The particular circumstances of John's birth have been handed down to us by the evangelist Luke. According to an ancient tradition, it took place in Ain-Karim, before the gates of Jerusalem. The circumstances surrounding this birth were so unusual that even at that time people were asking: "What is this child to be?" (Lk 1:66). It was evident to his believing parents, neighbours and relatives that his birth was a sign from God. They clearly saw that the "hand of the Lord" was upon him. This was already demonstrated by the announcement of his birth to his father Zechariah, while he was providing priestly service in the temple in Jerusalem. His mother, Elisabeth, was already advanced in years and was thought to be barren. Even the name 'John' he was given was unusual for his environment. His father himself had to give orders that he be called "John" and not, as everyone else wanted, "Zechariah" (cf. Lk 1:59-63).

The name John means in the Hebrew language "God is merciful". Thus already in the name is expressed the fact that the newborn child would one day announce God's plan of salvation.

The future would fully confirm the predictions and events surrounding his birth: John, son of Zechariah and Elisabeth, became the "voice of one crying out in the wilderness" (Matt 3:3), who on the banks of the Jordan called people to penance and prepared the way for Christ.

Christ himself said of John the Baptist that "among those born of women no greater one has arisen" (cf. Mt 11:11). That is why the Church has also reserved a special veneration for this great messenger of God from the very beginning. An expression of this veneration is today's feast.

4. Dear brothers and sisters! This celebration, with its liturgical texts, invites us to reflect on the question of man's becoming, his origins and his destination. True, we already seem to know a great deal about this subject, both from mankind's long experience and from ever more in-depth biomedical research. But it is the word of God that always re-establishes the essential dimension of the truth about man: man is created by God and willed by God in his image and likeness. No purely human science can demonstrate this truth. At most it can come close to this truth or intuitively surmise the truth about this 'unknown being' that is man from the moment of his conception in the womb.

At the same time, however, we find ourselves witnessing how, in the name of a supposed science, man is 'reduced' in a dramatic trial and represented in a sad simplification; and so it happens that even those rights that are based on the dignity of his person, which distinguishes him from all the other creatures of the visible world, are overshadowed. Those words from the book of Genesis, which speak of man as the creature created in the image and likeness of God, highlight, in a concise yet profound way, the full truth about him.

5. We can also learn this truth about man from today's liturgy, in which the Church prays to God, the creator, in the words of the psalmist:

"Lord, you scrutinise me and know me . . . It is you who created my bowels and wove me in my mother's womb . . . you know me to the depths. When I was formed in secret . . . my bones were not hidden from thee . . . I praise thee, for thou hast made me like a wonder" (Ps 139 [138], 1. 13-15).

Man is therefore aware of what he is - of what he is from the beginning, from the womb. He knows that he is a creature that God wants to meet and with whom he wants to dialogue. More: in man, he wants to meet the whole of creation.

For God, man is a 'someone': unique and unrepeatable. He, as the Second Vatican Council says, "on earth is the only creature that God willed for itself" (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 24).

"The Lord from my mother's womb has called me; from my mother's womb he has pronounced my name" (Is 49:1); like the name of the child who was born in Ain-Karim: "John". Man is that being whom God calls by name. For God he is the created 'you', of all creatures he is that personal 'I', who can address God and call him by name. God wants that partner in man who addresses him as his own creator and Father: 'You, my Lord and my God'. To the divine "you".

7. God called John the Baptist already "in the womb" so that he might become "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness" and thus prepare the way for his Son. In a very similar way, God has also "laid his hand" on each one of us. For each of us he has a particular call, each of us is entrusted with a task designed by him for us.

In each call, which may come to us in the most diverse way, we hear that divine voice, which then spoke through John: "Prepare the way of the Lord!"(Mt 3:3).

Every man should ask himself in what way he can contribute within the scope of his work and position, to open the way for God in this world. Every time we open ourselves to God's call, we prepare, like John, the way of the Lord among men.

[Pope John Paul II, homily Eisenstaedt 24 June 1988]

There are Christians who have "a certain allergy to preachers of the word": they accept "the truth of revelation" but not "the preacher", preferring "a caged life". It happened in Jesus' time and unfortunately continues to happen today in those who live closed in on themselves, because they are afraid of the freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit.

For Pope Francis, this is the teaching that comes from the readings of the liturgy celebrated on Friday morning, 13 December, in the chapel of Santa Marta. The Pontiff dwelt above all on the passage from the Gospel of Matthew (11, 16-19) in which Jesus compares the generation of his contemporaries "to those children sitting in the squares who turn to their companions and say: we played the flute and you did not dance, we sang a lament and you did not weep".

In this regard, the Bishop of Rome recalled that Christ in the Gospels "always speaks well of children", offering them as a "model of Christian life" and inviting them to "be like them to enter the kingdom of heaven". Instead, he noted, in the passage in question "it is the only time he does not speak so well of them". For the Pope, it is an image of children who are "a bit special: rude, discontented, even scornful"; children who do not know how to be happy while playing and who "always refuse the invitation of others: nothing goes well for them". In particular, Jesus uses this image to describe "the leaders of his people", defined by the Pontiff as "people who were not open to the word of God".

For the Holy Father there is an interesting aspect in this attitude: their rejection, precisely, "is not for the message, it is for the messenger". It is enough to read the Gospel passage to confirm this. "John came, who neither eats nor drinks," the Pope noted, "and they said: he has a devil. The Son of Man came, who eats and drinks, and they said: here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners'. In practice, people have always found reasons to delegitimise the preacher. Just think of the people of that time, who preferred 'to take refuge in a somewhat elaborate religion: in moral precepts, like the Pharisees; in political compromise, like the Sadducees; in social revolution, like the Zealots; in Gnostic spirituality, like the Essenes'. All of them, he added, "with their own neat, well-made system", but which does not accept "the preacher". That is why Jesus refreshes their memory by reminding them of the prophets, who were persecuted and killed.

Accepting "the truth of revelation" and not "the preacher" reveals for the Pontiff a mentality that is the result of "a life caged in precepts, in compromises, in revolutionary plans, in spirituality without flesh". Pope Francis referred in particular to those Christians "who allow themselves not to dance when the preacher gives you good news of joy, and allow themselves not to cry when the preacher gives you sad news". To those Christians, that is, 'who are closed, caged, who are not free'. And the reason is the "fear of the Holy Spirit's freedom, which comes through preaching".

Moreover, "this is the scandal of preaching of which St Paul spoke; the scandal of preaching that ends in the scandal of the cross". In fact, 'it scandalises us that God speaks to us through men with limitations, sinful men; and it scandalises us even more that God speaks to us and saves us through a man who says he is the son of God, but ends up as a criminal'. So for Pope Francis we end up covering up 'the freedom that comes from the Holy Spirit', because ultimately 'these sad Christians do not believe in the Holy Spirit; they do not believe in that freedom that comes from preaching, which admonishes you, teaches you, even slaps you, but it is precisely freedom that makes the Church grow'.

So the image of the Gospel, with "children who are afraid to dance, to cry", who are "afraid of everything, who ask for security in everything", makes one think of "these sad Christians, who always criticise the preachers of truth, because they are afraid to open the door to the Holy Spirit". Hence the Pontiff's exhortation to pray for them and also to pray for ourselves, so that "we do not become sad Christians", those who take away "the Holy Spirit's freedom to come to us through the scandal of preaching."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 14/12/2013]

The dark aspect, allied

(Lk 7:11-17)

Na'im means Delicious: symbol of all the pleasant and laughing places, where life flows quietly until the day when the carefree ends: smiles turn into tears and songs into lamentation.

There are always two parades, and two guides. The procession of death comes to collect everyone: it is precisely preceded by a corpse.

Destiny that knocks down, and we try to exorcise. But beyond distractions - it anguishes us to imagine that the physical end is a way without return.

Who can stop humanity’s march to the grave?

Here, in the opposite direction, comes another procession, preceded by the Lord of Life, who wins ours.

In the common opinion of religions, impurity is contagious, transmitted immediately by contact, and even prevails over holiness.

According to the rabbis themselves, if e.g. an object came into contact with the hem of a priestly cloak, it would not be sanctified, despite having touched a holy person.

But if the same object had touched a corpse, it would have become unclean. 

Rambling fixations and extravagant idols, typical of superstitions.

Christ deliberately, in a blatant way, violates both the law of purity and the customary of common thought.

In the path of Faith that He proposes, not only does life prevail over death, but death itself has nothing unclean.

The reality that baffles us all is no longer a dark frontier, but a ‘mouth’.

It introduces us into the fullness, the expression and complete flowering of our potentialities.

[It’s the Easter Announcement: it resounds as a source of expectation of the One who makes every death pure, and transforms it into the Womb of Life].

The "widow" Israel had been deprived of the affection of the Bridegroom for the deleterious work of false official guides.

That nation had thus found itself begetting spiritually dying ‘children‘ (from a young age).

Infertile, barren, destined for solitude [in Hebrew the term Israel is of female gender]. That is, without the true Son of God.

A people deprived of the Messiah, therefore without a future.

In addition to this central message, Lk - evangelist of the needy - wants to draw the attention of his communities to those who are left alone.

«And Jesus gave him to his Mother» (Lk 7:15b).

The Church has the task of returning sons or families to those who have lost them.

Fraternity must respect and care for those who mourn loneliness.

Like Jesus, it stands out from all other competitive devotional forms because revives, restores affections, communicates balance and the desire to succeed.

It always marks a triumph of life over the haze of the tombs.

Pope Francis said: «In order to give himself to us, God often chooses unthinkable paths, perhaps those of our limitations, our tears, our defeats».

In short, in our trials and error, [alongside] we have to keep all the aspects - which we have come to know over time, and which we have realised are part of us.

This will change the solidity of our relationship with ourselves, others, nature, history, and the world.

Here the dark aspect becomes invigorating, Allied.

[Tuesday 24th wk. in O.T.  September 17, 2024]

The dark, allied aspect

(Lk 7:11-17)

Na'im means Delightful: a symbol of all pleasant and laughing places, where life flows peacefully until the day when carefreeness ends: smiles turn to tears and songs to lament.

There are always two processions, and two guides. The procession of death arrives to pick everyone up: it is preceded by a corpse.

Destiny that we abate and attempt to exorcise, but - beyond distraction - it distresses us to imagine that the physical end is a path of no return.

Who can stop humanity's march towards the grave?

Here in the opposite direction comes another procession, preceded by the Lord of Life, who has the upper hand.

In the common opinion of religions, impurity is contagious, is transmitted immediately by contact, and even prevails over holiness.

According to the rabbis themselves, if, for example, an object had come into contact with the flap of a priestly cloak, it would not have been sanctified, despite having touched a holy person.

But if the same object had touched a corpse, it would have become unclean. 

Rambling fixations and extravagant idols, typical of superstition.

Christ deliberately and blatantly breaks both the law of purity and the custom of common thought.

In the path of Faith he proposes, not only does life prevail over death, but death itself has nothing unclean about it.

The reality that bewilders us all is no longer a dark frontier, but a mouth.

It ushers us into the fullness, the complete expression and flowering of our potential.

[In this way, the Paschal Announcement resounds as a source of expectation of the One who makes all death pure, and transforms it into a Womb of Life].

The 'widow' Israel had been deprived of the affection of the Bridegroom by the deleterious work of false official guides.

That nation had thus found itself begetting spiritually moribund children from their youth.

Infecund, sterile, doomed to loneliness [in Hebrew, the term Israel is feminine]. That is: without the true Son of God.

A people deprived of the Messiah, therefore without a future.

Alongside this central message, Lk - evangelist of the needy - wants to draw the attention of his communities to those who are left alone.

«And Jesus gave him to his Mother» (Lk 7:15b).

The Church has the task of restoring children or family to those who have lost them.

The fraternity must respect and care for those who mourn loneliness.

Like Jesus, it differs from all other competitive forms of devotion because it revives, restores the affections, restores balance and the will to succeed.

It always marks a triumph of life over the gloom of the tombs.

To internalise and live the message:

How have you experienced the injection of life that the Risen One has provided you by moving from the procession of religion supine to the graveyard to the company of Faith and the horizon of the Father and the Son in the Spirit?

Have you experienced the life-giving closeness of the brethren of faith in bereavement? (How) have you experienced Christ in them who restores life and affection?

The dark aspect

Pope Francis said: "In order to give himself to us, God often chooses unthinkable paths, perhaps those of our limitations, our tears, our defeats.

The Lord's call is not Manichean, but profound.

Our behaviour has fascinating roots. Lights and shadows of our being remain in dynamic relationship.

At times, however, our discomforts or distortions are the result of an excess of 'light' - detached from its opposite. 

Such excess is willingly associated with the claim to exorcise the dark aspect in us, which we would like to conceal for social reasons.

It seems to us that the business card should only reflect our bright, loose, serious, and performing appearance.

Perhaps, a moral style all of a piece - at least at first glance.

However, those who become attached to their bright side and even try to promote it for reasons of look (also ecclesiastical), established culture, habit (also religious), run the risk of enhancing the other side.

Beware: in every man there is always a side that misfires, that fails; and not one-sidedly.

Perhaps it is precisely in those who preach the good that there is the most pronounced danger of neglecting its co-present opposite - which sooner or later will break through, will find its space.

Blowing up the whole house of cards. But to achieve something alternative and absolutely not contrived.

For those who embark on a path of 'perfection', their own counterpart only seems a danger.

And conditioned by the models, we continue to play [our] already identified 'part'.

Yet in the dark side are hidden resources that the light-only side does not have.

In the dark side we read our character seed.

Here is the therapy and healing of the discomforts that we rush to conceal (in the family, with friends, in the community, at work).The dark aspects [selfishness, coldness, closure, introversion, sadness] lurk within; no point in denying it.

It is rather worth considering them as a source of characterising primordial energies.

It is indeed concealment - sometimes depression itself - that makes us fish for unimaginable solutions.

As if we were a grain planted in the earth, which wants its existence. And it finally wants natural life, which develops its capacities.

It is precisely the emotions that we dislike and ourselves detest - like the muddy, dark earth - that reconnect us with our deepest essence.

In short, the unpleasant emotional states will be the well from which other ideas, other guiding 'images', new insights; different sap come to us. And change.

Light does not possess all possibilities, all dynamism. On the contrary, it not infrequently seems to be declined [by the same traditions, or cultural fashions] in a fictitious, reductive way.

In chiaroscuro, conversely, we no longer pretend. For it is the foundation of the house of the soul.

All this we consider, for a solid harmony, which arises from within.

Paradoxes of the Personal Vocation: if we did not follow it to the full, we would continue to follow misconceptions, or the styles of others.

And we would become sick. Evil will take over.

If we are structured on an abstract, local, or bogus identity, this is where the storm could destroy everything.

In our trial and error, [alongside] we have to keep all the aspects - which we have come to know over time, and realised are part of us.

This will change the solidity of our relationship with ourselves, others, nature, history, and the world.

Here the dark aspect becomes an ally.

The harmony between conduct and intention of the heart overcomes hypocrisy, but conformity between Word and life is not set up by practising automatisms, nor by surrendering to others' convictions.

In the post-lockdown we are realising this sharply.

Gaslini project was born in the heart of a generous benefactor, the industrialist and Senator Gerolamo Gaslini, who dedicated this institute to his daughter who died when she was only 12 years old. It is part of the history of charity which makes Genoa a "city of Christian charity". Today too, faith inspires in many people of good will acts of love and material support for this Institute, which, with justifiable pride, the Genoese regard as a precious patrimony. I thank you all and encourage you to continue. In particular, I rejoice at the new complex whose foundation stone was laid recently and which has found a munificent donor. The effective, cordial attention of the public Administration is also a sign of recognition for the social value of the Gaslini institute for the children of the City and beyond. Indeed, when a good is destined for all it deserves the contribution of all, with the proper respect for roles and competence.

I now address you, dear doctors, researchers, paramedical and administrative staff; and you, dear chaplains, volunteers and all who are involved in offering spiritual assistance to the small patients and their relatives. I know that you are unanimously committed to ensuring that the Gaslini Institute is an authentic "sanctuary of life" and a "sanctuary of the family", where workers in every sector combine loving attention for the person with their professionalism. The decision of the Founder, who held that the President of the Foundation must be the pro-tempore Archbishop of Genoa, expresses the wish that the Christian inspiration of the Institute may never be lacking and that everyone may always be sustained by the Gospel values.

In 1931, when he was laying the foundations of the structure, Senator Gerolamo Gaslini predicted "the perennial work of good that must shine out from the Institute itself". Hence your Hospital's aim is to radiate goodness through the loving care of sick children. Therefore, while I thank all the personnel - managerial, administrative and medical - for their professionalism and dedicated service, I express the hope that this excellent Paediatric Institute may continue to develop its technologies, treatments and services, but also to extend its horizons increasingly in that perspective of positive globalization for which resources, services and needs are recognized, creating and reinforcing a network of solidarity that is so urgently needed today. And all this must never lack that supplement of affection which the little patients feel to be as important as the indispensable treatment. The Hospital will then become ever more a place of hope.

Hope at the Gaslini institute is expressed in the care of paediatric patients, for whom help is provided through the continuous formation of health-care workers. In fact, as an esteemed Institute for scientific research and treatment, your Hospital is known for being monothematic and multifunctional, covering almost all the specializations in the paediatric sector. Hence the hope that is fostered here is well-founded. Yet, to face the future effectively, it is indispensable that this hope be sustained by a loftier vision of life that enables the scientist, the doctor, the professional, the nurse and the parents themselves to devote all their capacities, sparing no efforts to obtain the best results that science and technology can offer today at the level of prevention and treatment. Then comes the thought of God's silent presence which, almost imperceptibly, accompanies the human being on his long journey through history. True "dependable" hope is God alone, who in Jesus Christ and in his Gospel opened wide the dark door of time to the future. "I am risen and now I am always with you", Jesus repeats to us, especially at the most difficult moments: "my hand supports you. Wherever you might fall, you will fall into my arms. I am present even at the threshold of death".

It is children who are treated here at the Gaslini institute. How is it possible not to recall Jesus' special love for children? He wanted them beside him, he pointed them out to the Apostles as models to follow in their spontaneous, generous faith, in their innocence. With harsh words he warned people against despising or shocking them. He was moved by the widow of Nain, a mother who had lost her son, her only son. The Evangelist Luke wrote that the Lord reassured her and said to her: "Do not weep" (cf. Lk 7: 13). Still today Jesus repeats these comforting words to those in pain: "Do not weep". He shows solidarity to each one of us and asks us if we want to be his disciples, to bear witness to his love for anyone who gets into difficulty.

Lastly, I address you, dearest children, to repeat to you that the Pope loves you. I see your relatives beside you, who share with you moments of anxiety and hope. You may all rest assured: God never abandons us. Stay united to him and you will never lose your calm, not even in the darkest and most difficult moments. I assure you of my remembrance in prayer and entrust you to Mary Most Holy who, as a Mother, suffered for the sufferings of her divine Son but now dwells with him in glory. I thank each one of you again for this meeting, which will remain impressed on my heart. I bless you all with affection.

[Pope Benedict, speech to the Gaslini of Genoa 18 May 2008]

Merciful Father,

Lord of life and death,

our fate is in your hands.

Look with kindness

upon the affliction of those

who mourn the death of loved ones:

sons, fathers, brothers, relatives, friends.

May they feel the presence of Christ

who comforted the widow of Naim

and the sisters of Lazarus,

for He is the resurrection and the life.

Help us to learn

from the mystery of sorrow

that we are pilgrims on earth.

(John Paul II)

In his homily today at Mass in the Santa Marta house, Pope Francis commented on the day's gospel, which tells of the widow of Naim, whose son Jesus resurrected. But Christ did more, the Pope observed: he showed himself close, sharing in the drama experienced by the woman. "He was close to the people," Bergoglio said. "God close who can understand the heart of the people, the heart of his people. Then he sees that procession, and the Lord draws near. God visits his people, in the midst of his people, and drawing near. Closeness. That is God's way. And then there is an expression that is repeated in the Bible, so many times: 'The Lord was moved with great compassion'. The same compassion that, the Gospel says, he had when he saw so many people like sheep without a shepherd. When God visits his people, he comes close to them and feels compassion: he is moved.The Lord is deeply moved, as he was before the tomb of Lazarus", as the Father is moved "when he saw the prodigal son come home".Christ shows us the way forward: 'Proximity and compassion'. Not to stay far away and preach, like "the doctors of the law, the scribes, the Pharisees", but to come close, "to suffer with the people".

Pope Francis wanted to highlight another passage from the Gospel: "The dead man sat down and began to speak, and he - Jesus - returned him to his mother.When God visits his people, he gives them back their hope. Always. One can preach the Word of God brilliantly: there have been many good preachers in history. But if these preachers have failed to sow hope, that preaching is useless. It is vanity'. For this reason, the Pontiff concluded, addressing an invitation to the faithful, we must "ask for the grace that our witness as Christians may be a witness bearer of God's visitation to his people, that is, of closeness that sows hope".

[Editor "Tempi", 16.9.2014.

https://www.tempi.it/papa-francesco-non-belle-prediche-ma-vicinanza-e-compassione-come-quelle-che-ebbe-gesu-con-la-vedova-di-naim/]

Personal Faith, Word-event

(Lk 7:1-10)

Incipient Faith of a converted pagan is the example that Jesus sets before that of the observant Israelites.

What heals is believing in the efficacy of his Word alone (vv.7-8), an event that possesses generating and recreating force.

The Lord shows care, generally touching the sick or imposing his hands, almost to absorb what was imagined impurity, alteration from normality - "fever" or paralysis that was believed to make the needy unworthy in the eyes of God.

Lk writes his Gospel to encourage community members and promote the Mission to the ‘distant’.

Projection across borders that Jewish Christians were not ready to make their own, because of a deep-rooted sense of religious and political "election".

But to say «Faith» (v.9) means to advocate a deeper adherence, and [at the same time] a less strong Manifestation.

Those distant from us are totally ‘worthy’ people (v.4), although sometimes faltering and fallible.

Not autonomous, insufficient (v.6) like everyone else - for the fact that they do not realize that God is in their flesh and in their hearth.

Thanks to this clear awareness in the Son, they can finally understand the Father’s Supreme Love, freely given, without reserve; which astounds, makes them overcome the obstacle and launches them.

The stranger thus discovers himself a completely «worthy» person.

Although he recognizes himself as lacking (v.6) he senses that the relationship with God does not depend on an exchange of favors, on works of law, or norms.

Nor does he submit to a religious condition with his head bowed.

And precisely he believes that the Word of the Lord - by Way, out of synchronized or established places and times - produces what it affirms, even at a distance.

Without even signs making noise. But by releasing the mysterious, unconventional Energy of the «Logos» (v.7).

By faith in Christ, from incomplete we become not only very worthy, but we are already so [here and now] exemplary, "perfect" to realize our vocation.

There is no longer any need to «beg off» God by proxy, recommendation, or interposed person (v.4) as if we were «subordinates» (v.8) in need of other intercessors (v.3).

Our work is to till and acquire a new ‘eye’, intuitive of other virtues. And enough with the senses of lack!

They end up introducing us into pyramidal dynamics (v.8) that annihilate the new power of Love - chronicizing the structures, plastered by boring concatenations.

Spontaneous esteem and gratuitousness guide us wave on wave towards a new way of living and exchanging gifts, in Listening.

Road inaccessible to those who act out of duty and habit - identified path, but enigmatic, little transparent, sneaky and very tortuous.

To internalize and live the message:

How do you understand and cultivate the certain and free Coming of Jesus in your House?

[Monday 24th wk. in O.T.  September 16, 2024]

Not bound to an external expression: discovery of being worthy

(Lk 7:1-10)

"The essential thing is to listen to what rises from within.

Our actions are often nothing more than imitation, hypothetical duty

or misrepresentation of what it is to be a human being.

But the only true certainty that touches our lives and our actions can only come from the springs that gush deep within ourselves.

One is at home under heaven one is at home anywhere on this earth if one carries everything within oneself.

I have often felt, and still feel, like a ship that has taken on board a precious cargo:

the ropes are cut and now the ship goes, free to sail

everywhere".

[Etty Hillesum, Diary].

Says the Tao Tê Ching (LIII): 'The great Way is very flat, but people prefer the paths'.

Commenting on the passage, masters Wang Pi and Ho-shang Kung point out: "winding paths".

The incipient faith of a pagan convert is the example that Jesus sets before that of the observant Israelites.

What heals is believing in the efficacy of his Word alone (vv.7-8), an event that possesses generating and recreating power.

The Lord shows care, usually by touching the sick or laying his hands on them, as if to absorb what was imagined to be impurity, an alteration from normality [a 'fever' or paralysis that was thought to make the needy unworthy in the eyes of God].

Lk writes his Gospel to encourage members of communities and advocate Mission to the far away.

Projection across borders, which the Judeo-Christians were not ready to make their own, because of a deep-rooted sense of religious and political 'election'.

But to say "Faith" (v.13) is to advocate a deeper adherence, and [at the same time] a less strong manifestation.

Expression of personal Faith is not to repeat or sweeten a learned doctrine, nor the conviction of others.

There is no need to fear: God has gone before us; the different and distant is not a stranger, but a brother.

Therefore, what saves is not belonging to a tradition or fashion of thought and worship.

Not demanding that the Lord comes in a certain form means not imagining him bound to an external expression.

One reaches and grasps Him only intimately, by certain vision - unencumbered by indispensable imagined convictions - whatever happens.

It will reveal itself time after time in the way that best suits our limitations.

Those distant from us are totally 'worthy' persons (v.4), albeit sometimes faltering and fallible.

Not autonomous, insufficient (v.6) like everyone else - for they do not realise that God is in their flesh and in their hearth.

Thanks to such a clear awareness in the Son, they can finally comprehend the supreme Love of the Father, gratuitous, unreserved; which astounds, overcomes the hindrance and launches them.

The elders of the Jews "pleaded with Jesus insistently, saying: It is worthy that I should grant him this, because he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue" [vv.4-5 Greek text].

The pagan is indeed conditioned by his pyramidal world....

Yet in encountering Christ, the 'stranger' discovers himself to be a completely 'worthy', 'perfect' and fulfilled person.

Not because he has granted favours to the "presbyters" [v.3 Greek text] and the chosen people, or fulfilled a special kind of observances (reciting imprimatur formulas).

In the Lord, he himself is taught to expand the horizon of the usual religion - made up of external vertical relationships.

Although he recognises himself as lacking [v.6 Greek text] he realises that his relationship with God does not depend on an exchange of favours.

Such immediate and spontaneous personal friendship does not become subordinate to works of law, nor does it spring from fulfilled norms of purity.

Nor does it subject itself to a religious relationship with a bowed head.

The 'distant' includes love. In this way, he is already emancipated from a conspicuous, epidermal, common mentality.

In the Lord, he himself is educated to expand the horizon of the usual religion.

He believes precisely that the Word of the Lord - by Way, out of synchronised or established places and times - produces what he affirms.

And it accomplishes it even at a distance; without even resounding, peremptory signs that make a racket.

Rather, by releasing the mysterious Energy [still captive] of the "Logos" (v.7).

Unconventional Word, which does not go around in circles.

This, despite the fact that this Power is mixed with sometimes contradictory convictions:

He is already far from a magical and carnal mentality.

But he still has to take the decisive step, which will make him grow further - and it concerns us closely.

Self-esteem must be the attitude of even remote children, no matter what.

Not by vague or emotional recondite feeling, but by Presence guaranteed regardless - even already operating, though sometimes unconscious.

Internalising it will be the work - and the "more" - of mature Faith, which sees, grasps, penetrates the preparatory energies at work.

And actualises them, anticipating the future."I am not worthy" is, together with "Have mercy on me" or "Son of David" - one of the most unfortunate expressions of spiritual and missionary life.

Formulas that Jesus abhors, although they have become customary in some expressions of the liturgy.

The prodigal son tries with the same rambling expression ["I am no longer worthy"] to move the Father, who precisely does not allow him to finish his absurd tirade.

Rather he prevents him from considering himself "one of his servants" and getting down on his knees before Him [Lk 15:21ff].

This would really be the only danger that endangers the whole of life; not just a small stretch of existence.

By Faith in Christ, from incomplete we become not only worthy, but we are so here and now Perfect to fulfil our Vocation.

Of course, some ideologues or white-mill purists might consider us unfashionable, or even paganising.

Our great and only risk is precisely that of absorbing such oppressive views from the environment, and allowing ourselves to be conditioned.

Every contour works not infrequently with the logic of hierarchies and power relations, whereby e.g. the inferior should not consider himself on the same level as the superior.

But at this rate, one can no longer perceive the divine Conspect.

The Face of the Eternal One is within us and in our homes; not in the chain of command with conditioning influences, but in our environment and in those who stand beside us - even across borders.

Family, friends, loved ones and others are on the same level. It is also true with God: we are face to face.

Not even the 'I and Thou' scheme with the Son counts any more: because - widely incarnated - he has planted his Heaven as well as his own therapeutic [even self-healing] capacity 'in' us.

Thanks to the Master, we are no longer within an ideology of the submissive - identical to that which prevailed in the empire - nor in a well-disciplined barracks, with distinct roles and confined areas.

The framework of external correctness does not belong in the Gospels.

Thanks to the Master, we are no longer within an ideology of the submissive - identical to that which prevailed in the empire - nor in a well-disciplined barracks, with distinct roles and confined areas.

External propriety does not belong in the Gospels.

In short, the Father no longer asks anyone to obey 'authorities', but to resemble Him.

This is achieved simply by corresponding - each one of us - to this kind of superior Presence that dwells in us and loves us.

It is the end of the empty rigmarole: we are intimate and consanguineous with our own innermost Self, the super-eminent Face.

There is absolutely no need to "avert" God by proxy, recommendation or interposition (v.4) as if we were "subordinates" (v.8) in need of other intercessors (v.3).

Our work is to unearth and acquire a new 'eye', not to submit to organisation charts.

The reborn eye is intuitive of other virtues - it does not submit to nomenclatures incapable of immediate fruitfulness.

Enough with the senses of shortcomings!

They end up introducing us into hoods and spire dynamics (v.9) typical of every stagnant feudalism.

Swamps that annihilate the new power of love - chronicling arrangements.

Configurations congealed by too many boring concatenations and local monarchies [such as we see in the provinces].

In natural listening to oneself and events, genuine esteem and divine Gratuity guide us wave upon wave towards a new way of living and exchanging gifts.

An impervious road for habit, for the obviousness that does not move thoughts, and does not perceive.

A path inaccessible to those who act out of duty - an enigmatic, opaque, devious and very 'tortuous' path.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you understand and cultivate the certain and free Coming of Jesus into your House?

Catholic

The Church is Catholic because Christ embraces all humanity in his mission of salvation. While Jesus' mission in his earthly life was limited to the Jewish people, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24), it was nevertheless oriented from the beginning to bring the light of the Gospel to all peoples and to bring all nations into the Kingdom of God. Confronted with the faith of the Centurion in Capernaum, Jesus exclaims: "Now I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 8:11). This universalistic perspective emerges, among other things, from the presentation that Jesus made of himself not only as "Son of David", but as "son of man" (Mk 10:33), as we also heard in the Gospel passage just proclaimed. The title "Son of Man", in the language of the Jewish apocalyptic literature inspired by the vision of history in the Book of the Prophet Daniel (cf. 7:13-14), recalls the person who comes "with the clouds of heaven" (v. 13) and is an image that heralds an entirely new kingdom, a kingdom supported not by human powers, but by the true power that comes from God. Jesus uses this rich and complex expression and refers it to Himself to manifest the true character of His messianism, as a mission destined for the whole man and every man, overcoming all ethnic, national and religious particularism. And it is precisely in following Jesus, in allowing oneself to be drawn into his humanity and thus into communion with God, that one enters into this new kingdom, which the Church announces and anticipates, and which overcomes fragmentation and dispersion.

[Pope Benedict, address Consistory 24 November 2012]