Approach without being submissive
(Mt 19:13-15)
Pope Francis has often reiterated: "I would rather have a Church that has crashed than a Church that is sick from closure. Not a 'comfort zone', but a 'field hospital' involved in our hopes, even wounded - not absent, not detached.
In the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (49): 'I prefer a Church that is bumpy, wounded and dirty from being out on the streets, rather than a Church that is sick from closure and the comfort of clinging to its own security'.
In short, in the words of the Gospel of Matthew, one must not get carried away by the obvious dismissive judgments about legal impurity. According to Jesus, a useless, artificial burden; one that clips one's wings and makes one unhappy.
On the contrary, it is always good to acquire a different perception of the things of God in man. And it is not necessary to be well trained in customary practices.
What was happening in the small churches of Galilee and Syria in the early 1980s? Many pagans were beginning to show up at the doorsteps of the (Judaizing) communities and were becoming a majority.
The members of the chain of command prevented the distant and incipient from the immediacy of a face-to-face relationship with the Lord - evaluating them as unqualified from the point of view of observing the provisions of the 'fathers'.
Some haughty veterans regarded the newcomers who asked to be received as still turbid servants ["paidìa": age 9-11], defiled and mixed.
At that time, in the conditions in which they lived, young boys certainly did not fulfil the laws of religious purity; but they served others, both at home and at work.
In short, Jesus proposes a paradigm shift to the Apostles.
Stooping? An unbearable model of life for the ambitious veterans who frequently surrounded the Master - but struggled to follow his vital teaching.
The freedom to get off the board - vice versa - was a human figure to be chiselled as the 'model' of the authentic disciple, who reflects Christ and 'conquers' the Kingdom.
Making peace with the world of judgements.
The proposal seemed an absurdity for religions (all pyramidal), not for the person of Faith who proceeds on the Way, in the Spirit.
God does not at all believe that His holiness is endangered by contact with the normal realities of this world.
On the contrary, the Lord and Master identifies Himself precisely with the garzoncini of shop and home, with the 'polluted', socially null and misjudged beings [by any legalistic clique, however devout].
This is to say: the disciple of the Kingdom cannot afford to disregard the life needs of others.
Forget clichés, nomenclature, duplicity and recognised procedures.
What counts is the concrete good of the real person, just as he or she is.
The acceptance of children - i.e. those who are at the beginning - in their condition of creative and affective integrity, still considered ambiguous and transgressive, is an icon of an inverted social, religious and class logic; radically unequal.
So woe to those who prevent the insignificant from going to the Lord!
The laying on of hands on them (vv.13.15) is a sign of redemption, valorisation, emancipation, and promotion of the condition of the last, the excluded, the mocked, the destitute, and the 'mestizos' [not of squares all clarity and whiteness].
Those who welcome a privileged, an observant purist, one who has made his way but does not accept change (a dummy often of good manners and bad habits) hardly welcome Jesus.
In fact, and today's chronicle itself is full of bitter surprises, the directors - so mediocre - who select (v.13) and make adultids are selfish and dangerous big babies, not 'children'.
Only the misunderstood and uncertain are to be placed at the centre of the new Church we are to build.
To internalise and live the message:
Are there any vital aspects of you that you had to tarnish in order to be welcomed into the community?
The Fickleness without Citizenship
In the synodal journey, listening must take into account the sensus fidei, but it must not neglect all those "presentiments" embodied where we would not expect it: there may be a "sniff without citizenship", but it is no less effective. The Holy Spirit in his freedom knows no boundaries, nor does he allow himself to be limited by affiliations. If the parish is the home of everyone in the neighbourhood, not an exclusive club, I recommend: leave doors and windows open, do not limit yourself to considering only those who attend or think like you - that will be 3, 4 or 5%, no more. Allow everyone to come in... Allow yourself to go out and let yourself be questioned, let their questions be your questions, allow yourself to walk together: the Spirit will lead you, trust the Spirit. Do not be afraid to enter into dialogue and allow yourselves to be moved by the dialogue: it is the dialogue of salvation.Do not be disenchanted, be prepared for surprises. There is an episode in the book of Numbers (ch. 22) that tells of a donkey who will become a prophetess of God. The Jews are concluding the long journey that will lead them to the promised land. Their passage frightens King Balak of Moab, who relies on the powers of the magician Balaam to stop the people, hoping to avoid a war. The magician, in his believing way, asks God what to do. God tells him not to humour the king, but he insists, so he relents and mounts a donkey to fulfil the command he has received. But the donkey changes course because it sees an angel with an unsheathed sword standing there to represent God's opposition. Balaam pulls her, beating her, without succeeding in getting her back on the path. Until the donkey starts talking, initiating a dialogue that will open the magician's eyes, transforming his mission of curse and death into a mission of blessing and life.
This story teaches us to trust that the Spirit will always make its voice heard. Even a donkey can become the voice of God, opening our eyes and converting our wrong directions. If a donkey can do it, how much more so can a baptised person, a priest, a bishop, a pope. It is enough to entrust ourselves to the Holy Spirit who uses all creatures to speak to us: he only asks us to clean our ears to hear properly.
(Pope Francis, Speech 18 September 2021)
