The true higher dimension

(Lk 11:47-54)

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

A living word for all times, Jesus laments the confusing professionals of judgement and impediment, who unfortunately also live on in his communities:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law, who have taken away the key of knowledge! You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering" (v. 52).

The experts of the ancient religion closed the doors to the realm where God reigns.

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

Accustomed to being revered, the 'experts' and 'pure' truly believed that they had exclusive possession of the codes of the Kingdom, old and new. As a result, they felt entitled to have sole influence over souls.

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

They willingly persecuted those who attempted to scrutinise their own message – manipulative, exclusive, based on the subjugation of the most motivated sensitive hearts.

Instead of offering deep understanding, the top of the class brought no meaningful light to the many needy people who, on the contrary, were waiting for them to help them and learn to face the Truth.

The astute expectations and consortial world of the directors began once again to be linked solely to the fear that someone might grow in awareness and overshadow the ridiculous prestige of ageing, deviant guides.

So they did nothing but reassure: everything is going smoothly and the problem is the 'different' ones - who still hadn't 'understood'. The victims were collateral damage: predictable suffering.

Useless troubles?

Frankly, the 'reflection' that false leaders still peddle today is so clouded and imperfect that it is child's play to understand its contradictions and remove all obstacles to effective proclamation, catechesis, animation and pastoral care, aimed at the interests of the people and not at the ideas and cunning of established congregations.

The Lord, the great enemy of the leaders of habitual theology, questioned not only doctrine, but the entire house of cards that was the religious system [mutual positions, titles, connections, and benefices].

So it was decided: Jesus must either become 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 innovations that would qualify those destined for the rear.

Therefore, the leaders found themselves 'forced' to expand the false teachings drawn from religions: here again was an almighty Eternal One, lawgiver and judge.

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

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

In doing so, they killed the desire of the most motivated to embark on a new and personal Exodus, in search of the divine-human fullness and lovability that emancipated everyone, not just the cliques.

Fathers kill prophets, godchildren sugarcoat the crime – as if nothing had happened [secretly approving of the misdeed].

This is also because the deceased no longer speaks, nor does he bother anyone, least of all his silent accomplices.

The fate of critical witnesses is sealed - because they cannot even devise escape routes. They have no experience of this, they have never done it before.

In this way, the list of martyrs 'from the blood of Abel' remains open, unfortunately. But - perennial ignorance of power - their path leads their brothers to a life without limits, to the higher and exhilarating dimension of the Encounter that matters.

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

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

Pope Francis emphasises and reiterates (Fratelli Tutti): as Christians, we cannot hide the fact that 'if the music of the Gospel ceases to resonate in our hearts, we will have lost the joy that comes from compassion, the tenderness that comes from trust, the capacity for reconciliation that finds its source in knowing that we are always forgiven and sent forth. If the music of the Gospel ceases to play in our homes, in our squares, in our workplaces, in politics and in the economy, we will have silenced the melody that inspired us to fight for the dignity of every man and woman" (n.277).The pyramids that supplant the authentic Messiah with that of unilateral banners feel threatened by the demands of the Gospel.

Such alliances, closed in partial truths - defended with violence and subterfuge - will be called to account for the sacrifice of all the prophets and lambs, however small, who have gathered the Testament.

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

To internalise and live the message:

What help or difficulties have you encountered, even within the Church, in proclaiming and bearing witness to the profound Truth of the Gospels?

Values and emotional independence

Placing oneself in the events of persecution

(Lk 21:12-19)

The course of history is a time in which God composes the confluence of our freedom and circumstances.

In these folds there is often a vector of life, an essential aspect, a definitive fate, which escapes us.

But to the discerning eye of the person of Faith, even abuse and martyrdom are a gift.

To learn the important lessons of life, every day the believer ventures into what he or she is afraid to do, overcoming fears.

The gratuitous, spousal love received places us in a condition of reciprocity, of an active desire to unite our lives to Christ - albeit in the meagerness of our responses.

If, on the other hand, we continue to complain about failures, dangers and calamities, everyone will see us as ordinary women and men - and everything will end at this level.

We will not be on the other side.

At best, we will try to escape the harshness, or we will end up looking for allies of circumstance (vv. 14-15).

Luke intends to help his communities to challenge worldly logic and to place themselves fervently in the events of persecution.

Social oppression is not inevitable, but rather an opportunity for mission; a place of high Eucharistic witness (v. 13).

The persecuted do not need external crutches, nor should they live in the anguish of collapse.

They have the task of being signs of the Kingdom of God, which gradually brings those who are far away and even the usurpers themselves to a different awareness.

No one is the arbiter of reality, and all are twigs subject to upheaval, but in the humanising condition of the apostles, an emotional independence shines through.

This is due to the intimate, living sense of a Presence and the interpretation of external events as the exceptional action of the Father revealing himself.

In this malleable energetic magma, unique paths emerge, unprecedented opportunities for growth... even in adversity.

An attitude without excuses or rock-solid certainties: with the sole conviction that everything will be put back into play [not through effort: simply by shifting one's gaze].

Sacred and profane time coincide in a fervent Covenant, which nestles and nurtures fruit even in moments of travail and paradox.

Here, the only resource needed is the spiritual strength to go all the way... into the contradictions of the other side.

Thus, even the family or 'clan' to which one belongs must be led to a different world of beliefs, not without painful conflicts (v. 16).

The Torah itself required the denunciation of those unfaithful to the religion of their fathers - even close relatives - to the point of putting them to death (Deut. 13:7-12) [in fact, only to designate the seriousness of that type of transgression].

The Announcement could only cause extreme divisions, and on fundamental issues such as success or progress in this life - the vision of a new world, of the utopia of other people's needs.

Everything will seem to conspire and mock our ideal (v. 17).

The reference to the Name alludes to the historical story of Jesus of Nazareth, with his burden not only of ideal and explicit goodness, but also of denunciation against the official institution and the false guides who had seized the God of the Exodus.

Despite interference, being misunderstood, slandered, ridiculed, blackmailed and hated... anchored to Christ, we will experience that the stages of history and life proceed towards Hope.

God's 'protection' does not preserve us from dark times or from suffering harm, but it guarantees that nothing will be lost, not even a hair (v. 18).

This spontaneous example that Jesus draws from nature—an echo of the conciliatory life dreamed of for us by the Father—introduces us to the Happiness that makes us aware of our existence in all our personal reality.

The expression shows the value of things that are genuine, silent, unspectacular, but which inhabit us - they are not 'shadows'. And we perceive them without effort or mental exertion.

In a time of momentous choices, of emergencies that seem to put everything in check—but want to make us less artificial—such awareness can overturn our judgement of substance, of the small and the great.

In fact, for the adventure of love, there is no accounting or clamour.

It is in the Lord and in the insidious or summary reality that the 'place' for each of us lies. Not without lacerations.Yet we draw spiritual energy from the knowledge of Christ, from the sense of deep connection with Him and with reality, even when it is minute and varied, or fearsome - always personal (v.18).

And (precisely) the afterlife is not vague.

We must not distort ourselves to gain approval... least of all for the 'Heaven' that conquers death.

The destiny of uniqueness is not ruined: it is precious and dear, as it is in nature.

We must glimpse its Beauty, future and already present.

Nor will it matter to place oneself above and in front: rather, in the background, already rich and perfect, in the intimate sense of the fullness of being.

In this way, we will not have to trample on each other (Lk 12:1)... even to meet Jesus.

'We are utterly lost if we lack this particular individuality, the only thing we can truly call our own - and whose loss is also a loss for the whole world. It is also precious because it is not universal'.

(Rabindranath Tagore)

Jesus warns us: we cannot count on unassailable friendships, nor on human powers arrayed in defence of the earthly fabric.

Even those we believed to be close to us will scrutinise us with suspicion: the price of truth always lies in choosing the opposite of the world of lies [even sacred, outdated or ephemeral] that are all united against it.

Our story will not be like an easy novel with a happy ending.

But we will have the opportunity to bear witness in the present to the most genuine ancient roots: that at every moment God calls, manifests himself - and what seems like failure becomes Food and the source of Life.

Stubborn only in the change of proportions, between stripping away and elevation. In the contrast between the criteria and the very foundations of thinking.

To internalise and live the message:

What kind of reading do you do, and how do you place yourself in the events of persecution? 

Are you aware that obstacles do not come from despair, but rather to free you from being trapped in stagnant cultural patterns (which are not your own)?

On the other side of the world

Christians must therefore always be found on the 'other side' of the world, the one chosen by God: not persecutors, but persecuted; not arrogant, but meek; not snake oil salesmen, but submissive to the truth; not impostors, but honest.

This fidelity to the style of Jesus – which is a style of hope – until death, will be called by the early Christians with a beautiful name: 'martyrdom', which means 'witness'. There were many other possibilities offered by the vocabulary: it could have been called heroism, self-denial, self-sacrifice. Instead, the early Christians called it by a name that smacks of discipleship. Martyrs do not live for themselves, they do not fight to assert their own ideas, and they accept that they must die only for fidelity to the Gospel. Martyrdom is not even the supreme ideal of Christian life, because above it there is charity, that is, love for God and neighbour. The Apostle Paul says this very well in his hymn to charity, understood as love for God and neighbour. The Apostle Paul says this very well in his hymn to charity: 'If I give away all my possessions, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not charity, I gain nothing' (1 Cor 13:3). Christians are repulsed by the idea that suicide bombers can be called "martyrs": there is nothing in their end that can be compared to the attitude of the children of God.

Sometimes, when we read the stories of so many martyrs of yesterday and today – who are more numerous than the martyrs of early times – we are amazed at the fortitude with which they faced their trials. This fortitude is a sign of the great hope that animated them: the certain hope that nothing and no one could separate them from the love of God given to us in Jesus Christ (cf. Rom 8:38-39).

May God always give us the strength to be his witnesses. May he grant us to live Christian hope, especially in the hidden martyrdom of doing our daily duties well and with love. Thank you.

(Pope Francis, General Audience, 28 June 2017)