Dec 31, 2025 Written by 

The diverse solution. Vocation to offer the world

Multiplication by Sharing

(Mk 6:34-44)

 

«Man is a limited being who is himself limitless» (Fratelli Tutti [Brethren All] n.150).

In our hearts we have a great longing for fulfilment and Happiness. The Father has introduced it, He Himself satisfies it - but He wants us to be associated with His work - inside and outside.

The Son reflects God's plan in compassion for the crowds in need of everything and - despite the plethora of teachers and experts - lacking any authentic teaching (v.34).

His solution is very different from that of all “spiritual” guides, because He does not gloss over us with an indirect paternalism (v.37) that wipes away tears, heals wounds, erases humiliations.

He invites us to make in person use of what we are and have, even though it may seem ridiculous. But He teaches in no uncertain terms 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 passing being, her/his essential mark - and by sharing goods; not letting everyone make do (v.36).

Our real nakedness, the vicissitudes and experience of the many different brothers and sisters, are resources not to be evaluated with distrust, «viewing others as competitors or dangerous enemies» of our fulfilment (FT no.152).

Not only will the little we bring be enough to satiate us, but it will advance for others and with identical fullness of truth, human, epochal (vv.42-43).

The new people of God are not a crowd of chosen and pure people. Everyone brings with them problems, which the Lord heals - taking care not by proxy measures (v.37), as if from above or from without.

In short: another world is possible, but through breaking one's own (even miserable) bread and companion (v.38).

An authentic solution, if one brings it out from within, and by standing in the midst - not in front, not in charge, not at up high (v.36).

 

The place of God's revelation was to be the place of thunderbolts, on a "mountain" steaming like a furnace (Ex 19:18)... but finally even Elijah's violent zeal had to recant (1 Kings 19:12).

Even to women and men on the other side (vv.31-32) the Son reveals a Father who does not simply erase infirmities, but makes them understood as a place that is preparing a personal development, and that of the Community.

It was imagined that in the time of the Messiah, all the needy 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 (v.38) but real and able to reboot people and relationships.

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.41).

The same falls can be a precious sign; in Christ, they are no longer mere humiliations, but path indicators (vv.32-34): perhaps we are not using and investing our resources to the best of our ability.

Thus collapses can be quickly transformed into (different, unpacked) ascents and a search for total completion in Communion.

 

The image of the Kingdom in the puny Eucharist does not eliminate the flaw and death: it takes them up and transfigures them into strengths; by creating encounter, dialogue, predilection for the least realities - and New Covenant.

 

 

[Weekday Liturgy of 8 January]

224 Last modified on Thursday, 08 January 2026 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".

St John Chrysostom urged: “Embellish your house with modesty and humility with the practice of prayer. Make your dwelling place shine with the light of justice; adorn its walls with good works, like a lustre of pure gold, and replace walls and precious stones with faith and supernatural magnanimity, putting prayer above all other things, high up in the gables, to give the whole complex decorum. You will thus prepare a worthy dwelling place for the Lord, you will welcome him in a splendid palace. He will grant you to transform your soul into a temple of his presence” (Pope Benedict)
San Giovanni Crisostomo esorta: “Abbellisci la tua casa di modestia e umiltà con la pratica della preghiera. Rendi splendida la tua abitazione con la luce della giustizia; orna le sue pareti con le opere buone come di una patina di oro puro e al posto dei muri e delle pietre preziose colloca la fede e la soprannaturale magnanimità, ponendo sopra ogni cosa, in alto sul fastigio, la preghiera a decoro di tutto il complesso. Così prepari per il Signore una degna dimora, così lo accogli in splendida reggia. Egli ti concederà di trasformare la tua anima in tempio della sua presenza” (Papa Benedetto)
And He continues: «Think of salvation, of what God has done for us, and choose well!». But the disciples "did not understand why the heart was hardened by this passion, by this wickedness of arguing among themselves and seeing who was guilty of that forgetfulness of the bread" (Pope Francis)
E continua: «Pensate alla salvezza, a quello che anche Dio ha fatto per noi, e scegliete bene!». Ma i discepoli «non capivano perché il cuore era indurito per questa passione, per questa malvagità di discutere fra loro e vedere chi era il colpevole di quella dimenticanza del pane» (Papa Francesco)
[Faith] is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the present of history […] (Pope Benedict, Porta Fidei n.15)
[La Fede] è compagna di vita che permette di percepire con sguardo sempre nuovo le meraviglie che Dio compie per noi. Intenta a cogliere i segni dei tempi nell’oggi della storia […] (Papa Benedetto, Porta Fidei n.15)
But what do this “fullness” of Christ’s Law and this “superior” justice that he demands consist in? Jesus explains it with a series of antitheses between the old commandments and his new way of propounding them (Pope Benedict)
Ma in che cosa consiste questa “pienezza” della Legge di Cristo, e questa “superiore” giustizia che Egli esige? Gesù lo spiega mediante una serie di antitesi tra i comandamenti antichi e il suo modo di riproporli (Papa Benedetto)
The Cross is the sign of the deepest humiliation of Christ. In the eyes of the people of that time it was the sign of an infamous death. Free men could not be punished with such a death, only slaves, Christ willingly accepts this death, death on the Cross. Yet this death becomes the beginning of the Resurrection. In the Resurrection the crucified Servant of Yahweh is lifted up: he is lifted up before the whole of creation (Pope John Paul II)
La croce è il segno della più profonda umiliazione di Cristo. Agli occhi del popolo di quel tempo costituiva il segno di una morte infamante. Solo gli schiavi potevano essere puniti con una morte simile, non gli uomini liberi. Cristo, invece, accetta volentieri questa morte, la morte sulla croce. Eppure questa morte diviene il principio della risurrezione. Nella risurrezione il servo crocifisso di Jahvè viene innalzato: egli viene innalzato su tutto il creato (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)

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