5th Lent Sunday (year A)  [22 March 2026]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! This Sunday touches upon the theme of death and of life that does not die. In the face of such fear of dying, may this word of salvation kindle within us the invincible hope of living eternally in God, who is Love

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (37:12–14)

This text is very brief, but it is clear that it forms a single unit: it is framed by two similar expressions; at the beginning, ‘Thus says the Lord God’, and at the end, ‘The word of the Lord’. A frame that is evidently intended to give solemnity to what it encloses. Whenever a prophet deems it necessary to specify that he is speaking on behalf of the Lord, it is because his message is particularly important and difficult to hear. Today’s message is therefore what lies within this framework: a promise repeated twice and addressed to God’s people, for God says “O my people”; on both occasions the promise concerns two points: firstly, “I will open your graves”; secondly, “I will bring you back to the land of Israel”, or “I will let you rest in your own land”, which amounts to the same thing. These expressions allow us to situate the historical context: the people are in exile in Babylon, at the mercy of the Babylonians, annihilated (in the true sense of the word, reduced to nothing), as if dead; this is why God speaks of graves. The expression ‘I will open your graves’ therefore means that God will raise up his people. Reading chapter 37 of the Book of Ezekiel, we see that this brief text follows a vision of the prophet known as ‘the vision of the dry bones’ and provides an explanation of it: the prophet sees a vast army of the dead, lying in the dust; and God says to him: your brothers are so desperate in their exile that they believe themselves to be dead, finished… well, I, God, will raise them up. This entire vision and its explanation thus evoke the captivity of the exiled people and their restoration by God. For the prophet Ezekiel, it is a certainty: the people cannot be wiped out, because God has promised them an eternal Covenant that nothing can destroy; therefore, whatever the defeats, the ruptures, the trials, it is known that the people will survive and regain their land, because this is part of the promise. “I will open your graves… O my people, and bring you back to the land of Israel”: ultimately, there is nothing surprising about these words; Israel has always known that its God is faithful; and the expression “You shall know that I am the Lord” precisely means that it is through his faithfulness to his promises that the true God is recognised. But why repeat almost the same things twice? In reality, the second promise does not merely repeat the first, but expands upon it:  It continues: I will open your graves and bring you out of your tombs and let you rest in your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord: all this  is a return to the situation prior to the disaster of the Babylonian exile. In this second promise there is much more, something new and never seen before: “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live”; here the New Covenant is announced: from now on the law of love will no longer be written on tablets of stone, but in hearts. Or, to use another expression of Ezekiel, human hearts will no longer be of stone, but of flesh.

Here there is no room for doubt: the repetition of the phrase “my people” clearly shows that these two promises herald a rebirth, a restoration of the people. This is not a matter of individual resurrection. Individual death did not compromise the future of the people; and for a long time it was the future of the people, and that alone, that mattered. When someone died, it was said that they had fallen asleep with their fathers, without imagining any personal survival; on the contrary, the survival of the people has always been a certainty, because the people are the bearers of God’s promises. To believe in individual resurrection, two elements are required: firstly, an interest in the individual’s fate — something that did not exist at the beginning of biblical history; an interest in one’s personal fate is a later development. Secondly, it is essential to believe in a God who does not abandon you to death. The certainty that God never abandons humanity did not arise suddenly; it developed in step with the concrete events of the history of the chosen people. The historical experience of the Covenant is what nourishes the faith of Israel; it is the experience of a God who frees humanity from all forms of bondage and intervenes ceaselessly to liberate them; a faithful God who never goes back on his word. It is this faith that guides all of Israel’s discoveries; indeed, it is their driving force. Four centuries after Ezekiel, around 165 BC, these two combined elements—faith in a God who continually liberates humanity and the discovery of the value of every human person—led to faith in individual resurrection. It became evident that God would liberate the individual from the most terrible and definitive form of slavery, that of death. This discovery came so late to the Jewish people that, in Christ’s time, it was not yet shared by all: the Sadducees, in fact, were known as those who did not believe in the resurrection. Perhaps, however, Ezekiel’s prophecy might have surpassed his own understanding, without him realising it. The Spirit of God spoke through his mouth, and we might think: Ezekiel did not know how great was what he was proclaiming

*Responsorial Psalm (129/130) 

In the Psalter there is a group of fifteen psalms bearing a particular name: Song of Ascents. Each of them begins with the words ‘Song of Ascents’, which in Hebrew signifies going to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. In the Gospels, moreover, the expression ‘going up to Jerusalem’ occurs several times with the same meaning: it evokes the pilgrimage for the three annual feasts and, in particular, the most important of these, the Feast of Tabernacles. These fifteen psalms therefore accompanied the entire pilgrimage. Even before arriving in Jerusalem, they already foreshadowed the unfolding of the festival. For some, one can even guess at which point in the pilgrimage they were sung; for example, Psalm 121/122 – ‘How joyful I was when they said to me: “We shall go to the house of the Lord”… now our feet stand within your gates, Jerusalem…’ – was probably the psalm of arrival. Psalm 129/130 is one of these Songs of Ascent; it was probably sung during the Feast of Tabernacles as part of a penitential celebration, which is why guilt and forgiveness feature so prominently in the psalm: ‘If you keep track of sins, O Lord, O Lord, who can stand before you?’.  The sinner who pleads here is certain of being forgiven; it is the people who together acknowledge God’s infinite goodness, his tireless faithfulness (his Hesed) and man’s radical inability to respond to the Covenant. These repeated acts of unfaithfulness are experienced as a true spiritual death: “From the depths I cry out to you”, a cry addressed to Him whose very being is Forgiveness: this is the meaning of the expression “with you is forgiveness”. God is Love and is Gift, and the two are one and the same. Now “forgiveness” is nothing other than a gift that goes beyond everything. To forgive means to continue to offer a Covenant, a possible future, beyond the other’s infidelities. Let us recall the story of David: after the killing of Bathsheba’s husband, the prophet Nathan announced God’s forgiveness to him even before David had uttered a single word of repentance or confession. The idea that God always forgives, however, does not please everyone; yet it is undoubtedly one of the central teachings of the Bible, right from the Old Testament. And Jesus forcefully takes up this same teaching: for example, in the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel according to Luke (chapter 15), the father is already out on the road waiting for his son (a sign that he has already forgiven him) and opens his arms to him even before the son has opened his mouth. And the example of God’s totally gratuitous forgiveness was given to us by Jesus himself on the cross: those who were killing him did not utter a single word of repentance, yet he says: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do’. It is precisely in his forgiveness, says the Bible, that God manifests his power. This too is a great discovery of Israel; consider what the Book of Wisdom states: “Your strength, Lord, is the source of justice… you who possess strength, judge with gentleness and rule us with great indulgence” (Wis 12:16, 18). The certainty of God’s mercy does not breed presumption or indifference towards sin, but humble and amazed gratitude: “With you is forgiveness, so that we may fear you.” This concise formula indicates the believer’s attitude before God, who is nothing but gift and forgiveness. This certainty of forgiveness, always offered beyond all fault, inspires in Israel an attitude of extraordinary hope. Repentant Israel awaits forgiveness “more than the watchmen await the dawn”. “He will redeem Israel from all its sins”: similar expressions recur frequently in biblical texts. They announce to Israel the definitive liberation, the liberation from all the sins of all time. Israel awaits even more: precisely because the people of the Covenant experience their own weakness and ever-recurring sin, but also God’s faithfulness, they await from God himself the definitive fulfilment of his promises. Beyond immediate forgiveness, what they await from age to age is the definitive dawn, which they hope for against all hope, like Abraham: the dawn of the Day of God. All the psalms are permeated by this messianic expectation. Christians know with even greater certainty that our world is moving towards its fulfilment: a fulfilment that has a name, Jesus Christ: “Our soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the dawn”.

*Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Romans (8:8–11)

“I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live,” announces Ezekiel in the first reading, but from baptism, Saint Paul reminds us here, this is a reality, and he uses a figurative expression: the Spirit of God dwells within you. Taking this literally, one commentator speaks of a change of ownership. We have become the dwelling place of the Spirit: it is he who is now in charge. It would be interesting to ask ourselves, in all areas of our lives, both personal and communal, who is in charge, who is the master of the house within us; or, if we prefer, what is our purpose in life. According to Paul, there are not many alternatives: either we are under the influence of the Spirit, that is, we allow ourselves to be guided by him, or we do not allow ourselves to be inspired by the Spirit, and this he calls being under the influence of the flesh. Being under the influence of the Spirit is easy to understand: simply replace the word ‘Spirit’ with the word ‘Love’, as the Letter to the Galatians demonstrates when explaining the fruits of the Spirit: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Gal 5:22–23); in a word, love expressed in all the concrete circumstances of our lives. Paul is the heir to the entire tradition of the prophets: and they all affirm that our relationship with God is realised in the quality of our relationship with others; in the ‘Songs of the Servant’, the Book of Isaiah (chapters 42; 49; 50; 52–53) forcefully asserts that living according to the Spirit of God means loving and serving one’s brothers and sisters. Once life according to the Spirit—that is, life according to love—has been defined, it is easy to understand what Paul means by life according to the flesh: it is the opposite, namely indifference or hatred; in other words, love is turning away from oneself, whilst life under the influence of the flesh is centring on oneself. The question: ‘Who is in charge?’ here becomes ‘Who is the centre of our world?’ And those who are under the influence of the flesh cannot please God, says Paul. On the contrary, Christ is the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased, that is, he is in perfect harmony with God precisely because he too is all love. In this sense, the account of the Temptations, read on the first Sunday of Lent (Matthew chapter 4), is very eloquent because Jesus appears totally centred on God and on his Word and resolutely refuses to focus on his own hunger or even on the demands of his messianic mission. If the text of the temptations is presented to us every year at the start of Lent, it is because Lent is precisely a journey of shifting our focus away from ourselves in order to refocus on God and on others. Later on, in the same Letter to the Romans, Paul says that the Spirit of God makes us children: it is he who prompts us to call God ‘Father’. That which is love within us comes from God; it is our inheritance as children. The Spirit is your life, Paul says again: to put it another way, love is your life. After all, we know from experience that only love is creative. What is not love does not come from God and, precisely because it does not come from God, is destined for death. The great good news of this text is that everything within us that is love comes from God and therefore cannot die. As Paul says: ‘If God raised Jesus from the dead… he will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you’.

From the Gospel according to John (11:1–45)

We have got into the habit of calling this passage the resurrection of Lazarus, but, to tell the truth, it is not the most appropriate term; when we proclaim ‘I believe in the resurrection of the dead and in eternal life’, we mean something quite different. Lazarus’s death was, in a sense, merely a parenthesis in his earthly life; after Jesus’ miracle, his life resumed its ordinary course and was, more or less, the same as before. Lazarus simply had his earthly life extended. His body was not transformed and he had to die a second time; his first death was not what it will be for us, that is, the passage to true life. So one might ask: to what end? In performing this miracle, Jesus took great risks, for he had already drawn far too much attention to himself… and for Lazarus, it was merely a matter of postponing the final appointment. It is St John who answers our question: ‘what was the purpose of this miracle?’ He tells us that it is a very important sign: Jesus reveals himself as the one in whom we have eternal life and in whom we can believe, that is, upon whom we can stake our lives. After all, the chief priests and the Pharisees were not mistaken: they fully understood the gravity of the sign performed by Jesus, for the Gospel of John tells us that many, many began to believe in him precisely because of Lazarus’s resurrection, and it was then that they decided to put him to death. This miracle thus sealed Jesus’ death sentence; thinking about it two thousand years later, it seems paradoxical: being able to restore life deserved death. A sad example of the aberrations to which our certainties can lead… Let us return to the account of what we might call the ‘raising of Lazarus’, because it is not a true resurrection but rather an extension of earthly life. Let us make just two observations. 

First observation: for Jesus, only one thing matters, the glory of God; but to see the glory of God, one must believe (If you believe, you will see the glory of God, he tells Martha). Right from the start of the story, when they tell him: ‘Lord, the one you love is ill’, Jesus replies to the disciples: ‘This illness will not lead to death, but is for the glory of God’, that is, for the revelation of the mystery of God. Faith opens our eyes, removing the blindfold of mistrust that we had placed over our gaze. Second observation: here, faith in the resurrection takes its final step. In Israel, faith in the resurrection appeared late; it was clearly affirmed only in the second century BC, at the time of the persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes, and in Christ’s time it was not yet shared by everyone. Martha and Mary, evidently, are among those who believe in it. But in their minds it is still a resurrection at the end of time; when Jesus says to Martha: “Your brother will rise again”, she replies: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day”. Jesus, however, corrects her: he is not speaking in the future, but in the present: “I am the resurrection and the life… Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” To put it plainly, we sense that the Resurrection is already here.” “I am the resurrection and the life” means that death as separation from God no longer exists: it is overcome in Christ’s resurrection, so that believers, with Paul, can say: “O death, where is your victory?”. Now nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death. The true novelty of this Gospel is not that a dead person returns to life, but that life itself has a face: Jesus. When he says: ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, he is not merely promising a future event; he is affirming that those who live in communion with him are already entering a life that death cannot destroy. Lazarus will emerge from the tomb once more, only to die again; but those united with Christ will never return to the tomb as to a final prison. Biological death becomes a passage, not an end; a threshold, not an abyss. If we live in communion with God — that is, in love — we are already within eternity. For God is not merely the One who gives life: He is Life itself. And that which is united to Life cannot be annihilated.

As Saint Augustine writes: “Do you fear death? Love. Love kills death.”

And again, St Paul, in his Letter to the Romans: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:39). Herein lies the heart of the sign of Lazarus: whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him, and this communion knows no end. The true resurrection begins now.

+Giovanni D’Ercole

And the present matters, not the genealogy

(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)

Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way. He asks us to reinterpret and reveal divine Presence in an equally creative mode.

He only guards life, and life is always new. It does not cling to standards, to thought, to explanations.

The Envoy obeys an unthinkable and non-local Call. This is what distinguishes action and even divine geography, which surpasses the "synagogue" established in the area.

Recognizing Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that this harmony and choice entail.

He can be rejected by calculation, not spontaneously. By denying Him we exclude our root; however, by welcoming, everything and even survival are at stake. What to do?

Is not better to blend in to keep things going?

After the abandonment of some disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even adds to the dose, and does not depart.

Pretending, we too could marginalize Him to preserve immediate security. But if we did not proceed towards our Source, we would not encounter crystal clear water.

In the fourth Gospel the threat of death on the Lord is constant. People are attracted, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected Origins, to be killed in order not to be replaced.

According to the Synoptics, during public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once [in which He was condemned by the religious institution].

According to the fourth Gospel, two or three times, on the occasion of Easter.

It is likely that He has been to the Holy City several times, in private.

But the image of the hidden Christ alludes here to His ‘presence’ in the common faithful, forced not to make clear the adhesion of the heart - especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ekklesia) at the end of the first century.

The ‘knowledge’ of God now passes through the challenge of ‘recognizing’ a subversive, condemned to death and fugitive (v.1): the Nazarene in us, the unrecognized fulcrum of our solemnities.

The eminent feast of the Jewish, that of the Booths [Sukkot], commemorated the «mirabilia Dei» of the Exodus and looked to the future by celebrating hopes of prestige and victory over other nations.

Well, even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of a violent and artificial prosperity, as well as the perverse influence of an empty, circumstantial spirituality.

And should some opportunists want to lay their hands on us out of self-interest, or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies, the turn of events will save the true Witnesses from any danger (v.30).

It will be the “impossible origins” to bring the Unknown to replace the official «educators» (v.28) clinging only to ideas.

The experience of divine glory living is still «sub contraria specie»: in the kingship that pushes down.

A reverse Force: it allows metamorphoses to surface and let us discover astonishing metamorphoses.

And by not allowing the Lord to be killed again for convenience, we will be able to protect both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.

Change of Face and cosmos, though unexpected. Development and ‘passage’ that convinces the soul.

[Friday 4th wk. in Lent, March 20, 2026]

And it is the present that counts, not the genealogy

(Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30)

Unexpected origins, to be killed not to be replaced

"[Certainly] you know me and you know where I am from. Yet I did not come from myself, but he is true who sent me, whom you do not know. I know him, because I am from him and he has sent me" (John 7:28-29).

Christ reveals himself in a progressive and unconventional way.

He asks us to reinterpret and reveal him in an equally unprecedented, personal, creative way.

He cherishes only life, and life is always new. He does not cling to standards, to thinking, to explanations.

The Envoy obeys an unthinking, non-local Calling.

This is what distinguishes divine action and even geography, which goes beyond the territorially implanted 'synagogue'.

Recognising Christ as our Lord means accepting the dangers and rejection that such attunement and choice entails.

One can reject him by calculation, not spontaneously.

We are well aware that by rejecting him we exclude our root; however, by accepting him we risk everything and even our skin. What is to be done?

Is it not better to camouflage oneself to keep the situation quiet?

After the abandonment of some of the disciples in Galilee - following the discourse on the Bread of Life (Jn 6:60-71) - Jesus even ups the ante.

By pretending, we too could marginalise him, in order to preserve security in the immediate future - and perhaps gain from it.

But if we do not proceed to our Source, we will not encounter the crystal-clear water.

All of existence will become a useless compromise of theatrics, which in the turn of events to be staged disguise theatrics and self-interest, making authentic vocational implications pale into oblivion.

In the Fourth Gospel, the threat of death on the Lord is constant.

People are drawn, but in Him they stumble. For the authorities: unexpected origins, to be killed lest they be replaced.

Even today, a framework of respect and consternation is formed around the living Christ.

To obey one's Calling by Name is to experience the closure and opposition of the authorities.

All this, amidst the bewilderment of the people - perhaps also confused because they expect something else, and find it hard to recognise us.

Even those who proceed incognito - and yet are in Christ - cannot go unnoticed. And the present counts, not the genealogy.

Elaborate things or expected merits [fame, the great city, the lineage that counts...] do not touch the crux of the matter.

God's origin in us is inexplicable, enigmatic. But He presents us as His envoys.

The experts of the eternal city do not know the Father (v.28), despite the fact that they boast of possessing him exclusively: in their beliefs, in their norms, in their history, in the Temple, in their particular way of life.

In both popular and elite opinions, the Mystery was supposed to have an unknown and occult origin...

How to guess it in each one of us [deprived of the showcase of great titles, catwalks, pretensions, outward works]?

How to grasp it, if for public opinion we are nothing exceptional, nothing 'special' - and even inappropriate?

According to the Synoptics, during his public life Jesus is in Jerusalem only once, the time when he was condemned by the religious establishment.

According to the fourth Gospel, two or three, on the occasion of the Passover.

It is likely that He was in the holy city several times in private.

But the image of the hidden Christ here alludes to His sacred Presence in the ordinary faithful.

Especially after the rupture between synagogue and church (Ecclesia) at the end of the first century, believers in the Lord Jesus were forced not to make the adherence of the heart manifest.

Vocation is our destiny, the secret of life.

These ideas that we cannot contain launch new opinions and ways of being.

Eccentricities that end up generating doubts in others, and open opposition from those who hold the reins of power.

They are all recalcitrant defenders, without criticism of specific weight: co-opted by representation; of the world and ancient or established, well-known and quiet ways, or à la page.

Conversely, knowledge of God passes through the challenge of recognising a subversive, doomed and fugitive (v.1): The Nazzarene in us.

The arcane and real Christ, misunderstood fulcrum of our solemnities.

The feast of the Jewish festivals, the Feast of the Tents, commemorated the mirabilia Dei of the Exodus and cast its gaze towards a glorious future.

It celebrated hopes of prestige, the expected final victory over other nations (and their exploitation).

But the friends of the Son have no predatory ambitions.

Even if we were considered 'to be re-educated', it would be obvious to oppose the idea of violent and artificial prosperity.

We disdain the perverse influences of any empty, opportunistic, or dull, circumstantial spirituality. 

And should some interested parties want to lay hands on us out of interest [or perhaps just because we do not respect their ways, doctrines, and fantasies] the turn of events will keep the authentic Witnesses out of harm's way (v.30).

It will be the disregarded origins that will lead the Unknown to replace the official "educators" (v.28) clinging only to ideas.

The experience of divine glory that he lives is still sub contraria specie: in the kingship that pushes down.

Force-a-roar: it allows metamorphosis to surface and let us discover awe-inspiring metamorphoses.

In this way, by avoiding allowing the Lord to still be killed out of convenience, we will be able to safeguard both the community experience and personal transpositions of Faith.

A change of face and cosmos, albeit unthought of. Development and passage that convinces the soul.

To internalise and live the message:

How do I safeguard my community life and my transpositions of Faith in Christ?

Or do I let the Lord be killed in me and outside for convenience?

Knowledge of God

The knowledge of God becomes eternal life. Obviously, 'knowledge' here means something more than outward knowledge, as we know, for example, when a famous person died and when an invention was made. To know in the sense of Holy Scripture is to become inwardly one with another. To know God, to know Christ always also means to love Him, to become in some way one with Him by virtue of knowing and loving. Our life thus becomes an authentic, true and thus also eternal life, if we know Him who is the source of all being and all life. Thus the word of Jesus becomes an invitation for us: let us become friends of Jesus, let us seek to know Him more and more! Let us live in dialogue with Him! Let us learn righteous living from Him, let us become His witnesses! Then we become people who love, then we act righteously. Then we truly live.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the Lord's Supper 1 April 2010].

Knowledge of God becomes eternal life. Clearly “knowledge” here means something more than mere factual knowledge, as, for example, when we know that a famous person has died or a discovery was made. Knowing, in the language of sacred Scripture, is an interior becoming one with the other. Knowing God, knowing Christ, always means loving him, becoming, in a sense, one with him by virtue of that knowledge and love. Our life becomes authentic and true life, and thus eternal life, when we know the One who is the source of all being and all life. And so Jesus’ words become a summons: let us become friends of Jesus, let us try to know him all the more! Let us live in dialogue with him! Let us learn from him how to live aright, let us be his witnesses! Then we become people who love and then we act aright. Then we are truly alive.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the Lord's Supper 1 April 2010]

“The Father loves you” (cf. Jn 16:27)

Dear young friends!

1. In the perspective of the Jubilee which is now drawing near, 1999 is aimed at “broadening the horizons of believers so that they will see things in the perspective of Christ: in the perspective of the 'Father who is in heaven' from whom the Lord was sent and to whom he has returned” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 49). It is, indeed, not possible to celebrate Christ and his jubilee without turning, with him, towards God, his Father and our Father (cf. Jn 20:17). The Holy Spirit also takes us back to the Father and to Jesus. If the Spirit teaches us to say: “Jesus is Lord” (cf. 1Cor 12:3), it is to make us capable of speaking with God, calling him “Abba! Father!” (cf. Gal 4:6).

I invite you also, together with the whole Church, to turn towards God the Father and to listen with gratitude and wonder to the amazing revelation of Jesus: “The Father loves you!” (cf. Jn 16:27). These are the words I entrust to you as theme for the XIV World Youth Day. Dear young people, receive the love that God first gives you (cf. 1Jn 4:19). Hold fast to this certainty, the only one that can give meaning, strength and joy to life: his love will never leave you, his covenant of peace will never be removed from you (cf. Is 54:10). He has stamped your name on the palms of his hands (cf. Is 49:16).

2. It may not always be conscious and clear, but in the human heart there is a deep nostalgia for God. St. Ignatius of Antioch expressed this eloquently: “There is in me a living water that murmurs within me: 'Come to the Father'” (Ad Rom.7). “Lord, show me your glory”, Moses begged on the mountain (Ex 33:18).

“No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (Jn 1:18). So, is it enough to know the Son in order to know the Father? Philip does not let himself be so easily convinced. “Show us the Father”, he asks. His insistence brings us a reply beyond all that we could hope for: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9).

After the incarnation, there exists a human face in which it is possible to see God: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me” (Jn 14:11). Jesus says this not only to Philip, but to all who will believe. And so, whoever receives the Son of God receives the One who sent him (cf. Jn 13:20). On the contrary, “he who hates me hates my Father also” (Jn 15:23). So a new relationship is possible between the Creator and the creature, that of the son with his own Father: When the disciples want to enter into the secrets of God and ask to learn how to pray as support for their journey, Jesus, in reply, teaches them the Our Father, “synthesis of the whole Gospel” (Tertullian, De oratione, 1). Here there is confirmation of our state as sons and daughters (cf. Lk 11:1-4). “On the one hand, in the words of this prayer, the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him; he is the Master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the Model of our prayer” (Catholic Church Catechism, 2765).

Bringing us the direct witness of the life of the Son of God, John’s Gospel points out the road to follow in order to know the Father. Calling upon the “Father” is the secret, the breath, the life of Jesus. Is he not the only Son, the first-born, the loved one towards whom everything is directed, present to the Father even before the world existed, sharing in his same glory? (cf. Jn 17:5). From the Father Jesus receives power over all things (cf. Jn 17:2), the message to be proclaimed (cf. Jn 12:49), the work to be accomplished (cf. Jn 14:31). The disciples themselves do not belong to him: it is the Father who has given them to him (cf. Jn 17:9), entrusting him with the task of keeping them from evil, so that none should be lost (cf. Jn 18:9).

In the hour of passing from this world to the Father, the “priestly prayer” reveals the mind of the Son: “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made” (Jn 17:5). As Supreme and Eternal Priest, Christ takes his place at the head of the immense procession of the redeemed. First-born of a multitude of brothers, he leads back to the one fold the sheep of the scattered flock, so that there may be “one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16).

Thanks to his work, the same loving relationship that exists within the Trinity was brought into the relation between the Father and redeemed humanity: “The Father loves you!” How could this mystery of love be understood without the action of the Spirit poured out from the Father over the disciples thanks to the prayer of Jesus (cf. Jn 14:16)? The incarnation in time of the eternal Word and the birth for eternity of all who are incorporated in him through Baptism would be inconceivable without the life-giving action of the same Spirit.

3. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). The world is loved by God! And, in spite of the refusals of which it is capable, it will continue to be loved to the very end. “The Father loves you” always and for ever: this is the unheard-of novelty, “the very simple yet profound proclamation owed to humanity by the Church” (cf. Christifideles Laici, 34). If the Son also had given us only this word, it would be enough. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1Jn 3:1). We are not orphans, love is possible. Because – as you know – we are not capable of loving if we are not loved.

But how are we to proclaim this good news? Jesus points out the wall to follow: Listen to the Father in order to be “taught by God” (Jn 6:45) and keep the commandments (cf. Jn 14:23). This knowledge of the Father will then grow: “I made known to them your name, and I will make it known” (Jn 17:26); and this will be the work of the Holy Spirit, guiding into “all truth” (cf. Jn 16:13).

In our time, the Church and the world have need more than ever of “missionaries” capable of proclaiming by word and example this fundamental and consoling certainty. Being aware of this, young people of today and adults of the new millennium, let yourselves be “formed” in the school of Jesus. In the Church and in the various environments of your daily existence, become credible witnesses to the Father’s love! Make it visible in your choices and attitudes, in your way of receiving people and placing yourselves at their service, in faithfully respecting God’s will and his Commandments.

“The Father loves you”. These wonderful words are uttered within the heart of the believer who, like the disciple beloved of Jesus, rests his head on Jesus’ breast and hears what is spoken in confidence: “He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn 14:31), for “this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn 17:3).

There is a reflection of the Father’s love in the various forms of fatherhood encountered along your way. I am thinking especially of your parents, who cooperate with God in giving you life and in caring for you: honour them (cf. Ex 20:12) and be grateful to them! I am thinking of the priests and other persons consecrated to the Lord, who for you are friends, witnesses and teachers of life, “for your progress and joy in the faith” (Phil 1:25). I am thinking of the authentic educators who, with their humanity, their wisdom and their faith make a significant contribution to your growth, your Christian and therefore fully human growth. For each one of these worthy persons, who walk beside you along the paths of life, give thanks always to the Lord.

4. The Father loves you! Awareness of God’s special love cannot fail to encourage believers “to undertake, by hot cling fast to Christ the Redeemer of man, a journey of authentic conversion... This is the proper context for a renewed appreciation and more intense celebration of the sacrament of Penance in its most profound meaning” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 50).

“Sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another” (Catholic Church Catechism, 387); it is refusal to live the life of God received in Baptism, to let ourselves be loved by the true Love: the human being has in fact the terrible power to be an obstacle to God who wills to give all that is good. Sin, which has its origin in the person’s free will (cf. Mk 7:20), is failure in genuine love; it wounds the nature of the human person and injures human solidarity by attitudes, words and actions steeped in self-love (cf. Catholic Church Catechism, 1849-1850). It is in the innermost self that freedom opens up or closes itself to love. This is the constant drama of the human person, who often chooses slavery, subjecting himself or herself to fears, caprices, wrong attitudes, creating idols that dominate and ideologies that degrade his or her humanity. In John’s Gospel we read: “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (Jn 8:34).

Jesus says to everyone: “Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mk 1:15). At the origin of every genuine conversion there is God looking upon the sinner. It is a look that becomes a search filled with love; a passion, even that of the Cross; a will to pardon that, showing the guilty one the esteem and love in which he or she is still held, in contrast to the disorder in which they are plunged, calls for the decision to change their way of life. This is the case of Levi (cf. Mk 2:13-17), of Zacchaeus (cf. Lk 19:1-10), of the woman taken in adultery (cf. Jn 8:1-11), of the thief (cf. Lk 23:39-43), of the Samaritan woman (cf. Jn 4:1-30): “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it” (Redemptor Hominis, 10). The human being who has discovered and experienced the God of mercy and pardon can live only in a state of being continually converted to God (cf. Dives in Misericordia, 13).

“Go and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11): the pardon is given freely, but the person is invited to respond with a serious commitment to renewal of life. God knows his creatures too well! He is not unaware that an ever greater manifestation of his love will finally arouse in the sinner disgust for the sin. So God’s love is acted out in a continual offer of pardon.

How eloquent is the parable of the prodigal son! From the moment the son leaves home, the father lives in a state of anxiety: he waits, hopes, scans the horizon. He respects the son’s freedom, but he suffers. And when the son decides to return, the father sees him in the distance and goes to meet him, clasps him tightly in his arms and joyfully gives the order: “Put the ring on his finger – symbol of covenant – bring the best robe and put it on him – symbol of new life – put shoes on his feet – symbol of dignity regained – and let us make merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found!” (cf. Lk 15:11-32).

5. Before ascending to the Father, Jesus entrusted to his Church the ministry of reconciliation (cf. Jn 20:23). So, a repentance that is only interior does not suffice in order to obtain God’s pardon. Reconciliation with God is obtained through reconciliation with the ecclesial community. So, acknowledgment of sin is made through a concrete sacramental gesture: repentance and confession of the sins, with the intention of amendment, in presence of the Church’s minister.

Today, unfortunately, the more people lose the sense of sin the less they have recourse to the pardon of God. This is the cause of many of the problems and difficulties of our time. This year, I invite you to rediscover the beauty and the wealth of grace in the sacrament of Penance by carefully rereading the parable of the prodigal son, where what is stressed is not so much the sin as the tenderness of God and his mercy. Listening to the Word in an attitude of prayer, contemplation, wonder and certainty, say to God : “I need you, I count on you in order to exist and to live. You are stronger than my sin. I believe in your power over my life, I believe that you are able to save me just as I am now. Remember me. Pardon me!”

Look at yourselves from “within”. Before being against a law or a moral norm, sin is against God (cf. Ps 50 [51],6), against your brothers and sisters and against yourselves. Stand in front of Christ, only Son of the Father and model for all brothers and sisters. He alone shows us what we must be in relation to the Father, to our neighbour, to society, in order to be at peace with ourselves. He shows this through the Gospel, which is one with Jesus Christ. Faithfulness to one is the measure of faithfulness to the other.

Approach trustfully the sacrament of Confession: with the confession of sins you will show that you want to acknowledge infidelity and to put an end to it; you will admit the need for conversion and reconciliation, in order to find again the peace and fruitfulness of being children of God in Christ Jesus; you will express solidarity with the brothers and sisters who also undergo the trial of sin (cf. Catholic Church Catechism, 1445).

Finally, receive with a grateful heart the absolution given by the priest. This is the moment when the Father pronounces over the repentant sinner the life-giving word: “This my son is alive again!” The Source of love regenerates and makes us capable of overcoming egoism and of loving again, with greater intensity.

6. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 22: 37-40). Jesus does not say that the second commandment is identical with the first, but that it is “like it”. So the two commandments are not interchangeable, as if we could automatically satisfy the commandment to love God by observing that to love our neighbour, or viceversa. Each has its own consistency, and they must both be observed. But Jesus puts them side by side to make it clear for everyone that they are closely connected. It is impossible to observe one without practicing the other. “Their inseparable unity is attested to by Christ in his words and by his very life: his mission culminates in the Cross of our Redemption, the sign of his indivisible love for the Father and for humanity” (Veritatis Splendor, 14).

To know whether we truly love God, we have to see whether we seriously love our neighbour. And if we want to test the quality of love for our neighbour, we have to ask ourselves whether we truly love God. Because “he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1Jn 4:20); and “by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments” (1Jn 5:2).

In the Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, I exhorted Christians to “lay greater emphasis on the Church’s preferential option for the poor and the outcast” (n. 51). This is a “preferential”, not an exclusive option. Jesus invites us to love the poor, because they should be given special attention precisely because of their vulnerability. As is well known, they are more and more numerous, even in the so-called rich countries, in spite of the fact that the goods of this world are meant for everyone! Every situation of poverty is a challenge to each one’s Christian charity. This charity, however, must become also social and political commitment, because the problem of poverty in the world depends on concrete situations that must be changed by men and women of good will, builders of the civilization of love. They are “structures of sin” that cannot be overcome without cooperation from everyone, in readiness to “lose oneself” for the sake of the other rather than exploiting him, to “serve” instead of oppressing him (cf. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 38).

Dear young people, I invite you especially to take concrete initiatives of solidarity and sharing alongside and with those who are poorest. Participate generously in one or another of the projects through which, in the different countries, others of your contemporaries are involved in gestures of fraternity and solidarity. This will be a way of “restoring” to the Lord in the persons of the poor at least something of all He has given to you who are more fortunate. It can also give immediate visible expression to a fundamental option: to give your life a definite orientation towards God and for others.

7. Mary sums up in her person the whole mystery of the Church. She is “the highly favoured daughter of the Father” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 54), who freely accepted and readily responded to the gift of God. “Daughter” of the Father, she merited to become the Mother of his Son: “Let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:37). She is the Mother of God, because she is perfectly daughter of the Father.

In her heart there is no desire other than that of helping Christians in their commitment to live as children of God. As a most tender mother, she constantly leads them to Jesus, so that, following him, they may learn to develop their relation with the Father in heaven. As at the wedding in Cana, she invites them to do whatever he tells them (cf. Jn 2:5), for she knows that this is the way to reach the house of “the Father of mercies” (cf. 2Cor 1:3).

The XIV World Youth Day, which will be held this year in the local Churches, is the last before the great appointment of the Jubilee. It has therefore particular significance in the preparation for the Holy Year 2000. I pray that for each one of you it may be the occasion for a renewed encounter with the Lord of life and with his Church.

To Mary I entrust your journeying, and I ask her to make your hearts ready to receive the grace of the Father, so that you may become witnesses to his love.

With these sentiments, wishing you a year rich in faith and in evangelical commitment, I bless you all from my heart.

From the Vatican, 6 January 1999, Solemnity of the Lord’s Epiphany.

[Pope John Paul II, Message XIV WYD]

Fear is one of the most terrible enemies of our Christian life. Jesus exhorts: “have no fear”, “fear not”. And Jesus describes three tangible situations that they will find themselves facing.

First and foremost the hostility of those who would like to stifle the Word of God, by sugar-coating it, watering it down, or by silencing those who proclaim it. In this case, Jesus encourages the Apostles to spread the message of salvation that He has entrusted to them. For the moment, He has transmitted it cautiously, somewhat covertly, among the small group of disciples. But they will utter his Gospel “in the light”, that is, openly; and will proclaim it “upon the housetops” — as Jesus says — that is, publicly.

The second difficulty that Christ’s missionaries will encounter is the physical threat against them, that is, direct persecution of them personally, to the point of being killed. This prophesy by Jesus is realized in every age: it is a painful reality, but it attests to the faithfulness of witnesses. How many Christians are persecuted even today throughout the world! They suffer for the Gospel with love, they are martyrs of our days. And we can say with confidence that they are more numerous than those of the earliest times: so many martyrs, just for the fact of being Christians.

[...] We should not allow ourselves to be frightened by those who seek to extinguish evangelizing power with arrogance and violence. Indeed, they can do nothing against the soul, that is, against communion with God: no one can take this away from disciples, because it is a gift from God. The only fear that a disciple should have is that of losing this divine gift, closeness, friendship with God, giving up living according to the Gospel, thereby acquiring moral death, which is the effect of sin.

Jesus indicates as the third type of test that the Apostles will have to face, the sensation, which some may feel, that God himself has abandoned them, remaining distant and silent. Here too, Jesus exhorts them not to fear, because even while experiencing these and other pitfalls, the life of disciples lies firmly in the hands of God who loves us and looks after us. They are like three temptations: to sugar-coat the Gospel, to water it down; second: persecution; and third: the feeling that God has left us alone. Even Jesus suffered this trial in the Garden of Olives and on the Cross: “Father, why have you forsaken me?”, Jesus asks. At times one feels this spiritual barrenness; we must not fear it. The Father takes care of us, because our value is great in His eyes. What matters is frankness, the courage of our witness, our witness of faith: “recognizing Jesus before men” and going forth doing good.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 21 June 2020]

(Mt 1:16.18-21.24)

«Even through Joseph’s fears, God’s will, his history and his plan were at work. Joseph, then, teaches us that faith in God includes believing that he can work even through our fears, our frailties and our weaknesses. He also teaches us that amid the tempests of life, we must never be afraid to let the Lord steer our course. At times, we want to be in complete control, yet God always sees the bigger picture» [Patris Corde n.2].

Incarnation: the Father places himself alongside his sons and daughters. Not only He isn’t afraid of becoming impure in contact with things that concern human dynamics: in their Condition even recognizes Himself.

For this reason, the culmination of the entire Salvation Story springs from Joseph's embarrassment.

Sources attest that he was not at all a character with a lily in his hand, but perhaps this may interest us up to a certain point.

The narration of Mt is striking, because the distinction and the possibility of the irruption (of the summit itself) of God's plan on humanity seem to arise not from a certainty, but from a Doubt.

The question mark involves. Discomfort sows a new Germ inside. It tears and cuts down all the alike seedlings of the grass infesting the full Life - which was the chiseled Law on appearances.

The "problem" leads to dreaming of other horizons to open, and in the first person. Hesitation leads out of the mental cages that mortify relationships, previously reduced to casuistry.

The perplexity makes common opinion overlook, because conformity attenuates and extinguishes the Novelty of God.

Hesitation seeks existential fissures: it wants to introduce us into territories of life - where others can also draw on different experiences, varied perceptions, and moments in which to have decisive insights as a gift.

Its wise Energy finds gaps and small passages; it acts to make us evolve as children of Eternity - also arousing inconvenience, which flood existence of creative suspensions and new passion.

Its lucid Action is introduced through Dreams that shake off the usual projects, or states of mind that put them in the balance; and bottlenecks of marginalized thinking that makes us rediscover the reason we were born, discover our part in the world.

Every swing, every pain, every danger, every move, can become a ‘birth’ towards Originality - without identifications first.

Uniqueness does not make us lose the Source that ‘watches’ in us. Woe to shirk: we would lose our destination.

The Spirit that slips into the crevices of standard mindsets finds an intimate spot that allows us to flourish differently now, able to bring out the essence of who we authentically are, and stop copying clichés.

Then we will not keep asking: Whose fault is it? How should we buffer the situation? Who should we lean on?. But rather: What is the new ‘life’ I have to explore? What is yet to be discovered?.

In fact, the bite of doubts does not make one become believer-garbage, as hypothesized in disciplined, legalistic religions - in puritan philosophies with artificial wisdom - vice versa friends, adopted sons [ie chosen] and heirs.

Thanks to the Relation of Faith, we are no longer lost in the desert - because the many things and the hazards become dialogue of specific weight: we are at Home, respecting our mysterious character and Call.

We begin like Joseph to be present to ourselves. And by changing gaze, we will enjoy the Beauty of the New.

«Saint Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in the history of salvation. A word of recognition and of gratitude is due to them all» [Patris Corde intr.].

To internalize and live the message:

On what occasion did ‘doubt’ open horizons to astound you? In the beautiful and colorful moments of life, did you start from your certainty?

 [St. Joseph, March 19]

Contact with the earth: deviance and ascent

Casual Incarnation, in tenuousness and density

(Mt 1:1-17)

In the ancient East, genealogies mentioned only men, and it is surprising that Mt mentions the names of no less than five women - considered merely servile, untrustworthy creatures, impure by nature.

But in the story of Mary's four companions there is not a little that is a-normal [also because of the model of life chosen] that is nevertheless worthwhile.

Here we are then challenged by the Gospel on the weight to be given to the rigidity of norms, which in the history of spirituality have often devoured the spontaneous being of those called by the Father (simply to express themselves).

Cultures animated by the Wisdom of Nature also testify to this weight.

The Tao Tê Ching (LVII) writes: "When the world is governed by correction, weapons are used with falsehood [...] That is why the saint says: I do not act and the people transform themselves [...] I do not yearn and the people make themselves simple".

In order to reach the human fullness of the Son, God did not pretend to overcome concrete events, on the contrary He assumed them and valorised them.

The path that leads to Christ is not a matter of climbs, nor of results or performances to be calibrated more and more in a linear crescendo that is therefore moralising and dirigiste (which does not impose turning points that count, nor does it solve the real problems).

Commenting on the Tao(i), Master Ho-shang Kung writes: "Mystery is Heaven. He says that both the man who has desires and the man who has none equally receive ch'ì from Heaven. Within heaven there is another heaven; in the ch'ì there is density and tenuity".

In history, the Eternal One manages to give unfurled wings not so much to strength and genius, but to all the poor beginnings, to the paucity of our nature, which suddenly turns into totally unpredictable wealth.

And if we tear the thread again and again, the Lord knits it back together - not to fix it, patch it up and resume as before, but to make a whole new weave. Precisely from the falls.

It is those moments of the earth-to-earth divide that force humanity to change symbolic direction and not repeat itself, stagnating in the circuit of the usual cerebral and purist perimeters - habitual, and where everything is normal.

As a result of inner crashes and afterthoughts, how many people have fulfilled their destiny by deviating from the marked, quiet, protected and comfortable path (Cottolengo, Mother Teresa, etc.)!

Out of the mire of the swamp sprout beautiful, clean flowers, which do not even resemble those we had ever imagined we could contemplate at various stages of life.

The tumbles of the protagonists of salvation history did not come from weakness. They were signs of bad or partial use of resources; stimuli to change one's eye, re-evaluate one's point of view and many hopes.

Those collapses configured new challenges: they were interpreted as strong provocations: to shift energies and change track.

The upturns following the downturns turned into new opportunities, not at all unexpected, fully discordant with the ready-made solutions that extinguish characters.

Even our crisis only becomes serious when the failures do not result in new insights and different paths that we had not thought of (perhaps in any of our good intentions).

Strange this link between our abysses and the heights of the Spirit: it is the Incarnation, no theory - all reality.

There is no Gift that resembles the divine top and comes to us without passing through and involving the dimension of finitude.

The holes in the water convey the all-too-human figure of what we are - behind illusions or the very appearances we do not want to put down, to convince ourselves that we are instead identified 'characters'.

But the ambivalences and flaws continue to want to unhinge our gaze and destiny elsewhere, with respect to common expectations [today also the paroxysm of the point in the polls].

Behind the mask and beyond the convictions acquired from environment, manners or procedures... lies the Father's great Secret about us.

It is precisely the descents that spiritualise, through a working of the soul that is rammed by events, so that it turns to acquire new awareness, internalises different evaluations, sees and embraces other varied horizons, even missionary ones.

The crack that knocks down can be more consistent than any progress; not because it initiates asceticism: it becomes contact with the 'earth' - where we find the sap that really corresponds to us, to regenerate.

The fall or even the ruin of a reassuring status has in every happening a propulsive, regenerative, transmutative function; normal, after all, and in which God's story is totally recognised.

To internalise and live the message:

What were your turning points?

What turning point realised you? 

Not only through men, but with them

With today's liturgy, we enter the final stretch of the Advent journey, which calls us to intensify our preparation, to celebrate the Lord's Christmas with faith and joy, welcoming with intimate amazement God who makes himself close to man, to each one of us.

The first reading presents us with the elderly Jacob who gathers his sons for the blessing: it is an event of great intensity and emotion. This blessing is like a seal of fidelity to the covenant with God, but it is also a prophetic vision, looking forward and indicating a mission. Jacob is the father who, through the not always straightforward paths of his own history, comes to the joy of gathering his children around him and plotting the future of each one and their descendants. In particular, today we have heard the reference to the tribe of Judah, whose royal strength is exalted, represented by the lion, as well as to the monarchy of David, represented by the sceptre, the staff of command, which alludes to the coming of the Messiah. Thus, in this dual image, the future mystery of the lion who becomes a lamb, of the king whose staff of command is the cross, the sign of true kingship, transpires. Jacob has gradually become aware of the primacy of God, has understood that his path is guided and sustained by the Lord's faithfulness, and cannot but respond with full adherence to God's covenant and plan of salvation, becoming in turn, together with his own descendants, a link in the divine plan.

The passage in Matthew's Gospel presents us with the "genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham" (Mt 1:1), further emphasising and explicating God's faithfulness to the promise, which He fulfils not only through men, but with them and, as with Jacob, sometimes through tortuous and unforeseen ways. The awaited Messiah, the object of the promise, is true God, but also true man; Son of God, but also Son born of the Virgin, Mary of Nazareth, holy flesh of Abraham, in whose seed all the peoples of the earth shall be blessed (cf. Gen 22:18). In this genealogy, besides Mary, four women are mentioned. They are not Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel, i.e. the great figures of Israel's history. Paradoxically, instead, it is four pagan women: Racab, Ruth, Bathsheba, Tamar, who apparently 'disturb' the purity of a genealogy. But in these pagan women, who appear at decisive points in salvation history, the mystery of the church of the pagans, the universality of salvation, shines through. They are pagan women in whom the future, the universality of salvation, appears. They are also sinful women, and so the mystery of grace also appears in them: it is not our works that redeem the world, but it is the Lord who gives us true life. They are sinful women, yes, in whom appears the greatness of the grace that we all need. Yet these women reveal an exemplary response to God's faithfulness, showing faith in the God of Israel. And so we see the church of the Gentiles, a mystery of grace, faith as a gift and a path to communion with God. Matthew's genealogy, therefore, is not simply the list of generations: it is the history realised primarily by God, but with the response of humanity. It is a genealogy of grace and faith: it is precisely on the absolute faithfulness of God and the solid faith of these women that the continuation of the promise made to Israel rests.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the Aletti Centre, 17 December 2009].

Man, God's surname

Man is God's surname: the Lord in fact takes the name from each of us - whether we are saints or sinners - to make it his own surname. For in becoming incarnate, the Lord made history with humanity: his joy was to share his life with us, 'and this makes one weep: so much love, so much tenderness'.

It was with thoughts turned to the now imminent Christmas that Pope Francis commented on Tuesday 17 December on the two readings proposed by the liturgy of the word, taken respectively from Genesis (49:2, 8-10) and the Gospel of Matthew (1:1-17). On the day of his 77th birthday, the Holy Father presided over morning Mass as usual in the chapel of Santa Marta. Concelebrating among others was Cardinal Dean Angelo Sodano, who expressed the best wishes of the entire College of Cardinals to him.

In his homily, which focused on God's presence in the history of humanity, the Bishop of Rome identified two terms - inheritance and genealogy - as the keys to interpreting the first reading (concerning the prophecy of Jacob gathering his sons and predicting a glorious descent for Judah) and the Gospel passage containing the genealogy of Jesus. Dwelling in particular on the latter, he emphasised that it is not 'a telephone directory', but 'an important subject: it is pure history', because 'God sent his son' among men. And, he added, "Jesus is consubstantial with his father, God; but he is also consubstantial with his mother, a woman. And this is that consubstantiality of the mother: God made himself history, God wanted to make himself history. He is with us. He has made a journey with us'.

A journey,' continued the bishop of Rome, 'that began from afar, in Paradise, immediately after original sin. From that moment, in fact, the Lord 'had this idea: to make a journey with us'. Therefore, "he called Abraham, the first one named in this list, and invited him to walk. And Abraham began that journey: he begat Isaac, and Isaac Jacob, and Jacob Judah". And so on through human history. 'God walks with his people', therefore, because 'he did not want to come to save us without history; he wanted to make history with us'.

A history, said the Pontiff, made of holiness and sin, because in the list of Jesus' genealogy there are saints and sinners. Among the former the Pope recalled "our father Abraham" and "David, who after sin converted". Among the latter, he singled out "high-level sinners, who did big sins", but with whom God equally "made history". Sinners who failed to respond to the plan God had imagined for them: like 'Solomon, so great and intelligent, who ended up as a poor man who did not even know his name'. Yet, Pope Francis noted, God was also with him. "And this is the beauty of it: God makes history with us. Moreover, when God wants to say who he is, he says: I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob".

That is why to the question "what is God's surname?" for Pope Francis it is possible to answer: "It is us, each one of us. He takes the name from us to make it his surname". And in the example offered by the Pontiff there are not only the fathers of our faith, but also ordinary people. "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of Pedro, of Marietta, of Armony, of Marisa, of Simon, of everyone. He takes the surname from us. God's surname is each one of us,' he explained.

Hence the realisation that by taking 'the surname from our name, God has made history with us'; indeed, more than that: 'he has allowed himself to write history with us'. And we still continue to write 'this history', which is made 'of grace and sin', while the Lord does not tire of coming after us: 'this is God's humility, God's patience, God's love'. Moreover, even 'the book of Wisdom says that the joy of the Lord is among the children of man, with us'.

So 'as Christmas approaches', it came naturally to Pope Francis - as he himself confided in concluding his reflection - to think: 'If he made his history with us, if he took his last name from us, if he let us write his history', we for our part should let God write ours. Because, he clarified, 'holiness' is precisely 'letting the Lord write our story'. And this is the Christmas wish that the Pontiff wanted to make 'for all of us'. A wish that is an invitation to open our hearts: "Let the Lord write history for you and let you let him write it for you."

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 18/12/2013].

Annunciation to Joseph: meaning and value of Doubt

(Mt 1:16.18-21.24)

"Even through Joseph's anguish there passes the will of God, his story, his plan. Joseph thus teaches us that having faith in God also includes believing that He can work even through our fears, our frailties, our weakness. And he teaches us that, in the midst of the storms of life, we must not be afraid to leave the helm of our boat to God. Sometimes we would like to control everything, but He always has a greater vision' [Patris Corde no.2].

In the infancy gospels of Mt God takes on two Names: Redeemer [Yeshua: God is Saviour] and With-us. The meaning of these divine prerogatives is not mechanical, but theological.

The Proper Name of the Son Jesus describes his Work of redeeming the whole being. And the characteristic attribute Immanu'el (taken from Isaiah) punctuates his many addresses - his many addresses, which are each of us, growing over time.

Incarnation: the Father places himself alongside his sons and daughters. Not only is he not afraid to make himself impure in contact with the things that concern human dynamics: he even recognises himself in their condition.

Hence, from Joseph's embarrassment even springs the climax of the entire Salvation Story.

The sources attest that he was by no means a lily-livered character, but perhaps this can only interest us up to a point. 

Mt's narrative is striking, because the distinction and the possibility of irruption (of the very summit) of God's Plan for humanity seem to arise not from a certainty, but from a Doubt.

The question mark engages. Discomfort sows within a new Seed. It rips up and tears down the all-too-even seedlings of the weed of full life - which was Law chiselled on appearances.

The 'problem' leads to dreaming of other horizons to open up, and in the first person; because the solution is not at hand.

Perplexity leads out of the mental cages that mortify relationships previously reduced to casuistry - flying over the gears that depersonalise.

Perplexity leads out of common opinion, which dampens and extinguishes the Newness of God.

Hesitancy seeks existential fissures, because it wants to introduce us into life's territories - where others can also draw on different experiences, varied perceptions, and moments in which to gain decisive insights.

Its skilful Energy finds breaches and small openings; it acts to make us evolve as children of Eternity - even stirring up discomforts that flood existence with creative suspensions and new passion.

Its lucid Action breaks through Dreams that shake off habitual projects, or states of mind that put us on edge; and the bottlenecks of marginalised thinking that make us rediscover why we were born, discover our part in the world.

Every wobble, every pain, every danger, every move, can become a birth towards Oneness - without identifications first.

Uniqueness does not make us lose the Source that 'watches over' us. Woe betide if we evade it: we would lose our destination.

This while the circles of the resolute remain there and wither away, precisely because they are always ready to explain everything.

Thus, for example, as for the Family of Nazareth, life in solitude - forced or not - becomes regenerating rather than terrible.

The Spirit that slips into the crevices of standard mentalities finds an intimate 'spot' that allows us to flourish differently now, able to bring out the essence of who we authentically are, and stop copying clichés.

So instead of wondering how something happened, after the first discriminating experience that is unafraid of being isolated, perhaps we return more frequently to our Core, which ceaselessly gushes for a higher Dialogue.

Then we will not keep asking ourselves 'But whose fault is it? How should we buffer the situation? Who should we lean on?' Rather: 'What is the new life I have to explore? What is there yet to be discovered?'

One will come out with a very different virtue of vocation, because the Holy Spirit breaks through the cracks in the norms that make conformists, then dismantles and topples those walls. Finally he breaks through, to build his story - which is not predictable, 'in the way' as that of all those bound to comparison.

Feeling the discomfort of participating in rituals of composite identification causes many problems, but it can be life's great opportunity to broaden the horizons... even of those who do not like to tread the mediocre path of securing themselves - making themselves, out of fear, dependent on opinion, on clichés, on feeling immediately celebrated.

Apparent happiness. For the bite of doubts does not make one a junk-believer, as assumed in the disciplined, legalistic religions - in the puritanical philosophies of contrived wisdom - but a friend, adopted [i.e. chosen] children and heirs.

Thanks to the Relationship of Faith, we are no longer lost in the wilderness - because the many things and ventures become dialogue of specific weight: we are at Home, in respect of our mysterious character and Calling.

Already here and now we move away from the many things that constrain our Centre with constraints and demands - and both thought and action.

Only in this way are we no longer a mythological or habituated crowd, overflowing with guilt, duties and affiliations - but family and colloquial informality of dissonance.

No longer masses, but (all round) Persons: precisely in our being in the limit we rhyme with great-Mission.

Let us begin as Joseph to be present to ourselves. And by changing our gaze, we will enjoy the Beauty of the New.

"St Joseph reminds us that all those who are apparently hidden or in the "second line" have an unparalleled prominence in the history of salvation. To all of them goes a word of recognition and gratitude" [Patris Corde intr.]

To internalise and live the message:

What were your turning points? What diversions has fulfilled you?

On what occasion did doubt open up astonishing horizons for you?

When and if you changed your conformist gaze, did you or did you not know the kindling in your inner world of perspectives, relationships and regenerating energies?

How did you perceive alongside and 'see' or 'dream' what previously remained Invisible and Elsewhere?

Did you perhaps start from a certainty of your own?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, 19 March, is the Solemnity of St Joseph, but as it coincides with the Third Sunday of Lent, its liturgical celebration is postponed until tomorrow. However, the Marian context of the Angelus invites us to reflect today with veneration on the figure of the Blessed Virgin Mary's spouse and Patron of the universal Church.

I like to recall that beloved John Paul II was also very devoted to St Joseph, to whom he dedicated the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptoris Custos, Guardian of the Redeemer, and who surely experienced his assistance at the hour of death.

The figure of this great Saint, even though remaining somewhat hidden, is of fundamental importance in the history of salvation. Above all, as part of the tribe of Judah, he united Jesus to the Davidic lineage so that, fulfilling the promises regarding the Messiah, the Son of the Virgin Mary may truly be called the "son of David".

The Gospel of Matthew highlights in a special way the Messianic prophecies which reached fulfilment through the role that Joseph played:  the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (2: 1-6); his journey through Egypt, where the Holy Family took refuge (2: 13-15); the nickname, the "Nazarene" (2: 22-23).

In all of this he showed himself, like his spouse Mary, an authentic heir of Abraham's faith:  faith in God who guides the events of history according to his mysterious salvific plan. His greatness, like Mary's, stands out even more because his mission was carried out in the humility and hiddenness of the house of Nazareth. Moreover, God himself, in the person of his Incarnate Son, chose this way and style of life - humility and hiddenness - in his earthly existence.

From the example of St Joseph we all receive a strong invitation to carry out with fidelity, simplicity and modesty the task that Providence has entrusted to us. I think especially of fathers and mothers of families, and I pray that they will always be able to appreciate the beauty of a simple and industrious life, cultivating the conjugal relationship with care and fulfilling with enthusiasm the great and difficult educational mission.

To priests, who exercise a paternal role over Ecclesial Communities, may St Joseph help them love the Church with affection and complete dedication, and may he support consecrated persons in their joyous and faithful observance of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. May he protect workers throughout the world so that they contribute with their different professions to the progress of the whole of humanity, and may he help every Christian to fulfil God's will with confidence and love, thereby cooperating in the fulfilment of the work of salvation.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 19 March 2006]