The human race – every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. What the Pallium indicates first and foremost is that we are all carried by Christ. But at the same time it invites us to carry one another. Hence the Pallium becomes a symbol of the shepherd’s mission, of which the Second Reading and the Gospel speak. The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. Therefore the earth’s treasures no longer serve to build God’s garden for all to live in, but they have been made to serve the powers of exploitation and destruction. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.

[Pope Benedict, homily at the beginning of the Petrine ministry 24 April 2005]

The Old Testament already usually speaks of God as the Shepherd of Israel, the people of the covenant, chosen by him to carry out the plan of salvation. Psalm 22 is a marvellous hymn to the Lord, the Shepherd of our soul:

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; / he makes me lie down in green pastures, / he leads me beside still waters, / he restores my soul. / He leads me in paths of righteousness... / Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, / I fear no evil; / for thou art with me..." (Ps 22:1-3).

The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel often return to the subject of the people as "the Lord's flock": "Behold your God!... He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms..." (Is 40:11). Above all, they announce the Messiah as a Shepherd who will really feed his sheep and not let them go astray any more: "I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd..." (Ez 34: 23).

This sweet and moving figure of the shepherd is a familiar one in the Gospel. Even if times have changed owing to industrialization and urbanism, it always keeps its fascination and effectiveness; and we all remember the touching and poetic parable of the Good Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep (Lk 15:3-7).

In the early times of the Church, Christian iconography used a great deal and developed this subject of the Good Shepherd, whose image often appears, painted or sculpted, in the catacombs, sarcophagi and baptismal fonts. This iconography, so interesting and reverent, testifies to us that, right from the early times of the Church, Jesus "the Good Shepherd" struck and moved the hearts of believers and non-believers, and was a cause of conversion, spiritual commitment and comfort. Well, Jesus "the Good Shepherd" is still alive and true today in our midst, in the midst of the whole of mankind, and he wants to let each of us hear his voice and feel his love.

1) What does it mean to be the Good Shepherd?

Jesus explains it to us with convincing clearness.

— The shepherd knows his sheep and the sheep know him. How wonderful and consoling it is to know that Jesus knows us one by one; that for him we are not anonymous persons; that our name—that name which is agreed upon by loving parents and friends—is known to him! For Jesus we are not a "mass", a "multitude"! We are individual "persons" with an eternal value, both as creatures and as re-deemed persons! He knows us! He knows me, and loves me and gave himself for me! (Gal 2:20).

[...]

(Pope John Paul II, homily 6 May 1979)

We are all familiar with the image of the Good Shepherd with the little lost lamb on his shoulders. This icon has always been an expression of Jesus’ care for sinners and of the mercy of God who never resigns himself to the loss of anyone. The parable is told by Jesus to make us understand that his closeness to sinners should not scandalize us, but on the contrary it should call us all to serious reflection on how we live our faith. The narrative sees, on the one hand, the sinners who approach Jesus in order to listen to him and, on the other, the suspicious doctors of the law and scribes who move away from him because of his behaviour. They move away because Jesus approaches the sinners. These men were proud, arrogant, believed themselves to be just. 

Our parable unfolds around three characters: the shepherd, the lost sheep and the rest of the flock. The one who acts, however, is only the shepherd not the sheep. The Shepherd, then, is the only real protagonist and everything depends on him. The parable opens with a question: “"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it?” (Lk 15:4). It is a paradox that arouses doubt about the action of the Shepherd: is it wise to abandon the ninety-nine for one single sheep? And what’s more, not in the safety of a pen but in the desert? According to biblical tradition, the desert is a place of death where it is hard to find food and water, shelterless and where one is at the mercy of wild beasts and thieves. What are the ninety-nine defenseless sheep supposed to do? The paradox continues, in any case, saying that the shepherd, having found the sheep, “lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me’” (15:5-6). It seems then that the shepherd didn’t go back to the desert to recover the rest of the flock! Reaching out to that single sheep he seems to forget the other ninety-nine. But it’s not like that really. The lesson that Jesus wants us to learn is, rather, that not a single one of us can be lost. The Lord cannot accept the fact that a single person can be lost. God’s action is that of one who goes out seeking his lost children and then rejoices and celebrates with everyone at their recovery. It is a burning desire: not even ninety-nine sheep could stop the shepherd and keep him enclosed in the fold. He might reason like this: “Let me do the sum: If I have ninety-nine of them, I have lost one, but that’s no great loss”. Nevertheless, he goes looking for that one, because every one is very important to him and that one is in the most need, is the most abandoned, most discarded; and he goes to look for it. We are all warned: mercy to sinners is the style with which God acts and to this mercy he is absolutely faithful: nothing and no one can distract him from his saving will. God does not share our current throw-away culture; it doesn’t count to God. God throws no one away; God loves everyone, looks for everyone: one by one! He doesn’t know what “throwing people away” means, because he is entirely love, entirely mercy. 

The Lord’s flock is always on the move: it does not possess the Lord, it cannot hope to imprison him in its structures and strategies. The Shepherd will be found wherever the lost sheep is. The Lord, then, should be sought precisely where he wants to find us, not where we presume to find him! There is no other way to reassemble the flock except by following the path outlined by the mercy of the shepherd. While he is looking for the lost sheep, he challenges the ninety-nine to participate in the reunification of the flock. Then, not only the lamb on his shoulders, but the whole flock will follow the shepherd to his home to celebrate with “friends and neighbours”.

We should reflect on this parable often, for in the Christian community there is always someone who is missing and if that person is gone, a place is left empty. Sometimes this is daunting and leads us to believe that a loss is inevitable, like an incurable disease. That is how we run the risk of shutting ourselves in the pen, where there won’t be the odour of the sheep but the stench of enclosure! And Christians? We must not be closed in or we will smell like stale things. Never! We need to go forth, not close in on ourselves, in our little communities, in the parish, holding ourselves to be “righteous”. This happens when there is a lack of the missionary zeal that leads us to encounter others. In Jesus’ vision there are no sheep that are definitively lost, but only sheep that must be found again. We need to understand this well: to God no one is definitively lost. Never! To the last moment, God is searching for us. Think of the good thief; only in the eyes of Jesus no one is definitively lost. For his perspective if entirely dynamic, open, challenging and creative. It urges us to go forth in search of a path to brotherhood. No distance can keep the shepherd away; and no flock can renounce a brother. To find the one who is lost is the joy of the shepherd and of God, but it is also the joy of the flock as a whole! We are all sheep who have been retrieved and brought back by the mercy of the Lord, and we are called to gather the whole flock to the Lord! 

[Pope Francis, General Audience 4 May 2016]

The Immaculate Conception. God bless us and may the Virgin protect us!  

Next Sunday we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Today I am only posting some testimonies on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, while the day after tomorrow I will post, as usual, the commentary on the biblical texts of the liturgy of the Solemnity. You will find here today some testimonies on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by Latin Catholic theologians, Eastern Catholic theologians, Orthodox theologians and also converts. I add at the end, simply for information, the testimony of a Muslim Sufi theologian to understand what role Mary plays for Islam. I will add in conclusion how many dogmas the Catholic Church has on Mary and what they are. 

1. Testimonies of theologians, saints and converts.

*St. Bonaventure, one of the most important Franciscan theologians, wrote that Mary was preserved from sin to be the 'worthy dwelling place' of Christ. Although he did not live when the dogma was formalised (1854), his view anticipates the logic of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. He says that since Mary was chosen to be Mother of God, God preserved her from original sin from the first moment of her existence.

* Blessed John Duns Scotus, another 13th century Franciscan theologian, is one of the best known defenders of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which would later be proclaimed dogma by Pius IX in 1854. Scotus introduced the concept of 'preventive redemption'. According to Duns Scotus, Mary was preserved from original sin in anticipation of Christ's merits on the cross. In other words, although Mary was saved like all other human beings, she was saved before she fell into sin, precisely because of the unique role she would play as the Mother of God. This is often summed up in the phrase: 'Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit' ('God could do it, it was convenient to do it, therefore he did it').

*St. Maximilian Kolbe is one of the saints who made the dogma of the Immaculate Conception accessible and understandable through his deep Marian devotion. He linked Mary to the Holy Spirit, calling her: "The Immaculate Conception is the Bride of the Holy Spirit."

Kolbe saw Mary as the perfect reflection of God's purity and love. Her immaculacy was necessary so that she could receive Christ without any shadow of sin. According to Kolbe, Mary, in her absolute purity, is the model of holiness for the entire Church.

*St. John Paul II explained the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in a pastoral and accessible way, relating Mary to redeemed humanity. During a homily for the Immaculate Conception (8 December 1982), he said, "In Mary Immaculate we see the fulfilment of Christ's redemption, who not only freed humanity from sin, but also preserved Mary from sin from the beginning." For John Paul II, the dogma is not only a theological mystery, but also a message of hope: Mary is proof that God's grace can completely transform human life.

In conclusion: Among theologians, Blessed Duns Scotus provided one of the most elegant and fundamental explanations of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception with the theory of preventive redemption. However, for a more spiritual and pastoral vision, St Maximilian Kolbe and St John Paul II offer understandable and devotionally rich reflections, making the profound meaning of Mary as 'the Immaculate' accessible to all.

*Of the Eastern theologians, the one who has written particularly beautifully and profoundly on the Immaculate Conception of Mary is St John Damascene (675-749), one of the greatest Fathers of the Eastern Church. Although the dogma of the Immaculate Conception would not be officially defined by the Catholic Church until 1854, St. John Damascene anticipated with his thought many elements that would be fundamental to the understanding of this mystery. St. John Damascene, in his 'Discourse on the Nativity of Mary', celebrates Mary's unique purity and holiness from the moment of her conception. He describes Mary as the 'All Holy' (Panagia), the living temple of God, the pristine tabernacle chosen to house the Incarnate Word. According to Damascene, Mary was preserved from all stain of sin in order to be worthy Mother of God (Theotókos). Here is a particularly significant passage of his thought: 'Today human nature receives the first fruits of its glorification. The Virgin, the pure and immaculate dwelling place of the God of all purity, is brought into the light." Although he does not therefore explicitly develop the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception as it would later be defined, John Damascene emphasises Mary's original and extraordinary holiness, which is central to Eastern reflection on the Mother of God.*The Orthodox Church does not accept the doctrine of Mary's Immaculate Conception as it is understood and formulated by the Catholic Church (i.e. that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception), but it is worth knowing how many Orthodox theologians have reflected deeply on Mary's holiness and her unique purity, albeit with a different emphasis than Catholic theology. There is certainly a difference in perspective between Catholics and Orthodox because for the Catholic Church, the Immaculate Conception is about preservation from original sin, whereas 

for the Orthodox Church, Mary is venerated as Panagia (All Holy), but without the need to postulate a preservation from original sin as defined in the West. Rather, the Orthodox emphasise Mary's progressive divinisation (theosis) through her free cooperation with God's grace.

Here are some Orthodox texts on Mary's purity. One of the most profound Orthodox theologians who have written on Mary's holiness and purity is St Nicholas Cabasilas (14th century). In his commentary on the life of the Virgin Mary, he states, "The Virgin, from the first moment of her existence, began to participate in a unique way in the holiness of God, growing more and more in it until she became the living Temple of the Word."

St Gregory Palamas (1296-1359), a great hesychast theologian, also wrote significantly on Mary's purity. He emphasises her progressive sanctification and the special action of the Holy Spirit upon her: "The Mother of God was purified and sanctified more than any other creature, not only before her birth, but also in the course of her existence, until she became the living throne of God."In conclusion, even if the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is not accepted in Orthodox theology, many Orthodox Fathers and theologians have written profound texts on purity, holiness, and Mary's unique role in the plan of salvation. The difference is not in denying Mary's purity, but rather in the different understanding of original sin and sanctification.

*I also present some writers and theologians converted to Catholicism who have written profound and inspired pages on Mary's Immaculate Conception, capturing the theological and spiritual beauty of this dogma. Prominent among them are names of great significance for their literary and theological contributions. First, John Henry Newman (1801-1890), a convert from Anglicanism who later became a cardinal and was canonised by Pope Francis in 2019. He devoted intense reflections to Mary, even though he initially found it difficult to accept the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. In time, Newman realised that this truth was perfectly consistent with the doctrine of incarnation and redemption and wrote: "Mary was preserved from original sin not for herself, but for Christ, that she might be a pure and worthy tabernacle for the Son of God." In his famous essay 'Letter to Pusey', Newman clearly defends Marian devotion and the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) an English writer and apologist, converted to Catholicism from Anglicanism, did not directly write treatises on the Immaculate Conception, but a deep love and respect for the figure of Mary shines through in his works. In particular, Chesterton describes her as the model of humility and purity that is essential for understanding the Incarnation. In 'The Eternal Man', he writes: "Christianity has made the universe smaller to make a heart larger, and the world has found a Queen in the humility of the Virgin." Edith Stein (St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 1891-1942), born Jewish, later a philosopher and disciple of Husserl, converted to Catholicism and became a Carmelite nun. In her spiritual and philosophical writings, she treated the figure of Mary as an example of purity, humility and total openness to God's will. Referring to the Immaculate Conception, she wrote: "Mary is the image of the perfectly redeemed creature: not only did she never sin, but she was preserved from the beginning, to be totally God's and the Mother of his Son." In his book 'Woman and her Vocation', he extols Mary's spiritual motherhood as the fruit of her immaculate purity. Louis Bouyer (1913-2004), a Lutheran pastor and later a Catholic theologian, Bouyer deepened Marian doctrine in his theological studies. In his book 'The Throne of Wisdom', he explores Mary's role in God's salvific plan, emphasising how the Immaculate Conception is the first step in the new creation: 'Mary was conceived by God as the fulfilment of ancient Israel and the dawn of the new humanity, without blemish, to welcome the Word who became flesh."

Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), a French philosopher who converted from agnosticism to Catholicism, wrote about the Immaculate Conception emphasising its metaphysical and spiritual significance. In his book 'La Vie de la Grâce', Maritain defines Mary as the masterpiece of God's prevenient grace: "Mary is the woman redeemed in advance, the perfect image of man as God had conceived him before the fall."

*Mary is also venerated and loved in the Islamic religion with all the differences of a theological nature that must never be forgotten. It is worth knowing, however, although not related to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception but nevertheless concerning Mary, a particularly significant text on the figure of Mary (Maryam) in Islamic mysticism (tasawwuf), that of Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240), one of the greatest Sufis in Islamic history. In his masterpiece Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Revelations of Mecca), Ibn 'Arabi dedicates profound reflections to Mary, recognised in Islam as a model of purity, obedience and closeness to God. Ibn 'Arabi describes Mary as one of the highest manifestations of female wilaya (holiness) and sees her as a symbol of the perfectly purified soul that welcomes the divine Word. He compares her to the prophets, attributing to her a unique spiritual role: 'Mary is the symbol of the Virgin of the Soul who, purified of all worldly contamination, becomes the place where the divine Word becomes incarnate. Just as Jesus (ʿĪsā) was born of Mary for the world, so divine knowledge is born in the soul that has been made pure." According to Ibn 'Arabi, Mary's motherhood is not only physical, but also spiritual. In her, the mystery of the union between heaven and earth, between the divine and the human, is fulfilled: "Mary represents the human being who, while remaining a creature, becomes the receptacle of the Word of God (Kalimatullah), welcoming in her heart the breath of the Holy Spirit (Ruh al-Qudus)."  Ibn 'Arabi emphasises that Mary's virginity is not just a physical fact, but a symbol of the inner purity required to receive the knowledge of God. Mary thus becomes the prototype of the human being who achieves spiritual perfection through complete submission to the divine will: "When the human soul is free from all attachment, it becomes like Mary: ready to conceive, in her virginal heart, the Word that comes from God."

For Sufis, Mary is the manifestation of one of the fundamental divine qualities: taharah (purity). She is worshipped not only for her physical motherhood, but for her spiritual role as an example of a perfect servant of God (abd Allah), who surrenders herself completely to the divine will: 'God chose Mary, purified her, and elected her above all the women of the world' (Qur'an 3:42). In this sense, Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but also a guide for Sufi mystics who seek union with God through purity, humility and divine love. Ultimately, for Ibn 'Arabi and other Sufi mystics, Mary is not only a historical figure, but an eternal symbol of the possibility of each soul to become the place where God manifests Himself. Her life represents the inner journey towards knowledge, purity and union with the divine.

2. Finally, for the sake of completeness, I summarise the four dogmas of the Catholic Church concerning Mary 

1.Dogma of the Divine Maternity (Theotókos), Mary is Mother of God. It was proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and this is the central sentence of the Council of Ephesus: "If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God and that therefore the Blessed Virgin is the Mother of God (Theotókos), let him be anathema; 

2.Dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity. Mary is always a virgin: before, during and after the birth of Jesus and the dogma was proclaimed and officially defined by the Lateran Council of 649, but believed from the earliest centuries. The central phrase of the dogma: "Mary conceived virginally, gave birth without corruption, and remained a perpetual virgin."

3.Dogma of the Immaculate Conception (Mary is without original sin). The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was defined on 8 December 1854 by Blessed Pope Pius IX with the papal bull 'Ineffabilis Deus'. The dogma proclaims that Mary, from the first instant of her conception, was preserved free from original sin, thanks to the merits of Jesus Christ. The dogmatic definition is found in the final part of the bull, and reads, "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original guilt, has been revealed by God and, therefore, must be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful." 

*"First instant of her conception": Indicates that Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne.

*"By singular grace and privilege": This special state of Mary is not by her own merit, but a free gift from God.

*'In anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ': Mary was saved from sin not independently of Christ, but through the redemption wrought by her Son. It is a preventive redemption, unique in its kind.

*'Revealed by God': The dogma is based on a revealed truth, which has been believed by the Church throughout the centuries, although only formalised in 1854. Faith in the Immaculate Conception of Mary was already rooted in the tradition of the Church, especially in medieval theology and popular devotion. In 1854, Pope Pius IX wanted to officially proclaim this doctrine to strengthen the Catholic faith in an era marked by increasing challenges to Christianity. The dogma was admirably confirmed a few years later, in 1858, when the Virgin appeared to St Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, presenting herself with the words: "I am the Immaculate Conception." This event further strengthened the devotion and understanding of the dogma by the faithful.

4 Dogma of the Assumption of Mary. Mary was assumed in body and soul to the glory of heaven. It was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus on 1 November 1950. This is the central sentence of the dogma: "The Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed into heavenly glory in body and soul." At the end of her earthly life, Mary did not suffer corruption of the body, but was glorified in heaven. It is not specified whether she died or was directly assumed into eternal life.

+Giovanni D’Ercole

Religiosity and Faith: unusual crossroads of Tenderness

(Lk 5:17-26)

Jesus teaches and heals. He does not announce the Sovereign of religions, but a Father - attractive figure, who neither threatens nor punishes, but welcomes, dialogues, forgives and makes us grow.

The opposite of what the official guides conveyed, linked to the idea of an archaic, suspicious and prejudiced deity, which discriminated between friends and enemies.

God expresses himself not in oppressive forms, but in the way of the family and interhuman Covenant: He doesn’t enjoy the perfect, sterilized and pure, but offers to all his Love without requirements.

In fact, imperfection is not an expression of sin, and in any case sin is not an absolute force (v.21).

The Lord’s co-workers bring to Him all the paralytics, that is, those who are stuck and continue to stay in their stretchers - where perhaps those of the common opinion have laid them down.

They are people who in life do not seem to proceed either in the direction of the Eternal, nor go to others. They cannot even meet themselves.

Only personal contact with Christ can untie these vegetating corpses from their depressing pond.

God’s friends do everything to lead the needy to the Master, but sometimes they find themselves in front of a waterproof crowd, which does not allow a direct personal relationship (vv.18-19).

What to do? A dismantling action. Work pleasing to the Father - and which the Son evaluates as an expression of Faith (v.20)!

Faith that thinks and believes «an open world that makes room for everyone» [FT n.155].

The "synagogues" unbearable, on the contrary, promote a “binary division” (FT n.156) that attempts to ‘classify’.

In short, there are refractory clubs that claim to appropriate poor Jesus. Therefore their "headquarters" must be ‘uncovered and opened’ wide (v.19) - with extreme decision, in order not to make life pale.

We note that not the right stages, but only the unusual initiative overcomes the pond of the structures taken hostage - where you should just line up, wait for the turn, settle satisfied... and doze off.

The impetus for the demands of full, insightful life can and must overcome every sense of false collective compactness.

No sign of joy from the authorities (v.21) who only draw negative diagnoses - instead people are enthusiastic (v.26).

Lk’s passage makes us understand that the problem of the ‘paralytic’ is not his discomfort, the sense of oppression, the apparent misfortune.

These are not the ruptures in the relationship with life and with God.

On the contrary, the impediment becomes a paradoxical reason for seeking "therapy", and research of vis-à-vis.

The eccentric configurations - considered miserable - in fact contain secret doors, immense virtues, and the cure itself.

Even, they drive towards a new existence. They urge us, and "oblige" us to a personal relationship with our Lord. Almost looking for the Resemblance.

In short, we are called to choose in a very unusual way, compared to clichés.

And according to the Gospels the initiative of personal Faith is the decisive fork in the way - road of the impelling and universal desire to live completely.

Unusual crossroads of the Tenderness and Faith.

[Monday 2nd wk. in Advent, December 9, 2024]

Uncovering and opening "synagogues": unusual crossroads of Tenderness

(Lk 5:17-26)

Paralysis and punishment: different Tenderness [introduction].

The episode testifies to the harsh clash between the synagogue and the first fraternities of Faith, where without prior conditions of ritual or legal purity all were invited to share the table and the breaking of bread.

On the Lord's ideal delegation, a fraternal practice [unknown to others] of mutual forgiveness and even cancellation of contracted debts, even to the communion of goods, was already in force in the early churches.

Realities capable of putting any person back on their feet and moving forward, even the wretched - starting with their conscience (vv.18.23), stifled by a religion that accentuated a sense of unworthiness.

According to popular belief, conditions of penury or misfortune were a punishment.

Jesus, on the other hand, is the One who restores a horizon of authenticity to believing, new awareness and hope to the person suffering from paralysis - that is, unable to go towards God and towards men.

"I say to you, rise and take up your bed and go to your house" (Lk 5:24; cf. Mt 9:6; Mk 2:11).

Starting from what we are - that is, already resourceful, beyond all appearances - we live by Faith the same state as the "Son of Man" (v.24).

Such is the requirement of the 'Risen' in the Lord: those who manifest the Person in fullness - in the divine condition.

In Christ we can free ourselves from the constraints that made us live horizontal, prone and ankylosed.

Recovering dignity, we can now stand upright and promote life; thus return to the House that is truly ours [Lk 9:24-25; cf. Mt 9:6-7; Mk 2:10-12].

For the experts, the forgiveness announced by the Lord is not only an offence against their supposed prestige and spiritual rank, but a sacrilege and blasphemy.

After all, how to appeal to the masses - on the part of these destructive leaders - if not by intimidating them and making them feel inadequate, sterile, incapable, unempowered, with no way out?

The whole life of the people was conditioned by obsessions of impurity and sin.

Instead, the Master reveals that the divine propensity is only to forgive in order to enhance - and the attitude of - the man of Faith, to be born again and to help do so.

Indeed, the Father's gratuitousness is seen in the action of expectation and understanding exercised by the most authentic men of God: those capable of chiselling healthy environments.

Not only by their own virtue, but because tolerance introduces new, unknown forces; different powers, which overturn situations.

They allow other energies to pass through, creative and regenerating to the unhealthy - conversely deadly, unfortunately, where one does not promote oneself.

Only Jesus is the One who makes visible and manifest the healing that seemed mission impossible. And before it is physical, making us flourish again from the fears of false morality or devotion, of common or à la page thinking that imposes absurd curbs on autonomy.

The young Rabbi's proposal does not drown us under a heap of impersonal arrogance. It heals the blocked, puts them back in the race.

"Jesus has the power not only to heal the sick body, but also to forgive sins; and indeed, physical healing is a sign of the spiritual healing that his forgiveness produces. Indeed, sin is a kind of paralysis of the spirit from which only the power of God's merciful love can free us, enabling us to get back up and get back on the path of good" (Pope Benedict, Angelus 22 February 2009).

The Lord's 'brothers' [cf. parallel passages Mt 9:1-8; Mk 2:1-12] do all they can to lead the needy to the Master.

Often, however, they find themselves before a crowd of hijackers of the Sacred that does not allow for a face-to-face, authentic, personal, immediate relationship.

Critical impetus and love for the full life needs of all of us in need must then overcome the 'cultural', ethical, doctrinal and ritualistic sense of belonging - which only flatters or reiterates.

Unfortunately, no sign of joy from the authorities [Mt 9:3; Mk 2:6-8; Lk 5:21] - but people are enthusiastic [Mt 9:8; Mk 2:12; Lk 5:26]. Why?

Another kind of world

Jesus teaches and heals. He does not proclaim the God of religions, but a Father - an attractive figure, who does not threaten, nor punish, but welcomes, dialogues, forgives, makes grow.

The opposite of what was conveyed by the official guides, linked to the idea of an archaic, suspicious and prejudiced divinity, which discriminated between friend and foe.

The Father expresses himself in non-oppressive forms, in the manner of the family and inter-human covenant: he does not enjoy the perfect, sterilised and pure - or 'up-to-date'. He offers his Love to all without requirements.

For imperfection is not an expression of guilt, but a condition - and in any case sin is not an absolute force (v.21).It is this awareness that gives rise to liberated people and a new order: 'to forge bonds of unity, of common projects, of shared hopes' [Fratelli Tutti, n.287].

The Lord's co-workers bring to Him all the paralytics, that is, those who are stuck and continue to lie in their stretchers [where perhaps those of common opinion have laid them down].

These are people who in life seem neither to be going in the direction of the true God, nor are they going to others. Nor can they meet themselves.

Only personal contact with Christ can release these vegetating corpses from their depressing pond.

The friends of God "come bringing to him a paralytic borne by four" (Mk 2:3): they come from everywhere, from the four cardinal points; from very different, even opposite origins - which you would not expect.

They expose themselves to lead the needy to the Master, but sometimes they find themselves in front of an impermeable crowd [precisely, of hijackers of the Sacred] that does not allow for a direct, glowing, sincere, face-to-face personal relationship.

They do not let us 'enter' - instead we want to put ourselves before Him (vv.18-19): sometimes we are like blackmailed by levies and subjected to procedures, otherwise you do not pass; you are out.

Paraphrasing Pope Francis's third encyclical again, we could say that even in the selective or hierarchical access paths of Faith "the lack of dialogue means that no one, in individual sectors, is concerned with the common good, but rather with obtaining the advantages that power procures, or, at best, with imposing one's own way of thinking" [no.202].

What to do? A dismantling action, without diplomatic negotiations or requesting permission - an overthrow of proximities, pyramids and gateways, completely emancipated from reverential fears!

A work very pleasing to the Father... and which the Son values as an expression of Faith (v.20)!

Faith that thinks and believes in "an open world where there is room for everyone, which includes the weakest and respects different cultures" [FT n.155].

Some insufferable 'synagogues' conversely advocate 'a binary division' [FT No.156] that attempts to classify.

There are exclusive, refractory cliques and clubs which claim to appropriate poor Jesus... backwards.

Hence their congregations or 'synagogues' or 'houses of prayer' must be uncovered and thrown wide open (v.19) - with extreme decisiveness.

Such "seats" turn God's presence on earth upside down and disrupt the lives of the derelicts, who have real urgencies - not interest in cultivating unintelligible formulas, cultic purities, or other sophistications.

No more proper compliments, mirrors for fashionable larks, and 'proper' customary procedures!

Only in the concreteness of the incarnate Faith does man regenerate and discover his own divine powers - which are then the humanising ones: to put himself and his brothers and sisters back on their feet.

With Christ, one advances without any more regulated authorisations and to be implored at times by scandalous dummies that make life pale.

So, let us note that there are no steps taken, but only unusual initiative overcomes the pond of devout structures taken hostage by regulars or disembodied thinkers.

Where one would only have to queue up, wait one's turn, be content... put up with ready-made organisational charts, and doze off, or disperse.

The critical impetus and love for the full, discerning life needs of all of us in need must overcome the sense of feigned collective compactness. 

It must outclass all 'cultural', moral, doctrinal and ritualistic affiliations - which it only makes up and reiterates.

Thus, no sign of joy from the authorities (v.21) who only draw negative diagnoses - while the people are enthusiastic (v.26).

It is obvious that the customary and the 'new' unchurched judge Jesus to be a blasphemer: they have been uneducated 'in this fear and distrust' [FT no.152].

They do not love humanity, but rather their worldview, their doctrines, their codes, their milestones; a few beautiful rubrics - from exclusively external holiness. All papier-mâché.

They do not protect people, but only their self-interested connections, correct protocols and acquired positions; possibly the latest news of thought for their own benefit. Ropes that get in the way of our development.

In short, we are called upon to choose in a very unusual way, compared to the cliché of avant-garde or bacchettona preaching - which has never been able to reconcile esteem... with imperfection, error, diversity.

According to the Gospels, there is another, decisive crossroads: the path of the defence of the privileges of a caste that gags God in the name of God, or the path of the impelling, universal desire to live fully, to the full.

To this we are called, as opposed to conformist ways: to choose in an unusual, profound and decisive way, to reconcile de-centred uniqueness, truth, imperfection, our exceptionalism.

Otherwise, the soul rebels. It wants to be with Jesus up front, not behind the throng, albeit of believers - démodé or glamour.

The passage from the Synoptics makes it clear that the problem of the 'paralytic' is not his discomfort, his sense of oppression, his apparent misfortune.

These are not the breaks in his relationship with life and with God.

On the contrary, the impediment becomes a paradoxical reason to seek 'therapy', and vis-à-vis.

Unthinkable - perhaps insulting - for the outline.

The eccentric configurations, considered miserable, in fact contain secret doors, immense virtues, and the cure itself.

Indeed, they guide towards a new existence. They urge, and 'oblige' us to an immediate relationship with our Lord. Almost to seek His likeness.

Breathing in the common thought and tracing the trajectories of others, even those considered "intimate to God", the stiffening would have remained.

No unpredictable Salvation would have broken through.

In short, according to the Gospels there is only one non-negotiable, crossroads, decisive value: the desire to live fully, in a truly integrated way; in the first person.

Unusual crossroads of Tenderness and Faith.

To internalise and live the message:

What arouses your sense of admiration for the Power of God? Are you excited by physical or inner miracles?

Where do you most frequently hear, "My son, your sins are forgiven [...] Rise up and walk"? Do the others seem healthy and spiritual environments to you?

What kind are your works of faith? In sectors?

Marked by successful steps and negotiations with the distrustful installed (so that they are accepted and mistaken for Tenderness)?

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

On these Sundays, the liturgy presents the Gospel account of various healings brought about by Christ:  last Sunday, the leper, and today, a paralyzed man lying on his bed, whom four people carried to Jesus. Having noted their faith, he said to the paralytic:  "My son, your sins are forgiven" (Mk 2: 5). By so doing he made it clear that first of all he wanted to heal the spirit.

The paralyzed man is the image of every human being whom sin prevents from moving about freely, from walking on the path of good and from giving the best of himself. Indeed, by taking root in the soul, evil binds the person with the ties of falsehood, anger, envy and other sins and gradually paralyzes him. 

Jesus, therefore, scandalizing the scribes who were present, first said:  "... your sins are forgiven". Only later, to demonstrate the authority to forgive sins that God had conferred upon him, did he add:  "Stand up! Pick up your mat and go home" (Mk 2: 11), and heals the man completely.
The message is clear:  human beings, paralyzed by sin, need God's mercy which Christ came to give to them so that, their hearts healed, their whole life might flourish anew. 

Today too, humanity is marked by sin which prevents it from rapidly progressing in those values of brotherhood, justice and peace that with solemn declarations it had resolved to practise. Why? What is blocking it? What is paralyzing this integral development?

We know well that there are many historical reasons for this and that the problem is complex. But the Word of God invites us to have a gaze of faith and to trust, like the people who were carrying the paralytic, that Jesus alone is capable of true healing. 

The basic choice of my Predecessors, especially of the beloved John Paul II, was to lead the people of our time to Christ the Redeemer so that, through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, he might heal them. I too desire to continue on this path. 

In particular, with my first Encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, I wanted to point out to believers and to the whole world, God as the source of authentic love. Only God's love can renew the human heart, and only if he heals the heart of paralyzed humanity can it get up and walk. The love of God is the true force that renews the world. 

Let us invoke together the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that every person will be open to the merciful love of God and consequently that the human family will be healed in its depths of the evils that afflict it.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 19 February 2006]

1. A text by Saint Augustine offers us the key to interpreting Christ's miracles as signs of his saving power: "The fact that he became man for us has been of much greater benefit to our salvation than the miracles he performed among us; and it is more important than the fact that he healed the diseases of the body destined to die" (S. Augustini, In Io. Ev. Tr., 17, 1). In order to this health of the soul and the redemption of the whole world, Jesus also performed miracles of a corporal order. And so the theme of the present catechesis is as follows: through the "miracles, wonders and signs" he performed, Jesus Christ manifested his power to save man from the evil that threatens the immortal soul and his vocation to union with God.

2. This is what is revealed in a special way in the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum. The people who brought him, unable to enter through the door into the house where Jesus teaches, lower the sick man through an opening in the roof, so that the poor man comes to stand at the feet of the Master. "Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you'". These words arouse suspicion of blasphemy in some of those present: "This man blasphemes! Who can forgive sins but God alone?". Almost in response to those who had thought so, Jesus addresses those present with the words: "What is easier: to say to the paralytic: Your sins are forgiven, or to say: Get up, take up your bed, and walk? Now, so that you may know that the Son of Man has the power on earth to forgive sins, I command you,' he said to the paralytic, 'Get up, take up your cot, and go to your house. He got up, took up his cot, and went out in the presence of all" (cf. Mk 2:1-12 and also Mt 9:1-8; Lk 5:18-26; Lk 5:25).

Jesus himself explains here that the miracle of healing the paralytic is a sign of the saving power by which he forgives sins. Jesus performs this sign to show that he has come as the Saviour of the world, whose main task is to free man from spiritual evil, the evil that separates man from God and prevents salvation in God, which is precisely sin.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 11 November 1987]

Diseases of the soul must be healed and the medicine is to ask for forgiveness. Pope Francis said this at the morning Mass celebrated on Friday 17 January at Casa Santa Marta, commenting on the Gospel account of Jesus' healing of the paralytic. It is right, said the Pontiff, to cure the diseases of the body, but "do we think about the health of the heart?"

Presenting the passage from the day's liturgy, taken from the Gospel according to Mark, the Pope reproposed the image of Jesus in Capernaum with the crowd gathered around him. Through an opening made in the roof of the house, some bring him a man lying on a stretcher. The hope is that Jesus will heal the paralytic, but he displeases everyone by telling them: 'Son, your sins are forgiven. Only then does he order him to get up, take the stretcher and go home. Francis commented by saying that with his words Jesus allows us to go to the essentials. "He is a man of God," he said; he healed, but he was not a healer, he taught, but he was more than a teacher, and before the scene before him he goes to the essential: "He looks at the paralytic and says, 'Your sins are forgiven. Physical healing is a gift, physical health is a gift that we must guard. But the Lord,' the Pope continued, 'teaches us that we must also guard the health of the heart, spiritual health'.

Jesus also goes to the essence with the sinful woman, of whom the Gospel speaks, when in front of her weeping he says to her: 'Your sins are forgiven'. The others are scandalised, Francis said, 'when Jesus goes to the essential, they are scandalised because there is prophecy, there is strength'. Similarly, 'Go, but sin no more,' Jesus says to the man in the pool who never arrives in time to immerse himself in the water in order to be healed. To the Samaritan woman who asks him so many questions, - "she was playing the theologian a bit," said the Pontiff - Jesus asks about her husband. He goes to the essentials of life and, the Pope emphasised, 'the essential is your relationship with God. And we forget, many times, this, as if we were afraid to go right there where there is an encounter with the Lord, with God'. We do so much, he noted again, for our physical health, we give ourselves advice on doctors and medicines, and that is a good thing, "but do we think about the health of the heart?" So he said: 'There is a word here from Jesus that will perhaps help us: "Son, your sins are forgiven". Are we used to thinking about this medicine of forgiveness of our sins, of our mistakes? We ask ourselves: 'Do I have to ask God's forgiveness for something? "Yes, yes, in general, we are all sinners", and so it gets watered down and loses its force, this power of prophecy that Jesus has when he goes to the essentials. And today Jesus, to each one of us, says: 'I want to forgive you your sins'".

The Pope went on to say that perhaps some people do not find sins in themselves to confess because they "lack the consciousness of sins". Of "concrete sins", of "illnesses of the soul" that must be healed "and the medicine to heal is forgiveness". It is a simple thing that Jesus teaches when he goes to the essentials, Pope Francis said, concluding: 'The essential is health, all of it: of body and soul. We guard well that of the body, but also that of the soul. And let us go to that Physician who can heal us, who can forgive sins. Jesus came for this, he gave his life for this".

[Pope Francis, St. Martha, in L'Osservatore Romano 18/01/2020]