This Sunday’s Gospel reading (cf. Mk 10:2-16) offers us Jesus’ words on marriage. The passage opens with the provocation of the Pharisees who ask Jesus if it is “lawful for a man to divorce his wife”, as the Law of Moses provides (cf. vv. 2-4). Jesus firstly, with the wisdom and authority that come to him from the Father, puts the Mosaic prescription into perspective, saying: “For your hardness of heart he” — that is, the ancient legislator — “wrote you this commandment” (v. 5). Thus it is a concession that is needed to mend the flaws created by our selfishness, but it does not correspond to the Creator’s original intention.

And here, Jesus again takes up the Book of Genesis: “from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’” (vv. 6-8). And he concludes: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (v. 9). In the Creator’s original plan, it is not that a man marries a woman and, if things do not go well, he repudiates her. No. Rather, the man and the woman are called to recognize each other, to complete each other, to help each other in marriage.

This teaching of Jesus is very clear and defends the dignity of marriage as a union of love which implies fidelity. What allows the spouses to remain united in marriage is a love of mutual giving supported by Christ’s grace. However, if in the spouses, individual interests, one’s own satisfaction prevails, then their union cannot endure.

And the Gospel passage itself reminds us, with great realism, that man and woman, called to experience a relationship of love, may regretfully behave in a way that places it in crisis. Jesus does not admit all that can lead to the failure of the relationship. He does so in order to confirm God’s plan, in which the power and beauty of the human relationship emerge. The Church, on the one hand, does not tire of confirming the beauty of the family as it was consigned to us by Scripture and by Tradition; at the same time, she strives to make her maternal closeness tangibly felt by those who experience relationships that are broken or that continue in a difficult and trying way. 

God’s way of acting with his unfaithful people — that is, with us — teaches us that wounded love can be healed by God through mercy and forgiveness. For this reason in these situations, the Church is not asked to express immediately and only condemnation. On the contrary, before so many painful marital failures, she feels called to show love, charity and mercy, in order to lead wounded and lost hearts back to God.

Let us invoke the Virgin Mary, that she help married couples to always live and renew their union, beginning with God’s original Gift.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 7 October 2018]

(Mk 9:41-50)

In language typical of Oriental liveliness, Jesus' exhortations to coexistence overturn the hierarchy between the powerful and the weak.

In religions we find droves of outcasts who cannot access the trappings of pyramid devotion.

On the contrary, those who, like Jesus, are able to give everything, must not forget the small gestures, which speak of a 'non-exemplary gratuitousness' that is therefore authentic [limited in the day-to-day].

It is this coming to meet in ordinary life - little praised - that enhances the climate and does not push the weak to resentment, and evil.

The new ‘doctrine’ of Jesus is wise and aimed at making decisions.  And it doesn’t lose enthusiasm; indeed, it already makes us experience the same quality of Life as the Eternal, moving away from what corrupts.

Those who are completely absorbed in “the great” and do not notice the details, never have a sense of the value of things, and sooner or later they will end up despising everything.

Jesus identifies with us (v.41) because he lives there: we are his real, incarnate Victory.

A stumbling block or even just a small stone in the shoe (v.42) leads the «mikròi» away from the path of Faith.

The «incipients» - in fact, those with little energy and relationships - are starting to take their first steps... they are still out of interest cartels.

Those who pretend and put themselves in the wrong way, or give dull and bad testimony, however, have more in store than a pebble: a grindstone around their neck and an unworthy end [deadly existence: v.42].

Not because God makes pay, but because they throw their lives away and ruin others, who finally walk away in repugnance - while the sharing adventure could be wonderful for everyone.

The choice - if there is one - is radical, or no longer convinces. And the smell that is released is worse than stinking (v.43).

Instead, the community in which joy is experienced is like that pinch of sapidity and wisdom that makes people's spontaneous vital wave full - beautiful.

It was customary in the religions of the empire to think this, even in the name of the law... so what is the difference?

«Having salt in ourselves» (v.50) means that in Christ we can give minimal and usual things that tone and ‘taste’ capable of transmitting to others the flavor of a life as saved - starting ‘from inside’.

In the culture of the ancient Middle East, «salt» was related to God and therefore also had a religious importance: a symbol of durability [for preserving food] and courage [flavor, seasoning, purification].

Salt had the power to cast out demons, which corrupted life and gave off stench. For this reason it was widely used in religious sacrifices and in establishing Alliances.

In short, the salt was a guarantee of genuine durability.

But the salt of 'sons' is only... humanising wholeness, simple Love of neighbour, and the ability to correspond to one's own Vocation.

If it were not there, the very character of life in Christ would disappear.

Therefore the «salt pact» is essential for credibility, for the announcement, for the standard of living; for the very survival of the communities, and their unmistakable touch.

No other defense work from the outside - inquisition, prevention or repression - can guarantee the survival of the Church.

For our human, spiritual and life progress, Jesus takes sides perhaps not as we would expect - because no one is given the exclusivity.

[Thursday 7th wk. in O.T.  February 27, 2025]

(Mk 9:38-43.45.47-48)

The concept of closure and inquisition

(Mk 9:38-40)

It is not strange that the Holy Inquisition arose in the time of an absent ecclesiology.

The sickness of caste - always prone to kidnapping Jesus - and the sense of absolute monopoly... were already temptations of the first communities, particularly of the leading Apostles.

The super Apostles pretended to fix the typology of church members, including authorisations, deferences, characteristics.

On the other hand - albeit in simplicity - there is no trivial criterion that gives the imprimatur of being able to discriminate 'faithful' and 'not'.

It applies: how much does the Person of the Son of Man count for our lives and in our daily choices?

Feeling - or not - a friend to anyone who is committed to annihilating evil (perhaps by resorting to his free way of perceiving God) makes us reflect even today.

Are we only on the threshold of a journey in the Spirit? The sign of a de facto separation from God's plan for woman and man is perhaps concealed by epidermal expressions.

We have probably not properly understood that every step of liberation - wherever it comes from - brings us closer to the Father and also humanises our heads.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod (Mk 8:14) also leads Christ's direct disciples to a sealed mentality - according to which if someone "is not of ours" ("did not follow us" v.38) he must be marginalised.

The difference between religiosity and Faith: there is no longer any need to adhere to a recognised way of thinking or be a member of an official club.

Spiritual wisdom and Openness are the same thing. Every vital gesture opens up happy possibilities: being "drawn to God" is all of this.

In order to do good (casting out demons, v.38) it is not the badge (e.g. the name on the Baptism register) or being confirmed in exclusive circles that counts.

In the personal adventure of genuine Faith, there is no monopoly - not even for the Apostle John. No one is qualified to judge in the name of the assembly!

Holiness as separation concerns the criteria, the mentality, the concatenation of principles (or their reversal): not the election-predestination of a 'people of the pure'.

For Christ, what counts is not formal belonging - which tends to homologate - but what to do in the concrete (obviously on a vocational basis and of unrepeatable inclination).

It is not the feeling of being a disciple that counts, but being a disciple in fact. Love for the 'truth' does not exclude, but includes all those with high values (even supernatural ones, which we do not understand).

Authentic adherence is about the good - the only Victory of the people reborn in the Risen One. Work of life that even the official Church is called upon to build, without squeamish attitudes.

On the contrary, we see that precisely the situations outside the lines become a goad: they urge the dull and opaque 'Christians' to become seeds.

The 'community' is not important because it sees itself as such.

The universal call to the promotion of humanity is divine: a wealth that overcomes obstacles, a heritage of joy from wherever it comes.

If relegated and squeezed into filing cabinets, salvation history does not become a life of the saved.

The Mystical Body of the Lord shuns the ideology of power and the opinionated style of manipulators (spiritual grabbers) who imagine they are who knows what.

"But Jesus said, Do not hinder them. For there is no one who does a mighty wonder in my name and immediately afterwards can speak evil of me" (v.39).

To train disciples, Christ does not tickle self-love by setting up a festival or promoting fictions.

With his intimates, the Master does not use diplomatic language (expressions careful not to offend their susceptibility as experts).

The training of disciples is essential to the building of the Kingdom with wide boundaries, primarily mental.

In esoteric religions, there are models. Here no, only charisms, even personal ones - a condition of true love.

We are governed by God alone - the only one who knows what arouses in each one, and where to go.

Jesus is the revelator and pivot of this joyful, unthinkable News: but in the sense of motive and intimate motor, entirely non-external.

The Lord calls the person in a way that seems incomprehensible to others.

Christ marks his Friendship in the lives of believers, as centre and axis. Yet there are so many gestures and sensitivities that the new world arouses, and equally mark his Presence.

Interior education and the challenge of Faith reflected in activities prepare us for daily life, as well as for the great mission.

By training us in the straightforward Word-event, the resigned Messiah conveys his own experience of the Father.

He involves us with incredible and undeserved confidence in the work of evangelisation.

Nor does he tire of repeating what we do not wish to understand.

The Son of Man only commands us to perceive well the reality (Mk 8:27-29) where God's secret lurks (which conformist thinking cannot even begin to imagine: Mk 8:30-35).The Rule only applies to standardised devotion, which always poses more (already ancient) answers than questions.

The standard has no specific weight for the excess of the adventure of Faith.

The imbalance of love is personal: it serenely admits diversity and the eccentric increase of life that follows.

Such is the new awareness of the Mission made in listening, and in respect not only for the intelligence and culture of others, but also for oneself.

Even now in a thousand ways and finally with the help of a wiser ecclesial Magisterium, Providence encourages us to better position ourselves - in support of those excluded from the 'round'.

The work of 'evangelical conversion' comes to us loud and clear, overriding any considerations made from the standpoint of a triumphant Church or ancient right.

No one has a monopoly on Grace, which is why we do not shrink our hearts from canons or fashions.

In the truth of Good, a sense of ownership is out of place. 

To internalise and live the message:

What weight do the material interests, the empty rigidity, or the fleshless fantasies, of those who (without even having a title) ape small hierarchies and fulminate the different with mediocre impersonal sentences have on you?

How do you live the Word: 'He who is not against, is for'?

The relationship with the excluded and their (modest) needs

(Mk 9:41-50)

In language typical of the lively East, Jesus' exhortations to coexistence overturn the hierarchy between the strong and the weak.

In religions, we find droves of marginalised people who cannot access or participate in the set-ups of those who deceive the crowds (even themselves) using pyramid religion.

The cowardice of the wealthy classes produces the hesitation of the voiceless, indefinitely.

In the Church of God - a sign of an alternative society - there must be no doubt, starting with small deprivations.

Especially in the well-structured sphere of roles, the wretched would wait to see (I won't say their hopes for redemption realised, but simply) their modest needs fulfilled, for the sake of justice.

Unfortunately, they are still rather mocked and chastised - by those who fear losing visibility, privileges and roles.

On the contrary, those who, like Jesus, are able to give everything, must not forget the small gestures, which speak of a gratuitousness that is not 'exemplary' and therefore authentic (limited in the day-to-day).

It is this coming together in the summary - little praised - that enhances the climate and does not drive the weak to resentment and evil.

The new 'doctrine' of Jesus is wise and decision-oriented, because it does not lose enthusiasm. On the contrary, it already makes us experience the same quality of life as the Eternal, turning away from that which corrupts.

He who is all about the great and does not notice the detail, never has a sense of the value of things, and sooner or later will end up despising everything.

Jesus identifies with us (v.41) because he inhabits us: we are his real, incarnate Victory.

A stumbling stone or even just in the shoe (v.42) turns the "mikròi" away from the path of Faith.

The 'incipients' - precisely, the ones with little energy and relationships - begin to take their first steps... they are still outside the cliques and the (even internal) ranks.

However, those who pretend and stand in the way, or who give shabby and lousy testimony, have but a stone in store: a millstone around their neck and an unworthy end (deadly existence: v.42).

"Better" than the further mortification of all, from the top of the class forced to live badly.

Not because God makes them pay, but because they throw away their lives and ruin others, who finally turn away, rightly repulsed - while the adventure of sharing could be wonderful for everyone.

This non-sense (to use a euphemism) is the trait that drives crowds to seek a more authentic Christianity than the one lived only in signs, catwalks and formulas, or in the structures provided.

The choice - if there is one - is either radical, or no longer convincing. And the smell that is given off is worse than smelly (v.43).

By dint of professing, many are left without God and without humanity; they do not even realise that there are others - different and legitimate life aspirations (towards themselves well recognised and restrained).

Instead, the community in which one experiences joy is like that pinch of wisdom that makes the spontaneous life wave of people full - beautiful.

Ferment that does not leaven is of no use.

All the more so to the small and shaky ones who approach the Church in order to feel good, or finally no longer exposed to the ludicrousness of society's all external competitions.

An artificial atmosphere, good only to reduce the defenceless to silence, despised and reduced to obedience - and which makes a mockery of acceptance.

This was customary in the religions of the empire, even in the name of 'divine' law... so what is the difference?"Having salt in ourselves" (v.50) means that in Christ we are made capable of giving to the smallest and most ordinary things that hue and taste capable of transmitting also to our neighbour the flavour of a saved life - starting from "within".

In the culture of the ancient Middle East, salt was related to God and therefore also had religious importance: a symbol of durability (to preserve food) and of courage (savouriness, seasoning, purification).

Salt had the power to drive out demons, which corrupted life and caused stench. That is why it was widely used in cultic sacrifices and in sanctioning 'covenants'.

In short, salt was a guarantee of genuine durability.

But Christian salt is only... love for one's neighbour and the ability to correspond to one's vocation.

Without it, the very character of life in Christ would disappear.

So the 'salt pact' is essential for credibility, for the proclamation, for the standard of living; for the very survival of communities, and their unmistakable touch. 

Listening to the Spirit and to each other thus remains an indispensable ingredient of 'Shalôm'.

No other work of defence from outside - inquisition, prevention or repression - can guarantee the survival of the Church.

Difference between Religion and Faith? The norm, used to promote or legitimise situations (of marginalisation and domination).

For our human, spiritual and whole-life progress, Jesus takes sides (perhaps not as one would expect) - because no one is given exclusivity.

To internalise the message:

In your community, it is the little ones who have to conform to the big ones and their circles... or vice versa, is there serious listening to the new ones with low energy and relationships, shaky and maladjusted?

Once again, therefore, let us look to Christ as a model of humility and of giving freely: let us learn from him patience in temptation, meekness in offence, obedience to God in suffering, in the hope that the One who has invited us will say to us: "Friend, go up higher" (cf. Lk 14: 10). Indeed, the true good is being close to him. St Louis IX, King of France […] put into practice what is written in the Book of Sirach: "The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favour in the sight of the Lord" (3: 18). This is what the King wrote in his "Spiritual Testament to his son": "If the Lord grant you some prosperity, not only must you humbly thank him but take care not to become worse by boasting or in any other way, make sure, that is, that you do not come into conflict with God or offend him with his own gifts" (cf. Acta Sanctorum Augusti 5 [1868], 546).

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 29 August 2010]

The Church asks for forgiveness for the sins of her sons

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers.... For we have sinned and transgressed by departing from you, and we have done every kind of evil. Your commandments we have not heeded or observed" (Dn 3: 26, 29-30). This is how the Jews prayed after the Exile (cf. also Bar 2: 11-13), accepting responsibility for the sins committed by their fathers. The Church imitates their example and also asks forgiveness for the historical sins of her children.

In our century, in fact, the Second Vatican Council gave an important impetus to the Church's renewal, so that as a community of the saved she might become an ever more vivid image of Jesus' message to the world. Faithful to the teaching of the most recent Council, the Church is more and more aware that she can offer the world a consistent witness to the Lord only through the continual purification of her members. Therefore, "at once holy and always in need of purification, [she] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal" (Lumen gentium, n. 8).

2. Recognition of the community implications of sin spurs the Church to ask forgiveness for the "historical" sins of her children. She is prompted to do this by the valuable opportunity offered by the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 which, following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, intends to turn a new page of history by overcoming the obstacles that still divide human beings and Christians in particular.

In my Apostolic Letter Tertio millennio adveniente, I therefore asked that at the end of this second millennium "the Church should become more fully conscious of the sinfulness of her children, recalling all those times in history when they departed from the spirit of Christ and his Gospel and, instead of offering to the world the witness of a life inspired by the values of faith, indulged in ways of thinking and acting which were truly forms of counter-witness and scandal" (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 33).

3. The recognition of historical sins presupposes taking a stand in relation to events as they really happened and which only a serene and complete historical reconstruction can reveal. On the other hand, the judging of historical events cannot prescind from a realistic study of the conditioning caused by individual cultural contexts, before attributing specific moral responsibilities to individuals.

The Church is certainly not afraid of the truth that emerges from history and is ready to acknowledge mistakes wherever they have been identified, especially when they involve the respect that is owed to individuals and communities. She is inclined to mistrust generalizations that excuse or condemn various historical periods. She entrusts the investigation of the past to patient, honest, scholarly reconstruction, free from confessional or ideological prejudices, regarding both the accusations brought against her and the wrongs she has suffered.

When they have been established by serious historical research, the Church feels it her duty to acknowledge the sins of her members and to ask God and her brethren to forgive them. This request for pardon must not be understoood as an expression of false humility or as a denial of her 2,000-year history, which is certainly richly deserving in the areas of charity, culture and holiness. Instead she responds to a necessary requirement of the truth, which, in addition to the positive aspects, recognizes the human limitations and weaknesses of the various generations of Christ's disciples.

4. The approach of the Jubilee calls attention to certain types of sin, past and present, for which we particularly need to ask the Father's mercy.

I am thinking first of all of the painful reality of the division among Christians. The wounds of the past, certainly not without sins on both sides, continue to scandalize the world. A second act of repentance concerns the acquiescence given to intolerance and even the use of violence in the service of truth (cf. Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 35). Although many acted here in good faith, it was certainly not evangelical to think that the truth should be imposed by force. Then there is the lack of discernment by many Christians in situations where basic human rights were violated. The request for forgiveness applies to whatever should have been done or was passed over in silence because of weakness or bad judgement, to what was done or said hesitantly or inappropriately.

On this and other points "the consideration of mitigating factors does not exonerate the Church from the obligation to express profound regret for the weaknesses of so many of her sons and daughters who sullied her face, preventing her from fully mirroring the image of her crucified Lord, the supreme witness of patient love and of humble meekness" (ibid.).

Thus the penitent attitude of the Church in our time, on the threshold of the third millennium, is not intended as a convenient historical revisionism, which at any rate would be as suspect as it is useless. Instead, it turns our gaze to the past and to the recognition of sins, so that they will serve as a lesson for a future of ever clearer witness.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 1 September 1999]

And then in the Gospel there is Jesus’ exhortation : instead of judging everything and everyone, let us be attentive to  ourselves! Indeed, the risk is to be inflexible towards others and indulgent towards ourselves. And Jesus urges us not to make a deal with evil, with striking images: “If something in you causes you to sin, cut it off!” (cf. vv. 43-48). If something harms you, cut it off! He does not say, “If something is a reason for scandal, stop, think about it, improve a bit…”. No: “Cut it off! Immediately! Jesus is radical in this, demanding, but for our own good, like a good doctor. Every cut, every pruning, is so we can grow better and bear fruit in love.

Let us then ask ourselves: what is in me that is contrary to the Gospel? What, in concrete terms, does Jesus want me to cut out of my life?

Let us pray to the Immaculate Virgin, that she may help us be welcoming towards others and vigilant over ourselves.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 26 September 2021]

May the Lord bless us and may the Virgin protect us!

7th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C (23 February 2025)

Reading from the First Book of Samuel (26,2.7-9.12-13.22-23)

Saul was the first king of the people of Israel, around 1040 BC. The texts say that "no son of Israel was more handsome than he, and he surpassed from the shoulder upwards anyone else of the people" (1 Sam 9:2). He was a peasant from a simple family in the tribe of Benjamin, chosen by God and anointed king by the prophet Samuel, who initially hesitated because he distrusted monarchy in general, but had to obey God. Saul was anointed with oil and bore the title 'messiah'.  After a good start, Saul unfortunately proved Samuel's worst fears right: his personal pleasure, love of power and war prevailed over loyalty to the covenant. It was so bad that, without waiting for the end of his reign, Samuel, at God's command, set out to find his successor and chose David, the little shepherd from Bethlehem, the eighth son of Jesse. David was received into Saul's court and gradually became a skilful war leader, whose achievements were the talk of the town. One day, Saul heard the popular song that circulated everywhere: "Saul has slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand" (1 Sam 18:7) and was seized with jealousy that became so fierce towards David that he went mad. David had to flee several times to save himself, but contrary to Saul's suspicions, David never failed in his loyalty to the king. In the episode narrated here, it is Saul who takes the initiative: the three thousand men spoken of were gathered by him for the sole purpose of satisfying his hatred for David. "Saul went down into the wilderness of Zif with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David" (v. 2) and his intention was clear: to eliminate him as soon as possible. But the situation is reversed in David's favour: during the night David enters Saul's camp and finds everyone asleep, thus a favourable opportunity to kill him. Abisai, David's bodyguard, has no doubts and offers to kill him: 'Today God has put your enemy in your hands. Let me therefore nail him to the ground with my spear in one stroke and I will not add the second" (v 8). David surprises everyone, including Saul, who can hardly believe his eyes when he sees the proof that David has spared him. Two questions arise: why did David spare the one who wanted his death? The only reason is respect for God's choice: "I would not stretch out my hand against the messiah of the Lord" (v.11).  Why does the Bible recount this episode? There are certainly several reasons. Firstly, the sacred author wants to paint a portrait of David: respectful of God's will and magnanimous, refusing vengeance and understanding that Providence never manifests itself by simply delivering the enemy into one's own hands. Secondly, because the reigning king is untouchable and it should not be forgotten that this account was written in the court of Solomon, who had every interest in passing on this teaching. Finally, this text represents a stage in the biblical story, a moment in God's pedagogy: before learning to love all men, one must begin by finding some good reason to love some of them. David spares a dangerous enemy because he was, in his time, God's chosen one. The last stage will be to understand that every man is to be respected everywhere because the image of God is marked in him. We are all created in the image and likeness of God.

*Psalm 102 (103) 1-2, 3-4, 8. 10. 12-13

This psalm is encountered several times in the three liturgical years and we can admire the parallelism of the verses, a kind of alternation of verses that answer each other. It would be good to recite or sing it in two voices, line by line or in two alternating choirs. First chorus: "Bless the Lord, my soul" ... Second chorus: "May all that is in me bless his holy name" ... First chorus: "He forgives all your sins ... Second chorus: "He does not treat us according to our sins". And so on. Another characteristic is the joyful tone of the thanksgiving. The expression 'Bless the Lord, my soul' is repeated as an inclusion in the first and last verses of the psalm. Of all the blessings, the verses chosen for this Sunday insist on God's forgiveness: "He forgives all your faults... Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and great in love; he does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults. As far as the east is from the west, so he turns away our faults from us." Several times we have noted this: one of the great discoveries of the Bible is that God is only love and forgiveness. And that is precisely why he is so different from us and constantly surprises us. When the prophet Isaiah says: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, says God; your ways are not my ways" (55:6-8), he invites us to seek the Lord while he is being found, to call upon him while he is near. He invites the ungodly to forsake his way and the perverse man his thoughts, and adds: 'Return to the Lord who will have mercy on him, to our God who graciously forgives' - and adds - 'because my thoughts are not your thoughts'. Precisely the conjunction 'because' gives meaning to the whole sentence: it is precisely his inexhaustible mercy that makes the difference between God and us. Some five hundred years before Christ, it was already understood that God's forgiveness is unconditional and precedes all our prayers or repentance. God's forgiveness is not a punctual act, an event, but is its very essence. However, it is only we who can freely make the gesture of going to receive this forgiveness of God and renew the Covenant; he will never force us and so we go to him with confidence, we take the necessary step to enter into God's forgiveness that is already acquired. On closer inspection, this is a discovery that goes back to very ancient times. When Nathan announced God's forgiveness to King David, who had just gotten rid of his lover's husband, Bathsheba, David in truth had not yet had time to express the slightest repentance.  After reminding him of all the benefits with which God had filled him, the prophet added: "And if this were little, I would add still more" (2 Sam 12:8). Here is the meaning of the word forgiveness, made up of two syllables that it is good to separate "for - gift" to indicate the perfect gift, a gift beyond offence and beyond ingratitude; it is the covenant always offered despite infidelity. Forgiving those who have wronged us means continuing, in spite of everything, to offer them a covenant, a relationship of love or friendship; it means accepting to see that person again, to extend our hand to them, to welcome them at our table or in our home anyway; it means risking a smile; it means refusing to hate and to take revenge. However, this does not mean forgetting. We often hear people say: I can forgive but I will never forget. In reality, these are two completely different things. Forgiveness is neither forgetting nor erasing what has happened because nothing will erase it, whether it is good or bad. There are offences that can never be forgotten because the irreparable has happened. It is precisely this that gives greatness and gravity to our human lives: if a wipe-out could erase everything, what would be the point of acting well? We could do anything. Forgiveness therefore does not erase the past, but opens up the future. It breaks the chains of guilt, brings inner liberation and allows us to start again. When David had Bathsheba's husband killed, nothing could repair the evil committed. But David, forgiven, was able to raise his head again and try not to do evil any more. When parents forgive the murderer of one of their children, it does not mean that they forget the crime committed, but it is precisely in their grief that they find the strength to forgive, and forgiveness becomes a profoundly liberating act for themselves. Those who are forgiven will never again be innocent, but they can raise their heads again. Without arriving at such serious crimes, everyday life is marked by more or less serious acts that sow injustice or pain. By forgiving and receiving forgiveness we stop looking at the past and turn our gaze to the future. This is how it is in our relationship with God since no one can claim to be innocent, but we are all forgiven sinners.

*Second Reading from the First Epistle of St Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (15:45-49)

St Paul's meditation on Christ's resurrection and ours continues and is addressed to Christians of Greek origin who would like to have a clear and precise answer on the resurrection of the flesh, when and how it will take place. Paul has already explained last Sunday that the resurrection is an article of faith whereby not believing in the resurrection of the dead means not believing in the resurrection of Christ either. Now he addresses the question: How do the dead rise and with what body do they return? In truth he acknowledges that he does not know what the resurrected will look like, but what he can say with certainty is that our resurrected body will be completely different from our earthly one. If we consider that Jesus who appeared after the resurrection was not immediately recognised by his disciples and Mary Magdalene mistook him for the gardener, this shows that he was the same and, at the same time, completely different. Paul distinguished an animal body from a spiritual body, and the expression spiritual body surprised his listeners who knew the Greek distinction between body and soul. However, being Jewish, he knew that Jewish thought never contrasts the body and the soul, and his Jewish training led him instead to contrast two types of behaviour: that of the earthly man and that of the spiritual man, inaugurated by the Messiah. In every man, God has insufflated a breath of life that makes him capable of spiritual life, but he still remains an earthly man. Only in the Messiah fully dwells the very Spirit of God, which guides his every action. To argue, Paul refers to Genesis, in which he reads the vocation of mankind, but does not interpret it historically. For him, Adam is a type of man or, rather, a type of behaviour. This reading may seem unusual to us, but we must get used to reading the creation texts in Genesis not as an account of events, but as accounts of vocation. By creating humanity (Adam is a collective name), God calls it to an extraordinary destiny. Adam, the earthly being, is called to become the temple of God's Spirit. And it must be remembered that in the Bible, Creation is not considered an event of the past because the Bible speaks much more of God the Creator than of Creation; it speaks of our relationship with God: we were created by Him, we depend on Him, we are suspended from His breath and it is not about the past, but about the future. The act of creation is presented to us as a project still in progress: in the two accounts of creation, man has a role to play. "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it" in the first account (Gen 1:28). "The LORD God took man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it" in the second account (Gen 2:15). And this task concerns all of us, since Adam is a collective name representing the whole of humanity. Our vocation, Genesis goes on to say, is to be the image of God, that is, inhabited by the very Spirit of God. "God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." (Gen 1:26-27). Adam is also the type of man who does not respond to his calling; he allowed himself to be influenced by the serpent, who instilled in him, like a poison, distrust of God. This is what Paul calls earthly behaviour, like the serpent crawling on the ground. Jesus Christ, the new Adam, on the other hand, allows himself to be guided only by the Spirit of God. In this way, he fulfils the vocation of every man, i.e. of Adam; this is the meaning of Paul's sentence: "Brothers, the first man, Adam, became a living being but the last Adam (i.e. Christ) became a life-giving spirit."

The message is clear: Adam's behaviour leads to death, Christ's behaviour leads to life. However, we are constantly torn between these two behaviours, between heaven and earth, and we can make Paul's expression our own when he cries out: 'Wretched man that I am! I do not do the good that I want, but do the evil that I do not want." (Rom 7:24, 19). In other words, the individual and collective history of all mankind is a long journey to allow ourselves to be inhabited more and more by the Spirit of God.  Paul writes: "The first man from earth is made of earth, the second man is from heaven. As the earthly man is, so are those of the earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are the heavenly". And St John observes: 'Beloved, even now we are children of God, but what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We know, however, that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2). The perfect image of God in Jesus Christ, the apostles saw it on the face of Christ during the Transfiguration.

Note: the serpent crawling on the ground tempts mankind (Adam - adam man related to adamah earth, is not the name of a person but indicates the whole of mankind made of earth Gn1,26-27) and the name of the serpent is nahash a word that can mean either serpent or the dragon of Revelation: Gn3,15; Rev 12)

*From the Gospel according to Luke (6:27-38)

"Be merciful as your Father is merciful" and you will then be children of the Most High, for he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.  This is the programme of every Christian, it is our vocation. The entire Bible appears as the story of man's conversion as he gradually learns to master his own violence. It is certainly not an easy process, but God is patient, because, as St Peter says, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day (cf. 2 Pet 3:8) and he educates his people with such patience, as we read in Deuteronomy: "As a man corrects his son, so the Lord your God corrects you" (Deut 8:5). This slow eradication of violence from the human heart is expressed figuratively as early as the book of Genesis: violence is presented as a form of animality. Let us take the account of the Garden of Eden: God had invited Adam to name the animals, to symbolise his superiority over all creatures. God had in fact conceived Adam as the king of creation: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the wild beasts, and over all the reptiles that creep upon the earth" (Gen 1:26). And Adam himself had recognised that he was different, that he was superior: "Man gave a name to all the animals, to the birds of the air, and to all the wild beasts; but for man he found no helper to match him" (Gen 2:20). Man did not find his equal. But two chapters later, we find the story of Cain and Abel. At the moment when Cain is seized with a mad desire to kill, God says to him: "Sin is crouching (like a beast) at your door. It lurks, but you must master it' (Gen 4:7). And starting from this first murder, the biblical text shows the proliferation of vengeance (Gen 4:1-26). From the very first chapters of the Bible, violence is thus recognised: it exists, but it is unmasked and compared to an animal. Man no longer deserves to be called man when he is violent. The biblical texts thus embark on the arduous path of converting the human heart. On this path, we can distinguish stages. Let us pause on the first: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Ex 21:24). In response to the terrible boast of Lamech (Gen 4:23), great-grandson of Cain, who gloried in killing men and children to avenge simple scratches, the Law introduced a first limit: a single tooth for a tooth, and not the whole jaw; a single life for a life, and not a whole village in retaliation. The law of retaliation thus already represented significant progress, even if it still seems insufficient today. The pedagogy of the prophets constantly addresses the problem of violence, but comes up against a great psychological difficulty: the man who agrees not to take revenge fears losing his honour. The biblical texts then show man that his true honour lies elsewhere: it consists precisely in resembling God, who is 'good to the ungrateful and the wicked'. Jesus' discourse, which we read this Sunday, represents the last stage of this education: from the law of retaliation we have moved on to the invitation to gentleness, to disinterestedness, to perfect gratuitousness. He insists: twice, at the beginning and at the end, he says "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you"... "Love your enemies, do good and lend without hoping for anything in return". And so the ending surprises us a little: up to this point, although it was not easy, at least it was logical. God is merciful and invites us to imitate him. But here the last lines seem to change tone: 'Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you: a good measure, pressed down, shaken and overflowing will be poured into your lap, for with the measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you in return' (Lk 6:37-38). Have we returned to a logic of 'quid pro quo'? Of course not! Jesus is simply pointing out to us here a very reassuring path: in order not to fear being judged, simply do not judge or condemn others. Judge actions, but never people. Establish a climate of benevolence. In this way, fraternal relations will never be broken. As for the phrase: "Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High", it expresses the wonderment experienced by those who conform to the Christian ideal of meekness and forgiveness. It is the profound transformation that takes place in them: for they have opened the door to the Spirit of God, and he dwells in them and inspires them more and more. Little by little they see the promise formulated by the prophet Ezekiel fulfilled in them: "I will give you a new heart, I will put a new spirit within you; I will take away from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." (Ez 36:26).

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Summary on request: Short commentary.

Reading from the First Book of Samuel (26.2.7-9.12-13.22-23)

Saul was the first king of the people of Israel, around 1040 B.C. He was a peasant from a simple family of the tribe of Benjamin, chosen by God and anointed king by the prophet Samuel, who initially hesitated because he distrusted monarchy in general, but had to obey God. After a good start, Saul unfortunately proved Samuel's worst fears right: his personal pleasure, love of power and war prevailed over loyalty to the Covenant. It was so bad that, without waiting for the end of his reign, Samuel, at God's command, set out to find his successor and chose David, the little shepherd from Bethlehem, the eighth son of Jesse. David was received into Saul's court and gradually became a skilful war leader, whose achievements were the talk of the town. One day, Saul heard the popular song that circulated everywhere: "Saul has slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand" (1 Sam 18:7) and was seized with jealousy that became so fierce towards David that he went mad. David had to flee several times to save himself, but contrary to Saul's suspicions, David never failed in his loyalty to the king. In the episode narrated here, it is Saul who takes the initiative: the three thousand men spoken of were gathered by him for the sole purpose of satisfying his hatred for David. "Saul went down into the wilderness of Zif with three thousand chosen men of Israel to search for David" (v 2) and his intention was clear: to eliminate him as soon as possible. But the situation is reversed in David's favour: during the night David enters Saul's camp and finds everyone asleep, thus a favourable opportunity to kill him. Abisai, David's bodyguard, has no doubts and offers to kill him: 'Today God has put your enemy in your hands. Let me therefore nail him to the ground with my spear in one stroke and I will not add the second" (v 8). David surprises everyone, including Saul, who can hardly believe his eyes when he sees the proof that David has spared him. Two questions arise: why did David spare the one who wanted his death? The only reason is respect for God's choice: "I would not stretch out my hand against the messiah of the Lord" (v.11).  The sacred author wants to outline the portrait of David: respectful of God's will and magnanimous, who refuses revenge and understands that Providence never manifests itself by simply delivering the enemy into one's own hands. Secondly, because the reigning king is untouchable and it should not be forgotten that this account was written in the court of Solomon, who had every interest in passing on this teaching. Finally, this text represents a stage in the biblical story, a moment in God's pedagogy: before learning to love all men, one must begin to find some good reason to love some, and David spares a dangerous enemy because as king he is God's chosen one. The last stage will be to understand that every man is to be respected because we are all created in the image and likeness of God.

*Psalm 102 (103) 1-2, 3-4, 8. 10. 12-13

This psalm would be good to recite or sing in two voices, in two alternating choirs. First chorus: "Bless the Lord, my soul"... Second chorus: "Let all that is in me bless his holy name"... First chorus: "He forgives all your sins... Second chorus: "He does not treat us according to our sins". And so on. Another characteristic is the joyful tone of the thanksgiving. The expression 'Bless the Lord, my soul' is repeated as an inclusion in the first and last verses of the psalm. Of all the benefits, the verses chosen for this Sunday insist on God's forgiveness: "For he forgives all your faults... Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and great in love; he does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults... "for my thoughts are not your thoughts". Precisely the conjunction 'because' gives meaning to the whole sentence: it is precisely his inexhaustible mercy that makes the difference between God and us. Some five hundred years before Christ, it was already understood that God's forgiveness is unconditional and precedes all our prayers or repentance. God's forgiveness is not a punctual act, an event, but is its very essence. However, it is only we who can freely make the gesture of going to receive this forgiveness of God and renew the Covenant; He will never force us and so we go to Him with confidence, we take the necessary step to enter into God's forgiveness that is already acquired. On closer inspection, this is a discovery that goes back to very ancient times. When Nathan announced God's forgiveness to King David, who had just gotten rid of his lover's husband, Bathsheba, David in truth had not yet had time to express the slightest repentance.  After reminding him of all the benefits with which God had filled him, the prophet added: "And if this were little, I would add still more" (2 Sam 12:8). Here is the meaning of the word forgiveness, made up of two syllables that it is good to separate "for - gift" to indicate the perfect gift, a gift beyond offence and beyond ingratitude; it is the covenant always offered despite infidelity. Forgiving those who have wronged us means continuing, in spite of everything, to offer them a covenant, a relationship of love or friendship; it means refusing to hate and to take revenge. However, this does not mean forgetting. We often hear people say: I can forgive but I will never forget. In reality, these are two completely different things. Forgiveness is not a blank slate. There are offences that can never be forgotten, because the irreparable has happened. It is precisely this that lends greatness and gravity to our human lives: if a wipe-out could erase everything, what would be the point of acting well? We could do anything. Forgiveness therefore does not erase the past, but opens up the future. It breaks the chains of guilt, brings inner liberation and allows us to start again. When David had Bathsheba's husband killed, nothing could repair the evil committed. But David, forgiven, was able to raise his head again and try not to do evil any more. When parents forgive the murderer of one of their children, it does not mean that they forget the crime committed, but it is precisely in their grief that they find the strength to forgive, and forgiveness becomes a profoundly liberating act for themselves. Those who are forgiven will never again be innocent, but they can raise their heads again. Without arriving at such serious crimes, everyday life is marked by more or less serious acts that sow injustice or pain. By forgiving and receiving forgiveness we stop looking at the past and turn our gaze to the future. This is how it is in our relationship with God since no one can claim to be innocent, but we are all forgiven sinners.

*Second Reading from the First Epistle of St Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (15:45-49)

St Paul's meditation on Christ's resurrection and ours continues and is addressed to Christians of Greek origin who would like to have a clear and precise answer on the resurrection of the flesh, when and how it will take place. Paul has already explained last Sunday that the resurrection is an article of faith whereby not believing in the resurrection of the dead means not believing in the resurrection of Christ either. Now he addresses the question: How do the dead rise and with what body do they return? In truth he acknowledges that he does not know what the resurrected will look like, but what he can say with certainty is that our resurrected body will be completely different from our earthly one. If we consider that Jesus who appeared after the resurrection was not immediately recognised by his disciples and Mary Magdalene mistook him for the gardener, this shows that he was the same and, at the same time, completely different. Paul distinguished an animal body from a spiritual body, and the expression spiritual body surprised his listeners who knew the Greek distinction between body and soul. However, being Jewish, he knew that Jewish thought never contrasts the body and the soul, and his Jewish training led him instead to contrast two types of behaviour: that of the earthly man and that of the spiritual man, inaugurated by the Messiah. In every man, God has insufflated a breath of life that makes him capable of spiritual life, but he still remains an earthly man. In order to argue, Paul refers to Genesis and sees Adam as a type of behaviour because the creation account in Genesis is not an account of events, but the account of a vocation. By creating humanity (Adam is a collective name), God calls it to an extraordinary destiny. Adam, the earthly being, is called to become the temple of God's Spirit. And it must be remembered that in the Bible, Creation is not seen as an event of the past, but speaks of our relationship with God: we were created by Him, we depend on Him, we are suspended from His breath and it is not about the past, but about the future. The creative act is presented to us as a project still in progress: in the two accounts of creation, man has a role to play. "Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it" (Gen 1:28). "The LORD God took man and put him in the garden of Eden that he might cultivate it and keep it" (Gen 2:15). And this task concerns all of us, since Adam is a collective name representing the whole of humanity. Our vocation, Genesis goes on to say, is to be the image of God, that is, inhabited by the very Spirit of God. "God said, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." (Gen 1:26-27). Adam is also the type of man who does not respond to his calling; he allowed himself to be influenced by the serpent, who instilled in him, like a poison, distrust of God. This is what Paul calls earthly behaviour, like the serpent crawling on the ground. Jesus Christ, the new Adam, on the other hand, allows himself to be guided only by the Spirit of God. In this way, he fulfils the vocation of every man, i.e. of Adam; this is the meaning of Paul's sentence: "Brothers, the first man, Adam, became a living being but the last Adam (i.e. Christ) became a life-giving spirit."

The message is clear: Adam's behaviour leads to death, Christ's behaviour leads to life. However, we are constantly torn between these two behaviours, between heaven and earth, and we can make Paul's expression our own when he cries out: 'Wretched man that I am! I do not do the good that I want, but do the evil that I do not want." (Rom 7:24, 19). In other words, the individual and collective history of all mankind is a long journey to allow ourselves to be inhabited more and more by the Spirit of God.  Paul writes: "The first man from earth is made of earth, the second man is from heaven. As the earthly man is, so are those of the earth; and as the heavenly man is, so are the heavenly. 

*From the Gospel according to Luke (6:27-38)

"Be merciful as your Father is merciful" and then you will be children of the Most High, for he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.  This is the programme of every Christian, it is our vocation. The entire Bible appears as the story of man's conversion as he gradually learns to master his own violence. It is certainly not an easy process, but God is patient and educates his people with such patience. This slow eradication of violence from the human heart is expressed figuratively as early as the book of Genesis: violence is presented as a form of animality. God had invited Adam to name the animals, to symbolise his superiority over all creatures.  And Adam himself had recognised that he was different, superior, and did not find his equal. But next we find the story of Cain and Abel. At the moment when Cain is seized with a mad desire to kill, God says to him: "Sin is crouching (like a beast) at your door. It lurks, but you must master it' (Gen 4:7). And starting from this first murder, the biblical text shows the proliferation of vengeance (Gen 4:1-26). From the very first chapters of the Bible, violence is thus recognised: it exists, but it is unmasked and compared to an animal. Man no longer deserves to be called man when he is violent. The biblical texts thus embark on the arduous path of converting the human heart. On this path, we can distinguish stages. Let us pause on the first: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (Ex 21:24). In response to the terrible boast of Lamech (Gen 4:23), great-grandson of Cain, who gloried in killing men and children to avenge simple scratches, the Law introduced a first limit: a single tooth for a tooth, and not the whole jaw; a single life for a life, and not a whole village in retaliation. The law of retaliation thus already represented significant progress, even if it still seems insufficient today. The pedagogy of the prophets constantly addresses the problem of violence, but comes up against a great psychological difficulty: the man who agrees not to take revenge fears losing his honour. The biblical texts then show man that his true honour lies elsewhere: it consists precisely in resembling God, who is 'good to the ungrateful and the wicked'. Jesus' discourse, which we read this Sunday, represents the last stage of this education: from the law of retaliation we have moved on to the invitation to gentleness, to disinterestedness, to perfect gratuitousness. He insists: twice, at the beginning and at the end, he says 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you'.... God is merciful and invites us to imitate him. But here the last lines seem to change tone: 'Do not judge and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and you will be given (Lk 6:37-38). Are we perhaps back to a logic of 'quid pro quo'? Of course not! Jesus is simply pointing out to us here a very reassuring path: to not fear being judged, simply do not judge or condemn others. Judge actions, but never people. Establish a climate of benevolence. In this way, fraternal relations will never be broken.

+Giovanni D'Ercole

Happy day under the Maternal Gaze of the B.V. of Lourdes.

Commentary on the readings for the VI Sunday of Ordinary Time Year C [16 February 2025].

God bless us and may the Virgin protect us.

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (17, 5 - 8)

 The prophet Jeremiah begins solemnly: "Thus says the Lord" to warn that what we are about to hear is important and serious because it is the "Lord" - that is, the very God of the Sinai Covenant - who says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man". Here, however, two questions arise: can God curse man? And why and in what sense is trusting a man wrong? There is no doubt about it: God cannot curse us, and the Hebrew expression translated 'cursed' in the prophets is 'arur' (אָרוּר), which appears frequently in the Hebrew Bible, and its meaning is not to be understood as a direct action of God cursing, but rather as a declaration of the state of ruin or disgrace into which those who turn away from Him fall. It is therefore a prophetic warning and 'cursed is the man who trusts in man' does not indicate an active action of God, but a warning of this kind: if you choose to trust only in men and not in God, you put yourself in a situation of insecurity and failure. In the biblical mentality, God is the source of life and blessing (berakha), and turning away from Him automatically leads to 'arur (ruin, barrenness, failure). So when the prophets use 'curse', they are saying: 'Beware, this road leads to your destruction'. It is not God who casts a curse as an arbitrary punishment, but it is a spiritual law: when you stray from the source of living water (God), you inevitably find yourself in the drought of the desert. Regarding the second question concerning man trusting in man, should we mistrust one another? Certainly not, because God wants mankind to become one, and therefore any distrust between men goes against his plan of love.  This is about those who turn away from God and trust, i.e. have faith in man. The key word is trusts/has "faith", a very strong term that indicates relying, leaning absolutely on men, as one does on a rock. Without God all security is fragile and one becomes like a shrub in the desert without water doomed to die. The message is clear: if you turn away from God you become spiritually dry and unstable, like a bush in the desert, whereas if you trust, have faith, your life will be like a tree that remains green because it has its roots in water.  It is easy to understand the importance of water for a people walking in the desert, and Jeremiah speaks from experience having before his eyes the road from Jerusalem to Jericho in a desert that is completely dry for much of the year. It only renews and flourishes with the spring rains, and so, drawing on examples and images from the daily lives of his listeners, the prophet offers wise advice on the spiritual life. Faith, then, is the foundation: trusting in God is like rooting oneself in a secure rock (Mt 7:24-25). Making life dependent only on human realities such as power, success, money, relationships, leads to becoming fragile. Moreover, placing one's faith in God does not spare you from difficulties and problems, but gives you the strength to overcome every obstacle. And so every day the believer is called upon to choose: to rely only on himself and live in fear, or to root his life in God and face the storms of existence without losing heart.

One note: Jeremiah is probably denouncing the two fatal errors/sins of kings, religious leaders and the entire people: idolatry and covenants. With regard to idolatry, many have introduced into Israel various idolatrous cults and offered sacrifices to idols, and Jeremiah stigmatises this: "My people have forgotten me in order to burn offerings to those who are nothing." ( 18,15). As for alliances, the prophet criticises the policy of the kings who, instead of counting on God's protection, multiplied diplomatic manoeuvres, allying themselves from time to time with each of the powers of the Middle East, gaining only war and misfortune. Such was the case with Sedecia who, relying on diplomatic manoeuvres and his military might, went bankrupt with massacres, humiliation for himself and the people (Gr 39:1-10).

*Responsorial Psalm (1) 

This psalm, the first one, very short where every detail is significant, constitutes the interpretative key of the whole Psalter and was chosen to introduce the prayer of Israel. It opens with this word: Blessed!  "Blessed is the man who does not enter into the council of the wicked, does not remain in the way of sinners, and is not in the company of the arrogant". The word 'blessed' in the Bible comes from the Hebrew 'ashré', which expresses a state of happiness and deep contentment, a condition of blessing and inner peace that God grants to those who live according to his will. This concept is similar to 'shalom', which indicates deep and complete peace. One who avoids negative influences and finds joy in the law of the Lord, meditating on it constantly, is compared to a tree planted along streams of water, which produces fruit at the right time and whose leaves do not wither. The psalmist understood that God wants our happiness, and this is the most important thing he wanted to tell us from the beginning. To understand the meaning of the word blessed in the Bible, we have to think of the felicitations exchanged on festive occasions wishing joy and prosperity. The expression 'blessed' etymologically means to recognise him as happy and to rejoice with him; it is first and foremost a statement (you are happy), but it is also a wish, an encouragement to grow in happiness every day. It is like saying: you are on the right path, continue to be happy. The biblical term 'blessed' ultimately expresses a double dimension: ascertainment and encouragement. For this reason, many scholars, such as André Chouraqui, translate blessed as 'on the way', an image that invites us to consider human history as a long journey, during which people are continually called upon to choose the road that leads to true happiness. 

A few notes to better enter the Word:

1. In the few verses of the psalm, we find a particular insistence on the word way: "way of sinners...way of the righteous...way of the wicked" and the theme of the two ways emerges: the right way and the wrong way, good and evil. The image is clear: our life is like a crossroads, where we have to decide which direction to take. If we take the right path, each step will bring us closer to the goal; if we choose the wrong direction, each step will take us further and further away from the goal.  The whole of biblical Revelation is meant to show humanity the path to happiness that God desires for us, and for this reason it offers many signs such as the expressions blessed/unhappy or happy/unhappy that are indicators of the path. When Jeremiah in the First Reading says "Cursed is the man who trusts in man... or Isaiah proclaims "Woe to those who enact iniquitous laws" (10:1), they are not judging or condemning people definitively, but are sounding an alarm, like someone shouting to warn a passer-by of the danger of a ravine. On the contrary, expressions such as 'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord' (Jer 17:7) or 'Blessed is the man who does not enter into the council of sinners' (Ps 1) are an encouragement: you are on the right path!

2. The theme of the two ways reminds us that we are free and the desire for happiness is inscribed in every man's heart, but we often go in the wrong direction and God's law is nothing but a guide for our freedom, a help to choose the right way. Israel knows that the Torah is a gift from God, a sign of his desire for our happiness, and therefore "his law meditates day and night".

3. When the psalm speaks of the righteous and the wicked, it refers to behaviour, not to people because there are no perfectly righteous or completely wicked men and in truth both tendencies coexist within us. Every effort to listen to the Word of God is a step on the path to true goodness. That is why the psalm says: "Blessed is the man who finds his joy in the law of the Lord".  Finally, we understand that the very literary construction of the psalm emphasises the importance of the right choice: in fact, the psalm is not symmetrical and contrasts two attitudes, that of the righteous and that of sinners, but devotes most of its time to describing the happiness of the righteous to tell us that what deserves attention is the good, not the evil. This psalm is therefore an invitation to consciously choose the path of faithfulness to God, and it is no coincidence that the psalter begins with this very word: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord!  

* Second Reading from the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (15:12 - 20)

We understand better what St Paul wants to tell us if we think of the funeral of a Christian whose ritual includes three 'signs' of high symbolic value. Firstly, the Paschal Candle beside the coffin burns throughout the celebration as a reminder of the presence of the risen Christ alive among us. In the farewell rite following the Mass, the celebrant and, according to some customs, also the faithful sprinkle the body of the deceased with blessed water to commemorate Baptism. In addition, the celebrant incenses the coffin and this for the Christians of the first centuries was a very daring gesture because in the Roman Empire incense was burnt in front of the statues of the gods and it seemed out of place to incense a lifeless human body reduced to nothing. But this gesture is very eloquent because a Christian, from his Baptism, is a temple of the Holy Spirit as St Paul reminds us, and by forgetting this, one ends up losing the sign and value of the resurrection of bodies. The Christians of Corinth, and perhaps quite a few today, even if they believe in the resurrection of Christ, struggle to draw the consequence that for Paul is self-evident: if Christ is risen, we too shall rise. And to explain this truth of faith to us, he proceeds in two stages. First he reaffirms that Jesus is truly risen and then he draws the consequences. Since Christ's resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith, Paul affirms that "unless Christ is risen, vain is your faith".  Indeed, if one does not believe in Christ's resurrection, the edifice of Christian faith collapses: a risk that every community runs. Let us ask ourselves: do all Catholics believe in Christ's resurrection and our resurrection? 

From this premise, St Paul draws the following argument: since Christ is risen and many have seen him alive and can bear witness to him, he is indeed the Saviour of the world and all that he said and promised is true. Through baptism we have become a temple of the Spirit and this means that the Spirit lives in us, but if the Spirit of love is the opposite of sin, sin being a lack of love for God and others, the Holy Spirit frees us from sin and we are, like Christ, inhabited by the Spirit of God, so we shall rise like him. What has been the temple of the Spirit can be transformed, but cannot be destroyed. Biological death destroys our body, but Jesus will resurrect it. 

Notes to better understand the text

1.The apostle adds "Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have died". In the Greek text the term used means firstfruits in the sense of the beginning of a long series. In the Old Testament, the firstfruits were the first fruits of the earth that marked the beginning of the harvest. To say that Jesus is risen as the "firstfruits of those who died" is to affirm that he is the elder brother of mankind, the first born, as Paul says elsewhere: "He is the head of the body... He is the beginning, the firstborn of those who rise from the dead, so that he may have the preeminence over all things..." (Col 1:18).

2. Ultimately, we must always return to God's merciful plan, which is to reunite all mankind in Jesus Christ as we read in the Epistle to the Ephesians (cf. Eph 1:9-10). And God certainly did not plan to reunite the dead, but the living, and Jesus explained in his discussion with the Sadducees: "As for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what has been said to you by God: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Mt 22:31-32).

3. There is one aspect of the mystery of the Incarnation that must not be forgotten: God takes our humanity, our body, seriously because the Word became flesh, becoming in every way similar to men, so similar that his destiny became ours: if he rose, we too shall rise. Christ's resurrection is therefore not only the happy epilogue of his personal story but the dawn of humanity's victory over death. Death is no longer a wall, but a door - and we enter it behind him. Hence the irreconcilability of the Christian faith with any idea of reincarnation. The dignity of the human being goes so far: even if our body is sometimes fragile and marked by suffering, God never treats it as something to be thrown away and replaced; our person is a whole. It may happen that we despise ourselves, but in God's eyes, we are each unique and irreplaceable. Our whole being is called to live forever beside Him.

*From the Gospel according to Luke ( 6, 17......26)

In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah exhorted us not to rely on ourselves and material goods, but to rest our lives on God. The Gospel of the Beatitudes goes much further by stating: Blessed are you poor who put your trust in God, for he will fill you with his riches. But who are the poor according to the gospel? The term poor in the Old Testament has no connection with the bank account because in the biblical sense (anawim) poor are those who have neither a haughty heart nor a haughty look, called 'the backward-looking': they are the little ones, the humble, who, never satiated and complacent, feel that they lack something and for this very reason God can fill them. The prophets alternate in their preaching the stern and threatening tone when the people go astray and pursue wrong values, with the encouraging and consoling one when they go through moments of suffering and despair. Jesus tries to educate the disciples and the crowd by taking up the double language of the prophet in the first reading. Jeremiah says: you who put your trust in material riches, in your social position, you who are well regarded, soon they will no longer envy you, and for this you are not on the right path. If you were, you would not be so rich and so well regarded. A true prophet exposes himself to the risk of not being liked, and Jesus knows this well. A true prophet has neither the time nor the worry to accumulate money or look after his image. These four Beatitudes perfectly capture Jesus who is so poor that he had no stone on which to lay his head and died in total abandonment; he is the one who mourned the death of his friend Lazarus and knew anguish in the Garden of Olives, he mourned the fate of Jerusalem; he was hungry and thirsty in the desert and dramatically on the cross; he is the one who was despised, slandered, persecuted and finally eliminated in the name of the principles of the law and therefore of what was considered the true religion. In these Beatitudes, the promise of the Resurrection looms large and a sense of gratitude to God emerges because Jesus wants us to understand with what loving gaze the Father surrounds us, knowing that victory is already certain. He thus reveals to us God's gaze, his mercy: and we know that 'mercy' etymologically means bowels quivering with compassion. Ultimately, this is the message: man's gaze is quite different from God's; human admiration often runs the risk of mistaking the object of its enthusiasm and is directed towards the rich, the satiated, the privileged in life. God's gaze is quite different: "A poor man cries out, the Lord hears him," says the Psalm, and "A sorrowful and humiliated heart, you, O God, do not despise" (Ps 50/51). Isaiah even goes so far as to say: 'In the suffering that crushes his servant, God loves him with a love of predilection' (Isaiah 53:10). The poor, the persecuted, those who hunger and weep, God bows down to them with a predilection: not because of their merit, but because of their very condition. And so Jesus opens our eyes to another dimension of happiness: true happiness is God's gaze upon us. Certain of this gaze of God, the poor, those who weep, those who hunger, will find the strength to take their destiny into their own hands. 

A note to better enter the Word: 

I recall that André Chouraqui states that the word 'blessed' also means 'on the way'. He cites the example of the people led by Moses who found the strength to face the long march in the desert in the certainty of God's constant presence. Once again, the contrast between beatitudes and curses does not divide humanity into two distinct groups: on the one hand those who deserve words of comfort, on the other those who deserve only reproaches. All of us, depending on the moments in our lives, can find ourselves in one or the other group. And to each of us Christ says: "On the way ... you will be filled, comforted, rejoice and exult".  All this was already present in the language of the Old Testament to describe the happiness that the Messiah would bring. The disciples knew these expressions well and immediately understood what Jesus was announcing to them: You who came out of the crowd to follow me, did not do so to gather honours or riches, but you made the right choice, because you recognised the Messiah in me.

Short Commentary:

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (17:5 - 8)

 The prophet Jeremiah begins solemnly: "Thus says the Lord" to warn us that what we are about to hear is important and serious because it is the "Lord" - that is, the very God of the Sinai Covenant - who says: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man". Here, however, two questions arise: can God curse man? And why and in what sense is trusting a man wrong? There is no doubt about it: God cannot curse us, and the Hebrew expression often appears in the Bible and its meaning is not to be understood as a direct action of God cursing, but rather as a declaration of the state of ruin or disgrace into which those who turn away from Him fall. It is therefore a prophetic warning and 'cursed is the man who trusts in man' does not indicate an active action of God, but a warning of this kind: if you choose to trust only in men and not in God, you put yourself in a situation of insecurity and failure. So when the prophets use 'curse', they are saying: 'Beware, this road leads to your destruction'. It is not God who issues a curse as an arbitrary punishment, but it is a spiritual law: when you stray from the source of living water (God), you inevitably find yourself in a desert drought. Regarding the second question concerning man trusting in man, should we mistrust one another? Certainly not, because God wants mankind to become one, and therefore any distrust between men goes against his plan of love.  Here it is a question of those who turn away from God and trust, that is, put all their trust in man, leaning absolutely on men. Without God all security is fragile and one becomes like a shrub in the desert without water doomed to die. The message is clear: if you turn away from God you become spiritually dry and unstable, like a bush in the desert, while if you trust, have faith, your life will be like a tree that remains green because it has its roots in water. Faith therefore is the foundation: trusting in God is like being rooted in a secure rock (Mt 7:24-25). Making life dependent only on human realities such as power, success, money, relationships, leads to becoming fragile. Moreover, placing one's faith in God does not spare you from difficulties and problems, but gives you the strength to overcome every obstacle. And so every day The believer is called to choose: to rely only on himself and live in fear, or to root his life in God and face the storms of existence without losing heart.

*Responsorial Psalm (1) 

This psalm, the first one, very short where every detail is significant, constitutes the interpretative key of the whole Psalter and was chosen to introduce the prayer of Israel. It opens with this word: Blessed!  "Blessed is the man who does not enter into the council of the wicked, does not remain in the way of sinners, and is not in the company of the arrogant". The term 'blessed' in the Bible expresses a state of happiness and deep contentment, a condition of blessing and inner peace that God grants to those who live according to his will. This concept is similar to 'shalom', which indicates deep and complete peace. One who avoids negative influences and finds joy in the law of the Lord, meditating on it constantly, is compared to a tree planted along streams of water, which produces fruit at the right time and whose leaves do not wither. The psalmist understood that God wants our happiness, and this is the most important thing he wanted to tell us from the beginning. To understand the meaning of the word blessed in the Bible, we have to think of the felicitations exchanged on festive occasions wishing joy and prosperity. The expression 'blessed' etymologically means to recognise him as happy and to rejoice with him; it is first and foremost a statement (you are happy), but it is also a wish, an encouragement to grow in happiness every day. It is like saying: you are on the right path, continue to be happy. The biblical term 'blessed' ultimately expresses a twofold dimension: ascertainment and encouragement.

* Second Reading from the First Epistle of St Paul to the Corinthians (15:12 - 20)

We understand better what St Paul wants to tell us if we think of the funeral of a Christian whose ritual includes three 'signs' of high symbolic value. Firstly, the Paschal Candle beside the coffin burns throughout the celebration as a reminder of the presence of the risen Christ alive among us. In the farewell rite following the Mass, the celebrant and, according to some customs, also the faithful sprinkle the body of the deceased with blessed water to commemorate Baptism. In addition, the celebrant incenses the coffin and this for the Christians of the first centuries was a very daring gesture because in the Roman Empire incense was burnt in front of the statues of the gods and it seemed out of place to incense a lifeless human body reduced to nothing. But this gesture is very eloquent because a Christian, from his Baptism, is a temple of the Holy Spirit, as St Paul reminds us, and by forgetting this, one ends up losing the sign and value of the resurrection of bodies. The Christians of Corinth, and perhaps quite a few today, even if they believe in the resurrection of Christ, struggle to draw the consequence that for Paul is self-evident: if Christ is risen, we too shall rise. And to explain this truth of faith to us, he proceeds in two stages. First he reaffirms that Jesus is truly risen and then he draws the consequences. Since Christ's resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith.  In truth, if one does not believe in the resurrection of Christ, the edifice of the Christian faith collapses: a risk that every community runs. Let us ask ourselves: do all Catholics believe in Christ's resurrection and our resurrection?  From this premise, St Paul draws the conclusion that, if through baptism we are, like Christ, indwelt by the Spirit of God, we will rise like him. Biological death destroys our body, but Jesus will resurrect it. 

*From the Gospel according to Luke ( 6, 17......26)

 In the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah exhorted us not to trust in ourselves and material goods, but to rest our lives on God. The Gospel of the Beatitudes goes much further by stating: Blessed are you poor who put your trust in God, for he will fill you with his riches. But who are the poor according to the gospel? The term poor in the Old Testament has no connection with the bank account because in the biblical sense (anawim) poor are those who have neither a haughty heart nor a haughty look, called 'the backward-looking': they are the little ones, the humble, who, never satiated and complacent, feel that they lack something and for this very reason God can fill them. The prophets alternate in their preaching the stern and threatening tone when the people go astray and pursue wrong values, with the encouraging and consoling one when they go through moments of suffering and despair. These four Beatitudes perfectly portray Jesus who is so poor that he had no stone on which to lay his head and died in total abandonment; he is the one who mourned the death of his friend Lazarus and knew anguish in the Garden of Olives, he mourned the fate of Jerusalem; he was hungry and thirsty in the desert and dramatically on the cross; he is the one who was despised, slandered, persecuted and finally eliminated in the name of the principles of the law and therefore of what was considered the true religion. In these Beatitudes, the promise of the Resurrection looms large and a sense of gratitude to God emerges because Jesus wants us to understand with what loving gaze the Father surrounds us, knowing that victory is already certain. He thus reveals to us God's gaze, his mercy. Man's gaze is quite different from God's; human admiration often runs the risk of mistaking the object of its enthusiasm and is directed towards the rich, the satiated, the privileged in life. God's gaze is quite different: 'A poor man cries out, the Lord hears him,' says the Psalm, and 'A sorrowful and humiliated heart, you, O God, do not despise' (Ps 50/51). And so Jesus opens our eyes to another dimension of happiness: true happiness is God's gaze upon us. Certain of this gaze of God, the poor, those who weep, those who hunger, will find the strength to take their destiny into their own hands.