(Jn 14:1-14)

The Other Way in the ministerial Church

(Jn 14:1-6)

Disciples must learn to experience physical separation from the Master.

And by a process of love, as on a road trodden on foot, in Him continue to reach the brethren. 

Now they know the descending Path of the Father: the Person of Christ is all that the whole of humanity needs for a life redeemed from the subordination, the fears, the lies of the old religion.

The way is not individualistic and isolated. Nor does Jesus return surrounded by ostentation and power, for he never left: in the Spirit he never separated.

He is the motor and motive, the force of the concrete path, the dynamic principle that accompanies, guides and surpasses; as well as the [non-external] goal.

He manifests Himself and lives in the intimate Mystery in us, not at the end of time or in a location (v.5).

The Incarnation continues in unique, ever new ways, which are identified in personal journeys and especially in the relationship of working Faith.

Under the image of the House (almost divided into spaces) the Lord alludes to the new condition of Life and complete Communion with the Father Faithful Love.

The popular figure of the afterlife was linked to a certain number of 'places' in which the fulfilling people would be accommodated.

In this archetypal configuration, the Faith of believers introduces a different kind of representation, which fulfils and exceeds the ancient promises - no longer anchored in the usual distinction between vices and virtues.

Women and men have a "place" (v.2) [task, mission] already ready and assured: there we will be with the Son who comes.

Recognising us in dignity, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven: He will even come down to meet us (cf. 1 Thess 4:15-17) - as if each of us had become an "alter Christus".

That is, as if we had been reshaped by the Father on the very image of Jesus, on a principle of original love - in the way we should have been and perhaps even could have been (excluding the spurious aspects, of unfaithfulness to the call to life).

Finally shining with the open Mystery, convivial in their differences and fully given. Like Him, enthusiastic lords-servants of freedom.

Exultant heralds of a universal centrality, but at the opposite end of the political or fundamentalist messianic expectations, who do not know and close themselves off, do not see or meet.

In the Father's House there are many places (v.2), i.e. - according to sensitivity, inclination and history - many ways to serve the brethren, to fulfil oneself, to weave community relationships and to expand the presence of the Risen One.

The conscious and ministerial Church broadens the horizon of holiness and apostolate.

We are all called to become fully involved members, co-workers in the work of salvation and protagonists in the activities of the People of God, valuing each one - this is the Victory of the Son.

The hands of the Living One in His Assemblies have wounds of love, not claws like those of the leaders of ancient religiosity.

His-our works are of a different quality: they do not grab, they do not hold back, they do not smack, they do not chastise; they do not just serve to set up catwalks and theatrics.

They tread the alternative path of work, of building and welcoming; truly special, because unknown, disinterested and without limelight.

Hands marked by what one desires for the world: open, not clenched into a fist - if anything, with that gentle squeeze that says: "I am with You" - so that others too may feel caressed and be helped to trace the path that corresponds to them.

The Way that makes the weak strong.

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God and believe in me" (v.1).

Jesus invites faith in Him because He was condemned as a sinner, deranged and cursed, by the very masters of the things of God.

His proposed path breaks away from the illusory plots of religion without Exodus.

Instead of doctrine and discipline, the Way expands our horizon (tearing from the cages that seize and hold hostage) to conquer the land of Freedom.

He is Truth. We know what happens to news when it passes from mouth to mouth: it becomes defaced.

Out of ignorance and self-interest, the most varied agencies of conscience manipulation (able to turn the meaning of the Gospel and the story of Christ upside down - not without gain) still tread the scene.

But united with the True Person - intertwined with his story - we encounter ourselves, we know divine Fidelity, we choose substance instead of the surface that plagues us with conventional, conformist or volatile ideas (we would become totally external).

"I am Life". The Father dilates and enhances inclinations, our existential bearing; to the point of recovering opposites.

It does not vampire us as if He were the one in need of something.

He is totality of Being and Source in action, the source of particular essences.

In religions, woman and man are depersonalised, because they live as a function of God.His Calling is instead a Seed, a Root that characterises our profound identity and expands the pulse of life, making it singular, more distinguished; unique, unrepeatable, meaningful and relational.

The Father does not make the usual moralistic appeal to elevate us, detaching us from others - perhaps by adopting devotional models configured on the mysticism of suffering, at the risk of ruining the load-bearing lines of our personality.

He does not force His children to obey (as if we were servants or sheep) but calls us to resemble Him, trusting in our inner resources - as if in germ we were already perfect and capable of producing any development.

So it is He who comes - but not with a dirigiste or paternalistic attitude - and respectfully knocks to merge with us; because He already considers us better, not inadequate and deficient.

It allows us to say: 'I' and meet ourselves - and on this solid platform build the living community, in the exchange of resources and dreams; in listening to eccentricities (which are also ours).

When we are able to transmute again, accepting its proposal, starting from our innate resources to push down others, we expand our orientation - and become more open to the providential Newness in real life - ready for any direction.

By allowing ourselves to be saved, by letting the intuitions of his Spirit flow through us, we will be People capable of thought, convinced, well-rounded; not shrunken or contraband.

In short: called to express ourselves personally and give our contribution, unprecedented and equally dignified, to build an alternative society capable of creating wellbeing: smiles and amazement bursting out, rejoicing everyone.

The end of God's invisibility.

Mysticism of the convincing Force

(Jn 14:7-14)

"Let us see the Father" is the plea - often anonymous - that has accompanied the People of believers from the beginning, who reveal their Lord as Way, Truth and Life (v.6).

Love cannot be learnt except over time, by treading many paths and risking oneself: it follows the path of man and the Exodus. The Church that reflects Christ is the outgoing one, which does not become complacent about its achievements, but moves (Way).

The assembly of the sons is not afraid to make itself impure by frequenting the cultural and existential peripheries, because it has understood the authentic face of God: Faithful (Truth, in the theological sense) that is not afraid to mingle with earthly affairs: it does not flee the critical scrutiny; nor does it abandon those who stray, do not bear obligations, or find themselves in penury.

The authentic community is that of Life: it shows Father and Son in action. In the Spirit, it reclaims each person's itinerary and restores completeness and fullness of being without boundaries even to those who have lost hope or self-esteem (often despised by those who have nothing superior).

Difference with ancient religion? The Eternal is no longer revealed in the astonishing power of clamorous outward manifestations: fire, earthquake, thunder and lightning.

In the fraternities of Faith where the Person ("Name": vv.13-14) of Christ is made present in his troubled and real vicissitude, God dreams an immediate reflection of ideas, words, works, and mutual immanence.

The Father's efficacious event is all in the flesh of the Son. Their Dream, in the human dimension of believers.

Jn frequently emphasises the relationship of Jesus with the Father: a kind of direct vision, which brings about union and mission.

The Way-for, the Truth-Faithfulness-Notwithstanding-all of the Most High, his Life of indestructible quality... are not only future realities: personal and communal experience of Faith realises them.

We too want to see God, and it is possible... but not face to face in the way we perceive things and people (v.8).

The contemplation of his Face and Presence to be known and believed comes to man through his Word-event: Jesus himself, through whom we have perfect knowledge.

His mission in the world has made his own the uncreated plan of love, which wants to spread life - not in the hard and pure (who are even familiar with how to escape the scrutiny of the Gospels) but in the poor who do not know where and to whom to cling.

Consequently, the divine vision grows to the extent that one deepens one's knowledge of the Son and his founding relationship.

The fourth Gospel expresses a formula of mutual immanence (vv.9-11) that says the same feeling speak operate, for our benefit.

Faith is ultimately an action ... believing the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. Salvation of the little flock (in constant renewal and crisis)... not process of election and predestination.

So our belief-love in Christ brings us closer to God, and when the Father places himself in the believer, he does not detach himself, adjusting himself to the perfections, but works in the first person through him (as he worked through Jesus).Signs and gestures - even of reversal - that become intimately personal and ecclesial.

Works unfolded in history, even greater ("greater": v.12) than their Seed planted in our mud, that is, those of a poor, landless carpenter's son, a village preacher, pressed and humiliated by the authorities - in whom we recognise ourselves and who offers access, but not out of old-fashioned privilege.

Even in our irreverent flesh, in the paradox and inter-communion of the little remnant of the saved, here is the strange Fulfillment of the broken paths - by the Word of the Father, in the Spirit.

Manifestation of the relational Mystery of his Being, which in the faithful Gift of his reaffirmed Covenant recovers the opposing faces and redeems the shadow sides. By force of conviction.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you glimpse God's plan for you through the face of the Son? How do you sense that you have accepted His communion in the "Name", and reached out to the Father? How do you adhere to the Call? How do you enter into divine familiarity? What is your close correlation with the Son, who manifests the Father?