1. With last week's catechesis, following the oldest symbols of the Christian faith, we began a new cycle of reflections on Jesus Christ. The Apostolic Symbol proclaims: "I believe . . . in Jesus Christ, his only Son (of God)". The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Symbol, after defining with even greater precision the divine origin of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, goes on to declare that this Son of God 'for us men and for our salvation descended from heaven and . . . became incarnate'. As can be seen, the core of the Christian faith consists of the twofold truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Son of man (the Christological truth), and is the realisation of man's salvation, which God the Father has accomplished in him, his Son and Saviour of the world (the soteriological truth).

2. If in the previous catecheses we dealt with evil, and sin in particular, we did so also to prepare the present cycle on Jesus Christ the Saviour. Salvation in fact means deliverance from evil, particularly sin. Revelation contained in sacred Scripture, beginning with the Proto-Gospel (Gen 3:15) opens us up to the truth that only God can free man from sin and all the evil present in human existence. God, while revealing himself as the Creator of the world and its providential Orderer, simultaneously reveals himself as Saviour: as the one who liberates from evil, particularly from sin caused by the creature's free will. This is the culmination of the creative project implemented by God's Providence, in which world (cosmology), man (anthropology) and God the Saviour (soteriology) are closely linked.

In fact, as the Second Vatican Council recalls, Christians believe that the world is "created and kept in existence by the love of the Creator, a world certainly placed under the bondage of sin, but liberated by Christ crucified and risen . . ." (Gaudium et Spes, 2).

3. The name 'Jesus', considered in its etymological meaning, means 'Yahweh frees', saves, helps. Before the enslavement in Babylon it was expressed in the form 'Jehosua': a theophoric name containing the root of the most holy name of Yahweh. After the Babylonian enslavement it took the abbreviated form 'Jeshua', which in the translation of the Septuagint was transcribed as 'Jesoûs' from which the Italian 'Jesus' is derived.

The name was quite common, both in the time of the old and the new covenant. It is in fact the name borne by Joshua, who after the death of Moses introduced the Israelites into the promised land: "He, according to the meaning of his name, was great for the salvation of God's elect . . . to give possession to Israel' (Sir 46: 1). Jesus, son of Sirach, was the compiler of the book of Sirach (Sir 50: 27). In the genealogy of the Saviour, recorded in the Gospel according to Luke, we find enumerated 'Er, son of Jesus' (Lk 3:28-29). Among St Paul's co-workers is also a certain Jesus, "called Righteous" (cf. Col 4:11).

4. The name Jesus, however, never had the fullness of meaning that it would take on in the case of Jesus of Nazareth and that would be revealed by the angel to Mary (cf. Lk 1:31ff.) and Joseph (cf. Mt 1:21). At the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, people understood his name in the common sense of the time.

"We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and the prophets wrote, Jesus, son of Joseph of Nazareth". So says one of the first disciples, Philip, to Nathanael who replies: "Can anything good ever come from Nazareth?" (Jn 1:45-46). This question indicates that Nazareth was not highly esteemed by the children of Israel. In spite of this, Jesus was called "Nazarene" (cf. Matthew 2: 23), or even "Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee" (Matthew 21: 11), an expression that Pilate himself used in the inscription he had placed on the cross: "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" (John 19: 19).

5. People called Jesus "the Nazarene" after the place where he resided with his family until he was thirty years old. We know, however, that Jesus' birthplace was not Nazareth but Bethlehem, a town in Judea, south of Jerusalem. This is attested by the evangelists Luke and Matthew. The former, in particular, points out that because of the census ordered by the Roman authorities, "Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea to the city of David, called Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary his wife, who was with child. Now while they were in that place, the days of childbirth were fulfilled for her" (Lk 2:4-6).

As with other biblical places, Bethlehem also takes on a prophetic value. Referring to the prophet Micah, Matthew recalls that this town was designated as the place of the birth of the Messiah: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are not the smallest chief town of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a leader who shall shepherd my people Israel" (Mt 2:6). The prophet adds: ". . its origins are from antiquity, from the earliest days" (Mt 5:1).

This text was referred to by the priests and scribes whom Herod had consulted to answer the Magi who, having come from the East, asked where the birthplace of the Messiah was.

The text in Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 2: 1): "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the time of King Herod", refers to the prophecy of Micah, to which the question in the Fourth Gospel also refers: "Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village of David?" (John 7: 42).

6. From these details we deduce that Jesus is the name of a historical person who lived in Palestine. If it is right to give historical credibility to figures like Moses and Joshua, all the more reason to accept the historical existence of Jesus. The Gospels do not tell us in detail about his life because they do not have a primarily historiographical purpose. However, it is precisely the Gospels that, read with critical honesty, lead to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth is a historical person who lived in a specific space and time. Even from a purely scientific point of view, it is not those who affirm, but those who deny the existence of Jesus, as the mythological theories of the past have done and as some scholars still do today, that must arouse wonder.

As for the precise date of Jesus' birth, expert opinions do not agree. It is commonly accepted that the monk Dionysius the Small, when in the year 533 he proposed to calculate the years not from the foundation of Rome, but from the birth of Jesus Christ, fell into error. Until recently, it was believed that this was a mistake of about four years, but the matter is far from settled.

7. In the tradition of the Israelitic people, the name 'Jesus' has retained its etymological value: 'God frees'. Traditionally, it was always the parents who imposed the name on their children. However, in the case of Jesus, son of Mary, the name was chosen and assigned from above already before his birth, according to the angel's indication to Mary in the annunciation (Lk 1:31) and to Joseph in a dream (Mt 1:21). "He was given the name Jesus" - underlines the evangelist Luke - because by this name "he had been called by the angel before he was conceived in his mother's womb" (Lk 2:21).

8. In the plan laid out by God's providence, Jesus of Nazareth bears a name that alludes to salvation: "God delivers", because he is in fact what the name indicates, namely the Saviour. This is testified by a number of phrases in the so-called Infancy Gospels, written by Luke (Lk 2:11): ". . there was born . . . a Saviour", and by Matthew (Mt 1:21): "for he will save his people from their sins". These are expressions that reflect the truth that is revealed and proclaimed throughout the New Testament. For example, the Apostle Paul writes in the Letter to the Philippians: "For this reason God has exalted him and given him the name which is above every other name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord (Kyrios, Adonai) to the glory of God the Father' (Phil 2:9-11).

The reason for the exaltation of Jesus we find in the testimony given to him by the apostles who boldly proclaimed: 'In no one else is there salvation; for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which it is established that we may be saved' (Acts 4:12).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 14 January 1987]

"It would be a good habit if every day, at some time, we could say: 'Lord, may I know you and may I know myself' and so go on". This is the suggestion proposed by Pope Francis in the Mass celebrated on Thursday 25 October at Santa Marta. There is no need for "Christians in words" who say the Creed "in parrot fashion", said the Pontiff, inviting people to live the experience of seriously feeling themselves to be sinners.

"If someone," Francis began, "asks us 'who is Jesus Christ', we will certainly say what we learned in catechesis, how he came to save the world, we will say the true doctrine about Jesus: he is the saviour of the world, the Son of the Father, God, man, what we recite in the Creed." But, he pointed out, "a little more difficult will be to answer the question: 'True, but for you, who is Jesus Christ?'". And this is a "question" that "embarrasses us a little, because I have to think and reach into my heart to give the answer".

So, the Pope relaunched, 'for me, who is Jesus Christ? The knowledge of Jesus Christ that I have, what is it? When I say that for me Jesus Christ is the Saviour, it is so,' said the Pontiff, 'but each one of us must also answer from the heart, what we know and feel about Jesus Christ, because we all know that he is the Saviour of the world, that he is the Son of God, that he came to earth to save us, and we can also recount so many passages of the Gospel'.

The direct question remains, however: but 'for me' who is Jesus Christ? Precisely "this is Paul's work," Francis explained in reference to the liturgical passage from the letter to the Ephesians (3:14-21), noting that the apostle "has this restlessness to transmit his own experience of Jesus Christ. In fact, Francis insisted, Paul "did not come to know Jesus Christ by beginning with theological studies; then, he went to see how Jesus Christ was announced in Scripture". On the contrary, 'he came to know Jesus Christ by his own experience, when he fell from his horse, when the Lord spoke to his heart, directly'. And 'what Paul heard he wants us Christians to hear'.

If it were possible to ask Paul 'who is Christ for you?', he would, the Pope said, tell 'his own experience, simple: "He loved me and gave himself up for me"'. But Paul 'is involved with Christ, who has paid for him', and 'this experience Paul wants Christians - in this case the Christians of Ephesus - to have, to enter into this experience to the point where everyone can say: "He loved me and gave himself up for me"'. But it is important 'to say it with one's own experience,' the Pope suggested.

Francis wished to reread a passage from the letter to the Ephesians proposed as the first reading: "May Christ dwell through faith in your hearts, and so, rooted and grounded in charity, be able to understand - there goes Paul - what is the breadth, length, height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

"Paul wants to lead us all to this experience," the Pontiff explained, because it is "the experience he had of Jesus Christ: the encounter with Jesus Christ made him understand this great thing".

But "how can one get there, what is the way?" is the question proposed by the Pope. Perhaps, he added, "I have to recite the Creed many times? Yes, but it is not really the right way to arrive at this experience: it will help, but it is not the right way'. In fact, Francis said, "Paul when he says that Jesus gave himself up for him, that he died for him, he means 'he paid for me' and he recounts his own experience many times in his letters: 'I was a sinner', 'I persecuted Christians'".

To do this, the Pope continued, he 'starts from his own sin, from his own sinful existence, and the first definition Paul gives of himself is "sinner": chosen out of love, but a sinner'. Thus, the Pontiff pointed out, 'the first step to the knowledge of Christ, to enter into this mystery, is the knowledge of one's own sin, one's own sins'.

"We all approach the sacrament of reconciliation and we say our sins," Francis continued. "But," he specified, "it is one thing to say one's sins, to recognise one's sins, and another thing to recognise oneself as a 'sinner', capable of doing anything". In short, 'recognising oneself as dirt'. And 'Paul has this experience'.

It takes, therefore, the knowledge that 'the first step to the knowledge of Jesus Christ is one's own knowledge, of one's own wretchedness, which needs to be redeemed, which needs someone to pay: to pay for the right to call oneself a "child of God"'. In reality, the Pope explained, 'we all are, but' to 'say it, to feel it, there was a need for Christ's sacrifice and, starting from this, Paul goes on with these religious experiences that he has, one after the other, through prayer and charity'.

Here then, the Pontiff reaffirmed, that 'the first step' is 'to recognise oneself as a sinner, but not in theory, in practice'. To say 'I started to do this, I stopped, but if I had gone further down this road, I would have ended up badly, very badly' is 'the root of sin that takes you forward'. So "the first step is this: to recognise yourself as a sinner and tell yourself your miseries, to be ashamed of yourself: that is the first step".

"The second step to knowing Jesus is contemplation, prayer," the Pope said, proposing the simple invocation: "Lord, may I know you". And adding that "there is a beautiful prayer, by a saint: 'Lord, may I know you and may I know myself'". It is a matter, Francis explained, of "knowing oneself and knowing Jesus". And "here we have this relationship of salvation: prayer," the Pontiff relaunched, inviting us "not to be content with saying three, four right words about Jesus" because "to know Jesus is an adventure, but an adventure in earnest, not a child's adventure.

To know Jesus, the Pope continued, "is an adventure that takes you your whole life, because the love of Jesus is without limits". Paul reminds us of this in his letter to the Ephesians: "What breadth, length, height and depth" is an expression to indicate, precisely, that "it has no limits". But "this only with the help of the Holy Spirit can we find: it is the experience of a Christian". And "Paul himself says it: He has all power to do far more than we can ask or think. He has the power to do it'. But "we must ask him: 'Lord, that I may know you; that when I speak of you, I speak not parrot words, I speak words born of my experience, and like Paul I may say: 'He loved me and gave himself up for me' and say it with conviction". This is our strength, this is our testimony".

"Christians of words, we have many; we too, many times we are," Francis warned. But "this is not holiness: holiness is being Christians who work in life what Jesus taught and what Jesus sowed in the heart". To do this one must "know Jesus" with "that knowledge that has no limits: the height, the length, the fullness, everything".

The "first step", the Pope repeated, remains "to know oneself as a sinner: without this knowledge, and also without this interior confession that I am a sinner, we cannot go forward". Then, he recalled, the "second step" is "prayer to the Lord that, with his power, he may make us know this mystery of Jesus who is the fire that he brought to earth."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 26/10/2018]

Satisfied sobriety: new Depth

(Lk 9:1-6)

At the time of Jesus, there was no lack of various renewal movements that sought to revive community life, undermined by economic and social collapse, and political and religious servility.

Essenes, Pharisees and Zealots had their missionaries, who although sent by those who most radically desired a new way of co-presence, were totally biased against other interlocutors.

They did not trust people, nor the customs or food of others, which was also legally considered unclean.

Instead, the Apostles must learn to accept hospitality; trusting people, and imagine being welcomed even by those whom common devotion considers defiled.

The person of Faith differs from the fundamentalist religious believer because he has an opposite criterion of fraternity and coexistence: he denounces the laws of ritual, cultural and social exclusion.

He/she have a new depth.

Access to 'purity' is in the intimate and personal relationship with God, and in the quality of open relationships; not elsewhere. And the Church is an eccentric reality; it does not live for itself, for advantage, to win.

It has only the task of keeping alive the Message that guides all to full Happiness.

Each one, and the Community itself, focus on the [real, through life] Announcement that has transforming power. Absolutely the Church is not established to impose ideas and triumph, far from it.

Thus the son of God on the way cannot spend time improving his lodging, as if it were a sign of social and spiritual rank - perhaps moving from an initial makeshift accommodation to more and more affluent and conspicuous forms on the territory (v.4).

The authentic witness to Christ has in his heart quite another Promise.

Lk insists that the Mission must take place in absolute poverty - a condition for continuing the dream of Jesus - and even takes away from the believer in Christ the [helpless] shortage of the travelling stick that Mk (6:8) leaves him instead.

Relationships with events, relationships with people and the blind forces of power, and natural contingencies, must become in us Encounter.

Stunning of new Empathy that in itself announces wisdom, healing, and victory over infirmity (vv.1-2) - introducing even the distant and desperate to the incisiveness of Faith.

This Journey of finding one's own and others' lives in the hands of the Father is not yet over.

The Truth of the Risen One is open to an updated and perspective, unframed Hope - to be enlivened again. The need for works transmuting the ancient world acquires an ever invigorated topicality.

It continues to the present day, but with needs, motives, horizons and offers of redemption in totally surprising “divine” forms - also due to multifaceted cultural contexts [or even internal interferences, with their unchanging attempts at rigid and pious respectability or fashionable obfuscation of the human spirit].

What matters is not the Means, tools [which are used from time to time], which differ according to environment or are more or less limited, but the proclamation of the Truth that one 'does', not that one 'has'.

In itself, material deprivation is a “chair”, but also a showcase. In other religions, there are forms of individual poverty and dispossession [compared to ours] that are heroic and astonishing, yet perhaps inaccessible and circle-like in their incredible athleticism - and depersonalisation.

The Church must be free, available, all dedicated, defenceless.

Its specific weight - a true guarantee of credibility - remains to be discerned in the order of a universal and perfect life ‘as saved ones’ [recovered by Grace], not like aseptic phenomena chiselled in minute detail.

We see it today, in the time of global crisis: we need to reinvent ourselves in order to be reborn, even in terms of the sacredness criteria.

In short: we have to stop sabotaging our spontaneous natural resources, and become who we are, starting from day-to-day frailties - in a more genuine [and at the same time, deeper] way.

Sometimes it will be necessary to make use of the very aspects that were once considered to be a weakness of character... precisely to be excluded, in a world that is all exterior, falsely extroverted, mannered, self-important.

In order to build one Family and one People of God, freed from fetters that humble the joy, all credible ‘facts’ and conforming ‘means’ - fragrant and spontaneous, or even culturally honed - can be welcomed, taken into account, reinvented.

The absolute and non-negotiable option is the good of the concrete woman and man, not a belief in pureness, or “cultural” appropriateness.

What matters is the concern for our relationship with God in the communion with our brothers and sisters as equals, for a conviviality of differences that enriches us, personally and together.

The quality of understanding is enough for everything, and marks a wise difference to idolizing aspects... such as material rivalry, control of weak consciences, and expansion into the territory - figures that are so important for ideologies and unfortunately also for some imposing forms of our beliefs [rigid or surreptitious].

If, on the other hand, we root ourselves in an exclusively convivial and broad-minded disposition of coexistence, we will inform our entire way of life. This, in the satisfied sobriety of those who already possess the authentic Treasure, within and without: the universal Christ, resurrected for the «multitudes»; Source and Summit of the Kingdom to be built.

To internalize and live the message:

How do you proclaim the Kingdom of God?

Do you bring what you, first, experienced, or do you prefer other people’s ideas, artificial attitudes, schemes, thoughts, organisation charts and ‘names’?

What do you think complicates the Announcement today?

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

Dear friends, with your precious work of animation and missionary cooperation you remind the People of God of “the need in our day too for decisive commitment to the missio ad gentes” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, n. 95), to proclaim the “the great hope”, “the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety” (Encyclical Spe Salvi, n. 31). Indeed, new problems and new forms of slavery are emerging in our time, both in the so-called first world, well-off and rich but uncertain about its future, and in the developing countries, which, partly because of a globalization often characterized by profit ends by increasing the masses of the poor, emigrants and the oppressed, in which the light of hope fades.

The Church must constantly renew her commitment to bring Christ, to prolong his messianic mission to bring about the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of justice, peace, freedom and love. It is the duty of the entire People of God to transform the world according to God’s plan with the renewing force of the Gospel, so “that God may be everything to every one” (1 Cor 15:28). Thus it is necessary to continue with renewed enthusiasm the work of evangelization, the joyful proclamation of the Kingdom of God, who came in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, to lead all men and women to the true freedom of children of God against every form of slavery. It is necessary to cast the nets of the Gospel into the sea of history to bring human beings towards the land of God.

“The mission of proclaiming the word of God is the task of all of the disciples of Jesus Christ based on their Baptism” (Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, n. 94). However in order that they may be a decisive commitment to evangelization, it is necessary that individual Christians and communities truly believe that “the word of God is the saving truth which men and women in every age need” (ibid., n. 95). If this conviction of faith is not profoundly rooted in our own lives, we shall not be able to feel the urgency and beauty of proclaiming it. In fact, every Christian must make his or her own the pressing need to work for the edification of the Kingdom of God. Everything in the Church is at the service of evangelization: every sector of her activity and also each and every one, in the various duties that they are called to carry out. All must be involved in the missio ad gentes: bishops, priests, men and women religious and lay people. “No believer in Christ can feel dispensed from this responsibility which comes from the fact of our sacramentally belonging to the Body of Christ” (ibid., n. 94). It is therefore necessary to ensure that all the sectors of pastoral work, catechesis and charity are characterized by the missionary dimension: the Church is mission.

A fundamental condition for proclamation is to let oneself be completely grasped by Christ, the Word of God incarnate, because only those who listen attentively to the incarnate Word, who are intimately united to him, can become his heralds (cf. ibid., nn. 51, 91). The Gospel messenger must remain under the dominion of the Word and must draw nourishment from the Sacraments: it is on this vital sap that their existence and missionary ministry depends. Only if we are rooted profoundly in Christ and in his word are we capable of withstanding the temptation to reduce evangelization to a purely human, social project, hiding or glossing over the transcendent dimension of the salvation offered by God in Christ.

It is a word that must be witnessed to and proclaimed explicitly, because without a consistent witness it proves to be less comprehensible and credible. Even if we often feel inadequate, poor, incapable, let us always preserve our certainty of the power of God who places his treasure “in earthen vessels” precisely so that it may appear that it is he who acts through us.

The ministry of evangelization is fascinating and demanding. It requires love for proclamation and bearing witness, a love so total that it can even be marked by martyrdom. The Church cannot fail in her mission of bringing Christ’s light, of proclaiming the Good News of the Gospel, even if this entails persecution (cf. Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini, n. 95). It is part of her very life, as it was for Jesus. Christians must not be afraid, even if “Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith” (Message for the World Day of Peace 2011, n. 1).

St Paul said that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).

[Pope Benedict, address to the General Assembly Pontifical Missionary Works 14 May 2011]

2. Today's meeting takes place in the time and spirit of the Great Jubilee, which the universal Church is observing with great fervour. This is an extraordinary year of grace, in which the Christian community is having a deeper experience of God's goodness revealed in the Incarnation of the Son and gratefully proclaimed by the Church to all nations. The words of the Apostle echo in our minds:  "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor 6: 2b).

The celebration of the Great Jubilee appears, therefore, as a very timely occasion for reflecting on the mercy which God the Father, through the Holy Spirit, has offered in Christ to all humanity. The Great Jubilee is the "message of salvation", which should ring out in every corner of the world, so that whoever hears it may become, in turn, a witness to it and make it a means of salvation for every person. We are all called to open our eyes to the needs of the many sheep without a shepherd (cf. Mk 6: 34), in order to serve them by making known to them the Lord's name so that they may confess him and share in salvation (cf. Rom 10: 9)

3. In particular I would like to recall here all the men and women who, by dedicating themselves "ad vitam" to the mission "ad gentes", have made this work the raison d'être of their lives. They are an incomparable example of devotion to the cause of spreading the Gospel. I thank and cordially bless everyone who, in ways as discreet as they are effective, is involved in the work of promoting missionary awareness and cooperation. There are many of them. Numerous lay people join the priests and consecrated persons, individually or as a family, in the desire to give several years or even their whole life to the mission. They often proclaim the Good News and express their faith in hostile or indifferent surroundings. Dear brothers and sisters, please convey to them my gratitude and encouragement to persevere generously in their zealous missionary commitment. God, who never lets himself be outdone in generosity, will reward them.

The recent commemoration of the Witnesses to the Faith in the 20th Century, celebrated last Sunday at the Colosseum, reminds us that the supreme test of mission is often the gift of one's life to the point of death. "Throughout Christian history, "martyrs', that is, witnesses, have always been numerous and indispensable to the spread of the Gospel. In our own age, there are many:  Bishops, priests, men and women religious, lay people - often unknown heroes who give their lives to bear witness to the faith. They are par excellence the heralds and witnesses of the faith" (Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, n. 45).

As we thank God for our brothers and sisters in faith, we pray that their missionary work in the Church will always be inspired by great generosity.

[Pope John Paul II, address to the assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Works 11 May 2000]

Renewal requires conversion, it requires living the mission as a permanent opportunity to proclaim Christ, to make Him encounter us by witnessing and making others participate in our personal encounter with Him. It is my hope that your spiritual and material assistance to the Churches will make them ever more founded on the Gospel and on the baptismal involvement of all the faithful, lay and clerics, in the Church's one mission: to make God's love close to every person, especially those most in need of his mercy. The Extraordinary Month of Prayer and Reflection on the Mission as First Evangelisation will serve this renewal of the Church's faith, so that at its heart always lies and works the Easter of Jesus Christ, the only Saviour, Lord and Bridegroom of His Church.

May the preparation of this extraordinary time dedicated to the first proclamation of the Gospel help us to be more and more the Church in mission, according to the words of Blessed Paul VI, in his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, magna carta of the post-conciliar missionary commitment. Pope Montini wrote: "Evangelising, the Church begins by evangelising itself. A community of believers, a community of lived and shared hope, a community of fraternal love, she needs to listen continually to what she must believe, the reasons for her hope, the new commandment of love. As the people of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, it always needs to hear the great works of God proclaimed (cf. Acts 2:11; 1 Pet 2:9), which have converted it to the Lord, and to be summoned and reunited again by Him. This means, in a word, that it always needs to be evangelised if it is to retain the freshness, the impetus and the strength to proclaim the Gospel" (n. 15).

[Pope Francis, address to the assembly of the Pontifical Missionary Works 3 June 2017]

The Lord wants new people, who Listen

[Lk 8:19-21]

In the life of those who are challenged by the relationship of Faith, to become blood relatives of the Father (according to the Spirit) is fundamental Perceive [in profound sense of Listening - not so much materially ‘seeing’].

It’s not worth the «staying outside», or wanting to ‘speak’ directly, to ‘convince’ the Lord (vv.19-21).

It is necessary to intuit and grasp: a path to encounter one’s own intimate layers of being, the truth of inclinations, and of life.

It’s decisive to welcome a satiating Word, which becomes language and culture, which has creative power: given to the ears and discovered inside. Captured in personal history and reality, and transmitted again.

To depart from this founding Core and Eros means detaching from oneself, dispersing oneself in rivulets that do not belong to us, failing into the void ["empty" not understood as a deep energetic state, which prepares new developments].

Paradoxically, both our Freedom and the Salvation of the world are the result of an Obedience - but not external, or others.

It is rather tuning in to the part of the Logos within us that is blooming; really "perfect". No conditioning model.

No a priori correction, nor forcing according to prejudice: rather, an eternal Metamorphosis - accompanied by the Verbum Domini, which mysteriously guides Exodus into Exodus.

No culturally configured expectation would lead to full communion with the great divine spark and fullness in each and every one.

Realisation of the Kingdom and every day - even outside of time.

To know Christ closely it’s not enough to look at him and be taken by sympathy, cultural ties, or religious emotion.

It is the Listening that connects and establishes intimate constraints which do not extinguish - a friendship of engaging harmony with the Master.

Around Jesus the Word of God creates a new Family, with bonds of spiritual kinship closer than what the clan attachment offered.

The Lord wants other people, born precisely from Perception-forebonding.

The union is no longer reserved and exclusive; it becomes accessible to anyone and in any condition - even if he/her were "blind" outside, unable to see what is at hand.

Each one is Church, the Father's House, and thus can realize God's Dream of living with men and walking beside them.

He dwells among us and in us. In his Word, without more ‘distances’.

In this way, all our actions must aim for this purpose: to form the Temple of God, his lineage, the Body of the living Christ.

To achieve this complete goal, essential means is to host the Vocation that transforms us, a much more permanent, sensitive and energetic foundation of any feeling, connection, or emotion.

Indispensable is not an (initial) experience of enthusiasm, but the custody of the Call that interprets life and becomes mentality, dynamism inside that leads [and flows into suburban paths].

There is yet other Temple to be built.

[Tuesday 25th wk. in O.T.  September 24, 2024]

The Lord wants new people, who Listen

(Lk 8:19-21)

In the life of one who is challenged by the relationship of Faith, in order to become consanguineous with the Father according to the Spirit, it is essential to Perceive [in the profound sense of Listening - not so much to 'see' directly].

Nor is it worth 'standing outside', or wanting to 'speak' directly, to 'convince' the Lord (vv.19-21).

It is necessary to intuit and grasp: a path to encounter one's own deep layers of being, the truth of inclinations, and of life (vv.20-21).

It is decisive to welcome a satiating Word, which becomes language and culture, which has creative power: given to the ears and discovered within. Captured in personal history and reality, and transmitted again.

To turn away from such a founding Word and Eros is to detach oneself from oneself, to disperse into rivulets that do not belong to us, to plunge into emptiness ['emptiness' not understood as a deep energetic state, which prepares new developments].

Paradoxically, both our Freedom and the Salvation of the world are the result of Obedience - but not external, or others'.

Rather, it is tuning in to the part of the Logos within us that is blossoming; truly 'perfect'. No conditioning models.

No a priori correction, no forcing according to prejudice: rather, an eternal Metamorphosis - accompanied by the Word, mysteriously leading from Exodus to Exodus.

No culturally configured expectation would lead to full communion with the great divine spark and fullness in each and all.

Realisation of the Kingdom and every day - even outside of time.

To know Christ up close, it is not enough to look at him and get caught up in sympathy or religious emotion.

It is the Listening that connects and establishes intimate bonds, which are not extinguished - of engaging attunement with the Master.

Around Jesus, the Word of God creates a new family, with bonds of spiritual kinship closer than what the clan bond offered.

The Lord wants other people, born precisely from Perception-presence.

The union is no longer reserved and exclusive; it becomes accessible to anyone and in whatever condition they find themselves - even if they are outwardly "blind", unable to see what is at hand.

Everyone is Church, the Father's House, and thus can realise God's Dream of dwelling with men and walking beside them.

He dwells among us and in us. In his Word, with no more 'distance'.

In this way, all our actions must tend towards this goal: to form the Temple of God, his household, the Body of the living Christ.

To reach this accomplished goal, an essential means is to host the Vocation that transforms us, a much deeper foundation than any bond or emotion.

Indispensable is not an (initial) experience of enthusiasm, but rather the hosting of the Call that interprets life and becomes mentality, dynamism within that guides and flows into peripheral paths.

In ancient Israel, the basis of social coexistence was the large family. Clans and communities were a guarantee of protection of both particular hearths and people.

That bond of real solidarity ensured possession of the land - which gave a sense of freedom - and was the vehicle of cultural transmission, of the way of feeling as a people, and of spirituality itself.

Defending the coexistence that guaranteed global identity was the same as defending the First Covenant.

But in Palestine at the time of Jesus, the life of the clan and the life of the community - broader - were declining.

Excessive taxes to be paid to collaborating governments and the Temple, the inevitable rise of the classes who had to sell themselves as slaves for debt, perhaps the more individualistic mentality of the Hellenistic world, imperial threats, and the obligation to welcome, forage, and harbour Roman troops [who often took advantage of even the weakest members of the clan], accentuated the problems of survival.

In addition to this, the severity of purity regulations was a further factor of marginalisation, alongside the growing idea - typical of religions - that there was a link between a heavenly curse and a condition of misery.

The material and protective concerns of the individual family accentuated the detachment from collective moments.

Jesus wanted to widen the narrow limits of the small brotherhood of the hearth again, and extend them to the great household of the Kingdom of God.

A comparison with the parallel passages of the episode shows that Jesus had problems with his natural relatives.

They tended to reabsorb him within the parameters of tradition, for fear of retaliation and because they considered him extremist (perhaps unbalanced).

The Risen One broadens the idea of family and challenges the constraints that distance us from our identity-character, and mission-whether it is the impediments placed by his own, by Peter, by the disciples, by powerful people, or leaders of the official religion.As mentioned above, at a time of political subjugation and rigid legalistic religious ideology, the core values of clan and community were weakening due to the situation of social and economic collapse.

The situation of extrinsic control - social and conscience slavery - prevented people from uniting and sharing, forcing them to confine themselves to individual, exclusive dynastic problems.

[Situation of Jesus' time, and yet not entirely foreign to us, even from the point of view of certain 'charisms' configured in too much detail, and the realities already established on the ground].

For the new Kingdom to manifest itself, it was necessary for the idea of coexistence to go beyond the narrow limits of the individual and the tiny household - also from a cultural point of view.

There was a need for a stimulus that opened up community life - understood according to the spirit of the Beatitudes, for a conviviality of differences; even in real, even raw cohabitation.

Even today in the time of global crisis, the goal is an existence no longer disfigured by retreats, nor undermined by immediate needs, disembodied fantasies, or ingrained patterns.

The need arises urgently for a new idea of the universal family, one that goes beyond the fate of habitual micro-relationships [i.e. the group, the movement or even the denomination].

The world we are preparing will no longer make free participation, indulgent and concrete exchange, and overtaking domestication so difficult.

A new idea of universal kinship, fostering exchange and overcoming.

There is another Temple to build.

To internalise and live the message:

Do your family and your church group favour the enlightened listening to the Gospel and 'doing the Word', or do they only give you ready-made and packaged pills?

Do they help you or do they close you off from openness to the confrontation of ideas, to the realisation of yourself, of those far away, and to the abundance of resources in being, yours or those of others?

16. It is providential that the Second Synod for Africa took place soon after the one dedicated to the word of God in the life and mission of the Church. That Synod recalled the pressing duty of each disciple to understand Christ who calls us by his word. Through this word, we, the faithful, learn to listen to Christ and to let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, who reveals to us the meaning of all things (cf. Jn 16:13). In fact, the “reading and meditation of the word of God root us more deeply in Christ and guide our ministry as servants of reconciliation, justice and peace”.[19] As that Synod reminded us, “to become his brothers and his sisters, one must be like ‘those who hear the word of God and put it into practice’ (Lk 8:21). Authentic hearing is obeying and acting. It means making justice and love blossom in life. It is offering, in life and in society, a witness like the call of the prophets, which continuously united the word of God and life, faith and rectitude, worship and social commitment.”[20] Listening to and meditating upon the word of God means letting it penetrate and shape our lives so as to reconcile us with God, allowing God to lead us towards reconciliation with our neighbour: a necessary path for building a community of individuals and peoples. On our faces and in our lives, may the word of God truly take flesh!

[Pope Benedict, Africae munus]