"Heart of Jesus, victim of sins, have mercy on us".

1. Dear brothers and sisters, this invocation of the Litany of the Sacred Heart reminds us that Jesus, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, "was put to death for our sins" (Rom 4:25); although, in fact, he had committed no sin, "God treated him as sin for our sake" (2 Cor 5:21). On the Heart of Christ weighed, immense, the weight of the world's sin.

In him, the figure of the "Passover lamb" was perfectly fulfilled, the victim offered to God so that in the sign of his blood the first-born of the Hebrews might be spared (cf. Ex 12:21-27). Rightly, therefore, John the Baptist recognised in him the true "Lamb of God" (Jn 1:29): - innocent lamb, who had taken upon himself the sin of the world in order to immerse it in the healing waters of the Jordan (cf. Mt 3:3-16 et par.); - meek lamb, "led to the slaughter, as a sheep mute before her shearers" (Is 53:7), so that by his divine silence the proud word of unrighteous men might be confounded.

Jesus is a willing victim, because he offered himself "freely to his passion" (Missale Romanum, Prex euchar. II), as a victim of atonement for the sins of men (cf. Lev 1:4; Heb 10:5-10). which he consumed in the fire of his love.

2. Jesus is an eternal victim. Risen from the dead and glorified at the right hand of the Father, he preserves in his immortal body the marks of the wounds of the pierced hands and feet, of the pierced side (cf. Jn 20:27; Lk 24:39-40) and presents them to the Father in his unceasing prayer of intercession on our behalf (cf. Heb 7:25; Rom 8:34).

The admirable sequence of the Easter Mass, recalling this fact of our faith, exhorts:

"To the paschal victim, / let the sacrifice of praise rise today. / The lamb has redeemed his flock. / The innocent has reconciled us sinners with the Father" (Sequentia "Victimae Paschali", str. 1).

And the preface of that solemnity proclaims:

Christ is "the true Lamb who took away the sins of the world, / it is he who by dying destroyed death, / and by rising again gave us life".

3. Brothers and sisters, in this hour of the Marian prayer we have contemplated the Heart of Jesus, the victim of our sins; but first of all and more profoundly than all we contemplated his sorrowful Mother, of whom the liturgy sings: "For the sins of her people / she saw Jesus in the torments / of the harsh torment" (Sequentia "Stabat Mater", str 7).

As we approach the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Sorrows, let us remember this intrepid and interceding presence of Our Lady beneath the Cross of Calvary, and let us think with immense gratitude that, at that moment, the dying Christ, victim of the sins of the world, entrusted her to us as Mother: "Behold your Mother" (Jn 19:27).

To Mary we entrust our prayer, as we say to her Son Jesus:

Heart of Jesus,

victim of our sins,

receive our praise,

everlasting gratitude,

sincere repentance.
Have mercy on us,

today and always. Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, Angelus 10 September 1989]

At the centre of today’s Gospel reading (Jn 1:29-34) there is this message of John the Baptist: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (v. 29). It is a message accompanied by the gaze and the hand gesture that indicate Him, Jesus.

Let us imagine the scene. We are on the bank of the River Jordan. John is baptizing; there are many people, men and women of various ages, who have come there, to the river, to receive baptism from the hands of the man who reminded many of Elijah, the great Prophet who nine centuries before had purified the Israelites of idolatry and led them back to the true faith in the God of the Covenant, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

John preaches that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, that the Messiah is about to reveal himself, and one must prepare, convert and act with righteousness; and he begins to baptize in the River Jordan in order to give the people a tangible means of repentance (cf. Mt 3:1-6). These people came to repent their sins, to make penance, to begin their life anew. He knows; John knows that the Messiah, the Lord’s Consecrated One, is now nearby, and the sign to recognize Him will be that the Holy Spirit will descend upon Him. Indeed, He will bring the true baptism, baptism in the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 1:33).

And thus, the moment arrives: Jesus appears on the river bank, in the midst of the people, the sinners — like all of us. It is his first public act, the first thing he does when he leaves his home in Nazareth, at the age of 30: he goes down into Judea, goes to the Jordan, and is baptized by John. We know what happens. We celebrated it last Sunday: the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father proclaims him the beloved Son (cf. Mt 3:16-17). It is the sign that John has been waiting for. It is He! Jesus is the Messiah. John is disconcerted, because He manifests himself in an unimaginable way: in the midst of sinners, baptized with them, or rather, for them. But the Spirit enlightens John and helps him understand that in this way God’s justice is fulfilled, his plan of salvation is fulfilled: Jesus is the Messiah, the King of Israel, however, not with the power of this world but as the Lamb of God, who takes upon himself and takes away the sins of the world.

Thus, John points Him out to the people and to his disciples. Because John had a large circle of disciples, who had chosen him as a spiritual guide, and some of them actually become the first disciples of Jesus. We know their names well: Simon, later called Peter, his brother Andrew, James and his brother John. All were fishermen, all Galileans, like Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, why have we focused so long on this scene? Because it is decisive! It is not an anecdote. It is a decisive historical fact! This scene is decisive for our faith; and it is also decisive for the Church’s mission. The Church, in every time, is called to do what John the Baptist did: point Jesus out to the people, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”. He is the One Saviour! He is the Lord, humble, in the midst of sinners, but it is He, He: there is no other powerful one who comes; no, no it is He!

These are the words that we priests repeat each day, during the Mass, when we present to the people the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. This liturgical gesture represents the whole mission of the Church, which she does not proclaim herself. Woe, woe when the Church proclaims herself; she loses her bearings, she doesn’t know where she is going! The Church proclaims Christ; she does not bring herself, she brings Christ. Because it is He and only He who saves his people from sin, frees them and guides them to land and to true freedom.

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Lamb of God, help us to believe in Him and follow Him.

[Pope Francis, Angelus January 15, 2017]

No one way

(Jn 1:19-28)

"Behind me" [v.27 Greek text] is the position of the disciple in relation to that taken by the master.

Jesus as a seeker chose the school of John, whose pupil he became, then deviated from it - even snatching away some admirers.

At some point in his journey he realised that our spiritual journey does not rest on easy exclusions: moralistic, one-sided, abstract - established by disinfecting nomenclatures (institutional or expelled).

The Father's heart is beyond divisive and purist expectations, which even the Baptiser considered unquestionable and inculcated in his pupils.

God works only in favour of life: his actions are all positive - humanising, restorative, awareness and integration of personal being - not rejection.

In his school one grows by treasuring oneself, relationships, things as they are and where they are; in an integral way. No one should be stagnant, or in competition with the other.

Non-negotiable principle: God and his children are in the middle, not in front.

No one is called to stand behind and follow: all must express themselves. On a vocational basis, everyone is already perfect!

This is why Jesus will invite his disciples, even those who are a little unhinged, to become fishers of men.

At all times, his intimates are called to breathe, drawing their brethren from whirlpools of death - not to become guides, directors and managers, i.e. 'shepherds'.

No one is destined to be good and dead in some flock, led by the know-it-all. Wealth is not outside us.

The only leader and model is the divine Spirit, who ceaselessly amazes.

Impetuous wind: you do not know where it comes from nor where it goes (Jn 3:8), but it exclusively transmits life - even from forms and events of death.

Being is accentuated and rejoices only when one's resources are discovered, not 'repaired'. And welcomed, valued, brought into play, amplified, exchanged, energised in a relationship of reciprocity.

God is not a sequester, and has multifaceted particular languages; for each of his children, his own unrepeatable path.

The Eternal One dreams for each of us an exceptional, unique, non-homologisable path and missionary fulfilment.

Traditional religions, for example, exorcise negative emotions, imperfection.

They abhor limitation, deny adversity; they are not OK with whatever happens. In fact, they want relationships, evidence, and souls always settled.

Too many forms of devotion preach inner warfare, even overtly.

So too, unfortunately, did John, setting women and men against themselves or their character, and spontaneous movements.

Guises that turn people into outsiders.

Conversely, the Father wants to bring life and blossom; therefore he is not always full of opinions.

The Lord draws wonders that will make a stir, precisely from the dark sides; transformed into sources of new magics.

To the early Christians, the disciples of the Baptist asked for explanations about Christ:

"You who believe Jesus to be the Messiah, do you not remember that it was our teacher who baptised him, joining him to his school? How can the Anointed One make himself a disciple of others, and have to learn something?"

The little children of God, however, had already passed from the pyramidal and apodictic mentality of the religions of the past [where models fall like lightning and instigate tribunals: vv.19-25] to the concrete idea of the Incarnation.

[The true theology of the Incarnation is completed in fieri, and in the meantime should sweep away all mental cages, even in the seemingly scruffy age of global crisis and critical emergency].

Even today, the engagement with history and its new energy are knocking out all clichés, even of belief.

But the anxiety it generates in us is for the birth of a new Life, more able to perceive: attentive and authentic.

Jesus knew everyone's existential penury: needs, ignorance, growth; like every man. And he experienced within himself and understood the natural-supernatural value of exploration.

Rather than having to be 'tweaked', reformed and castrated upstream, the new Rebbe made an even diverse and non-conformist Exodus himself, which enriched him.

He too had to correct his initial path [as a disciple of John (v.27a) along with those who later became the first Apostles] and recast himself: added value, not impurity.

He did everything as we do, without the disease of one-sided doctrinaireism; that is why we truly recognise ourselves in Christ, in his Word, and in his loving story.

And recognise him as the Bridegroom of the soul (v.27b).

It is fully human to proceed by trial and error, adjusting one's aim as one realises - healing one's approach, both to the intuition of the divine, and to the creaturely sense.Thus avoiding becoming neurotic by adaptation, because as one proceeds, each soul treasures the experiences and prepares to offer a personal synthesis.

It is this unitive dignity that engages in Love. We are not called to be strong-armed regardless.

The fake-secure then sow the most bizarre uncertainties, and make the worst trouble, for everyone.

They create environments that look like cemeteries frequented by depersonalised zombies [Pope Francis would say]. And cunning ones who direct.

In his all-too-human Quest, Jesus gradually understood that the Father's own intimate Life is offered as a Gift: a Surprise on our behalf.

Impossible to coin it to the measure of ancient prejudices.

Unlikely - therefore - to set up some kind of manifestation of the Messiah from our preconceptions, or U-shaped ethical conversions, laced with returns, set-ups, events, initiatives.

The Most High continually unsettles us, and by no means traces established opinions, or mannerisms.

Happiness is outside sterile mechanisms that plan the smallest details. It is rather Covenant with the shadow side, which nevertheless belongs to us.

Sacred Covenant that conveys completeness of being: perception-threshold of Joy.

In short, we are immersed in a Mystery of Gratuity and vital amazement that transcends normalised growth, all under conditions.

The Tao Tê Ching (LI) writes: "No one commands the Tao, but it always comes spontaneously". And Master Ho-shang Kung comments: "The Tao not only brings creatures to life, but also makes them grow, nourishes them, completes them, matures them, repairs them, develops them, keeps them whole in life.

The Father brings them to life in the Spirit, without a rigmarole of progressions in stages and steps.

Other people's procedures, which instead of regenerating existence always throw in our faces the suspicion that we are inadequate, bogged down, incapable of perfection, and old.

Cassian and eventually also Thomas Aquinas would perhaps have classified them under the title of 'spiritual vices', as expressions derived from 'fornicatio mentis' [et corporis].

While the Baptist and the whole serious tradition imagined that it was so much to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus instead proposed to welcome it: the only possibility of Perfection and fruitful Youth.

We no longer exist as a function of God - as in religions that are always arranging everything - but we live from Him, in astonishment and in an unrepeatable way.

Master Ho-shang Kung again emphasises: 'The Tao makes creatures live, but it does not hold them as its own: what they take is for their benefit'.

It is the end of models for “held back” schoolchildren - neither natural nor intuitive. Paradigms that have subjected civilisations to gruelling trials: they are not ours.

Even now, many hyperbole, and even 'religious' efforts, are not in favour of vocational paths in the first person.

The conformist and pre-packaged [glamorous or vain] paths appear ethereal, or renunciate, puritanical, voluntarist, athletic; as well as imaginative, but all schematic, and disembodied.

They always mount scaffolding far removed from the reality that comes, and from the genuine things of Heaven.

For those of us who are uncertain, inadequate, incapable of miracles - and who dislike cerebral ideologies or the separatism of all-singing, all-dancing heroes - Beautiful is this stubborn reassurance!

Wealth is not outside us.

To internalise and live the message:

Who is the Subject of your spiritual life? Where does he dwell?

(Jn 1:19-28)

The Father’s heart is beyond divisive and purist expectations, which even the Baptizer considered indisputable and inculcated in his pupils.

God works only in favor of life: his actions are all positive - humanizing, recovery - not rejection.

‘Being’ is accentuated and rejoices only when the resources of each are discovered, welcomed, valued; not "repaired".

Traditional religions exorcise negative emotions, imperfection; they abhor the limit. They want relationships, things and souls always settled.

The Father, on the other hand, desires to bring life and blossom; therefore, He’s not always full of opinions.

He draws wonders that will make a sensation, right from the dark sides; transformed into sources of new magic.

Jesus knew the existential scarcity of all us: the needs, the growth; like every man. And he lived in himself and understood the value of exploration.

Instead of getting "tweaked" and reformed, the new Rabbi himself performed a non-conformist Exodus, which enriched him.

He too had to correct the initial path [as a disciple of John (v.27a) along with those who later became first Apostles] and change his mind: added value, not impurity.

He has done everything as we do, without unilateral attitudes; that is why we can truly recognise ourselves in Christ, in his Word, and in his very lovable story.

And recognize him as the Bridegroom of the soul (v.27b).

It’s such uniting dignity that involves in Love. We are not called to be strong regardless.

In his all-human Quest, Jesus has gradually understood that Father’s own Intimate Life is offered as Gift - a Surprise in our favour: impossible to coin it tailored to prejudices [ancient, or following the latest fashion].

The Most High displaces us all the time, and in no way follows established opinions, or mannerisms.

Happiness is out of sterile mechanisms that design the smallest details. It is rather Alliance with the shadow side, which nevertheless belongs to us.

Sacred Covenant that transmits completeness of being: perception-threshold of the Joy.

In short, we are immersed in a Mystery of Gratuity and vital amazement that goes beyond normalized growth, under conditions.

Procedures of others. Cassian and finally also Thomas Aquinas would perhaps have classified them with the title of ‘spiritual vices’, as expressions derived from «fornicatio mentis» [et corporis].

While the Baptist and all the earnest tradition imagined having to ‘prepare’ so much for the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus instead proposed to ‘welcome’ it: the only possibility of Perfection and fruitful Youth.

We no longer exist in function of God - as in religions that always and everything dispose - but we live of Him, with astonishment and in an unrepeatable way.

It is the end of unnatural models - for “held back” schoolchildren.

For us who are uncertain, inadequate, incapable of miracles - How reassuring!

Wealth is not outside of us.

[St. Basil and Gregory, January 2]

This period of the liturgical year brings into the limelight the two figures who played a preeminent role in the preparation for the historic coming of the Lord Jesus: the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist. Today’s text from Mark’s Gospel focuses on the latter. Indeed, it describes the personality and mission of the Precursor of Christ (cf. Mk 1:2-8). Starting with his external appearance, John is presented as a very ascetic figure: he was clothed in camel-skin and his food was locusts and wild honey that he found in the Judaean desert (cf. Mk 1:6).

Jesus himself once compared him to the people “in kings’ houses” who are “clothed in soft raiment” (Mt 11:8). John the Baptist’s style must remind all Christians to opt for a lifestyle of moderation, especially in preparation for the celebration of the Christmas festivity, in which the Lord, as St Paul would say, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

With regard to John’s mission, it was an extraordinary appeal to conversion: his baptism “is connected with an ardent call to a new way of thinking and acting, but above all with the proclamation of God’s judgment” (Jesus of Nazareth, I, p. 14; English translation, Doubleday, New York, 2007) and by the imminent appearance of the Messiah, described as “he who is mightier than I”, who “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7, 8).

John’s appeal therefore goes further and deeper than a lifestyle of moderation: it calls for inner conversion, based on the individual’s recognition and confession of his or her sin. While we are preparing for Christmas, it is important that we reenter ourselves and make a sincere examination of our life. Let us permit ourselves to be illuminated by a ray of light that shines from Bethlehem, the light of the One who is “the Mightiest” who made himself lowly, “the Strongest” who made himself weak.

All four Evangelists describe John the Baptist’s preaching with reference to a passage from the Prophet Isaiah: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). Mark also inserted a citation from another prophet, Malachi, who said: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way” (Mk 1:2; cf. Mal 3:1).

These references to Old Testament Scriptures “envisage a saving intervention of God, who emerges from his hiddenness to judge and to save; it is for this God that the door is to be opened and the way made ready” (Jesus of Nazareth, I, op. cit., p. 15).

Let us entrust to Mary, the Virgin of expectation, our journey towards the Lord who comes, as we continue on our Advent itinerary in order to prepare our hearts and our lives for the coming of the Emmanuel, God-with-us.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus December 4, 2011]

1. Fathers of the Church are rightly called those saints who, by the strength of their faith and the depth and richness of their teachings, regenerated and greatly increased it during the first centuries (cf. Gal 4:19; Vincentii Lirinensis "Commonitorium", I,3: PL 50, 641).

Truly "fathers" of the Church, because from them, through the Gospel, she received life (cf. 1 Cor 4:15). And also its builders, because from them - on the unique foundation laid by the apostles, which is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11) - the Church of God was built in its load-bearing structures.

From the life drawn from her fathers the Church still lives today; and on the structures laid by her first builders she is still being built today, in the joy and sorrow of her daily journey and labour.

Fathers, then, were, and remain, fathers forever: they themselves, in fact, are a stable structure of the Church, and for the Church of all centuries they fulfil an everlasting function. So that every subsequent proclamation and magisterium, if it is to be authentic, must be compared with their proclamation and magisterium; every charism and every ministry must draw from the vital source of their paternity; and every new stone, added to the holy edifice that grows and expands every day (cf. Eph 2:21), must fit into the structures already laid by them, and weld and connect with them.

Guided by these certainties, the Church does not tire of returning to their writings - full of wisdom and incapable of growing old - and of continually renewing their memory. It is therefore with great joy that in the course of the liturgical year we meet our fathers again and again: and each time we are confirmed in our faith and encouraged in our hope.

And even greater is our joy when particular circumstances invite us to meet them in a more prolonged and profound way. Of such a nature is precisely the occasion of this year, which marks the sixteenth centenary since the transit of our father Basil, Bishop of Caesarea.

2. The life and ministry of St Basil

Among the Greek fathers called 'great', in Byzantine liturgical texts Basil is invoked as 'light of piety' and 'luminary of the Church'. Indeed, he enlightened her and still enlightens her: no less by 'the purity of his life' than by the excellence of his doctrine. For the first and greatest teaching of the saints is still their lives.

Born into a family of saints, Basil also had the privilege of an elite education from the most reputable teachers in Constantinople and Athens.

But it seemed to him that his life really began only when, in a fuller and more decisive way, he was given to know Christ as his Lord: that is, when, irresistibly attracted by him, he practised that radical detachment that he would later inculcate so much in his teaching (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 933c-941a), and became his disciple.

He then set out to follow Christ, wishing to be conformed to him alone: looking to him alone, listening to him alone (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,1: PG 31, 860bc), and in all things considering him his only "sovereign, king, physician, and teacher of truth" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I,1: PG 31, 1516b).

Without hesitation, therefore, he abandoned those studies that he had loved so much and from which he had drawn immense treasures of knowledge (cf. Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 525c-528c): having decided to serve God alone, he no longer wished to know anything apart from Christ (cf. 1 Cor 2:2), and he considered all wisdom other than that of the cross to be vanity. These are his own words, with which, already towards the end of his life, he recalled the event of his conversion: "I had wasted much time in vanity, losing almost all my youth in the vain work to which I applied myself in order to learn the teachings of that wisdom which God has made foolish (cf. 1 Cor 1:20); until one day, as if waking from a deep sleep, I looked upon the admirable light of the truth of the Gospel, and considered the futility of the wisdom of the princes of this world who are reduced to impotence (cf. 1 Cor 2:6). Then I wept much over my miserable life" (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223: PG 32, 824a).

He wept over his life, although even before - according to the testimony of Gregory of Nazianzen, his fellow student - it was humanly exemplary (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 521cd): it nevertheless seemed "miserable" to him, because it was not totally and exclusively consecrated to God, who is the only Lord.

With irrepressible impatience, he therefore interrupted the studies he had undertaken and, abandoning the masters of Hellenic wisdom, he "crossed many lands and many seas" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 204: PG 32, 753a) in search of other masters: those "fools" and the poor who in the deserts practised a very different wisdom.

He thus began to learn things that had never risen to the human heart (cf. 1 Cor 2:9), truths that rhetoricians and philosophers could never have taught him (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223": PG 32, 824bd). And in this new wisdom he then grew day by day, in a marvellous itinerary of grace: through prayer, mortification, the exercise of charity, continuous commerce with the holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Fathers (cf. praesertim S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et 22).

He was soon called to the ministry.

But even in the service of souls, with wise balance he was able to combine tireless preaching with spaces of solitude and ample prayer. In fact, he considered this to be of imperative necessity for the 'purification of the soul' (St Basilii "Epistula" 2: PG 32, 228a; cf. "Epistula" 210: PG 32, 769a), and thus so that the proclamation of the word could always be confirmed by the 'evident example' of life (St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 43: PG 31, 1028a-1029b; cf. "Moralia", LXX, 10: PG 31, 824d-825b).

Thus he became a pastor and was at the same time, in the most substantial sense of the term, a monk; indeed, he was certainly among the greatest of the Church's monk-shepherds: a singularly complete figure of a bishop, and a great promoter and legislator of monasticism.

In fact, on the strength of his own personal experience, Basil strongly contributed to the formation of communities of Christians totally consecrated to "divine service" (S.Benedicti "Regula", Prologus), and took on the commitment and effort to support them with frequent visits (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 536b): for his own and their edification he entertained admirable conversations with them, many of which, by the grace of God, have been transmitted to us in writing (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", Proemium: PG 31, 1080ab). Various legislators of monasticism drew on these writings, not least St Benedict himself, who considers Basil as his teacher (cf. S.Benedicti "Regula", LXXIII,5); from these writings - directly or indirectly known - most of those who, in the East as in the West, embraced monastic life were inspired.

This is why it is believed by many that the capital structure of the Church's life that is monasticism was laid down, throughout the centuries, mainly by St Basil; or at least that it was not defined in its proper nature without his decisive contribution.

Basil had much to suffer for the evils in which the People of God groaned in that difficult hour (cf. St Basil "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b). He denounced them frankly, and, with lucidity and love, identified their causes, in order to courageously set about a vast work of reform. That is to say, the work - to be pursued in every age, to be renewed in every generation - aimed at restoring the Church of the Lord, "for whom Christ died and on whom he poured out his Spirit abundantly" (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b), to its primitive form: to that normative image, beautiful and pure, that the word of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles convey to us. How many times does Basil recall, with passion and constructive nostalgia, the time when "the multitude of believers were one heart and one soul"! (Acts 4:32; cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 36, 660c; cf. "Regulae fusius tractatae", 7: PG 31, 933c; cf. "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325ab).

His reform efforts turned together, with harmony and completeness, to practically all aspects and spheres of Christian life.

By the very nature of his ministry, the Bishop is first and foremost pontiff of his people - and the People of God are first and foremost priestly people.

He cannot therefore in any way neglect the liturgy - its strength and richness, its beauty, its 'truth' - a Bishop who is truly concerned for the good of the Church. In his pastoral work, indeed, commitment to the liturgy logically stands at the apex of everything and concretely on top of every other choice: the liturgy, in fact - as the Second Vatican Council recalls - is "the summit towards which the action of the Church tends, and at the same time the source from which all its virtue flows" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 10), so that "no other action of the Church equals its effectiveness" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 7).

Basil showed himself perfectly aware of this, and the "legislator of monks" (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzenii "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 541c) was also a wise "liturgical reformer".

Of his work in this sphere remains, a most precious legacy for the Church of all times, the anaphora that legitimately bears his name: the great Eucharistic prayer that, recast and enriched by him, is beautiful among the most beautiful.

Not only: the same fundamental ordering of the psalmody prayer had in him one of its greatest inspirers and creators (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et "Regula fusius tractatae", 37: PG 31, 1013b-1016c). Thus, above all because of the impetus given by him, psalmody - "spiritual incense", breath and comfort of the People of God (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212a-213c) - was greatly loved by the faithful in his Church, and became known to the young and the old, the learned and the uncultured (cf.) As Basil himself reports: 'Among us the people get up at night to go to the house of prayer,... and spend the night alternating between psalms and prayers' (St Basil "Epistula" 207: PG 32, 764ab). The psalms, which rumbled like thunder in the churches (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561cd), were also heard resounding in the houses and squares (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212c).

Basil loved the Church with jealous love (cf. 2 Cor 11:2): and knowing his virginity and his own faith, of the purity of this faith he was a most vigilant guardian.

For this she had to and knew how to fight with courage: not against men, but against every adulteration of the word of God (cf. 2 Cor 2:17), every falsification of the truth, every tampering with the holy deposit (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) handed down by the Fathers. His impetus therefore had nothing of passion: it was strength of love; and his clarity nothing of punctiliousness: it was delicacy of love.

Thus, from the beginning to the end of his ministry he fought to preserve intact the meaning of the Nicaean formula regarding the divinity of Christ "consubstantial" to the Father (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 9: PG 32, 72a; "Epistula" 52: PG 32, 392b-396a; "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 556c); and equally he fought so that the glory of the Spirit should not be diminished, who, "being part of the Trinity and being of the divine and blessed nature of it" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 243: PG 32, 909a), must be with the Father and the Son connumerated and conglorified (cf.)

With firmness, and personally exposing himself to grave dangers, he also watched over and fought for the freedom of the Church: as a true bishop, he did not hesitate to oppose the rulers in order to defend his right and the right of the People of God to profess the truth and obey the Gospel (cf. St Gregorii Nazianzen "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 557c-561c). The Nazianzen, who relates a salient episode of this struggle, makes it very clear that the secret of his strength lay only in the very simplicity of his proclamation, in the clarity of his witness, and in the defenceless majesty of his priestly dignity (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561c-564b).

No less severity than against heresies and tyrants, Basil showed against misunderstandings and abuses within the Church: particularly, against worldliness and attachment to possessions.

What moved him was, still and always, the same love for the truth and the Gospel; although in a different way, it was still the Gospel, in fact, that was denied and contradicted: both by the error of the heresiarchs and by the selfishness of the rich.

In this regard, the texts of some of his speeches are memorable and remain exemplary: "Sell what you have and give it to the poor (Mt 19:22); ... for even if you have not killed or committed adultery or stolen or borne false witness, it is of no use to you if you do not also do the rest: only in this way can you enter the kingdom of God" (St Basilii "Homilia in divites": PG 31, 280b-281a). For whoever, according to God's commandment, wants to love his neighbour as himself (cf. Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19), "must possess nothing more than what his neighbour possesses" (S.Basilii "Homilia in divites" PG 31, 281b).

And even more passionately, in times of famine, he exhorted "not to show oneself more cruel than beasts,... by putting in your bosom what is common, and possessing alone what is everyone's" (cf. St Basilii "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325a).

A disconcerting and beautiful radicalism, and a strong appeal to the Church of all times to seriously confront the Gospel.

To the Gospel, which commands love and service of the poor, in addition to these words Basil bore witness with immense works of charity; such as the construction, at the gates of Caesarea, of a gigantic hospice for the needy (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 94: PG 32, 488bc): a true city of mercy that he named Basiliades (cf. Sozosemi "Historia Eccl." VI, 34: PG 67, 1397a), also an authentic moment of the unique Gospel proclamation.

It was the same love for Christ and his Gospel that made him suffer so much from the divisions of the Church and that with such perseverance, hoping contra spem, made him seek a more effective and manifest communion with all the Churches (cf. St Basilii "Epistulae" 70 et 243).

It is the very truth of the Gospel, in fact, that is obscured by the discord of Christians, and it is Christ Himself who is torn by it (cf. 1 Cor 1:13). The division of believers contradicts the power of the one baptism (cf. Eph 4:4), which in Christ makes us one, indeed one mystical person (cf. Gal 3:28); it contradicts the sovereignty of Christ, the only king to whom all must equally be subject; it contradicts the authority and unifying force of the word of God, the only law to which all believers must unanimously obey (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653a-656c).

The division of the Churches is thus a fact so clearly and directly anti-Christological and anti-Biblical that, according to Basil, the way to the restoration of unity can only be the re-conversion of all to Christ and his word (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b-661a).

In the multifaceted exercise of his ministry Basil thus became, as prescribed for all heralds of the word, "an apostle and minister of Christ, a dispenser of the mysteries of God, a herald of the kingdom, a model and rule of piety, the eye of the body of the Church, a shepherd of Christ's sheep, a compassionate physician, a father and nurse, a co-operator of God, a farmer of God, a builder of God's temple" (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,12-21: PG 31, 864b-868b).

And in such work and such struggle - arduous, painful, breathless - Basil offered his life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,18: PG 31, 865c) and consumed himself as a holocaust.

He died not yet fifty years old, consumed by fatigue and asceticism.

3. The Magisterium of St Basil

Having thus briefly recalled salient aspects of Basil's life and his commitment as a Christian and as a bishop, it seems right that we should attempt to draw at least some supreme indications from the extremely rich legacy of his writings. Relying on his school may provide light to better face the problems and difficulties of this very time, and thus help us for our present and our future.

It does not seem abstract to begin with what he taught about the Holy Trinity: it is certain, indeed, that there can be no better beginning, at least if one wants to conform to his own thinking.

On the other hand, what can impose itself more or be more normative for life than the mystery of God's life? Can there be a more significant and vital point of reference for man than this?

For the new man, who is conformed to this mystery in the intimate structure of his being and existence; and for every man, whether he knows it or not: for there is no one who has not been created for Christ, the eternal Word, and there is no one who is not called, by the Spirit and in the Spirit, to glorify the Father.

This is the primordial mystery, the holy Trinity: for it is nothing other than the very mystery of God, of the one living and true God.

Of this mystery, Basil firmly proclaims the reality: the triad of divine names, he says, certainly indicates three distinct hypostases (cf. S.Basilii "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 529a). But with no less firmness he confesses their absolute inaccessibility.

How lucid in him, the supreme theologian, was the awareness of the infirmity and inadequacy of all theologising!

No one, he said, is capable of doing it in a worthy manner, and the greatness of the mystery overcomes all discourse, so that not even the tongues of angels can grasp it (cf. St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464b-465a).

Abyssal and inscrutable reality, then, the living God! But nevertheless Basil knows that he 'must' speak of it, before and more than anything else. And so, believing, he speaks (cf. 2 Cor 4:13): out of an incoercible force of love, out of obedience to God's command, and for the edification of the Church, which "never gets tired of hearing such things" (St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464cd).

But perhaps it is more accurate to say that Basil, as a true "theologian", sings it rather than speaks of this mystery.

He sings of the Father: "The principle of everything, the cause of the being of what exists, the root of the living" (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465c), and above all "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ("Anaphora S.Basilii"). And just as the Father is primarily in relation to the Son, so the Son - the Word who became flesh in Mary's womb - is primarily in relation to the Father.

This is how Basil contemplates and sings of Him: in the "inaccessible light", in the "ineffable power", in the "infinite greatness", in the "super-splendent glory" of the Trinitarian mystery, God near God (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465cd), "the image of the Father's goodness and the seal of form equal to Him" (cf.)

Only in this way, unambiguously confessing Christ as "one of the holy Trinity" ("Liturgia S.Ioannis Chrysostomi"), can Basil then see him with full realism in the annihilation of his humanity. And like few others does he know how to measure the infinite space he covered in our search; like few others does he know how to peer into the abyss of the humiliation of the one who "being in the form of God, emptied himself by taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2:6ff)

In Basil's teaching, the Christology of glory in no way attenuates the Christology of humiliation: on the contrary, it serves to proclaim with even greater force that central content of the Gospel which is the word of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:18) and the scandal of the cross (cf. Gal 5:11).

This is, in fact, a habitual pattern of his Christological discourse: it is the light of glory, which reveals the meaning of lowering.

Christ's obedience is the true "Gospel", that is, the paradoxical realisation of God's redemptive love, precisely because - and only if - the one who obeys is "the Only-Begotten Son of God, our Lord and God, the one through whom all things were made" (St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b); and it is thus that it can bend our obstinate disobedience. The sufferings of Christ, the immaculate lamb who did not open his mouth against those who beat him (cf. Is 53:7), have infinite scope and eternal and universal value, precisely because he who thus suffered is "the creator and sovereign of heaven and earth, adorable beyond all intellectual and sensitive creatures, he who upholds everything with the word of his power" (cf. Heb 1:3; St Basilii "Homilia de ira": PG 31, 369b), and it is thus that Christ's passion dominates our violence and appeases our wrath.

The cross, finally, is truly our "only hope" ("Liturgia Horarum", "Hebdomada Sancta": Hymnus ad Vesperas) - not defeat, therefore, but a salvific event, "exaltation" (cf. Jn 8:32ff et alibi) and stupendous triumph - only because the one who was nailed to it and died there is "our Lord and Lord of all" (cf. Acts 10:36; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,12: PG 31, 1624b), "he through whom all things were made, the visible and the invisible, he who possesses life as the Father who gave it to him possesses it, he who from the Father has received all power" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,13: PG 31, 1625c); and it is thus that the death of Christ frees us from that "fear of death" to which we were all enslaved (cf. Heb 2, 15).

"From him, the Christ, there shone forth the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of truth, the gift of filial adoption, the pledge of future inheritance, the firstfruits of eternal goods, the life-giving power, the source of sanctification, from whom every rational and intellectual creature receives power to worship the Father and to lift up to him the eternal doxology" (cf. "Anaphora S.Basilii").

This hymn of Basil's anaphora expresses well, in synthesis, the role of the Spirit in the salvific economy.

It is the Spirit who, given to every baptised person, works charisms in each one and reminds each one of the Lord's teachings (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561a); it is the Spirit who animates the whole Church and orders and enlivens it with his gifts, making it all a "spiritual" and charismatic body (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 181ab; "De iudicio": PG 31, 657c-660a).

Hence, Basil went back to the serene contemplation of the Spirit's "glory", which is mysterious and inaccessible: confessing him to be above every creature (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 22), sovereign and lord since by him we are deified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 20 ff), and Holy by essence since by him we are sanctified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 9 et 18). Having thus contributed to the formulation of the Church's Trinitarian faith, Basil still speaks to her heart and consoles her, particularly with the luminous confession of her Consoler.

The blazing light of the Trinitarian mystery certainly does not overshadow the glory of man: on the contrary, it exalts and reveals it most of all.

For man is not God's rival, madly opposed to him; nor is he without God, abandoned to the despair of his own loneliness. But he is a reflection of God and his image.

Therefore, the more God shines, the more his light reverberates from man; the more God is exalted, the more man's dignity is elevated.

And in this way, in fact, Basil celebrated man's dignity: seeing it all in relation to God, i.e. derived from him and aimed at him.

Essentially, to know God man has received intelligence, and to live in accordance with his law he has received freedom. And it is as an image that man transcends the whole order of nature and appears "more glorious than the heavens, more than the sun, more than the choirs of stars: for what heaven is called the image of the most high God?" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449c). 

Precisely for this reason, man's glory is radically conditioned to his relationship with God: man fully achieves his 'royal' dignity only by realising himself as an image, and only truly becomes himself by knowing and loving the One for whom he has reason and freedom.

Even before Basil, St Irenaeus admirably expressed it this way: "The glory of God is the living man; but the life of man is the vision of God" (St Irenaei "Adversus haereses", IV, 20, 7). The living man is in himself a glorification of God, as a ray of his beauty, but he has 'life' only by drawing it from God, in personal relationship with him. To fail in this task would be for man to betray his essential vocation, and thus deny and demean his own dignity (cf. St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449b-452a).

And what else is sin if not this? For did not Christ Himself come to restore and restore His glory to this image of God that is man, that is, to the image that man, through sin, had obscured (St Basilii "Homilia de malo": PG 31, 333a), corrupted (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 32: PG 29, 344b), broken? (St Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1537a).

Precisely for this reason - Basil affirms in the words of Scripture - "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14), and humbled himself so much that he became obedient unto death, and death on a cross" (cf. Phil 2:8; S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452ab). Therefore, O man, "realise your greatness by considering the price paid for you: look at the price of your ransom, and understand your dignity!" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452b).

Man's dignity, then, is at once in the mystery of God, and in the mystery of the cross: this is Basil's "humanism", or - we might say more simply - Christian humanism.

The restoration of the image can therefore only be accomplished by virtue of Christ's cross: "It was his obedience unto death that became for us the redemption of sinners, freedom from the death that reigned through original guilt, reconciliation with God, the power to please God, the gift of justice, the communion of saints in eternal life, the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven" (St Basil "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1556b).

But this, for Basil, is tantamount to saying that all this is accomplished by virtue of baptism.

For what is baptism if not the salvific event of Christ's death, into which we are inserted through the celebration of the mystery? The sacramental mystery, the "imitation" of his death, immerses us in the reality of his death; as Paul writes: "Or do you not know that as many as have been baptised into Christ Jesus, we have been baptised into his death?" (Rom 6:3).

Basing himself precisely on the mysterious identity of baptism with the paschal event of Christ, following Paul, Basil also teaches that to be baptised is nothing other than to be truly crucified - that is, nailed with Christ to his unique cross - to truly die his death, to be buried with him in his burial, and consequently with him to rise from his resurrection (cf. S. Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2).

Consistently, therefore, he can refer to baptism the same titles of glory with which we have heard him extolling the cross: it too is "ransom for captives, remission of debts, death of sin, regeneration of the soul, garment of light, inviolable seal, vehicle for heaven, title for the kingdom, gift of filiation" (S.Basilii "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 433ab). It is through it, in fact, that the union between man and Christ is welded, and that through Christ man is inserted into the very heart of the Trinitarian life: becoming spirit because he is born of the Spirit (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XX,2: PG 31, 736d; "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 869a) and son because he is clothed with the Son, in a most lofty relationship with the Father of the Only-begotten who has now also become, truly, his Father (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1564c-1565b).

In the light of such a vigorous consideration of the baptismal mystery, the very meaning of the Christian life is revealed to Basil. Moreover, how else can one understand this mystery of the new man, if not by fixing one's gaze on the luminous point of his new birth, and on the divine power that in baptism has generated him?

"How does one define the Christian?", Basil asks; and he answers: "As one who is begotten of water and the Spirit in baptism" (St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868d).

Only in what we are is revealed, and what we are for.

As a new creature, the Christian, even when he is not fully aware of it, lives a new life; and in his deepest reality, even if by his actions he denies it, he is transferred to a new homeland, on earth already made heavenly (cf. St. Basili "Moralia", LXXX: PG 31, 868d). Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 157c; "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 429b): because the operation of God is infinitely and infallibly effective, and always remains to some extent beyond all denial and contradiction of man.

There remains, of course, the task - and it is, in essential relation to baptism, the very meaning of Christian life - of becoming what one is, adapting oneself to the new 'spiritual' and eschatological dimension of one's personal mystery. As St Basil expresses it, with his usual clarity: "The meaning and power of baptism is that the baptised person is transformed in thought, word and deed, and that he becomes - according to the power bestowed upon him - what he is from whom he was begotten" (St Basil "Moralia", XX, 2: PG 31, 736d).

The Eucharist, fulfilment of Christian initiation, is always considered by Basil to be closely related to baptism.

It is the only food suited to the new being of the baptised person and capable of sustaining his new life and nourishing his new energies (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo" I, 3: PG 31, 1573b); worship in spirit and truth, exercise of the new priesthood and perfect sacrifice of the new Israel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 2 ff et 8: PG 31, 1601c; S.Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 485a), only the Eucharist fully realises and perfects the new baptismal creation.

Therefore, it is a mystery of immense joy - only by singing can one participate in it (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia",XXI,4: PG 31, 741a) - and of infinite, tremendous holiness. How could one, being in a state of sin, treat the body of the Lord? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,3: PG 31, 1585ab). The Church that communicates, should indeed be "without spot or wrinkle, holy and undefiled" (Eph 5:27; St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b): that is, it should always, with vigilant awareness of the mystery it celebrates, examine itself well (cf. 1Cor 11,28; S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 2: PG 31, 740ab), in order to purify itself more and more "from all contamination and impurity" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo" II, 3: PG 31, 1585ab).

On the other hand, abstaining from communion is not possible: to the Eucharist in fact, which is necessary for eternal life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 1: PG 31, 737c), baptism itself is ordained, and the people of the baptised must be pure precisely to participate in the Eucharist (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b).

Only the Eucharist on the other hand, true memorial of the paschal mystery of Christ, is capable of keeping awake in us the memory of his love. It is therefore the secret of the Church's vigilance: it would be too easy for her, otherwise, without the divine efficacy of this continuous and sweet reminder, without the penetrating power of this gaze of her bridegroom fixed on her, to fall into oblivion, insensitivity, infidelity. For this purpose it was instituted, according to the words of the Lord: 'Do this in memory of me' (1 Cor 11:24 ff. et par.); and for this purpose, consequently, it must be celebrated.

Basil does not tire of repeating it: "To remember" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 740b); indeed, to remember always, "for the indelible remembrance" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 1576d), "to keep unceasingly the memory of him who died and rose again for us" (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 1869b).

Only the Eucharist therefore, by God's design and gift, can truly keep in the heart "the seal" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 5: PG 31, 921b) of that memory of Christ that, clasping as in a vice, prevents us from sinning. It is therefore particularly in relation to the Eucharist that Basil takes up Paul's text: "The love of Christ grips us, at the thought that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all, so that those who live may no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them" (2 Cor 5:14 ff).

But what then is this living for Christ - or "living wholly for God" - if not the very content of the baptismal covenant? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1581a).

Also in this aspect, therefore, the Eucharist appears to be the fullness of baptism: it alone, in fact, allows one to live it faithfully and continually actualises it in its power of grace.

This is why Basil does not hesitate to recommend frequent, or even daily, communion: "Communing even daily by receiving the holy body and blood of Christ is a good and useful thing; for he himself says clearly: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (Jn 6:54). Who then will doubt that to continually communicate life is not to live to the full?" (St Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 484b).

True "food of eternal life" capable of nourishing the new life of the baptised person is, like the Eucharist, also "every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 3: PG 31, 1573bc). 

It is Basil himself who strongly establishes this fundamental link between the table of the word of God and that of the body of Christ (cf. Dei Verbum, 21). Although in a different way, in fact, Scripture too, like the Eucharist, is divine, holy, and necessary.

Truly divine, Basil affirms with singular energy: that is, 'of God' in the most proper sense. God himself inspired it (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 664d; S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 677a; etc.), God validated it (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680b), God pronounced it through the hagiographers (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 13: PG 31, 1092a; "Adv. Eunomium", II: PG 29, 597c; etc.). - Moses, the prophets, the evangelists, the apostles (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 1: PG 31, 1524d) - and above all through his Son (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561c); he, the only Lord: both in the Old and the New Testament (cf.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 47: PG 31, 1113a), certainly with different degrees of intensity and different fullness of revelation (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 276: PG 31, 1276cd; "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1545b), but also without a shadow of contradiction (cf.)

Of divine substance although made up of human words, Scripture is therefore infinitely authoritative: the source of faith, according to the words of Paul (cf. Rom 10:17; S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c), it is the foundation of a full, undoubted, unwavering certainty (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c). Since it is all of God, it is all, in every smallest part, infinitely important and worthy of extreme attention (cf. S.Basilii "In Hexaem.", VI: PG 29, 144c; "In Hexaem.", VIII: PG 29, 184c).

And for this reason, too, Scripture is rightly called holy: for just as it would be terrible sacrilege to profane the Eucharist, it would also be sacrilege to attack the integrity and purity of the word of God.

It cannot therefore be understood according to human categories, but in the light of his own teachings, almost "asking the Lord himself for the interpretation of the things he said" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 4: PG 31, 1589b); and one can neither "take away nor add anything" to those divine texts delivered to the Church for all time, to those holy words pronounced by God once and for all (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680ab; "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 868c).

It is of vital necessity, in fact, that the relationship with the word of God should always be adoring, faithful, and loving. Essentially, the Church must draw from it for her proclamation (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 115: PG 30, 105c 108a), allowing herself to be guided by the very words of her Lord (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1533c), so as not to risk "reducing the words of religion to human words" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 140: PG 32, 588b). And every Christian must refer to Scripture "always and everywhere" for all his choices (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 269: PG 31, 1268c), making himself before it "like a child" (cf. Mk 10, 15; S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 217: PG 31, 1225bc; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1560ab), seeking in it the most effective remedy against all his various infirmities (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 209a), and not daring to take a step without being enlightened by the divine rays of those words (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 1: PG 31, 1081a).

Authentically Christian, all of Basil's magisterium is, as we have seen, 'gospel', the joyful proclamation of salvation.

Is not the confession of God's glory radiating on man in his image full of joy and a source of joy?

Is not the proclamation of the victory of the cross, in which, "through the greatness of God's mercy and the multitude of God's mercies" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), our sins were forgiven even before we committed them? (cf. St Basilii "Regulae bravius tractatae", 12: PG 31, 1089b). What more consoling proclamation is there than that of baptism that regenerates us, of the Eucharist that nourishes us, of the Word that enlightens us?

But for this very reason, so as not to have silenced or diminished the saving and transforming power of God's work and of the "energies of the future century" (cf. Heb 6:5), Basil can ask everyone, with great firmness, for total love for God, unreserved dedication, perfection of evangelical life (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869c).

For if baptism is grace - and what grace! - those who have attained it have indeed received "the power and strength to please God" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), and are therefore "all equally bound to conform to that grace", that is to "live in conformity with the Gospel" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 15980ac). 

"All equally": there are no second-class Christians, simply because there are no different baptisms, and because the meaning of the Christian life is all intrinsically contained in the one baptismal covenant (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1580ac).

"To live in conformity with the Gospel": what does this mean, concretely, according to Basil?

It means tending, with all the longing of one's being (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 157: PG 31, 1185a) and with all the new energies one has at one's disposal, to achieve "God's pleasure" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", I, 5: PG 31, 704a et passim)

It means, for example, "not to be rich, but to be poor, according to the word of the Lord" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XLVIII,3: PG 31, 769a), thus realising a fundamental condition to be able to follow Him (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 944d-945a) with freedom (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 940bc; "Regulae fusius tractatae", 237: PG 31, 1241b), and manifesting, in comparison to the prevailing norm of worldly living, the newness of the Gospel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1544d). It means submitting oneself totally to the word of God, renouncing "one's own will" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 6 et 41: PG 31, 925c et 1021a) and becoming obedient, in imitation of Christ, "unto death" (cf. Phil 2:8; St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 28: PG 31, 989b; "Regulae brevius tractatae", 119: PG 31, 1161d et passim).

Truly, Basil did not blush for the Gospel: but, knowing that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (cf. Rom 1:16) he proclaimed it with that integrity (cf. St Basil "Moralia", LXXX, 12: PG 31, 864b) that makes it fully the word of grace and the source of life.

Finally, we like to note that St Basil, although more soberly than his brother St Gregory of Nyssa and his friend St Gregory of Nazianzus, celebrates Mary's virginity (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 5: PG 31, 1468b): he calls Mary "prophetess" (cf.Basilii "In Isaiam", 208: PG 30, 477b) and with a felicitous expression thus justifies Mary's betrothal to Joseph: "This was done in order that virginity might be honoured and marriage might not be despised" (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 3: PG 31, 1464a).

St Basil's anaphora, quoted above, contains lofty praise of the "all holy, immaculate, ultra-blessed and glorious Lady Mother-of-God and ever-virgin Mary"; "Woman full of grace, exultation of all creation...".

4. Conclusion

Of this great saint and teacher all of us, in the Church, glory to be disciples and children: let us therefore reconsider his example, and listen with veneration to his teachings, with intimate readiness to let ourselves be admonished, comforted and exhorted.

We entrust this message in a special way to the numerous religious orders - male and female - that honour themselves with the name and tutelage of Saint Basil and follow his Rule, committing them on this happy anniversary to resolutions of new fervour in a life of asceticism and contemplation of divine things, which then overflow into holy works for the glory of God and the edification of holy Church. For the happy attainment of these ends, we also implore the maternal help of the Virgin Mary, as an augury of heavenly gifts and pledge of our benevolence, with great affection we impart to you our apostolic blessing.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 2 January, on the memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church, in the year 1980, the second of my Pontificate.

JOHN PAUL II

[Patres Ecclesiae; Apostolic Letter for the XVI Centenary of the Death of St Basil]

This passage from the Gospel of John (cf. 12:44-50) shows us the intimacy there was between Jesus and the Father. Jesus did what the Father told Him to do. And therefore He says: “He who believes in me, believes not in me but in Him who sent me” (v. 44). He then explains His mission: “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (v. 46). He presents himself as light. Jesus’s mission is to enlighten: light. He himself said: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). The Prophet Isaiah prophesied this light: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (9:1). The promise of the light that will enlighten the people. And the mission of the Apostles too was to bring light. Paul said to King Agrippa: “I was chosen to enlighten, to bring this light – which is not mine, but another’s – but to bring light” (cf. Acts 26:18). It is Jesus’s mission: to bring light. And the mission of the Apostles was to bring the light of Jesus. To enlighten. Because the world was in darkness.

But the tragedy of Jesus’s light is that it was rejected. From the beginning of the Gospel, John said it clearly: “He came to His own home, and His own people did not welcome Him. They loved darkness more than light' (cf. Jn 1:9-11). Being accustomed to darkness, living in darkness: they did not know how to accept the light, they could not; they were slaves to darkness. And this would be Jesus’s continuous battle: to enlighten, to bring the light that shows things as they are, as they exist; it shows freedom, it shows truth, it shows the path on which to go with the light of Jesus.

Paul had this experience of the passage from darkness to light, when the Lord encountered him on the road to Damascus. He was blinded. Blind. The Lord’s light blinded him. And then, when a few days had passed, with baptism, he regained the light (cf. Acts 9:1-19). He had this experience of passing from darkness, in which he was, to the light. And our passage too, which we received sacramentally in Baptism: for this reason Baptism was called, in the first centuries, the Illumination (cf. Saint Justin, Apology I, 61, 12), because it gave you the light, it “let it enter” you. For this reason, in the ceremony of Baptism we give a lit blessed candle, a lit candle to the mother and father, because the little boy or the little girl is enlightened.

Jesus brings light. But the people, His people rejected it. They were so accustomed to the darkness that the light blinded them, they did not know where to go… (cf. Jn 1:1-11). And this is the tragedy of our sin: sin blinds us and we cannot tolerate the light. Our eyes are sick. And Jesus clearly states it in the Gospel of Matthew: “If your eye is not sound, your whole body will be unsound. If your eye sees only darkness, how great is the darkness within you!” (cf. Mt 6:22-23). Darkness… And conversion is passing from darkness to light.

But what are the things that sicken the eyes, the eyes of faith? Our eyes are ill: what are the things that “drag them down”, that blind them? Vices, the worldly spirit, pride. The vices that “drag you down” and also these three things – vices, pride, the worldly spirit – lead you to associate with others in order to remain secure in the darkness. We often speak of “mafias”: this is it. But there are “spiritual mafias”; there are “domestic mafias”, always, seeking someone else so as to cover yourself and remain in darkness. It is not easy to live in the light. The light shows many ugly things within us that we do not want to see: vices, sins… Let us think about our vices; let us think about our pride; let us think about our worldly spirit: These things blind us; they distance us from Jesus’s light.

But if we start to think about these things, we will not find a wall, no. We will find a way out, because Jesus Himself says that He is the light, and also: “I have come into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world” (cf. Jn 12:46-47). Jesus Himself, the light, says: “Take courage: let yourself be enlightened; let yourself see what you have within, because I have come to lead you forth, to save you. I do not condemn you. I save you” (cf. v. 47). The Lord saves us from the darkness we have within, from the darkness of daily life, of social life, of political life, of national, international life… There is so much darkness within. And the Lord saves us. But He asks us to see them, first; to have the courage to see our darkness so that the Lord's light may enter and save us.

Let us not fear the Lord: He is very good; He is meek; He is close to us. He has come to save us. Let us not be afraid of the light of Jesus.

[Pope Francis, homily st. Martha May 6, 2020]

(Mt 2:13-15, 19-23)

Matthew 2:13 As soon as they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is seeking the child to kill him."

Matthew 2:14 Joseph woke up, took the child and his mother during the night, and fled to Egypt,

Matthew 2:15 where he remained until the death of Herod, so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled:

"Out of Egypt I called my son."

First, let us understand how power works: it does not want to pay homage to the newborn King, but wants to kill him. He is the Rival, the one who can take away his power and throne. Power, in order to eliminate the Rival, in order to maintain its dominion, is ready to sacrifice the lives of its subjects. It is something aberrant; power should have the task of defending the lives of its subjects, but Herod applies his strategy without scruples and kills all the children in order to retain power.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. There are many dreams that accompany Jesus' childhood: they indicate divine initiative and providence that thwart Herod's plans. The angel's announcement tells us of God's intervention in history. We note how these dreams are given to Joseph and not to Mary. Joseph is responsible before God and men for the Mother and Child.

The Lord addresses him in the dream and gives him a peremptory order to be carried out immediately: "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you." Joseph is guided in every detail. He must go to Egypt and stay there until the Lord again tells him that he can return. For salvation to be accomplished, it is necessary that the order be carried out to the letter. The Lord is perfect in his ways. If man responds to the Lord's perfection with obedience, salvation is accomplished. All the evils of the world arise when the foolishness of creatures, who dare to think they are wiser than they are, is introduced into God's perfection.

In this circumstance, Egypt is a place of protection. At that time, the Holy Family could easily find a place to live among the many Jewish colonies, the largest of which was in Alexandria. But Egypt is also the place where the history of Israel as God's people began. The child Jesus will have to leave Egypt to enter his land. Matthew thus theologically re-presents the exodus that Jesus, the liberating Messiah, will accomplish, leading the people to a new land of freedom, to true liberation. They left 'at night' (v. 14). This is a reminder of the liberation that the people of Israel experienced on Passover night, described in the book of Exodus. Just as the people fled from the threat of Pharaoh, so now Joseph brings Jesus to safety from the threat of Herod.

However, salvation always comes at a cost in suffering, sacrifice and pain. Without wanting to apologise for pain, pain serves to give a person ever greater holiness. Pain and suffering are the crucible that purifies our spirit of all encrustations and brings us closer to the holiness of God.

Without sacrifice, there is no true obedience, because true obedience always generates a purifying sacrifice of life. It is the living, holy sacrifice pleasing to God of which the Apostle Paul speaks. The evil of today's world lies precisely in Satan's desire to abolish all self-denial and renunciation from our lives. We want everything, right now, immediately. They want to indulge the body in every vice, the soul in every sin, and the spirit in every evil thought. They want to live in a world without sacrifice, without suffering (which is why euthanasia and the killing of those considered a dead weight on society will become increasingly common). 

People want to live in a world without any deprivation. Once upon a time, people were born and died at home, and the family shared in the greatest joy and the greatest sadness, but at least the sick person died with the comfort of their loved ones. People want to live in a world that hides the mystery of death and pain by removing it from their homes, ignoring the fact that the very sight of pain is a powerful moment of openness to faith.

Joseph and his family remained in Egypt until after Herod's death. Matthew says that this happened in fulfilment of the prophecy of Hosea 11:1 - 'Out of Egypt I called my son' - which speaks of something else entirely, namely the historical experience of the nation of Israel: the exodus from Egypt. What does this have to do with the Messiah? The evangelist creates a sort of parallel link between the events of ancient Israel and those of Jesus, as if to say that in Jesus, in some way, the whole history of the people of Israel converges, relived by him in obedience and full submission to the Father. In other words, in the analogous experience of Israel, the son of God, and the Messiah, the son of God, both in Egypt out of necessity and both freed by divine providence, Matthew sees Jesus recapitulating the history of Israel, whose experience he relives in his own person.

Indeed, Jesus recapitulates in himself and brings to fulfilment the whole history of salvation. Just as the exodus from Egypt was the dawn of redemption, so the childhood of Jesus is the dawn of the messianic age, and Matthew demonstrates the fulfilment of the Scriptures in Jesus. It will be from him that a new Israel will emerge, regenerated by the Spirit.

Everything that came before Christ is only an image of what the Lord would accomplish through Jesus Christ. The events of the people of Israel were a preparation for the coming of the Messiah, who represents the point of convergence of all Scripture. The true Son of God is Jesus Christ. Israel is only a sign of what the Lord was about to do for the salvation of humanity. This is why Matthew applies to Jesus Christ everything in the Old Testament that referred to Israel.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

Christmas Day 2025 [Midnight Mass]

May God bless you and may the Virgin Mary protect us. Best wishes for this holy Christmas Day of Christ. I offer for your consideration a commentary on the biblical texts of the midnight and daytime Masses.

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (9:1-6)

To understand Isaiah's message in this text, one must read this verse, the last of chapter 8, which directly precedes it: 'God humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali in the past, but in the future he will glorify the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations' (v. 23). The text does not allow us to establish the date of its writing with precision, but we know two things with certainty: the political situation to which it refers, even if the text may have been written later. And we also know the meaning of the prophetic word, which seeks to revive the hope of the people. At the time evoked, the people were divided into two kingdoms: in the north, Israel, with its capital at Samaria, politically unstable; in the south, the kingdom of Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem, the legitimate heir to the Davidic dynasty. Isaiah preached in the South, but the places mentioned (Zebulun, Naphtali, Galilee, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan) belong to the North. These areas – Galilee, the way of the sea, Transjordan – suffered a particular fate between 732 and 721 BC. In 732, the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III annexed these regions. In 721, the entire northern kingdom fell. Hence the image of 'the people walking in darkness', perhaps referring to the columns of deportees. To this defeated people, Isaiah announces a radical reversal: God will bring forth a light in the very regions that have been humiliated. Why do these promises also concern the South? Jerusalem is not indifferent to what is happening in the North: because the Assyrian threat also hangs over it; because the schism is experienced as a wound and there is hope for the reunification of the people under the house of David. The advent of a new king, the words of Isaiah ("A great light has risen...") belonged to the ritual of the sacred royal: every new king was compared to a dawn that brings hope for peace and unity. Isaiah therefore announces: the birth of a king ("A child is born for us..."), called "Prince of Peace", destined to restore strength to the Davidic dynasty and reunite the people. This certainty comes from faith in the faithful God, who cannot betray his promises. The prophecy invites us not to forget God's works: Moses reminded us, 'Be careful not to forget'. Isaiah said to Ahaz, 'Unless you believe, you will not be established' (Isaiah 7:9). The promised victory will be "like the day of Midian" (Judges 7): God's victory achieved through a small faithful remnant with Gideon. The central message is "Do not be afraid: God will not abandon the house of David." Today we could say: Do not be afraid, little flock, God does not abandon his plan of love for humanity, and light is believed in the night. Historical context: When Isaiah announces these promises, King Ahaz has just sacrificed his son to idols out of fear of war, undermining the very lineage of David. But God, faithful to his promises, announces a new heir who will restore the line of David: hope is not cancelled out by human sin.

Most important elements. +The context: Assyrian annexations (732–721 BC) devastating the northern regions. +Isaiah's words are a prophecy of hope for a people in darkness.

 +The announcement is linked to the sacred royal line: the birth of a new Davidic king. +The promise concerns unity, peace and God's faithfulness to his covenant with David. +Victory will be God's work, like Gideon's victory. +Even Ahaz's sin does not nullify God's plan: God remains faithful.

*Responsorial Psalm (95/96)

The liturgy offers only a few verses from Psalm 95/96, but the entire psalm is filled with a thrill of joy and exultation. Yet it was composed in a historical period that was not at all exciting: what vibrates is not human enthusiasm, but the faith that hopes, that hope that anticipates what is not yet possessed. The psalm projects us to the end of time, to the blessed day when all peoples will recognise the Lord as the one God and place their trust in him. The image is grandiose: we are in the Temple of Jerusalem. The esplanade is filled with an endless multitude of people, gathered 'from the ends of the earth'. Everyone sings in unison: 'The Lord reigns!' It is no longer Israel's acclamation for an earthly king, but the cry of all humanity recognising the King of the world. And it is not only humanity that acclaims: the earth trembles, the seas roar, the countryside and even the trees of the forests dance. The whole of creation recognises its Creator, while man has often taken centuries to do so. The psalm also contains a criticism of idolatry: 'the gods of the nations are nothing'. Over the centuries, the prophets have fought the temptation to rely on false gods and false securities. The psalm reminds us that only the Lord is the true God, the One who 'made the heavens'. The reason why all peoples now flock to Jerusalem is that the good news has finally reached the whole world. And this was possible because Israel proclaimed it every day, recounting the works of God: the liberation from Egypt, the daily liberations from many forms of slavery, the most serious danger: believing in false values that do not save. Israel has received the immense privilege of knowing the one God, as the Shema proclaims: "The Lord is one."

But it has received this privilege in order to proclaim it: "You have been given to see, so that you may know... and make it known." Thanks to this proclamation, the good news has reached "the ends of the earth" and all peoples gather in the "house of the Father." . The psalm anticipates this final scene and, while waiting for it to come true, Israel sings it to renew its faith, revive its hope and find the strength to continue the mission entrusted to it.

Most important elements: +Psalm 95/96 is a song of eschatological hope: it anticipates the day when all humanity will recognise God. +The story describes a cosmic liturgy: humanity and creation together acclaim the Lord. +Strong denunciation of idolatry: the 'gods of the nations' are nothing. +Israel has the task of proclaiming God's works and his deliverance every day. +Its vocation: to know the one God and make him known. +The psalm is sung as an anticipation of the future, to keep the faith and mission of the people alive.

*Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to Titus (2:11-14) and for the Dawn Mass (3:4-7)

Through Baptism, we are immersed in God's grace. The Cretans had a bad reputation even before St Paul's time. A poet of the 6th century BC, Epimenides of Knossos, called them "liars by nature, evil beasts, lazy bellies". Paul quotes this phrase and adds: "This is true!". And it was precisely because he was well aware of this difficult humanity that Paul founded a Christian community, which he then entrusted to Titus to organise and lead. The Letter to Titus contains the founder's instructions to the leaders of the young Church of Crete. Many scholars believe that the letter was written towards the end of the first century, after Paul's death, but it respects his style and is faithful to his theology. In any case, the difficulties of the Cretans must still have been very much alive. The letter — very short, just three pages — contains concrete recommendations for all categories of the community: elders, young people, men, women, masters, slaves, and even those in charge, who are admonished to be blameless, hospitable, just, self-controlled, and far from violence, greed, and drunkenness. It is a long list of advice that gives an idea of how much work still needed to be done. The central theological passage of the letter—the one proclaimed in the liturgy—explains the foundation of all Christian morality, namely that new life is born from Baptism. Paul links moral advice to a decisive statement: "The grace of God has been revealed for the salvation of all." The message is this: Behave well, because God's grace has been revealed, and this means that moral change is not a human effort, but a consequence of the Incarnation. When Paul says 'grace has been revealed', he means that God became man and, through Baptism, immersed in Christ, we are reborn: saved through the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We are not saved by our own merits, but by mercy, and God asks us to be witnesses to this. God's plan is the transformation of the whole of humanity, gathered around Christ as one new man. This goal seems distant, and unbelievers consider it a utopia, but believers know and confess that it is promised by God, and therefore it is a certainty. For this reason, we live "in the hope of the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." The words that the priest pronounces after the Our Father in the Mass echo this very expectation: 'while we await the fulfilment of the blessed hope...'. This is not an escape from reality, but an act of faith: Christ will have the last word on history. This certainty nourishes the entire liturgy, and the Church already lives as a humanity already gathered in Christ and reaching towards the future, so that when the end comes, it will be possible to say: "They rose up as one man, and that man was Jesus Christ."

Historical note: When was the Christian community of Crete born? Two hypotheses: During Paul's transfer to Rome (Acts 27), the ship stopped at "Good Harbours" in the south of the island. But the Acts do not mention the founding of a community, and Titus was not present. During a fourth missionary journey after Paul's release: his first imprisonment in Rome was probably "house arrest"; once freed, Paul would have evangelised Crete on this last journey.

Important points to remember: +The Cretans were considered difficult, but Paul founded a community there anyway. +The Letter to Titus contains concrete instructions for structuring the nascent Church. +Christian morality arises from the Incarnation and Baptism, not from mere human effort. +God saves through mercy and asks for witness, not merit. +God's plan: to reunite humanity in Christ as one new man. +The expectation of the 'blessed hope' is certainty and sustains liturgical life.

*From the Gospel according to Luke (2:1-14)

 Isaiah, announcing new times to King Ahaz, speaks of the 'jealous love of the Lord' as the force capable of fulfilling the promise (Is 9:6). This conviction runs through the entire account of Jesus' birth in Luke's Gospel. The night in Bethlehem resounds with the angels' announcement: "Peace to those whom the Lord loves," which would be better said as "Peace to those whom God loves." In fact, there are no "loved and unloved people" because God loves everyone and gives his peace to all. God's entire plan is encapsulated in this phrase, which John summarises as follows: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Faced with a God who presents himself as a newborn baby, there is nothing to fear: perhaps God chose to be born in this way so that our fears of him would fall away forever. Like Isaiah in his time, the angel also announces the birth of the expected King: "Today a Saviour, Christ the Lord, is born to you in the city of David. He is the son promised in Nathan's prophecy to David (2 Sam 7): a stable lineage, a kingdom that lasts forever. This is why Luke insists on Joseph's origins: he belongs to the house of David and, for the census, he goes up to Bethlehem, a place also indicated by the prophet Micah as the homeland of the Messiah, who will be the shepherd of the people and the bringer of peace (Mic 5). The angels therefore announce "great joy" . But what is surprising is the contrast between the greatness of the Messiah's mission and the smallness , the minority of his conditions: the 'heir of all things' (Heb 1:2) is born among the poor, in the dim light of a stable; the Light of the world appears almost voluntarily hiding himself; the Word that created the world wants to learn to speak like any newborn baby. And in this light, it is not surprising that many "did not recognise him". The sign of God is not in the exceptional but in the simple and poor everyday life: it is there that the mystery of the Incarnation is revealed, and the first to recognise it are the little ones and the poor, because God, the "Merciful One", allows himself to be attracted only by our poverty. Bending down over the manger in Bethlehem, then, means learning to be like Him, because it is from this humble 'cathedra' that the almighty God communicates to us the power to become children of God (Jn 1:12). 

*Final note. The firstborn, a legal term, had to be consecrated to God, and in biblical language this does not mean that other children came after Jesus, but that there were none before him. Bethlehem literally means 'house of bread'; the Bread of Life is given to the world. The titles attributed to Jesus recall those attributed to the Roman emperor venerated as 'god' and 'saviour', but the only one who can truly bear these titles is the newborn child of Bethlehem.

Key points to remember: +Isaiah and the 'jealous love of the Lord': the promise of a future king (Isaiah 9:6). +Announcement of the angels: 'Peace to men because God loves them'. +The heart of the Gospel: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (John 3:16). +The newborn child eliminates all fear of God: God chooses the way of fragility. +Fulfillment of promises +Nathan's prophecy to David (2 Sam 7). +Micah's prophecy about Bethlehem (Mic 5). +Joseph: Davidic descent. +Surprising contrast: greatness of the Messiah vs. extreme poverty of birth. +Christological titles: "Heir of all things" (Heb 1:2). "Light of the world". "Word" who becomes a child. +The sign of God is poor normality: the mystery of the Incarnation in everyday life +The poor and the little ones recognise him first. +Our vocation: to become children of God (Jn 1:12) by imitating his mercy.

St Ambrose of Milan – Brief commentary on Lk 2:1-14 “Christ is born in Bethlehem, the ‘house of bread’, so that it is understood from the beginning that He is the Bread that came down from heaven. His manger is the sign that He will be our nourishment. The angels announce peace, because where Christ is, there is true peace. And the shepherds are the first to receive the news: this means that grace is not given to the proud, but to the simple. God does not manifest himself in the palaces of the powerful, but in poverty; thus he teaches that those who want to see the glory of God must start from humility." 

Christmas Day 2025 [Mass of the Day]

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (52:7-10)

 The Lord comforts his people. The cry, "Break forth together into songs of joy, ruins of Jerusalem," places Isaiah's text precisely in the time of the Babylonian Exile (587 BC), when Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar's army. The devastated city, the deportation of the people, and the long wait for their return had led to discouragement and loss of hope. In this context, the prophet announces a decisive turning point: God has already acted. The words "Comfort, comfort my people" become a certainty that the return is imminent. Isaiah imagines two symbolic figures: the messenger, who runs to announce the good news, and the watchman, who sees the liberated people advancing from the walls of Jerusalem. In the ancient world, the messenger on foot was the only means of rapid communication, while the watchman kept vigil from the top of the walls or hills. Thus Isaiah sings of the beauty of the footsteps of those who announce peace, salvation and good news. Not only is the people saved, but the city will also be rebuilt: for this reason, even the ruins are invited to rejoice. The liberation of Israel manifests the power of God, who shows 'his holy arm'. As in the Exodus from Egypt, God intervenes forcefully to redeem his people. Isaiah uses the term 'He has redeemed Jerusalem' (Go'el): God is the closest relative who liberates, not out of self-interest, but out of love. During the exile, the people come to a fundamental discovery: the election of Israel is not an exclusive privilege, but a universal mission. God's salvation is intended for all nations, so that every people may recognise the Lord as Saviour. Re-read in the light of Christmas, this announcement finds its fulfilment: God has definitively shown his holy arm in Jesus Christ. Today, the mission of believers is that of the messenger: to announce peace, the good news, and to proclaim to the world that God reigns.

Most important elements in the text: +God (the Lord) is the true protagonist: Go'el, liberator, king who returns to Zion. + Israel, the chosen people, freed from exile, is called to a universal mission. +The messenger is the figure who announces the good news, peace and salvation. +The watchman, the one who keeps watch, recognises the signs of salvation and announces the coming of the Lord. +Jerusalem (the holy city) destroyed but destined for reconstruction; symbol of the restored people.

*Responsorial Psalm (97/98)

 As always, only a few verses are proclaimed, but the commentary covers the entire psalm, whose theme is: the people of the Covenant... at the service of the Covenant of peoples. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God': it is the people of Israel who speak and say 'our God', thus affirming the unique and privileged bond that unites them to the God of the universe. However, Israel has gradually come to understand that this relationship is not an exclusive possession, but a mission: to proclaim God's love to all people and to bring the whole of humanity into the Covenant. The psalm clearly expresses what can be defined as 'the two loves of God': faithful love for his chosen people, Israel; universal love for all nations, that is, for the whole of humanity. On the one hand, it proclaims that the Lord has made known his victory and his justice to the nations; on the other hand, it recalls his faithfulness and love for the house of Israel, formulas that recall the whole history of the Covenant in the desert, when God revealed himself at Sinai as a God of love and faithfulness (Ex 19-24). The election of Israel, therefore, is not a selfish privilege, but a fraternal responsibility: to be an instrument for all peoples to enter into the Covenant. As André Chouraqui stated, the people of the Covenant are called to become instruments of the Covenant of peoples. This universal openness is also emphasised by the literary structure of the psalm, constructed according to the process of 'inclusion'. The central phrase, which speaks of God's faithfulness to Israel, is framed by two statements that concern all humanity: at the beginning, the nations; at the end, the whole earth. In this way, the text shows that the election of Israel is central, but oriented towards radiating salvation to all. During the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, Israel acclaims the Lord as king, aware that it is already doing so on behalf of all humanity, anticipating the day when God will be recognised as king of the whole earth. The psalm thus insists on a second fundamental dimension: the kingship of God. The acclamation is not a simple song, but a true cry of victory (teru‘ah), similar to that which was raised on the battlefield or on the day of a king's coronation. The theme of victory returns several times: the Lord has won with his holy arm and his mighty hand, he has manifested his justice to the nations, and the whole earth has seen his victory. This victory has a twofold meaning. On the one hand, it recalls the liberation from Egypt, God's first great act of salvation, remembered in the images of his mighty arm and the wonders performed in the crossing of the sea. On the other hand, it announces the final and eschatological victory, when God will triumph definitively over every force of evil. For this reason, the acclamation is full of confidence: unlike the kings of the earth, who disappoint, God does not disappoint. Christians, in the light of the Incarnation, can proclaim with even greater force that the King of the world has already come and that the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of love, has already begun, even if it has yet to be fully realised.

Important elements of the text: +The privileged relationship between Israel and God, +Israel's universal mission in the service of humanity. +The "two loves of God": for Israel and for all nations. +The Covenant as God's faithfulness and love in history. +The literary structure of "inclusion". +The proclamation of God's kingship and the cry of victory (teru'ah) and liturgical language. +The memory of the liberation from Egypt and the expectation of God's final victory at the end of time. +The Christian reinterpretation in the light of the Incarnation. +The reference to musical instruments of worship. + The image of God's power, which at Christmas is manifested in the fragility of a child.

*Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (1:1-6)

The statement "God spoke to the fathers through the prophets" shows that the Letter to the Hebrews is addressed to Jews who have become Christians. Israel has always believed that God revealed himself progressively to his people: since God is not accessible to man, it is He who takes the initiative to make himself known. This revelation takes place through a gradual process of teaching, similar to the education of a child, as Deuteronomy reminds us: God educates his people step by step. For this reason, in every age, God has raised up prophets, considered to be the 'mouth of God', who have spoken in a way that was understandable to their time. He has spoken 'many times and in many ways', forming his people in the hope of salvation. With Jesus Christ, however, we enter the time of fulfilment. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews distinguishes two great periods: the time before Christ and the time inaugurated by Christ. In Jesus, God's merciful plan of salvation finds its full fulfilment: the new world has already begun. After the resurrection, the early Christians gradually came to understand that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected Messiah, but in an unexpected form. Expectations were different: a Messiah-king, a Messiah-prophet, a Messiah-priest. The author affirms that Jesus is all of these together.

Jesus is the prophet par excellence: while the prophets were the voice of God, Jesus is the very Word of God, through whom everything was created. He is the reflection of the Father's glory and its perfect expression: whoever sees Him sees the Father. As a priest, Jesus re-establishes the Covenant between God and humanity. Living in perfect filial relationship with the Father, he accomplishes the purification of sins. His priesthood does not consist of external rites, but of a life totally given in love and obedience to the Father. Jesus is also the Messiah-King. The royal prophecies apply to him: he sits at the right hand of the divine Majesty and is called the Son of God, the royal title par excellence. His kingdom surpasses that of the kings of the earth: he is lord of all creation, superior even to the angels, who adore him. This implicitly affirms his divinity. To be Christ, therefore, means to be prophet, priest and king. This text also reveals the vocation of Christians: united with Christ, they share in his dignity. In baptism, believers are made participants in Christ's mission as prophet, priest and king. The fact that this passage is proclaimed at Christmas invites us to recognise all this depth in the child in the manger: He carries within himself the mystery of the Son, the King, the Priest and the Prophet, and we live in Him, with Him and for Him.

Most important elements of the text: +The progressive revelation of God. +The role of prophets in the history of Israel. +Jesus as the definitive fulfilment of revelation. +Christ, the Word of God and reflection of his glory. +Christ, priest who re-establishes the Covenant. +Christ, king, Son of God and Lord of creation. +The unity of the three functions: prophet, priest and king. +The participation of Christians in this mission through baptism

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

Creation is the fruit of love. 'In the beginning': John deliberately takes up the first word of Genesis ('Bereshit'). It does not indicate a mere chronological succession, but the origin and foundation of all things. "In the beginning was the Word": everything comes from the Word, the Word of love, from the dialogue between the Father and the Son. The Word is "turned towards God" (pros ton Theon), symbolising the attitude of dialogue: looking the other in the eye, opening oneself to encounter. Creation itself is the fruit of this dialogue of love between the Father and the Son, and man is created to live it. We are the fruit of God's love, called to a filial dialogue with Him. Human history, however, shows the rupture of this dialogue: the original sin of Adam and Eve represents distrust in God, which interrupts communion. Conversion, that is, 'turning around', allows us to reconcile dialogue with God. The future of humanity is to enter into dialogue. Christ lives this dialogue with the Father perfectly: He is humanity's 'Yes' to the Father. Through Him, we are reintroduced into the original dialogue, becoming children of God for those who believe in Him. Trust in God ("believing") is the opposite of sin: it means never doubting God's love and looking at the world through His eyes. The Incarnate Word (The Word became flesh) shows that God is present in concrete reality; we do not need to flee from the world to encounter Him. Like John the Baptist, we too are called to bear witness to this presence in our daily lives.

Main elements of the text: +Creation as the fruit of the dialogue of love between the Father and the Son: + In the beginning indicates origin and foundation, not just chronology. +The Word as the creative Word and the beginning of dialogue. +Man created to live in filial dialogue with God

and The breaking of dialogue in original sin. +Conversion as a 'half-turn' to reconcile the relationship with God. +Christ as perfect dialogue and humanity's 'Yes' to the Father. +Becoming children of God through faith. +The presence of God in concrete reality and in the flesh of the Word. +The call of believers to be witnesses of God's presence

Commenting on John's Prologue, St Augustine writes: 'The Word was not created; the Word was with God, and everything was made through Him. He is not merely a message, but the very Wisdom and Love of God who communicates himself to men." Augustine thus emphasises that creation and humanity are not an accident, but the fruit of God's eternal love, and that man is called to respond to this love in dialogue with Him.

+ Giovanni D'Ercole