VI Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)  [15 February 2026]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us. The theme of the two paths, so dear to the prophets, touches on the theme of human freedom and responsibility. This Sunday's readings help us to better understand how not to go astray in life.

 

First Reading from the Book of Sirach (15:15-20 NV 15:16-21) 

God created us free, and Ben Sira the Wise offers us here a reflection on human freedom that is divided into three points: FIRST, evil is external to man; SECOND, man is free to choose between evil and good; THIRD, choosing good also means choosing happiness. FIRST: evil is external to man because it is not part of our nature, and this is already great news; because if evil were part of our nature, there would be no hope of salvation: we could never free ourselves from it. This, for example, was the conception of the Babylonians. In contrast, the Bible is much more optimistic: it affirms that evil is external to man; God did not create evil, and it is not he who drives us to commit it. He is therefore not responsible for the evil we commit. This is the meaning of the last verse of this reading: 'God has not commanded anyone to be wicked, nor has he given anyone permission to sin'. Shortly before this passage, Ben Sira writes: 'Do not say, "The Lord has led me astray... Do not say, "He has caused me to go astray"' (Sir 15:11-12).

If God had created Adam as a being who was partly good and partly evil, as the Babylonians imagined, evil would be part of our nature. But God is only love, and evil is totally foreign to him. The account of the fall of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis was written precisely to make it clear that evil is external to man, since it is introduced by the serpent and spreads throughout the world when man begins to distrust God. We find the same statement in the letter of St James: 'No one, when tempted, should say, 'Temptation comes from God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one'. In other words, evil is totally foreign to God: he cannot push us to do it. And St James continues: 'Each person is tempted when they are dragged away and enticed by their own desire' (Jas 1:13-14). SECOND: man is free and can choose evil or good. This certainty was slowly acquired by the people of Israel; yet, here too, the Bible is unequivocal: God created man free. For this certainty to mature in Israel, it was necessary for the people to experience God's liberating action at every stage of their history, beginning with the experience of liberation from Egypt. The entire faith of Israel was born from its historical experience: God is its liberator; and little by little it was understood that what is true today was already true at the moment of creation, and therefore it was deduced that God created man free. We must therefore learn to reconcile these two biblical certainties: that God is almighty and that, nevertheless, man is free before him. And it is precisely because man is free to choose that we can speak of sin: the very notion of sin presupposes freedom; if we were not free, our mistakes could not be called sins. Perhaps, in order to enter a little into this mystery, we must remember that God's omnipotence is that of love: we know well that only true love makes the other free. To guide man in his choices, God gave him his Law, and the book of Deuteronomy emphasises this strongly (cf. Dt 30:11-14).  THIRD: choosing good means choosing happiness. We read in the text: "Before men lie life and death, good and evil: to each will be given what he has chosen." In other words, it is in fidelity to God that man finds true happiness. To turn away from him means, sooner or later, to bring about one's own unhappiness. Figuratively speaking, man is constantly at a crossroads: two roads open up before him (the Bible speaks of two 'ways'). One way leads to light, joy and life: blessed are those who follow it. The other is a way of night and darkness and ultimately leads only to sadness and death. Unhappy are those who stray onto it. Here too, one cannot help but think of the story of the fall of Adam and Eve: their bad choice led them down the wrong path. The theme of the two paths is very common in the Bible, particularly in the book of Deuteronomy (30:15-20). According to the theme of the two paths, we are never definitively prisoners, even after making wrong choices, because it is always possible to turn back. Through Baptism, we are grafted onto Christ, who at every moment gives us the strength to choose the right path again: this is why we call him Redeemer, that is, Liberator. Ben Sira said that it is up to us to remain faithful and, as baptised persons, we must add: we remain faithful with the grace of Jesus Christ.

 

Responsorial Psalm (118/119)

This psalm perfectly echoes the first reading from Ben Sira: it is the same meditation that continues; the idea developed (in a different way, of course, but in full coherence) in these two texts is that humanity finds its happiness only in trust in God and obedience to his commandments: "Blessed is the one who is upright in his way and walks in the Law of the Lord". Misfortune and death begin for man when he strays from the path of serene trust. In fact, allowing suspicion of God and his commandments to enter our hearts and, as a result, doing as we please means taking a bad road with no way out. This is precisely the problem of Adam and Eve in the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. We find, as if in filigree, the theme of the two paths mentioned in the first reading: if we listen to Ben Sira, we are perpetual travellers, forced to constantly check our path... Blessed among us are those who have found the right path! Because, of the two paths that constantly open up before us, one leads to happiness, the other to unhappiness. The believer experiences the sweetness of fidelity to God's commandments: this is what the psalm wants to tell us. It is the longest psalm in the Psalter (176 verses with 22 stanzas of 8 verses) and the few verses proposed today constitute only a very small part of it, the equivalent of a single stanza. Why twenty-two stanzas? Because there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet: each verse of each stanza begins with the same letter, and the stanzas follow each other in alphabetical order. In literature, we speak of an 'acrostic', although here it is not a matter of literary virtuosity, but of a true profession of faith: this psalm is a poem in honour of the Law, a meditation on God's gift, which is the Law, that is, the commandments. Indeed, rather than a psalm, it would be better to speak of a litany in honour of the Law: something that is rather foreign to us. In fact, one of the characteristics of the Bible, which is somewhat surprising to us, is the true love for the Law that dwells in the biblical believer. The commandments are not endured as a domination that God would exercise over us, but as advice, the only valid advice for leading a happy life. "Blessed are those who are upright in their ways, who walk according to the Law of the Lord": when the biblical man utters this phrase, he means it with all his heart. Obviously, this is not magic: men who are faithful to the Law may encounter all sorts of misfortunes in the course of their lives; but, in these tragic cases, the believer knows that only the path of trust in God can give him peace of mind. The Law is accepted as a gift that God gives to his people, warning them against all false paths; it is an expression of the Father's concern for his children, just as we sometimes warn a child or a friend against what we think is dangerous for them. It is said that God gives his Law, and it is truly considered a gift. In fact, God did not limit himself to freeing his people from slavery in Egypt; left to its own devices, Israel would have risked falling back into other forms of slavery that might have been even worse. By giving his Law, God was in a way offering a user manual for freedom. The Law is therefore an expression of God's love for his people. It must be said that we did not have to wait for the New Testament to discover that God is Love and that, ultimately, the Law has no other purpose than to lead us on the path of love. The entire Bible is the story of the chosen people's learning in the school of love and fraternal life. The book of Deuteronomy stated: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deut 6:4). And the book of Leviticus continued: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself' (Lev 19:18). Later, Jesus, combining these two commandments, was able to say that they summarise the entire Jewish Law. Let us return to the Beatitude of the first verse of this psalm: 'Blessed is the man who follows the Law of the Lord'. The word "blessed," as we have already learned, can be translated as "on the way," so the meaning of this verse would be: "Walk with confidence, man who observes the Law of the Lord." The biblical man is so convinced that his life and happiness are at stake that this litany I mentioned earlier is actually a prayer. After the first three verses, which are statements about the happiness of men faithful to the Law, the remaining 173 verses address God directly, in a style that is sometimes contemplative, sometimes supplicatory, with invocations such as: "Open my eyes, that I may behold the wonders of your Law". And the litany continues, repeating almost the same formulas over and over again: for example, in Hebrew, the same eight terms are always used in each stanza to describe the Law. Only lovers dare to repeat themselves like this, without risking weariness. Eight words that are always the same and also eight verses in each of the twenty-two stanzas: the number eight, in the Bible, is the number of the new Creation. The first Creation was accomplished by God in seven days; the eighth day will therefore be that of the renewed Creation, of the 'new heavens and the new earth', according to another biblical expression. It will finally be able to manifest itself when all humanity lives according to God's Law, that is, in love, since it is the same thing. Other elements of the symbolism of the number eight: there were four human couples (eight people) in Noah's ark; Christ's resurrection took place on Sunday, which is both the first and eighth day of the week. For this reason, the baptisteries of the early centuries were often octagonal; even today, we still see numerous octagonal bell towers.

FURTHER INSIGHT: the eight terms in the vocabulary of the Law, considered synonyms that express the different facets of God's love that is given in his Law: Commandments: to order, to command; Law: derives from a root that does not mean 'to prescribe' but 'to teach'; it indicates the way to God. It is a pedagogy, an accompaniment that God offers us: a gift; Word: the Word of God is always creative, a word of love: 'God said... and so it came to pass' (Gen 1). We know well that 'I love you' is also a creative word; Promise: the Word of God is always promise and faithfulness; Judgements: dealing with justice; Decrees: from the verb 'to engrave', 'to write on stone' (the tablets of the Law); Precepts: what God has entrusted to us; Testimonies: of God's faithfulness.

 

Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (2:6-10)

Last Sunday, St Paul already contrasted human wisdom with the wisdom of God: 'Your faith', he said, 'is not based on human wisdom, but on the power of God'. And he insisted that the mystery of Christ has nothing to do with our reasoning: in the eyes of men, the Gospel appears to be madness, and those who stake their lives on it are foolish. This insistence on the term 'wisdom' may surprise us, but Paul is addressing the Corinthians, that is, the Greeks, for whom wisdom is the most precious virtue.

Today, Paul continues along the same lines: the proclamation of the mystery of God may seem like folly in the eyes of the world, but it is an infinitely higher wisdom, the wisdom of God. 'Among those who are perfect, we do speak of wisdom, but of a wisdom that is not of this world... we speak instead of the wisdom of God'. It is up to us to choose whether to live according to the wisdom of the world, the spirit of the world, or according to the wisdom of God: two totally contradictory wisdoms. Here we return to the theme of the other readings for this Sunday: the first reading from the book of Sirach and Psalm 118/119 both developed, each in its own way, the theme of the two paths: man is placed at the crossroads of two paths and is free to choose his own way; one path leads to life and happiness; the other sinks into darkness, death, and ultimately offers only false joys. 'The wisdom of God that has remained hidden' (v. 7): one of the great affirmations of the Bible is that man cannot understand everything about the mystery of life and creation, nor the mystery of God himself. This limitation is part of our very being. In this regard, we read in Deuteronomy: 'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and our children forever, that we may put into practice all the words of this Law' (Deut 29:28). This means that God knows everything, and we know only what he has chosen to reveal to us, beginning with the Law, which is the key to everything else. Let us return once more to the book of Genesis, which tells of the Garden of Eden, where there were trees of every kind, 'pleasing to the eye and good for food' (Gen 2:9); and there were also two special trees: one, located in the middle of the garden, was the tree of life; the other, located in an unspecified place, was called the tree of the knowledge of what makes one happy or unhappy. Adam was allowed to eat the fruit of the tree of life; indeed, it was recommended, for God had said, "You may eat of every tree in the garden... except one." Only the fruit of the tree of knowledge was forbidden. This is a figurative way of saying that man cannot know everything and must accept this limitation: Hidden things belong to the Lord our God, says Deuteronomy. On the contrary, the Torah, the Law, which is the tree of life, is entrusted to man: practising the Law means nourishing ourselves day after day with what will make us live.

I return to this expression: Wisdom kept hidden, established by God before the ages for our glory (cf. v7). Paul insists several times in his letters that God's plan has been established from all eternity and there has never been a rethinking or a change because the unfolding of God's plan does not change according to the behaviour of humanity: we cannot imagine that God first created a perfect world until the day Adam committed his sin and then, to make amends, decided to send his Son. Against this conception, Paul develops in many of his letters the idea that the role of Jesus Christ has been planned from all eternity and that God's plan precedes all human history. He says this clearly in his letter to the Ephesians (cf. Eph 1:9-10) and in his letter to the Romans (cf. Rom 16:25-26). The fulfilment of this plan, as Paul says, is 'to give us glory': glory is an attribute of God and God alone, and our vocation is to share in his glory. For Paul, this expression is another way of speaking about God's plan to bring us all together in Jesus Christ and make us share in the glory of the Trinity, as we read in the letter to the Ephesians. St Paul writes again: But as it is written: 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, God has prepared for those who love him' (v. 9). When he says 'as it is written', he is referring to the prophet Isaiah, who says: "Never before has anything like this been heard or seen, nor has any eye seen a god who acts on behalf of those who trust in him" (Is 64:3). Here is the amazement of the believer gratified by the revelation of God's mysteries. And he continues: "God has prepared these things for those who love him". But could there be people for whom this would not have been prepared? Are there therefore privileged and excluded people? Certainly not: God's plan is for everyone; but only those who have an open heart can participate in it, and each person is the sole master of their own heart. It is the theme of trust in God because the mystery of his providential plan is revealed only to the little ones, as Jesus says: "You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little ones" (cf. Mt 11:25 and Lk 10:21). Since we are all little ones, we need only recognise this humbly and with trust in God. 

 

From the Gospel according to Matthew (5:17-37)

The Kingdom advances slowly but surely. This Gospel of Matthew 5 allows us to understand how the Kingdom of God advances in history: not by breaking, but by fulfilling. The key verb that St Matthew puts on Jesus' lips is 'I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil'. The whole Bible, from Abraham onwards, is oriented towards a progressive fulfilment of God's benevolent plan. Christians, in fact, do not live in nostalgia for the past, but in active expectation: they judge history not on the basis of immediate successes, but on the progress of the Kingdom. This is why we can say that Sunday Mass is the 'meeting of the Kingdom's construction site': the place where we see whether the Gospel is really transforming life. It is a slow growth, inscribed in the Law.  The evangelist shows that this slowness is not a defect, but God's own method. The Law given to Moses represented the first steps: indicating the minimum necessary for coexistence to be possible – do not kill, do not steal, do not lie. It was already a decisive step forward from the law of the strongest. Jesus does not cancel these achievements; on the contrary, he brings them to maturity. The antitheses ('You have heard that it was said... but I say to you...') manifest this advancement of the Kingdom: not only avoiding murder, but eradicating anger; not only avoiding adultery, but purifying the gaze; not only avoiding false oaths, but living in the truth of the word. Each time the Kingdom takes a step forward, because the human heart is slowly converted. And so the Kingdom grows through relationships. The text highlighted a decisive point: the commandments renewed by Jesus all concern relationships with others: reconciliation with one's brother, respect for women, trustworthy speech, love of one's enemy. If God's merciful plan is, as Paul says, to reunite everyone in Christ, then every step towards a truer brotherhood is already an advance of the Kingdom. This is why Jesus does not limit himself to teaching us to pray 'Thy Kingdom come', but shows us how to bring it about: through concrete, daily choices, often hidden but real. At the beginning of his discourse, Matthew presents the Beatitudes that describe those who allow the Kingdom to advance: not the powerful, but the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers. It is to the little ones that the Father reveals his mysteries. Here too, the Kingdom does not advance by force or spectacle, but by humility and fidelity.

The Kingdom advances like salt that disappears and like light that shines without noise. It is growth that is measured over the long term, not in the immediate. This is why Jesus can say at the end of the chapter: 'Be perfect' (Mt 5:48), that is, brought to fulfilment. It is not an unattainable ideal, but the goal of a journey that God himself accompanies. The Kingdom of God does not burst in, but grows; it does not eliminate the past, but brings it to fulfilment; it does not advance by force, but by conversion of heart. Every step forward in love, every reconciled relationship, every word made true: this is how, slowly but surely, the Kingdom comes.

 

+Giovanni D'Ercole

A few days ago, I read in the newspaper about another case of a 22-year-old girl being stabbed. She was stabbed because she was listening to music at too high a volume, annoying her attacker.

Recently, several similar incidents have been reported in the media, all involving young people and all for trivial reasons. Some were for looking too long at the girl of their dreams, others for a slightly risqué compliment, etc.

Unfortunately, many young people these days attack their peers with knives they carry with them. 

It should be noted that, like all objects, knives do not only have a negative value. They are used in the kitchen, for work; in the hands of a skilled chef, they become something precious. 

In primitive societies, they were used to defend against animals and enemies.

Today, in the world of young people and beyond, if we think of the numerous cases of femicide where women are killed with unprecedented ferocity, it seems to be becoming a kind of status symbol.

This tool is perceived as a sign of toughness and strength, especially among young people who feel marginalised. 

The episodes of violence that occur between two individuals have no valid reasons, but the spark that triggers them is a trivial, sometimes frivolous motive.

Often, the use of knives – weapons that are easy to obtain – is inherent in individuals associated with youth gangs, in order to  become part of them and become affiliated. Here, it is as if this object could be a 'magic wand' against feelings of inner malaise and emotional and social disappointments. And this weapon would make us feel invincible, or perhaps just stronger. 

Except for professionals, getting used to carrying a weapon with us can have repercussions on our way of being. We get used to it, and we may increasingly tend towards episodes of aggression towards others. 

Leaving the house and carrying a knife with us - sooner or later, at the slightest provocation, we are tempted to use it, thus fuelling fear and increasing the likelihood of becoming a victim ourselves. In the long run, our psyche 'brings out' aspects of ourselves that may have been 'dormant' in hidden corners of our unconsciousness.

The individual ends up engaging in antisocial behaviour. And in the many goals they try to achieve, this behaviour can sometimes be harmful to themselves.

These are individuals who have a normal intellectual level, sometimes even above average.

In my experience of similar cases, referred by the Juvenile Court to the Child Neuropsychiatry Service, episodes of knife violence were associated with a low intellectual level.

These individuals often encounter failure in every initiative they take, thus increasing their sense of frustration.

They generally tend to lie and often exploit others, giving little importance to moral values.

They habitually almost never tell the truth, even when they make a promise (which they usually do not keep), showing no distress and coldly maintaining their positions.

They may be influenced by films and ancestral cultures, which can reinforce their inclination to use such weapons, without being aware of the possible consequences and the potential escalation of violence. 

We 'young people of the past' were taught and passed on the ability to react constructively to the difficulties and humiliations that life inevitably brings. 

Today, however, it seems that everything is owed to us, that deprivation of anything in this excess of well-being is unbearable. 

And so, especially in emotionally unstable individuals, something triggers them to do harm; we are moving towards an insane, sick aggression. Not towards that 'healthy determination' that helps us overcome life's obstacles.

I have often heard from people who came before me, and perhaps also from some reading that I now cannot remember, that the most cruel beast is man. Two souls lurk in his heart: one made of sociability and a drive towards others, the other of jealousy and rivalry, of cruelty towards others.

People with these issues tend to be dishonest, to lie and deceive others, to try to exploit them, forgetting the moral principles they have learned.

These people always consider themselves 'the best'. If this is not perceived, anger rises - consciously or unconsciously.

When they cause harm, they feel no remorse and no guilt.

The line between what is legal and what is not becomes blurred. We tend to act impulsively, without considering the effect of our actions on others.

As a result, we sink lower and lower. We believe that others are only there to help us get what we want.

Often, violent or even sadistic behaviour is associated with a certain pleasure.

And here we also tend to participate in clashes with 'power'.

On a collective level, just look at the recent events in Turin, where violence is directed at law enforcement officers, those who represent the rules and seek to restore legality.

Without adhering to any ideology, I am personally convinced, leaving aside party politics, that limits must be restored from childhood. In this way, a child can grow up with a clear distinction between what is good and what is evil.

 

Dr Francesco Giovannozzi, Psychologist-Psychotherapist.

(Mt 5:17-37)

 

Abolish or bring to Completion [vv.17-19]

 

Religious criticized converts to the Faith for being transgressors and against the wealth of Tradition.

Thus while some emphasized salvation by Faith alone in Christ and not by works of Law, others did not accept the Spirit freedom that was increasingly manifested in those who began to believe in Jesus Messiah.

New, more radical currents were already desirous of leaving aside his history and his Person, to get rid of them, and take refuge in a generic, spineless independence.

Mt helps to understand the disagreement: the direction of the Arrow shot from Judaic Scriptures is the right one, but it has no unanimous and totally clear cue, nor the strength to reach the Target.

The evangelist harmonizes the tensions, emphasizing that authentic observance does not allow us to bracket the historical, real Christ - perhaps by remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions or models, He makes Himself present in the facets of the most diverse currents of thought. He’s not a one-sided, nor an abstract binary.

New Words, ancient Words, and the Spirit who renews the face of the earth, are part of a unique Drawing.

And only in the Risen One does our harvest come to complete life - full aim of the Law - becoming forever.

 

 

First debt: a superior Justice [vv.20-26]

 

Mt helps disputants to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and grasp the attitude of "continuity and cut" given to them by the Lord: «You have heard that [...] Now I say to you» (vv.21-22).

The ideal of ancient religiosity was to appear pure before God; Jesus brings out its objective: the superior Justice of the Love.

The splendor, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God are not produced in observing, but in the possibility of manifesting Him Present.

The Life of God transpires into a world not of pure and sterilized phlegmatic disciples, but in a conviviality of differences that Resembles Him.

 

 

Revelation of equal dignity [vv.27-32]

 

In Semitic marriage norm, the woman was assessed as a patrimony of the husband: even in the First Testament the sin of adultery was valued as a sort of serious violation of the male’s right of property [as well, impurities of blood].

Jesus reveals the value of the person as such, and brings to the fore the innermost sense of the approaches and transgressions, wich harm and offend the existence of the weak.

He even introduces the announcement of equal dignity between man and woman.

Marriage is a community of love; not a union that can be dissolved by whim and material calculus.

The opportunism of bullies condemns the defenceless person - who then (abandoned) for a living will be condemned to suffer other violations of self (v.32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for a harsh intransigence towards every trivial deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent without protections.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also envisages painful amputations. Carrying out the gravest sacrifices can release the strong from his delirium.

In short, an attraction without self-giving does not express the person to the person; it’s the unripe fruit of immaturity and leads to alienation.

The woman - ie the unsteady and innocent, who loves more, and more seriously - is not a creature liable to mockery, nor reducible to possession, thing, consumer good, merely useful to arrogant man of the home.

 

 

The perfection of Gratis, the deficiency of the stools [vv.33-37]

 

Yes when it is yes, No when it is no. There is no need to give strength to trust: the theatrics of bombastic formulas only admit the conviction that “the other” cannot be fully trusted.

Total transparency in relationships does not need «stools» to support it. Good relations, the ideal of justice, and our whole life, come to perfection in a limpid manner.

Let’s get to the theological point: what counts for God is the Person, not his symbolic expressions or merits - fake props to the you-for-you, to be set out in the window to hijack it.

Face to face is worth the whole lot: far more than what sounds by ear, and much more than accounting than the woman and man have observed or not.

The Father is impressed by his creaturely masterpiece, not by performances, nor by the smokescreen of conformist expressions: rituals, acronyms, set phrases.

There is nothing higher than our Face. We do not have to improve except by his Gratuitousness, wich is far more reliable and effective than our not infrequently vain and homologising observances.

The power we have in dowry cannot even affect the natural color of a hair (v.36): this is the reality - behind the grand scenes that we put up to avoid admitting that... something is wrong.

The integrity that counts is quiet, transparent, spontaneous, forthright, sincere. Needless to make and repeat oaths, to deceive even God.

 

 

[6th Sunday in O.T.  (year A), 15 February 2026]

(Mt 5:17-37)

 

Law and Spirit

 

To break down or to fulfil: Law and Spirit

(Mt 5:17-19)

 

Faced with the precepts of the Law, different attitudes emerge. On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established, and on the other, there are those who omit or disregard the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, he was attentive to the deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'break' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided allowing himself to be minimised in the casuistry of morality that fragmented fundamental choices - and made them all superficial, without a fulcrum.

Legalistic rigidity tended to equate the codes... with God. But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, Word and Person: global discipleship.

 

In the early communities, some believers believed that the rules of the First Testament should no longer be considered, as we are saved by Faith and not by works of the Law.

Others accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but could not bear the excess of freedom with which some brothers in the church lived his Presence. 

Still tied to an ideal ethnic background, they believed that ancient observance was obligatory.

There was no shortage of believers carried away by an excess of fantasies in the Spirit. Some, in fact, rejected the Hebrew Scriptures and considered themselves detached from history: they no longer looked at the story of Jesus.

 

Matthew seeks a balance between emancipation and closure.

He writes his Gospel to support converts to the Faith in Christ in the communities of Galilee and Syria, accused by their Judaizing brothers of being unfaithful to the Torah.

The evangelist makes it clear that Jesus himself had been accused of serious transgressions of the Law of Moses.

The trajectory of the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a consistent and totally clear starting point, nor does it have the strength in itself to reach its target.

The arrow of the Torah has been shot in the right direction, but only in the Spirit of the Beatitudes can a living assembly gain momentum to reach Communion.

 

The Gospel passage is concerned with emphasising that the ancient Scriptures, the historical story of Jesus, and life in the Spirit must be evaluated as inseparable aspects of a single plan of salvation.

Lived in synergy, they lead to the conviviality of differences.

The God of the patriarchs makes himself present in the loving relationship of communities, through faith in Christ, who expands his own life in their hearts.

The Living One transmits the Spirit that spurs all creativity, overcomes closed-mindedness, opens up, and invites.

[In us, Jesus of Nazareth becomes a living Body - and the joy of doing so manifests Him (starting from the soul) in Person and in full Faithfulness].

Reaching out to our brothers and sisters and going to God thus becomes easy, spontaneous, rich and very personal for everyone: the Strength comes from within.

 

New words or ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth, are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total fascination of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full objective of the Law - becoming 'forever'.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

Has the law on stone remained rigid within you, or do you feel an impulse towards a new Covenant?

Do you sense within yourself an actualised and irresistible desire for good, which rediscovers everything in the Scriptures and energises the Word in the various tastes of doing?

 

 

 

Demolish or Fulfil

 

    Faced with the precepts of the Law, distant attitudes manifest themselves.

On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established; on the other, there are those who omit or despise the rules.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, He was attentive to the spirit and deeper meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'destroy' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided even more being minimised in the casuistry of morality.

This ethical obsession - still alive in the early brotherhoods - fragmented and eroded the meaning of fundamental choices, rendering them all superficial and without focus.

In this way, a legalistic sclerotisation was produced, which easily tended to equate the codes... with God.

But for the believer, his 'obligation' is both event, spirit of the Word, and Person: global following in those same incomparable appointments.

 

The faithful of the communities of Galilee and Syria were criticised by the old-fashioned Jews.

These observant Jews accused their co-religionists who had converted to the new personal, creative Faith of being transgressors and contrary to the depth of the common Tradition.

Thus, some emphasised salvation through faith alone in Christ and not through works of the law. Others did not accept the Freedom that was growing precisely in those who were beginning to believe in Jesus the Messiah.

New, more radical currents already wanted to disregard his history and his Person, to get rid of him and take refuge in a generic 'avant-garde' or 'freedom of spirit' - without backbone, vicissitudes or conjunctions.

 

Matthew helps us to understand the conflict: the direction of the arrow shot from the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a clear and consistent starting point, nor the strength to reach its target.

The evangelist harmonises the tensions, emphasising that authentic observance is not formal fidelity [obedience to the 'letter'].

The spirit of fundamental fulfilment does not allow us to put the whole Christ and his trials and tribulations in brackets, perhaps remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions in the power of election, nor 'breaking down' (v. 17) ancient and identified or particular ways of being, He is present in the facets of the most diverse currents of thought.

New words, ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total charm of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full goal of the Law - becoming forever.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How do you evaluate the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Prophets?

How do you deal with situations in harmony with the Voice of the Lord and in his Spirit?

 

 

 

First debt: greater Justice

(Mt 5:20-26)

 

    "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

 

In the churches of Galilee and Syria, there were different and conflicting opinions about the Law of Moses: for some, it was an absolute to be fulfilled even in detail, for others, it was now a meaningless ornament (v. 22).

The contenders resorted to insults to ridicule the opposing side.

 

But as the Tao Tê Ching (xxx) says: "Where armies dwell, thorns and brambles grow." Master Wang Pi comments: "He who promotes himself causes disorder, because he strives to assert his merits."

 

Matthew helps all the brothers of the community to understand the content of the ancient Scriptures and to understand the attitude of 'continuity and cutting' given to them by the Lord: "You have heard that [...] Now I say to you" (vv. 21-22).

The 'arrow' of the ancient codes has been shot in the right direction, but only understanding its significance in the spirit of harmony sustains its journey until it provides the energy necessary to hit the 'target'.

 

The ideal of ancient religiosity was to present oneself pure before God, and in this sense the official theologian scribes of the Sanhedrin emphasised the value of the rules they believed were hidden in the 'prison of the letter' of the First Testament.

The Sadducees - the priestly class - focused on the sacrificial observances of the Torah alone.

The Pharisees, leaders of popular religiosity, emphasised respect for every traditional custom.

 

The teaching of the professionals of the sacred produced in the people a sense of legalistic oppression that obscured the spirit of the Word of God and of Tradition itself.

Jesus brings out the objective: the greater Justice of Love.

The splendour, beauty and richness of the Glory of the living God is not produced by observing, but by the ability to manifest it as Present.

The right attitude before the Father becomes - in Jesus' proposal - the right position before one's own history and that of one's neighbour.

The first 'debt' is therefore a 'global understanding': here the Eternal One is revealed.

Justice is not the product of accumulating righteous deeds for the sake of merit: this would manifest pettiness, detachment and arrogance (a type of man with unquestionable thinking).

The new Justice pursues complicity with evil to the secret roots of the heart and ideas. But not to accentuate guilt, nor to make us pursue external dreams.

Observance that does not remain in friendship, in tolerance even of oneself, in Christ who guides, would arise from an ambiguous relationship with the norm and doctrines.

 

We can neglect the childish need for approval.

The Life of God transpires in a world not of pure and phlegmatic, sterilised or unilateral people, but in a conviviality of differences that resembles him.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Where do you find the emotional nourishment you need?

What do you think of exclusive groups and their idea of a decisive court?

 

 

The Revelation of equal Dignity

(Mt 5:27-32)

 

In Semitic marriage law, women were considered the property of their husbands: they were not considered legal persons, but rather possessions of men, who could act as masters.

Even in the First Testament, the sin of adultery was considered a serious violation of the male's right of ownership, as well as a possible impurity of blood [the mixing of which was abhorrent].

This may seem strange to our mentality, but it carried more weight than the moral transgression itself.

Jesus, on the other hand, reveals the value of the person as such.

He brings to the fore the meaning of approaches and violations that harm and offend the existence of the weak.

He even introduces the proclamation of equal dignity between men and women.

Marriage is a community of love, not a union that can be dissolved on a whim or for material gain.

This situation will end up censuring the defenceless person - who will then [abandoned] be condemned to suffer further violations of themselves in order to survive (v. 32).

With sharp words, the Lord recalls the need for harsh intransigence towards any pedestrian deviation of selfishness, which humiliates the innocent who are without protection.

To save love and give it vigour, the Master also proposes painful amputations. Making the most serious sacrifices can free the 'strong' from their delusions.

An attraction without self-giving does not express the person to the person; it is the unripe fruit of wandering immaturity and leads to alienation.

Women – that is, the weak and innocent, who love more and more seriously – are not creatures to be mocked, nor can they be reduced to possessions, things, consumer goods, useful only to the master of the house.

Albertine Tshibilondi Ngoyi writes:

'African women are neither a reflection of men nor slaves. They feel no need to imitate men in order to express their personality. They exude an original civilisation through their work, their personal genius, their concerns, their language and their customs. They have not allowed themselves to be colonised by men and the prestige of male civilisation'.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a frivolous attitude and a poor choice of lifestyle?

Don't you believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity?

Do you reflect on how to invest the energies that run through your calling and mission?

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you have a gaze that opens the door to betrayal? Don't you think that it manifests a light-hearted approach and poor life choices?

Do you not believe that a broken heart is a sign of a deeper unease and dissatisfaction that goes beyond moral infidelity? Do you reflect on how you invest the energy that drives your calling and mission?

 

 

 

The perfection of the Free, the deficiency of stools

 

Clear and distinct

(Mt 5:33-37)

 

'Yes when it is yes, no when it is no'. There is no need to reinforce trust.

 

Every oath - even a sacred one - is a loophole that does not heal a reality that is already dead.

The theatre of bombastic formulas only admits the conviction that the Other cannot be fully trusted.

Total transparency in relationships does not need stools for support. 

It is ridiculous to try to encourage reciprocity by inventing the crutch of the oath, which reinforces a person's word with something greater than themselves [capable of punishing them in the event of non-compliance; then whatever will be, will be].

Good relationships, the ideal of justice, credit, and our whole life, come to perfection in a clear way.

There is no need to beat about the bush, to become artificial, to rely on other precautions that then take back one's word, even if they are well prepared and perfectly staged.

 

Let us come to the theological point: what matters to the Father is the Person, not his symbolic expressions or his 'merits' - fake props in a face-to-face encounter, to be displayed in the window to divert him.

The face-to-face encounter is worth the whole game: much more than what sounds good to the ear, far beyond the accounting of what women and men have accomplished.

Our strong loyalty before God is not there; on the contrary, we need it. It is useless to hide the dust under a carpet of high-sounding mottos and rants.

Even a pile of 'perfectly' fulfilled works of the law provides no support.

In fact, the scaffolding may seem sublime and phenomenal, but it is superficial (often unfortunately insincere: castles made of paper and papier-mâché) and has a dual purpose.

 

The Father is impressed by his creative masterpiece, by the sincere heart of women and men; not by the smoke and mirrors of impersonal displays set up for the occasion.

Nor is he flattered by ritual expressions, acronyms, clichés, or even heroic deeds that risk damaging the foundations of personality and the Call by Name.

 

There is nothing higher than our 'face'; the rest is cunning and falsehood.  Dangerous tricks.

The puritanical laity used to say, 'The greater the forms, the less the truth'. Not: give credence.

Actions, behaviours, clear words. This is what counts. 

In short, we must not 'improve' ourselves according to external models and facsimiles - nor organise more events - except with His Free Gift, which is much more reliable, permanent and effective than our [conforming and sometimes vain] observances.

The power we have cannot even affect the natural colour of a hair; this is the reality - behind the grand scenes we set up so as not to admit that... something is wrong.

The integrity that matters is calm, transparent, spontaneous, frank: it cannot be ours. It is useless to make and remake 'oaths' to deceive even God.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Did you find yourself a merchant at the last fair? Have you ever expressed yourself like a forger?

 

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Sunday’s Liturgy we continue to read Jesus’ so-called “Sermon on the Mount”. It is contained in chapters 5, 6 and 7 of Matthew’s Gospel. After the Beatitudes, which are the programme of his life, Jesus proclaims the new Law, his Torah, as our Jewish brothers and sisters call it. In fact, on his coming, the Messiah was also to bring the definitive revelation of the Law and this is precisely what Jesus declares: “Think not that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them”.

And addressing his disciples, he adds: “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:17,20). But what do this “fullness” of Christ’s Law and this “superior” justice that he demands consist in?

Jesus explains it with a series of antitheses between the old commandments and his new way of propounding them. He begins each time: “You have heard that it was said to the men of old…”, and then he asserts: “but I say to you”…. For example, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘you shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgement’. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement” (Mt 5:21-22). 

And he does this six times. This manner of speaking made a great impression on the people, who were shocked, because those words: “I say to you” were equivalent to claiming the actual authority of God, the source of the Law. The newness of Jesus consists essentially in the fact that he himself “fulfils” the commandments with the love of God, with the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within him. And we, through faith in Christ, can open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit who makes us capable of living divine love. 

So it is that every precept becomes true as a requirement of love, and all join in a single commandment: love God with all your heart and love your neighbour as yourself. “Love is the fulfilling of the Law”, St Paul writes (Rom 13:10). 

With regard to this requirement, for example, the pitiful case of the four Rom children, who died last week when their shack caught fire on the outskirts of this city, forces us to ask ourselves whether a more supportive and fraternal society, more consistent in love, in other words more Christian, might not have been able to prevent this tragic event. And this question applies in the case of so many other grievous events, more or less known, which occur daily in our cities and our towns.

Dear friends, perhaps it is not by chance that Jesus’ first great preaching is called the “Sermon on the Mount”! Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God and bring it to the Chosen People. Jesus is the Son of God himself who came down from Heaven to lead us to Heaven, to God’s height, on the way of love. Indeed, he himself is this way; all we have to do in order to put into practice God’s will and to enter his Kingdom, eternal life, is to follow him.

Only one creature has already scaled the mountain peak: the Virgin Mary. Through her union with Jesus, her righteousness was perfect: for this reason we invoke her as Speculum iustitiae. Let us entrust ourselves to her so that she may guide our steps in fidelity to Christ’s Law.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus, 13 February 2011]

These two mountains – Sinai and the Mount of the Beatitudes – offer us the roadmap of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities to God and neighbour. The Law and the Beatitudes together mark the path of the following of Christ and the royal road to spiritual maturity and freedom.

The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem negative: “You will have no false gods before me; . . . do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness...” (Ex 20:3, 13-16). But in fact they are supremely positive. Moving beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love which is the first and greatest of the commandments: “You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. . . You will love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:37, 39). Jesus himself says that he came not to abolish but to fulfil the Law (cf. Mt5:17). His message is new but it does not destroy what went before; it leads what went before to its fullest potential. Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the Law to fulfilment (cf. Gal 5:14).

[Pope John Paul II, from his homily on the Mount of Beatitudes, 24 March 2000]

Today’s Gospel reading (cf. Mt 5:17-37) is on the “Sermon on the Mount” and deals with the subject of the fulfilment of the Law: how should  I fulfil the Law, how can I do it? Jesus wants to help his listeners take the right approach to the prescriptions of the Commandments given to Moses, urging them to be open to God who teaches  us true freedom and responsibility through the Law. It is a matter of living it as an instrument of freedom. Let us not forget this: to live the Law as an instrument of freedom, which helps me to be freer, which helps me not to be a slave to passion and sin. Let us think about war, let us think about the consequences of war, let us think of that little girl who died due to the cold [temperatures], in Syria the day before yesterday. So many calamities, so many. This is the result of passion, and people who wage war do not know how to master their passions. They do not comply with the law. When one  gives in to temptation and passion, one is not the master and agent of one’s own life, but rather one becomes  incapable of managing it with willingness and responsibility.

Jesus’ discourse is divided into four antitheses, each one expressed by the formula: “You have heard that it was said... But I say to you”. These antitheses refer to as many situations in daily life: murder, adultery, divorce and swearing. Jesus does not abolish the prescriptions concerning these issues, but he explains their full meaning and indicates the spirit in which they must be observed. He encourages us to move away from the formal observance of the Law to substantive observance, accepting the Law in our hearts, which is the centre of the intentions, decisions, words and gestures of each of us. From the heart come good and bad deeds.

By accepting the Law of God in our heart, one understands that, when one does not love one’s neighbour, to some extent one kills oneself and others, because hatred, rivalry and division kill the fraternal charity that is the basis of interpersonal relationships. And this applies to what I have said about war and also about gossip, because words kill. By accepting the Law of God in our heart one understands that desires must be guided, because one cannot obtain everything one desires, and it is not good to give in to selfish and possessive feelings. When one accepts the Law of God in one’s heart, one understands that one must give up a lifestyle of broken promises, as well as move from the prohibition of perjury to the decision not to swear at all, behaving sincerely to  everyone.

And Jesus is aware that it is not easy to live the Commandments in such an all-encompassing way. That is why he offers us the help of his love: he came into the world not only to fulfil the Law, but also to give us his grace, so that we can do God’s will, loving him and our brothers and sisters. We can do everything, everything, with the grace of God! Indeed,  holiness is none other than guarding God’s freely given  grace. It is a matter of trusting and entrusting ourselves to him, to his Grace, to that freedom that he has given us, and welcoming the hand he constantly extends to us, so that our efforts and our necessary commitment can be sustained by his help, overflowing with goodness and mercy.

Today Jesus asks us to continue on the path of love that he has indicated to us and which begins from the heart. This is the path  to follow in order to live as Christians. May the Virgin Mary help us to follow the path traced by her Son, to reach true joy and to spread justice and peace everywhere.

[Pope Francis, Angelus, 16 February 2020]

And move the neighbors

(Lk 10:1-9)

 

Jesus notes that the Apostles are not free people (cf. Lk 9). Their way of being is so grounded on standard attitudes and obligatory behaviors that it translates into impermeable mental armour.

Their predictability is too limiting: it gives no breathing space to the path of those who instead want to reactivate themselves, discover, value surprises behind the secret sides of reality and personality.

That wich remains tied to ancient customs and usual protagonists doesn’t make you dream, it isn’t an amazing appearance and testimony of Elsewhere; it takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and from life.

The Lord is forced to call the Samaritans [the heretics of religion] gathered elsewhere, not coming from "correct" observances, but able to walk, understand, and not be picky.

The new envoys go on the road helpless. Not being able to count on the usual tricks, they are certainly damaged, defrauded and - if they touch all the exposed nerves - torn to pieces.

But their being modest and not doctoral makes us reflect, arouses new knowledge, and awareness. Thus their spontaneous and innocent friendship.

 

In blocked situations this "disorder" of new amazements will introduce renewed charm, evoke potential, widen expressive opportunities and everyone's field of action.

 

Once in a territory, it will be good not to go from house to house: from a makeshift accommodation, to the apartment, the villa, and then the palace, because the search for better comforts makes God's Novelty disappear.

The care of the sick and deviations is a cornerstone of the Mission, because it’s precisely from insecurities or eccentricities that a different Kingdom sprouts, the one that notices and takes charge - in the love of those who do not abandon.

And let no time be wasted by combing the “sitting” environment: even a voluntary removal educates to be free.

The momentum of life will awaken consciences and prevail over the negative: on the path that belongs to us, accusations will count for less and less.

 

Unlike the fruitless action of the Apostles (Lk 9 passim), the return of the new evangelizers is full of joy and results (vv. 17-20).

It’s the last and different ones who bring down from "heaven" - and replace - the enemies of humanity and of our Gladness (vv. 5-6).

In the perspective of the Peace-Felicity [Shalom] to be announced, what had always seemed imperfections and flaws become preparatory energies, which complete and fulfil us also spiritually.

Now the flourishing Salvation (life as saved persons) is within reach of all (v.9), no longer a privilege.

The sides judged to be crazy, extraneous or materially inconclusive are preparing our new paths.

 

In the great Mystery of perceiving oneself as ‘being in the Gift’ - «two by two» (v.1) to live in fullness - the self understands the opposite polarities of its essence.

Only thus ‘widened’ do we become a being with and for the other. On the Way, in the form of the Cross.

 

 

[St Cyril and Methodius, February 14]