(Mt 11:25-30)
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 that follows from this is that there are two dimensions of reality: one 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 commenting on the Tao Tê Ching (iv) Master Ho-shang Kung writes:
"Human desires are sharp and subtle, striving 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 were accustomed to evaluate every comma on the basis of their own ludicrous but supponent knowledge - unrelated to real events.
Jesus finds himself against even his own family. Under the cloak and blackmail of customary 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 obligatory behaviour that they result in 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, 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 - on those who are well disposed, and able to understand 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 made into puppets 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 themes and finds everyone against him, except God and the least: the weightless, but with a great 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 was stunned by the rejection of those who were already satisfied with the official religious structure and no longer expected anything that could oust the beaten track, arousing habits (or fantasies) and profit.
Then he overcomes the initial surprise: he fully grasps, praises and blesses the Father's plan, making it his own, holding it close to him.
He brings to full and proper knowledge his Secret: that the Root of the transformation of being into the Unforeseeable 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 lowly, not from the class of elites.
In short, Christ intuits the all-round authenticity precisely of the underdog - the profound impulse, motive, motor, quintessence and unique energy of salvation history.
Transparency of the Eternal, which comes from another elaboration.
Genesis itself that upsets the established religious relationship, which has sometimes become inert and 'reassuring' - never profound nor decisive for human destiny.
God is Simple Relationship: it 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 ancient Covenant illustrated through the irrepressible powers of nature].
Quite the contrary. In this way, reflexively, and also on the spiritual path, 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 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 the poor of God: those endowed with a family-like attitude (v.27).
Capable of co-existence, yet more autonomous than the identified and well-integrated... totally committed to the tracing, in order to be recognised.
The poor remain genuine: what they are; not outsiders.
Insignificant and invisible, lacking great gifts, but strangely always filled with an Other 'power'.
It 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 re-fill the Truth as a Gift - and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realising it.
A simple prayer of blessing, 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 intimate.
But which, strangely enough, the scholars on the ground who do not live 'the spirit of the neighbourhood' (FT no.152) but on the ground claim positions and always play smart, have never wanted to convey 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 of life and humanity.
Thus they 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 propose as an ideal the aggressive power of the 'big shots'.
In this way, his intimates, instead of only with the 'big' and external, will live of Communion even 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 do not 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 who had greater intellectual and ascetic abilities. Jesus, on the other hand, goes looking for the outcasts, the "infants" (v.25) who did not even have self-esteem.
Even for today's rebirth, Christ has no need of fake phenomena; on the contrary, it is He who frees from external constraints; He unleashes inner strength (and heals the brain too).
Into the intimacy of the Mystery of divine life enters he who knows how to receive everything and lets go - but remains himself.
God is not distant, but very close; he is not great, but small: the effective itinerary for becoming intimate with the Father is not to make oneself subordinate with effort, but to know how to be dissolved family members.
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 persuaded with confident attitudes and contrived, edgy, imperious actions.
They allowed neither being nor becoming. Their 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 lives of minute people, harassed by the insecurity of distinguish-avoid-observe, and by doubts of conscience.
Discouraged from experiencing first-hand (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, we are called to a paradoxical, personal and class choice: without forcing ourselves, to recognise and stand alongside the humiliated and harassed.
This 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 Fratelli Tutti would answer:
"The best way to dominate and advance without limits is to sow hopelessness and arouse constant distrust, albeit masked by the defence of certain values" (no.15).
As if to say: when the authorities and the leaders have little credibility, only the sowing of fear produces significant conditioning in the people, and puts them on a leash.
In the widespread Church, only a few decades ago we overcame 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.
Instinctively, they were able to carve out what no pyramid religion had ever been able to provide and deploy.
In fact, the new, the voiceless, the inadequate and invisible do not know how to calculate in terms of doctrine and laws, norm and code - unbearable ancient 'yoke' (vv.29-30), which crushes people and concrete vocations; particular autonomies or communions.
In short, no 'patriarch' is empowered by God to pack up our souls, force directions and keep a maniacal, perfectionist, meticulous eye on us.
Exacerbating failures, across the board.
Everyone has an innate way of being in the world, all their own - even if it is habitual. It is an opportunity of impulse and richness for everyone.
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. The only one that does not stigmatise.
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 gain breath or do you feel the burden of others' doubts, judgements, prohibitions and prescriptions?
Do you suffer from some guide or from yourself a kind of controller complex?
