Second Sunday after Christmas (year A)  [4 January 2026]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. In the Christmas season, the liturgy constantly leads us  to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation.

*First Reading from the Book of Sirach (24:1-4, 12-16)

The Wisdom of God raises her voice in the assembly and recounts her origin and mission. She comes from the Most High, proceeds from his mouth as the creative Word, precedes time and traverses the entire cosmos: nothing is foreign to her, nothing exists without her order. Yet this universal Wisdom does not remain homeless. God entrusts her with a concrete destination:

"She sets up her tent in Jacob". Wisdom pitches its tent among the chosen people, takes up its inheritance in Israel and puts down roots in Jerusalem, the city of God's presence. Its dwelling place is the Torah: not a cold law, but a living Word, in which God speaks and man responds. Here Wisdom becomes nourishment, light, fruitfulness, like a tree that grows, blossoms and bears fruit for those who welcome it. In this hymn, we already glimpse the mystery that the Gospel of John will proclaim openly: Wisdom, who pitches her tent, anticipates the Word who becomes flesh and comes to dwell among us. What was dwelling in the Law and in the people of Israel finds its full fulfilment in Christ, the incarnate Wisdom of the Father. To welcome Wisdom, then, means to dwell in the Word, to let God dwell in us and to make our lives a tent open to his saving presence. 

*Most important elements: +Wisdom comes from God and proceeds from his mouth. +It has a cosmic dimension: it permeates and orders all creation. +God assigns it a concrete destination. Wisdom pitches her tent in Jacob. +Her homeland is Israel and her dwelling place is Jerusalem. She is identified with the Torah, the living Word of God. +The Torah is a place of encounter: God speaks, man responds. +Wisdom becomes fruitfulness and life for the people. +The text anticipates the Prologue of John. Biblical foundation of the mystery of the Incarnation

*Responsorial Psalm (147 vv. 12-15; 19-20)

Jerusalem is invited to praise the Lord, because God rebuilds the city, gathers the scattered and protects his people. His action is not only spiritual: he strengthens the gates, blesses the children, guarantees peace at the borders and nourishes with the best wheat. God's salvation touches concrete life, security, daily bread. His word is effective and sovereign: God sends it to earth and it runs swiftly, governing nature and history. The one who has power over the cosmos chooses to manifest himself as the defender of a fragile people who live under his protection. But the heart of the psalm is this: God revealed his Word to Jacob, his decrees and judgements to Israel. No other nation has received such a gift. The true greatness of Israel is not its strength, but its intimacy with God, who speaks, guides and instructs. This psalm thus becomes an invitation to grateful praise: a God who rules the universe has chosen to enter into covenant, to speak and to dwell in the history of his people. It is this received Word that builds peace and makes life stable.

*Most important elements: +Invitation to praise addressed to Jerusalem. +God rebuilds, protects and gathers his people. +Concrete blessing: peace, security, nourishment. +The Word of God is powerful and effective, and God rules the cosmos and history. +Unique revelation made to Israel: the Torah as a privilege and responsibility. +The true strength of the people is to listen to the Word of God.

*Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (1:3-6, 15-18)

Paul opens the letter with a great blessing: all Christian life springs from a single movement that rises towards God, because grace first descended upon us. God is blessed because he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing: not fragmentary gifts, but full and definitive salvation. The foundation of everything is God's free choice: even before creation, we were chosen in Christ to be holy and immaculate in love. Election is not an exclusive privilege, but a vocation to communion and new life. This election is expressed as filial adoption: God predestined us to be children in the Son, according to his plan of love. Salvation does not come from our merit, but from the benevolence of his will, and everything converges in the praise of the glory of his grace. In the second part, Paul moves from praise to intercessory prayer. Having heard of the faith and charity of the believers, he thanks God and asks for a decisive gift: the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that Christians may truly know God, not only with their minds but with their hearts. Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, so that they may understand: the hope of their calling, the riches of the glory of their inheritance, the greatness of the gift they have received in Christ. The Christian faith is therefore the memory of a grace received and a path of enlightened knowledge, which leads to living as children in freedom and praise.

*Most important elements. +Blessing to God for salvation in Christ. +Eternal election before creation. +Vocation to holiness in love and filial adoption in the Son. +Salvation as free grace. +Everything oriented towards the praise of God's glory and thanksgiving for faith and charity. +Prayer for the Spirit of wisdom. +Illumination of the heart. +Hope, inheritance and fullness of Christian life.

*From the Gospel according to John (1:1-18) Prologue

The Gospel of John opens by taking us back 'in the beginning', to where everything originated. Before all time was the Word (Logos): not just any word, but the eternal Word of God, in living relationship with the Father and of the same divine nature. In him everything was created; nothing exists without him. The Word is life, and this life is the light of men, a light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness cannot extinguish. A witness enters the story: John the Baptist. He is not the light, but he is sent to bear witness to the light, so that men may believe. The true light comes into the world that was made through it, but the world does not recognise it. Even his own people struggle to accept it. However, to those who accept it, the Word gives an unprecedented opportunity: to become children of God, not by human descent, but by free gift. The heart of the Prologue is the decisive announcement: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' God does not remain distant: he enters into human frailty, into concrete history, and makes his glory visible, a glory that has the face of faithful love, grace and truth. In Jesus, the Invisible One allows himself to be seen. John attests that the one who comes after him was before him. From this fullness we all receive grace upon grace: the Law, a holy gift, finds its fulfilment in the person of Christ, who not only speaks of God, but reveals him fully. No one has ever seen God, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known. The Prologue thus invites us to make a choice: to recognise in the flesh of Jesus the eternal Word, to welcome the light, to live as children and to allow ourselves to be transformed by the grace that dwells among us.

* St Augustine – Commentary on the Prologue of John 'The Word became flesh so that man might understand the Word.' (In Ioannis Evangelium Tractatus, 2,2). In a single sentence, Augustine summarises the meaning of John 1:14: God does not lower his truth, but makes himself accessible, entering into our condition so that man may know and welcome the divine light.

*Important elements: +In the beginning: continuity with creation. The eternal Word, with God and God. Everything created through the Word. +Word as life and light. Light and darkness: conflict and rejection. +Testimony of John the Baptist. +Acceptance of the Word = becoming children of God. +Incarnation: the Word becomes flesh. God dwells among men. +Glory, grace and truth in Christ. +Christ as the definitive revelation of the Father.

+Giovanni D’Ercole

Mary, Holy Mother of God (year A)  [1 January 2026]

May God bless us and the Virgin protect us! Best wishes for the new year, invoking God's blessing throughout 2026

*First Reading from the Book of Numbers (6:22-27)

The blessing "May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you" comes from the Book of Numbers and has been pronounced by the priests of Israel since the time of Aaron. It has also become a permanent part of Christian liturgy, as the solemn blessing at the end of Mass. The expression "invoking the Name of God" must be understood in the biblical context: the Name represents the person himself, his presence, his protection. For this reason, pronouncing the Name of God over the people means placing them under his protection. When God reveals his Name, he makes himself accessible to the prayers of his people. Consequently, any offence against the people of God is an offence against his own Name. This also sheds light on Jesus' words about becoming a neighbour to the least among us: God has placed his Name on every person, who must therefore be regarded with respect and with new eyes. The blessing is formulated in the singular (may he bless you), but it refers to the entire people: it is a collective singular, which Israel understood as extending to all humanity. The use of the subjunctive does not indicate any doubt about God's will to bless, since God blesses unceasingly; rather, it expresses man's freedom to accept or reject this blessing. To bless means, in the biblical sense, that God 'speaks well' of man. His Word is effective and transforming: when God speaks well, he brings it about. To ask for a blessing is to open oneself to his transforming and life-giving action. To be blessed does not mean to be preserved from trials, but to live them in communion with God, within the Covenant, certain of his faithful presence. This finds its fulfilment in Mary, mother of God, the 'full of grace', upon whom the Name of God is placed in a unique and definitive way. The original Hebrew text further enriches the meaning: the Name YHWH is a promise of continuous presence, and the verbal form indicates a blessing that spans the past, present and future. God has blessed, blesses and will bless his people forever.

Important elements: +The blessing of Numbers 6 as Jewish and Christian heritage. +The Name of God as presence, protection and belonging. +The collective singular: blessing for all the people and for humanity. +The subjunctive as an expression of human freedom to accept grace. +Blessing as an effective Word that transforms. +Blessing not as the absence of trials, but as communion with God. +Mary as fully blessed and bearer of the Name. +The richness of the Hebrew text: eternal blessing of YHWH.

*Responsorial Psalm (66/67)

Psalm 66 responds harmoniously to the priestly blessing in the Book of Numbers: "May the Lord bless you and keep you." The same spiritual atmosphere pervades the psalm: the certainty that God accompanies his people. To say that God blesses is to affirm that God is with us. This is the most authentic definition of blessing, as the prophet Zechariah suggests: God's presence is so evident that it attracts the nations. The very Name revealed on Sinai, YHWH, expresses precisely this promise of faithful and permanent presence. In the psalm, it is the people themselves who ask for the blessing: "May God bless us." God blesses without interruption; however, man remains free to accept or reject this blessing. Prayer then becomes an opening of the heart to God's transforming action. For this reason, in the faith of Israel, prayer is always marked by the certainty of being heard even before asking. Israel does not ask for blessings only for itself. The blessing received is destined to radiate to all nations, according to the promise made to Abraham. Two inseparable dimensions are intertwined in the psalm: the election of Israel and the universality of God's plan. The expression "God, our God" recalls the Covenant, while the invitation to all peoples to praise God shows that salvation is offered to the whole of humanity. Israel gradually understands that it has been chosen not for exclusion, but to bear witness: the light that illuminates it must reflect the light of God for the whole world. This awareness matures especially after the exile, when Israel recognises that the God of the Covenant is the God of the universe. Zechariah's prophecy (8:23) clearly expresses this vision: the nations will draw near to the chosen people because they recognise that God is with them. Today's believers are also called to be a witnessing people: every blessing received is a mandate to become a reflection of God's light in the world. At the beginning of a new year, this becomes a mutual wish: to bring God's light where it is not yet welcomed. Finally, the psalm states that 'the earth has yielded its fruit'. Because the Word of God is effective, it bears fruit in history. God has kept his promise of a fruitful earth, and for Christians, this verse finds its full fulfilment in the birth of the Saviour: in the fullness of time, the earth has borne its fruit.

Important elements: +Psalm 66 as an echo of the blessing in Numbers 6. +Blessing as God's presence and accompaniment. +The Name YHWH as a promise of faithful presence. +God always blesses; man is free to accept. +Prayer as openness to God's transforming action. +The election of Israel and the universality of salvation. Israel (and the Church) as a witnessing people. +The blessing intended for all nations. +The Word of God bearing fruit in history. +Christian fulfilment in the mystery of the Incarnation.

Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (4:4-7)

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman": with this expression Paul announces the fulfilment of God's plan. History, according to biblical faith, is not an eternal return, but a progressive journey towards the realisation of God's merciful plan. This perspective of fulfilment is a fundamental key not only to understanding Paul's letters, but the entire Bible, beginning with the Old Testament. The authors of the New Testament insist on showing that the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfil the Scriptures. This does not mean that everything was rigidly planned and predetermined: fulfilment should not be understood as fatality, but as a reinterpretation in faith of real events through which God, respecting human freedom, carries out his plan. God accepts the risk of human freedom, even when it conflicts with his plan; nevertheless, he never tires of renewing his promise, as Isaiah and Jeremiah attest. In Jesus, believers contemplate the definitive fulfilment of these promises. Paul then states that the Son of God was "born of a woman and born under the Law". In a few words, he expresses the whole mystery of Christ: true Son of God, true man, fully integrated into the people of Israel. The expression "born of a woman" simply indicates his full humanity, as attested by biblical language; being "under the Law" means that Jesus shared the condition of his people to the full. The purpose of this coming is clear: to redeem, that is, to free those who were under the Law, so that they might become adopted children. It is no longer a question of living as slaves who obey orders, but as children who obey out of love and trust. Thus, we move from submission to the Law to the freedom of filial obedience. This transition is made possible by the gift of the Spirit of the Son, who cries out in our hearts, 'Abba, Father'. It is the cry of trusting abandonment, the certainty that God is Father in all circumstances. For this reason, the believer is no longer a slave, but a child and, as a child, an heir: everything that belongs to the Son is also promised to him. The difficulty for human beings often lies in not daring to believe in this reality: not daring to believe that the Spirit of God dwells in them, that God's strength and capacity to love are truly given to them. And yet, none of this is due to human merit: if we are children and heirs, it is by grace. It is in this profound sense that we can say that everything is grace.

Important elements: +The fullness of time as the fulfilment of God's plan. +History as a journey towards God's benevolent plan. +The fulfilment of the Scriptures in Jesus, without determinism. +Respect for human freedom in the divine plan. +Jesus: Son of God, true man, born under the Law. +Redemption as liberation from the slavery of the Law. +The transition from slaves to children. +The gift of the Spirit who cries out 'Abba, Father'. Sonship as a promised inheritance. +Grace as the foundation of everything.

*From the Gospel according to Luke (2:16-21)

'What you have hidden from the wise and intelligent, you have revealed to the little ones' (Lk 10:21/ Mt 11:25): this verse illuminates the story of Jesus' birth, which is apparently simple but deeply theological. The shepherds, marginalised men who did not observe the Law, are the first to receive the angel's announcement: they thus become the first witnesses, bearers of the good news. Luke's narrative (Lk 2:8-14) emphasises how God's glory envelops them and how they are seized with fear and joy. Their experience recalls the words of Jesus: God reveals his mystery to the little ones, not to the wise. The story takes place in Bethlehem, the city of David and 'house of bread', where the newborn is laid in a manger: a symbol of the one who gives himself as nourishment for humanity. Mary observes in silence, meditating in her heart on all the events (Lk 2:19), showing attentive and filial contemplation, in contrast to the loquacity of the shepherds. Her attitude is reminiscent of that of Daniel, who kept the visions he received in his heart (Dan 7:28), foreshadowing the messianic destiny of the child. The name 'Jesus', which means 'God saves', reveals his saving mystery. Like every Jewish child, Jesus is circumcised on the eighth day and subjected to the Law of Moses, in full solidarity with his people. Luke insists on the circumcision and presentation in the Temple (Lk 2:22-24) to emphasise Mary and Joseph's perfect observance of the Law, not to highlight a ritual detail, but to show Jesus' complete adherence to the history and tradition of his people. This is consistent with his future identification with the wicked, as foretold: "And he was numbered among the wicked" (Lk 22:37). Finally, the discretion and silence of Mary, mother of God, show her humility and ability to become an instrument of God's plan. The centre of the plan is not Mary, but Jesus, the Saviour.

St Ambrose of Milan (4th century), commenting on the scene of the shepherds and Mary's attitude, writes: Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart: she did not try to explain the mystery in words, but kept it in faith" (cf. Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, II).

Important elements: +The revelation of God's mystery to the 'little ones', not to the wise and the shepherds: marginal witnesses and first heralds. +Bethlehem as the city of bread, symbol of saving nourishment. +Mary meditates on the events in her heart, a model of contemplation and silence. +The name Jesus means 'God saves'. +Circumcision and observance of the Law: Jesus' solidarity with the people and Presentation in the Temple: total adherence to the Law of Moses. +Jesus identified with the wicked: a sign of his mission. +Mary's silence and humility: an instrument of the divine plan, not the centre. + The plan of salvation has Jesus, the Saviour, at its centre.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Incarnation: raw life is filled with powers

(Jn 1:1-18)

According to ancient cultures, Logos-Sarx is a bold and impossible juxtaposition. Yet it marks the difference between religiosity and Faith.

Incarnation: raw life is filled with energies.

Our eternal side - which has pitched a tent in us - sends things so that by perceiving, by accepting, by becoming aware, we can prepare the development of the soul, of our Home.

It would be impossible to take the path to full Happiness if we did not gather and take in every bit of our being scattered across the world and across time, making every expectation, every moment, every oscillation even broken, meaningful and divine.

The Logos has innumerable Seeds already planted in us: they are all mouldable, non-crystalline energy polarities: points of tension.

Many of them seemingly unsteady, but they restart at the destination of completeness.

[All conversion has its root in the perception of the defect of being: it is dissatisfaction that drives us on].

Provisionalities called to become fixed points - then shaky again, because only through processes of fluctuation are the dynamics triggered that will lead to total growth (with other moments of Exodus).

As a Zen aphorism [collected in Ts'ai Ken T'an] suggests: «Water that is too pure has no fish».

Already here and now we thrive on the earth of a precious seed of the Word. His authentic Tent is 'in-us' and in all motives.

Therefore the «Light of men» (v.4) will no longer be - according to the convictions of the time - the arid regulations of the Law, but the «Life» in its fullness. Spontaneous, real and unrefined: raw, therefore full of powers.

«And the ‘Light’ shines in the darkness» (v.5)!

Just like a plant, which neither takes root nor expands in a distilled environment.

In order to welcome the ever-new and bubbling, we must allow access to all our soul “guests” - who will make us meet ourselves; even the neuroses.

He who Lives proposes a profound Exodus, to become ever-born again. Man's going is not subservient to a one-sided Master.

No longer precisely named 'heights'; inaccessible and distant places to go - on pain of exclusion - but rather Images and Likeness of a God who comes to find us at Home, where we are.

It is the same marginality encountered within - now without hysteria - that infallibly points us to the existential peripheries of others, which we are called to frequent, regenerate, sublimate, move, let rise.

The new relationship with God is no longer founded on discrepant purity and obedience, lavished on rigid precepts and unquestionable traditions or fashions.

Rather, in personal vicissitudes and in the conviviality of differences, Similarity with the Word takes over.

It is the Dream of each and all - in Christ already introduced into the Breasts of the Eternal One convincing and lovable because He is 'inclusive' of Being; not in the way of paternalisms ultimately good-naturedly bestowed.

We have in common the 'Displacement'. An end «Word» on univocity.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you start the day? Do you welcome your guests (even emptiness)? Or do you approach them with excessive judgement?

[2nd Christmas Sunday, January 4, 2026]

Power of raw life

(Jn 1:1-18)

Gialal al-Din Rumi, a 13th century Persian mystic and lyricist (founder of the Sufi confraternity of dervishes) writes in his poem 'The Inn

The human being is an inn,

every morning someone new arrives.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

a moment of awareness arrives from time to time,

like an unexpected visitor.

Welcome them all, entertain them all!

Even if there is a crowd of sorrows

violently ravaging the house

stripping it of all furniture,

still, treat every guest with honour:

it may be that he is freeing you

in view of new pleasures.

To gloomy thoughts, to shame, to malice,

go to the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be thankful for everything that comes,

for everything has been sent

as a guide to the hereafter.

We recognise in this poem-emblem some keys to discernment, underlying the existential paradoxes of the theology of the Incarnation.

A Sufi mystic helps to understand the pillars of our Path, far better than many evasive one-way doctrines.

They are identical laws of the soul already expressed in the famous Prologue of the Fourth Gospel: raw life is filled with powers.

Synthesis of underlying themes that specify Life in the Spirit in comparison to common religious experience.

Incarnation: our innermost fulcrums distinguish the adventure of Faith from the believer's one-sided existence in God.

Waking up in the morning, there is a new arrival in our 'inn' - not always overtly uplifting.

But in the many-roomed inn reception there must be a welcome, so that the unplanned encounter can open us up, become an aspect, or motive and engine of the decisive encounter - perhaps also unexpected.

Happenings, situations, insights, advice, relationships, even strange emotions, new realisations, other projects that we had not previously imagined or were simply unexpressed, come to visit us and leave us amazed.

Guests are to be welcomed, they have their dignity and they all express sides of ourselves: we are bound to welcome each one of them; even the anger, the sadness, the fears.

Missionaries know well that doubts are more fruitful than certainties, and that insecurity is safer than all 'certainties'.

The crowd of guests can call into question what is in our dwelling or inn, and sweep away all or part of it - even the foundations.

By being patient enough to honour each tenant - be they ancient memories or scapegoating utopias - we prepare our souls for an experience of fullness of being, launched from our own slums (muck become sprout territory).

Beginning with respect for our different boundaries and because of them, each new or re-emerging presence focuses us on listening to all the chaos that we are - chaos that prepares the delights that belong to us, and only in this way engage.

Our eternal side - which has pitched a tent in us - sends things so that by perceiving, welcoming, becoming aware, we can prepare the development of the soul, of our Home.

Evolution whose principles [and opportunities to step forward towards the completion of our full and divine personality] we simply find innate, within, and not in extrinsic adhesions - typical of external civilisation and of not a few expressions of faith reduced to religion.

The Prologue of John only reiterates the eternal pillars of a Wisdom that is revealed but natural, within the reach of all because it narrates love, even in the inner journey; difficult to understand only for those who allow themselves to be influenced by opinions and coded, abbreviated catechisms.

The Gospel reassures: it is News in our favour, because it makes us aware that the "lords" who come along are Gifts that clean up the dwelling, and if they throw it away, it is only to strengthen our essence, chiselling an unrepeatable Vocation: the one capable of recovering every shred of our history and making it a masterpiece.

It would be impossible to take the road to full Happiness if we did not gather and assume every shred of our being scattered in the world and in time, making every expectation, every moment, every oscillation even broken, meaningful and divine.

The Logos has countless Seeds already planted in us: they are all mouldable energy polarities; not crystalline. Points of tension. Many of them seemingly unsteady, but restarting at the destination of completeness.

Provisionalities called to become fixed points - then wobbly again, because only through processes of fluctuation are the dynamics that will lead to total growth triggered - with other moments of Exodus.

As a Zen aphorism [collected in Ts'ai Ken T'an] suggests: "Water that is too pure has no fish".Jn does not write that the Logos became 'man', but 'flesh' in the Semitic sense of a being full of limits, unfinished; for this reason devoted to the incessant search for meaning, partial to the point of death.

The weakness of women and men is not redeemed by admiring a heroic model and imitating it off the scale, but in a process of recovery of the whole being and of our history.

There are no Gifts of the Spirit that do not pass through the human dimension.

Already here and now we thrive on the earth of a precious seed of the Word. His authentic Tent is in us and in all motives.

The more we can bring our creaturely and humanising reality to its fullest, the more we will be on the path to the divine condition. Rooted on the earth of the inestimable lineage generated by the Logos.

To make us conscious and dilate life, the Eternal asks that we host the proposals with which it bursts in, with the sole purpose not to condition us but to complete us, and increase the self-confidence with which we face the present and activate the future, face to face.

We will not do this by becoming winners, but by welcoming what comes from Providence, from people and emotions (even from discomforts) without prejudice - not even that of always seeming to be accompanied by many people, being seen on the outside as confident, strong, performing.

Scenarios that invade life and take away the essential Perception of being present to minimal acts and relationships, to looking in and out. Clear awareness of self, of the human, of the world that guides towards our direction and our true nature.

Not the Ten Words - a typical Semitic category - but the One inclusive Word, Dream and Meaning of Creation, are the foundation of the Father's Work.

The Logos that takes root is qualitative, not partial, nor centred on a single name: One because it is One.

The story of Jesus of Nazareth suggests that sin has been shattered, i.e.: imperfection is not an obstacle to communion with Heaven, but a spring.

Imperfections do not make us inadequate: they set us on our way.

The Lord has annihilated the sense of inadequacy of the carnal condition and the humiliation of unbridgeable distances.

The Creator's 'initial' project is to share his own Life with all humanity. In this way, the Lord enters the world with confidence, without fear of contamination, nor cuts and separations - prejudice typical of the archaic mentality.

The Plan of Salvation is realised and has its summit in the defence, promotion, expansion of our relational quality of life.

Therefore: "Light of men" (v.4) will no longer be - according to the convictions of the time - the arid regulations of the Law, but rather "Life" in its complete fullness. Spontaneous, real and unrefined: raw, therefore full of power.

The Tao Tê Ching (xix), which considers the most celebrated virtues to be external, writes: "Teach that there is something else to adhere to: show yourself simple and keep yourself raw".

Master Wang Pi comments: 'Formal qualities are totally insufficient'.

And Master Ho-shang Kung adds: "Forget the regularity and creation of the saints; return to what was at the Beginning".

Thus in the Paths of Faith, it is no longer outwardness or convention that dictates the path and wisdom in the discernment of spirits.

Each has its own innate desire for fulfilment and totality of expression: this will be the sole criterion of our path.

Such will remain the intimate Light that guides our steps; such the Word of the invisible Friend who leads us and acts as a canon.

"And the Light shines in the darkness" (v.5)!

Just like a plant, which neither takes root nor expands in a distilled environment.

So what does not have or limit life does not proceed from God, the Living One, the promoter of all that expresses and unfolds exuberance.

Our vocation is to stand alongside the integral life, with its opposite sides making a covenant.

Religions do not welcome all guests [they turn out to be far more fertile than we imagine] who knock on the inner hotel.

But it is not with the parameters of established thought that one can understand or discover what complete Life is, because Life is always expansive, lush and new, full of facets.

Hence the need for constant change, from the old.

In short, the single non-negotiable principle is the real good of the concrete man; the rest escapes our foresight.

The classic risk is that: in the name of a God of the past [doctrine, customs, disciplines, ways of thinking and doing] we fail to notice and recognise the invitation, the empathic energy; the divine virtue that protrudes Present.

In order to welcome the ever new and bubbling, we must allow access to all our soul 'guests' - who will allow us to meet ourselves; even the neuroses.

He who lives proposes a profound Exodus, to become ever-born again. Man's going is not subject to a Master, not even a heavenly one.

We do not exist 'for' God, as is believed and preached in ancient devotions. They clog us up with external or intimist forms; they block the development of personality.

They do not allow us to draw on "our" own strength.

The Father asks to be accepted, not obeyed. In this way we will live by Him, and with Him and like Him we will go out to meet our brothers and sisters, managing also to make ourselves Food for our neighbour - without restless constraints that depersonalise.

Here are at work the new Shrines of flesh and blood that have replaced, supplanted, that of stone.

Presences, meeting places between history, joy and vertigo; between human and divine nature. Centres of irradiation of Love without conditions - nor reductions.

No longer precisely named heights, inaccessible and distant places to go - on pain of exclusion - but images and likenesses of a God who comes to find us at home, where we are.

It is the same marginality encountered within - now without hysteria - that infallibly points us to the existential peripheries of others, which we are called to frequent, regenerate, sublimate, move, resurrect.

The new relationship with God is no longer founded on discrepant purity and obedience, lavished on rigid precepts and unquestioning conformity.

Rather, in personal vicissitudes and in the conviviality of differences, similarity to the Word will take over.

Patriarch Athenagoras confessed:

"We need Christ, without him we are nothing. But he needs us to act in history. The entire history of humanity from the resurrection onwards, and even from the origins onwards, constitutes a kind of pan-Christianity. The ancient covenant involves a whole series of covenants that still exist side by side today. And so the covenant of Adam, or rather of Noah, subsists in the archaic religions, those of India especially, with their cosmic symbolism [...].

We know that light radiates from a face. It took the covenant of Abraham, and it needed to be renewed in Islam. That of Moses subsists in Judaism [...].

But Christ recapitulated everything. The Logos who became flesh is he who creates the universe and manifests himself there, and he is also the Word who guides history through the prophets [...].

That is why I consider Christianity the religion of religions, and I happen to say that I belong to all religions'.

It is the Dream of each and all, in Christ already introduced into the bosom of the Eternal One who is convincing and lovable, because He is Comprehensive [not in the sense of paternalism eventually good-naturedly bestowed, but of Being].

As Pope Francis pointed out:

"In life bears fruit not he who has so many riches, but he who creates and keeps alive so many bonds, so many relationships, so many friendships through the different 'riches', that is, the different Gifts with which God has endowed him."

Only in this way will we - all of us in the Son - become special Events of the Word-flesh: small fish, but with full rights to the pre-eminence of the Logos... coryphaeans of impossible recoveries.

We have in common the displacement. Fine "Word" on univocity.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you start your days? Do you welcome your guests (even emptiness)? Or do you face them with excessive judgement?

Light and Treasure

Spark of beauty and humanism, or no future

(Jn 8:12-20)

In all religions the term Light is used as a metaphor for the forces of good.

On the lips of Jesus [present in his intimates] the same word stands for a fulfilment of humanity (even of the religious institution) according to the divine plan, recognisable in his own Person.

The distinction between light and darkness in Christ is somehow not comparable to the more conventional dualist binomial - about good and evil. The Creator's activity is multifaceted.

The evangelical term therefore does not designate any static fixed judgement on what is usually assessed as 'torch' or 'shadow', 'correct' or 'wrong' and so on.

There is room for new perceptions and reworkings. Nor are we always called upon to fight against everything else, and the passions.

Classical moral, pious or general religious evaluations must be overcome, because they remain on the surface and do not grasp the core of being and becoming humanising.

Not infrequently, the most valuable things arise precisely from what disturbs standardised thinking.

The same mind that believes it is only in the light is a one-sided, partial, sick mind; bound to an idea, therefore poor.

God knows that it is the incompletenesses that launch the Exodus, it can be the insecurities that keep us from crashing into the patterns... that make us lose who we are.

In fact, the energies that invest created reality have an entirely positive potential root.

Sunsets prepare other paths, ambivalences give the 'la' to impossible recoveries and growths.

"Light" was in Judaism the term that designated the righteous path of humanity according to the Law, without eccentricity or decline.But with Jesus, it is no longer the Torah that acts as a guide, but life itself [Jn 1:4: "Life was the Light of men"] that is characterised by its varying complexity.

Thus, even the "world" - that is, (in Jn) first and foremost the complex of the institution (so pious and devout) now installed and corrupted: it must return to a wiser Guide, one that illuminates real existence.

The appeal that Scripture addresses to us is very practical and concrete.

But in contexts with a strong structure of mediation between God and man, spirituality often tends towards the legalism of customary fulfilments.

Jesus is not for grand parades, nor for solutions that cloak people's lives in mysticism, escapism, rituals or abstinence.

All of this was perhaps also the fabric of much of medieval spirituality - and the assiduous, ritualistic, beghine spirituality of days gone by.

But in the Bible, God's servants do not have haloes. They are women and men normally inserted in society, people who know the problems of everyday life: work, family, bringing up children....

The professionals of the sacred, on the other hand, try to put a pretty dress on very ungodly things - sometimes cunning minds and perverse hearts. Cultivated behind the magnificent respectability of screens and incense.

To do this, Jesus understands that he must drive out both merchants and customers (Jn 2:13-25) and supplant the fatuous glow of the great sanctuary.

During the Feast of Tabernacles, huge street lamps were lit in the courtyards of the Temple in Jerusalem.

One of the main rituals consisted in staging an admirable night procession with lit fairies - and in making the great lamps shine (they rose above the walls and illuminated the whole of Jerusalem).

It was the appropriate context to proclaim the very Person of Christ as the authentic sacred and humanising Word, the place of encounter with God and the torch of life. There was nothing external and rhetorical about it.

But in that "holy world" marked by the intertwining of epic, religion, power and interest, the Master stands out - with contrary evidence - precisely in the place of the Treasury (the real centre of gravity of the Temple, v.20) as the true and only Extreme Point that pierces the darkness.

The Lord invites us to make our own his own sharply missionary path: from the shrine of stone to the heart of flesh, as free as that of the Father.

Clear call and intimate question that never goes out: we feel it burning alive without being consumed.

There is no need to fear: the Envoy is not alone. He does not testify to himself, nor to his own foibles or utopian derangements: his Calling by Name becomes divine Presence - Origin, Path, authentic "Return".

Do we look like pilgrims and exiles who do not know how to be in "the world"? But each of us is (in Faith) like Him-and-the-Father: overwhelming majority.

By Faith, in the authentic Light: Dawn, Support, Friendship and unequivocal, invincible leap, which rips through the haze.

It bursts from the core, assuming the same shadows and being reborn; bringing our dark sides alongside the roots.

Intimate place and time (outside of all ages) from which the outgoing Church springs forth: here it is from the jewels and sacristies, to the peripheries Spark of beauty and humanism, or without a future

And from the sacred society of the outside, to the hidden Pearl that genuinely connects the present with the 'timelessness' of the Free - even if here and there it undermines so much theology with its preceptistic, greedy and cunning meaning, neither plural nor transparent.

In the end, it is all simple: the full wellbeing and integrity of man is more important than the one-sided 'good' of doctrine and institution - which advocates it without even believing in it.

To internalise and live the message:

In what situations do I consider myself a "Witness"?

What is the torch in my steps? Who is my Present Light?

Mysticism of Coversion-Light: the unseen spaces of growth

Waiting and Receiving (the taste of God, in Rebirth)

(Jn 12:44-50)

"He that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath he that judgeth him: the Word that I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day" (v.48).

"And I know that his Commandment is the Life of the LORD. The things therefore that I proclaim, as the Father has spoken to me, so I proclaim" (v.50).

We are at the end of the Book of Signs (Jn 2-12) which is followed by the so-called time of the Hour.

The particular Gospel passage of Jn 12 acts as an inclusion to the Prologue, and introduces the final drama of Christ - with all the weight of unbelief already perceived.

But it is a primordial imprint, also for us, generated to life by the animation in the Spirit of the Son, to be sent to the Annunciation (of likeness, not obedience).

Like Him we are in God, and together... for the women and men of every time and culture.

Therefore, Jesus' "cry" (v.44) is a privileged "clamour", of decisive self-presentation, as well as of unprecedented revelation of the very Life of the Eternal already present here (v.50) within ourselves.He who acts in the name of Risen Love, brings forth the glad tidings of resurrection and deliverance, and the definitive approval of the Father.

We are no longer in the world as a function of God (as in religions) but live with Him and of Him - for the Message and Mission: the complete humanisation, emancipation, redemption of mankind.

Father and Son are One. Jesus reflects God, brings Him closer to us; He reveals and communicates Him to us, without a gap.

So for us "Seeing" Christ means believing him, that is, grasping the glorious outcome of a life that seemed destined for insignificance.

The indispensable Light of the Lord not only dispels the darkness, but uncovers, encounters and transforms it from within. And unbelief becomes Faith - like a Womb of gestations, gifts of new Creation.

Our fate and quality of believing life is tightly decided in the confrontation between two motions: pious life, or Vision-Faith. The latter able to unleash dilations and ministerial imperatives.

This dilemma acts as a dividing line: between a life as saved now, and doubt about future destiny. A question typical of empty spirituality - or of romantic visions that after the first enthusiasms lead to groping in the dark, in dissatisfaction.

Original adherence to Christ is in the state of the Task, germinated in the bosom - not planned at the table nor prepared on the sidelines without the faces, the ways, and with only national or local history - or mannerisms.

In Christ we do not eagerly cling to ourselves, to the conforming environment, to ancient knowledge or to the most reassuring fashion. We are prepared for an itinerary of continuous beginnings, as if on the trail of guide-images (changing, but knowing where to go).

We will encounter the Action of God that saves... precisely in the unexpected territories that transcend the sanctuary of habits. And in the ways that gloss over our old intentions - though in themselves confessional, plausible, or even noble.

The Law chock-full of chiselled verdicts is outdated (v.47). Christ did not come to accuse us of inadequacy and punish us: on the contrary, to make us invent ways - and unheard-of torches.

Criterion of 'judgement' is the Word and his Person, transparency of the Father - absolute, genuine and free coincidence. He as the Eternal One comes for surpassing Life; and new Light.

Not to regard him as a seal of exception, a step and rhythm to be reinterpreted, and not to give him space as an intrinsic trait, motive and motor, is to dissipate in vain the best energies - which make us wander, yes, but to lead to fullness.

The world is not all there is: there is a clarity (v.46) that makes one feel at home and can dispel all disturbance, closure and darkness.

This is the great 'conversion', the mindset to be renewed, enjoying the Call to the full.

Life in Christ is not - as in various archaic religious forms - restricted against oneself and the world.

It is to assert the Action of the Father (vv.43-44.49-50) who has disposed that even eccentricities, hardships, discomforts may convey to us the idea, the taste, of a different fulfilment; open spaces of unexpressed growth.

The Inner Friend mysteriously leads to the crumbling of the proud self that rushes to adjust according to conventional and other people's opinions - so that we allow ourselves to radiate.

It is this eminent and intense Self of uniqueness that will make us grasp the astonishing (impossible) fruitfulness of victory in defeat, of triumph through loss, of life amidst signs of death.

By thinning out the Call of Darkness, we risk pushing away the new Light, a further genesis of ourselves, an evolution different from the usual expectations - which would really comfort and fulfil us.

By removing the perception of wounds we risk annihilating the healing and rebirth process of the soul.

This is the new decisive Conversion: the true emptying out of one's own plans, ideas and tastes, in order to be inspired by the unthinkable divine Work within us - which does not want to weaken the self but strengthen it with other capacities.

The fullness of extraordinary Light is in Christ a simple (but inverted) self-denial: granting space and time to that Totality that does not take over the Person.

As in Jesus, then it will allow for authenticity and much more than minimal wavering lights, products of a small brain (which does not evolve).

Struggling with symptoms would end up chronicising them - with the drug of ancient or immediately at hand remedies.

It would make us become external and extinguish the inner Genesis, which tinkles with the Coming Work.

In Christ we know the secret of welcoming conversion: the kingdom we do not see can take care of us and the world (vv.47-48).

It is this reference to the Mystery (which calls) that congenital Seed that realises the evolution of the cosmos and of each one, because it possesses the Sense of springing authenticity - and it will bear its Fruit.In the Faith "spark, / which expands into flame then lively / and like a star in heaven in me sparkles" (Dante, Paradise c.XXIV).

To internalise and live the message:

What light did you anticipate cured you and vice versa chronicled your situation? What external crutch has addicted you and made you lame?

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Today the liturgy proposes anew for our meditation the same Gospel as that proclaimed on Christmas Day: the Prologue of St John. After the commotion of the recent days with the race to purchase gifts, the Church invites us once again to contemplate the mystery of Christ's Nativity, to understand even better its profound meaning and importance to our lives. This is a wonderful text that offers an impressive synthesis of the whole of the Christian faith. It starts from on high: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (Jn 1: 1); and this is the unheard of and humanly inconceivable news: "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14a). It is not a rhetorical figure but a lived experience! And it is John, an eyewitness, who tells of it. "We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father... full of grace and truth" (Jn 1: 14). These are not the learned words of a rabbi or doctor of law but rather the passionate witness of a humble fisherman. Attracted in his youth by Jesus of Nazareth, in the three years he spent living with him and with the other Apostles, John experienced his love, to the extent that he called himself "the disciple Jesus loved" saw him die on the Cross and appear Risen, and then with the others received his Spirit. From his heart's meditation on the whole of this experience, John drew a deep conviction: Jesus is the Wisdom of God incarnate, he is his eternal Word who became a mortal man. 

For a true Israelite who knows the Sacred Scriptures, this is not a contradiction; on the contrary, it is the fulfilment of the whole of the old Covenant. The mystery of a God who speaks to men and women as his friends, who reveals himself to Moses in the Law, to the wise and the prophets, reaches fulfilment in Christ. In knowing Jesus, in being with him, hearing his preaching and seeing the signs he performed, the disciples recognized that all the Scriptures were fulfilled in him. As a Christian author was later to affirm: "The whole of divine Scripture constitutes one book and this one book is Christ, it speaks of Christ and finds its fulfilment in Christ" (cf. Ugo di San Vittore, De arca Noe, 2, 8). Every man and every woman needs to find a profound meaning for their life. And this is why books do not suffice, not even the Sacred Scriptures. The Child of Bethlehem reveals and communicates to us the true "Face" of a good and faithful God, who loves us and even in death does not abandon us. "No one has ever seen God," concludes John's Prologue; "the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (Jn 1: 18). 

The first to open her heart and to contemplate "the Word who became flesh" was Mary, Mother of Jesus. A humble girl from Galilee, she thus became the "Seat of Wisdom"! Like the Apostle John, each one of us is invited to "[take] her to his own home" (Jn 19: 27), to know Jesus deeply and to experience his faithful and inexhaustible love. And this is my wish for each one of you, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of this new year.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 4 January 2009]

1. In the previous catechesis we showed, on the basis of the synoptic Gospels, how faith in the divine sonship of Christ is being formed by revelation of the Father in the consciousness of his disciples and listeners, and first of all in the consciousness of the apostles. To create the conviction that Jesus is the Son of God in the strict and full (not metaphorical) sense of this word, contributes above all the testimony of the Father himself, who "reveals" in Christ his Son ("my Son") through the theophanies that took place at the baptism in the Jordan and then during the transfiguration on the mountain. We have also seen how the revelation of the truth about the divine sonship of Jesus reaches through the work of the Father the minds and hearts of the apostles, as appears in the words of Jesus to Peter: "Neither flesh nor blood has revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 16:17).

2. In the light of this faith in the divine sonship of Christ, a faith that gained much greater strength after the resurrection, one must read the entire Gospel of John, and particularly its Prologue (Jn 1:1-18). It is a singular synthesis expressing the faith of the apostolic Church: of that first generation of disciples, to whom it was given to have contact with Christ, either directly or through the apostles who spoke of what they had personally heard and seen and in whom they discovered the fulfilment of all that the Old Testament had foretold about him. What had already been revealed previously, but in a certain sense was covered with a veil, now, in the light of the facts of Jesus, and especially on the basis of the Easter events, gained transparency, became clear and comprehensible.

In this way, the Gospel of John (which among the four Gospels was written last) constitutes in a sense the most complete account of Christ as the Son of God - Son 'consubstantial' with the Father. The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus to the apostles, who was to "teach them all things" (cf. Jn 14:26), truly enables the evangelist "to fathom the depths of God" (cf. 1 Cor 2:10) and express them in the inspired text of the Prologue.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God: all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made of all that exists" (Jn 1:1-3). "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14) . . . "He was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not recognise him. He came among his people, but his own did not receive him" (Jn 1:10-11). "To those, however, who did receive him, he gave power to become children of God: to those who believe in his name, who were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn 1:12-13). "God no one has ever seen: it is the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who has revealed him" (Jn 1:18).

4. John's Prologue is certainly the key text, in which the truth about Christ's divine sonship finds its full expression. He who in time "became flesh", that is, man, is from eternity the Word Himself, that is, the only-begotten Son: the God "who is in the bosom of the Father". He is the Son "of the same substance as the Father", he is "God from God". From the Father he receives the fullness of glory. He is the Word "through whom all things were made". And therefore everything that exists owes to him that "beginning" of which the Book of Genesis (cf. Gen 1:1) speaks, the beginning of the work of creation. The same eternal Son, when he comes into the world as the "Word who became flesh" brings with him to humanity the fullness "of grace and truth". He brings the fullness of truth because he instructs about the true God whom "no one has ever seen". And he brings the fullness of grace because to all who receive him, he gives the strength to be born again of God: to become children of God. Unfortunately, the evangelist notes, "the world did not recognise him" and although "he came among his people", many "did not receive him".

5. The truth contained in the Johannine Prologue is the same truth we find in other books of the New Testament. Thus for example we read in the Epistle "to the Hebrews" that God "in these days has spoken to us through his Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he also made the world. This Son, who is the radiance of his glory and the stamp of his substance, and who upholds all things by the power of his word, after he has cleansed us from sins, is seated at the right hand of the majesty in the highest heaven" (Heb 1:2-3).

6. The Prologue of the Gospel of John (like the Epistle to the Hebrews), therefore expresses in the form of biblical allusions, the fulfilment in Christ of all that was said in the old covenant, beginning with the Book of Genesis through the law of Moses (cf. Jn 1:17) and the prophets to the books of wisdom. The expression "the Word" (who "in the beginning was with God") corresponds to the Hebrew word "dabar". Although the term 'logos' is found in Greek, the matrix is first and foremost Old Testament. From the Old Testament it simultaneously borrows two dimensions: that of "hochma" (wisdom), understood as God's "plan" regarding creation, and that of "dabar" (logos), understood as the realisation of that plan. The coincidence with the word 'logos', taken from Greek philosophy, facilitated the approach of these truths to minds formed by that philosophy.

7. Remaining now within the sphere of the Old Testament, precisely in Isaiah we read: the "word that came forth from my mouth shall not return to me without effect, without having done what I desire and without having accomplished that for which I sent it" (Is 55:11). Hence it appears that the biblical "dabar-word" is not only "word" but also "fulfilment" (deed). It can be said that already in the books of the old covenant there appears some personification of the "Word" (dabar, logos), as well as of "Wisdom" (sofia).

Indeed, we read in the Book of Wisdom:

(Wisdom) "is initiated into the knowledge of God and chooses his works" (Wis 8:4), and elsewhere: "With you is Wisdom, who knows your works, who was present when you created the world; she knows what is pleasing to your eyes and what is conformable . . . Send her from the holy heavens, from your glorious throne, that she may assist me and be with me in my labour, and that I may know what is pleasing to you" (Wis 9:9-10).

8. We are thus very close to the first words of John's Prologue. Even closer are those verses from the Book of Wisdom that say: "While a profound silence enveloped all things, and the night was in the middle of its course, your almighty word from heaven, from your royal throne . . . came into the midst of that land of extermination, bearing as a sharp sword your inexorable command" (Wis 18:14-15). However, this "word" alluded to in the wisdom books, that wisdom which from the beginning is with God, is considered in relation to the created world that it orders and directs (cf. Prov 8:22-27). "The Word" in John's Gospel, on the other hand, is not only "in the beginning", but is revealed as being all addressed to God (pros ton Theon) and being himself God! "The Word was God". He is the 'only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father'-that is, God-the-Son. He is in person the pure expression of God, the "radiation of his glory" (cf. Heb 1:3), "consubstantial with the Father".

9. It is precisely this Son - the Word who became flesh - to whom John bears witness at the Jordan. Of John the Baptist we read in the Prologue: "There came a man sent from God, and his name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness to the light . . ." (Jn 1:6-7). That light is precisely Christ - as the Word. We read again in the Prologue: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (Jn 1:4). This is "the true light, the light that enlightens every man" (Jn 1:9). The light that "shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not receive it" (Jn 1:5).

Therefore, according to the Prologue of John's Gospel, Jesus Christ is God, because He is the only-begotten Son of God the Father. The Word. He comes into the world as the source of life and holiness. Truly here we are at the central and decisive point of our profession of faith: 'The Word became flesh and came to dwell among us'.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 3 June 1987]

On this second Sunday after Christmas, the Word of God does not offer us an episode from the life of Jesus, but rather it tells us about him before he was born. It takes us back to reveal something about Jesus before he came among us. It does so especially in the prologue of the Gospel of John, which begins: “In the beginning was the Word” (Jn 1:1). In the beginning: are the first words of the Bible, the same words with which the creation account begins: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Today, the Gospel says that Jesus, the One we contemplated in his Nativity, as an infant, existed before: before things began, before the universe, before everything. He existed before space and time. “In him was life” (Jn 1:4), before life appeared.

Saint John calls Him the Verbum, that is, the Word. What does he mean by this? The word is used to communicate: one does not speak alone, one speaks to someone. One always speaks to someone. When we are in the street and we see people who talk to themselves, we say, “This person, something has happened to him...”. No, we always speak to someone. Now, the fact that Jesus was the Word from the very beginning means that from the beginning God wants to communicate with us. He wants to talk to us. The only-begotten Son of the Father (cf. v.14) wants to tell us about the beauty of being children of God; He is “the true light” (v. 9) and wants to keep us distant from the darkness of evil; He is “the life” (v. 4), who knows our lives and wants to tell us that he has always loved them. He loves us all. Here is today’s wondrous message: Jesus is the Word, the eternal Word of God, who has always thought of us and wanted to communicate with us.

And to do so, he went beyond words. In fact, at the heart of today’s Gospel we are told that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The Word became flesh : why does Saint John use this expression “flesh”? Could he not have said, in a more elegant way, that the Word was made man ? No, he uses the word flesh because it indicates our human condition in all its weakness, in all its frailty. He tells us that God became fragile so he could touch our fragility up close. Thus, from the moment the Lord became flesh, nothing about our life is extraneous to him. There is nothing that he scorns, we can share everything with him, everything. Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell us, to tell you that he loves you right there, that he loves us right  there, in our frailties, in your frailties; right there, where we are most ashamed, where you are most ashamed. This is bold, God’s decision is bold: He became flesh precisely where very often we are ashamed; He enters into our shame, to become our brother, to share the path of life.

He became flesh  and never turned back. He did not put on our humanity like a garment that can be put on and taken off. No, he never detached himself from our flesh. And he will never be separated from it: now and forever he is in heaven with his body made of human flesh. He has united himself forever to our humanity; we might say that he “espoused” himself to it. I like to think that when the Lord prays to the Father for us, he does not merely speak: he shows him the wounds of the flesh, he shows him the wounds he suffered for us. This is Jesus: with his flesh he is the intercessor, he wanted to bear even the signs of suffering. Jesus, with his flesh, is before the Father. Indeed, the Gospel says that He came to dwell among us . He did not come to visit us, and then leave; He came to dwell with us, to stay with us. What, then, does he desire from us? He desires a great intimacy. He wants us to share with him our joys and sufferings, desires and fears, hopes and sorrows, people and situations. Let us do this, with confidence: let us open our hearts to him, let us tell him everything. Let us pause in silence before the Nativity scene to savour the tenderness of God who became near, who became flesh. And without fear, let us invite him among us, into our homes, into our families. And also — everyone knows this well — let us invite him into our frailties. Let us invite him, so that he may see our wounds. He will come and life will change.

May the Holy Mother of God, in whom the Word became flesh, help us to welcome Jesus, who knocks on the door of our hearts to dwell with us.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 3 January 2021]

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Year A)  [28 December 2025]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! Here is a commentary on this Sunday's readings with a wish for every family that they may see themselves reflected in the real daily life of Nazareth, which the Bible shows us to have been truly tested by many difficulties and problems, just like any other family.

*First Reading from the Book of Sirach (3:2-6, 12-14)  

Ben Sira insists on the respect due to parents because, in the 2nd century BC (around 180), family authority was weakening. In Jerusalem, under Greek rule, despite religious freedom, new mentalities were slowly spreading: contact with the pagan world threatened to change the way Jews thought and lived. For this reason, Ben Sira, teacher of Wisdom, defends the foundations of faith starting from the family, the primary place of transmission of faith, values and religious practices. The text is therefore a strong appeal in favour of the family and is also a profound meditation on the fourth commandment: 'Honour your father and your mother', formulated in Exodus as a promise of long life and in Deuteronomy also of happiness. About fifty years later, Ben Sira's grandson, translating the work into Greek, adds a decisive motivation: parents are instruments of God because they give life; for this reason, they deserve honour, remembrance and gratitude. This commandment also responds to human common sense: a balanced society is born of solid families, while their breakdown generates serious psychological and social consequences. However, at the deepest level, family harmony belongs to God's own plan. Some of Ben Sira's expressions seem to suggest a 'calculation' ('whoever honours his father obtains forgiveness of sins...'), but in reality it is not a mechanical reward: God's Law is always a path to grace and happiness. As Deuteronomy teaches, the commandments are given for the good and freedom of man. When Ben Sira states that honouring one's parents obtains forgiveness, we see a progress in revelation: true reconciliation with God comes through reconciliation with one's neighbour, in harmony with the prophets ("I desire mercy, not sacrifice"). Being respectful children to our parents means being faithful children to God as well. It is no coincidence that, among the Ten Commandments, only two are formulated in positive terms: the Sabbath and honouring our parents. They find their fulfilment in the great commandment of love of neighbour, which begins precisely with our parents, our first 'neighbours'. This is why Ben Sira's text is particularly appropriate during the festive season, when family ties are strengthened or rediscovered.

*Most important elements: +Historical context: 2nd century BC, Hellenistic influence. +Family as the primary place of transmission of faith. +Defence of the fourth commandment. +Parents as instruments of God in the gift of life. +God's law as the way to happiness, not calculation. +Reconciliation with God through one's neighbour. +Honouring one's parents as the first act of love for one's neighbour.                               

*Responsorial Psalm (127/128)

 This psalm is called the 'Song of Ascents' because it was intended to be sung during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, probably in the final moments, climbing the steps of the Temple. The text seems to be structured like a liturgical celebration: at the entrance to the Temple, the priests welcome the pilgrims and offer a final catechesis, proclaiming the blessedness of the man who fears the Lord and walks in his ways. The blessing concerns work, family, fertility and domestic peace: the fruit of one's hands, one's wife as a fruitful vine, one's children as olive shoots around the table. The assembly of pilgrims responds by confirming that those who fear the Lord are blessed. This is followed by the solemn formula of priestly blessing: from Mount Zion, the Lord grants his blessing, allowing us to contemplate the good of Jerusalem and the continuity of generations throughout our lives. The emphasis on work, prosperity and happiness may seem too 'earthly', but the Bible strongly affirms that God created man for happiness. The human desire for success and family harmony coincides with God's plan; this is why Scripture often speaks of 'happiness' and 'blessing', without irony, even in the face of the sufferings of history. The biblical term 'happy' does not indicate an automatic guarantee of success, but the true good, which is closeness to God. It is both recognition and encouragement. André Chouraqui translates 'happy, blessed' as 'on the way', to say: you are on the right path, continue. Israel quickly understood that God accompanies his people in their desire for happiness and opens up a path of hope before them (cf. Jer 29:11). The entire Bible affirms God's merciful plan for humanity, as St Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians. Biblical happiness therefore has two dimensions: it is first and foremost God's plan, but it is also a choice made by human beings. The path is clear and straight: fidelity to the Law, which is summed up in love of God and humanity. Jesus walked this path to the end and invites his disciples to follow him, promising true blessedness to those who put his word into practice. What remains is the seemingly paradoxical expression: "Blessed are those who fear the Lord." This is not about fear, but reverent awe. Chouraqui renders it as: 'on the way, you who would tremble before God'. It is the emotion of those who feel small before a great love. Having discovered that God is love, Israel no longer fears as a slave, but as a child before the strength and tenderness of the father. It is no coincidence that Scripture uses the same verb for the respect due to God and to parents (Lev 19:3). Faith is therefore the certainty that God wants what is good for man; for this reason, "fearing the Lord" is equivalent to "walking in his ways". When Jerusalem lives this fidelity, it will fulfil its vocation as a city of peace; the psalm anticipates this by proclaiming: "May you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life".

*Most important elements: +The psalm, as a Song of Ascents and pilgrimage song, has a liturgical structure: priests, assembly, blessing. +Blessing on work, family and fertility. +God creates man for happiness and "blessed" are those who are close to God, and Chouraqui translates "blessed" = on the way. +God's benevolent plan for humanity, which sees happiness as a gift from God and a choice of man. +Jesus as the fulfilment of the journey of love. +'Fear of God' as a filial attitude, not fear. +Jerusalem called to be a city of peace.

*Second Reading from St Paul's Letter to the Colossians (3:12-21)          

 Today's liturgy invites us to contemplate the Holy Family: Joseph, Mary and Jesus. It is a simple family, and it is called "holy" because God himself is at its centre. However, it is not an idealised or unreal family: the Gospels clearly show that it went through real trials and difficulties. Joseph is troubled by Mary's mysterious pregnancy, Jesus is born in poor conditions, the family experiences exile in Egypt and later the anguish of Jesus being lost and found in the Temple, without fully understanding the meaning of it all. Precisely for this reason, the Holy Family appears as a real family, marked by struggles and questions similar to those of any other family. This reality reassures us and gives meaning to St Paul's recommendations in his letter to the Colossians, where he calls for patience and forgiveness, virtues that are necessary in daily life. Colossae, a city in present-day Turkey, was not visited directly by Paul: the Christian community was founded thanks to Epaphras, his disciple. Paul writes from prison, concerned about certain deviations that threaten the purity of the Christian faith. The tone of the letter alternates between contemplative enthusiasm for God's plan and very strong warnings against misleading doctrines. At the centre of his message is always Jesus Christ, the heart of history and of the world. Paul invites Christians to model their lives on Him: to clothe themselves with tenderness, goodness, peace and gratitude, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. The baptised, in fact, form the Body of Christ. Taking up and deepening an image already used with the Corinthians, Paul affirms that Christ is the head and believers are the members, called to support one another in building up the edifice of the Church. The text also addresses family relationships, with expressions that may be difficult, such as the invitation to wives to submit. In the biblical context, however, this submission is not equivalent to servitude, but is part of a vision based on love and responsibility. Paul, after referring to language common at the time, addresses an even stronger requirement to husbands: to love their wives with respect and without harshness. Christian obedience arises from trust in God's love and is expressed in relationships marked by tenderness, respect and mutual giving.

*Important elements: +The Holy Family as a real family, not idealised, with the concrete trials experienced by Joseph, Mary and Jesus, and an invitation to patience and forgiveness in family life. +Context of the letter to the Colossians and the role of Epaphras with Paul's concern for the fidelity of the Christian faith. +Centrality of Jesus Christ in the lives of believers as the Body of Christ, called to support one another. +Family relationships based on love and respect where biblical submission is understood as trust and gift, not slavery. +Christian obedience rooted in the certainty that God is Love.

*From the Gospel according to Matthew (2:13-15, 19-239    

The episode of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt deliberately recalls another great biblical story: that of Moses and the people of Israel, twelve centuries earlier, enslaved in Egypt. Just as the pharaoh ordered the killing of male newborns and Moses was saved to become the liberator of his people, so Jesus escapes Herod's massacre and becomes the saviour of humanity. Matthew invites us to recognise in Jesus the new Moses, the fulfilment of the promise of Deuteronomy 18:18: a prophet raised up by God like Moses himself. A second sign of the fulfilment of the Scriptures is the quotation from Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I called my son." Originally referring to the people of Israel, Matthew applies it to Jesus, presenting him as the New Israel, the one who fully realises the Covenant. The title Son of God, already attributed to kings and the Messiah, acquires its full meaning in Jesus: in the light of the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit, believers recognise that Jesus is truly the Son of God, God from God, as the Christian faith confesses. A third sign is the statement: "He will be called a Nazarene". Although the Old Testament does not mention Nazareth, Matthew plays on linguistic and symbolic resonances: netser (messianic 'shoot' of the line of David), nazir (consecrated to God), and natsar ('to guard'). Nazareth thus becomes the sign of God's choice of the humble and insignificant. Furthermore, when Christians are despised as 'Nazarenes', Matthew encourages them by reminding them that Jesus also bore that title: what appears despicable to men is precious in the eyes of God. In the story, Matthew constructs two parallel scenes: the flight into Egypt and the return from Egypt. In both there is a historical context, the appearance of the angel to Joseph in a dream, immediate obedience and the conclusion: thus was fulfilled "what had been said through the prophets". The parallelism relates the titles Son of God and Nazarene, showing an unexpected Messiah: glorious and humble at the same time. This is why the text is proclaimed on the feast of the Holy Family: Jesus is the Son of God, but he grows up in a simple family and in an insignificant village. It is the great Christian paradox: divine history is fulfilled in the most ordinary everyday life of human families. Ancient commentators such as Pseudo-Dionysius and Pseudo-Chrysostom reflect on the flight into Egypt, not only as a historical fact but as a manifestation of the plan of salvation: Christ, though he is God, submits himself to the law of the flesh and to divine guidance, demonstrating the true humanity and obedience of the Messiah. St Jerome, on the other hand, emphasises that not only Herod, but also the high priests and scribes sought the Lord's death from the very first moments of his coming into the world, showing the spiritual hostility that Jesus would encounter throughout his mission. Another interpretation by some ancient Fathers sees in the stay in Egypt a salvific dimension not only for Jesus himself, but symbolically for the world: He goes to that land historically associated with oppression and paganism not to stay, but to bring light and salvation, confirming that the coming of Christ is for everyone, even for peoples far from God.  Thus, for the ancient commentators, the story is not mere narration: it is a theological revelation of the mystery of Christ, who enters human history as free obedience for our salvation and the fulfilment of prophetic promises.

*St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies) writes: "Jesus is the recapitulation of all history: what was lost in Adam is found again in Christ." This is often applied by the Fathers to the flight into Egypt: Christ retraces the history of Israel to bring it to fulfilment.

*Important elements: +Parallelism between Jesus and Moses, Jesus as the new Moses and the new Israel. +Fulfillment of the Scriptures according to Matthew: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' (Hos 11:1). +Title of Son of God in the full Christological sense. +Symbolic meaning of Nazareth / Nazarene. +Divine choice of the humble and despised, and unexpected Messiah: divine glory and concrete humility. +Parallel narrative structure: flight and return from Egypt. +Holy Family: the divine experienced in everyday life

+Giovanni D'Ercole