What Uniqueness characterizes it?

(Mk 12:13-17)

After the expulsion of the salesmen and the accusation of thievery hurled at the leaders, as well as the parable of the murderous vinedressers (also referring to the élite), here is another clash between Jesus and the religious and political bosses.

Jesus [present in his intimates] systematically dismantles the traps set up by the authorities and the experts.

With tested double-dealing, they approach Him trying to stroke his self-love [v.14a: situations that also often occur to critical witnesses].

The interest of the clever clashes, however, with the focus of Christ on the real good of people and respect for the intelligence of things - not to eagerness for approval or opportunism.

Right in the Temple (Mk 11:27) - the eminent Abode of the one Lord God - these gendarmes provoke the new Rabbi about paying taxes to the Romans (12:14b).

We know what was at stake: the accusation of not being a prophet according to divine right, or [vice versa] that of collaborationism with the occupiers.

The Master does not allow himself to be fooled by the ostentation of closeness to the God of Israel - which is false because it is externally sought - and He plays them all off easily.

In the Temple of Jerusalem, it was forbidden to carry Roman coins, which depicted imperial profiles and insignia contrary to the Commandment 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any image'.

He asked for them, however, because He did not actually have any.

But the paladin saints themselves hand Him one.... The scene borders on the ridiculous.

Drawing the forbidden coin from the pouch concealed under the cloak, the very chiefs reveal their true god: self-interest, well concealed under devout and ostentatious manners, which only act as a smokescreen.

Christ invites us not to allow ourselves to be flattered by the exhibitionist duplicity of the “signs”: what is important is not to deceive people by using pious forms as theatrical masquerades [v.15 Greek text].

The à la page or purity fanatics live only the epidermic angle; and they rely on it: they not infrequently hide well the very material passions they disdain.

It does not work with Christ.

It is a primary element of the testimony of authentic Faith - not the flaunted one.

Not parading dissimulation and material intrigue is crucial. It is also so in difficult, unstable, or seductive situations.

Each one is called to «return» to his true Lord the indelible «image and likeness» engraved on him.

So let the coin be «given back» to its 'master'. This remains essential for anyone to be fully realized, and to flourish.

Woman and man - creatures in whom the «image and likeness» of God is imprinted - have to «render» themselves to the Creator (v.17) who dwells in their essence as persons.

Humanity is sealed by far more intimate and natural affiliations than those of convenience.

[Tuesday 9th wk. in O.T.  June 2, 2026]

"Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God," was the response of Jesus when asked about paying taxes. His questioners, of course, were laying a trap for him. They wanted to force him to take sides in the highly-charged political debate about Roman rule in the land of Israel. Yet there was more at stake here: if Jesus really was the long-awaited Messiah, then surely he would oppose the Roman overlords. So the question was calculated to expose him either as a threat to the regime, or a fraud.

Jesus’ answer deftly moves the argument to a higher plane, gently cautioning against both the politicization of religion and the deification of temporal power, along with the relentless pursuit of wealth. His audience needed to be reminded that the Messiah was not Caesar, and Caesar was not God. The kingdom that Jesus came to establish was of an altogether higher order. As he told Pontius Pilate, "My kingship is not of this world."

The Christmas stories in the New Testament are intended to convey a similar message. Jesus was born during a "census of the whole world" taken by Caesar Augustus, the Emperor renowned for bringing the Pax Romana to all the lands under Roman rule. Yet this infant, born in an obscure and far-flung corner of the Empire, was to offer the world a far greater peace, truly universal in scope and transcending all limitations of space and time.

Jesus is presented to us as King David’s heir, but the liberation he brought to his people was not about holding hostile armies at bay; it was about conquering sin and death forever.

The birth of Christ challenges us to reassess our priorities, our values, our very way of life. While Christmas is undoubtedly a time of great joy, it is also an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience. At the end of a year that has meant economic hardship for many, what can we learn from the humility, the poverty, the simplicity of the crib scene?

Christmas can be the time in which we learn to read the Gospel, to get to know Jesus not only as the Child in the manger, but as the one in whom we recognize God made Man.

It is in the Gospel that Christians find inspiration for their daily lives and their involvement in worldly affairs – be it in the Houses of Parliament or the Stock Exchange. Christians shouldn’t shun the world; they should engage with it. But their involvement in politics and economics should transcend every form of ideology.

Christians fight poverty out of a recognition of the supreme dignity of every human being, created in God’s image and destined for eternal life. Christians work for more equitable sharing of the earth’s resources out of a belief that, as stewards of God’s creation, we have a duty to care for the weakest and most vulnerable. Christians oppose greed and exploitation out of a conviction that generosity and selfless love, as taught and lived by Jesus of Nazareth, are the way that leads to fullness of life. Christian belief in the transcendent destiny of every human being gives urgency to the task of promoting peace and justice for all.

Because these goals are shared by so many, much fruitful cooperation is possible between Christians and others. Yet Christians render to Caesar only what belongs to Caesar, not what belongs to God. Christians have at times throughout history been unable to comply with demands made by Caesar. From the Emperor cult of ancient Rome to the totalitarian regimes of the last century, Caesar has tried to take the place of God. When Christians refuse to bow down before the false gods proposed today, it is not because of an antiquated world-view. Rather, it is because they are free from the constraints of ideology and inspired by such a noble vision of human destiny that they cannot collude with anything that undermines it.

In Italy, many crib scenes feature the ruins of ancient Roman buildings in the background. This shows that the birth of the child Jesus marks the end of the old order, the pagan world, in which Caesar’s claims went virtually unchallenged. Now there is a new king, who relies not on the force of arms, but on the power of love. He brings hope to all those who, like himself, live on the margins of society. He brings hope to all who are vulnerable to the changing fortunes of a precarious world. From the manger, Christ calls us to live as citizens of his heavenly kingdom, a kingdom that all people of good will can help to build here on earth.

[Pope Benedict, article for the Financial Times 20 December 2012]

1. Jesus' incisive statement: 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's' (Matthew 22:21), answers a problem that was much discussed in his day and is still very much felt today. What attitude should believers have towards civil authority and the laws of the state? What commitment should they make as citizens with regard to their duties in the social and political spheres?

The occasion is offered to Jesus by a question that was much debated at the time concerning the lawfulness or otherwise of paying tribute to the emperor of Rome. The positions, in fact, were diversified and the reasons given to support the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the taxes imposed by the Romans were also different.

In this context, the question put to Jesus by the Pharisees: "Is it lawful or not to pay tribute to Caesar?" constituted an insidious challenge to the Master, considered by all as the one who taught the way of God according to truth.

As sometimes happens in the Gospel, faced with the trap set by his enemies, Jesus, with his answer, rises above the contingent controversy and goes far beyond the particular and mutually divergent positions.

On the one hand, by commanding them to return to Caesar what belongs to him, he declares that paying the tax is not an act of idolatry, but a duty of honest citizens; on the other hand, by recalling the primacy of God in human life and history, he asks them to return to him what is due to him as the one and only true 'Lord'.

2. With this statement, Jesus makes a clear distinction between the duties required of believers, as citizens and as children of God. Without, however, placing them in conflict. Thus, from a particular issue, such as the tribute to be given to Caesar, new horizons emerge for the mission of Christians in society.

By reason of faith, each one (of you) is called to transform history, to permeate all human and social reality with the spirit of the Gospel. No one can or should alienate himself from the required tasks of working to ensure a more just and fraternal civil coexistence. This duty must be done, however, in full fidelity to the Gospel message, in docile submission to the Spirit, without ever shirking what is required by the laws of the state that aim to do so. It must be done above all by giving primacy to what is in the first place: God, his plan of salvation, his law, spiritual and transcendent values.

The profession of faith in Christ, belonging to the kingdom of God and the lifestyle that flows from it are to be lived not "outside", but "inside" history as a "service" to be rendered to the city of men and therefore to the common good and the integral promotion of each person.

Faith, integrally lived, impels you to assume strong and precise responsibilities in that immense human endeavour to promote and safeguard fundamental human rights for a peaceful and fraternal coexistence among all.

3. It is therefore a commitment connected with an authentic and hard-working faith, which demands adequate training, deep convictions, consistent witness. And so it also takes on the characteristics of a true service of charity towards all men.

[Pope John Paul II, homily 21 October 1990]

"A true Christian cannot be a hypocrite and a hypocrite is not a true Christian": against the temptation of the "double face" Pope Francis used direct language, without equivocation. He did so in the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Tuesday 6 June, during which he examined the passage from Mark's Gospel (12, 13-17) in which "some Pharisees and Herodians" try to catch Jesus in the act.

"In the Gospel passage," he noted, "there is a word that Jesus uses a lot to qualify the doctors of the law: 'But he knew their hypocrisy': 'hypocrites' is the word he uses most to qualify them". They, Francis explained, are "hypocrites because they make people see one thing but think another": they in fact, he added alluding to the Greek etymology of the word, "they speak, they judge, but from below it is something else". Nothing could be further from Jesus: hypocrisy, in fact, "is not the language of Jesus. Hypocrisy is not the language of Christians'. It is an absolutely "clear" fact.

But if Jesus is concerned to highlight this characteristic, it is good to understand it in depth and thus bring out "how they proceed", how the hypocrites behave.

First of all, the Pope said, 'the hypocrite is always an adulator, either in a major tone or in a minor tone, but he is an adulator'. Thus, for example, they address Jesus saying to him: 'Master, we know that you are truthful and not in awe of anyone because you do not look anyone in the face but teach the way of God according to the truth'. That is, they use 'that flattery that softens the heart and softens life'.

So, the "hypocrites always begin with flattery. And then they ask a question'. The techniques of flattery also include 'not telling a truth', 'exaggerating', and 'raising vanity'. In this regard, the Pontiff recalled a priest - "I met a long time ago, not here" - who, "poor man, he drank all the flattery they gave him, it was his weakness. And his companions said of him that he had learned the liturgy badly", because he had not understood the true meaning of "incensation".

Therefore, the Pope continued, 'flattery begins like this, but with a bad intention'. This is also well understood by rereading the Gospel passage: the Pharisees, in order to test Jesus, "flatter so that he will believe this and slip". It is the technique of the hypocrite: 'he makes you see that he loves you, always inflating you, to achieve his goal'.

There is then, Francis added, "a second aspect" to underline that is found in "what Jesus does". Faced with the gesture of the hypocrite who, with his "double face", asks a just question but "with an unjust intention" - they ask: "Is it right to pay to Caesar, is it fair?" - Jesus "knowing their hypocrisy, says clearly: 'Because you want to test me, bring me money, I want to see it'. This is Jesus' method: always "to the hypocrites and ideologues he responds with reality. Reality is like that, everything else is either hypocrisy or ideology".

Therefore, Jesus says, "bring me money". He wants to show "reality" and answer "wisely": "What is Caesar's render it to Caesar - the reality was that money had the image of Caesar - and what is God's to God".

Finally, the Pontiff said, it is necessary to highlight a "third aspect" related to the "language of hypocrisy" and that is that it "is the language of deception, it is the same language of the serpent to Eve, it is the same. He begins with flattery: 'No... if you eat of this you will be great, you will know everything...', in order to destroy it".

Hypocrisy in fact, the Pope explained, 'destroys, hypocrisy kills, it kills people, it even rips out a person's personality and soul. He kills communities'. He added: 'When there are hypocrites in a community there is a great danger there, there is a very bad danger'. Therefore "the Lord Jesus told us: 'Let your speech be: yes, yes, no. The superfluous proceeds from the evil one". It has been clear'. And in this regard, Francis recalled, "James in his letter is even stronger: 'Let your yes be yes and your no be no'".

Clear words that make us understand today 'how much harm' hypocrisy does to the Church. How much harm they cause "those Christians who fall into this sinful attitude that kills". Because, the Pontiff reiterated, 'the hypocrite is capable of killing a community. He is speaking softly, he is judging a person harshly. The hypocrite is a slayer". In conclusion, the Pope summed up his reflection by recalling that hypocrisy "begins with flattery", that it can only be answered "with reality", and that hypocrisy uses "the same language as the devil who sows that bifid tongue in communities to destroy them". Therefore, he suggested, "let us ask the Lord to guard us so that we do not fall into this vice of hypocrisy, of making up our attitude but with bad intentions. May the Lord give us this grace: 'Lord, may I never be a hypocrite, may I be able to tell the truth and if I cannot tell it, be silent, but never, never, a hypocrite'".

[Pope Francis, S. Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 07/06/2017]

(Mk 12,1-12)

Christ introduces everyone to an adventurous, uncomfortable journey, not without pitfalls that throw the situation upside down and destabilize - but it is the Way for each of us to recognize himself.

Otherwise we would not get closer to the Source of perception, imagination, reality and creativity - virtues that are necessary for rebirth, even from global emergency.

Jesus uses the image of the Vineyard to describe the work of God and the response of men - first and foremost of the spiritual guides (v.1).

Religious leaders were like this: hostile to divine action; equipped to appear, nevertheless violent and sclerotic.

The directors to whom Jesus addresses, follow the entire metaphor step by step - and they seem to find themselves unguarded. They only remain speechless at the end.

Why does He ask them imperatively (Mt 21,33): «Listen you» [which is not a simple invitation]?

From the beginning speaks with a master tone. Why?

He is Lord of those to whom he actually addresses: the Christ so much invoked by new caste of "pharisees" back in the communities, where top of the class already claimed to manage the Vineyard in their own way.

In no uncertain terms, the parable denounces the abuse of authority perpetrated in third generation assemblies, especially by their chiefs.

Church elders who were already annoyed to deal with small people, who on the other hand came to the threshold of communities in the hope of being welcomed.

Conversely, it was precisely these «last» the new prophets called by God to awaken the immobility situation (of bosses) - comparable to the same swampy reality of other religions of time.

Everywhere and even today some potentates discriminate and manipulate consciences in order to protect their world - by eliminating Jesus Present, who recurs in the little, innocent and transparent ones.

Veterans accustomed to directing do not notice that they are decreeing their own condemnation (v.9).

Of course, Christ does not intend to ridicule anyone: He wanted to lead people to ‘tell the truth’ about themselves.

In Gospel the behavior of the titled people does not change. On the contrary, feeling unmasked gets worse it, and only the hesitation of losing face in public can restrain them (v.12).

But now they know who they are - so much so that they are ashamed to openly plot.

Categories that are considered closer to Paradise - those who produce inedible grapes - excluded from the testimony of the Kingdom innervated by tinies’ crowd.

There will inevitably be a new beginning, and the replacement of inept settlers (v.9).

It is «good news»: the Eternal one achieves his purpose despite the repeated refusals of those who should serve Him, and instead use Him.

In short, for Jesus the great enemy of God is expediency.

Even amidst ungenerous brutality and accusations of being deluded dreamers, new and more faithful Heralds of the Spirit are ready for succession.

An unstoppable course, sprinkled by the stream of blood of the Prophets (Mt 21,46).

Outcasts, shunned, expelled and to be crushed - but not locked into mental patterns: capable of giving free rein to regenerative energies.

Consciousness of the world, divorced from compromise.

[Monday 9th wk. in O.T.  June 1st, 2026]

(Mk 12:1-12)

This is a continuing metaphor, rather than a parable; hence the fruit of post-Easter reflection - let us see why.

Christ introduces everyone to an adventurous, uncomfortable path, not without pitfalls that throw things off and destabilise - but it is the Way for each of us to recognise ourselves.

We would not otherwise approach the Source of perception, imagination, reality and creativity - virtues that are necessary for rebirth, even from global emergency.

Jesus uses the image of the Vineyard to describe the work of God and the response of men - first and foremost the spiritual leaders (v.1).

The ancient religious leaders were like this: hostile to divine action; equipped to appear, yet violent and sclerotic.

The directors whom Jesus addresses follow the entire metaphor step by step - they seem to find themselves undone - and are only left speechless at the end.

How is it that he imperatively challenges them (Mt 21:33): "Listen" [which is not a simple invitation]?

From the very beginning, he speaks in a masterly tone. Why?

He is Lord of those whom he actually addresses: the Christ so much invoked by the new caste of 'Pharisees' back in their assemblies, where the top of the class already claimed to manage the Vineyard in their own way.

In no uncertain terms, the parable denounces the abuse of authority perpetrated in third-generation fraternities, especially by their leaders.

Church elders who were already bothering to deal with the petty people who came to the threshold of the communities in the hope of being welcomed.

Conversely, it was precisely these 'last ones' who were the new prophets called by God to awaken the situation of immobility (of the veterans) - comparable to the same swampy reality of other religions at the time.

In this way, let us proceed to a possible identification:

The hedge or wall that surrounds the Vineyard is the proposal that God has revealed to protect us from other senseless and self-destructive models of life [non-Faith paradigms].

The crusher means: nothing was lacking [the Lord took the utmost care], and also the waiting for the time of joy, of the juice of love.

In short: excellent conditions and abundant results; maximum production of intoxication - one would expect. However.

The vinedressers are the constituted authorities. They have been given the task of placing us in the best position and suitable conditions for our growth and flourishing.

In fact, under ideal conditions each one can produce the fruit of love that the 'master of the field' expects.

The two groups of envoys are prophets sent by the Father before and after the Babylonian exile - in vain - to call for concrete adherence, fidelity to the Covenant.

All ended badly, because the point of reference of the pious people and the irresponsible leaders remained identical: appropriation.

Here are the different groups in power at the time of Jesus:

The Temple workers [priests] managed the tithes, the specific taxes, the offerings.

The high priest was chosen from among the members of the families of the aristocracy that flaunted the most power and wealth.

The Sadducees were precisely the aristocratic elite; for themselves secular, very wealthy. They willingly involved themselves in the trade also of the Temple, and in the latifundia.

Pharisees were the leaders of popular religiosity, who advocated total observance of the Law, especially the rules of purity. And also that of the different Traditions, even oral.

Their ethical authority was based on exemplarity and a sense of sacred [and moralistic] separation. They were heard and recognised in every village in Palestine.

The 'Elders' were chiefs of the people (local, village or town authorities); descendants of the chiefs of the ancient tribes.

Scribes [doctors of the law] were those who, after a lifetime of studying the Word of God, were elevated to the rank of official theologians of the Sanhedrin.

Although divided into two sects - one favouring the Sadducees, the other the Pharisees - their prestige even managed to obscure the letter of the Torah. Indeed, in case of disagreement between the Law and their interpretation, it was the latter that was esteemed superior.

Jesus, on the other hand, discredited the learned, who willingly distorted and sophistrated the meaning of the sacred Scriptures - always to their own advantage.

He was well aware that his denunciation would cost him his life, because he unmasked the whole system of gains, balances and positions.

However, he never retreated an inch.

Everywhere and even today, certain potentates discriminate and manipulate consciences in order to protect their own providences and their own farcical world of public and private relations.

In spite of all the polite and mannerist fire of interdiction, often taking out the Present Jesus in the small, innocent and transparent.Conversely, the supreme stewards of the House of God must adopt an attitude of service to the Vineyard; they must not plot their own life plans, to which all - including the Father - must adapt.

It was for this reason that the Son demanded to dismantle that structure: even to supplant the Temple, with his living Person.

A genuine mortal threat to the system that by then could not even stand the interference of God himself.

But if it was irreverent to substitute the life of the people for the stone sanctuary, it also seemed sacrilegious to consider the Torah regime transitory.

The Pentateuch was at the heart of the identity of the 'chosen people'. This idea was interpreted with a rigid sense of permanence - although its practice did not bring happiness, but dissatisfaction.

Yet the veterans accustomed to pyramid situations - and to leadership - did not even realise that they were thus decreing their own condemnation (v.9).

Of course, Christ does not intend to ridicule anyone: He wants to bring people to question themselves, and tell the truth about themselves.

In the Gospel, the behaviour of the titulars of official devotion does not change; on the contrary, feeling unmasked, it gets worse.

Only the qualms of losing face in public could hold them back (v.12).

But now they know who they are, so much so that they are ashamed to plot openly.

The categories 'at the centre', who consider themselves closest to Heaven and therefore holders of power (which they demand for themselves), are assiduously those who produce inedible grapes.

Circles excluded from bearing witness to the Kingdom.

The aged forces only know how to oppose. Life-long leaders - pretentious gourds - always love leadership, and (too) their own interest, not that of the petty crowd.

Sadly, the Gospel passage is a fresco of the entire history of salvation, where disdain not infrequently prevails - and it is timely.

There will inevitably be a new beginning, and the replacement of the inept colonists (v.9). 

It is "glad tidings": the LORD achieves his purpose despite the repeated refusals of those who should represent him, and instead use him. Having no fruits of love to return.

In short, it is our story. It is an enigma of redemption, capable of taking on even violence and rebellion.

For Jesus, there is no such thing as a privileged ethnicity or civilisation - because the great enemy of God is not sin in the sense of imperfection, but expediency.

Return that matches disinterest and (interested) contempt: a problem that returns - closing the story.

And yet, when the days of fervour fade and the situation comes to a standstill because of those who see election as a privilege rather than a service, new and more faithful Heralds of the Spirit ceaselessly arrive. Ready for the succession of minds and hearts, even amidst ungenerous brutalities, and accusations of being deluded dreamers.

An unstoppable course, sprinkled by the prophets' stream of blood (Mt 21:46).

Outcasts, shunned, expelled and to be crushed - but not locked into outdated mental schemes: capable of giving free rein to regenerating energies.

Awareness of the world, detached from compromise.

The reading from the Prophet Isaiah and today's Gospel set before our eyes one of the great images of Sacred Scripture: the image of the vine. In Sacred Scripture, bread represents all that human beings need for their daily life. Water makes the earth fertile: it is the fundamental gift that makes life possible. Wine, on the other hand, expresses the excellence of creation and gives us the feast in which we go beyond the limits of our daily routine: wine, the Psalm says, "gladdens the heart". So it is that wine and with it the vine have also become images of the gift of love in which we can taste the savour of the Divine. Thus, the reading from the Prophet that we have just heard begins like a canticle of love: God created a vineyard for himself - this is an image of the history of love for humanity, of his love for Israel which he chose. This is therefore the first thought in today's readings: God instilled in men and women, created in his image, the capacity for love, hence also the capacity for loving him, their Creator. With the Prophet Isaiah's canticle of love God wants to speak to the hearts of his people - and to each one of us. "I have created you in my image and likeness", he says to us. "I myself am love and you are my image to the extent that the splendour of love shines out in you, to the extent that you respond lovingly to me". God is waiting for us. He wants us to love him: should not our hearts be moved by this appeal? At this very moment when we are celebrating the Eucharist, in which we are opening the Synod on the Eucharist, he comes to meet us, he comes to meet me. Will he find a response? Or will what happened to the vine of which God says in Isaiah: "He waited for it to produce grapes but it yielded wild grapes", also happen to us? Is not our Christian life often far more like vinegar than wine? Self-pity, conflict, indifference?

With this we have automatically come to the second fundamental thought in today's readings.
As we have heard, they speak first of all of the goodness of God's creation and of the greatness of the choice by which he seeks us out and loves us. But they then also speak of the story that was successively lived out - of the "fall" of man. God had planted the very best vines, yet they yielded wild grapes. Let us ask ourselves: what do wild grapes consist of? The good grapes that God was hoping for, the Prophet sings, would have been justice and righteousness. Wild grapes instead bring violence, bloodshed and oppression that make people groan under the yoke of injustice. In the Gospel, the image changes: the vine produces good grapes, but the tenants keep them for themselves. They are not willing to hand them over to the owner of the vineyard. They beat and kill his messengers and kill his son. Their motive is simple: they themselves want to become owners; they take possession of what does not belong to them. In the foreground of the Old Testament is the accusation of the violation of social justice, of contempt for human beings by human beings. In the background, however, it appears that with contempt for the Torah, for the law given by God, it is God himself who is despised. All people want is to enjoy their own power. This aspect is fully highlighted in Jesus' Parable: the tenants do not want to have a master - and these tenants are also a mirror of ourselves. We men and women, to whom creation is as it were entrusted for its management, have usurped it. We ourselves want to dominate it in the first person and by ourselves. We want unlimited possession of the world and of our own lives. God is in our way. Either he is reduced merely to a few devout words, or he is denied in everything and banned from public life so as to lose all meaning. The tolerance that admits God as it were as a private opinion but refuses him the public domain, the reality of the world and of our lives, is not tolerance but hypocrisy. But nowhere that the human being makes himself the one lord of the world and owner of himself can justice exist. There, it is only the desire for power and private interests that can prevail. Of course, one can chase the Son out of the vineyard and kill him, in order selfishly to taste the fruits of the earth alone. However, in no time at all the vineyard then reverts to being an uncultivated piece of land, trampled by wild boar as the Responsorial Psalm tells us (cf. Ps 80[79]: 14).

Thus, we reach a third element of today's readings. In the Old and New Testaments, the Lord proclaims judgment on the unfaithful vineyard. The judgment that Isaiah foresaw is brought about in the great wars and exiles for which the Assyrians and Babylonians were responsible. The judgment announced by the Lord Jesus refers above all to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70. Yet the threat of judgment also concerns us, the Church in Europe, Europe and the West in general. With this Gospel, the Lord is also crying out to our ears the words that in the Book of Revelation he addresses to the Church of Ephesus: "If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place" (2: 5). Light can also be taken away from us and we do well to let this warning ring out with its full seriousness in our hearts, while crying to the Lord: "Help us to repent! Give all of us the grace of true renewal! Do not allow your light in our midst to blow out! Strengthen our faith, our hope and our love, so that we can bear good fruit!".

At this point, however, we ask ourselves: "But is there no promise, no word of comfort in today's readings and Gospel? Is the threat the last word?". No! There is a promise, and this is the last, the essential word. We hear it in the Alleluia verse from John's Gospel: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who lives in me and I in him will produce abundantly" (Jn 15: 5). With these words of the Lord, John illustrates for us the final, true outcome of the history of God's vineyard. God does not fail. In the end he wins, love wins. A veiled allusion to this can already be found in the Parable of the Tenants presented by today's Gospel and in the concluding words. There too, the death of the Son is not the end of history, even if the rest of the story is not directly recounted. But Jesus expresses this death through a new image taken from the Psalm: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone..." (cf. Mt 21: 42; Ps 118[117]: 22). From the Son's death springs life, a new building is raised, a new vineyard. He, who at Cana changed water into wine, has transformed his Blood into the wine of true love and thus transforms the wine into his Blood. In the Upper Room he anticipated his death and transformed it into the gift of himself in an act of radical love. His Blood is a gift, it is love, and consequently it is the true wine that the Creator was expecting. In this way, Christ himself became the vine, and this vine always bears good fruit: the presence of his love for us which is indestructible.

These parables thus lead at the end to the mystery of the Eucharist, in which the Lord gives us the bread of life and the wine of his love and invites us to the banquet of his eternal love. We celebrate the Eucharist in the awareness that its price was the death of the Son - the sacrifice of his life that remains present in it. Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes, St Paul says (cf. I Cor 11: 26). But we also know that from this death springs life, because Jesus transformed it into a sacrificial gesture, an act of love, thereby profoundly changing it: love has overcome death. In the Holy Eucharist, from the Cross, he draws us all to himself (cf. Jn 12: 32) and makes us branches of the Vine that is Christ himself. If we abide in him, we will also bear fruit, and then from us will no longer come the vinegar of self-sufficiency, of dissatisfaction with God and his creation, but the good wine of joy in God and of love for our neighbour. Let us pray to the Lord to give us his grace, so that in the three weeks of the Synod which we are about to begin, not only will we say beautiful things about the Eucharist but above all, we will live from its power. Let us invoke this gift through Mary, dear Synod Fathers whom I greet with deep affection as well as the various Communities from which you come and which you represent here, so that, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, we may help the world become in Christ and with Christ the fruitful vine of God. Amen.

[Pope Benedict, homily 2 October 2005]

Psalm 117 [118], Lauds on Sunday of the Second Week

1. When a Christian, in unison with the voice of prayer in Israel, sings Psalm 117{118}, that we just heard, he feels within him a special thrill. In fact, he finds in this liturgical hymn two phrases that echo with a new meaning in the NT. The first is verse 22, "The stone rejected by the builders has become the corner-stone". The phrase is quoted by Jesus, who applies it to his mission of death and glory, after having told the parable of the murderous vinedressers (cf. Mt 21,42). The phrase is also recalled by Peter in the Acts of the Apostles: "This Jesus is the stone, rejected by you the builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is no salvation in anyone else nor is there any other name given to men under heaven by which we are to be saved" (Acts 4,11-12). St Cyril of Jerusalem comments: "We say the Lord Jesus Christ is only one because his sonship is one; only one we say so that you do not think that there is another ... In fact he called stone, not inanimate stone nor cut by human hands, but the cornerstone, because he who believes in him will not remain disappointed" (The Catecheses, English title of the Italian version of St Cyril's Catecheses, Le Catechesi, Rome, 1993, p. 312-313).

The second phrase that the NT takes from Psalm 117[118] is proclaimed by the crowd at the solemn Messianic entrance of Christ into Jersualem: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Mt 21,9; cf. Ps 117,26). The acclamation is framed by a Hosanna that takes up the Hebrew petition hoshiac na',"please, save us!"

2. The splendid Biblical hymn is placed at the heart of the small collection of psalms, 112[113] to 117[118], called the Passover Hallel, namely, the psalms of praise used in Hebrew worship for the Passover and the major solemnities of the liturgical year. The processional rite can be taken as the theme of Psalm 117[118] articulated with the chants by the soloist or choir, with the Holy City and its Temple as the background. A beautiful antiphon begins and ends the psalm:  "Praise the Lord for he is good, his mercy endures forever" (verses 1 and 29).

The word "mercy" translates the Hebrew word hesed, that designates the generous fidelity of God towards the covenanted and friendly people. Three categories of people are told to praise this fidelity:  all of Israel, the "house of Aaron", namely the priests, and those "who fear the Lord", a way of speaking that includes the faithful and the proselytes, namely, the members of other nations who desire to follow the law of the Lord (cf. verses 2-4).

3. The procession makes its way through the streets of Jerusalem, because the psalm speaks of the "tents of the righteous" (cf. v. 15). There is, however, a hymn of thanksgiving (cf. vv. 5-18) whose basic message is:  Even when we are in anguish, we must keep high the torch of confidence, because the powerful hand of the Lord leads his faithful people to victory over evil and to salvation.

The sacred poet uses strong and vivid images; he compares the cruel adversaries to a swarm of bees or to a column of flames that advances turning everything to ashes (cf. v.12). There is the vehement reaction of the just person, sustained by the Lord. He repeats three times "In the name of the Lord I cut them off" where the Hebrew verb refers to an intervention that destroys evil (cf. vv.10.11.12). Behind all of it, indeed, there is the powerful right hand of God, namely, his effective intervention, and certainly not the weak and uncertain hand of man. For this reason the joy of the victory over evil leads to a vibrant profession of faith:  "The Lord is my strength and my song, he has become my salvation" (v. 14).

4. The procession then arrives at the temple, at the "gates of justice" (v. 19), at the Holy Door of Zion. Here a second song of thanksgiving is sung, that begins with a dialogue between the congregation and the priests to be admitted to worship. "Open to me the gates of justice:  I will enter to give thanks to the Lord", the soloist says in the name of the congregation in procession:  "This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through it" (v. 20), and others reply, probably the priests.

Once they enter, they begin the hymn of thanksgiving to the Lord, who in the Temple offers himself as the stable and secure "corner stone" on which to build the house of life (cf. Mt 7,24-25). A priestly blessing descends upon the faithful who have come into the temple to express their faith, to raise their prayer and to celebrate their worship.

5. The last scene that opens before our eyes is constituted by the joyful rite of sacred dances, accompanied by the festive waving of branches:  "Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar" (v. 27). The liturgy is a joyful, festive celebration, expression of the entire life that praises the Lord. The rite of the branches brings to mind the Jewish Feast of Booths, observed in memory of the pilgrimage of Israel through the desert, a solemnity in which there was a procession with palm, myrtle and willow branches.

This rite evoked by the Psalm is proposed to the Christian in Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, celebrated in the liturgy of Palm Sunday. Christ is acclaimed as the "Son of David" (cf. Mt 21,9) by the crowd, who, "having come for the feast ... took branches of palms and went out to greet him shouting:  Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel" (Jn 12,12-13). At that festive celebration that is, however, the prelude to the hour of the Passion and Death of Jesus, the symbol of the cornerstone, proposed at the beginning, takes its full meaning, a glorious Easter meaning.

Psalm 117[118] encourages Christians to recognize in the Easter event of Jesus "the day that the Lord has made", on which "the stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone". With the psalm they can then sing with great thanksgiving:  " The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation" (v. 14); "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and exult in it" (v. 24).

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 5 December 2001]

Prophecy, memory and hope allow the Spirit to keep the Church alive: during his homily at the morning Mass, Pope Francis invited the faithful present to make a brief examination of conscience by asking themselves "do I have memory of the Lord's gifts? Am I capable of opening my heart to the prophets? Do I have hope in God's promises?"

It was the Gospel of the day (Mk 12:1-12) that provided the Holy Father with the cue for his reflection: commenting on the parable of the murderous vinedressers, Bergoglio illustrates how the vinedressers are an allegory of the masters of the law, that is, the scribes and Pharisees, who at the time of Jesus had built a legal system that literally enchained the Spirit, not allowing him to act freely.

It is the trap of casuistry: those whom Jesus addresses with the parable of the murderous vinedressers are the "doctors of the law, theologians who always go the way of casuistry and do not allow the freedom of the Holy Spirit". Memory does not interest them. Prophecy: the prophets had better not come. And hope? But everyone will see it".

"To these people Jesus, because he knew in himself the temptation, reproaches: 'You go halfway around the world to get a proselyte and when you find him, you make him a slave'. - commented the Bishop of Rome: 'This people so organised, this Church so organised makes slaves! And so we understand how Paul reacts when he speaks of the slavery of the law and the freedom that grace gives you. A people is free, a Church is free when it has memory, when it makes room for the prophets, when it does not lose hope'.

The parable of the murderous vinedressers therefore wants to speak to every Christian and invites us to ask ourselves whether we too are like those vinedressers there: 'Do I have memory of the wonders the Lord has done in my life? Do I remember the gifts of the Lord? Am I capable of opening my heart to the prophets, to the one who tells me 'this does not go, you must go that way; go ahead, risk it'? - Pope Francis then asked - Am I open to that or am I fearful and prefer to close myself in the cage of the law? And in the end: do I have hope in the promises of God, as did our father Abraham, who left his land without knowing where he was going, only because he hoped in God?"

"It will do us good to ask ourselves these three questions", as a brief examination of conscience, because if on the one hand the well-organised vineyard is the image of the Church, and therefore the parable is addressed to priests, on the other hand the vineyard is also the image of our soul, of each Christian, which we very often prefer to bridle and protect by erecting walls so that the Spirit cannot come and make it restless, as the soul of a Christian should be.

[Pope Francis, homily s. Marta; https://www.papafrancesco.net/non-rinchiudiamo-la-nostra-anima-nella-gabbia-della-legge/]

Most Holy Trinity

Prov 8:22-31;  Rom 5:1-5;  Jn 16:12-15 (year C)

Scripture testifies that the Lord proceeds with his people and manifests himself in history, but he is not bound to a particular territory or sacred ‘heights’, but to woman and man.

The Eternal is «God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob» (Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37; cf. Ex 3:6).

He is «The One who Will Be» [Ex 3:14 Hebrew text] that is: in the unfolding of events, people have an essential experience of the Living One as Liberator, and Bridegroom [cf. Hosea's fluctuating affective story].

But in the fullness of His Heart, only Jesus manifests Him - still in the First Covenant confused with a sullen legislator, notary, judge who intervenes to cut or distinguish, then waits for the reckoning.

The Almighty dreams of spreading life and creating Family, not dividing uncontaminated friends from impure enemies, or capable and incapable.

Such becomes the intimate expression of the authentic woman and man; a cipher of the identity of the Church that does not pronounce itself to a minimum.

Sons’ identity card is the faith in a God who creates, makes covenants, is Close, redeems, allows flourishing in any event or age.

The first Reading highlights the Father's Plan, which unfolds his mastery being while being assisted by the delightful figure of Wisdom.

Creation reflects the purpose of divine Love, manifested in the enchantment of a joyful walk with us.

He desires to remain on earth, unconditionally.

His Bliss? The same as ours; of every creature, who loves to flourish in spite of conflicts.

This is precisely - if the son, though unsteady, does not feel himself to be the fruit of chance, but rather grasps the moments of confusion in life as if they were those of a building site [because the Design knows where to go].

Disorder, piled-up materials, mess, novelties at every turn; but you do not get lost: inside the soul is the prototype-image of a 'programme' that allows for trial and error, indeed relies on them.

It is a Project that recovers all the scattered energies and interrupted paths, creating unthinkable varieties, hence diverse essences. As would a Parent who rejoices in the rich offspring, in the different works of his intimates in the most varied fields, manifested in thousand facets.

If the guiding Plan is of the Creator, the apex and the Work belong to the Son.

The second Reading makes it clear that the Father did not consider his activity concluded by granting mere input to being and essences - then abandoning reality and men; by withdrawing up there.

By Grace, in the Faith we are partakers of God, we have direct access to His independent action, to Himself (Rom 5:2).

The Person and story of Jesus tell of a Kingdom in which holiness is not feared to be endangered by contact with the world.

There is only one problem that cuts through the Dialogue with the Most High (v.3): the believing that our boasting is of an obvious kind.

In front of our fellow men we glory in achievements, roles, titles and successes [it also happens in the path of religious perfection]. But the Son announces that the Father is only undeserved Understanding.

We finally learn that the obsession with being admired from the outside, and the pleasure of approval at any cost - are not “the” Way at all.

In fact, the true Shah - the genuine Work - is solely of the Son, who, having fully corresponded to the initiative of God the Father, Justifies.

The Inner Friend then does not 'make righteous' by dressing us outwardly and in a punctually manner, but in an existential process that shifts the balance (vv.3-4).

Lord works within through experience. He also does this by besieging “the other" self of ourselves that we have set aside.

Thus changing the shrunken heart and improving us with his passionate Friendship, re-proposed in new life opportunities.

The Gospel appeals to the mysterious, unknown sense of the total self-giving.

It is not easy to bear its «weight» [Jn 16:12: alludes to the Cross] nor to grasp its implications and imagine its paradoxical Fruitfulness.

The Development that flows out of it is the empathy, the deep reach, the action of the Spirit.

Unfolded Gesture that internalizes this not only strange, but absurd proposal: that of triumph in loss, and even of Life from death.

We experience it in act: in the inexplicable recoveries that give glory to God (v.14) [that is, they renew relationships] and put people who do not even have self-esteem back on their feet.

Only in this way can the Plan of Salvation be carried out.

Stepping out from the shadow of others, the opportunist becomes righteous, the doubter more secure, the unhappy person regains hope; all can live happily.

Accepted Diversity becomes an impulse for enrichment and a matrix for development.

Social identification is no longer involved. There is something else in us.

God Himself is «He who Will Be»: away from the ballasts, the Best is yet to Come. Reason not to run away from great Desires any more.

[Most Holy Trinity]