The true higher dimension

(Lk 11:47-54)

"I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill and persecute" (v.49).

A living word in every age, Jesus grieves over the confusing professionals of judgement and hindrance, who unfortunately also live on in his communities:

"Alas for you, the teachers of the Law, who have taken away the key of knowledge! You yourselves have not entered, and you hold back those who entered" (v.52).

The experts of ancient religion closed the doors of the sphere in which God reigns.

First the chosen people, then the Church of the elect, who already made it opaque, considering it their property - all identified with their prospects [and prestige, as well as revenues].

Out of a habit of feeling revered, the "experts" and "pure ones" truly believed they had exclusive possession of the codes of the Kingdom, old and new. Consequently, they felt entitled to have sole influence over souls.

Everything was almost as it was before the Lord. The learned continued to proclaim themselves as guides of the people.

They willingly subjected to persecution those who tried to sift through their own message - manipulative, exclusive, based on the subjugation of the most motivated sensitive hearts.

Instead of offering deep understanding, the first of the class did not bring any meaningful light to the many in need who conversely waited for them to be helped, and learn to face the face of Truth.

The shrewd expectations and the consorting world of the leaders were once again beginning to be bound only by the fear that someone might grow in awareness and overshadow the ridiculous prestige of aging, deviant leaders.

So they did nothing but reassure: everything is running smoothly and the problem is the 'different' ones - who had not yet 'understood'. The victims were collateral damage: predictable suffering.

Unnecessary travails?

Frankly, the 'reflection' that the false leaders still propagate today is so obfuscating and imperfect that it is child's play to understand its contradictions and remove all impediments to effective proclamation, catechesis, animation and pastoral action, aimed at the interest of the people and not at the ideas and wiles of established congregations.

The Lord, the great enemy of the coryphaei of addicted theology, was not only questioning doctrine, but the whole house of cards of the religious system [mutual positions, titles, connections, and prerogatives].

So it was decided: Jesus either makes himself our hostage or he must not get away with it (vv.53-54).

The accredited monopoly translated into imposition, which left no room for ideas and novelties that would qualify those destined for the rear.

Therefore the leaders were 'forced' to expand the false teachings drawn from religions: here again was an all-powerful Eternal, lawgiver and judge.

Not the Creator, lover of the exuberance and variety of life; not the Liberator of the intelligence, and breath of the people.

In a thousand ways and festivals, those who considered themselves the sole interpreters of the things of God - for the sake of gain - were already falsifying the image of the Church and hindering the possibility of recognising the living Jesus.

In doing so, they were killing the desire of the best motivated, to place themselves in a new and personal Exodus, in search of the divine-human fullness and loveliness that emancipated all, not just the cliques.

The fathers kill the prophets, the godchildren sweeten the crime - as if it were nothing [underneath, approving the misdeed].

Not least because the deceased no longer speaks, nor does he trouble anyone, least of all his omerto accomplices.

A doomed fate, that of the critical witnesses - because they do not even know how to devise escape routes. They have no experience of it, they never have.

Thus, the list of martyrs 'by the blood of Abel' remains open, unfortunately. But - the perennial insipience of power - their path leads their brothers to life without limits, to the superior and exalting dimension of the Encounter that counts.

Our nature is to be children, naive and innocent. We cannot deny ourselves, making calculations or adapting to the situation of the forces in play.

In every external condition, our task remains to make Christ the Lamb present, and to make people think.

Pope Francis emphasises and reiterates (Brothers All): as Christians, we cannot hide the fact that "if the music of the Gospel stops vibrating in our innards, we will have lost the joy that springs from compassion, the tenderness that is born of trust, the capacity for reconciliation that finds its source in always knowing how to forgive one another. If the music of the Gospel stops playing in our homes, in our squares, in our workplaces, in politics and in the economy, we will have extinguished the melody that provoked us to fight for the dignity of every man and woman" (n.277).The pyramids that supplant the authentic Messiah with one-sided banners feel threatened by the demands of the Gospel.

Such pyramids, closed in partial truths - defended with violence and subterfuge - will be asked to account for the sacrifice of all the even minimal prophets and lambs who have gathered the Testament.

We will not lose motivation. We will continue to touch the flesh of Christ.

To internalise and live the message:

What aids or difficulties have you also found in the ecclesial reality, for the proclamation and witnessing of the profound Truth of the Gospels?