Our God is the God of proximity, he is a God who is close, who walks with his people. That image in the desert, in Exodus: the cloud and the pillar of fire to protect the people: he walks with his people. He is not a God who leaves the prescriptions written down and says, 'Go ahead'. He makes the prescriptions, he writes them with his own hand on stone, he gives them to Moses, he gives them to Moses, but he does not leave the prescriptions and go: he walks, he is near. "What nation has a God so near?" It is closeness. Ours is a God of closeness.

And man's first response, in the first pages of the Bible, are two attitudes of non-neighbourliness. Our response is always to turn away, we turn away from God. He comes near and we turn away. Those two first pages. Adam's first attitude with his wife is to hide: they hide from God's closeness, they are ashamed, because they have sinned, and sin leads us to hide, to not want closeness (cf. Gen 3:8-10). And many times, [it leads] to a theology designed only on a judge God; and for this I hide, I am afraid. The second attitude, human, before the proposal of this closeness of God is to kill. To kill one's brother. "I am not my brother's keeper" (cf. Gen 4:9).

Two attitudes that wipe out all closeness. Man refuses God's closeness, he wants to be master of relationships, and closeness always brings with it some weakness. The 'near God' becomes weak, and the closer he gets, the weaker he seems. When he comes to us, to dwell with us, he makes himself man, one of us: he makes himself weak and brings weakness to the point of death and the cruellest death, the death of murderers, the death of the greatest sinners. Proximity humbles God. He humbles himself to be with us, to walk with us, to help us.

The 'near God' speaks to us of humility. He is not a 'great God', no. He is near. He is at home. And we see this in Jesus, God made man, close even unto death. With his disciples: he accompanies them, he teaches them, he corrects them with love... Let us think, for example, of Jesus' closeness to the distressed disciples of Emmaus: they were distressed, they were defeated, and he slowly approached them, to make them understand the message of life, of resurrection (cf. Lk 24:13-32).

Our God is near and asks us to be close, to each other, not to turn away from each other. And in this moment of crisis due to the pandemic we are experiencing, this closeness asks us to manifest it more, to show it more. We cannot, perhaps, get physically close because of the fear of contagion, but we can awaken in us an attitude of closeness among ourselves: with prayer, with help, so many ways of closeness. And why must we be close to one another? Because our God is close, he wanted to accompany us in life. He is the God of proximity. That is why we are not isolated people: we are close, because the inheritance we have received from the Lord is proximity, that is, the gesture of closeness.

Let us ask the Lord for the grace to be close, one to another; not to hide from one another; not to wash our hands, as Cain did, of another's problem, no. Neighbours. Proximity. Proximity. "For what great nation has the gods so close to it, as the Lord, our God, is close to us whenever we call upon Him?"

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily 18 March 2020]

Healing in personal Faith

(Mt 9:18-26)

In the communities of Mt, converted Jews were accused (by the ancient religion’s proponents) of being perjured of fathers’ customs, and of the great Moses’ Tradition. No longer «sons of the precept».

On the other hand, there was no lack of faithful preachers who announced to them that they were not «fall asleep» of the Law (v.24), but the only awake, living persons of its Spirit (vv.25-26). The real grown-ups.

In the Gospel passage the icons of this teaching are drawn from what believers in Christ were experiencing before their eyes. In particular: how should contain oneself when the "different" was knocking on the front door of the house and assemblies?

According to the beliefs of the ancient East, blood and death were icons of impurity and factors of social exclusion. The removal from the community [synagogue of the healthy and pure] was a religious obligation.

And those who were deemed to be affected by even physical imperfection could not approach the threshold of assemblies, of respectable families, or civil life - nor even those who had any relationship with them.

But how does God behave with those who are in needs? Does He prioritize prescribed duties, procedures, purification rites? Does it really humiliate the needy of understanding? And with a whole long line of disciplines, penances or public checks?

No, the Lord heals us by personal Faith. Thus He annihilates the power of death and the obsessive control of the elders of the Temple - legalists, in all other commitments and calculations busy.

With His shocking proposal Jesus cures the mortal disease of the whole people: both the spiritual «daughter» of the leaders [for this reason, ‘nation’ already perished at the beginning] and those considered unclean.

All still (if you want) «adolescents» of religiosity, that is, unable to a full life, or never becomed autonomous, albeit on the threshold of being able to be.

In the moment of ‘healing’ the «crowd» and the apostles - if ineffective and deviant - must disappear: only Faith applies (v.22), that is, the you-for-you with the Christ, who brings God among men and us in the heart of the Father.

For this reason it’s licit to leave out prescriptions and surprise Him on personal initiative (vv.20-21) - while according to the official teachers Jesus should look and go elsewhere (v.22).

Only by unrepeatable Faith - personal and without torments - do we become «sons» (v.22) that is, pure members of the authentic Church which unites the creature to the Creator - incessantly triggering a subsequent renewal and further different Genesises, gradually strengthened.

Thanks to Faith, friendship that has a Vision, true ‘adults’ overcome the blurred thoughts, the summary and stagnant gestures of the discounted chains. They do it in an immediate, uninterrupted, growing way.

Here our belief becomes the Way not numb, and Rebirth. Image inside that grasps new possibilities in the world and in the Person of Christ.

Fresh and intense confidence, instead of disappointment. Magnet of what is hoped for.

[Monday 14th wk. in O.T.  July 8, 2024]

Calamitous Faith

(Mt 9:18-26)

In the communities of Mt the converted Jews were accused by the proponents of the old religion of being perjurers of the customs of the fathers and the great Tradition of Moses. No longer 'children of the precept'.

On the other hand, there was no lack of faithful preachers proclaiming to them that they were not the "sleeping ones" of the Law (v.24), but the only awake ones, living by the Spirit of it (vv.25-26). The true adults.

In the Gospel passage, the icons of such teaching are drawn from what believers in Christ experienced before their eyes. Specifically: how do we contain ourselves when the 'different one' knocks at the door of our homes and assemblies?

According to ancient Eastern beliefs, blood and death were icons of impurity and factors of social exclusion. Expulsion from the community (synagogue of the healthy and pure) was a religious obligation.

And those who were deemed to be afflicted with defects of even physical imperfection could not approach the threshold of assemblies, respectable families or civil life - not even those who had any relationship with them.

But how does God deal with those who have problems? Does He impose duties, procedures, prescribed purification rites? Does he humiliate the very one in need of understanding? And with a whole long rigmarole of disciplines, penances or public verifications?

No, he cures through personal faith. Thus he annihilates the power of death and the obsessive control of the Temple elders - legalists, busy with other tasks and calculations.

With his earth-shattering proposal Jesus cures the deadly disease of the whole people: both the spiritual "daughter" of the leaders [for this, "nation" already perished in the beginning] and those considered unclean.

All still, if you like, "adolescents" of religiosity, that is, unable to live a full life, or never becoming autonomous, although in the process of being so.

[In biblical language, the icons of women recalling the story of the people or a community derive from the fact that in Hebrew the term Israel is feminine].

At the moment of "healing" the "crowd" and the apostles - if ineffective and deviant - must disappear: only Faith (v.22) is valid, that is, the you-for-you with the Lord, who brings God among men and us into the heart of the Father.

That is why it is permissible to omit prescriptions and to surprise him by personal initiative (vv.20-21) - whereas according to the official teachers Jesus should look and go elsewhere (v.22).

To allow oneself to be controlled and kidnapped by false, interested guides means self-condemning oneself not to have a full, full-fledged, face-to-face, authentic and effective, direct relationship - as in love.

Only by unrepeatable Faith - personal and without torment - does one become "sons" (v.22), i.e. pure members of the authentic Church, which unites the creature with the Creator - ceaselessly sparking subsequent renewal and further different Genesis, gradually enhanced.

Thanks to Faith, a relationship of friendship that has Vision, true "adults" overcome the tarnished thoughts, the summary and stagnant gestures of predictable concatenations. They do so in an immediate, uninterrupted, growing way.

Here, our believing becomes unmurdered Way and Rebirth. "Image" within, grasping new possibilities in the world and in the Person of Christ.

Fresh and intense confidence instead of disappointment. Calamity of what is hoped for [cf. Heb 11:1].

To internalise and live the message:

Do you feel judged and marginalised? How do you intertwine your life with God's? How do you rise from the shroud of a world that is habitual and stagnant, addicted, pessimistic and doomed to death? Do you fear that you are a traitor?

Source of the passage from Mt: The episode of Jairus and the Hemorrhox (Mk 5)

Faith is Action, Resourcefulness; Life Force

Faith and Healing, or Exclusion

(Mk 5:21-43)

In Rome, at the time of Mk, the situation of confusion generated by the civil war seemed likely to become lethal for the survival of the persecuted young communities, which some mocked (v.40).

The twelve years of life and bleeding of the two women recall: in Semitic culture, the loss of blood indicated impurity [the beginning of death] and consequent social exclusion.

Blood and death were here and there factors of marginalisation even in the small fraternities, which in that period marked by a still Judaizing thought and customs prevented any participation, even in common appointments.

Under the obsessive diseducation of spiritual leaders, particularly on the sense of sin and unworthiness - in addition, the religious terror of demons - everything seemed to sow panic.

Fears absorbed most of the emotional resources. This made the people's situation worse (v.26).

How to overcome the heap of obstacles, which seemed to have no way out? One had to do the exact opposite of what the religious authorities were inculcating!

Incidentally, the women, completely subjugated, did not in conscience agree with the leaders at all.They even found in the type of male crowd attached to Christ an impediment to personal contact with the Lord....

So they knew they would have to invent something. And they were trying it on the sly.

The 'woman' moves by catching the Master 'from behind' (v.27) - indeed, by stealth! But hers is by no means a sacrilege.

Jesus notices the touch of the least, not just the usual misogynistic throng around.

So, the followers who already imagined they had seized him, fearful of his sensitivity to the least and the non-persons - they treat him as an imbecile and unwise (v.31).

The disciples [leaders and males] always stand by the Son of God, but they do not agree with Him at all. They just want to sequester Him for them.

Dear Rabbi, how dare you have a different reaction from what we tell you? And how does it occur to you to pay attention to those who should only be opposed and condemned - for the indecent initiative they have set themselves? Do you want to ruin us? There's us, that's enough; to others, death and hell; anticipated if possible.

For Jesus, on the other hand, the quality of life and of our expectations in this world is important: it is not enough to think about the afterlife [of the kind: Here sketches, and in the end you will deserve...].

Heaven alone does not count.

Therefore, the transgression of the (considered) defiled - who even follow their conscience [at that time a disgrace] - is grasped by the Lord as an expression of living Faith (v.34)!

"Daughter": Christ welcomes the woman into his Church, and in her he values all those whom the habitués keep at a safe distance.

Nor does He demand that she go to the Temple to offer the sacrifice prescribed by the Law to the priests!

He only says: "Your Faith has saved you. Go in Peace".

That is to say: proceed to the joy of a full life, without the judgement of inadequacy [and the usual deceitful tares] on your back.

Indeed, even the leader of ancient devotion cannot but beget "sons" [i.e., a whole spiritual people] already dead at the start (v.35).

But from the moment he turns to the authentic Master, he begins to make the transition from elementary piety to Faith (v.36).

In such an intimate spousal relationship, without the fear of punishment, the premature end regenerates life, youth, happiness.

The lesson is not only for the traditional synagogue, but also for the leaders of the nascent Church: the proud Peter, James and John (v.37).

Precisely because they are authoritarian, hasty and stubborn - all the other believers in the community are well advised to keep their distance from an environment that cries out in despair, because it still imagines physical death as an impassable fence (v.38).

And here arises a new religious transgression: the book of Leviticus forbade touching a corpse (v.41).

With this incredible gesture, Christ reiterates: whoever observes the law that does not humanise produces death himself and goes to his death.

The only non-negotiable value is the concrete good of the real person. God does not look at merits [supposedly, from invented observances] but needs.

And personal Faith is the divine Gold that realises the inner vision.

Indestructible quality of Relationship: such Action-compassion transcends death that spoils everything.

Precisely, attracting and fulfilling that which the act itself believes (vv.23.28.34.36.39).

"Young girl, I say to you: get up!" (v.41).

St Jerome comments: "Maiden, arise for me: not by your merit, but by my grace. Arise therefore for me: the fact that you were healed did not depend on your virtues' [Homilies on the Gospel of Mark, 3].

In the Gospels the verbs Living, Saving and Dying are ambivalent and describe both health and physical life and spiritual salvation, of the heart (v.34).

The narrative of today's Word helps us overcome the mechanistic view of life: in the Mystery of the founding Eros that animates and renews the life wave, there is the way to beat the problems.

In Christ, our total redemption is a divine response to a trust that is also a little primitive - perhaps incipient - but passionate, that leads to regeneration.

In the Hebrew Bible, the term 'immortality' does not exist.

Israel's slowness in believing in life without end is illuminating: it makes one realise that before believing in the future world, one must value and love existence in this world.

And to have passion for it in the same way as the Father.

Contact with the Son, his words, and the nods themselves, convey a power of healing and rebirth that renews both flesh and spirit; both light and shadow.

Not even death stands as a final and conclusive barrier.

Even today, the divine cure, its memory and consoling power are brought to life in the signs of the Church.

But let us not limit ourselves to being spectators crowding around, without true contact with the Risen One.

Let us open our ears and realise that we are not called to follow in the footsteps of bulky, extraneous presences of others.Let us speak to Him personally, and ask in everything that He intervene in our infirmities, or momentary lapses.

And there arises the silence of a space that is ours, unrepeatable, fragrant, secret; that blossoms from a genuine Syntony.

Then He will transform us, communicate Himself to us (v.43), make us like Him and able to withstand challenges.

Finally able to untie knots of death and help the suspensions of others.

To internalise and live the message:

What is the call of Jesus' actions for you, your family and community?

Jesus has shown an absolute power regarding this death, seen when he gives life back to the widow of Nain's young son (cf. Lk 7: 11-17) and to the 12 year-old girl (cf. Mk 5: 35-43). Precisely concerning her he said:  "The child is not dead but sleeping" (Mk 5: 39), attracting the derision of those present. But in truth it is exactly like this: bodily death is a sleep from which God can awaken us at any moment.

This lordship over death does not impede Jesus from feeling sincere "com-passion" for the sorrow of detachment. Seeing Martha and Mary and those who had come to console them weeping, Jesus "was deeply moved in spirit and troubled", and lastly, "wept" (Jn 11: 33, 35). Christ's heart is divine-human:  in him God and man meet perfectly, without separation and without confusion. He is the image, or rather, the incarnation of God who is love, mercy, paternal and maternal tenderness, of God who is Life. Therefore, he solemnly declared to Martha:  "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die". And he adds, "Do you believe this?" (Jn 11: 25-26). It is a question that Jesus addresses to each one of us:  a question that certainly rises above us, rises above our capacity to understand, and it asks us to entrust ourselves to him as he entrusted himself to the Father. Martha's response is exemplary:  "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world" (Jn 11: 27). Yes, O Lord! We also believe, notwithstanding our doubts and darkness; we believe in you because you have the words of eternal life. We want to believe in you, who give us a trustworthy hope of life beyond life, of authentic and full life in your Kingdom of light and peace.

We entrust this prayer to Mary Most Holy. May her intercession strengthen our faith and hope in Jesus, especially in moments of greater trial and difficulty.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 9 March 2008]

Dear Young People of Chile

1. I have longed for this meeting which gives me the opportunity to share directly your joy, your affection, your desire for a society more in keeping with the dignity proper to man, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26). I know that these are the aspirations of young Chileans and for this I give thanks to God.

I have read your letters and listened with great attention and emotion to your testimonies, from which emerge not only the anxieties, problems and hopes of Chilean youth in the different regions, environments and social conditions.

You wanted to show what you think of our society and our world, pointing out the symptoms of weakness, infirmity and even spiritual death. Certainly: our world is in need of profound improvement, profound spiritual resurrection. Even though the Lord knows all this, he wants us, with the same faith as the synagogue leader Jairus - who tells him of the seriousness of his daughter's condition: "my little daughter is in extremis" (Mk 5:23) - to tell him what our problems are, whatever worries or saddens us. And the Lord hopes that we address the same plea to him as Jairus did when he asked for his daughter's health: "Come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed and live" (Mk 5:23). I invite you, therefore, to join in prayer for the salvation of the whole world, that all men may be reborn to a new life in Christ Jesus. There is Chile, but there is also the whole world; there are so many countries, so many peoples, so many nations that cannot die. One must pray to overcome death. One must pray to obtain new life in Christ Jesus. He is the life; He is the truth; He is the way.

2. I wish to remind you that God is counting on the young men and women of Chile to change the world. The future of your country depends on you. You yourselves are the future, which will be configured as the present by the way your lives are configured now. In the letter I addressed to the young men and women of the world on the occasion of the International Year of Youth, I told you: 'The future depends on you, the end of this Millennium and the beginning of the new one depend on you. Do not, therefore, be passive; assume your responsibilities in all the fields open to you in our world!" (Ioannes Pauli PP. II, Epistula Apostolica ad iuvenes Internationali vertente Anno Iuventuti dicato, 16, die 31 mar. 1985: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, VIII/1 [1985] 800). Now, in this stadium, a place of competition, but also of pain and suffering in times past, I would like to repeat to the young people of Chile: Take responsibility! Be willing, animated by faith in the Lord, to give reasons for your hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).

Your attentive gaze at the world and social realities, as well as your authentic Christian sense, which must lead you to analyse and evaluate with discernment the present conditions of your country, cannot end with the simple denunciation of existing evils. Proposals for solutions, even bold ones, that are not only compatible with your faith, but also required by it, must be born and take shape in your young minds. A healthy Christian optimism will thus subtract the ground from sterile pessimism and give you confidence in the Lord.

3. What is the reason for your trust? Your faith, the recognition and acceptance of the immense love that God continually manifests to mankind: "God the Father, who loves each one of us from all eternity, who created us out of love and so loved us sinners that he gave his only Son so that our sins might be forgiven, and that we might be reconciled with him, and experience with him a communion of love that will never end" (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Nuntius ad iuvenes, 2, die 30 Nov. 1986: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IX/2 [1986] 1820). Yes, Jesus Christ dead, Jesus Christ risen is for us the definitive proof of God's love for all men. Jesus Christ, "is the same yesterday, today and always" (Heb 13:8), continues to show the same love for young people that the Gospel describes when he meets with a young man and a young woman.

Thus we can contemplate it in the biblical reading we heard: the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus, who - St Mark points out - "was twelve years old" (Mk 5:42). It is worth pausing to contemplate the whole scene. Jesus, as on so many other occasions, was standing by the sea, surrounded by the crowd. Out of the crowd came out Jairus, who frankly exposed to the Master his sorrow, the infirmity of his daughter, and with insistence begged for her healing: "My little daughter is in extremis: come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed and live" (Mk 5:23).

"Jesus went with him" (Mk 5:24). The heart of Christ, who is moved by the human pain of this man and his young daughter, does not remain indifferent to our suffering. Christ always listens to us, but demands that we turn to him in faith.

A little later they came to tell Jairus that his daughter had died. Humanly there was no longer any remedy. "Your daughter is dead. Why do you still trouble the Master?" (Mk 5:36).

The love that Jesus feels for mankind, for us, impels him to go to the synagogue leader's house. All the Lord's gestures and words express this love. I would particularly like to dwell on the very words that came out of Jesus' mouth: 'The child is not dead, but asleep'. These deeply revealing words lead me to think of the mysterious presence of the Lord of life in a world that seems to succumb to the destructive impulse of hatred, violence and injustice; but no. This world, which is yours, is not dead, but asleep. In your hearts, dear young people, you feel the strong throb of life, of God's love. Youth is not dead when it is close to the Master. Yes, when it is close to Jesus. Listen to all his words, everything. Young people, love Jesus, seek Jesus. Meet with Jesus.

Then Christ entered the dwelling where she lay, took her hand and said to her: "Maiden, I say to you, get up!" (Mk 5:41). All the love and all the power of Christ - the power of his love - are revealed to us in this gentleness and in this authority with which Jesus gives life to this little girl and commands her to get up. We are moved by the effectiveness of Christ's word: "Immediately the little girl got up and began to walk" (Mk 5:42). In this last disposition of Jesus, before taking leave - "to give her something to eat" (Mk 5:43) - we discover to what extent Christ, true God and true man, knows and cares for all our spiritual and material needs.

From faith in Christ's love for young people comes the Christian optimism that you manifest in this meeting.

4. Only Christ can give the true answer to your difficulties! The world needs your personal response to the Master's words of life: "I say to you, arise!"

We see how Jesus goes out to meet humanity, in the most difficult and distressing situations. The miracle performed in the house of Jairus shows us his power over evil. He is the Lord of life, the victor over death.

Let us compare the case of Jairus' daughter with the situation in today's society. However, we cannot forget that, according to what faith teaches us, the primary cause of evil, of infirmity, of death itself, is sin in its various forms.

In the heart of each and every one of us lies this infirmity that affects us all: personal sin, increasingly rooted in our consciences, to the extent that we lose our sense of God! One cannot overcome evil with good if one does not have this sense of God, of his action, of his presence that invites us to always bet for grace, for life, against sin, against death. The fate of humanity is at stake: 'Man can build a world without God, but this world will end up turning against man' (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 18).

Hence the need to see the social implications of sin in order to build a world worthy of man. There are social evils that give rise to a veritable 'communion of sin' in that, together with the soul, they demean the Church and in a way the whole world (Cf. ibid., 16). The reaction of young people to this deadly communion in sin that poisons the world is right.

Beloved young people. Fight courageously against sin, against the forces of evil in all its forms, fight against sin. Fight the good fight of faith for the dignity of man, for the dignity of love, for a noble life as children of God. Overcoming sin through God's forgiveness is a healing, a resurrection. Do it with full awareness of your inalienable responsibility.

5. If you probe your innermost self, you will undoubtedly discover faults, unfulfilled desires for good, sins, but you will also realise that in your intimacy lie forces that have remained dormant, virtues that have not been sufficiently exercised, capacities for reaction that have not been exhausted.

These energies are as if hidden in the soul of a young man or woman; how many just aspirations and profound yearnings that it is necessary to reawaken, to bring to light! Energies and values that are often stifled by the behaviour and pressures that come from secularisation, and that can only be reawakened by the experience of faith, by the experience of the living Christ, of Christ crucified, of Christ dead and risen.

Young Chileans, do not be afraid to look to Him! Look to the Lord: what do you see? Is He only a wise man? No! He is more than that! Is He a prophet? Yes! He is even more than that! Is he a social reformer? More than a reformer, much more. Look to the Lord with an attentive gaze and you will discover in Him the very face of God. Jesus is the Word that God had to speak to the world. It is God himself who came to share our existence, the existence of each one of us.

At the contact of Jesus, life germinates. Away from Him there is only darkness and death. You thirst for life. Of eternal life! For eternal life? Seek it and find it in Him who not only gives life but is Life itself.

6. This, my friends, is the message of life that the Pope wants to transmit to the young people of Chile: Seek Christ! Look to Christ! Live in Christ! This is my message: may Jesus be "the cornerstone (cf. Eph 2:20) of your life and of the new civilisation that you must build in generous and shared solidarity. There can be no authentic human development in peace and justice, in truth and freedom, if Christ does not make himself present with his saving power" (Ioannis Pauli PP. II, Nuntius ad iuvenes, 3, die 30 Nov. 1986, Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II, IX/2 [1986] 1821). What does it mean to build your life in Christ? It means letting yourselves be committed by his love. A love that demands coherence in one's behaviour, that demands conforming one's conduct to the doctrine and commandments of Jesus Christ and his Church; a love that fills our lives with a happiness and peace that the world cannot give (cf. Jn 14:27), despite its great need. Do not be afraid of the demands of Christ's love. Fear, on the contrary, pusillanimity, levity, comfort, selfishness; everything that wants to silence the voice of Christ who, addressing each one, repeats "I say to you, arise!" (Mk 5:41).

Look to Christ with courage, contemplating his life through the serene reading of the Gospel; seek him with confidence in the intimacy of your prayer, in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, where he offers himself for us and is truly present. Do not neglect to form your conscience in depth, seriously, on the basis of the teachings Christ has left us and which his Church preserves and interprets with the authority it has received from him.

If you seek Christ, you too will hear in the depths of your soul the Lord's requests, his constant exhortations. Jesus continues to address you, repeating: "I say to you, arise!" (Mk 5:41), especially when you are not faithful to the works you profess in words. Try, then, not to turn away from Christ, preserving in your soul the divine grace you received in Baptism, having recourse, when necessary, to the sacrament of reconciliation and forgiveness.

7. If you strive to put into practice this programme of life rooted in faith and love for Jesus Christ, you will be able to transform society, to build a more human, more fraternal, more Christian Chile. All this seems to be summed up in the blunt phrase of the Gospel: "Immediately the maiden got up and started walking" (Mk 5:42). With Christ you too will walk in safety and you will carry his presence in all the streets, in all the activities of this world, in the midst of all the injustices of this world. With Christ, you will succeed in making your society start to tread new paths, to the point of making it the new civilisation of truth and love, anchored in the values proper to the Gospel and especially in the precept of charity, the precept that is the most divine and the most human.

Christ asks us not to remain indifferent in the face of injustice, to commit ourselves responsibly to building a more Christian society, a better society. This requires that we banish hatred from our lives: that we recognise as deceptive, false, incompatible with following him, any ideology that proclaims violence and hatred as remedies for achieving justice. Love always wins, as Christ won; love has won, even though sometimes, when faced with concrete events and situations, it may seem ineffective to us. Christ too gave the impression that he could not do it. God can always do more.

In your experience of faith with the Lord, discover the face of the one who, being our master, is the only one who can demand totally, without limits. Opt for Jesus and reject the idolatries of the world, the idols that seek to seduce youth. Only God is adorable. Only He deserves your total gift.

Is it true that you want to renounce the idol of wealth, the lust for possessions, consumerism, easy money?

Is it true that you want to reject the idol of power, as dominion over others instead of the attitude of fraternal service of which Jesus gave the example? Is it true?

Is it true that you want to reject the idol of sex, of pleasure, which holds back your desire to follow Christ on the path of the cross that leads to life? The idol that can destroy love.With Christ, with his grace, you will know how to be generous so that all your brothers and sisters, and especially the most needy, may share in material goods and in an education and culture appropriate to our times, which will allow them to develop the natural talents God has granted them. In this way it will be easier to attain those goals of development and well-being that are indispensable for all to lead a life worthy and proper to the children of God.

8. Young people, rise up and participate, together with the many thousands of men and women in the Church, in the tireless mission of proclaiming the Gospel, of tenderly guiding those who suffer in this land, and of seeking ways to build a just country, a country living in peace. Faith in Christ teaches us that it is worth working for a more just society, that it is worth defending the innocent, the oppressed and the poor, that it is worth suffering to alleviate the suffering of others.

Young man, stand up! You are called to passionately seek the truth, to tirelessly cultivate goodness, a man or woman with a vocation for holiness. May the difficulties you experience not be an obstacle to your love and generosity, but a strong challenge. Do not tire of serving, do not keep silent about the truth, overcome your fears, be aware of your personal limitations. You must be strong and courageous, lucid and persevering on this long journey.

Do not let yourself be seduced by violence and the thousand reasons that seem to justify it. He is wrong who says that only by passing through it will justice and peace be achieved.

Young man, stand up, have faith in peace, an arduous task, the task of all. Do not fall into apathy in the face of what seems impossible. In you sprout the seeds of life for the Chile of tomorrow. The future of justice, the future of peace passes through your hands and springs from the depths of your heart. Be a protagonist in the construction of a new coexistence of a more just, healthy and fraternal society.

9. I conclude by invoking our Mother. Mary Most Holy, under the protection of the Virgin of Mount Carmel, Patroness of your Homeland. Traditionally, men of the sea have always resorted to this protection, asking the Mother of God for asylum and protection on their long and often difficult crossings. Place you too under her protection the "navigation" of your life, of your young life not free from difficulties, and she will lead you to the port of true Life. Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, to the young people of Santiago de Chile, 2 April 1987]

This Sunday’s Gospel passage (cf. Mk 5:21-43) presents two miracles performed by Jesus, almost describing them as a type of triumphal march toward life. Initially the Evangelist speaks about a certain Jairus, one of the rulers of the Synagogue, who approaches Jesus and beseeches Him to go to his home because his 12-year-old daughter is dying. Jesus agrees and goes with him; but, along the way, word arrives that the girl is dead. We can imagine that father’s reaction. But Jesus says to him: “Do not fear, only believe” (36). When they arrive at Jairus’ house, Jesus sends out the people who were weeping — there were also women mourners who were wailing loudly — and He enters the room with just the parents and the three disciples, and speaking to the dead girl He says: “Little girl, I say to you, arise” (v. 41). And immediately the girl gets up, as if waking from a deep sleep (cf. v. 42).

Within the narrative of this miracle, Mark adds another: the healing of a woman who suffers from a haemorrhage and is healed as soon as she touches Jesus’ garment (cf. v. 27). Here what is striking is the fact that this woman’s faith attracts — to me the word “robs” comes to mind — the divine saving power that is in Christ, who, feeling that “power had gone forth from him”, tried to understand who it was. And when the woman, with much shame, comes forward and confesses the whole truth, He tells her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well” (v. 34).

It is a matter of two interlocking narratives, with a single core: faith; and they show Jesus as the wellspring of life, as the One who restores life to those who trust fully in him. The two protagonists, that is, the little girl’s father and the sick woman, are not disciples of Jesus yet they are satisfied through their faith. They have faith in that man. From this we understand that all are permitted on the Lord’s path: no one should feel as an intruder, an interloper or one who has no right. To have access to His heart, to Jesus’ heart, there is only one requirement: to feel in need of healing and to entrust yourself to Him. I ask you: do each of you feel that you need to be healed? Of something, of some sin, of some problem? And, if you feel this, do you have faith in Jesus? These are the two requirements in order to be healed, in order to have access to his heart: to feel in need of healing and to entrust yourself to Him. Jesus goes to discover these people among the crowd and removes them from anonymity, frees them from the fear of living and of taking risks. He does so with a look and a word which sets them back on the path after much suffering and humiliation. We too are called to learn and to imitate these freeing words and this gaze which restores the will to live to those who lack it.

In this Gospel passage the themes of faith and of new life, which Jesus came to offer to all, are intertwined. When he enters the house where the dead girl lies, he sends outside those who are weeping and making tumult (cf. v. 40), and he says: “The child is not dead but sleeping” (v. 39). Jesus is Lord, and before him physical death is like a dream: there is no reason to despair. Another death is the one to fear: that of the heart hardened by evil! Yes, we should be afraid of that one! When we feel we have a hardened heart, a heart that is hardened, allow me to say, a mummified heart, we should be afraid of this. This is the death of the heart. But sin too, the mummified heart too, is never the last word with Jesus, because he has brought us the infinite mercy of the Father. And even if we have hit rock bottom, his tender and strong voice reaches us: “I say to you, arise!”. It is beautiful to hear that word of Jesus addressed to each one of us: “I say to you, arise! Go. Stand up. Take courage, arise!”. Jesus restores life to the little girl and restores life to the healed woman: life and faith to both.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary to accompany our journey of faith and of concrete love, especially toward those who are in need. Let us invoke her maternal intercession for our brothers and sisters who are suffering in body and in spirit.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 1 July 2018]

XIV Sunday in Ordinary Time B (7 July 2024)

1. On these Sundays with the evangelist Mark, we followed Jesus who, having left Nazareth, travelled through villages and towns, after being baptised by John the Baptist at the River Jordan.  Preaching throughout Galilee, already accompanied by his disciples, he went beyond Lake Tiberias to the towns of the Decapolis and then came to Capernaum, which was to become his favourite town. In today's gospel we see him return for the first time to Nazareth where he immediately enters the synagogue preceded by the fame that was rapidly spreading to the point that people wondered where he got such wisdom and the ability to perform miracles. The reception he received was negative to say the least from some of his relatives, who even considered him a madman, yet many people were fascinated by his preaching and the miracles he performed. The Pharisees and scribes repeatedly show increasing hostility and some even meditate on how to eliminate him. What is his crime? Healing the sick, forgiving sins and performing miracles even on the Sabbath day. So strong is the opposition that we could consider it a real failure that he cannot perform even one miracle in Nazareth. St Mark dwells on the reaction of his sceptical and hostile acquaintances who recognised Jesus simply as the son of Mary and the carpenter Joseph. If he were a prophet,' they said, 'we would have known it and then when he proclaims himself the Messiah he is blaspheming because it is inconceivable that God could have human origins and moreover such modest ones. And Jesus comments: 'A prophet is not despised except in his own country, among his relatives and in his own house'.   This expression, which we find throughout the gospels (Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; Matthew 13:57, John 4:44) has become common to emphasise that a person's merits are seldom recognised in his own environment where envy, jealousy forces the deserving to seek success far from their country.

2. The reaction of the people of Nazareth makes one think of those who, even in our time, find it hard to accept Jesus and his true prophets, because fixed on their own ideas and prejudices, they are incapable of grasping the novelty of a God with a human face and accessible to all. And so the admiration of many for Jesus true God and true man becomes for others a fake news or even a scandal. St Mark purposely uses the Greek term "skandalon", which evokes the stumbling stone of which the prophet Isaiah writes. When the humble search for truth disappears in the heart, wonder gives way to unbelief and Jesus true God and true man becomes a scandal, an obstacle that prevents even people who claim to be believers from recognising and loving him. This happened in Nazareth where people did not imagine such a Messiah and in the face of prejudice there is little one can do because one is too sure of oneself and one's convictions. The risk of closing oneself off to God's grace is always possible for everyone. Today, the gospel helps us understand that the impediment lies in the attitude with which we relate to prejudice. Only if we look at reality and people with a free spirit are we able to see the richness that dwells in the hearts of everyone, even those we underestimate because we are convinced we already know them well enough.  In life we can be amazed by positive realities, by experiences that change our way of thinking and acting, but we can be scandalised by certain encounters and events that we consider negative when preconceptions dominate in us. Jesus invites us to always grasp the positive in everyone rather than focusing on the negative that exists and which unfortunately always makes more news than the good.

3. If we try to live consistently with Christ's teachings and without compromise, we attract the admiration of some, and at the same time the hostility of others because we become a "stone of scandal", that is, a provocation to those who believe and those who do not want to believe. Those who remain faithful to Christ must prepare themselves to suffer misunderstanding and hostility because the Gospel is salvation for those who accept and follow it, but scandal for those who do not want to accept it. And beware!  It often happens that it is precisely those closest to us who close their eyes and hearts to the word and the wonders that Christ continues to perform in our time. To become an image of Jesus, one risks incomprehension and isolation. It happened in the Old Testament where prophets were often misunderstood, rejected and even tried to kill them, while false prophets had an easy hold on the people. Certainly Jesus did not expect such behaviour from his own and Mark notes his amazement at the lack of faith and hardening of heart of his fellow citizens. Like Jesus, it can also happen to any of his disciples today to be misunderstood within one's own environment. One is confronted not so much with the overt hostility of one's enemies, but rather with the indifference and opposition of those we consider friends. Despite the hostility, Jesus does not stop, and even in Nazareth he performed some healing. He thus helps us to understand that we must never give in to discouragement and the temptation of abandonment, but from trust in God we draw the strength to continue in our prophetic and missionary vocation. This is the testimony of the prophet Ezekiel that we read about in the first reading and also of the Apostle Paul that he recounts in the second reading. Ezekiel will experience all kinds of hostility and will even face exile in Babylon with the king and almost all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He will persevere in his difficult mission, clashing with the harshness of the people, but without becoming discouraged, because he had understood that when God entrusts a mission he also gives the strength needed to carry it out. Full of contrasts is the experience of St Paul.  Like Ezekiel, he had visions and extraordinary revelations along with numerous setbacks that made him mature in humility and trust in God. He always carried, as he himself communicates, a 'thorn' in his flesh, a constant reminder of his frailty - as he writes: 'So that I might not be exalted in pride, a thorn was given to my flesh, an envoy of Satan to strike me' and he adds that although he repeatedly begged God to deliver him, he was answered: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is fully manifested in weakness'. No one has understood what this 'thorn in the flesh' was that martyred him, nor does St Paul specify; although many hypotheses have been put forward. One thing is certain: Paul even gloried in his own sufferings and his example becomes an encouragement to us: our frailties and even sins do not constitute an obstacle to evangelisation, on the contrary, they can help us to better fulfil our mission because they make us aware that our fragile humanity is supported by the power of Christ, if we let him act in us. 

+ Giovanni D'Ercole 

To continue the reflection:

"Faith is not a delicate flower, destined to wither at the slightest hint of bad weather. Faith is like the mountains of the Himalayas, which cannot change in any way. There is no storm that can move the Himalayan mountains from their foundations'.

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Domestic side, not domestications

(Mk 6:1-6)

Where Faith is lacking, only small changes take place, not the staggering wonders of the alternative presence of God’s Kingdom (v.5).

We do not realize that Lord may come from humble, dishonourable origins, as ours could be  - without great dynastic lineages.

But Faith in Christ bids farewell to the idea prevalent in top-down cultures and religions, all of which are ill-suited to deal with the normalcy of life that flows.

Jesus avoids rigid models or great appearance patterns. He gives himself with simplicity to his villagers and aims at the formation of authentic believers.

Their Trust must be placed only in the Kingdom of God - a dimension that really breaks the balance, because it’s introduced into daytime existence, and ferments it from invisible roots.

As Father’s Envoy, he would like all the people to be builders and banners of other dreams - but in his native village he feels like he is blocked by those who are unable to ‘decipher the dimension of the divine in the human’.

He must face the dull incomprehension of the centers of power, but sometimes also defaults and very hopes - quiet or divisive - of the popular reality that frequents places of worship.

The villagers expected the usual now addicted blessings, or perhaps a charismatic leader in the fight against the Romans - and here they gladly used to leverage the blaze of religious identity, to inflame souls.

They would have accepted a belligerent captain, who reflected archaic beliefs - instead they find themselves disappointed in the inapparent reality before their eyes.

They do not know how to discover the God’s plot in the history of the least.

Conversely, there are numerous divine signs inscribed in what is in a minor way manifested, wich can help us discover the not purely earthly dimension of things, relationships, presences.

Many people misunderstand the spirit of strength that Faith transmits to us: it breaks the balance because it does not offer guarantees already imagined - but it’s basically domestic and entirely natural.

Each Seed has its own particular destiny and development.

So why is the boy they have met since birth so different?

For the fact that there is no equation between what is thought in a conformist way, and the Lord. Not even giving emphasis to resolutions.

Both great expectations and proximity can be an obstacle to a daily knowledge of what of extraordinary is hidden behind the ordinary dimension of events and people.

Even many confreres or collaborators of Saints have not been able to grasp the exceptionality of a common life lived in fidelity and dedication to their own Call by Name.

All the more real the less flashy.

Misunderstanding and village jealousy of those who live next door [and chase a god of their own, disfigured] is a source of bitterness, but it does not stop us.

Experience of rejection pushes to change direction (v.6b).

The soul lives under the sign of Uniqueness that renounces prejudice, quiet life, simple approval, easy success.

And closed doors can be an added value! They open us to the journey of the soul in the Spirit, to the eccentric Announcement, to an astounding Mission.

In this way, like Jesus, we too willingly refuse to affix ready-made seals to the spirit of mediocrity that does not annoy anyone.

[14th Sunday in O.T. (B)  July 7, 2024]

Domestic side, not domestications

(Mk 6:1-6)

Where Faith is lacking, only small changes occur, not the astounding wonders of the alternative presence of the Kingdom of God:

"And he could do no mighty work there, except that having laid hands on a few sick ones, he healed" (v.5).

We do not realise that the Lord could come from humble, dishonourable beginnings, as ours might be - devoid of great dynastic ties, or violent class jumps.

Says the Tao Tê Ching (vi):

"The spirit of the valley does not die [...] it is used, but it does not tire". Master Wang Pi comments:

'The spirit of the valley is the non-valley at the centre of the valley. It has no form or shadow, nothing contrasts and nothing rejects, it remains at the bottom without moving, it keeps quiet without fading. The valley is completed by it, yet its form cannot be seen: this is the most perfect model'.

Like the Wisdom codes of nature, Faith in Christ bids farewell to the idea prevalent in institutional, representative and top-down cultures and religions.

All ill-disposed, in their great knowledge, to deal with the normality of flowing life.

Jesus avoids rigid or grandiose models. He gives himself with simplicity to his people and aims at the formation of authentic believers.

Their trust must be placed solely in the Kingdom of God - a dimension that truly breaks the balance, because it enters into day-to-day existence and ferments it from invisible roots.

As an envoy of the Father, he would like all the people to be builders and bishops of other dreams - but in his home village he feels as if blocked by those who are incapable of deciphering the dimension of the divine in the human.

He has to face the obtuse incomprehension of the centres of power, but also the very failures and hopes - quiet or divisive - of the popular reality that frequents the places of worship.

The villagers expected the usual blessings (by now addicted) or perhaps a charismatic leader to fight against the Romans - and here they would gladly use the flames of religious identity to inflame their spirits.

They would have accepted a warlike captain, reflecting archaic beliefs - instead they find themselves disappointed with the inapparent reality before their eyes.

They do not know how to discover God's plot in the history of the least.

Conversely, there are many divine signs inscribed in what is in a minor way manifested: warnings that can help us discover the not purely earthly dimension of things, relationships, presences, and so on.

Many misunderstand the spirit of strength that Faith transmits to us.

It breaks balances because it does not offer guarantees that have already been imagined - but it is at bottom domestic and all natural [each Seed has its own particular destiny and development].

How then is the boy they have known from birth so different?

Because there is no equation between what one thinks conformistically, and the Lord. Not even by emphasising intentions.

Both high expectations and proximity can be an obstacle to a daily knowledge of what is extraordinary behind the ordinary dimension of events and people.

Even many brothers or collaborators of Saints have failed to grasp the exceptionality of a common life lived in fidelity and dedication to their Calling by Name. All the more real as it is less conspicuous.

The incomprehension and village jealousy of those who live next door and chase after a god of their own - disfigured - is a source of bitterness; but it does not stop us.

The experience of rejection prompts a change of direction (v.6b).

The soul lives under the sign of Oneness that renounces preconception, the quiet life, simple approval, easy success.

And closed doors can be an added value! They open us up to the soul's journey in the Spirit, to the eccentric Announcement, to an astounding Mission.

Unfortunately, we register another kind of spirit of the 'valley' - of an entirely negative sign, which in the work of evangelisation and community animation is identified with the pastoral of consent [I will give you what you want].

The astute coordinator manages relations with the faithful, the masses and the institutions with extreme shrewdness, as well as expectations - concrete, immediate - of approval and individual or circle advantage.

At times, some leaders (even church leaders) appear to be nothing more than skilful storytellers: they do not fight the dehumanising structures, nor the powerful on the ground. On the contrary, they try to make allies of them, to win easily.

Even in the time of global crisis, the conviction persists that educational, cultural and 'religious' structures can only go on with the external support of power hierarchies, and the established order. Or with the search for more 'signs' and as many prodigies. 

Unfortunately, such a downward, outward-looking attitude - out of weariness, which is widespread - does not equate to the enhancement of the most varied and intimate Gifts of God in people, nor to the promotion of the Kingdom.

It is obvious then that those who frequent the palace do not like incendiaries: those who hold titles and a glorious role remain impervious to the work of the Spirit who makes all things new.

[Every opportunist unfortunately remains tied to the chains of command, to the old tactical balances that have guaranteed him career, position, lustre, visibility, easy security on the side].

Perhaps the worst aspect of this downward and normal common denominator game is the cheap identification between order guaranteed by the Gospel and current equilibrium.

An illusion of external harmony between the Beatitudes proclaimed by the Lord and opportunities for a quiet life, or gain, and social recognition.

Thus the principles experienced first-hand by the Master are subverted by some followers, in an opaque strategy that ends up distorting the Glad Tidings in favour of every lost one.

And each shaky yet unsatisfied person spontaneously tends to adapt to the small certainties they find, offered by the rhetoric of even great narratives.

Even today, on the other hand, the Word of God sparks off the easy appeal of such dynamics and structures of authentic 'sin': it threatens them in no uncertain terms.

Indeed, they seize souls, make them conformist, indifferent to injustice, fearful of freedom - and tend to take even the God of the Exodus hostage.

The Father, however, continues to raise up eccentric prophets: they make us all more capable of perceiving the genius of the age. As well as the personal talents deployed - even amidst the irritated threats of the 'countrymen' caught up in levelling marketing.

Advertisers who risk being left without protection or lineage, of course.

But who refuse to affix ready-made seals to the spirit of mediocrity that annoys no one.

To internalise and live the Word, let us ask ourselves:

What has changed in your journey since you began to live more intensely in adherence to Christ? How has your environment reacted?

I would like to reflect briefly on this Sunday’s Gospel passage. It is taken from the text that has the famous saying “Nemo propheta in patria”. In other words no prophet is properly accepted among his own people who watched him grow up (cf. Mk 6:4). Indeed after Jesus, when he was about 30 years old, had left Nazareth and had already been travelling about preaching and working miracles of healing elsewhere, he once returned to his birthplace and started teaching in the synagogue. His fellow citizens “were astonished” by his wisdom, and knowing him as “the son of Mary”, as the carpenter who had lived in their midst, instead of welcoming him with faith were shocked and took offence (cf. Mk 6:2-3). This reaction is understandable because familiarity at the human level makes it difficult to go beyond this in order to be open to the divine dimension. That this son of a carpenter was the Son of God was hard for them to believe. Jesus actually takes as an example the experience of the prophets of Israel, who in their own homeland were an object of contempt, and identifies himself with them. Due to this spiritual closure Jesus “could do no mighty work there [Nazareth], except that he laid his hands upon a few sick people and healed them” (Mk 6:5). In fact Christ’s miracles are not a display of power but signs of the love of God that is brought into being wherever it encounters reciprocated human faith. Origen writes: “as in the case of material things there exists in some things a natural attraction towards some other thing, as in the magnet for iron... so there is an attraction in such faith towards the divine power” (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, 10, 19).

It would therefore seem that Jesus—as is said—is making sense of the negative welcome he received in Nazareth. Instead, at the end of the account, we find a remark that says precisely the opposite. The Evangelist writes that Jesus “marvelled because of their unbelief” (Mk 6:6). The astonishment of Jesus’ fellow townspeople is matched by his own surprise. In a certain sense he too is shocked! Although he knows that no prophet is well accepted in his homeland, the closed heart of his people was nevertheless obscure and impenetrable to him: how could they fail to recognize the light of the Truth? Why did they not open themselves to the goodness of God who deigned to share in our humanity? Effectively Jesus of Nazareth the man is the transparency of God, in him God dwells fully. And while we are constantly seeking other signs, other miracles, we do not realize that he is the true Sign, God made flesh, he is the greatest miracle in the world: the whole of God’s love contained in a human heart, in a man’s face.

The One who fully understood this reality was the Virgin Mary, who is blessed because she believed (cf. Lk 1:45). Mary was not shocked by her Son: her wonder for him was full of faith, full of love and joy, in seeing him so human and at the same time so divine. Let us therefore learn from her, our Mother in faith, to recognize in the humanity of Christ the perfect revelation of God.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 8 July 2012]