Sep 30, 2025 Written by 

Teach us to pray: the ‘Cross-inside’

Gaze no longer positioned outside

Lk 11:1-13 (v.4c)

 

«When you pray, do not babble like the pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their wordiness» (Mt 6:7; cf. Lk 11:1).

The God of religions was named with an overabundance of high-sounding honorific epithets, as if he craved ever more numerous ranks of incensers.

The «Father» is not accompanied by prestigious titles. A child doesn’t address the parent as a very high, eternal and omnipotent, but the a reliable family Person who transmits life to him.

And the son doesn’t imagine that he has to offer external cries and acknowledgments: the Father looks at needs, not merits.

 

«Et ne nos inducas in tentationem»: ancient Prayer of the sons.

 

«Do not induce us [Lead us not into]» is (in the Latin and Greek sense: «until the end») an ancient Symbol of the ‘reborn in Christ’, in the experience of real life.

In religions there are clearly opposed demons and angels: disordered and dark powers, contrary to the bright and "right" ones.

But by dint of relegating the former, the worst continually resurface, until they win the game and spread.

In the lives of the saints we see these great women and men strangely always under temptation - because they disdain evil, therefore they do not know it.

Gradually, however, the little constant naggings becomes overwhelming crowds.

 

The persons of Faith do not act according to pre-established and superficial models, not even religious ones; they are aware that they are not heroes or paradigm phenomena.

That's why they rely on. They let intimate problems go by: understood its strength!

This is the meaning of the formula of the Our Father, in its original sense: «and lead us not into [the end of] temptation [trial] (because we know our weakness)».

If, on the other hand, our 'counterpart' becomes a protagonist, a one-sided pivot, a constant afterthought, and a block, we’re done for.

 

Pain, failures, sadness, frustrations, weaknesses, a thousand anxieties, too many falls, accustom us to experience transgressions as part of ourselves: Condition to be evaluated, not "guilt" to be cut horizontally.

In the process of true salvific transmutation, that signal speaks of us: within a deviation or the eccentricity there is a secret or a knowledge to be found, for a ‘new personal birth’.

Looking at the discomforts and oppositions, we realize that these critical sides of being become like a malleable magma, which approaches our healing more quickly. As if through a permanent, radical conversion… because it involves and belongs to us; not in peripheral mode, but basically, of Seed and Nature.

Absorbed patterns and beliefs don’t allow us to understand that the passionate life is composed of opposing states, of competitive energies - which must not be disguised in order to be considered decent people.

 

Perceiving and integrating such depths, we lay down the idea and atmosphere of impending danger, devoid of further opportunity; only for death.

We become mature, without dissociation or hysterical states resulting from contrived identifications, nor disesteem for an important part of us.

In short, straits and "crosses" have something to tell us.

They shake the soul to the root, sweep away the absorbed masks, ignite the person, and save the life.

In this way, inconveniences and anxieties help us. They hide capabilities and possibilities that we do not yet see.

In the virtue of the shaky yet unique exceptionality for each person, here is the true journey opening up.

Path of the Father and of the heart, Way that wants to guide us to alternative trajectories, new dimensions of existence.

 

The difference of the Faith, compared to ancient religiosity [in the sense of the ‘Cross-inside’]?

It’s in the consciousness that only the sick heal, only the incomplete grow.

Only the halting women and men regain expression, evolve. And falling, they snap forward.

 

 

[Wednesday 27th wk. in O.T.  October 8, 2025]

115 Last modified on Wednesday, 08 October 2025 12:00
don Giuseppe Nespeca

Giuseppe Nespeca è architetto e sacerdote. Cultore della Sacra scrittura è autore della raccolta "Due Fuochi due Vie - Religione e Fede, Vangeli e Tao"; coautore del libro "Dialogo e Solstizio".

Those living beside us, who may be scorned and sidelined because they are foreigners, can instead teach us how to walk on the path that the Lord wishes (Pope Francis)
Chi vive accanto a noi, forse disprezzato ed emarginato perché straniero, può insegnarci invece come camminare sulla via che il Signore vuole (Papa Francesco)
Many saints experienced the night of faith and God’s silence — when we knock and God does not respond — and these saints were persevering (Pope Francis)
Tanti santi e sante hanno sperimentato la notte della fede e il silenzio di Dio – quando noi bussiamo e Dio non risponde – e questi santi sono stati perseveranti (Papa Francesco)
In some passages of Scripture it seems to be first and foremost Jesus’ prayer, his intimacy with the Father, that governs everything (Pope Francis)
In qualche pagina della Scrittura sembra essere anzitutto la preghiera di Gesù, la sua intimità con il Padre, a governare tutto (Papa Francesco)
It is necessary to know how to be silent, to create spaces of solitude or, better still, of meeting reserved for intimacy with the Lord. It is necessary to know how to contemplate. Today's man feels a great need not to limit himself to pure material concerns, and instead to supplement his technical culture with superior and detoxifying inputs from the world of the spirit [John Paul II]
Occorre saper fare silenzio, creare spazi di solitudine o, meglio, di incontro riservato ad un’intimità col Signore. Occorre saper contemplare. L’uomo d’oggi sente molto il bisogno di non limitarsi alle pure preoccupazioni materiali, e di integrare invece la propria cultura tecnica con superiori e disintossicanti apporti provenienti dal mondo dello spirito [Giovanni Paolo II]
This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings (Pope Benedict)
Questo può realizzarsi solo a partire dall'intimo incontro con Dio, un incontro che è diventato comunione di volontà arrivando fino a toccare il sentimento (Papa Benedetto)
We come to bless him because of what he revealed, eight centuries ago, to a "Little", to the Poor Man of Assisi; - things in heaven and on earth, that philosophers "had not even dreamed"; - things hidden to those who are "wise" only humanly, and only humanly "intelligent"; - these "things" the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, revealed to Francis and through Francis (Pope John Paul II)
Veniamo per benedirlo a motivo di ciò che egli ha rivelato, otto secoli fa, a un “Piccolo”, al Poverello d’Assisi; – le cose in cielo e sulla terra, che i filosofi “non avevano nemmeno sognato”; – le cose nascoste a coloro che sono “sapienti” soltanto umanamente, e soltanto umanamente “intelligenti”; – queste “cose” il Padre, il Signore del cielo e della terra, ha rivelato a Francesco e mediante Francesco (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
We are faced with the «drama of the resistance to become saved persons» (Pope Francis)
Siamo davanti al «dramma della resistenza a essere salvati» (Papa Francesco)
That 'always seeing the face of the Father' is the highest manifestation of the worship of God. It can be said to constitute that 'heavenly liturgy', performed on behalf of the whole universe [John Paul II]
Quel “vedere sempre la faccia del Padre” è la manifestazione più alta dell’adorazione di Dio. Si può dire che essa costituisce quella “liturgia celeste”, compiuta a nome di tutto l’universo [Giovanni Paolo II]

Due Fuochi due Vie - Vol. 1 Due Fuochi due Vie - Vol. 2 Due Fuochi due Vie - Vol. 3 Due Fuochi due Vie - Vol. 4 Due Fuochi due Vie - Vol. 5 Dialogo e Solstizio I fiammiferi di Maria

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