[…] we return to Jerusalem, in the Upper Room, as though guided by the two disciples of Emmaus, who had listened with great emotion to Jesus’ words along the way and then had recognized him “in the breaking of the bread” (Lk 24:35). Now, in the Upper Room, the Risen Christ presents himself in the midst of the group of disciples and greets them: “Peace to you!” (v. 36). But they are frightened and believe “that they saw a spirit” (v. 37), the Gospel says. Jesus then shows them the wounds on his body and says: “See my hands and my feet” — the wounds — “that it is I myself; handle me” (v. 39). And to convince them, he asks for food and eats it before their astonished eyes (cf. vv. 41-42).

There is a detail here, in this description. The Gospel says that the Apostles “still disbelieved for joy”. The joy they felt was such that they could not believe that this was true. And a second detail: they were bewildered, astonished; astonished because the encounter with God always leads you to astonishment: it goes beyond enthusiasm, beyond joy; it is another experience. And they were joyful, but a joy that made them think: no, this cannot be true!... It is the astonishment of God’s presence. Do not forget this frame of mind, which is so beautiful.

Three very concrete verbs characterize this Gospel passage. In a certain sense, they reflect our individual and community life: to look, to touch and to eat. Three actions that can give joy from a true encounter with the living Jesus.

To look. “See my hands and my feet”, Jesus says. To look is not only to see, it is more; it also involves intention, will. For this reason, it is one of the verbs of love. A mother and father look at their child; lovers gaze at each other; a good doctor looks at the patient carefully... Looking is a first step against indifference, against the temptation to look the other way before the difficulties and sufferings of others. To look. Do I see or look at Jesus?

The second verb is to touch. By inviting the disciples to touch him, to verify that he is not a ghost — touch me! —  Jesus indicates to them and to us that the relationship with him and with our brothers and sisters cannot remain “at a distance”. Christianity does not exist at a distance; Christianity does not exist only  at the level of looking. Love requires looking and it also requires closeness; it requires contact, the sharing of life. The Good Samaritan did not limit himself to looking at that man whom he found half dead along the road: he stopped, he bent down, he treated his wounds, he touched him, he loaded him onto his mount and took him to the inn. And it is the same with Jesus himself: loving him means entering into a communion of life, a communion with him.

And thus, we come to the third verb, to eat, which clearly expresses our humanity in its most natural poverty, that is, our need to nourish ourselves in order to live. But eating, when we do so together, among family or friends, also becomes an expression of love, an expression of communion, of celebration... How often the Gospels present us with Jesus experiencing this convivial dimension! Even as the Risen One, with his disciples. To the point that the Eucharistic Banquet has become the emblematic sign of the Christian community. Eating together the Body of Christ: this is the core of Christian life.

Brothers and sisters, this Gospel passage tells us that Jesus is not a “ghost”, but a living Person; that when Jesus draws near to us he fills us with joy, to the point of disbelief, and he leaves us bewildered, with that astonishment that only God’s presence gives, because Jesus is a living Person.

Being Christian is not first of all a doctrine or a moral ideal; it is a living relationship with him, with the Risen Lord: we look at him, we touch him, we are nourished by him and, transformed by his Love, we look at, touch and nourish others as brothers and sisters. May the Virgin Mary help us to live this experience of grace.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 18 April 2021]

The conception of closure and inquisition

(Mk 9:38-40)

It’s not strange that the holy Inquisition was born in the time of an absent ecclesiology.

The ‘leaven’ of the Pharisees and Herod (Mk 8:14) leads Christ's direct disciples to a sealed mentality - according to which if someone "is not one of us" [«he did not follow us» v. 38] he must be marginalized.

There is no trivial criterion that gives imprimatur of being able to discriminate “faithful” and “not”.

It’s worth: how important is the Person of the Son of man, for our life and in our daily choices?

For the Lord, what matters is not formal belonging - which tends to homologate.

In fact, we see that it’s precisely situations outside the lines that become a goad: they urge dull and opaque ‘christians’ to become a Seed.

Thus, even the "community" is not important because it considers itself as such.

The universal call to the promotion of humanity is divine: a wealth that flies over obstacles, a heritage of joy from wherever it comes.

If relegated and locked in the filing cabinets, the history of Salvation does not become life of the saved.

«But Jesus said: Do not prevent him. In fact, there is no one who does a powerful wonder in my name and immediately afterwards he can speak ill of me» (v.39).

With his intimates, the Master doesn’t use diplomatic language [expressions careful not to offend their susceptibility as experts].

The formation of the disciples is essential to the construction of the Kingdom with wide boundaries; above all, mental.

There are models in esoteric religions. Not here: only charisms, even very personal ones - a condition of true love.

We are ruled by God - the only one who knows what it arouses in each one, and ‘where to go’.

Jesus is the revelator and cornerstone of this happy, unthinkable News: but in the sense of intimate Motive and Motor, completely non-exterior - which calls the person in a way that seems incomprehensible to others.

Christ marks his friendship in the life of believers as the center and axis.  Yet there are many gestures and sensitivities that the new world arouses, and likewise make his Presence leak out.

Nor does He tire of repeating what we do not wish to understand.

He orders only to ‘perceive’ the reality well (Mk 8:27-29) where the secret of God is hidden - that conformist thought is not even remotely able to imagine (Mk 8:30-35).

‘Standard’ has no specific weight for the excess of the adventure of Faith.

The imbalance of love is personal: it serenely admits the diversity and eccentric increase of life, that follows.

Such is the new awareness of the Mission made in Listening, and in respect not only towards the intelligence and culture of others, but also towards oneself.

No one has a monopoly on Grace, which is why we do not shrink our hearts from canons or fashions.

In the truth of the Good, the sense of ownership is out of place.

To internalize and live the message:

What weight do material interests, the empty rigidity, or uninhibited fantasies of those who (without even having a title) ape petty hierarchies and fulminate the different with mediocre impersonal sentences have on you?

How do you live the Word: «Who is not against, is for»?

The relationship with the excluded and their (modest) needs

(Mk 9:41-50)

With the typical language of oriental vivacity, Jesus' exhortations to coexistence overturn the hierarchy between the strong and the weak.

In religions we find throngs of marginalized people who cannot access the preparations of the pyramidal religion.

On the contrary, those who like Jesus are able to give everything, must not forget the small gestures, which speak of a gratuitous not "exemplary" - therefore authentic [limited in the day after day].

It is this coming to meet in everyday life - little praised - that enhances the climate and doesn’t push the weak to resentment, and evil.

The new ‘doctrine’ of Jesus is wise and aimed at making decisions.  And it doesn’t lose enthusiasm; indeed, it already makes us experience the same quality of Life as the Eternal, moving away from what corrupts.

Those who are completely absorbed in “the great” and do not notice the details, never have a sense of the value of things, and sooner or later they will end up despising everything.

Jesus identifies with us (v.41) because he lives there: we are his real, incarnate Victory.

A stumbling block or even just a small stone in the shoe (v.42) leads the «mikròi» away from the path of Faith.

The «incipients» - in fact, those with little energy and relationships - are starting to take their first steps... they are still out of interest cartels.

Those who pretend and put themselves in the wrong way, or give dull and bad testimony, however, have more in store than a pebble: a grindstone around their neck and an unworthy end (deadly existence: v.42).

Not because God makes pay, but because they throw their lives away and ruin others, who finally walk away in repugnance - while the sharing adventure could be wonderful for everyone.

The choice - if there is one - is radical, or no longer convinces. And the smell that is released is worse than stinking (v.43).

Instead, the community in which joy is experienced is like that pinch of sapidity and wisdom that makes people's spontaneous vital wave full - beautiful.

It was customary in the religions of the empire to think this, even in the name of the law... so what is the difference?

«Having salt in ourselves» (v.50) means that in Christ we can give minimal and usual things that tone and ‘taste’ capable of transmitting to others the flavor of a life as saved - starting ‘from inside’.

In the culture of the ancient Middle East, «salt» was related to God and therefore also had a religious importance: a symbol of durability [for preserving food] and courage [flavor, seasoning, purification].

Salt had the power to cast out demons, which corrupted life and gave off stench. For this reason it was widely used in religious sacrifices and in establishing Alliances.

In short, the salt was a guarantee of genuine durability.

But the Christian salt is only... Love of neighbor and the ability to correspond to one's own Vocation.

If it were not there, the very character of life in Christ would disappear.

Therefore the «salt pact» is essential for credibility, for the announcement, for the standard of living; for the very survival of the communities, and their unmistakable touch.

No other defense work from the outside - inquisition, prevention or repression - can guarantee the survival of the Church.

For our human, spiritual and life progress, Jesus takes sides perhaps not as we would expect - because no one is given the exclusivity.

[26th Sunday in O.T. (B)  September 29, 2024].

(Mk 9:38-43.45.47-48)

The concept of closure and inquisition

(Mk 9:38-40)

It is not strange that the Holy Inquisition arose in the time of an absent ecclesiology.

The sickness of caste - always prone to kidnapping Jesus - and the sense of absolute monopoly... were already temptations of the first communities, particularly of the leading Apostles.

The super Apostles pretended to fix the typology of church members, including authorisations, deferences, characteristics.

On the other hand - albeit in simplicity - there is no trivial criterion that gives the imprimatur of being able to discriminate 'faithful' and 'not'.

It applies: how much does the Person of the Son of Man count for our lives and in our daily choices?

Feeling - or not - a friend to anyone who is committed to annihilating evil (perhaps by resorting to his free way of perceiving God) makes us reflect even today.

Are we only on the threshold of a journey in the Spirit? The sign of a de facto separation from God's plan for woman and man is perhaps concealed by epidermal expressions.

We have probably not properly understood that every step of liberation - wherever it comes from - brings us closer to the Father and also humanises our heads.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod (Mk 8:14) also leads Christ's direct disciples to a sealed mentality - according to which if someone "is not of ours" ("did not follow us" v.38) he must be marginalised.

The difference between religiosity and Faith: there is no longer any need to adhere to a recognised way of thinking or be a member of an official club.

Spiritual wisdom and Openness are the same thing. Every vital gesture opens up happy possibilities: being "drawn to God" is all of this.

In order to do good (casting out demons, v.38) it is not the badge (e.g. the name on the Baptism register) or being confirmed in exclusive circles that counts.

In the personal adventure of genuine Faith, there is no monopoly - not even for the Apostle John. No one is qualified to judge in the name of the assembly!

Holiness as separation concerns the criteria, the mentality, the concatenation of principles (or their reversal): not the election-predestination of a 'people of the pure'.

For Christ, what counts is not formal belonging - which tends to homologate - but what to do in the concrete (obviously on a vocational basis and of unrepeatable inclination).

It is not the feeling of being a disciple that counts, but being a disciple in fact. Love for the 'truth' does not exclude, but includes all those with high values (even supernatural ones, which we do not understand).

Authentic adherence is about the good - the only Victory of the people reborn in the Risen One. Work of life that even the official Church is called upon to build, without squeamish attitudes.

On the contrary, we see that precisely the situations outside the lines become a goad: they urge the dull and opaque 'Christians' to become seeds.

The 'community' is not important because it sees itself as such.

The universal call to the promotion of humanity is divine: a wealth that overcomes obstacles, a heritage of joy from wherever it comes.

If relegated and squeezed into filing cabinets, salvation history does not become a life of the saved.

The Mystical Body of the Lord shuns the ideology of power and the opinionated style of manipulators (spiritual grabbers) who imagine they are who knows what.

"But Jesus said, Do not hinder them. For there is no one who does a mighty wonder in my name and immediately afterwards can speak evil of me" (v.39).

To train disciples, Christ does not tickle self-love by setting up a festival or promoting fictions.

With his intimates, the Master does not use diplomatic language (expressions careful not to offend their susceptibility as experts).

The training of disciples is essential to the building of the Kingdom with wide boundaries, primarily mental.

In esoteric religions, there are models. Here no, only charisms, even personal ones - a condition of true love.

We are governed by God alone - the only one who knows what arouses in each one, and where to go.

Jesus is the revelator and pivot of this joyful, unthinkable News: but in the sense of motive and intimate motor, entirely non-external.

The Lord calls the person in a way that seems incomprehensible to others.

Christ marks his Friendship in the lives of believers, as centre and axis. Yet there are so many gestures and sensitivities that the new world arouses, and equally mark his Presence.

Interior education and the challenge of Faith reflected in activities prepare us for daily life, as well as for the great mission.

By training us in the straightforward Word-event, the resigned Messiah conveys his own experience of the Father.

He involves us with incredible and undeserved confidence in the work of evangelisation.

Nor does he tire of repeating what we do not wish to understand.

The Son of Man only commands us to perceive well the reality (Mk 8:27-29) where God's secret lurks (which conformist thinking cannot even begin to imagine: Mk 8:30-35).The Rule only applies to standardised devotion, which always poses more (already ancient) answers than questions.

The standard has no specific weight for the excess of the adventure of Faith.

The imbalance of love is personal: it serenely admits diversity and the eccentric increase of life that follows.

Such is the new awareness of the Mission made in listening, and in respect not only for the intelligence and culture of others, but also for oneself.

Even now in a thousand ways and finally with the help of a wiser ecclesial Magisterium, Providence encourages us to better position ourselves - in support of those excluded from the 'round'.

The work of 'evangelical conversion' comes to us loud and clear, overriding any considerations made from the standpoint of a triumphant Church or ancient right.

No one has a monopoly on Grace, which is why we do not shrink our hearts from canons or fashions.

In the truth of Good, a sense of ownership is out of place. 

To internalise and live the message:

What weight do the material interests, the empty rigidity, or the fleshless fantasies, of those who (without even having a title) ape small hierarchies and fulminate the different with mediocre impersonal sentences have on you?

How do you live the Word: 'He who is not against, is for'?

The relationship with the excluded and their (modest) needs

(Mk 9:41-50)

In language typical of the lively East, Jesus' exhortations to coexistence overturn the hierarchy between the strong and the weak.

In religions, we find droves of marginalised people who cannot access or participate in the set-ups of those who deceive the crowds (even themselves) using pyramid religion.

The cowardice of the wealthy classes produces the hesitation of the voiceless, indefinitely.

In the Church of God - a sign of an alternative society - there must be no doubt, starting with small deprivations.

Especially in the well-structured sphere of roles, the wretched would wait to see (I won't say their hopes for redemption realised, but simply) their modest needs fulfilled, for the sake of justice.

Unfortunately, they are still rather mocked and chastised - by those who fear losing visibility, privileges and roles.

On the contrary, those who, like Jesus, are able to give everything, must not forget the small gestures, which speak of a gratuitousness that is not 'exemplary' and therefore authentic (limited in the day-to-day).

It is this coming together in the summary - little praised - that enhances the climate and does not drive the weak to resentment and evil.

The new 'doctrine' of Jesus is wise and decision-oriented, because it does not lose enthusiasm. On the contrary, it already makes us experience the same quality of life as the Eternal, turning away from that which corrupts.

He who is all about the great and does not notice the detail, never has a sense of the value of things, and sooner or later will end up despising everything.

Jesus identifies with us (v.41) because he inhabits us: we are his real, incarnate Victory.

A stumbling stone or even just in the shoe (v.42) turns the "mikròi" away from the path of Faith.

The 'incipients' - precisely, the ones with little energy and relationships - begin to take their first steps... they are still outside the cliques and the (even internal) ranks.

However, those who pretend and stand in the way, or who give shabby and lousy testimony, have but a stone in store: a millstone around their neck and an unworthy end (deadly existence: v.42).

"Better" than the further mortification of all, from the top of the class forced to live badly.

Not because God makes them pay, but because they throw away their lives and ruin others, who finally turn away, rightly repulsed - while the adventure of sharing could be wonderful for everyone.

This non-sense (to use a euphemism) is the trait that drives crowds to seek a more authentic Christianity than the one lived only in signs, catwalks and formulas, or in the structures provided.

The choice - if there is one - is either radical, or no longer convincing. And the smell that is given off is worse than smelly (v.43).

By dint of professing, many are left without God and without humanity; they do not even realise that there are others - different and legitimate life aspirations (towards themselves well recognised and restrained).

Instead, the community in which one experiences joy is like that pinch of wisdom that makes the spontaneous life wave of people full - beautiful.

Ferment that does not leaven is of no use.

All the more so to the small and shaky ones who approach the Church in order to feel good, or finally no longer exposed to the ludicrousness of society's all external competitions.

An artificial atmosphere, good only to reduce the defenceless to silence, despised and reduced to obedience - and which makes a mockery of acceptance.

This was customary in the religions of the empire, even in the name of 'divine' law... so what is the difference?"Having salt in ourselves" (v.50) means that in Christ we are made capable of giving to the smallest and most ordinary things that hue and taste capable of transmitting also to our neighbour the flavour of a saved life - starting from "within".

In the culture of the ancient Middle East, salt was related to God and therefore also had religious importance: a symbol of durability (to preserve food) and of courage (savouriness, seasoning, purification).

Salt had the power to drive out demons, which corrupted life and caused stench. That is why it was widely used in cultic sacrifices and in sanctioning 'covenants'.

In short, salt was a guarantee of genuine durability.

But Christian salt is only... love for one's neighbour and the ability to correspond to one's vocation.

Without it, the very character of life in Christ would disappear.

So the 'salt pact' is essential for credibility, for the proclamation, for the standard of living; for the very survival of communities, and their unmistakable touch. 

Listening to the Spirit and to each other thus remains an indispensable ingredient of 'Shalôm'.

No other work of defence from outside - inquisition, prevention or repression - can guarantee the survival of the Church.

Difference between Religion and Faith? The norm, used to promote or legitimise situations (of marginalisation and domination).

For our human, spiritual and whole-life progress, Jesus takes sides (perhaps not as one would expect) - because no one is given exclusivity.

To internalise the message:

In your community, it is the little ones who have to conform to the big ones and their circles... or vice versa, is there serious listening to the new ones with low energy and relationships, shaky and maladjusted?

This Sunday’s Gospel presents one of those episodes in Christ’s life which, even if they are noted, so to speak en passant, contain a profound meaning (cf. Mk 9:38-41). The event involved someone who was not a follower of Jesus but who had expelled demons in his name. The Apostle John, a young man and ardently zealous as he was, wanted to prevent him but Jesus did not permit this; on on the contrary, he drew inspiration from this circumstance to teach his disciples that God could work good and even miraculous things even outside their circle, and that it is possible to cooperate with the cause of the Kingdom of God in different ways, even by simply offering a missionary a glass of water (v. 41). St Augustine wrote in this regard: “as, therefore, there is in the Catholic — meaning the Church — something which is not Catholic, so there may be something which is Catholic outside the Catholic Church” (cf. On Baptism, Against the Donatists, PL 43, VII, 39, 77).

Therefore if a stranger to the community does good works in Christ’s name, so long as he does so with upright intentions and with respect, members of the Church must not feel jealous but must rejoice. Even within the Church, people can find it difficult, in the spirit of deep communion, to value and appreciate good things achieved by the different ecclesial entities. Instead, we must all and always be able to appreciate one another, praising God for the infinite “creativity” with which he acts in the Church and in the world.

The stream of invective of the Apostle James against the dishonest rich who rely on wealth accumulated by abuse, rings out in today’s Liturgy (cf. Jas 5:1-6). St Caesarius of Arles says in this regard in one of his sermons: “riches can do no harm to a good man, so long as he gives them compassionately, just as they cannot help a wicked man, so long as he keeps them greedily for himself or wastes them in dissipation” (Sermons, 35, 4). While the Apostle James’ words put us on guard against the worthless desire for material goods, they are a powerful appeal to use them with a view to solidarity and the common good, always acting with fairness and morality at all levels.

Dear friends, let us pray through the intercession of Mary Most Holy that we may be able to rejoice in every act and initiative for good without envy or jealousy and that we may use earthly goods wisely, in the constant search for heavenly goods.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 30 September 2012]

The text of this Way of the Cross was written by a Christian layman, a member of the Orthodox Church. This layman feels he is an ordinary one, and accepted the invitation with great emotion and gratitude for at least two main reasons.

First of all, because on the path to Golgotha there can no longer be any separation. Christ's death of love makes any attitude that is not one of penitence and reconciliation derisory.

Secondly, because writing a Way of the Cross means meditating, through a strange mystical experience, on the words and gestures of God made man as he takes on our condition to the full, to know death from within and open it up to resurrection.

There are, as we have seen in recent years, two versions of the Way of the Cross. The more recent one only quotes and comments on texts from the Gospel. The older one adds stations born out of medieval sensitivity, especially Franciscan: such as the three falls of Jesus, or his encounter with Veronica, scenes that are commented on with texts from the Old Testament.

So many paintings or sculptures on the walls of churches, in Western Europe and now everywhere in the world, so many chapels and so many crosses erected along pilgrimage routes, on the mountains, have made the representations of these scenes of the Way of the Cross familiar to everyone. And this is why the commentator preferred to follow the traditional form, to enter fully, without losing anything of his own vision of redemption, into the sensibility of the Catholic world.

It is often repeated that the Christian West had placed the emphasis on Good Friday and the East on Easter. This would be to forget that the Cross and the Resurrection are inseparable, as this commentary points out. The stigmatised of the Catholic world knew (and know) that the blood flowing from their wounds is a blood of light, and the Orthodox, by celebrating during Vespers on Good Friday the office of the "holy sufferings", or by affirming that every man of prayer and compassion is a staurophore, that is, a "bearer of the Cross", have always understood that only the Cross is a bearer of resurrection.

For an Orthodox to enter into the Franciscan spirituality of the Way of the Cross was to attempt to emphasise its not only human but divine-human depth. For it is God himself who on Golgotha humanly suffers our desperate agonies in order to open up for us (perhaps unexpected) paths of resurrection.

The modern age, as we know, has waged a fierce and merciless lawsuit against God, whether He is the Almighty, in the human sense of the word (then why is the world absurd and evil?), or He who created us free, but knowing what we would do with our freedom. It had to be shown - attempted to be shown - that to the insoluble question of evil, the only answer is precisely the Way of the Cross.

God voluntarily descends into evil, into death, - an evil and a death for which he is not responsible at all, for which he may not even have an idea, as a contemporary theologian has said - he descends to place himself forever between nothingness and us, to make us feel, to make us live, that at the bottom of things, there is not nothingness, but love.

God beyond God, this 'ocean of clarity', and this man covered in blood and spit who staggers and falls under the weight of all our crosses, is the same, yes indeed he is the same in his transcendence and in his 'madness of love'. This antinomy makes the unimaginable originality of Christianity. The suffering of the body, the social mockery, the despair of the abandoned soul, all come together so that God is revealed here, not as a fullness that crushes, judges and condemns, but as the limitless openness of love in the limitless respect of our freedom.

Here the unthinkable distance between God and the Crucified One - "My God, my God why have you forsaken me? " - is all of a sudden filled with the breath of the Spirit, the breath of the resurrection.

The last stage of human history and the becoming of the cosmos opens: in the blood that gushes forth from the pierced side of Christ, the fire that he came to cast upon the earth now burns, this fire of the Holy Spirit that fertilises our freedom so that it becomes capable of changing the long passion of history into resurrection. An outpouring of peace and light that can only be manifested through this freedom that he liberates and that sets him free

Hence undoubtedly the last feature of this Stations of the Cross taken up in its traditional form: the greater role of women, the only ones left faithful, apart from John, the most exposed, the most capable of love. As shown by the gesture of Veronica who wipes Christ's Face with a veil on which it is imprinted and transmitted to our churches: so many Holy Faces in which the face of God is shown in its human flesh, so that we can see every human face in God.

[Olivier Clément, Via Crucis presentation 10 April 1998]

This Sunday’s Gospel (cf. Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48) presents us with one of those characteristics that are very instructive about Jesus’ life with his disciples. They had seen a man — who did not belong to the group of Jesus’ followers — casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and thus they wanted to forbid him to do so. With the zealous enthusiasm typical of young people, John refers the matter to the Teacher, seeking his support. However, quite to the contrary, Jesus replies: “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us” (vv. 39-40).

John and the other disciples display a ‘closed’ attitude when faced with a circumstance that does not fit with their programme, in this case the action, albeit good, of a person ‘outside’ the circle of followers. Jesus on the other hand, appears very free, fully open to the freedom of the Spirit of God, whose actions are not limited by any confines nor boundaries. Jesus wants to educate his disciples — and us today — on this inner freedom.

It is good for us to reflect on this episode and to perform a small examination of conscience. The disciples’ attitude is very human, very common, and we can observe this in Christian communities throughout history, probably in ourselves as well. In good faith, indeed with zeal, one would like to protect the authenticity of a certain experience, safeguarding the founder or leader from false impersonators. But at the same time, there is a sort of fear of ‘competition’ — and this is bad: the fear of competition —, that someone may steal new followers, and we are thus unable to appreciate the good that others do: it is not good because he is ‘not one of us’, they say. It is a form of self-referentiality. Actually, there is the root of proselytism here. And the Church — Pope Benedict used to say — does not grow through proselytism; it grows by attraction, that is, it grows by bearing witness to others with the strength of the Holy Spirit.

God’s great freedom in giving himself to us represents a challenge and an exhortation to modify our behaviours and our relationships. It is the invitation which Jesus addresses to us today. He calls us not to think according to the categories of ‘friend/enemy’, ‘us/them’, ‘those who are in/those who are out’, ‘mine/yours’, but rather to go beyond, to open our heart in order to be able to recognize God’s presence and action, even in unusual and unpredictable environments that are not part of our circle. It is a matter of being more attentive to the authenticity of the good, the beautiful and the true that is done, rather than to the name and the origin of the one who does it. And — as the remaining part of the Gospel suggests to us today — instead of judging others, we must examine ourselves and ‘sever’, without compromise, all that can scandalize those persons who are weakest in faith.

May the Virgin Mary, an example of docile openness to God’s surprises, help us to recognize the signs of the Lord’s presence in our midst, so that we may find him everywhere he manifests himself, even in the most unthinkable and unusual situations. May she teach us to love our community without jealousy or closure, always open to the vast horizon of the action of the Holy Spirit.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 30 September 2018]

XXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time  B  (15 September 2024)

1. The liturgy of this Sunday is well connected with the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, which we celebrated yesterday and which led us to meditate on the glorious death of Christ. From the height of the Cross, it is he himself who asks us the question that, as we read in today's gospel, he asked his disciples one day: Who am I to you? Who is Jesus, the Christ? This is the fundamental question of our faith and it provokes everyone, as it awaits a personal answer: either accept it or reject it because no compromises or half-measures are allowed. Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians adore as true God and true man, continues to cause debate and troubles the conscience of many. For how can one remain indifferent before Christ, true God and true man, who empties himself of his divinity not only to the point of becoming man, but even to die abandoned and despised on a cross like a slave? And as if that were not enough, he makes himself broken bread to nourish the faithful with his immortal life in the sacrament of the Eucharist? St. Mark, who after leaving St. Paul follows and lives for a long time next to the Apostle Peter, conveys the Apostle's certainty of faith in Jesus the Christ; a faith that, however, passed through a long spiritual travail that also takes into account his triple denial during his Master's passion. The evangelist becomes our "pedagogue" to teach us how to encounter Christ and know him, making us understand that it is not necessary to understand in order to follow him, but on the contrary, it is necessary to follow him in order to know him. In this Sunday's Gospel passage, our gaze focuses on Saint Peter who, after having just made a beautiful profession of faith for the first time: "You are the Christ" receives a harsh rebuke: "get behind me, Satan! For you do not think according to God, but according to men".  Why such a decisive and even violent reaction to the point of apostrophising him as 'Satan'? Let us begin to understand this better by reading the episode of which today's Gospel passage speaks, which occurred while the Master and the disciples were going to Caesarea Philippi, the borderland between the chosen people and the pagans. If until now the disciples and all the people have been asking the question: Who is this one who performs miracles, who speaks in an engaging manner, who is able to calm the stormy sea and drive out demons? Is he not the expected Messiah? Here, after Peter's first profession "You are the Christ" Jesus gradually begins to unveil the mystery of his identity. 

2. It is often said that Mark's Gospel unfolds in a dynamic that starts precisely from the obscurity of the beginning and arrives at the final luminous splendour of the resurrection. There will still be some way to go and only at the end, as Jesus dies, will the words of the centurion's confession under the cross: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (15:39) show who He really is and the light of the resurrection, that is, the victory of life over death, will destroy the darkness by showing in full the true identity of Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man. Afterwards, the Gospel message will begin to spread to all regions of the world, although it will take courage, patience and above all faith for it to become a lived life, as Christian communities testify thanks to the many martyrs and saints of Christianity.  The relationship between darkness and light is connected to the so-called 'messianic secret', which characterises the gradual revelation of Jesus' identity and mission in Mark's gospel. It begins in the very first chapter: "Beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Son of God" (1:1), Jesus is Christ and Lord (1:3); as he is baptised a voice from heaven declares him "Beloved Son" (1:11). His identity is confirmed by the unclean spirits with the title "Holy One of God" or "Son of God" (cf. 1.24; 3.11; 5.7), while the crowds who meet him ask: "who is this Jesus of Nazareth? until chapter seven when the Syro-Phoenician woman calls him Jesus "Lord" (7.28). 

3. We have thus come to chapter eight, to today's gospel page. If up to now we can summarise everything in the question: "But who are you? Are you the Messiah?", today Jesus answers Peter and confirms that he is the Messiah, but makes it clear that he is not according to human expectations, and foretells his passion and death.  In the hearts of the disciples, the darkness/light contrast becomes more vivid and guided by the patience of the divine Master from their initial incomprehension they gradually come to the discovery of his true identity. Announcing the gospel and performing miracles he always called for silence and did not want to be propagandized because it was easy to misunderstand him. Messiah was indeed a title that lent itself to various interpretations and while confirming that he was, as he did with Peter, Jesus presented himself not as a triumphant but as a suffering Messiah and even for the disciples, who knew the history of their people, this was something paradoxical and inconceivable. Their fragile faith needed to be purified and enlightened and that is why Jesus asks them "not to speak of him to anyone" and rebukes them as he had done before with the demons.  Together with the disciples, let us also allow ourselves to be taken by the hand of the evangelist and follow him on the long journey that will lead us to meet who the Messiah really is. From now on, the question will in fact be: 'Who am I to you'? It is the Master who questions us and helps us to enter into the intimacy of his love by speaking of his passion and death on the cross. We are faced with an absolute novelty that manifests its full force in the extreme fragility of the cross. If we want to encounter Jesus not superficially, we must accept to follow him wherever he leads us, and being his disciples means continuing to walk behind him. He also points out the three conditions of this following: firstly, 'If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself'; secondly, 'take up his cross and follow me' wherever he goes, if necessary even to the point of being crucified with him; and finally, 'whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it'. The message is hard and clear, but liberating and happy: if you lose your life for Christ's sake you save it because you do not base it on yourself but on him, the Christ. And this is the true wisdom of the saints.

Happy Sunday!

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Creating abundance where there is none

(Lk 9:43b-45)

«Son of man» (v.44) is he who, having gone to the utmost human fullness, comes to reflect the divine condition - and radiates it, without narrow perspectives.

‘Son of man’ is the successful Son: the Person with a definitive step; Word made «brother», who in us aspires to the fullness spread throughout history.

It would seem not up to par; instead, it is indestructible weighing, inside each one who approaches such a ‘measure’ - encountering the divine markings that bring out who we are [and bring about rebirth].

In the Gospel passage it’s the Messiah who becomes a servant (!) and «next of kin» [close relative]: the one who in Semitic culture was held to ransom and liberate his enslaved family members.

However, there is a sharp contrast between what people dream and hope for, and the opinion of the authorities, challenged by this atmosphere of humanization with too wide outlines.

Since time immemorial, in order to block the search for the You-for-you, the face-to-face with God [and to direct consciences], the leaders concerned had filled minds with things of the past, or all conformist, and people's lives with problems that stalled the way.

The slave of the ancient customary religion, allied with power, lived under condemnation because he was outside his Home, thus in a reality that stagnated, accentuating ballasts and emphasizing limitations and feelings of subservience.

By disturbing everyone’s life wave.

In this way, the dull soul submitted to the outer cloak, blocking spontaneous energy. Wrapping all proposals that came from Providence, and its own resources, with dead things.

«Son of Man» is not a "religious" or selective title, but a possibility for all those who adhere to the Lord’s life proposal, and reinterpret it in a creative way.

They transcend the firm, natural boundaries, making room for the Gift, receiving from God the fullness of being, in its new, unrepeatable tracks.

Feeling totally and undeservedly loved, they discover other facets, they change the way of being with themselves, and can grow, realize themselves, flourish, radiating the completeness they have received.

By emanating a different atmosphere, the person integrated in his or her even opposite sides, feels consciousnesses arise, creates projects, emits and attracts other energies; makes them activate.

Thus God wants to extend the sphere in which He "reigns" - relating to all humanity, a Church without visible boundaries.

In short, in the icon of the «Son of man» the evangelists want to indicate the triumph of the human over the inhuman, and the progressive disappearance of everything that blocks the communication of the vital wave.

The People that shines in a divine way is no longer entangled, indeed it brings to the maximum all its varied potential for love, for the outpouring of life.

«Son of man» - a possible reality - is anyone who achieves fullness, flowering of the ability to be, in the extension of relationships... in tune with the sphere of God the Creator, Lover of life.

He/she does it so in varied facets, and merges with Him - becoming One. By creating abundance.

«Son of man» is woman or man who behave on earth as God himself would do, who makes the divine and his strength present in history.

So they can afford to replace both gloomy seriousness and superficiality, with a wise ‘carefreeness’ that makes everything light.

«Son of Man» represents the maximum of the human, the Person par excellence, who becomes liberating instead of oppressive.

The consequences are unimaginable, because each of us in Christ and for the brothers no longer has dead, abstract, (or of others) paths to be redone.

[Saturday 25th wk. in O.T.  September 28, 2024]

Creating abundance where there is none

(Lk 9:43b-45)

'Son of God' is Christ who manifests God in the human condition. 'Son of man' is Jesus manifesting man in the divine condition.

'Son of man' (v.44) is the one who, having gone to the utmost human fullness, comes to reflect the divine condition - and radiates it, without narrow perspectives.

In short, 'Son of Man' is the trustworthy, authentic person; even the 'little one' - without even a legacy of just and invariable ideas, or forces of the same level, and always performing.

"Son of Man" is here the successful Son: the Person with the definitive step. Word made "brother", who in us aspires to the fullness spread throughout history.

It would seem to fall short; instead, it is indestructible charature, within each one who approaches such 'measure' - encountering the divine marks that bring out what we are [and are born again].

In the Gospel passage, it is the Messiah who becomes a servant (!) and becomes the 'next of kin': the one who in Semitic culture was held to ransom and liberate his enslaved kin.

There is, however, a sharp contrast between what the people dream and hope for, and the opinion of the authorities, who are challenged by this atmosphere of humanisation with its overly broad contours.

Established and official teachers of the spirit were at ease in the narrow sphere: accentuating guilt, disfiguring people; making them needy, childish - instead of adult, secure, emancipated.

Even the religious institution trembled: the divine condition diffused in the lives of women and men made autonomous and able to stand on their own two feet would make any mediating structure superfluous.

Since time immemorial, in order to block the search for the You-for-you, the face-to-face with God [and to direct consciences], the leaders concerned had filled minds with things of the past, or all conformist, and people's lives with problems that stalled the way.

The slave of the customary ancient religion, allied with power, lived under condemnation, because it was outside its home. In a reality that stagnated, or advanced in a severely moralistic manner.

Such confusion stranded souls - even more so by accentuating ballasts, emphasising limitations, and feelings of subservience. Disturbing the life-wave of each one.

The logic of the old masters was unacceptable, both from the point of view of personal fulfilment and for living together.

In any sphere, the criterion of the self-loving big-wigs was in force.

Everything was in accordance with the principle that he who stands still is best controlled, stays where you put him, and cannot have passions; therefore he does not set anything in motion. 

Under the enormous social conditioning, the dull soul was forced to submit to the outer cloak, which willingly blocked the spontaneous energy of souls, and of the world.

Even today, perhaps, there are still agencies of plagiarism that cloak all the proposals of Providence, and the very resources of women and men, or of charisma, with things already dead or abstract [mannered, external].

The true Son, on the other hand, conquers spaces of freedom, not so much from errors, as from egoism that annihilates communion, from self-love that refuses to listen, from standardisation that cancels uniqueness, from conformism that makes exceptionalism pale, from envy that separates and blocks the exchange of gifts, from competition, even spiritual competition that drugs us; from the sloth of those who believe they are not worth enough, which discourages and paralyses.

'Son of Man' is therefore not a 'religious' or selective title, but a possibility for all those who adhere to the Lord's proposal of life, and reinterpret it creatively.

They overcome the firm and proper natural boundaries, making room for the Gift; welcoming from God the fullness of being, in his new, unrepeatable tracks.

Feeling totally and undeservedly loved, they discover other facets, change the way they are with themselves, and can grow: they realise themselves, they flourish; they radiate the wholeness they have received.

Coming out of the poor or static idea we have of ourselves - a serious problem in many sensitive and dedicated souls - the relational personality can also begin to imagine.

And to dream, discovering that it can no longer give weight to those who want to condition its path as a person, in fullness of being, character, vocation.

He who activates the idea that he can do it, then transmits the power of the Spirit he has received and welcomed, and the universe around him blossoms.

Emanating a different atmosphere, the person integrated in his or her even opposite sides, feels consciousnesses arise, creates projects, emits and attracts other energies; makes them activate.

By relating interpersonally, God wants to extend the sphere in which he "reigns" - to all mankind.

Church without visible boundaries, which will begin with the 'Son of Man'. A figure not exclusive to Jesus.Son of David and Son of Man

This universalistic perspective emerges, inter alia, from the presentation Jesus made of himself not only as "Son of David", but as "Son of Man" (Mk 10:33). The title "Son of Man", in the language of the Jewish apocalyptic literature inspired by the vision of history in the Book of the Prophet Daniel (cf. 7:13-14), recalls the character who comes "with the clouds of heaven" (v. 13) and is an image that heralds an entirely new kingdom, a kingdom supported not by human powers, but by the true power that comes from God. Jesus uses this rich and complex expression and refers it to Himself to manifest the true character of His messianism, as a mission destined for the whole man and every man, overcoming all ethnic, national and religious particularism. And it is precisely in following Jesus, in allowing oneself to be drawn into his humanity and thus into communion with God, that one enters into this new kingdom, which the Church announces and anticipates, and which overcomes fragmentation and dispersion.

[Pope Benedict, Consistory 24 November 2012].

With the image of the Son of Man, the prophet Daniel already wanted to indicate an overturning of the criteria of human and divine authenticity: a man or a people, a leader, finally with a heart of flesh instead of a beast.

In the icon of the 'Son of Man', the evangelists wish to reveal and trigger the triumph of the human over the inhuman; the progressive disappearance of everything that blocks the communication of full existence, of totality of profound energy.

The divinely shining people are no longer entangled by fears, manipulations, or hysteria; on the contrary, they bring to the full all their varied potential of love, of outpouring of life.

The 'Son of Man' - a possible reality - is anyone who achieves completeness, the blossoming of the capacity to be, in the extension of relationships. With this, he enters into harmony with the sphere of God the Creator, the Lover of life.

It does so in its varied facets, and merges with Him - becoming One. Creating abundance; not a false identity.

"The 'Son of Man' is the man who behaves on earth as God himself would; in short, who makes the divine present and its power unfolded in history.

So he can afford to replace the gloomy seriousness of the pious and subservient being, or the superficiality of the sophisticated and disembodied, with the wise 'light-heartedness' that makes everything light [because it rhymes with naturalness].

'Son of Man' depicts the ultimate human, the Person par excellence - in its eminent Self, which becomes liberating instead of oppressive.

The consequences are unimaginable, because each one of us in Christ and for our brothers and sisters, no longer has dead, abstract, or other people's paths to tread.

To internalise and live the message:

How does the 'Son of Man' figure speak to you of your own personal thoughts and hopes, and what is the difference or contrast with the thoughts and hopes of the manipulators?

Jesus' prayer in the imminence of death - Lk

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At our school of prayer last Wednesday I spoke of Jesus’ prayer on the Cross, taken from Psalm 22[21]: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”. I would now like to continue to meditate on the prayer of Jesus on the Cross in the imminence of death. Today, I would like to reflect on the account we find in St Luke’s Gospel. The Evangelist has passed down to us three words spoken by Jesus on the Cross, two of which — the first and the third— are prayers explicitly addressed to the Father. The second, instead, consists of the promise made to the so-called “good thief”, crucified with him; indeed, in response to the thief’s entreaty, Jesus reassures him: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).

Thus in Luke’s narrative the two prayers that the dying Jesus addresses to the Father and his openness to the supplication addressed to him by the repentant sinner are evocatively interwoven. Jesus calls on the Father and at the same time listens to the prayer of this man who is often called latro poenitens, “the repentant thief”.

Let us reflect on these three prayers of Jesus. He prays the first one immediately after being nailed to the Cross, while the soldiers are dividing his garments between them as a wretched reward for their service. In a certain sense the process of the Crucifixion ends with this action. St Luke writes: “When they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’. And they cast lots and to divide his garments” (23:33-34).

The first prayer that Jesus addresses to the Father is a prayer of intercession; he asks for forgiveness for his executioners. By so doing, Jesus is doing in person what he had taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he said: “I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Lk 6:27); and he had also promised to those who are able to forgive: “your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High” (v. 35). Now, from the Cross he not only pardons his executioners but he addresses the Father directly, interceding for them.

Jesus’ attitude finds a moving “imitation” in the account of the stoning of St Stephen, the first martyr. Indeed Stephen, now nearing his end, “knelt down and cried with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. And when he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60): these were his last words. The comparison between Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness and that of the protomartyr is significant. St Stephen turns to the Risen Lord and requests that his killing — an action described clearly by the words “this sin” — not be held against those who stoned him.

Jesus on the Cross addresses the Father and not only asks forgiveness for those who crucify him but also offers an interpretation of what is happening. According to what he says, in fact, the men who are crucifying him “know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). He therefore postulates ignorance, “not knowing”, as a reason for his request for the Father’s forgiveness, because it leaves the door open to conversion, as, moreover, happens in the words that the centurion was to speak at Jesus’ death: “Certainly this man was innocent” (v. 47), he was the Son of God. “It remains a source of comfort for all times and for all people that both in the case of those who genuinely did not know (his executioners) and in the case of those who did know (the people who condemned him), the Lord makes ignorance the motive for his plea for forgiveness: he sees it as a door that can open us to conversion” (Jesus of Nazareth, II, [San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2011], p. 208).

The second word spoken by Jesus on the Cross recorded by St Luke is a word of hope, it is his answer to the prayer of one of the two men crucified with him. The good thief comes to his senses before Jesus and repents, he realizes he is facing the Son of God who makes the very Face of God visible, and begs him; “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power” (v. 42). The Lord’s answer to this prayer goes far beyond the request: in fact he says: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (v. 43). Jesus knows that he is entering into direct communion with the Father and reopening to man the way to God’s paradise. Thus, with this response, he gives the firm hope that God’s goodness can also touch us, even at the very last moment of life, and that sincere prayer, even after a wrong life, encounters the open arms of the good Father who awaits the return of his son.

However, let us consider the last words of Jesus dying. The Evangelists tells us: “it was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’. And having said this he breathed his last” (vv. 44-46).

Certain aspects of this narrative differ from the scene as described in Mark and in Matthew. The three hours of darkness in Mark are not described, whereas in Matthew they are linked with a series of different apocalyptic events such as the quaking of the earth, the opening of the tombs, the dead who are raised (cf. Mt 27:51-53). In Luke, the hours of darkness are caused by the eclipse of the sun, but the veil of the temple is torn at that moment. In this way Luke’s account presents two signs, in a certain way parallel, in the heavens and in the temple. The heavens lose their light, the earth sinks while in the temple, a place of God’s presence, the curtain that protects the sanctuary is rent in two. Jesus’ death is characterized explicitly as a cosmic and a liturgical event; in particular, it marks the beginning of a new form of worship, in a temple not built by men because it is the very Body of Jesus who died and rose which gathers peoples together and unites them in the sacrament of his Body and his Blood.

At this moment of suffering Jesus’ prayer, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”, is a loud cry of supreme and total entrustment to God. This prayer expresses the full awareness that he had not been abandoned. The initial invocation — “Father” — recalls his first declaration as a 12-year-old boy. At that time he had stayed for three days in the Temple of Jerusalem, whose veil was now torn in two. And when his parents had told him of their anxiety, he had answered: “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49).

From the beginning to the end, what fully determines Jesus’ feelings, words and actions, is his unique relationship with the Father. On the Cross he lives to the full, in love, this filial relationship he has with God which gives life to his prayer.

The words spoken by Jesus after his invocation, “Father”, borrow a sentence from Psalm 31[30]: “into your hand I commit my spirit” (Ps 31[30]:6). Yet these words are not a mere citation but rather express a firm decision: Jesus “delivers” himself to the Father in an act of total abandonment. These words are a prayer of “entrustment” total trust in God’s love. Jesus’ prayer as he faces death is dramatic as it is for every human being but, at the same time, it is imbued with that deep calmness that is born from trust in the Father and from the desire to commend oneself totally to him.

In Gethsemane, when he had begun his final struggle and his most intense prayer and was about to be “delivered into the hands of men” (Lk 9:44), his sweat had become “like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground” (Lk 22:44). Nevertheless his heart was fully obedient to the Father’s will, and because of this “an angel from heaven” came to strengthen him (cf. Lk 22:42-43). Now, in his last moments, Jesus turns to the Father, telling him into whose hands he really commits his whole life.

Before starting out on his journey towards Jerusalem, Jesus had insisted to his disciples: “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men” (Lk 9:44).

Now that life is about to depart from him, he seals his last decision in prayer: Jesus let himself be delivered “into the hands of men”, but it is into the hands of the Father that he places his spirit; thus — as the Evangelist John affirms — all was finished, the supreme act of love was carried to the end, to the limit and beyond the limit.

Dear brothers and sisters, the words of Jesus on the Cross at the last moments of his earthly life offer us demanding instructions for our prayers, but they also open us to serene trust and firm hope. Jesus, who asks the Father to forgive those who are crucifying him, invites us to take the difficult step of also praying for those who wrong us, who have injured us, ever able to forgive, so that God’s light may illuminate their hearts; and he invites us to live in our prayers the same attitude of mercy and love with which God treats us; “forgive us our trespasses and forgive those who trespass against us”, we say every day in the Lord’s prayer.

At the same time, Jesus, who at the supreme moment of death entrusts himself totally to the hands of God the Father, communicates to us the certainty that, however harsh the trial, however difficult the problems, however acute the suffering may be, we shall never fall from God’s hands, those hands that created us, that sustain us and that accompany us on our way through life, because they are guided by an infinite and faithful love.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 15 February 2012]