6th Easter Sunday (year C) [25 May 2025]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. We walk with swift steps towards the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost.  Jesus' words prepare us to receive the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Parakletos, an untranslatable Greek word. Five times it appears in the N.T. only in John and the possible meanings are: Defender/Advocate; Comforter; Intercessor/Mediator, Inner Teacher/Spirit of truth. 

*First Reading From the Acts of the Apostles (15:1-2.22-29)

The first Christian communities were faced from the very beginning with a serious crisis that poisoned their existence for a long time. Let me explain: in Antioch of Syria, there were Christians of Jewish origin and Christians of pagan origin, and their coexistence had become increasingly difficult because their lifestyles were too different. Christians of Jewish origin were circumcised and considered those of pagan origin as pagans, and in daily life itself, everything pitted them against each other because of all the Jewish practices to which Christians of pagan origin had no desire to submit: numerous rules of purification, ablutions and above all very strict rules regarding food.  Some Christians of Jewish origin came on purpose from Jerusalem to exacerbate the dispute, explaining that only Jews were admitted to Christian baptism and therefore invited pagans first to become Jews (including circumcision) and then Christians. Three fundamental questions: 1. Is it necessary to have the same ideas, the same rites, the same practices in order to experience unity? 2. The second question was that Christians of all origins wanted to be faithful to Jesus Christ, but concretely, what does this faithfulness consist of? If Jesus was Jewish and circumcised, does this mean that to become a Christian one must first become a Jew like him? Furthermore, is it to Israel that God entrusted the mission to be his witness in the midst of humanity, and therefore one must be part of Israel to enter the Christian community? The conclusion was that one had to be Jewish before becoming a Christian, and concretely it was accepted to baptise pagans on condition that they first had themselves circumcised. 3. Third question, even more serious: is salvation given by God unconditionally or not? If by not accepting circumcision according to the tradition of Moses one cannot be saved, it is like saying that God Himself cannot save non-Jews and we decide instead who can or cannot be saved.  The first council of Jerusalem was convened where there were three positions on the matter: Paul wanted total openness, Peter was rather hesitant, and it was James, bishop of Jerusalem, who came to an agreement with a double decision: 1. Christians of Jewish origin should not impose circumcision and Jewish practices on Christians of pagan origin; 2. on the other hand, Christians of pagan origin, out of respect for their brothers of Jewish origin, should refrain from anything that might disturb their common life, especially during meals. The argument that prevailed over everything was the overcoming of the logic of Israel's election, having entered a new stage of history: the prophet Joel had well said: "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Joel 3:5) and Jesus himself: "Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved" (Mark 16:16). Everyone means everyone, not just Jews and, even more concretely, being faithful to Jesus Christ does not necessarily mean reproducing a fixed model since faithfulness is not mere repetition. History shows that, through the vicissitudes of humanity, the Church always retains the ability to adapt in order to remain faithful to Christ. Finally, it is interesting to note that only the rules that allow fraternal communion to be maintained are imposed on the Christian community, and this is indicated from the outset as the best way to be truly faithful to Christ who said: "By this all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35).

*Responsorial Psalm (66 (67) 2-3,5,7-8)

The psalm takes us inside the Temple of Jerusalem while a great celebration is taking place and at the end the priests bless the assembly in a solemn way and the faithful respond: "Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you!" The psalm alternates between the priests' phrases, sometimes addressed to the assembly and sometimes to God, and the assembly's responses, which resemble refrains. The first phrase: "May God have mercy on us and bless us, may he make his face to shine upon us" takes up exactly the famous text from the book of Numbers that is the first reading on 1 January of each year, "The Lord spoke to Moses and said: 'Speak to Aaron and his sons and tell them: Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, 'May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine for you and give you grace. May the Lord turn his face to you and grant you peace.' So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them' (Nm 6:24-26). An ideal text for wishes and good wishes because a blessing is a wish for happiness. In fact, blessings are always formulated in the subjunctive: "may God bless you, may God keep you" and yet God knows how to do nothing but bless us, love us, fill us at every moment. So when the priest says 'may God bless you', it is not because God might not bless us, but to arouse our desire to enter into the blessing that, on his part, God continually offers us. It is the same when the priest says "May the Lord be with you": God is always with us and the subjunctive "be" expresses our freedom because we are not always with him; or "May God forgive you": God always forgives us but it is up to us to welcome the forgiveness and enter into the reconciliation that he proposes. Permanent are God's desires for our happiness as Jeremiah states: "For I know the plans I have made for you - the Lord's oracle - plans of peace and not of misfortune, to grant you a future full of hope" (Jer 29:11). God is Love and all his thoughts about us are nothing but desires for happiness. In this psalm, the response of the faithful is the refrain: 'Praise thee, O God, may all nations praise thee! A splendid lesson in universalism: the chosen people reflect the blessing they receive for themselves on the whole of humanity, while the last verse is a synthesis of these two aspects: 'May God bless us (we, his chosen people) And may all the ends of the earth fear him'. Israel does not forget its vocation/mission to the service of all mankind and knows that on its fidelity to the freely received blessing depends the discovery of God's love and blessing by all mankind.

*Second Reading from the Apocalypse of St John (21: 10-14.22-23)

In last Sunday's passage, John said he saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven, from near God, ready for the wedding, like a bride adorned for her bridegroom. This time he describes it at length, fascinated by its light so strong that it obscures the glare of the moon and even that of the sun: it resembles a precious jewel, a precious stone sparkling in the light. And he immediately explains the reason for such extraordinary brightness, repeating twice: 'shining with the glory of God', 'the glory of God illuminates it'. These two statements, one at the beginning and the other at the end of the text, with the literary procedure called 'inclusion' that serves to highlight the phrases between the beginning and the end, indicate what strikes John, that is, the glory of God illuminating the holy city that descends from near Him. An angel has transported him to a great and high mountain and is holding his hand as he shows him the city from afar. In his left hand the angel holds a golden rod that he will use to measure the size of the city. The city is square: the number four and the square are a symbol of what is human and indicate here that the city is built by human hand, illuminated by the glory and radiance of God's presence. Since the number three evokes God, it is not surprising that the description of the city abundantly uses a multiple of three and four: twelve, which is a way of saying that God's action is manifested in this human work. In St John's time, a city without walls was not conceived: and this one has them, indeed a wall as great and as high as the mountain, and we know that in the Bible, the mountain is the place of encounter with God. Twelve gates are opened in the wall, which, according to the following text, never close so that all may enter and no one must find a closed gate. The twelve gates, distributed on the four sides of the square, three to the East, three to the North, three to the South, three to the West, are guarded by twelve angels and on each is written the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The people of Israel have in fact been chosen by God to be the gate through which all mankind will enter the final Jerusalem.The wall rests on foundations on which the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are written: as in architecture, there is continuity between the foundations and the walls, so here there is continuity between the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles, and this is a way of saying that the Church founded by Christ fully realises God's plan that unfolds throughout history. Upon entering, John is surprised because he is looking for the Temple, being the living sign that God did not abandon his people, but in the city "I saw no temple" yet he is not disappointed because now "the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb. are his temple". He continues: 'The city has no need of the light of the sun nor of the moon, for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb'. Bearing in mind that in the book of Genesis, from the very first day at creation, light appears: God said, "Let there be light!". And the light was', the statement in Revelation takes on its full weight: the old creation has passed: no more sun, no more moon because we are now in the new creation and God's presence radiates the world through Christ. Jerusalem retains its name and indicates that it is a city built by human hand, a way of saying that our efforts to collaborate in God's project are part of the new creation and human work will not be destroyed, but rather transformed by God. The Christians who were then the recipients of the Apocalypse, were the object of scorn and often persecuted, they needed these words of victory to sustain their faithfulness, and it is good for us too to hear that the heavenly Jerusalem begins with our humble efforts every day.

*From the Gospel according to John (14:23-29)

We relive Jesus' last moments immediately before the Passion: the hour is grave and we can sense the anguish of the apostles from the words of reassurance that Jesus addresses to them several times. At the beginning of this chapter he had said "Let not your heart be troubled" (v. 1). His long discourse was interrupted by several questions from the apostles that revealed their distress and incomprehension. Jesus, however, remains serene: throughout the Passion, John describes him as sovereignly free; indeed, it is he who reassures the disciples as he announces in advance what would happen because when it happens, they would believe. Not only does he know what will happen, but he accepts it and does not try to escape it. He announces his departure and presents it as a condition and beginning of a new presence: I am leaving, but I am coming back to you. This departure of his will only be interpreted after the resurrection as the Passover of Jesus.  John says in chapter 13: "Before the feast of Passover, knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father": the evangelist deliberately uses the verb pass, because Passover means passage and with this, he wants to parallel Jesus' Passion with the liberation from Egypt, relived at every Jewish feast of Passover. If it is liberation, this departure must not throw the apostles into sadness: "If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I am going to the Father" (v.28). This is a surprising sentence for the disciples who see the Master now being pursued by the religious authorities, that is, by those who, in the name of God, were held to be the repositories of the truth about what concerns God, and it is they who are Jesus' greatest opponents. The prophets fought against every obstacle to maintain faith in the one God who is both God close to man and God totally Other, the Holy One. Jesus preaches a God who is close to man, especially the little ones, but declares God himself, which in the eyes of the Jews, is blasphemy, an offence against the one God, the Holy One. In this Sunday's text, Jesus insists on the bond that unites him to the Father, whom he names five times, going so far as to speak in the plural: "If anyone loves me...we will come to him, and we will dwell with him". It is not the first time he has said this: a little earlier, to Philip who asked him "Show us the Father", he replied calmly: "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9), while here he reiterates: "The word you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me". Jesus is the Envoy of the Father, the word of the Father, and from now on the Holy Spirit will make us understand this word and keep it in the memory of the disciples. The key to this text is probably precisely the word "word": it recurs several times and, from what precedes, we understand that this "word" to be guarded is the "commandment of love": love one another, that is, put yourselves at the service of one another and, to be clear, Jesus himself gave a concrete example by washing the disciples' feet. To be faithful to his word therefore simply means to put oneself at the service of others. And today's text: 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,' can be translated as follows: If anyone loves me, he will put himself at the service of his neighbour, and anyone who does not love me refuses to put himself at the service of others, so if anyone does not put himself at the service of others, he is not faithful to Christ's word. In this light, the role of the Holy Spirit is better understood: it is he who teaches us to love, reminding us of the commandment of love.  Jesus calls him Paraclete, Defender, because he protects and defends us from ourselves since the worst of evils is to forget that the essence of the gospel is to love one another and to serve one another. In today's first reading, we saw the Defender at work in the first community at the first Council of Jerusalem, where there were serious difficulties of coexistence between Christians of Jewish origin and those of pagan origin, and the Spirit of love inspired the disciples to maintain unity at all costs.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

5th Easter Sunday [18 May 2025]

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! Already in this first week Pope Leo XIV is giving us, in a calm and profound manner, some marching directions to be well interiorised. I invite you not to miss any of his speeches, all of which are always read out and never delivered off the cuff. Why? It is interesting to seek an answer. Today then there will be the homily of the beginning of his Petrine ministry and therefore in a certain sense programmatic of the pontificate of which he will show the style. 

*First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (14:21b-27)

From Antioch of Syria, Paul and Barnabas had departed by ship to the south coast of what we today call Turkey, passing through Cyprus; they had stopped at Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium (today Konya), Lystra and Derbe and everywhere, as we saw last Sunday, Paul and Barnabas first addressed the Jews, receiving a rather "mixed" reception. Enthusiasm on the part of some who converted and violent rejection on the part of others who opposed them decisively to the point of driving them out, and it was in Antioch of Pisidia that they decided to address not only the Jews, but also those who were called 'God-fearing', that is, practitioners of the Jewish religion although not yet integrated through circumcision, and therefore, strictly speaking, still pagans. This is why Paul says that God through them had "opened to the Gentiles the door of faith" (v.27).  On the return journey of this first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas retrace the same itinerary in the opposite direction and visit again the communities they had recently founded that were already suffering persecution because Luke specifies that Paul and Barnabas exhorted them to remain steadfast in the faith, saying that we must pass through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God (v.22). Jesus had already used similar expressions: "the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation" (Lk 17:25)... or, addressing the disciples of Emmaus: "Should not Christ have suffered these things in order to enter into his glory?" (Lk 24:26).God does not impose trials or sufferings on us in a preventive manner, but because of the hardness of the human heart, the true prophets encounter persecution until the world is converted to love, justice, and sharing. Paul and Barnabas are therefore concerned to strengthen the faith and courage of the new converts by also watching over the good organisation of the communities. First they appointed leaders, the 'elders', the Greek term 'presbyteros' (from which our term 'priest' derives) and, after praying and fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord. Luke insists on the importance of prayer and fasting because it is not only the organisation that is taken care of, but prayer and fasting are equally important. Indeed, an evangeliser who no longer prays will soon no longer evangelise. Luke notes that they entrusted the leaders of the new communities to the Lord to act with courage and responsibility as Paul and Barnabas had entrusted themselves to the grace of God and continued their journey telling the members of the community of Antioch of Syria all that God had done with them. Luke speaks both of the work that the apostles had done and of what God had done with them, and this makes us realise that the mission entrusted by God to believers is a work of God entrusted to man and a work of man sustained, accompanied, continually inspired by God. 

*Responsorial Psalm (144 (145), 8-13)

Of Psalm 144 (145), chosen for this fifth Sunday of Easter, there are only six verses here, while in total there are twenty-one as many letters as there are letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It is an alphabetical psalm, an acrostic, and each verse begins with one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in alphabetical order. It is therefore a psalm of praise for the covenant: a way of saying that our whole life, from A to Z (in Hebrew from aleph to tav), is immersed in God's covenant and tenderness. But why this Psalm 144 (145) today and why only these six verses? First of all, this psalm is part of the Jewish prayer of every morning, and the dawning of a new day evokes for the believing Jew the dawning of the final day, of the future world and renewed creation. For us Christians, at this Easter time, the psalm reminds us that the Day of God's final kingdom has already begun, before our eyes, with the resurrection of Christ. Moreover, in Jewish spirituality, the Talmud (i.e. the teaching of the rabbis of the first centuries after Christ) states that he who recites this psalm three times a day "may be certain to be a child of the future world". For us Christians, the future world of which the Jewish faith speaks is precisely the creation renewed by Jesus Christ, and the six verses chosen for today constitute a condensation of this revelation, and the psalm harmonises perfectly with the tones of the Easter season, in particular, with the other readings of this Sunday.  The first verse: "Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and great in love" is the best summary of all biblical revelation: in fact, it is the name God gave of himself to Moses (Ex 34:6).The second verse: 'Good is the Lord towards all, his tenderness is spread over all creatures' is an enormous discovery for mankind that we owe precisely to the chosen people; a theme already present in the Old Testament: God loves all mankind and his plan of love, as St Paul says, concerns the whole of humanity. We sense a particular resonance of this in the Acts of the Apostles and especially in the first reading of this Easter Sunday, which insists that the proclamation of God's love is not reserved for the Jews, but is for all nations. Furthermore, this psalm, especially in the verses read today, insists on God's kingship: 'To make known to men your deeds and the splendid glory of your kingdom, your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, your dominion extends to all generations'. Four times the word "kingdom" returns (once "dominion") and the words "deeds" and "exploits", which in the Bible always refer to the liberation from Egypt: God liberated his people then and liberates them now, and this until the final liberation, which is the victory over death. A psalm therefore particularly suited to the Easter season because the Risen One experiences God's kingship in his flesh. When Israel composed this psalm, the insistence on God's kingship, or his dominion, was a way of affirming that they would never rely on idols because their only King and Lord is God, the God of love. When Christians pray this psalm, they know well that in Christ, the servant king, humble in the Passion and triumphant over death, they see the presence of the King of the universe: "He who has seen me has seen the Father," Jesus told the apostles (Jn.14:9).

NOTE: Reading the entire psalm one notices a profound similarity with the Lord's Prayer: one addresses God as Father - "Our Father... give us... forgive us... deliver us from evil..." - a Father who is the God of mercy and pity as the psalm expresses it. He is also addressed as King: 'Thy Kingdom come'.  In fact, all the phrases that Jesus collected in the Lord's Prayer were already part of the customary prayers of the Jewish people

Depending on whether one counts the sign Sin/Shin as one or two letters (the same symbol is sometimes pronounced Sin, sometimes Shin), one would count 21 or 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Grammarians distinguish the two letters Sin and Shin and the alphabet counts 22 letters, but the psalmist uses only the letter Shin and therefore the psalm counts 21 verses.

*Second Reading from the Book of Revelation of Saint John (21:1-5a)

"Behold, I make all things new": a new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem; this is our future, our "a-coming", that is, what is to come. Gone are the tears, the death, the groans, the cries, the sadness... all this belongs to the past: the first heaven and the first earth are gone. In other words, the past is past, accomplished. John warned us: his book is a book of visions, revealing the future to give courage to face the present. The first heaven and the first earth refer back to the biblical account of creation and to understand this passage of Revelation we must refer back to the book of Genesis which in the first chapter presents "the first creation" of which Revelation states that it was totally good: "God saw what he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen 1:31). Despite this, however, every day we see tears, cries, sadness, death as Revelation repeats and the cause lies in the account of the forbidden fruit (Gen.3) explaining what corrupted the goodness of creation. The root of all suffering is the rift created between God and mankind with the original suspicion that destroys the Covenant and drives mankind down paths that only lead to failure. The chosen people heard, through the prophets, the call to the way of the Covenant which is the only way to true happiness. It is necessary for God to truly dwell among us so that we may be His people, and He may be our God. Restoring the Covenant as a dialogue of love is Israel's thirst throughout its history, and many prophets announce what the author of Revelation now sees fulfilled. Isaiah writes: "Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth...the past shall no longer be remembered, it shall no longer come to mind...There shall no longer be heard in it voices of weeping, nor cries of distress...There shall no longer be a child who lives but a few days, nor an old man who does not complete his days" (Isaiah 65:17-20). But why symbolically is the renewal of all things represented by the disappearance of the sea even though Israel is not a people of sailors? The reason is that the creation of the universe, in the Bible, is read from the birth of the chosen people, and this birth, i.e. the coming out of slavery in Egypt, was a victory over the sea: God made the land appear dry to allow the passage of his people; the saved people crossed the sea on foot and the forces of evil, slavery and oppression were swallowed up. Later, in the New Testament, the Son of God made man manifested his victory over evil and its forces by walking on water. Now the victory is total, the Apocalypse suggests: the sea has disappeared and with it every form of evil: suffering, crying, death. Humanity and the entire universe await the fulfilment of the plan that God had when he created the world: to establish with humanity a Covenant without shadows, an eternal dialogue of love as it appears in the theme of the wedding between God and humanity always present in the Bible. One thinks of the prophets Hosea or Isaiah and the Song of Songs, and in the New Testament, the wedding story of Cana, to name but one. Here, in our passage from Revelation, this promise emerges from two images: that of the new Jerusalem, "ready as a bride adorned for her husband" (v.2) and from the expression "God with them" (v.3) where "with" expresses the covenant of love, a spousal covenant. "Then I heard a mighty voice, coming from the throne, saying, 'Behold the tent of God with men! He will dwell with them and they will be his people and he will be the God-with-them" (v.3. ). Moreover, the centre of the new creation bears the name of the holy city - 'behold, the new Jerusalem "descends from God"' - the city that for centuries has symbolised the expectation of the chosen people, and the very name Jerusalem means 'City of justice and peace' 'descending from God' and for this reason is called 'new'. The new Jerusalem is not just a human work because the kingdom of God, which we await and in which we seek to collaborate, is at the same time in continuity and in rupture with this land. We are therefore invited to collaborate with God and our efforts contribute to the renewal of creation through God's intervention that will transfigure our efforts.We also perceive this in St Paul's letter to the Romans: "The sufferings of the present time are not comparable to the future glory that will be revealed in us. For the ardent expectation of creation is directed towards the revelation of the sons of God...for creation too will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, to enter into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God. For we know well that the whole creation groans and suffers until now in labour pains" (Rom 8:19-22).

*From the Gospel according to John (13:31- 35)

The first sentences of this text are like variations on the theme of "glory":

"When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him, and will glorify him now': all this may seem a little complicated to us, but in fact it is a very Jewish way of speaking: it expresses the reciprocity of the relationship between the Father and the Son, or rather their profound union: 'He who has seen me has seen the Father', writes John (14:8) and again: 'I and the Father are one' (10:30). "The Son of Man is glorified, or God is glorified in him", means that the Son is a reflection of the Father and we note once again how much effort is required to understand the language of Jesus and his contemporaries.  At the very moment when Judas goes out on the night of the betrayal, Jesus fulfils his vocation to be the reflection of the Father. But John did not understand this immediately because together with the apostles they had helplessly witnessed his passion and death; they had experienced this succession of events as a moment of horror and only later did John understand that this was in fact the moment of Jesus' glory: because it was there that the Son revealed how far the Father's love reaches. And since the Son betrayed, abandoned, persecuted by all, he alone continues against all, to be only love, kindness, forgiveness, he reveals to the world how far the Father's love reaches, an infinite love. And then - and this is the second part of our text - those who contemplate this mystery of God's mad love become capable in their turn of loving like him. Jesus in fact clearly connects the two things: he says that now he will reveal to the world how far the Father's love goes and he specifies: "now I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you", but he also adds that only now will you be able because you will draw on my own love. In reality, the novelty is not the commandment to love; Jesus does not invent the commandment of love that already exists in the teaching of the rabbis of his time. What is new is to love like him, but not only "in his way", that is, to the point of giving one's life, rejecting all power, dominion and violence. What is new is to love 'really like him', that is, being completely led by his Spirit. Only thus can we understand in a completely new way the famous phrase: "By this all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another". This is not just a commandment, but rather a statement: we are truly his disciples because it is his own Spirit that guides our behaviour. God knows how difficult everyday love is, and if we succeed in our communities in loving one another, the world will be forced to admit this evidence: that the Spirit of Christ is at work in us. We are therefore first of all invited to an act of faith: to believe that his Spirit of love dwells in us, that his resources of love dwell in us: that we possess unsuspected capacities to love, because they are his, and then it becomes possible to love 'like' him, because we allow his Spirit to act in us. However, we know from experience that it is not at all easy to love those around us, indeed with some it is even impossible to speak of love and forgiveness. Jesus certainly did not ignore this when he commanded his disciples to love one another; but we must not confuse love and sensitivity. Jesus showed with gestures of what love we must love one another when at the Last Supper he washed the feet of the apostles and concluded by saying: 'I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you'. This, then, is what it means to love 'as' he loved us! If we think about it, it is possible by his Spirit to serve one another, even those for whom we feel no sympathy. But faithfulness to this commandment is vital for us because it is by this that our communities are judged. For Jesus, the most important thing is not the quality of our speeches, our theology and knowledge, nor the beauty of our celebrations, but the quality of the love we offer one another. Jesus cried out on that last dramatic evening: "Now the Son of Man has been glorified (i.e. revealed as God), and God has been glorified in him. Humanity is introduced into the glory, the presence, the life of God, through the event of Christ's passion-death-resurrection. And now introduced into God's 'glory' (i.e. Christ's sacrifice), his disciples can live entirely under the sign of love, since God is love and his presence shines through them as well. All we have to do is believe it and let the Spirit work in us.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

(Jn 14:27-31)

In the Gospels, Christ's Peace-Shalôm is an emancipation nod from humiliation and rejection; assumed and reinterpreted in order to the imperative of the Apostolic Proclamation.

It creates a new situation.

And indeed, the 'I Go and Come to you' (v.28) is a Semitic endiad: two statements joined together, referring to the same generative, vital occurrence of death and complete life.

The expression-event is not such that it becomes subject to conditions.

The arc of the Lord's earthly ministry comes to an end; a Covenant is lit.

A time of widespread Word and action, with overall results; of new fathers and mothers, new Creation.

In short, the Peace of Jesus is not a state, but a relationship.

Full realisation of the human - a condition no longer balanced, according to convention.

Rather, fulfilment recalibrated to the measure of Christ in Person, in the Hour of Birth.

On the lips of Jesus, «Shalôm» [excellence and overcoming of the ancient blessings] takes on the features of its proper, Messianic meaning.

Presence of 'anointing'. Judgement of the Gospels, and essential Announcement (cf. Lk 10:5).

Breadth of well-being: without this precious reading code, the Word of the Lord remains incomprehensible, and the Mission to which we are sent becomes prey to obsessions, the most sloppy, inauthentic ones.

In the territories of the empire the Pax Romana had triumphalistic traits - it was synonymous with violence, competition, repression of rebels.

As an armed truce, it was the guarantor of a prosperous economy, but secured in its social dimension only by inequalities, especially through a vast slave base.

The Peace that Jesus introduces is not just any wish, of normal expected improvements, but the transmission of his own Person.

Such propensity, vicissitude, and priceless Friendship, spur us on to a complete rearrangement, reconfiguration, reorganisation of all life.

And it often breaks down our existence, in order to ravage its circumstance quietism.

In our language, we would perhaps speak of Happiness and new public order.

Being the secret desire of each one, no difficulty can extinguish its promise and power of fulfilment (v.30).

Shalôm is fullness of saved existence, "success" in our journey of flourishing through a thousand undertakings.

Shalôm is perfection and complete joy, fulfilment of desires.

Victory of the Covenant between God and the people. Endless attunement and communion between the innate impulse of our particular essence and the fulfilment of hopes.

Success of the Alliance between soul impulse and evolutionary achievements experienced in real life.

Shalôm - full realization of humanity rediscovering itself - indicates vital and complete totality of every aspiration.

Qualities of new relationships arising from this: the supreme good of an in-act Presence, entrusted to us.

[Tuesday 5th wk. in Easter, May 20, 2025]

(Jn 14:27-31)

The Semitic peoples wished each other Peace in their meetings and commemoration. The traditional wish for peace was also Greek.

However, in the Gospel this nod, wish, or leave-taking is assumed and reinterpreted in order to the imperative of the Apostolic Announcement.

The Shalôm of Christ is a kind of emancipation from the humiliations of religion, and from the rejections suffered in earthly ministry.

It becomes a distinctive word, designating the ownership of the divine messianic Presence, outside and within us.

An epiphanic emblem, it conveys to each person the personal, reserved happiness of divine favour, for the growth of all.

Not a deserved reward for labours, nor an omen, but a personal, non-conditional Gift.

Free proposal, of the now, which becomes surplus to the journey. Cosmic and acutely intimate passage.

Fullness of being and boundless totality, of Life, which marks us - but in the sense of exceeding expectations.

Worldly and religious prosperity [in the ancient sense] are similar: opulence that is not born of faith-love.

It looks like a reward for services rendered, or blackmail for those expected. A deadly power.

A kind of bliss at mercy and under 'righteous purpose'.

With ambiguous features at all levels of relationship: with God, the community, the You and even the self.

It is not re-creative confrontation with the Cross, which leaps up.

The "I go and come to you" (v.28) is a Semitic endiad: two statements joined together, referring to the same [generative, vital] event of death and complete life, which creates a new situation.

The expression-event is not such as to make itself subject to conditions.

The arc of the Lord's earthly ministry comes to an end; a covenant is made.

Time of widespread Word and action, with overall results of new fathers and mothers, new Creation.

In short, the Peace of Jesus is not a state, but a relationship.

Full realisation of the human - a condition no longer balanced, according to convention.

Rather, fulfilment recalibrated to the measure of Christ in Person, in the Hour of Birth.

On Jesus' lips, 'Shalôm' [excellence and surpassing of ancient blessings] takes on the features of its proper, messianic meaning.

Presence of 'anointing'. Discription of the Gospels and essential announcement (cf. Lk 10:5).

Broadness of well-being: without this precious reading code the Word of the Lord remains incomprehensible, and the Mission to which we are sent becomes prey to obsessions, the most sloppy, inauthentic ones.

In the territories of the empire, the Pax Romana had triumphalist traits - it was synonymous with violence, competition, repression of rebels.

As an armed truce, it was the guarantor of a prosperous economy, but secured in its social dimension only by inequalities, especially by a vast slave base.

The Peace that Jesus introduces is not just any wish, of normal expected improvements; rather, the transmission of his own Person.

Such propensity, affair and priceless Friendship stimulates us to a complete rearrangement, reconfiguration, reorganisation of the whole of life.

And it often throws it off, in order to spurn the quietism of circumstance.

In our language, we would perhaps speak of Happiness and new order and public order.

Being the secret desire of each one, no difficulty can extinguish its promise and power of fulfilment (v.30).

Shalôm is fullness of saved existence, "success" in our journey of flourishing through a thousand undertakings.

Shalôm is perfection and complete joy, fulfilment of desires.

Victory of the Covenant between God and the people. Endless attunement and communion between the innate impulse of our particular essence and the fulfilment of our hopes.

Success of the Covenant between soul drive and evolutionary achievements experienced in real life.

Shalôm [full realisation of humanity rediscovering itself] indicates vital and fulfilled totality of every aspiration.

Quality of new relationships arising from it: the supreme good of a Presence in action. Entrusted to us.

To internalise and live the message:

Is your Peace a furrow, an unmistakable path, an echo of Christ, or empty trust - an exemption from struggle?

And your witness to establish God on earth in what is it competitive, provocative, renewed, living?

Peace and Signs. Citadels and ideology of power

(Lk 19:41-44)

We like to be in the wake of fashion or opportunism, but to reject the Lord's Call is a great responsibility.

One must recognise His Visitation, in Presence, in the inspiration that emerges.

And scrutinise the signs, seize the moments of grace instead of closing in stubbornly; do not turn your back.

All this changes life at the root - it leads to the heart of history.

Jesus wants to storm the closed gates of every citadel; first of all of the hardest bone: Jerusalem, the holy city.The 'eternal' territory is less capable of accepting the Lord's proposals - even those flaunted to others but lived out in their own right with aberrant behaviour here and there (forcing repeated appeals).

There, the extremists of ancient or super-modern convenience remain all bent on guarding and covering interests, privileges, habits, comforts.

A situation that drags the problems themselves - which gradually become chronic.

Not infrequently, the astute leaders remain seated and closed in the defence of the world that sees only itself, in the perfect greed of every vain thing.

So much for the ferment of conversion, the engine of society, the seed of new life!

Result: the much flaunted Truth often remains hostage to the most blatant injustices, which cheerfully consume the worst betrayals in daily life.

Jesus, too, was aware of the same situation, which produced degradation and dehumanisation.

Sometimes, in fact, the search for the divine and human tension are rendered vain, due to an exclusive, snobbish or sectarian official world - that of the sacred - that seems to be under the sign of a completely different 'divinity'.

On the part of the 'directors', the choice of an ideology of power feeds on illusions.

It leads to hard proselytism, but it leads the whole people - harassed, despised, marginalised - to disaster.

By blurring the gaze, it does not allow one to rid oneself of the most insidious idols that disfigure existence and the mind.

In this way, the dirigiste, superficial and violent outlook confuses and sidetracks the path to Shalôm.

It is impossible to realise the Visitation of God, in the perennial city of ancient religiosity or elitist, disembodied ideology.

At one time, there were trenches, killings and destruction of walls and houses by Nebuchadnezzar; then the Roman one in 70, to which the text alludes more directly.

But the grim forecast extends, and perhaps the image of the pile of ruins concerns us. Historical background, ecclesial and pastoral meditation.

Not infrequently the competent authority has unfortunately continued to condemn Jesus-Peace as an evildoer to be expelled.

But in filigree, Christ today stands out in the position of King, reluctantly pronouncing a final sentence.

Perhaps he even does so on his intimates, when they indulge in compromise, ideal degradation, venal corruption [idol worship].

Where salvation is prepared, offered and re-proposed so intensely but in vain, the rejection becomes more painful - so for us and for this passionate, moving, almost heartbroken Son.

Yet the class of the chosen and exclusive still chooses to fall and ruin, thereby self-destructing.

Receiving in return only the worldly fodder of a title to pin down.

And in the same 'spirit of permanence', rejecting the servant Messiah.

Misrecognising even in time the good work of its authentic witnesses.

Therefore, the City of cities - the great religious centre - will continue to lose its special character as a saving sign.

There will be a fulfilment nevertheless, but the anticipation is realised now.

So: are we with the Redeemer [resistance to oppression and prophetic activity without acquiescence] or with Jerusalem [deviations covered by docility, friendship of the ruler, notoriety, monetary rewards]?

Today too is a time of the Master's visit, who knocks and asks permission to enter, to open the seals of the great questions of history and life.

The warning is global, communal, and personal; again with tears of father, mother and son.

An appeal that is still in the making - for the current cultural tendency towards nothingness, surrender and the ephemeral.

The encyclical Fratelli Tutti denounces precisely the regress of an extravagant world that - with a shrunken sense of the 'here and now' - seems to have learnt little from the tragedies of the 20th century, to the point of rekindling anachronistic conflicts (nn.11.13).

The Father has reserved an alternative kingdom for the Church, and where it tries to occupy the place of others, it only ends up living off the handouts of the magazine, and making its closest children stay.

Better not to ruin love. Standing up for oneself is a mask of dwarfs, not a virtue of the strong - nor of family members.

But by also noticing the places of rupture, and catching up with the social pace, it is with new evangelical acumen that we will be able to make the God-for-all really work and live, rather than grieve over us.

This is best done from his People: from the soul of his Fraternities of silent lambs, engaged not in managing positions, but in the sine glossa craft of real life.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you consider to be hidden from your eyes, but previously announced - and crying bitterly?

With what orientation are you willing to live in the 'craft of Peace', even family or social, putting aside enmities and the ephemeral [cf. FT nn. 57. 100. 127. 176. 192. 197. 216-217. 225-236. 240-243. 254-262. 271-272. 278-285]?Peace, in Truth

11. In the face of the dangers that humanity is experiencing in our times, it is the task of all Catholics to intensify, in every part of the world, the proclamation and witness of the 'Gospel of peace', proclaiming that the recognition of the full truth of God is a prior and indispensable condition for the consolidation of the truth of peace. God is Love that saves, a loving Father who desires to see his children recognise each other as brothers and sisters, responsibly striving to place their different talents at the service of the common good of the human family. God is the inexhaustible source of hope that gives meaning to personal and collective life. God, God alone, makes every work of good and peace effective. History has amply demonstrated that waging war against God to eradicate him from human hearts leads a fearful and impoverished humanity towards choices that have no future. This must spur believers in Christ to become convincing witnesses of the God who is inseparably truth and love, placing themselves at the service of peace, in broad collaboration ecumenically and with other religions, as well as with all people of good will.

[Pope Benedict, Message for the XXXIX World Day of Peace, 2006].

سَلامي أُعطيكُم – My peace I give to you! (Jn 14:27), Christ Jesus says to us [...].

I am aware of the difficulties which you face daily on account of instability and lack of security, your difficulties in finding employment and your sense of being alone and on the margins. In a constantly changing world you are faced with many serious challenges. But not even unemployment and uncertainty should lead you to taste the bitter sweetness of emigration, which involves an uprooting and a separation for the sake of an uncertain future. You are meant to be protagonists of your country’s future and to take your place in society and in the Church.

You have a special place in my heart and in the whole Church, because the Church is always young! The Church trusts you. She counts on you! Be young in the Church! Be young with the Church! The Church needs your enthusiasm and your creativity! Youth is the time when we aspire to great ideals, when we study and train for our future work. All this is important and it takes time. Seek beauty and strive for goodness! Bear witness to the grandeur and the dignity of your body which “is for the Lord” (1 Cor 6:13b). Be thoughtful, upright and pure of heart! In the words of Blessed John Paul II, I say to you: “Do not be afraid! Open the doors of your minds and hearts to Christ!” An encounter with Jesus “gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Deus Caritas Est, 1). In Christ you will find the strength and courage to advance along the paths of life, and to overcome difficulties and suffering. In him you will find the source of joy. Christ says to you: سَلامي أُعطيكُم – My peace I give to you! (Jn 14:27). This is the true revolution brought by Christ: that of love.

The frustrations of the present moment must not lead you to take refuge in parallel worlds like those, for example, of the various narcotics or the bleak world of pornography. As for social networks, they are interesting but they can quite easily lead to addiction and confusion between the real and the virtual. Look for relationships of genuine, uplifting friendship. Find ways to give meaning and depth to your lives; fight superficiality and mindless consumption! You face another temptation, too: that of money, the tyrannical idol which blinds to the point of stifling the person at the heart. The examples being held up all around you are not always the best. Many people have forgotten Christ’s warning that one cannot serve both God and mammon (cf. Lk 16:13). Seek out good teachers, spiritual masters, who will be able to guide you along the path to maturity, leaving behind all that is illusory, garish and deceptive.

Bring the love of Christ to everyone! How? By turning unreservedly to God the Father, who is the measure of everything that is right, true and good. Meditate on God’s word! Discover how relevant and real the Gospel can be. Pray! Prayer and the sacraments are the sure and effective means to be a Christian and to live “rooted and built up in Christ, and established in the faith” (Col 2:7). The Year of Faith, which is about to begin, will be a time to rediscover the treasure of the faith which you received at Baptism. You can grow in knowledge and understanding of this treasure by studying the Catechism, so that your faith can be both living and lived. You will then become witnesses to others of the love of Christ. In him, all men and women are our brothers and sisters. The universal brotherhood which he inaugurated on the cross lights up in a resplendent and challenging way the revolution of love. “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 13:35). This is the legacy of Jesus and the sign of the Christian. This is the true revolution of love!

Christ asks you, then, to do as he did: to be completely open to others, even if they belong to a different cultural, religious or national group. Making space for them, respecting them, being good to them, making them ever more rich in humanity and firm in the peace of the Lord. I know that many among you take part in various activities sponsored by parishes, schools, movements and associations. It is a fine thing to be engaged with and for others. Experiencing together moments of friendship and joy enables us to resist the onset of division, which must always be rejected! Brotherhood is a foretaste of heaven! The vocation of Christ’s disciples is to be “leaven” in the lump, as Saint Paul says: “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (Gal 5:9). Be heralds of the Gospel of life and life’s authentic values. Courageously resist everything opposed to life: abortion, violence, rejection of and contempt for others, injustice and war. In this way you will spread peace all around you. Are not “peacemakers” those whom in the end we admire the most? Is it not a world of peace that, deep down, we want for ourselves and for others? سَلامي أُعطيكُم – My peace I give to you! (Jn 14:27), Jesus says. He overcame evil not with more evil, but by taking evil upon himself and destroying it completely on the cross through a love lived to the very end. Truly discovering God’s forgiveness and mercy always enables us to begin a new life. It is not easy to forgive. But God’s forgiveness grants the power of conversion, and the joy of being able to forgive in turn. Forgiveness and reconciliation are the paths of peace; they open up a future.

Dear friends, a number of you are surely asking in a more or less conscious way: What is it that God expects of me? What is his plan for me? Wouldn’t I like to proclaim to the world the grandeur of his love in the priesthood, in the consecrated life or in marriage? Might not Christ be calling me to follow him more closely? Think about these questions with confidence and trust. Take time to reflect on them and ask for enlightenment. Respond to his invitation by offering yourselves daily to the Lord, for he calls you to be his friends. Strive to follow Christ wholeheartedly and generously, for out of love he redeemed us and gave his life for each one of us. You will come to know inconceivable joy and fulfilment! To answer Christ’s call to each of us: that is the secret of true peace.

[Pope Benedict, Meeting with the youth of Lebanon in Beirut 15 September 2012]

5. From the very dawn of civilization, developing human communities sought to establish agreements and pacts which would avoid the arbitrary use of force and enable them to seek a peaceful solution of any controversies which might arise. Alongside the legal systems of the individual peoples there progressively grew up another set of norms which came to be known as ius gentium (the law of the nations). With the passage of time, this body of law gradually expanded and was refined in the light of the historical experiences of the different peoples.

This process was greatly accelerated with the birth of modern States. From the sixteenth century on, jurists, philosophers and theologians were engaged in developing the various headings of international law and in grounding it in the fundamental postulates of the natural law. This process led with increasing force to the formulation of universal principles which are prior to and superior to the internal law of States, and which take into account the unity and the common vocation of the human family.

[Pope John Paul II, Message for the XXXVII World Day of Peace]

In the inevitable "tribulations of life" Christians must entrust themselves to the Lord in prayer, with the certainty of receiving that "true peace" that infuses "courage and hope". Pope Francis said this in the Mass celebrated Tuesday morning, 5 May, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

"In today's liturgy," Francis was quick to point out, "there are three words that can help us in our journey of faith and hope". Thus, he explained, in the Collect Prayer "at the beginning of the Mass we asked the Lord to strengthen our faith and our hope". And "these three words that come in these readings are 'tribulations', 'entrustment' and 'peace'".

The Pope recalled what happened to Paul, according to the account in the Acts of the Apostles (14:19-28): after being beaten, he was dragged out of the city to be stoned. And "those who persecuted him believed that he was dead". Thus, Paul "suffered", but then, "when he recovered", he gave the advice to remain "firm in the faith because we must enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations". Francis recalled that 'tribulations await us in life: it is part of life to go through dark moments, difficult moments'.

But Paul's advice "to enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations is not a sadomasochistic attitude: it is precisely the Christian struggle". And the reason, the Pontiff explained, is that, as Jesus says, "the prince of this world comes, is near and tries to detach us from the very kingdom of God, from the word of Jesus, from faith, from hope". That is why "we asked the Lord to strengthen our faith and hope".

"Tribulations" are there, then. But Jesus encourages us to have courage: 'I have overcome the world'. And 'he is right above the tribulations, he helps us to go on'. Significant, in this regard, are the words chosen by Jesus to explain "the parable of the sower": when "he speaks of the seed that falls in stony ground, he says: it is like a person who receives the word with joy and then in the moment of tribulation does not feel like it, becomes discouraged and fails".

Here then is the meaning of 'enduring tribulations'. And 'endure', Francis said, 'is a word Paul uses a lot: it is more than having patience, it is carrying on one's shoulders, bearing the burden of tribulations'. Even "the Christian's life has moments like this". But "Jesus says to us: 'Have courage in that moment. I have overcome, you too shall be victorious'". So "this first word enlightens us" to face "the most difficult moments in life, those moments that also make us suffer".

Francis then recalled that Paul, 'after giving this advice, organises that Church, prays over the presbyters, lays his hands on them and entrusts them to the Lord'. And here, then, is the second word: 'reliance'. Indeed, "a Christian can endure tribulations and even persecutions by entrusting himself to the Lord: only he is able to give us strength, to give us perseverance in the faith, to give us hope".

We must know how to 'entrust something to the Lord, entrust this difficult moment to the Lord, entrust myself to the Lord, entrust our faithful, us priests, bishops, entrust our families, our friends to the Lord'. We must know how to say to the Lord: 'Take care of these, they are yours'.

However, the Pope pointed out, it is 'a prayer that we do not always do: the prayer of entrustment'. It is a beautiful Christian prayer to say: 'Lord I entrust this to you, take it forward'. It is 'the attitude of trust in the power of the Lord, also in the tenderness of the Lord who is Father'. So 'when you make this prayer - but a real one, from the heart - you feel that this person who has been entrusted to the Lord is safe: he never disappoints'.

In short, 'tribulation makes you suffer, entrustment to the Lord gives you hope and, from here, comes the third word: peace'. All this, the Pontiff remarked, "gives you peace". And it is also "what Jesus says as a farewell to his disciples: 'I leave you peace, I give you my peace'", as we read in the Gospel passage from John (14:27-31) taken from the liturgy of the day. But, Francis warned, it is not "a peace, a simple tranquillity". Jesus goes on to specify: "I give a peace that is not the peace that the world gives you", that is, the peace that can give a certain state of tranquillity. Instead, the peace that comes from Jesus "goes inside", it is "a peace that also gives you strength, that strengthens what we have asked of the Lord today: our faith and our hope".

In conclusion, the Pontiff reiterated the "three words" that punctuated his reflection: "tribulations, reliance, peace". We must never forget that "in life we must go through tribulation", because "it is the law of life"; but we must always remember precisely "in those moments" to "entrust ourselves to the Lord". And "he responds to us with peace". In fact "the Lord is Father who loves us so much and never disappoints," the Pope reaffirmed. He went on to ask that God "strengthen our faith and our hope", giving us "the confidence to overcome tribulations, because he has overcome the world", and "giving everyone his peace".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 06/05/2015]