Free of charge: the Near Kingdom and Incarnate Prayer

(Mt 9:36-10:8)

 

Jesus distinguishes himself from the Rabbis of his time, because he does not wait for the exhausted and prostrate people (v.36) to go to him: he seeks it.

And the group of his intimates must be involved, both in works of healing and liberation - fraternity motivated by luminous disinterest.

The Lord enters the prayer assemblies with pastoral concern: to teach, not to discuss. He does not give lessons in logical analysis, but he does bring out Who inhabits him.

He proclaims a Kingdom totally different from how it was instilled by the manipulators of consciences - overflowing with detailed convictions, producing intimate coercion, anonymity, loneliness, passivity.

Still today we are looking for a God to experience, loveable, ‘not invisible’.

Thus the Gospel (v.35) announces Grace: the face of the Father - who does not want anything for himself, but gives everything to transmit us his own Life.

A Friend who Comes, who does not force us to "go up" [in the abstract] nor imprisons in guilt, exhausting already submissive creatures - making them even more desolate than before.

Here a Heaven is revealed that makes us feel adequate, does not punish or impress, but promotes and puts at ease.

The Prodigal Father welcomes people as the Son does in the Gospels - as they are; not by inquiring. Rather by dilating.

His Word-event not only reactivates: it replenishes imbalances and enhances them in perspective of real person paths - without judging or disperse, nor break anything.

For such a work of wise recomposition of being, the Master invites to Prayer (v.38) - first form of disciples’ commitment.

Access to different tunies in the Spirit teaches us to stimulate the gaze of the soul, to value and understand everything and everyone.

Therefore - after making them less unaware - Jesus invites his disciples to get involved in missionary work; not to do the learned, nor moral lessons.

They would be scripted without love, which make the sick people feel yet more desperate.

Mission grows from a small but boundless dimension - that of inner perception, which is aware of the needs and mystery of a favourable Presence.

New configurations of understanding, in spirit: fully discovered only in deep Prayer (v.38). Incarnate Prayer.

Prayer does not want to distract us from our deep realization; on the contrary, it guides us - and relocates the soul scattered in the many common practices to be carried out, to its center.

It makes us feel the struding of desire and of understanding the perfect condition: the Father does not intend to absorb our attitudes, but to empower them. Because everyone has an intimate project, a Call by Name, his own place in the world.

It seems paradoxical, but the outgoing Church is first and foremost a problem of formation and internal consciousness.

In short, we recognize ourselves and become aware of things through the Prayer-hunch, unitive.

In Christ it is not a performance or a devout expression, but an understanding and above all a Listening to the God who in a thousand subtle forms reveals himself and calls.

Thus the fight against infirmities (Mt 9:35-10:1): we recover and win by sharpening our gaze and reinvesting the energy and character even of our own still blurred sides.

All the Free of charge (Mt 10:8) that may spring from it to build life in favor of the brothers, will not sprout as a childish exchange.

The sense of closeness (v.7) to oneself, to others and to reality, will be an authentic - neither programmatic nor alienated - contribution of the Kingdom that reveals itself: Beside.

 

 

[11th Sunday in O.T.  June 14, 2026]

(Mt 9:32–10:15)

 

Itinerant ministry, Vocation, Prayer

 

In support of the oppressed

(Mt 9:32-38)

 

    In the Gospels, healings from illness describe and manifest an experience of Faith.

The earliest communities [here in Matthew, in Galilee and Syria] did not grow by miracle, but through tireless work to redeem and reintegrate people, even from an idealistic perspective.

In a brutally competitive, ruthless and disheartening world, life in communion with Christ enabled church members to recover from any situation of personal despondency and social abandonment.

At the heart of the Mission lies both the Compassion of Jesus and the disciple’s prayer (so that he may overcome disappointments, freely choose a positive attitude, and seek nothing else).

Prayer does not persuade the Father, but transforms the disciple. It stirs consciences to perceive, take notice, listen, welcome, and be moved – in whatever external circumstances.

Prayer enables children to be reborn from the heart – in the small, the faltering, the child, the adolescent, the adult, in nature, in history, in themselves, and in God.

 

In a situation of social collapse and economic exploitation, even the official religion instilled the idea that material blessings were a sign of spiritual standing, and vice versa.

People’s consciences were also stifled by a sense of exclusion (and punishment for sin) that accentuated their low self-esteem.

By exploiting the sense of unworthiness among the voiceless, the spiritual leaders never missed an opportunity to manipulate consciences, prey on the weak, and profit from their misfortunes.

The incredible novelty of the first fraternal communities of Faith stood apart from the ‘competition’ of ancient religion: there emerged the ability to tangibly restore discouraged people and to weave anew both the quality of life and relationships.

The official leaders, irresponsible and utterly disinterested in the real lives of the people, maliciously defended their positions and attempted to dispel the people’s admiration for the friends of Jesus – with the usual nonsense about evil.

Thus sprang the Prayer of the Inner Circle, addressed to the Father to help all his children in their radiant, supportive work; for the birth of a new, urgent vital awareness, and of bonds – out of kindness towards the needy.

In short, God’s teaching is conveyed through attentive listening and contemplative prayer, yet it is not abstract.

The idea and work of Faith stand apart from the world of sophisticated, or empty, standardising spirituality.

It is that of the yeast that leavens the dough: it saves people through people – beginning with the gaze of the soul (lucid, overcoming anxiety).

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Faced with human and social emergencies, what do you expect, and how do you find refreshment from weariness and opposition? Does anxiety or clarity prevail?

 

 

Prayer-premonition, unitive. So as not to lose the magic of the Mystery

 

Freely: the Kingdom at hand and Incarnate Prayer

(Mt 9:35–10:1, 6–8)

 

Jesus stands out from the rabbis of his time, because he does not wait for the exhausted and prostrate people (v. 36) to come to him: he seeks them out.

And his group must be involved, both in works of healing and of liberation – a brotherhood motivated by luminous selflessness.

He enters prayer gatherings with pastoral concern: to teach, not to pontificate. He does not give lessons in logical analysis, but allows the One who dwells within him to emerge.

He proclaims a Kingdom entirely different from that which was instilled by the manipulators of consciences (overflowing with detailed convictions) – who certainly did not act out of selflessness.

 

The ancient doctrines and their proponents stifled all dissent and produced the worst: internal coercion, anonymity, loneliness, passivity.

They instilled the belief that it was crucial to acquire their flat certainties, certainly not to open oneself to the personal Mystery, to one’s innate character – fruitfully non-conformist to the context.

In fact, they sought to disrupt the soul’s journeys, which sometimes wander in search of self-discovery, and which prefer new vistas to the usual way of seeing – murky, stagnant.

They would not admit that within each believer might dwell a fundamental choice not aligned with their ideology and way of engaging with the world.

Everything in other people’s lives had to function perfectly, according to their objectives. So they did not preach upheaval, but stagnation.

Nothing new was to happen that might call into question the social balance, their authoritarian influence… and their income.

There was to be nothing different to explore and discover.

And yet, yesterday as today, within every woman and man lies a volcano of potential energies – which, according to the dominant ideology, were simply to be stifled and conformed.

 

Because of all this that still drags on, we seek, on the contrary, a God to be experienced, a God who is lovable, not ‘artificially’ constructed… nor invisible or distant from our condition.

We want the One who gives us breath, and understands us.

It is clear: what we harbour is not a pitiful illusion, to be extinguished in favour of external balances.

Indeed, the Gospel (v.35) proclaims Grace: the face of the Father – who wants nothing for himself, but gives everything to impart his very Life to us. And he does so not to stifle our inner energy.

The Good News proclaims a Friend who is Coming, who does not force us to ‘ascend’ [in the abstract] nor imprison us in guilt, wearing down creatures already subjugated – leaving them even more desolate than before.

Here a Heaven is revealed that makes us feel adequate; it does not punish or even intimidate, but rather uplifts and puts everyone at ease; a Merciful One who is not merely good: exclusively good.

The prodigal Father welcomes people as the Son does in the Gospels – just as they are; not by scrutinising, but by expanding.

Even his Word-event not only reactivates: it restores imbalances and values them in the context of the journey of a real person – without judging or scattering, nor breaking anything.

 

For such a work of skilful recomposition of being, the Master invites us to Prayer (v.38) – the first form of commitment for the disciples.

Access to different harmonies in the Spirit teaches us to stimulate the gaze of the soul, to value and understand everything and everyone.

Therefore – having made them less oblivious – Jesus invites his own to become involved in missionary work; not to act as scholars or give moral lessons.

These would be performances without genuine concern, which make the vulnerable feel even more lost.

The Mission grows from a small yet boundless dimension – that of intimate perception, which discerns the needs and the mystery of a benevolent Presence.

New configurations of understanding, in spirit: fully discovered only in deep prayer (v.38). Incarnate Prayer.

It does not seek to distract us from inner realisation; on the contrary, it acts as a guide, and brings the soul—scattered amongst the many common practices to be carried out—back to its centre.

It makes us feel the yearning of desire and of understanding the perfect condition: the Father does not intend to absorb our aptitudes, but rather to enhance them. For each of us has an intimate plan, a Calling by Name, a place of our own in the world.

It seems paradoxical, but the Church that goes forth – the one that does not speculate, nor engage in mass proselytism to impress the mainstream – is first and foremost a matter of formation and inner awareness.

 

In short, we recognise ourselves and become aware of things through unitive Prayer-prescience.

In Christ, this is not a performance or a devout expression, but rather an understanding and, above all, a Listening to the God who reveals himself and calls out in a thousand subtle ways.

The commitment to healing the world cannot be achieved without an awareness of vocation, nor by allowing oneself to be swayed and proceeding haphazardly.

Rather, by sharpening our gaze, and by reclaiming the virtue and character even of those aspects of ourselves that remain in the shadows.

Nor is it essential to always cross every boundary (Mt 10:5-6) with a logic of flight.

For it is not infrequently – alas – that only those who love power begin with what is too far removed from themselves [from what is so remote and out of reach].

The lost ‘sheep’, weary of trying and trying again – the excluded, those considered lost, the marginalised – are not in short supply. They are within reach, and there is no urgency to distance oneself immediately. Almost as if to absolve oneself of responsibility for those closest to us.

The horizon expands of its own accord, if one is convinced and does not favour pretence or subterfuge.

The sense of closeness to oneself, to others and to reality is an authentic fruit of the Kingdom that is revealed: the Near One.

By understanding the nature of creatures and increasingly conforming to it, everyone is inspired to change and become whole, enriching even cultural rigidity, without alienating constraints.

By practising kindness, even towards oneself.

 

Some of the most frequently quoted aphorisms drawn from Taoist culture read: “The way of doing is the way of being”; “He who knows others is wise, he who knows himself is enlightened”; “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”; “The master observes the world, but trusts his inner vision”; “If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place”; “when you accept yourself, the whole world accepts you”.

 

Thus, in the struggle against infirmities (Mt 9:35–10:1): one is restored and triumphs by sharpening one’s gaze and reinvesting energy and character even in those aspects of oneself that remain clouded.

All the ‘Gratis’ (Mt 10:8) that may spring from this to build up life for the sake of our brothers and sisters will flow forth not as a childish [hysterical] quid pro quo or transaction.

It will be a spontaneous, solid and joyful Dialogue of Love, because it is free from those imbalances that smoulder beneath the ashes of superficial conditioning.

 

The sense of closeness (v.7) to oneself, to others and to reality will be an authentic – not programmed, nor alienated – fruit of the Kingdom that reveals itself: Beside.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Does Prayer in Christ stir your conscience?

What consolation do you await from the God who is Coming?

Perhaps a reward?

Or a gift that triggers – here and now – true Love-understanding, attentive to the calls of every still, small voice?

 

 

The Kingdom has drawn near

 

A great emergence, for a small Name

(Mt 10:1-7)

 

    ‘These twelve Jesus sent out after giving them instructions, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any town of the Samaritans – but go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”

The proclamation of the new Faith needed breathing space; yet it would encounter a dense, tenacious barrage of opposition, particularly from those steeped in a deep-rooted and habitual religiosity – linked to the ideology of power.

The initial restriction to Israel had become necessary, precisely in order to expose the most dangerous form of devotion: the empty and closed devotion of the synagogue which – accustomed to awaiting the extraordinary from outside – no longer expected anything authentic that might rouse it.

But the meaning of verses 5–6 is also very profound from a personal perspective, and concerns not only the initial restriction regarding the Chosen People of the messianic Revelation, of the explicit universalist opening, or of the Mission.

 

    None of the apostles was in himself worthy of the Call; yet he is called upon, and can accept his Mandate – as if he were already perfect!

Most of them have names typical of Judaism, even from the time of the patriarchs – which indicates a cultural and spiritual background rooted more in religion than in Faith… not easy to manage.

Peter was eager to step forward, yet he often retreated (backtracked) to the point of becoming a ‘Satan’ to Jesus [in the culture of the ancient East, an official of the great sovereign, sent to act as an inspector and informer – practically an accuser] . James son of Zebedee and John were brothers, fervent fundamentalists, and hysterically wanted the Master all to themselves. Philip did not seem a very practical sort, nor quick or trained to grasp the things of God. Andrew, on the other hand, seems to have got on well: an inclusive person. Bartholomew was probably open-minded but perplexed, because the Messiah did not quite fit his expectations. Thomas was a bit in and a bit out. Matthew a collaborator, a greedy accomplice of the oppressive system. Simon the Canaanite a hothead. Judas Iscariot a self-destructive figure who trusted the old spiritual leaders, steeped in a nationalist ideology, private interest, opportunism and power. Two others (James son of Alphaeus and Judas Thaddeus) were perhaps simply disciples of little note or initiative.

 

But the Kingdom is ‘near’ [v.7: ‘has drawn near’]: God is in our history – this was already being experienced in the early days, in his first community of children.

In ancient devotion, the idea of a distant God produced divisions, pyramidal hierarchies, and the cultivation of internal circle interests (passed off as great sensitivity and altruism).

The idea of an Eternal leader and avenger allowed a priestly class to proliferate which, instead of reconciling and integrating, neglected and abandoned those without influence.

Believing in a divine Presence linked to material abundance dulled minds and the ability to comprehend Redemption.

[The idea of advantage and disadvantage, prosperity and scarcity, always originates within us or in the conventional mindset of opinions].

Therefore, it is essential first to mature, wherever we live.

Indeed, it is not uncommon for there to be less than noble motives for wanting to reach everywhere, to rush about everywhere (to make converts), to spread, to increase, and to do so immediately.

The man or the club with many desires projects them; and frequently brings about within itself or elsewhere its own murky influences.

Hidden disloyalty, which, by failing to propose simplicity of life and spiritual values, drives people away, whilst building other temples and sanctuaries.

 

The power of genuine universality lies in being rooted in values, as well as in the awareness of one’s own shortcomings.

Virtuous principles and hidden aspects are complementary energetic elements, and will bear fruit in due course; in every respect.

We must take this deeply to heart, without vain projections, even regarding the unexpressed aspects.

In short, it seems a paradox, but openness to pagans is an exquisitely internal matter.

It is from oneself and starting from the community that one looks upon the world. Not from the overly exotic – at least initially.

It is the Way of the Inner Self that truly permeates the way of the peripheries. Indeed, only by loving strength does one prefer to start from what is too distant.

One must first of all heal and complete what is close at hand.

After all, those who are not free and aware cannot liberate, nor convince – or drive reality forward.

 

The only way, then, to look far afield is to adhere to the reason of things, a principle known to us if we are not misled by the dispersion of external society (including the sacred).

Once the nature of oneself and of creatures is understood, and by conforming to it increasingly as one develops, all are inspired to complete and transmute themselves.

All this also enriches any cultural rigidity, without alienating constraints.

In this way, by practising kindness first towards oneself… to heal the distress of others’ souls – having known them intimately.

Indeed, the Tao Te Ching [XLVII] states:

‘Without stepping outside the door, know the world; without looking out the window, perceive the Way of Heaven. The further you go, the less you know. For this reason, the sage does not go about and yet knows, does not see and yet discerns, does not act and yet completes.’

Only from the Source of being does a life of salvation spring forth. (It would be harmful to put the cart before the horse).

Are we a sign of dedication and people reaching out? Without forming a sect, after a sound formation, inclusive of opposites: integrating flaws, difficult moments, and insight into one’s own states of mind.

 

Not to distinguish the moment of the Call from that of the Sending.

The Way of Heaven is intertwined with the Way of the Person, not of excellence; not of models – or we shall be overworked ‘fishermen’.

The Kingdom has drawn near and by Name, from the very beginning (vv.2-4): there is no authentic and healing Mission more incisive.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

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

The list and the neurotic effort to correct transgressions, or a personal Calling, inclusive of the many facets of your soul – a Vocation sustained by a Church that has become an echo and a free Source of all-encompassing understanding?

 

 

The Proclamation of Peace: the Free Gift before any interest

 

‘Go and preach, saying [that] the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (v.7)

(Mt 10:7–15)

 

    To the friends who proclaim it, Jesus recommends not carrying a bag or money, so as to distinguish themselves from customs and contexts (and to instil the poison of fear). 

The eloquent gesture of ‘Peace’ by the faithful in Christ is not to fill empty vessels, but to help others discover God already Present in those to whom they turn, without preconceptions.

An understanding of woman and man in themselves, in their ‘limitation’ – the divine seed within them – which becomes an impulse to open up.

For a consideration of the human condition that does not start from ‘ideals’, but from reality; that does not proceed from disembodied (and elsewhere) ‘values’ but from the concrete reality.

Compared to other movements seeking a new way of living and coexisting – Pharisees, Essenes, John the Baptist – the believer must not be prejudiced.

By trusting both in the hospitality and in the food of others (all ritually pure), the friend of the Lord broadens the expression of the First Covenant.

Welcoming the needy comes before obligations. It allows one to become human. It lifts the burdens. It does not make ‘guilt’ the measure of life.

The Kingdom is ‘near’. It conveys a sense of adequacy, not of reproach. It starts from conscience, not from error.

 

The small communities of Galilee and Syria to which Matthew directs his message are modest realities – within the reach of ordinary people.

The ‘conversion’ they can propose has no definitive measure.

It gives everyone (including those who proclaim it) permission to make mistakes and fall, without any further shame at their state of need.

Thus, the actions of men and women of Faith inspire a renewed perspective, for they bear witness to closeness and freedom – not to the observance of obsessive, artificial, unnatural obligations.

 

In the small gatherings of the early days and in their selfless action, God himself was made present. Without pyramids or a heap of recriminations.

For a new earth, animated by a new Heaven: that of the Beatitudes which restore torn relationships, and reintegrate into community life precisely those who are imperfect, previously excluded in the name of God.

The Kingdom – a seed of reality in its infancy – would, thanks to the spirit of Gift, transform the world by reconciling opposites.

Proposing the alternative of an unexpected face of the Eternal Lover, but also of the successful man, and of society.

 

What, then, is the driving force behind inclusion? How is Peace conveyed, when so many admit, broken-hearted and disappointed: ‘I have no peace’? It is impossible through mere effort.

Before the eyes of the first protagonists of evangelisation, the solution sprang from a spontaneous development.

Even today, boundless kindness arises simply from recognising the great, absolute privilege of being approved by the Creator Father, precisely because we are ourselves; unique.

[‘The trial for crimes is underway, but what does the jury think? Who are the jurors? Who is the deputy attorney general of humanity?’ (Djibril Tamsir Niane)].

Only by grasping the profound connection between the dignity of the Call, the desire for a life of fulfilment, and personal identity and character, will we proclaim the ‘Gratis’ we have received, showing trust in people.

 

A sign of integration will also be not moving from house to house: from a makeshift first accommodation to a flat, then a small house, and finally a mansion (which will absorb all one’s energy).

The missionary and the authentic Church are critical signs in relation to the culture of accumulation – a shame still unspoken and widely spread in the petty gerontocracy – which certainly does not reveal a model of coexistence and appreciation of profound goods.

A passion for another Kingdom above all other interests will be an entirely inner fruit: a recognition of preferences ‘by Name’, the fruit of unique, non-external riches.

Fidelity to a Heaven not to be conquered, but which already dwells within.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

In which of Jesus’ teachings do you recognise yourself? How do you entrust yourself to Providence?

What is your selfless sign that reflects a great extra step?

 

 

‘When the weaver lifts one foot, the other comes down. When the movement ceases and one of the feet stops, the fabric is no longer made. His hands throw the shuttle, which passes from one to the other; but no hand can hope to hold it. Like the weaver’s gestures, it is the union of opposites that weaves our life’ (African Fulani oral tradition).

 

“We are utterly lost if we lose this particular individuality, the only thing we can truly call our own – and whose loss is also a loss for the whole world. It is most precious precisely because it is not universal” (Rabindranath Tagore).

 

“Truth is not at all what I have. It is not at all what you have. It is what unites us in suffering, in joy. It is the child of our Union, born of pain and pleasure. Neither I nor You. Yet I and You. Our shared work, a constant wonder. Its name is Wisdom” (Irénée Guilane Dioh).

 

“The bewilderment and loss of all certainty and refuge is both a kind of trial and a kind of healing” (Pema Chödrön).

 

‘When we suffer a grave disappointment, we never know if it is the conclusion of the story we are living: it could also be the beginning of a great adventure’ (Pema Chödrön).

 

‘To grow means to transcend who you are today. Do not imitate. Do not presume you have reached your goal, and do not try to rush things. Simply strive to grow’ (Svami Prajnanapada) .

 

‘True morality does not consist in following the beaten track, but in finding the path that is right for us and following it without fear’ (Gandhi).

 

‘Truth lies in every human heart, and that is where we must seek it; we must let ourselves be guided by the truth as each of us sees it. But no one has the right to force others to act according to their own vision of the truth’ (Gandhi).

 

‘You must stand up to the whole world even if it means remaining alone. You must look the world in the eye, even if it may happen that the world looks at you with bloodshot eyes. Do not fear. Believe in that little thing within you that resides in the heart and says: abandon friends, wife, everything; but bear witness to that for which you have lived and for which you must die’ (Gandhi).

 

“In Benin, if you see a water jar placed under a tree in front of a house, know that it is for you, a passing stranger; there is no need to knock on the door to ask for a drink, simply open the jar, take the gourd, drink the water and continue on your way if there is no one there” (Raymond Johnson).

 

“We must learn to let go of our defences and our need to control, and trust completely in the guidance of the spirit” (Sobonfu Somé).

 

“Observing and listening are a great art. From observing and listening we learn infinitely more than from books. Books are necessary, but observing and listening sharpen your senses” (Krishnamurti).

 

“Fire is linked to the Dream, to maintaining our connection with ourselves and with our ancestors, and to the art of keeping our visions alive” (Griot of Central Africa).

 

“As in life, opposites coexist everywhere: in social organisation and in emotional life, in interactions between individuals. To live and realise the contradiction, that is the essential’ (Alassane Ndaw).

 

‘The trial for crimes is underway, but what does the jury think? Who are the jurors? Who is the deputy attorney-general for humanity?’ (Djibril Tamsir Niane).

 

“Man must take responsibility for the bonds, visible and invisible, which together give meaning to life” (Aminata Traoré).

“Bringing the spirit of other people into our lives gives us more eyes to see and allows us to transcend our own limits” (Sobonfu Somé).

 

‘In the forest, when the branches quarrel, the roots embrace’ (African Proverb).

 

Indeed, even in a relationship of deep love and coexistence, ‘there is a need to free oneself from the obligation to be equal’ (Amoris Laetitia, n.139).

 

“The waves rise each to its own height, as if ceaselessly competing with one another, but they reach only as far as a certain point; in this way they lead our mind to the great calm of the sea, of which they too are a part and to which they must return with a rhythm of marvellous beauty” (Rabindranath Tagore).

 

 

To internalise and live out the message:

 

What Gospel do you feel called to write with your life?

We have gathered - seminarians preparing for the priesthood, priests, men and women religious and members of the Society for Spiritual Vocations - gathered in the Basilica of Saint Anne, before the shrine to her daughter, the Mother of the Lord. We have gathered here to consider our vocation to serve Jesus Christ and, under the watchful gaze of Saint Anne, in whose home the greatest vocation in the history of salvation developed, to understand it better. Mary received her vocation from the lips of an angel. The Angel does not enter our room visibly, but the Lord has a plan for each of us, he calls each one of us by name. Our task is to learn how to listen, to perceive his call, to be courageous and faithful in following him and, when all is said and done, to be found trustworthy servants who have used well the gifts given us.

We know that the Lord seeks labourers for his harvest. He himself said as much: "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest" (Mt 9:37-38). That is why we are gathered here: to make this urgent request to the Lord of the harvest. God's harvest is indeed great, and it needs labourers: in the so-called Third World - in Latin America, in Africa and in Asia - people are waiting for heralds to bring them the Gospel of peace, the good news of God who became man. But also in the so-called West, here among us in Germany, and in the vast lands of Russia it is true that a great harvest could be reaped. But there is a lack of people willing to become labourers for God's harvest. Today it is as then, when the Lord was moved with pity for the crowds which seemed like sheep without a shepherd - people who probably knew how to do many things, but found it hard to make sense of their lives. Lord, look upon our troubled times, which need preachers of the Gospel, witnesses to you, persons who can point the way towards 'life in abundance'! Look upon our world and feel pity once more! Look upon our world and send us labourers! With this petition we knock on God's door; but with the same petition the Lord is also knocking on the doors of our own heart. Lord do you want me? Is it not perhaps too big for me? Am I too small for this? "Do not be afraid", the Angel said to Mary. "Do not fear: I have called you by name", God says through the Prophet Isaiah (43:1) to us - to each of us.

Where do we go, if we say "yes" to the Lord's call? The briefest description of the priestly mission - and this is true in its own way for men and women religious too - has been given to us by the Evangelist Mark. In his account of the call of the Twelve, he says: "Jesus appointed twelve to be with him and to be sent out" (3:14). To be with Jesus and, being sent, to go out to meet people - these two things belong together and together they are the heart of a vocation, of the priesthood. To be with him and to be sent out - the two are inseparable. Only one who is "with him" comes to know him and can truly proclaim him. And anyone who has been with him cannot keep to himself what he has found; instead, he has to pass it on. Such was the case with Andrew, who told his brother Simon: "We have found the Messiah"(Jn 1:41). And the Evangelist adds: "He brought Simon to Jesus" (Jn 1:42). Pope Gregory the Great, in one of his homilies, once said that God’s angels, however far afield they go on their missions, always move in God. They remain always with him. And while speaking about the angels, Saint Gregory thought also of bishops and priests: wherever they go, they should always "be with him". We know this from experience: whenever priests, because of their many duties, allot less and less time to being with the Lord, they eventually lose, for all their often heroic activity, the inner strength that sustains them. Their activity ends up as an empty activism. To be with Christ - how does this come about? Well, the first and most important thing for the priest is his daily Mass, always celebrated with deep interior participation. If we celebrate Mass truly as men of prayer, if we unite our words and our activities to the Word that precedes us and let them be shaped by the Eucharistic celebration, if in Communion we let ourselves truly be embraced by him and receive him - then we are being with him.

[Pope Benedict, homily at Vespers in Altoetting, 11 September 2006]

Lent, the providential time for conversion, helps us to contemplate this stupendous mystery of love. It is a return to the roots of our faith, so that by pondering the measureless gift of grace which is Redemption, we cannot fail to realize that all has been given to us by God’s loving initiative. In order to meditate upon this aspect of the mystery of salvation, I have chosen as the theme for this year’s Lenten Message the Lord’s words: “You received without paying, give without pay” (Mt 10:8). 

2. God has freely given us his Son: who has deserved or could ever deserve such a privilege? Saint Paul says: “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, but they are justified by his grace as a gift” (Rom 3:23-24). In his infinite mercy God loved us, not permitting himself to be blocked by the grievous state of separation to which man had been consigned by sin. He graciously stooped down to our weakness, and made it the cause of a new and still more wondrous outpouring of his love. The Church does not cease to proclaim this mystery of infinite goodness, exalting God’s free choice and his desire not to condemn man but to draw him back into communion with himself.

“You received without paying, give without pay”. May these words of the Gospel echo in the heart of all Christian communities on their penitential pilgrimage to Easter. May Lent, recalling the mystery of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection, lead all Christians to marvel in their heart of hearts at the greatness of such a gift. Yes! We have received without pay. Is not our entire life marked by God’s kindness? The beginning of life and its marvellous development: this is a gift. And because it is gift, life can never be regarded as a possession or as private property, even if the capabilities we now have to improve the quality of life can lead us to think that man is the “master” of life. The achievements of medicine and biotechnology can sometimes lead man to think of himself as his own creator, and to succumb to the temptation of tampering with “the tree of life” (Gn 3:24).

It is also worth repeating here that not everything that is technically possible is morally acceptable. Scientific work aimed at securing a quality of life more in keeping with human dignity is admirable, but it must never be forgotten that human life is a gift, and that it remains precious even when marked by suffering and limitations. A gift to be accepted and to be loved at all times: received without pay and to be placed without pay at the service of others.

[Pope John Paul II, Message for Lent 2002]

"Service" and "gratuitousness": these are the two key words around which Pope Francis built the meditation of the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on the morning of Tuesday 11 June. They are the fundamental characteristics that must accompany the Christian "along the way", the Pontiff said, along that journey, that "going" that always characterises life, "because a Christian cannot remain stationary".

The teaching comes directly from the Gospel: it is there that we find - as highlighted by the passage from Matthew proposed by the liturgy of the day (10, 7-13) - Jesus' instructions for the apostles who are sent. A mission that, said the Pope, is also that of "the successors of the apostles" and of "each Christian, if sent". Therefore, first of all, 'the Christian life is to make a way, always. Not to stand still'. And in this going, what does the Lord recommend to his own? "Heal the sick, preach saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons". That is, "a life of service".

Here is the first fundamental datum highlighted by the Pontiff: 'The Christian life is to serve'. And it is very sad, he added, to see "Christians who at the beginning of their conversion or their awareness of being Christians, serve, are open to serve, serve God's people", and then, instead, "end up serving God's people. This does so much harm, so much harm to the people of God". The vocation of the Christian therefore is 'to serve' and never 'to serve oneself of'.

Continuing his reflection, Francis then moved on to a concept that, he stressed, "goes right to the core of salvation: 'Freely you have received, freely give'. The Christian life is a life of gratuitousness'. It is clear from Jesus' recommendation to the apostles sent that "salvation cannot be bought; salvation is given to us freely. God saved us, he saves us free of charge. He does not make us pay'. It is, the Pope explained, a principle "that God has used with us" and that we must use "with others". And it is "one of the most beautiful things" to know "that the Lord is full of gifts to give us" and that only one thing is asked of man: "that our heart be opened". As in the prayer of the Our Father, where 'let us pray, let us open our hearts, so that this gratuitousness may come. There is no relationship with God outside gratuity'.

Considering this cornerstone of Christian life, the Pontiff then pointed out possible and dangerous misunderstandings. Thus, he said, "sometimes, when we need something spiritual or a grace, we say: 'Well, I'm going to fast now, I'm going to do a penance, I'm going to do a novena...'". This is all well and good, but "let us be careful: this is not to 'pay' for grace, to 'acquire' grace; this is to enlarge your heart so that grace may come". Let us be clear, in fact: "Grace is free. All God's goods are free. The problem is that the heart shrinks, closes and is not capable of receiving so much love, so much gratuitous love'. Therefore 'everything we do to obtain something, even a promise - "If I have this, I will do that" - this is enlarging the heart, it is not entering into haggling with God... No. With God there is no bargaining". With God, 'only the language of love and the Father and gratuitousness applies'.

And if this is true in the relationship with God, it is also true for Christians - 'Freely you have received, freely give' - and, Francis emphasised, especially for the 'pastors of the Church'. Grace "cannot be sold," he reiterated, adding: "It hurts so much when you find pastors doing business with God's grace: 'I will do this, but this costs so much, this so much...'. And God's grace stays there and salvation is a bargain'. All this, he emphatically reiterated, 'is not the Lord. The Lord's grace is free and you must give it freely'. Unfortunately, he explained, in the spiritual life there is "always the danger of slipping into payment, always, even talking to the Lord, as if we wanted to give a bribe to the Lord". But the relationship with the Lord cannot go "down that road".

Therefore, the Pontiff reiterated, no to the dynamic of the type: 'Lord if you do this to me, I will give you this'; but, eventually, yes to a promise so that with it one's heart may be enlarged 'to receive' what 'is gratuitous for us'. And "this relationship of gratuitousness with God is what will help us then to have it with others both in Christian witness and in the pastoral life of those who are pastors of God's people".

"This is how the Pope summed up his reasoning at the end of his homily'. "The Christian life," he said, "is going. Preach, serve, not 'serve of'. Serve and give for free what you have received for free'. And he concluded: 'Let our life of holiness be this widening of the heart, so that God's gratuitousness, God's graces that are there, gratuitous, that He wants to give, can reach our heart.

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 11.06.19]

Solemnity of Corpus Christi [7 June 2026]

 

First reading from the Book of Deuteronomy (8:2–3, 14b–16)

The text calls on the people of Israel to remember their long journey through the desert following their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The forty years in the desert were marked by hunger, thirst, poverty, snakes, scorpions and loneliness. But the central point is not the suffering itself: it is God’s faithful presence in the midst of trials. God fed the people with manna; he brought water forth from the rock; he protected Israel during their journey; he concluded the Covenant on Mount Sinai. The trials of the desert are presented as a divine ‘pedagogy’: God educates his people as a father educates his son. Through fragility, Israel learns two truths: its own poverty and dependence, and at the same time God’s constant care. The fundamental message is that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from God: his Word, his Spirit, his presence. The text also emphasises the duty of remembrance: ‘Remember’, ‘do not forget’. To remember means to remain faithful to one’s roots and to the Covenant. Forgetting God leads to idolatry and enslavement to other powers. When Israel settles in the Promised Land of Canaan, the danger will no longer be the desert, but prosperity and forgetfulness. For this reason, obedience to the commandments becomes essential. The final section offers a significant image: memory is like the roots of a tree; a people without memory dies spiritually; the future depends on fidelity to one’s roots. Finally, the text links everything to Jesus Christ, who in the desert echoes the words of Deuteronomy: ‘Man does not live by bread alone’. On the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the believer is invited to welcome God into their heart. The memory of a people (or a community, or a couple) is a bit like the roots of a tree: today we see the tree, we do not see the roots… yet it lives only thanks to them and owes everything to them, in a sense. Imagine a tree saying: ‘I am separating myself from my roots; they prevent me from moving, worse still, they prevent me from flying’. The rest of the story would be the death of the tree. In the truest sense of the word, the tree’s future lies in its roots. When Moses tells his people “Remember” or “do not forget”, it is as if he were saying to them “do not cut yourself off from your roots”, “your future lies in your faithfulness to your roots”. Moses does not look to the past out of sentiment; but it is precisely because he is entirely focused on the future that he is concerned with fidelity to one’s roots. He says something along the lines of: ‘If you want to still be standing tomorrow, do not forget today who you are and to whom you owe it.’ From century to century, Israel has built itself up by remaining faithful to its roots. Jesus, in turn, to resist the tempter, simply echoed the words of Deuteronomy: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Mt 4:4).

 

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 147/148 

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! We must note this parallel: Zion and Jerusalem are one and the same. And, moreover, when we speak of Zion or Jerusalem here, we are referring not so much to the city as to its inhabitants—that is, ultimately, the people of Israel. The expression: ‘Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!’ can be easily dated: we are at the time of the return from the Babylonian exile, that is, at the end of the 6th century, when it was necessary to rebuild the city and restore the Temple. Without God’s help, none of this would have been possible: He has strengthened the bars of Jerusalem’s gates! In the previous psalm, God is called the ‘builder of Jerusalem’ and the ‘gatherer of the scattered of Israel’ (Ps 146/147 A,2). But this is not merely a task of architecture that God has accomplished: this return to the homeland is a true restoration of the people; a new life is about to begin—a life of peace and security: ‘He grants peace within your borders and satisfies you with the finest wheat’. In exile, the people ate the bread of tears and bitterness; the return to the homeland is a time of abundance. The second very strong emphasis of this psalm is the keen awareness of the privilege represented by the election of Israel: the Lord has not done this for any other nation; he has not made his laws known to them. We read in the Book of Deuteronomy: ‘You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God: he has chosen you to be his people, his special possession among all the peoples of the earth (Dt 7:6; 10:15). This is a free and inexplicable choice of God, one that never ceases to amaze us and for which we never cease to give thanks. From a human perspective, this choice cannot be explained; the only explanation Moses found is that because he loved your forefathers, he chose their descendants and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and his great power (cf. Dt 4:37). It is therefore simply a love story with no other explanation. At first, Israel did not feel it was living in an exclusive Covenant with the God of Sinai and thought that other peoples had their own protective gods: Israel was not yet monotheistic, but ‘monolatrous’ (also known as ‘enotheistic’), that is, it worshipped a single God, the God of Sinai, who had delivered it from Egypt. It only truly became “monotheistic” during the Babylonian exile (in the 6th century BC). A new leap in faith then took place alongside the discovery of universalism: if the God of Sinai was the one and only God, then He was also the God of all peoples. However, this did not negate the election of Israel, as can be seen in certain texts of the prophet Isaiah: “You, Israel, my servant whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham my friend… Fear not, for I am with you… I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you, and uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Isa 41:8–10). Isaiah also helped his contemporaries understand that their election now took on a different form: that of a vocation to serve other peoples, to be witnesses of God among them. “I will make you a light to the nations, so that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth” (Is 49:6).

 

Second Reading from the First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (10:16–17)

In this text, Paul frames the whole matter with two warnings: ‘Beloved, flee from idolatry’ (v. 14) ‘Do we wish to provoke the Lord to jealousy?’ (v. 22) In the Bible, God’s “jealousy” is always a warning against idolatry.   In Corinth, some Christians, converts from paganism, were tempted to continue taking part in the sacred feasts in the temples of idols, offering animal sacrifices. For Paul, there are no half-measures: either one enters into communion with the living God in the Eucharist, or one seeks another communion. One cannot partake “of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons”. Another practical question was whether a Christian could eat the meat from idolatrous sacrifices sold in the market. Paul replies that one may eat it because idols do not exist and therefore there is no sacred meat; nevertheless, one must avoid causing offence to those who are  weak in faith.

He then emphasises the Christian meal of the Eucharist, which is, in contrast, true communion with Christ. Paul highlights the significance of the Christian meal and asks: ‘Is not the cup of blessing a communion with the blood of Christ? Is not the bread we break a communion with the body of Christ?’ The Greek word is koinonia: communion, intimate participation, mutual belonging.  Christ himself, at the Last Supper, spoke of the ‘New Covenant in my blood’. And in the biblical Covenant there is mutual belonging: ‘You shall be my people and I shall be your God’. The entire Eucharistic Liturgy is the place where the Covenant is fulfilled.  The Eucharist is a meal of communion as in ancient cults, but the value of the sacrifice has changed. God no longer asks for the killing of animals, but for the gift of life: ‘You do not desire sacrifice and offering, [...] so I said: “Here I am”’ (Ps 39/40).   Christ offered his whole life. And, by participating in the Eucharist, we unite our lives to his to offer them to the Father. Paul dares to say: ‘The bread we break is communion with the body of Christ’, that is, we form one body with him, and for this reason we can live as he did. St Augustine sums it up: ‘You become what you receive; you receive what you are.’ By receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, we in turn become lives offered for the birth of a new humanity; an exclusive choice, for one cannot serve both God and idols, and, in the logic of the gift, 

the Christian sacrifice is to offer one’s own life united with that of Christ. We become bread broken for others; thus, in a single sentence: we understand that the Eucharist is the place where the transcendent God draws intimately near to us and transforms us into a gift for the world. 

 

From the Gospel according to John (6:51–58)

Here is a discourse that is hard to accept, yet it is the word of Life. After the discourse on the Bread of Life, many disciples abandon Jesus. His words are, humanly speaking, incomprehensible. Jesus then addresses the Twelve directly: ‘Do you also wish to go away?’ And Peter replies: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.’ It is the paradox of faith: these words cannot be explained by strict logic, but only by living them, and the lesson is clear: it is not from books that one understands what the Eucharist is, but by participating in it and allowing oneself to be drawn into the mystery of Christ. The word ‘life’ recurs several times in this discourse: ‘The bread that I will give is my flesh, given for the life of the world’ and, as we read in the Letter to the Hebrews: ‘Entering the world, Christ says: “Behold, I come to do your will.” And God’s will is that the world may have life.  It is a free gift, as Isaiah had already announced: ‘All you who are thirsty, come to the water… buy without money, without payment’ (Is 55:1-3), because what gives us life is the gift of Christ’s life, that is, his sacrifice. The biblical teaching on sacrifice reveals a progressive conversion: from the idea of bloody sacrifices, including human ones, to the absolute prohibition of human sacrifice, leading to the acceptance of sacrifice as an offering of bread and wine (Melchizedek, Gen 14:18). The Songs of the Servant also help us understand that the true sacrifice is to give one’s life for others. And Jesus says that his life is given entirely for humanity. The bread that I will give is my flesh, given so that the world may have life. In the Eucharistic sacrifice, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, Christ remains in us and we in him; in Jesus, therefore, we receive the very life of God: ‘Just as the Father, who has life, sent me and I live for the Father, so whoever eats me will live for me’. The essential conversion is to move from ‘performing the sacred’—that is, offering things to God—to learning to receive the Life that God gives us in Christ, so that we too may become life given to others. In short: the Eucharist cannot be explained but must be lived, for it is the gift of Christ’s life that draws us into Him, transforms us and enables us to give life for the world. A final note: the word ‘flesh’ that Jesus uses here is equivalent to ‘life’, and we can therefore understand that the Eucharist is his life given so that the world may have life. How? Through his passion, death and resurrection. Immersed in the Paschal Mystery through the Eucharist, each of us is called to welcome the life that God gives us so that we, in turn, may be the Eucharist, a gift of life for all.

 

+Giovanni D’Ercole

Already rebellious: special Vocation

(Lk 2:41-51)

 

The Gospel passage is disconcerting because it seems to portray a distracted family and an authentic, surprising, already surly and rebellious Jesus.

Lk is writing more than half a century after the Lord's death and resurrection, and he wants to bring out the character of Faith and inclination of his communities still in search.

The bloody story of the Master had to be understood and internalised in a way that was not immediately apparent; not even to those closest to the Messiah.

 

It seems that the Holy Family went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover (v.41).

Our Adolescent shows signs of particular vocation, even before becoming an adult and required to observe the Torah [in Israel, 13 years old].

From the tone of the narrative we note a Jesus eager to feed and immerse himself in the still unexpressed Mystery of the Father.

Dreaming of discovering his Will, he stayed in the holy city to fully understand the Word of God - without being satisfied of impersonal, abbreviated catechisms.

 

First expressions of Jesus in the third Gospel mark the character of his whole story.

He firmly detached himself from the religiosity of the ‘fathers’ (v.49).

The Lord begins to distance himself from ideas common even to his family of origin: he does not belong to a definite clan.

His will be a divine proposal in favor of all the women and men of the world.

So Jesus has even more honoured the fidelity to God of his parents (vv.51-52) by accepting the whole spirit of their teachings, and digging further - sensing their ultimate meaning.

As if to say: in Him the sacred Scriptures become accessible, with the reading’s key of his whole story and Person.

Life for us - even before Baptism and public events.

 

Lk writes to encourage believers who did not yet fully understand about personality [and dramatic outcome] of the new Rabbi.

Like Joseph and Mary, they had to realise that it is not easy to understand the Son of God and accept his uniqueness of character, even to the point of earthly defeat.

 

In the figure of the Holy Family, we too are invited to «return to Jerusalem» (v.45).

Well, observing the autonomy of Christ, we will gradually be able to open ourselves to the unprecedent vocation that we carry within us - because we are ‘born again’ in Him.

And in the face of disconcerting events, we will learn to guard the personal Call - like Mary. 

Because She too did not find it easy to enter in her Easter: the ‘passage’ from the religion of traditions and common expectations to the Faith in the Son.

But She «preserved through» Word and events (v.51b), without stopping halfway.

 

The movement of Salvation familiarizes everyone in the dynamics of bewilderment [from narrowness] and finding [of a Presence within the different presences] in order not to narrow the horizons.

 

 

[Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, June 13, 2026]

Already rebellious: Particular Vocation

(Lk 2:41-51)

 

The family is the nucleus of society and the privileged place of educational risk, not the only one.

It is a precious stage of growth, but it must not hinder the blossoming into the universal dimension.

The movement of Salvation familiarises everyone with the dynamics of being lost [from narrowness] and found [of a Presence within narrowness] in order not to narrow horizons.

The complacent retreat into the world of kinship affections and interests reduces the dimension of vital frontiers, making personal and household life narrow; cultural, social and spiritual.

The home hearth must integrate them into the community, and introduce young people to the knowledge of the innate character of their vocation, so that as they grow up they become available and mature in an ever wider reality.

The family that becomes a trampoline preludes detachment, which in its cut will be painful for all - but it will become a taking flight from the protected nest that enslaves; a leap towards the freedom of full life.

 

The Gospel passage is disconcerting because it seems to portray a distracted family and an already grumpy and rebellious Jesus.

Lk writes more than half a century after the Lord's death and resurrection.

The tragic story of the Master is understood and internalised in a way that perhaps Joseph and Mary could not yet have guessed in their adolescence.

Recognising Jesus as the Son of God from the age of twelve meant in the literature of the time "covering" his whole life [cf. Lk 24].

 

It seems that the holy family went up to Jerusalem every year for the Passover (v.41).

Before they became adults in Israel and required to observe the Torah (13 years old), our teenager already shows signs of a special vocation.

The tone of the narration reveals a Jesus eager to drink in and immerse himself in the as yet unexpressed Mystery of the Father.

Dreaming of discovering his Will, he stays in the holy city to deeply understand the Word of God - without being satisfied with impersonal, abbreviated catechisms.

The first expressions of Jesus in the third Gospel mark the character of his whole life. He decisively distances himself from the religiosity of his fathers (v.49).

He begins to distance himself from the ideas common even to his family of origin: he does not belong to a defined clan.

His will be a divine proposal on behalf of all the women and men of the world.

In this sense, Jesus even more honoured his parents' faithfulness to God (vv.51-52) by accepting the entire spirit of their teachings, and digging deeper - intuiting their ultimate meaning.

As if to say: in Him, the sacred Scriptures become accessible, with the key to understanding His whole story and Person.

Life for us (even before Baptism and the public affair).

 

Lk writes to encourage believers who did not yet understand everything about the new Rabbi.

Like Joseph and Mary, they had to realise that it is not easy to understand the Son of God and accept his uniqueness of character, even to the point of earthly defeat.

 

In the figure of the holy family, we too are invited to "return to Jerusalem" (v.45).

Here, by observing the autonomy of Christ, we will gradually be able to open ourselves to the unprecedented vocation that we carry within - because we have been "reborn" in Him.

And in the face of bewildering events, we learn to cherish the personal calling - like Mary. 

For she too did not find it easy to enter his Passover: the "passage" from the religion of traditions and expectations to Faith in the Son.

 

But they "kept through" the Word and events (v.51b), without stopping in the middle.

 

 

The reflective aspect of the House of Nazareth

 

The house of Nazareth is the school where one is initiated to understand the life of Jesus, that is, the school of the Gospel. Here we learn to observe, to listen, to meditate, to penetrate the meaning so profound and so mysterious of this manifestation of the Son of God so simple, so humble and so beautiful. Perhaps we also learn, almost without realising it, to imitate.Here we learn the method that will enable us to know who Christ is. Here we discover the need to observe the framework of his sojourn among us: that is, the places, the times, the customs, the language, the sacred rites, in short, everything that Jesus used to manifest himself to the world.Here everything has a voice, everything has meaning. Here, at this school, we certainly understand why we must keep a spiritual discipline, if we wish to follow the doctrine of the Gospel and become disciples of Christ. Oh! how willingly we would like to become children again and put ourselves to this humble and sublime school of Nazareth! How ardently we long to begin again, close to Mary, to learn the true science of life and the superior wisdom of divine truths! But we are but passing through, and it is necessary for us to lay aside the desire to continue to know, in this house, the unfinished formation to the intelligence of the Gospel. However, we will not leave this place without picking up, almost furtively, some brief admonitions from the house of Nazareth.Firstly, it teaches us silence. Oh! would that the appreciation of silence, the admirable and indispensable atmosphere of the spirit, could be reborn in us: while we are stunned by so many noises, rumblings and clamorous voices in the exaggerated and tumultuous life of our time. O Silence of Nazareth, teach us to be firm in good thoughts, intent on the inner life, ready to hear God's secret inspirations and the exhortations of the true teachers. Teach us how important and necessary are the work of preparation, study, meditation, the interiority of life, prayer, which God alone sees in secret.Here we understand the way of life as a family. Nazareth reminds us what the family is, what the communion of love is, its austere and simple beauty, its sacred and inviolable character; it shows us how sweet and irreplaceable education in the family is, it teaches us its natural function in the social order. Finally, let us learn the lesson of work. Oh! dwelling place of Nazareth, home of the carpenter's Son! Here above all we wish to understand and celebrate the law, severe of course but redeeming of human toil; here we wish to ennoble the dignity of work so that it is felt by all; to remind us under this roof that work cannot be an end in itself, but that it receives its freedom and excellence, not only from what is called economic value, but also from what turns it to its noble end; Here, finally, we wish to greet the workers of the whole world and show them the great model, their divine brother, the prophet of all the just causes that concern them, that is Christ our Lord.

[Pope Paul VI, Church of the Annunciation Nazareth 5 January 1964]

Immaculate Mother,
in this place of grace,
called together by the love of your Son Jesus
the Eternal High Priest, we,
sons in the Son and his priests,
consecrate ourselves to your maternal Heart,
in order to carry out faithfully the Father’s Will.

We are mindful that, without Jesus,
we can do nothing good (cf. Jn 15:5)
and that only through him, with him and in him,
will we be instruments of salvation
for the world.

Bride of the Holy Spirit,
obtain for us the inestimable gift
of transformation in Christ.
Through the same power of the Spirit that
overshadowed you,
making you the Mother of the Saviour,
help us to bring Christ your Son
to birth in ourselves too.
May the Church
be thus renewed by priests who are holy,
priests transfigured by the grace of him
who makes all things new.

Mother of Mercy,
it was your Son Jesus who called us
to become like him:
light of the world and salt of the earth
(cf. Mt 5:13-14).

Help us,
through your powerful intercession,
never to fall short of this sublime vocation,
nor to give way to our selfishness,
to the allurements of the world
and to the wiles of the Evil One.

Preserve us with your purity,
guard us with your humility
and enfold us with your maternal love
that is reflected in so many souls
consecrated to you,
who have become for us
true spiritual mothers.

Mother of the Church,
we priests want to be pastors
who do not feed themselves
but rather give themselves to God for their brethren,
finding their happiness in this.
Not only with words, but with our lives,
we want to repeat humbly,
day after day,
Our “here I am”.

Guided by you,
we want to be Apostles
of Divine Mercy,
glad to celebrate every day
the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar
and to offer to those who request it
the sacrament of Reconciliation.

Advocate and Mediatrix of grace,
you who are fully immersed
in the one universal mediation of Christ,
invoke upon us, from God,
a heart completely renewed
that loves God with all its strength
and serves mankind as you did.

Repeat to the Lord
your efficacious word:
“They have no wine” (Jn 2:3),
so that the Father and the Son will send upon us
a new outpouring of
the Holy Spirit.
Full of wonder and gratitude
at your continuing presence in our midst,
in the name of all priests
I too want to cry out:
“Why is this granted me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).

Our Mother for all time,
do not tire of “visiting us”,
consoling us, sustaining us.
Come to our aid
and deliver us from every danger
that threatens us.
With this act of entrustment and consecration,
we wish to welcome you
more deeply, more radically,
for ever and totally
into our human and priestly lives.

Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth
in the desert of our loneliness,
let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness,
let it restore calm after the tempest,
so that all mankind shall see the salvation
of the Lord,
who has the name and the face of Jesus,
who is reflected in our hearts,
for ever united to yours!

Amen!

[Pope Benedict, Fatima 12 May 2010]

The family is the heart of the Church. Let us today raise from this heart an act of special entrustment to the heart of the Mother of God.

In the Jubilee Year of the Redemption we want to confess that love is greater than sin and all evil, which threatens man and the world.

With humility let us invoke this love:

1. "Under your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God"!

Speaking the words of this antiphon, with which the Church of Christ has prayed for centuries, we stand before you today, Mother, in the Jubilee Year of our Redemption.

We find ourselves united with all the pastors of the Church, in a special bond, constituting a body and a college, just as by Christ's will the apostles constituted a body and a college with Peter.

In the bond of such unity, we utter the words of this act, in which we wish to encapsulate, once again, the hopes and anxieties of the Church for the contemporary world.

Forty years ago, and then again ten years later, your servant, Pope Pius XII, having before his eyes the sorrowful experiences of the human family, entrusted and consecrated to your Immaculate Heart, the whole world and especially the peoples, who by their situation are particular objects of your love and solicitude.

This world of men and nations is also before our eyes today: the world of the second millennium that is coming to an end, the contemporary world, our world!

The Church, mindful of the words of the Lord: "Go . . . and teach all nations . . . Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world' (Mt 28:19-20), has revived, in the Second Vatican Council, the consciousness of her mission in this world.

And therefore, O Mother of men and peoples, you who know all their sufferings and their hopes, you who maternally feel all the struggles between good and evil, between light and darkness, that shake the contemporary world, accept our cry which, moved by the Holy Spirit, we address directly to your Heart: embrace, with love as mother and servant of the Lord, this human world of ours, which we entrust and consecrate to you, full of concern for the earthly and eternal fate of men and peoples.

In a special way we entrust and consecrate to you those men and nations, who are in particular need of this entrustment and consecration.

"Under your protection we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God! Do not despise the pleas of us who are in trial!

2. Behold, as we stand before you, Mother of Christ, before your immaculate heart, we wish, together with the whole Church, to unite ourselves to the consecration which, out of love for us, your Son made of himself to the Father: "For their sake," he said, "I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth" (Jn 17:19). We wish to unite ourselves with our Redeemer in this consecration for the world and for mankind, which, in his divine heart, has the power to obtain forgiveness and to procure reparation.

The power of this consecration endures for all time and embraces all men, peoples and nations, and overcomes every evil, which the spirit of darkness is capable of awakening in the heart of man and in his history, and which, in fact, it has awakened in our times.

Oh, how deeply we feel the need for consecration for humanity and for the world: for our contemporary world, in union with Christ himself! The redemptive work of Christ must be shared by the world through the Church.

This is manifested by the present Year of the Redemption: the extraordinary Jubilee of the whole Church.

Be blessed, in this Holy Year, above every creature You, servant of the Lord, who in the fullest manner obeyed the divine call!

Be hailed you, who are wholly united to the redemptive consecration of your Son!

Mother of the Church! Enlighten God's people on the paths of faith, hope and charity! Enlighten especially the peoples whose consecration and entrustment you await. Help us to live in the truth of Christ's consecration for the entire human family of today's world.

3. In entrusting to you, O Mother, the world, all men and all peoples, we also entrust to you the very consecration of the world, placing it in your motherly heart.

Oh, immaculate heart! Help us to overcome the menace of evil, which so easily takes root in the hearts of people today and which in its immeasurable effects already burdens the present life and seems to close the paths to the future!

From hunger and war, deliver us!

From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from all kinds of war, deliver us!

From the sins against the life of man since its dawning, deliver us!

From hatred and from the degradation of the dignity of God's children, deliver us!

From every kind of injustice in social, national and international life, deliver us!From the easy trampling of God's commandments, deliver us!

From the attempt to obfuscate in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us!

From the loss of the conscience of good and evil, deliver us!

From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us! Deliver us!

Receive, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the suffering of all men! Burden us with the suffering of entire societies!

Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome all sin: the sin of man and the "sin of the world", sin in all its manifestations.

May the infinite saving power of the Redemption be revealed once more in the history of the world: the power of merciful Love! Let it arrest evil! Transform consciences! In Thy Immaculate Heart may the light of Hope be revealed for all!

[Pope John Paul II, Jubilee of Families 25 March 1984]