Second Sunday after Christmas (year A)  [4 January 2026]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. In the Christmas season, the liturgy constantly leads us  to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation.

*First Reading from the Book of Sirach (24:1-4, 12-16)

The Wisdom of God raises her voice in the assembly and recounts her origin and mission. She comes from the Most High, proceeds from his mouth as the creative Word, precedes time and traverses the entire cosmos: nothing is foreign to her, nothing exists without her order. Yet this universal Wisdom does not remain homeless. God entrusts her with a concrete destination:

"She sets up her tent in Jacob". Wisdom pitches its tent among the chosen people, takes up its inheritance in Israel and puts down roots in Jerusalem, the city of God's presence. Its dwelling place is the Torah: not a cold law, but a living Word, in which God speaks and man responds. Here Wisdom becomes nourishment, light, fruitfulness, like a tree that grows, blossoms and bears fruit for those who welcome it. In this hymn, we already glimpse the mystery that the Gospel of John will proclaim openly: Wisdom, who pitches her tent, anticipates the Word who becomes flesh and comes to dwell among us. What was dwelling in the Law and in the people of Israel finds its full fulfilment in Christ, the incarnate Wisdom of the Father. To welcome Wisdom, then, means to dwell in the Word, to let God dwell in us and to make our lives a tent open to his saving presence. 

*Most important elements: +Wisdom comes from God and proceeds from his mouth. +It has a cosmic dimension: it permeates and orders all creation. +God assigns it a concrete destination. Wisdom pitches her tent in Jacob. +Her homeland is Israel and her dwelling place is Jerusalem. She is identified with the Torah, the living Word of God. +The Torah is a place of encounter: God speaks, man responds. +Wisdom becomes fruitfulness and life for the people. +The text anticipates the Prologue of John. Biblical foundation of the mystery of the Incarnation

*Responsorial Psalm (147 vv. 12-15; 19-20)

Jerusalem is invited to praise the Lord, because God rebuilds the city, gathers the scattered and protects his people. His action is not only spiritual: he strengthens the gates, blesses the children, guarantees peace at the borders and nourishes with the best wheat. God's salvation touches concrete life, security, daily bread. His word is effective and sovereign: God sends it to earth and it runs swiftly, governing nature and history. The one who has power over the cosmos chooses to manifest himself as the defender of a fragile people who live under his protection. But the heart of the psalm is this: God revealed his Word to Jacob, his decrees and judgements to Israel. No other nation has received such a gift. The true greatness of Israel is not its strength, but its intimacy with God, who speaks, guides and instructs. This psalm thus becomes an invitation to grateful praise: a God who rules the universe has chosen to enter into covenant, to speak and to dwell in the history of his people. It is this received Word that builds peace and makes life stable.

*Most important elements: +Invitation to praise addressed to Jerusalem. +God rebuilds, protects and gathers his people. +Concrete blessing: peace, security, nourishment. +The Word of God is powerful and effective, and God rules the cosmos and history. +Unique revelation made to Israel: the Torah as a privilege and responsibility. +The true strength of the people is to listen to the Word of God.

*Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (1:3-6, 15-18)

Paul opens the letter with a great blessing: all Christian life springs from a single movement that rises towards God, because grace first descended upon us. God is blessed because he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing: not fragmentary gifts, but full and definitive salvation. The foundation of everything is God's free choice: even before creation, we were chosen in Christ to be holy and immaculate in love. Election is not an exclusive privilege, but a vocation to communion and new life. This election is expressed as filial adoption: God predestined us to be children in the Son, according to his plan of love. Salvation does not come from our merit, but from the benevolence of his will, and everything converges in the praise of the glory of his grace. In the second part, Paul moves from praise to intercessory prayer. Having heard of the faith and charity of the believers, he thanks God and asks for a decisive gift: the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that Christians may truly know God, not only with their minds but with their hearts. Paul prays that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, so that they may understand: the hope of their calling, the riches of the glory of their inheritance, the greatness of the gift they have received in Christ. The Christian faith is therefore the memory of a grace received and a path of enlightened knowledge, which leads to living as children in freedom and praise.

*Most important elements. +Blessing to God for salvation in Christ. +Eternal election before creation. +Vocation to holiness in love and filial adoption in the Son. +Salvation as free grace. +Everything oriented towards the praise of God's glory and thanksgiving for faith and charity. +Prayer for the Spirit of wisdom. +Illumination of the heart. +Hope, inheritance and fullness of Christian life.

*From the Gospel according to John (1:1-18) Prologue

The Gospel of John opens by taking us back 'in the beginning', to where everything originated. Before all time was the Word (Logos): not just any word, but the eternal Word of God, in living relationship with the Father and of the same divine nature. In him everything was created; nothing exists without him. The Word is life, and this life is the light of men, a light that shines in the darkness and which the darkness cannot extinguish. A witness enters the story: John the Baptist. He is not the light, but he is sent to bear witness to the light, so that men may believe. The true light comes into the world that was made through it, but the world does not recognise it. Even his own people struggle to accept it. However, to those who accept it, the Word gives an unprecedented opportunity: to become children of God, not by human descent, but by free gift. The heart of the Prologue is the decisive announcement: 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' God does not remain distant: he enters into human frailty, into concrete history, and makes his glory visible, a glory that has the face of faithful love, grace and truth. In Jesus, the Invisible One allows himself to be seen. John attests that the one who comes after him was before him. From this fullness we all receive grace upon grace: the Law, a holy gift, finds its fulfilment in the person of Christ, who not only speaks of God, but reveals him fully. No one has ever seen God, but the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known. The Prologue thus invites us to make a choice: to recognise in the flesh of Jesus the eternal Word, to welcome the light, to live as children and to allow ourselves to be transformed by the grace that dwells among us.

* St Augustine – Commentary on the Prologue of John 'The Word became flesh so that man might understand the Word.' (In Ioannis Evangelium Tractatus, 2,2). In a single sentence, Augustine summarises the meaning of John 1:14: God does not lower his truth, but makes himself accessible, entering into our condition so that man may know and welcome the divine light.

*Important elements: +In the beginning: continuity with creation. The eternal Word, with God and God. Everything created through the Word. +Word as life and light. Light and darkness: conflict and rejection. +Testimony of John the Baptist. +Acceptance of the Word = becoming children of God. +Incarnation: the Word becomes flesh. God dwells among men. +Glory, grace and truth in Christ. +Christ as the definitive revelation of the Father.

+Giovanni D’Ercole

Mary, Holy Mother of God (year A)  [1 January 2026]

May God bless us and the Virgin protect us! Best wishes for the new year, invoking God's blessing throughout 2026

*First Reading from the Book of Numbers (6:22-27)

The blessing "May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you" comes from the Book of Numbers and has been pronounced by the priests of Israel since the time of Aaron. It has also become a permanent part of Christian liturgy, as the solemn blessing at the end of Mass. The expression "invoking the Name of God" must be understood in the biblical context: the Name represents the person himself, his presence, his protection. For this reason, pronouncing the Name of God over the people means placing them under his protection. When God reveals his Name, he makes himself accessible to the prayers of his people. Consequently, any offence against the people of God is an offence against his own Name. This also sheds light on Jesus' words about becoming a neighbour to the least among us: God has placed his Name on every person, who must therefore be regarded with respect and with new eyes. The blessing is formulated in the singular (may he bless you), but it refers to the entire people: it is a collective singular, which Israel understood as extending to all humanity. The use of the subjunctive does not indicate any doubt about God's will to bless, since God blesses unceasingly; rather, it expresses man's freedom to accept or reject this blessing. To bless means, in the biblical sense, that God 'speaks well' of man. His Word is effective and transforming: when God speaks well, he brings it about. To ask for a blessing is to open oneself to his transforming and life-giving action. To be blessed does not mean to be preserved from trials, but to live them in communion with God, within the Covenant, certain of his faithful presence. This finds its fulfilment in Mary, mother of God, the 'full of grace', upon whom the Name of God is placed in a unique and definitive way. The original Hebrew text further enriches the meaning: the Name YHWH is a promise of continuous presence, and the verbal form indicates a blessing that spans the past, present and future. God has blessed, blesses and will bless his people forever.

Important elements: +The blessing of Numbers 6 as Jewish and Christian heritage. +The Name of God as presence, protection and belonging. +The collective singular: blessing for all the people and for humanity. +The subjunctive as an expression of human freedom to accept grace. +Blessing as an effective Word that transforms. +Blessing not as the absence of trials, but as communion with God. +Mary as fully blessed and bearer of the Name. +The richness of the Hebrew text: eternal blessing of YHWH.

*Responsorial Psalm (66/67)

Psalm 66 responds harmoniously to the priestly blessing in the Book of Numbers: "May the Lord bless you and keep you." The same spiritual atmosphere pervades the psalm: the certainty that God accompanies his people. To say that God blesses is to affirm that God is with us. This is the most authentic definition of blessing, as the prophet Zechariah suggests: God's presence is so evident that it attracts the nations. The very Name revealed on Sinai, YHWH, expresses precisely this promise of faithful and permanent presence. In the psalm, it is the people themselves who ask for the blessing: "May God bless us." God blesses without interruption; however, man remains free to accept or reject this blessing. Prayer then becomes an opening of the heart to God's transforming action. For this reason, in the faith of Israel, prayer is always marked by the certainty of being heard even before asking. Israel does not ask for blessings only for itself. The blessing received is destined to radiate to all nations, according to the promise made to Abraham. Two inseparable dimensions are intertwined in the psalm: the election of Israel and the universality of God's plan. The expression "God, our God" recalls the Covenant, while the invitation to all peoples to praise God shows that salvation is offered to the whole of humanity. Israel gradually understands that it has been chosen not for exclusion, but to bear witness: the light that illuminates it must reflect the light of God for the whole world. This awareness matures especially after the exile, when Israel recognises that the God of the Covenant is the God of the universe. Zechariah's prophecy (8:23) clearly expresses this vision: the nations will draw near to the chosen people because they recognise that God is with them. Today's believers are also called to be a witnessing people: every blessing received is a mandate to become a reflection of God's light in the world. At the beginning of a new year, this becomes a mutual wish: to bring God's light where it is not yet welcomed. Finally, the psalm states that 'the earth has yielded its fruit'. Because the Word of God is effective, it bears fruit in history. God has kept his promise of a fruitful earth, and for Christians, this verse finds its full fulfilment in the birth of the Saviour: in the fullness of time, the earth has borne its fruit.

Important elements: +Psalm 66 as an echo of the blessing in Numbers 6. +Blessing as God's presence and accompaniment. +The Name YHWH as a promise of faithful presence. +God always blesses; man is free to accept. +Prayer as openness to God's transforming action. +The election of Israel and the universality of salvation. Israel (and the Church) as a witnessing people. +The blessing intended for all nations. +The Word of God bearing fruit in history. +Christian fulfilment in the mystery of the Incarnation.

Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (4:4-7)

"When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman": with this expression Paul announces the fulfilment of God's plan. History, according to biblical faith, is not an eternal return, but a progressive journey towards the realisation of God's merciful plan. This perspective of fulfilment is a fundamental key not only to understanding Paul's letters, but the entire Bible, beginning with the Old Testament. The authors of the New Testament insist on showing that the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus fulfil the Scriptures. This does not mean that everything was rigidly planned and predetermined: fulfilment should not be understood as fatality, but as a reinterpretation in faith of real events through which God, respecting human freedom, carries out his plan. God accepts the risk of human freedom, even when it conflicts with his plan; nevertheless, he never tires of renewing his promise, as Isaiah and Jeremiah attest. In Jesus, believers contemplate the definitive fulfilment of these promises. Paul then states that the Son of God was "born of a woman and born under the Law". In a few words, he expresses the whole mystery of Christ: true Son of God, true man, fully integrated into the people of Israel. The expression "born of a woman" simply indicates his full humanity, as attested by biblical language; being "under the Law" means that Jesus shared the condition of his people to the full. The purpose of this coming is clear: to redeem, that is, to free those who were under the Law, so that they might become adopted children. It is no longer a question of living as slaves who obey orders, but as children who obey out of love and trust. Thus, we move from submission to the Law to the freedom of filial obedience. This transition is made possible by the gift of the Spirit of the Son, who cries out in our hearts, 'Abba, Father'. It is the cry of trusting abandonment, the certainty that God is Father in all circumstances. For this reason, the believer is no longer a slave, but a child and, as a child, an heir: everything that belongs to the Son is also promised to him. The difficulty for human beings often lies in not daring to believe in this reality: not daring to believe that the Spirit of God dwells in them, that God's strength and capacity to love are truly given to them. And yet, none of this is due to human merit: if we are children and heirs, it is by grace. It is in this profound sense that we can say that everything is grace.

Important elements: +The fullness of time as the fulfilment of God's plan. +History as a journey towards God's benevolent plan. +The fulfilment of the Scriptures in Jesus, without determinism. +Respect for human freedom in the divine plan. +Jesus: Son of God, true man, born under the Law. +Redemption as liberation from the slavery of the Law. +The transition from slaves to children. +The gift of the Spirit who cries out 'Abba, Father'. Sonship as a promised inheritance. +Grace as the foundation of everything.

*From the Gospel according to Luke (2:16-21)

'What you have hidden from the wise and intelligent, you have revealed to the little ones' (Lk 10:21/ Mt 11:25): this verse illuminates the story of Jesus' birth, which is apparently simple but deeply theological. The shepherds, marginalised men who did not observe the Law, are the first to receive the angel's announcement: they thus become the first witnesses, bearers of the good news. Luke's narrative (Lk 2:8-14) emphasises how God's glory envelops them and how they are seized with fear and joy. Their experience recalls the words of Jesus: God reveals his mystery to the little ones, not to the wise. The story takes place in Bethlehem, the city of David and 'house of bread', where the newborn is laid in a manger: a symbol of the one who gives himself as nourishment for humanity. Mary observes in silence, meditating in her heart on all the events (Lk 2:19), showing attentive and filial contemplation, in contrast to the loquacity of the shepherds. Her attitude is reminiscent of that of Daniel, who kept the visions he received in his heart (Dan 7:28), foreshadowing the messianic destiny of the child. The name 'Jesus', which means 'God saves', reveals his saving mystery. Like every Jewish child, Jesus is circumcised on the eighth day and subjected to the Law of Moses, in full solidarity with his people. Luke insists on the circumcision and presentation in the Temple (Lk 2:22-24) to emphasise Mary and Joseph's perfect observance of the Law, not to highlight a ritual detail, but to show Jesus' complete adherence to the history and tradition of his people. This is consistent with his future identification with the wicked, as foretold: "And he was numbered among the wicked" (Lk 22:37). Finally, the discretion and silence of Mary, mother of God, show her humility and ability to become an instrument of God's plan. The centre of the plan is not Mary, but Jesus, the Saviour.

St Ambrose of Milan (4th century), commenting on the scene of the shepherds and Mary's attitude, writes: Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart: she did not try to explain the mystery in words, but kept it in faith" (cf. Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, II).

Important elements: +The revelation of God's mystery to the 'little ones', not to the wise and the shepherds: marginal witnesses and first heralds. +Bethlehem as the city of bread, symbol of saving nourishment. +Mary meditates on the events in her heart, a model of contemplation and silence. +The name Jesus means 'God saves'. +Circumcision and observance of the Law: Jesus' solidarity with the people and Presentation in the Temple: total adherence to the Law of Moses. +Jesus identified with the wicked: a sign of his mission. +Mary's silence and humility: an instrument of the divine plan, not the centre. + The plan of salvation has Jesus, the Saviour, at its centre.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (Year A)  [28 December 2025]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! Here is a commentary on this Sunday's readings with a wish for every family that they may see themselves reflected in the real daily life of Nazareth, which the Bible shows us to have been truly tested by many difficulties and problems, just like any other family.

*First Reading from the Book of Sirach (3:2-6, 12-14)  

Ben Sira insists on the respect due to parents because, in the 2nd century BC (around 180), family authority was weakening. In Jerusalem, under Greek rule, despite religious freedom, new mentalities were slowly spreading: contact with the pagan world threatened to change the way Jews thought and lived. For this reason, Ben Sira, teacher of Wisdom, defends the foundations of faith starting from the family, the primary place of transmission of faith, values and religious practices. The text is therefore a strong appeal in favour of the family and is also a profound meditation on the fourth commandment: 'Honour your father and your mother', formulated in Exodus as a promise of long life and in Deuteronomy also of happiness. About fifty years later, Ben Sira's grandson, translating the work into Greek, adds a decisive motivation: parents are instruments of God because they give life; for this reason, they deserve honour, remembrance and gratitude. This commandment also responds to human common sense: a balanced society is born of solid families, while their breakdown generates serious psychological and social consequences. However, at the deepest level, family harmony belongs to God's own plan. Some of Ben Sira's expressions seem to suggest a 'calculation' ('whoever honours his father obtains forgiveness of sins...'), but in reality it is not a mechanical reward: God's Law is always a path to grace and happiness. As Deuteronomy teaches, the commandments are given for the good and freedom of man. When Ben Sira states that honouring one's parents obtains forgiveness, we see a progress in revelation: true reconciliation with God comes through reconciliation with one's neighbour, in harmony with the prophets ("I desire mercy, not sacrifice"). Being respectful children to our parents means being faithful children to God as well. It is no coincidence that, among the Ten Commandments, only two are formulated in positive terms: the Sabbath and honouring our parents. They find their fulfilment in the great commandment of love of neighbour, which begins precisely with our parents, our first 'neighbours'. This is why Ben Sira's text is particularly appropriate during the festive season, when family ties are strengthened or rediscovered.

*Most important elements: +Historical context: 2nd century BC, Hellenistic influence. +Family as the primary place of transmission of faith. +Defence of the fourth commandment. +Parents as instruments of God in the gift of life. +God's law as the way to happiness, not calculation. +Reconciliation with God through one's neighbour. +Honouring one's parents as the first act of love for one's neighbour.                               

*Responsorial Psalm (127/128)

 This psalm is called the 'Song of Ascents' because it was intended to be sung during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, probably in the final moments, climbing the steps of the Temple. The text seems to be structured like a liturgical celebration: at the entrance to the Temple, the priests welcome the pilgrims and offer a final catechesis, proclaiming the blessedness of the man who fears the Lord and walks in his ways. The blessing concerns work, family, fertility and domestic peace: the fruit of one's hands, one's wife as a fruitful vine, one's children as olive shoots around the table. The assembly of pilgrims responds by confirming that those who fear the Lord are blessed. This is followed by the solemn formula of priestly blessing: from Mount Zion, the Lord grants his blessing, allowing us to contemplate the good of Jerusalem and the continuity of generations throughout our lives. The emphasis on work, prosperity and happiness may seem too 'earthly', but the Bible strongly affirms that God created man for happiness. The human desire for success and family harmony coincides with God's plan; this is why Scripture often speaks of 'happiness' and 'blessing', without irony, even in the face of the sufferings of history. The biblical term 'happy' does not indicate an automatic guarantee of success, but the true good, which is closeness to God. It is both recognition and encouragement. André Chouraqui translates 'happy, blessed' as 'on the way', to say: you are on the right path, continue. Israel quickly understood that God accompanies his people in their desire for happiness and opens up a path of hope before them (cf. Jer 29:11). The entire Bible affirms God's merciful plan for humanity, as St Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians. Biblical happiness therefore has two dimensions: it is first and foremost God's plan, but it is also a choice made by human beings. The path is clear and straight: fidelity to the Law, which is summed up in love of God and humanity. Jesus walked this path to the end and invites his disciples to follow him, promising true blessedness to those who put his word into practice. What remains is the seemingly paradoxical expression: "Blessed are those who fear the Lord." This is not about fear, but reverent awe. Chouraqui renders it as: 'on the way, you who would tremble before God'. It is the emotion of those who feel small before a great love. Having discovered that God is love, Israel no longer fears as a slave, but as a child before the strength and tenderness of the father. It is no coincidence that Scripture uses the same verb for the respect due to God and to parents (Lev 19:3). Faith is therefore the certainty that God wants what is good for man; for this reason, "fearing the Lord" is equivalent to "walking in his ways". When Jerusalem lives this fidelity, it will fulfil its vocation as a city of peace; the psalm anticipates this by proclaiming: "May you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life".

*Most important elements: +The psalm, as a Song of Ascents and pilgrimage song, has a liturgical structure: priests, assembly, blessing. +Blessing on work, family and fertility. +God creates man for happiness and "blessed" are those who are close to God, and Chouraqui translates "blessed" = on the way. +God's benevolent plan for humanity, which sees happiness as a gift from God and a choice of man. +Jesus as the fulfilment of the journey of love. +'Fear of God' as a filial attitude, not fear. +Jerusalem called to be a city of peace.

*Second Reading from St Paul's Letter to the Colossians (3:12-21)          

 Today's liturgy invites us to contemplate the Holy Family: Joseph, Mary and Jesus. It is a simple family, and it is called "holy" because God himself is at its centre. However, it is not an idealised or unreal family: the Gospels clearly show that it went through real trials and difficulties. Joseph is troubled by Mary's mysterious pregnancy, Jesus is born in poor conditions, the family experiences exile in Egypt and later the anguish of Jesus being lost and found in the Temple, without fully understanding the meaning of it all. Precisely for this reason, the Holy Family appears as a real family, marked by struggles and questions similar to those of any other family. This reality reassures us and gives meaning to St Paul's recommendations in his letter to the Colossians, where he calls for patience and forgiveness, virtues that are necessary in daily life. Colossae, a city in present-day Turkey, was not visited directly by Paul: the Christian community was founded thanks to Epaphras, his disciple. Paul writes from prison, concerned about certain deviations that threaten the purity of the Christian faith. The tone of the letter alternates between contemplative enthusiasm for God's plan and very strong warnings against misleading doctrines. At the centre of his message is always Jesus Christ, the heart of history and of the world. Paul invites Christians to model their lives on Him: to clothe themselves with tenderness, goodness, peace and gratitude, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. The baptised, in fact, form the Body of Christ. Taking up and deepening an image already used with the Corinthians, Paul affirms that Christ is the head and believers are the members, called to support one another in building up the edifice of the Church. The text also addresses family relationships, with expressions that may be difficult, such as the invitation to wives to submit. In the biblical context, however, this submission is not equivalent to servitude, but is part of a vision based on love and responsibility. Paul, after referring to language common at the time, addresses an even stronger requirement to husbands: to love their wives with respect and without harshness. Christian obedience arises from trust in God's love and is expressed in relationships marked by tenderness, respect and mutual giving.

*Important elements: +The Holy Family as a real family, not idealised, with the concrete trials experienced by Joseph, Mary and Jesus, and an invitation to patience and forgiveness in family life. +Context of the letter to the Colossians and the role of Epaphras with Paul's concern for the fidelity of the Christian faith. +Centrality of Jesus Christ in the lives of believers as the Body of Christ, called to support one another. +Family relationships based on love and respect where biblical submission is understood as trust and gift, not slavery. +Christian obedience rooted in the certainty that God is Love.

*From the Gospel according to Matthew (2:13-15, 19-239    

The episode of the Holy Family's flight to Egypt deliberately recalls another great biblical story: that of Moses and the people of Israel, twelve centuries earlier, enslaved in Egypt. Just as the pharaoh ordered the killing of male newborns and Moses was saved to become the liberator of his people, so Jesus escapes Herod's massacre and becomes the saviour of humanity. Matthew invites us to recognise in Jesus the new Moses, the fulfilment of the promise of Deuteronomy 18:18: a prophet raised up by God like Moses himself. A second sign of the fulfilment of the Scriptures is the quotation from Hosea 11:1: "Out of Egypt I called my son." Originally referring to the people of Israel, Matthew applies it to Jesus, presenting him as the New Israel, the one who fully realises the Covenant. The title Son of God, already attributed to kings and the Messiah, acquires its full meaning in Jesus: in the light of the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit, believers recognise that Jesus is truly the Son of God, God from God, as the Christian faith confesses. A third sign is the statement: "He will be called a Nazarene". Although the Old Testament does not mention Nazareth, Matthew plays on linguistic and symbolic resonances: netser (messianic 'shoot' of the line of David), nazir (consecrated to God), and natsar ('to guard'). Nazareth thus becomes the sign of God's choice of the humble and insignificant. Furthermore, when Christians are despised as 'Nazarenes', Matthew encourages them by reminding them that Jesus also bore that title: what appears despicable to men is precious in the eyes of God. In the story, Matthew constructs two parallel scenes: the flight into Egypt and the return from Egypt. In both there is a historical context, the appearance of the angel to Joseph in a dream, immediate obedience and the conclusion: thus was fulfilled "what had been said through the prophets". The parallelism relates the titles Son of God and Nazarene, showing an unexpected Messiah: glorious and humble at the same time. This is why the text is proclaimed on the feast of the Holy Family: Jesus is the Son of God, but he grows up in a simple family and in an insignificant village. It is the great Christian paradox: divine history is fulfilled in the most ordinary everyday life of human families. Ancient commentators such as Pseudo-Dionysius and Pseudo-Chrysostom reflect on the flight into Egypt, not only as a historical fact but as a manifestation of the plan of salvation: Christ, though he is God, submits himself to the law of the flesh and to divine guidance, demonstrating the true humanity and obedience of the Messiah. St Jerome, on the other hand, emphasises that not only Herod, but also the high priests and scribes sought the Lord's death from the very first moments of his coming into the world, showing the spiritual hostility that Jesus would encounter throughout his mission. Another interpretation by some ancient Fathers sees in the stay in Egypt a salvific dimension not only for Jesus himself, but symbolically for the world: He goes to that land historically associated with oppression and paganism not to stay, but to bring light and salvation, confirming that the coming of Christ is for everyone, even for peoples far from God.  Thus, for the ancient commentators, the story is not mere narration: it is a theological revelation of the mystery of Christ, who enters human history as free obedience for our salvation and the fulfilment of prophetic promises.

*St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies) writes: "Jesus is the recapitulation of all history: what was lost in Adam is found again in Christ." This is often applied by the Fathers to the flight into Egypt: Christ retraces the history of Israel to bring it to fulfilment.

*Important elements: +Parallelism between Jesus and Moses, Jesus as the new Moses and the new Israel. +Fulfillment of the Scriptures according to Matthew: 'Out of Egypt I called my son' (Hos 11:1). +Title of Son of God in the full Christological sense. +Symbolic meaning of Nazareth / Nazarene. +Divine choice of the humble and despised, and unexpected Messiah: divine glory and concrete humility. +Parallel narrative structure: flight and return from Egypt. +Holy Family: the divine experienced in everyday life

+Giovanni D'Ercole

No one way

(Jn 1:19-28)

"Behind me" [v.27 Greek text] is the position of the disciple in relation to that taken by the master.

Jesus as a seeker chose the school of John, whose pupil he became, then deviated from it - even snatching away some admirers.

At some point in his journey he realised that our spiritual journey does not rest on easy exclusions: moralistic, one-sided, abstract - established by disinfecting nomenclatures (institutional or expelled).

The Father's heart is beyond divisive and purist expectations, which even the Baptiser considered unquestionable and inculcated in his pupils.

God works only in favour of life: his actions are all positive - humanising, restorative, awareness and integration of personal being - not rejection.

In his school one grows by treasuring oneself, relationships, things as they are and where they are; in an integral way. No one should be stagnant, or in competition with the other.

Non-negotiable principle: God and his children are in the middle, not in front.

No one is called to stand behind and follow: all must express themselves. On a vocational basis, everyone is already perfect!

This is why Jesus will invite his disciples, even those who are a little unhinged, to become fishers of men.

At all times, his intimates are called to breathe, drawing their brethren from whirlpools of death - not to become guides, directors and managers, i.e. 'shepherds'.

No one is destined to be good and dead in some flock, led by the know-it-all. Wealth is not outside us.

The only leader and model is the divine Spirit, who ceaselessly amazes.

Impetuous wind: you do not know where it comes from nor where it goes (Jn 3:8), but it exclusively transmits life - even from forms and events of death.

Being is accentuated and rejoices only when one's resources are discovered, not 'repaired'. And welcomed, valued, brought into play, amplified, exchanged, energised in a relationship of reciprocity.

God is not a sequester, and has multifaceted particular languages; for each of his children, his own unrepeatable path.

The Eternal One dreams for each of us an exceptional, unique, non-homologisable path and missionary fulfilment.

Traditional religions, for example, exorcise negative emotions, imperfection.

They abhor limitation, deny adversity; they are not OK with whatever happens. In fact, they want relationships, evidence, and souls always settled.

Too many forms of devotion preach inner warfare, even overtly.

So too, unfortunately, did John, setting women and men against themselves or their character, and spontaneous movements.

Guises that turn people into outsiders.

Conversely, the Father wants to bring life and blossom; therefore he is not always full of opinions.

The Lord draws wonders that will make a stir, precisely from the dark sides; transformed into sources of new magics.

To the early Christians, the disciples of the Baptist asked for explanations about Christ:

"You who believe Jesus to be the Messiah, do you not remember that it was our teacher who baptised him, joining him to his school? How can the Anointed One make himself a disciple of others, and have to learn something?"

The little children of God, however, had already passed from the pyramidal and apodictic mentality of the religions of the past [where models fall like lightning and instigate tribunals: vv.19-25] to the concrete idea of the Incarnation.

[The true theology of the Incarnation is completed in fieri, and in the meantime should sweep away all mental cages, even in the seemingly scruffy age of global crisis and critical emergency].

Even today, the engagement with history and its new energy are knocking out all clichés, even of belief.

But the anxiety it generates in us is for the birth of a new Life, more able to perceive: attentive and authentic.

Jesus knew everyone's existential penury: needs, ignorance, growth; like every man. And he experienced within himself and understood the natural-supernatural value of exploration.

Rather than having to be 'tweaked', reformed and castrated upstream, the new Rebbe made an even diverse and non-conformist Exodus himself, which enriched him.

He too had to correct his initial path [as a disciple of John (v.27a) along with those who later became the first Apostles] and recast himself: added value, not impurity.

He did everything as we do, without the disease of one-sided doctrinaireism; that is why we truly recognise ourselves in Christ, in his Word, and in his loving story.

And recognise him as the Bridegroom of the soul (v.27b).

It is fully human to proceed by trial and error, adjusting one's aim as one realises - healing one's approach, both to the intuition of the divine, and to the creaturely sense.Thus avoiding becoming neurotic by adaptation, because as one proceeds, each soul treasures the experiences and prepares to offer a personal synthesis.

It is this unitive dignity that engages in Love. We are not called to be strong-armed regardless.

The fake-secure then sow the most bizarre uncertainties, and make the worst trouble, for everyone.

They create environments that look like cemeteries frequented by depersonalised zombies [Pope Francis would say]. And cunning ones who direct.

In his all-too-human Quest, Jesus gradually understood that the Father's own intimate Life is offered as a Gift: a Surprise on our behalf.

Impossible to coin it to the measure of ancient prejudices.

Unlikely - therefore - to set up some kind of manifestation of the Messiah from our preconceptions, or U-shaped ethical conversions, laced with returns, set-ups, events, initiatives.

The Most High continually unsettles us, and by no means traces established opinions, or mannerisms.

Happiness is outside sterile mechanisms that plan the smallest details. It is rather Covenant with the shadow side, which nevertheless belongs to us.

Sacred Covenant that conveys completeness of being: perception-threshold of Joy.

In short, we are immersed in a Mystery of Gratuity and vital amazement that transcends normalised growth, all under conditions.

The Tao Tê Ching (LI) writes: "No one commands the Tao, but it always comes spontaneously". And Master Ho-shang Kung comments: "The Tao not only brings creatures to life, but also makes them grow, nourishes them, completes them, matures them, repairs them, develops them, keeps them whole in life.

The Father brings them to life in the Spirit, without a rigmarole of progressions in stages and steps.

Other people's procedures, which instead of regenerating existence always throw in our faces the suspicion that we are inadequate, bogged down, incapable of perfection, and old.

Cassian and eventually also Thomas Aquinas would perhaps have classified them under the title of 'spiritual vices', as expressions derived from 'fornicatio mentis' [et corporis].

While the Baptist and the whole serious tradition imagined that it was so much to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus instead proposed to welcome it: the only possibility of Perfection and fruitful Youth.

We no longer exist as a function of God - as in religions that are always arranging everything - but we live from Him, in astonishment and in an unrepeatable way.

Master Ho-shang Kung again emphasises: 'The Tao makes creatures live, but it does not hold them as its own: what they take is for their benefit'.

It is the end of models for “held back” schoolchildren - neither natural nor intuitive. Paradigms that have subjected civilisations to gruelling trials: they are not ours.

Even now, many hyperbole, and even 'religious' efforts, are not in favour of vocational paths in the first person.

The conformist and pre-packaged [glamorous or vain] paths appear ethereal, or renunciate, puritanical, voluntarist, athletic; as well as imaginative, but all schematic, and disembodied.

They always mount scaffolding far removed from the reality that comes, and from the genuine things of Heaven.

For those of us who are uncertain, inadequate, incapable of miracles - and who dislike cerebral ideologies or the separatism of all-singing, all-dancing heroes - Beautiful is this stubborn reassurance!

Wealth is not outside us.

To internalise and live the message:

Who is the Subject of your spiritual life? Where does he dwell?

(Jn 1:19-28)

The Father’s heart is beyond divisive and purist expectations, which even the Baptizer considered indisputable and inculcated in his pupils.

God works only in favor of life: his actions are all positive - humanizing, recovery - not rejection.

‘Being’ is accentuated and rejoices only when the resources of each are discovered, welcomed, valued; not "repaired".

Traditional religions exorcise negative emotions, imperfection; they abhor the limit. They want relationships, things and souls always settled.

The Father, on the other hand, desires to bring life and blossom; therefore, He’s not always full of opinions.

He draws wonders that will make a sensation, right from the dark sides; transformed into sources of new magic.

Jesus knew the existential scarcity of all us: the needs, the growth; like every man. And he lived in himself and understood the value of exploration.

Instead of getting "tweaked" and reformed, the new Rabbi himself performed a non-conformist Exodus, which enriched him.

He too had to correct the initial path [as a disciple of John (v.27a) along with those who later became first Apostles] and change his mind: added value, not impurity.

He has done everything as we do, without unilateral attitudes; that is why we can truly recognise ourselves in Christ, in his Word, and in his very lovable story.

And recognize him as the Bridegroom of the soul (v.27b).

It’s such uniting dignity that involves in Love. We are not called to be strong regardless.

In his all-human Quest, Jesus has gradually understood that Father’s own Intimate Life is offered as Gift - a Surprise in our favour: impossible to coin it tailored to prejudices [ancient, or following the latest fashion].

The Most High displaces us all the time, and in no way follows established opinions, or mannerisms.

Happiness is out of sterile mechanisms that design the smallest details. It is rather Alliance with the shadow side, which nevertheless belongs to us.

Sacred Covenant that transmits completeness of being: perception-threshold of the Joy.

In short, we are immersed in a Mystery of Gratuity and vital amazement that goes beyond normalized growth, under conditions.

Procedures of others. Cassian and finally also Thomas Aquinas would perhaps have classified them with the title of ‘spiritual vices’, as expressions derived from «fornicatio mentis» [et corporis].

While the Baptist and all the earnest tradition imagined having to ‘prepare’ so much for the coming of the Kingdom, Jesus instead proposed to ‘welcome’ it: the only possibility of Perfection and fruitful Youth.

We no longer exist in function of God - as in religions that always and everything dispose - but we live of Him, with astonishment and in an unrepeatable way.

It is the end of unnatural models - for “held back” schoolchildren.

For us who are uncertain, inadequate, incapable of miracles - How reassuring!

Wealth is not outside of us.

[St. Basil and Gregory, January 2]

This period of the liturgical year brings into the limelight the two figures who played a preeminent role in the preparation for the historic coming of the Lord Jesus: the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist. Today’s text from Mark’s Gospel focuses on the latter. Indeed, it describes the personality and mission of the Precursor of Christ (cf. Mk 1:2-8). Starting with his external appearance, John is presented as a very ascetic figure: he was clothed in camel-skin and his food was locusts and wild honey that he found in the Judaean desert (cf. Mk 1:6).

Jesus himself once compared him to the people “in kings’ houses” who are “clothed in soft raiment” (Mt 11:8). John the Baptist’s style must remind all Christians to opt for a lifestyle of moderation, especially in preparation for the celebration of the Christmas festivity, in which the Lord, as St Paul would say, “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

With regard to John’s mission, it was an extraordinary appeal to conversion: his baptism “is connected with an ardent call to a new way of thinking and acting, but above all with the proclamation of God’s judgment” (Jesus of Nazareth, I, p. 14; English translation, Doubleday, New York, 2007) and by the imminent appearance of the Messiah, described as “he who is mightier than I”, who “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7, 8).

John’s appeal therefore goes further and deeper than a lifestyle of moderation: it calls for inner conversion, based on the individual’s recognition and confession of his or her sin. While we are preparing for Christmas, it is important that we reenter ourselves and make a sincere examination of our life. Let us permit ourselves to be illuminated by a ray of light that shines from Bethlehem, the light of the One who is “the Mightiest” who made himself lowly, “the Strongest” who made himself weak.

All four Evangelists describe John the Baptist’s preaching with reference to a passage from the Prophet Isaiah: “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Is 40:3). Mark also inserted a citation from another prophet, Malachi, who said: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way” (Mk 1:2; cf. Mal 3:1).

These references to Old Testament Scriptures “envisage a saving intervention of God, who emerges from his hiddenness to judge and to save; it is for this God that the door is to be opened and the way made ready” (Jesus of Nazareth, I, op. cit., p. 15).

Let us entrust to Mary, the Virgin of expectation, our journey towards the Lord who comes, as we continue on our Advent itinerary in order to prepare our hearts and our lives for the coming of the Emmanuel, God-with-us.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus December 4, 2011]

1. Fathers of the Church are rightly called those saints who, by the strength of their faith and the depth and richness of their teachings, regenerated and greatly increased it during the first centuries (cf. Gal 4:19; Vincentii Lirinensis "Commonitorium", I,3: PL 50, 641).

Truly "fathers" of the Church, because from them, through the Gospel, she received life (cf. 1 Cor 4:15). And also its builders, because from them - on the unique foundation laid by the apostles, which is Christ (cf. 1 Cor 3:11) - the Church of God was built in its load-bearing structures.

From the life drawn from her fathers the Church still lives today; and on the structures laid by her first builders she is still being built today, in the joy and sorrow of her daily journey and labour.

Fathers, then, were, and remain, fathers forever: they themselves, in fact, are a stable structure of the Church, and for the Church of all centuries they fulfil an everlasting function. So that every subsequent proclamation and magisterium, if it is to be authentic, must be compared with their proclamation and magisterium; every charism and every ministry must draw from the vital source of their paternity; and every new stone, added to the holy edifice that grows and expands every day (cf. Eph 2:21), must fit into the structures already laid by them, and weld and connect with them.

Guided by these certainties, the Church does not tire of returning to their writings - full of wisdom and incapable of growing old - and of continually renewing their memory. It is therefore with great joy that in the course of the liturgical year we meet our fathers again and again: and each time we are confirmed in our faith and encouraged in our hope.

And even greater is our joy when particular circumstances invite us to meet them in a more prolonged and profound way. Of such a nature is precisely the occasion of this year, which marks the sixteenth centenary since the transit of our father Basil, Bishop of Caesarea.

2. The life and ministry of St Basil

Among the Greek fathers called 'great', in Byzantine liturgical texts Basil is invoked as 'light of piety' and 'luminary of the Church'. Indeed, he enlightened her and still enlightens her: no less by 'the purity of his life' than by the excellence of his doctrine. For the first and greatest teaching of the saints is still their lives.

Born into a family of saints, Basil also had the privilege of an elite education from the most reputable teachers in Constantinople and Athens.

But it seemed to him that his life really began only when, in a fuller and more decisive way, he was given to know Christ as his Lord: that is, when, irresistibly attracted by him, he practised that radical detachment that he would later inculcate so much in his teaching (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 933c-941a), and became his disciple.

He then set out to follow Christ, wishing to be conformed to him alone: looking to him alone, listening to him alone (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,1: PG 31, 860bc), and in all things considering him his only "sovereign, king, physician, and teacher of truth" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I,1: PG 31, 1516b).

Without hesitation, therefore, he abandoned those studies that he had loved so much and from which he had drawn immense treasures of knowledge (cf. Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 525c-528c): having decided to serve God alone, he no longer wished to know anything apart from Christ (cf. 1 Cor 2:2), and he considered all wisdom other than that of the cross to be vanity. These are his own words, with which, already towards the end of his life, he recalled the event of his conversion: "I had wasted much time in vanity, losing almost all my youth in the vain work to which I applied myself in order to learn the teachings of that wisdom which God has made foolish (cf. 1 Cor 1:20); until one day, as if waking from a deep sleep, I looked upon the admirable light of the truth of the Gospel, and considered the futility of the wisdom of the princes of this world who are reduced to impotence (cf. 1 Cor 2:6). Then I wept much over my miserable life" (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223: PG 32, 824a).

He wept over his life, although even before - according to the testimony of Gregory of Nazianzen, his fellow student - it was humanly exemplary (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 521cd): it nevertheless seemed "miserable" to him, because it was not totally and exclusively consecrated to God, who is the only Lord.

With irrepressible impatience, he therefore interrupted the studies he had undertaken and, abandoning the masters of Hellenic wisdom, he "crossed many lands and many seas" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 204: PG 32, 753a) in search of other masters: those "fools" and the poor who in the deserts practised a very different wisdom.

He thus began to learn things that had never risen to the human heart (cf. 1 Cor 2:9), truths that rhetoricians and philosophers could never have taught him (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 223": PG 32, 824bd). And in this new wisdom he then grew day by day, in a marvellous itinerary of grace: through prayer, mortification, the exercise of charity, continuous commerce with the holy Scriptures and the teachings of the Fathers (cf. praesertim S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et 22).

He was soon called to the ministry.

But even in the service of souls, with wise balance he was able to combine tireless preaching with spaces of solitude and ample prayer. In fact, he considered this to be of imperative necessity for the 'purification of the soul' (St Basilii "Epistula" 2: PG 32, 228a; cf. "Epistula" 210: PG 32, 769a), and thus so that the proclamation of the word could always be confirmed by the 'evident example' of life (St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 43: PG 31, 1028a-1029b; cf. "Moralia", LXX, 10: PG 31, 824d-825b).

Thus he became a pastor and was at the same time, in the most substantial sense of the term, a monk; indeed, he was certainly among the greatest of the Church's monk-shepherds: a singularly complete figure of a bishop, and a great promoter and legislator of monasticism.

In fact, on the strength of his own personal experience, Basil strongly contributed to the formation of communities of Christians totally consecrated to "divine service" (S.Benedicti "Regula", Prologus), and took on the commitment and effort to support them with frequent visits (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 536b): for his own and their edification he entertained admirable conversations with them, many of which, by the grace of God, have been transmitted to us in writing (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", Proemium: PG 31, 1080ab). Various legislators of monasticism drew on these writings, not least St Benedict himself, who considers Basil as his teacher (cf. S.Benedicti "Regula", LXXIII,5); from these writings - directly or indirectly known - most of those who, in the East as in the West, embraced monastic life were inspired.

This is why it is believed by many that the capital structure of the Church's life that is monasticism was laid down, throughout the centuries, mainly by St Basil; or at least that it was not defined in its proper nature without his decisive contribution.

Basil had much to suffer for the evils in which the People of God groaned in that difficult hour (cf. St Basil "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b). He denounced them frankly, and, with lucidity and love, identified their causes, in order to courageously set about a vast work of reform. That is to say, the work - to be pursued in every age, to be renewed in every generation - aimed at restoring the Church of the Lord, "for whom Christ died and on whom he poured out his Spirit abundantly" (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653b), to its primitive form: to that normative image, beautiful and pure, that the word of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles convey to us. How many times does Basil recall, with passion and constructive nostalgia, the time when "the multitude of believers were one heart and one soul"! (Acts 4:32; cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 36, 660c; cf. "Regulae fusius tractatae", 7: PG 31, 933c; cf. "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325ab).

His reform efforts turned together, with harmony and completeness, to practically all aspects and spheres of Christian life.

By the very nature of his ministry, the Bishop is first and foremost pontiff of his people - and the People of God are first and foremost priestly people.

He cannot therefore in any way neglect the liturgy - its strength and richness, its beauty, its 'truth' - a Bishop who is truly concerned for the good of the Church. In his pastoral work, indeed, commitment to the liturgy logically stands at the apex of everything and concretely on top of every other choice: the liturgy, in fact - as the Second Vatican Council recalls - is "the summit towards which the action of the Church tends, and at the same time the source from which all its virtue flows" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 10), so that "no other action of the Church equals its effectiveness" ("Sacrosanctum Concilium", 7).

Basil showed himself perfectly aware of this, and the "legislator of monks" (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzenii "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 541c) was also a wise "liturgical reformer".

Of his work in this sphere remains, a most precious legacy for the Church of all times, the anaphora that legitimately bears his name: the great Eucharistic prayer that, recast and enriched by him, is beautiful among the most beautiful.

Not only: the same fundamental ordering of the psalmody prayer had in him one of its greatest inspirers and creators (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 2 et "Regula fusius tractatae", 37: PG 31, 1013b-1016c). Thus, above all because of the impetus given by him, psalmody - "spiritual incense", breath and comfort of the People of God (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212a-213c) - was greatly loved by the faithful in his Church, and became known to the young and the old, the learned and the uncultured (cf.) As Basil himself reports: 'Among us the people get up at night to go to the house of prayer,... and spend the night alternating between psalms and prayers' (St Basil "Epistula" 207: PG 32, 764ab). The psalms, which rumbled like thunder in the churches (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561cd), were also heard resounding in the houses and squares (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 212c).

Basil loved the Church with jealous love (cf. 2 Cor 11:2): and knowing his virginity and his own faith, of the purity of this faith he was a most vigilant guardian.

For this she had to and knew how to fight with courage: not against men, but against every adulteration of the word of God (cf. 2 Cor 2:17), every falsification of the truth, every tampering with the holy deposit (cf. 1 Tim 6:20) handed down by the Fathers. His impetus therefore had nothing of passion: it was strength of love; and his clarity nothing of punctiliousness: it was delicacy of love.

Thus, from the beginning to the end of his ministry he fought to preserve intact the meaning of the Nicaean formula regarding the divinity of Christ "consubstantial" to the Father (cf. St Basilii "Epistula" 9: PG 32, 72a; "Epistula" 52: PG 32, 392b-396a; "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 556c); and equally he fought so that the glory of the Spirit should not be diminished, who, "being part of the Trinity and being of the divine and blessed nature of it" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 243: PG 32, 909a), must be with the Father and the Son connumerated and conglorified (cf.)

With firmness, and personally exposing himself to grave dangers, he also watched over and fought for the freedom of the Church: as a true bishop, he did not hesitate to oppose the rulers in order to defend his right and the right of the People of God to profess the truth and obey the Gospel (cf. St Gregorii Nazianzen "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 557c-561c). The Nazianzen, who relates a salient episode of this struggle, makes it very clear that the secret of his strength lay only in the very simplicity of his proclamation, in the clarity of his witness, and in the defenceless majesty of his priestly dignity (cf. S.Gregorii Nazianzeni "In laudem Basilii": PG 36, 561c-564b).

No less severity than against heresies and tyrants, Basil showed against misunderstandings and abuses within the Church: particularly, against worldliness and attachment to possessions.

What moved him was, still and always, the same love for the truth and the Gospel; although in a different way, it was still the Gospel, in fact, that was denied and contradicted: both by the error of the heresiarchs and by the selfishness of the rich.

In this regard, the texts of some of his speeches are memorable and remain exemplary: "Sell what you have and give it to the poor (Mt 19:22); ... for even if you have not killed or committed adultery or stolen or borne false witness, it is of no use to you if you do not also do the rest: only in this way can you enter the kingdom of God" (St Basilii "Homilia in divites": PG 31, 280b-281a). For whoever, according to God's commandment, wants to love his neighbour as himself (cf. Lev 19:18; Mt 19:19), "must possess nothing more than what his neighbour possesses" (S.Basilii "Homilia in divites" PG 31, 281b).

And even more passionately, in times of famine, he exhorted "not to show oneself more cruel than beasts,... by putting in your bosom what is common, and possessing alone what is everyone's" (cf. St Basilii "Homilia tempore famis": PG 31, 325a).

A disconcerting and beautiful radicalism, and a strong appeal to the Church of all times to seriously confront the Gospel.

To the Gospel, which commands love and service of the poor, in addition to these words Basil bore witness with immense works of charity; such as the construction, at the gates of Caesarea, of a gigantic hospice for the needy (cf. S.Basilii "Epistula" 94: PG 32, 488bc): a true city of mercy that he named Basiliades (cf. Sozosemi "Historia Eccl." VI, 34: PG 67, 1397a), also an authentic moment of the unique Gospel proclamation.

It was the same love for Christ and his Gospel that made him suffer so much from the divisions of the Church and that with such perseverance, hoping contra spem, made him seek a more effective and manifest communion with all the Churches (cf. St Basilii "Epistulae" 70 et 243).

It is the very truth of the Gospel, in fact, that is obscured by the discord of Christians, and it is Christ Himself who is torn by it (cf. 1 Cor 1:13). The division of believers contradicts the power of the one baptism (cf. Eph 4:4), which in Christ makes us one, indeed one mystical person (cf. Gal 3:28); it contradicts the sovereignty of Christ, the only king to whom all must equally be subject; it contradicts the authority and unifying force of the word of God, the only law to which all believers must unanimously obey (cf. St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 653a-656c).

The division of the Churches is thus a fact so clearly and directly anti-Christological and anti-Biblical that, according to Basil, the way to the restoration of unity can only be the re-conversion of all to Christ and his word (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b-661a).

In the multifaceted exercise of his ministry Basil thus became, as prescribed for all heralds of the word, "an apostle and minister of Christ, a dispenser of the mysteries of God, a herald of the kingdom, a model and rule of piety, the eye of the body of the Church, a shepherd of Christ's sheep, a compassionate physician, a father and nurse, a co-operator of God, a farmer of God, a builder of God's temple" (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,12-21: PG 31, 864b-868b).

And in such work and such struggle - arduous, painful, breathless - Basil offered his life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,18: PG 31, 865c) and consumed himself as a holocaust.

He died not yet fifty years old, consumed by fatigue and asceticism.

3. The Magisterium of St Basil

Having thus briefly recalled salient aspects of Basil's life and his commitment as a Christian and as a bishop, it seems right that we should attempt to draw at least some supreme indications from the extremely rich legacy of his writings. Relying on his school may provide light to better face the problems and difficulties of this very time, and thus help us for our present and our future.

It does not seem abstract to begin with what he taught about the Holy Trinity: it is certain, indeed, that there can be no better beginning, at least if one wants to conform to his own thinking.

On the other hand, what can impose itself more or be more normative for life than the mystery of God's life? Can there be a more significant and vital point of reference for man than this?

For the new man, who is conformed to this mystery in the intimate structure of his being and existence; and for every man, whether he knows it or not: for there is no one who has not been created for Christ, the eternal Word, and there is no one who is not called, by the Spirit and in the Spirit, to glorify the Father.

This is the primordial mystery, the holy Trinity: for it is nothing other than the very mystery of God, of the one living and true God.

Of this mystery, Basil firmly proclaims the reality: the triad of divine names, he says, certainly indicates three distinct hypostases (cf. S.Basilii "Adv. Eunomium", I: PG 29, 529a). But with no less firmness he confesses their absolute inaccessibility.

How lucid in him, the supreme theologian, was the awareness of the infirmity and inadequacy of all theologising!

No one, he said, is capable of doing it in a worthy manner, and the greatness of the mystery overcomes all discourse, so that not even the tongues of angels can grasp it (cf. St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464b-465a).

Abyssal and inscrutable reality, then, the living God! But nevertheless Basil knows that he 'must' speak of it, before and more than anything else. And so, believing, he speaks (cf. 2 Cor 4:13): out of an incoercible force of love, out of obedience to God's command, and for the edification of the Church, which "never gets tired of hearing such things" (St Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 464cd).

But perhaps it is more accurate to say that Basil, as a true "theologian", sings it rather than speaks of this mystery.

He sings of the Father: "The principle of everything, the cause of the being of what exists, the root of the living" (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465c), and above all "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" ("Anaphora S.Basilii"). And just as the Father is primarily in relation to the Son, so the Son - the Word who became flesh in Mary's womb - is primarily in relation to the Father.

This is how Basil contemplates and sings of Him: in the "inaccessible light", in the "ineffable power", in the "infinite greatness", in the "super-splendent glory" of the Trinitarian mystery, God near God (S.Basilii "Homilia de fide": PG 31, 465cd), "the image of the Father's goodness and the seal of form equal to Him" (cf.)

Only in this way, unambiguously confessing Christ as "one of the holy Trinity" ("Liturgia S.Ioannis Chrysostomi"), can Basil then see him with full realism in the annihilation of his humanity. And like few others does he know how to measure the infinite space he covered in our search; like few others does he know how to peer into the abyss of the humiliation of the one who "being in the form of God, emptied himself by taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2:6ff)

In Basil's teaching, the Christology of glory in no way attenuates the Christology of humiliation: on the contrary, it serves to proclaim with even greater force that central content of the Gospel which is the word of the cross (cf. 1 Cor 1:18) and the scandal of the cross (cf. Gal 5:11).

This is, in fact, a habitual pattern of his Christological discourse: it is the light of glory, which reveals the meaning of lowering.

Christ's obedience is the true "Gospel", that is, the paradoxical realisation of God's redemptive love, precisely because - and only if - the one who obeys is "the Only-Begotten Son of God, our Lord and God, the one through whom all things were made" (St Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 660b); and it is thus that it can bend our obstinate disobedience. The sufferings of Christ, the immaculate lamb who did not open his mouth against those who beat him (cf. Is 53:7), have infinite scope and eternal and universal value, precisely because he who thus suffered is "the creator and sovereign of heaven and earth, adorable beyond all intellectual and sensitive creatures, he who upholds everything with the word of his power" (cf. Heb 1:3; St Basilii "Homilia de ira": PG 31, 369b), and it is thus that Christ's passion dominates our violence and appeases our wrath.

The cross, finally, is truly our "only hope" ("Liturgia Horarum", "Hebdomada Sancta": Hymnus ad Vesperas) - not defeat, therefore, but a salvific event, "exaltation" (cf. Jn 8:32ff et alibi) and stupendous triumph - only because the one who was nailed to it and died there is "our Lord and Lord of all" (cf. Acts 10:36; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,12: PG 31, 1624b), "he through whom all things were made, the visible and the invisible, he who possesses life as the Father who gave it to him possesses it, he who from the Father has received all power" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,13: PG 31, 1625c); and it is thus that the death of Christ frees us from that "fear of death" to which we were all enslaved (cf. Heb 2, 15).

"From him, the Christ, there shone forth the Holy Spirit: the Spirit of truth, the gift of filial adoption, the pledge of future inheritance, the firstfruits of eternal goods, the life-giving power, the source of sanctification, from whom every rational and intellectual creature receives power to worship the Father and to lift up to him the eternal doxology" (cf. "Anaphora S.Basilii").

This hymn of Basil's anaphora expresses well, in synthesis, the role of the Spirit in the salvific economy.

It is the Spirit who, given to every baptised person, works charisms in each one and reminds each one of the Lord's teachings (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561a); it is the Spirit who animates the whole Church and orders and enlivens it with his gifts, making it all a "spiritual" and charismatic body (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 181ab; "De iudicio": PG 31, 657c-660a).

Hence, Basil went back to the serene contemplation of the Spirit's "glory", which is mysterious and inaccessible: confessing him to be above every creature (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 22), sovereign and lord since by him we are deified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 20 ff), and Holy by essence since by him we are sanctified (cf. S.Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto", 9 et 18). Having thus contributed to the formulation of the Church's Trinitarian faith, Basil still speaks to her heart and consoles her, particularly with the luminous confession of her Consoler.

The blazing light of the Trinitarian mystery certainly does not overshadow the glory of man: on the contrary, it exalts and reveals it most of all.

For man is not God's rival, madly opposed to him; nor is he without God, abandoned to the despair of his own loneliness. But he is a reflection of God and his image.

Therefore, the more God shines, the more his light reverberates from man; the more God is exalted, the more man's dignity is elevated.

And in this way, in fact, Basil celebrated man's dignity: seeing it all in relation to God, i.e. derived from him and aimed at him.

Essentially, to know God man has received intelligence, and to live in accordance with his law he has received freedom. And it is as an image that man transcends the whole order of nature and appears "more glorious than the heavens, more than the sun, more than the choirs of stars: for what heaven is called the image of the most high God?" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449c). 

Precisely for this reason, man's glory is radically conditioned to his relationship with God: man fully achieves his 'royal' dignity only by realising himself as an image, and only truly becomes himself by knowing and loving the One for whom he has reason and freedom.

Even before Basil, St Irenaeus admirably expressed it this way: "The glory of God is the living man; but the life of man is the vision of God" (St Irenaei "Adversus haereses", IV, 20, 7). The living man is in himself a glorification of God, as a ray of his beauty, but he has 'life' only by drawing it from God, in personal relationship with him. To fail in this task would be for man to betray his essential vocation, and thus deny and demean his own dignity (cf. St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 449b-452a).

And what else is sin if not this? For did not Christ Himself come to restore and restore His glory to this image of God that is man, that is, to the image that man, through sin, had obscured (St Basilii "Homilia de malo": PG 31, 333a), corrupted (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 32: PG 29, 344b), broken? (St Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1537a).

Precisely for this reason - Basil affirms in the words of Scripture - "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jn 1:14), and humbled himself so much that he became obedient unto death, and death on a cross" (cf. Phil 2:8; S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452ab). Therefore, O man, "realise your greatness by considering the price paid for you: look at the price of your ransom, and understand your dignity!" (St Basilii "In Psalmum" 48: PG 29, 452b).

Man's dignity, then, is at once in the mystery of God, and in the mystery of the cross: this is Basil's "humanism", or - we might say more simply - Christian humanism.

The restoration of the image can therefore only be accomplished by virtue of Christ's cross: "It was his obedience unto death that became for us the redemption of sinners, freedom from the death that reigned through original guilt, reconciliation with God, the power to please God, the gift of justice, the communion of saints in eternal life, the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven" (St Basil "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1556b).

But this, for Basil, is tantamount to saying that all this is accomplished by virtue of baptism.

For what is baptism if not the salvific event of Christ's death, into which we are inserted through the celebration of the mystery? The sacramental mystery, the "imitation" of his death, immerses us in the reality of his death; as Paul writes: "Or do you not know that as many as have been baptised into Christ Jesus, we have been baptised into his death?" (Rom 6:3).

Basing himself precisely on the mysterious identity of baptism with the paschal event of Christ, following Paul, Basil also teaches that to be baptised is nothing other than to be truly crucified - that is, nailed with Christ to his unique cross - to truly die his death, to be buried with him in his burial, and consequently with him to rise from his resurrection (cf. S. Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2).

Consistently, therefore, he can refer to baptism the same titles of glory with which we have heard him extolling the cross: it too is "ransom for captives, remission of debts, death of sin, regeneration of the soul, garment of light, inviolable seal, vehicle for heaven, title for the kingdom, gift of filiation" (S.Basilii "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 433ab). It is through it, in fact, that the union between man and Christ is welded, and that through Christ man is inserted into the very heart of the Trinitarian life: becoming spirit because he is born of the Spirit (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XX,2: PG 31, 736d; "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 869a) and son because he is clothed with the Son, in a most lofty relationship with the Father of the Only-begotten who has now also become, truly, his Father (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1564c-1565b).

In the light of such a vigorous consideration of the baptismal mystery, the very meaning of the Christian life is revealed to Basil. Moreover, how else can one understand this mystery of the new man, if not by fixing one's gaze on the luminous point of his new birth, and on the divine power that in baptism has generated him?

"How does one define the Christian?", Basil asks; and he answers: "As one who is begotten of water and the Spirit in baptism" (St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868d).

Only in what we are is revealed, and what we are for.

As a new creature, the Christian, even when he is not fully aware of it, lives a new life; and in his deepest reality, even if by his actions he denies it, he is transferred to a new homeland, on earth already made heavenly (cf. St. Basili "Moralia", LXXX: PG 31, 868d). Basilii "De Spiritu Sancto": PG 32, 157c; "In sanctum Baptisma": PG 31, 429b): because the operation of God is infinitely and infallibly effective, and always remains to some extent beyond all denial and contradiction of man.

There remains, of course, the task - and it is, in essential relation to baptism, the very meaning of Christian life - of becoming what one is, adapting oneself to the new 'spiritual' and eschatological dimension of one's personal mystery. As St Basil expresses it, with his usual clarity: "The meaning and power of baptism is that the baptised person is transformed in thought, word and deed, and that he becomes - according to the power bestowed upon him - what he is from whom he was begotten" (St Basil "Moralia", XX, 2: PG 31, 736d).

The Eucharist, fulfilment of Christian initiation, is always considered by Basil to be closely related to baptism.

It is the only food suited to the new being of the baptised person and capable of sustaining his new life and nourishing his new energies (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo" I, 3: PG 31, 1573b); worship in spirit and truth, exercise of the new priesthood and perfect sacrifice of the new Israel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 2 ff et 8: PG 31, 1601c; S.Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 485a), only the Eucharist fully realises and perfects the new baptismal creation.

Therefore, it is a mystery of immense joy - only by singing can one participate in it (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia",XXI,4: PG 31, 741a) - and of infinite, tremendous holiness. How could one, being in a state of sin, treat the body of the Lord? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,3: PG 31, 1585ab). The Church that communicates, should indeed be "without spot or wrinkle, holy and undefiled" (Eph 5:27; St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b): that is, it should always, with vigilant awareness of the mystery it celebrates, examine itself well (cf. 1Cor 11,28; S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 2: PG 31, 740ab), in order to purify itself more and more "from all contamination and impurity" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo" II, 3: PG 31, 1585ab).

On the other hand, abstaining from communion is not possible: to the Eucharist in fact, which is necessary for eternal life (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 1: PG 31, 737c), baptism itself is ordained, and the people of the baptised must be pure precisely to participate in the Eucharist (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869b).

Only the Eucharist on the other hand, true memorial of the paschal mystery of Christ, is capable of keeping awake in us the memory of his love. It is therefore the secret of the Church's vigilance: it would be too easy for her, otherwise, without the divine efficacy of this continuous and sweet reminder, without the penetrating power of this gaze of her bridegroom fixed on her, to fall into oblivion, insensitivity, infidelity. For this purpose it was instituted, according to the words of the Lord: 'Do this in memory of me' (1 Cor 11:24 ff. et par.); and for this purpose, consequently, it must be celebrated.

Basil does not tire of repeating it: "To remember" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 740b); indeed, to remember always, "for the indelible remembrance" (S.Basilii "Moralia", XXI, 3: PG 31, 1576d), "to keep unceasingly the memory of him who died and rose again for us" (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 1869b).

Only the Eucharist therefore, by God's design and gift, can truly keep in the heart "the seal" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 5: PG 31, 921b) of that memory of Christ that, clasping as in a vice, prevents us from sinning. It is therefore particularly in relation to the Eucharist that Basil takes up Paul's text: "The love of Christ grips us, at the thought that one died for all and therefore all died. And he died for all, so that those who live may no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again for them" (2 Cor 5:14 ff).

But what then is this living for Christ - or "living wholly for God" - if not the very content of the baptismal covenant? (cf. St Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1581a).

Also in this aspect, therefore, the Eucharist appears to be the fullness of baptism: it alone, in fact, allows one to live it faithfully and continually actualises it in its power of grace.

This is why Basil does not hesitate to recommend frequent, or even daily, communion: "Communing even daily by receiving the holy body and blood of Christ is a good and useful thing; for he himself says clearly: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life' (Jn 6:54). Who then will doubt that to continually communicate life is not to live to the full?" (St Basilii "Epistula" 93: PG 32, 484b).

True "food of eternal life" capable of nourishing the new life of the baptised person is, like the Eucharist, also "every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Mt 4:4; cf. Dt 8:3; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 3: PG 31, 1573bc). 

It is Basil himself who strongly establishes this fundamental link between the table of the word of God and that of the body of Christ (cf. Dei Verbum, 21). Although in a different way, in fact, Scripture too, like the Eucharist, is divine, holy, and necessary.

Truly divine, Basil affirms with singular energy: that is, 'of God' in the most proper sense. God himself inspired it (cf. S.Basilii "De iudicio": PG 31, 664d; S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 677a; etc.), God validated it (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680b), God pronounced it through the hagiographers (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 13: PG 31, 1092a; "Adv. Eunomium", II: PG 29, 597c; etc.). - Moses, the prophets, the evangelists, the apostles (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 1: PG 31, 1524d) - and above all through his Son (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1561c); he, the only Lord: both in the Old and the New Testament (cf.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 47: PG 31, 1113a), certainly with different degrees of intensity and different fullness of revelation (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 276: PG 31, 1276cd; "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1545b), but also without a shadow of contradiction (cf.)

Of divine substance although made up of human words, Scripture is therefore infinitely authoritative: the source of faith, according to the words of Paul (cf. Rom 10:17; S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c), it is the foundation of a full, undoubted, unwavering certainty (S.Basilii "Moralia", LXXX,22: PG 31, 868c). Since it is all of God, it is all, in every smallest part, infinitely important and worthy of extreme attention (cf. S.Basilii "In Hexaem.", VI: PG 29, 144c; "In Hexaem.", VIII: PG 29, 184c).

And for this reason, too, Scripture is rightly called holy: for just as it would be terrible sacrilege to profane the Eucharist, it would also be sacrilege to attack the integrity and purity of the word of God.

It cannot therefore be understood according to human categories, but in the light of his own teachings, almost "asking the Lord himself for the interpretation of the things he said" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II, 4: PG 31, 1589b); and one can neither "take away nor add anything" to those divine texts delivered to the Church for all time, to those holy words pronounced by God once and for all (cf. S.Basilii "De fide": PG 31, 680ab; "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 868c).

It is of vital necessity, in fact, that the relationship with the word of God should always be adoring, faithful, and loving. Essentially, the Church must draw from it for her proclamation (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 115: PG 30, 105c 108a), allowing herself to be guided by the very words of her Lord (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1533c), so as not to risk "reducing the words of religion to human words" (S.Basilii "Epistula" 140: PG 32, 588b). And every Christian must refer to Scripture "always and everywhere" for all his choices (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 269: PG 31, 1268c), making himself before it "like a child" (cf. Mk 10, 15; S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 217: PG 31, 1225bc; S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1560ab), seeking in it the most effective remedy against all his various infirmities (cf. S.Basilii "In Psalmum" 1: PG 29, 209a), and not daring to take a step without being enlightened by the divine rays of those words (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 1: PG 31, 1081a).

Authentically Christian, all of Basil's magisterium is, as we have seen, 'gospel', the joyful proclamation of salvation.

Is not the confession of God's glory radiating on man in his image full of joy and a source of joy?

Is not the proclamation of the victory of the cross, in which, "through the greatness of God's mercy and the multitude of God's mercies" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), our sins were forgiven even before we committed them? (cf. St Basilii "Regulae bravius tractatae", 12: PG 31, 1089b). What more consoling proclamation is there than that of baptism that regenerates us, of the Eucharist that nourishes us, of the Word that enlightens us?

But for this very reason, so as not to have silenced or diminished the saving and transforming power of God's work and of the "energies of the future century" (cf. Heb 6:5), Basil can ask everyone, with great firmness, for total love for God, unreserved dedication, perfection of evangelical life (cf. St Basilii "Moralia", LXXX, 22: PG 31, 869c).

For if baptism is grace - and what grace! - those who have attained it have indeed received "the power and strength to please God" (S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 1088c), and are therefore "all equally bound to conform to that grace", that is to "live in conformity with the Gospel" (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 15980ac). 

"All equally": there are no second-class Christians, simply because there are no different baptisms, and because the meaning of the Christian life is all intrinsically contained in the one baptismal covenant (S.Basilii "De Baptismo", II,1: PG 31, 1580ac).

"To live in conformity with the Gospel": what does this mean, concretely, according to Basil?

It means tending, with all the longing of one's being (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae brevius tractatae", 157: PG 31, 1185a) and with all the new energies one has at one's disposal, to achieve "God's pleasure" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", I, 5: PG 31, 704a et passim)

It means, for example, "not to be rich, but to be poor, according to the word of the Lord" (cf. S.Basilii "Moralia", XLVIII,3: PG 31, 769a), thus realising a fundamental condition to be able to follow Him (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 10: PG 31, 944d-945a) with freedom (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 8: PG 31, 940bc; "Regulae fusius tractatae", 237: PG 31, 1241b), and manifesting, in comparison to the prevailing norm of worldly living, the newness of the Gospel (cf. S.Basilii "De Baptismo", I, 2: PG 31, 1544d). It means submitting oneself totally to the word of God, renouncing "one's own will" (cf. S.Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 6 et 41: PG 31, 925c et 1021a) and becoming obedient, in imitation of Christ, "unto death" (cf. Phil 2:8; St Basilii "Regulae fusius tractatae", 28: PG 31, 989b; "Regulae brevius tractatae", 119: PG 31, 1161d et passim).

Truly, Basil did not blush for the Gospel: but, knowing that it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (cf. Rom 1:16) he proclaimed it with that integrity (cf. St Basil "Moralia", LXXX, 12: PG 31, 864b) that makes it fully the word of grace and the source of life.

Finally, we like to note that St Basil, although more soberly than his brother St Gregory of Nyssa and his friend St Gregory of Nazianzus, celebrates Mary's virginity (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 5: PG 31, 1468b): he calls Mary "prophetess" (cf.Basilii "In Isaiam", 208: PG 30, 477b) and with a felicitous expression thus justifies Mary's betrothal to Joseph: "This was done in order that virginity might be honoured and marriage might not be despised" (cf. S.Basilii "In sanctam Christi generationem", 3: PG 31, 1464a).

St Basil's anaphora, quoted above, contains lofty praise of the "all holy, immaculate, ultra-blessed and glorious Lady Mother-of-God and ever-virgin Mary"; "Woman full of grace, exultation of all creation...".

4. Conclusion

Of this great saint and teacher all of us, in the Church, glory to be disciples and children: let us therefore reconsider his example, and listen with veneration to his teachings, with intimate readiness to let ourselves be admonished, comforted and exhorted.

We entrust this message in a special way to the numerous religious orders - male and female - that honour themselves with the name and tutelage of Saint Basil and follow his Rule, committing them on this happy anniversary to resolutions of new fervour in a life of asceticism and contemplation of divine things, which then overflow into holy works for the glory of God and the edification of holy Church. For the happy attainment of these ends, we also implore the maternal help of the Virgin Mary, as an augury of heavenly gifts and pledge of our benevolence, with great affection we impart to you our apostolic blessing.

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 2 January, on the memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church, in the year 1980, the second of my Pontificate.

JOHN PAUL II

[Patres Ecclesiae; Apostolic Letter for the XVI Centenary of the Death of St Basil]

This passage from the Gospel of John (cf. 12:44-50) shows us the intimacy there was between Jesus and the Father. Jesus did what the Father told Him to do. And therefore He says: “He who believes in me, believes not in me but in Him who sent me” (v. 44). He then explains His mission: “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (v. 46). He presents himself as light. Jesus’s mission is to enlighten: light. He himself said: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). The Prophet Isaiah prophesied this light: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (9:1). The promise of the light that will enlighten the people. And the mission of the Apostles too was to bring light. Paul said to King Agrippa: “I was chosen to enlighten, to bring this light – which is not mine, but another’s – but to bring light” (cf. Acts 26:18). It is Jesus’s mission: to bring light. And the mission of the Apostles was to bring the light of Jesus. To enlighten. Because the world was in darkness.

But the tragedy of Jesus’s light is that it was rejected. From the beginning of the Gospel, John said it clearly: “He came to His own home, and His own people did not welcome Him. They loved darkness more than light' (cf. Jn 1:9-11). Being accustomed to darkness, living in darkness: they did not know how to accept the light, they could not; they were slaves to darkness. And this would be Jesus’s continuous battle: to enlighten, to bring the light that shows things as they are, as they exist; it shows freedom, it shows truth, it shows the path on which to go with the light of Jesus.

Paul had this experience of the passage from darkness to light, when the Lord encountered him on the road to Damascus. He was blinded. Blind. The Lord’s light blinded him. And then, when a few days had passed, with baptism, he regained the light (cf. Acts 9:1-19). He had this experience of passing from darkness, in which he was, to the light. And our passage too, which we received sacramentally in Baptism: for this reason Baptism was called, in the first centuries, the Illumination (cf. Saint Justin, Apology I, 61, 12), because it gave you the light, it “let it enter” you. For this reason, in the ceremony of Baptism we give a lit blessed candle, a lit candle to the mother and father, because the little boy or the little girl is enlightened.

Jesus brings light. But the people, His people rejected it. They were so accustomed to the darkness that the light blinded them, they did not know where to go… (cf. Jn 1:1-11). And this is the tragedy of our sin: sin blinds us and we cannot tolerate the light. Our eyes are sick. And Jesus clearly states it in the Gospel of Matthew: “If your eye is not sound, your whole body will be unsound. If your eye sees only darkness, how great is the darkness within you!” (cf. Mt 6:22-23). Darkness… And conversion is passing from darkness to light.

But what are the things that sicken the eyes, the eyes of faith? Our eyes are ill: what are the things that “drag them down”, that blind them? Vices, the worldly spirit, pride. The vices that “drag you down” and also these three things – vices, pride, the worldly spirit – lead you to associate with others in order to remain secure in the darkness. We often speak of “mafias”: this is it. But there are “spiritual mafias”; there are “domestic mafias”, always, seeking someone else so as to cover yourself and remain in darkness. It is not easy to live in the light. The light shows many ugly things within us that we do not want to see: vices, sins… Let us think about our vices; let us think about our pride; let us think about our worldly spirit: These things blind us; they distance us from Jesus’s light.

But if we start to think about these things, we will not find a wall, no. We will find a way out, because Jesus Himself says that He is the light, and also: “I have come into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world” (cf. Jn 12:46-47). Jesus Himself, the light, says: “Take courage: let yourself be enlightened; let yourself see what you have within, because I have come to lead you forth, to save you. I do not condemn you. I save you” (cf. v. 47). The Lord saves us from the darkness we have within, from the darkness of daily life, of social life, of political life, of national, international life… There is so much darkness within. And the Lord saves us. But He asks us to see them, first; to have the courage to see our darkness so that the Lord's light may enter and save us.

Let us not fear the Lord: He is very good; He is meek; He is close to us. He has come to save us. Let us not be afraid of the light of Jesus.

[Pope Francis, homily st. Martha May 6, 2020]

(Nm 6:22-27; Lk 2:16-21)

Blessing the people was an ancient prerogative of the sovereign who acted in the name of God and at first had priestly functions.

But in an attitude of encounter that makes God present ‘in the midst’ of the crowds - people of his Face - that of the ancient king also becomes an act of worship to be rediscovered.

We need to feel that we are blessed: not to extinguish ourselves, to regenerate the affective truth that dwells within us and brings us back to life, thus contemplating it and thus initiating any adventure.

Cursing does not strengthen, it indicates rejection; it separates us. Blessing is the way of sharing and Peace, that is to say, of attaining completeness.

In Israel, the divine blessing was (in fact) expected in material guise. But the formula of the Aaronnite priesthood attests to the original idea that human life does not have its secret in the most obvious configuration.

We too know that partial and comfort-only situations, irenicism, wellbeing and security, turn into their opposite - they do not increase the integrity of life [authentic biblical sense of Shalôm].

Those who do not follow innate intuition, a more radical call of the self, or stunning proclamations (Lk 1:26-38. 2:8-15) do not develop their destiny, do not move, do not set things right.

Common proclamations end up incinerating personalities.

It is true that the shepherds find nothing extraordinary or prodigious, other than a family reduced to an ordinary condition that they know.

But it is that simple hearth that draws them into God's new plan, and into the proclamation of his scandalous unconditional Mercy - which did not electrocute them for impurity.

Religion had branded them forever: lost, despicable, remedyless beings.

Now they are free from identification. They have 'another eye' - like that of the “first time”: a gaze that will lead them one hundred per cent.

Exodated with an image of helpless God in front of them, they do not bother to engage in ethical discipline, which would crumble them.

They enjoy the wonder of a simply human reality - in a mysterious relationship of mutual recognition.

Strange that the modest sign - a baby in a manger, an unclean place where beasts linger - convinces them, makes them regain esteem, makes them proclaimers [perhaps not even assiduous evangelizers].

Like Calvary to which it refers, the resolving Manifestation of the Eternal is a paradox.

But the affective geography of this Bethlehem devoid of conformist circuits remains intact, because it is spontaneously rooted in us.

There is a sense of immediacy, without any particular entanglement or ceremony.

The Child is not even worshipped by the now “pure” gazes of the small, vilified prairie dogs and transhumance - as, conversely, will the Magi (Mt 2:11).

They did not even know what it meant, the reflecting of Eastern court ceremonials - such as the kissing of slippers.

The wretched of the earth [the distant of the flocks] are those who hear the Announcement, readily verify it, and establish the new divine 'lineage'.

People not tormented by static judgement, but now «in the midst» of all men and no longer at high altitude.

(Lk 2:16-21)

Mary sought the meaning of surprises (v.19). Thus She regenerated, for a new way of understanding and being together - to also give birth the inner world of the people.

She ‘put together’ facts and Word, in order to discover its main thread, to remain receptive and not to be conditioned by inflexible convictions, which would not give her escape.

The Mother, while caught by surprise, was preparing herself for the eccentricity of God, without straying from time and the real condition.

His figure and that of the shepherds challenge us, ask for the courage of an answer - but after letting the same kind of ‘inner presences’ flow, worthy visitors, which are allowed to express themselves.

Like us, she too had to go from the fathers’ beliefs to the Faith in the Father. From the idea of love as a reward to that of the ‘gift’. 

The Good News proclaims a reversal: what the religion of yesteryear had considered distant from the Most High, is very close to Him; indeed, it fully corresponds to Him.

The adventure of Faith is wide open. And the new Child has a Name that expresses the unprecedented essence of Saviour, not of executioner.

The plenitude of his story will be fully instructive also in terms of how to internalize uncertainties and hardships: these bad moments and precariousness teach us how to live.

In fact, we too, as Mary, «go recognizing» the presence of God in the riddles of Scripture, in the Little One ‘wrapped in bandages’ - even in the ancestral echo of our inner worlds.

And we let us go - we don’t quite know where. But just like this is the Infinity, in its folds.

The wise Dream that inhabits the human, tastes of ancient humus, but its echo is reborn every day, in the tide of being that orients to ‘look’ truly, without veils.

A conformist demeanor of coming across and ‘seeing’ things outwardly would not solve the problem.

Sometimes, in order not to be conditioned, it’s necessary to re-edifying oneself in silence, like the Virgin; building a sort of hermeneutic island wich opens up different doors, wich introduces other lights.

Within her sacred circuit also the Mother of God valued the innate transformative energies, precisely by rooting them on questions.

In this way, returning to its primordial being and the sense of the Newborn - ancient image, dear to many cultures.

She entered an Elsewhere and did not leave the reality field: inside his Centre, without haste.

By researching for the Sun drowned in his being and which came back, emerged, rose in her innermost depth, that made her exist beyond.

Thus she did not allow herself to be absorbed by traditional ideas or external situations, which also wanted to break the balance.

In her modest solitude - full of Grace - that higher self (hidden in the essence) came more and more to her, became a new Dawn and guide.

She didn’t want to live inside thoughts, knowledge and reasoning around - no one capable of amplifying life - all in the hands of conventions‘ drugs dehumanizing the Enchantment.

The happy magic of that Frugulus of flesh brought his Peace.

Dreams supported and conveyed her Center - by flowing a new life from the Core of her Person. And the youthfulness of the world.

[Mary Most Holy Mother of God, January 1st]

Incredible of the Year

At the beginning of the New Year, a rich gentleman had an idea: only the person capable of doing the most incredible thing of the year should inherit all his possessions.

His friends engaged all their imagination.

Some old people - in pursuit of their own taste - had indigestion and risked dying from eating and drinking.

Some brats practised somersaults instead.

Then a whole exhibition of unbelievable tricks was set up. One person played the part of Moses on the Mount with the Tablets of the Law, but he found it difficult to reproduce lightning and thunder; the backdrop was static and antiquated.

A guy disguised as a crow was telling stories and old memories, next to an unlit stove.

Someone dressed up as an undertaker, but people did not appreciate his overly professorial air or his loden.

Others wanted to perform the Beatitudes, but forgot about the persecuted.

An artist defaced his own paintings; a sculptor hammered like a madman, but the noise of his grinding wheel was even more unbearable.

A carpenter was working very well on a chest, but in everyone's opinion he lifted too much chaff, leaving an excessive amount of shavings on the ground.

Suddenly a bouncer as tall as a gorilla and as strong as Maciste burst in: 'I am the man of the most incredible thing'.

With his fists he knocked out the onlookers and with an axe he smashed everything around, everything to shreds.

Every object was destroyed and everyone was left stunned to the ground. "This is what I am capable of!" - said the man - "my deed beat the whole universe! I have done the most incredible thing, and not just of the year!"

The judges of the contest were puzzled, but at that point it seemed they could not award the palm of victory to anyone else...

In the atmosphere of general annihilation, the last on the list popped up from who knows where; a certain Christopher. He proposed to go to the Levant by way of the Ponente. Everyone laughed loudly, but he asked for time.

Thus, at the end of his tale of miscalculations and - at times - favourable winds, he proved that he could land in a new territory, richer than anywhere and previously unimagined. (Often, however, passing through inaccurate news and seemingly destructive forces).

Everything changed, because of his visionary courage.

From that moment on, the continent from which the caravels set sail became 'the old world' in the common understanding, which in fact - satiated and desperate, stuck in its positions - also aged demographically and gradually irreparably; ruining itself.

That absurd adventure - a metaphor for the journey of each person who does not learn to hold back - then burst forth as a type of a new life proposal, open and creative, prone to wonder.

The variety of experiences and even the range of fantasies were no longer held in contempt of costumes, but became an added value.

Such a proposal model (visions that anticipated needs) gradually emerged in common pedagogy.

It was also adopted by the pilgrims of the Spirit as a positive icon of the New Covenant between God and man - now capable of enhancing the intricate mixture of values and criteria of our hearts; with its common and earthly interests, but enraptured in the most sublime dreams.

For a Christian life not of cosmetics, but of exploration and surprise; a programme for the whole year.

This is how Christopher changed history, by sailing backwards.