The unclean and quiet spirit in the synagogue

(Mk 1:21b-28)

In the confusion of the bloody civil war in progress (68-69) the Roman communities ask for guidance.

Describing the beginning of the Lord's activity, Mk indicates how to proclaim: no longer relying on previous teachers.

The Gospel is meant to replace imperial proclamations of victory and prosperity (golden age), and is detached from the messages of other religions.

The episodes of Jesus' life challenge the heart, creating a critical consciousness - less contrived, more natural.

After inviting the first disciples to follow him (Mk 1:16-20) by making them "fishers of men", Christ takes his own - precisely - to "fishing".

The surprise is paradoxical, and lies in the first of the environments he indicates. The one that today - not by chance - finds it hardest to hold on to everything, as it once did.

In short, wanting to follow the Son of God, it seems that in order to lift people out of deadly situations, one must start not from a place of sin and malfeasance, but from homes of honest religion and pious living!

It is no coincidence that the young Rabbi is referred to as 'Nazarene' (v.24), which in the language of the time - alluding to the land of Nazareth - meant hot-headed, subversive, revolutionary.

As if to say: the ancient "synagogues" seem to want to celebrate and praise God, instead they humiliate him [and stifle his project of humanisation].

They do not rely on the Mystery, which unfolds in the inner world - in the personal outpouring of talents and passion.

The religious authorities only used the divine Name to defend their own social status, inculcating in the people a subordinate conduct, and a world of thoughts or doctrines in their own image.

At that time, in fact, the leaders imposed on all classes a kind of spirituality of immobility, reassuring and manipulative.

The Good News brought by the Master - on the other hand - creates harmony precisely with the desire for fullness of life that each man carries within himself.

Hence a great reformation and overthrow of all widespread beliefs in the empire.

The new Word rises above all the ancient narratives, and radically supplants them, even from the point of view of custom.

It is not rooted in any contrived cloak, or custom, nor alienation, much less reckoning of smuggling and crib.

Despite the contrived and typical cloaks, this essential Logos lurks spontaneously in the soul of each woman and man, and is immediately known, in their actual existence.

Consequently, it is authentic Word, without ancient or schematic projections, disembodied and fashionable; rather, unusual. Thus truly harassing the official institution.

And - even today - provoking reactions both among the tame of observance, and among the fake à la page phenomena of reformism without construct; abstract, sophisticated, cerebral, glossy.

They are varied 'places', these of the various doctrines... but in which there is someone who always remains in a calm and quiet corner, and does not cause the slightest disturbance.

But at a certain point he snaps (v.23).

It is not the prayers and songs that make him explode and swear, but the new teaching.

Where the Master arrives, the old stagnant and compromising balance cannot continue.

His Presence cannot be reconciled with the opposing forces - of lethargy, or the windy fantasies of self-styled prophets.

Before Jesus, the situation in the synagogue was one of 'peace': a quietness and a current mentality that suited everyone.

But the two poles are bitter adversaries: they cannot stand each other, they immediately spark off.

The catechesis of Mk invites us to compare each person's experience to the unresigned life of the Son.

He did not instruct simple people externally, putting on a good face - quoting commonly accepted authorities from memory.

He started from the personal experience of the Father, and from his own concrete life. So do we.

In Christ, immersed in his own Faith, believers scrutinise deep facts and feelings; they do not limit themselves to noble exhortations. This is the 'trouble'.

The Lord's brethren do not repeat commonplaces of others.

Rather, they resolutely fight and expel the power of evil that takes possession of creatures and aligns and alienates them.

The man who cries out against Jesus speaks in the plural (v.24; cf. Lk 4:34) precisely because the Gospel goes to promote personal wealth and undermine group interests.

It is about the entourage of false friends of God; not infrequently, the very ones who open their mouths in his name (v.24c).

The spirit of the habitual and habituated believers or those interested in order realise that in the man who is the true image of the Father comes the One who is able to bring down their house of cards, and they become frightened.

Obviously the clash. So much for harmless goodness and facade.

When these opposing energies meet, they confront each other with no holds barred.

They are hostile and end up attacking each other - there is no candyfloss or mannerism that holds. 

The "possessed" proclaims the name of the young Rabbi (v.24a), hoping to show himself superior and take possession of him.

But the Son of God does not allow himself to be seized by tricks.

The false teachings of normalised religion - of whatever stripe - had inculcated into people's minds that the 'saint of God' would present himself eloquently, peremptorily.

He could be none other than an eminent and celebrated personage: ruler, leader, high priest... thus recalling the distinctive customs of the chosen people.

But in the 'synagogue'-goers such conviction brought with it a spirit of awe and death that produced sedate, habit-forming personalities. Subjugated to bland, all-too-common observances; in the end, only reassuring.

Yet now that same habituated spirit feels threatened - instead of conformistically mirrored. Thus it claims to kennel in the Son even the very God it proclaims.

In the presence of the Word-event that does what it says, the king is naked. Not placid irenicism, but conflict is just around the corner.

The powers that harness us with repetitive festivals and feed on renunciatory illusions see the inertia and leashes that have made their fortunes crumble.

"And the unclean [spirit], writhing and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him" (v.26). Why "writhing him"?

It is indeed heartbreaking to discover that lifestyles and ideal conditioning can lead one astray.

And in this way, so many trifles inculcated as sacred values are perhaps the very ones that lead away from a dialogue of love with God.

Even today, a subtle deceptive and homologising propaganda tends to hijack and alienate the personal soul; to recommend inaction - or its excess - and tear us apart in performance [e.g. of power and money].

An oppressive atmosphere, the one we sometimes suffer, under the cloak of pyramid situations and addictions.

All enslaving the simple; with formalities, moralistic obsessions, and packaged ways of being (or rather, appearing).

Those who evangelise in earnest detach people from trivialising ideology, from the ways of the local single thought - whether traditionalist or avant-garde.

It may seem notably idealistic, or excruciatingly committed, but it then slumbers in practices and doctrines that betray the deep expectations of our authentic vocation.

In short, the cloak of artifices humiliates existence in its fullness; it weakens and extinguishes the step of our unrepeatable exceptionality, on which the Father intends to build his own Newness.

In Christ, the "new teaching" is a "didachè kainè" (v.27), which in the Greek expression emphasises precisely a call of a superior quality; capable of supplanting what remains swampy.

A call that replaces, completely supersedes everything else. And will not be superseded.

A word that lays bare and sweeps away the ballast, as well as all the conditioning scaffolding - along with the guilt inculcated by the usual cheap and self-interested guides.

Moral: women and men humanise; they begin to live and breathe again.

They no longer allow themselves to be plagued by ideas and limitations; beliefs that are extraneous, opportunistic, soporific, or dissociated, hysterical [filled with projections; empty, ungrounded].

"Didache kainè": it undermines forced identification, and a view of life that makes one stagnant, one-sided.

Now if we find ourselves possessed by one-sided, external, dehumanising powers, we are brought face to face with God - without first going through the long rigmarole that makes us monochromatic.

And here enabled to find ourselves, even in the opposites; as well as the discriminating commitment, the reason why we were born.

Enabled now to cross the idols that sequester dreams, and the enthusiasm that starts from within. With a desire to be reborn.

Exodus fruit of alliance with our multifaceted sides, all indispensable for personality completion and evolution.

In short, the Present Son restores our awareness of the Call to Freedom - previously without construct. Vocation already rooted; but without facilitation.

It restores (first and foremost to us, who habitually frequent places of worship) perfect personal judgement, an unthinkable purity.

The turning point comes immediately. Even in depth, as in excess.

To internalise and live the message:

Are you credible and free, i.e. full of passion and depth?

Do you rely on the inner world, or on the (somewhat too) outer world?

Having listened to and welcomed yourself and the reality to come, do you put yourself at risk or are you of the 'ne quid nimis' - nothing too much?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

[Mk 1:21-28] presents to us Jesus, who was preaching on the Sabbath in the Synagogue of Capernaum, the little town on the Sea of Galilee where Peter and his brother Andrew lived. His teaching, which gave rise to wonder among the people, was followed by the deliverance of “a man with an unclean spirit” (v. 23), who recognized Jesus as “the Holy One of God”, that is, the Messiah. In a short time his fame spread across the region which he passed through proclaiming the Kingdom of God and healing the sick of every kind: words and action. St John Chrysostom pointed out that the Lord “varies the mode of profiting his hearers, after miracles entering on words, and again from the instruction by his words passing to miracles” (Hom. in Matthæum 25, 1: PG 57, 328).

The words Jesus addresses to the people immediately give access to the will of the Father and to the truth about themselves. This was not the case for the scribes who instead had to make an effort to interpret the Sacred Scriptures with countless reflections. Moreover Jesus united the efficacy of the word with the efficacy of the signs of deliverance from evil. St Athanasius notes that “for his charging evil spirits and their being driven forth, this deed is not of man, but of God”; indeed the Lord “drove away from men all diseases and infirmities”.... Those “who saw his power... will no longer doubt whether this be the Son and Wisdom and Power of God?” (Oratio de Incarnatione Verbi 18,19: PG 25, 128 BC. 129 B).

The divine authority is not a force of nature. It is the power of the love of God that creates the universe and, becoming incarnate in the Only-Begotten Son, descending into our humanity, heals the world corrupted by sin. Romano Guardini wrote: “Jesus’ entire existence is the translation of power into humility... here is the sovereignty which lowers itself into the form of a servant” (Il Potere, Brescia 1999, 141-142).

Authority, for human beings, often means possession, power, dominion and success. Instead for God authority means service, humility and love; it means entering into the logic of Jesus who stoops to wash his disciples’ feet (cf. Jn 13:5), who seeks man’s true good, who heals wounds, who is capable of a love so great that he gives his life, because he is Love. In one of her Letters St. Catherine of Siena wrote: “It is necessary for us to see and know, in truth, with the light of the faith, that God is supreme and eternal Love and cannot want anything but our good” (Ep. 13 in: Le Lettere, vol. 3, Bologna 1999, 206).

Dear friends, next Thursday, 2 February, we shall celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the World Day of Consecrated Life. Let us invoke Mary Most Holy with trust so that she may guide our hearts to draw always from divine mercy, which frees and guarantees our humanity, filling it with every grace and benevolence and with the power of love.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 29 January 2012]

1. In the Gospels we find another fact that attests to Jesus' consciousness of possessing divine authority, and the persuasion that the evangelists and the early Christian community had of this authority. In fact, the Synoptics agree in saying that Jesus' listeners "were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mk 1:22; Mt 7:29; Lk 4:32). This is valuable information that Mark gives us from the very beginning of his Gospel. It attests to the fact that the people had immediately grasped the difference between Christ's teaching and that of the Israelite scribes, and not only in the manner, but in the very substance: the scribes based their teaching on the text of the Mosaic Law, of which they were the interpreters and commentators; Jesus did not at all follow the method of a "teacher" or a "commentator" of the ancient Law, but behaved like a legislator and, ultimately, like one who had authority over the Law. Note: the listeners were well aware that this was the divine Law, given by Moses by virtue of power that God himself had granted him as his representative and mediator with the people of Israel.

The evangelists and the early Christian community who reflected on that observation of the listeners about Jesus' teaching, realised even better its full significance, because they could compare it with the whole of Christ's subsequent ministry. For the Synoptics and their readers, it was therefore logical to move from the affirmation of a power over the Mosaic Law and the entire Old Testament to that of the presence of a divine authority in Christ. And not only as in an Envoy or Legate of God as it had been in the case of Moses: Christ, by attributing to himself the power to authoritatively complete and interpret or even give in a new way the Law of God, showed his consciousness of being "equal to God" (cf. Phil 2:6).

2. That Christ's power over the Law involves divine authority is shown by the fact that he does not create another Law by abolishing the old one: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfil" (Mt 5:17). It is clear that God could not "abolish" the Law that he himself gave. He can instead - as Jesus Christ does - clarify its full meaning, make its proper sense understood, correct the false interpretations and arbitrary applications, to which the people and their own teachers and leaders, yielding to the weaknesses and limitations of the human condition, have bent it.

This is why Jesus announces, proclaims and demands a "righteousness" superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees (cf. Mt 5:20), the "righteousness" that God Himself has proposed and demands with the faithful observance of the Law in order to the "kingdom of heaven". The Son of Man thus acts as a God who re-establishes what God has willed and placed once and for all.

3. For of the Law of God he first of all proclaims: "Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or one sign of the law shall pass away, and all things shall be fulfilled" (Matt 5:18). It is a drastic statement, with which Jesus wants to affirm both the substantial immutability of the Mosaic Law and the messianic fulfilment it receives in his word. It is about a "fullness" of the Old Law, which he, teaching "as one who has authority" over the Law, shows to be manifested above all in love of God and neighbour. "On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets" (Mt 22:40). It is a "fulfilment" corresponding to the "spirit" of the Law, which already transpires from the "letter" of the Old Testament, which Jesus grasps, synthesises, and proposes with the authority of one who is Lord also of the Law. The precepts of love, and also of the faith that generates hope in the messianic work, which he adds to the ancient Law, making its content explicit and developing its hidden virtues, are also a fulfilment.

His life is a model of this fulfilment, so that Jesus can say to his disciples not only and not so much: Follow my Law, but: Follow me, imitate me, walk in the light that comes from me.

4. The Sermon on the Mount, as recorded by Matthew, is the place in the New Testament where one sees Jesus clearly affirmed and decisively exercised the power over the Law that Israel received from God as the cornerstone of the covenant. It is there that, after having declared the perennial value of the Law and the duty to observe it (Mt 5:18-19), Jesus goes on to affirm the need for a "justice" superior to "that of the scribes and Pharisees", that is, an observance of the Law animated by the new evangelical spirit of charity and sincerity.

The concrete examples are well known. The first consists in the victory over wrath, resentment, and malice that easily lurk in the human heart, even when one can exhibit an outward observance of the Mosaic precepts, including the one not to kill: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not kill; whoever kills shall be brought into judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother shall be brought into judgment" (Mt 5:21-22). The same thing applies to anyone who offends another with insulting words, with jokes and mockery. It is the condemnation of every yielding to the instinct of aversion, which potentially is already an act of injury and even of killing, at least spiritually, because it violates the economy of love in human relations and hurts others, and to this condemnation Jesus intends to counterpose the Law of charity that purifies and reorders man down to the innermost feelings and movements of his spirit. Jesus makes fidelity to this Law an indispensable condition of religious practice itself: "If therefore you present your offering at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first to be reconciled with your brother and then return to offer your gift" (Mt 5:23-24). Since it is a law of love, it is even irrelevant who it is that has something against the other in his heart: the love preached by Jesus equals and unifies all in wanting good, in establishing or restoring harmony in relations with one's neighbour, even in cases of disputes and legal proceedings (cf. Mt 5:25).

5. Another example of perfecting the Law is that of the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, in which Moses forbade adultery. In hyperbolic and even paradoxical language, designed to draw the attention and shake the mood of his listeners, Jesus announces. "You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery, but I say to you . . ." (Mt 5:27); and he also condemns impure looks and desires, while recommending the flight from opportunities, the courage of mortification, the subordination of all acts and behaviour to the demands of the salvation of the soul and of the whole man (cf. Mt 5:29-30).

This case is related in a certain way to another one that Jesus immediately addresses: "It was also said: Whoever repudiates his wife, let him give her the act of repudiation; but I say to you . . ." and declares forfeited the concession made by the ancient Law to the people of Israel "because of the hardness of their hearts" (cf. Mt 19:8), prohibiting also this form of violation of the law of love in harmony with the re-establishment of the indissolubility of marriage (cf. Mt 19:9).

6. With the same procedure, Jesus contrasts the ancient prohibition of perjury with that of not swearing at all (Mt 5, 33-38), and the reason that emerges quite clearly is still founded in love: one must not be incredulous or distrustful of one's neighbour, when he is habitually frank and loyal, and rather one must on the one hand and on the other follow this fundamental law of speech and action: "Let your language be yes, if it is yes; no, if it is no. The more is from the evil one" (Mt 5:37).

7. And again: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; but I say to you, do not oppose the evil one...'" (Mt 5:38-39), and in metaphorical language Jesus teaches to turn the other cheek, to surrender not only one's tunic but also one's cloak, not to respond violently to the anguish of others, and above all: "Give to those who ask you and to those who seek a loan from you do not turn your back" (Mt 5:42). Radical exclusion of the law of retribution in the personal life of the disciple of Jesus, whatever the duty of society to defend its members from wrongdoers and to punish those guilty of violating the rights of citizens and the state itself.

8. And here is the ultimate refinement, in which all the others find their dynamic centre: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy; but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for your persecutors, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes it rain on the just and on the unjust . . ." (Mt 5:43-45). To the vulgar interpretation of the ancient Law that identified the neighbour with the Israelite and indeed with the pious Israelite, Jesus opposes the authentic interpretation of God's commandment and adds to it the religious dimension of the reference to the clement and merciful heavenly Father, who benefits all and is therefore the supreme exemplar of universal love.

Indeed, Jesus concludes: "Be... perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). He demands of his followers the perfection of love. The new law he brings has its synthesis in love. This love will make man overcome the classic friend-enemy opposition in his relations with others, and will tend from within hearts to translate into corresponding forms of social and political solidarity, even institutionalised. The irradiation of the 'new commandment' of Jesus will therefore be very broad in history.

9. At this point, we would particularly like to note that in the important passages of the "Sermon on the Mount", the contrast is repeated: "You have heard that it was said . . . But I say to you"; and this is not to "abolish" the divine Law of the old covenant, but to indicate its "perfect fulfilment", according to the meaning intended by God the Lawgiver, which Jesus illuminates with a new light and explains in all its fulfilling value of new life and generator of new history: and he does so by attributing to himself an authority that is that of God the Lawgiver. It can be said that in that expression repeated six times: I say to you, there resounds the echo of that self-definition of God, which Jesus also attributed to himself: "I am" (cf. Jn 8:58).

10. Finally, one must recall the answer that Jesus gave to the Pharisees, who reproached his disciples for plucking the ears of grain from the fields full of wheat in order to eat them on the Sabbath, thus violating the Mosaic law. Jesus first cites to them the example of David and his companions who did not hesitate to eat the "offering loaves" to feed themselves, and that of the priests who on the Sabbath day did not observe the law of rest because they performed their duties in the temple. Then he concludes with two peremptory statements, unheard of for the Pharisees: "Now I say to you that there is something greater here than the temple . . .", and: "The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Mt 12:6.8; cf. Mk 2:27-28). These are statements that clearly reveal the consciousness Jesus had of his divine authority. Calling himself "one above the temple" was a quite clear allusion to his divine transcendence. Then proclaiming himself "lord of the Sabbath", i.e. of a Law given by God himself to Israel, was an open proclamation of his authority as the head of the messianic kingdom and promulgator of the new Law. It was therefore not a matter of mere derogations from the Mosaic Law, admitted even by the rabbis in very restricted cases, but of a reintegration, a completion and a renewal that Jesus enunciates as eternal: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" (Mt 24:35). What comes from God is eternal, as God is eternal.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 14 October 1987]

The Gospel passage for this Sunday (cf. Mk 1:21-28) presents Jesus who, with his small community of disciples, enters Capernaum, the city where Peter lived and which at that time was the largest in Galilee. And Jesus enters that city.

The evangelist Mark relates that Jesus, being that day a Sabbath, immediately went into the synagogue and began to teach (cf. v. 21). This suggests the primacy of the Word of God, Word to be heard, Word to be received, Word to be proclaimed. Arriving in Capernaum, Jesus does not postpone the proclamation of the Gospel, he does not think first of the logistical arrangement, certainly necessary, of his small community, he does not delay in organising it. His main concern is to communicate the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the people in the synagogue are impressed, because Jesus "taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (v. 22).

What does 'with authority' mean? It means that in the human words of Jesus one felt the full force of the Word of God, one felt the very authority of God, the inspirer of the Holy Scriptures. And one of the characteristics of the Word of God is that it realises what it says. For the Word of God corresponds to his will. Instead, we often utter empty, rootless words or superfluous words, words that do not correspond to the truth. Instead, the Word of God corresponds to the truth, it is unity with his will and realises what he says. In fact, Jesus, after preaching, immediately demonstrates his authority by freeing a man, present in the synagogue, who was possessed by the devil (cf. Mk 1:23-26). It was precisely Christ's divine authority that had aroused the reaction of Satan, who was hiding in that man; Jesus, in turn, immediately recognised the voice of the evil one and "sternly commanded: 'Be silent! Come out of him!'" (v. 25). By the power of his word alone, Jesus delivers the person from the evil one. And again those present are amazed: "He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him!" (v. 27). The Word of God creates astonishment in us. It possesses the power to make us amazed.

The Gospel is a word of life: it does not oppress people, on the contrary, it frees those who are enslaved to so many evil spirits of this world: the spirit of vanity, attachment to money, pride, sensuality... The Gospel changes hearts, it changes lives, it transforms evil inclinations into good intentions. The Gospel is capable of changing people! It is therefore the task of Christians to spread its redeeming power everywhere, becoming missionaries and heralds of the Word of God. This is also suggested to us by today's passage, which closes with a missionary opening and says: "His fame - the fame of Jesus - immediately spread everywhere, throughout the whole region of Galilee" (v. 28). The new doctrine taught with authority by Jesus is that which the Church brings to the world, together with the effective signs of his presence: the authoritative teaching and the liberating action of the Son of God become the words of salvation and the gestures of love of the missionary Church. Always remember that the Gospel has the power to change lives! Do not forget this. It is the Good News, which transforms us only when we allow ourselves to be transformed by it. That is why I always ask you to have daily contact with the Gospel, to read it every day, a passage, a passage, to meditate on it and also to carry it with you everywhere: in your pocket, in your bag... In other words, to nourish yourself every day from this inexhaustible source of salvation. Do not forget! Read a passage from the Gospel every day. It is the power that changes us, that transforms us: it changes lives, it changes hearts.

Let us invoke the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, She who received the Word and generated it for the world, for all men. May she teach us to be assiduous listeners and authoritative proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 1 February 2015]

Fishermen: not backward, nor fashionable

(Mk 1:14-20)

The Kingdom is close if thanks to our involvement God comes to earth and Happiness knocks at the door, addressing us to something profoundly new.

It’s not the call of the boss, but the invitation of the Friend, who lives firsthand what he announces, exposing himself.

His «Good News» (v.15) reveals a divine face opposite to that preached by official guides: the Father does not absorb our energies, but gives them in fullness and free.

«Convert yourselves and believe in the Gospel» is in fact an hendiadys: the two coordinated terms «convert and believe» express the same meaning. But not in a separatist or doctrinal sense.

The Baptist purported to ‘prepare’ the Coming of the Messiah; Jesus proclaims the Kingdom already present, therefore simply to be ‘welcomed’, to live fully.

The invitation to convert themselves means precisely: «Turn the scale of values!».

There is a freedom to be regained, but the scene is rapid, because the young Master teaches with life.

To Abraham God says «Go towards the land that I will show you». Jesus does not say «Go», but «Come».

Abraham is just one sent; the disciple of Christ on his way proposes a Person, his whole story.

He’s interested in real life: he doesn’t advocate a return to worship that should have patch up the ancient practice.

«Fishers of men»: the meaning of the expression is clearer in Lk 5:10 [Greek text].

Our mission is ‘to lift to the life’ those who no longer breathe, suffocate, enveloped by impetuous waves [forces of negativity].

The real task is to get them out of the polluted environment where they live in a dehumanizing way. By placing in transparent water, with values that are no longer those of self-absorbed and corrupt society - habitat of obsessive blocks, useful only to strong and cunning ones.

It’s fundamental to abandon the «nets» (v.18): what encloses, prevents, arrests. Also the «boat» (v.20), that is, the way of managing work.

Even the «father» (v.20): the imposed tradition that clouds the new Light.

“Meshes” to be broken. In fact, the Christ must begin far from the observant region and the holy city [Judea, Jerusalem].

It means a new approach.

To give these unprecedented impulses, Jesus does not choose sacred environments, nor does he designate someone with the title that belongs to Him only: «Pastor».

He knows well that we need attention, not of leaders, teachers, directors of the "flock".

The theme is precisely in key of Exodus: the allusion to the «sea» [actually a lake] is clear.

‘Forward’ «Conversion» that Jesus proposes is not about a devout return to the Temple, but a change of mentality and orientation.

And «Kingdom of God» doesn’t allude to a world "in" Heaven: there is no mention about afterlife, but of areas in which the Beatitudes are lived.

No submission of consciences: Orientation without the punishments of the religion that mortifies.

'Route forward' without the backstory: every trajectory is personal. And fashion has nothing to do with it.

Guidance that draws every soul into unique exploration and action, towards a total ideal.

[Monday 1st wk. in O.T.  January 12, 2026]

Conversion Forward

(Mk 1:14-20)

It is not the call of the leader, but the invitation of the Friend, who lives in the first person what he announces, exposing himself.

It is he who risks and precedes, presenting himself as the Lamb. He does not sit down to lecture and teach doctrines.

His "Glad Tidings" (v.15) reveals a divine face opposite to the one preached by the official guides: the Father does not absorb our energies, but gives them in fullness and freely.

'Convert and believe in the Gospel' is in fact an endiad: the two co-ordinated terms 'convert and believe' express the same meaning. But not in a separatist or doctrinal sense.

In short:

The Kingdom is near if through our involvement God comes to earth to replace the trance, and happiness knocks at the door.

Transformation that comes; change that breaks through. We do not even plan it in detail; we do not build it like scaffolding.

It turns us to something profoundly new: choices of light instead of judgement, possession, the exercise of power, the display of glory.

The Baptist pretended to prepare for the coming of the Messiah; Jesus proclaims the Kingdom already near and profoundly conformed to mankind - present, therefore simply to be welcomed, to be lived to the full.

Following John [pupil, together with his first disciples] the new Master had definitively grasped the difference between ascetic - reductionist - dynamics and the Father's plan of salvation.

It was a stimulus towards an all-round humanisation based on the exchange of gifts, the creative freedom of love, and a spirit of broad understanding.

The Son's luminous and universal mission is not understood except by very few - all fragile and unimportant people - and is slow to assert itself.

It is too difficult to make the long-established religious Judaizers and their established realities believe that no one has exclusivity: all must just accept the new Covenant Promises.

Until John [even more famous than Christ even during his public life] is imprisoned and silenced, the Son of God lives almost in the shadow of the Forerunner (cf. Jn 3:22-23).

Then he is forced to flee even from his small, traditionalist and nationalist village (Mt 4:12-13).

No one could believe in a divine reality without great proclamations and arduous conditions.

No one would have imagined a widespread Jerusalem, already among us, so spontaneous, ordinary and wide-ranging - transcending but bringing us all together.

Too difficult to pass from the idea of the imminence of the empire of power, to its unitive, not clamorous Presence - in the Person of a servant Messiah, not a self-sufficient executioner.

Such closeness, nothing exceptional, like his faithful - 'converted' both from the religion of the fathers and from paganism, therefore marginalised.

In the First Testament, Galilee appears only in passing, because the observant Jews did not appreciate its contamination of beliefs.

Yet, that region of suspicious people becomes the land of change.

In concrete terms, the unexpected invitation to conversion on the soil of Galilee means: "Turn the scale of values!".

There is indeed a freedom to be regained, but the scene is swift, because the young Master teaches not in the way know-it-alls do: with life.

To Abraham God says "Go to the land that I will show you". Jesus does not say 'Go', but 'Come'.

Abraham is only an envoy; the disciple of Christ on the way proposes a Person, his whole story.

He is interested in real life: he does not advocate a return to the Temple, to the ancient religion, to the cult that was supposed to have patched up the already recognised practice.

Thus, here are the first ones called: from 'fishermen' to 'fishers of men' (vv.16-17). The meaning of the expression is clearer in Lk 5:10 [Greek text].

Our mission is to lift to life those who are no longer breathing, and suffocating, enveloped by raging waves (the forces of negativity).

The Apostle's real task is to bring everyone out of the polluted sphere, where people live in a dehumanising way.

And to place everyone in transparent water, with values that are no longer those of the folded and corrupt society - a habitat of obsessive blockades, useful only to the strong, the quick-witted and the cunning.

The Son of God calls to invite us to cut away that which degrades the experience of personal fullness.

He promotes in everyone the DNA of the communal God. Transmitted inwardly and unconditionally.

[Commenting on the passage in the Tao Tê Ching (LXV), Master Ho-shang Kung points out:

"The man who possesses the mysterious virtue is opposed to and different from creatures: the latter want to increase themselves, the mysterious virtue bestows on others"].

Fundamental is to abandon the "nets" (v.18): that which entangles, impedes, arrests. Even the "boat" (v.20), that is, the way of managing work.

Even the "father" (v. 20): the imposed tradition, which obscures the New Light.

All links to be broken.

For the Lord must begin far from the observant region and the holy city - Judea, Jerusalem the capital.

It means a new approach, even if the previous life can continue in it.

But the values are no longer static and trivial: seeking consensus, settling down, keeping to oneself; so on.

Fatuous flickers, inculcating outward idols.

Too 'regular' and normal, uniforming; without uniqueness or decisive peaks. They pose a thousand obstacles to the free expression we are entitled to.

To give these unheard-of impulses, Jesus does not choose sacred environments and perhaps devout people who could not regenerate anyone.

He glosses over the palaces of the court, from which nothing would be born (cf. Jn 4:1-4).

Nor does He designate anyone with the title that belongs to Him alone: 'Shepherd'.

And even today it is still unclear why all denominational traditions are (then immediately) filled with 'shepherds', i.e. guides, teachers, directors of the 'flock'.

We need attention, not dirigists who judge and pass judgments of inadequacy. Nor do we desire binaries that do not concern us, useless mental models.

The woman and man of all times only need wise support; companions on the journey who help discover the hidden, unknown, secret sides that can flourish.

Masters who let us complete, allowing the personality to marry the aspects still in shadow.

This inner alliance will be a source of fulfilment, confidence and fullness of life.

But for this we need someone to teach us how to distract the mind from the known, and thus embark on the Way of the 'further'.

Of course, a danger for those who like to interpret things with a sense of permanence: in short, no shortcut without unknowns.

It is a road that changes one's own and others' mental atmosphere; it glosses over the used, qualunquistic, epidermic way of seeing things.

Here, standing in our Calling and naturalness, we will be ourselves in the round. And we will surprise ourselves.

Here we are in the hazard of the Accepted Gift: only thus able to contact our deepest states; to know ourselves, thus realising unexpected dreams of open and complete experience.

Precisely, activating dormant energies.

Like Jesus, able to put everyone we meet into action; recovering opposite sides and eccentricities, for a humanising, total ideal.

Natural Wisdom, in the Tao Tê Ching (LXV) says:

"In ancient times those who well practised the Tao [the Way] did not make the people discerning with it, but with it they strove to make them dull".

The theme - from the biblical evangelical point of view - is precisely in the key of Exodus: the allusion to the "sea" [v.16; actually a lake] is clear.

Therefore, the forward "Conversion" that the new Rebbe proposes is not a U-shaped movement - as is often said.

"Conversion" is not about a devout return to worship and the Temple, but a change of mindset and orientation.

And "Kingdom of God" does not allude to a world "in" heaven: it does not speak of an afterlife, but of areas in which the Beatitudes are lived out.

"Conversion"? Authentic, without the chastisements of mortifying religion. Nor - as will unfortunately happen later - the subjugation of consciences.

Nor any subjection to the profit motive without sharing.

The obtuseness of the ancient, dull, provincial power - even of ecclesiastical vein - is to believe that a voice of denunciation cannot be replaced by a more incisive Herald.

But it can (vv.13-14).

In Christ we will launch radical changes, bringing out and activating in people awarenesses that are valid and enduring.

No longer that insistence on seeking fake, glossy, glamorous or papier-mâché securities, but a knowing how to transmit life, taking all the risks of love.

Faith will stand out everywhere over homologising devotion, good for all seasons. For it does not plan a further stasis, but an unending Path.

Way, country, and way of seeing the world, detached from certainties of little specific weight: finally producing situations as reassuring as they are shoddy.

Then we will be ourselves in the round in the power of the Spirit [cf. parallel passage Lk 4:14] i.e. in the unknown of unpredictable Love.

And in the risk of contamination: only thus able to fulfil others' dreams of an open and complete life, which goes beyond (Lk 4:15).

Like Jesus, and in Him, for the brothers. With his new way of activating and marching.

Not: held back, so as to "arrange" assurances and that fine-tuning according to mannerly clichés.

Forward course with no more backtracking: every trajectory is personal.

Orientation that draws us into exploration and action, towards a total ideal.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you care about assurances? What certainties do you have to leave behind?

Do you cultivate vital openings?

Do you feel closeness and life ahead in the Church? 

Or do behind-the-scenes, made judgments, categorisations, anonymity, ostentation, detachment prevail?

If you meet Jesus who walks, treads, goes further: how and according to what inclinations do you think your sterility could become fruitful?

The first appeal is for conversion, a word to be understood with its extraordinary gravity, grasping the surprising newness it releases. The appeal to conversion, in fact, lays bare and denounces the facile superficiality that all too often marks our lives. To repent [or convert] is to change direction in the journey of life: not, however, by means of a small adjustment, but with a true and proper about turn. Conversion means swimming against the tide, where the "tide" is the superficial lifestyle, inconsistent and deceptive, that often sweeps us long, overwhelms us and makes us slaves to evil or at any rate prisoners of moral mediocrity. With conversion, on the other hand, we are aiming for the high standard of Christian living, we entrust ourselves to the living and personal Gospel which is Jesus Christ. He is our final goal and the profound meaning of conversion, he is the path on which all are called to walk through life, letting themselves be illumined by his light and sustained by his power which moves our steps. In this way conversion expresses his most splendid and fascinating Face: it is not a mere moral decision that rectifies our conduct in life, but rather a choice of faith that wholly involves us in close communion with Jesus as a real and living Person. To repent and believe in the Gospel are not two different things or in some way only juxtaposed, but express the same reality. Repentance is the total "yes" of those who consign their whole life to the Gospel responding freely to Christ who first offers himself to humankind as the Way, the Truth and the Life, as the only One who sets us free and saves us. This is the precise meaning of the first words with which, according to the Evangelist Mark, Jesus begins preaching the "Gospel of God": "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1: 15).

The "Repent, and believe in the Gospel" is not only at the beginning of Christian life but accompanies it throughout, endures, is renewed and spreads, branching out into all its expressions. Every day is a favourable moment of grace because every day presses us to give ourselves to Jesus, to trust in him, to abide in him, to share his lifestyle, to learn true love from him, to follow him in the daily fulfilment of the Father's will, the one great law of life. Every day, even when it is fraught with difficulties and toil, weariness and setbacks, even when we are tempted to leave the path of the following of Christ and withdraw into ourselves, into our selfishness, without realizing our need to open ourselves to the love of God in Christ, to live the same logic of justice and love.

[Pope Benedict, General Audience 17 February 2010]

1. What is most important in the old and new forms of 'consecrated life' is that in them one discerns the fundamental conformity to the will of Christ, the institutor of the evangelical counsels and, in this sense, the founder of religious life and of every similar state of consecration. As the Second Vatican Council says, the evangelical counsels are "founded on the words and examples of the Lord" (Lumen Gentium, 43).

There has been no shortage of those who have questioned this foundation by considering consecrated life as a purely human institution, born of the initiative of Christians who wished to live the Gospel ideal more deeply. Now it is true that Jesus did not directly found any of the religious communities that gradually developed in the Church, nor did He determine particular forms of consecrated life. But what He willed and instituted is the state of consecrated life, in its general value and in its essential elements. There is no historical evidence to explain this state by a later human initiative, nor is it easily conceivable that consecrated life - which has played such a great role in the development of holiness and the mission of the Church - did not proceed from a founding will of Christ. If we explore the Gospel accounts well, we discover that this will appears in a very clear way.

2. It appears from the Gospel that from the very beginning of his public life Jesus calls men to follow him. This call is not necessarily expressed in words: it can simply result from the attraction exercised by Jesus' personality on those he meets, as in the case of the first two disciples, according to the account in John's Gospel. Already disciples of John the Baptist, Andrew and his companion (who seems to be the evangelist himself) are fascinated and almost gripped by the one who is presented to them as 'the lamb of God'; and they immediately set out to follow Jesus, before he has even spoken a word to them. When Jesus asks, "What do you seek?", they respond with another question: "Master, where do you dwell?". Then they receive the invitation that will change their lives: "Come and see" (cf. Jn 1:38-39).

But generally the most characteristic expression of the call is the word: "Follow me" (Mt 8:22; 9:9; 19:21; Mk 2:14; 10:21; Lk 9:59; 18:22; Jn 1:43; 21:19). It manifests the initiative of Jesus. Before then, those who wished to embrace the teaching of a master chose the one whose discipleship they wished to become. Jesus, on the other hand, with that word: 'Follow me', shows that it is he who chooses those whom he wants to have as companions and disciples. Indeed, he will say to the Apostles: "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (Jn 15:16).

In this initiative of Jesus appears a sovereign will, but also an intense love. The account of the call addressed to the rich young man reveals this love. We read there that when the young man declares that he has kept the commandments of the law from an early age, Jesus, "gazing at him, loved him" (Mk 10:21). This penetrating gaze, filled with love, accompanies the invitation: "Go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven, then come and follow me" (Ibid). This divine and human love of Jesus, so ardent as to be recalled by a witness to the scene, is what is repeated in every call to total self-giving in the consecrated life. As I wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Redemptionis donum, "in it is reflected the eternal love of the Father, who 'so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (Jn 3:16)" (John Paul II, Redemptionis donum, no. 3).

3. Again according to the testimony of the Gospel, the call to follow Jesus involves very wide-ranging demands: the account of the invitation to the rich young man emphasises the renunciation of material goods; in other cases the renunciation of the family is more explicitly emphasised (cf. Lk 9:59-60). Generally speaking; following Jesus means renouncing everything to join him and accompany him on the paths of his mission. And the renunciation to which the Apostles consented, as Peter declares: "Behold, we have left everything and followed you" (Mt 19, 27). Precisely in his reply to Peter Jesus indicates the renunciation of human goods as a fundamental element of his following (cf. Mt 19:29). It is clear from the Old Testament that God asked his people to follow him through the observance of the commandments, but without ever making such radical demands. Jesus manifests his divine sovereignty by demanding instead an absolute dedication to him, even to the point of total detachment from earthly goods and affections.

4. Note, however, that while formulating the new demands included in the call to follow him, Jesus presents them to the free choice of those he calls. They are not precepts, but invitations or "advice". The love with which Jesus addresses the call to him, does not deprive the rich young man of the power of free decision, as shown by his refusal to follow him because of the preference given to the goods he possesses. The evangelist Mark notes that he "went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions" (Mk 10:22). Jesus does not condemn him for this. But in his turn he observes not without a certain affliction that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, and that only God can work certain detachments, certain inner liberations, that allow one to respond to the call (cf. Mk 10:23-27).

5. On the other hand, Jesus assures that the renunciations required by the call to follow him obtain their reward, a "heavenly treasure", that is, an abundance of spiritual goods. He even promises eternal life in the century to come, and a hundredfold in this century (cf. Matthew 19:29). This hundredfold refers to a higher quality of life, to a higher happiness.

Experience teaches that the consecrated life, according to Jesus' design, is a profoundly happy life. This happiness is commensurate with fidelity to Jesus' plan. It does not preclude the fact that, again according to Mark's mention of persecution in the same episode (Mk 10:30), the "hundredfold" does not dispense from association with the cross of Christ.

6. Jesus also called women to follow him. An account in the Gospels says that a group of women accompanied Jesus, and that these women were numerous (cf. Lk 8:1-3; Mt 27:55; Mk 15:40-41). This was a great novelty in relation to Judaic customs: only the innovative will of Jesus, which included the promotion and to some extent the liberation of women, can explain the fact. No account of any woman's vocation has reached us from the Gospels; but the presence of numerous women with the Twelve with Jesus presupposes his call, his choice, whether silent or expressed.

In fact, Jesus shows that the state of consecrated life, consisting in following him, is not necessarily linked to a destination to the priestly ministry, and that this state concerns both women and men, each in his own field and with the function assigned by the divine call. In the group of women who followed Jesus, one can discern the announcement and indeed the initial nucleus of the immense number of women who will commit themselves to religious life or other forms of consecrated life, throughout the centuries of the Church, up to the present day. This applies to the "consecrated women", but also to so many of our sisters who follow in new forms the authentic example of the co-workers of Jesus: e.g. as lay "volunteers" in so many works of the apostolate, in so many ministries and offices of the Church.

7. Let us conclude this catechesis by recognising that Jesus, in calling men and women to abandon everything to follow him, inaugurated a state of life that would gradually develop in his Church, in the various forms of consecrated life, concretised in religious life, or even - for those chosen by God - in the priesthood. From Gospel times to the present day, the founding will of Christ has continued to operate, expressed in that beautiful and most holy invitation addressed to so many souls: "Follow me!"

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 12 October 1994]

The Gospel today presents to us the beginning of Jesus’ preaching ministry in Galilee. St Mark stresses that Jesus began to preach “after John [the Baptist] was arrested” (1:14). Precisely at the moment in which the prophetic voice of the Baptist, who proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God, was silenced by Herod, Jesus begins to travel the roads of his land to bring to all, especially the poor, “the gospel of God” (cf. ibid.). The proclamation of Jesus is like that of John, with the essential difference that Jesus no longer points to another who must come: Jesus is Himself the fulfilment of those promises; He Himself is the “good news” to believe in, to receive and to communicate to all men and women of every time that they too may entrust their life to Him. Jesus Christ in his person is the Word living and working in history: whoever hears and follows Him may enter the Kingdom of God.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 25 January 2015].

The Gospel passage [...] (cf. Mk 1:14-20) shows us, so to speak, the “passing of the baton” from John the Baptist to Jesus. John was His precursor; he prepared the terrain for Him and he prepared the way for Him: Jesus can now begin his mission and announce the salvation by now present; He was the salvation. His preaching is summarized in these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel” (v. 15). Simply. Jesus did not mince words. It is a message that invites us to reflect on two essential themes: time and conversion.

In this text of Mark the Evangelist, time is to be understood as the duration of the history of salvation worked by God; therefore, the time “fulfilled” is that in which this salvific action reaches its pinnacle, full realization: it is the historical moment in which God sent his Son into the world and his Kingdom was rendered more “close” than ever. The time of salvation was fulfilled because Jesus arrived. However, salvation is not automatic; salvation is a gift of love and as such, it is offered to human freedom. Always, when we speak of love, we speak of freedom: love without freedom is not love; it may be interest, it may be fear, many things, but love is always free, and being free it calls for a freely given response: it calls for our conversion. Thus, it means changing mentality — this is conversion, changing mentality — and changing life: no longer following the examples of the world but those of God, who is Jesus; following Jesus; “doing” as Jesus had done, and as Jesus taught us. It is a decisive change of view and attitude. In fact, sin — above all the sin of worldliness which is like air, it permeates everything — brought about a mentality that tends toward the affirmation of oneself against others and against God. This is curious... What is your identity? And so often we hear that one’s identity is expressed in terms of “opposition”. It is difficult to express one’s identity in the worldly spirit, in positive terms and in those of salvation: it is against oneself, against others and against God. And for this purpose it does not hesitate — the mentality of sin, the worldly mentality — to use deceit and violence. Deceit and violence. We see what happens with deceit and violence: greed, desire for power and not service, war, exploitation of people... This is the mentality of deceit that definitely has its origins in the father of deceit, the great pretender, the devil. He is the father of lies, as Jesus defines him.

All this is opposed by the message of Jesus, who invites us to recognize ourselves as in need of God and his grace; to have a balanced attitude with regard to earthly goods; to be welcoming and humble toward everyone; to know and fulfil ourselves in the encounter with and service of others. For each one of us the time in which we are able to receive redemption is brief: it is the duration of our life in this world. It is brief. Perhaps it seems long... I remember that I went to administer the Sacraments, the Anointing of the Sick, to a very good elderly man, very good, and in that moment, before receiving the Eucharist and the Anointing of the Sick, he said this phrase to me: “My life flew by”. This is how we, the elderly, feel, that life has passed away. It passes away. And life is a gift of God’s infinite love, but it is also the time to prove our love for him. For this reason every moment, every instant of our existence is precious time to love God and to love our neighbour, and thereby enter into eternal life.

The history of our life has two rhythms: one, measurable, made of hours, days, years; the other, composed of the seasons of our development: birth, childhood, adolescence, maturity, old age, death. Every period, every phase has its own value, and can be a privileged moment of encounter with the Lord. Faith helps us to discover the spiritual significance of these periods: each one of them contains a particular call of the Lord, to which we can give a positive or negative response. In the Gospel we see how Simon, Andrew, James and John responded: they were mature men; they had their work as fishermen, they had their family life... Yet, when Jesus passed and called to them, “immediately they left their nets and followed him” (Mk 1:18).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us be attentive and not let Jesus pass by without welcoming him. Saint Augustine said “I am afraid of God when he passes by”. Afraid of what? Of not recognizing him, of not seeing him, not welcoming him.

May the Virgin Mary help us live each day, each moment as the time of salvation, when the Lord passes and calls us to follow him, each according to his or her life. And may she help us to convert from the mentality of the world, that of worldly reveries that are fireworks, to that of love and service.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 24 January 2021]

The muddy condition of the Jordan and the human dimension of Jesus

(Mt 3:13-17; Mk 1:7-11; Lk 3:21-22; Jn 1:30-34)

The Jordan River was never navigable; it simply marked a border. In the mentality of time, between the land of others and the sacred realm of freedom; and here is the concrete distinction of the Incarnation.

Let us outline some considerations that recover the meaning of this historical fact - which for us can be like a ‘sun’ inside - with which the liturgy completes the path of Christmas time.

Jesus was in search, eager to sift, to learn.

It may seem incredible to us, but he recognized himself ignorant, in need of evolving - not of becoming “better” and stronger, but of ‘looking inside’ things - and move the gaze elsewhere.

In that strongly engaged but overly serious environment he understood definitively who the Subject of the spiritual journey is: the divine Life, which draws us into the experience of happiness, of authentic and solid love.

The Kingdom cannot be prepared and even set up [it would become a projection, a conditioned reflection, an outer tower, like Babel] - rather, it must be Welcomed. Because it Comes.

The results that appeal to our genius and muscles, at first they are unnerving, then they become frustrating; lastly they block the growth of the innate universe, because they turn off the novelties, obfuscate the Source of being and enthusiasm.

The religious man who does not make the leap of the Faith, stagnates in the depressing finding of the difference between expected results and concrete facts.

Paradoxically, he focuses the streets on himself, but doesn’t lays his eye ‘on’ his essence. He obeys - perhaps - but doesn’t listen.

Having lost the even relational sense of his unrepeatable Unicum - he measures all his inability to perceive, elaborate, realize, those designs that guide his dreams and resources to fullness.

He loses all his energy by making induced, contrived, off-scale resolutions, wich make him supposing and acidic - simply because those artifact targets dry him down: they do not concern him.

Meanwhile, the "perfect" and stressful discipline that imposes to himself, as if he were the Protagonist, takes away from him the joy of meeting his superior talents and fully experiencing what reality provides.

Perhaps he does not extract from his own ‘mine’ (entirely at hand) those abilities that realize the personal Mission.

He does not even notice it - all caught by absolutely derived or conforming ideas and disciplines, able only to dismantle his peaks and rarity.

Always with a look on the past, or on the common [even glamorous] thinking of the authorities, of others, of the surrounding environment - and what is believed "should be", according to established and damping ethicalisms.

Finally, the discrepancy between what to wich one has given so much [without perhaps ever understanding what God is really calling to] and what has been achieved, destroys the exceptionality.

It weakens Hope itself, triggering an inexorable sadness, or the useless individual and ecclesial routine.

Adult Jesus who lets himself be immersed in the waters of the Jordan is icon of a proposal that sublimates the conspicuously murky swamps of our condition.

Not only by seeing the possibilities, but even making them ‘cheerful’: so in all the oriental icons, which accentuate their elegant volutes.

How can our Lord stand beside an indistinct crowd of sinners and skids, seeking redemption?

Jesus noticed: in each one of them surfaced a talent. And we are at the lowest point on earth - 400 meters below sea level.

This is precisely the leap in quality that discriminates against a simple-minded religiosity [even cloaked in great things] and the growth of Faith.

The Son reveals divine life, which is manifested ceaselessly ‘friend’. Face of God that does not destroy but approaches, to bring out the stifled possibilities.

He doesn’t crush, humiliating our inclinations, and adding unbearable burdens. He’s not the King of submissive and fatigued persons.

He enters a reality also made of mud, but that prepares our developments, and desires to grow - producing paths often interrupted, but finally the unexpected Flower.

In this way we learn to love our limits and the many slimy conditions: they remind us of the Jordan.

Earth needs Light, but Light needs ‘earth’. They are expression of the New Covenant.

[Baptism of the Lord; homily. For a perhaps more fussy and characteristic biblical relief, cf. the extended comment, at the bottom of the site: www.duevie.art]