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

(Jn 15:9-17)

Jesus has just used the image of the vineyard to configure the character of the new people and the circulation of life with those who believe in Him.

The allegory of the vine and the branches is now translated into existential terms.

The propagation of divine dynamism in us gives rise to a current and communication of love. The movement of authentic love Comes to us.

It is an uninterrupted flow of resemblances of the divine condition. Transparent syntony with generative value, brought by the Son: «as» and «because» [I have loved you] (v.12 Greek text).

Mirthfulness that flows from this will not be one of euphoria or exaltation: it is the result of an awareness that combines the divine proposal of non-possessive Similarity with our capacity to welcome - not detach ourselves.

Abiding in the Father-Son circulation of love, we are enveloped by a Happiness that senses the meaning and uniqueness of our seed, and changes the way we see life, suffering, relationships and joy.

«Greater love hath no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends» (v.13).

Difference between religiosity and Faith? Friendship, which is stronger than both cerebral alchemy and voluntarism.

The Friend shares intents, cultivates communion of life.

The «servant» (v.15) remains unreliable and rancorous, because he is a mere executor of other people’s orders - which do not concern the irreducible hidden roots, the Source from which the heart draws and which belongs to him (v.16).

In this way, the trustworthy Friend is happy not only when he realizes himself, but also when he can expand and brighten the life of his beloved.

And he willingly ousts himself from the first seat in favour of the beloved.

John does not speak of love of enemies as Mt 5 does in the Sermon on the Mount, rather he insists on mutual love within the community of believers, as a relationship with the divine life itself.

Here we note a particular concern for individual persons and the atmosphere among friends of Faith, who must first themselves embody the spirit of selflessness and truth they preach to others.

The Lord does not ask for 'fruits' [multiple external works, often tinged with exhibitionism] but only one 'work': Love without duplicity, qualms, dissociations.

In the unique and unprecedented personalization of the «Fruit» (v.16), Christ does not remain a Model to be imitated, but a real Life that continues in us.

The only tiger in the engine: by inviting the mystery of the our founding Eros that dilates the Ego into the You:

In Friendship; in the opposing feelings that surface; in the growing unity of thought and aspirations; in the people who draw near; in the communion of desire and circumstances... the wills unite.

In this divine-human Empathy [which is more persuasive than voluntarism] the codes of behavior, the extrinsic, external, extraneous project, to which (previously) one had to bow, now weave a dialogue.

Finally, they come together - by 'Name' [a term that in the Gospels indicates in particular the rawness of the Lord's true story, as well as our personal interpretation and actualisation of it].

Here is up the ignition and the pouring out of Communion, on a high ground of understanding; without hidden conflicts. And without servitude.

In short, in the Ideal as in the Dream we prefer Friendship.

And we tread the Way of Faith in the Crucified - that of the setback and imbalance of love.

[Friday 5th week in Easter, May 23, 2025]

Confidants, not doers: the friendship of Jesus and between brethren

(Jn 15:12-17)

«Greater love hath no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends» (v.13).

Total mutual love, which waits for nothing, for nothing, is generally not possible from the condition of precarious creatures, who willingly desire relationships seeking completion.

Unfortunately, such love-Eros not infrequently comes into being summarily. And it happens by confusing gratuitousness and necessity, by mixing the purpose with the means; by entangling individual need with self-giving.

The authentic love movement comes.

It is a Current of resemblance of the divine condition. Transparent syntony with generative value, brought by the Son: "as" and "because" [I have loved you] (v.12 Greek text).

Offhand we might not understand. But only from the acceptance of the proposal "from above", genuine, Provident, can a shift of gaze begin that activates the path of rebalancing, discoveries, selflessness, and return of the Gift.

The circle of empathic initiative and response is the core of the experience of Loving Faith [replacing religious devotion].

Once one has experienced the intoxication and sense of fullness of being, one will never want to leave this new cosmic and personal relationship.

Jn does not speak of love of enemies as Mt 5 does in the Sermon on the Mount, but insists on mutual love (within the community of believers) as a relationship with the divine life itself.

The fourth Gospel is concerned with the consistency and quality of relationships between church members: the first ones deputed to the proclamation of peace, justice and love in the existential peripheries.

Precisely to the distant ones they will preach the new face of God, of society, of person, and they will not be able to live in the duplicity of discipleship.

Of course, that of God's intimate life is not sacrificial love; it does not demand a spirit of common nomenclature, renunciation, mortification and effort, but rather fidelity to one's deepest vocation.

We are "friends" (vv.14-15) no longer servants of God. The term alludes to equality and mutual benefit in growth, which envelops every firm domestic dimension.

A relational configuration that in an atmosphere of agape makes each discover his or her own Name - as well as that of the Church capable of communion.

It is the seal of the focal and missionary physiognomy, and vice versa.

Ecclesial Communion itself will not be that of religious uniformity, but the fruit of the exchange of gifts.

Conviviality of differences and recovery of opposites, in view of the shared enrichment of each, in coexistence.

One-sidedness is also banished in terms of the very participation in the overriding current of love that willingly descends on our senses of permanence, to move us.

The confrontation with daily history coming out of the sacristies forces us to purification and essentiality, makes us creative and available to God's future.

The healthy pluralism of different colours, approaches and styles in the way of living and implementing the Gospel, intends the Voice of the Spirit that helps discernment; it makes us dare.

A variegated, open polyhedron that turns on each particular voice. Counterforce that reflects the peculiar relationship that exists between divine Persons.

The Word of Deliverance itself can thus be firmly reformulated in an unprecedented and personal way, in order to correspond with new answers to new questions.

People and Church allow themselves to be challenged and keep themselves open, because they originate from the unpredictable Mystery and are precisely animated by personal Faith.

Women and men, new mothers and new fathers, open to the Gratis that welcomes the opposite - and for the unexpected - participate.

Koinonia' dispossessed, open to the gift and for the gift. Made aware of the depths of God's heart, and of its communion-eucharistic quality.

Such is the Church of Friends. Fraternity ready for the mission: "I have called you friends" (v.15) "I have constituted you so that you may go" (v.16) in the same defenceless Openness.

Difference between Religiousness and Faith? Friendship, which is stronger than both cerebral alchemy and voluntarism.

The Friend shares intentions, cultivates communion of life.

The "servant" (v.15) remains unreliable and resentful, because he is a mere executor of others' orders.

External directives do not concern one's own seed, the irreducible hidden roots, the Source from which the heart draws and which belongs to it.

It is our Core that is at stake: it manifests itself spontaneously; and it exists not by initiative, but by innate, constitutive and given character (v.16).

The trustworthy Friend is glad not only when he realises himself, but also when he can expand and cheer up the life of his beloved.

And he willingly ousts himself from the first seat in favour of the beloved.In this way - and it is worth repeating because of its terrifying relevance - in the Fourth Gospel the notes and appeals about love do not seem to be addressed to the distant.

Rather, these appeals are addressed to members of communities, so that they do not allow themselves to be carried away by ridiculous infatuations, which are inevitably transient and which would turn into a feeling of sadness or sadness.

In Jn, we see a particular concern for individuals and the climate among friends of the Faith.

This is because those who pretend to make recommendations about fine manners, roadmaps, humility, transparency, forgiveness, sharing, should first embody in themselves the spirit of selflessness and truth that they preach to others.

In short, the Lord does not ask for 'fruits' [multiple pious, outward-looking works, often tinged with exhibitionism] nor small gloating intimacies, but only one work: Love without duplicity.

In the unique and unprecedented personalisation of the 'Fruit' (v.16), Christ does not remain a Model to imitate, but a real Life that continues in the disciples.

Unique tiger in the engine, inviting the mystery of the founding Eros that dilates the I into the Thou:

In Friendship; in the opposing feelings that surface; in the growing unity of thought and aspiration; in the people who draw near; in the communion of desire and circumstance... the wills unite.

In such divine-human empathy [which is more persuasive than voluntarism] the codes of behaviour, the extrinsic, external project, to which (before) they bow, now weave a dialogue.

Finally, they come together - by 'name' [a term that in the Gospels indicates in particular the rawness of the Lord's actual event, as well as our personal interpretation and actualisation of it].

Here is the igniting and pouring out of Communion, on a high ground of understanding; without concealed conflict. And without servitude.

In short, in the Ideal as in the Dream we prefer Friendship.

And let us walk the Path of Faith in the Crucified One - that of the snub and imbalance of love.

To internalise and live the message:

"I can't live without you": How do you distinguish a self-deluded sentimental sphere, from a working proposal of union of life?

Next comes this new commandment: "love one another as I have loved you". There is no greater love than this, "that a man lay down his life for his friends". What does this mean? Here too it is not a question of moralism. Some might say: "It is not a new commandment; the commandment to love one's neighbour as oneself already exists in the Old Testament". Others say: "This love should be even more radicalized; this love of others must imitate Christ who gave himself for us; it must be a heroic love, to the point of the gift of self". In this case, however, Christianity would be a heroic moralism. It is true that we must reach the point of this radicalism of love which Christ showed to us and gave for us, but here too the true newness is not what we do, the true newness is what he did: the Lord gave us himself, and the Lord gave us the true newness of being members of his Body, of being branches of the vine that he is. Therefore, the newness is the gift, the great gift, and from the gift, from the newness of the gift, also follows, as I have said, the new action. 

St Thomas Aquinas says this very succinctly when he writes: "The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit" (Summa Theologiae, I-IIae, q.106 a. 1). The New Law is not another commandment more difficult than the others: the New Law is a gift, the New Law is the presence of the Holy Spirit imparted to us in the sacrament of Baptism, in Confirmation, and given to us every day in the Most Blessed Eucharist. The Fathers distinguished here between "sacramentum" and "exemplum". "Sacramentum" is the gift of the new being, and this gift also becomes an example for our action, but "sacramentum" precedes it and we live by the sacrament. Here we see the centrality of the sacrament which is the centrality of the gift. 

Let us proceed in our reflection. The Lord says: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you". No longer servants who obey orders, but friends who know, who are united in the same will, in the same love. Hence the newness is that God has made himself known, that God has shown himself, that God is no longer the unknown God, sought but not found or only perceived from afar. God has shown himself: in the Face of Christ we see God, God has made himself "known", and has thereby made us his friends. Let us think how, in humanity's history, in all the archaic religions, it is known that there is a God. This knowledge is deeply rooted in the human heart, the knowledge that God is one, that deities are not "the" God. Yet this God remains very distant, he does not seem to make himself known, he does not make himself loved, he is not a friend, but is remote. Religions, therefore, were not very concerned with this God, concrete life was concerned with the spirits that we meet every day and with which we must reckon daily. God remained distant. 

Then we see the great philosophical movement: let us think of Plato and Aristotle who began to understand that this God is the agathon, goodness itself, that he is the eros that moves the world; yet this remains a human thought, it is an idea of God that comes close to the truth but it is an idea of ours and God remains the hidden God. 

A Regensburg professor recently wrote to me, a professor of physics who had read my Discourse to the University very late. He wrote to tell me that he could not agree, or not fully, with my logic. He said: "Of course, the idea is convincing that the rational structure of the world demands a creative reason that made this rationality which is not explained by itself". And he continued: "But if a demiurge can exist", this is how he put it, "a demiurge seems to me certain by what you say, I do not see that there is a God who is good, just and merciful. I can see that there is a reason that precedes the rationality of the cosmos, but I cannot see the rest". Thus God remains hidden to him. It is a reason that precedes our reasoning, our rationality, the rationality of being, but eternal love does not exist, the great mercy that gives us life does not exist. 

And here, in Christ, God showed himself in his total truth, he showed that he is reason and love, that eternal reason is love and thus creates. Unfortunately, today too, many people live far from Christ, they do not know his face and thus the eternal temptation of dualism, which is also hidden in this professor's letter, is constantly renewed, in other words perhaps there is not only one good principle but also a bad principle, a principle of evil; perhaps the world is divided and there are two equally strong realities and the Good God is only part of the reality. Today, even in theology, including Catholic theology, this thesis is being disseminated: that God is not almighty. Thus an apology is sought for God who would not, therefore, be responsible for the great store of evil we encounter in the world. But what a feeble apology! A God who is not almighty! Evil is not in his hands! And how could we possibly entrust ourselves to this God? How could we be certain of his love if this love ended where the power of evil began? 

However, God is no longer unknown: in the Face of the Crucified Christ we see God and we see true omnipotence, not the myth of omnipotence. For us human beings, almightiness, power, is always identified with the capacity to destroy, to do evil. Nevertheless the true concept of omnipotence that appears in Christ is precisely the opposite: in him true omnipotence is loving to the point that God can suffer: here his true omnipotence is revealed, which can even go as far as a love that suffers for us. And thus we see that he is the true God and the true God, who is love, is power: the power of love. And we can trust ourselves to his almighty love and live in this, with this almighty love. 

I think we should always meditate anew on this reality, that we should thank God because he has shown himself, because we know his Face, we know him face to face; no longer like Moses who could only see the back of the Lord. This too is a beautiful idea of which St Gregory of Nyssa said: "Seeing only his back, means that we must always follow Christ". But at the same time God showed us his Countenance with Christ, his Face. The curtain of the temple was torn. It opened, the mystery of God is visible. The first commandment that excludes images of God because they might only diminish his reality is changed, renewed, taking another form. Today we can see God's Face in Christ the man, we can have an image of Christ and thus see who God is. 

I think that those who have understood this, who have been touched by this mystery, that God has revealed himself, that the curtain of the temple has been torn asunder, that he has shown his Face, find a source of permanent joy. We can only say "thank you. Yes, now we know who you are, who God is and how to respond to him". And I think that this joy of knowing God who has shown himself, to the depths of his being, also embraces the joy of communicating this: those who have understood this, who live touched by this reality, must do as the first disciples did when they went to their friends and brethren saying: "We have found the one of whom the Prophets spoke. He is present now". Mission is not an external appendix to the faith but rather the dynamism of faith itself. Those who have seen, who have encountered Jesus, must go to their friends and tell them: "We have found him, he is Jesus, the One who was Crucified for us". 

Then, continuing, the text says: "I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide". With this we return to the beginning, to the image, to the Parable of the Vine: it is created to bear fruit. And what is the fruit? As we have said, the fruit is love. In the Old Testament, with the Torah as the first stage of God's revelation of himself, the fruit was understood as justice, that is, living in accordance with the Word of God, living in accordance with God's will, hence, living well. 

This continues but at the same time is transcended: true justice does not consist in obedience to a few norms, rather it is love, creative love that finds in itself the riches and abundance of good.
Abundance is one of the key words of the New Testament. God himself always gives in abundance. In order to create man, he creates this abundance of an immense cosmos; to redeem man he gives himself, in the Eucharist he gives himself. And anyone who is united with Christ, who is a branch of the Vine and who abides by this law does not ask: "Can I still do this or not?", "Should I do this or not?". Rather, he lives in the enthusiasm of love that does not ask: "Is this still necessary or is it forbidden?", but simply, in the creativity of love, wants to live with Christ and for Christ and give his whole self to him, thus entering into the joy of bearing fruit. Let us also bear in mind that the Lord says: "I chose you and appointed you that you should go": this is the dynamism that dwells in Christ's love; to go, in other words not to remain alone for me, to see my perfection, to guarantee eternal beatification for me, but rather to forget myself, to go as Christ went, to go as God went from the immensity of his majesty to our poverty, to find fruit, to help us, to give us the possibility of bearing the true fruit of love. The fuller we are of this joy in having discovered God's Face, the more real will the enthusiasm of love in us be and it will bear fruit. 

And finally, we come to the last words in this passage: "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you": a brief catechesis on prayer that never ceases to surprise us. Twice in this chapter 15 the Lord says: "ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you", and he says it once more in chapter 16. And we want to say: "But no, Lord it is not true". There are so many good and deeply-felt prayers of mothers who pray for a dying child which are not heard, so many prayers that something good will happen and the Lord does not grant it. What does this promise mean? In chapter 16 the Lord offers us the key to understanding it: he tells us what he gives us, what all this is, chara, joy. If someone has found joy he has found all things and sees all things in the light of divine love. Like St Francis, who wrote the great poem on creation in a bleak situation, yet even there, close to the suffering Lord, he rediscovered the beauty of being, the goodness of God and composed this great poem. 

It is also useful to remember at the same time some verses of Luke's Gospel, in which the Lord, in a parable, speaks of prayer, saying, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!". The Holy Spirit, in the Gospel according to Luke, is joy, in John's Gospel he is the same reality: joy is the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is joy or, in other words from God we do not ask something small or great, from God we invoke the divine gift, God himself; this is the great gift that God gives us: God himself. In this regard we must learn to pray, to pray for the great reality, for the divine reality, so that God may give us himself, may give us his Spirit and thus we may respond to the demands of life and help others in their suffering. Of course he teaches us the "Our Father". We can pray for many things. In all our needs we can pray: "Help me!". This is very human and God is human, as we have seen; therefore it is right to pray God also for the small things of our daily lives. 

However, at the same time, prayer is a journey, I would say flight of stairs: we must learn more and more what it is that we can pray for and what we cannot pray for because it is an expression of our selfishness. I cannot pray for things that are harmful for others, I cannot pray for things that help my egoism, my pride. Thus prayer, in God's eyes, becomes a process of purification of our thoughts, of our desires. As the Lord says in the Parable of the Vine: we must be pruned, purified, every day; living with Christ, in Christ, abiding in Christ, is a process of purification and it is only in this process of slow purification, of liberation from ourselves and from the desire to have only ourselves, that the true journey of life lies and the path of joy unfolds. 

As I have already said, all the Lord's words have a sacramental background. The fundamental background for the Parable of the Vine is Baptism: we are implanted in Christ; and the Eucharist: we are one loaf, one body, one blood, one life with Christ. Thus this process of purification also has a sacramental background: the sacrament of Penance, of Reconciliation, in which we accept this divine pedagogy which day by day, throughout our life, purifies us and increasingly makes us true members of his Body. In this way we can learn that God responds to our prayers, that he often responds with his goodness also to small prayers, but often too he corrects them, transforms them and guides them so that we may at last and really be branches of his Son, of the true vine, members of his Body. 

Let us thank God for the greatness of his love, let us pray that he may help us to grow in his love and truly to abide in his love.

[Pope Benedict, Lectio at the PSRM 12 February 2010]

Men, eternally elected by the Father in the Beloved Son, find in Christ the Way to their end as adopted children. To Him they unite themselves by becoming His Body. Through Him they ascend to the Father as one "whole" with the things of earth and heaven.

This divine plan finds its historical fulfilment when Jesus establishes the Church, which he first announces and then founds with the sacrifice of his blood and the mandate given to the Apostles to shepherd his flock. It is a historical fact and at the same time a mystery of communion in Christ. For the realisation of this communion of men in Christ eternally willed by God, the commandment that Jesus himself calls 'my commandment' is of essential importance. He calls it 'a new commandment': 'I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. As I have loved you, so also love one another'. "This is my commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you".

The commandment to love God above all things, and one's neighbour as oneself, has its roots in the Old Testament. But Jesus summarises it, formulates it in sculptural words, gives it a new meaning, as a sign of his followers' belonging to him. "By this all will know that you are my disciples: if you have love for one another". Christ himself is the living model and measure of that love of which he speaks in his commandment: 'As I have loved you,' he says. And indeed he presents himself as the source of that love, as 'the vine', which bears fruit with that love in his disciples, who are 'the branches' of it: 'I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing'. Hence the exhortation: 'Abide in my love'. The community of disciples, rooted in that love with which Christ himself loved them, is the Church, the Body of Christ, the one vine of which we are the branches. It is the Church-communion, the Church-community of love, the Church-mystery of love. The members of this community love Christ and, in Him, love one another. But it is a love that, deriving from the love with which Jesus himself loved them, is linked back to the source of the love of Christ Man-God, namely the Trinitarian communion. From it it draws its entire nature, its supernatural qualification, and tends to it as to its own definitive fulfilment.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 15 January 1992]

Today’s Gospel — John Chapter 15 — brings us back to the Last Supper, when we hear Jesus’ new commandment. He says: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (v. 12). Thinking of his imminent sacrifice on the cross, He adds: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you” (v. 13-14). These words, said at the Last Supper, summarize Jesus’ full message. Actually they summarize all that He did: Jesus gave His life for His friends. Friends who did not understand Him, in fact they abandoned, betrayed and denied Him at the crucial moment. This tells us that He loves us, even though we don’t deserve His love. Jesus loves us in this way!

Thus Jesus shows us the path to follow Him: the path of love. His commandment is not a simple teaching which is always abstract or foreign to life. Christ’s commandment is new because He realized it first, He gave His flesh and thus the law of love is written upon the heart of man (cf. Jer 31:33). And how is it written? It is written with the fire of the Holy Spirit. With this Spirit that Jesus gives us, we too can take this path!

It is a real path, a path that leads us to come out of ourselves and go towards others. Jesus showed us that the love of God is realized in love for our neighbour. Both go hand-in-hand. The pages of the Gospel are full of this love: adults and children, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, just and sinners all were welcomed into the heart of Christ.

Therefore, this Word of God calls us to love one another, even if we do not always understand each other, and do not always get along... it is then that Christian love is seen. A love which manifests even if there are differences of opinion or character. Love is greater than these differences! This is the love that Jesus taught us. It is a new love because Jesus and his Spirit renewed it. It is a redeeming love, free from selfishness. A love which gives our hearts joy, as Jesus himself said: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn 15:11).

It is precisely Christ’s love that the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts to make everyday wonders in the Church and in the world. There are many small and great actions which obey the Lord’s commandment: “Love one another as I have loved you” (cf. Jn 15:12). Small everyday actions, actions of closeness to an elderly person, to a child, to a sick person, to a lonely person, those in difficulty, without a home, without work, an immigrant, a refugee.... Thanks to the strength of the Word of Christ, each one of us can make ourselves the brother or sister of those whom we encounter. Actions of closeness, actions which manifest the love that Christ taught us.

May our Most Holy Mother help us in this, so that in each of our daily lives love of God and love of neighbour may be ever united.

[Pope Francis, Regina Coeli 10 May 2015]

Resilience not teeth clenched, and Resemblance not possessive

(Jn 15:9-11)

Jesus has just used the image of the «vineyard» to configure the “character” of his new people and the ‘circulation of life’ that unites them.

«Life» of particular intensity and temperament.

The allegory of the Vine and the branches is now translated into existential terms.

The propagation of divine dynamism in us initiates a particular and accentuated ‘current of love’.

The fate of the «withered» branch [deprived of the Spirit's lymph] and cut off, is the sense of futility and distress (v.6).

But - to the Vine - even cutting, cleansing and purifying (v.2) do not prevent it from producing abundant and juicy clusters.

A new song, finally free of dissociation.

In fact, the discomfort brings to the bower an even more pronounced flow, an itinerary of character, and a dilation.

The farmer is the Father (v.1) who cuts and prunes in order to the greater vitality of the field.

Here we linger, surrendering our “predictions” to Grace - in the paradoxical protection of personal concentration.

Let us leave it to Him to bring down the infecund disguises.

In doing so, it will be the wise Farmer who will extinguish the dispersive patterns and turn on our ‘voice’ - the one that belongs to us.

The energy of the metamorphosis that will expand from critical situations will make us «be» instead of “look like” [outside].

From within, the ‘gaze in state of search’ will be shifted and made essential, making room for the virtue of one’s own ‘roots’.

Gradually, the play that required sterile forcing will be skilfully dismantled - so that we do not close ourselves off in preconceptions.

Apparent strength will have to give way to real strength.

Along the Journey, everyone will accept another self-image; without detaching themselves from living together.

Holding hard will leave room for flexibility, for vocational melody.

Thus, making space for the authentic way of being.

By learning to perceive well and rely on all that providentially peeks out, elastic responses will spring forth.

Personal Gaiety will pour into the soul - not the fatuous one of euphoria or exaltation, transient of many leaves.

Because, by not having to hide other preferences, a different identifying character, or our own frailties, we will become stronger.

Without having to control the situation all the time.

The intimate Merriment that will activate us will be the fruit of a new awareness, which finally contributes to the ‘catholic’ conviviality of differences.

Consciousness that combines the divine proposal of non-possessive Similarity with our ability to welcome ourselves - and not fighting unnaturally.

Even in vulnerabilities. Despite the different tastes around.

An ‘ad personam’ vital wave that becomes uncommon resilience, and different Happiness.

As we remain in the Father-Son circulation of love, we will be enveloped by an intoxication that intuits the meaning and uniqueness of our Seed.

This changes the way we see life, relationships, suffering, and Joy.

Laying down the efforts and brooding, encountering the enigmas and unknown sides, here is the Wisdom that dwells within us.

[Thursday 5th wk. in Easter, May 22, 2025]