This universalist perspective can be seen, among other things, from the way Jesus applied to himself not only the title “Son of David”, but also “Son of Man” (Mk 10:33), as in the Gospel passage that we have just heard.  The expression “Son of Man”, in the language of Jewish apocalyptic literature inspired by the vision of history found in the book of the prophet Daniel (cf. 7:13-14), calls to mind the figure who appears “with the clouds of heaven” (v. 13).  This is an image that prophesies a completely new kingdom, sustained not by human powers, but by the true power that comes from God.  Jesus takes up this rich and complex expression and refers it to himself in order to manifest the true character of his Messianism: a mission directed to the whole man and to every man, transcending all ethnic, national and religious particularities.  And it is actually by following Jesus, by allowing oneself to be drawn into his humanity and hence into communion with God, that one enters this new kingdom proclaimed and anticipated by the Church, a kingdom that conquers fragmentation and dispersal.

[Pope Benedict, Consistory, 24 November 2012]

1. Looking at the primary objective of the Jubilee, which is the "strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians" (Tertio millennio adveniente, n. 42), after outlining in previous catecheses the basic characteristics of the salvation offered by Christ, today we pause to reflect on the faith he expects of us.

"The obedience of faith", Dei Verbum teaches, "must be given to God as he reveals himself" (n. 5). God revealed himself in the Old Covenant, asking of the people he had chosen a fundamental response of faith. In the fullness of time, this faith is called to be renewed and increased, to respond to the revelation of the incarnate Son of God. Jesus expressly asks for it when he speaks to his disciples at the Last Supper: "Believe in God, believe also in me" (Jn 14:1).

2. Jesus had already asked the group of the 12 Apostles to profess their faith in his person. At Caesarea Philippi, after questioning his disciples about the people's opinion of his identity, he asks: "But who do you say that I am?" (Mt16:15). The reply comes from Simon Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (16:16).

Jesus immediately confirms the value of this profession of faith, stressing that it stems not only from human thought idea but from heavenly inspiration: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 16:17). These statements, in strongly Semitic tones, indicate the total, absolute and supreme revelation: the one that concerns the person of Christ, Son of God.

Peter's profession of faith will remain the definitive expression of Christ's identity. Mark uses this same expression to begin his Gospel (cf. Mk 1:1) and John refers to it at the end of his, saying that he has written his Gospel so that you may believe "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God", and that in believing you may have life in his name (cf. Jn20:31).

3. In what does faith consist? The Constitution Dei Verbum explains that by faith, "man freely commits his entire self to God, making 'the full submission of his intellect and will to God who reveals'" (n. 5). Thus faith is not only the intellect's adherence to the truth revealed, but also a submission of the will and a gift of self to God revealing himself. It is a stance that involves one's entire existence.

The Council also recalls that this faith requires "the grace of God to move [man] and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth'" (ibid.). In this way we can see how, on the one hand, faith enables us to welcome the truth contained in Revelation and proposed by the Magisterium of those who, as Pastors of God's People, have received a "sure charism of truth" (Dei Verbum, n. 8). On the other hand, faith also spurs us to true and deep consistency, which must be expressed in all aspects of a life modeled on that of Christ.

4. As a fruit of grace, faith exercises an influence on events. This is wonderfully seen in the exemplary case of the Blessed Virgin. Her faith-filled acceptance of the angel's message at the Annunciation is decisive for Jesus' very coming into the world. Mary is the Mother of Christ because she first believed in him.

At the wedding feast in Cana, Mary, obtains the miracle through her faith. Despite Jesus' reply, which does not seem very favourable, she keeps her trustful attitude, thus becoming a model of the bold and constant faith which overcomes obstacles.

The faith of the Caananite woman was also bold and insistent. Jesus countered this woman, who had come to seek the cure of her daughter, with the Father's plan which restricted his mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The Caananite replied with the full force of her faith and obtained the miracle: "O woman! Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire" (Mt 15:28).

5. In many other cases the Gospel witnesses to the power of faith. Jesus expresses his admiration for the centurion's faith: "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Mt 8:10). And to Bartimaeus: "Go your way your faith has made you well" (Mk 10:52). He says the same thing to the woman with a haemorrhage (cf. Mk 5:34). 

His words to the father of the epileptic who wanted his son to be cured are no less striking: "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mk 9:23).

The role of faith is to co-operate with this omnipotence. Jesus asks for this co-operation to the point that upon returning to Nazareth, he works almost no miracles because the inhabitants of his village did not believe in him (cf. Mk 6:5-6). For Jesus, faith has a decisive importance for the purposes of salvation.

St Paul will develop Christ's teaching when, in conflict with those who wished to base the hope of salvation on observance of the Jewish law, he forcefully affirms that faith in Christ is the only source of salvation: "We hold that a man is justified by faith apart from works of law" (Rom 3:28). However, it must not be forgotten that St Paul was thinking of that authentic and full faith which "works through love" (Gal 5:6). True faith is animated by love of God, which is inseparable from love for our brothers and sisters.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 18 March 1998]

Let us allow Jesus to meet us ‘with our defences down, with open hearts’, so that he may renew us from the depths of our souls. This is Pope Francis’s invitation at the start of Advent. The Pontiff addressed these words to the faithful during Mass celebrated this morning, Monday 2 December, in the Chapel of Santa Marta.

The journey we are beginning in these days, he began, is ‘a new journey for the Church, a journey of the People of God, towards Christmas. And we are journeying to meet the Lord’. Christmas is, in fact, an encounter: not merely ‘a seasonal celebration or — as the Pontiff specified — a memory of something beautiful. Christmas is more than that. We are travelling this path to meet the Lord’. Thus, during Advent, ‘we journey to meet him. To meet him with our hearts, with our lives; to meet him as he truly is; to meet him with faith’.

In truth, it is not ‘easy to live by faith’, noted the Bishop of Rome. And he recalled the story of the centurion who, according to the account in the Gospel of Matthew (8:5–11), fell prostrate before Jesus to ask him to heal his servant. ‘The Lord, in the passage we have just heard,’ explained the Pope, ‘was amazed by this centurion. He was amazed by the faith he possessed. He had set out on a journey to meet the Lord. But he had done so with faith. That is why not only did he meet the Lord, but he also experienced the joy of being met by the Lord. And this is precisely the encounter we desire: the encounter of faith. To encounter the Lord, but to allow ourselves to be encountered by him. This is very important!’

When we limit ourselves merely to encountering the Lord, he pointed out, ‘we are — though let us put this in inverted commas — the “masters” of this encounter’. When, on the other hand, ‘we allow ourselves to be encountered by him, it is he who enters into us’ and renews us completely.

‘This,’ the Holy Father reiterated, ‘is what it means when Christ comes: to make everything new again, to renew the heart, the soul, life, hope and the journey.’

At this time of the liturgical year, therefore, we are on a journey to encounter the Lord, but also and above all ‘to allow ourselves to be encountered by him’. And we must do so with an open heart, “so that he may meet me, tell me what he wants to say to me—which is not always what I want him to say to me!” Let us not forget, then, that “he is the Lord and he will tell me what he has in store for me”, for each one of us, because “the Lord,” the Pontiff pointed out, “does not look at us all together, as a mass: no, no! He looks at us one by one, in the face, in the eyes, because love is not an abstract love but a concrete love. Person by person. The Lord, a person, looks at me, a person’. That is why allowing ourselves to be met by the Lord ultimately means ‘allowing ourselves to be loved by the Lord’.

‘In the prayer at the beginning of Mass,’ the Pope recalled, ‘we asked for the grace to undertake this journey with certain attitudes that will help us. Perseverance in prayer: to pray more. Diligence in fraternal charity: to draw a little closer to those in need. And joy in praising the Lord.’ So “let us begin this journey with prayer, charity and praise, with open hearts, so that the Lord may meet us”. But, the Pope asked in conclusion, “please, let him meet us with our defences down, open to him!”

[Pope Francis, homily at Santa Marta, in L’Osservatore Romano, 3 December 2013]

                                                                                                                                                         The ham.

The Treccani dictionary defines ‘ham’ as: ‘one who acts in theatrical performances’. In common parlance and in a figurative sense: ‘someone who adopts exaggeratedly theatrical behaviour in life; someone who puts on a show in a blatant and undignified manner’.

Many years ago, when I was still a teenager, Charles Aznavour released a beautiful song containing these words: ‘I am a ham. But genius was born with me […] but theatricality flows within me’.

A song which, if I’m not mistaken, was later covered by Massimo Ranieri some time later.

Perhaps those of us who are a bit older will also remember the original version.

A few days ago, I bumped into a young man with a VIP-like air about him, whom I’ve known since he was born.

He stopped, greeted me warmly and began telling me about his life, his work in the world of politics and his travels.

He said that one of his goals is to visit the wonders of the world and that he’d just returned from one such destination. He solemnly declared that he’d already visited several of them.

All this without me having asked anything, partly because he didn’t give me the chance. 

He was too caught up in his soliloquy and I was merely a spectator.

At the end of his speech, he tells me that he has completed dental treatment for a tooth that had been causing him a great deal of trouble and that he is still in pain […] he lists the medicines he is taking. Then he looks at me and ironically reiterates that when doctors encounter difficulties in their work, they always say it’s down to the mind.

And here came a thunderous laugh, coupled with all the ‘pathos’ with which he’d woven his narrative.

The only thing missing was the final round of applause, which didn’t come. Just a cordial ‘goodbye’.                                                                          My professional bias kicked in as I reflected on what had happened.

There are people who, rather than simply connecting with others, need to put on a show and seek the approval of others.   

This is something we all do to a certain extent, within acceptable limits, and it gives us pleasure. Such people sometimes go in search of an ‘audience’ where they can express and display their feelings and experiences, without worrying about building a relationship or a genuine connection – and once they have communicated their emotions, they leave quickly, often in search of another ‘audience’. 

They must always be the centre of attention and often express their emotions in a  theatrical manner. Everything they achieve is something grand; all their actions are ‘a triumph’.

Behind this behaviour, there is usually an enormous fear of being alone, of being abandoned. Of course, we all have these fears to some extent, but we do not resort to compensatory mechanisms of that sort.

Sometimes we are afraid of certain emotions we feel, as if we feared that what we are feeling is unhealthy. 

We must always bear in mind that what happens within our psyche is not entirely random or pathological, but purposeful and constructive. There are not only demons; there are angels too.

I can’t recall whether I’ve already expressed this idea, but I’ll reiterate it because I consider it important and because I think we’ll be less frightened if we realise we’re experiencing certain feelings.

Without referring to psychological manuals or classifications… we’ve all probably experienced feelings like those described above at certain times in our lives.

People with these characteristics are ‘theatrical’ and express their experiences in an exaggerated manner.

They can be seductive or even provocative.

They use their physical appearance in an exaggerated way to get noticed and appear interesting.

They rely more on emotion than on reflection, and tend towards superficiality and banality.

They are also easily influenced and idealise the people they admire; sometimes to the point of imitating them.

They dream of ideal love, but often become involved in unsuitable and unattainable relationships.

They exaggerate every physical sensation, even when there is no actual physical pain.

In severe cases, many people channel and project these emotions onto parts of the body that are psychologically significant to the individual and their personal history.

And so, as the young VIP mentioned above humorously put it, the psyche comes into play.

I do not wish to bore readers or come across as melodramatic myself, but many individuals have often expressed their unease through their bodies.

Some do so more visibly, others in a more subtle way – though perhaps more interesting and fascinating to an ‘insider’.

The literature often refers to ‘hysterical blindness’.

These people are unable to see properly – to a greater or lesser degree. I recall a teenager with visual problems being referred to our department’s psychological assessment (sent by the ophthalmology department).

However, it is not always accepted that objective problems may have an ‘internal’ cause, and so often either the psychological assessment – deemed offensive – is abandoned, or other solutions are sought that may give the illusion of a way out.

It also happens that some individuals, having been referred for an ‘internal’ assessment by leading Italian centres of excellence, but subsequently rejecting what was suggested to them, turn to private practitioners who offer solutions that are, unfortunately, sometimes harmful.

Dr Francesco Giovannozzi, Psychologist and Psychotherapist.

The leper and the creative Touch, which reintegrates him

(Mt 8:1-4)

We ask: how did Jesus practise the Law? His transgressive Touch sums up his life and outcome, teaching and mission.

The marginalised came close to Christ, who did not turn anyone away - openly contravening the Torah's rule (Lev 13) imposing that the unclean should be cast out, and to them to allow themselves to be excluded.

For every rejected from the circle of hypocritical legalists there is only one way out, always: to be healed by God himself. And to invent ways to circumvent the norm [even devout] in order to have a personal relationship - without prior conditions of purity.

One is not saved alone: immaculacy can only be a Gift. But often even those who are called upon to help refuse to deal with - locking the very needy into absurd loneliness.

For the Lord, religious exclusivism is a sordid invention of opportunistic potentates and deviant leaders who distort the face of God to subjugate consciences.

The Father welcomes everyone as sons; Jesus as friends - and He does so by violating [also] certain provisions.

Thus the man of Faith embraces sisters and brothers, excluding the precautionary scrutiny of upstream conditions, moralistic or sacred judgements, and mentalities.

But in that culture it was only the certificate of health issued by the priests (v.4) that meant: “now you can live readmitted to society”.

In the composition of the passage, the evangelist means: it is the encounter with Christ that heals and becomes the free pass even to be accepted in the community - not the precautions, nor the rigmarole of disciplines of the arcane [always directed by those who consider themselves healthy and uninfected].

One does not have to be already perfect and certified, to be admitted or reinstated, and attend church as “not unwelcomed”.

The Saviour misendures marginalization or exclusive realities, through which we would never recover the original innocence they promise.

Instead, it is the Gratis of Jesus that makes one exist unconditionally, with normality and fullness.

He himself obliges the authorities to recognise the fact that we are pure, complete (to live our vocation) and healed; fully empowered to be with others and not to be sent away.

The Message was indeed strange to conventional ideas, but it spread, arousing enthusiasm precisely among those removed from the 'centre' [cf. parallel Mk 1:45]: God has no repugnance.

And where the arrangements on the ground were contrary to its humanising project, something would have to be invented - in order to have a personal relationship, a meeting, a minimum of face-to-face contact.

Not infrequently (unfortunately) without the nerve to transgress the religious precept, the initiative of love that renews the face of the earth cannot be triggered, and death comes back to haunt us, annihilating every yearning for life.

It seems a paradox, but sometimes one does not get back on one's feet otherwise than by circumventing the obstacles of certain provisions, with extreme courage and at the risk of further marginalization.

We see it in the Son who re-lifts us up, a violator of exclusive formal procedures: an 'eccentric divine' who has the power to overcome the most lacerating evil: that which corrodes within and excludes.

Today, too, the Spirit of rehabilitation bursts into our reality, breaking through the outside hard stone tables, in order to ramp through - and finally occupy the centre of our path.

[Friday 12.th wk. in O.T.  June 26, 2026]

Leper and the creative Touch, which reintegrates him

(Mt 8:1-4)

We ask: how did Jesus practise the Law? His transgressive Touch sums up his life and outcome, teaching and mission.

The outcasts came close to Christ, who did not turn anyone away - openly contravening the rule of the Torah (Lev 13) which required the unclean to be cast out.

For every rejectionist from the circle of hypocritical legalists there is only one way out, always: to be healed by God himself. And to invent a way around the law [even devout law] in order to have a personal relationship - without prior conditions of purity.

One is not saved alone: immaculacy can only be given. But often even those who are called to help refuse to take care of it - locking the very needy into absurd loneliness.

For the Lord, religious exclusivism is a squalid invention of opportunistic potentates and deviant leaders, who distort the face of God to subjugate consciences.

The Father welcomes all as sons; Jesus as friends - and He does so by violating [also] certain provisions.

Thus the man of Faith embraces sisters and brothers, excluding the precautionary scrutiny of upstream conditions, moralistic or sacred judgements, and mentalities.

But in that culture it was only the certificate of health issued by the priests (v.4) that meant: 'now you can live readmitted to society'.

In the composition of the pericope, the evangelist means: it is the encounter with Christ that heals and becomes the free pass even to be accepted in the community - not the precautions, nor the rigmarole of the disciplines of the arcane [always directed by those who consider themselves healthy and uninfected].

One does not have to be already perfect and certified to be admitted or reintegrated, and attend church as 'unwelcome'.

The Saviour resents marginalisations or exclusive realities, through which we would never recover the original innocence that they promise.

Instead, it is the Gratis of Jesus that makes one exist unconditionally, with normality and fullness.

He himself obliges the authorities to recognise the fact that we are pure, complete (to live our vocation) and healed; fully enabled to be with others and not to be sent away.

The Message was indeed strange to conventional ideas, but it spread, arousing enthusiasm precisely among those removed from the 'centre' [cf. parallel Mk 1:45]: God has no repugnance.

And where the arrangements on the ground were contrary to his humanising project, something had to be invented - just to have a personal relationship, an encounter, a minimum of face-to-face contact.

Not infrequently (unfortunately) without the nerve to transgress the religious precept, the initiative of love that renews the face of the earth cannot be triggered, and death returns to seize us, annihilating every yearning for life.

It seems a paradox, but sometimes one does not get back on one's feet otherwise than by circumventing the obstacles of certain provisions, with extreme courage and at the risk of further marginalisation.

We see this in the Son who lifts us up, a counter-violator of exclusive formal procedures: an 'eccentric divine' who has the power to overcome the most lacerating evil: that which corrodes within and excludes.

Today too, the Spirit of restoration bursts into our reality, breaking through the hard tables of stone on the outside, in order to break through - and finally occupy the centre of our path.

"The Gospel shows us Jesus coming into contact with the form of disease considered in those days the most serious, so much so as to render the person "unclean" and exclude him from social relations: we speak of leprosy. A special legislation (cf. Lev 13-14) reserved to the priests the task of declaring the person leprous, that is, impure; and equally it was up to the priest to ascertain the cure and readmit the healed sick person to normal life.

While Jesus was preaching in the villages of Galilee, a leper came to him and said: "If you want, you can cleanse me!". Jesus did not escape contact with that man, indeed, moved by intimate participation in his condition, he reached out his hand and touched him - overriding the legal prohibition - and said to him: "I will, be cleansed!" In that gesture and in those words of Christ there is the whole history of salvation, there is embodied the will of God to heal us, to purify us from the evil that disfigures us and ruins our relationships. In that contact between the hand of Jesus and the leper, every barrier is broken down between God and human impurity, between the Sacred and its opposite, certainly not to deny evil and its negative force, but to show that God's love is stronger than all evil, even the most contagious and horrible. Jesus took our infirmities upon himself, he became a 'leper' so that we might be cleansed.A splendid existential commentary on this Gospel is the famous experience of St Francis of Assisi, which he summarises at the beginning of his Testament: "The Lord gave me, Brother Francis, to begin to do penance in this way: when I was in sin, it seemed too bitter for me to see lepers; and the Lord himself led me among them and I showed them mercy. And as I departed from them, what seemed bitter to me was changed to sweetness of mind and body. And then I stayed a little while and went out of the world" (FF, 110). In those lepers, whom Francis met when he was still "in sin," as he says, Jesus was present; and when Francis approached one of them and, overcoming his own disgust, embraced him, Jesus healed him of his leprosy, that is, of his pride, and converted him to the love of God. Here is the victory of Christ, which is our deep healing and our resurrection to new life!"

[Pope Benedict, Angelus of 12 February 2012].

To internalise and live the message:

In your spiritual story, what wins? The Touch of Christ or that of circumstances, mannerisms, chain of command?

What kind is your Touch? Sanitising or clenched fist? Do you know how to place people in their Centre, and thereby make them feel adequate?

The Leper and the Touch

(Mk 1:40-45)

"He who proclaims makes his own the desire of God, who pines for those who are distant. He knows no enemies, only fellow travellers. He does not stand as a master, he knows that the search for God is common and must be shared, that the closeness of Jesus is never denied to anyone" [Pope Francis].

The nameless leper represents us. And the Touch of Jesus sums up his life, teaching and mission.

It manifests itself especially when the environment marginalises the uniqueness of the soul, and a part of us seems impatient, wants the new.

Certain established aspects no longer belong to us. Such moral certainty in the soul is a precious spy, not to be silenced.

In the restless, ill-judged person there is often an external - conditioned - aversion and an intuitive, internal one too.

We are not appeased by the artificial lifestyle we lead, almost forced - nor by the very idea of us.

So we ask: is there any therapy to the mechanisms that do not belong to us, and to those that we instinctively consider in our character, outdated?

Yes, because discomfort can become knowledge: it is a primordial language that can guide us towards change.

Disaffection and the perception of estrangement give rise to new awareness.

Discontent generates shock, dreams of expectation, hence the now unpostponable Exodus.

Where to look for trust and support, to overcome automatisms?

In the Living One Himself, who is all off the rails, and is not afraid to defile Himself - not even with an individual covered in disease and cracks ["leper": v.40].

No one with 'leprosy' or skin disease could approach anyone - least of all a man of God - but Mc wants to emphasise that it is the customary way of understanding religion [and one's 'place'] that makes one unclean.

Legalistic norms marginalise people and guilt them, make them feel dirty inside - inculcating that sense of unworthiness that negatively affects their evolution.

Of course, made transparent in God, we all catch ourselves full of evil. But this must not mark our history, because of fallibility; with a cloak of insuperable identifications.

In this way, perception does not disintegrate into torment. On the contrary, relentlessly shifting gaze presents horizons, suggests paths, triggers even transgressive reactions - at least from the point of view of intransigent indictments, all far removed from real life.

We are challenged even by the banality of concatenations, but our today and tomorrow may not result from our yesterday [a tissue of whatever, predictable condemnations].

In Christ, poverty becomes more than a hope (vv.40-42). So, beware of models!

One does not have to be 'worldly and precise' to have 'then' the right to present oneself to God: his Love is symptomatic and engaging, because it does not wait for the other's perfections first.

The Source of the Free transforms and makes it transparent: it does not modulate generosity on the basis of merits - on the contrary, of needs.

The archaistic religious directive accentuated exclusions - thus chastising the infirm to solitude, to social marginalisation.

The leper had to live apart. But having understood that only the Person of the Lord could make him 'pure', he set aside the Law that had chastised him for vacuous prejudices.

Mk means: do not be afraid to denounce by your own initiative that certain customs are contrary to God's plan.

As a matter of fact, there is no way to get close to Christ (i.e. to have a personal relationship) without each of us inventing a chance that dribbles the usual people around Him - and absolutely does not follow their mentality.The devout or sophisticated environment will try to curb any individual eccentricity.

But in our relationship with God and to realise life, it is decisive that we remain lovers of direct communication.

In every condition we are in eccentric dialogue with the regenerative and superior Source; passionate about the experience of love, which does not exist without freedom.

To help the precarious brother on whom the sentence of impurity hangs - "neighbour" seen as inappellably defiled - even the Son transgresses the religious prescription!

In order to remain undefiled, the sacred precept required to be on guard against lepers - afflicted with an evil that corrodes within, the very image of sin.

That unscrupulous gesture also imposes on us overly considerate people the practice of risk, of demystification.

Indeed, by rule of religion the Lord himself with his Touch becomes a polluted person to be healed and kept at a distance (v.45) - disenfranchised.

However, by reinterpreting the prescriptions of the beginning (v.44) Jesus reveals the face of the Father: he wants each of us to be able to live with others and be accepted, not segregated.

He is saying to his own, who already showed strange tendencies in the first communities: you are obliged to welcome in everything even the misfits, outcasts and wretches, and let them take an active part in the liturgies, the meetings, the joy of the feasts.

The Risen One (v.45) continues to suggest to us, challenging public opinion:

"The certificate of healing I will provide, to the people you make feel guilty. My church leaders are not to endorse, but only to note that I have absorbed the fault of the missing - indeed, it will become astonishment in me'.

A truly lovely proposal, free of forcings and dissociations.

In the attitude of an inverted spirituality - neither selective nor empty - here we are driven to the enthusiastic proclamation of the concrete experience each person has with the person of Christ.

This even if at first it may be lacking, because He does not like to be considered a triumphant king of this world (v.44a).

Beautiful, however, is this subversion: that which unites divine and human traits in an incomparable way.

For each, without hysterical tares.

Subversion that offers us God's purity and entrusts our uncertainty to Him: indeed, the only "scandalous" subversion that brings together many crowds "from all sides" (v.45).

Indeed, the Tao Tê Ching (LXIII) says:

"He plans the difficult in his easy, he works the great in his small: the most difficult undertakings under heaven certainly begin in the small. That is why the saint does not work the great, and thus can complete his greatness'.

This is natural Wisdom, which conveys self-confidence, and will amaze us with flourishes. Complicity of a God who is finally not unpleasant.

Eternal One who makes Himself Present in the very foundation and meaning of the divine-human place on earth, His Vineyard of inapparent.

Thus he can break down the barriers of 'religious' defects, and make everyone feel adequate.

To internalise and live the message:

How do you challenge the public opinion of your time, to foster the practice of equality, freedom, convivial love?

Have you ever marvelled at your shadow sides, which have become precious pearls, of unprecedented value?

Have you encountered passionate guides, who taught you to love your religious flaws?

Ritual purity is completely incidental

The evangelical proclamation of "beatitude", of happiness, retains and increases its full validity today, when Catholics and all men of good will throughout the world are invited to express their solidarity with their leprous brethren with a concrete and active gesture.

Leprosy! The very name, even today, inspires in everyone a sense of dismay and horror. We know from history that this feeling was strongly perceived among the ancients, particularly among the peoples of the East, where, for climatic and hygienic reasons, this disease was very much felt. In the Old Testament (cf. Lev 13-14) we find detailed and minute case histories and legislation for those afflicted by the disease: ancestral fears, the widespread conception of fatality, incurability and contagion, forced the Jewish people to use appropriate preventive measures, through the isolation of the leper, who, considered in a state of ritual impurity, found himself physically and psychologically marginalised and excluded from the family, social and religious events of the chosen people. Moreover, leprosy was a mark of condemnation, as the disease was considered a punishment from God. All that remained was the hope that the power of the Most High would heal the afflicted.

Jesus, in his mission of salvation, often encountered lepers, these beings disfigured in form, deprived of the reflection of the image of the glory of God in the physical integrity of the human body, authentic wrecks and refuse of the society of the time.Jesus' encounter with lepers is the type and model of his encounter with every man, who is healed and brought back to the perfection of the original divine image and readmitted to the communion of God's people. In these encounters Jesus manifested himself as the bearer of new life, of a fullness of humanity long lost. Mosaic legislation excluded, condemned the leper, forbade approaching him, speaking to him, touching him. Jesus, instead, shows himself, first of all, sovereignly free with respect to the ancient law: he approaches, speaks to, touches, and even heals the leper, heals him, restores his flesh to the freshness of that of a child. "Then there came to him a leper," we read in Mark, "begging him on his knees and saying to him, "If you want, you can heal me! Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said, "I will, heal him!" Immediately the leprosy disappeared and he was healed" (Mark 1:40-42; cf. Matth. 8:2-4; Luc. 5:12-15). The same will happen to ten other lepers (cf. Luc. 17: 12-19). "The lepers are healed!", this is the sign Jesus gives for his messianicity to the disciples of John the Baptist, who have come to question him (Matth. 11, 5). And to his disciples Jesus entrusts his own mission: "Preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ., heal the lepers" (Matth. 10: 7 ff.). He also solemnly affirmed that ritual purity is completely ancillary, that the truly important and decisive one for salvation is moral purity, that of the heart, of the will, which has nothing to do with the stains of the skin or of the person (Ibid. 15, 10-20).

But the loving gesture of Christ, who approached the lepers, comforting and healing them, has its full and mysterious expression in the Passion, in which he, tortured and disfigured by the sweat of blood, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, the crucifixion, the exclusionary rejection of the people already benefited, comes to identify himself with the lepers, becomes the image and symbol of them, as the prophet Isaiah had intuited when contemplating the mystery of the Servant of Yahweh: "He has no appearance or beauty.. despised and rejected by men . . like one before whom one covers one's face, ... and we judged him chastened, beaten by God and humiliated" (Is. 53:2-4). But it is precisely from the wounds of Jesus' mangled body and the power of his resurrection, that life and hope spring forth for all men affected by evil and infirmity.

The Church has always been faithful to the mission of proclaiming the Word of Christ, combined with the concrete gesture of solidarity and mercy towards the least. Over the centuries, there has been an overwhelming and extraordinary crescendo of dedication to those afflicted by the most humanly repugnant diseases, and in particular leprosy, whose gloomy presence continued to persist in the eastern and western worlds. History makes it clear that it was the Christians who first became interested and concerned about the problem of lepers. Christ's example had set a school and was fruitful in solidarity, dedication, generosity, and selfless charity.

In the history of Christian hagiography, the episode concerning Francis of Assisi has remained emblematic: he was young, like you; like you he sought joy, happiness, glory; yet he wanted to give total and definitive meaning to his own existence. Among all the horrors of human misery, Francis felt an instinctive repugnance for lepers. But lo and behold, one day he encountered one, while on horseback near Assisi. He felt great revulsion, but, not to fail in his commitment to become a 'knight of Christ', he leapt from the saddle and, as the leper extended his hand to receive alms, Francis handed him money and kissed him (Cf. TOMMASO DA CELANO, Vita seconda di San Francesco d'Assisi, I, V: "Fonti Francescane", I, p. 561, Assisi 1977; S. BONAVENTURA DA BAGNOREGIO, Leggenda maggiore, I, 5: ed. cit, p. 842).

The great expansion of the Missions in modern times has given new impetus to the movement in favour of the leprosy brothers. In all regions of the world the Missionaries have encountered these sick, abandoned, rejected, victims of social and legal disqualifications and discrimination, which degrade man and violate the fundamental rights of the human person. The missionaries, out of love for Christ, have always proclaimed the Gospel even to lepers, they have tried by all means to help them, to cure them with all the possibilities that medicine, often primitive, could offer, but especially they have loved them, freeing them from loneliness and incomprehension and sometimes sharing their lives fully, because they saw in the disfigured body of their brother the image of the suffering Christ. We wish to recall the heroic figure of Father Damien de Veuster, who spontaneously chose and asked his Superiors to be segregated among the lepers of Molokai, to remain with them and to communicate to them the hope of the Gospel, and finally, stricken by the disease, shared the fate of his brothers until his death.

But with him we wish to remember and present to the admiration and example of the world the thousands of missionaries, priests, religious men and women, lay people, catechists, doctors, who have wanted to be friends of the lepers, and whose edifying and exemplary generosity is today a comfort and a spur to us, to continue the human and Christian "fight against leprosy and all leprosy", which is rampant in contemporary society, such as hunger, discrimination, underdevelopment.

[Pope Paul VI, Homily XXV World Leprosy Day 29 January 1978].

The Gospel shows us Jesus in touch with a form of disease then considered the most serious, so serious as to make the person infected with it “unclean” and to exclude that person from social relations: we are speaking of leprosy. Special legislation (cf. Lev 13-14) allocated to priests the task of declaring a person to be “leprous”, that is, unclean; and it was likewise the priest’s task to note the person’s recovery and to readmit him or her, when restored to health, to normal life.

While Jesus was going about the villages of Galilee preaching, a leper came up and besought him: “If you will, you can make me clean”. Jesus did not shun contact with that man; on the contrary, impelled by deep participation in his condition, he stretched out his hand and touched the man — overcoming the legal prohibition — and said to him: “I will; be clean”.

That gesture and those words of Christ contain the whole history of salvation, they embody God’s will to heal us, to purify us from the illness that disfigures us and ruins our relationships. In that contact between Jesus’ hand and the leper, every barrier between God and human impurity, between the Sacred and its opposite, was pulled down. This was not of course in order to deny evil and its negative power, but to demonstrate that God’s love is stronger than all illness, even in its most contagious and horrible form. Jesus took upon himself our infirmities, he made himself “a leper” so that we might be cleansed.

A splendid existential comment on this Gospel is the well known experience of St Francis of Assisi, which he sums up at the beginning of his Testament: “This is how the Lord gave me, Brother Francis, the power to do penance. When I was in sin the sight of lepers was too bitter for me. And the Lord himself led me among them, and I pitied and helped them. And when I left them I discovered that what had seemed bitter to me was changed into sweetness in my soul and body. And shortly afterward I rose and left the world” (FF, 110).

In those lepers whom Francis met when he was still “in sin” — as he says — Jesus was present; and when Francis approached one of them, overcoming his own disgust, he embraced him, Jesus healed him from his “leprosy”, namely, from his pride, and converted him to love of God. This is Christ’s victory which is our profound healing and our resurrection to new life!

[Pope Benedict, Angelus of 12 February 2012]

My beloved brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,

Your presence arouses in me tenderness and compassion, some of the feelings that Jesus Christ felt when he received the sick. He bent over human suffering, over the wounds of the body, and caused serenity, confidence and courage to be reborn in people's hearts. I would like this visit to have the same spiritual effect; and I would like to have more time to talk to each one, because I love you very much, I suffer seeing you suffer and I want to comfort you all.

And why do I love you? Because you are human persons, loved by God, and by his son Jesus Christ, who suffered so much for you, because the Catholic Church, like Jesus Christ, loves you and will do all it can for you.

I am leaving; but I ask Monsignor Bishop - who is your great friend and to whom this work of Cumura is due - and the doctors, nurses and all those who assist you, that they do you all the good that the Pope would wish you if he could remain here with you. And I leave you, as a reminder, the message that, from here and now, I address to the whole Church, with an appeal on your behalf.

Do not let yourselves be defeated! Suffering always has value. It can teach the world what love like the love of Jesus means. And may this life of yours serve to help your neighbour, to receive and transmit moral strength; and, if you are Christian, may you transmit the power of renewal and the joy of Christ. He rose from the dead so that all might have access to eternal life. Your suffering can make the world a better place, if you are friends of God and friends of each other, if you combine serenity, confidence and courage with the progress of medicine and the goodwill of those who lovingly care for you.

I will never forget you and I trust in your friendly remembrance. I will pray for you and rely on your prayers. I impart to you with all my heart the Apostolic Blessing.

[Pope John Paul II, Leprosarium in Cumura, Guinea Bissau, 28 January 1990]

"Lord if thou wilt, thou canst". It is a simple prayer, "an act of trust" and at the same time "a real challenge", that which the leper addresses to Jesus to heal him. A plea that comes from the depths of his heart and that tells, at the same time, of the Lord's way of acting, under the banner of compassion, "of suffering with and for us", of "taking the suffering of the other person upon himself" to soothe and heal it in the name of the Father's love. Pope Francis, in his homily at the Mass at Casa Santa Marta [...] dwelt on the Gospel episode of the healing of the leper, and urged us to look to the compassion of Jesus, who came to give his life for us sinners.

The Pope emphasised the 'simple story' of the leper who asks Jesus for healing. In that 'if you want' there is the prayer that 'draws God's attention' and there is the solution. "It is a challenge," Francis said, "but it is also an act of trust. I know that He can and that is why I entrust myself to Him."

"But why," the Pontiff wondered, "did this man feel inside to make this prayer? Because he saw how Jesus acted. This man had seen the compassion of Jesus". "Compassion", not punishment, is a "refrain in the Gospel" that has the faces of the widow of Nain, the Good Samaritan, the father of the prodigal son: "Compassion involves, it comes from the heart and involves and leads you to do something. Compassion is to suffer with, to take the other's suffering upon yourself in order to resolve it, to heal it. And this was Jesus' mission. Jesus did not come to preach the law and then leave. Jesus came in compassion, that is, to suffer with and for us and to give his own life. So great is Jesus' love that compassion led him to the cross, to giving his life".

The Pope's invitation is to repeat "this little phrase": "He had compassion". Jesus,' Francis explained, 'is able to involve himself in the pain, in the problems of others because he came for this, not to wash his hands and give three, four sermons and leave', he is always with us. "Lord if you want you can heal me; if you want you can forgive me; if you want you can help me". Or if you want a bit longer: "Lord, I am a sinner, have mercy on me, have compassion on me". Simple prayer, which can be said many times a day. "Lord, I am a sinner, I ask you: have mercy on me". Many times a day, from the heart inwardly, without saying it out loud: "Lord if you want, you can. Have mercy on me'. Repeat this".

The leper, with his simple and miraculous prayer, was able to obtain healing through the compassion of Jesus, who loves us even in sin: "He is not ashamed of us. "O Father, I am a sinner, how shall I go about saying this...". Better! For He came precisely for us sinners, and the greater sinner you are, the closer the Lord is to you, for He came for you, the greatest sinner, for me, the greatest sinner, for all of us. We make a habit of repeating this prayer, always: 'Lord, if you will, you can. If you wish, you can', with the confidence that the Lord is close to us and his compassion will take upon himself our problems, our sins, our inner sicknesses, everything".

[Pope Francis, homily at St. Martha's; in L'Osservatore Romano, 17.01.20]

House on the Rock or practitioners of vain things

(Mt 7:21-29)

Pope Francis said: «In order to give Himself to us, God often chooses unthinkable paths, perhaps those of our limits, our tears, our defeats».

Hasty builders are content to build directly on the ground; paying attention only to what is seen and experienced (on the spot). They do not dig the house to the core - deep down, in the gold of themselves.

In the inner world everything is reversed: the primacy is of Grace, which displaces, because it takes into account only the essential, inexplicable reality - and our dignified autonomy.

«Too pure water has no fish» [Ts'ai Ken T'an]. Accepting ourselves will complete us: it will make us recover the co-present sides, opposite and shadowed. It is the leap of the deep Faith.

With the entire Sermon on the Mount - which is coming to an end - Jesus aims to arouse in people a critical conscience about banal and external solutions, something common among the leaders of ancient religiosity.

To build a new Kingdom, the public liturgies abounding in beautiful signs and resounding social greetings are not enough - not even the most striking gifts.

False security is what makes you feel quiet. There is no sick or inmate worse than the one who thinks he is healthy, arrived and not infected: only here there is no therapy, nor revival.

It will be seen in the moment of the storm, when it will be evident the need to translate the personal relationship with the Lord into life, starting from the ability to welcome gambling.

Merits not grounded in intimately firm beliefs will not hold the whirlwind of trial.

«Practitioner of vain things» that is inconsistent [it is the meaning of the Greek text that introduces the Gospel passage (v.23)].

They are the standard-bearers of an empty spirituality, who despite the paint - with even spectacular sides - have nothing to do with God.

Are there foundations behind a front of butterflies? You understand it in the storm, and if you become «rock» even for the invisible - not tourists of the "spirit" who praise praise and do not risk.

Security does not come from adapting to customs and obligations, nor from being admired (at least) like others, which makes the Common House unhealthy.

Our specific and hallmark of the Faith is not an identity drawn from protocols or the manners - it plays on appearances and not on the only strong point: the attitude of pilgrims in Christ.

We are only firm in the prophetic royal priestly dignity, which is given to us in an unrepeatable Gift and will never be the fruit of deriving from consent.

We live to follow a deep Vocation: Root, Spring and Engine of our most intimate fibers; related to the dreams and naturalness of each one.

Only relying on the soul is an authentic platform, true salvation and medicine.

The Mission will reach the existential peripheries, starting from the Core.

It seems senseless, paradoxical, incredible, but for every Called the Rock on which he can and must build his way of taking the field... is Freedom.

[Thursday 12th wk. in O.T.  June 25, 2026]