Lk 9:57-62 [cf. Mk 5:18-20]

For Semites, parental figures indicate a connection with ethnicity, tradition, the past and the cultural environment.

Jesus seems to exclude any correlation with such figures, even though he addresses his own in an exclusive and singular way.

He never speaks of fathers, but of the Father - who is not a repeater.

He therefore imposes on everyone a horizontal break with customs that could delay or condition his Call, the profound discovery of the meaning of events, the emergence of a new mentality, the Following.

He diversifies Vocations, to make each person understand the intimate character, by Name, of the relationship of Covenant in Faith - which does not depersonalise as in religions.

Paradoxically, symbiosis with the surrounding mentality or intellectual knowledge itself can obscure the very intelligence of the unique inclinations that manifest the incomparable signature of the Creator in our innermost being.

The authentic Call captures women and men in an exclusive and penetrating way, in the uniqueness of their experience. What kind of Covenant and Mission would it be otherwise?

Sometimes the best thing to do for oneself and for others is to cut the umbilical cord and distance oneself from the expectations of people one usually associates with.

This decision is essential in order to seek the meaning of the Spirit, which is only personal Love - and becomes true Passion.

Here, the inner state of individuation and independence must be very present in the soul.

By frequenting the same conformist environments, we identify with people and situations: thus blocking the centre of expectations and dreams. The doors to other worlds, to another realm, do not open.

The personality wants its space of autonomy, because life in its fullness is to experience a fresh cascade of rebirths in Christ - celebrating together, but standing on one's own two feet.

Impossible for our nature... but the Source of being leads us like a skilled director, always from novelty to novelty. And his profound Wisdom will make us dance - even if we have never learned to dance in style.

What kind of life of Faith would it be that claims to stem the waves of the open sea to keep us always in the most familiar, reassuring harbour?

Leaning on family, friends, habitual opinions, the cove of the club or the beach of the movement [in short, wanting to be like everyone else in order to gain immediate approval] does not allow us to experience new beginnings.

Jesus is peremptory, because the choice is decisive.

Those who keep their heads down or look back – or compare themselves to others – cannot experience the adventure of Faith; they do not live, but drag behind them the religion of the dead.

Those who live only in the future and have no sense of reality experience illusions. But those who remain in the past or with models, stay with skeletons (not only in the closet) and do not perceive the meaning of change.

They easily become obsessed or brooding, becoming chronic. Whereas new stimuli could introduce them to a chain of unexpected leaps.

This is why insistent family and cultural ties can take away the intensity or character of the Call by Name.

They encroach on the necessary space, invaded by too many 'Yes, sir's' - which do not belong to us and which we do not want. They only block the hidden mechanisms.

In the passionate exodus with Jesus, the pleasure of the Vocation cannot allow the inclinations of others [and conformists] to pour into, pervade and occupy our personal world and time.

In order to listen to and make the Call to Mission our own, it is necessary to build a sphere of the Self that is eminent, unassailable, friendly, and protected - one whose pace and horizons we will learn to follow over time.

This identifying sphere, with boundaries protected from interference, will help us in the Dialogue of prayer. It will remove us from the danger of being absorbed by the common, impersonal, accommodating mentality.

The defence of this confidentiality, dense with the Unpublished and non-institutional, becomes the springboard and driving force of our committed life, which does not turn back.

Over time, this Nest will teach us to express the quality of relationships in a genuine, rather than conventional, way - even complete disagreement with the prevailing external mentality, which has power, however trivial.

Those who choose otherwise will sooner or later have to compensate for the cut (of themselves) with gratifications of various kinds, which will distance them from their own face and from the ideal that intimately corresponds to it.

[Even a dreamy, saintly wickedness can serve to rediscover the intimate core of a person, the sacredness of each individual].

We are not called to conform to a neutral do-goodism that only wants to please outwardly, perhaps because it is afraid of being excluded from the circle or judged badly - even the opposite.

Behind the main lines of each person's personality lies a Pearl, which, in order to make a significant contribution according to the Lord's Plan, must manifest its own unique nuances.Especially in our spousal relationship with God, we must not adapt to roles that do not belong to us deeply.

Over time, compromise becomes a habit that causes us to lose our natural tendencies: within them lie the chromosomes of our Vocation.

The realisation of our unique missionary calling does not happen according to character or established and widespread principles – conciliatory and successful – nor because we go hand in hand with the whole world of veterans [or those who are 'à la page'].

Instead of adapting and letting ourselves be influenced by irenicism, at a certain point we deviate to follow the inner Friend who knows where to lead us and does not know the pretence of always agreeing.

Otherwise, having lost the energy-Person and the goal that lead us to our destination, Uniqueness fades in the mediations that hold us hostage - behind events, lines of thought and roles that are now obsolete.

Finally, we lose sight of our founding Eros, which wanted to move our desires, our way of knowing the world and our activities.

[Outcome: a now blurred Core, a Source that recycles and no longer gushes as before, dispersed in a thousand rivulets of transformation - astute shortcuts for a smooth career].

Hence the great dances on nothingness: that of missed dangers - staged as quiet compensation by those whom Christ would call 'empty shells' ['makers of vain things': Lk 13:27 original text].

It is not uncommon for the goals of a caste or group linked to tribal and sectoral thinking to consolidate - to take precedence over the specific weight and intimacy of values, replaced by facile and conformist slogans or adultoids that plagiarise existence.

Every missionary knows that entrusting one's life to mannered, serious and quiet opinions, reassuring initiatives or textbook choices does not bear fruit; on the contrary, it becomes counterproductive.

Concordism seems like an attractive refuge, but it only becomes a den of flattery.

According to Chinese thought, in order to acquire polish and escape a polluted and worn-out servility, the Saints 'learn from animals the art of avoiding the harmful effects of domestication that life in society imposes'.

In fact: 'Domestic animals die prematurely. And so do men, whom social conventions forbid to obey spontaneously the rhythm of universal life'.

'These conventions impose continuous, self-interested, exhausting activity [whereas it is appropriate] to alternate periods of slow living and jubilation'.

"The Saint does not submit to retreat or fasting except in order to achieve, through ecstasy, escape through long journeys. This liberation is prepared by invigorating games, which nature teaches."

"One trains for a heavenly life by imitating the pleasures of animals. To become holy, one must first become brutalised – that is, learn from children, animals and plants the simple and joyful art of living only for the sake of life."

[M. Granet, Il Pensiero Cinese, Adelphi 2019, Kindle pp. 6904-6909].

The suggestion of the past to be perpetuated, the bondage of narrow judgements and the ties of circles can rob us of hidden riches, stealing the present and the future: this is the real mistake to avoid!

What matters is not to restore the situation, copy the ancients or the acclaimed and powerful, identify with them in order to remain quiet and not make mistakes, but rather to renew ourselves in order to evolve, grow, expand and amaze. 

Otherwise, our clumsy problems will always be the same and there will be no exuberant Path or Promised Land, but only a vicious circle of regrets or false reassurances.

To live the Faith of the real moment - without giving up and putting things in order - we cannot be schoolchildren repeating the place or fashions, the time or the day before.

A radical and total decision:

the Church does not promote itself

In today's Gospel (cf. Lk 9:51-62), St Luke begins the account of Jesus' last journey to Jerusalem, which will end in chapter 19. It is a long march, not only geographical and spatial, but spiritual and theological, towards the fulfilment of the Messiah's mission. Jesus' decision is radical and total, and those who follow him are called to measure themselves against it. Today, the Evangelist presents us with three characters - three cases of vocation, we might say - who highlight what is required of those who want to follow Jesus to the end, totally.

The first character promises him: 'I will follow you wherever you go' (v. 57). Generous! But Jesus replies that the Son of Man, unlike foxes that have dens and birds that have nests, 'has nowhere to lay his head' (v. 58). The absolute poverty of Jesus. Jesus, in fact, left his father's house and renounced all security in order to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the lost sheep of his people. Thus Jesus showed us, his disciples, that our mission in the world cannot be static, but is itinerant. The Christian is an itinerant. The Church, by its very nature, is on the move; it does not remain sedentary and tranquil within its own enclosure. It is open to the broadest horizons, sent forth – the Church is sent forth! – to bring the Gospel to the streets and to reach the human and existential peripheries. This is the first character.

The second person Jesus meets receives his call directly from him, but responds: “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (v. 59). It is a legitimate request, based on the commandment to honour one’s father and mother (cf. Ex 20:12). However, Jesus replies: “Let the dead bury their dead” (v. 60). With these deliberately provocative words, He intends to affirm the primacy of following Him and proclaiming the Kingdom of God, even over the most important realities, such as family. The urgency of communicating the Gospel, which breaks the chain of death and inaugurates eternal life, does not allow for delays, but requires readiness and availability. Therefore, the Church is itinerant, and here the Church is decisive, acting quickly, in the moment, without waiting.

The third character also wants to follow Jesus, but on one condition: he will do so after saying goodbye to his relatives. And this is what he hears from the Master: 'No one who puts his hand to the plough and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God' (v. 62). Following Jesus excludes regrets and looking back, but requires the virtue of decision.

The Church, in order to follow Jesus, is itinerant, acting immediately, quickly and decisively. The value of these conditions set by Jesus – itinerancy, readiness and decisiveness – does not lie in a series of 'no's' to good and important things in life. Rather, the emphasis should be placed on the main objective: to become a disciple of Christ! A free and conscious choice, made out of love, to reciprocate God's inestimable grace, and not made as a way to promote oneself. How sad this is! Woe to those who think they are following Jesus to promote themselves, that is, to advance their careers, to feel important or to acquire a position of prestige. Jesus wants us to be passionate about Him and the Gospel. A passion of the heart that translates into concrete gestures of closeness, of proximity to our brothers and sisters most in need of welcome and care. Just as He himself lived.

May the Virgin Mary, icon of the Church on her journey, help us to follow the Lord Jesus with joy and to proclaim the Good News of salvation to our brothers and sisters with renewed love.

(Pope Francis, Angelus, 30 June 2019)