Luke 17:5-10 (1-10)

Forgiveness and Faith: a living Encounter

Free, eccentric, forward-looking: the sacrament of humanity as such

(Lk 17:1-6)

Knowledge of God is not a confiscated good or an acquired and already seized science: it moves from one action to another, incessantly; it is realised in an ever-living Encounter, which neither blocks nor dissolves us.

Typical is the experience of the 'little ones' [mikròi v.2]. Since the earliest communities of faith, they have been those who lacked security and energy; unstable and without support.

The 'little ones' have always been the beginners, the newcomers who have heard about Christian brotherhood but who are sometimes forced to stand aside or give up the journey.

But the criterion of welcome, tolerance, and communion, even of material goods, was the first and main catalyst for the growth of the assemblies.

Indeed, it is the source and meaning of all the formulas and signs of the liturgy.

The existential and ideal centre to converge on. For a proactive and transformative Faith.

In the Spirit of the Master, even for us, the reconciliation of friction is not simply a work of magnanimity.

It is the beginning of the future world. The beginning of an unpredictable and indescribable adventure. And with it, we are suddenly reborn: we come into direct contact with Christ. He who does not extinguish us at all.

Hence the Christian forgiveness of children, which is not... 'looking on the bright side' and 'turning a blind eye': rather, it is God's Newness that creates an environment of Grace, propulsive, with enormous possibilities.

A force that bursts in and paradoxically allows the dark poles to meet, instead of shaking them off. Genuinely eliminating comparisons, words and useless ballast that block the transparent Exodus.

A dynamic that leads to the indispensable and essential: to shift one's gaze. Teaching us to notice our own hysteria, to know ourselves, to face anxiety and its cause, to manage situations and moments of crisis.

A malleable virtue that allows us to listen intimately to our personal essence.

Therefore, solid, broad empathy that introduces new energies; it brings together one's deepest states, even standard life... arousing other knowledge, different perspectives, unexpected relationships.

Thus, without too much struggle, it renews us and curbs the loss of truthfulness [typical of circumstantial manners]. It accentuates the capacities and horizons of Peace - breaking down primates and stagnant equilibriums.

The discovery of new aspects of our being conveys a sense of greater completeness, thus spontaneously stemming external influences, dissolving prejudices, and preventing us from acting on an emotional, impulsive basis.

Rather, it places us in a position to reveal the hidden and astonishing meaning of being. Unfolding the crucial horizon.

Activating 'Forgiveness' is a free restoration of one's character, of all lost dignity, and much more.

By setting aside judgements, the art of tolerance broadens our gaze [even our inner gaze]. It improves and enhances the dull aspects; those that we ourselves had detested.

In this eccentric way, it transforms those considered distant or mediocre [mikroi] into trailblazers and brilliant inventors. Because what was unthinkable yesterday will be clarification and traction tomorrow.

Confusion will acquire meaning - precisely thanks to the thinking of minds in crisis, and to the actions of the despised, the intruders, those outside any circle or predictability.

A life of pure Faith in the Spirit: that is, the imagination of the 'weak'... in power.

Because it is the paradoxical mechanism that evaluates the crossroads of history, activates passions, creates sharing, and solves real problems.

And so it supplants difficult moments (bringing us back to the true path) by orienting reality towards concrete good.

Making it fly towards itself.

The 'victory-or-defeat' alternative is false: we must get out of it. It is in this 'void' and Silence that God makes his way.

The mystery of Presence, which overflows. New Covenant.

Increasing Faith: a boring, intimidated life, or the door to Hope

Perhaps we too have been taught that we must ask for faith, so that God will increase it. Instead, we have a say, but not in the sense of an advance to be made to Heaven.

Faith is a gift, but in the sense of a proposal and relational initiative, face to face, which requires a welcoming perception. Therefore, it does not grow by falling from a package - as if from a precipice, or by infusion from above. Even by forcing it and convincing the Father.

Nor is it a simple assent linked to a good-natured character. It is not a baggage of notions that some people have and demonstrate in the right way; others less so, or not at all.

When falling in love, one can be more or less involved!

Faith is not believing that God exists, but adhering to a spontaneous suggestion that (without impositions) guides us to disregard reputation.

A person of faith does not mind expenses or risks, even for the lives of others. They put particular customs on hold; they do not put the affections of their circle first. They forgive without limits.

We often agree only in part and accept a little something - perhaps until love goes all the way, or calls us into question.

So too our minds, our affections, our chain of values, and the small world to which we are attached.

Increasing Faith? The Gift is not a present, but a Call.

Therefore, Jesus does not even respond to such a ridiculous request - nevertheless, he makes us reflect on the results of possible adherence.

A minimal involvement would suffice, and extraordinary results would be produced in the world (v. 6); in communities, in families, and in personal lives.

We would achieve the impossible and the important. Real problems would be solved. Even the simplest actions would be transformed.

Then there are great events planted in the heart of every person, which we may consider unachievable: e.g. universal brotherhood, victory over hunger, a dignified and beautiful life for all, a world and a Church without volatile, corrupt and vain people.

Since we consider these situations impossible, we do not even begin to build them - we immediately give up.

But maturity is the fruit of secret sides, not of impervious mental armour.

As a Nobel Prize winner said: 'The innocent did not know that their project was impossible, so they achieved it'.

And it is not that after a life spent in service – under the orders of the Principal – in the afterlife we will finally command, on the basis of the rank we have achieved [although even this may have been handed down to us].

One of the wonders that faith in Christ accomplishes in us - here and now - is to make us aware of the beauty and joy of having the freedom to step down from our pedestals, in order to promote a full life (for everyone).

And at the 'end of the month' – at the 'reckoning' or 'payday' – we will not finally become bosses – at least not in heaven!

Because God is Communion, conviviality of differences; and does not accept the servant-master scheme, even as a reward.

Jesus' words are very provocative, yet they do not condemn a priori or demonise the Way contrary to his own.

But he warns us about how things work in a pyramidal environment (vv. 7-9).

'When you have done all that you have been "commanded" to do...' (v. 10).

The Lord alludes to obedience to the Torah, and would like to free us from the obsessive, limiting, petty and anxiety-inducing yoke of ancient religious law. 

It produces artificial and false hierarchies, social collapse, and the impoverishment of souls.

It is as if the Lord were saying:

"Go ahead and follow the predictable, pious, correct, rigid and uneventful model...

Try it and you will see for yourselves what inconclusiveness, what lacerations and disasters it produces.

Go ahead and experience it, so you will realise it, once and for all!"

From the perspective of faith and human growth in Christ, we must abandon the limiting standard model of 'subject-Sovereign' imposed by Moses.

How boring! People and friendship cannot be put in the bank!

And after the first discoveries, there is no going back to cultivating bonds - otherwise, obligatory behaviour will cause us big problems.

They will take away the expressive richness of the Proclamation and of life.

Perhaps we already know what it means to feel like numbers, to copy the (theatrical) emancipation of others and consequently seek external compensation; or to fill ourselves with ulterior motives, thus cheating and spoiling.

'Try to be satisfied with official, conformist and normalised religiosity, instead of engaging in research and discovery without compensation; in the Exodus and in the adventure of adhering to a higher level of Love! You will see what an impediment to change, what a degradation of relationships, what a life full of resentment, insipid and empty!'.

Faith in acceptance and similarity will instead lead us to grow from useless slaves to Children; collaborators and allies of the Father.

From narrow-minded, submissive and obedient followers to family members, friends and blood relatives who resemble us.

Otherwise, we will remain in the childish condition of 'worthless' children and servants (v. 10) who do not express themselves or reinterpret, but remain subjugated and only do 'what they must'.

The religion of merits and roles is deleterious; it produces malaise. It manages the real estate empire but moves forward by inertia and with a defensive attitude.

It does not reinvent the present, nor does it open up the future.

It does not listen to needs, but rather pushes us to base our relationships on selfishness, even spiritual selfishness.

Here, we no longer look at what arises spontaneously, forcing our faculties into predictable, conformist assessments.

Life thus becomes impoverished, desertifying itself because it is intimidated.

It becomes an absurd farce that Jesus does not want: a jumble of stagnant attitudes, incapable of reactivating us, inattentive to the special actions that transform routine into adventure.To paraphrase the encyclical Fratelli Tutti, in those conditions it would sound 'like delirium' even to elaborate 'great goals for the development of all humanity' (n.16).

The sense of Mystery would be lacking, never perceived in the furrows of history: we would drag ourselves along with remedies, protecting only the daily grind.

The relationship of Friendship and Gratuitousness would be replaced by an induced model (and in Italy, unfortunately, we know it well).

A model that does not allow us to encounter ourselves and others; indeed, it would even distort our relationship with God.

Salaried employees - less human and less unique - means less 'divine': everything already known, guided and predicted, as in the plots of puppets on any stage.

No unexpected changes; no inexplicable transformations.

No exceptional recovery, no astonishing human and cultural wonders (v.6).

No unpredictability that discerns the 'sacred' in the thousand situations that Providence invents, stimulating new responses.

The mystic Ibn Ata Allah - Master of the Two Sciences [wisdom of analysis and experience of mystical ecstasy] - argued:

'If you want the door of fear to open, look at what goes from you to Him. If you want the door of Hope to open, look at what comes from Him to you'.

To internalise and live the message:

What would you like to do for God? How do you live Hope?