Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".
Fossilised in reminiscences, or Announced by Brethren
(Jn 20:1-2.11-18)
"In those days, in Israel, the testimony of women could not have official, juridical value, but women experienced a special bond with the Lord, which is fundamental for the concrete life of the Christian community, and this always, in every age, not only at the beginning of the Church's journey" [Pope Benedict, Regina Coeli 9 April 2012].
Mk tells of a young man dressed in white, Mt of an angel, Lk of two men dressed in white, Jn of two angels.
The accounts of the annunciation and the heralds of the resurrection do not fit together according to our way of telling.
In order to avoid a limited view of the victory of Life, it should be understood that we are not celebrating the week of the apparitions of the Risen One, but of his Manifestations [Greek text].
He does not just appear to some - to others he does not (depending on the lottery): he Manifests himself. We experience him.
And there is a new Creation: now one does not recognise Jesus when one sees him, but when one hears him (v.16).
The Lord makes Himself seen not in the moment of vision, but in the time of the Word, of the personal call that makes one "turn" the ancient gaze from the irrelevant direction that clings to the image of "yesterday".
The experience of the living Christ excludes memories to be wept over.
It is current and grounded, convincing, multifaceted and accessible - direct. Definitely better than that offered later by the apostles, without pierced hearts (or proclamations).
But the face-to-face still remained closed, to the extent that one seemed to be looking for deceased or distant museum pieces - to be found almost as before and at best kept without too many shocks.
Conditioned by too 'usual' expectations, we would pretend to trace Jesus to the wrong campsites and places. But in Jn the Ascension is placed on the same day as Easter (v.17).
The very observance of archaic religious law [v.1: in the particular case, the Sabbath] seems to delay the experience of the disruptive power of rebirth, in the Spirit.
Gradually, those primordial personal energies were being reactivated in the early communities that not even the blackmail, intimidation and marginalisation of the institutional apparatus could touch.
The Incarnation was continuing, unfolding in the believers; awakening in them new creative states.
The believers were on the virtuous and exciting wave of a further fundamental change: they now felt themselves to be 'brothers' of the Risen One (v.17).
The relationship of 'discipleship' (Jn 13:13) grown into 'friendship' (Jn 15:15) became that of kinsmen who felt like 'sons'.
[Jn 1:11-12: "He came among his own, and his own received him not. But to those who received him he gave power to become children of God; to those who believe in his Name" - that is, they adhere to his entire word, event and action; even problematic, painful, denunciation].
Thus began the explicit proclamation, despite the fact that the part of the 'church' that was really vital and increasingly determined proved to be the peripheral and from the pagans [in the figure of Mary Magdalene].
It wanted the reviving redemption, and thus pointed the right way to the assembly leaders themselves.
The Judeo-Christian community of the apostles was in fact all out for compromise with the distant and conflicting religious institution, that of power, which had wanted to destroy the Master.
The 'apostolic' hard core always lags behind and needs to be evangelised: only she who feels she is a nothing (vv.2.18) converts him. And when she becomes aware that the reign of dead things will no longer greet her.
Woman: Authentic assembly in the Spirit.
A boundless field of the humiliated, which nevertheless in the Risen Christ "sees itself" and is unblocked; it acquires new breath, overcomes discouragement, disorientation, uncertainty.
Still filled with Infinity, like pilgrims, dreamers from below and from the periphery seek their way.
They activate themselves with passion, to rekindle and resonate every fold of the human being - previously commanded by a world of calculated alternatives.
It is again the experience of "Mary of Magdala", who, by gaining confidence, can complete the perceptions and thoughts of even the top of the class.
The Risen One is always somewhere else... than what the expert or an average religious soul not ready for change expects.
His Person has unforeseen, unconventional and unconventional physiognomies - like life, all to be discovered.
They are unseen profiles - to be grasped and internalised, sometimes almost without struggle.
Only a call by name - his direct Word, the personal Appeal - makes us realise that by external influence we were perhaps chasing a Lord [of the past, or fashionable] too recognisable, to be commemorated as before.
To be carried in our saddlebags as always, with closed and normal love, the child of sorrow.The search for our Rabbuni may also arise from a sense of loss, or from the beatings suffered - but it is marked by Easter encounters and stages of new awareness.
New hearings, which shatter reassurances.
He remains a lukewarm stranger - at room temperature - for those who allow themselves to be influenced by limited (packaged) ideas and pretend to understand him with knowledge, recognise him with their eyes, or use him as a sleeping pill.
The Risen One is radical novelty: wounded within and impetus. A journey that welcomes and takes on the whole of humanity and history.
He acts in us by shattering all security; the very security that still does not let us out of the small circle.
And while labouring in the tension of the ungraspable [which cannot be made one's own] it is in the emotion of perceiving the treasures of atypical and personal intuitions that regenerated life attracts and opens wide, amazes.
It is only in the experience of being reborn by passing it on that the Spirit is unleashed and charged - and the Living One does not remain a stranger or someone of whom one has already had an idea.
"I have sought and seen the Lord!" [v.18: sense of the Greek text].
One does not experience Christ with intimism, nor with reminiscences and trinkets; not even in a cerebral way or by being content to fulfil pious memorial offices on the body.
There is an unprecedented situation.
But who notices? In spite of the neglect they endure, only the soulless - the disregarded.
To internalise and live the message:
What transmutation took place in you and your neighbour when you accepted the Call and the invitation to the Announcement?
How did the Person of Christ make you aware that you are fully wanted: inalienable subject, by Name?
Personal Manifestation: a law we find carved into many pages of the Gospels. But... soft happiness or wave sweeping over everything?
In these weeks our reflection moves, so to speak, in the orbit of the paschal mystery. Today we meet the one who, according to the Gospels, first saw the risen Jesus: Mary Magdalene. The Sabbath rest had recently ended. On the day of the passion, there had been no time to complete the funeral rites; therefore, in that dawn filled with sadness, the women go to Jesus' tomb with perfumed ointments. The first to arrive is her: Mary of Magdala, one of the disciples who had accompanied Jesus all the way from Galilee, putting herself at the service of the nascent Church. Her journey to the tomb mirrors the fidelity of so many women who are devoted for years to the paths of cemeteries, in memory of someone who is no longer there. The most authentic bonds are not broken even by death: there are those who continue to love, even if the loved one is gone forever.
The Gospel (cf. Jn 20:1-2, 11-18) describes Mary Magdalene by making it immediately clear that she was not a woman of easy enthusiasm. In fact, after the first visit to the tomb, she returns disappointed to the place where the disciples were hiding; she reports that the stone has been moved from the entrance of the tomb, and her first hypothesis is the simplest that can be formulated: someone must have stolen Jesus' body. So the first announcement that Mary brings is not that of the resurrection, but of a theft that unknown persons have perpetrated, while the whole of Jerusalem slept.
Then the gospels tell of a second journey of the Magdalene to Jesus' tomb. She was stubborn! She went, she returned ... because she was not convinced! This time her pace is slow, very heavy. Mary suffers doubly: first of all for the death of Jesus, and then for the inexplicable disappearance of his body.
It is while she is bending over by the tomb, her eyes full of tears, that God surprises her in the most unexpected way. The evangelist John emphasises how persistent her blindness is: she does not notice the presence of two angels questioning her, nor does she become suspicious when she sees the man behind her, whom she thinks is the guardian of the garden. Instead, she discovers the most shocking event in human history when she is finally called by name: "Mary!" (v. 16).
How beautiful it is to think that the first appearance of the Risen One - according to the gospels - happened in such a personal way! That there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and disappointment, and is moved by us, and calls us by name. It is a law that we find carved into many pages of the gospel. Around Jesus there are many people who seek God; but the most prodigious reality is that, much earlier, there is first of all God who cares for our lives, who wants to lift them up, and to do this he calls us by name, recognising the personal face of each one. Every man is a story of love that God writes on this earth. Each one of us is a story of God's love. Each one of us God calls by name: he knows us by name, he looks at us, he waits for us, he forgives us, he has patience with us. Is this true or not? Each one of us has this experience.
And Jesus calls her: "Mary!': the revolution of his life, the revolution destined to transform the existence of every man and woman, begins with a name that echoes in the garden of the empty tomb. The Gospels describe to us Mary's happiness: Jesus' resurrection is not a joy given with an eyedropper, but a cascade that invests one's whole life. Christian existence is not woven with soft happiness, but with waves that sweep over everything. Try to think too, right now, with the baggage of disappointments and defeats that each of us carries in our hearts, that there is a God close to us who calls us by name and says: "Get up, stop crying, because I have come to set you free!" This is beautiful.
Jesus is not one who adapts to the world, tolerating that death, sadness, hatred, the moral destruction of people endure in it... Our God is not inert, but our God - allow me the word - is a dreamer: he dreams of the transformation of the world, and he has realised it in the mystery of the Resurrection.
Mary would like to embrace her Lord, but He is now oriented to the heavenly Father, while she is sent to take the proclamation to her brothers and sisters. And so that woman, who before meeting Jesus was at the mercy of the Evil One (cf. Lk 8:2), has now become an apostle of the new and greater hope. May her intercession help us to live this experience too: in the hour of weeping, and in the hour of abandonment, listen to the Risen Jesus who calls us by name, and with a heart full of joy go and proclaim: "I have seen the Lord!" (v. 18). I have changed my life because I have seen the Lord! I am now different from before, I am a different person. I have changed because I have seen the Lord. This is our strength and this is our hope.
[Pope Francis, General Audience 17 May 2017]
The Gospel accounts that mention the appearances of the Risen One usually end with the invitation to overcome every uncertainty, to confront the event with the Scriptures, to proclaim that Jesus, beyond death, is alive for ever, a source of new life for all who believe in him.
This is what happened, for example, in the case of Mary Magdalene (cf. Jn 20: 11-18), who found the tomb open and empty and immediately feared that the body of the Lord had been taken away. The Lord then called her by name and at that point a deep change took place within her: her distress and bewilderment were transformed into joy and enthusiasm. She promptly went to the Apostles and announced to them: "I have seen the Lord" (Jn 20: 18).
Behold: those who meet the Risen Jesus are inwardly transformed; it is impossible "to see" the Risen One without "believing" in him. Let us pray that he will call each one of us by name and thus convert us, opening us to the "vision" of faith.
Faith is born from the personal encounter with the Risen Christ and becomes an impulse of courage and freedom that makes one cry to the world: "Jesus is risen and alive for ever".
This is the mission of the Lord's disciples in every epoch and also in our time: "If, then, you have been raised with Christ", St Paul exhorts us, "seek the things that are above.... Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col 3: 1-2). This does not mean cutting oneself off from one's daily commitments, neglecting earthly realities; rather, it means reviving every human activity with a supernatural breath, it means making ourselves joyful proclaimers and witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ, living for eternity (cf. Jn 20: 25; Lk 24: 33-34).
[Pope Benedict, General Audience 19 April 2006]
On 22 July we celebrate the memorial of St Mary Magdalene, disciple of the Lord and first witness of the Resurrection. The story of St Mary of Magdala shows how decisive it is for each one of us to meet Christ personally. It is Christ who understands the human heart. It is he who can satisfy its hopes and longings and give answers to the concerns and the difficulties that humanity today faces in its daily endeavours.
[Pope John Paul II, Angelus 22 July 2001]
Today we meet the one who, according to the Gospels, was the first to see the Risen Christ: Mary Magdalene. The Sabbath had ended not long before. On the day of the Passion, there had not been enough time to complete the funeral rites. For this reason, at that sorrow-filled dawn, the women went to Jesus’ tomb with aromatic oils. The first to arrive was Mary Magdalene. She was one of the disciples who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, putting herself at the service of the burgeoning Church. Her walk to the sepulchre mirrors the fidelity of many women who spend years in the small alleyways of cemeteries remembering someone who is no longer there. The most authentic bonds are not broken even in death: there are those who continue loving even if their loved one is gone forever.
The Gospel describes Magdalene by immediately highlighting that she was not a woman easily given to enthusiasm (cf. Jn 20:1-2, 11-18). In fact, after her visit to the sepulchre, she returns disappointed to the Apostles’ hiding place. She tells them that the stone has been removed from the entrance to the sepulchre, and her first hypothesis is the simplest that one could formulate: someone must have stolen Jesus’ body. Thus, the first announcement that Mary makes is not the one of the Resurrection, but of a theft perpetrated by persons unknown while all Jerusalem slept.
The Gospels then tell of Magdalene’s second visit to Jesus’ sepulchre. She was stubborn! She went, she returned ... because she was not convinced! This time her step is slow and very heavy. Mary suffers twice as much: first for the death of Jesus, and then for the inexplicable disappearance of his body.
It is as she is stooping near the tomb, her eyes filled with tears, that God surprises her in the most unexpected way. John the Evangelist stresses how persistent her blindness is. She does not notice the presence of the two angels who question her, and she does not become suspicious even when she sees the man behind her, whom she believes is the custodian of the garden. Instead, she discovers the most overwhelming event in the history of mankind when she is finally called by her name: “Mary!” (v. 16).
How nice it is to think that the first apparition of the Risen One — according to the Gospels — took place in such a personal way! To think that there is someone who knows us, who sees our suffering and disappointment, who is moved with us and calls us by name. It is a law which we find engraved on many pages of the Gospel. There are many people around Jesus who search for God, but the most prodigious reality is that, long before that, in the first place there is God, who is concerned about our life, who wants to raise it, and to do this, he calls us by name, recognizing the individual face of each person. Each person is a love story that God writes on this earth. Each one of us is God’s love story. He calls each of us by our name: he knows us by name; he looks at us; he waits for us; he forgives us; he is patient with us. Is this true or not true? Each of us experiences this.
And Jesus calls her: “Mary!”: the revolution of her life, the revolution destined to transform the life of every man and every woman begins with a name which echoes in the garden of the empty sepulchre. The Gospels describe Mary’s happiness. Jesus’ Resurrection is not a joy which is measured with a dropper, but a waterfall that cascades over life. Christian life is not woven of soft joys, but of waves which engulf everything. You too, try to imagine, right now, with the baggage of disappointments and failures that each of us carries in our heart, that there is a God close to us who calls us by name and says to us: ‘Rise, stop weeping, for I have come to free you!”. This is beautiful.
Jesus is not one who adapts to the world, tolerating in it the persistence of death, sadness, hatred, the moral destruction of people.... Our God is not inert, but our God — allow me to say — is a dreamer: he dreams of the transformation of the world, and accomplished it in the mystery of the Resurrection.
Mary would like to embrace her Lord, but he is already oriented towards the heavenly Father, whereas she is sent to carry the news to the brethren. And so that woman, who, before encountering Jesus, had been at the mercy of evil (cf. Lk 8:2) now becomes the Apostle of the new and greatest hope. May her intercession also help us live this experience: in times of woe and in times of abandonment, to listen to the Risen Jesus who calls us by name and, with a heart full of joy, to go forth and proclaim: “I have seen the Lord!” (v. 18). I have changed my life because I have seen the Lord! I am now different than before. I am another person. I have changed because I have seen the Lord. This is our strength and this is our hope. Thank you.
[Pope Francis, General Audience 17 May 2017]
Which road leads to the Father?
(Mt 12:38-42)
Human correspondence does not grow with the multiplication of dizzying signals. God doesn’t force the unconvinced, nor outclass with proofs; thus He earns a patrimony of love.
His authentic Church, without clamor or persuasive positions - apparently insignificant - is gathered entirely in intimate unity with her Lord.
The Queen of the South was looking for captivating solutions to enigmatic curiosities, but she could know them inside her soul and life.
Incarnation: there are no other valid signs than the events and new relationships with oneself and others - which offer the very and unheard-of Person of the Risen One, without wrappings.
The Eternal is no longer the pure transcendence of the Jews, nor the summit of the wisdom of the ancient world: the moving Sign of God is the story of Jesus alive in us.
We trust in Christ, so no more spiritual drugs that deceive us about happiness.
It’s the meaning of the new Creation: abandonment to the Spirit, but all concrete (not in a manner) and which proceeds by dragging the alternative reality.
He is the Sign unique, who frees from the many substitutes of fears’ religion, of fetters, of consolidated roles that would like to imprison the Lord in an "ally" doer of seductive miracles, immediately resolving.
Some community members seemed to want to frame the Messiah into the pattern of normal sacred and scenic expectations.
They were already getting along with the world, starting to recede, and were proving fed up...
In these "veterans" of Mt there was no sign of conversion to the idea of the Son of God as a Servant, confident in dreams without prestige.
In them? No trace of a new idea - nor change of pace that could mark the end of the blatant, dehumanizing society they were used to.
There are always those who remain tied to an ideology of power. So they don't want to open their eyes except to have their senses captured in a trivial way.
For these, the Lord never reserves impressive confirmations - which would be the paradoxical validation of ancient convictions.
The only «sign» is his living Church and the Risen himself pulsating in all those who take him seriously; eg. in recoveries, healings, and impossible revaluations.
But no shortcut lightning.
Guided by the intimate Friend, we will be a single inventive humanity ‘in the Master’.
Our free and life-giving testimony will re-nourish an experience of regenerating Faith, singularly incisive.
Far more than miracles, the appeals of our essence and reality will make us recognize the call and action of God in men and in the web of history.
The Father wants his sons to produce far more astonishment and prodigies of divine-human goodness than visions and sentimentality, or magic.
The only «sign» of salvation is Christ in us, without hysterical seams; image and likeness of the new humanity.
For authentic conversion: native power - and nothing external.
[Monday 16th wk. in O.T. July 21, 2025]
What is the Sign of the Mystery?
(Mt 12:38-42)
Jesus encounters unbelief. It comes from various forms of blindness and prejudice, or (especially in the disciples) arises from inattention.
The Lord distances himself from those who test him and from those who reject what is given by God, demanding to dictate how he should act.
The Son of Man respects every person who follows him, but he makes it clear that decisions and, even more so, a lack of acute perception prevent the Encounter and the redemption of life.
From this perspective, believers do not live to 'prove' anything. Christ himself does not wait for us in subliminal and amazing manifestations, but on the shore of an earthly spirituality.
Value does not need applause (a double-edged sword) - a mask for artificial proposals and inauthentic life.
Humanising correspondence does not grow with the multiplication of dizzying signals.
God does not coerce the unconvinced, nor does he overwhelm with proof; in this way, he gains a heritage of Love in growth.
His authentic Church, without clamour or persuasive positions - apparently insignificant - is gathered in intimate unity with his Firstborn: native, portentous and regenerating power - solid and real.
The queen of the south sought captivating solutions to enigmatic curiosities, but she could find them within her soul and in her life.
Incarnation: there are no other valid signs than events and new relationships - with oneself and with others - which present the very Person and unheard-of nature of the Risen One (the one without wrappings).
The Eternal One is no longer the pure transcendence of the Jews, nor the summit of the wisdom of the ancient world.
The sign of the Most High is the story of Jesus (alive in us). It opens the exciting path that leads to the Father.
Let us trust in Christ, therefore, and reject spiritual drugs that delude us with happiness.
This is the meaning of the new Creation: abandonment to the Spirit - but in a concrete way (not in a mannered way) - which proceeds by drawing along an alternative reality.
His Person is a unique sign that frees us from the many surrogates of the religion of fears, shackles and established roles.
These are those who would like to imprison him as an 'ally' who performs seductive and immediately decisive miracles.
Some would like to see him as a simple purifier of the temple or a character from a fairy tale - and so would we, if we allow ourselves to be manipulated.
In fact, the religious leaders to whom Jesus addresses himself are those returning to his communities!
They were Judaizers who wanted to fit the Messiah into the pattern of normal expectations to which they had always been accustomed.
Or they already understood and were fed up...
In these 'veterans' there was no sign of conversion to the idea of the Son of God as a Servant, trusting in dreams without prestige.
In them? There was no trace of a new idea - nor any change of pace that would mark the decline of the ostentatious, dehumanising - and even sacred - society of the outside world.
Popular leaders sometimes miss the meaning of the only living Sign: Jesus, the Bread of Life.
Because of them, not because of those who are far away, the Lord 'groans in spirit' (cf. Mk 8:12, Greek text) - even today, saddened by so much blindness.
Life is in fact precluded to those who cannot shift their gaze.
Immediately after Mt (16:6), he refers to the danger of the dominant ideology that caused even the leaders to lose their objective perception of events.
A coarse "leaven" but rooted in the painful experience of the people - which stimulated swelling even in the disciples, contaminating them.
To the top of the class, it might have seemed that Jesus was a leader like Moses, because he fed the hungry people in the desert (cf. Mt 14:13-21; 15:32-39).
But the rejection is clear: especially Mark (8:12) brings it to life by emphasising the Master's sense of suffering.
Then, as in Matthew and Luke in the episode of Jonah, there is his radical, peremptory refusal.
To save a people in need of everything, there is no other way than to start from within.
Then proceed towards a fullness of being that spreads, approves us, and, flowing out, allows us to break our lives in favour of our brothers and sisters.
There is no escape. Only communion with the hidden source of one's own eminent Self and respectful and active dialogue with others can save us from a closed group mentality.
In this way, no club is allowed - no club that claims exclusive monopoly over God and souls (Mt 9:38-40) with the explicit claim to discipline the multitudes.
The community of the Risen One abhors the competitive conception of religious life itself, if it is a sacred reflection of the imperial world and of a society that oppresses and embitters the existence of the little ones.
It would be a sick life in search of prestige, even if only apparent.
On the contrary, in fraternal realities, 'whoever humbles himself is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven' (Mt 18:4).Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to avoid a pyramidal mentality and a mentality of rejection creeping into the faithful.
A spirit of competition that inevitably ends up seeking refuge in hypocritical miracle-mongering, a substitute for the life of faith.
The Master does the same to educate members of the Church who remain - perhaps even today - affected by a sense of superiority towards crowds and strangers.
A feeling of being a chosen and privileged people (Lk 9:54-55) that was even infiltrating the early communities.
To those who do not want to open their eyes except to be captivated by phenomena that are yet to be discerned - because despite the official creed they profess, they remain tied to an ideology of power - the Lord never reserves impressive confirmations coming 'from heaven' (Mt 16:1) that would be their paradoxical validation.
The only sign is and will be his living Church: the 'victory' of the Risen One who pulsates in all those who take him seriously.
Without fixed hierarchies - under the infallible guidance of the Call and the Word - the children know how to reinterpret, even in new ways.
Such is the miracle, embodied in a thousand events (in history, in personal and community life); in recoveries, healings and impossible re-evaluations.
The authentic Messiah does not offer any cosmic display.
There are no festivals that force spectators to bow their heads in the presence of such overwhelming glory and condescension, as if he were a heavenly dictator.
And no lightning bolts as a shortcut.
Over the centuries, churches have often fallen into this 'apologetic' temptation, which is entirely internal to devotions with a dry impulse: seeking marvellous signs and trumpeting them to silence opponents.
These are stratagems for a banal attempt to silence those who ask not for parapsychological experiences, but for testimonies that are not withered and without tricks or gimmicks: for concrete disalienation.
Not bad, this activity of ours to liberate the least among us, which is holding its own, unclutched by the idea of a demagogue with triumphalist or consolatory airs.
We prefer the wave of Mystery.
We yearn to be guided by an unknown energy that has a non-artificial goal in store for us - led by the eminent but intimate and hidden Friend (exclusive to us).
We will be one humanity in the Master, on the right path that belongs to us. Even if we walk along interrupted and incomplete paths, even paths of confusion.
Commenting on the Tao Te Ching (i), Master Ho-shang Kung writes: 'The eternal Name wants to be like the infant who has not yet spoken, like the chick that has not yet hatched. The luminous pearl lies within the oyster, the beautiful gem lies in the middle of the rock: however much it shines within, on the outside it is foolish and insipid'.
All this may be considered "unconsciousness" and "inconclusiveness"... but it brings out what we are - expressing another way of seeing the world.
In ourselves and within the Call of the Gospels, we have a fresh power that approves of a path that is different from the immediately normal and the conspicuous.
An Appeal that is enchanting, delightful and splendid, because it activates us by challenging us.
A word that does not think according to patterns. A heartfelt plea that is not impressed by exceptional things, by performances that suffocate the soul in search of meaning and authenticity.
Genuine wonder, an indomitable impulse nestled in the dimension of human fullness, which does not give up: it wants to express itself in its transparency and become reality.
A sort of intimate Infante: he moves in a way that is considered 'abstruse', but he puts things right, inside and out.
His free and invigorating testimony, attentive and always personally brilliant, will be innate and unprecedented, biting, inventive without artifice, unpredictable and completely non-conformist.
It will give rise to and incessantly nourish an experience of Faith that is convinced, singular and incisive - even though it may appear losing and unsuccessful, dishonourable and unspectacular.
Much more than miracles, the supplications of our essence and reality will make us recognise God's call and action in human beings and in the fabric of history.
These invitations can give rise to other astonishing wonders of divine-human goodness, rather than paroxysmal visions tinged with neurosis and empty sentimentality or magic.
The only sign of salvation is Christ in us - without seams or great hysterical gestures.
He is the image and likeness of the new humanity; the manifestation of God's power on earth.
For authentic conversion: nothing external.
To internalise and live the message:
What kind of evidence are you looking for?
How does your Sign (which makes people believe) differ from gimmicks, acts of force, or what others would like you to spread?
2) The book of Jonah announces the coming of Jesus Christ – Jonah is a foreshadowing of Jesus' coming. The Lord himself tells us this very clearly in the Gospel.
When asked by the Jews to give them a sign that would openly reveal him as the Messiah, he replied, according to Matthew: "No sign will be given to this generation except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mt 12:39f).
Luke's version of Jesus' words is simpler: "This generation [...] seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation" (Lk 11:29f). We see two elements in both texts: the Son of Man himself, Christ, the one sent by God, is the sign. The Paschal Mystery points to Jesus as the Son of Man; he is the sign in and through the Paschal Mystery.
In the Old Testament account, this mystery of Jesus shines through very clearly.
In the first chapter of the book of Jonah, there is mention of a threefold descent of the prophet: he descends to the port of Joppa; he descends into the ship; and in the ship he puts himself in the most hidden place. In his case, however, this threefold descent is an attempted escape from God. Jesus is the one who descends out of love, not to flee, but to reach the Nineveh of the world: he descends from his divinity into the poverty of the flesh, of being a creature with all its miseries and sufferings; he descends into the simplicity of the carpenter's son, and he descends into the night of the cross, and finally even into the night of Sheol, the world of the dead. In doing so, he goes before us on the path of descent, far from our false glory as kings; the path of penance, which is the path to our own truth: the path of conversion, the path that leads us away from Adam's pride, from wanting to be God, towards the humility of Jesus who is God and who strips himself of his glory for us (Phil 2:1-10). Like Jonah, Jesus sleeps in the boat while the storm rages. In a certain sense, in the experience of the cross, he allows himself to be thrown into the sea and thus calms the storm. The rabbis interpreted Jonah's words, "Throw me into the sea," as the prophet's offering of himself in order to save Israel: he was afraid of the conversion of the pagans and Israel's rejection of the faith, and for this reason, they say, he wanted to be thrown into the sea. The prophet saves by putting himself in the place of others. Sacrifice saves. This rabbinical exegesis became truth in Jesus.
[Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ratzinger, Lectio in s. Maria in Traspontina, 24 January 2003; in "30Giorni" February 2003]
4. In fact, Jesus invites us to discern the words and deeds that bear witness to the imminent coming of the Father's Kingdom. Indeed, He directs and concentrates all signs in the enigmatic "sign of Jonah." In doing so, He overturns the worldly logic that seeks signs confirming man's desire for self-affirmation and power. As the Apostle Paul emphasises, "while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks seek wisdom, we preach Christ crucified, a scandal to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Cor 1:22-23).
As the firstborn among many brothers (cf. Rom 8:29), Christ was the first to overcome in himself the diabolical "temptation" to use worldly means to bring about the coming of the Kingdom of God. This happened from the moment of the messianic trials in the desert to the sarcastic challenge addressed to him while he was nailed to the cross: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!" (Mt 27:40). In Jesus crucified, there is a transformation and concentration of signs: he himself is the "sign of God," especially in the mystery of his death and resurrection. To discern the signs of his presence in history, we must free ourselves from all worldly pretensions and welcome the Spirit who "searches everything, even the depths of God" (1 Cor 2:10).
[Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 23 September 1998]
Here is the Jonah syndrome, which "affects those who are not zealous for the conversion of people, who seek a holiness — if I may use the word — a holiness of the dry cleaners, that is, all beautiful, all well done, but without the zeal that leads us to preach the Lord." The Pope recalled that the Lord "before this generation, sick with the Jonah syndrome, promises the sign of Jonah." He added: 'In the other version, that of Matthew, it says: but Jonah was in the whale three nights and three days... The reference is to Jesus in the tomb, to his death and resurrection. And this is the sign that Jesus promises: against hypocrisy, against this attitude of perfect religiosity, against this attitude of a group of Pharisees'.
To clarify the concept, the Bishop of Rome referred to another parable from the Gospel "that well represents what Jesus wants to say. It is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple (Luke 14:10-14). The Pharisee is so sure of himself before the altar that he says: 'I thank you, God, that I am not like all these people of Nineveh, nor even like that man over there! And the man over there was the tax collector, who said only: 'Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner'.
The sign that Jesus promises, Pope Francis explained, is his forgiveness through his death and resurrection. The sign that Jesus promises is his mercy, which God had been asking for a long time: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'. Therefore, 'the true sign of Jonah is that which gives us the confidence that we will be saved by the blood of Christ. There are many Christians who think they are saved only because of what they do, because of their works. Works are necessary, but they are a consequence, a response to that merciful love that saves us." Works alone, without this merciful love, are not enough.
Therefore, "the Jonah syndrome affects those who trust only in their personal righteousness, in their works." And when Jesus says "this evil generation," he is referring to "all those who have the Jonah syndrome within themselves." But there is more: "The Jonah syndrome," said the Pope, "leads us to hypocrisy, to that self-sufficiency that we believe we achieve because we are clean, perfect Christians, because we do these works, we observe the commandments, everything. A great disease, the Jonah syndrome!" Whereas "the sign of Jonah" is "the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, who died and rose for us, for our salvation."
"There are two words in the first reading," he added, "that connect with this. Paul says of himself that he is an apostle, not because he studied, but because he was called. And he says to Christians: you are called by Jesus Christ. The sign of Jonah calls us." Today's liturgy, the Pope concluded, helps us to understand and make a choice: "Do we want to follow the syndrome of Jonah or the sign of Jonah?"
[Pope Francis, St. Martha's, in L'Osservatore Romano, 15 October 2013]
Two realities of faithful: Listeners or distracted around
(Lk 10:38-42)
Bethany is an ideal community, coordinated by a woman [Martha: ‘lady’].
The loveable Face of the Lord shines through in the contexts of (only) brothers and sisters, where difficult choices can be shared.
But even in the hearts where Jesus is understood, there are two different ways of welcoming the Son of God.
Some lack something, «absorbed for great service» (v.40); others make the choice «good».
«Good part» (v.42) is personal Freedom, which no intimidation or haste of others can take away and oppress.
In fact, Mary «even» (v.39) was sitting at Jesus' feet and listening.
The position is significant, because it was that of the disciple towards the teacher.
Mary does not have an abstruse intimist attitude, but surprising and gravely transgressive [appropriate with God].
In fact, the guest was welcomed by men alone; the women had to be relegated to the side and not appear.
At the time, no spiritual guide would have accept a woman among his disciples.
But here the Gospel speaks of receiving Jesus and his Word: of that accepting that qualifies the things “at the bottom of the list”, rather than “at the top”.
«Martha was distracted around for the much ‘service’...» (v.40).
‘Serving’ is not the same as doing Communion. This overwhelms her, and she becomes herself «above» Jesus (v.40 Greek text).
She remains in anxiety, in upset; divided in the heart (v.41), attracted between opposing choices.
Caught up in the tension, she does not understand that every authentic relationship is born from Listening.
She does not grasp the essential: the ‘little important’ that makes us feel good is not to be neglected - rather, it’s the foundation of our being and of the joy of living.
Instead of the «many things» (v.41) we need «One only» (v.42): to be in one’s Centre and to host the Voice of dim character that becomes full Kingdom within.
By taking care first of the beginnings and not immediately of the terms, as overflowing with fullness poured out in simplicity; then each one has great capacities for growth and transformation.
Then comes a further, clinking Call to heart [«Martha, Martha...»: v.41].
Appeal of the profound being, who ceaselessly retrieve from the neglect of the essential.
Vocation in the Name allows us to stop; for meeting ourselves and others, our deep states and motivations; in order to understand and enjoy what has already been done or is being done, without dehumanizing ahead of time.
All this so that we can reappropriate the breath of the soul, of its character - and do not lose our minds, always setting a great confusion that takes our breath away, and makes everyone angry.
Even a better “performance” will come to surprise us, because a different Perception will transmit patience, firm nerves, lucidity to wait for ripe times; determination even in afflictions; possibility of rediscovering innate abilities.
Lord’s Message will communicate the Judgment of the Crucified One, and opportune rhythm.
His Teaching will give balance, good disposition, and faculty to overcome the oppositions of an ambiguous world that is agitated to perpetuate itself - and does not give up the grip.
The instinct of the Logos inside and the provident reality will build a binary of our own, even through losses and scars.
Indeed, when our busy minutes will become empty and the slow hours become enchanting, we will even improve tightness and efficiency.
Made wise and incisive according to our Seed, we will not accuse Jesus of having been [us] «left alone to serve» (v.40).
We won’t spin in vain anymore, and our gestures will become valuable: clear.
[16th Sunday in O.T. (year C), July 20, 2025]
Christ is not resigned to the tombs that we have built for ourselves (Pope Francis)
Cristo non si rassegna ai sepolcri che ci siamo costruiti (Papa Francesco)
We must not fear the humility of taking little steps, but trust in the leaven that penetrates the dough and slowly causes it to rise (cf. Mt 13:33) [Pope Benedict]
Occorre non temere l’umiltà dei piccoli passi e confidare nel lievito che penetra nella pasta e lentamente la fa crescere (cfr Mt 13,33) [Papa Benedetto]
The disciples, already know how to pray by reciting the formulas of the Jewish tradition, but they too wish to experience the same “quality” of Jesus’ prayer (Pope Francis)
I discepoli, sanno già pregare, recitando le formule della tradizione ebraica, ma desiderano poter vivere anche loro la stessa “qualità” della preghiera di Gesù (Papa Francesco)
Saint John Chrysostom affirms that all of the apostles were imperfect, whether it was the two who wished to lift themselves above the other ten, or whether it was the ten who were jealous of them (“Commentary on Matthew”, 65, 4: PG 58, 619-622) [Pope Benedict]
San Giovanni Crisostomo afferma che tutti gli apostoli erano ancora imperfetti, sia i due che vogliono innalzarsi sopra i dieci, sia gli altri che hanno invidia di loro (cfr Commento a Matteo, 65, 4: PG 58, 622) [Papa Benedetto]
St John Chrysostom explained: “And this he [Jesus] says to draw them unto him, and to provoke them and to signify that if they would covert he would heal them” (cf. Homily on the Gospel of Matthew, 45, 1-2). Basically, God's true “Parable” is Jesus himself, his Person who, in the sign of humanity, hides and at the same time reveals his divinity. In this manner God does not force us to believe in him but attracts us to him with the truth and goodness of his incarnate Son [Pope Benedict]
Spiega San Giovanni Crisostomo: “Gesù ha pronunciato queste parole con l’intento di attirare a sé i suoi ascoltatori e di sollecitarli assicurando che, se si rivolgeranno a Lui, Egli li guarirà” (Comm. al Vang. di Matt., 45,1-2). In fondo, la vera “Parabola” di Dio è Gesù stesso, la sua Persona che, nel segno dell’umanità, nasconde e al tempo stesso rivela la divinità. In questo modo Dio non ci costringe a credere in Lui, ma ci attira a Sé con la verità e la bontà del suo Figlio incarnato [Papa Benedetto]
This belonging to each other and to him is not some ideal, imaginary, symbolic relationship, but – I would almost want to say – a biological, life-transmitting state of belonging to Jesus Christ (Pope Benedict)
Questo appartenere l’uno all’altro e a Lui non è una qualsiasi relazione ideale, immaginaria, simbolica, ma – vorrei quasi dire – un appartenere a Gesù Cristo in senso biologico, pienamente vitale (Papa Benedetto)
She is finally called by her name: “Mary!” (v. 16). How nice it is to think that the first apparition of the Risen One — according to the Gospels — took place in such a personal way! [Pope Francis]
Viene chiamata per nome: «Maria!» (v. 16). Com’è bello pensare che la prima apparizione del Risorto – secondo i Vangeli – sia avvenuta in un modo così personale! [Papa Francesco]
Jesus invites us to discern the words and deeds which bear witness to the imminent coming of the Father’s kingdom. Indeed, he indicates and concentrates all the signs in the enigmatic “sign of Jonah”. By doing so, he overturns the worldly logic aimed at seeking signs that would confirm the human desire for self-affirmation and power (Pope John Paul II)
don Giuseppe Nespeca
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