The Church has consistently recognised Mary as holy and immune from any sin or moral imperfection. The Council of Trent expresses this conviction by stating that no one "can avoid, in his whole life, every sin, even venial, except by virtue of a special privilege, as the Church holds with regard to the Blessed Virgin" (DS 1573). The possibility of sin does not even spare the Christian transformed and renewed by grace. This in fact does not preserve from all sin for life, unless, as the Tridentine Council states, a special privilege ensures such immunity from sin. This is what happened in Mary.

The Tridentine Council did not wish to define this privilege, it did, however, state that the Church strongly affirms it: 'Tenet', that is, it firmly believes it. This is a choice that, far from relegating this truth among pious beliefs or devotional opinions, confirms its character as solid doctrine, well present in the faith of the People of God. Moreover, this conviction is based on the grace attributed to Mary by the angel at the Annunciation. Calling her "full of grace", kecharitoméne, the angel recognises in her the woman endowed with a permanent perfection and fullness of holiness, without a shadow of guilt, or moral or spiritual imperfection.

Some early Church Fathers, not yet convinced of her perfect holiness, attributed moral imperfections or defects to Mary. Some recent authors have also adopted this position. But the Gospel texts cited to justify these views in no way allow the attribution of a sin, or even a moral imperfection, to the Mother of the Redeemer.

Jesus' reply to his mother at the age of 12: "Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Lk 2:49), has sometimes been interpreted as a veiled rebuke. Instead, a careful reading of the episode makes it clear that Jesus did not rebuke his mother and Joseph for looking for him, since they were responsible for watching over him.

Meeting Jesus after a painful search, Mary merely asks him the "why" of his behaviour: "Son, why have you done this to us?" (Lk 2:48). And Jesus answers with another "why", refraining from any reproach and referring to the mystery of his own divine filiation.

Not even the words spoken at Cana: "What have I to do with you, O woman? My hour has not yet come' (John 2:4), can be interpreted as a reproach. Faced with the probable discomfort that the lack of wine would have caused the couple, Mary turned to Jesus with simplicity, entrusting him with the problem. Jesus, although aware that he is the Messiah bound to obey only the Father's will, accedes to his Mother's implicit request. Above all, he responds to the Virgin's faith and thus begins the miracles, manifesting his glory.

Some have then interpreted in a negative sense the declaration made by Jesus when, at the beginning of his public life, Mary and relatives ask to see him. Referring to Jesus' reply to those who told him: "Your mother and your brothers are outside and wish to see you", the evangelist Luke offers us the key to understanding the story, which must be understood starting from Mary's intimate dispositions, quite different from those of the "brothers" (cf. Jn 7:5 ). Jesus replied: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice" ( Lk 8, 21 ). In the story of the Annunciation, Luke showed how Mary was the model of listening to the Word of God and of generous docility. Interpreted from this perspective, the episode offers a great eulogy of Mary, who fulfilled the divine plan perfectly in her own life. Jesus' words, while opposing the brothers' attempt, extol Mary's faithfulness to God's will and the greatness of her motherhood, which she experienced not only physically but also spiritually.

In weaving this indirect praise, Jesus uses a particular method: he highlights the nobility of Mary's behaviour, in the light of more general statements, and better shows the Virgin's solidarity and closeness to humanity on the difficult path to holiness.

Lastly, the words: "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!" ( Lk 11, 28 ), pronounced by Jesus in response to the woman who declared his Mother blessed, far from casting doubt on Mary's personal perfection, emphasise her faithful fulfilment of the Word of God: this is how the Church has understood them, inserting this expression in the liturgical celebrations in honour of Mary.The Gospel text, in fact, suggests that with this statement Jesus wished to reveal precisely in intimate union with God, and in perfect adherence to the divine Word, the highest motive for his Mother's beatitude.

The special privilege granted by God to the 'all holy one' leads us to admire the wonders worked by grace in her life. It also reminds us that Mary was always and wholly the Lord's, and that no imperfection broke the perfect harmony between her and God.

Her earthly life, therefore, is characterised by the constant and sublime development of faith, hope and charity. For this reason, Mary is for believers the luminous sign of divine mercy and the sure guide to the lofty heights of evangelical perfection and holiness.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 19 June 1996]

The Word of God is not "a comic book" to be read, but a teaching to be listened to with the heart and put into practice in daily life. A commitment accessible to all, because although "we have made it a little difficult", the Christian life is "simple, simple": in fact, "listening to the word of God and putting it into practice" are the only two "conditions" set by Jesus for those who want to follow him.

This is in synthesis, for Pope Francis, the meaning of the readings proposed by the liturgy [...]. Celebrating Mass at Santa Marta, the Pontiff dwelt in particular on the Gospel passage [...] which tells of Jesus' mother and brothers who are unable "to approach him because of the crowd". Starting from the observation that he spent most of his time 'on the road, with the people', the bishop of Rome noted how among the many who followed him there were people who felt 'in him a new authority, a new way of speaking', they felt 'the power of salvation' he offered. "It was the Holy Spirit," he commented, "who touched their hearts because of this".

But, the Pope noted, mixed in among the crowd were also people who followed Jesus with ulterior motives. Some 'out of convenience', others perhaps out of a 'desire to be more good'. A bit 'like us', he said, bringing the speech up to date, who 'many times we go to Jesus because we need something and then we forget him there, alone'. A story that repeats itself, since even then Jesus sometimes rebuked those who followed him. This is what happens, for example, after the multiplication of the loaves, when he says to the people: 'You come to me not to hear the word of God, but because the other day I gave you something to eat'; or with the ten lepers, of whom only one returned to thank him, while 'the other nine were happy with their health and forgot about Jesus'.

Despite everything, the Pope said, "Jesus continued to speak to the people" and to love them, to the point of calling "that immense crowd 'my mother and my brothers'". Jesus' family members are therefore "those who listen to the word of God" and "put it into practice". This,' he noted, 'is the Christian life: nothing more. Simple, uncomplicated. Perhaps we have made it a little difficult, with so many explanations that no one understands, but the Christian life is like this: listening to the word of God and practising it. That is why we prayed in the psalm: 'Guide me Lord on the path of your commands', of your word, of your commandments, to practise'.

Hence the invitation to "listen to the word, truly, in the Bible, in the Gospel", meditating on the Scriptures in order to put their contents into practice in daily life. But, the Pontiff clarified, if we scrutinise the Gospel superficially, then "this is not listening to the word of God: this is reading the word of God, as one might read a comic strip". While listening to the word of God "is reading" and asking oneself: "But what is this saying to my heart? What is God saying to me with this word?". Only in this way does "our life change". And this happens 'every time we open the Gospel and read a passage and ask ourselves: "With this God is speaking to me, is he saying something to me? And if he says something, what does he say to me?"'.

This means "listening to the word of God, hearing it with our ears and listening to it with our heart, opening our heart to the word of God". In contrast, "Jesus' enemies listened to Jesus' word but were close to him to try to find fault, to make him slip" and make him lose "authority. But never did they ask themselves: 'What does God say for me in this word?'".

Moreover, the Pontiff added, "God does not speak only to everyone, but he speaks to each one of us. The Gospel was written for each one of us. And when I take the Bible, take the Gospel and read, I must ask myself what the Lord is saying to me". After all, 'this is what Jesus says his true kinsmen, his true brothers, do: listen to the word of God from the heart. And then, he says, 'they put it into practice'".

Of course, Francis acknowledged, 'it is easier to live quietly without worrying about the demands of God's word'. But 'the Father has also done this work for us'. Indeed, the commandments are precisely 'a way of putting into practice' the word of the Lord. And the same applies to the beatitudes. In that passage from Matthew's Gospel, the Pope observed, "there are all the things that we must do, to put God's word into practice". Finally, 'there are the works of mercy', also mentioned in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 25. In short, these are examples "of what Jesus wants when he asks us to 'put into practice' the word".

In conclusion, the Pontiff summed up his reflection by recalling that 'many people followed Jesus': some 'for the novelty', others 'because they needed to hear a good word'; but in reality there were not many who then actually put 'the word of God into practice'. Yet 'the Lord did his work, because he is merciful and forgives all, he calls everyone back, he waits for everyone, because he is patient'.

Even today, the Pope emphasised, 'many people go to church to hear the word of God, but perhaps they do not understand the preacher when he preaches a little difficult, or do not want to understand. Because this too is true: our heart many times does not want to understand'. But Jesus continues to welcome everyone, "even those who go to hear the word of God and then betray him", like Judas who calls him "friend". The Lord, Francis reiterated, "always sows his word" and in return "asks only for an open heart to hear it and good will to put it into practice. For this reason then, let today's prayer be that of the psalm: "Guide me Lord on the path of your commands", that is, on the path of your word, and that I may learn with your guidance to put it into practice".

[Pope Francis, homily s. Martha, 23 September 2014; https://messadelpapa.com/omelia-del-21-novembre-2018-vangelo-e-parola-del-giorno/]

Jesus formed a new family, no longer based on natural ties, but on faith in him, on his love which welcomes us and unites us to each other, in the Holy Spirit. All those who welcome Jesus’ word are children of God and brothers and sisters among themselves. Welcoming the word of Jesus makes us brothers and sisters, makes us Jesus’ family. Speaking ill of others, destroying others’ reputations, makes us the devil’s family.

Jesus’ response was not a lack of respect for his mother and his brethren. Rather, for Mary it is the greatest recognition, precisely because she herself is the perfect disciple who completely obeyed God’s will.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 10 June 2018]

XXIII Sunday in Ordinary Time  Year B  (8 September 2024)

1. In the first reading of today's liturgy, the prophet Isaiah addresses the Jews deported to Babylon returning to Jerusalem: "Courage, do not be afraid! Behold your God, vengeance comes, divine recompense. He comes to save you'. There is one word that might come as a surprise: 'divine vengeance'.  It is best to point out immediately that it does not have the same meaning with respect to the way we feel. Contextualising it in the historical moment, we understand that when the prophet speaks of God's vengeance, he is referring to salvation, and we understand this better if we formulate the text like this: 'Behold God's vengeance: He comes and will save you', and then: 'Behold God's reward: He himself comes to save you'. Even more helpful in perceiving this message of hope are the promises that follow: the sick will be healed, the blind will regain their sight, the deaf will regain their hearing, the crippled will leap like deer and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. These promises taste like soothing and encouraging balm to the ears of a people deported to Babylon and scarred by the atrocious wounds inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem. It is to them that God assures future days of prosperity and rediscovered joy. But there is more: in the light of the historical and religious framework of that time, 'vengeance' was perceived favourably by the Jews because they knew that the Lord would never abandon his people and would indeed fight against the evil that oppressed them. "Divine vengeance" therefore meant restoring dignity to those who make up this people that the Lord has chosen for himself and who place all expectation in him. And it is precisely in this that God's glory shines. To better understand, it is worth adding that at the beginning of its history, the people of the Bible imagined a vengeful God as men are, and it was only through a centuries-long purification of faith through the preaching of the prophets that they began to discover the true face of the Lord. Then, although the word 'vengeance' remained, its content changed completely, as it did with other words, for example 'sacrifice' and 'the fear of God'. It took centuries to come to recognise the true face of God, a God different from what one could imagine, a God who is love and spends his love for all men.  With the phrase: 'Behold the divine reward. He comes to save you', the prophet wants to imply that God loves more than any other in the world and in any trial, pain and physical or moral humiliation, he does not delay in intervening by manifesting his mercy. How necessary it is to rediscover divine mercy in our lives! God comes to save us, comes to raise us up. A fundamental aspect of faith is precisely the certainty that He has already conquered the arrogance of evil with the omnipotence of His merciful love, and even if satanic forces operating at various levels apparently dominate the world, the Christian does not succumb to the temptation of pessimism because he knows that he is loved by the One who in so many ways wants to show us His Fatherly tenderness and never abandons us.

2. Today is for us the invitation that Isaiah addresses to the exiles in Babylon who return to Jerusalem. Faith assures us that humanity is surely waiting for the definitive deliverance from every form of slavery and offence to human dignity, from every risk of physical and moral blindness that disrupts peace. The Messiah is the promised saviour: Jesus' contemporaries must have understood this because, presenting himself as the Messiah in the synagogue of Nazareth (cf. Luke 4), Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah himself: "The Spirit of the LORD, of GOD, is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the humble; he has sent me to bind up those whose hearts are broken, to proclaim liberty to those who are slaves, the opening of the prison to the captives, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favour, the day of vengeance of our God" (61:1-2).  Note, however, that he purposely omits the last words of the prophecy: 'the day of vengeance of our God', to make it clear that he comes to give hope and salvation to the poor, the prisoners, the oppressed, who would have had difficulty understanding the word 'vengeance'. Now his every action will have the face of mercy.  Mercy, of which tangible signs are the blind who regain their sight, the crippled who walk again, the lepers who are cleansed, the deaf who are able to hear again, the dead who are raised, and above all the gospel proclaimed to the poor, as Christ affirms when replying to John the Baptist's disciples who came to ask him if he is the awaited Messiah (Lk 7:22). This is the gospel: God raises us from our misery and saves us, and this appears clearly in today's page of Mark's gospel (ch.7). Jesus is in pagan land - the territory of the Decapolis - where he heals a man suffering from a double infirmity: he is deaf and mute. The evangelist uses the Greek term "magilalos" (which means one who speaks with difficulty because he is deaf), rarely used in the New Testament and only once found in the Old Testament precisely in the text from Isaiah that we heard in the first reading: "the tongue of the mute shall shout for joy". The evangelist assures that this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus and proof of this is the healing of the deaf mute, symbol of humanity unable to hear and therefore with serious difficulties in communicating (he only stammers). Jesus is asked "to lay his hand on him" and he accomplishes something he had never done before. He pulls him away from the crowd and repeats ritual gestures of the healers: he puts his fingers in his ears and touches his tongue with saliva. Jesus does not change these gestures but imbues them with a new meaning. Unlike the healers, he looks up to the sky, emits a sigh and says: "Effata, that is open".  By raising his eyes upwards, he manifests that he heals by the power conferred on him by the Father. As for the sigh, it is rather a groan: the same word is used that St Paul, in his letter to the Romans, uses to describe both the impatience of creation waiting for deliverance and the way the Holy Spirit prays in the hearts of believers "with inexpressible groans" (Rom 8:26). In the groaning of Jesus we can perceive on the one hand humanity waiting and calling for deliverance, and on the other hand the Spirit interceding for us so that no human suffering leaves us indifferent. The gospel closes with the people full of amazement proclaiming: "He has done all things well: he makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak". We perceive here an anticipation of the profession of faith of the Christian community that will be total and perfect on the lips of the centurion under the cross of Christ towards the end of Mark's gospel: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mk 15:39).

3. Effatha, i.e. 'Open up' is one of the few Aramaic words directly quoted in the gospel and has remained unchanged in every language. It is found in the rite of baptism, when the celebrant touches the ears and lips of the baptised, adding: "May the Lord Jesus, who made the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak, grant that you may soon hear his word, and profess your faith to the praise and glory of God the Father. Every day we hear in the liturgy the psalmist who sings: "Lord open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise (Ps 50/51:17), and the Apostle Paul's affirmation returns frequently in preaching: "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except under the power of the Holy Spirit" (1 Co 12:3). Only God can open man's heart and make his lips worthy of honouring him. Only God saves us: it is, however, up to our freedom to choose to love him and proclaim his praise not simply in words, but with our whole life, becoming a living gospel.

Happy Sunday + Giovanni D'Ercole

XXII Sunday in O.T.  B  (1 September 2024)

1. "This great nation is the only wise and intelligent people". The statement is found in the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy and refers to what everyone could say about Israel when it remains faithful to the Covenant. The Creator's plan is that, attracted by the example of this small people who chose themselves as the driving force of humanity, the day will come when people from every continent will ask to be part of the people of the new covenant and will be able to shout with joy that they have finally found the joy of living and living together with the one God, God of all peoples.  The biblical texts of this XXII Sunday of Ordinary Time help us to discover what is the snag, rather the obstacle to the realisation of such a divine dream.  The first reading taken from Deuteronomy (written between the 8th and 6th centuries B.C.) attributes the speech to Moses, although in truth it is many years after his death, but it is as if it is intended to repeat what he would have said at that time if he were alive. Here it is insisted that nothing be added and nothing be taken away from the Law given by God to Moses on Sinai because unfortunately the people had drifted away over time and it was urgent to reaffirm the essentials of the Jewish faith, that is, the observance of the Torah that keeps the Covenant alive over the centuries. The Covenant between Yahweh and his people has two inseparable aspects. On the one hand, God faithfully fulfilled what he had promised (a land to his people), while the same cannot be said of Israel's response. Indeed, from the moment he entered the promised land, the land of Canaan, he could not resist the temptation to abandon the one God and his precepts (mitzvot) to turn to the idols of those peoples. The Lord had given him the land for him to live in in a holy way, and the term 'holy' (Kadosh) indicates someone or something that is distinct from the rest, for good or evil, and could be translated as 'separate'. We speak of a holy land, but it would be better to say "separate land", a land given to Israel to live in in a different way, and this means at least three things. Firstly, it is a land destined to be the homeland of a people that is happy because it is faithful to its God; secondly, it is a land called to become a land of justice and peace because the people has learnt from the mouth of its God that it is not the only people in the world and that it must therefore learn to cohabit with others. From this point of view, the long biblical history of Israel can be read as a path of difficult conversion from violence to fraternal openness to others. Thirdly, the Holy Land constitutes in the divine plan the space to learn to live entirely according to the Torah. We then understand the command of the Lord: "Now, Israel, listen to the laws and regulations that I teach you, that you may put them into practice, so that you may live in and possess the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is about to give you". If this text dates back to the time of the exile in Babylon, it could be interpreted as follows: Israel would never have lost this Land if it had followed the Torah and the commands of its God, but now that it is about to re-enter it, it seeks at least this time to be faithful to what guarantees its happiness. Being faithful for Israel, however, did not appear easy and that is why the sacred author, to encourage it, invents a new argument: "hearing of all these laws", that is, seeing the life and style that animates it, the other peoples will say: "This great nation is the only wise and intelligent people". Here we hear the echo of the book of Proverbs that considers the acceptance of Wisdom (Pr 9:1-6 that we heard last 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time) the best way to learn to live. Finally, a final argument: the sweetness of life under the Covenant is the unique spiritual experience Israel was privileged to have: . "What great nation has gods so close to it, as the Lord our God is close to us whenever we call upon him?"

2. In turn, we, the baptised people, can paraphrase and repeat: "What great nation has the gods as close as the Lord is to us every time we call upon him?" This question provokes us, and to attempt an answer we must start from another word of Jesus that we find today in the gospel: "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me by teaching doctrines that are the precepts of men". We are in the midst of a dispute with the Pharisees who rebuke his disciples for not observing the Torah. Mention is made here of the "tradition of the ancients": the word tradition repeated in verses 3 and 5 is not to be understood in a derogatory sense. On the contrary, it constitutes the richness of what the ancestors tried to teach about the divine Law and codified, in the form of precepts, the behaviour pleasing to God, concerning every smallest detail of daily life. This is why the Pharisees considered the observance of such discipline indispensable to preserve the identity of the Jewish people. Israel felt itself a "separate" nation to belong to God and therefore any contact with pagans constituted an impediment to its fidelity to the Covenant. This is why the Pharisees are indignant against Christ's disciples for going against the Law by eating without washing their hands.  Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Jesus calls them "hypocrites" and this severity of his calls them "hypocrites" and implies a fundamental problem that challenges our lives. In truth, Jesus also quotes the Scriptures that are for all the supreme reference of every choice and says: "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me". Herein lies the problem: the faithful observance of every norm of the Law becomes a useless cult if the doctrines that are taught are reduced to human precepts, as the prophets had already declared several times (Cf. Is 29:13). Jesus says: Neglecting the commandment of God, you keep the tradition of men". Which commandment of God he is referring to, which the Pharisees and scribes trample on, Jesus does not say, but rebukes them for "having their hearts far from God". He returns often in the Gospel to this rebuke of the Lord - fighting against any exclusion made in the name of God and this is the underlying canvas of his disputes with the religious authorities. One misunderstands the divine law if one believes that to approach God one must separate oneself from other men. On the contrary, the prophets deployed every energy to make it clear that true worship pleasing to Heaven begins with respect for every human person. If we read in Leviticus: "Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy" (19:2), let us not forget that the same God is announced by Isaiah as the God of forgiveness (Is 43) who can never lead to contempt for others. And Jesus then explains what true "purity", that is, authentic worship rendered to God, consists of. If in the biblical sense "purity" means the way of approaching God, the true purity of heart, as many prophets have repeated, is love and forgiveness, tenderness and acceptance: in a word, mercy, while the impurity that condemns in his adversaries is the hardening of the heart because it is what comes out of the human heart that makes us impure.

3. For Jesus then turns to his disciples and thus completes his teaching: For from within, that is, from the hearts of men, come forth evil intentions: impurity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and make man impure. It must be acknowledged that this is a difficult teaching to understand not only for the Pharisees, but also for us. It is, however, a lesson of life that we can only fully understand and accept because God came to dwell among us, showing by his example not to be afraid of contact with the impure beings that we are. And to encourage the disciples immediately afterwards, Jesus leaves for a region inhabited by pagans.  As in Christ's time, there is the risk of the Pharisees, which was the religious movement that arose around 135 BC out of a desire for sincere conversion. The term Pharisee means 'separate' and translates into the rejection of all political compromise and laxity in religious practice. These are two deeply felt problems and Jesus never attacks the Pharisees or refuses to talk to them, as he does with Nicodemus (Jn 3) and Simon ( Lk 7). But the pretension to the highest spiritual and religious ideal can have its pitfall: the rigour of observance can generate a conscience so centred on the pursuit of the optimum, that it despises those who do not achieve it. More profoundly, when one conceives of perfection in living exclusively and 'apart' one forgets that God's plan is to see all men united in love. If Jesus sometimes uses harsh words, it is not against the practice of the Pharisees, but he condemns those deviations concerning what is called 'Phariseeism', and no religious movement, including Christianity, is exempt from this risk.

Have a good Sunday and a happy month of September 

+Giovanni D'Ercole 

XXI Sunday in Ordinary Time  B  (25 August 2024)

1. On this XXI Sunday of Ordinary Time the Gospel concludes the discourse on the bread of life that Jesus gave in the synagogue of Capernaum. St John does not narrate after the Last Supper the institution of the Eucharist as the synoptics do, but he develops here a long catechesis on the Eucharist probably addressed to the first Christian communities that were experiencing many divisions and contrasts internally, while from outside they were persecuted because of their conversion to Christ. The discourse closes with Jesus' invitation to make a decision and this constitutes an essential motive, a real provocation, similar to what we read in the first reading from the book of Joshua, where the people, having finally reached the promised land, are provoked by Joshua to decide: "If it seems evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose today whom you will serve". Similarly, the listeners in Capernaum are put to the wall by Jesus: surely what he says is hard to understand and take in, but one must choose whether to accept or reject, abandon him or follow him, trusting him totally. Here is the inescapable question that the Lord addresses to every believer because the mystery of the Eucharist constitutes the heart and the provocation of Christianity. We are at the paradox of faith: Jesus pronounces words that from a human point of view are incomprehensible and unacceptable, and yet they give life. What to do then? To leave and abandon him like so many, or to let oneself be attracted by Christ and, like the apostles, choose to follow him? Peter on behalf of all proclaims: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and we know that you are the Holy One of God'. For the Christian, every Eucharistic celebration, ever present memory of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, is a provocation to renew this adherence of faith. To the term "Eucharistic celebration", which has now entered the language of contemporary theological discourse, must always be joined and underlined that of the sacrifice of the cross. The Protestant world willingly agrees with the term Eucharistic celebration but refuses to speak of the sacrifice of the cross made present and actual on the altar. And so, with the change in liturgical vocabulary, one could risk diminishing our faith as well. I have encountered priests who have unfortunately abandoned the Holy Eucharist as a sacrament, and the Mass for them is not the sacrifice of the Cross, but a service to the people to unify them and urge them to commit themselves to justice, solidarity and peace. It is necessary to return often to this page of John's Gospel that has guided the spirituality of centuries urging a simple and profound faith in the Eucharistic mystery before which one must let the words of Christ nourish and penetrate one's heart without pretending to be able to understand them and then explain them. This is the great lesson of the Eucharist: it is not in books that we can find the explanation of the Mystery. We can only welcome as a gift the bread of life without pretending to understand it all. By adoring and celebrating the Eucharist with faith we allow Christ to live in us and to lead us as and when he wishes into the heart of this mystery of Trinitarian Life that in the Eucharist totally envelops us and transforms us.

2. In truth one can easily realise that the whole of the fourth gospel revolves around the fundamental question for the Christian: do I believe or do I not believe? If Jesus is truly the promised Messiah, the Son of God, it is foolishness, even folly, not to welcome with wonder and gratitude the gift of himself that, without any merit on our part, God the Holy Trinity gives us in the consecrated bread and wine. Jesus had already insisted: 'My words are spirit and life; but there are some among you who do not believe' and - the evangelist specifies - 'Jesus in fact knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe and who it was who would betray him'. True, from that moment some, indeed several, abandoned him and it is at this point that Peter, on behalf of the Twelve, renews the adherence of our faith. All this takes place in Capernaum and one wonders why the evangelist considers it useful to specify it three times, in verses 17, 24, 59, if the paschal mystery, the betrayal, death and resurrection of Christ are consummated in Jerusalem. The reason is because it is precisely in Capernaum, in Galilee, on this occasion that Jesus announces his passion and the abandonment of some occurs that foreshadows and prefigures the drama of the cross. Jesus is rejected by many, the crowd of over five thousand who had witnessed the multiplication of the loaves and fishes leaves, and only the Twelve decide to stay with Christ.  Unlike the synoptic gospels, Saint John neither recounts Peter's profession of faith at Caesarea Philippi, nor does he report the announcements of the passion. There is, however, the equivalent here: the announcement of the passion is contained in these words: 'the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world' while Peter's profession of faith is inherent in these words: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and we know that you are the Holy One of God".

4. The discourse closes with Jesus' dramatic announcement: 'Is it not I who have chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" And the evangelist comments: "He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; for he was about to betray him, and he was one of the Twelve". When one thinks of Judas, one considers him to be thirsty for money and power, but one does not consider that the first time his betrayal is mentioned is precisely when Jesus announces the Eucharist and his story is linked to the Passover of the Jews: the first announcement of the Eucharist takes place on the occasion of the first Passover and the institution of the Eucharist takes place on the occasion of another, his last Passover. It is true: the first rupture in Judas' soul occurs when Jesus announces the gift of his body and blood as the food of life and the betrayal was fulfilled when during the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist. The first time Judas appears as the betrayer is precisely when Jesus revealed himself as the bread of life. On that occasion, there were three types of abandonment and detachment from Christ: The crowd abandons him because Jesus refuses to proclaim himself as a king capable of ensuring material well-being and instead proclaims himself as the bread of life; many of the disciples also abandon him because they consider the Eucharist to be a scandal; the Twelve remain, but not all of them: Judas from that moment on enters into the diabolic plan. There is here a lesson not to be underestimated by us, priests at the service of the Christian people. The Eucharist is linked to the life and mission of the priest, his faithfulness and holiness as well as his fall and betrayal are connected to his relationship with the Eucharist. The first weakening of a priest's life begins when he begins to neglect the love, devotion, visible spiritual care with which he loves, adores, cares for and celebrates the Mass, when the sensitivity of his love for the Blessed Sacrament, of which he is the instituted custodian and faithful servant, fades to the point of disappearance. Let us pray for the fidelity of priests!

+ Giovanni D'Ercole

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time  B  (18 August 2024)

1. Like last Sunday, also today St Paul, in the second reading, addresses some recommendations to the Ephesians, which we can summarise in four points: "do not live like fools, but be wise"; "make good use of the time because our days are evil"; "do not get drunk with wine that makes you lose control of yourself, but be filled with the Spirit"; "give thanks continually for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ". To live as fools or as wise is the challenge for every human being. The effort of those who want to follow Jesus is to feed on his wisdom, which is presented as a path, a way of conceiving life and behaving not in the manner of this world but according to the vocation of children of light, immersed in divine love. We are going through, St Paul observes, not easy times among people who easily become selfish, enemies of good and lovers of pleasures rather than devoting themselves to seeking the joy of God (cf. 2 Tim 3:1-7). True wisdom consists in accepting God's will every day, filling oneself not with wine that gets drunk, that is, with that which dulls the conscience and weakens the will, but with the Holy Spirit that enables one to live in praise, adoration and thanksgiving. Thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, all human existence is converted into a true liturgy because it is he who introduces us into the wisdom of Christ, the One who gives life so that the world may have life.

2. St Paul's reference to divine wisdom, and this wisdom is also spoken of in the first reading from the book of Proverbs, prepares us to meditate on today's page of John's gospel, which continues the account of the catechesis on the Eucharist that Jesus gave in the synagogue of Capernaum. Today he resumes with this statement: "The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world (v.51). Jesus is not talking about a cannibal, about anthropophagy; and his listeners are not surprised because they remotely suspect that this is absurd language. In the Jewish world, people were accustomed to using the metaphor of eating and drinking, and they knew that there are hunger and thirsts more urgent and demanding than those of the stomach. There are men who can fill their stomachs at will, but suffer from a lack of love, in the same way the human heart far from God ends up dying of spiritual starvation. Wisdom for the people of Israel is always a choice: between life or death, between good or evil, between joy or mortal sadness, between God or man.  God alone, knowing this, can give man true wisdom that does not disappoint.  In the book of Genesis, the account of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and of Adam and Eve's sin is a metaphor to say that the knowledge of what makes man truly free and happy or enslaved and unhappy is accessible only to God and man alone with his intelligence/will can never construct it (Genesis 2: 8 - 3: 24). Man then has no choice but to listen obediently to God, who wanted to give wisdom as a gift to his people, and Israel is proud to be the repository of divine wisdom before the whole world. Again in the first reading from the book of Proverbs, it is said that divine wisdom has pitched her tent on the holy mountain in Jerusalem and "she has built her house, she has carved her seven pillars. He has killed his cattle, prepared his wine and set his table, and sent his handmaidens to proclaim to the unlearned and the senseless: 'come and eat bread and drink wine that I have prepared for you'. One does not struggle to understand the connection between the gift of Wisdom and the gift of the Eucharist, everything and always in the logic of the gift.

3. The listeners in Capernaum were familiar with these Old Testament texts and were therefore astonished when Jesus spoke of himself as the bread of life and asked themselves: but for whom does this man whom we know so well take himself? They understood that Jesus was presenting himself as the Messiah they were waiting for and this was unacceptable to them. In his discourse, Jesus repeatedly insisted that he was God's Envoy to give life to the world, facing incomprehension, critical murmuring and often decisive rejection from his listeners. A rejection of his identity that Saint John already affirms in the prologue of his gospel, when he writes that the Word "came among his own and his own did not receive him" (John 1:11).  Indeed, few are able to enter gradually into the mystery of God and it is those who humbly listen to Jesus to the end instead of immediately beginning to argue. This is also true for us: only wrapped in divine wisdom that is foolishness for men can we approach the mystery. Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew among Jews, spoke in the language of the time, used the same images and symbols. Those who listened to him could understand him at least for the fact that he was using the same vocabulary and shared the same way of reasoning. Instead, the majority decided not to follow him and this happened at many points in his life.  Since there is no account in the Fourth Gospel, as there is in the Synoptics, of the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday after the Last Supper, this discourse constitutes a first major catechesis on the Eucharistic mystery. When John writes the gospel, the first Christian communities had already been accustomed for several years to feed on the body and blood of Christ every Sunday and were trying to understand this mystery. But more than trying to understand - Jesus says - it is necessary with humility to let oneself be infected by the mystery.  In the heart of the Eucharistic prayer even the celebrant proclaims it: this is the 'Mystery of Faith'. To enter into the mystery of the Eucharist is beyond our capacity, and so it is necessary to allow ourselves to be enlightened and led by God. And Jesus further explains: "As the Father who lives has sent me and I live for the Father, so also he who eats me will live for me". Living his own life: this is God's gift to mankind in the Eucharist. Jesus had proclaimed that his word is nourishment for the world, but here he goes much further, he speaks of flesh to be eaten that becomes food to be assimilated not only for ourselves but for the good of humanity: "The bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world". It refers to his passion and death and resurrection as the entire New Testament makes us realise that the world has found life again thanks to the gift of Christ's glorious cross, that is, victorious over death. Let us not be surprised if we struggle to understand with our intelligence because the only way forward is not to try to understand, but to allow ourselves to be drawn by God. To those who murmured among themselves when Jesus had said that he was the bread that came down from heaven, Jesus had replied: "It is written in the prophets: And all shall be taught of God. So everything is difficult for man if God himself does not come to instruct us. When we listen to the teachings of the Father we meet Jesus because 'no one comes to me', he insists, 'unless my Father draws him'. In the Eucharist we are drawn: it is the Most Holy Trinity who divinely draws us to himself. Yes, in the Eucharistic celebration, we enter into the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Before, during and after we remain in adoration, allowing ourselves to be instructed and transformed by God Most Holy Trinity and Infinite Mercy. This is the example of the saints, who draw from immersion in the mystery of the Holy Trinity the strength to love all in truth. And this is a gift offered to all. During his short life, Charles Acutis, a teenager already blessed and soon to be proclaimed a saint lived on the Eucharist. He said: "The Eucharist is my highway to Paradise", and "if we stand before the sun, we become brown, but when we stand before Jesus in the Eucharist, we become holy".

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary (15 August 2024)

1. In the heart of summer, the liturgy invites us to celebrate the Virgin Mary assumed into heaven, a sign of consolation and sure hope for all. It was Pope Pius XII, on 1 November in the Holy Year of 1950, who declared as dogma (i.e. truth of faith) the Assumption of Mary to heavenly glory in body and soul. Today's Gospel of Luke presents Mary as the one who is blessed because she believed. To Elizabeth's greeting, "To what do I owe that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" she responds with her silence, which eventually expands into the singing of the Magnificat.  In her place, Jesus in gestation within her speaks mysteriously, causing John the Baptist to leap for joy in the womb of the elderly Elizabeth. Here is Mary, the Ark of the new covenant, the first itinerant tabernacle of the Eucharist in the history of humanity, a model of evangelisation: proclaiming the gospel without the need for words, carrying Christ in one's heart. Among Muslims, Saint Charles de Foucauld chose the icon of the Visitation as a reference for his mission as a little brother to all. He wanted to be like Mary in constant adoration of the Eucharist and listening to the needs of the people first at Beni-Abbès, on the border between Algeria and Morocco, and then at Tamanrasset among the Tuaregs of the Sahara desert. The Ark of the new covenant, Mary continues to walk today and enters our homes as the Ark of the covenant did in the Old Testament when it was taken from Jerusalem to the hills of Judea and entered the house of Obed Edom for three months, bringing joy there (2 S 6:11-12). The prayer, the Magnificat canticle with which she responds to Elizabeth, is a sylloge of many small fragments of biblical texts and psalms. She did not want to invent her own prayer, but took up various expressions of her ancestors in faith, thus embodying her prayer in the life of humanity. Mary, a humble and believing woman, offers us a valuable lesson: in this very difficult time for humanity where God is being provoked with every offence and a war is being risked that could create the self-destruction of humanity, we must go back to silencing so much controversy and so many debates and clashes. We must take responsibility for what we say and do, knowing that we are part of the same humanity and for better or for worse we touch the lives of all. The believer cannot forget that every vocation, even in the plurality of differences, makes us servants of the one people called to face a hard fight against the powers of evil in every age.   

2. This war without frontlines is referred to in the first reading, taken from the book of Revelation, which sees as the victor the "Woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars", accompanied by other symbolic images: the Ark of the covenant, the dragon and the newborn child.  The Ark of the Covenant, as already mentioned, is a reference to the golden wooden Ark that accompanied God's people during the exodus to Sinai. When John writes the Revelation, the Ark of the Covenant had already been lost for many years during the Babylonian exile and everyone thought that the prophet Jeremiah had hidden it in a secret place on Mount Nebo (2 M 2:8) and it would reappear at the arrival of the Messiah. If John describes her as having been found, it means that the promise has now been fulfilled, God's covenant with humanity has been definitively realised through the birth of the Messiah (Rev 11:19). The "Woman clothed with the sun" is pregnant and "cries out in labour pains". The Woman is the image of the chosen people within which the Messiah is born, a painful birth because it is a people marked by suffering, divisions and persecutions. With the advent of Jesus, it was not difficult for the first Christians to associate in the Woman of the Apocalypse the call to the Church, new Israel, and to Mary, the Mother of the Saviour. Before the Woman stands "a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and on its heads seven diadems" to devour her newborn son, a striking symbol of the forces of evil unleashed against God's plan.  Its head and horns indicate the intelligence and violence of Satan's power to destroy humanity. The dragon seems to prevail because it shoots down a third of the stars in the sky to plunge them to earth, an eloquent parable of the travails of a universe never at peace. Despite its power, however, it succeeds in knocking down only a third of the stars. It is therefore an illusory victory and the message is clear: the power of evil is provisional and it will be the newborn child destined to rule all nations that will bring it down for good. Everyone recognises in this newborn child, triumphant over the satanic powers, the Messiah since there are clear references in Revelation to the psalms that foresaw his coming: "The Lord has said to me: You are my son, I have begotten you today. Ask me and I will give thee the nations as an inheritance, and in thy dominion the far-off lands. You shall break them with scepter of iron, like pots of clay you shall shatter them." (Ps 2:7-9).  Moreover, in the rapture of the newborn child is symbolised the resurrection of the risen Christ, victor over death and seated at the right hand of the Father. The Messiah is joined by the reference to Mary, the Immaculate Virgin Mother, always represented in the act of crushing the head of the serpent-dragon, who having failed in heaven will not succeed on earth either. How then can one fail to love Mary by entering into her Immaculate Heart, the "safe refuge of souls"?

3. Mary is the support of our hope because she is the Woman of faith who accepted God's plan without fully understanding, indeed a sword pierced her soul as old Simeon had foretold (Lk 2:35). The tradition of the Church from the beginning has inseparably associated her with Jesus, the unsurpassable model of total adherence to God's will. Indeed, he himself teaches us with the prayer of the 'Our Father' to abandon ourselves fearlessly into the arms of the heavenly Father, saying with our lives: 'Thy will be done'. Mary, like all of us, knew toil, pain and death; by a special privilege, however, death was for her a falling asleep, thus entering into glory in God. By contemplating her we can understand what awaited mankind if our forefathers had not committed the first sin that condemned us to the sufferings of death. In the light of Mary we can therefore affirm two truths: Our body, because of original sin, is subject to the labours, suffering and death that decompose our mortal being. Mary assumed into heaven assures us, however, that if death has entered because of sin, God can transform it and give us back immortal life as a gift. This is the message of today's Feast of the Assumption, an occasion to reflect, pray and trust in God's mercy that in Mary shows us the victory of love over hate and of life over death. Let us pause to contemplate Mary with this prayer of St Bernard: "Whoever you are, you who feel that in the flux of this world you are swaying between gales and storms instead of walking securely on the earth, do not avert your eyes from the splendour of this star, if you do not want to be overwhelmed by storms! If the winds of temptation rise, if you come upon the rocks of tribulation, look to the star, call upon Mary. If you are buffeted by the waves of pride, ambition, slander, jealousy, look to the star, call upon Mary. If wrath or avarice or the lure of the flesh have shaken the ship of your soul, look to Mary. If troubled by the enormity of sins, confused by the unworthiness of conscience, frightened by the horror of judgement, you begin to be engulfed in the abyss of sadness, in the abyss of despair, think of Mary. In dangers, in anxieties, in uncertainties, think of Mary, invoke Mary. Do not turn away from your mouth, do not turn away from your heart. And to obtain the suffrage of her prayer, do not abandon the example of her life gathered in God. Following Her you do not go astray, praying to Her you do not despair, thinking of Her you do not err. If she holds you, you do not fall; if she protects you, you do not fear; if she guides you, you do not grow weary; if she gives you her favour, you reach your goal, and so you experience for yourself how rightly it has been said: "And the Virgin's name was Mary" (In laudibus Virginis Matris II, 17).

+ Giovanni D’Ercole