XXVII Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) 6 October 2024

1. It often happens, as on this Sunday, that the Gospel and the first reading refer to each other as if to complete the message that God wants to communicate to us. In the first reading, taken from the book of Genesis, we read: "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone: I want to make him a helper who will be a match for him'" (Gen 2:18- 24). It is best to clarify at once that Genesis is not a history book, but a wisdom text dating back to the 10th century B.C., when a theologian, probably in King Solomon's court, wanted to reflect on the existential anxieties of the human being, asking himself, for example, "Why death? Why suffering? Why so many problems and difficulties in our lives? And to seek an answer, he developed a symbolic tale analogous to the parables of Jesus. The author of the book of Genesis is therefore not a scientist who wants to explain to us the why and when of creation, but rather a believer who wants to help us understand God's plan regarding the human being, with symbolic elements to be well interpreted because we are not talking about a hypothetical first couple of mankind - Adam and Eve - but in general about the origin of mankind and in fact in Hebrew the word Adam is not the name of someone, it means instead 'earth' that is made of dusty soil (adamah). For the creation of woman, the author of the sacred text uses the image of sleep and the rib taken from man. What does the Word of God want to tell us? Firstly, woman is part of creation from the beginning, and while this is a completely obvious fact for us, in those times it was an absolute novelty. In Mesopotamia, Abraham's homeland, it was thought that woman had not been created from the beginning and that man had previously lived well on his own.  The Bible, on the other hand, places the creation of woman right at the beginning and above all introduces her as a gift from God; without her, man could not be happy and humanity would be incomplete. The divinities of the peoples of the time, often rivals among themselves, created men to keep them as slaves; on the contrary, in the Bible God is One and by creating man he places him in the garden of paradise to be happy together with him. The phrase "It is not good that man should be alone" shows that he cares a great deal about our happiness and this constitutes an absolute and important novelty: that is, human sexuality, understood as a love relationship, is beautiful and good, an integral part of the original design of creation, willed by God as an element united to relational enjoyment between man and woman.  The idea of the rib taken from Adam emphasises that the Creator's design is not the domination of man over woman, but their equality in dialogue, which implies both intimacy and distance in a climate of mutual gift. The Hebrew helps us to better perceive why man is called 'Ish' and woman 'isha', two close terms that indicate belonging to the same family, even though one is different from the other.

2. There is one detail on which we focus our attention. In the second chapter of Genesis we read that the Lord asked man to name all the cattle, all the birds of the air and all the wild animals, entrusting him with power over the whole of creation. Adam, however, "found no help to match him" (Gen 2:20); only in front of the woman is his cry full of emotion and gratitude in the sense that he recognises her as part of himself and therefore considers her his "alter ego". In the astonishment of this moment, Yahweh's words take on resonance: "I want to make him a helper who corresponds to him", so that she may be his "interface". And when he specifies that 'it is not good for man to be alone', it is not to be understood that it is bad for man to remain unmarried, but that humanity is complete in its duality of man and woman, in a relationship of dialogue that harmonises intimacy with respect for mutual otherness. Herein lies the vocation of the couple: to be the image of God One and Trinitarian Communion. Another wisdom book of the Old Testament, The Song of Songs, a poetic dialogue between two lovers, reveals the mystery of divine intimacy by resorting to the outbursts, tenderness and intimacy of a loving couple. In Jewish tradition it is proclaimed at Passover/Pesach, which always falls in spring, a time of renewal and flowering, which ties in well with the themes of love and fertility expressed in the Canticle. Even more interestingly, the Jews proclaim the Song of Songs in the Passover celebration, the feast of the Covenant between God and his people, thus taking on a deep spiritual meaning: it is not just a hymn to human love, but a celebration of salvation and spiritual rebirth. Just as the Jews were freed from physical slavery, so divine love gives human life a new beginning. It was original sin that wounded the enchantment of the relationship with God, and this is reflected in the conjugal relationship that has become tiring and difficult because, as St Augustine writes in this regard: "marriage is a good whose union cannot be broken without sin" (De bono conjugali,24)

3. In the gospel, the Pharisees ask Jesus a provocative question about divorce, and he, as always, does not answer directly, instead helping them to seek the elements of the answer themselves.  Divorce existed in the Old Testament along with the act of repudiation, but was not codified systematically in the Torah, but only mentioned in Deuteronomy in a specific context without establishing detailed rules (Deut 24:1-4). By Jesus' time it had become a relatively widespread practice and there were different interpretations and practical applications. For Jesus, it is not casuistry that is important, but going back to the original plan of God who created human beings in his image - man and woman - so that the man detached from his family would be united with the woman to form one (Gen 2:24). If the couple reflects the image of God, its vocation can only be indivisibility, indissolubility, so that the conclusion becomes logical: 'So let no man put asunder what God has joined together'. Easy to say and complicated to realise as experience shows. This is because marriage is not a human invention, but God's plan, and it is only possible to bring it to full fruition with His support. That is, goodwill and human resources are not enough to preserve the unity of a couple and family. Only when one prays and lives united to God, with the help of his mercy does what is humanly impossible become a possible reality and the source of peaceful coexistence.  This is the heroism of couples who embrace the Gospel to the point of martyrdom of love in spite of everything: canonised married couples and many others hidden in the simplicity of daily fidelity. They courageously overcome obstacles and accept that the inevitable daily misunderstandings will never break their unity that the Lord has welded with matrimonial consecration. If this is the ideal that should never be hidden or reduced for fear of asking too much of those called to Christian marriage, a question often challenges our communities: what to do with couples who have lost their way or who prefer cohabitation to marriage? Every pastor has the duty to accompany everyone with patience and open-mindedness, especially when lacerating wounds mark their existence. However, while being aware of the existing problems, it would be a mistake to stop believing that only God's love can save the unity of the couple and the family from the shipwreck of divorce. In the gospel, Jesus adds: "because of the hardness of your heart" Moses allowed the writing of an act of repudiation, making it clear that the law is only a stage in divine pedagogy, while the goal always remains the supreme law of love. The risk is therefore 'hardening of the heart', that is, the pretence of being able to rely only on one's own strength. Referring to children, Jesus teaches that if unity in the family is to be preserved, the humble simplicity of the child full of trust in those who love him must be preserved. The secret then is to experience God's merciful love.

Happy Sunday to you all.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Scandal of division

1. Today's Gospel page is at the end of chapter 9 of Mark's gospel and closes the discourse that Jesus gives to the disciples inviting them to reflect well on their way of behaving towards the "little ones who believe in me" using very decisive tones. He says in fact that it is preferable to be without a hand or a foot or to pluck out an eye than to be a cause of scandal because "it is better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be cast into hell where their worm does not die and the fire does not extinguish it". This is where the text that the liturgy proposes for our meditation this Sunday stops; but if we continue reading, we find in the last two verses of the chapter this recommendation: 'Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another'.  It seems to me that this concluding invitation gives us an understanding of the meaning and value of the advice and precepts of Jesus that St Mark has collected and which he is keen to point out are addressed precisely to the Twelve.  But let us proceed with order.

2. Last Sunday we paused to contemplate Jesus, who, having arrived in Capernaum with the apostles, discusses the mission that he is about to entrust to them and, hearing them argue about who will be the greatest, he does not say that it is bad to aspire to be the first, but indicates the way to get there: to make himself the last and the servant of all. Unpleasant music to their ears as is immediately apparent from the reply of John, whom Jesus nicknames with his brother James "the sons of thunder": "Master, we saw one casting out demons in your name and we wanted to stop him because he did not follow us". In the third chapter of his gospel, Mark notes that "Jesus called to himself those whom he wanted... he made Twelve of them to be with him and also to send them out to preach and that they might have power to cast out demons" (3:13-19).  The group of apostles is therefore well aware of the authority granted to them and the power they received to cast out demons because of their connection with Jesus. Understandable then is the reaction to the claim of those who are not part of the group but dare to cast out devils even in his name. John reacts like the young Joshua we heard in the first reading. Having grown up from childhood with Moses, he was in good enough confidence to allow himself to point out to him that when he took away part of the spirit that was upon him and placed it over the seventy elders chosen as co-workers, in truth there were two missing, Eldad and Medad, who had remained in the camp and the problem, according to him, was that they too had begun to prophesy.  It was not right that those two, even though they had not responded to the leader's summons, should still act under the influence of the spirit. Moses on the other hand rejoiced and rebuked him for his envy. Jesus does the same thing when he forbids the apostles to cultivate the spirit of exclusion so that to John, who informs him that he had prevented a person who was not of the group from casting out demons, he replies firmly: "Do not prevent him". An extraordinary peace dwells in the heart of Christ: he does not pretend to have everything under control, and when he constitutes the good that is done, he admits that someone can perform miracles in his name even if they are not part of those he has chosen as disciples.  And it is as if he recognises that his own mission is somehow beyond his control because he shares it, without his knowledge, with people he does not even know. He thus invites the Twelve not to keep the door of the heart closed: 'He who is not against us is for us', a way of emphasising that there are people 'of ours' even if they are not on our list. We take here an invitation to broaden our vision as Christians in the world: we do not have exclusivity; God works as he wills far beyond ourselves and uses anyone for his plans of salvation.  I am reminded of the passage in Acts of the Apostles 18:9-11 that tells how in pagan and worldly Corinth, which was the heart of the Roman province of Achaia, St Paul experiences a dramatic break with the Jewish community that rejects his testimony about Jesus Christ. He is sad and discouraged, but during the night, appearing to him in a vision, the Lord says to him: "Do not be afraid; keep speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you and no one will try to harm you: in this city I have a numerous people". Do we not also sometimes feel the futility of our ministry when we see the number of believers dwindling and notice that some come out of our fold and achieve a success that we pretend should only be of our community? Or does it bother us to notice that there are people or groups within the community who think and do things differently from us? Jesus keeps telling us not to torment ourselves with too many mental crises because he - he assures us - has a 'numerous people' everywhere. Paul's Corinth is well the image of today's pluralist, secularised, libertarian, cosmopolitan, opulent and often desperate society because it struggles to find an answer to life's many 'whys'. 'Corinthian living' at the time meant cultivating full freedom of customs, and today it is no less so. The temptation to become discouraged or the risk of cultivating a certain ill-concealed envy and jealousy that creates divisions in the community could then grow. Jesus does not cease to encourage us: 'Keep talking. God has his people everywhere, not often visible to the human eye, and as the Father of all he spreads the fruitful action of the Spirit in all directions. We are not asked to be in control of the situation, but simply to proclaim/witness the Gospel always. However, the need for sound discernment remains. 

3. In Matthew's gospel Jesus states that one recognises the tree by its fruit: the good tree bears good fruit, while the sick tree bears bad fruit (12:33) and concludes: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. This example is missing from Mark's gospel, even though today's text means exactly the same thing. The link, sometimes not immediately perceptible, between all the statements in Jesus' discourse then becomes clear. He means in the first place that there is good fruit also beyond our communities, which means that there are good trees everywhere and we do not have the copyright of goodness and God, but it is Jesus who is at the heart of the proclamation of Christians.  Mark expresses it with this example: 'whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you are Christ's will not lose his reward.  On the contrary, there can also be bad fruit within our community and Jesus draws this conclusion: if the diseased tree that produces bad fruit is to be eliminated, everything in the community that sows the scandal of division must be resolutely suppressed. And he offers this deliberately exaggerated comparison: "If your hand is a cause of scandal to you, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life with one hand, rather than with both hands going into Gehenna", equal treatment for the foot, and the eye. Geenna, which Jesus evokes, is the well-known chasm surrounding Jerusalem from south to west where rubbish was burnt and in the time of kings Ahaz and Manasseh children were sacrificed, a practice so harshly stigmatised by the prophets to the point that Geenna became the symbol of the greatest possible horror and the sign of the punishment of the wicked on the day of universal judgement.  It is understood that Jesus does not recommend physical mutilation despite using emphatically violent expressions. If he resorts to this, it is so that no one underestimates the gravity of what is at stake, namely the community. Let us remember that the discourse at Capernaum starts precisely from the ambition of the apostles in the discussion on who was to be the greatest (9:34) and in the end it becomes clear that in every Christian community the only concern of its members must be to let themselves be consumed by passion for him and his gospel: nothing else! In this light it becomes easy to understand the recommendation that closes the chapter: 'Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another'.

Happy Sunday! +Giovanni D'Ercole

Scientists and Lowlies: abstract world and incarnation

(Lk 10:17-24)

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). Why?

The leaders looked at religiosity with purposes of interest. Theology professors were used to evaluating every comma starting from their own knowledge, ridiculous but opinionated - unrelated to events.

What remains tied to customs and usual protagonists doesn’t make us dream, it’s not amazing appearance and testimony of Elsewhere; takes away expressive richness from the Announcement and life.

The Lord rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - about those who are well disposed, and able to understand the depths of the Kingdom, in common things.

In short, after a first moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Christ deepens the issues and finds himself all against, except God and the leasts: the weightlesses, but with a great desire to start from scratch.

Glimpse of the Mystery that lifts history - without making it a possession.

At first even Jesus was amazed by the refusal of those who considered themselves already satisfied and no longer expected anything that could overcome habits.

Then He understands, praises and blesses the Father's plan: the authentic Person is born from below, and possesses «the sense of neighborhood» (FT n.152).

The Creator is Relationship simple: He demystifies the idol of greatness.

The Eternal is not the master of creation: He is Refreshment that reassures us, because makes us feel complete and lovable; He looks for us, pays attention to the language of the heart.

He’s the Tutor of the world, even of the uneducated - of the «infants»  (v.21) spontaneously empty of arrogant spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.

Thus the Father-Son relationship is communicated to the poor of God: those who are endowed with the attitude of Family members (v.22).

Insignificant and invisible without great external capacities, but who abandon themselves to the proposals of the provident life that Comes, like babies in the arms of their parents.

With a pietas’ Spirit that favors those who allow themselves to be filled with innate wisdom. The only reality that corresponds to us and doesn’t present the "account": it doesn’t proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Sapience that transmits freshness in the willingness to personally receive welcome restore the Truth as a Gift, and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realizing it.

A simple blessing prayer, for the simple - this one from Jesus (v.21) - which makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and gets along well with ourselves.

It does not presuppose the energy of 'models', nor the aggressive power of “bigwigs”.

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

And instead of only living with the “big” and external, one must live in communion even with the 'small' of oneself, or there is no amiability, no authentic life.

To internalize and live the message:

How do you feel when you hear yourself say: «You don't count»?  Does it remain a humiliating contempt or do you consider it a great received Light, as Jesus did?

[Saturday 26th wk. in O.T.  October 5, 2024]

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

The Evangelists Matthew and Luke (cf. Mt 11:25-30 and Lk 10:21-22) have handed down to us a “jewel” of Jesus’ prayer that is often called the Cry of Exultation or the Cry of Messianic Exultation. It is a prayer of thanksgiving and praise, as we have heard. In the original Greek of the Gospels the word with which this jubilation begins and which expresses Jesus’ attitude in addressing the Father is exomologoumai, which is often translated with “I praise” (cf. Mt 11:25 and Lk 10:21). However, in the New Testament writings this term indicates mainly two things: the first is “to confess” fully — for example, John the Baptist asked those who went to him to be baptized to recognize their every sin (cf. Mt 3:6); the second thing is “to be in agreement”. Therefore, the words with which Jesus begins his prayer contain his full recognition of the Father’s action and at the same time, his being in total, conscious and joyful agreement with this way of acting, with the Father’s plan. The “Cry of Exultation” is the apex of a journey of prayer in which Jesus’ profound and close communion with the life of the Father in the Holy Spirit clearly emerges and his divine sonship is revealed.

Jesus addresses God by calling him “Father”. This word expresses Jesus’ awareness and certainty of being “the Son” in intimate and constant communion with him, and this is the central focus and source of every one of Jesus’ prayers. We see it clearly in the last part of the hymn which illuminates the entire text. Jesus said: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Lk 10:22). Jesus was therefore affirming that only “the Son” truly knows the Father. 

All the knowledge that people have of each other — we all experience this in our human relationships — entails involvement, a certain inner bond between the one who knows and the one who is known, at a more or less profound level: we cannot know anyone without a communion of being. In the Cry of Exultation — as in all his prayers — Jesus shows that true knowledge of God presupposes communion with him. Only by being in communion with the other can I begin to know him; and so it is with God: only if I am in true contact, if I am in communion with him, can I also know him. True knowledge, therefore, is reserved to the “Son”, the Only Begotten One who is in the bosom of the Father since eternity (cf. Jn 1:18), in perfect unity with him. The Son alone truly knows God, since he is in an intimate communion of being; only the Son can truly reveal who God is.

The name “Father” is followed by a second title, “Lord of heaven and earth”. With these words, Jesus sums up faith in creation and echoes the first words of Sacred Scripture: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). 

In praying, he recalls the great biblical narrative of the history of God’s love for man that begins with the act of creation. Jesus fits into this love story, he is its culmination and its fulfilment. Sacred Scripture is illumined through his experience of prayer and lives again in its fullest breadth: the proclamation of the mystery of God and the response of man transformed. Yet, through the expression: “Lord of heaven and earth”, we can also recognize that in Jesus, the Revealer of the Father, the possibility for man to reach God is reopened.

Let us now ask ourselves: to whom does the Son want to reveal God’s mysteries? At the beginning of the Hymn Jesus expresses his joy because the Father’s will is to keep these things hidden from the learned and the wise and to reveal them to little ones (cf. Lk 10:21). Thus in his prayer, Jesus manifests his communion with the Father’s decision to disclose his mysteries to the simple of heart: the Son’s will is one with the Father’s. 

Divine revelation is not brought about in accordance with earthly logic, which holds that cultured and powerful people possess important knowledge and pass it on to simpler people, to little ones. God used a quite different approach: those to whom his communication was addressed were, precisely, “babes”. This is the Father’s will, and the Son shares it with him joyfully. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “His exclamation, ‘Yes, Father!’ expresses the depth of his heart, his adherence to the Father’s ‘good pleasure,’ echoing his mother’s ‘Fiat’ at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he will say to the Father in his agony. The whole prayer of Jesus is contained in this loving adherence of his human heart to the ‘mystery of the will’ of the Father (Eph 1:9)” (n. 2603).

The invocation that we address to God in the “Our Father” derives from this: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”: together with Christ and in Christ we too ask to enter into harmony with the Father’s will, thereby also becoming his children. Thus Jesus, in this “Cry of Exultation”, expresses his will to involve in his own filial knowledge of God all those whom the Father wishes to become sharers in it; and those who welcome this gift are the “little ones”.

But what does “being little” and simple mean? What is the “littleness” that opens man to filial intimacy with God so as to receive his will? What must the fundamental attitude of our prayer be? Let us look at “The Sermon on the Mount”, in which Jesus says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt 5:8). It is purity of heart that permits us to recognize the face of God in Jesus Christ; it is having a simple heart like the heart of a child, free from the presumption of those who withdraw into themselves, thinking they have no need of anyone, not even God.

It is also interesting to notice the occasion on which Jesus breaks into this hymn to the Father. In Matthew’s Gospel narrative it is joyful because, in spite of opposition and rejection, there are “little ones” who accept his word and open themselves to the gift of faith in him. The “Cry of Exultation” is in fact preceded by the contrast between the praise of John the Baptist — one of the “little ones” who recognized God’s action in Jesus Christ (cf. Mt 11:2-19) — and the reprimand for the disbelief of the lake cities “where most of his mighty works had been performed” (cf. Mt 11:20-24). 

Hence Matthew saw the Exultation in relation to the words with which Jesus noted the effectiveness of his word and action: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news of the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offence at me” (Mt 11:4-6).

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 7 December 2011]

1. In the previous catechesis, we went over, albeit briefly, the Old Testament testimonies that prepared us to welcome the full revelation, announced by Jesus Christ, of the truth of the mystery of the Fatherhood of God.

Indeed, Christ spoke many times of his Father, presenting his providence and merciful love in various ways.

But his teaching goes further. Let us listen again to the particularly solemn words, recorded by the evangelist Matthew (and paralleled by Luke): 'I bless you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things hidden from the wise and the clever and revealed them to the simple . . ." and later: "Everything has been given to me by my Father, no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" (Mt 11:25. 27; cf. Lk 10:2. 11).

So for Jesus, God is not only "the Father of Israel, the Father of men", but "my Father"! "Mine": precisely for this reason the Jews wanted to kill Jesus, because "he called God his Father" (Jn 5:18). "His" in the most literal sense: He whom only the Son knows as Father, and by whom alone he is mutually known. We are now on the same ground from which the prologue of John's Gospel will later arise.

2. My Father' is the Father of Jesus Christ, he who is the origin of his being, of his messianic mission, of his teaching. The evangelist John has abundantly reported the messianic teaching that allows us to fathom in depth the mystery of God the Father and Jesus Christ, his only Son.

Jesus says: "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me, but in him who sent me" (John 12: 44). "I did not speak from me, but the Father who sent me, he himself commanded me what I should say and proclaim" (Jn 12:49). "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son of himself can do nothing except what he sees the Father do; what he does, the Son also does" (Jn 5:19). "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself" (Jn 5:26). And finally: ". . the Father, who has life, has sent me, and I live for the Father" (Jn 6:57).

The Son lives for the Father first of all because he was begotten by him. There is a very close correlation between fatherhood and sonship precisely because of generation: "You are my Son; today I have begotten you" (Heb 1:5). When at Caesarea Philippi Simon Peter confesses: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God", Jesus answers him: "Blessed are you . . . for neither flesh nor blood has revealed it to you, but my Father . . ." (Mt 16:16-17), for only "the Father knows the Son" just as only the "Son knows the Father" (Mt 11:27). Only the Son makes the Father known: the visible Son makes the invisible Father seen. "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9).

3. A careful reading of the Gospels shows that Jesus lives and works in constant and fundamental reference to the Father. He often addresses him with the word full of filial love: "Abba"; even during the prayer in Gethsemane this same word returns to his lips (cf. Mk 14:36). When the disciples ask him to teach them to pray, he teaches them the "Our Father" (cf. Mt 6:9-13). After the resurrection, at the moment of leaving the earth he seems to refer once again to this prayer, when he says: "I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God" (Jn 20, 17).

Thus through the Son (cf. Heb 1:2), God revealed Himself in the fullness of the mystery of His fatherhood. Only the Son could reveal this fullness of the mystery, because only "the Son knows the Father" (Mt 11:27). "God no one has ever seen him: it is the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, who has revealed him" (Jn 1:18).

4. Who is the Father? In the light of the definitive witness we have received through the Son, Jesus Christ, we have the full knowledge of faith that the Fatherhood of God belongs first of all to the fundamental mystery of God's intimate life, to the Trinitarian mystery. The Father is the one who eternally begets the Word, the Son consubstantial with him. In union with the Son, the Father eternally "breathes forth" the Holy Spirit, who is the love in which the Father and the Son mutually remain united (cf. Jn 14:10).

Thus the Father is in the Trinitarian mystery the "beginning-without-beginning". "The Father by none is made, nor created, nor begotten" (Quicumque symbol). He alone is the beginning of life, which God has in Himself. This life - that is, the very divinity - the Father possesses in absolute communion with the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are consubstantial with him.

Paul, an apostle of the mystery of Christ, falls in adoration and prayer "before the Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its name" (Eph 3:15), the beginning and model.For there is "one God the Father of all, who is above all, who acts through all and is present in all" (Eph 4:6).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 23 October 1985]

Today’s Gospel passage (cf. Lk 10:1-12, 17-20) presents Jesus who sends 72 disciples on mission, in addition to the 12 Apostles. The number 72 likely refers to all the nations. Indeed, in the Book of Genesis 72 different nations are mentioned (cf. 10:1-32). Thus, this conveyance prefigures the Church’s mission to proclaim the Gospel to all peoples. Jesus says to those disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!” (Lk 10:2).

This request by Jesus is always valid. We must always pray to the “Lord of the harvest”, namely, God the Father, that he send labourers into his field which is the world. And each of us must do so with an open heart, with a missionary attitude; our prayer must not be limited only to our needs, to our necessities: a prayer is truly Christian if it also has a universal dimension.

In sending out the 72 disciples, Jesus gives them precise instructions which express the characteristics of the mission. The first, as we have already seen, is: pray; the second: go; and then: carry no purse, no bag...; say, ‘Peace be to this house’ ... remain in the same house... do not go from house to house... heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’”. And if they do not receive you, go out into the streets and take your leave (cf. vv. 2-10). These imperatives show that the mission is based on prayer; that it is itinerant: it is not idle; it is itinerant; that it requires separation and poverty; that it brings peace and healing, signs of the closeness of the Kingdom of God; that it is not proselytism but proclamation and witness; and that it also requires frankness and the evangelical freedom to leave while highlighting the responsibility of having rejected the message of salvation, but without condemnation and cursing. 

If lived in these terms, the mission of the Church will be characterized by joy. And how does this passage end? The 72 “returned with joy” (cf. v. 17). It is not an ephemeral joy, which flows from the success of the mission; on the contrary, it is a joy rooted in the promise that — as Jesus says: “your names are written in heaven” (v. 20). With this expression he means inner joy, and the indestructible joy that is born out of the awareness of being called by God to follow his Son. That is, the joy of being his disciples. Today, for example, each of us, here in the Square, can think of the name we received on the day of Baptism: that name is “written in heaven”, in the heart of God the Father. And it is the joy of his gift that makes a missionary of every disciple, those who walk in the company of the Lord Jesus, who learn from him to unsparingly expend themselves for others, free of oneself and of one’s possessions.

Together let us invoke the maternal protection of Mary Most Holy, that she support the mission of Christ’s disciples in every place; the mission to proclaim to all that God loves us, wants to save us, and calls us to join his Kingdom.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 7 July 2019]

XXV Sunday in Ordinary Time  B  (22 September 2024)

1. Every page of the gospel, indeed every word of Jesus produces different resonances in the listener because it is not like reading or listening to a piece of news closed in time, but receiving a personalised message that is always new: in short, through the gospel, Jesus speaks in the concrete context in which you find yourself according to the openness and expectation of your heart. Try therefore to ask yourself what the Gospel says to you today (Mk 9:30-37). We have already heard the Apostle Peter being scandalised by the announcement of his Master's death on the cross and receiving a harsh rebuke right after his profession of faith. Peter,' Jesus intimated with authority, 'turn back "Satan", take your place and let me clear up the ideas that do not correspond to God's plans.  Today the same thing happens with all the disciples who on the road to Capernaum argue among themselves about who will be the most important when the Messiah establishes his kingdom. Of course they are a long way from reality if Jesus has to repeat what he had said before. And indeed the evangelist specifies that "he taught his disciples and said to them: the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; but once he is killed, he will rise again after three days". It is worth dwelling on the expression "The Son of Man delivered into the hands of men". The mystery of a God the Son of Man who delivers himself into the hands of man is the heart of all revelation. But where does the expression 'Son of Man' originate? In truth, it is a title with different shades of meaning in the Old and New Testaments. The expression 'Son of Man' appears in the Old Testament, mainly in the book of the prophet Ezekiel and the book of Daniel. In Ezekiel, God addresses the prophet by calling him 'son of man' more than 90 times and the term seems to simply refer to a human being whose frailty and mortality it highlights.  In the book of the prophet Daniel, however, we find the key passage for the messianic meaning of the expression 'Son of Man'. In a vision, the prophet sees "coming with the clouds of heaven one resembling a son of man; he came as far as the Watchman and was presented to him. He was given power, glory, and kingdom; all peoples, nations, and languages served him; his power is an everlasting power, which never fades, and his kingdom is such that it will never be destroyed" (7:13-14). Here, the 'Son of Man' is not just a human being, but a heavenly figure on whom eternal and universal dominion is conferred. Here is the Messiah, the one sent by God to establish his kingdom, advancing on clouds of glory: a description that recalls divinity and final judgement. In the gospels Jesus uses the expression 'Son of Man' attributing it to himself more than 80 times and this title has at least three main meanings. By calling himself the 'Son of Man', he identifies himself as a real human being and is to say that, although the Messiah is the Son of God, he is man and shares our human condition. When he then refers to the prophet Daniel's vision, he wants to indicate his messianic role. For example, the "Son of Man" who comes "with the clouds of heaven" (Mt 24:30), is identified with the glorious and divine figure of Daniel and this title emphasises his definitive appearance as judge and universal ruler. But Christ also uses the term 'Son of Man' to speak of his passion and death, predicting that he will be handed over to men and be killed, but on the third day he will rise again. Thus the connection between the Son of Man and suffering (which was not present in Daniel) is a unique aspect of the way Jesus interprets his mission. Ultimately, the expression "Son of Man" Jesus attributes it to himself, combining the idea of his humanity with his role as the glorious Messiah and his redemptive mission through suffering and passion. In the moments of the passion, the verb "deliver" = to betray is striking: Judas delivers him to the leaders and soldiers (Mk 14:10, 44), the leaders to Pilate (Mk 15:1) and Pilate to the crucifiers (Mk 15:15), but the heart of it all, which constitutes the paradox, is that God himself delivers him and Jesus in turn delivers himself to us. In this handing himself over/giving himself to all, even to those who reject, deny and betray him, the revelation of God as love is shown to be total, unconditional, definitive and forever.

2. Let us return to today's Gospel text where the disciples "did not understand and were afraid to question him". Three of them, Peter James and John, had seen him transfigured, as the evangelist narrates just before at the beginning of this very chapter, and they were already dreaming of entering into glory with the Messiah blazing with light. The other apostles, to the account that the three make of their experience on Tabor, react by competing over "who was the greatest" to occupy the first place in the kingdom that the Messiah is about to establish. Jesus disconcerts them: "If anyone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all" and taking a child he adds: "whoever receives one of these children in my name receives me; and whoever receives me does not receive me, but he who sent me". Just imagine the confusion in the disciples' heads as they fail to reconcile the glory of the messianic triumph with the scandal of the cross, and for the three disciples who witnessed Jesus' transfiguration, this seems even more unacceptable and unlikely.  The splendour of the transfiguration remains in them, their ears have heard that Jesus is the beloved Son, the one who must be heard, how can they admit what he now announces: betrayal and hatred of men, suffering and death on the cross, and this in a certain and ineluctable manner? In the thinking of the apostles as well as their contemporaries, and probably also in us, glory and cross are not a happy pair. There is also a further contradiction: first he says that he will be killed and treated as refuse by men, then that resurrected he will triumph: so not only are glory and the cross inseparable, but to reach glory one must pass through the cross. An unknown 17th century monk and theologian writes: 'Sic decet per crucem ad gloriam, per angusta ad augusta penetrare, et per aspera ad astra' (J. Heidfeld [†1624]).

3. As if this were not enough, Jesus confuses the apostles even more because, first he states that 'if anyone wants to be first, let him be last of all and servant of all', then, taking a child in his arms (only here in Mark's gospel does he make this gesture), he shows as a model to imitate precisely the child, a vulnerable and defenceless human being in need of care. At that moment, the disciples do not die from the desire to be last, and even Jesus' gesture of pointing to the child as a model to be considered puts them in turmoil because they are in the midst of the power rivalry problem of which St James speaks in today's second reading (Jas 3:16-4:3).  In short, it is The World Upside Down: no wonder the disciples struggle to understand this because it also puts us in crisis. Jesus, however, is patient and in truth he does not say that it is a bad thing to aspire to be first, indeed he even offers the means to get there, that is, to make oneself last. And so in this text we go from one marvel to another because the only way to become first is simple for Jesus and is within the reach of anyone: whoever wants to be first should put himself in last place and serve everyone as one would a child. This is not enough: only by doing so does one accept Jesus and add him: also "he who sent me". Our model is therefore Jesus washing the disciples' feet in the cenacle, as recounted in John's gospel, and we let his words resound in our hearts: 'Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me the Master and the Lord, and rightly so, for I am. If therefore I, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, you too must wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (13:12-15).

  +Giovanni D'Ercole  Good Sunday to you all

Abstract world and incarnation

(Mt 11:25-30)

The leaders looked at religiosity with a view to interest. Professors of theology were accustomed to evaluate every comma on the basis of their own knowledge, ridiculous but supponent - unrelated to real events.

That which remains tied to customs and the usual protagonists does not make one dream, it’s not an apparition and astonishing testimony of Elsewhere; it detracts expressive richness of the announcement and life.

The Lord rejoices in his own experience, which brings a non-epidermal joy and a teaching from the Spirit - about those who are well disposed, and able to understand the depths of the Kingdom, in ordinary things.

In short, after an initial moment of enthusiastic crowds, the Christ delves deeper into the themes and finds himself all against, except God and the least ones: the weightlesses, but eager to start from scratch.

Glimpse of the Mystery that leavens history - without making it a possession.

At first even Jesus is stunned by the rejection of those who considered themselves already satisfied and no longer expected anything that could overcome habits.

Then He understands, praises and blesses the Father's plan: the authentic Person is born from the gutter, and possesses «the sense of neighborhood» (FT n.152).

The Creator is simple Relationship: He demystifies the idol of greatness.

The Eternal One is not the master of creation: He is Refreshment that reassures, because makes us feel complete and lovable. He seeks us out, He pays attention to the language of the heart.

He is Custodian of the world, even of the unlearned ones - of the «infants»  (v.25) spontaneously empty of boastful spirit, that is, of those who do not remain closed in their sufficient belonging.

Thus the Father-Son bond is communicated to God’s poor: those who are endowed with the attitude of family members (v.27).

Insignificant and invisible without great external capacities, but who abandon themselves to the proposals of the provident life that comes, like babies in the arms of parents.

In this way, with a pietas’ Spirit that favours those who allow themselves to be filled with innate wisdom.

The only reality that corresponds to us and does not present the "bill": it doesn’t proceed along the paths of functional thinking, of calculating initiative.

Sapience that transmits freshness in the readiness to personally receive, welcome, re-temper the Truth as a Gift, and the spontaneous enthusiasm itself, capable of realizing it.

A simple blessing prayer, for the simple ones - this of Jesus (v.25) - which makes us grow in esteem, fits perfectly with our experience, and gets along well with ourselves.

The new ones, the nullities, the voiceless and invisible do not think in terms of doctrine and laws [vv.29-30: unbearable "yoke" that crushes people, and concrete, particular vocations] but in terms of life and humanity.

Thus they enrich the fundamental and spontaneous experience of Faith-Love, satisfying, fulfilling it without mannerisms or intimate forcing.

While the exteriority of the pyramidal world, the distrust of those who want “to count", the anxiety of a competitive society, impoverish the gaze and contaminate the vital wave.

We, too, do not appreciate too much the energy of the 'models', nor the aggressive power of the “big guys”.

Rather than only with the “big” and external, we wish to live by Communion - even with the 'small' self, or there will be no loveliness, no authentic Life.

To internalize and live the message:

What do you feel when you are told: «You don't count»? 

Does it remain a humiliating contempt or do you consider it a great Light received, as Jesus did?

[St Francis of Assisi, October 4, 2024]