Genesis Rebirth Judgment

Jn 3:16-21(7-21)

Every man confronted with the Mystery does not fully comprehend what he feels, until he accepts the wager and enters into a new existence.

The old life presents only bills to be paid, which always resurface; conversely, the new Calling supplants normalised categories of judgement and choices.

One passes as through an emptying of the heart.

For the Tao [Way] Tê Ching (xxi) says:

"The contentment of those who have the virtue of emptiness, only to the Tao does it conform. For creatures, the Tao is indistinct and indeterminate [...] in its bosom it holds images [...] in its bosom it holds archetypes [...] in its bosom it holds the essence of being! This essence is very genuine [...] and so it consents to all beginnings.

Outside the cosmic and personal Way, man's existence has no generative meaning.

Even the spiritual affair of the experienced and well-adjusted person stagnates until he can no longer silence the great questions of meaning, his fiction, or sloth.

Life in the Spirit proceeds by new Births and breathes forth where it will.

Not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, manners, respectability, skills, or instruction booklets: in a disconcerting way - but it brings different refreshment, and even sudden peace.

It is a reality present and operative, albeit inexplicable - yet enriching, allowing us to penetrate or plunge into another configuration of reality.

Another realm, which in the 'Son of Man' unites the two worlds.

Nicodemus was master of the Old Testament alone. He would check any stagnation or progress by comparing them to the wisdom of the things of God on a more than familiar basis.

But not infrequently our growth proceeds in leaps and bounds - not even according to natural 'intelligence'. Let alone the spiritual life.

It is not enough to practise and go along with the ideas of the fathers or the fashionable ones, nor to remain in agreement with normal intentions.

Assimilating other people's knowledge and acquiring already expected expertise is not infrequently junk that blocks true developments - those that belong to us.

Unfortunately, in religious life one often proceeds mechanically, and there seems to be no need to allow oneself to be saved or surprised by events.

At most we are exposed to a few breezes, enslaved to earthly languages, limited to the dimension of "phenomena" that are all on the surface - that exclude and dismiss Christ.

In the bewildering adventure of Faith, the divine Project and the radical Work of the Son do not unfold in a reasonable manner, but by Love without measure.

It is the level of Eternity that puts those who receive it into the unique tu-per-tu with the Father and his exuberant Life.

The Spirit's unit of measure is different from that of the agreed customs. Its impetus is elusive Wind, "visible" only in its ecclesial and personal effects.

The Secret is "from above" (v.7), out of scale. It lurks in the unpredictability of crossroads, surpluses, and new creations.

Bliss does not proceed by arguments to boredom: it protrudes or pales.

In this way, one can often hold the Eucharist or the Scriptures in one's hand and not realise that the road already taken can only give illusions of spiritual doctoring.

"Thence shall he come to judge" is an article of the Apostles' Creed.

Success or failure in life will be evaluated "from the Cross", i.e. with the criterion of the new perception, Gift of self and Renewal to the core.

Reversal of perspectives; reversal of views.

It is a source of Hope and a new leap forward: where humiliation is transformed into authentic Birth and triumph of indestructible Life.

This is the Beatitude that uncovers blooms, hidden treasures and precious pearls, behind our dark sides.

Here even the persecutions of enemies and mockers become vectors that introduce different energies, compelling us to improve.

And one imagined that divine life only belonged to the celestial sphere; instead it paradoxically comes within our reach.

Nicodemus knew: in the wilderness many had fallen victim to snares, but Jesus makes it clear that the Israelites had not been gratuitously healed by a bronze effigy, but by having 'raised their eyes'.

The Lord refers to this episode and interprets it as the setting for his own teaching; the symbol of his extreme event.

Those who contemplate it already have within themselves the full, acute and total sense of the Scriptures, and the very Life of the Eternal.

In this sense, it is necessary to be "born from above", to shift contemplative perception, to recognise ourselves, and to keep our eyes on true love.

It is because of a new Genesis of our own being and of the criteria by which we stake our lives, that the Crucified One becomes the reference point for all our choices.

Not out of sorrowful masochism and feigned consolation. Not to use it as a jewel.

Not an amulet; not an emblem placed by force upon the heights, which would indicate the conquest of territories.

Not even the sacralisation of an environment, or a 'cultural' figure.In rabbinic style, Mt 25 uses the image of the Last Judgement to recall the importance and consequences of the choices we make.

In Jn, the theme of the Judgement seems reversed: it is as if we were the ones "judging" God - in the sense that in his presence we are and will be disarmed, recognising that his Heart is far greater than our own.

So too in the experience of the life of Faith, which attracts and opens up the impossible future.

Indeed, the Fourth Gospel excludes the Father judging the sons. Jn speaks of a Judgment that takes place in the Present, which is only redemption - for our sake alone: for a life of the saved.

"When" God acts he creates. He justifies: he does something new, global, unparalleled.

It does not repeat. It gives birth to other excesses, in varied grooves, in the fabric of history, "imposing" just positions - first of all where there is no justice.

According to a Wisdom that gives rise to quite a few unexpected opinions.

While employing different backgrounds and language, both Mt and Jn find themselves in the same "truth" (v.21).

The Judgement is pronounced from the Cross - according to criteria that differ from worldly criteria, which are always hasty or mannered (and trivial).

The Lord makes his opinions heard and seen, in the face of all events and choices - warning against the options of authentic death.

The work of those who mismanage and waste life "shall burn, and he shall be punished; yet he shall be saved, but as by fire" (1 Cor 3:15).

The dissimilarities are already commensurate with the Person of the Son. The Judgment has already begun.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you consider to have been your births? What about your genuine choices?

Are you still in the direction of the wind of the ancient fathers or the fashions around you?

Do you unfurl your sails according to the direction of the Wind of the Spirit, which throws up your securities, even group or denominational ones?

What do you admire, and what have you placed 'high' in your life? Is this straw already finished and burnt?

What has so far exalted you, and did you think could elevate you instead?

He so loved, and gave

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Here is the heart of the Gospel, here is the foundation of our joy. For the content of the Gospel is not an idea or a doctrine, but is Jesus, the Son whom the Father gave us that we might have life. Jesus is the foundation of our joy: it is not a beautiful theory on how to be happy, but it is experiencing being accompanied and loved on life's journey. "He so loved the world that he gave his Son". Let us dwell, brothers and sisters, for a moment on these two aspects: "he so loved" and "he gave".

First of all, God so loved. These words, which Jesus addresses to Nicodemus - an old Jew who wanted to know the Master - help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked upon us with love, and out of love He came among us in the flesh of His Son. In Him He came to seek us in the places where we went astray; in Him He came to lift us up from our falls; in Him He wept our tears and healed our wounds; in Him He blessed our lives forever. Whoever believes in Him, says the Gospel, is not lost (ibid.). In Jesus, God has spoken the final word over our lives: you are not lost, you are loved. Always loved.

If listening to the Gospel and practising our faith does not enlarge our hearts to make us grasp the greatness of this love, and perhaps we slip into a serious, sad, closed religiosity, then it is a sign that we need to stop for a while and listen again to the proclamation of the good news: God loves you so much that he gives you his whole life. He is not a God who looks down on us indifferently from on high, but He is a Father, a loving Father who involves Himself in our history; He is not a God who rejoices in the death of the sinner, but a Father concerned that no one is lost; He is not a God who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the blessing embrace of His love.

And we come to the second word: God 'gave' his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself and offers us his life. He who loves always comes out of himself - do not forget this: he who loves always comes out of himself. Love always offers itself, gives itself, spends itself. The power of love is precisely this: it shatters the shell of selfishness, it breaks the banks of over-calculated human securities, it breaks down walls and overcomes fears, to make itself a gift. This is the dynamic of love: it is making a gift of oneself, giving oneself. He who loves is like that: he prefers to risk giving himself rather than atrophy by keeping to himself. That is why God comes out of himself, because 'he has loved so much'. His love is so great that it cannot help but give itself to us. When the people walking in the desert were attacked by poisonous snakes, God made Moses the bronze serpent; In Jesus, however, lifted up on the cross, He Himself came to heal us of the poison that gives death, He became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son so that whoever looks at him and believes in him may be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more one loves, the more one becomes capable of giving. This is also the key to understanding our life. It is good to meet people who love each other, who love each other and share life; you can say of them as you do of God: they love each other so much that they give their lives. It is not only what we can produce or gain that counts, what counts above all is the love we know how to give.

And this is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Hence the Church's invitation on this Sunday: 'Rejoice [...]. Rejoice and be glad, you who were in sorrow: be filled with the abundance of your consolation" (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think back to what we experienced a week ago in Iraq: a tormented people rejoiced with joy; thanks to God, to his mercy.

Sometimes we look for joy where there is none, we look for it in illusions that vanish, in dreams of our ego's greatness, in the apparent security of material things, in the worship of our image, and so many things... But the experience of life teaches us that true joy is to feel loved gratuitously, to feel accompanied, to have someone who shares our dreams and who, when we are shipwrecked, comes to rescue us and lead us to a safe harbour.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021].

"God is love" (I Jn 4: 16): in this simple affirmation the Evangelist John has enclosed the revelation of the entire mystery of the Triune God. And in meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus, foretelling his passion and death on the Cross, affirms: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16).

We all need to draw from the inexhaustible fountain of divine love, which is totally manifested to us in the mystery of the Cross, in order to find authentic peace with God, with ourselves and with our neighbour. Only from this spiritual source is it possible to draw the indispensable interior energy to overcome the evil and sin in the ceaseless battle that marks our earthly pilgrimage toward the heavenly homeland.

[Pope Benedict, Penitentiary Course Audience 16 March 2007]

Our meeting today puts us into direct contact with the depths of the mystery of God’s love. We are in fact taking part in Vespers in honour of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, which enable us to live and experience the reality of God’s love for man. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). God loves the world and will love it to the end. The Heart of the Son of God pierced on the Cross and opened is a profound and definitive witness to God’s love. Saint Bonaventure writes: “It was a divine decree that permitted one of the soldiers to open his sacred wide with a lance . . . The blood and water which poured out at that moment was the price of our salvation” (The Liturgy of the Hours, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, Office of Readings, Second Reading).

With trembling hearts and in humility we stand before the great mystery of God, who is love. Here today, in Gliwice, we wish to express to him our praise and immense gratitude.

It is with great joy that I come to you today, because you are dear to me. All the people of Silesia are dear to my heart. When I was Archbishop of Kraków I would go each year on pilgrimage to Our Lady of Piekary and we would gather there for prayer in common. I greatly appreciated every invitation. For me it was always a profound experience. However, this is the first time that I have come to the Diocese of Gliwice, because it is a young diocese which was established just a few years ago. Therefore, receive my cordial greeting, which I send first of all to your Bishop Jan and to his Auxiliary Bishop Gerard. I also greet the clergy, the families of Religious men and women, all consecrated persons and the faithful people of this Diocese. I am pleased that my travels on this pilgrimage in our homeland include Gliwice, a city which I have visited many times and of which I have special memories. With great joy I visit this land of men and women who are accustomed to hard work: it is the land of the Polish miner, the land of steel mills, mines and industrial furnaces; but it is also a land with a rich religious tradition. My thoughts and my heart open today to all of you here present, to all the people of Upper Silesia and of the entire land of Silesia. I greet all of you in the name of the one Triune God.

2. “God is love” (1 Jn 4:16). These words of Saint John the Evangelist constitute the theme of the Pope’s pilgrimage in Poland. On the eve of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 this joyous and impressive news of a God who loves needs to be spread anew throughout the world. God is a reality which is beyond our human capacity to understand fully. Since he is God, our reasoning is unable to grasp his infiniteness, nor can his limitlessness be confined within narrow human dimensions. It is he who measures us, who rules over us, guides us and understands us, even though we may be unaware of it. This God, however unattainable in his essence, has made himself close to men and women by his paternal love. The truth of God who is love constitutes a kind of summing up and at the same time the high point of everything that God has revealed about himself, of what he has told us through the Prophets and through Jesus Christ about what he is.

God has revealed this love in various ways. First, in the mystery of creation. Creation is the work of God’s omnipotence guided by wisdom and love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you”, God says to Israel through the lips of the Prophet Jeremiah (31:3). God has loved the world which he has created, and above all things in the world he has loved man. Even when man turned away from this original love, God did not stop loving him and raised him up from his fall, because he is Father, because he is Love. In the most perfect and definitive way, God has revealed his love in Christ — in his Cross and in his Resurrection. Saint Paul will say: “God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive with Christ” (Eph 2:4-5). In this year’s message for youth I wrote: “The Father loves you”. This magnificent news has been placed in the heart of believing men and women who, like the disciple whom Jesus loved, rest their heads on the Master’s breast and listen to what he confides to them: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:21).

“The Father loves you” — these words of the Lord Jesus are at the very heart of the Gospel. At the same time, no one shows more clearly than Jesus how demanding this love is: “he became obedient unto death” (Phil 2:8) and thus taught in the most perfect way that love waits for a response from men and women. It demands fidelity to the commandments and to the vocation which each person has received from God.

3. “We know and believe the love God has for us” (1 Jn 4:16).

By grace, men and women are called to the Covenant with their Creator, to give a response of faith and love which no one else can give for them. This response has not been lacking here in Silesia. For whole centuries you have responded to God with your Christian lives. Your history shows you always united with the Church and her Pastors, strongly attached to the religious traditions of your forebears. In a particular way, the long post-War period — up to the changes which took place in our country in 1989 — was also for you a time of great trial of faith. You faithfully stood by God, withstanding atheism and the secularization of the nation and the battle against religion. I remember how thousands of workers in Silesia, at the Shrine of Piekary, repeated with firm resolve the motto: “Sunday belongs to God and to us”. You have always been aware of the need for prayer and for places where prayer could be better raised to God. Therefore you were never without the willingness of spirit or the generosity to work for the construction of new churches and places of worship, which sprang up in large numbers during that period in the cities and towns of Upper Silesia. You also had at heart the well- being of the family. For this reason you spoke up for the rights of families, especially the right for your children and for young people to be freely educated in the faith. You would often gather at shrines and in many other places dear to your hearts to give expression to your attachment to God and to bear witness to him. You would also invite me to those community celebrations in Silesia. I was always eager to proclaim the word of God, for you needed comfort during the difficult period of struggle when you fought to preserve your Christian identity, and you needed strength to obey “God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Looking at the past, we give thanks to Providence today for that test of faithfulness to God and to the Gospel, to the Church and to her Pastors. It was also a test of the responsibility of the nation, of our Christian homeland and of its thousand-year heritage, which despite the many great trials did not suffer destruction or sink into oblivion. It happened this way because you “know and believe the love God has for us”, and you responded always with love to God.

4. “Blessed are they who walk not in the counsel of the wicked . . . but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditate on his law day and night” (Ps 1:1- 2).

We have listened to these words of the Psalmist in the short reading at today’s Vespers service. Remain faithful to the experience of the past generations who lived in this land with God in their hearts and prayer on their lips. In Silesia may there ever prevail faith and sound morality, a true Christian spirit and respect for divine law. Preserve as your greatest treasure that which for your ancestors’ was a source of spiritual strength. Your forebears included God in their lives; in him they overcame every manifestation of evil. An eloquent expression of this is the miners’ greeting “God be good to you!”. Keep your hearts always open to the values proclaimed by the Gospel, cherish them; for they define your identity.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I also wanted to let you know that I am aware of the difficulties, fears and hardships which you are now experiencing, the fears and hardships afflicting the work sector in this Diocese and in all of Silesia. I am aware of the dangers which this state of affairs poses especially for many families and for the life of society as a whole. A careful consideration is needed both of the causes and of possible solutions. I have already spoken of this during my pilgrimage to Sosnowiec. Today I address once more all my fellow countrymen in our homeland: build the nation’s future on love of God and love of man, on respect for God’s commandments and on the life of grace! Indeed, happy are they, and happy is the nation, who take delight in the law of the Lord.

The knowledge that God loves us should make us love all men and women, without exception and without separating them into friends and enemies. Love of man consists in desiring what is truly good for each person. It consists also in concern to guarantee this good and to reject every form of evil and injustice. We must strive always and with perseverance to seek the paths of just development for all people, “to make life more human”, as the Council says (Gaudium et Spes, 38). May love and justice flourish in our country, producing daily results in the life of society. Thanks only to love and justice can this land become a happy home. Without great and authentic love there is no home for man. Even should great successes be achieved in the area of material development, without love and justice he would be condemned to a life without any real meaning.

“Man is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself” (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 24). He has been called to share in God’s life, he has been called to the fulness of grace and truth. His own greatness, the value and dignity of his humanity, he finds precisely in this vocation.

May God who is love be the light of our lives today and in the times to come. May he be the light of our homeland. Build a future worthy of man and his vocation!

I place you, your families and your problems at the feet of our Most Blessed Mother, who is venerated in many shrines in this Diocese and in all of Silesia. May she teach love of God and love of man, as she practised it in her own life.

To all, “God be good to you”!

[Pope John Paul II, homily in Gliwice 15 June 1999]

“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). This is the heart of the Gospel; this is the source of our joy. The Gospel message is not an idea or a doctrine. It is Jesus himself: the Son whom the Father has given us so that we might have life. Jesus is the source of our joy: not some lovely theory about how to find happiness, but the actual experience of being accompanied and loved throughout the journey of life. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son”. Brothers and sisters, let us dwell on these two thoughts for a moment: “God so loved” and “God gave”.

First of all, God so loved. Jesus’ words to Nicodemus — a Jewish elder who wanted to know the Master — help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked at us with love, and for the sake of love, he came among us in the flesh of his Son. In Jesus, he went in search of us when we were lost. In Jesus, he came to raise us up when we fell. In Jesus, he wept with us and healed our wounds. In Jesus, he blessed our life forever. The Gospel tells us that whoever believes in him will not perish (ibid.). In Jesus, God spoke the definitive word about our life: you are not lost, you are loved. Loved forever.

If hearing the Gospel and practicing our faith don’t enlarge our hearts and make us grasp the immensity of God’s love — maybe because we prefer a glum, sorrowful and self-absorbed religiosity — then this is a sign that we need to stop and listen once more to the preaching of the Good News. God loves you so much that he gave you his entire life. He is not a god who looks down upon us from on high, indifferent, but a loving Father who becomes part of our history. He is not a god who takes pleasure in the death of sinners, but a Father concerned that that no one be lost. He is not a god who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the comforting embrace of his love.

We now come to the second aspect: God “gave” his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself; he offers us his life. Those who love always go out of themselves. Don’t forget this: those who love go out of themselves. Love always offers itself, gives itself, expends itself. That is the power of love: it shatters the shell of our selfishness, breaks out of our carefully constructed security zones, tears down walls and overcomes fears, so as to give freely of itself. That is what love does: it gives itself. And that is how lovers are: they prefer to risk self-giving over self-preservation. That is why God comes to us: because he “so loved” us. His love is so great that he cannot fail to give himself to us. When the people were attacked by poisonous serpents in the desert, God told Moses to make the bronze serpent. In Jesus, however, exalted on the cross, he himself came to heal us of the venom of death; he became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son, so that whoever looks at him and believes in him will be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more we love, the more we become capable of giving. That is also the key to understanding our life. It is wonderful to meet people who love one another and share their lives in love. We can say about them what we say about God: they so love each other that they give their lives. It is not only what we can make or earn that matters; in the end, it is the love we are able to give.

This is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Here we see the meaning of the Church’s invitation this Sunday: “Rejoice... Rejoice and be glad, you who mourn: find contentment and consolation” (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think of what we saw a week ago in Iraq: a people who had suffered so much rejoiced and were glad, thanks to God and his merciful love.

Sometimes we look for joy where it is not to be found: in illusions that vanish, in dreams of glory, in the apparent security of material possessions, in the cult of our image, and in so many other things. But life teaches us that true joy comes from realizing that we are loved gratuitously, knowing that we are not alone, having someone who shares our dreams and who, when we experience shipwreck, is there to help us and lead us to a safe harbor.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021]

Scientists and Lowlies: abstract world and incarnation

(Mt 11:25-30)

The leaders looked at religiosity with a view to interest. Professors of theology were accustomed to evaluate every comma on the basis of their own knowledge, ridiculous but supponent - unrelated to real events.

That which remains tied to customs and the usual protagonists does not make one dream, it’s not an apparition and astonishing testimony of Elsewhere; it detracts expressive richness of the announcement and life.

The Lord rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - about those who are well disposed, and able to understand the depths of the Kingdom, in ordinary things.

In short, after an initial moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Christ delves deeper into the themes and finds himself all against, except God and the least ones: the weightlesses, but eager to start from scratch.

Glimpse of the Mystery that leavens history - without making it a possession.

At first even Jesus is stunned by the rejection of those who considered themselves already satisfied and no longer expected anything that could overcome habits.

Then He understands, praises and blesses the Father's plan: the authentic Person is born from the gutter, and possesses «the sense of neighborhood» (FT n.152).

The Creator is simple Relationship: He demystifies the idol of greatness.

The Eternal One is not the master of creation: He is Refreshment that reassures, because makes us feel complete and lovable. He seeks us out, He pays attention to the language of the heart.

He is Custodian of the world, even of the unlearned ones - of the «infants»  (v.25) spontaneously empty of boastful spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.

Thus the Father-Son bond is communicated to God’s poor: those who are endowed with the attitude of family members (v.27).

Insignificant and invisible without great external capacities, but who abandon themselves to the proposals of the provident life that comes, like babies in the arms of parents.

In this way, with a pietas’ Spirit that favours those who allow themselves to be filled with innate wisdom.

The only reality that corresponds to us and does not present the "bill": it doesn’t proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Sapience that transmits freshness in the readiness to personally receive, welcome, re-temper the Truth as a Gift, and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realizing it.

A simple blessing prayer, for the simple ones - this of Jesus (v.25) - which makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and gets along well with ourselves.

The new ones, the nullities, the voiceless and invisible do not think in terms of doctrine and laws [vv.29-30: unbearable "yoke" that crushes people, and concrete, particular vocations] but in terms of life and humanity.

Thus they enrich the fundamental and spontaneous experience of Faith-Love, satisfying, fulfilling it without mannerisms or intimate forcing.

While the exteriority of the pyramidal world, the distrust of those who want “to count", the anxiety of a competitive society, impoverish the gaze and contaminate the vital wave.

We, too, do not appreciate too much the energy of the 'models', nor the aggressive power of the “big guys”.

Rather than only with the “big” and external, we wish to live by Communion - even with the 'small' self, or there will be no loveliness, no authentic life.

To internalize and live the message:

What do you feel when you are told: «You don't count»? 

Does it remain a humiliating contempt or do you consider it a great Light received, as Jesus did

[St Catherine of Siena, April 29]

(Mt 11:25-30)

The one prayer of Jesus little taught

Scientists and Little People: abstract world and incarnation

(Mt 11:25-27)

"The world gives credit to the "wise" and the "learned", while God prefers the "little ones". The general teaching from this is that there are two dimensions of reality: one is deeper, true and eternal, the other marked by finiteness, impermanence and appearance" [Pope Benedict].

God's Broad Reason is not according to "fortune", or "measure"

In commentary on the Tao Tê Ching (iv) Master Ho-shang Kung writes:

"Human desires are sharp and subtle; they strive to appropriate merit and glory. When they are blunted, man masters them, and in imitation of the Way, does not fill himself".

The leaders looked at religiosity with an interest. Professors of theology used to evaluate every comma from their own ridiculously supponent knowledge - unrelated to real events.

Jesus finds himself against even his own family. Under the cloak and blackmail of habitual social conventions, they too were subjected to the preconception of the opinion of the 'great' and the evasive oral tradition, which did not convey nourishment to the concrete fabric of human time.

The Lord observes: even the Apostles are not free people; that is why they do not emancipate anyone and even prevent any breakthrough (cf. Luke 9).

Their way of being is so grounded in standard attitudes and compulsory behaviour that it translates into impermeable mental armour.

Their predictability is too limiting: it gives no breathing space to the path of those who instead want to reactivate themselves, discover and value surprises behind the secret sides of reality and personality.

That which remains bound to ancient customs [or abstractions] and usual protagonists [or sophisticated pseudo-teachers] does not make one dream, it is not an apparition and astonishing testimony of the Other; it takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The Master rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - about those who are well-disposed, and capable of understanding the depths of the Kingdom, in ordinary things.

[At a certain point in the spiritual journey, one realises in Christ that one must detach oneself from the idolatry of deference: it stifles and mocks life.

Faith proceeds on the track of the Happiness of the concrete woman and man, conversely rendered puppet-like by a false piety that is all exhibitionist or disembodied].

In short, after an initial moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Master delves deeper into the issues and finds everyone against him, except God and the least: the weightless, but with a strong desire to start from scratch.

Gleam of the Mystery that leavens history - without making it a possession.

At the conclusion of the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, Pope Francis cites the figure and experience of Charles de Foucauld, who - subverting everything - "only by identifying himself with the least came to be a brother to all" (no. 287).

At first, even Jesus is stunned by the rejection of those who were already satisfied with the official religious structure and were no longer waiting for anything that could oust the beaten track, arousing habits (or fantasies) and gaining advantage.

Then it overcomes the initial surprise: it fully grasps, praises and blesses the Father's plan, making it its own, holding it close to itself.

He brings to full and proper knowledge his Secret: that the Root of the transformation of being into the Unseen of God is concealment, "tapinōsis" [(tapeínōsis, "lowering"), from ταπεινός (tapeinós, "low") [v.29; Lk 1:48].

Here, the Son knows and understands the nucleus of the Expectations and Promises of the Covenant, and its protagonists - on the contrary: the trustworthy Person is born precisely from the slums, not from the class of elites.

In short, Christ intuits the all-round authenticity precisely of the unfortunate - the profound impulse, motive, motor, quintessence and unique energy of salvation history.

Transparency of the Eternal, which comes from another elaboration.

Genesis itself upsets the established religious relationship, which at times has become inert and "reassuring" - never profound nor decisive for human destiny.

God is Simple Report: he demythologises the idol of greatness.

The Eternal One is no longer the master of creation [He who manifested Himself strong and peremptory; in His action, still in the Old Covenant illustrated through the irrepressible powers of nature].

Quite the opposite. In this way, reflexively, and also in the spiritual journey, the Father does not lead us to alienation, to the hysteria of forcings we do not want, to inner dissociations.

He is Friend and Refreshment that refreshes, because He makes us feel complete and lovable; He seeks us by Name, He is attentive to the language of the heart.

He is Keeper of the world, even of the unlearned - of the "infants" (v.25) spontaneously empty of a boastful spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.As it is, 'perfect' in order to their mission in the world. Not empty glasses, only to be re-educated in institutional function.

No longer souls to be chiselled according to models.

If anything, hearts to be guided to total awareness; souls to be completed in the sense of complete self-discovery, in the opposites of character and vocational essence.

In this way, the Father-Son relationship is communicated to God's poor: those endowed with a family-like attitude (v.27).

Capable of coexistence, yet more autonomous than the identified and well-integrated... totally committed to tracing, in order to be recognised.

The poor remain genuine: what they are; not outsiders.

Insignificant and invisible, devoid of great gifts, but strangely always filled with an Other 'power'.

This is the 'virtue' of the infirm, who abandon themselves to the proposals of the providential life that comes, like children in the arms of parents.

With a spirit of 'pietas' - which favours those who allow themselves to be filled with innate wisdom.

The only reality that corresponds to us and does not present the 'bill': it does not proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Wisdom that conveys freshness in the readiness to receive, welcome, personally reinvigorate the Truth as Gift - and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realising it.

A prayer of blessing that is simple, for the simple - this of Jesus (v.25) - that makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and agrees with ourselves; starting from the innermost.

But that strangely, the learned in the territory who do not live 'the spirit of the neighbourhood' (FT no.152) but in the territory claim positions and always play smart, have never wanted to transmit to us.

The new, the voiceless and invisible do not reason in terms of doctrine and laws - vv.29-30: unbearable 'yoke' that crushes people and concrete, particular vocations - but in terms of life and humanity.

This is how we enrich the fundamental and spontaneous experience of Faith-Love, fulfilling it without mannerisms or intimate forcing that then pulls us out of ourselves.

Because the exteriority of the pyramidal world, the distrust of those who want to "count", the anxiety of the competitive and epidermic society, impoverish the gaze; they contaminate the vital wave.

For God, it is better to 'count' little.

He does not force us into the energy of models, nor does he put forward the aggressive power of the 'big shots' as an ideal.

In this way, his intimates, rather than only with the 'great' and external, will live in communion with the 'small' in themselves; or they will not enjoy amiability, nor authentic life.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you feel when you are told: 'You don't count'?

Does it remain a humiliating contempt or do you consider it a great Light received, as Jesus did?

The Yoke on the Little Ones

Religion turned into obsession - for "held back"

(Mt 11:28-30)

The rabbis chose disciples from among those with greater intellectual and ascetic abilities. Jesus instead goes after the outcasts, the "infants" (v.25) who did not even have self-esteem.

Even for the rebirth that is on the horizon today, Christ has no need of false phenomena; on the contrary, it is He who frees from external constraints; He releases inner strength [and also heals the brain]. 

Into the intimacy of the Mystery of divine life enters those who know how to receive everything and let go - but remain themselves.

God is not distant, but very near; he is not great, but small: the effective way to become intimate with the Father is not to make oneself subordinate with effort, but to know oneself as a dissolved family member.

Only here can we grasp him in the centre of his unveiling: wise power, succouring, united; for us, as we are.

The pundits of official religion - overflowing with self-love and a sense of election - preached a God to be convinced with confident attitudes and a contrived, cutting, imperious manner.

They let neither being nor becoming be. Intransigence was a sign that they did not know the Father.

The Eternal One transformed into the Controller had become a source of discrimination and obsession for the intimate life of tiny people, harassed by the insecurity of distinguishing-avoiding-observing, and by doubts of conscience.

Discouraged from living personally (and as a class) the conversion they preached to others, the professors did not realise that they had to empty themselves of absurd presumptions and become - they - pupils of ordinary people.

In short, as children we are incessantly invited to build a multifaceted family, where we are not always on the alert.

We are not the subordinates of a frowning and all-distant - but manipulative - Lord.

Rather, they were called to a paradoxical, personal and class choice: and without forcing it, to recognise themselves - to stand alongside the humiliated and harassed.

This is while provincial false piety continues to drag burdens - precisely those of the thwarted and weary, of existence made more hesitant rather than free; obsessed and heavy, rather than light.

Why? Without mincing words, the Encyclical Brothers All would reply:

"The best way to dominate and advance without limits is to sow the seeds of hopelessness and arouse constant distrust, albeit disguised with the defence of certain values" (no.15).

As if to say: when the authorities and the top of the class have little credibility, only the sowing of fear produces significant conditioning in the people, and puts them on a leash.

In the widespread Church, we have only for the past few decades overcome the cliché of moralistic and terroristic preaching [e.g. even at Advent time] divorced from a meridian sense of humanisation.

The excluded, dejected and exhausted by meaningless fulfilments have nevertheless continued to meet the Saviour frankly, finding rest of soul, conviction, peace, balance, hope.

By instinct, they have succeeded in carving out what no pyramidal religion had ever been able to offer and deploy.

In this way, the new, the voiceless, inadequate and invisible, never know how to calculate in terms of doctrine and laws, norm and code - ancient 'yoke' (vv.29-30) unbearable, which crushes people and concrete vocations; particular autonomies or communionalities.

In short, no 'patriarch' is empowered by God to pack our souls, force directions, and keep a maniacal, perfectionist, and meticulous eye on us.

Exaggerating failures, across the board.

Everyone has an inherent way of being in the world, all their own - even if it is habitual. It is an opportunity of impulse and richness for all.

We ourselves do not want to exacerbate events by regulating every detail, even 'spiritual' ones, from irritating patterns of vigilance that do not belong to us.

We prefer to let personal ways of dealing with reality flow; thus tracing its essential and spontaneous energies.

We reason according to codes of life and humanisation: temperament, unrepeatable history, cultural influences, broad friendships. We do not live to prevent.

Only in this way can we enrich the fundamental experience: Love - which does not come from judgements, cuts and separations, but from the Father-Son relationship. One that does not irritate.

The root of the transformation of being in God's unpredictable is precisely concealment, 'tapinōsis' [(tapeínōsis, 'lowering'), from ταπεινός (tapeinós, 'low') [v.29 Greek text; Lk 1:48].

Only those who love strength start from the too far from themselves.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you find yourself more or less free and serene in community?

Does your Calling obtain breath or do you feel the burden of others' doubts, judgments, prohibitions and prescriptions?

Do you suffer from some guide or from yourself a kind of controller complex?

The world considers a long life fortunate, but God, more than age, looks at the uprightness of heart. The world gives credit to the "wise" and "intelligent", while God prefers the "lowly". The general teaching that we can draw from this is that there are two dimensions to reality: a more profound, true and eternal one and the other, marked by finitude, transience and appearance. Now, it is important to emphasize that these two dimensions are not placed in simple temporal succession, as if true eternal life were to begin only after death. In reality, true life, eternal life already begins in this world, although within the precariousness of human history; eternal life begins in the measure to which we open ourselves to the mystery of God and welcome it in our midst. It is God, the Lord of life, in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17: 28), as St Paul said at the Areopagus in Athens.

God is the true wisdom that never ages, the authentic wealth that never corrupts, the happiness to which every man aspires in the depths of his heart. This truth, that passes through the Wisdom Books and re-emerges in the New Testament, comes to fulfilment in the existence and teaching of Jesus.

[Pope Benedict, homily 3 November 2008]

1. An innumerable host of "wise virgins" like those praised in the Gospel parable we have just heard, have known, throughout the Christian centuries, how to await the Bridegroom with their lamps, well stocked with oil, to participate with him in the feast of grace on earth, and of glory in heaven. Among them, today shines before our gaze the great and beloved Saint Catherine of Siena, splendid flower of Italy, most resplendent gem of the Dominican Order, star of unparalleled beauty in the firmament of the Church, whom we honour here on the sixth centenary of her death, which occurred on a Sunday morning, about the third hour, on 29 April 1380, while the feast of Saint Peter the Martyr, whom she loved so much, was being celebrated.

Happy to be able to give you a first sign of my lively participation in the centenary celebration, I cordially greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters, who, to worthily commemorate the glorious date, have gathered in this Vatican Basilica, where the ardent spirit of the great Sienese woman seems to hover. I greet in a special way the Master General of the Friars Preachers, Father Vincent de Couesnongle, and the Archbishop of Siena, Monsignor Mario Ismaele Castellano, the main promoters of this celebration; I greet the members of the Dominican Third Order and of the Ecumenical Association of the Catholics, the participants in the International Congress of Catholics Studies, and all of you, dear pilgrims, who have travelled so many roads of Italy and Europe to unite yourselves in this centre of Catholicity, on such a beautiful and significant feast day.

2. Today, we look to St Catherine first of all to admire in her what immediately struck those who approached her: the extraordinary richness of her humanity, in no way obscured, but rather increased and perfected by grace, which made her almost a living image of that true and healthy Christian "humanism", the fundamental law of which is formulated by Catherine's brother and teacher, St Thomas Aquinas, in the well-known aphorism: "Grace does not suppress, but supposes and perfects nature" (St Thomas, Summa Theologia, p. 4). Thomas, Summa Theologiae, I, q. 1, a. 8, ad 2). The full-sized man is the one who is realised in the grace of Christ.

When, in my ministry, I insist on drawing everyone's attention to the dignity and values of man, which must be defended, respected and served today, it is above all of this nature that came forth from the hands of the Creator and was renewed in the blood of Christ the Redeemer that I speak: a nature that is good in itself, and therefore healable in its infirmities and perfectible in its gifts, called to receive that "more" that makes it share in the divine nature and in "eternal life". When this supernatural element is grafted into man and can act on him with all its force, we have the prodigy of the 'new creature', which in its transcendent elevation does not annul, but makes richer, denser, firmer everything that is purely human.

Thus our saint, in her nature as a woman endowed with imagination, intuition, sensitivity, volitional and operative vigour, communicative capacity and strength, willingness to give of herself and to service, is transfigured, but not impoverished, in the light of Christ who calls her to be his bride and to mystically identify with him in the depths of 'interior knowledge', as well as to commit herself to charitable, social and even political action, among the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. And she, almost illiterate, becomes capable of making herself heard, and read, and taken into consideration by governors of cities and kingdoms, by princes and prelates of the Church, by monks and theologians, by many of whom she is even revered as 'teacher' and 'mother'.

She is a prodigious woman, who in that second half of the 14th century shows in herself what a human creature is capable of, and - I insist - a woman, the daughter of humble dyers, when she knows how to listen to the voice of the only shepherd and master, and nourish herself at the table of the divine Bridegroom, to whom, as a 'wise virgin', she has generously consecrated her life.

It is a masterpiece of the renewing and elevating grace of the creature to the perfection of holiness, which is also the full realisation of the fundamental values of humanity.

3. Catherine's secret in responding so meekly, faithfully and fruitfully to the call of her divine Bridegroom can be grasped from the same explanations and applications of the parable of the 'wise virgins' that she makes several times in her letters to her disciples. Particularly in the one sent to a young niece who wants to be a 'bride of Christ', she lays down a small summary of spiritual life, which applies especially to those who consecrate themselves to God in the religious state, but is of guidance and direction to all.

"If you want to be a true bride of Christ," writes the saint, "you better have the lamp, the oil and the light."Do you know what is meant by this, my child?".

And here is the symbolism of the lamp: "By the lamp is meant the heart, which must resemble a lamp. Thou seest well that the lamp is wide above, and narrow below: and so is our heart made, to signify that we must always have it wide above, by holy thoughts, holy imaginations, and continual prayer; with the memory always turned to remembering the benefits of God, and especially the benefit of the blood by which we have been recompensed...".

"I also told you that the lamp is narrow below: so also is our heart, to signify that it must be narrow towards these earthly things, neither desiring them nor loving them disorderly, nor coveting them in greater quantity than God wants to give us, but we must thank him always, admiring how sweetly he provides for us, so that we never lack anything..." (Letter 23).

In the lamp you need oil. "The lamp would not be enough if there were no oil in it. And by oil is meant that sweet little virtue of deep humility.... Those five foolish virgins, glorying solely and vainly in the integrity and virginity of the body, lost the virginity of the soul, because they did not bring with them the oil of humility..." (Ibid).

"Finally, it is necessary for the lamp to be lit and for the flame to burn in it: otherwise it would not be enough for us to see. This flame is the light of the most holy faith. I say living faith, because the saints say that faith without works is dead..." (Ibid; cf. Letters 79, 360).

Throughout her life, Catherine actually nourished the lamp of her heart with great humility, and kept the light of faith, the fire of charity, and the zeal of good works done for the love of God burning, even in the hours of tribulation and passion, when her soul reached its greatest conformation to Christ crucified, until one day the Lord celebrated the mystical wedding with her in the small cell where she lived, made all resplendent by that divine presence (cf. Life, nos. 114-115).

If men today, and especially Christians, could rediscover the wonders that can be known and enjoyed in the "inner cell", and indeed in the heart of Christ! Then, yes, man would find himself, the reasons for his dignity, the foundation of his every value, the height of his eternal vocation!

4. But Christian spirituality does not exhaust itself in an intimistic circle, nor does it push towards an individualistic and egocentric isolation. The elevation of the person takes place in the symphony of the community. And Catherine, who keeps the cell of her home and heart to herself, has lived since her youth in communion with so many other children of God, in whom she feels the mystery of the Church vibrate: with the friars of St Dominic, to whom she is united in spirit even when the bell calls them in choir, at night, for matins; with the capes of Siena, among whom she is admitted for the exercise of works of charity and the common practice of prayer; with her disciples, who grow to form around her a cenacle of fervent Christians, who welcome her exhortations to the spiritual life and the incitements to renewal and reform that she addresses to all in the name of Christ; and one can say with the entire 'mystical body of the Church' (cf. Dialogue, can. 166), with whom and for whom Catherine prays, works, suffers, offers herself, and finally dies.

His great sensitivity to the problems of the Church of his time is thus transformed into a communion with the 'Christus patiens' and the 'Ecclesia patiens'. This communion is at the origin of the same outward activity, which at a certain moment the saint is driven to carry out first with charitable action and the lay apostolate in her city, and soon on a broader level, with commitment on a social, political, ecclesial scale.

In any case, Catherine drew from that inner source the courage for action and that inexhaustible hope that sustains her even in the most difficult hours, even when all seems lost, and allows her to influence others, even at the highest ecclesiastical levels, with the strength of her faith and the charm of her person completely offered to the cause of the Church.

At a meeting of Cardinals in the presence of Urban VI, according to the account of Blessed Raymond, Catherine "showed that divine Providence is always present, especially when the Church suffers"; and she did so with such ardour that the pontiff finally exclaimed: "What has the vicar of Jesus Christ to fear, if the whole world were to turn against him? Christ is more powerful than the world, and it is not possible for him to abandon his Church!" (Vita, n. 334).

5. That was an exceptionally serious moment for the Church and the Apostolic See. The demon of division had penetrated the Christian people. Discussions and fights were breaking out everywhere. In Rome itself there were those who plotted against the Pope, not without threatening him with death. The people were rioting.

Catherine, who did not cease to hearten pastors and faithful, felt however that the hour had come for a supreme offering of herself, as a victim of expiation and reconciliation together with Christ. And so he prayed to the Lord: "For the honour of your name and for the sake of your holy Church, I will gladly drink the cup of passion and death, as I have always wished to drink; you are my witness, since, by your grace, I began to love you with all my mind and with all my heart" (Ibid., no. 346).

From then on it began to deteriorate rapidly. Every morning of that Lent of 1380, "she went to the church of St Peter, prince of the apostles, where, having heard mass, she remained long in prayer; she did not return home until the hour of vespers", exhausted. The next day. early in the morning, "starting from the street known as Via del Papa (today St Clare's Street), where she was at home, between Minerva and Campo dei Fiori, she went swiftly to St Peter's, making a journey to tire even a healthy man" (Ibid., no. 348; cf. Letter 373).

But at the end of April, he could no longer get up. He then gathered his spiritual family around his bed. In her long farewell, she declared to her disciples: 'I commit life, death and everything into the hands of my eternal Spouse.... If it pleases him that I should die, hold firm, my dear children, that I have given my life for the holy Church, and this I believe by the exceptional grace which the Lord has granted me' (Ibid., no. 363).

Shortly afterwards she died. She was but 33 years old: a beautiful youth offered to the Lord by the 'wise virgin' who had come to the end of her waiting and service.

We are gathered here, six hundred years since that morning (Ibid., no. 348), to commemorate that death and especially to celebrate that supreme offering of life for the Church.

My dear brothers and sisters, it is consoling that you have come in such great numbers to glorify and invoke the saint on this auspicious occasion.

It is fitting that the humble Vicar of Christ, like so many of his predecessors, should inspire, precede and guide you in paying homage of praise and thanksgiving to her who loved the Church so much, and who worked and suffered so much for her unity and renewal. And I did so wholeheartedly.

Now let me give you a final remembrance, which is meant to be a message, an exhortation, an invitation to hope, a stimulus to action: I take it from the words that Catherine addressed to her disciple Stefano Maconi and to all her companions in action and passion for the Church: "If you will be what you must be, you will set fire to the whole of Italy..." (Letter 368). (Letter 368); indeed, I would add: in the whole Church, in the whole world. Humanity needs this 'fire' even today, and indeed perhaps more today than yesterday. May Catherine's word and example awaken in so many generous souls the desire to be flames that burn and that, like her, are consumed in order to give their brothers and sisters the light of faith and the warmth of charity "that does not fail" (1 Cor 13:8).

[Pope John Paul II, homily VI centenary s. Catherine of Siena, 29 April 1980]

Today we celebrate the feast of St Catherine of Siena, Co-Patroness of Italy. This great figure of a woman drew from communion with Jesus the courage of action and that inexhaustible hope that sustained her in the most difficult hours, even when all seemed lost, and enabled her to influence others, even at the highest civil and ecclesiastical levels, with the strength of her faith. May her example help each one to know how to unite, with Christian consistency, an intense love for the Church with an effective solicitude in favour of the civil community, especially in this time of trial. I ask Saint Catherine that she protect Italy during this pandemic; and that she protect Europe, because she is the patroness of Europe, that she protect all of Europe so that it may remain united.

[Pope Francis, greetings after the General Audience 29 April 2020]

Triduum: Thursday, Friday, Easter Vigil

MAUNDY THURSDAY [17 April 2025]

Dearly beloved I am sending a text to meditate on the mystery of Holy Thursday, one to contemplate the gift of the Cross, mystery of passion and glory for Good Friday, and a note that may be of interest on the Easter Vigil of which it would be important to recover the theological and pastoral sense and value.

Rather than provide as usual a commentary for each biblical reading, I prefer to propose a meditation on Jesus washing the disciples' feet because it is a gesture that introduces us into the heart of the mystery of Holy Thursday. 

1. Eucharist gift and service of love

The starting point is this text by St Augustine: "Surge et ambula: homo Christus tua vita est, Deus Christus patria tua est. Arise and walk: the man Christ is your life, Christ God is your homeland (St Augustine, Discourse 375c)

The fourth gospel does not report the institution of the Eucharist, but deepens the testimony of the synoptics by specifying what Christ wanted to give us in the Eucharistic mystery-sacrament. Instead of the words of the institution the evangelist places the account of the washing of the feet to indicate the meaning and purpose of the Eucharistic mystery which is to live in mutual love following the example of Jesus. The washing of the feet therefore does not replace the account of the institution of the Eucharist given by Matthew, Mark and Luke, but intends to present it as a gift and service of love. Benedict XVI invites us not to stop at the differences in the Gospels when they narrate the Last Supper: "for John, it is the Farewell Supper while for the Synoptics it is the Paschal Supper". Indeed, he writes that one thing is evident in the entire tradition: the essence of this farewell supper was not the ancient Passover, but Jesus revealed the newness of his Passover in this context. Although the banquet with the apostles was not a Passover dinner according to the ritual prescriptions of Judaism, in retrospect the close connection with Christ's death and resurrection became evident. It was Jesus' Passover in which he gave himself and thus truly celebrated the Passover with them. In this way he did not deny the old, but brought it to its full fulfilment (cf. Jesus of Nazareth, II, p. 130). The essential thing is to constantly remember that on that evening Jesus celebrated his, the true Passover. The liturgy with the sequence "Lauda Sion" composed by St Thomas Aquinas on the occasion of the feast of Corpus Christi in 1264 helps us to focus on this truth: "Novae cenae novus rex, novae paschae novus lex, vetus transit observantia. The first Holy Supper is the banquet of the new King, new Easter, new law, and the old has come to an end'. Then the sequence continues: "Quod in cena Christus gessit - faciendum hoc espressit - in sui memoriam. Christ leaves in his memory what he did in the supper - we renew it'.

2. The disruptive power of the new Easter

The washing of the feet helps us precisely to understand the disruptive force of the 'new Easter'. "Before the feast of Easter Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end" (Jn 13:1).  Having ended his public life, Jesus leaves the "Passover of the Jews" to his adversaries and prepares to celebrate "his" Passover with a chosen few, and among the apostles is the betrayer. What a time of great suffering! And yet John presents this hour filled with pain and tragedy as the moment awaited by Christ, as 'the hour of glory'. Benedict XVI again writes that what constitutes the content of this hour, John describes with two words: passage (metàbasis) and love (agàpe). Two words that interpret and explain each other; both describe together the Easter of Jesus: cross and resurrection, crucifixion as elevation, as a "passage" to the glory of God, as a "passing" from the world to the Father. The passage is a transformation because Christ brings with him his flesh, his being as a man. By giving himself on the cross he transforms it, he transforms killing into a gift of love to the full, to the end. With this expression "to the end" John refers in advance to Jesus' last word on the cross: everything has been brought to an end, "it is finished" (Jn 19:30). Through his love, the cross, the instrument of death, becomes metabasis, the transformation of the human being into a sharer in the glory of God. In this transformation we are all involved and our life also becomes "passage", transformation.

While they were eating dinner, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given him everything in his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God, got up from the table, laid down his clothes and, taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist. Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel with which he had girded himself (cf. Jn 13:2-5). With full awareness the Lord is about to perform the great and humble act of foot-washing. On the Last Supper John does not give many details, he only notes while they were dining, which can also be translated as "when the supper was ready", or: "when the supper was finished". The evangelist is not very interested in the details of that meal and prefers to surprise us with Jesus' unexpected choice. The interruption of the supper to wash his feet is disturbing and stimulates us to reflect in order to seek the reasons for such a choice. 

2. Eight verbs to understand this unusual and unexpected rite

Our attention is provoked to understand this gesture of his by meditating on its meticulous description made up of no less than eight verbs: "he got up from the table, laid down his clothes, took a towel, wrapped it around his waist, poured water into the basin, began to wash his feet, dried them, took off his clothes again" after which he sits down again ready to explain its meaning. St John accumulates verbs without repeating himself so that Jesus' gesture remains impressed in the reader's mind as he intends to show that true love always translates into concrete actions of free service. Here then is Jesus undressing and putting on an apron, reminding us of what we read in St Luke: "Behold, I stand among you as one who serves" (22:27). The laying aside of clothes also symbolically expresses the imminent gift of life. In doing so, he wants to involve, starting with Peter, all the disciples and also each believer: therefore also us.

At first glance, this unusual and unexpected rite appears as an invitation to allow ourselves to be purified again and again by the fresh and salutary water of his word and love. It is an authoritative 'sign' because the gesture and words are substantiated by the gift of himself even beyond death. In fact, a few hours later, while he was lying lifeless on the cross, a soldier's lance blow would cause blood to flow from his side along with water (cf. Jn 19:34) showing his pierced body as a total gift beyond death. Christ's words are much more than mere communication; they are rather flesh and blood for the life of the world since Jesus himself is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:14) and his word is life that gives itself, real presence, bread that makes life. In every sacrament celebrated in faithfulness to his word, Christ kneels down and purifies our lives.

3. God's work for man starts from below

In the washing of the feet, Jesus presents mutual service, inspired by love, as the indispensable means to keep his presence alive in the new Community in which the disciples will have the task of creating conditions of freedom and equality, placing themselves each at the service of the other. God's work in favour of man does not come from above like a handout, but starts from below to raise man to the divine level. This is what Jesus does, the undisputed leader, who abandons his role to place himself below his disciples: "Christ Jesus, though he was in the condition of God, did not consider it a privilege to be like God, but emptied himself by assuming the condition of a servant, becoming like men" (Phil 2:6-7). He emptied himself (ekenosen): Christ voluntarily emptied himself of his divine glory to become a servant, to enter the human condition with humility, weakness and vulnerability, "obedient unto death". 

We have no trouble understanding Peter who is bewildered, unable to accept what the Lord is accomplishing, indeed rejecting it altogether. "So he came to Simon Peter and said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "What I do, you do not understand now; you will understand later." Simon Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet for ever!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not only your feet, but also your hands and your head!" (Jn 13:6-9). Peter perfectly expresses the attitude of the Eleven who, after being with him for years, think they know everything about Jesus. Peter, however, probably interpreting the thinking of the others, does not yet know where the Master wants to go by loving "to the end" and this is why Jesus reiterates to him the importance of the gesture so that all may understand: "If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me". In his educational action, the divine Master first teaches with deeds, then explains in words. In truth, he does not explain or explains very little by proceeding by affirmations; he does not condemn, but he makes it clear how much of a loser he is who thinks and acts like Peter who does not want to let his feet be washed and therefore will have no part with him.  What a drama to be separated from the One who loves you "to the end"!

Jesus, however, is patient in his waiting, he knows that it can be a long time to understand and put his gospel into practice. By observing how he educates Peter, we can learn to act as he wishes, remaining in his school as humble and faithful disciples.

4. The example of Christ founds and accompanies our educational action

The washing of the feet is the model for us to understand and put into practice. This is because we are in the presence of a sacramentum that is at the same time exemplum. Sacramentum i.e. mystery of Christ and power that transforms us into a new form of being, invigorating us with energy of new life. Exemplum because Christ remains the one who gives himself and always continually precedes us. The root of Christian ethics does not lie primarily in our moral capacity, but in God's gift to us. It is in the free gift of God that the reason why the central act of our being Christians is the Eucharist: that is, infinite gratitude for the new life that the Holy Trinity communicates to us through Christ's death and resurrection. It follows that the Mandatum Novum consists in loving together with the one who first loved us, and never prescinding from this truth. As with Peter, it is up to each one of us to learn that God's greatness is different from our image of greatness and that it consists precisely in descending, in the humility of service, in the radicality of love to the point of the total spoliation of one's self. And this must always be stressed again because we are constantly tempted to seek the God of power and success, or even of compromises, and not the God of the Passion. It is always tiring and difficult, as Benedict XVI observed, to realise that the Shepherd comes as a sacrificial Lamb who gives himself and, in this style, leads us to the right pasture.

Giovanni Papini, a 20th century convert writer, in his brilliant and visceral 'Life of Christ' highlights a connection between the washing of the feet and the mission of the apostles. He writes: "The Eleven, beyond deaf nature, had some claim to the benefit of the washing. For weeks of months those feet had walked the dusty, the muddy, the shitty roads of Judea to follow him who gave life. And after his death they will have to walk, years and years, on longer, shabbier roads, in countries whose name they do not even know today. And the foreign mota will lord, through their shoes, the feet of those who will go, as pilgrims and strangers to repeat the call of the Crucified". Papini probably links up with Augustine who, in a more elegant and calm manner, had presented the washing of the feet as a right and a necessity for all evangelisers. For Augustine, foot-washing is not only an exemplary gesture for educating the disciples, but also an aid for the apostles in their task as evangelisers. He writes in this regard: 'When we, the church, proclaim the gospel, O Christ, we walk the earth and dirty our feet to come and open the door to you [to let you into the hearts of the people you have entrusted to us]. When we preach to you, we walk with our feet on the earth to come and open the door for you. Wash our feet that...have become dirty walking on the earth to come and open the door to you" (Homily 57 on Jn).

5. Holy Thursday as an occasion to purify priestly service

Ultimately for us priests, Holy Thursday is a most auspicious occasion to ask Jesus to purify our priestly service. At the end of tiring days of apostolic work, we realise that we have "dirtied our feet" by giving too much importance to ourselves so as to make it more difficult to encounter Christ with people. We hear his words resounding in us: "I have given you an example so that as (kathos) I have done, you also may do" (John 13:13). Kathòs can be translated as, but here it has a special meaning: it indicates an action that produces a desired effect and it is as if Jesus were saying: by doing this I make it possible for you also to act as I do in serving your brothers and sisters. While the synoptics conveyed his command "Do this in remembrance of me", referring to the gesture of "consecration" (Lk22:19; Mt26:26; Mk14:22), John reminds us that the new community of his disciples will also have to make their Lord present in mutual service as well as in Eucharistic worship: "Knowing these things, you are blessed if you put them into practice" (Jn 13:17). In the fourth gospel we find only two beatitudes written: the first is directly addressed to the apostles present; the other will be proclaimed eight days after the resurrection and concerns especially the future disciples: "Blessed are those who, though they have not seen, will believe" (Jn 20:29). Both are especially necessary for us, priests, chosen by him to continue his mission: we will only be blessed if we unite the practice of charity with the steadfastness of faith.In summary, Christ's gesture of washing the feet shows in a visible manner that love must translate into fraternal welcome, hospitality and forgiveness, always preserving the style and spirit of the service he entrusted to the apostles, a ministry of humble, gratuitous love always based on him. Ultimately, it is a vocation to 'wash feet' in the heart of the world. 

Origen, who lived between 185 and 253/254, Father of the Greek-speaking Church, master of spiritual and allegorical theology wrote in one of his homilies: 'Jesus, come, my feet are dirty. For me make yourself my servant, pour water into the basin; come, wash my feet. I know, it is reckless what I say to you, but I fear the threat of your words: If I do not wash you, you will have no part with me. Wash my feet therefore, that I may have part with thee' (Homily 5 on Isaiah). And Saint Ambrose, bishop of Milan (339-397) and one of the most important Fathers of the Latin Church, a theologian with a pastoral and spiritual slant, teaches us to pray like this: 'O my Lord Jesus, let me wash your holy feet; you have soiled them since you walked in my soul... But where shall I get water from the spring to wash your feet? In the absence of it I have eyes to weep: by wetting your feet with my tears, let me myself be cleansed" (Penance, II, ch. 7). Finally, Jacques Dupont, Carthusian monk, Prior of the Carthusian monastery of Serra San Bruno and Procurator General of the Carthusian Order (1993-2014), who died on 13 January 2019 observes: 'Only he who accepts to have his feet washed can do so to another without an attitude of superiority'.

GOOD FRIDAY [18 April 2025].

For today here is a reflection on "The cross, the only hope of the world" 

1. Chronicle of a violent death

Every Good Friday, the liturgy repeats the proclamation of the Passion of Christ according to Saint John. In the final analysis, it is the chronicle of a violent death, and such episodes, then as now, are part of the daily news. Killings of criminals, people victims of attacks, innocent people struck down by misfortune, car or work accidents with loss of life, disasters created by natural disasters such as the recent devastating earthquake in Myanmar, one of the strongest recorded in the country in over a century, people killed because of their faith. These are all news items that follow one another quickly and last for a short time in the fast-paced daily panorama of public opinion. On the contrary, the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, which took place more than two millennia ago, continues to be an event as vivid as if it were happening today, and this is because his death changed the face of death forever; indeed, it gave new meaning and significance to death. It is worth pausing, then, to meditate on this death that has conquered death forever.

2. Blood and water flow from the destroyed temple

One day in Jerusalem, answering those who asked by what authority he was driving the merchants out of the temple, Jesus replied: 'Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. "He spoke of the temple of his body" (Jn 2:19. 21), comments the evangelist John, but his interlocutors did not understand. It was in truth an anticipatory sign of another event that is fully understood in John's passion narrative. When the crucifixion was completed, seeing that he was already dead, they did not break Jesus' legs as they had done to the other two crucified men, but "one of the soldiers with a spear struck his side and immediately blood and water came out" (John 19: 32-34). One catches here the reference to Ezekiel's prophecy that spoke of the future temple of God, from the side of which a trickle of water gushes out and becomes a stream, then a navigable river around which all life flourishes (cf. Ez 47:1 ff.). That "destroyed" temple from which gushes forth water and blood is the pierced heart of Christ, source of a "river of living water" (Jn 7:38). The heart of Christ already dead is alive because he conquered death; Christ risen from the dead is alive and his heart also lives in a new dimension that is not physical but mystical. The reference to the Lamb who lives in heaven "immolated, but standing" of which Revelation speaks (5, 6) is also easy. Christ is the Lamb of God who sacrificed himself, but now lives risen and glorified "standing as if immolated". His pierced heart is living, indeed "eternally pierced, precisely because eternally living". On each Good Friday, at the conclusion of the celebration of Christ's Passion, after his "consummatum est - it is fulfilled" Jesus bows his head and hands over his spirit (Jn 19:30). The expression "Consummatum est" (from the Greek Τετέλεσται, Tetélestai) is full of meaning: it is the total fulfilment of the mission of Jesus who has completed the work entrusted to him by the Father, realising the Scriptures and the plan of salvation.

3. Christ delivers the spirit 

The Latin expression "tradidit spiritum" (Jn19:30) in the original New Testament Greek koinè version "παρέδωκεν τὸ πνεῦμα" (parédōken tò pneûma) means "he delivered", "he entrusted". It is the verb παραδίδωμι, which implies a voluntary act of handing over, while τὸ πνεῦμα (tò pneûma) = "the spirit" can mean either the life-breath or, in a deeper sense, the Holy Spirit. All this is fulfilled because Jesus freely offers his life for the salvation of all mankind. This is the origin of the steadfastness of the Christians' hope, which fears no obstacle and resists all opposition from then on until the end of the world: despite the fact that a growing mass of evil is amassing in the hearts of men and in the structures of the world, making humanity seem inhabited by a "heart of darkness", Christ's sacrifice makes a living heart of light beat in the universe: his Heart. "Now the Father's plan is fulfilled," says an antiphon of the Liturgy of the Hours, "to make Christ the heart of the world": it is precisely from this certainty that the optimism of us Christians takes vigour. Illuminated by the word of God we scrutinise reality with the yardstick of the Spirit's wisdom and, certain of Christ's victory, we can proclaim with the blessed Juliana of Norwich: "Sin is inevitable, but all will be well and all things will be well" (Juliana of Norwich).

4. Stat crux dum volvitur orbis. "The Cross stands firm while the world turns".

Carthusian monks have adopted a coat of arms that appears at the entrance to their monasteries, as in their official documents. In this coat of arms, the globe is drawn, surmounted by a cross and surrounded by this phrase: "Stat crux dum volvitur orbis": the cross stands firm amidst the upheavals of the world. The statement "Stat crux dum volvitur orbis" contains a comforting spiritual truth: in the midst of the whirlwind of time, of chaos, of the instability of the world, the Cross remains the only still point, the axis around which everything revolves. The Cross is truly like the mast of the ship in the storm of the world, and several Christian authors used naval imagery precisely when speaking of the Cross: St. Columbanus (6th-7th cent.) wrote: "The world is like a stormy sea: if you want to reach port, attach your gaze to the wood of the Cross." Origen (3rd cent.) commenting on Noah's Ark, sees in it an image of salvation and the Church, and in the wood a reference to the Cross. He who clings to it does not sink in the flood of the world. St Ambrose in his exegesis of the story of Noah and the crossing of the Red Sea, speaks of the Cross as the rudder and sail of the Church: it is the Cross that guides, orients. Indeed, the mast, the central structure that supports the sail of a ship, is a perfect figure of the Cross because it holds the ship of life together: it allows orientation even in a storm; being vertical, it unites earth and sky and carries the sail of the Spirit, which blows where it will (cf. Jn 3:8). "Stat Crux, dum volvitur orbis" reminds us that the Cross is not a symbol of defeat, but of stability, direction and hope. Even if everything turns, even if life is rocked by waves, the Cross is the still centre of the world, the axis of meaning of all history. The Japanese writer Shusaku Endõ, in his novel 'Silence' (Chinmoku, 1966), set in the context of the persecutions of the 16th century, shows the cross as a living paradox: an instrument of death, but also an emblem of salvation and peace. The Cross of Christ is God's definitive and irreversible 'No' to violence, injustice, hatred, lies, to everything we call 'evil'. At the same time it is the total and irreversible "Yes" to love, truth, goodness. "A clear 'No' to sin and 'Yes' to the sinner: this is the style of Jesus' life and action throughout his life and which he now consecrates definitively with his death. A living demonstration of this is the good thief, to whom the dying Jesus promises paradise. One must always be clear about this distinction: the sinner is God's creature and retains his dignity, despite all his or her own misdeeds, while sin is the fruit of the passions and instincts and of the "envy of the devil" (Wis 2:24) and for this reason, by becoming incarnate, the Word took on everything of man, except sin. In front of the crucified Christ, everyone, but truly everyone, even the most desperate, can recover their trust and no one can say like Cain: "Too great is my guilt to obtain forgiveness" (Gen 4:13). The cross of Christ does not "stand" against the world, but for the world: it gives meaning and even value to every kind of human suffering. To the elderly Nicodemus, Jesus confides that "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3:17), and the cross vividly proclaims the final victory of Love. Not he who dominates others wins, but he who triumphs over himself, not he who hurts and makes others suffer, but he who suffers even unjustly and forgives.

5. The Cross certain hope in the digital and volatile age

The Cross of Christ remains a sign of certain hope "dum volvitur orbis". The world, since its origin, is marked by constant and changing upheavals. From the primitive stone age we are now in the digital and numerical age, where numerical data have become the heart of communication, knowledge, economy and even culture. Thus, massive digitisation dominates: all information (texts, images, sounds, actions) is converted into numerical data (bits), automation and algorithms. From finance to health, everything is managed by numerical systems and artificial intelligences, for which numerical data is the new 'oil', used to profile, predict, influence, many indeed almost all activities: communication, work, relationships. We move everywhere in non-physical digital environments and global interconnection, thanks to digital networks, creates a world that is instantly connected, but unfortunately extremely fragile. Man risks being reduced to data, to measurable behaviour. Truth is what can be quantified, calculated and controlled. Freedom is under threat from algorithmic surveillance and the idea of transition is no longer sufficient to describe the reality at hand. The idea of mutation today is associated with that of shattering in a 'liquid' society with which the acronym VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity) is associated, where there are no fixed points, no undisputed values. The result is that, unfortunately, there is nothing stable to cling to: we are lost in the 'nothingness' that is not just absence, but an existential void that is often filled with anxiety, disorientation, or with frenetic activity that only serves to mask it. The digital ocean remains a complex reality, in some ways fascinating but dangerous: it offers unforeseen possibilities and risks, and therefore requires attention, prudence and responsibility. Father Cantalamessa, in one of his sermons on Good Friday in St. Peter's, described our era as follows: "Everything is fluctuating, even the distinction of the sexes. The worst hypothesis that the philosopher predicted as the effect of God's death, the one that the advent of the super-man should have prevented, but did not: "What did we ever do, to loosen this earth from the chain of its sun? Where does it move now? Where is it that we move? Away from all suns? Is not ours an eternal plummet? And backwards, sideways, forwards, on all sides? Is there still a high and a low? Are we not wandering as through an infinite nothingness?" (F. Nietzsche, The Gaiety of Science, aphorism 125).  And the former preacher of the Papal Household added: "It has been said that 'to kill God is the most hideous of suicides', and that is what we are partly seeing. It is not true that 'where God is born, man dies' (J.-P. Sartre); the opposite is true: where God dies, man dies. Salvador Dali painted a crucifix that seems a prophecy of this situation. An immense, cosmic cross, with an equally monumental Christ on top, seen from above, with his head reclined downwards. Below him, however, is not dry land, but water. The crucified Christ is not suspended between heaven and earth, but between heaven and the liquid element of the world. However, this tragic image also contains a consoling certainty: there is hope even for a liquid society like ours because above it 'stands the cross of Christ'.

6. O crux, ave spes unica 

On every Good Friday, the Church proclaims its consciously certain hope in the words of the poet Venantius Fortunatus: 'O crux, ave spes unica', Hail, O cross, world's only hope. The Son of God who became man has died but is no longer in the grave: he has risen. On the day of Pentecost Peter proclaims emphatically to the crowd: "You crucified him, but God raised him up!" (Acts 2:23-24), He who "was dead, now lives for ever" (Rev 1:18). The cross does not "stand" motionless amidst the upheavals of the world as a memory of a past event or as a mere symbol, but remains firmly planted in history as an event of today, indeed of every moment because Christ lives with us. We all have something of that heart of stone of which the prophet Ezekiel speaks: "I will tear out from them the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (Ez 36:26). Yes, a heart is stony when it closes itself off from the love of God and becomes insensitive to the needs and suffering of its brothers and sisters; when it allows itself to be seduced by greed for material goods and is deaf to the cries of those who do not even have a penny to live on. Heart of stone is mine when I let myself be dominated by passions and live by compromise, falsehood, violence and impurity. Hardened is my heart, when folded in on myself, it prevents me from living for Christ, who loved me by dying for me. My heart trembles before the sudden storms that invade me and threaten to plunge me into the darkness of fear and discouragement. In these situations, what happened at the same time as Christ's death can happen: "the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom, the earth shook, the rocks were broken, the tombs were opened, and many bodies of dead saints were raised" (Mt 27:51f.). Even in complex situations like this, an invitation to the courage of hope emerges. In a Good Friday liturgy, Pope Saint Leo the Great exhorted the faithful thus: "Let human nature tremble before the torment of the Redeemer, let the rocks of faithless hearts be broken, and let those who were shut up in the sepulchres of their mortality come forth, lifting up the stone that was upon them" (Sermo 66, 3; PL 54, 366).  The heart of flesh foretold by the prophets is the Heart of Christ pierced on the cross, 'the Sacred Heart' that continues to live in our hearts when we receive it in the Eucharist. Archbishop Fulton Sheen notes: "By the most extraordinary paradox in the history of the world, by crucifying Christ they proved that He was right and they were wrong, and by defeating Him they lost. By killing Him they transformed Him: by the power of God they changed mortality into immortality...They humiliated Him on Calvary, and He was exalted and raised above an empty tomb. They sowed His body in dishonour and He rose again in glory; They sowed Him in weakness and He rose again in power. In taking away His life, they gave Him new life...remake man and you will remake the world! (Fulton J. Sheen, from "Justice and Charity")

EASTER VIGIL [19 April 2025]

I hope you may find this brief study of the Easter Vigil helpful, as it is in danger of losing its meaning and becoming almost like the early Mass on Saturday evening. But this should not be the case at least for the Easter Vigil.  

The Easter Vigil in history 

The Easter Vigil has a two thousand year history, albeit with alternating events in the three periods of its life. Here is a quick historical overview of it in order to understand its value and importance. Its history in the secular tradition of the Church, on the one hand expresses a constant celebratory continuity, never failing, and on the other hand undergoes a wide oscillation in its timetable, which for many centuries made it inconsistent between its symbolism and the time when it should have been celebrated. 

1. First period: the great night of Vigil

Here are the main stages: - First period (2nd - 4th century): the Easter Vigil is the basic celebration of the Church, the great night of Vigil in honour of the Lord. From it, the entire Liturgical Year will later develop, as from its source and watershed. The ancient Vigil occupies the whole extent of the night: from the evening light of Vespers to the first light of dawn, when with the Eucharist the Mystery will be fulfilled and the sacramental encounter with the Risen One, who appeared to the first witnesses at that hour, will be realised. It is the paschal pannukia, in which the main scriptural pages are proclaimed, thus outlining a broad overview of salvation history, which will have in Christ dead and risen its summit and its fulfilment. It also concludes the baptismal instruction of the catechumens with the proclamation of the great biblical events, which recall the mystery of regeneration. It is thus that Baptism finds its most suitable place in the Vigil: it is about dying and rising with Christ in the mystery of the sacramental signs. In this way, the Easter of the Lord also becomes the Easter of Christians, who pass from the death of sin to the life of grace. From the earliest times, therefore, the Easter Vigil hosts the three fundamental elements, which will be a permanent constant throughout the centuries: the prophetic Word, the Sacraments of Initiation, and the Eucharistic Sacrifice. The following Sunday would be without liturgy, as everything was concentrated in the night celebration, so solemn and prolonged. Moreover, before the 4th century, such a day is working and does not allow for celebrations. 

2. Second period: the Easter Vigil slips to the afternoon

Second period (4th - 16th century). With religious freedom the Easter Vigil tends to move more and more out of the night and gradually slip into the afternoon of Holy Saturday. On the opposite side, the solemn Easter Eucharist enters into the middle of the day on Sunday, now recognised as a feast day, giving rise to a second and more solemn Mass, the 'Mass of the Day', while the ancient Vigil Mass merges with the night rites and descends with them towards the eve. Initially, the Fathers tended to ensure that the people were not dismissed before midnight, understood as the discriminating hour for the authenticity and truth of the Easter Vigil itself. However, in the concrete celebration, the time shifts more and more to the afternoon of Holy Saturday, even if the recommendation remains that the people not be dismissed before midnight and that the Gloria in excelsis not be intoned before the first stars appear. Gradually, the Vigil is fixed between the sixth hour and Vespers, and in this way it is legally incorporated into the Missal of Pius V, which stipulates that the Vigil begins after the sixth hour and ends with Vespers. However, ever since St Pius V in practice, even after the abolition of Vespers Masses (1566), the Vigil is in fact celebrated on Holy Saturday morning. The practice is taken over by the Bishops' Ceremonial and is defined in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, which fixes the end of the Easter fast with midday on Holy Saturday. With these indications, the Vigil reaches its great reform with Pius XII in 1951. "It cannot be denied that these successive anticipations had created, if not a crack in the unitary structure of the Holy Triduum, at least a jarring contrast between the mystery of the day and the liturgical formulas expressing it and superimposed on it. Despite this, the Church maintained its rites, which always preserve for the faithful their historical-commemorative reason and all their value as symbol and mystery" (Righetti, vol. II, p. 252). As long as the three holy days (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) were civilly festive - even though the rites had for centuries been celebrated in the morning hours and were incompatible with the Hours relating to the Mysteries recalled - they continued to be attended by the faithful, but when in 1642 Pope Urban VIII had to recognise these days as working days, the participation of the Christian people in the rites of the Easter Triduum was no longer possible, and they ended up being celebrated solely by the clergy, with an absolution that was more juridical than pastoral. - Third period (1955 to the present). 

3. The Easter Vigil returns to its time

With the reform of Pius XII the Easter Vigil returns to its proper time with precise indications, which guarantee its celebratory coherence. In fact, the Decree for the Restoration of the Easter Vigil, Dominicae Resurrectionis vigiliam (9 February 1951) states in no. 9: "The solemn Easter Vigil must be held at the appropriate hour, that is, such that it allows the solemn mass of the same vigil to begin around midnight between Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday". The firmness of this disposition, which would have ensured a sure success in terms of the time of the celebration of the solemn rite, was unfortunately diluted, from the very beginning, in the same decree, by a concession, which would later prove to be reductive of the nocturnal character of the Vigil, allowing it to be celebrated on the evening of Holy Saturday. "But where, given the conditions of the place and of the faithful, in the judgement of the Ordinary, it is appropriate to bring forward the time of the Easter Vigil, this is not to begin before dusk, but never before sunset" (Idem n. 9). This provision still adversely affects an Easter Vigil that has in fact never been nocturnal, but simply evening. In fact, the celebration practice shows that already in the early years (1951-1955) the parishes made use of the faculty to anticipate the Vigil in the evening. With the reform of Vatican II and in particular with the Instruction Paschalis Sollemnitatis of 16 January 1988, there is a greater insistence on a Vigil that is truly nocturnal and it is stated: 'The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil takes place at night; it must therefore either begin after the beginning of the night or end before dawn on Sunday'. Abuses and customs to the contrary, which sometimes occur, so as to bring forward the time of the celebration of the Easter Vigil to the hours when the Sunday prefestival masses are usually celebrated, cannot be admitted. The reasons given by some for anticipating the Easter Vigil, e.g. public insecurity, are not invoked in the case of Christmas Eve or other conferences held at night. However, the midnight hour is not determined as a discriminating factor. Thus in this further uncertainty, the Easter Vigil today tends not to take off from the convenient evening time. As with the Midnight Mass at Christmas, the extension of the festive precept to early vespers has had a great influence on the Easter Vigil, so that the Easter Vigil is considered legitimate from sundown on Holy Saturday, as a 'pre-holiday' Mass. This was not the case before this provision, when those who anticipated the Vigil in the evening also knew that the night Mass only fulfilled the precept if celebrated after midnight. For an effective take-off of the Vigil as a nocturnal celebration, it would be desirable today to have a precise indication of a discriminating time by the authority of the Church, going back to unequivocally establishing midnight as the hour of the Eucharistic liturgy of the Vigil itself into which one enters with the solemn singing of the Gloria. No exceptions should be allowed, as the Vigil is only celebrated in parishes or communities assimilated to them, as a choral, unique, and therefore unrepeatable act on the holy night. We have seen how concessions to this effect have become the rule, effectively losing the night celebration. 

4. Resurrection Sunday begins at midnight

What is more, the third day of the Easter Triduum, Resurrection Sunday, does not begin at the hour of Vespers on Holy Saturday, as if it were the first Vespers of Sunday, as is the norm for ordinary Saturdays and vigils. Resurrection Sunday begins at midnight, since Holy Saturday is a day of the same solemnity, as is also Good Friday. The three holy days, in fact, have the same degree of solemnity. One understands then that, in the Roman rite, it is not possible to treat the evening hour of Holy Saturday as a time already belonging to Resurrection Sunday.

Midnight is taken as the reference hour to unite the two parts of the Easter Vigil: the liturgy of the Word and the sacramental liturgy. The hour of the resurrection is not referred to us by Sacred Scripture. It belongs to the mystery of God. The Church expresses this awareness when it sings in the Exultet: "O blessed night, you alone have deserved to know the time and hour when Christ rose from the underworld". This is why liturgical tradition urges the Church to spend the nocturnal hours of the holy night in the vigil. Indeed, the Easter night has, since antiquity, been a night of complete vigil, until dawn, the hour when the tomb is found open and empty. Among the various nocturnal hours, however, the midnight hour finds very special consideration. It is linked to precise biblical events, which form the basis of the nocturnal celebration of Easter. 

5. The importance of midnight, the hour of Easter 

Midnight is the great Hour long prepared by God to save his people: "At midnight the Lord smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt... This was a night of watchfulness for the Lord to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This will be a night of watchfulness in honour of the Lord for all the Israelites, from generation to generation" (Ex 12:29. 42). The crossing of the Red Sea also took place at night and ended at the crack of dawn: "...The Lord throughout the night stirred up the sea with a strong east wind...But at the vigil of the morning the Lord from the pillar of fire and cloud cast a glance over the camp of the Egyptians...the sea, at the crack of dawn, returned to its usual level..." (Ex 14:21-27). (Ex 14:21-27). Perhaps the whole thing was accomplished in those three days of walking in the desert that Moses requested of Pharaoh to celebrate the worship of the Lord: "It is granted to us, therefore, to set out on a journey of three days in the desert and to celebrate a sacrifice to the Lord our God..." (Ex 5:3). (Ex 5:3). Those three days are prophecy of the true Passover Triduum in which the Lord worked, in the fullness of time, our redemption. The Passover event is thus fulfilled in the context of at least two nights: that of the Passover banquet with the passing of the Exterminating Angel, and that of the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. The paschal liberation, then, in its salient phases, takes place in the night. But midnight is the hour marked out by God to bring about the decisive and decisive event: the Angel strikes and the people depart: it is the hour of the Passover. The morning vigil, which is spoken of on the night of the Red Sea crossing, is that of the consummation of the people's deliverance "In the early morning the sea returned to its usual level..." (Ex 14:27) and of the consummation of the Passover. (Ex 14:27) and of the joyful contemplation of God's great works: in that hour the song of victory is born (Ex 15:1). The prophecy of the Passover of the Lord Jesus is all too evident, when in the middle of the night, at the hour that He alone knows, He rose from the dead and at the crack of dawn showed Himself alive to His disciples: this is the hour of the Church's Alleluia. The book of Wisdom takes up the event of Easter in a celebratory tone and offers the Church's liturgy a further element to indicate the suitability of the midnight hour to implement in time the memorial and sacramental celebration of the Mystery in its two constitutive phases, Christmas and Easter. "While a profound silence enveloped all things, and the night was in the midst of its course, your almighty word from heaven, from your royal throne, implacable warrior, launched itself into the midst of that land of extermination, bearing as a sharp sword, your inexorable order" (Wis 18:14-15). The psalm also alludes to the unique Midnight Hour: "In the middle of the night I rise up to give you praise" (Sl 118:62). Truly, on Easter night, the new Man, the Lord Jesus, wakes up and rises from the sleep of death and, risen to new life, gives glory to the Father; just as already on Christmas night, the wailing of the divine Child began the new and perfect praise to the Father. Finally, in the Gospel parable of the ten virgins, the stroke of midnight marks the hour of the great event: "At midnight a cry went up: Behold the bridegroom, go out to meet him!" (Mt 25). The same hour is recalled by the Lord himself when he says: "And if he comes in the middle of the night or before dawn, he finds them so, blessed are they!" (Lk 12:38). The midnight hour foreshadowed in the parable of the virgins becomes, in the mystical interpretation of the Church, a hint of the possible return of the Lord, not only in the eschatological hour, but also in his first hour, when he was born among us and also when, awakening from the sleep of death, he returned glorious among the living. In this perspective, midnight became the discriminating hour and the most eloquent reference for both the Christmas and Easter night liturgy. A Jewish tradition says that Christ will come at midnight, as in the time of Egypt, when the Passover was celebrated and the exterminating angel came and the Lord passed over the houses and the doorposts of our foreheads were consecrated with blood. Hence, I believe, that apostolic tradition preserved to this day, according to which during the Easter Vigil it is not permissible to dismiss the crowds before midnight, when they are still awaiting the coming of Christ, while after that time everyone celebrates the feast day in a newfound security". S. GIROLAMO (cf. CANTALAMESSA, R., La Pasqua nella Chiesa antica, ed Internazionale, Torino, 1978, p. 113) 

6. Pastoral care and the "dogma" of comfort 

When the Vigil is celebrated in the evening, it is deprived of an essential component: offering God the time of sleep, sanctifying the night through the asceticism of 'waking'. We ask ourselves: does pastoral care really have to espouse the 'dogma' of comfort at all costs, giving up Easter night and Christmas night, as is currently happening? That at least on the two holy nights, of Easter and Christmas, the entire people of God, in normal parishes, should prepare themselves for the solemn celebration, keeping vigil in the night and generously offering God the night time, is this really pastorally impossible and impractical in our times? The most singular passage of the Easter Vigil, when the Gloria in excelsis is sung and the jubilus of the Alleluia is resumed, is often downplayed: after a rather brief liturgy of the Word, without having reached a congruous atmosphere of anxious anticipation and, without any ritual break, the angelic Hymn is sung and the bells are rung. We are far from that mystical and moved awe of which the ancient sources tell us. It is more eloquent on Christmas night when, at midnight, the solemn Eucharist 'in nocte' begins. Why then deprive the Easter proclamation on the holy night of the experience of fervent expectation, which gives vigour and spiritual joy to the proclamation of the resurrection, at the very beginning of the day on which the resurrection took place, the eighth day that will never set? This is not sentimentality, but celebratory richness, cohesive force and effective witness. 

7. Restore the sense of joy to the Easter Vigil 

If the Easter Vigil is to be given back the joyful and moving sense of expectation, it must be allowed time to set a progressive course towards a precise end, which in ancient times was the first dawning of the day of resurrection and which today should necessarily be the stroke of midnight at the threshold of the great and holy Easter Sunday. Since the liturgy has been irreversibly enriched by the solemn Easter Mass, and since this day is now clothed with royal and great solemnity, it is no longer desirable to propose to all the people a Vigil that extends into the morning, as in ancient times, and then necessarily reduce Easter Sunday to a liturgically 'vacant' day. In this context, midnight should once again become the Hour accepted by all as the discriminating factor between the two parts of the Vigil. Otherwise what happens is what can currently be seen in the various evening hours of Holy Saturday: one already returns from the Easter Vigil in one church, while the other leaves for the Vigil in another church. Poor Easter! Thus it is reduced to a private affair, lost in the Saturday evening routine. The celebration of the Vigil, done in unison by all Christian communities on the crest of midnight, offers an excellent opportunity for a choral witness: the Church, summoned in the middle of the holy night, awaits and announces the resurrection of the Lord. The Church, celebrating the Easter Vigil in unison, almost physically perceives its being one heart and one soul, especially when, at midnight, it acclaims the risen Christ and proclaims him to the world. To express this symphony concretely, midnight becomes a necessary and discriminating criterion. In this context, it will also be possible to give in unison the Easter proclamation to the outside world with the sound of bells.

+Giovanni D'Ercole