Sources of Hope
(Lk 21:29-33)
Lk ends his Apocalyptic Discourse with recommendations on the attention and penetrating gaze to be placed at the ‘sign of the times’.
And - rooted in the Word of God that becomes event and directs us to the future, Hope inaugurates a new phase in history.
Its depth surpasses all current possibilities, which conversely fluctuate between signs of catastrophe.
Jesus reassures the disciples about the fears of the world’s end, and requires them not to look at coded messages, but Nature.
Only in this way will they be able to read and interpret the events.
Wise discernment, which serves not to close us in the immediate present: it pushes us on a path of uniformity or defense.
Indeed, because of the upheavals, a hasty assessment could lead us to fear reversals, blocking growth and testimony.
The world and things are moving towards a Spring, and above all in this regard we have a sentinel role.
On the ruins of a collapsing century, the Father makes us understand what’s happening - and continues to build what we hope [not according to immediate tastes].
Here and there we can catch the first stirrings of it, like the shoots on the ‘fig tree’.
It’s a tree that alludes to the fruit of love that God awaits from his people, called to be tender and sweet: signs of the new season - that of healthy relationships.
In this way, the spirit of dedication manifested by the sons will be the prefiguration of the imminent advent of a completely different empire - able to replace in consciences all others of a competitive character.
The fig tree is precisely the image of the ideal people of blessings; Israel of the exodus towards freedom, and trace of the Father [in the desert’s reflective sobriety and sharing].
It remains long time stripped and bare; suddenly its buds sprout, open and in a few days it’s covered with luxuriant leaves.
Such will be the passage from chaos to the sensitive and fraternal order produced by the proclamation and assimilation of the Word: not equal thought; divine step in history.
Through suggestions that belong to processes of nature, we are introduced into discernment of the Mystery - expressed throughout the wilde of transformations.
Its riches are contained in the codes of the Word and in the ordinary concrete events, which have a symptomatic weight. Chests of treasure, of invisible realities, which do not pass.
Such a wealth will even develop (and in particular) from confusion and collapses, as per intrinsic strength and essence, day by day.
Not for an abstract exemplarity, but for the fullness of life that finds its roots - rediscovering them in error and in the small.
A paradoxical seed of hope, and harbinger of better conditions.
Because without imperfection and limit there is no growth or flowering, nor nearby Kingdom (vv.30-31) which always takes contact with the wounds [Fratelli Tutti n.261].
Word of God and rhythms of Nature are codes that pass time. Authentic reliefs, created, donated, and revealed.
Sources of discernment, of the penetrating gaze, of the signs of time, of free thought, of Hope that does not queue.
[Friday 34th wk. in O.T. November 29, 2024]
