Mt 25:1-13 indicates the condition that would allow us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and it does so with the parable of the 10 virgins: it is about those maiden brides who were designated to welcome and accompany the bridegroom to the wedding ceremony and, since at that time it was customary to celebrate the ceremony at night, the maiden brides were provided with lamps. The parable states that five of these maidens are wise and five are foolish: indeed, the wise ones have brought oil for their lamps, while the foolish have brought none. The bridegroom’s arrival is delayed and they all fall asleep. At midnight the bridegroom’s arrival is announced; at that moment the foolish maidens realize they have no oil for their lamps, and they ask the wise ones for some. But the latter reply that they cannot give them any because there would not be enough for everyone. Thus, while the foolish maidens go in search of oil, the bridegroom arrives; the wise maidens go in with him to the marriage feast and the door is shut. The five foolish maidens return too late; they knock on the door, but the response is “I do not know you” (v. 12), and they remain outside.

What does Jesus wish to teach us with this parable? He reminds us that we must be ready for the encounter with him. Many times, in the Gospel, Jesus exhorts keeping watch, and he also does so at the end of this narrative. He says: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (v. 13). But with this parable he tells us that keeping watch does not only mean not to sleep, but to be ready; in fact all the maidens are asleep before the bridegroom’s arrival, but upon waking some are ready and others are not. Thus, here is the meaning of being wise and prudent: it is a matter of not waiting until the last minute of our lives to cooperate with the grace of God, but rather to do so as of now. It would be good to consider for a moment: one day will be the last. If it were today, how prepared am I? But I must do this and that.... Be ready as if it were the last day: this does us good.

The lamp is a symbol of the faith that illuminates our life, while the oil is a symbol of the charity that nourishes the light of faith, making it fruitful and credible. The condition for being prepared for the encounter with the Lord is not only faith, but a Christian life abundant with love and charity for our neighbour. If we allow ourselves to be guided by what seems more comfortable, by seeking our own interests, then our life becomes barren, incapable of giving life to others, and we accumulate no reserve of oil for the lamp of our faith; and this — faith — will be extinguished at the moment of the Lord’s coming, or even before. If instead we are watchful and seek to do good, with acts of love, of sharing, of service to a neighbour in difficulty, then we can be at peace while we wait for the bridegroom to come: the Lord can come at any moment, and even the slumber of death does not frighten us, because we have a reserve of oil, accumulated through everyday good works. Faith inspires charity and charity safeguards faith.

May the Virgin Mary help our faith to be ever more effective through charity; so that our lamp may already shine here, on the earthly journey and then for ever, at the marriage feast in heaven.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 12 November 2017]

(Mt 16:13-23)

Over half of his public life, Jesus has not yet given formulas, but He raises a demanding question - which claims to ask us much more than the usual expressions with a legal structure.

The crowd may have approached Him to eminent characters such as the Baptist [the one who proved to be alien to courtiers] or Elijah [for his activity of denouncing idols] or Jeremiah [the opponent of the blessings’ sale].

But He didn’t come - like ancient prophets - to improve the situation or to regret and mend devotions, nor to purify the Temple, but to replace it!

The images of tradition depict Christ in many ways (for atheists a philanthropist), the most widespread of which is still that of an ancient Lord, guarantor of conventional behavior.

Instead - to make us reflect - He takes the disciples to a construction site environment [north of Palestine, Caesarea Philippi was under construction], far from the interested nomenclature of the "holy" City.

Common mentality evaluated the life’ success - and the truth of a religion - on the basis of glory, domination, enrichment, and security in general.

The question that Jesus rises his disciples leaks a novelty that supplants the whole system: the Call is addressed to every single person.

It’s a border proposal, like the symbolic geographical place of the capital of the reign of Philip, one of the three heir sons of Herod the Great: in Palestine, the farthest point from the center of conformist religiosity.

The Face of the «Son of man» is recognizable only by placing maximum distance from political and veterans schemes - otherwise we too would not be able to perceive His personal ‘light’.

In the community of Mt, an increasingly large participation of pagans was being experienced, who previously felt excluded and gradually integrated.

For our mentality, the house keys are used to close and tighten the door, to prevent the attackers from entering.

In the Semitic one, they were rather an icon of the door’s opening.

In Perugino’s famous masterpiece on the north wall of the Sistine Chapel, Jesus gives the head of the Church two keys: the golden one of Paradise and the silver of Purgatory.

But the meaning of the passage is not the Afterlife - on the contrary, it’s not even institutional. In Hebrew the term ‘key’ is derived from the verb ‘to open’!

The greatest missionary task of community leaders is to keep the Kingdom of Heaven wide open, that is, to ensure a welcoming Church!

Peter mustn’t trace the type of arrogant monarch, image of authority; emperor’ substitute.

Simon must take first responsibility for the acceptance of those who are outside.

It seems strange for any ancient proposal, where God was supposed to be afraid of becoming impure in contact with the world.

The Father is the One who dares the most.

This is the reason why Jesus strictly imposes a total messianic silence (v.20) on the lips and the ancient brain of the Apostles.

Peter and the disciples wanted to return to the usual idea of «the» Messiah [cf. Greek text] expected by everyone.

An all too normal canvas, incapable of regenerating us.

[Thursday 18th wk. in O.T.  August 8, 2024]

Who I am for you, and the Keys to the open community

More than halfway through his public life, Jesus has not yet given formulas, but he asks a challenging question - one that purports to ask much more than the usual law-structured expressions.

Globally, the crowd may have likened him to eminent figures such as the Baptist (the one who proved to be a stranger to courtesies) or Elijah (for his denunciation of idols) or Jeremiah (the opponent of the buying and selling of blessings).

But He did not come - like the ancient prophets - to improve the situation or mend devotions, nor to purify the Temple, but to replace it!

The images of tradition depict Christ in many ways (for atheists, a philanthropist), the most common of which is still that of an ancient Lord, guarantor of conventional behaviour.

Instead - to give us pause for thought - he takes the disciples to a construction site (north of Palestine, Caesarea Philippi was under construction), far from the interested nomenclature of the 'holy' City.

The common mentality evaluated the success of life - and the truth of a religion - on the basis of success, domination, enrichment, security in general.

The question that Jesus poses to his disciples reveals a novelty that supersedes the whole system: the Call is addressed to each and every person.

It is a boundary proposal, as is the symbolic geographical location of the capital of Philip's kingdom (one of the three heir sons of Herod the Great): in Palestine, the furthest point from the centre of conformist religiosity.

The Face of the 'Son of Man' is recognisable only by placing the greatest distance from political and veteran schemes - otherwise we too would not be able to perceive its personal light.

In the congregation of Matthew, we were just experiencing an increasing participation of pagans, who previously felt excluded (and gradually became integrated).

To our mentality, the keys of the house are used to close and lock the door, so as not to let the ill-intentioned in. In the Semitic one, they were rather iconic for opening the door.

In Perugino's famous masterpiece on the north wall of the Sistine Chapel, Jesus gives the head of the Church two keys: the golden one to Paradise and the silver one to Purgatory.

But the meaning of the passage is not the Afterlife - indeed, it is not even institutional (as the sumptuous architecture of the triumphal arches and the temple in the background of the fresco would indicate).

In Hebrew, the term 'key' is derived from the verb 'to open'!

The greatest missionary task of community leaders is to keep the Kingdom of Heaven wide open, i.e. to ensure a welcoming Church!

Peter must not follow the type of the arrogant monarch, the image of authority (substitute for the emperor).

Simon must make himself primarily responsible for the acceptance of those outside.

This seems strange for any ancient proposal, where God was supposed to fear making Himself impure in contact with the world.

The Father is the One who dares most.

Faith is not a parachute (as if it were a 'doctrinal belief') but a loving Relationship that does not clog the mindset and allows us to face the enriching flow of life.

Creative Providence - all-round and boundless, today particularly upsetting every habitual arrangement - is a real expression and authentic Revelation of the Mystery.

This is why Jesus severely imposes a total messianic silence [v.20] on the lips and ancient brain of the Apostles.

Peter and the disciples wanted to return to the usual idea of "the" Messiah [cf. Greek text] expected by all.

An all-too-common plot, incapable of regenerating us.

But who do you say that I am? Peter's Faith

Distancing oneself from what is hoped for

Jesus leads his own away from the territory of power ideology and the sacred centre of the official religious institution - Judea.

The Lord wants his intimates to distance themselves from limitations and appreciation.

The relative success of the Master in Galilee had indeed revived the apostles' hopes of (one-sided) glory.

The territory of Caesarea Philippi, in the extreme north of Palestine, was enchanting; famous for fertility and lush pastures. An area famous for the beauty of its surroundings and the fertility of flocks and herds.

Even the disciples were fascinated by the landscape and the affluent life of the region's inhabitants; not to mention the magnificence of the buildings.

The call of context alludes to the affluence that pagan religion generally proposes; excessive prosperity that enchanted the Twelve.

Christ asks the apostles - in practice - what the people expected of Him. So he wants them to realise the nefarious effects of their own preaching.

'Announcement' that willingly confused material and spiritual blessings.While the gods show that they know how to fill their devotees with goods - and a lavish court life that (indeed) beguiled everyone - what does Christ offer?

The Master realises that the disciples were still strongly conditioned by the propaganda of the political and religious government [vv.6.11] that ensured well-being [vv.5-12; cf. Mt 15:32-38].

And Jesus still instructs them, so that at least his envoys can overcome the blindness and crisis produced by his Cross (v.21), the commitment required in the perspective of self-giving.

He is not merely a continuer of the Baptist's clear-headed attitude, never inclined to compromise with the courts and opulence; nor is he one of the many restorers of the law of Moses, with the zeal of Elijah.

Nor did he want to limit himself to purifying religion of spurious elements, but even to replace the Temple [Mt 21:12-17.18-19.42; 23:2.37-39; 24:30] - the place of encounter between the Father and his children.

On this issue, not only the distance with paganism, but also the contrasts between Jews who had converted to the Lord and those who were observant according to tradition, were particularly vivid at that time.

Indeed, the sacred books of late Judaism spoke of great figures who had left their mark on the history of Israel, and were to reappear to usher in the messianic times.

Even within the persecuted communities of Galilee and Syria, Mt notes a lack of understanding, and all the difficulty of embracing the new proposal - which did not guarantee success and recognition, nor immediate goals.

(From the earliest generations it was realised that the Faith does not easily accord with early human impulses.)

Thus the Master contradicts Peter himself [vv.20.23] whose opinion remained tied to the conformist and popular idea of "the" [vv.16.20: "that"] expected Messiah.

In short, the leader of the apostles - so weak in Faith - can stop showing Christ which way to go "behind" him [v.23] by diverting him!

Simon has to start being a student again; stop plotting recognised and opportunistic ways for everyone, hijacking God in the name of God.

The Lord is the One who dares most.

A special note on the subject of the Name:

While for our culture it is often a label, among Eastern peoples the name is one with the person, designating them in a special way.

As can be seen, for example, in the "second" commandment, the power of the Name carries great weight: it is a knowing of the (divine) Subject in the essence and meaning of action; almost a taking possession of its power.

Even in our prayerful, spiritual and mystical tradition, the Proper Name (e.g. Jesus) has often been considered almost an acoustic icon of the person, inclusive of his virtues; evocative of his presence and power.

In ancient cultures, pronouncing the name meant being able to grasp the seed, the pregnant and global core of the figure of reference.

Not infrequently, in our mentality too, it meant expressing an omen, a mandate, a wish, a blessing, a vocation, a destiny, a task, a call, a mission [nomen (est) omen].

But here we measure the difference between sacral mentality and faith. In religions, the proper name that the master or founder bestows on the disciple is a sort of signpost: he who lacks the acumen or fortune, strength and courage to realise it, would diminish in dignity.

Instead, Christ with his callings calls us to a path, certainly - but one deeply commensurate with the essence.

He stimulates the exodus - not according to models - because he first brings the person back into himself. So that we all come into play in the depths and to the extreme that corresponds.

First step: meeting each other in the round; in the different, even surprising, unexpressed or unknown sides - generally, unimaginable characters according to rules and nomenclature.

Even our eccentric, ambiguous, shadowy or even rejected ways of being in the first person: the best sides of ourselves will be revealed along the Way.

Only in this plural track do we find the way to an adventure full of meaning; not mechanical, nor repetitive - but resembling life: always new and authentic.

Not from facade or calculating externality: there is an Author's signature that precedes, in the building of ourselves and the world.

Passing among the various building sites in the city of Philip, Jesus instead compared Simon to the inert and piled-up (even confusing) materials he found in front of him.

That condition captured the root of apostolic expectations!

The disciples did not yet give space to the Mystery within themselves, to the idea of a secret salvation, which erupts with its own, innate energy; which surpasses ordinary dreams.

Cephas in fact derives from the Aramaic Kefas: building stone; something hard: practically, a stubborn like many; nothing special, indeed. Jesus gives Simon a negative nickname!

In fact, the Greek word 'petros' [v.18] is not a proper name: it indicates a stone (picked up from the ground) that can be useful for a construction - if of course it allows itself to be shaped. And which not only supports, but is supported; which not only aggregates, but is aggregated.

Attention: the Greek term "petra" [v.18] is not the feminine of "petros": it indicates "rock", and refers to the Person of Christ as the only security (together with Faith in Him).

An appellation that unpredictably changes a whole life. For only the inner Friend draws from our [even bad] baggage the unpredictable that springs forth.

Each one is chiselled by the Lord according to the name Peter, in the sense of a particular piece, an individual and special element.

Placed singularly but in a large mosaic: that of salvation history, where each one is at the same time himself and in a continuous phase of regeneration.

The only feeling of belonging of the many building stones (all living): the conviviality of differences, the communion of disparate fraternal members in the ministerial Church.

None forever, but everywhere (unceasingly) pulsating nuclei of a summary institution all gathered from the ground... Freed free.

In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too. In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the “rock”, the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19). But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’ identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come “through flesh and blood”, that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father. By contrast, immediately afterwards, as Jesus foretells his passion, death and resurrection, Simon Peter reacts on the basis of “flesh and blood”: he “began to rebuke him, saying, this shall never happen to you” (16:22). And Jesus in turn replied: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me ...” (16:23). The disciple who, through God’s gift, was able to become a solid rock, here shows himself for what he is in his human weakness: a stone along the path, a stone on which men can stumble – in Greek, skandalon. Here we see the tension that exists between the gift that comes from the Lord and human capacities; and in this scene between Jesus and Simon Peter we see anticipated in some sense the drama of the history of the papacy itself, characterized by the joint presence of these two elements: on the one hand, because of the light and the strength that come from on high, the papacy constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history; on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action.

[Pope Benedict, homily 29 June 2012]

1. "Who do you say that I am?" (Mt 16: 15).

Jesus asks the disciples this question about his identity while he is with them in upper Galilee. It often happened that they would ask Jesus questions; now it is he who questions them. His is a precise question that awaits an answer. Simon Peter speaks for them all:  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16: 16).

The answer is extraordinarily clear. The Church's faith is perfectly reflected in it. We are reflected in it too. The Bishop of Rome, his unworthy successor by divine will, is particularly reflected in Peter's words. Around him and with him you are reflected in these words, dear Metropolitan Archbishops, who have come here from many parts of the world to receive the pallium on the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul.

I offer my cordial greetings to each of you, a greeting which I gladly extend to those who have accompanied you to Rome and to your communities who are spiritually united with us on this solemn occasion.

2. "You are the Christ!". Jesus replies to Peter's confession:  "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 16: 17).

Blessed are you, Peter! Blessed because you could not have humanly recognized this truth, which is central to the Church's faith, except by God's action. "No one", Jesus said, "knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mt 11: 27).

We are reflecting on this extraordinarily rich Gospel passage:  the incarnate Word had revealed the Father to his disciples; now is the moment when the Father himself reveals his only Only-begotten Son to them. Peter receives inner enlightenment and courageously proclaims:  "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!".

These words on Peter's lips come from the depths of God's mystery. They reveal the intimate truth, the very life of God. And Peter, under the action of the divine Spirit, becomes a witness and confessor of this superhuman truth. His profession of faith thus forms the firm basis of the Church's faith:  "On this rock I will build my Church" (Mt 16: 18). The Church of Christ is built on Peter's faith and fidelity.

[Pope John Paul II, homily 29 June 2000]

Peter, the fisherman from Galilee, was set free above all from his sense of inadequacy and his bitter experience of failure, thanks to the unconditional love of Jesus. Although a skilled fisher, many times, in the heart of the night, he tasted the bitterness of frustration at having caught nothing (cf. Lk 5:5; Jn 21:5) and, seeing his empty nets, was tempted to pull up his oars. Though strong and impetuous, Peter often yielded to fear (cf. Mt 14:30). Albeit a fervent disciple of the Lord, he continued to think by worldly standards, and thus failed to understand and accept the meaning of Christ’s cross (cf. Mt 16:22). Even after saying that he was ready to give his life for Jesus, the mere suspicion that he was one of Christ’s disciples led him in fright to deny the Master (cf. Mk 14:66-72).

Jesus nonetheless loved Peter and was willing to take a risk on him. He encouraged Peter not to give up, to lower his nets once more, to walk on water, to find the strength to accept his own frailty, to follow him on the way of the cross, to give his life for his brothers and sisters, to shepherd his flock. In this way, Jesus set Peter free from fear, from calculations based solely on worldly concerns. He gave him the courage to risk everything and the joy of becoming a fisher of men. It was Peter whom Jesus called to strengthen his brothers in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). He gave him – as we heard in the Gospel – the keys to open the doors leading to an encounter with the Lord and the power to bind and loose: to bind his brothers and sisters to Christ and to loosen the knots and chains in their lives (cf. Mt 16:19).

All that was possible only because – as we heard in the first reading – Peter himself had been set free. The chains that held him prisoner were shattered and, as on the night when the Israelites were set free from bondage in Egypt, he was told to arise in haste, fasten his belt and put on his sandals in order to go forth. The Lord then opened the doors before him (cf. Acts 12:7-10). Here we see a new history of opening, liberation, broken chains, exodus from the house of bondage. Peter had a Passover experience: the Lord set him free.

[Pope Francis, homily 29 June 2021]

(Mt 15:21-28)

Religious law prevented dealing with foreign people and other ethnicities, borders, or culture.

At the beginning, Jesus [that is: He in the first communities, his Mystical Body] seems not to want to occupy himself with it (v.26).

But after helping the crowds and his own intimates to emancipate themselves from the prison of purity norms (vv.10-20), the young Rabbi himself had emerged from the conformist ways of experiencing God.

He makes an Exodus even from national and race territories that at that time were seizing the vital sap of the souls - thus flying over the "sacred" preconceptions.

To make us grow in Faith, Christ promotes the most varied existence. In this way, outside the standard myopia, He can find astounding adherences.

Faith: New Principle, which does not alienate us from ourselves. And crumbles any illusion of exclusivity.

The singular initiatives of the Son are born on the basis of the all-personal experience of the divine, of a Father who bestows unconditionally.

Provident, and unequal from the stingy God of ancient religions: sovereign all discordant from creatures, alien, predatory, and incomprehensibly addicted to habit.

With an unusual stunt, the young Rabbi tries to open the Judaizing mentality, overcoming borders.

Even the dialogue with a woman not of his people was a "novelty" alien to the mentality of the time’s crowds. Initiative foreign even to the conceptions of the first two generations of believers; marked by a creed still blocked and mixed with idols.

But there was a whole people of strangers [the mestizo «Woman» and her spiritual ‘offspring’] who felt they had no future... and this called into question the many aprioriisms of the time.

In short, even the church of Mt had not fully grasped the meaning of the «bread of the sons» - all available, for it to be “recognized”.

Because of rivalry, ancient peoples used to call foreigners with the contemptuous nickname of «dog»: synonymous with impudence, meanness and ignoble baseness.

The Lord's very harsh phrase (v.26) reflects a comparison coming from poor areas and from family life, where once there were plenty of pets and youth.

There was also a difference between ‘children’ generated by listening to the Word of God and those who adjusted themselves “by scent”. But although no one denied sustenance to the «sons» to give it to the «dogs» around them - the latter had at least the right of crumbs fallen on the ground.

For differents and far - even bad-considered - it’s not a problem to resort to Jesus in an instinctive way; indeed, even today they would be satisfied with the shatters.

[Unfortunately, not infrequently strangers and difforms are hungrier of the real Manna from Heaven].

Christian community should not lack the nourishment of the body and the food of wisdom for everyone (Mt 14:20-21).

Faith has no nationality, and it is the only immediate language and relationship valid for communication between God and woman and man.

Christ is a sapiential feeds for a free circulation; not a sign to be hindered and kept closed.

To break the Bread is to participate our existence at root; what we have and are. Metre of what we proclaim, believe and practice.

[Wednesday 18th wk. in O.T.  August 7, 2024]

Mt 15:21-28 (21-37)

Jesus discovered the will of the Father in the events of life. The same was true for the growth of awareness of the first communities, which carried no small prejudices, at least until the third generation of believers (inclusive) - as witnessed by the Synoptics.

Religious law prevented dealing with foreigners and people of other ethnicities, borders or cultures. At first, Jesus [i.e.: He in the first communities, His Mystical Body] seems not to want to deal with them (v.26).

But after helping the crowds and his own to emancipate themselves from the prison of the norms of purity (vv.10-20) Christ breaks out of conformist ways of experiencing God.

He even exoduses himself from national and racial territories that then sequester the life-bloods - thus overcoming sacred preconceptions.

The Son's singular initiatives arise on the basis of a wholly personal experience of the divine, of a Father munificent in bestowing without conditions. 

Provident and unequal from the stingy God of religions: the latter discordant from creatures, alien, and (incomprehensibly) habitual.

The Lord himself helps us in his story to experience the transcendent in even summary life. Thus, to get out of the contrived doctrinal ways that cage existence [territory, customs, ideology, memberships of various kinds - even 'internal'].

With an unusual gimmick, the young Rabbi tries to open up the Judaizing mentality, crossing borders.

The intent is to make us develop his own Faith. It promoted diverse existence, and outside of traditional myopia could thus find astounding adherences.

No boundary fences, no obstacles ... can contain our will to live: we want to feed not on pride (or resistance) but on love at risk, not debased - and express ourselves completely.

Even dialogue with a woman not of his people was a 'thought' alien to the mentality of the crowds of the time - alien even to the conceptions of the first two generations of believers, in this respect still entrenched and mixed with idols.

But there was a whole people of strangers [the mestizo 'woman' and her spiritual 'descendants'] who felt they had no future. And this challenged the many apriorisms of the time.

In short, even the church of Mt had not fully grasped the meaning of the 'bread of the sons' - all available to be 'recognised'.

Because of atavistic rivalries, ancient peoples used to call foreigners by the derogatory appellation 'dog', synonymous with impudence, meanness and ignoble baseness.

They were widespread misgivings about the sense of human brotherhood - from primitive vision [and not only, in the age of access].

The Lord's harsh sentence (v.26) reflects a comparison from poor areas and family life, where pets and youth once abounded.

There was still a difference between 'children' generated by hearing the Word of God and those who adjusted 'by scent'.

But although no one denied sustenance to the 'children' in order to give it to the 'dogs' around - the latter at least had the right to the crumbs that fell on the ground.

In fact, the text speaks of 'little dogs' [kynaría-kynaríois] as pets loved by the very young and who easily fed them leftovers during meals.

In a certain sense, they belonged to 'the house'.

For the different and distant - even the misunderstood - it is not a problem to resort to Jesus instinctively; on the contrary, they would be content with the scraps.

According to this, the community of the sons should not lack bodily nourishment and wisdom food for anyone (Matt 14:20-21).

However, the old-timers who considered themselves family members of entitlement and asserted registry rights, sulked and in the assemblies pretended not to allow everyone to partake of the communion, the Eucharistic grains, the gifts of the festive kingdom.

But thanks to the appeal of the Gospels [quite different from the exaggerated imperial or legionary 'evangelical' proclamations] the dominion of evil was coming to an end (v.28).

According to Matthew, there should be no obsession, chain or preconception that can take away our orientation of progress and energy, so that with extreme freedom we are enabled to work and open ourselves to the needs of others, even pagans (Mt 14:22a).

So in the Judeo-Christian fraternities of Galilee and Syria, a debate arises about the conditions of community membership.

What is the position of converts from paganism? Do they have the right to participate in the breaking of the Bread without prior doctrine-discipline? Is there or is there not a break with the observant tradition?

Mt emphasises that we have no pre-emption: the principle of universal salvation is the attitude of Faith; not a right.

The community of the baptised is not allowed to live on rent. The Gospel is open, overriding the biblical priority of the chosen people.

The reason for any exception is sensitive love, which has the freedom to yield, which becomes the only principle of membership.

The condition of membership in the new people of God is Faith in the heart and not in the blood or in the head, nor in the discipline that distances us from ourselves, God and others.

Faith: a new principle, which shatters every illusion of exclusivity.

With the Father, in the Son, it is no longer a matter of mortifying oneself, depending, striving and struggling, in order to stand before one another.

Legal purity is inadequate (vv.1-20), indeed now it is the person even of disconcerting origins - previously an outsider - who emerges 'victorious' from the fight with the Lord.

Spousal entrustment is appreciable everywhere, by anyone: foundational Eros gushing from every soul, and not bound to repertoires. It overcomes any particularism.

Of course, it has its criteria - but they are essential: transparency, freshness, tension towards unity, overcoming conditions and taboos; value of the person; secret empathy of energies.

The Gospel passage traces a whole path of adherence to Christ.

Those who are far away can approach and even start from the popular - inconvenient - idea that Jesus is the expected 'Son of David' (v.22): a military commander and ruler who was supposed to seize power, subjugate the nations, ensure the golden age, fulfil the prescriptions of the Law himself as if he were a Model, and impose their observance on all.

The starting point of the journey may be a miserable glimmer, a beginning that perhaps does not promise much. In fact, in this specific case, it is decidedly confusing: the Master does not answer (v.23).

The title attributed to Him has nothing to do with God, nor does it concern the authentic Firstborn. He is not a powerful Messiah - a predatory, homologated image - but a servant.

It makes no sense even to ask Him for "Mercy" (v.22)! Indeed - let's face it - despite the superficial ritual habits we have, here Christ seems quite angry (v.23).

This is not the healthy relationship with the Lord: He does not chastise or enjoy being begged by the needy.

Rather, He educates as He does a friend, brother or parent; and He does not grant graces by lottery, or miracles by sympathy and protection, or favours by territory - like pagan gods.

That image is totally deviant, but it is a bogus figure that comes out of the very "insiders" (vv.23-24), who would have nothing to object to (v.23).

Indeed, their own catechesis is the source of it: the title 'son of David' sounds strange, on the lips of a pagan.

Even today, this homologising paternalistic idea - of inculcated guilt - tends to drive away those who seek an amiable companion.

The priority for 'Israel' is acknowledged by Jesus because it is precisely the eldest sons who must be converted to a new Face of the first God of Sinai - still assessed as Lawgiver and Judge, instead of Creator and Redeemer of our intelligence and freedom.

[Albeit in a good-natured way, they unfortunately continue to spread it, as a sullen notary, since pre-catechism].

Jesus distances himself from those who make claims and at the same time divert the souls of the needy who seek him.

Then, in spiritual terms, no one can boast a right to anything: the truly sacred Gifts do not derive from any selective election relationship, nor even clientelistic [of the buying and selling kind].

So, to become intimate with Christ... can one be content with the Eucharistic 'crumbs' - i.e. 'minimal salvation'?

Can one be satisfied with the mere crumbs that fall from the table of the supponent closed in small schemes (vv.26-27)?

Certainly, because it is Faith that saves (v.28), not a grand gesture or long practice in the disciplines of the arcane - nor a code of purity.

The authentic Lord only says:

"Woman, great is your Faith! Do as thou wilt with me" (v.28) - that is, go forth to the joy of a full life, transmissible to an "offspring" not destined for torment or premature death.

And without the judgement of others, the one with the usual deceitful tares of inadequacy, on your back.

Thanks to Him we are not introduced into a summary religious practice, but into a Relationship that is chiselled over time (vv.22-28).

How to orient oneself?

Instead of the narrow Law, it is the Gospel that fully empowers us.

As if we were "little dogs" (vv.26-27) that seek life and nourishment, instinctively proceeding [by "sniffing"] along unexplored paths. And that according to character, inclination, Calling by Name, appeal to other secret forces.

In short, all men - although still far from an explicit adherence of faith - are inhabited by this knowledge that is at once personal and primordial, that gives immediate and infallible direction.

So in simplicity will we too, to find the Way.For Faith has no nationality, and is the only valid language-relation-trajectory for communication between God and woman and man.

It is universal; it crosses time, denominational and even religious borders.

Commenting on the Tao Te Ching (LVIII), Master Wang Pi states:

"He who rules well has no form or name, he does not initiate administrations. The various categories divide and separate, that is why the people are fragmented'.

Master Ho-shang Kung adds:

'When the ruler is liberal, the people are united in wealth and satiety: people love each other and get along well'.

Today it is about sharing the minutiae and fragments of the 'more' we in the West inherited from past generations.

A very instructive and affluent 'more'; lavishly bestowed, yet received without 'anything too much' [ne quid nimis] nor much merit or risk (as 'good Christians...').

And respecting in everything the nomenclature of the veterans, of the cordate and the powerful - always disinclined to real coexistence.

Christ, on the other hand, is sapiential food for free circulation; not impeded food, to be kept locked in tabernacles.

His virtue is now understood only outside the sacristies - from far and wide (vv.21-22) - where even a minuet of bread makes one trust and rise, in sharing.

To break the Eucharist as source and summit is to proclaim it as a Gift not to be withheld or kept intact, but rather to be exposed and distributed without moralising.

To share that Food is to participate in the root of existence, what we have and are; the yardstick of what we proclaim, believe and practise.

Sadly, not infrequently the strangers and dissimilar are hungrier for the true Manna from Heaven.

Saturated to the point of nausea - and perhaps still unable to comprehend its meaning - why live the shared Nourishment [perhaps with little regard for its meaning] as a problem and fear?

To internalise and live the message:

If not of 'your people', do you at least want to talk to them - even if veterans, inner clubs and regulars forbid it?

Don't you think the synodal path is a good opportunity to review abstract positions?

Do you know of any ecclesial parishes that do not give outsiders a chance?

Do you know people hurt by exclusions? What do you do, silence-assent?

Multiplication by Division, in itinerancy

The simple (Eucharistic) Mystery

(Mt 15:29-37)

"Man is the limit-being who has no limit" (Fratelli Tutti n.150).

In our hearts we have a great desire for fulfilment and Happiness. The Father has put it there, He Himself satisfies it - but He wants us associated with His work - inside and outside of us.

The Son reflects God's plan in his compassion for the crowds in need of everything (vv.30.32) and - despite the plethora of teachers and experts - lacking any authentic teaching [cf. Mt 9:36. 14:14].

His solution is very different from that of all "spiritual" guides, because he does not overlook us with an indirect paternalism [cf. Mt 14:16] that would dry tears, heal wounds, erase humiliations.

It invites us to make use of what we are and have, even though it may seem ridiculous. But it teaches in an absolutely clear way that by shifting energies, prodigious results are achieved.

This is how we respond in Christ to the world's great problems: by recovering the condition of the man viator - a being of passage, his essential mark - and by sharing goods; not letting everyone make do [cf. Mt 14:15].

Our real nakedness, the vicissitudes and the experience of our many brothers and sisters, who are different, are resources not to be evaluated with distrust, "as dangerous competitors or enemies" of our fulfilment (FT n.151).

Not only will the little we bring be enough to satiate us: it will advance for others and with identical fullness of truth, human, epochal [vv.34.37: the passage insists on the Semitic symbolism of the number "seven"].

In Mt Jesus is the new Moses who ascends 'the mountain' of authentic relationships - to inaugurate an alternative Time, which marks true history.

People no longer stay at the bottom of the valley waiting: they gather around Him, coming as they are, with the burden of so many different needs.

The new people of God are not a settled crowd, of the elect, chosen and pure.

Each one brings with him his own path, his own troubles and problems, which the Lord heals - healing not with a solution from above or from without.

In short: another world is possible, but through breaking one's own (even miserable) bread.

A wise, uninterrupted, effective solution, if one brings it out from within, on the way and standing in the middle - not in front, not at the head, not on top (v.36).

The place of God's revelation was to be the place of lightning, on a "mountain" smoking like a furnace (Ex 19:18)... but finally even Elijah's violent zeal had to recant (1 Kings 19:12).Even to the pagans, the Son reveals a Father who does not simply erase infirmities: he makes them understood as a place that is preparing a personal development, and that of the Community.

He imagined that in the time of the Messiah, the lame, the deaf and the blind would disappear (Is 35:5ff.). Golden age: everything at the top, no abyss.

In Jesus - distributed Bread - an unusual fullness of times is manifested, apparently nebulous and fragile, but real and capable of restarting people and relationships.

The Spirit of God acts not by descending like a thunderbolt from above, but by activating in us capacities that appear intangible, yet are capable of regrouping our dispersed being, classified as insubstantial - involving the everyday summary - and re-evaluating it.

The Incarnation reweaves our hearts, in dignity and promotion; it truly unfolds, because it not only drags obstacles away, but rests on them.

And it does not erase them at all: thus it overpowers them, but transmutes - posing new life.

Lymph that draws juice and sprouts Flowers from the one muddy, fertile soil, and communicates them.

Solidarity to which all are invited, not just those deemed to be in a state of perfection and compactness.

Our shortcomings make us attentive, and unique. They are not to be despised, but taken up, placed in the Son's hands and energised (v.36).

Falls themselves can be a valuable sign: in Christ, they are no longer reductive humiliations, but rather path markers. Perhaps we are not making the best use and investment of our resources.

Thus, collapses can quickly turn into rises - different, not packaged - and a search for total completion in Communion.

Therefore, in the ideal of realising the Vocation and sensing the type of contribution to be made, nothing is better than a living environment that does not clip the wings: a lively fraternity in exchange and coexistence.

Not so much to dampen the jolts, but so that we are enabled to build stores of wisdom not calibrated by nomenclature - which everyone can draw from, even those who are different and far from us.

If a shortcoming is found here too, it will be to teach us to be present in the world according to (perhaps) other and further directions, or to bring out mission and creative maturity - not to remain fixated on partiality and minutiae.

The allusion to the seven loaves (multiplied because divided) supports the quotations on the mouldable magma of biblical icons.

Here Moses and Elijah on "the Mount": figures from the five Books of the Pentateuch (the First Foods), plus the two sections of Prophets and Writings.

All together "seven loaves": fullness of food and wisdom for the soul, called to proceed beyond the surrounding hedgerows, breaking the banks of the subjugated mentality.

It is the basic nourishment of the human-divine spirit, to which, however, is added a young and fresh companion food, which precisely involves us (v.34).

[As St Augustine said: "The Word of God that is daily explained to you and in a certain sense 'broken' is also daily Bread" (Sermo 58, IV: PL 38, 395)].

Complete food: basic food and 'companion' - historical and ideal, in code and in deed.

Here we become in Christ as an actualised and propulsive corpus of sensitive witnesses (and Scriptures!).

Certainly reduced, not yet affirmed - and lacking in heroic phenomena, but emphatically sapiential and practical.

Announcers and sharers, without resounding proclamations of self-sufficiency.

Never enclosed within archaic fences: always in fieri - therefore able to perceive unknown tracks.

And to 'break the Bread'... that is, to be active, to go further, to share the little - to nourish, to overflow (multiplying the listening and the action of God) and to make even the desperate regain esteem.

We are children: like few and small fish (v.34), but not wallowing in competitions that make life toxic.

On the contrary: called in the first person to write a singular, empathic and sacred Word-event.

Infants in the Lord, we swim in this different Water. Sometimes perhaps outwardly veiled or muddy and murky....

Finally made transparent if only because it is yielding, compassionate (v.32) and benevolent.

The old exclusive puddle of religion that does not dare the risk of Faith (v.33) would not have helped us to assimilate the proposal of the Jesus Messiah, Son of God, Saviour - acrostic of the Greek word Ichtys [fish].

He is the Father's Initiative-Answer, support in the (unethereal) journey in search of the Hope of the poor - of all of us destitute waiting.

The working Faith thus has as its emblem the Eucharist, a revolution of sacredness. It seems strange, for us who have grown accustomed to it.

In fact, the purpose of evangelisation is to participate in and emancipate the complete being from all that threatens it, not only in its extreme limitation: also in its everyday actions - to the point of seeking the communion of goods.

In Mark (7:31-37) the prodigy is placed after the opening of the "senses". Here after the healings by the Lake of Galilee (vv.29-31).

The Source and Summit Sign of the community of sons is a creative gesture that imposes a shift of vision, an absolutely new eye.

In the face of the destitution of the many - caused by the greed of the few - the attitude of the authentic Church does not take pleasure in emblems and fervour, nor in partial calls to distinguish itself in almsgiving.

The breaking of the Bread takes over from the Manna dropped from above in the desert (Mt 15:33) and involves its distribution - not only in special situations.

There is no settling, in multiplying life for all.

This is the attitude of the living Body of the thaumaturgic Christ [not the miracle worker] who feels called to be active in every circumstance.

If Eucharistic participation does not only provoke punctual alms-giving, external pietism and mannerly welfarism, here is the result:

Women and men will eat, remain full, and there will be food left over for others (not all of God's intended guests are still present...).

We note that it had not even occurred to the disciples that the solution might come from the people themselves and their spirit.

Not just from the paternalism of the leaders, or from some individual benefactor.

Unexpected solution: the question of food is solved not from above, but from within the people and with the few loaves they brought with them.

There is no solution with the verb 'multiply' - that is, 'increase' ... relationships that count, increase property, pile up wiles.

The only therapy is 'to break', 'to give', 'to offer' (v.36). And everyone is involved, no one privileged.

At that time, competitiveness and class mentality characterised the society of the empire - and began to infiltrate even the small community, just starting out.

As if the Lord and the God of retribution could live side by side, yet.

It is the communion of the needy that conversely rises to the top in the non-artisanal Church.

Real sharing acts as the professor of the ubiquitous veteran, pretentious people, the only ones yet to be converted.

The germ of their 'longevity' should be not altitude and role, but love.

Such is the only meaning of sacred gestures; not other projects tinged with prevarication, or appearance.

The 'belonging' astound.

For the Lord, the distant (though still poised in their choices) are full participants in the messianic banquet - without preclusions, nor disciplines of the arcane with nerve-racking expectations.

Conversely, that Canteen presses in favour of others who have yet to be called. For a kind of re-establishment of the original Unity.

In short, the Redemption does not belong to elites concerned about the stability of their rule - which it is even the weak who must sustain.

Saved life comes to us by incorporation.

To internalise and live the message:

Have you ever broken your bread, passed on happiness and made recoveries that renew relationships, putting people who do not even have self-esteem back on their feet? Or have you favoured selflessness, chains and elite attitudes?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

This […] Gospel passage begins by indicating the district to which Jesus was going: Tyre and Sidon, to the north-west of Galilee, a pagan land. And it was here that he met a Canaanite woman who spoke to him, asking him to heal her daughter who was possessed by a demon (cf. Mt 15:22).

In her supplication we can already discern the beginning of a journey of faith, which in her conversation with the divine Teacher grows and becomes stronger.

The woman was not afraid to cry to Jesus “Have mercy on me”, an expression that recurs in the Psalms (cf. 50:1), she calls him “Lord” and “Son of David” (cf. Mt 15:22), thus showing a firm hope of being heard. What was the Lord’s attitude to this cry of anguish from a pagan woman?

Jesus’ silence may seem disconcerting, to the point that it prompted the disciples to intervene, but it was not a question of insensitivity to this woman’s sorrow. St Augustine rightly commented: “Christ showed himself indifferent to her, not in order to refuse her his mercy but rather to inflame her desire for it” (Sermo 77, 1: PL 38, 483).

The apparent aloofness of Jesus who said: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (v. 24), did not discourage the Canaanite woman who persisted: “Lord, help me” (v. 25). And she did not even desist when she received an answer that would seem to have extinguished any hope: “it is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs” (v. 26). She had no wish to take anything from anyone; in her simplicity and humility a little was enough for her, crumbs sufficed, no more than a look, a kind word from the Son of God. And Jesus was struck with admiration for an answer of such great faith and said to her: “Be it done for you as you desire” (v. 28).

Dear friends, we too are called to grow in faith, to open ourselves in order to welcome God’s gift freely, to have trust and also to cry to Jesus “give us faith, help us to find the way!”. This is the way that Jesus made his disciples take, as well as the Canaanite woman and men and women of every epoch and nation and each one of us.

Faith opens us to knowing and welcoming the real identity of Jesus, his newness and oneness, his word, as a source of life, in order to live a personal relationship with him. Knowledge of the faith grows, it grows with the desire to find the way and in the end it is a gift of God who does not reveal himself to us as an abstract thing without a face or a name, because faith responds to a Person who wants to enter into a relationship of deep love with us and to involve our whole life.

For this reason our heart must undergo the experience of conversion every day, every day it must see us changing from people withdrawn into themselves to people who are open to God’s action, spiritual people (cf. 1 Cor 2:13-14), who let themselves be called into question by the Lord’s word and open their life to his Love.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us therefore nourish our faith every day with deep attention to the word of God, with the celebration of the Sacraments, with personal prayer as a “cry” to him, and with charity to our neighbour.

Let us invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary, whom we shall contemplate tomorrow in her glorious Assumption into Heaven in body and soul, so that she may help us proclaim and witness with our lives to the joy of having encountered the Lord.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 14 August 2011]