Initiation to Faith: He unclench the ears, but they remain deaf and stuttering

(Mk 7:31-37)

"But this Gospel also speaks to us: we are often withdrawn and closed in on ourselves, and we create many inaccessible and inhospitable islands. Even the most basic human relationships sometimes create realities incapable of mutual openness: the closed couple, the closed family, the closed group, the closed parish, the closed homeland... And this is not of God!"

[Pope Francis, Angelus 6 September 2015].

The background of the Gospel passage is the theme of initiation into the Faith, which invests the (inner) "senses" that risk being extinguished.

Every believer, in fact, also runs the danger of weakening perception, circumscribing vital energy, drastically reducing the relationship with profound reality, and the horizon of his journey.

"Effatà" was a globally expressive liturgical formula employed by the primitive churches in Baptism.

Behind that expression we find a truly living and conscious, albeit popular, ecclesial dimension.

Communities that perceive the language of Faith, welcome and share the thought of the Son; therefore they react to the stasis, they do not have fallen inclinations, nor do they remain mute and blind.

The invitation to open one's whole life wide [Effatà] stems from a missionary afflatus that does not let up. Let us see in what sense.

Jesus' far-fetched itinerary (v.31) suggests almost a reluctance on his part to turn back, staying rather among pagans. Why?

He realises that the "distant ones" seem to be less deaf to the Word of God than the people of Israel: they are awake, they receive, they have a still living conscience.

After the heated dispute about the pure and the impure, here is the Master getting impatient even with the disciples.

They have remained at the same level of spiritual deafness as the people, inert; mutilated of the spirit of Scripture.

Still deaf, they stammer: they have tied a knot in their tongues.

If they speak they do so with difficulty, in a disjointed, incomprehensible manner.

In short, the followers do not expound authentic messages.

They show themselves to be intimate, but despite appearances they still do not know how to listen [we would say: not even faithful to the living Tradition; cf. Dei Verbum 1]!

This is due to the fact that the ears of some of them are only open to cunning: they have to be "sturdied" without too many compliments.

In fact, Jesus' action is violent (v.33 Greek text).

The 'supporters' here seem to oppose in every way the action of Christ in its entirety.

The apostles believed that God's treasure was exclusively for the 'insiders' - not for the people.

He then strikes hard: he wants to meet the 'outsiders' so that they too can turn on their resources.

The Gospel episode is a parable of the condition of any person - even a rambunctious one - who upon meeting the Lord begins to perceive and communicate well, with wisdom.

No longer wavering in the trajectories of growth - with the fear of reality, and of oneself.

Religious wisdom or pagan philosophy have sought answers to the enigmas, to life's questions of meaning. And yet, so far, they have only tinkered.

Even the great civilisations have only thought up a few fragments of Truth. It has remained erratic and shaky. It has not expressed itself exactly, or fully.

E.g. (in Plato) Socrates speaks of the immortality of the soul, so he had a vague sense of indestructible Life, but did not receive the Light of Easter.

The problem here is not one of external catechism, but primarily personal and ecclesial.

The authentic Messiah cannot stand our dragging along, without confrontation and discussion that re-creates us.

The young Rabbi does not want the disciple to resign, to withdraw, to become attached to his own illness.

Even today, we still perhaps sclerotize on positions that do not question the real syndromes, and remain with the usual ailments - totally passive about them.

A scruffy and empty condition of life, from which the 'godfathers' of Baptism would like to emancipate us (v.32a).

They are the true co-workers of Christ, strangers to the circle of the ever-attached to God - those who heed him, but do not follow him.

His "angels" [cf. Mk 1:13] bring him a "deaf" (not mute, but) "stutterer".

This is the only time this term appears in the NT.

In the First Testament "stutterer" (moghilàlos) appears only once, to indicate the deliverance from the exodus of Babylon ["The tongue of the stutterer shall shout for joy", Is 35:6 LXX Greek verse].

Not physical healing, but an image of deliverance - radical - that becomes the motive and driving force of the person.

It is a problem of understanding!

Christ pulls us out, 'apart' (v.33)... even from the dissent of the 'intimates', who like to surround themselves with crowds and adhere to the common way of thinking; compromising and banal, not breaking the closures.

He wants to separate us from the way of reasoning around, of manner, of conformity; it wants to detach us from the qualunquist and other people's way of thinking.

He wants us to think and say sensible things, dictated by God's thinking and personal vocation; not trendy, à la page, normalised, standard.

Those who remain in the village where everyone chatters in the same way, or reasons in the same way, and chooses in the same way - stunned, dumbed down by impersonal voices - cannot be healed.

In fact, Jesus' 'sigh' (v.34) sounds like that of one who already feels taken hostage by his own, who seem to hold him like a lion in a cage. 

It takes a good outpouring of the Spirit from Heaven to stay calm and not slap them around... and commit to starting [again] all over again.

The very intimates continue to prefer the usual booklets of instruction and prohibition: easier - than taking risks and letting themselves be educated.

[Considering themselves privileged, some have taken possession of his Person by transmitting it in bits and pieces, through a teaching that neither astonishes nor liberates, nor announces it, but stutters and debases it].

"To 'sigh' is also to ask: is it worth it? The worst choice would be to become mistrustful.

After the Second Vatican Council, we have just begun to open our ears to the Word, and gradually the preaching is changing - but with the usual biblical timescales. (Today we hope for the synodal path).

In the meantime, an idea of a 'barefoot' Church is spreading here and there, one that knows how to listen to the questions of today's man, instead of shutting them up.

An institution in the province of grand narratives and scarcely incisive, but which perhaps begins to leave out a few catchphrases, and begins not to silence all questions.

At last we realise that it is time for proclamation and new catechesis, for convincing language and discernment - and a very different pastoral. Not for this glamour.

But before taking action on the ground, it is appropriate for curials, leaders, captains and consuls to open their eyes and ears - involving themselves in person.

"Open up!" remains the pressing invitation to open up new avenues again: to unblock the dialogue, to be concrete and respectful, to put life back into the picture. Enriching oneself and others.

The only great miracle is to open each person up to perception and communication, intuiting and giving everything of themselves.

Because by seeking the truth in deep and mutual listening, beyond fraternities or cordatas, one no longer stutters.

Even the high-profile hierarchy is beginning to break through the usual external, rubber and stone walls.

In the meantime, ecumenical and cross-cultural confrontation moves us out of the status quo that blocks the most significant achievements.

It is Dialogue that conveys meaning and substance even to Dogmatics.

Only in this way will we succeed in discernment, as well as in prolonging the creative Action of the Son.

In short, the hinge of it all is the knowledge that the Person of Christ communicates wonder and fullness of life; he does not transmit ties.

In Semitic culture, saliva [v.33: "and having spat, he touched his tongue"] was considered condensed breath.

An image of the Spirit that liberates from alienation - of course, not from the outside.

Evangelisation must also be configured in such a concomitance, in solidarity with the realisation, and engaged in the processes: from within.

Thus we will live fluently, and proclaim the Good News in favour of our Happiness. Finding unexpected solutions.

Unfortunately - despite the unleashing of the same Spirit in people, the "narrower" heralds continued to want to preach the "Son of Man" as "the" (that) Messiah they expected (v.36).

But religion prone to spectacle, and the ideology of power, all external exhibitionism - also showy - never had anything to do with Him.

In Baptism, the Lord unplugs our ears to enable us to listen to the 'Word' that becomes an 'event', and loosens our tongues so that we can make what is proclaimed resound to others.

Through this unsealing we have been made believers and prophets. Before, we were babblers.

After hearing, we began to speak correctly, not by our own virtue: only because we received from others the Word that gives life, heals, and does not lie.

However, we often plug our ears and tie our tongues, shrinking soul, spirit, and hands.

But in this way we make God less present and active; we prevent growth, block openness; any development of full life.

The attitude of the son? To open the Exodus to the world, to true knowledge, to the light of the Gospel; where there is no darkness.

And the mission of the authentic Church is not to decide everything, but to make people hear and speak. Without the a-priori of useless references.

To open up remains our decisive Vocation.

Religion in entrance, Faith in exit

Jesus' seemingly rambling itinerary into pagan territory met with opposition from the disciples (the watermark of the deaf and stammering), whose ears he had to unclog and heal the AnnouncementFrancis immediately began to heal the listening defect of Western Catholicism by opening his eyes and ears already from the balcony of election. As soon as he appeared he dared to speak of 'evangelisation' without hesitation. On that day of general enthusiasm, perhaps only the insiders realised how much in that detail the pontiff wanted to make our swamped and opinionated reality grow, sitting on the benches of a sacramentalisation tinged with blatant self-satisfaction.

Previously, not even John Paul II had been able to afford the luxury of not restricting the term with adjectives, because it sounded 'Protestant' to traditionalists. The Polish pope had been forced by many rearguard prelates to launch a more moderate slogan: the 'new' evangelisation. But Francis understood that the Gospel is not old-fashioned or old-fashioned proclamation; in whatever language one puts it, it is a simple and clear proposal of life, beyond the fact that in the times it may enjoy some updated mode or vehicle of transmission.

In the Anglo-Saxon world, the term (evangelisation) describes personal approaches and situations of various kinds, far more direct and dynamic than our 'lay apostolate', derived from pastoral action inspired by the climate of the Council; then timidly debased by a whole backwater of chains of command (and mediocrities who row against).

In fact, on the ground and above all in provincial Italy, the action of the distant and families has been harnessed in the usual wind-guard containers, which scripturally cloak the clericisation of return. So much so that the committed laity themselves are often destined not to bring their personal gifts into play - too close to reality - but only to replenish the thinned ranks of the consecrated, preferably with a prone and doctrinal mentality.

In our Catholic way of conceiving, once upon a time (not remotely) only the term 'missionary' was willingly in use; however, reduced to the education and human promotion that the 'talare' world - as primate - granted or went on to impose in the various areas (cultures banally understood as object-of-doctrine).

But the formation of missionaries has long since been modified in the accentuation of passive virtues.

In former times, for example, what counted was: in mission lands there had to be first and foremost leaders - capable of leadership, of living alone; draggers and organisers of events... In essence, outside the nomenclature, the witness of Christ was imagined as a strong and resourceful man.

After Vatican II, it was realised that the best characteristic of the missionary is not his active quality and his capacity for proselytism (which in the very passage of the Gospel Jesus tries to contain) but that he knows how to fit into contexts, respect culture and particular situations, be very welcoming, be content, be capable of listening, understanding, reflection, and so on.

But now it is a matter of making a qualitative leap that the most backward sectors of the Church still struggle to make: that of no longer considering themselves protagonists and Subjects that dominate Dialogue.

Our relationship with our neighbour, even in situations of prime necessity, is authentic if we not only overcome the selfishness of keeping things to ourselves, but when we annihilate the self-satisfaction of feeling ourselves to be leading figures, (interlocutors of the needy, but) institutional and prominent figures.

Indigents and seekers of the Truth, on the other hand, must be placed on an equal footing, they too being Subjects and not objects of awareness or generously bestowed alms. For a pastoral action that makes those who propose it to others grow first!

The second disease Francis wished to cure was that of the stuttering of a people accustomed to the practice of devotions and not to listening to the Word, from which Faith derives.

He found himself before people well disposed to observances, to respect for liturgical times and intimism - of a Jesus kept close to their hearts, placed on the bedside table... and sometimes good for falling asleep.

But he saw a people substantially indifferent to correspond in life to the meaning of the rites themselves and to embody the Gospels' call. 

Having practised religion, the existence and choices of the 'believers' ran on totally autonomous tracks, quite different from the authentic meaning of the numerous (as much as in itself unfulfilled) prayerful interludes.

Beyond laziness and self-interest, the capacity for Listening for conversion is still lacking; and those who do not lend an ear - the beginning of any relationship - then cannot communicate anything worthwhile; they only tarry.

Hence an undergrowth culture, often muddled in its commitment, capable of excelling almost only in the field of jokes; folded in on itself, aged in the defence of its own acquired economic levels but lacking in Hope, even in the young people of the parish: "But open up!"Francis has tried to bring the fresh Spirit to the people who cannot afford to live off their income, and he still believes in the power that the proclamation of the Good News releases; but for this we must first let our ears be opened wide!

In his first apostolic exhortation (Evangelii Gaudium), the Pope dedicated a substantial space to the Proclamation and even to Preaching - even within a framework concerning the entire People of God; far more than the now congested apostolate of the laity.

In short, there is a life to be proclaimed that is not bogged down, and for this the Magisterium seeks to overcome the fetters of the role reserved to the 'sermon', which today no longer takes the cork out of the ears of old Europe.

Last but not least, the missionary transformation of the 'outgoing Church', which is realised in the style of a bishop of Rome who no longer suggests - as so many predecessors did - moralistic or pious advice to merit Paradise and rise to Heaven, but that God brings it to you, sometimes shoves it in your face.

All this, not to detach oneself from the human family in order to spiritualise the self without too much hassle.

The Lord manifests himself in the opposite direction: he humanises and asks for this downward push; a quality of relationship and not sterilisation.

He knows he is addressing a difficult world, rooted in the formal mediocrity of mannerist catwalks, which not infrequently content themselves with giving to believe and showing off...

A world sick of externality which, however, does not shy away from wanting to cure its stuttering, first by unclogging its ears.

And by encouraging us to take care of our yearning to see better and to be able to express ourselves not haphazardly, making us proceed "far from the crowd" (v.33) conformist, which makes us pale, confusing, levelling, flattening.

At the end of the passage from Mk, then bursts forth the chorus of praise of the assembly of those baptised in the Spirit.

People re-created by the action of Jesus; enabled and able to listen and proclaim.

People who have made Exodus, moving from a religiosity good for all seasons to a personal journey of Faith, which proclaims, transmits, and does not shoplift for itself.

Authentic women and real men, who have learnt to recognise and welcome the action of the God who is revealing Himself, who unceasingly comes. Not like the one who may have come... or will come.

To internalise and live the message:

Do we recognise ourselves in the Mission of the Church or are we deaf, inert and mute through indolence (or interest)?

We have just listened to the three biblical readings which the Church's liturgy has chosen for this Sunday. All three develop a double theme which is ultimately one, bringing out - as circumstances dictate - one or another of its aspects. All three readings speak of God as the center of all reality and the center of our personal life. "Here is your God!", exclaims the prophet Isaiah in the first reading (35:4). In their own way, the Letter of James and the Gospel passage say the very same thing. They want to lead us to God, to set us on the right road in life. But to speak of "God" is also to speak of society: of our shared responsibility for the triumph of justice and love in the world. This is powerfully expressed in the second reading, in which James, a close relative of Jesus, speaks to us. He is addressing a community beginning to be marked by pride, since it included affluent and distinguished persons, and consequently the risk of indifference to the rights of the poor. James's words give us a glimpse of Jesus, of that God who became man. Though he was of Davidic, and thus royal, stock, he became a simple man in the midst of simple men and women. He did not sit on a throne, but died in the ultimate poverty of the Cross. Love of neighbour, which is primarily a commitment to justice, is the touchstone for faith and love of God. James calls it "the royal law" (cf. 2:8), echoing the words which Jesus used so often: the reign of God, God's kingship. This does not refer to just any kingdom, coming at any time; it means that God must even now become the force that shapes our lives and actions. This is what we ask for when we pray: "Thy Kingdom come". We are not asking for something off in the distance, something that, deep down, we may not even want to experience. Rather, we pray that God's will may here and now determine our own will, and that in this way God can reign in the world. We pray that justice and love may become the decisive forces affecting our world. A prayer like this is naturally addressed first to God, but it also proves unsettling for us. Really, is this what we want? Is this the direction in which we want our lives to move? For James, "the royal law", the law of God's kingship, is also "the law of freedom": if we follow God in all that we think and do, then we draw closer together, we gain freedom and thus true fraternity is born. When Isaiah, in the first reading, talks about God, saying “Behold your God!”, he goes on to talk about salvation for the suffering, and when James speaks of the social order as a necessary expression of our faith, he logically goes on to speak of God, whose children we are.

But now we must turn our attention to the Gospel, which speaks of Jesus' healing of a man born deaf and mute. Here too we encounter the two aspects of this one theme. Jesus is concerned for the suffering, for those pushed to the margins of society. He heals them and, by enabling them to live and work together, he brings them to equality and fraternity. This obviously has something to say to all of us: Jesus points out to all of us the goal of our activity, how we are to act. Yet the whole story has another aspect, one which the Fathers of the Church constantly brought out, one which particularly speaks to us today. The Fathers were speaking to and about the men and women of their time. But their message also has new meaning for us modern men and women. There is not only a physical deafness which largely cuts people off from social life; there is also a "hardness of hearing" where God is concerned, and this is something from which we particularly suffer in our own time. Put simply, we are no longer able to hear God - there are too many different frequencies filling our ears. What is said about God strikes us as pre-scientific, no longer suited to our age. Along with this hardness of hearing or outright deafness where God is concerned, we naturally lose our ability to speak with him and to him. And so we end up losing a decisive capacity for perception. We risk losing our inner senses. This weakening of our capacity for perception drastically and dangerously curtails the range of our relationship with reality in general. The horizon of our life is disturbingly foreshortened.

The Gospel tells us that Jesus put his fingers in the ears of the deaf-mute, touched the sick man's tongue with spittle and said "Ephphatha" - "Be opened". The Evangelist has preserved for us the original Aramaic word which Jesus spoke, and thus he brings us back to that very moment. What happened then was unique, but it does not belong to a distant past: Jesus continues to do the same thing anew, even today. At our Baptism he touched each of us and said "Ephphatha" - "Be opened" -, thus enabling us to hear God's voice and to be able to talk to him. There is nothing magical about what takes place in the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism opens up a path before us. It makes us part of the community of those who are able to hear and speak; it brings us into fellowship with Jesus himself, who alone has seen God and is thus able to speak of him (cf. Jn 1:18): through faith, Jesus wants to share with us his seeing God, his hearing the Father and his converse with him. The path upon which we set out at Baptism is meant to be a process of increasing development, by which we grow in the life of communion with God, and acquire a different way of looking at man and creation.

The Gospel invites us to realize that we have a "deficit" in our capacity for perception - initially, we do not notice this deficiency as such, since everything else seems so urgent and logical; since everything seems to proceed normally, even when we no longer have eyes and ears for God and we live without him. But it is true that everything goes on as usual when God no longer is a part of our lives and our world?

[Pope Benedict, Munich 10 September 2006]

1. "Signs" of the divine omnipotence and saving power of the Son of man, Christ's miracles, narrated by the Gospels, are also the revelation of God's love for man, particularly for man who suffers, who is in need, who begs for healing, forgiveness and mercy. They are therefore 'signs' of the merciful love proclaimed by the Old and New Testaments (cf. Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Dives in Misericordia). Especially the Gospel reading makes us understand and almost "feel" that Jesus' miracles have their source in the loving and merciful heart of God, which lives and vibrates in his own human heart. Jesus performs them to overcome every kind of evil that exists in the world: physical evil, moral evil, that is, sin, and finally the one who is the "father of sin" in human history: Satan.

The miracles are therefore 'for man'. They are works of Jesus that, in harmony with the redemptive purpose of his mission, re-establish goodness where evil has lurked, producing disorder and turmoil. Those who receive them, who witness them, realise this fact, so much so that according to Mark, "filled with astonishment, they said, 'He has done all things well; He makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak!'" (Mk 7:37).

5. In the very manner in which he performed the miracles, one can see the great simplicity and one could say humility, gentleness of Jesus' traits. How much the words that accompanied the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus make us think from this point of view: "The child is not dead, but asleep" (Mk 5:39), as if to "soften" the significance of what he was about to do. And then: 'he insisted that no one should find out about it' (Mk 5:43). He also did this in other cases, for example after the healing of a deaf-mute (Mk 7:36), and after Peter's profession of faith (Mk 8:29-30).

To heal the deaf-mute it is significant that Jesus took him "away from the crowd". There "looking . . . towards heaven, he uttered a sigh". This 'sigh' seems to be a sign of compassion and, at the same time, a prayer. The word "Effatà" ("Open up!") causes "the ears" to be opened and the "knot of the tongue" of the deaf-mute to be loosened (cf. Mk 7:33-35).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 9 December 1987]

The Gospel today (Mk 7:31-37) recounts Jesus’ healing of a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, an incredible event that shows how Jesus reestablishes the full communication of man with God and with other people. The miracle is set in the region of the Decapolis, that is, in a completely pagan territory; thus, this deaf man who is brought before Jesus becomes the symbol of an unbeliever who completes a journey to faith. In effect, his deafness expresses the inability to hear and to understand, not just the words of man, but also the Word of God. And St Paul reminds us that “faith comes from what is heard” (Rom 10:17).

The first thing that Jesus does is take this man far from the crowd: He doesn’t want to publicize this deed he intends to carry out, but he also doesn’t want his word to be lost in the din of voices and the chatter of those around. The Word of God that Christ brings us needs silence to be welcomed as the Word that heals, that reconciles and reestablishes communication.

Then we are told about two gestures Jesus makes. He touches the ears and the tongue of the deaf man. To reestablish a relationship with this man whose communication is “impeded”, he first seeks to reestablish contact. But the miracle is a gift that comes from on high, which Jesus implores from the Father. That’s why he raises his eyes to the heavens and orders, “Be opened”. And the ears of the deaf man are opened, the knot of his tongue is untied and he begins to speak correctly (cf. v. 35).

The lesson we can take from this episode is that God is not closed in on himself, but instead he opens himself and places himself in communication with humanity. In his immense mercy, he overcomes the abyss of the infinite difference between him and us, and comes to meet us. To bring about this communication with man, God becomes man. It is not enough for him to speak to us through the law and the prophets, but instead he makes himself present in the person of his Son, the Word made flesh. Jesus is the great “bridge-builder” who builds in himself the great bridge of full communion with the Father.

But this Gospel speaks to us also about ourselves: Often we are drawn up and closed in on ourselves, and we create many inaccessible and inhospitable islands. Even the most basic human relationships can sometimes create realities incapable of reciprocal openness: the couple closed in, the family closed in, the group closed in, the parish closed in, the country closed in. And this is not from God! This is from us. This is our sin.

However, at the beginning of our Christian life, at baptism, it is precisely this gesture and word of Jesus that are present: “Ephphatha!” “Be opened!”. And behold the miracle has been worked. We are healed of the deafness of selfishness and the impediment of being closed in on ourselves, and of sin, and we have been inserted into the great family of the Church. We can hear God who speaks to us and communicates his Word to those who have never before heard it, or to the one who has forgotten it and buried it in the thorns of the anxieties and the traps of the world.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, a woman of listening and of joyful testimony, that she sustain us in the commitment to profess our faith and to communicate the wonders of the Lord to those we find along our way.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 6 September 2015]

Incarnation, or emptiness of humanity

(Lk 6:1-5)

On the conversion’s journey, conflicts of conscience are not parentheses or accidents of the path, but crucial knots.

The genuineness of believing then generates implicative strenght and new expressive abilities.

According to ordinary religious assessments, the legislation was worth more than hunger... but God’s experience in the life overturns ideas elaborated by experts.

To be honest, observance of the Sabbath had become a central law not because of theological subtleties, very well because in the period of the Exile the weekly rest had allowed believers to gather, share hopes, encourage each other, maintain the identity of the people.

But legalism ended up stifling the spirit of the day of worship, once a sign of a freedom in the service of people’s faith and happiness.

Thus where Jesus arrives, every spiritual module empty of humanity crumbles, and the Incarnation takes hold: the place where God and man  seriously rest [other than the saturday!].

In the parallel passage of Mt (12:1-8), Jesus' response is more articulated and complete:

On Jewish Sabbath, priests had many more sacred and preparation engagements, slaughter and reordering of the Sanctuary, than the other days of the week, and the Torah obliged them... it happens to us too.

Again in Mt, the Lord quotes a famous phrase from the prophet Hosea - a man of raw experience, but who well defines the peak of intimacy with God: an authentic rite is to realize the hopes of our neighbour and to have the heart in the needs of others.

Christ emphasizes the poverty of every legalistic and hypocritical attachment in the mode of conceiving relations with the Father.

The sign of the Covenant with God, and Encounter [authentic sanctification] is adherence that continues in the plot of the days and in his active Person - not a ridiculous idolatry of observances or cultic parentheses.

Facts and rites celebrate love; and the sincere fulfilment does not follow the pedantic "as we should be", but expresses a Liberation of the person.

The biblical episode that Jesus quotes could perhaps appear not entirely pertinent to the theoretical question: his disciples did not seem to be kings or even priests.

Instead, in the new time that’s urgent, yes: ‘sovereigns’ of one’s life by Gift and Call, as well as ‘mediators’ [of divine blessings on humanity] - and also Prophets.

The lovable God establishes with us a dialogue and a friendship that invites, gives impetus, transmits taste for doing.

It’s the result of a messianic conscience as «Son of man» (v.5): transmissible to us, his brethren and friends - very united to him by Faith.

For this reason [after the call of the disciples and the first healings, then the vocation of Levi and the controversy about fasting] the Lord presents himself to the Pharisees in the royal stunt double of David, who is about to conquer the "kingdom" even with a small handful of followers.

In the time of the global crisis that affects the future, and still tries to calculate it by directing it a priori, according to selective interests, the challenge is more open than ever.

To internalize and live the message:

How did you perceive that you were reliving Christ in the fluency of the norms?

[Saturday 22th wk. in O.T.  September 7, 2024]

Incarnation, or the spiritual form empty of humanity

(Lk 6:1-5)

On the path to conversion, conflicts of conscience are not parentheses or accidents of the way, but crucial nodes.

The genuineness of belief then generates implicative force and new expressive capacities.

The alternative is between Intimacy and the practice of Faith, or religion that condemns blameless people (Mt 12:7):

According to ordinary religious assessments, regulation was worth more than hunger....

Yes, there is much to dialogue, simply, but little to discuss: God's experience in life overturns the ideas developed by experts.

To be fair, Sabbath observance had become a central law, not because of theological niceties, but because in the period of the Exile, weekly rest had made it possible to come together, to share hopes, to encourage one another, to maintain identity as a people.

But legalism ended up stifling the spirit of the day of worship, once a sign of a freedom at the service of faith and man, both of which could not be enslaved.

So where Jesus arrives, every spiritual module empty of humanity crumbles, and the Incarnation takes hold: the place where God and man rest in earnest (other than the Sabbath!).

The litmus test of the bursting of the new kingdom is the igniting of contrasts with leaders, managers, court intellectuals and executives!

They built their prestige on a patchwork of false teachings, which had nothing to do with the objective of the divine Law.

[Dog doesn't eat dog, so the brawlers of the provisions had never commented on David's transgressive behaviour.

It happens that the masters of steam and the unsavoury fundamentalists of the old or the 'new' do not go against each other...].

In the parallel passage of Mt (12:1-8) Jesus' response is more articulate and complete:

On the Sabbath day, the priests had many more sacred and preparatory duties, slaughtering and tidying up the Sanctuary, than on the other days of the week, and the Torah obliged them... it happens to us too.

Again in Mt, the Lord quotes a famous phrase from the prophet Hosea - a man of raw experience, but one that well defines the pinnacle of intimacy with God: Authentic rite is to notice the needs of one's neighbour and to have one's heart in the needs of others.

The archaic 'sacrifice' [sacrum facere, to make sacred] reflected an idea of cut-off, separation and distance between the perfect world of 'heaven' and the profane life of people.

But after the coming of the "Son of Man" (v.5), the new consecrated will not live secluded, above the lines, far from summary existence.

Rather, they will be the first to welcome and lift up those in need.

Christ emphasises the poverty of any legalistic and hypocritical attachment in the way of conceiving relations with the Father.

A sign of the Covenant with God, and an encounter (authentic sanctification) is the adherence that continues in the pattern of days and in His active Person - not a ridiculous idolatry of observances or cultic parentheses.

Facts and rituals celebrate love; and straightforward adherence does not trace the pedantic 'how we should be', but expresses a Liberation of the person.

The biblical episode that Jesus cites might perhaps have seemed not entirely relevant to the theoretical question: his disciples did not seem to be kings or even priests.

Instead, in the new time that is impending, yes: 'sovereigns' of their own lives by Gift and Calling, as well as 'mediators' [of divine blessings on humanity] - and prophets too.

Authentic ones will no longer play the double game of the old theatrics, susceptible practitioners of the sacred - nor will they condemn the innocent and needy (Mt 12:7).

In Mk 2:27 Jesus relativises the commandment: 'The Sabbath was [instituted, has its meaning] for man, and not man for the Sabbath'.

The lovable God establishes a dialogue and friendship with us that invites, gives impetus, gives gusto.

The Tao Tê Ching (xiii) writes:

"To him who makes merit of himself for the sake of the world, the world can be entrusted. To him who cares for himself for the sake of the world, one can trust the world'.

To the bondage of customs, Christ opposes a looseness that makes the encounter between God and his people more agile, more spontaneous, richer and more personal.

It is the outcome of a messianic consciousness that is precisely that of a "Son of Man" (v.5): greater than the Temple (cf. Mt 12:6) because incarnate.

In this way, transmissible to us, His brothers and friends - united to Him and intimate by faith.

After the call of Levi, the meal with sinners and the controversy over fasting, the Master presents Himself to the Pharisees in the regal guise of David setting out to conquer the alternative "Kingdom", even with a small handful of followers.

A trail of light - even for us - in the face of the current pastoral meltdown.

In the time of the global crisis that seems to mortgage the future (we still try to calculate it by directing it a priori, according to selective interests), the challenge is more open than ever.The contrast on Justice

"It is precisely because of this personal experience of his relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul now places at the heart of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between two alternative paths to justice: one built on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ. The alternative between righteousness by the works of the Law and righteousness by faith in Christ thus becomes one of the dominant motifs running through his Epistles: "We, who by birth are Jews and not sinful pagans, yet knowing that man is not justified by the works of the Law, but only by faith in Jesus Christ, have also believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; for by the works of the Law no one will ever be justified" (Gal 2:15-16). And to the Christians of Rome he reiterates that 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Rom 3:23-24). He adds, "For we hold that man is justified by faith, regardless of the works of the Law" (Ibid 28). Luther at this point translated: 'justified by faith alone'. I will return to this point at the end of the catechesis. First we must clarify what this "Law" is from which we are liberated and what those "works of the Law" are that do not justify. Already in the community of Corinth there was an opinion that would later return systematically in history; the opinion was that it was the moral law and that Christian freedom therefore consisted in liberation from ethics. Thus the word 'πάντα μοι έξεστιν' (everything is permissible for me) circulated in Corinth. It is obvious that this interpretation is wrong: Christian freedom is not libertinism, the liberation of which St Paul speaks is not liberation from doing good.

But what then is the Law from which we are liberated and which does not save? For St Paul, as for all his contemporaries, the word Law meant the Torah in its entirety, that is, the five books of Moses. The Torah implied, in the Pharisaic interpretation, the one studied and made his own by Paul, a complex of behaviours ranging from the ethical core to the ritual and cultic observances that substantially determined the identity of the righteous man. Particularly circumcision, observances about pure food and generally ritual purity, rules about Sabbath observance, etc. Behaviours that also frequently appear in the debates between Jesus and his contemporaries. All these observances expressing a social, cultural and religious identity had become singularly important by the time of the Hellenistic culture, beginning in the 3rd century BC. This culture, which had become the universal culture of the time, and was an apparently rational, polytheistic, apparently tolerant culture, constituted a strong pressure towards cultural uniformity and thus threatened the identity of Israel, which was politically forced into this common identity of the Hellenistic culture, resulting in the loss of its own identity, and thus also the loss of the precious inheritance of the faith of the Fathers, of faith in the one God and the promises of God.

Against this cultural pressure, which threatened not only Israelite identity, but also faith in the one God and His promises, it was necessary to create a wall of distinction, a shield of defence to protect the precious inheritance of faith; this wall consisted precisely of Jewish observances and prescriptions. Paul, who had learnt of these observances precisely in their defensive function of God's gift, of the inheritance of faith in one God, saw this identity threatened by the freedom of Christians: he persecuted them for this reason. At the moment of his encounter with the Risen One he realised that with Christ's resurrection the situation had changed radically. With Christ, the God of Israel, the one true God, became the God of all peoples. The wall - so he says in the Letter to the Ephesians - between Israel and the pagans was no longer necessary: it is Christ who protects us against polytheism and all its deviations; it is Christ who unites us with and in the one God; it is Christ who guarantees our true identity in the diversity of cultures. The wall is no longer necessary; our common identity in the diversity of cultures is Christ, and it is he who makes us righteous. To be just is simply to be with Christ and in Christ. And that is enough. Other observances are no longer necessary. That is why Luther's expression 'sola fide' is true, if faith is not opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look to Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to attach oneself to Christ, to conform oneself to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ is love; therefore to believe is to conform oneself to Christ and to enter into his love. That is why St Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians, in which he especially developed his doctrine on justification, speaks of faith working through charity (cf. Gal 5:14).

Paul knows that in the twofold love of God and neighbour the whole Law is present and fulfilled. Thus in communion with Christ, in the faith that creates charity, the whole Law is fulfilled. We become righteous by entering into communion with Christ who is love".

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 19 November 2008].

To internalise and live the message:

Have you felt oppression or exclusion in the name of the Law?

Do you feel it was for offending God or for daring to disturb something or question someone and their cultural paradigm?

How did you perceive you were reliving Christ in the looseness of norms?

What conflicts are a source of discussion and ecclesial controversy that you feel create detachment and suffering around you?

It is precisely because of this personal experience of relationship with Jesus Christ that Paul henceforth places at the centre of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between the two alternative paths to justice: one built on the works of the Law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ. The alternative between justice by means of works of the Law and that by faith in Christ thus became one of the dominant themes that run through his Letters: "We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law; because by works of the law no one will be justified" (Gal 2: 15-16). And to the Christians of Rome he reasserts that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rm 3: 23-24). And he adds "we hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (ibid., v. 28). At this point Luther translated: "justified by faith alone". I shall return to this point at the end of the Catechesis. First, we must explain what is this "Law" from which we are freed and what are those "works of the Law" that do not justify. The opinion that was to recur systematically in history already existed in the community at Corinth. This opinion consisted in thinking that it was a question of moral law and that the Christian freedom thus consisted in the liberation from ethics. Thus in Corinth the term "πάντα μοι έξεστιν" (I can do what I like) was widespread. It is obvious that this interpretation is wrong: Christian freedom is not libertinism; the liberation of which St Paul spoke is not liberation from good works.

So what does the Law from which we are liberated and which does not save mean? For St Paul, as for all his contemporaries, the word "Law" meant the Torah in its totality, that is, the five books of Moses. The Torah, in the Pharisaic interpretation, that which Paul had studied and made his own, was a complex set of conduct codes that ranged from the ethical nucleus to observances of rites and worship and that essentially determined the identity of the just person. In particular, these included circumcision, observances concerning pure food and ritual purity in general, the rules regarding the observance of the Sabbath, etc. codes of conduct that also appear frequently in the debates between Jesus and his contemporaries. All of these observances that express a social, cultural and religious identity had become uniquely important in the time of Hellenistic culture, starting from the third century B.C. This culture which had become the universal culture of that time and was a seemingly rational culture; a polytheistic culture, seemingly tolerant constituted a strong pressure for cultural uniformity and thus threatened the identity of Israel, which was politically constrained to enter into this common identity of the Hellenistic culture. This resulted in the loss of its own identity, hence also the loss of the precious heritage of the faith of the Fathers, of the faith in the one God and in the promises of God.

Against this cultural pressure, which not only threatened the Israelite identity but also the faith in the one God and in his promises, it was necessary to create a wall of distinction, a shield of defence to protect the precious heritage of the faith; this wall consisted precisely in the Judaic observances and prescriptions. Paul, who had learned these observances in their role of defending God's gift, of the inheritance of faith in one God alone, saw this identity threatened by the freedom of the Christians this is why he persecuted them. At the moment of his encounter with the Risen One he understood that with Christ's Resurrection the situation had changed radically. With Christ, the God of Israel, the one true God, became the God of all peoples. The wall as he says in his Letter to the Ephesians between Israel and the Gentiles, was no longer necessary: it is Christ who protects us from polytheism and all of its deviations; it is Christ who unites us with and in the one God; it is Christ who guarantees our true identity within the diversity of cultures. The wall is no longer necessary; our common identity within the diversity of cultures is Christ, and it is he who makes us just. Being just simply means being with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Further observances are no longer necessary. For this reason Luther's phrase: "faith alone" is true, if it is not opposed to faith in charity, in love. Faith is looking at Christ, entrusting oneself to Christ, being united to Christ, conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence to believe is to conform to Christ and to enter into his love. So it is that in the Letter to the Galatians in which he primarily developed his teaching on justification St Paul speaks of faith that works through love (cf. Gal 5: 14).

Paul knows that in the twofold love of God and neighbour the whole of the Law is present and carried out. Thus in communion with Christ, in a faith that creates charity, the entire Law is fulfilled. We become just by entering into communion with Christ who is Love.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 19 November 2008]

God revealed himself in Christ, in him he offered himself to man as his true destiny, as his eternal dwelling, in time and in eternity.

Destiny is "vocation", that is, a call to bind oneself and to remain united to God, who wanted to bind himself to us so that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).

To follow Christ, one does not have to be a superman, or perform superhuman deeds. The young Christian, certainly, stands out from the crowd, but not by outward appearance, but by the way he thinks and acts. He is different inside, in his heart, and this is reflected on the outside, in his way of behaving, speaking, dealing with others, in every everyday situation.

[Pope John Paul II, Address to Young People, Catania 5 November 1994]

There are "two roads". And it is Jesus himself, with his "gestures of closeness", who gives us the right indication as to which one to take. On the one hand, in fact, there is the road of the "hypocrites", who close their doors because of their attachment to the "letter of the law". On the other, however, there is "the road of charity", which passes "from love to the true justice that is within the law". Pope Francis said this at the Mass celebrated on Friday morning, 31 October, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.

In practice, the Pontiff said, "these people were so attached to the law that they had forgotten justice; so attached to the law that they had forgotten love". But 'not only to the law; they were attached to the words, to the letters of the law'.

Precisely this way "of living, attached to the law, distanced them from love and justice: they cared for the law, they neglected justice; they cared for the law, they neglected love". Yet "they were the models". But "Jesus finds only one word for these people: hypocrites!". One cannot, in fact, go "into all the world looking for proselytes" and then close "the door". For the Lord was dealing with "men of closure, men so attached to the law, to the letter of the law: not to the law", because "the law is love", but "to the letter of the law". They were men "who always closed the doors of hope, of love, of salvation, men who only knew how to close".

Only "in the flesh of Christ", in fact, does the law "have full fulfilment". Because "the flesh of Christ knows how to suffer, he gave his life for us". While "the letter is cold."

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 01/11/2014]