Faith and religion. Turnover in the Church

(Lk 6:20-26)

 

Jesus judges the configuration of the world in which his Church, in the Spirit, finds herself living: rich and destitute [in many ways], prominent and invisible figures.

Situation that does not reflect conditions of fullness life; rather - even today - it makes bitter blood to many.

A false and not definitive reality, exasperating, wich the Lord absolutely denounces not to like among his intimates: that of praised dominators (despite the selfish abuse of goods and positions) and insignificant subjected.

Devoid of high-sounding titles, the young Rabbi turns from bottom to top (v.20) to those who have freely chosen his proposal of fraternal existence and sharing of property [in Mt «poor "for" the Spirit (of love)»].

He is pleased [«Blessed»] with the choice of his apostles, which makes us enjoy the experience of harmony with the Master. A different Vision, and the reciprocity, that is, the same quality of God’s life.

Already here on earth the critical prophets testify to the possibility of a different perception of things, as well as the Dream of a society based on coexistence - in the exchange of benefits.

A bud of hospitable world - which Lk wants to encourage - where there is no above and below or front and behind: only humanizing upheavals (such as the reversal of roles) that strengthen the fabric concorde.

Also in his House there must be rotation and reversal of prominent figures and tasks. The change is the sign of the Kingdom that comes; able to sharpen sensitivity to Communion.

In the documents of ancient literature little is spoken of the poor, voiceless and hungry. The focus was on the rich, the heroes, the rulers and generals. The overthrow of fate was unimaginable.

On the contrary, the new powerful of the Kingdom of God are those who feel the Son present, pulsating in their hearts, Risen in them.

They do not keep for themselves, but transform goods, goals, titles and ministries into Life and Relationship.

What is decisive and conclusive is the construction of this unusual type of Church [Kingdom].

Germ that deviates from the unilaterality of relationships. With enrichment and alternation, where everyone feels adequate, no longer pointed out.

In the adventure of Faith-Love there is always mutual recognition. 

The offices, the assignments, alternate incessantly.

Indeed, excessively centered relationships of subjection annihilate the living Gifts of God; they produce deep, paralyzing wounds.

They reduce Creator and creature to silence [and opacity]: a paradoxical self-condemnation.

But Christ clearly distinguishes what makes Blessed - complete, not one-sided - and what does not belong to and does not resemble the full work of the Father.

He does it not simply by admonishing, but by uniting us and expanding our Core; by lubricating the intimate, best essences - of all people.

In proclaiming the Beatitudes, the Risen Jesus wants to communicate [especially in his Churches, which seem to him to have need it so much] a less schematic and partial energy, more permeable and confluent; an inclusive rhythm.

And to everyone gives permission to live.

 

 

[6th Sunday in O.T. (year C), February 16, 2025]

Lk 6,17.20-26 (6,12-26)

 

Foreword (Lk 6:12-19): Called to Himself, Emergency by Name

 

The double address of worship, but the Axis is to be with Him

(Lk 6:12-19)

 

"He went out to the mountain to pray and spent the night in prayer to God" (v.12).

"And the whole crowd sought to touch Him, for a Power went out from Him and healed all" (v.19).

 

Lk reflects the double direction of worship in the primitive communities.

First, the Prayer as a significant opening to the Father and internal celebration among disciples (vv.13-17). Then the public proclamation (with works) to the people.

 

The community is close: God is in our history.

The idea of a distant Kingdom produces separations, (pastorally) inconsistent pyramidal hierarchies. Sometimes, dispersive cultivation of internal interests passed off as great sensitivity and altruism.

In short, to walk seriously alongside oneself and others, it is essential to first mature, wherever we live.

This applies to taking different initiatives; even possibly to rebelling against the stagnant landscape that likes to return to old-fashioned securities.

In this way, there may be less than noble motives for wanting to get everywhere at once, to run everywhere to make proselytes, and to do so out of opposition, without a "dream of friendship" [cf. encyclical Fratelli Tutti, passim].

For he who cultivates many lusts, projects them; he brings about his own murky influences.

That is why prayer and reflection are necessary - indispensable also to Jesus (v.12) - which give us the sense of our being in the world, the Father's vision, and a right disposition.

 

Deep meditations and spontaneous prayers annihilate infidelities that do not offer genuine life, authentic motives, or values of the spirit.

Prayers undermine and demolish the dehumanisations, the emotions that alienate us and alienate us from our brothers, the pitfalls that tend to build other temples and shrines.

The same charge of universality and 'sense of urgency' are contained in the rootedness to values conveyed by dialogue with God. And his Mystery (for us), in relationships, in intimate self-knowledge.

In fact... stimuli, virtuous principles, gaps and hidden sides are complementary energetic aspects.

It seems a paradox, but the interest in the needs of the multitudes is an issue exquisitely rooted in the intimate, not at all external.

It is from oneself and from the community that one looks at the world with empathy, knowing how to recover its opposites.

It is the Way of the Interior that interpenetrates and activates the Way of the Exterior.

This is how we willingly pray: to immerse ourselves in the vibrant Source of being, and to shift our hasty gaze.

 

By contrast and hindrance, the habitual partiality that "gets in the way" does not grasp the value of the social and cultural polyhedron.

On the other hand, unfortunately, it is only by loving strength that one prefers to start from the too distant.

One must first heal what is intimate and close. Whoever is not free cannot emancipate anyone.

Thus, the only way to peer into the distance is to stick to the reason of things - the principle that one actively knows, if not misled by superficialities and reductions [individualistic or monovalent, one-sided and club-like].

By understanding the nature of creatures and increasingly conforming to it, all are inspired to transmute and complete themselves.

A non-alienating process that also enriches possible cultural sclerosis, without hysterical or external forcing.

All this, practising goodness even with oneself.

 

The Tao (XLVII) says: "Without going out the door, you know the world; without looking out the window, you glimpse the Way to Heaven. The farther you go, the less you know. That is why the saint does not go around and yet knows, does not see and yet discerns, does not act and yet completes".

It is only from the Source of being - the common home - that an undissociated, all-saved life springs forth, one that effectively endures and can expand. 

Are we a sign of dedication and striving people? We do not do this for 'merit' or to gain sympathy.

Without being a cult, after a good training - which also imparts to us a wise tolerance, from the world within.

No extrinsic purpose, which would lose its soul and bring no change.

Not to distinguish the moment of Vocation from that of ministerial sending.

The way to Heaven is intertwined with the way of the Person and with the way of Nature ["like a sister, with whom we share existence, and like a beautiful mother who welcomes us into her arms": Laudato Si', no.1] or we will be busybodies.

 

None of the Apostles - ordinary people - were worthy of the Call (vv.13-15).

To understand this, and approach the meaning of their missional uniqueness, Jesus must spend an entire night in prayer (v.12).

Most of the early followers have names typical of Judaism, even from the time of the Patriarchs - indicating a mental and spiritual background rooted more in ancient religion than in the new Faith; baggage that is not easy to handle.

But even for the undecided, the Lord unleashes his power of full Life, precisely because he is an absolutely ordinary person full of limitations; not infrequently perplexed, even open opponents.

Peter was eager to come forward, though often backtracking - backtracking - to the point of becoming for Jesus a 'satan' [(Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33): in the culture of the ancient East, an official of the great ruler, sent to act as a controller and delator - practically an accuser].

James of Zebedee and John were brothers, ardent fundamentalists, and in a wrathful manner wanted the Master for themselves alone, as well as the first places.

Philip [conditioned perhaps by a Hellenistic extraction, as his name indicates] at first sight did not seem a very practical fellow, nor quick to grasp the things of God.

Andrew, on the other hand, seemed to do well: an inclusive person.

According to well-known traditional identifications, Bartholomew was perhaps open but perplexed, because the Messiah did not correspond to him much.

Thomas always a little in and a little out.

Matthew - a collaborator, greedy accomplice of the oppressive system, and willingly extorting money from his people [the people ruthlessly condemned him].

Simon - the zealot, the Canaanite - a hothead.

Judas Iscariot a tormented, self-destructive for trusting old spiritual leaders - imbued with nationalist ideology, self-interest, opportunism and power.

Two others (James the younger son of Alphaeus, and Judas Thaddeus) mere disciples perhaps of no great prominence or capacity for initiative.

But the Kingdom is "local and universal" [Fratelli Tutti, nn.142-153], Near and by Name - as the Gospel passage from Lk.

This is the manifold, grasping, incomparable, close and precisely personal power that overcomes any possibility of ideal sabotage (due to adverse circumstances).

Power drawn both from prayer directed to the Father in Christ - in his nightly Listening (v.12) - as well as from works of love (vv.17-19).

Power in personal, sensitive, shared symbiosis.

Not for the excellent alone... or even in the time of global emergency there will be no healing work (v.19) but only external, accusatory and aimed at propaganda, proselytism.

 

Announcement and Mission of new Light received in Gift: where precisely not a single form or colour appears.

And the Axis is "being" with Him.

For a contagion that is neither alarmist nor unilateral, monochromatic, but flourishing, multifaceted, sometimes "hidden", and restless.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

In your experience, what chain has united heaven and earth?

 

 

Beatitudes and inversion, antidote to one-sidedness

 

Faith and religion. Turnover in the Church

(Lk 6:17.20-26)

 

In Mt the Beatitudes outline a programme for fraternities of Jewish origin.

In Lk the sermon seems more radical in character and is addressed to Hellenistic communities, with a strong social emphasis.

Jesus judges the configuration of the world in which his Church in the Spirit finds itself living: rich and destitute [shaky in many senses], prominent and invisible.

A situation that does not reflect conditions of fullness of life; rather - even today - it makes the blood bitter for many.

A distorted and non-definitive reality, exasperating, which he absolutely denounces he does not like among his own: that of lauded rulers (despite the selfish abuse of possessions and positions) and insignificant subordinates.

Devoid of lofty titles, the young Rabbi addresses from the bottom up (v.20) those who have freely chosen his proposal of fraternal existence and sharing of property [in Mt "poor "for" the Spirit (of love)"].

 

The Master explicitly rejoices ["Blessed"] in the choice of his own, alienated from selfishness.

He praises that experience of attunement: in the same quality of intimate life with God, united and promoted to a different vision and reciprocity.

Already here on earth, the intimates testify to a different perception of things: looking down.

In addition, the Dream of an alternative society, founded on harmonious coexistence, without discrimination. A heady thing - in the exchange of benefits.

A sprout of a hospitable world - which Lk wants to encourage - where there is no top and bottom or front and back: only humanising upheavals (such as role reversal) that strengthen the concordant fabric.

Even in his House there must be rotation and reversal of leading figures and roles - signs of the Kingdom to Come.

Replacement is a sign of the Kingdom to Come; capable of sharpening sensitivities to Communion.

Not installation (even, for life) and fixity.

 

In the documents of ancient literature there is little mention of the poor, voiceless and hungry. The focus was on the rich, the heroes, the kings and generals.The reversal of fortune was unimaginable, although here and there [especially in the world of women, which was completely stifled] it was perceived as a deep and far more authentic desire.

The powerful of the new humanising world are precisely the opposite of what was foreseen: those who feel the Son present, pulsating in their hearts, Risen in them.

They do not keep for themselves, but transform goods, goals, titles and ministries into Life and Relationship.

Dynamism that will no longer cause anyone to lose the ground under their feet.

 

Nor will high tones be needed to defend themselves.

If one is still unable to distinguish and recognise oneself, one can become less noisy in reciprocity.

Then, what one now experiences - and suffers for love - is transitory, not definitive.

What, on the other hand, is decisive and conclusive is the construction of this unusual type of Church [Kingdom].

Germ that departs from the one-sidedness of relationships.

Seed and Nest - with enrichment and alternation - where everyone feels adequate, no longer singled out.

In any case, independent of conformist or pyramidal opinion, interested in perpetuating themselves.

In this way, persecutions that then bring suffering must be taken into account - not as a death rattle, but as glad tidings: birth pains, emblem and source of broad Hope.

 

The old competitive world is reeling and defending itself by all means, but the announced future is coming.

Fraternities that make decisive choices go the right way, sensible, vital, that not only cushions but teaches how to live misfortunes as an opportunity for Novelty and different Harmony.

Those to whom everything runs smoothly and are incensed - and allow themselves to carve out fixed positions of prominence in the assemblies of Faith reduced to the realm of man - only reaffirm the divergences that already marked the structure of the Empire.

They have nothing in common with the Father's plan.

Therefore Jesus does not rejoice in their presence, rather he laments it.

He does not believe that social inequality is the result of fatality, but of injustice - unbearable for those who call themselves disciples and brothers.

 

In an atmosphere of real sharing of resources and conviviality of differences, it also helps us to understand the relationship of Friendship in a strong sense - between us members of the Church, and with God.

In an atmosphere of blissful living, the inner core is finally heard, and shakes up crystallised situations. It makes one see life from other points of view. So no exaggeration of control; no forcing.

Between believers, any need finds space - without any more script - and everything moves away from the partiality of external relationships.

 

In a religious and verticist (already chained, voluntarist) Father-son relationship devoid of Faith, it is always the Almighty who dominates, and the creature obeys.

God is in the foreground and judges; man follows him, living as a function of the 'master' and his 'representatives' - even in vital positions - as if all others had a bland, decentralised identity.

Instead, in the community that reflects the divine, there is never anyone who is always in the background and the usual ones who prevail and decide - while others follow and act as spectators.

Otherwise some will end up brooding over abandonment or retaliation, and react [the only way] not to annihilate themselves.

No one can live without expressing his or her own personality and unrepeatable Vocation: in micro and macro community relations, in the Church active in the lay apostolate - if untiring.

This also applies with God.

 

The same ideal of harmonisation applies with Traditions or so-called Charisms - which should not overburden souls.

No more worldviews chiselled out according to another size: someone else's, or already dated, that no longer belong to us. Although it can in various cases propose a world of knowledge in which one can and must recognise oneself....

If, on the other hand, the relationship is filled with overwhelming power - as in devotions or ideologies, in business gangs or sects - the inclination will not be able to generate unity [if not facade] but all sorts of betrayal and abandonment.

But here defection becomes paradoxically necessary, in order to find oneself.

There remains a moment of tension and perhaps on the spur of the moment an escape, but from an oppressive situation - like that of the prodigal son (in ch.15) who runs away from home because he is harassed by the attitude of the 'eldest son'.

 

In the Faith-Love adventure, there is always a mutual recognition.  Thus, offices are incessantly reversed.

Roles are incessantly reversed between subject and 'object' (made into a protagonist in its turn) of the exchange of resources and gift-giving.

Over-centred relationships of subjection annihilate God's living Gifts; they produce deep, paralysing wounds.

They reduce Creator and creature to silence: a paradoxical self-condemnation.

In the realm of multifaceted 'holiness', on the contrary, the inversion persists between the one who proposes, the one who welcomes, and the one who expands.In each situation assessing whether the brother is in joy. [In this sense the synodal path is really appropriate].

Then over time one grows and also changes one's opinion - e.g. about people or events that we considered distant, inconclusive.

And instead they spoke to us of mission, or of our secret pace towards another goal and destiny.

 

The Christ present in every believer and in his mystical body that lives the Beatitudes, surpasses all normalised opinions.

God is not monochromatic: he overcomes disparities of behaviour, class divisions, discontents - and this is not a far cry from us.

E.g. until recently in Baptism we used to perform a formality.

We did not realise what was happening between God and the creature brought into the Church - nor the difference between pious ceremony and life orientation.

But pausing with ourselves and our Meaning, together, would have qualified the way of understanding ourselves; understanding others, being in the field.

Spontaneously we would have abandoned our 'character', role and primacy (which centralise, but act as a ball and chain to the best energies).

In short, with the help of a qualitatively rich common house, alive and committed in the spirit of gratuitousness, we would already be here in the divine condition.

We would have reactivated ourselves and our capacities in the round - without first adjusting positions on homologated models without vigour, which subject us to rancorous, suffocating, partial, equivocal relationships.

 

In the contrasts in vv.24-26, the Lord distinguishes well between what makes us blessed - complete, not one-sided - and what does not belong to or resemble the Father's work.

But he does so not simply by admonishing, but to bring together, and expand our Core; to lubricate the intimate, better essences of all.

By proclaiming the spirit of the Beatitudes - within each one of us - even in the time of pandemic and global crisis, he does not intend to make us gnaw our guts out and feel traitorous, inconsistent and off-track.

This Word wants to communicate [especially to the assemblies themselves, who seem to need it so much from the Risen One] a less centralised and partial energy, more permeable and confluent; an inclusive rhythm.

And full permission to live.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

What is your ideal of happiness?

Do you know any blessed men in the Church, or mostly men of earth and centralising relationships, tasks, management of pastoral programmes and more (...) while propagating 'unity'?

What is your angry cry that you do not let out, for fear of being excluded? Don't you think it is speaking deeply to you of discriminating human choices, of personal and ecclesial Vocation?

Do you believe that the Beatitudes are a hindrance to personal and social fulfilment, or vice versa a chance to assert yourself, and with determination?

 

 

Paradoxes for a sharing

 

Brother Egidius, a companion of St Francis, summarised his Founder's teaching thus:

"You want to hear well? Become deaf. Want to speak well? Be silent. Want to walk well? Cut off your legs. You want to work well? Cut off your hands. Wanna really love? Hate yourself. Want to live well? Mortify yourself. Want to gain? Learn to lose. Want to get rich? Be poor. Want to be consoled? Cry. Want to live in security? Always be afraid. Do you want to climb high? Humble yourself. Want to be esteemed? Despise yourself and esteem those who despise you. Want to have good? Endure evil. Want to be at peace? Strive. Want to be blessed? Hope that they curse you'.

In the Letter to Diognetus (mid-second century) we read:

"Christians neither by region, nor by voice, nor by custom are to be distinguished from other men. For they neither dwell in cities of their own, nor use a jargon that differs, nor lead a special kind of life. Their doctrine is not in the discovery of the thought of multiform men, nor do they adhere to a human philosophical current, as others do. Living in Greek and barbarian cities, as each one has done, and adapting to the customs of the place in dress, food and the rest, they testify to an admirable and undoubtedly paradoxical method of social life. They live in their homeland, but as strangers; they participate in everything as citizens and are detached from everything as foreigners. Every foreign homeland is their homeland, and every homeland is foreign. They marry like everyone else and beget children, but they do not throw out babies. They share the table, but not the bed. They are in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They dwell in the earth, but have their citizenship in heaven. They obey the established laws, and by their lives they overcome the laws. They love all, and by all they are persecuted. They are not known, and they are condemned. They are killed, and they live again. They are poor, and make many rich; they lack everything, and abound in everything. They are despised, and in despises they have glory. They are reviled and proclaimed righteous. They are reviled and blessed; they are abused and honoured. Doing good they are punished as evildoers; condemned they rejoice as if they received life. By the Jews they are fought as foreigners, and by the Greeks persecuted, and those who hate them could not tell the reason for their hatred."

"To put it briefly, as the soul is in the body, so in the world are Christians. The soul is diffused in all parts of the body, and Christians in the cities of the earth. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body; Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world (...). God has placed them in such a place that they are not permitted to leave'.

 

In a June 2016 review of L. M. Epicoco's book 'Only the Sick Heal', the Zenit Agency publicist draws an agile profile of the 'paradoxes of Jesus and Christianity':

"Christianity is the religion of paradox and 'the Gospel is the demolition of the banal imagery about God'. In the chapter on Faith (The Breaking of Bread) Epicoco explains: 'God is born poor instead of rich. He is born on the periphery instead of in the centre. He is born the son of no one instead of the son of someone notable. He is born in a stable instead of a temple. He reveals the news of his coming to the unreliable shepherds instead of the press releases of the doctors and prophets. He has to flee despite being omnipotent. He submits to the chronicle of the exiles instead of imposing new social justice. When he grows up he will care for sinners instead of the righteous. He will touch the sick instead of the healthy. He will say peace when everyone wants war. He will say fire when everyone wants water. He will preach aloud when none of the great ones want to hear him. And he will remain silent when all of them will expect explanations and words to catch him in the act. He will die on the cross at the hands of the Romans instead of the oppressing Romans. And in the end he will rise again when everyone, instead, thought they were keeping him dead in a tomb. Including his own (...)".

 

Christianity is not a religion, but a Person and his proposal: an exceptional Path of Friendship and Paradox.

 

Quoting Emmanuel Carrère: "(Jesus) is always what his followers wanted to see, hear, touch, but not how they expected to see him, hear him, touch him (...). He is the first to pass, he is the last of the beggars".

And he concludes by quoting: 'The heart is the enemy of homogeneity and tranquillity, always in search of fullness, of happiness (...). Restlessness is the incandescent demand for happiness that we carry within us. And everything that is incandescent burns. That is why restlessness hurts. But woe betide to extinguish restlessness because we would extinguish the torch of life itself, that which warms it, that which leads it (...). A man without questions is a dead man. A faith without questions is a dead faith. A love without questions is a dead love. The question is the infinite need for the answer, and not the macabre taste of taking everything apart to leave everything shattered'.

 

God's imaginative choices pass for the undecided, the defeated, the weak ignoble fools. Not because of an alternative quirk, but because these are the people who - while working to brighten the lives of others - by risking their own make experience of a Father who provides for their uniqueness.

 

 

They let the Light through

 

All Saints, between religious sense and Faith

 

Embodying the spirit of the Beatitudes, we ask ourselves what is the difference between common "religious feeling" and "living by Faith".

In ancient devotions, the Saint is the composite man sui, perfect and detached [but predictable]; and the opposite of Saint is 'sinner'.

In the proposal of full life in the Lord, the 'saint' is a person of communicative understanding and who lives for conviviality, creating it where there is none.

In the path of the sons, the saint is indeed the excellent man, but in its full sense - full and dynamic, multifaceted; even eccentric. Not in a one-sided, moralistic or sentimental sense.

In the Latin language perfìcere means to complete, to go all the way.

In such a complete and integral meaning, 'perfect' becomes an authentic embodied value: a possible attribute - of every person who is aware of his or her own condition of vulnerability, and does not despise it.

The woman and man of Faith value every occasion or emotion that exposes the condition of nakedness [not guilt] in order to open new paths and renew themselves.

From the point of view of life in the Spirit, the saint [in Hebrew Qadosh, a divine attribute] is indeed the 'detached' man, but not in a partial or physical sense, but ideal.

He is not the person who at a certain point in life distances himself from the human family to embark on a path of purification that would elevate him. Deluding himself that he is getting better.

As the encyclical Fratelli Tutti emphasises: 'A human being [...] does not realise himself, does not develop, cannot find his own fullness [... and] does not come to fully recognise his own truth except in the encounter with others' (No.87).The authentic witness is not animated by contempt for existential chaos - nor eager to outsource the difficulties of managing one's own freedom by handing it over to an alienating agency with a secluded mentality (which solves the drama of personal choices).

In Christ, man is "disjointed" from the common mentality, insofar as he is faithful to himself, to his own Fire that is not extinguished - to the passions, to his own unrepeatable uniqueness and Vocation.

And at the same time, "separated" from external competitive criteria: of having, of power, of appearance. Self-destructive powers.

To the latter, he concretely substitutes the fraternity of giving, of serving and of diminishing [from "character"]. Fruitful energies.

All for the global Communion, and in Truth also with one's own intimate character seed - avoiding proselytising and being noticed in the catwalks.

The true believer knows his redeemed limit, sees the possibilities of imperfection.... Thus he replaces the presuppositions of keeping for oneself, of climbing over others and dominating them, with a fundamental humanising triptych: giving, freedom to 'come down', collaboration.

This is the authentic Detachment, which does not flee one's own and others' inclinations, nor does it despise the complex trait of the human condition.

In this way, the "saint" lives the essential Bliss of the persecuted (Mt 5:11-12; Lk 6:22-23) because he has the freedom to "lower himself" in order to be in tune with his own essence; coexisting in his originality.

In terms of Faith, the Saint is thus no longer a physically "separate", but rather "united" to Christ - and banished like Him, into the weak brothers and sisters.

In short, the divine Design is to compose Families of the small and shaky, not to carve out a group of "strong" friends, and "better" than the others.

Only this horizon of the Hearth drives us on.

Consequently, the opposite of Saint is not "sinful", but rather unrealised or unfinished.

 

Let us look again at the reason (vocational and personal).

Jesus was a friend of publicans and public sinners not because they were better than the good, but because in religion the 'righteous' are often not very spontaneous; making themselves impermeable, closed, refractory to the action of the Spirit.

Surprisingly, the Lord Himself repeatedly experienced that it was precisely the devoutly deficient who were willing to question themselves, realise, rework, deviate from habit - for the building up of new paths, even by groping.

Not being able to enjoy the respectable cloak of social screens, after an awareness of one's own situation (and over time) - compared to those who considered themselves 'arrived' and friends of God - from 'distant' they became people more than the 'impecunious' willing to love.

 

Questioning is fundamental in a biblical perspective.

At every turn, Scripture proposes a spirituality of the Exodus, that is, a road of liberation from fetters and walked as if on foot, step by step. Hence one that values paths of seeking, exploring, self-discovery and the Newness of a God who does not repeat, but creates.

The call that the Word makes is to embark on an itinerary; that is the point. And we have always been "those of the Way" and who do not pass by, do not look the other way [cf. Lk 10:31-33; FT, 56ff].

 

For the classical pagan mentality, woman and man are essentially 'nature', therefore their being in the world is conditioned [I remember my professor of theological anthropology Ignazio Sanna even used to say 'de-centred'], even determined by birth (fortunate or not).

According to the Bible, woman and man are creatures, splendid and adequate in themselves for their mission, but pilgrim and lacking.

God is the One who 'calls' them to complete themselves, making up for their deficient aspects.

 

To come to be the image and likeness of the Lord, we must develop the capacity to respond to a Vocation that makes us not phenomena, nor exceptional 'perfect' ones, but particular Witnesses.

Chosen by Name, just as we are; who embrace their deep being - even unexpressed - to the point of recognising it in the You, and unfolding it in the We.

A person's holiness is thus combined with many states of dissatisfaction, boundary, and even partial failure - but always thinking and feeling reality.

For a New Covenant.

 

In the Old Testament, the believer came into contact with divine purity by frequenting holy places, fulfilling prescriptions, reciting prayers, respecting times and spaces, avoiding embarrassing situations; and so on.

Our experience and conscience infallibly attest that strict observance is too rare, or mannered: inside, it often does not correspond to us - nor does it humanise us.

It sooner or later becomes a house of cards, shaky the more it points 'upwards'. All it takes is to lay one of them out clumsily, and the artificial construction collapses.We realise our natural inability to meet such high sterilisations, (other people's) maps and standards.

With Jesus, Perfection is not about 'thinking', nor is it about adherence to an abstract code of observances. Perfection is about a quality of Exodus and Relationship.

In ancient contexts, the path of the sons has been cloaked with a mystical or renunciatory proposal of abstinence, fasting, retreats, secluded living, obsessive cultic observances... which in many situations formed the backbone of pre-Conciliar spirituality.

But in Scripture, saints do not have a halo or wings.

They are not such because they performed incomparable and astounding miracles of healing: they are women and men embedded in the ordinary world and in the most ordinary aspects. 

They know the problems, weaknesses, joys and sorrows of everyday life; the search for their own identity-character, or deep inclination.

And the apostolate; the family, raising children, work. The seductive power of evil, even.

 

In the First Testament, 'Qadosh' exclusively designated an attribute of the Eternal [the only non-intermittent Person] - and its separateness from the tangle of often confused earthly ambitions.

Despite the flaws, however, in Christ we become capable of listening, of perception; thus enabled to seize every opportunity to bear witness to the innate, vital Gratuity of divine and real initiative.

Unceasingly, providential life proposes itself and comes to open unthinkable, breaching gaps.

Its unprecedented journeys of growth renew the existence all linked and conforming.

This also makes us marvel at intimate resources, previously unconscious or unconfessed and concealed, or unforeseeably hidden behind dark sides.

 

That which is Insignificant is no longer moved behind clouds and placed in fortified enclosures.

Therefore, God's adversary will not be transgression: instead, it becomes the lack of a spirit of communion, in differences.

The enemy of the Salvation story is not religious incompleteness, but the gap from the Beatitudes - and from the unfolding spirit of the 'wayfarer' for whom 'wandering' is also synonymous [not paradoxical] with 'wandering'.

God's counterpart is thus not 'sins', but 'the' Sin [in the singular, a theological term, not a moralistic one].

"Sin" is the inability to correspond to an indicative Calling, which acts as a spring to complete us, to regenerate us not to be partial. This by harmonising opposite sides - in being ourselves and being-With.

Here it is the Faith that 'saves', where we are - because it annihilates 'the sin of the world' (Jn 1:29), that is, the disbelief and guilt; the humiliation of unbridgeable distances.

In fact, Jesus does not recommend doctrines, nor does he recommend parcelling out one's life with punctual ethylisms. Nor does he envisage any religious ascent [in terms of progressiveness] peppered with effort.

To no one in the Gospels does Christ say 'become holy', but with Him, like Him and in Him - united, to encounter one's deepest states unceasingly.

Recognising them better, also through the You and the We.

 

The Saint is the little one, not the all-in-one, uniform, predictable hero.

The saint is he who, walking his own path in the wake of the Risen One, has learnt to "identify himself with the other, regardless of where [or] from where [...] ultimately experiencing that others are his own flesh" (cf. FT 84).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

The liturgical year is a great journey of faith made by the Church, always preceded by her Mother the Virgin Mary. This year, during the Sundays in Ordinary Time, the path is marked by readings from Luke's Gospel. Today it brings us to "a level place" (Lk 6: 17), where Jesus stops with the Twelve and where a crowd of other disciples and people who had come from everywhere gather to listen to him. This is the setting for the proclamation of the "Beatitudes" (Lk 6: 20-26; cf. Mt 5: 1-12). Jesus, lifting up his eyes to his disciples, says: "Blessed are you poor.... Blessed are you that hunger.... Blessed are you that weep.... Blessed are you when men hate you... when they cast out your name" on account of me. Why does he proclaim them blessed? Because God's justice will ensure that they will be satisfied, gladdened, recompensed for every false accusation in a word, because from this moment he will welcome them into his Kingdom. The Beatitudes are based on the fact that a divine justice exists, which exalts those who have been wrongly humbled and humbles those who have exalted themselves (cf. Lk 14: 11). In fact, the Evangelist Luke, after repeating four times "blessed are you", adds four admonitions: "Woe to you that are rich.... Woe to you that are full now.... Woe to you that laugh now" and: "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you", because as Jesus affirms, the circumstances will be reversed; the last will be first, and the first will be last (cf. Lk 13: 30). 

This justice and this Beatitude are realized in the "Kingdom of Heaven", or the "Kingdom of God", which will be fulfilled at the end of times but which is already present in history. Wherever the poor are comforted and admitted to the banquet of life, there God's justice is already manifest. This is the work that the Lord's disciples are called to carry out also in today's society. I am thinking of the Hostel run by the Roman Caritas at Termini Station, which I visited this morning. I warmly encourage all who work in that praiseworthy institution and those who, in every part of the world, volunteer themselves generously to similar works of justice and of love. 

This year I dedicated my Message for Lent which will begin this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday to the theme of justice. Today I would therefore like to deliver it, in spirit, to all of you, inviting you to read and meditate on it. Christ's Gospel responds positively to Man's thirst for justice, but in an unexpected and surprising way. He does not propose a social or political revolution but rather one of love, which he has already brought about with his Cross and his Resurrection. It is on these that are founded the Beatitudes which present a new horizon of justice, unveiled at Easter, thanks to which we can become just and build a better world. 

Dear friends, let us turn now to the Virgin Mary. All the generations call her "blessed", because she believed the good news that the Lord proclaimed (cf. Lk 1: 45-48). Let us be guided by her on our Lenten journey, to be freed from the illusion of self-sufficiency, to recognize that we need God and his mercy, and thus to enter into his Kingdom of justice, of love and of peace.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 14 February 2010]

3. “Blessed are you!”, he says, “all you who are poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, you who mourn, who care for what is right, who are pure in heart, who make peace, you who are persecuted! Blessed are you!” But the words of Jesus may seem strange. It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world generally regards as weak. He says to them, “Blessed are you who seem to be losers, because you are the true winners: the kingdom of heaven is yours!” Spoken by him who is “gentle and humble in heart” (Mt 11:29), these words present a challenge which demands a deep and abiding metanoia of the spirit, a great change of heart. 

You young people will understand why this change of heart is necessary! Because you are aware of another voice within you and all around you, a contradictory voice. It is a voice which says, “Blessed are the proud and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous, pitiless, devious, who make war not peace, and persecute those who stand in their way”. And this voice seems to make sense in a world where the violent often triumph and the devious seem to succeed. “Yes”, says the voice of evil, “they are the ones who win. Happy are they!”

4. Jesus offers a very different message. Not far from this very place Jesus called his first disciples, as he calls you now. His call has always demanded a choice between the two voices competing for your hearts even now on this hill, the choice between good and evil, between life and death. Which voice will the young people of the twenty-first century choose to follow? To put your faith in Jesus means choosing to believe what he says, no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem. 

In the end, Jesus does not merely speak the Beatitudes. He lives the Beatitudes. He is the Beatitudes. Looking at him you will see what it means to be poor in spirit, gentle and merciful, to mourn, to care for what is right, to be pure in heart, to make peace, to be persecuted. This is why he has the right to say, “Come, follow me!” He does not say simply, “Do what I say”. He says, “Come, follow me!” 

You hear his voice on this hill, and you believe what he says. But like the first disciples at the Sea of Galilee, you must leave your boats and nets behind, and that is never easy – especially when you face an uncertain future and are tempted to lose faith in your Christian heritage. To be good Christians may seem beyond your strength in today’s world. But Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face the challenge. He is always with you to transform your weakness into strength. Trust him when he says: “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9)! 

5. The disciples spent time with the Lord. They came to know and love him deeply. They discovered the meaning of what the Apostle Peter once said to Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn6:68). They discovered that the words of eternal life are the words of Sinai and the words of the Beatitudes. And this is the message which they spread everywhere.

At the moment of his Ascension Jesus gave his disciples a mission and this reassurance: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations . . . and behold I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-20). For two thousand years Christ’s followers have carried out this mission. Now, at the dawn of the Third Millennium, it is your turn. It is your turn to go out into the world to preach the message of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. When God speaks, he speaks of things which have the greatest importance for each person, for the people of the twenty-first century no less than those of the first century. The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes speak of truth and goodness, of grace and freedom: of all that is necessary to enter into Christ’s Kingdom. Now it is your turn to be courageous apostles of that Kingdom!

Young people of the Holy Land, Young people of the world: answer the Lord with a heart that is willing and open! Willing and open, like the heart of the greatest daughter of Galilee, Mary, the Mother of Jesus. How did she respond? She said: “I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). 

O Lord Jesus Christ, in this place that you knew and loved so well, listen to these generous young hearts! Continue to teach these young people the truth of the Commandments and the Beatitudes! Make them joyful witnesses to your truth and convinced apostles of your Kingdom! Be with them always, especially when following you and the Gospel becomes difficult and demanding! You will be their strength; you will be their victory!

O Lord Jesus, you have made these young people your friends: keep them for ever close to you! Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, homily to young people, Mount of the Beatitudes 24 March 2000]

Today’s Gospel presents us Saint Luke’s passage on the Beatitudes (cf. 6:17, 20-26). The text is arranged into four beatitudes and four admonitions denoted by the expression, “woe to you”. With these assertive and sharp words, Jesus opens our eyes and lets us look with his gaze, beyond appearances, beyond the surface and teaches us to discern situations with faith.

Jesus proclaims the poor, the hungry, the suffering and the persecuted blessed, and he admonishes those who are rich, satisfied, who laugh and are praised by the people. The reason behind this paradoxical beatitude lies in the fact that God is close to those who suffer, and intercedes to free them from their bondage. Jesus sees this; he already sees the beatitude beyond its negative reality. And likewise, the “woe to you” addressed to those who are doing well today, has the purpose of “waking” them from the dangerous deceit of egotism, and opening them up to the logic of love, while they still have the time to do so.

The page from today’s Gospel thus invites us to reflect on the profound sense of having faith, which consists in our trusting completely in the Lord. It is about demolishing worldly idols in order to open our hearts to the true and living God. He alone can give our life that fullness so deeply desired and yet difficult to attain. Brothers and sisters, indeed there are many in our day too who purport to be dispensers of happiness: they come and promise us swift success, great profits within our reach, magical solutions to every problem and so on. And here it is easy to slip unwittingly into sinning against the first Commandment: namely idolatry, substituting God with an idol. Idolatry and idols seem to be things from another age, but in reality they are of all ages! Even today. They describe certain contemporary attitudes better than many sociological studies do.

This is why Jesus opens our eyes to reality. We are called to happiness, to be blessed, and we become so as of now, to the measure in which we place ourselves on the side of God, of his Kingdom, on the side of what is not ephemeral but rather endures for eternal life. We are happy if we acknowledge we are needy before God — and this is very important: “Lord, I need you” — and if, like him and with him, we are close to the poor, the suffering and the hungry. We too are like this before God: we are poor, suffering, we are hungry before God. Although we possess worldly goods, we experience joy when we do not idolize or sell our souls out to them, but are able to share them with our brothers and sisters. Today the liturgy invites us once again to question ourselves about this and to be truthful in our heart.

Jesus’ Beatitudes are a decisive message which urges us not to place our trust in material and fleeting things, not to seek happiness by following smoke vendors — who are often vendors of death — experts in illusion. We should not follow them because they are unable to give us hope. May the Lord help us open our eyes to acquire a more penetrating view of reality, to heal the chronic shortsightedness with which the worldly spirit infects us. With his paradoxical Word he stirs us and enables us to recognize what truly enriches us, satisfies us, gives us joy and dignity; in other words, what truly gives meaning and fullness to our lives. May the Virgin Mary help us listen to this Gospel passage with open hearts and minds so that it may bear fruit in our life and that we may become witnesses of the happiness that does not disappoint, that of God who never disappoints.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 17 February 2019]

Simple Mystery, New Mysticism. Vocation to offer to the world

(Mk 8:1-10)

 

The Son reflects God’s plan in compassion for the crowds in need of everything and - despite the plethora of teachers and experts - deprived of any authentic teaching (cf. Mk 6:34).

His ‘solution’ is very different from that of all "spiritual" guides, because He doesn’t fly over us with an indirect paternalism (cf. Mk 6:37) that wipes away tears, heals wounds, erases humiliations.

He invites us to use firsthand what we are and have, although it may seem ridiculous. But He teaches in no uncertain terms that by shifting energies, prodigious results can be achieved.

This is how we respond in Christ to the great problems of the world: by recovering the condition of man ‘viator’ - and sharing the goods; not by letting everyone for himself (cf. Mk 6:36).

 

In Mk 6 the prodigy is placed after the earful rebuke to the Apostles, invited «aside» for a verification of their uncertain preaching [Jesus announced as glorious Messiah].

Here in Mk 8 precisely, after the opening of the "senses" of the [same disciple taken «aside»] deaf and stammering (Mk 7:31-37).

The Source and Culmination Sign of the sons’ community is a ‘creative’ gesture that imposes a shift in vision, an absolutely new ‘eye’.

Faced with poverty, the attitude of the authentic Church is not satisfied with partial alms.

The breaking of the Bread takes over to the Manna dropped from above (Mk 8:4).

This is the attitude of the living Body of Christ, which feels called to be active in every circumstance.

Result: Women and men will eat, stay satied, and there will be food left over for others. Not all God’s foreseen guests are still present.

 

Unexpected Agreement: the “food” issue is resolved from the inside of people, and thanks to the few loaves of bread brought in.

There is no resolution with the verb ‘multiply’. The only therapy is the coexistence of the «breaking», «giving», «offering» (vv.6-7). And everyone is involved.

 

At that time, competitiveness and class mentality characterized empire society - and it was already starting to infiltrate the small community, just beginning.

As if the Lord and the God of profit could live side by side.

In the authentic Church it’s the communion of the needy that conversely goes up in the chair.

Such is the sense of sacred gestures.

 

In short, our very ‘shortcomings’ make us attentive, and Unique. They should not be despised, but assumed, placed in the Son’s hands and dynamized (v.6).

In this way, the distant persons poised on choices are full participants in Messianic banquet.

That Canteen urges us in favor of others who are missing, who have yet to be called.

For a kind of restoration of the original Unity.

 

Saved life 'comes' to us by Incorporation.

 

 

[Saturday 5th wk. in O.T.  February 15, 2025]

The simple Mystery, New Mysticism. Vocation to offer to the world

(Mk 8:1-10)

 

«I have compassion on the crowd, for [it is] already three days that they remain with me and have nothing to eat, and if I dismiss them fasting at their house, they will fail in the way; and some of them have come from afar» (Mk 8:2-3)

 

«Man is a limited being who is himself limitless» (Fratelli Tutti [Brethren All] n.150).

In our hearts we have a great longing for fulfilment and Happiness. The Father has introduced it, He Himself satisfies it - but He wants us to be associated with His work - inside and outside.

The Son reflects God's plan in compassion for the crowds in need of everything and - despite the plethora of teachers and experts - lacking any authentic teaching (cf. Mk 6:34).

His solution is very different from that of all 'spiritual' guides, because he does not overlook us with an indirect paternalism (cf. Mk 6:37) that wipes away tears, heals wounds, erases humiliations, from the outside.

It invites us to make use of what we are and have, even though it may seem ridiculous. But it teaches in an absolutely clear way that by shifting energies, prodigious results are achieved.

This is how we respond in Christ to the world's great problems: by recovering the condition of the 'viator' man - a being of passage, his essential mark - and by sharing goods; not letting everyone make do (cf. Mk 6:36).

Our real nakedness, the vicissitudes and experience of our many brothers and sisters, who are different, are resources not to be evaluated with distrust, "as dangerous competitors or enemies" of our fulfilment [FT no.151].

Not only that little that we bring will suffice to satiate us: it will advance for others and with identical fullness of truth, human, epochal [cf. Mk 6:42-43: the particular passage insists on the Semitic symbolism of the number "twelve"; here in Mk 8 and Mt 15:34-37 that of the number "seven" takes over].

 

In Christ, everyone can inaugurate a new Time, and Salvation is already at hand, because people gather spontaneously around Him, coming as they are, with the burden of so many different needs.

The new people of God are not a crowd of chosen and pure people.

Everyone brings with them problems, which the Lord heals - but healing not with proxy measures (cf. Mk 6:37), as if from above or from without.

In short: another world is possible, but through the breaking of one's own even miserable bread and companion (cf. Mk 6:38).

An authentic solution, if one makes it emerge from within, and standing in the middle - not in front, not at the top (cf. Mk 6:36).

 

The well-known symbolism of the "five loaves" and "two fishes" (v.9) - in Christological perspective, means:

Assuming one's own tradition, even legalistic tradition, which has served as a wise base nourishment (5 books of the Torah), then one's own history and sapiential afflatus (Writings: Kethubhiim) as well as prophetic (Nevi'im: Prophets).

[As St Augustine said: "The Word of God that is daily explained to you and in a certain sense 'broken' is also daily Bread" (Sermo 58, IV: PL 38,395). Complete food: basic food and 'companion' - historical and ideal, in code and in deed].

 

The place of God's revelation was to be the place of lightning, on a "mountain" smoking like a furnace (Ex 19:18). But finally even Elijah's violent zeal had to recant (1 Kings 19:12).

Even to the pagans, the Son reveals a Father who does not simply erase infirmities: he makes them understood as a place that is preparing a personal development, and that of the Community.

Indeed, it was imagined that in the time of the Messiah, the lame, the deaf and the blind would disappear (Is 35:5ff.). Golden age: everything at the top, no abyss.

In Jesus - distributed Bread - an unusual fullness of times is manifested; apparently nebulous and fragile, but real and capable of restarting all, and relationships.

The Spirit of God acts not by descending like a thunderbolt from above, but by activating in us capacities that appear intangible, yet are capable of regrouping our dispersed being [classified as insubstantial - involving the everyday summary - and re-evaluating it].

 

The Incarnation reweaves our hearts, in dignity and promotion; it truly unfolds, because it not only drags obstacles away: it rests on them and does not erase them at all.

Thus it surpasses them, but transmutes - posing new life.

Lymph that draws juice and sprouts Flowers from the one muddy, fertile soil, and communicates them.

Solidarity to which all are invited, not just those deemed to be in a state of 'perfection' and compactness.

Our shortcomings make us attentive, and unique. They are not to be despised, but taken up, placed in the Son's hands and energised (v.6).

Falls themselves can be a precious sign: in Christ, they are no longer reductive humiliations, but rather path markers (Mk 6:33).

Perhaps we are not making the best use and investment of our resources. 

Thus collapses can quickly turn into ascents - different, unpacked. And seeking total completion in Communion.

In this way, in the ideal of realising the Vocation, as well as intuiting the type of contribution to be made, nothing is better than a living environment, which does not clip the wings: lively fraternity in the exchange of qualities, and coexistence.

Not so much to dampen the jolts, but so that we are enabled to build stores of wisdom not calibrated by nomenclature - which everyone can draw on, even those who are different and far from us.

If a shortcoming is found here too, it will be to teach us to be present in the world in perhaps other and further directions, or to bring out mission and creative maturity - not to remain fixated on partiality and minutiae.

 

Thus, together, the 'no moments' immediately become a springboard for not stagnating in the same situations as always; regenerating, proceeding far elsewhere.

And the failures they throw into the balance serve to make us realise what we had not noticed, thus deviating from a conformist destiny.

They force us to seek suggestions, different horizons and relationships, a completion we had not imagined.

In short, our Heaven is intertwined with flesh, earth and our dust: a Supernatural that lies within and below, even in the souls of those who have collapsed to the ground; not behind the clouds.

It is the direct contact with our humus filled with royal juices that regenerates us and even creates us: as new women and men, newly re-born in sharing.

The image of the Kingdom in the puny Eucharist does not eliminate defect and death.

It takes them up and transfigures them into strengths; creating encounter, dialogue, preference for the minimal - and frankly propulsive - New Covenant.

Unfortunately, the exaggerated targeting of films about the Jesus 'multiplying' abundance... leads completely astray.

It breeds the devotees of increase, who disdain division (triplicators of money, property, titles, goals, relationships that matter, and so on).

Conversely, in Christ who distributes all things, we become like an actualised and propulsive body of sensitive witnesses [and living Scriptures].

Infants in the Lord, we swim in this different Water - sometimes perhaps outwardly veiled, or muddy and murky. Finally made transparent even as it is surrendered, filled with compassion and benevolent.

The old exclusive puddle of religion that does not dare the risk of exodus and Faith (v.2) would not have helped us to assimilate the proposal of the inferior Messiah, who solves the world's problems without immediate lightning bolts or shortcuts.

He is in us who have embraced his proposal of life: the Father's Initiative-Response, support in the unethereal Journey in search of the Hope of the poor - of all of us destitute waiting.

 

The allusion to the seven loaves (multiplied because they are divided) reinforces the quotations relating to the malleable magma of biblical icons, such as those of Moses and Elijah: figures from the five Books of the Pentateuch [the First Foods], plus the two sections of Prophets and Writings.

All together 'seven loaves': fullness of food and wisdom for the soul, called to proceed beyond the surrounding hedges, breaking the banks of the enslaved mentality.

It is the nourishment-basis of the human-divine spirit, to which, however, is added a young and fresh companion food, which precisely involves us (v.7): "And they had a few little fishes, and said the blessing on them, he said to give these also.

[As St. Augustine said: "The Word of God that is explained to you every day and in a certain sense 'broken' is also daily Bread" (Sermo 58, IV: PL 38, 395)].

Complete food: basic food and 'companion' - historical and ideal, in code and in deed.

We become in Christ as an actualised and propulsive corpus of sensitive witnesses (and Scriptures!); admittedly reduced, not yet affirmed and lacking in heroic phenomena, but emphatically sapiential and practical.

Announcers, sharers without resounding proclamations of self-sufficiency.

Never enclosed within archaic fences - always in the making - therefore able to perceive unknown tracks.

And to 'break the Bread'... that is to say, to be active, to go further, to divide the little - to feed, to overflow - multiplying the listening and the action of God; and to make even the desperate regain esteem.

We are children: like few and little fish (v.7), but not wallowing in competitions that make life toxic - rather: called in the first person to write a singular, empathic and sacred Word-event.

Infants in the Lord, we swim in this different Water.

Sometimes perhaps outwardly veiled or muddy and murky; finally made transparent if only because it is yielding, compassionate and benevolent (v.2).

The old exclusive puddle of religion that does not dare the risk of Faith (vv. 3-4) would not have helped us to assimilate the proposal of Jesus the Messiah, Son of God, Saviour - acrostic of the Greek word "Ichtys" [fish: v.7 diminutive].

He is the Father's Initiative-Response, support in the unethereal journey in search of the Hope of the poor - of all of us destitute people waiting.

 

The working Faith thus has as its emblem the Eucharist, a revolution of sacredness. It seems strange, for us who have grown accustomed to it.

In fact, the purpose of evangelisation is to participate in and emancipate the integral being from all that threatens it, not only in its extreme limit: also in its everyday actions - to the point of seeking the communion of goods.

In Mk 6 the prodigy is placed after the earful towards the apostles, called "aside" for a verification of their uncertain preaching [Jesus announced as the glorious Messiah].

Here in Mk 8 [similarly, precisely] after the opening of the "senses" of the [same disciple taken "aside"] deaf and stammering (Mk 7:31-37).

The Source and Summit Sign of the community of sons is a creative gesture that imposes a shift in vision, an absolutely new eye.

In the face of the destitution of the many caused by the greed of the few, the attitude of the authentic Church does not take pleasure in emblems and fervour, nor in partial calls to distinguish itself in almsgiving.

The breaking of the Bread takes over from the Manna dropped from above in the desert (Mk 8:4) and involves its distribution - not only in special situations.

There is no settling, in multiplying life for all.

This is the attitude of the living Body of Christ [thaumaturgic, not the miracle-worker] who feels called to be active in every circumstance.

Grateful adherence must lead us to the gift and sharing of the 'bread'.

If Eucharistic participation does not lead only to punctual alms-giving, external pietism and mannerly welfarism, there is the Result:

Women and men will eat, remain full, and there will be food left over for others. Not all of God's intended guests are yet present.

We note that it had not even occurred to the disciples that the solution might come from the people themselves and their spirit - not from the patronage of the leaders or some individual benefactor.

Unexpected agreement: the question of food is resolved not from above, but from within the people and the few loaves they brought with them.

There is no resolution with the verb 'multiply' - i.e. 'increase' [relationships that count, increase property, pile up wiles].

The only therapy is the coexistence of "breaking", "giving", "offering" (vv.6-7 Greek text). And everyone is involved, no one privileged.

 

At that time, competitiveness and class mentality characterised the pyramidal society of the empire - and began to infiltrate even the small community, just starting out.

As if the Lord and the God of profit could live side by side.

It is the communion of the needy that conversely takes centre stage in the non-artificial Church; capable of bringing opposites together.

Real sharing acts as a professor of the ubiquitous veteran, pretentious, only to be converted.

The germ of their 'durability' should be not altitude and role, but love.

Such is the only meaning of sacred gestures, not other projects tinged with prevarication, or appearance.

 

The 'belonging' astound.

For the Lord, the distant ones, still poised in their choices, are full participants in the messianic banquet - without preclusions, nor disciplines of the arcane with nerve-racking expectations.

Conversely, that Canteen presses in favour of others who are to be called. For a kind of re-establishment of the original Unity.

 

In short, the Redemption does not belong to elites concerned about the stability of their rule - which it is even the weak who must sustain.

 

Saved life comes to us by incorporation.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Have you ever broken your own bread, transmitted happiness and made recoveries that renew relationships, putting people who do not even have self-esteem back on their feet? Or have you favoured selflessness, chains, elite attitudes?

The Eucharist, bread broken for the life of the world

88. "The bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world" (Jn 6:51). In these words the Lord reveals the true meaning of the gift of his life for all people. These words also reveal his deep compassion for every man and woman. The Gospels frequently speak of Jesus' feelings towards others, especially the suffering and sinners (cf. Mt 20:34; Mk 6:34; Lk 19:41). Through a profoundly human sensibility he expresses God's saving will for all people – that they may have true life. Each celebration of the Eucharist makes sacramentally present the gift that the crucified Lord made of his life, for us and for the whole world. In the Eucharist Jesus also makes us witnesses of God's compassion towards all our brothers and sisters. The eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of charity towards neighbour, which "consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, affecting even my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ." (240) In all those I meet, I recognize brothers or sisters for whom the Lord gave his life, loving them "to the end" (Jn 13:1). Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, must become ever more conscious that the sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become "bread that is broken" for others, and to work for the building of a more just and fraternal world. Keeping in mind the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, we need to realize that Christ continues today to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged: "You yourselves, give them something to eat" (Mt 14:16). Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world.

[Pope Benedict, Sacramentum Caritatis]

Along with physical hunger man has within him another hunger, a more basic hunger, which cannot be satisfied by ordinary food. It is a hunger for life, a hunger for eternity. The sign of the manna was the proclamation of the coming of Christ who was to satisfy man's hunger for eternity by himself becoming the "living bread" which "gives life to the world". And see: those who heard Jesus ask him to fulfil what had been proclaimed by the sign of the manna, perhaps without being conscious of how far their request would go: "Lord, give us this bread always" (Jn 6:34). How eloquent is this request! How generous and how amazing is its fulfilment. "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst... For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (Jn 6:35,55-56). "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day' (Jn 6:54).

What a great dignity has been bestowed on us! The Son of God gives himself to us in the Most Holy Sacrament of his Body and Blood. How infinitely great is God's generosity! He responds to our deepest desires, which are not only desires for earthly bread, but extend to the horizons of life eternal. This is the great mystery of faith!

[Pope John Paul II, homily in Wroclaw 31 May 1997]

The words and gestures of the Lord touch our hearts: He takes the bread in his hands, pronounces the blessing, breaks it and offers it to the disciples, saying: “Take; this is my body” […]

And thus, with simplicity, Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament. His is a humble gesture of giving, a gesture of sharing. At the culmination of his life, he does not distribute an abundance of bread to feed the multitudes, but breaks himself apart at the Passover supper with the disciples. In this way Jesus shows us that the aim of life lies in self-giving, that the greatest thing is to serve. And today once more we find the greatness of God in a piece of Bread, in a fragility that overflows with love, that overflows with sharing. Fragility is precisely the word I would like to underscore. Jesus becomes fragile like the bread that is broken and crumbled. But his strength lies precisely therein, in his fragility. In the Eucharist fragility is strength: the strength of the love that becomes small so it can be welcomed and not feared; the strength of the love that is broken and shared so as to nourish and give life; the strength of the love that is split apart so as to join all of us in unity.

And there is another strength that stands out in the fragility of the Eucharist: the strength to love those who make mistakes. It is on the night he is betrayed that Jesus gives us the Bread of Life. He gives us the greatest gift while he feels the deepest abyss in his heart: the disciple who eats with Him, who dips the morsel in the same plate, is betraying Him. And betrayal is the worst suffering for one who loves. And what does Jesus do? He reacts to the evil with a greater good. He responds to Judas’ ‘no’ with the ‘yes’ of mercy. He does not punish the sinner, but rather gives His life for him; He pays for him. When we receive the Eucharist, Jesus does the same with us: he knows us; he knows we are sinners; and he knows we make many mistakes, but he does not give up on joining his life to ours. He knows that we need it, because the Eucharist is not the reward of saints, no, it is the Bread of sinners. This is why he exhorts us: “Do not be afraid! Take and eat”.

Each time we receive the Bread of Life, Jesus comes to give new meaning to our fragilities. He reminds us that in his eyes we are more precious than we think. He tells us he is pleased if we share our fragilities with him. He repeats to us that his mercy is not afraid of our miseries. The mercy of Jesus is not afraid of our miseries. And above all he heals us from those fragilities that we cannot heal on our own, with love. What fragilities? Let’s think. That of feeling resentment toward those who have done us harm — we cannot heal from this on our own; that of distancing ourselves from others and closing off within ourselves — we cannot heal from that on our own; that of feeling sorry for ourselves and complaining without finding peace; from this too, we cannot heal on our own. It is He who heals us with his presence, with his bread, with the Eucharist. The Eucharist is an effective medicine for these closures. The Bread of Life, in fact, heals rigidity and transforms it into docility. The Eucharist heals because it unites with Jesus: it makes us assimilate his way of living, his ability to break himself apart and give himself to brothers and sisters, to respond to evil with good. He gives us the courage to go outside of ourselves and bend down with love toward the fragility of others. As God does with us. This is the logic of the Eucharist: we receive Jesus who loves us and heals our fragilities in order to love others and help them in their fragilities; and this lasts our entire life. In the Liturgy of the Hours today, we prayed a hymn: four verses that are the summary of Jesus’ entire life. And they tell us this: as Jesus was born, he became our travelling companion in life. Then, at the supper he gave himself as food. Then, on the cross, in his death, he became the “price”; he paid for us. And now, as he reigns in Heaven he is our reward; we go to seek the One who awaits us [cf. Hymn at Lauds on Corpus Christi, Verbum Supernum Prodiens].

May the Blessed Virgin, in whom God became flesh, help us to embrace the Eucharist with a grateful heart and to make a gift of our life too. May the Eucharist make us a gift for all others.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 6 June 2021]