1. In the Incarnation, God fully reveals himself in the Son who came into the world (cf. Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 9). Our faith is not simply the result of our searching for God. In Jesus Christ, it is God who comes in person to speak to us and to show us the way to himself.

The Incarnation also reveals the truth about man. In Jesus Christ, the Father has spoken the definitive word about our true destiny and the meaning of human history (cf. ibid., 5). “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). The Apostle is speaking of the love that inspired the Son to become man and to dwell among us. Through Jesus Christ we know how much the Father loves us. In Jesus Christ, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, each one of us can share in the love that is the life of the Blessed Trinity. 

Saint John goes on: “Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God” (1 Jn4:15). Through faith in the Son of God made man we abide in the very heart of God: “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him” (1 Jn 4:16). These words open to us the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: the love and compassion of Jesus is the door through which the eternal love of the Father is poured out on the world. In celebrating this Mass of the Sacred Heart, let us open wide our own hearts to God’s saving mercy! 

2. In the Gospel reading which we have just heard, Saint Luke uses the figure of the Good Shepherd to speak of this divine love. The Good Shepherd is an image dear to Jesus in the Gospels. Answering the Pharisees who complained that he welcomed sinners by eating with them, the Lord asks them a question: Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? “And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them: 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep'” (Lk15:5-6). 

This parable highlights the joy of Christ and of our heavenly Father at every sinner who repents. God’s love is a love that searches us out. It is a love that saves. This is the love that we find in the Heart of Jesus.

[Pope John Paul II, homily in St Louis 27 January 1999]

In the Liturgy today we read chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, which contains three parables of mercy: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and then the longest of them, characteristic of St Luke, the parable of the father of two sons, the “prodigal” son and the son who believes he is “righteous”, who believes he is saintly. All three of these parables speak of the joy of God. God is joyful. This is interesting: God is joyful! And what is the joy of God? The joy of God is forgiving, the joy of God is forgiving! The joy of a shepherd who finds his little lamb; the joy of a woman who finds her coin; it is the joy of a father welcoming home the son who was lost, who was as though dead and has come back to life, who has come home. Here is the entire Gospel! Here! The whole Gospel, all of Christianity, is here! But make sure that it is not sentiment, it is not being a “do-gooder”! On the contrary, mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from the “cancer” that is sin, moral evil, spiritual evil. Only love fills the void, the negative chasms that evil opens in hearts and in history. Only love can do this, and this is God’s joy!

Jesus is all mercy, Jesus is all love: he is God made man. Each of us, each one of us, is that little lost lamb, the coin that was mislaid; each one of us is that son who has squandered his freedom on false idols, illusions of happiness, and has lost everything. But God does not forget us, the Father never abandons us. He is a patient father, always waiting for us! He respects our freedom, but he remains faithful forever. And when we come back to him, he welcomes us like children into his house, for he never ceases, not for one instant, to wait for us with love. And his heart rejoices over every child who returns. He is celebrating because he is joy. God has this joy, when one of us sinners goes to him and asks his forgiveness.

What is the danger? It is that we presume we are righteous and judge others. We also judge God, because we think that he should punish sinners, condemn them to death, instead of forgiving. So ‘yes’ then we risk staying outside the Father’s house!

[Pope Francis, Angelus 15 September 2013]

And worry about the number

(Lk 14:25-33)

Jesus is concerned to see around him «many crowds» (v.25).

Unusual that a proposal for total gift and risk of the whole life - goods, relationships, prestige, hopes - can find oceanic consensus.

In fact, there are not a few who don’t know «where» He goes. Not to take power and share it to friends - along with the loot.

The Lord is worried (v.25) and must start teaching again. Having so many admirers is a strange thing for Who proposes to involve themselves and not give in to indifference.

Even today, the Lord challenges, and urges us; He stings.

For those who make the choice of gratuitous love, first disposition is the integration of affections, even "family members". Not - to make us give up living.

Circles can detach us from the boundless demands of a relationship between people who share great ideals across borders.

Feelings and bonds must be relocated; they must acquire a new light.

Nobody is so much hero that he can no longer think of himself and his own, but a perspective dimension takes over, in the experience of a Father who provides for creating more wise turns.

All the logics of common sense take on another meaning.

Even attachment to one’s own image and reputation: «take, lift, carry the arm of the Cross» [v.27: sense of the Greek verb].

It was the moment of the maximum loneliness and perception of failure.

Those who are agitated by opinion-around limit themselves, do not begin paths, do not rely on their own skills or even discover them; they do not learn to take the step of what happens, nor subvert what must be detested.

The contrast with the strong powers that demand the usual double-edged loyalty, is simply to be taken into account from the outset.

Third "commitment" (v.33). Excess goods serve only to build “Relationship”. This is the threshold of Happiness: it makes one similar to God.

Absurd deal, but a source of unconditional joy, which brings us much more than emotion. So we must open our eyes well.

Because in mission you do not live on adrenaline, but on convictions that reflect the intimate life and the fullness of being.

Pay attention: the one who puts his face on it must first meet and measure himself very deeply, because he goes as in war (vv.31-32).

This is no joke here: the gendarmes of the established clans are capable of anything, to continue to give themselves importance and occupy positions.

You pay in person. You don’t participate in a triumphal procession: rather, you are rejected.

But Faith sustains: it believes that the Lord does not exert abuses, nor does he want around him resigned witnesses.

His Dream supplants common sense - to make us wince of an unexpected specific ‘pondus’ that we find free in our hearts.

From now on there is no more downwards haggling: this is the new Tower (vv.28-30) to be built.

[Wednesday 31st wk. in O.T.  November 6, 2024]

And worrying about numbers

(Lk 14:25-33)

In his commentary on the Tao Tê Ching (vii) Master Ho-shang Kung writes: "The saint is devoid of self-interest and does not care to give himself importance: therefore he can realise his interest".

Jesus is worried about seeing "many crowds" around him [v.25 Greek text]: having so many admirers is a strange thing for one who proposes to involve himself and not give in to indifference.

Unusual that a proposal of total gift and risk of one's entire life (goods, relationships, prestige, hopes) can find oceanic consent.

Truly unusual, perhaps grotesque, that so many people wish to gamble everything, even their health, for an ideal that generally does not 'sell' much.

Those who make genuine choices know well that sequela Christi is not to take part in a triumphal procession.

Indeed, there are not a few who do not know 'where' it goes....

Not to seize power and share it - alongside the spoils - with friends in his circle!

At best, they have misunderstood him, imagining that they are able to sacralise a quiet and smooth experience - with Him on the bedside table.

That is, picturesque and brilliant in society - intimate inside (with Him in the little heart). All hoods that soften the overhangs of principle.

Jesus notices those who follow Him for induced reasons, almost like enthusiastic festivals, or even venal, opportunistic ones, and only want to share the spoils of the new King of the Holy City. 

He understands why he has so many crowds around him. They have not grasped that God is beyond their reach.

Even in our days, the many crowds that attend the appointments of the 'Church of events' - Pope Francis would say - amaze.

For this reason, Christ sends and makes verifications, challenges and continues to incite the crumbling of any reflexive, quietist, external, self-interested or facilitation illusion - which, however, aggregates.

The first disposition of mind that presses and stings is the integration of affections, even 'family' affections. Not to make us give up living.

They can detach us from the boundless demands of a relationship between people who share great ideals across borders.

The hindrance of old feelings and ties must indeed be relocated, acquiring a new light.

The goal is authentic celebration. Not the useful and immediate; not even the pious mortifications or the abstract perfectionism of those who chase after frantic and contrived acts of strength.

No one is so heroic that he can no longer think of himself and his own, but a perspective dimension takes over; as well as the experience of the Father, who provides for wiser turns.

All the logic of common sense and balance is enhanced, yet takes on another meaning. In view of a Love in which every other good acquires full value.

Even the attachment to one's own image and reputation: "to take up, lift up and carry the arm of the Cross" [v.27 sense of the Greek verb].

It was a time of utmost loneliness and perception of failure, personal, religious, social.

He who is agitated by the opinion-around him limits himself, does not initiate paths, does not rely on his own talents, nor does he discover them; he does not learn to take the pace of what is happening, nor does he subvert what is to be detested.

Paraphrasing the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (n.187, "The sacrifices of love") one could say that precisely "from there, the paths that open up are different from those of a soulless pragmatism".

It is not enough to accept the normal contrarieties.

Those who remain attached to the idol of quiet expectations, looks, cheering crowds and the (invigorating) opinion of others cannot be in the Christi sequel.

Lies, but precious ones at heart - inside out. Because this is not the enthusiasm we seek.

We experience it inside: the lust for prestige does not listen to authentic needs, does not reinvent the present.

Subjection to the fear of social scorn [this is the proposal of the Cross] does not build the breakthrough that belongs to us; it loses it.

Despite the hubbub of outward appearances, conformists and qualunquists do not discern the authentic Sacred in the judgement of the Gospels.

The Word of God does not declare certain faith "how much we need" or what we can "sell".

Traditional discipline and discernment - but also the great disembodied ideas of fashionable thinking - never want to make important what characterises the real woman and man.

According to current sophistication, they will first have to be content to be numbers, to follow custom, to adapt.

In this way, at first glance the critical witness might seem wrong or unequal: one would have to align oneself - are we not for an ecclesiology of communion?

But the very conviviality of differences, even within the same family, demands it.

What is valid is harmony that recovers the whole human being, including the opposite poles.

They complete us, and will have to come into play sooner or later; although they do not correspond to the fundamental trait of every character.

We see it: characters who, in order not to feel devalued and unappreciated, readjust to all seasons - but only to settle down.

They do not value their own energetic contradictions... with the sole purpose of living.

They think: when life seems to be stronger than us, we might as well get even - without ever attempting to objectify their own innermost, unprecedented, personal, disproportionate aspirations.

The appointment with the Unexpected does not settle for neat, contrived, or cerebral and schematic things, which dampen the potential for growth.

We are forced to put back into circulation forces, virtues, resources, even the sharpest, most eccentric and unpredictable ones - that we did not even think we had.

The contrast with the strong powers that demand the usual double-edged loyalty, and the aversion of the tenants of the papier-mâché castles, is simply to be reckoned with.

Power seeks useful idiots and servile office-bearers, not apostles who enjoy the varied expressions of life.

We belong to another planet: we are not interested in careers, management and consideration, but in the Calling by Name, which activates unknown capacities - those that multiply energies and set things in motion.

There is no better alternative path, to overcome even the global emergency, which grips life today and the world: it is asking us to regenerate, not to go back to the way it was.

Third "commitment" (v.33): excess goods are only for building Relationship. This is the threshold of Happiness: it makes one like God.

An absurd affair, but a source of unconditional joy, which brings us far more than emotion. So you have to open your eyes wide.

Because on a mission we do not live on adrenalin, but on convictions that reflect the intimate life and fullness of being - the heavenly condition.

We will no longer dream of changing smartphones, or the stripe or tear in our trousers, and still have fun: we will widen spaces, invent roads, plant a seed of an alternative society.

He who puts his face to it to make the world wise and transparent, even the ecclesiastical world, must however first meet and measure himself very very thoroughly, for he goes as if to war (vv.31-32).

This is also why one must learn to put a whole new mind into the game and not just combing parlor trinkets, as if caught up in the squalor of the chase - instead of the poignant and sacred goals.

There is no joking here: the gendarmes and the various established clans guarding their ancient or à la page are capable of all the worst there is, to continue to give themselves importance and occupy positions that matter, and yield.

One pays in person. One is rejected. But the Faith sustains: it believes that the Lord does not exercise abuse, nor does He want resigned followers around.

His Dream transcends common sense - to make us wince with an unexpected ‘pondus’ that we find free in our hearts.

In commentary on the Tao xxvi, Master Wang Pi writes: "To lose the foundation is to lose the person".

And Master Ho-shang Kung adds: "If the ruler is light and arrogant, he loses his ministers; if the ruler is light and licentious, he loses the essence.

Light-heartedness, externality and booty are puerile expectations.

Henceforth there is no more bargaining: this is the new Tower (vv.28-30) to be built.

In the Gospel passage from St Luke, Jesus himself frankly states the three conditions necessary for being his disciples: to love him more than anyone else and more than life itself; to carry one's cross and to walk after him; to renounce all one's possessions. Jesus sees a great crowd following him with his disciples and wants to make it quite clear to all that following him is demanding and cannot depend on enthusiasm or opportunism. It must be a carefully considered decision taken after asking oneself, in all conscience: who is Jesus for me? Is he truly "Lord", does he take first place, like the sun around which all the planets rotate? And the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom indirectly suggests to us the reason for this absolute primacy of Jesus Christ: in him we find the answers to the questions of human beings in every epoch who seek the truth about God and about themselves. God is out of our reach and his plans are unknown to us. Yet he has chosen to reveal himself, in creation and especially in the history of salvation, while in Christ he fully manifested himself and his will. Although it remains true that "No one has ever seen God" (Jn 1: 18), we now know his "name" and his "face" and even his will, because Jesus, who is the Wisdom of God made man, has revealed them to us. "Thus", writes the sacred author of the First Reading, "men were taught what pleases you, and were saved by wisdom" (Wis 9: 18).

[Pope Benedict, homily in Carpineto Romano 5 September 2010]

3. “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and  follow me”(Lk 9:23). These words denote the radicality of a choice that does not allow for hesitation or second thoughts. It is a demanding requirement that unsettled even the disciples and that, throughout the ages, has held back many men and women from following Christ. But  precisely this radicality has also  produced admirable examples of sanctity and martyrdom that strengthened and confirmed the way of the Church. Even today these words are regarded as a stumbling block and folly (cf. 1 Cor 1: 22-25). Yet they must be faced, because the path outlined by God for his Son is the path to be undertaken by the disciple who has decided to follow Jesus. There are not two paths, but only one: the  one trodden by the Master. The disciple cannot invent a different way.

Jesus walks ahead of his followers and asks each one to do as he himself has done. He says: I have not come to be served, but to serve; so, whoever wants to be like me must be the servant of everyone. I have come to you as one who possesses nothing; for this reason, I can ask you to leave all riches behind which  prevent you from entering the Kingdom of Heaven. I accept denial and rejection by most of my people; therefore I can ask you to accept denial and opposition from wherever it comes.

In other words, Jesus asks that we courageously choose the same path. We have to choose it from our hearts, because external situations do not depend on us. In so far as it is possible, the will to be as obedient as he was to the Father  and to be ready to accept the plan which he has for each person right to the end depends upon each of us.

4. “He must deny himself”. To deny oneself is to give up one’s own plans that are often small and petty in order to accept God’s plan. This is the path of conversion, something indispensable in a Christian life, and that led Saint Paul to say, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

Jesus does not ask us to give up living, but to accept a newness  and a fullness of life that only He can give. The human being has a deep-rooted tendency to “think only of self”, to regard one’s own person as the centre of interest and to see oneself as the standard against which to gauge everything. One who chooses to follow Christ, on the other hand, avoids being wrapped up in himself and does not evaluate things according to self interest.  He looks on  life in terms of gift and gratuitousness, not in terms of conquest and possession. Life in its fullness is only lived in self-giving, and that is the fruit of the grace of Christ: an existence that is free and in communion with God and neighbour (cf. Gaudium et spes, 24).

If to live as a follower of the Lord becomes the highest value, then all other values are given their rightful rank and importance. Whoever depends solely on worldly goods will end up by losing, even though there might seem to be an appearance of success. Death will find that person with an abundance of possessions but having lived a wasted life (cf. Lk 12:13-21). Therefore, the choice is between being and having, between a full life and an empty existence, between truth and falsehood.

5. “Take up his cross daily and follow me”. As the cross can be reduced to being an ornament, “to carry the cross” can become just a manner of speaking. In the teaching of Jesus, however, it does not imply the pre-eminence of mortification and denial. It does not refer primarily to the need to endure patiently  the great and small tribulations of life, or, even less, to the exaltation of pain as a means of pleasing God. It is not suffering for its own sake that a Christian seeks, but love. When the cross is embraced it becomes a sign of love and of total self-giving. To carry it behind Christ means to be united with him in offering the greatest proof of love.

We cannot speak about the cross without considering God’s love for us, the fact that God wishes to shower us with good things. With his invitation “follow me”, Jesus not only says again to his disciples: take me as your model, but also: share my life and my choices, and stake your life for love of God and for neighbour together with me. This is how Jesus opens up before us the “way of life”. Unfortunately, this is constantly being threatened by the “way of death”. Sin is this way that separates a person from God and neighbour and brings about division and undermines  society from within.

The “way of life” continues and renews the mind of Christ in us  and becomes the way of faith and conversion. It is indeed the way of the cross. It is the way that leads one to trust in him and his plan of salvation, and to believe that He died in order to show God’s love for each one. It is the way to salvation in a society often divided, confused and contradictory. It is the way to the happiness found in following Christ right to the end, in the sometimes dramatic circumstances of daily life.  It is the way that does not fear  failure, difficulties, isolation, loneliness, because it fills our hearts with the presence of Jesus. It is the path of peace, self-control and a joyful heart.

6. My dear young people, do not think it strange that, at the beginning of the third millennium, the Pope once again directs you towards the Cross of Christ as the path of life and true happiness. The Church has always believed and proclaimed that only in the Cross of Christ  is there salvation.

There is a widespread culture of the ephemeral that only attaches value to whatever is pleasing or beautiful, and it would like us to believe that it is necessary to remove the cross in order to be happy. The ideal presented is one of instant success, a fast career, sexuality separated from any sense of responsibility, and ultimately, an existence centred on self affirmation, often bereft of respect for others.

Open your eyes and observe well, my dear young people: this is not the road that leads to true life, but it is the path that sinks into death. Jesus said: “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Jesus leaves us under no illusions: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Lk 9:24-25). With the truth of his words that sound hard but  fill the heart with peace, Jesus reveals the secret of how to live a true life (cf. Talk to the young people of Rome, 2 April 1998).

Therefore, do not be afraid to walk the way first trodden by the Lord. With your youthfulness, put your mark of hope and enthusiasm, so typical of your age, on the third millennium that is just beginning. If you allow the grace of God to work in you, and earnestly fulfill this commitment daily, you will make this new century a better time for everyone.

Mary the Mother of the Lord always walks with you. She was the first of the disciples, and she remained faithful at the foot of the Cross where Christ entrusted us to her motherly care. May this Apostolic Blessing that I impart with great affection be with you always.

From the Vatican, 14 February 2001.             

[Pope John Paul II, Message for the XVI WYD]

In today’s Gospel Jesus insists on the conditions for being his disciples: preferring nothing to the love of Christ, carrying one’s cross and following him. Many people in fact drew near to Jesus, they wanted to be included among his followers; and this would happen especially after some miraculous sign which accredited him as the Messiah, the King of Israel. However Jesus did not want to disappoint anyone. He knew well what awaited him in Jerusalem and which path the Father was asking him to take: it was the Way of the Cross, the way of sacrificing himself for the forgiveness of our sins. Following Jesus does not mean taking part in a triumphal procession! It means sharing his merciful love, entering his great work of mercy for each and every man and for all men. The work of Jesus is, precisely, a work of mercy, a work of forgiveness and of love! Jesus is so full of mercy! And this universal pardon, this mercy, passes through the Cross. Jesus, however, does not want to do this work alone: he wants to involve us too in the mission that the Father entrusted to him. After the Resurrection he was to say to his disciples: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you”... if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven” (Jn 20:21-22). Jesus’ disciple renounces all his possessions because in Jesus he has found the greatest Good in which every other good receives its full value and meaning: family ties, other relationships, work, cultural and economic goods and so forth.... The Christian detaches him or herself from all things and rediscovers all things in the logic of the Gospel, the logic of love and of service.

To explain this requirement, Jesus uses two parables: that of the tower to be built and that of the king going to war. The latter says: “What king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace” (Lk 14:31-32). Jesus does not wish to address the topic of war here; it is only a parable. Yet at this moment in which we are praying intensely for peace, this word of the Lord touches us to the core, and essentially tells us: there is a more profound war that we must all fight! It is the firm and courageous decision to renounce evil and its enticements and to choose the good, ready to pay in person: this is following Christ, this is what taking up our cross means! This profound war against evil! What is the use of waging war, so many wars, if you aren't capable of waging this profound war against evil? It is pointless! It doesn’t work.... Among other things this war against evil entails saying “no” to the fratricidal hatred and falsehood that are used; saying “no” to violence in all its forms; saying “no” to the proliferation of weapons and to the illegal arms trade. There is so much of it! So much of it! And the doubt always remains: is this war or that war — because wars are everywhere — really a war to solve problems or is it a commercial war for selling weapons in illegal trade? These are the enemies to fight, united and consistent, following no other interests than those of peace and of the common good. 

[Pope Francis, Angelus 8 September 2013]

(Lk 14:15-24)

Jesus does not compare the Father's Kingdom to a solemn assembly, but to a great Supper!

However, the proposal of festive novelty is rejected. The self-sufficient ones and experienced have other commitments and interests.

The invitation to take part in the Feast was initially addressed to the sons of Israel, who still likened the Messianic times to a Banquet, characterised by gratitude and [internal] fraternity.

In the first communities, the difficulties in broadening the criteria of communion came precisely from converts from Judaism, who by long practice retained the custom of not sharing food with those far away; thus the breaking of the Eucharistic Bread.

Within the framework of their conventions and the sacred norms attested in the Torah (Deut 20:5-7), the behaviour of those refusing the invitation in the parable of the Banquet (vv.18-20) was legitimate from the point of view of the recognised right - not friendship.

It is to accentuate the meaning of the gesture that the master of the feast orders the servants to gather precisely those who were socially excluded from the ancient religion, because they were considered impure: the pagans, the wobblers. Open ones to waiting for.

Christ continues to draw a dividing line between those who advocate an untouchable order and ideals above human reality, and those who, being on the periphery, are always willing to participate in the Feast.

They are not the “all concerned with ritual”, manners, appearance; but with the life they spread.

They do not let themselves be conditioned by privileges, their things, and laws: they give without double-entry.

They accept with natural readiness; rejoicing in reality and not in the distinction between sacred and profane.

They do not think already have the answer, and do not end up being slaves to it.

Jesus' teaching invites not to limit one's affections and not to let one's heart be cluttered by customs, by the particular or current mentalities, by legalistic blocks - or by the 'many things'.

In the assembly of sons, it is not the well provided for [serious, busy people with no time to waste, with too many possessions and invitations to manage] but the petty people... who come to the fore. Despite their poor aptitude.

All this, because characteristic of the Little and beggar is the readiness to cross fences: that which makes them fit to grasp God's summons.

Those who are far away - even if they are on tight corner - fill the Father's House.

‘In society’ the poor man is one of many, but the invitation to [Eucharistic] canteen conveys to him a sense of values that do not suffocate life with pettiness, and ties.

Indeed, the poor man often has a better understanding of divine-human things.

This ever more conscious resemblance to the Son of God is accentuated in the scarcity of ‘adequate means’: scarcity that makes true, that induces others to reflect - remaining unremarkable, incapable of “make lightning”.

Our solidarity is not a matter of sympathy, common interests and esprit de corps, but rather the result of an extended Calling; of one powerful Life circulating in all, respecting their freedom and reality - as well as their phases of change.

Paraphrasing the encyclical Fratelli Tutti [nos.13-15, passim] according to the passage from Lk we must remain careful not to impoverish the life of Faith, turning it into a detached commitment to «cultural colonisation».

If this were the case, even the universal-Catholic horizon of a conviviality of differences would dissolve into an overly normalised, utterly predictable; ultimately deserted invitation.

The entrenched or self-interested rejection of the Banquet would bring with it - as before our eyes - the «further disintegration» of «critical thinking», of action «for justice», of its «paths to integration».

In fact, even ecclesial society can run the risk of «distorting the great words», «risking impoverishment»; thus «reducing itself to the arrogance of the strongest» and to «merely ephemeral marketing recipes, which find in the destruction of the other the most effective resource».

But God's people cannot live in a parallel, disconnected, double world - as if the One Eternal worshipped was a patchwork of wiles, marketing and convenience.

[Tuesday 31st wk. in O.T.  November 5, 2024]

(Lk 14:15-24)

Jesus does not compare the Father's Kingdom to a solemn assembly, but to a great Supper!

However, the proposal of festive novelty is rejected. The self-sufficient and experienced have other commitments and interests...

After the destruction of the Temple, the government of the synagogues was taken over by the Pharisees, who were saved from disaster because their traditionalism had no explicit political-nationalist overtones.

In fact, they believed that the expectation of the Messiah had nothing to do with the struggle against Rome; in this they seemed in tune with the Christians.

But they constantly demanded from their followers the strict fulfilment of the rules that identified the traditional Jewish religion.

After the year 70, this demand led them to an increasingly obsessive condemnation of Jewish converts to the Lord Jesus - and at the end of the century to their expulsion from the synagogues.

The fundamentalist religious leaders thus ended up marginalising even socially the followers of the younger Messiah, guilty of neglecting the distinctions between the customs of Israel and those of other peoples.

In the communities of Lk the situation was less lacerating, but equally alive.

The converts to faith in Christ came for the most part from paganism, who despite differences in cultural background and class, lived here and there [without those purist ideological tares] the ideal of sharing and communion even of goods.

The invitation to take part in the Feast was initially addressed to the children of Israel, who still compared the Messianic times to a great Banquet, characterised by gratitude and (internal) fraternity.

But the difficulties in broadening the criteria of communion came precisely from converts from Judaism, who by long practice retained the custom of not sharing food with those far away; thus the breaking of the Eucharistic Bread.

Within the framework of their customs and the sacred norms attested in the Torah (Deut 20:5-7), the behaviour of those who refuse the invitation in the parable of the Banquet (vv.18-20) was legitimate from the point of view of recognised right - not friendship.

It is to accentuate the meaning of the gesture that the master of the feast orders the servants to gather precisely those who were socially excluded from the ancient religion because they were considered unclean: the pagans. Open to expectation.

Christ continues to draw a dividing line between those who advocate an untouchable order and ideals above human reality, and those who, being on the periphery, are always willing to participate in the Feast.

They are not the 'all concerned with ritual', manners, appearance; but with the life they spread.

They do not let themselves be conditioned by privileges, their things, and laws: they give without double-entry accounts, they accept with natural readiness; they rejoice in reality and not in the distinction between sacred and profane. They do not think they already have the answer, and do not end up being slaves to it.

Jesus' teaching invites us not to limit our affections and not to let our hearts be cluttered by customs, by particular or current mentalities, by legalistic blocks - or by 'many things'.

In the assembly of the children, it is not the well provided for [serious, busy people with no time to lose, with too many possessions and invitations to manage] but the petty people... who come to the fore... despite their meagre aptitudes.

All this, because characteristic of the Little and Pitocchios is the readiness to cross fences: that which makes them fit to grasp God's summons.

The distant - albeit in straits - fill the Father's house.

In society, the poor man is one of many, but the invitation to Mensa conveys to him a sense of values that do not suffocate his life of pettiness, and ties; indeed, the indigent often has a better understanding of divine-human things.

This ever more conscious resemblance to the Son of God is accentuated in the scarcity of 'adequate' means: scarcity that makes true, that induces others to reflect - remaining unremarkable, incapable of making lightning.

This intimate, luminous, transfiguring awareness pales and is extinguished in the vortex of legalisms, of cultural conventions.

It seems to fade in the dizzying multiplication of activities - they do not reform: they make us external and conditioned by the advantages of worldly-sacred, unfortunately monopolistic security.

An obligatory banquet would not be a Banquet... certainly not a Feast, a Gift to be cherished - confused with advantages or perfections [bad interpretation of stubborn observant circles].

This is why many prefer their particular purgatory to the Heaven on Earth that the Father offers.

Our solidarity is not a matter of sympathy, common interests and esprit de corps, but the result of an extended Calling, of one powerful Life circulating in all, respecting their freedom and reality - as well as their phases of change.

Paraphrasing the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (nn.13-15, passim) according to the passage from Luke we must remain careful not to impoverish the life of Faith, turning it into a detached commitment to "cultural colonisation".

If this were the case, even the universal-Catholic horizon of a conviviality of differences would dissolve into an overly normalised, absolutely predictable, ultimately deserted invitation.

The engrossed or interested rejection of the Banquet would bring with it - as before our eyes - the "further disintegration" of "critical thinking", of action "for justice", of its "paths of integration".

Even ecclesial society can in fact run the risk of "distorting the great words", "risking impoverishment"; thus "reducing itself to the arrogance of the strongest" and to "merely ephemeral marketing recipes, which find in the destruction of the other the most effective resource".

But God's people cannot live in a parallel, disconnected, double world - as if the one Eternal worshipped was a patchwork of wiles, marketing and convenience.

To internalise and live the message:

What does the Eucharist convey in your church or group reality? What particular and special invitation does it communicate?

The Feast, the Robe

All called, but with what outfit? Without artifice

Mt 22:1-14 (1-21)

The "wedding garment" (vv.11-12) is a figure of the essential - the indispensable, even the precarious, without frills of refinement.

"Each one of you, therefore, who in the Church has faith in God has already taken part in the wedding feast, but cannot say that he has the wedding garment if he does not keep the grace of Charity" (Homilia 38:9: PL 76:1287). And this robe is symbolically woven of two woods, one at the top and the other at the bottom: love of God and love of neighbour (cf. ibid.,10: PL 76,1288)" (Gregory the Great; Pope Benedict, 9 October 2011).

The Kingdom of God announced by Jesus is different from the one imagined by the rabbis, whose doctrine could admit personal and civic disregard [e.g.: sellers in the temple, barren fig tree, objection to authority, murderous vine-dressers, etc.: Mt 21].

The Banquet preached by the Master is not a Garden of Eden set up for a future in the hereafter, which in the meantime - albeit in flashes - can endure inauthenticity. Rather, it is a direct thread.

His set canteen is the new condition into which the person who trusts his proposal to share is introduced.

There are those who feel satiated, because they believe they already possess enough for a life without too many problems - and so they adapt to any occasion, even a petty one.

This was the situation of the authorities, satisfied with the overabundant religious structure, which seemed to offer just social security, and certainty even before God.

Instead (as if to say): it is not enough to have one's name transcribed in the parish registers, and then present oneself in the rags of ancient life.

Today, the rebirth from the global crisis calls for fundamental options, for radical changes in mentality and reality.

There is a real need to renew 'clothing', that is, to set choices on new values. 

It is appropriate to become plastic again, to remodel ourselves on the Person of Christ, not to reject the changes that stimulate - to the point of building a common life project, and rebuild the world around us.

All are called (v.14), but some have not kept the white garment of Baptism. He has totally changed his outfit, unfortunately - despite in some cases presiding over and defending the institution.

Jesus resumes speaking to the leaders and offends them without half-measures, because he does not compare the Father's kingdom to a liturgical assembly of theirs, those well set up, of great authority, full of artifice... but to a wedding feast, without sacred banners!

In that festive simplicity, in the immediate and joyful frankness of a wedding, there is a human reality characterising the divine condition: the spontaneous Joy of frank relationships, face to face - now lost in the formalisms of habituated religion.

The proposal of festive novelty is, however, rejected. The self-sufficient and experienced (who know better) worship another master: self-interest.

Opportunism cannot be an ingredient of the Sacred: self-interest turns people inward, closes their gaze, makes them one-sided and gloomy.

It consigns the Church to entanglements.

Jesus realised: all that the cunning and messy people were doing was a function of their own profit. In fact they thought of the Kingdom in an elective, already selected (and commercial, usual) way.

As with the labourers of the last hour [Matthew 20:1-16] the only currency for all is Christ himself. But the veterans, who consider themselves first in their class by right, do not care about people's happiness.

So the fate of the prophets was nothing more than the careless outcome of despicable calculations [in Luke 14:18-20 "ordinary" daily duties] which were, however, leading the people to destruction (v.7).

The background of the parable is the friction between converted Jews and converted Gentiles.

Considering themselves chosen - "elect" (v.14) - the former refused to break the Bread, share and put themselves on an equal footing with the latter.

Interestingly, however, it was precisely the faithful servants, push come to shove, who stood out in reverse: they were already recognisable because under any circumstances they were prepared to enter the Banquet 'last'.

In short, the space opened by the self-exclusion of the people called first would not be able to put an 'end' to the efforts of those who have always fought for life and authenticity.

Fruitful trees - Jesus argued, and we see this everywhere today - do not like to prevaricate: they prefer to produce, without opportunist claims or envy.

They take risks, and occupy only the last place; to be close to the uncertain, and encourage them. 

So in v.9 Mt does not speak of going to the crossroads [CEI translation] but to the outlets of the streets [Greek text].

Pope Francis would say: to the existential peripheries, where life is not taken for granted, but always pulsates new. There where one cannot be indifferent.

The Greek term indicates the end of the (reassuring) urban roads and the beginning of the careless and risky paths.

In the Semitic mentality, they were the border of pure territory and the threshold of precarious, contaminated places.

Not only: God's offer of love first brings together the 'wicked' ['wicked': v.10 Greek text] to emphasise that Heaven is not at points.

It is available to the needy, to those who recognise themselves as such.

But everyone can be wicked on the outside, not on the inside: that is, watchful to our brother and diligent.

We are called to abandon neglect and carelessness.

In order not to confuse the Face of God and ruin the lives of the most motivated, a change of mentality is needed within the Church.

A decisive substitution of principles and conveniences, overthrowing every pyramid ideology, of self-interest and power.

By Faith that incorporates us unconditionally to the Bridegroom, the clean and sumptuous dress is always provided by the Master of the House.

But wearing it is the result of a conscious choice, made by us: wanting to "give birth to a new world, where we are all brothers, where there is room for every discarded person" [Fratelli Tutti, no. 278].

That is to say, we will continue to undergo the journey into the parallel world - sometimes even communal - where everything is disconnected and double: the result of bad indoctrination, corrupt options and diabolical motives.

As if the only God worshipped is marketing and convenience.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you consider diabolical and imagine could lead you away from the spiritual path?Do you think of God in a serious way or do you associate him with the joy of a wedding party?

Return to God the image of true humanity. What acronym?

(Mt 22:15-21)

After the expulsion of the sellers from the Temple, the objection on authority, and the parables of the two sons, the murderous vinedressers, and the rejected banquet (all referring to the elite), here is another clash between Jesus and the political and religious leaders - the latter placed behind the scenes.

Jesus (in his) systematically dismantles the traps set by the leaders and experts.

With tried and tested duplicity, they approach Him trying to stroke their self-love (v.16: situations that often occur even to critical witnesses).

The interest of the cunning, however, clashes with the attention of Christ, who is all for the real good of people and respect for the intelligence of things - not for the eagerness of approval or opportunism.

Right in the Temple (Mt 21:23) - the eminent Abode of the one Lord God - these gendarmes provoke the new Rabbi about paying taxes to the Romans (22:17).

We know what was at stake: the accusation of not being a prophet according to divine Right, or (vice versa) that of collaborationism with the occupiers.

The Master does not allow himself to be fooled by the ostentation of closeness to the God of Israel - false because sought outside - and he easily plays them.

In the Temple of Jerusalem, it was forbidden to carry Roman coins, which depicted imperial profiles and insignia (contrary to the Commandment 'Thou shalt not make thyself any image').

He asked for them, however, because indeed he had none. But the very paladins hand him one.... The scene borders on the ridiculous.

Drawing the forbidden coin from the pouch concealed under the cloak, the very leaders reveal their true God: self-interest (well hidden under devout and ostentatious manners, which only act as a screen).

Christ invites us not to allow ourselves to be flattered by the ostentatious duplicity of insignia: what is important is not to deceive people by using pious forms as theatrical masks (v.18 Greek text).

Purity fanatics only live the epidermic angle; and they rely on it: they not infrequently hide well the very material passions they disdain. It does not work with Christ.

Each one is called upon to return to his true lord the indelible image and likeness engraved on him. So let the coin be given back to its master.Woman and man - creatures in whom the image and likeness of God is imprinted - are to return themselves in authenticity, to the Creator (v.21) who dwells in their essence as persons.

Humanity is sealed by much more intimate and natural belonging than those of convenience.

The horizon of friendship to which Jesus introduces us is the whole of humanity:  indeed, he wants to be for everyone the Good Shepherd who lays down his own life (cf. Jn 10: 11), and he stresses this strongly in the discourse on the Good Shepherd who came to reunite everyone, not only the Chosen People but all the dispersed children of God. 

Our own solicitude, therefore, must be universal. We should certainly first take care of those who, like us, believe and live with the Church - it is very important, even in this dimension of universality, that we first see to those faithful who live their "being Church" every day with humility and love -, and yet we must not tire of going out, as the Lord asks us, "to the highways and hedges" (Lk 14: 23) to invite to the banquet that God has prepared those who are not yet acquainted with him or have perhaps preferred not to know him.

[Pope Benedict, address to the CEI, 18 May 2006]