5th Sunday in Lent (year C) [6 April 2025]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. Tomorrow, Wednesday 2 April, will be the 20th anniversary of the death of St John Paul II. We remember him in prayer, invoking his protection and intercession.

*First Reading From the book of the prophet Isaiah (43:16-21)

At first glance, this text consists of two mutually contradictory parts: the first is a reference to the past, to leaving Egypt, while in the second, the prophet exhorts us to leave the past behind. But which past is it? Let us try to better understand by examining these two parts one after the other. The incipit is as always solemn: "Thus says the Lord" to introduce words of great importance which are immediately followed by the reference to the famous passage in the sea, the miracle of the Sea of Rushes during the Hebrews' flight from Egypt: "The Lord opened a way in the sea and a path in the midst of mighty waters". The reference to the memorable night of the deliverance from Egypt narrated in chapter 14 of the book of Exodus always returns. In the first reading, Isaiah offers further details: "the Lord brought forth chariots and horses, army and heroes at once, and they all lay dead and never rose again, they went out like a lamp. God saved his people by destroying the Egyptians and it is interesting to note that Isaiah uses the name 'Lord' (the Tetragrammaton YHVH), a name that qualifies the God of Sinai as the deliverer of his people. Here is God's work in the past that constitutes the source of hope for Israel's future, and Isaiah points out: 'Behold, I do a new thing'. To understand what this is all about and to whom the prophet foretells a new world, we need to go back to the historical context. The deuteroIsaiah, whom we are reading here, lived in the 6th century BC, during the exile in Babylon (from 587 to 538 BC), a period marked by a terrible trial: deported to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who had defeated the small kingdom of Judah of which Jerusalem was the capital, the Jews hoped one day to escape from Babylon, but there were serious difficulties because they had to cross the Syrian desert, hundreds of kilometres long and in terrible conditions for fugitives. The prophet therefore has the difficult task of restoring courage to his contemporaries: he does so in this book called the Book of the Consolation of Israel, because chapter 40 begins: 'Console, console my people, says your God'. And when he says: 'your God' he recalls the Covenant that was never broken because God did not abandon them. In fact, one of the formulas of the Covenant was: 'You shall be my people and I will be your God' and whenever the expression my God or your God is echoed, the possessive is an encouraging reminder of the Covenant and, at the same time, a profession of faith. Isaiah intends to keep the exiles' hope alive by reminding them that God has not only not abandoned them, on the contrary, he is already preparing their return to their homeland. Nothing can be seen yet, but it will happen and why is it certain? Because God is faithful to his Covenant and since he chose this people he has never ceased to deliver them and keep them alive, through all the vicissitudes of their history. He has freed them from Pharaoh; he has protected them all along the way; he made them pass through the sea dry when they came out of Egypt.Israel's hope thus rests on its past: this is the meaning of the word 'memorial', constant remembrance of God's work that continues today, and from this we derive the certainty that it will continue into the future. Past, present, future: God is always present alongside his people. This is one of the meanings of God's name: 'I am', that is, I am with you in all circumstances. And precisely during the difficult period of exile, when there was the risk of giving in to despair, Isaiah develops a new metaphor, that of the sprout: "Behold, I am doing a new thing: right now I am sprouting, do you not notice?" Starting from the extraordinary experience of a tiny seed capable of becoming a great tree, it is easy to understand how the word "sprout" has become in Israel and today for us a symbol of hope, and it is important to learn to recognise the sprouts of the new world, the Kingdom that God is building.

*Responsorial Psalm [125 (126)]

 This psalm echoes the first reading, where the prophet Isaiah announces the return of the people exiled in Babylon and sings of this miracle just as the Jews had sung of the prodigy of the exit from Egypt. These are the events: in 587 BC. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had conquered Jerusalem and deported the population, but, in turn, was defeated by Cyrus, king of Persia well known for his successes. Nebuchadnezzar's troops pillaged, plundered, raped, massacred and devastated, systematically deporting the population. Cyrus, on the other hand, adopted a completely different policy: he preferred to rule over prosperous peoples and allowed all deported populations to return to their homelands by providing the means to do so. And so, having conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem as early as 538 B.C., also granting them economic aid and even returning the objects looted from the Temple by Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers.

The psalm does not say 'when the king of Persia Cyrus restored the lot of Zion' but 'when the Lord restored the lot of Zion', a way of affirming that God remains the Lord of history who pulls all the strings and therefore there is no other god - again a nod to the fight against idolatry. This psalm, probably written long after the return from exile, evokes the joy and excitement of liberation and return. How many times during exile did one dream of this moment! When it was realised, one almost dared not believe it: 'When the Lord restored the lot of Zion, it seemed to us as if we were dreaming ... our mouths were filled with a smile, our tongues with joy'.  One even imagines that the other peoples are also amazed by this miracle: "Then it was said among the nations: 'The Lord has done great things for them'. In this sentence, two elements emerge: an infinite gratitude for the gratuitousness of God's choice and the chosen people's awareness of having been chosen for the world: their vocation is to be witnesses of God's work, an awareness matured precisely during exile. In the psalm, astonishment at God's choice is expressed with the words: 'great things', that is, God's work of deliverance, particularly the liberation from Egypt. Words like feat, work, great things, wonders, which are often found in the psalms, are always a reference to the Exodus. Here, a new work of God's deliverance is added: the end of the exile experienced by the people as a true resurrection. To express this, the psalmist uses two images: The streams in the desert: "Restore, Lord, our lot, like the streams in the Negheb", desert south of Jerusalem, where myriads of flowers bloom in spring. The other image is the seed: 'he who sows in tears, will reap in joy'. the sown grain seems to rot and die... but when the ears sprout, it is like a rebirth, an eloquent image because the return of the exiles meant a true rebirth for the land as well. A final observation: when the return from the Babylonian exile is sung in this psalm, it had already taken place a long time ago, but Israel does not speak of the past just to recount it, but to communicate a message and a teaching for the future: this return to life, historically placed, becomes a reason to hope for other future resurrections and deliverances. Every year, during the Feast of Tents in the autumn, this song was sung during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. As the pilgrims ascend, they sing of the deliverance that has already taken place and pray to God to hasten the day of final deliverance, when the promised Messiah will appear. Even today, there are many places of slavery, many 'Egypt' and 'Babylon'. This is what we think of when we sing: "Restore, Lord, our lot like the streams in the Negheb", asking for the grace to collaborate with all our strength in the work of liberation inaugurated by the Messiah, in order to hasten the day when the whole of humanity can sing: "Great things the Lord has done for us".

*Second Reading from the Letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Philippians (3:8-14)

 St Paul uses the image of running, and we know how important the goal and the desire to reach it is for every person. Here the Apostle speaks of himself: "I know only this: forgetting what lies behind me and reaching out to what lies ahead, I run towards the goal, to the prize that God calls us to receive up there in Christ Jesus. To run towards this same goal and obtain the promised prize, one must turn one's back on many things, as St Paul did when he felt conquered by Christ. The Greek verb he uses (katalambano) means to grasp, to seize, to take by force, and expresses the way in which he was completely transformed from a persecutor of Christians into an apostle of the gospel (Acts.9) when Christ literally took possession of him on the road to Damascus. St Paul presents his Christian faith as a natural continuation of his Jewish faith because Christ fully realises the expectations of the Old Testament by ensuring its continuity with the New Testament. Here, however, he insists on the newness that Jesus Christ brings: 'I consider everything to be a loss because of the sublimity of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. The knowledge of Christ brings radical newness because one truly becomes a 'new creature', as he writes in his second letter to the Corinthians, which we read last Sunday (2 Cor 5:17-21). Now he says it in another way: "For him I have given up all these things and consider them rubbish in order to gain Christ and be found in him". In other words: what previously appeared important in my eyes, that is, an advantage and a privilege, I now reject altogether. The advantages of which he speaks were the pride of belonging to the people of Israel, the faith and unshakeable hope of that people, the assiduous and scrupulous practice of all the commandments that he calls obedience to the law of Moses. But now Jesus Christ has taken all the space in his life and he possesses the greatest good, the only true wealth in the world, the true treasure of human existence: to know Christ. Knowing in biblical language does not mean intellectual knowledge but living in intimacy with someone, loving him and sharing his life. Paul insists on this bond with Christ because in the community of Philippi some Christians of Jewish origin wanted to impose circumcision on all Christians before baptism and this created great division as we read in the second reading of the second Sunday of Lent. This issue was resolved by the Apostles at the First Council in Jerusalem by affirming that in the New Covenant, the Law of Moses has been superseded and baptism in the name of Jesus makes us children of God so circumcision is no longer indispensable to be part of the people of the New Covenant. Paul also speaks here of "communion" with Christ's sufferings, of being conformed to his death in the hope of attaining the resurrection from the dead, grafted into him in order to follow his same path: "communion with his sufferings, making me conform to his death". 

Note: St Paul invites us to live like Christ and to accept all the risks of proclaiming the Gospel, but can we say, like him, that the only good for us is the knowledge of Christ and everything else is but rubbish? The word rubbish that is used here translates the Greek word skubala, which has a very strong meaning that can be translated in several ways: as waste, refuse, dry excrement and filth, rotten and spoiled food residue. In short, a total rejection of everything, when one knows Christ and is possessed by him.

*From the Gospel according to John (8:1-11)

We are already in the context of the Passion and the first line mentions the Mount of Olives. Since the evangelists only mention it in the last days of Jesus' public life and the Pharisees want to set a trap for him here, this makes it clear that it has now been decided to try and condemn him. That is why every detail of this text must be carefully examined because it is not a simple episode in Jesus' life, but the very heart of his mission.  At the beginning Jesus is seated as a teacher: "all the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them". However, the question of the scribes and Pharisees immediately puts him in the position of judge and Jesus is the only seated person. This detail helps us to understand that the theme of judgement, in St John, is central: the episode of the adulterous woman implements what he writes at the beginning of his gospel: "God sent the Son into the world, not to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:17). We are faced with a mock trial because the issue is clear: the adulterous woman was caught in the act and there are witnesses; the Law of Moses condemns adultery as one of the commandments given by God on Sinai (Thou shalt not commit adultery, Ex 20:14; Deut 5:18); Leviticus prescribes the death penalty: "If anyone commits adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death" (Lev 20:10). The scribes and Pharisees, who question Jesus, are as always very attached to the Law of Moses, but they forget to add that the Law provides for the condemnation of both offenders, the man and the adulterous woman. The fact that despite knowing this, no one remembers it, shows that the real issue is not the observance of the Law, but something else, and the text says it clearly: "They said this to test him and to have reason to accuse him". It is therefore a trap-question and what do they want to accuse Jesus of? Jesus cannot approve of the stoning because it would contradict the whole preaching on mercy; if, however, he publicly defends the woman, he can be accused of inciting the people to disobey the Law. In John's Gospel (chapter 5), we have already seen him tell the healed paralytic to take his bed, an act forbidden on the Sabbath. They failed to condemn him that day, but this time the disobedience would be public. After all, despite the apparent respect with which they call him 'Master', Jesus is in as much danger as the adulterous woman: both risk death. Jesus does not immediately respond: "He stooped down and began to write with his finger on the ground". With his silence, a constructive silence, he invites each one to reflect without humiliating anyone, and he, the incarnation of mercy, does not put the scribes and Pharisees or the adulterous woman in difficulty: he wants each one to take a step forward by trying to reveal to the Pharisees and scribes the true face of the God of mercy. When he responds, he does so almost by posing a question: 'Let him who is without sin among you cast the stone at her first'. At this point they all leave, "one by one, beginning with the elders". Nothing surprising: the elders appear to be the ones most ready to listen to the call to mercy. Who knows how many times they have experienced God's mercy on them... How many times they have read, sung, meditated on the verse: "God of tenderness and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in love" (Ex 34:6). How many times have they recited Psalm 50(51): "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your mercy, in your great goodness blot out my sin". Now they can understand that their lack of mercy is a fault, a lack of faithfulness to the God of the Covenant. Jesus' statement may have led them to this reflection: 'Let him who is without sin among you cast the stone first'. Being the first to throw the stone was an expression known to all in the context of the fight against idolatry. The Law did not say that it had to be the witness of adultery who threw the first stone; but it did say so expressly for the case of idolatry (Deut 13:9-10; Deut 17:7). Thus Jesus' reply can be interpreted as: "This woman is guilty of adultery, in the literal sense of the word, it is true; but are you not committing an even more serious adultery, an unfaithfulness to the God of the Covenant? The prophets often speak of idolatry in terms of adultery.  In the end, only Jesus and the woman remain: it is the face-to-face, as St Augustine says, between misery and mercy. For her, the Word once again fulfils his mission, speaking the word of reconciliation. Isaiah, speaking of the servant of God, had announced it: 'He will not break a cracked reed, he will not quench a smouldering wick...' (Is 42:3). But this is not goodism because Jesus clearly tells the woman to sin no more, sin remains condemned, but only forgiveness can enable the sinner to be reborn to hope.

Note: What does Jesus write on the ground? The evangelist does not specify, and this has given rise to various interpretations: Some Church Fathers, such as St Augustine, speculate that Jesus was writing down the hidden sins of those who accused the woman. This is why, one by one, they go away; It refers to the Mosaic Law: according to a rabbinic interpretation, it could refer to Jeremiah 17:13: "Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the Lord, the source of living water." If so, Jesus would be indicating that the accusers themselves are guilty of unfaithfulness to God. It could be a symbolic act of detachment; writing in the dust could symbolise that the accusations against the woman are ephemeral, destined to fade away; it could indicate a call to patience and reflection; finally, it could be a way of not responding immediately, prompting the accusers to reflect on their hypocrisy.

Jesus' gesture invites us to shift our attention not to the guilt of others, but to our own conscience. No one can condemn another without first examining himself. This episode teaches us that God's mercy exceeds human condemnation, and that forgiveness is always possible when there is a heart willing to change. 

The first reading and this Sunday's Gospel have the same message: forget the past, don't get attached to it... nothing, not even memories, should stop you from moving on. In the first reading, Isaiah speaks to the people in exile... in the Gospel, Jesus speaks to a woman caught in the act of adultery: apparently, two very different cases, but the message is the same: turn your gaze firmly towards the future, no longer think about the past.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

And the present matters, not the genealogy

(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)

Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way. He asks us to reinterpret and reveal divine Presence in an equally creative mode.

He only guards life, and life is always new. It does not cling to standards, to thought, to explanations.

The Envoy obeys an unthinkable and non-local Call. This is what distinguishes action and even divine geography, which surpasses the "synagogue" established in the area.

Recognizing Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that this harmony and choice entail.

He can be rejected by calculation, not spontaneously. By denying Him we exclude our root; however, by welcoming, everything and even survival are at stake. What to do?

Isn't better to blend in to keep things going?

After the abandonment of some disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even adds to the dose, and doesn’t depart.

Pretending, we too could marginalize Him to preserve immediate security. But if we didn’t proceed towards our Source, we would not encounter crystal clear water.

In the fourth Gospel the threat of death on the Lord is constant. People are attracted, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected Origins, to be killed in order not to be replaced.

According to the Synoptics, during public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once [in which He was condemned by the religious institution].

According to the fourth Gospel, two or three times, on the occasion of Easter.

It’s likely that He has been to the Holy City several times, in private.

But the image of the hidden Christ alludes here to His ‘presence’ in the common faithful, forced not to make clear the adhesion of the heart - especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ecclesia) at the end of the first century.

The ‘knowledge’ of God now passes through the challenge of ‘recognizing’ a subversive, condemned to death and fugitive (v.1): the Nazarene in us, the unrecognized fulcrum of our solemnities.

The eminent feast of the Jewish, that of the Booths [Sukkot], commemorated the «mirabilia Dei» of the Exodus and looked to the future by celebrating hopes of prestige and victory over other nations.

Well, even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of a violent and artificial prosperity, as well as the perverse influence of an empty, circumstantial spirituality.

And should some opportunists want to lay their hands on us out of self-interest, or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies, the turn of events will save the true Witnesses from any danger (v.30).

It will be the “impossible origins” to bring the Unknown to replace the official «educators» (v.28) clinging only to ideas.

The experience of divine glory living is still «sub contraria specie»: in the kingship that pushes down.

A reverse Force: it allows metamorphoses to surface and let us discover astonishing metamorphoses.

And by not allowing the Lord to be killed again for convenience, we will be able to protect both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.

Change of Face and cosmos, though unexpected. Development and ‘passage’ that convinces the soul.

[Friday 4th wk. in Lent, April 4, 2025]

And it is the present that counts, not the genealogy

(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)

Unexpected origins, to be killed not to be replaced

"[Certainly] you know me and you know where I am from. Yet I did not come from myself, but he is true who sent me, whom you do not know. I know him, because I am from him and he has sent me" (John 7:28-29).

Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way.

He asks us to reinterpret and reveal him in an equally unprecedented, personal, creative way.

He cherishes only life, and life is always new. He does not cling to standards, to thinking, to explanations.

The Envoy obeys an unthinking, non-local Calling.

This is what distinguishes divine action and even geography, which goes beyond the territorially implanted 'synagogue'.

Recognising Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that such attunement and choice entails.

One can reject him by calculation, not spontaneously.

We are well aware that by rejecting him we exclude our root; however, by accepting him we risk everything and even our skin. What is to be done?

Is it not better to camouflage oneself to keep the situation quiet?

After the abandonment of some of the disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even ups the ante.

By pretending, we too could marginalise him, in order to preserve security in the immediate future - and perhaps gain from it.

But if we do not proceed to our Source, we will not encounter the crystal-clear water.

All of existence will become a useless compromise of theatrics, which in the turn of events to be staged disguise theatrics and self-interest, making authentic vocational implications pale into oblivion.

In the Fourth Gospel, the threat of death on the Lord is constant.

People are drawn, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected origins, to be killed lest they be replaced.

Even today, a framework of respect and consternation is formed around the living Christ.

To obey one's Calling by Name is to experience the closure and opposition of the authorities.

All this, amidst the bewilderment of the people - perhaps also confused because they expect something else, and find it hard to recognise us.

Even those who proceed incognito - and yet are in Christ - cannot go unnoticed. And the present counts, not the genealogy.

Elaborate things or expected merits [fame, the great city, the lineage that counts...] do not touch the crux of the matter.

God's origin in us is inexplicable, enigmatic. But He presents us as His envoys.

The experts of the eternal city do not know the Father (v.28), despite the fact that they boast of possessing him exclusively: in their beliefs, in their norms, in their history, in the Temple, in their particular way of life.

In both popular and elite opinions, the Mystery was supposed to have an unknown and occult origin...

How to guess it in each one of us [deprived of the showcase of great titles, catwalks, pretensions, outward works]?

How to grasp it, if for public opinion we are nothing exceptional, nothing 'special' - and even inappropriate?

According to the Synoptics, during his public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once, the time when he was condemned by the religious establishment.

According to the fourth Gospel, two or three, on the occasion of the Passover.

It is likely that He was in the holy city several times in private.

But the image of the hidden Christ here alludes to His sacred Presence in the ordinary faithful.

Especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ecclesia) at the end of the first century, believers in the Lord Jesus were forced not to make the adherence of the heart manifest.

Vocation is our destiny, the secret of life.

These ideas that we cannot contain launch new opinions and ways of being.

Eccentricities that end up generating doubts in others, and open opposition from those who hold the reins of power.

They are all recalcitrant defenders, without criticism of specific weight: co-opted by representation; of the world and ancient or established, well-known and quiet ways, or à la page.

Conversely, knowledge of God passes through the challenge of recognising a subversive, doomed and fugitive (v.1): The Nazzarene in us.

The arcane and real Christ, misunderstood fulcrum of our solemnities.

The feast of the Jewish festivals, the Feast of the Tents, commemorated the mirabilia Dei of the Exodus and cast its gaze towards a glorious future.

It celebrated hopes of prestige, the expected final victory over other nations (and their exploitation).

But the friends of the Son have no predatory ambitions.

Even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of violent and artificial prosperity.

We disdain the perverse influences of any empty, opportunistic, or dull, circumstantial spirituality. 

And should some interested parties want to lay hands on us out of interest [or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies] the turn of events will keep the authentic Witnesses out of harm's way (v.30).

It will be the disregarded origins that will lead the Unknown to replace the official "educators" (v.28) clinging only to ideas.

The experience of divine glory that he lives is still sub contraria specie: in the kingship that pushes down.

Force-a-roar: it allows metamorphosis to surface and let us discover awe-inspiring metamorphoses.

In this way, by avoiding allowing the Lord to still be killed out of convenience, we will be able to safeguard both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.

A change of face and cosmos, albeit unthought of. Development and passage that convinces the soul.

To internalise and live the message:

How do I safeguard my community life and my transpositions of Faith in Christ?

Or do I let the Lord be killed in me and outside for convenience?

Knowledge of God

The knowledge of God becomes eternal life. Obviously, 'knowledge' here means something more than outward knowledge, as we know, for example, when a famous person died and when an invention was made. To know in the sense of Holy Scripture is to become inwardly one with another. To know God, to know Christ always also means to love Him, to become in some way one with Him by virtue of knowing and loving. Our life thus becomes an authentic, true and thus also eternal life, if we know Him who is the source of all being and all life. Thus the word of Jesus becomes an invitation for us: let us become friends of Jesus, let us seek to know Him more and more! Let us live in dialogue with Him! Let us learn righteous living from Him, let us become His witnesses! Then we become people who love, then we act righteously. Then we truly live.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the Lord's Supper 1 April 2010].

Knowledge of God becomes eternal life. Clearly “knowledge” here means something more than mere factual knowledge, as, for example, when we know that a famous person has died or a discovery was made. Knowing, in the language of sacred Scripture, is an interior becoming one with the other. Knowing God, knowing Christ, always means loving him, becoming, in a sense, one with him by virtue of that knowledge and love. Our life becomes authentic and true life, and thus eternal life, when we know the One who is the source of all being and all life. And so Jesus’ words become a summons: let us become friends of Jesus, let us try to know him all the more! Let us live in dialogue with him! Let us learn from him how to live aright, let us be his witnesses! Then we become people who love and then we act aright. Then we are truly alive.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the Lord's Supper 1 April 2010]

“The Father loves you” (cf. Jn 16:27)

Dear young friends!

1. In the perspective of the Jubilee which is now drawing near, 1999 is aimed at “broadening the horizons of believers so that they will see things in the perspective of Christ: in the perspective of the 'Father who is in heaven' from whom the Lord was sent and to whom he has returned” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 49). It is, indeed, not possible to celebrate Christ and his jubilee without turning, with him, towards God, his Father and our Father (cf. Jn 20:17). The Holy Spirit also takes us back to the Father and to Jesus. If the Spirit teaches us to say: “Jesus is Lord” (cf. 1Cor 12:3), it is to make us capable of speaking with God, calling him “Abba! Father!” (cf. Gal 4:6).

I invite you also, together with the whole Church, to turn towards God the Father and to listen with gratitude and wonder to the amazing revelation of Jesus: “The Father loves you!” (cf. Jn 16:27). These are the words I entrust to you as theme for the XIV World Youth Day. Dear young people, receive the love that God first gives you (cf. 1Jn 4:19). Hold fast to this certainty, the only one that can give meaning, strength and joy to life: his love will never leave you, his covenant of peace will never be removed from you (cf. Is 54:10). He has stamped your name on the palms of his hands (cf. Is 49:16).

2. It may not always be conscious and clear, but in the human heart there is a deep nostalgia for God. St. Ignatius of Antioch expressed this eloquently: “There is in me a living water that murmurs within me: 'Come to the Father'” (Ad Rom.7). “Lord, show me your glory”, Moses begged on the mountain (Ex 33:18).

“No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (Jn 1:18). So, is it enough to know the Son in order to know the Father? Philip does not let himself be so easily convinced. “Show us the Father”, he asks. His insistence brings us a reply beyond all that we could hope for: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).

After the incarnation, there exists a human face in which it is possible to see God: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (Jn 14:11). Jesus says this not only to Philip, but to all who will believe. And so, whoever receives the Son of God receives the One who sent him (cf. Jn 13:20). On the contrary, “he who hates me hates my Father also” (Jn 15:23). So a new relationship is possible between the Creator and the creature, that of the son with his own Father: When the disciples want to enter into the secrets of God and ask to learn how to pray as support for their journey, Jesus, in reply, teaches them the Our Father, “synthesis of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian, De oratione, 1). Here there is confirmation of our state as sons and daughters (cf. Lk 11:1-4). “On the one hand, in the words of this prayer, the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him; he is the Master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the Model of our prayer” (Catholic Church Catechism, 2765).

Bringing us the direct witness of the life of the Son of God, John’s Gospel points out the road to follow in order to know the Father. Calling upon the “Father” is the secret, the breath, the life of Jesus. Is he not the only Son, the first-born, the loved one towards whom everything is directed, present to the Father even before the world existed, sharing in his same glory? (cf. Jn 17:5). From the Father Jesus receives power over all things (cf. Jn 17:2), the message to be proclaimed (cf. Jn 12:49), the work to be accomplished (cf. Jn 14:31). The disciples themselves do not belong to him: it is the Father who has given them to him (cf. Jn 17:9), entrusting him with the task of keeping them from evil, so that none should be lost (cf. Jn 18:9).

In the hour of passing from this world to the Father, the “priestly prayer” reveals the mind of the Son: “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made” (Jn 17:5). As Supreme and Eternal Priest, Christ takes his place at the head of the immense procession of the redeemed. First-born of a multitude of brothers, he leads back to the one fold the sheep of the scattered flock, so that there may be “one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16).

Thanks to his work, the same loving relationship that exists within the Trinity was brought into the relation between the Father and redeemed humanity: “The Father loves you!” How could this mystery of love be understood without the action of the Spirit poured out from the Father over the disciples thanks to the prayer of Jesus (cf. Jn 14:16)? The incarnation in time of the eternal Word and the birth for eternity of all who are incorporated in him through Baptism would be inconceivable without the life-giving action of the same Spirit.

3. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). The world is loved by God! And, in spite of the refusals of which it is capable, it will continue to be loved to the very end. “The Father loves you” always and for ever: this is the unheard-of novelty, “the very simple yet profound proclamation owed to humanity by the Church” (cf. Christifideles Laici, 34). If the Son also had given us only this word, it would be enough. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1Jn 3:1). We are not orphans, love is possible. Because – as you know – we are not capable of loving if we are not loved.

But how are we to proclaim this good news? Jesus points out the wall to follow: Listen to the Father in order to be “taught by God” (Jn 6:45) and keep the commandments (cf. Jn 14:23). This knowledge of the Father will then grow: “I made known to them your name, and I will make it known” (Jn 17:26); and this will be the work of the Holy Spirit, guiding into “all truth” (cf. Jn 16:13).

In our time, the Church and the world have need more than ever of “missionaries” capable of proclaiming by word and example this fundamental and consoling certainty. Being aware of this, young people of today and adults of the new millennium, let yourselves be “formed” in the school of Jesus. In the Church and in the various environments of your daily existence, become credible witnesses to the Father’s love! Make it visible in your choices and attitudes, in your way of receiving people and placing yourselves at their service, in faithfully respecting God’s will and his Commandments.

“The Father loves you”. These wonderful words are uttered within the heart of the believer who, like the disciple beloved of Jesus, rests his head on Jesus’ breast and hears what is spoken in confidence: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:31), for “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3).

There is a reflection of the Father’s love in the various forms of fatherhood encountered along your way. I am thinking especially of your parents, who cooperate with God in giving you life and in caring for you: honour them (cf. Ex 20:12) and be grateful to them! I am thinking of the priests and other persons consecrated to the Lord, who for you are friends, witnesses and teachers of life, “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil 1:25). I am thinking of the authentic educators who, with their humanity, their wisdom and their faith make a significant contribution to your growth, your Christian and therefore fully human growth. For each one of these worthy persons, who walk beside you along the paths of life, give thanks always to the Lord.

4. The Father loves you! Awareness of God’s special love cannot fail to encourage believers “to undertake, by hot cling fast to Christ the Redeemer of man, a journey of authentic conversion... This is the proper context for a renewed appreciation and more intense celebration of the sacrament of Penance in its most profound meaning” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 50).

“Sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another” (Catholic Church Catechism, 387); it is refusal to live the life of God received in Baptism, to let ourselves be loved by the true Love: the human being has in fact the terrible power to be an obstacle to God who wills to give all that is good. Sin, which has its origin in the person’s free will (cf. Mk 7:20), is failure in genuine love; it wounds the nature of the human person and injures human solidarity by attitudes, words and actions steeped in self-love (cf. Catholic Church Catechism, 1849-1850). It is in the innermost self that freedom opens up or closes itself to love. This is the constant drama of the human person, who often chooses slavery, subjecting himself or herself to fears, caprices, wrong attitudes, creating idols that dominate and ideologies that degrade his or her humanity. In John’s Gospel we read: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34).

Jesus says to everyone: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). At the origin of every genuine conversion there is God looking upon the sinner. It is a look that becomes a search filled with love; a passion, even that of the Cross; a will to pardon that, showing the guilty one the esteem and love in which he or she is still held, in contrast to the disorder in which they are plunged, calls for the decision to change their way of life. This is the case of Levi (cf. Mk 2:13-17), of Zacchaeus (cf. Lk 19:1-10), of the woman taken in adultery (cf. Jn 8:1-11), of the thief (cf. Lk 23:39-43), of the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:1-30): “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it” (Redemptor Hominis, 10). The human being who has discovered and experienced the God of mercy and pardon can live only in a state of being continually converted to God (cf. Dives in Misericordia, 13).

“Go and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11): the pardon is given freely, but the person is invited to respond with a serious commitment to renewal of life. God knows his creatures too well! He is not unaware that an ever greater manifestation of his love will finally arouse in the sinner disgust for the sin. So God’s love is acted out in a continual offer of pardon.

How eloquent is the parable of the prodigal son! From the moment the son leaves home, the father lives in a state of anxiety: he waits, hopes, scans the horizon. He respects the son’s freedom, but he suffers. And when the son decides to return, the father sees him in the distance and goes to meet him, clasps him tightly in his arms and joyfully gives the order: “Put the ring on his finger – symbol of covenant – bring the best robe and put it on him – symbol of new life – put shoes on his feet – symbol of dignity regained – and let us make merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!” (cf. Lk 15:11-32).

5. Before ascending to the Father, Jesus entrusted to his Church the ministry of reconciliation (cf. Jn 20:23). So, a repentance that is only interior does not suffice in order to obtain God’s pardon. Reconciliation with God is obtained through reconciliation with the ecclesial community. So, acknowledgment of sin is made through a concrete sacramental gesture: repentance and confession of the sins, with the intention of amendment, in presence of the Church’s minister.

Today, unfortunately, the more people lose the sense of sin the less they have recourse to the pardon of God. This is the cause of many of the problems and difficulties of our time. This year, I invite you to rediscover the beauty and the wealth of grace in the sacrament of Penance by carefully rereading the parable of the prodigal son, where what is stressed is not so much the sin as the tenderness of God and his mercy. Listening to the Word in an attitude of prayer, contemplation, wonder and certainty, say to God : “I need you, I count on you in order to exist and to live. You are stronger than my sin. I believe in your power over my life, I believe that you are able to save me just as I am now. Remember me. Pardon me!”

Look at yourselves from “within”. Before being against a law or a moral norm, sin is against God (cf. Ps 50 [51],6), against your brothers and sisters and against yourselves. Stand in front of Christ, only Son of the Father and model for all brothers and sisters. He alone shows us what we must be in relation to the Father, to our neighbour, to society, in order to be at peace with ourselves. He shows this through the Gospel, which is one with Jesus Christ. Faithfulness to one is the measure of faithfulness to the other.

Approach trustfully the sacrament of Confession: with the confession of sins you will show that you want to acknowledge infidelity and to put an end to it; you will admit the need for conversion and reconciliation, in order to find again the peace and fruitfulness of being children of God in Christ Jesus; you will express solidarity with the brothers and sisters who also undergo the trial of sin (cf. Catholic Church Catechism, 1445).

Finally, receive with a grateful heart the absolution given by the priest. This is the moment when the Father pronounces over the repentant sinner the life-giving word: “This my son is alive again!” The Source of love regenerates and makes us capable of overcoming egoism and of loving again, with greater intensity.

6. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 22: 37-40). Jesus does not say that the second commandment is identical with the first, but that it is “like it”. So the two commandments are not interchangeable, as if we could automatically satisfy the commandment to love God by observing that to love our neighbour, or viceversa. Each has its own consistency, and they must both be observed. But Jesus puts them side by side to make it clear for everyone that they are closely connected. It is impossible to observe one without practicing the other. “Their inseparable unity is attested to by Christ in his words and by his very life: his mission culminates in the Cross of our Redemption, the sign of his indivisible love for the Father and for humanity” (Veritatis Splendor, 14).

To know whether we truly love God, we have to see whether we seriously love our neighbour. And if we want to test the quality of love for our neighbour, we have to ask ourselves whether we truly love God. Because “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1Jn 4:20); and “by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1Jn 5:2).

In the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, I exhorted Christians to “lay greater emphasis on the Church’s preferential option for the poor and the outcast” (n. 51). This is a “preferential”, not an exclusive option. Jesus invites us to love the poor, because they should be given special attention precisely because of their vulnerability. As is well known, they are more and more numerous, even in the so-called rich countries, in spite of the fact that the goods of this world are meant for everyone! Every situation of poverty is a challenge to each one’s Christian charity. This charity, however, must become also social and political commitment, because the problem of poverty in the world depends on concrete situations that must be changed by men and women of good will, builders of the civilization of love. They are “structures of sin” that cannot be overcome without cooperation from everyone, in readiness to “lose oneself” for the sake of the other rather than exploiting him, to “serve” instead of oppressing him (cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38).

Dear young people, I invite you especially to take concrete initiatives of solidarity and sharing alongside and with those who are poorest. Participate generously in one or another of the projects through which, in the different countries, others of your contemporaries are involved in gestures of fraternity and solidarity. This will be a way of “restoring” to the Lord in the persons of the poor at least something of all He has given to you who are more fortunate. It can also give immediate visible expression to a fundamental option: to give your life a definite orientation towards God and for others.

7. Mary sums up in her person the whole mystery of the Church. She is “the highly favoured daughter of the Father” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 54), who freely accepted and readily responded to the gift of God. “Daughter” of the Father, she merited to become the Mother of his Son: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:37). She is the Mother of God, because she is perfectly daughter of the Father.

In her heart there is no desire other than that of helping Christians in their commitment to live as children of God. As a most tender mother, she constantly leads them to Jesus, so that, following him, they may learn to develop their relation with the Father in heaven. As at the wedding in Cana, she invites them to do whatever he tells them (cf. Jn 2:5), for she knows that this is the way to reach the house of “the Father of mercies” (cf. 2Cor 1:3).

The XIV World Youth Day, which will be held this year in the local Churches, is the last before the great appointment of the Jubilee. It has therefore particular significance in the preparation for the Holy Year 2000. I pray that for each one of you it may be the occasion for a renewed encounter with the Lord of life and with his Church.

To Mary I entrust your journeying, and I ask her to make your hearts ready to receive the grace of the Father, so that you may become witnesses to his love.

With these sentiments, wishing you a year rich in faith and in evangelical commitment, I bless you all from my heart.

From the Vatican, 6 January 1999, Solemnity of the Lord’s Epiphany.

[Pope John Paul II, Message XIV WYD]

Fear is one of the most terrible enemies of our Christian life. Jesus exhorts: “have no fear”, “fear not”. And Jesus describes three tangible situations that they will find themselves facing.

First and foremost the hostility of those who would like to stifle the Word of God, by sugar-coating it, watering it down, or by silencing those who proclaim it. In this case, Jesus encourages the Apostles to spread the message of salvation that He has entrusted to them. For the moment, He has transmitted it cautiously, somewhat covertly, among the small group of disciples. But they will utter his Gospel “in the light”, that is, openly; and will proclaim it “upon the housetops” — as Jesus says — that is, publicly.

The second difficulty that Christ’s missionaries will encounter is the physical threat against them, that is, direct persecution of them personally, to the point of being killed. This prophesy by Jesus is realized in every age: it is a painful reality, but it attests to the faithfulness of witnesses. How many Christians are persecuted even today throughout the world! They suffer for the Gospel with love, they are martyrs of our days. And we can say with confidence that they are more numerous than those of the earliest times: so many martyrs, just for the fact of being Christians.

[...] We should not allow ourselves to be frightened by those who seek to extinguish evangelizing power with arrogance and violence. Indeed, they can do nothing against the soul, that is, against communion with God: no one can take this away from disciples, because it is a gift from God. The only fear that a disciple should have is that of losing this divine gift, closeness, friendship with God, giving up living according to the Gospel, thereby acquiring moral death, which is the effect of sin.

Jesus indicates as the third type of test that the Apostles will have to face, the sensation, which some may feel, that God himself has abandoned them, remaining distant and silent. Here too, Jesus exhorts them not to fear, because even while experiencing these and other pitfalls, the life of disciples lies firmly in the hands of God who loves us and looks after us. They are like three temptations: to sugar-coat the Gospel, to water it down; second: persecution; and third: the feeling that God has left us alone. Even Jesus suffered this trial in the Garden of Olives and on the Cross: “Father, why have you forsaken me?”, Jesus asks. At times one feels this spiritual barrenness; we must not fear it. The Father takes care of us, because our value is great in His eyes. What matters is frankness, the courage of our witness, our witness of faith: “recognizing Jesus before men” and going forth doing good.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 21 June 2020]

(Jn 5:31-47)

«But I have a greater testimony than John» (Jn 5:36). «Jesus loved others in the Father, starting from the Father – and thus he loved them in their true being, in their reality» [Pope Benedict].

Jesus does not love the catwalks. The Son remains immersed in the Father: he does not receive support and glory from men nor from “perimeters”, because he is not impregnated with ‘normal’ expectations.

Predictable hopes delay the budding of the Kingdom, of its alternative caliber - in the living experience of further exchanges; in the completeness of being that belongs to us.

The pathology of reputation, of accredited beliefs and practices in accordance with the context, excludes the blow of wings. But every short and rigid perspective rejects God in the name of God.

Only what is not petrified testifies Christ the Lord, the likeness of the Father who doesn’t reject our eccentricities, because he wants to make them grow - recovering the flourishing opposites.

The same "bad moments" that crumble prestige are also a spring to activate ourselves and not to stagnate in the same situations as always; by regenerating, proceeding elsewhere.

In short, our Heaven is intertwined with the flesh that transmutes, with the earth and our dust: It’s inside and below, not behind the clouds or in manners.

In John there is often the aspect of trial (religious) court to which the story of Jesus was subjected.

Sometimes men's aspirations are strangely hinged on the need to recognize one another, whatever it takes. But in this way we always remain “the same as before”.

Our world... centered on the honor that’s received. Theme is: the «Glory» - which however becomes a dialogue between deaf.

«Doxa» in the Greek world means a manifestation of prestige, honor, esteem.

In Hebrew, the term Glory [Kabôd] indicates specific, qualitative ‘weight’ (and manifestation) of the transcendent.

So the ‘glory’ that man gives to God - so to speak - is the opposite of the Hellenist criterion: a humble and grateful recognition, of familiar and humanizing ‘weight’.

No one is called to artificial prestige and strength. The Glory of Jesus himself was only the awareness and confession of being sent by the Father.

Nothing else is due to us.

The failures that put fame in the balance serve to make us realize what we hadn’t noticed, therefore to deviate from a conformist destiny.

The Way in the Spirit is inspired by a dimension of Mystery and Freedom to be discovered: Exodus.

The cages [even "spiritual"] blame everyone who’s different, inculcate tormenting thoughts, curb the most fruitful oddities.

These frames don’t awaken creativity, on the contrary they anesthetize it according to an internal cliché: precisely where one takes «glory from each other» (v.44).

“Prisons” do not teach how to give life momentum in a personal way and at the right time; and even the rhythm does not modulate itself on the different inclinations, on their originality - unique richness, which prepares the unrepeatable and extravagant New.

In fact, the unilateral imprint doesn’t respect nature, so it reinforces what says it wants to drive away. A disaster for a life of meaning and witness in Christ.

The Lord had as his only daily worship - in fact - the void of social support (it did not accept his deviations) and the fullness of the dawning in the Father.

[Thursday 4th wk. in Lent, April 3, 2025]

The greatest Witness

(Jn 5:31-47)

"Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, bear witness to Him and lead it to Him".

"Jesus loved men in the Father, from the Father - and so loved them in their true being, in their reality."

[Pope Benedict].

Jesus does not love catwalks. The Son remains immersed in the Father: he does not receive support and glory from fashionable men or ancient perimeters, because he is not imbued with normal human cultural religious expectations.

They prevent the perception of what we do not know, therefore they conceal the exceptional nature of the particular name; they drench the head and the gaze with current and pedestrian normality, which condition, dissociate, plagiarise, make external.

Predictable expectations delay the germination of the Kingdom of God and its alternative character - in the living experience of further exchanges; of other interpersonal qualities, in the completeness of being that belongs to us.

The specific weight of this unprecedented present and future, which corresponds because it is part of our intimate essence, otherwise remains in the hands of obvious opinions and the usual cheap dragging, which does not expose.

The pathology of reputation, of accredited convictions and the concordant praxis on the side, precludes winging it. But every short, rigid hope rejects God for God's sake.

Only that which is not petrified and conventional bears witness to Christ the Lord, the likeness of the Father who does not reject our eccentricities: he wants to make them grow - recovering their flourishing opposites.

The same 'no moments' that crumble prestige are also a spring to activate us and not stagnate in the same old situations; regenerating, moving forward elsewhere.

Failures that put fame in the balance serve to make us realise what we had not noticed, thus deviating from a conformist destiny.

In short, our Heaven is intertwined with our transmuting flesh, our earth and our dust: it lies within and below, not behind the clouds or in the manners.

In the paradoxical deification of the coming God, the all-worldly mentality of every purist or conformist circle experiences a reversal. Cipher of the great Wisdom of nature.

This is how Master Lü Hui-ch'ing comments on a famous passage from the Tao Tê Ching (LXXVI): "Heaven is on high for ch'ì, Earth is on low for form: ch'ì is soft and weak, form is hard and strong".

The trial-religious aspect to which the story of Jesus [even his intimates] was subjected often appears in John.

The aspirations of the pious men of old are strangely hinged on the need to make a body and recognise one another. Hence always 'those from before'.

Their world, centred on the honour one receives: the theme is Glory - which, however, becomes a dialogue between the deaf. 'Doxa' in the Greek world means manifestation of prestige, honour, esteem.

In Hebrew, the term Glory [Kabôd] means specific, qualitative weight (and manifestation) of the transcendent.

Thus the glory that man gives to God - so to speak - is the opposite of the Hellenist criterion: the principle and evaluation typical of the strutting, 'free', independent and self-confident hero [because of the prestige around].

Conversely, here is 'glory' as humble and grateful recognition, but weighty in the Christian sense: familiar and humanising.

The woman and man called to a particular mission discover in themselves and in reality the conditions of perfection and imperfection.

They lead us to innate fulfilment - not volatile - and the common good, according to specific, personal contribution.

No one is called to artificial prestige and strength, adding something to the honour of what is already in one's vocational essence - sometimes in paradoxical completeness, for a conviviality of differences.

The Glory of Jesus himself was only the awareness and confession of being the Father's Envoy.

That is all that is due to us - also in the sense of growth, of importance in itself, more than "those who become aware".

The devout groups unfortunately not infrequently moved to a level of worldly aspirations - just with a strange mixture of criteria.

So they ended up appreciating each other in circles, patting each other on the back.

Thus - content to be confirmed - they still tend to accentuate the characteristics of what is normally identified as the spiritual dimension, and that easily becomes tainted with the compromise of the artificial external look.

Instead, the inner balance of the Called by Name is re-established through dreams and congenital character - rather than through weighing and the raw influences of conscious life, which distract and level the soul. 

On such a slope, in fact, everyone tends to adopt attitudes that do not fit the very original vocation; on the contrary, they expose the conscience to dissociations and conditioning that distort it.

The Way in the Spirit of Freedom, Love, Newness, is inspired by a dimension of Mystery and spontaneity all to be discovered: Exodus.

Such a character proceeds beyond compartments, denominations filled with established solutions, with conformist thinking hooked on an univocal way of reading the Scriptures and testimonies.

Cages, even 'spiritual' ones, guilt every different, inculcate brooding, curb the most fruitful eccentricities.

In order to ensure 'ecclesial' compactness, the various stigmas everywhere play on the inadequacy of the majority interpretation - and guilt typical of the particular 'container'.

Such frameworks do not awaken creativity, rather they anaesthetise it according to internal clichés: where precisely they take "glory from one another" (v.44).

Frames do not teach one to launch oneself personally and at the right time.

The rhythm, too, does not descend on dissimilar inclinations, on their atypicality - a unique richness that prepares the unrepeatable and extravagant New that we do not already know.

Instruction booklets harass us with other people's progressions and goals to reach, all of which turn out to be yet to be surpassed - and outside our own taste and intimate sense; projected into the future, impersonal.

The 'spiritual' path of the pack reflects the life, judgement or idea of the leader and his 'magic' circle; the forma mentis of a generation or a class.

In this way, established trajectories do not announce changes and authentic encounters, which take place in the propulsive, transversal simplicity of the concrete unpredictable.

Stubborn models do not make us aware of a God Person: He calls to life through impulses that would be new blood for transmutation.

The Eternal One communicates Himself in what He speaks within.

Precisely in the needs - not obsessing energies known only to the soul, of conflicts over useless duties, which neither solve anything nor transmit happiness.

The 'egocentric' religious ideology and all directed thought brand crises as inadequacies to collective purposeful action - thus condemning instincts.

But instincts manifest themselves as escapes of the individual heart that seeks a new hearing, desires to surface and realise; it wants to integrate in its own way, or chart paths that prepare for the future.

Not infrequently, the evocation of the usual delimited rituals - e.g. of 'charisma' - as well as the concatenation of normative constitutions, deaden the character in a levelled atmosphere, which drinks of recollected attunements.

They are not our land.

The barnyard of the 'system' operates according to directives and roles.

But compartments limit the range of action, although they seemingly dilute it.

Trivial inclusions 'teach' us to be content with half-steps already chiselled into the little and not over the top.

This is so as not to allow one to enter the regenerations that count.

The self-referential clan often takes away space from any possibility that moves from there.

This makes one dependent on applause. It slows down, when conversely we could dare....

Lest we continue to perceive healthy restlessness. Differences that would redeem us from subordination.

In fact, the one-sided imprint does not respect nature, so it reinforces what it says it wants to banish.

A disaster for a life of meaning and witness in Christ.

The Lord had as his only daily worship - precisely - the emptiness of social support (which did not accept his deviations) and the fullness of beginnings in the Father.

"But I have a greater witness than John, for the works that the Father has given me to do, the very works that I do, testify of me that the Father has sent me" (John 5:36).

To internalise and live the message:

How do you safeguard community living and your transpositions of Faith in Christ?

What is the point of homologation in satisfaction, and where do you place your Preciousness?

Finger pointing: provisional but sure and strong

The commitment of all Christians is to "be witnesses of Jesus", to fill life with "that gesture" that was typical of John the Baptist: "pointing to Jesus". A common "vocation" on which Pope Francis dwelt in his homily during the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Friday morning, 16 December.

Following the liturgical path that over the past three days has made us reflect "on John, the last of the prophets, the greatest man born of a woman", the Pontiff delved into the Gospel passage (John 5, 33-36) in which the forerunner "is presented, is shown as the witness". It is Jesus himself who speaks clearly: "You sent messengers to John and he bore witness". Precisely this, Francis emphasised, "is John's vocation: to be a witness".

A vocation made even more comprehensible by some concrete examples. Jesus in fact, the Pope recalled, said that John 'was the lamp'. However, he explained, "he was the lamp but not the light, the torch that indicated where the light was, a lamp that indicated where the light was, a witness to the light". Likewise, John 'was the voice', so much so that he himself 'says of himself, "I am the voice crying out in the wilderness"'. But he was not the Word, in fact "he was the voice but who bears witness to the Word, he points to the Word, the Word of God. He only voice'. And so the Baptist who "was the preacher of penance" says clearly: "After me comes another who is stronger than I, he is greater than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to lace. And this one will baptise you in fire and the Holy Spirit'. To sum up: 'Lamp pointing to the light, voice pointing to the Word, preacher of penance and baptiser pointing to the true baptiser in the Holy Spirit'. John, the Pope concluded, 'is the provisional and Jesus is the definitive. John is the provisional who points to the definitive'.

But precisely this provisionality, this 'being for', is 'the greatness of John'. A man 'always with his finger there', pointing to another. In fact, in the Gospel we read that "people wondered in their hearts if John was not the Messiah. And he, clear: "I am not"'. And even when the doctors, the leaders of the people asked him: "But are you or must we wait for another?" he always repeated: "I am not. Another comes', again reminding him that one would come to whom he was not worthy to lace his shoes: 'I am not. Another, who will baptise you'.

It is precisely this, according to the Pontiff, the most eloquent image that tells us who John the Baptist was, his "provisional but sure, strong witness", his being "a torch that did not let itself be extinguished by the wind of vanity" and "a voice that did not let itself be diminished by the force of pride". John, the Pope clarified, is "always one who points to the other and opens the door to the other testimony, that of the Father, that which Jesus says today: 'I, however, have a testimony superior to that of John, that of the Father'. And, the Pontiff added, when we read in the Gospel that "the voice of the Father was heard: 'This is my Son'", we must understand that "it was John who opened this door".

Therefore John "is great", because "he always leaves himself aside". He, Francis explained, is great because 'he is humble and takes the path of lowering himself, of annihilating himself, the same path that Jesus will take later'. And also in this 'he offers a great witness: he opens that road of annihilation, of emptying himself' that was also Jesus' later.

A role that the Baptist incarnated, one could say, even physically: "to the disciples, to his own disciples, once Jesus passed by" he would point with his finger: "That is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That one, not me". And in the face of 'the insistence of the leaders, the people, the doctors' John always repeated: 'It is necessary for Him to grow, for Him to grow, for me to diminish'. In humility, the Pontiff said, "is the greatness of John". So much so that he "diminishes, he annihilates himself, to the end: in the darkness of a cell, in prison, beheaded, for the whim of a dancer, the envy of an adulteress and the weakness of a drunkard".

Several times the Pope, to underline the concept, repeated the expression "Great John!". A great one who, he added, if we were to depict him in a painting, we should simply draw a finger pointing.

At the conclusion of his homily, the Pope brought his meditation, as usual, to the concrete reality of people today. Seeing that there were a number of bishops, priests, religious, and couples celebrating their fiftieth anniversary in the chapel of Santa Marta, he told them: "It is a beautiful day to ask oneself" if "one's Christian life has always opened the way to Jesus, if one's life has always been full of that gesture: pointing to Jesus". It is necessary, he continued, to 'give thanks' for all the times this has been done, but also to 'begin again'. Always begin again, with what the Pontiff called "youthful old age, or youth aged, like good wine!" and always take a "step forward to continue to be witnesses of Jesus". With the help of John "the great witness".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 17/12/2016].

Christians are a priestly people for the world. Christians should make the living God visible to the world, they should bear witness to him and lead people towards him. When we speak of this task in which we share by virtue of our baptism, it is no reason to boast. It poses a question to us that makes us both joyful and anxious: are we truly God’s shrine in and for the world? Do we open up the pathway to God for others or do we rather conceal it? Have not we – the people of God – become to a large extent a people of unbelief and distance from God? Is it perhaps the case that the West, the heartlands of Christianity, are tired of their faith, bored by their history and culture, and no longer wish to know faith in Jesus Christ? We have reason to cry out at this time to God: “Do not allow us to become a ‘non-people’! Make us recognize you again! Truly, you have anointed us with your love, you have poured out your Holy Spirit upon us. Grant that the power of your Spirit may become newly effective in us, so that we may bear joyful witness to your message!

[Pope Benedict, Chrism homily 21 April 2011]