beliefs, fasting was in particular expressive of the devout man's embarrassment and affliction in the quivering expectation of the messianic times, which were delayed.

This is why Jesus associates fasting with mourning - which no longer has any meaning in life as the wedding feast without qualms that He inaugurates.

Where precisely there is no need for additions, no need for checks or imprints, marks or distinguishing characteristics.

Nor is the New Covenant a modernisation of moral practices or pious prescriptions that provide an external religious pass.

Everything is in relation to the real presence of the Bridegroom, who does not punish life.

Of course, he who proceeds on the path of emancipation and is not satisfied with a partial Jesus the Bridegroom, already knows in himself what awaits him...

Then (v.20) in the strident confrontation with the religious leaders - clinging to prestige - there is sadness and humiliation to no end. So much for fasting from food.

However, those who have decided to continue on their path of vocational freedom know that they must relive the same events of blatant conflict that pitted the Master against the mentality and authorities of his time; and finally, in such a real encounter with Him, experience the total gift of life (v.20).

It will only be the Christ-in-us, even if it is centred and not definitive, that will nourish soul and body in an uninterrupted and growing way.

This with the commitment to start again in the mission of finding ourselves and giving breath to the world.

In an atmosphere of quiet austerity; without artificial brakes.

In the communities of Roman-pagan extraction addressed by Mark, there was a strong desire to free the Risen One from fetters [disciplinary fixations, timetables, calendar].

The believers perceived Him to be alive - accomplice to the new humanising character they experienced day by day.

Under the confusion and violence of the ongoing civil war, the evangelist wanted to orient his assemblies in the late 1960s not to cling to false securities. 

The Tao Tê Ching (v) writes:

"The space between Heaven and Earth, how it resembles a bellows!".

Master Wang Pi comments:

"If the bellows had its own will in blowing, it could not implement the intent of the one who makes it blow".

And Master Ho-shang Kung adds: 'Many endeavours harm the spirit'.

In short, Christ treasures natural wisdom and does not reduce us to the measure of contrived, whatever religion: he does not confine believers to 'negotiations' through petty procedures of athleticism and individual perfection.

He does not insist on heroic mortifications, extraordinary renunciations, punctilious observance of sterile - one-sided - laws, unless they are conceived in order to find each other, to humanise, to share goods.

The Call of the Gospels remains at once balanced, concrete and strongly prophetic.

A call that arouses attention to people, to reality, to our joy - much more than to unsolicited aseptic polishing rules, or other patches (v.21).

By neither overpowering nor imposing artificial burdens on believers, the life of Faith brings self-determination into play.

Thus it makes it known to us - so that we become aware of it and take it on in order to be able to invest it as Grace, charge (not diminish): a resource of newness.

The ascetic mechanisms of individualist refinement are alien from the outset: the goal is to create family, not to carve out a circle of hard and pure men all external and proud of themselves, who distance themselves from weaker brothers and sisters.

Then, self-satisfied, they become disloyal, usurpers, schemers: a history of flaws, equivocal plots and pastoral delays, behind an impeccable façade of cerebral doctrines, disciplines (in their own way) and resounding commemorations over the body of the 'poor departed'.

This is why the Church has almost completely abolished the precept of outward fasting, while it intends to make a greater commitment to forms of restraint in favour of the sick, marginalised, humble and needy.

The choice wants to remain clear: freedom is priceless.

And there is no love if someone - even God - cuts off or overpowers the other, imposing artificial yokes, too much the same as always; unbearable, extravagant, unhealthy.

So the old containers are no longer to be matched with the new ferment. The practice of patching damages both custom and the Newness of the Father.

Certainly, old wine and cassocks have a fascinating attraction for the senses and the vintage epidermal imagination....

That is why they continue to appeal [Lk 5:39: "The old man is excellent!"]. Not a few want to combine it with the Lord (Mk 2:22; Mt 9:17; Lk 5:37-38).

The Master was not for himself an opponent of the spirit of old, but he fought against its unshakable shells. Even then, they were empty shells, which actually prevented the manifestation of an unseen Face of the Eternal Living One, and of a more genuine idea of a successful man - the germ of an alternative, fraternal society.

Realities well separated from the intimist or self-referential ones typical of official or do-it-yourself cults. All innovations that had to manifest themselves.

The taste and aftertaste of old wine cloaked devotional rites and seasoned customs with artfulness, levity and evocative charm, but they stayed there and did not scratch life.

They remembered, but they did not memorialise - that is, they did not re-actualise for the little people.

In the practice of the many cults, in its feats of catechesis without pastoral nerve, even today in the provinces we notice [for decades] a mechanical pre-conciliar regurgitation, which stops at the great icons.

Wonders and memories of Salvation History... that's it.

It seemed easier to local leaders to go back to customs and abbreviated catechisms than to face the educational risk that the Magisterium itself would impose.

The immediate result was judged palatable and profitable, for the [underneath] fundamentalist or glamorous sector, and astute - willingly supplanting the unknown effervescence of new wine.

In fact, on the part of those who know 'how to be in the world', one still has to endure a whole superficiality of retreats and habitual accommodations, which redeem no one and bring no joy, because they do not enter into personal human affairs.

Then settling for the fish menu on Fridays. Genuine superfluity.

But those who stop at the past of mortifications and papier-mâché can never understand the Reformation that the Spirit proposes to edify every soul in authentic fulfilment, which makes us better hold one another.

Thus, in the coexistence and conviviality of differences, the old containers must no longer be coupled with the new ferment.

The practice of patching can, on the one hand, damage customs, because they have their own refined and pronounced taste (relevant in itself) - on the other hand, it distracts and attenuates the life of change, in the Exodus that does not extinguish us.

In short, the Lord does not envisage for us a practice of mending and enclosing boundaries: rather, he wants to break cages. 

To internalise and live the message:

Do you fast? From what? And for what purpose? Does it break cages? Is it or is it not in order to know each other, find each other, and listen, heal, share, embrace, hold each other better?

What inner conflicts do you experience around religious practices that you believe still bring suffering to people and are not a spousal expression or cause for emancipation for women and men?

What image of God and believing humanity is subject to preconceptions and prohibitions? How do you demonstrate the primacy of Jesus in every area of life?

while Jesus was at table in the house of Levi, the publican, the Pharisees and John the Baptist's disciples asked why Jesus' disciples were not fasting as they were. Jesus answered that wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them and that they will fast when the bridegroom is taken away from them (cf. Mk 2: 18, 20). With these words, Christ reveals his identity of Messiah, Israel's bridegroom, who came for the betrothal with his people. Those who recognize and welcome him are celebrating. However, he will have to be rejected and killed precisely by his own; at that moment, during his Passion and death, the hour of mourning and fasting will come.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 26 February 2006]

1. "Sanctify a fast!" (Joel 1:14). They are the words that we listened to in the first reading on Ash Wednesday. They were written by the Prophet Joel, and the Church establishes the practice of Lent in conformity with them, ordering fasting. Today the practice of Lent, defined by Paul VI in the Constitution "Poenitemini ", is considerably reduced as compared with practices of the past. In this matter the Pope left a great deal to the decision of the Episcopal Conferences of the individual countries. They, therefore, have the task of adapting the requirements of fasting according to the circumstances that prevail in their respective societies. He also recalled that the essence of Lenten repentance consists not only of fasting, but also of prayer and almsdeeds (works of mercy). So it is necessary to decide according to circumstances, since fasting itself can be "replaced" by works of mercy and prayer. The aim of this particular period in the life of the Church is always and everywhere repentance, that is, conversion to God. Repentance, in fact, understood as conversion, that is "metanoia", forms a whole, which the tradition of the People of God already in the old Covenant and then Christ himself linked, in a certain way, with prayer, almsdeeds and fasting.

Why to fasting?

At this moment there perhaps come into our minds the words with which Jesus answered the disciples of John the Baptist when they asked him: "Why do your disciples not fast?" Jesus answered: "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Mt 9:15). In fact the time of Lent reminds us that the bridegroom has been taken away from us. Taken away, arrested, imprisoned, slapped, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified... Fasting in the time of Lent is the expression of our solidarity with Christ. Such was the meaning of Lent throughout the centuries and such it remains today.

"My love has been crucified and there is no longer in me the flame that desires material things", as the Bishop of Antioch, Ignatius, writes in the letter to the Romans (Ign. Antioch,. Ad Romanos VII, 2).

2. Why fasting?

It is necessary to give this question a wider and deeper answer, in order to clarify the relationship between fasting and "metanoia", that is, that spiritual change which brings man closer to God. We will try therefore to concentrate not only on the practice of abstention from food or from drink — that, in fact, is the meaning of "fasting" in the common sense — but on the deeper meaning of this practice which, moreover, can and must sometimes be "replaced" by another one. Food and drink are indispensable for man to live, he uses them and must use them, but he may not abuse them in any way. The traditional abstention from food and drink has as its purpose to introduce into man's existence not only the necessary balance, but also detachment from what might be defined a "consumer attitude". In our times this attitude has become one of the characteristics of civilization and in particular of Western civilization. The consumer attitude!

Man geared to material goods, multiple material goods, very often abuses them. It is not a question here lust of food and drink. When man is geared exclusively to possession and use of material goods — that is, of things — then also the whole civilization is measured according to the quantity and the quality of the things with which it is in a position to supply man, and is not measured with the yardstick suitable for man. This civilization, in fact, supplies material goods not just in order that they may serve man to carry out creative and useful activities, but more and more... to satisfy the senses, the excitement he derives from them, momentary pleasure, an ever greater multiplicity of sensations.

We sometimes hear it said that the excessive increase of audiovisual media in the rich countries is not always useful for the development of intelligence, particularly in children; on the contrary, it sometimes contributes to checking its development. The child lives only on sensations, he looks for ever-new sensations... And thus he becomes, without realizing it, a slave of this modern passion. Satiating himself with sensations, he often remains passive intellectually; the intellect does not open to search of truth; the will remains bound by habit which it is unable to oppose.

It is seen from this that modern man must fast, that is, abstain not only from food or drink, but from many other means of consumption, stimulation, satisfaction of the senses. To fast means to abstain, to renounce something.

3. Why renounce something? Why deprive oneself of it? We have already partly answered this question. However the answer will not be complete, if we do not realize that man is himself also because he succeeds in depriving himself of something, because he is capable of saying "no" to himself. Man is a being composed of body and soul. Some modern writers present this composite structure of man in the form of layers, and they speak, for example, of exterior layers on the surface of our personality, contrasting them with the layers in depth. Our life seems to be divided into such layers and takes place through them. While the superficial layers are bound up with our sensuality, the deep layers are an expression, on the contrary, of man's spirituality, that is, of conscious will, reflection, conscience, the capacity of living superior values.

This image of the structure of the human personality can serve to understand the meaning of fasting for man. It is not a question here only of the religious meaning, but of a meaning that is expressed through the so-called "organization" of man as a subject-person. Man develops regularly when the deeper layers of his personality find sufficient expression, when the sphere of his interests and aspirations is not limited just to the exterior and superficial layers, connected with human sensuality. To facilitate such a development, we must sometimes deliberately detach ourselves from what serves to satisfy sensuality, that is, from those exterior, superficial layers. Therefore we must renounce every thing that "nourishes" them.

This, in short, is the interpretation of fasting nowadays.

Renunciation of sensations, stimuli, pleasures and even food or drink, is not an end in itself. It must only, so to speak, prepare the way for deeper contents by which the interior man "is nourished". This renunciation, this mortification must serve to create in man the conditions to be able to live the superior values, for which he, in his own way, hungers.

This is the "full" meaning of fasting in the language of today. However, when we read the Christian authors of antiquity or the Fathers of the Church, we find in them the same truth, often expressed in a surprisingly "modern" language. St Peter Chrysologus, for example, says.. "Fasting is peace of the body, strength of minds, vigour of souls" (Sermo VII: de jejunio 3); and again: "Fasting is the helm of human life and governs the whole ship of our body." (Sermo VII: de jejunio 1.)

And St Ambrose replies as follows to possible objections to fasting: "The flesh, because of its mortal condition, has some specific lusts: With regard to them you are granted the right to curb them. Your flesh is under you...: do not follow the promptings of the flesh to unlawful things, but curb them somewhat even as regards lawful ones. In fact he who does not abstain from any of the lawful things, is also very close to unlawful things." (Sermo de utilitate jejunii III.V.VII). Also writers not belonging to Christianity declare the same truth. This truth is of universal significance. It is part of the universal wisdom of life.

4. It is now certainly easier for us to understand why Christ the Lord and the Church unite the call to fasting with repentance, that is, with conversion. To be converted to God, it is necessary to discover in ourselves that which makes us sensitive to what belongs to God; therefore, the spiritual contents, the superior values which speak to our intellect, to our conscience, to our "heart" (according to biblical language). To open up to these spiritual contents, to these values, it is necessary to detach oneself from what serves only the consumer spirit, satisfaction of the senses. In the opening of our human personality to God, fasting — understood both in the "traditional" way and in the "modern" way — must go hand in hand with prayer because it is addressed directly to him.

Furthermore, fasting, that is, the mortification of the senses, mastery of the  body, confer on prayer a greater efficacy, which man discovers in himself. He discovers, in fact, that he is "different", that he is more "master of himself", that he has become interiorly free. And he realizes this in as much as conversion and the meeting with God, through prayer, bear fruit in him.

It is clear from these our reflections today that fasting is not only a "vestige" of a religious practice of past centuries, but that it is also indispensable for the man of today, for Christians of our time.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 21 March 1979]

But what kind of penance and fasting does the Lord want from man? The risk, in fact, is of 'rigging' a virtuous practice, of being 'inconsistent'. And it is not just a question of "food choices", but of lifestyles for which one must have the "humility" and "consistency" to recognise and correct one's sins.

This is in short the reflection that, at the beginning of the Lenten journey, the Pontiff proposed to the faithful during the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on the morning of Friday 16 February.

Key word of the meditation, suggested by the liturgy of the day, was "fasting": "Fasting before God, fasting that is adoration, fasting in earnest", because "fasting is one of the tasks to be done in Lent". But not in the sense of those who say: 'I only eat the Lenten dishes'. In fact, Francis commented, 'those dishes make a banquet! It is not changing dishes or making fish one way, the other, tastier'. Otherwise, one does nothing but 'continue the carnival'.

It is the word of God, he emphasised, that admonishes that 'our fasting be true. True in earnest'. And, he added, 'if you cannot do total fasting, the kind that makes one feel hungry to the bone', at least 'do a humble fast, but a true fast'.

In the first reading (Isaiah 58:1-9), in this regard, "the prophet points out many inconsistencies in the practice of virtue". And precisely "this is one of the inconsistencies". Isaiah's list is detailed: 'You say that you seek me, you speak to me. But it is not true', and 'on the day of your fasting you mind your own business': that is, while 'fasting is a little stripping', you are concerned with 'making money'. And again: 'Angariate all your workers': in other words, the Pope explained, while one says: 'I thank you Lord that I can fast', one despises the workers who 'must fast because they have no food'. The prophet's accusation is direct: "Behold, you fast amid quarrels and altercations and striking with unjust fists.

This is an inadmissible double face. The Pontiff explained: "If you want to do penance, do it in peace. But you cannot on the one hand speak to God and on the other speak to the devil, invite both to fast; this is an inconsistency". And, always following the indications of Scripture - "Do not fast any longer as you do today, so that your noise may be heard on high" - Francis warned against incoherent exhibitionism. It is the attitude of those who, for example, always remind us: 'we are Catholics, we practise; I belong to that association, we always fast, we do penance'. He ideally asked them: "But, do you fast consistently or do you do penance inconsistently as the Lord says, with noise, so that everyone sees it, and says, 'What a righteous person, what a righteous man, what a righteous woman'?" This, indeed, "is a trick; it is rigging virtue. It is rigging the commandment'. And it is, he added, a "temptation" that we have all felt at times, "to make up instead of being serious about virtue, about what the Lord asks of us".

On the contrary, the Lord "advises penitents, those who fast, to put on make-up, but seriously: 'Fast, but put on make-up so that people do not see that you are doing penance. Smile, be happy". Faced with so many who "are hungry and cannot smile", this is the suggestion to the believer: "You seek hunger to help others, but always with a smile, because you are a child of God and the Lord loves you so much and has revealed these things to you. But without inconsistency'.

At this point, the Pontiff's reflection went even deeper, prompted by the question: "what fast does the Lord want?". The answer comes again from Scripture, where first of all we read: 'Fold your head like a reed'. That is: to humble oneself. And to those who ask: "How do I humble myself?", the Pope replied: "But think of your sins. Each one of us has many. And 'be ashamed', because even if the world does not know them, God knows them well. This, then, 'is the fast the Lord wants: truth, consistency'.

There is then an addition: "Loose the unrighteous chains" and "remove the bond of the yoke". The examination of conscience, in this case, focuses on the relationship with others. To make himself better understood, the Pope gave a very practical example: "I think of so many maids who earn their bread with their work" and who are often "humiliated, despised". Here his reflection gave way to personal recollection: "Never have I been able to forget a time when I went to a friend's house as a child. I saw my mother slap the maid. Eighty-one years old... I have not forgotten that'. Hence a series of questions ideally addressed to those who have servants: 'How do you treat them? As people or as slaves? Do you pay them fairly, do you give them holidays? Is it a person or is it an animal that helps you in your home?". A request for consistency that also applies to religious, "in our homes, in our institutions: how do I behave with the maid I have at home, with the maids I have at home?". Here the Pontiff added another personal experience, recalling a "very cultured" gentleman who, however, "exploited the maids". and who, when confronted with the consideration that this was "a grave sin" against people who are "the image of God", objected: "No, Father, we must distinguish: these are inferior people".

We must therefore 'remove the bond of the yoke, loosen the iniquitous chains, set the oppressed free, break every yoke'. And, commenting on the prophet who admonishes: "share your bread with the hungry, bring in the wretched, the homeless", the Pope contextualised: "Today we discuss whether or not we give shelter to those who come to ask for it..."

And the indications continue: "Clothe one you see naked", but "without neglecting your relatives". This is real fasting, the kind that involves everyday life. "We need to do penance, we need to feel a little hungry, we need to pray more," Francis said; but if "we do a lot of penance" and do not live fasting in this way, "the sprout that will be born from there" will be "pride", that of someone who says: "I thank you, Lord, because I can fast like a saint". And this, he added, "is the ugly trick", not what Jesus himself suggests "so that others do not see that I fast" (cf. Matthew, 6:16-18).

The question to ask, the Pontiff concluded, is: "How do I behave with others? Does my fasting come to help others?". Because if this does not happen, that fast "is fake, it is incoherent and leads you down the path of a double life". One must, therefore, "humbly ask for the grace of consistency."

[Pope Francis, S. Marta, in L'Osservatore Romano 17/02/2018]

Revolution of healthy Tenderness

(Jn 1:29-34)

In the fourth Gospel the Baptist is not «the forerunner», but a «witness» of the Lamb Light that raises basic questions.

Alarmed, the authorities put him under investigation.

But it’s not he who sweeps away «sin», that is, the humiliation of unbridgeable distances - and the inability to correspond to the personal Vocation, for Life without limit.

Hindrance even underlined by the logic of the «world»: by the false teaching, by the very structure of the ancient official institution, so linked to the interweaving between religion and power.

Condemned to «noon-day» [culmination and full light] on Easter eve, Jesus crosses his earthly end with the hour when the priests of the Temple began to immolate the lambs of propitiation [originally, an apotropaic sacrifice that preceded transhumance].

As for the Lamb of the fathers in foreign land, who had spared them from the slaughter - his Blood gives impetus to cross the land of arid slavery, devoid of warmth and intimate consonance.

As is known, the effigy of the Lamb belongs to the sacrificial theological strand, stemming from the famous text of Isaiah 53 and from all the sacral imagery of the ancient East [which had elaborated a literature and a widespread thought on the King Messiah].

According to the biblical conception, the sovereign was a figure of the whole people and represented them. The Anointed would have had the ideal task of dragging away and atoning for human iniquities.

But Jesus does not "expiate" rather «extirpates». Not even "propitiates": the Father does not reject the precarious condition of his creatures.

In Christ who «supports and removes» all our shame and weaknesses, the Father’s Action is made intimate - for this reason decisive.

He doesn’t annihilate transgressions with a sort of amnesty, even vicarious: it would not be authentic salvation to touch only the suburbs and not the Core, to reactivate us.

An outer dress does not belong to us and will never be ours; it is not assimilated, nor does it become real life. Deletions don’t educate, far from it.

It’s true that a lamb in a world of cunning wolves has no escape. By introducing it you see it perish, but not as a designated victim: it was the only way for the beastmen who believe they were people, to understand that they were still only beasts.

Being considered strong, capable of commanding, excellent, untainted, magnificent, high-performing, extraordinary, glorious... damages people.

It puts a mask on us, makes us one-sided; it takes away understanding. It makes the character we are sitting in, float above reality.

The Risen One introduces into the world a new force, a different dynamism, a way of teaching the soul that becomes a conscious process.

Only by educating us, does the Most High-neighbour annihilate and overcome the instinct of the fairs feeding each other, believing themselves to be authentic human beings - even spiritual.

A third allusion to the figure of the Lamb insists on the votive icon and archetypal category associated with the sacrifice of Abraham, where God himself provides for the victim (Gn 22).

Of course he provides: he did not create us angelic, but malformed, transient. Yet, every divine Gift passes through our shaky ‘condition’ - which is not sin, nor guilt, but a matter of fact; so nourishment, and resource.

We are Perfect in the multiplicity of our creative slopes, even in the limit: a blasphemy for the ancient religious man... a reality for the person of Faith.

Authentic Lamb is not just a [moral] reference: the Meekness of those who are called to give everything of themselves, even their skin.

It is an image of the (blatant) ‘boundary’ of those who could never make it to genius in life, so they ‘let themselves be found’ and loaded on the shoulders.

In this way, no decision-making delirium.

It will be the Friend of our vocational nucleus who will transmit strength and devise the way to make us return to the House that is truly ours: the Tent that stitches together the scattered events.

Dwelling that rewires all the being we should - and maybe even could - have brought to fruit.

Incarnation here means that the Lamb is depiction of an accepted - unusual - globality of the divine Face in men.

Totality finally solid - paradoxical, conciliated - that recovers its opposite innocent, natural, spontaneous, incapable of miracle.

Thus, the Dove, an icon of modest, non-aggressive energy; an example of attachment to one's «own» Nest.

Healthy Tenderness, which starts with self-knowledge.

Lamb and Dove: the peaceful differences - between strong-willed, improper, irritable religiosity, and personal Faith.

[2nd Sunday in O.T.  (year A), January 18, 2026]

Behold the Lamb, in the lambs

(Jn 1:29-34)

In the fourth Gospel, the Baptist is not 'the precursor', but a 'witness' to the Light Lamb who raises fundamental questions.

Alarmed, the authorities investigate him.

But it is not he who sweeps away 'sin', that is, the humiliation of unbridgeable distances - and the inability to respond to one's personal Vocation, to Life without limits.

This hindrance is even emphasised by the logic 'of the world': by false teaching, by the very structure of the ancient official institution, so closely linked to the intertwining of religion and power.

Condemned at 'midday' [the height and full light] of Easter Eve, Jesus' earthly journey coincides with the hour when the priests of the Temple began to sacrifice the lambs of propitiation [originally an apotropaic sacrifice that preceded transhumance].

As with the Lamb of the fathers in a foreign land, who had spared them from slaughter, his Blood gives impetus to cross the land of arid slavery.

The 'Egypt' of the pharaohs, devoid of warmth and intimate harmony (which lead us to premature death).

As is well known, the image of the Lamb belongs to the sacrificial theological tradition, which originated in the famous text of Isaiah 53 and in all the sacred imagery of the ancient East [which had developed a literature and widespread belief in the Messiah King].

According to the biblical conception, the sovereign united and represented the entire people. The Anointed One would have had the ideal task of carrying away and atoning for human iniquities.

But Jesus does not 'atone' but 'uproots'. Nor does he 'propitiate': the Father does not reject the precarious condition of his creatures, nor does he establish a protectorate favourable to a circle (like the God of archaic religions).

In Christ, who 'supports and removes' all our shame and weaknesses, the Father's action becomes intimate - and therefore decisive.

He does not destroy transgressions with a kind of amnesty, even vicarious: it would not be authentic salvation to touch only the peripheries and not the Core, in order to reactivate us.

An external habit does not belong to us and will never be ours; it is not assimilated, nor does it become real life. Amnesties do not educate, quite the contrary.

It is true that a little lamb in a world of cunning wolves has no chance of escape. To present it means to see it perish, but not as a designated victim: it was the only way for the beasts who believe themselves to be people to understand that they are still only beasts.

Being considered strong, capable of commanding, excellent, untainted, magnificent, high-performing, extraordinary, glorious... damages people.

It puts a mask on us, makes us one-sided; it takes away understanding. It makes the character we are sitting in, float above reality.

The Risen One introduces a new force into the world, a different dynamism, a way of instructing the soul that becomes a conscious process.

Only by educating us does the Most High-near destroy and overcome the instinct of beasts that devour each other, believing themselves to be true human beings - even spiritual ones.

A third allusion to the figure of the Lamb insists on the votive icon and archetypal category associated with Abraham's sacrifice, where God himself provides the victim (Genesis 22).

Of course he provides: he did not create us angelic, but rather unstable, transitory. Yet every divine Gift passes through our shaky condition - which is not sin, nor fault, but rather a given; nourishment and resource.

We are Perfect in the multiplicity of our creaturely aspects, even in our limitations: blasphemy for the religious man of old... a reality for the man of Faith.

The authentic Lamb is not just a (moral) reference: it is the meekness of those who are called to give everything of themselves, even their skin.

It is an image of the obvious limitation of those who would never be able to make life brilliant, so they allow themselves to be found and carried on the shoulders of others.

In this way, there is no delusional decision-making.

It will be the Friend of our vocational core who will transmit strength and devise the way to return us to the House that is truly ours: the Tent that stitches together scattered events.

A dwelling that reconnects all the being that we should have - and perhaps even could have - brought to fruition.

The different paths that lead to the founding Eros that belongs to us, intimate and superior, are authentic and at the same time unique to each person.

The Perfection that will emerge along the Way already corresponds to us.

Then the desire to improve according to an ancient or other person's paradigm will no longer be a torment that unnerves the soul, attenuating its completeness.

Incarnation here means that the Lamb is the representation of an unusual, accepted totality of the divine Face in men.

A totality that is finally solid – paradoxical, reconciled – which recovers its innocent, natural, spontaneous opposite, incapable of miracles.

The difference between religiosity and Faith.

The Lamb is not an ego that already has its own path; equipped, self-confident and able to find its way in the world. Perhaps to be accepted, to be on a par with others, to always be in the foreground.

It is the passive virtues and weaknesses - not the artificial ones put on display - that activate the best, most fruitful parts of ourselves, enabling us to look within.

All this, in order to journey through ourselves and our brothers and sisters, overcoming our secret sides and anxieties; transmitting life.

Lamb: not wanting to be there at all costs and as protagonists, always at ease, with certainties on display; too exposed to projections, to other desires for protagonism - and not losing positions.

When we put ourselves on display, we remain completely external and shift our faculties, the other capacities of the heart - such as the need to yield, to let things flow in order to prepare for something else that we do not know. And to turn our gaze, discover new directions, or symbiosis with the different.

This is why we speak of a 'revolution of tenderness' [see below] - which cannot be a guided cultural mask or an expropriating conditioning.

In the end, we realise that people are artificial: they act out holiness - some only to gain spiritual superiority over the naive and innocent who are caught up in an authentically interior and fraternal gaze.

The Lamb is an image of stability in goodness, first and foremost received as a gift and perhaps not even invoked, but recognisable - which therefore reveals both the innate silence and the unexpected colours of the soul and of events.

Step by step, it becomes a deep knowledge of ourselves, a figure of orientation and solid dialogue to rely on, activating that singular hope full of intensity that tears us away from infatuations.

We hang on his universal and simple words.

They open our consciousness - overcoming both our demons and the shrill resonances of those who stand beside us to feel important (and govern relationships).

Incorporated into the Lamb, we enter into the right spirit of the inner journey. Then we continue willingly - never alone and orphaned; as Together - in the search for our own unique way of completing ourselves and becoming Food.

The Tao Te Ching (xv) asks:

'Who is capable of being restless in order to gradually clarify by resting? Who is capable of being placid in order to gradually live, removing over time?'.

Master Wang Pi comments:

'The man of supreme virtue is like this: his omens are not scrutinisable, the direction of his virtue is not manifest. If he perfects creatures by remaining obscure, he illuminates them; if he makes creatures rest by being restless, he clarifies them; if he removes creatures by remaining placid, he brings them to life'.

Christ the Lamb is definitely the beneficial therapeutic image of the soul seeking nourishment - and of our energetic destiny, even during normal occupations.

Then they will seem almost like a song, vibrating around us.

To internalise and live the message:

What does the expression 'the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world' mean to you?

Healthy tenderness: selfishness without reduction

The saint is the one who, following his own path in the wake of the Risen One, has learned to 'identify with the other, without paying attention to where [or] where from [...] ultimately experiencing that others are his own flesh' (cf. FT 84).

No plant lives only in the light: it would die. No animal: it would perish - if it did not have its den in the shade.

The man who denies his dark side is lying. And he would never enjoy Joy, the fruit of the Alliance between our multifaceted aspects.

Biblical spirituality is not empty; on the contrary, it is very sober and linked to concrete and multifaceted life, sometimes opposed - not at all inclined to sentimental consolation or unilateral retreats.

In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 [Hebrew text], the love owed to the Lord involves 'all your heart', that is, all your decisions, 'all your life', that is, every moment of your existence, and 'all your very being'. That is, the sharing of goods, which the Son of God understands in a universal sense.

Jesus' proposal evolves decisively towards overcoming barriers, freedom, and awareness.

It tends to recover the entire creaturely being - and is not inclined towards the liturgy of fulfilment, nor towards valuing performances.

The Son of God defines the coordinates of true Love towards the Father in terms that surprise us, because to the ancient criterion he adds questioning oneself in the understanding of the things of man, God and the Church.

Realising, trying to understand, dialoguing to enrich oneself, updating oneself, examining everything... these are not cerebral and individual trappings, but decisive steps towards communion with others and with the Father [Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30; Lk 10:27].

In pagan religions, it made no sense to speak of love for the gods.

They lived a capricious life and decided by lottery who among men should be favoured and who should endure a life of hardship and insignificance.

The fortunate (materially blessed) gave thanks by fulfilling prescriptions, e.g. obligations of worship; the others did the same - at least to keep the heavenly hosts happy and not be the object of retaliation from above.

Fear creates hierarchical pyramids. Love puts everyone on an equal footing.

Obviously, with the burden of many duties to observe (in order to win their favour), it was impossible to have much passion for the inhabitants of Olympus, or demigods, nymphs, heroes - in short, for anyone who towered above them.

The invisible and landless were obviously subject to personal and social contempt - sanctified by the indisputable will of the gods, identified with their destination in the slums; in this case, punitive. In any case, swampy.

[Far from the 'bowels of mercy': a maternal expression, common since the First Testament!].

Then the archaic idea of punishment or blessing (even endless) for merits accumulated in life has formed the fabric of religious mentality throughout the ages.

This was the case until recently, even in the civitas christiana in which we live.

Thus, the 'theology of retribution' has effectively destroyed all personal passion, with the hypocritical idea of exchange. As well as meritocracy projected even to the rank of Paradise - worse than selfishness.

Levelling us all to the point of 'ticking boxes'.

The complex procedures of 'weighing the heart' and 'divine judgement' on the souls of the dead are well known, even in the sarcophagi and the Book of the Dead of ancient Egypt.

Forensic-style concatenations that have humiliated the idea of divine justice, which establishes fair conditions and relationships where they do not exist. But these opinions and procedures have become common to all beliefs in the Mediterranean basin and the ancient Middle East.

Now detached from the invasion of obsessive catechesis about the terrible final judgement populated by acolytes armed with pitchforks, we finally feel understood in a personal way, with an exclusively vocational, non-massified criterion.

By virtue of our creaturely nature, we are souls called and activated to a path that can bear unique fruit - a decisive and non-homogeneous contribution to the entire history of salvation. Each one of us.

In the Vision-proposal of Jesus the Lamb, our being is not omnipotent in good; this does not bring any condemnation, not even to the incapable.

We are shaped by the need to receive love - as if we were children in front of parents who raise their children to be healthy with an abundance of initiatives that lead them to surpass themselves.

This is despite their whims; indeed, because of them: a magma of opposing yet malleable energies that see beyond easy identifications and are preparing for subsequent developments.

The experience of evangelical Tenderness does not come from good character and social meekness. It comes from having experienced first-hand the value of eccentricities - and having developed an understanding of one's own dark sides, or reworked and brought into play deviations that at a certain point in life have become amazing resources.

In fact, we can see the same evolution and transmutation in the aspects of ourselves that we do not like and would like to correct... then, as the days go by, they surprise us, and we discover that they are the best part of ourselves: our true inclination and the reason why we were born.

The deviant and unbalanced character of each person contains an essential secret of the Calling by Name and of one's destiny.

From this we start to recognise the specific weight of the differences and the very dissonances of our sisters and brothers, which are equally enriching.

The Lambs' approach is not one of do-goodism (which fluctuates according to the situation and is linked to artificial ways, subtle interests or partisanship): quite the opposite!

As Pope Francis said: 'Lambs, not stupid; but lambs'.

In personal and communal life, evangelical tenderness is real understanding and authentic inclusion of the 'different' - starting not from an erratic, momentary and (volatile) ideology, but from one's own experience of intimate and relational life.

It will lead us to experience a Father who provides well for us, just as we rejoice in the lives of others - enriching our own! - in the confluence and reharmonisation of our many faces.

All-round tenderness, truly convinced; without the standardised masks of the usual 'fixed points' of banal (recited) 'tenderness', perhaps obligatory and activated by a weakened conformist identity.

This is the wise contagion that will make us reborn from the great global crisis: indulgence that does not become hysterical indolence.

And that does not remain sectorial - because it does not start from manners or external knots, but from being oneself and recognising the You here.

Thus, the Dove, an icon of modest, non-aggressive energy; an example of attachment to one's «own» Nest.

Healthy Tenderness, which starts with self-knowledge.

Lamb and Dove: the peaceful differences - between strong-willed, improper, irritable religiosity, and personal Faith.

Together, brothers all, seeds of the Logos.

For a Tenderness of Dialogue without neurosis.

But why did Jesus, in whom there is no shadow of sin, go to be baptized by John? Why did he perform that gesture of penitence and conversion, beside all those people who in this way were trying to prepare for the coming of the Messiah? That gesture — which marks the start of Christ’s public life — comes in continuity with the Incarnation, the descent of God from the highest heaven into the abyss of hell. The meaning of this movement of divine lowering is expressed in a single word: love, the very name of God. The Apostle John writes: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him”, and he sent him “to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:9-10). That is why the first public act of Jesus was to receive baptism from John, who, seeing him approaching, said: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29).

Luke the Evangelist recounts that while Jesus, having received baptism, “was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (3:21-22). This Jesus is the Son of God who is totally immersed in the will of the Father’s love. This Jesus is the One who will die on the cross and rise again through the power of the same Spirit who now descends upon him and consecrates him. This Jesus is the new man who wills to live as the son of God, that is, in love; the man who in the face of the evil of the world, by choosing the path of humility and responsibility he chooses not to save himself but to offer his own life for truth and justice. Being Christian means living like this, but this kind of life involves a rebirth: to be reborn from on high, from God, from Grace. This rebirth is the Baptism, which Christ gives to the Church in order to regenerate men and women to new life. An ancient text attributed to St Hippolytus states: “Whoever goes down into these waters of rebirth with faith renounces the devil and pledges himself to Christ. He repudiates the enemy and confesses that Christ is God, throws off his servitude, and is raised to filial status” Discourse on the Epiphany, 10: PG 10, 862).

[Pope Benedict, Angelus, 13 January 2013]