Sep 29, 2026 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 does not address the parent as a very high, eternal and omnipotent, but the a reliable family Person who transmits life to him.

And the son does not 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 is 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 do not 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.

 

Difference between Faith and ancient religiosity [in the sense of the ‘Cross-within’]?

It lies in the realisation that only the sick, are healed; only the incomplete free from attachments, grow.

Only those who limp along and let go, become free; they find their voice again, and evolve.

So by falling, by losing themselves, by «feeling like nobody», they spring forward.

 

 

[Wednesday 27th wk. in O.T.  October 7, 2026]

302 Last modified on Wednesday, 07 October 2026 11:58
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".

There are also serious, dangerous omissions and we have to recognize with healthy realism that in this way things are not all right, it is not all right when errors are made. However, we must also be certain at the same time that if, here and there, the Church is dying because of the sins of men and women, because of their non-belief, at the same time she is reborn (Pope Benedict)
Ci sono anche cadute gravi, pericolose, e dobbiamo riconoscere con sano realismo che così non va, non va dove si fanno cose sbagliate. Ma anche essere sicuri, allo stesso tempo, che se qua e là la Chiesa muore a causa dei peccati degli uomini, a causa della loro non credenza, nello stesso tempo, nasce di nuovo (Papa Benedetto)
The question makes apparent the concern, present in ancient Jewish tradition, over finding a unifying principle in the various formulations of God's will […] Emphasis is placed on the totality of this dedication to God, listing the three faculties that define man in his deep psychological structures: heart, soul and mind. The word mind, diánoia, contains the rational element (Pope Benedict)
La domanda lascia trasparire la preoccupazione, presente nell’antica tradizione giudaica, di trovare un principio unificatore delle varie formulazioni della volontà di Dio […] L’accento è posto sulla totalità di questa dedizione a Dio, elencando le tre facoltà che definiscono l’uomo nelle sue strutture psicologiche profonde: cuore, anima e mente. Il termine mente, diánoia, contiene l’elemento razionale (Papa Benedetto)
A “year” of grace: the period of Christ’s ministry, the time of the Church before his glorious return, an interval of our life (Pope Francis)
Un “anno” di grazia: il tempo del ministero di Cristo, il tempo della Chiesa prima del suo ritorno glorioso, il tempo della nostra vita (Papa Francesco)
The Church, having before her eyes the picture of the generation to which we belong, shares the uneasiness of so many of the people of our time (Dives in Misericordia n.12)
Avendo davanti agli occhi l'immagine della generazione a cui apparteniamo, la Chiesa condivide l'inquietudine di tanti uomini contemporanei (Dives in Misericordia n.12)
Addressing this state of mind, the Church testifies to her hope, based on the conviction that evil, the mysterium iniquitatis, does not have the final word in human affairs (Pope John Paul II)
Di fronte a questi stati d'animo la Chiesa desidera testimoniare la sua speranza, basata sulla convinzione che il male, il mysterium iniquitatis, non ha l'ultima parola nelle vicende umane (Papa Giovanni Paolo II)
Jesus reminds us today that the expectation of the eternal beatitude does not relieve us of the duty to render the world more just and more liveable (Pope Francis)
Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to each other in the lists of the Twelve (cf. Mt 10: 3, 4; Mk 3: 18; Lk 6: 15; Acts 1: 13), but also because there is very little information about them, apart from the fact that the New Testament Canon preserves one Letter attributed to Jude Thaddaeus [Pope Benedict]
Li consideriamo insieme, non solo perché nelle liste dei Dodici sono sempre riportati l'uno accanto all'altro (cfr Mt 10,4; Mc 3,18; Lc 6,15; At 1,13), ma anche perché le notizie che li riguardano non sono molte, a parte il fatto che il Canone neotestamentario conserva una lettera attribuita a Giuda Taddeo [Papa Benedetto]

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