Jesus gives his disciples — and us too today — his teaching: “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (v. 23). The disciples were dismayed at his words; and especially after Jesus added: “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. However, seeing the astonished, he said: “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God” (cf. vv. 24-27).

St Clement of Alexandria commented: “Let [the parable] teach the prosperous that they are not to neglect their own salvation, as if they had been already foredoomed, nor, on the other hand, to cast wealth into the sea, or condemn it as a traitor and an enemy to life, but learn in what way and how to use wealth and obtain life” (Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved, 27, 1-2).

The history of the Church is full of examples of rich people who used their possessions in an evangelical way, even attaining holiness. Let us only think of St Francis, St Elizabeth of Hungary or St Charles Borromeo. May the Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom, help us to accept Jesus’ invitation joyfully, in order to enter the fullness of life.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 14 October 2012]

22. The conclusion of Jesus' conversation with the rich young man is very poignant: "When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions" (Mt 19:22). Not only the rich man but the disciples themselves are taken aback by Jesus' call to discipleship, the demands of which transcend human aspirations and abilities: "When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, "Then who can be saved?' " (Mt 19:25). But the Master refers them to God's power: "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Mt 19:26).

25. Jesus' conversation with the rich young man continues, in a sense, in every period of history, including our own. The question: "Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?" arises in the heart of every individual, and it is Christ alone who is capable of giving the full and definitive answer. The Teacher who expounds God's commandments, who invites others to follow him and gives the grace for a new life, is always present and at work in our midst, as he himself promised: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). Christ's relevance for people of all times is shown forth in his body, which is the Church. For this reason the Lord promised his disciples the Holy Spirit, who would "bring to their remembrance" and teach them to understand his commandments (cf. Jn 14:26), and who would be the principle and constant source of a new life in the world (cf. Jn 3:5-8; Rom 8:1-13).

[Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor nn.22.25]

"Contento, Señor, contento!": the smiling face of a contemporary saint, Chilean Alberto Hurtado, who even in difficulties and suffering assures the Lord that he is "happy", contrasted with the "saddened" face of the evangelical "rich young man" in Pope Francis' meditation during the Mass celebrated at Santa Marta on Tuesday 28 February. These are the two ways of responding to the gift and proposal of life that God makes to man and that the Pontiff summed up with an expression: "Everything and nothing".

Francis' homily began with a consideration of the liturgy of these "three last days before Lent" in which the "relationship between God and riches" is presented. In Sunday's gospel, he recalled, "the Lord was clear: one cannot serve God and riches. You cannot serve two masters, two lords: either you serve God or you serve riches'. On Monday, however, "the story of the rich young man was proclaimed, who wanted to follow the Lord but in the end was so rich that he chose riches". A Gospel passage (Mark 10:17-27) emphasised Jesus' warning: "How difficult it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle", and the disciples' reaction "somewhat frightened: "But who can be saved?"".

On Tuesday, the liturgy continued to propose the passage from Mark by examining the reaction of Peter (10:28-31), who says to Jesus: "All right, what about us?". It almost seems, the Pope commented, that Peter with his question - "Behold, we have left everything and followed you. What is our turn?" - was presenting "the bill to the Lord", as in a "business negotiation". In reality, the Pontiff explained, that was probably 'not Peter's intention', who evidently 'did not know what to say: "Yes, this one has left, but what about us?"'. In any case, "Jesus' answer is clear: 'I tell you, there is no one who has left everything without receiving everything'". There are no half-measures: 'Behold, we have left everything', 'You will receive everything'. Instead, there is "that overflowing measure with which God gives his gifts: 'You will receive everything. There is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, who does not already receive a hundred times as much now in this time in homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, fields, and eternal life in the time to come'. Everything'.

This is the answer, said the Pontiff: "The Lord does not know how to give less than everything. When he gives something, he gives himself, which is everything'.

An answer, however, where a word emerges that "makes us reflect". Jesus in fact affirms that one "receives already now in this time a hundred times in houses, brothers together with persecutions". So "everything and nothing". The Pope explained: "Everything on the cross, everything in persecutions, together with persecutions". Because it is a matter of "entering into another way of thinking, another way of acting". In fact "Jesus gives himself everything, because the fullness, the fullness of God is a fullness annihilated on the cross". Here then is the "gift of God: the fullness annihilated". And here then is also "the style of the Christian: to seek the fullness, to receive the annihilated fullness and to follow along that path". Certainly a commitment that "is not easy".

But the Pope, following his meditation, went further and asked himself: "What is the sign, what is the signal that I go ahead in this giving everything and receiving everything?". What is the sign, in short, that one is on the right path? The answer, he said, is found in the first reading of the day (Sirach 35: 1-15), where it is written: "Glorify the Lord with a glad eye. In every offering show thy countenance glad, with joy consecrate thy tithe. Give to the Most High according to the gift you have received from him and with a glad eye according to your will'. Therefore, "contented eyes, glad countenance, joy...". The Pontiff explained: "The sign that we are going on this road of everything and nothing, of fullness annihilated, is joy". It is no coincidence that "the rich young man turned dark in the face and went away saddened". He had not been "able to receive, to welcome this annihilated fullness". Instead, the Pope explained, 'the saints, Peter himself, welcomed it. And in the midst of trials, of difficulties they had a joyful face, a contented eye and a joyful heart. This is the sign'.

And it was at this point that the Pope resorted to an example taken from the life of the contemporary Church: "A little phrase from a saint, Saint Alberto Hurtado, Chilean, comes to mind," he said. He always worked, difficulties behind difficulties, behind difficulties.... He worked for the poor'. He is a saint who 'was persecuted' and had to face 'many sufferings'. But 'when he was right there, crushed on the cross' he would say: 'Happy, Señor, happy, Lord, happy''.May Saint Albert, the Pontiff concluded, "teach us to go on this road, give us the grace to go on this somewhat difficult road of everything and nothing, of the annihilated fullness of Jesus Christ and always say, especially in difficulties: 'Happy, Lord, happy'".

[Pope Francis, in L'Osservatore Romano 01.03.2017]

From customs with limits to the Spirituality of possessions-Relation

(Mt 19:16-22)

At the time of Jesus, people lived a moment of social collapse and disintegration of the communitarian dimension of life - in the past more related to family, clan and community.

Herod's policy guaranteed the Empire control of the situation: a reality of maximum exploitation and severe economic and civil repression.

Religious impositions even ensured the subjugation of consciences - and the spiritual authorities were happy to act as guarantors of this most covert form of slavery.

The condition of total (civil and religious) subjugation of the people everywhere tended to diminish the sense of interpersonal and group fraternity.

There was no lack of severe conditions of social and cultural exclusion, which accentuated the bewilderment of the people, who were marginalized, homeless and without references - even religious ones.

Some movements attempted to reweave the lacerations and propose shared forms of life, certainly - but united by an idea of nagging decontamination [Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots].

Jesus chooses the path of a decisive vital redemption, as opposed to the ideologies of the ascetic purism and custom rediscovery.

For a radical fulfilment of the spirit of the Law, it was necessary to go beyond doctrines. They excite some, yet they do not erase our inner sense of emptiness.

The community of sons does not keep itself within the 'limits', and does not live apart; thus it does not accentuate the torments of imperfection, or the perception of incompleteness, nor the marginalizations - but welcomes them.

It does not feel endangered by contact with the realities that the external legalism of devotion considered dangerous and cursed or in sin. It trembles for them.

The Church recognises the value of existential poverties: it feels it’s not enough to seek “good things” without 'fire' within.

It confesses the richness not of everything that is already recognizable and static, but of new positions and differing relationships, which dilate the present and open up creative visions of the future.

Faith, in short, is not a popularly identified belief capable of accrediting roles, tasks and characters.

In vv.18-19 Jesus does not enumerate commandments that would make the interlocutor [as they used to say] live 'more from near' to 'God alone', but the criteria that bring us close and alongside our sisters and brothers.

The honour reserved for the Father is not one of many forms of competitive love: the threshold is the neighbour.

The Son does not even mention the first commandments, those identifying the exalted Lord of his people.

Our hands embrace the time-less… in concrete love.

They trigger the dynamisms that annihilate the torments of the least, and thus in an unthinkable way help us rediscover the meaning and joy of life - letting the world be reborn [far more than with the usual forms of insurance].

Conscious living does not have to do with usage and clichés [which produce alibis] but with another serenity and joy: the wonder of the unusual and of new degrees, places, states, relationships, situations.

There is no other richness that can fill our days, while there is only sadness (v.22) in the old bonds without humanity. They lower us all into an artificial mental and emotional reality.

To detach oneself from immediate calculation seems an absurd choice, far-flung and destined to go wrong, but on the contrary, it is the winning move that opens the door to new Life of the Kingdom and to Happiness, which can be accessed precisely when tangible goods are transformed into Relationship.

Let us free ourselves from the plethora of misguided goals that crush our paths, making them swampy.

We have to reflect well on «that which is eminent» (v.17).

To internalize and live the message:

Have you learnt to embrace your life from the Goodness of God, or to be lulled and content with what is there - just within reach?

[Monday 20th wk. in O.T.  August 18, 2025]

From customs with limits to the Spirituality of possessions-Relation

(Mt 19:16-22)

At the time of Jesus, there was a time of social collapse and disintegration of the communitarian dimension of life - in the past more related to family, clan and community.

Herod's policies ensured that the empire controlled the situation: a reality of maximum exploitation and severe economic and civil repression.

Religious impositions even ensured the subjugation of the consciences - and the spiritual authorities were happy to act as guarantors of this most covert form of slavery.

The condition of total (civil and religious) subjugation of the people everywhere tended to diminish the sense of interpersonal and group fraternity.

There was no lack of severe conditions of social and cultural exclusion, which accentuated the bewilderment of the people, who were marginalised, homeless and without references - even religious ones.

Some movements attempted to reweave the lacerations and propose forms of shared life, certainly - but united by an idea of tormenting decontamination [Essenes, Pharisees, Zealots].

Jesus chooses the path of a decisive vital redemption, compared to the ideologies of the rediscovery of ascetic and customary purism, traditionalist nationalist fundamentalist.

For a radical fulfilment of the spirit of the Law, it was necessary to go beyond doctrines. They excite some, yet they do not erase our inner sense of emptiness.

The community of sons does not keep within the 'limits', and does not live apart; thus it does not accentuate the torments of imperfection, or the perception of incompleteness, nor the marginalisations - but welcomes them.

She does not feel endangered by contact with the realities that the external legalism of ancient devotion considered dangerous and cursed or in sin. It trembles for them.

The Church recognises the value of existential poverty: it is not enough to seek 'good things' without 'fire' within.

It confesses the richness not of everything that is already recognisable and static, but of new positions and differing relationships that open up the present and open up creative visions of the future.

Faith, in short, is not a popularly identified belief capable of accrediting roles, tasks and personalities - and their advantages, which everyone should depend on [!]

Nor can the dimension-wealth still rhyme with differentiation-security.

In vv.18-19 Jesus does not enumerate commandments that would make the interlocutor [as they used to say] 'more from near' to 'God alone', but criteria that bring us near and alongside sisters and brothers.

The honour reserved for the Father is not one of many forms of competitive love: the threshold is the neighbour.

The God of religions is a capricious child who demands the big piece of the cake, at snack time: but the Son does not deceive us with the most childish ideas of widespread beliefs.

Nor does he quote the first commandments, identifying the exalted Lord of his people.

Our hands embrace the timeless in concrete love.

They trigger the dynamisms that annihilate the torments of the least, and thus in an unthinkable way help us rediscover the meaning and joy of living - letting the world be reborn, far more than with the usual forms of insurance (sacralising titles and acquired economic levels).

Conscious living has to do not with customs and clichés [that produce alibis] but with another serenity and joy: the wonder of the unusual and of new degrees, places, states, relationships, situations.

There is no other richness that can fill our days, while there is only sadness (v.22) in the old bonds without humanity. They lower us all into an artificial mental and emotional reality.

To detach oneself from immediate calculation seems an absurd choice, out of the blue and destined to go wrong, but it is, on the contrary, the winning move that opens the door to the new Life of the Kingdom and to Happiness, which is accessed precisely when material goods are transformed into Relationship.

We know of no religious discipline that holds [and that can defy time, our emotions].

Only the risk for complete Life - ours, everyone's - acts as a spring to the will and impels full dedication.

The Tao (xiii) says: "To him who values himself for the sake of the world, the world can be entrusted; to him who cares for the sake of the world, the world can be trusted.

And Master Ho-shang Kung comments: "If I did not care for my person, I would have the spontaneity of the Tao in me: I would lightly lift myself up to the clouds, I would go in and out where there are no gaps, I would put the spirit in communication with the Tao. Then what misfortune would I have?".

Let us free ourselves from the plethora of wrong goals, which crush our paths, making them swampy. Let us also reflect well, then, on "that which is worthy" (v.17).To internalise and live the message:

Thanks to spiritual guides, have you learnt to grasp your life from the Goodness of God, or to be lulled and content with what is there?

In the Church, have you found the criterion of Jesus realised, the strong desire for the Goodness of others too, capable of pointing a path? Or more attention to the things of the earth?

One is missing

Inherit the Life of the Eternal

(Mk 10:17-27)

What are we missing, despite our conviction and involvement? Why do we make certain behavioural choices?

Even if we were to devote years of commitment to the spiritual journey in religion, we would find that finally not just the icing on the cake is missing, but the global One.

It is not enough to accentuate or perfect the good things, we need to take a leap; one step (even an alternative step) more is not enough.

Paradoxically, one starts from the perception of an inner wound that stirs (v.17) the search for that Good that unifies and gives meaning to life.

Jesus makes us reflect on what is to be considered "Insignificant" (thus the Greek text: vv.17-18).

It is not a teaching for those who are far away, but for us: "One you lack!" - as if to emphasise: "You lack the All, you have almost nothing!".

Normal life goes on, but the path of trust is lacking. There is no astonishment.

Our going does not consolidate or qualify by adapting to our surroundings, adding heritage to heritage and shunning peccadilloes, or - above all - unknowns.

Too many things are missing: the challenge of the more personal, caring for others, confronting the drama of reality: there is no unity, there is a lack of authentic Presence that launches love into the spirit of adventure.

It is not a matter of having a cue in addition to what we already possess, continuing to be slaves to it (the titles, the capital or the money, which give us orders like masters; they promise, they guarantee, they flatter).

It is not enough to improve on relationship situations that we know by heart, making ourselves approved from the very first step - nor is it enough to merely deepen pious curiosity by satiating the spiritual gluttony.

The transition from religiosity to Faith that brings our vocational destiny and full realisation is played out on a shortage of support - in chaotic systems of correlation.

To be happy is not worth 'normalising' or remaining decent, devout people, because the soul demands the challenge of unexplored skies.

Waters we have not plumbed: sides of ourselves, of others and of reality that we have not brought out, and yet perhaps are not even scrutinising.

We need to venture into the basal and extraordinary stretches that are also calling today; not wait for assurances.

And the starting point can also be the accent of doubt, a healthy restlessness of the soul - the very danger... typical of critical witnesses.

Let us not be silent about our being unsafe, nor about our sense of dissatisfaction with an ordinary, unshaken existence: these are fruitful suspensions, which (when ready) will activate us.

Feeling complete, fulfilled, happy? It is necessary for the eyes and heart to give way, not to be already occupied.

It is absolutely necessary to let go of certainties from the mind and one's own hand.

Gambling is not the maceration of oneself or of the main lines of one's personality - but the reckless investing of everything for another realm, where energies surface, different relationships are explored; one attempts to sublimate possessions into a matrix of life (also others': v.21).

After a sense of incompleteness or even spiritual infirmity has driven us to a rich attunement with the codes of the soul and brought face to face with Jesus (v.17) from Him we understand the secret of Joy.

Our Core remains restless if it does not infuse correspondences that fly over - precisely - the ancient ruler: possessions, which make one stagnate.

Despite the promised guarantees, they remain constipated, meaningless. 

On the contrary, by locking us into dependency they cause us to regress almost into the pre-human - robbing us of the delight of open, self-respecting relationships.

The Deep Roots want to change the vector of the swampy, situated self - 'as it should', well-integrated or self-referential - so that it dilates to include the You and the real whole (vv.28-30).

It is the Birth of the new woman and man, mothers and fathers of humanisation (in a living community, which accepts the conviviality of differences). That which verges on the divine condition.

Capable even of overturning positions (v.31). Eschatological sign and sign of the genuine Church. Nest and true Hearth.

It is Genesis in the authenticity of cosmic energies and inner powers, which are preparing stages of growth - elsewhere.

Gradually we create the warmth and reciprocity of an understanding relationship, the purpose of Love in what we undertake or do again; like the friendly warmth of a non-frigid Presence.

We experience the inebriating distinction from which there is no turning back, because it places us in the very Life of the Eternal (v.17). The One who is missing (v.21).As I strive to question myself or others, previously hidden resources - that I did not even know about - surface.

With amazement, I experience a reality that gradually unfolds... and of the Father who provides for me (v.27).

In such an extension, we learn to recognise the (new decisive) Subject of the spiritual journey: God's Design in being itself.

Dream leading, and despite the travails, the emotional storms, our contortions, it gradually reveals itself to be Resembling.

As innate: forthright, genuine, limpid; irrefutable, flowing.

Inserted in the Community that hears the call to "go out", we move out of the tortuousness of retreats; and here is the Father's hundredfold in everything (vv.28-30).

Except for one thing: we are called to be Brothers, on an equal footing. 

There will be no hundred-to-one of 'fathers' (in the ancient sense), i.e. of conditioning controllers (vv. 29-30) who dictate their track and rhythm, as to subordinates.

Then we will be at our centre, not because we are identified with the role, but rather chiselled in an astonishing way by facets of the Unknown.

A life of attachments or subservience to dirigisme blocks creativity. 

To cling to an idol, to allow oneself to be plagued or intimidated, to anchor oneself in fear of problems or pre-occupations is like creating a dark room.

Feeling programmable, already designed, without a more... suffering ordinary or conformist opinions... excludes the vector of personal Novelty.

Those who allow themselves to be inhibited build an artificial dwelling, which is neither their home nor the tent of the world.

Conceiving that we can foresee global adventures, we shrink, we frighten. We do not grasp what is really ours and others'.

This is what becomes apparent during a process - which becomes holy in the exodus from self and in the quality of creative relationships.

As Pope Francis said in Dublin: 'Docile to the Spirit and not based on tactical plans'.

Under a new and unknown stimulus, it is the new genesis that allows us to shift our attention from calculation to the brightness of the soul, from the brain to the eye, from reasoning to perception.

What am I to "do" (v.17)? Embrace the Gift of difference and difference - even in my own inner faces, not infrequently opposites; complementing.

We transcend the One who is missing, but who reaches us.

We do not manufacture, but receive, 'inherit' (v.17) freely - from the real that presses.

"Where is the Insigne for me?".

To become who we authentically are in the election of our sacred Source, we must surrender ourselves to things, situations, even unusual emotional guests - treating them with dignity, just as they are.

Within this new ancient ground is the secret of that elevation that rises above dilemmas, for each one.

With all its load of stimulating surprises and appeals to flourish in humanising fullness, the Good lies in welcoming something that I do not already know what it is or will be, but It comes.

"The One is missing you!" - and the best way to esteem its contact is a bet, a matrix of being: transforming goods (of all kinds) into life and relationship.

The young man in the Gospel as we know asks Jesus: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?". Today it is not easy to speak about eternal life and eternal realities, because the mentality of our time tells us that nothing is definitive that everything changes, and changes very rapidly. "Change", in many cases, has become the password, the most exalting exercise of freedom, and that is why even you, young people, have often come to think that it is impossible to make definitive choices that would tie you down for the rest of your life. But is this the right way to use your freedom? Is it really true that in order to be happy we should content ourselves with small, transient joys that once they are over leave bitterness in the heart? Dear young people, this is not true freedom nor can true happiness be reached in this way. Not one of us is created to make provisional and revocable choices but rather definitive and irrevocable decisions that give full meaning to our existence. We see it in our lives: we should like every beautiful experience that fills us with happiness never to end. God created us with a view to the "forever", he has placed in the heart of each one of us the seed of a life that can achieve something beautiful and great. Have the courage to make definitive decisions and to live them faithfully! The Lord may call you to marriage, to the priesthood, to the consecrated life, to a special gift of yourselves: answer him generously!

In the dialogue with the young man who possessed many riches Jesus pointed out what was the most important, the greatest treasure in life: love. To love God and to love others with one's whole self. The word love we know it lends itself to many interpretations and has different meanings. We need a Teacher, Christ, to teach us its most authentic and profound meaning, to guide us to the source of love and life. Love is the name of God himself. The Apostle John reminds us: "God is love", and adds, "not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son", and "if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another" (1 Jn 4: 8, 10-11) In the encounter with Christ and in reciprocal love we experience in ourselves the life of God, who abides in us with his perfect, total and eternal love (cf. 1 Jn 4: 12). Therefore there is nothing greater for man a mortal and limited being than to participate in the life of God's love. Today, we live in a cultural context that does not encourage profound and disinterested human relationships; on the contrary, it often induces us to withdraw into ourselves, into individualism, to let selfishness, that exists in people, prevail. But a young person's heart is by nature sensitive to true love. That is why I address each one of you with great confidence in order to say: it is not easy to make something beautiful and great of your life it is demanding, but with Christ, everything is possible!

[Pope Benedict, Meeting with Young People, Turin 2 May 2010]

6. The dialogue of Jesus with the rich young man, related in the nineteenth chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel, can serve as a useful guide for listening once more in a lively and direct way to his moral teaching: "Then someone came to him and said, 'Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?' And he said to him, 'Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. 'He said to him, 'Which ones?' And Jesus said, 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' The young man said to him, 'I have kept all these; what do I still lack?' Jesus said to him, 'If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me' " (Mt 19:16-21).

7. "Then someone came to him...". In the young man, whom Matthew's Gospel does not name, we can recognize every person who, consciously or not, approaches Christ the Redeemer of man and questions him about morality. For the young man, the question is not so much about rules to be followed, but about the full meaning of life. This is in fact the aspiration at the heart of every human decision and action, the quiet searching and interior prompting which sets freedom in motion. This question is ultimately an appeal to the absolute Good which attracts us and beckons us; it is the echo of a call from God who is the origin and goal of man's life. Precisely in this perspective the Second Vatican Council called for a renewal of moral theology, so that its teaching would display the lofty vocation which the faithful have received in Christ, the only response fully capable of satisfying the desire of the human heart.

In order to make this "encounter" with Christ possible, God willed his Church. Indeed, the Church "wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of life".

[Pope John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor nn.6-7 cf. ff.]

The Lord Jesus gives us the fulfilment; he came for this. That man had to come to the brink, where he had to take a decisive leap, where the possibility was presented to stop living for himself, for his own deeds, for his own goods and — precisely because he lacked a full life — to leave everything to follow the Lord. Clearly, in Jesus’ final — immense, wonderful — invitation, there is no proposal of poverty, but of wealth, of the true richness: “You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mk 10:21).

Being able to choose between an original and a copy, who would choose the copy? Here is the challenge: finding life’s original, not the copy. Jesus does not offer surrogates, but true life, true love, true richness! How will young people be able to follow us in faith if they do not see us choose the original, if they see us adjusting to half measures? It is awful to find half-measure Christians, — allow me the word — ‘dwarf’ Christians; they grow to a certain height and no more; Christians with a miniaturized, closed heart. It is awful to find this. We need the example of someone who invites me to a ‘beyond’, a ‘plus’, to grow a little. Saint Ignatius called it the ‘magis’, “the fire, the fervour of action that rouses us from slumber”.

The path of what is lacking passes through what there is. Jesus did not come to abolish the Law nor the Prophets, but to fulfil. We must start from reality in order to take the leap into ‘what we lack’. We must scrutinize the ordinary in order to open ourselves to the extraordinary.

[Pope Francis, General Audience 13 June 2018]

Flame and Peace, Diving and Division. Not tactical quietism

(Lk 12:49-57)

Difference “religiosity vs Faith” becomes evident in the comparison between mentality that identifies biblical Fire with punishment, and that of a sacred Flame poured out with passion of love (v.49) that evokes the Gift in our favor.

St Francis proclaimed: «Laudato sie, mi Signore, per frate focu,/ per lo quale ennalumini la notte:/ et ello è bello e iocundo/ et robustoso et forte».

[«Praise be to you, my Lord, for brother fire, / through whom you light the night: / and he is beautiful and playful / and strong and powerful»].

For the little poor man of Assisi, fire was a «noble and useful element among the creatures of the Most High» [Legenda antiqua].

He had with «friar fire» a disconcerting relationship of courtesy. Certainly it didn’t drive out the night in the same way as the Sun, but brought light.

On the contrary, the disciples’ blaze was not very wise: James and John wanted it to incinerate opponents (Lk 9:54).

Before Jesus, John the baptizer awaited a Messiah who still would immerse everyone in a devouring and executioning bonfire (Lk 3:17).

The «fire» of Faith announced by the Person and activity of the Son does not consume, does not corrode.

On the contrary, it is like a ‘Bread’: fullness of energy for a «complete life», not a destructive or separating element.

All this revives people, relationships and surrounding realities. It changes our Relationship with God, with ourselves and our neighbour.

Such is the ‘division’ proclaimed (v.51): discrimination of our Call.

In common devotion the error of evaluation or the condition of weakness is considered an infirmity, to be pointed out, corrected, punished.

"Impurities" should not be ‘melted’ into divine and providential Fire: they should only be normalised according to atavistic prescriptions or more recent sophisticated ideas [à la page].

For life in the Spirit, on the other hand, attention is elsewhere: personal oscillations become possibilities; the fellings, a new Force.

Sense of incapacity, failure and impediments arouse intensity, exchange, dialogue, new elaborations, search for other processes.

Faith is kindled wave upon wave, in welcoming and responding to God who reveals himself, calls and continues to propose – even cross-cultural mixtures that entangle purisms.

Food and Flame are also… our unsatisfactory situations: boulders that seemed to crush and make us negative are taken on board, hired, becoming gasoline that animates and propels us forward.

«Incarnation» is the recovery of opposing sides.

On this path, imperfection becomes a driving force, with its Treasures that we cannot see, hidden behind dark sides.

They are those slopes that will then dominate our Desire.

In this way, Baptism is not a procedure or a coat of grey colour and common opinion.

It is not even a device that labels, immediately cornering personalities and tensions - but rather an «Immersion» (see v. 50 Greek text).

By taking care of the neglected parts and merging the "extraneous" or different sides, from the exteriority of things we are brought back to the Origin of what happens.

[20th Sunday in O.T. (year C),  August 14, 2022]

(Lk 12:49-59)

A functional Church? Discernment of the Fire

Flame and Peace, Immersion and division. Not tactical quietism

(Lk 12:49-53)

«I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!» (Lk 12:49)

The difference between religiosity and Faith becomes clear when comparing the mentality that identifies the biblical Fire with punishment, and that of a sacred Flame poured out with passionate love (v. 49) that evokes the Gift in our favour.

Francis proclaimed: "Praised be you, my Lord, through my brother fire, through whom you give light to the night: and he is beautiful and playful and strong."

For the Poor Man of Assisi, fire was a "noble and useful element among the creatures of the Most High" [Legenda antiqua].

He had a disconcerting relationship of courtesy with "brother fire". Of course, it did not chase away the night in the same way as the sun, but it brought light.

The disciples' fervour, on the other hand, was not much to write home about: James and John wanted it to incinerate their adversaries or the unfortunate (Luke 9:54).

Before Jesus, John the Baptist was still waiting for a Messiah who would immerse everyone in a devouring and avenging bonfire (Luke 3:17).

In the passage in Matthew 19:13-15, for example, the same theme is confused with the purist and fundamentalist zeal of the apostles who wanted at all costs to separate Jesus from his beloved children, who had no intention of submitting themselves.

The fire of Faith announced by the Person and activity of the Son does not consume or corrode; on the contrary, it is like food: full of energy for a complete life, not a destructive or divisive element.

All this brings about the rebirth of people, relationships and the surrounding reality. It changes our relationship with God, with ourselves and with our neighbour. Such is the division proclaimed (v. 51): the dividing line of our calling.

In common devotion, error of judgement or weakness is considered an infirmity, to be pointed out, corrected and punished.

Doctrine and discipline constitute the outer armour of consciences, and worship celebrates and inculcates them [not infrequently in a conformist and poor manner, albeit pretentious].

'Impurities' should not be 'melted' in the divine and providential Fire: only normalised according to atavistic prescriptions or sophisticated ideas à la page.

For life in the Spirit, on the other hand, the focus is elsewhere: personal fluctuations become possibilities; discouragement becomes a new strength.

Feelings of inadequacy, failure and impediments give rise to intensity, exchange, dialogue, new elaborations, the search for other processes; even anger and indignation flare up and stimulate redemption.

Faith is kindled wave upon wave, in welcoming and responding to God who reveals himself, calls and continues to propose - even cross-cultural mixtures that entangle abstract purisms.

"Let us dream as one humanity," emphasises the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (n. 8), rejoicing "in the diversity" that dwells within us (cf. n. 10).

In the imperfection of critical situations, the Father does not throw stones at us, but Bread [not stale - as in ancient ideologies].

Our unsatisfactory situations are also Food and Flame: the boulders that seemed to crush us and made us negative are taken up and become fuel that propels us forward; jubilation that, instead of 'settling us down', makes us grow even more.

Called to collaborate, we participate in the same creative, gratuitous and joyful action of the Lord.

He directs us towards the unprecedented Peace of completeness in the making, of all-round humanisation yet to be acquired.

The Plan of Love evolves and strengthens through concrete events, not excluding the engaging dynamics that spring from the awareness of one's own limits - which should not be swept away.

Faith does not create divisive idols that equate eccentricity with sin, but only looks at them in order to understand, allowing them to melt and blossom from that malleable energetic magma, transfiguring us.

For ancient beliefs, it was unimaginable that the Most High would not feel repugnance for our condition - and that it was precisely on the folds of carnal precariousness that he wanted to build a history of salvation.

Instead, the Son is our accomplice. He even winks at those aspects that the conformist gaze dismisses as imbalances, disorders, illnesses.

He wants to make each of us not a censor or a do-gooder, but a unique masterpiece - not built in a test tube, but unexpected.

The Lord does not standardise or sterilise, demanding unnatural performances or climaxes. It is He who humanises Himself - even in our oddities.

He recognises Himself in that which is mixed with expectations and sweat, even though it is considered unseemly for man [even the devout, or vice versa, the sophisticated] who longs to rise above himself.

Do we feel settled and 'arrived'? Only here is there no 'fire', passion, discovery, genesis, or therapy - and we are not even at the threshold of Faith.

'Incarnation' is the recovery of opposite sides: imperfection becomes a springboard, with its Treasures that we cannot see, hidden behind dark sides.

It is these sides that will then dominate our Desire.

This is the whole game: we start from where we are, and attention to the opportunities of the imperfect present - which we must not rush to disinfect - will make us startle at the unexpected life that rises again there.

The Flame of the Spirit that is building God's Newness lurks in the embers and in the sides considered inconclusive or opposed - it does not place itself in the shop window to immediately stifle instinct.

So it is with the Church: not 'functional', but capable of giving life. Kingdom and territory not marked by tactical pacifism, which anaesthetises.

In this way, Baptism is not a rubric or a coat of grey and common opinion, nor a device that brands, immediately cornering personalities and tensions - but rather an Immersion (v. 50 Greek text).

"Now, why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?" (v. 57).

In Christ, we have the capacity to think and we are made autonomous, for a solid fraternity with ourselves, which has 'stopped' - and which unfolds, revitalising Uniqueness.

By caring for the neglected parts and merging the foreign or dissimilar sides, we are brought back from the exteriority of things to the Origin of what happens.

Signs of the times and present motive (Person)

The room of Happiness, on the decisive Horizon

(Lk 12:54-59)

"Now, why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?" (v. 57).

We must learn lessons from nature and events - even for the horizon of Mystery.

In Christ, we have the capacity to think and we are made autonomous: from the exteriority of things, we are brought back to the Origin of what is happening.

Jesus' appeal on the Signs of the Times was the text that inspired Pope John to convene the Second Vatican Council, so that the Church might finally question itself, paying greater attention to God's calls in history and to the hopes of humanity.

Self-congratulatory security and the pomp of grand forms had dampened the ardent feeling and liberating enthusiasm of the Risen One.

Predictability did not change the spiritual pace; in each person, their predictions did not allow the soul to see far ahead.

The certainties of the codes dampened enthusiasm and caused the faithful to be overwhelmed by routine and petty problems.

Even today, the certainties of structure and circumstance - all established - weaken the blossoming of the present; they do not allow us to perceive and experience what is happening.

Clichés are capable of shifting Vocation from the magical territory where it arises (and knocks within), turning it into a sacramental everyday life that is entirely predictable - approved by the social or ecclesial context consolidated in the territory.

Instead, our founding Eros must be spent now and outwardly, because it lives on passion, not stagnation; it rests on desire and complicity with the Spirit, who with his Fire renews the face of the earth.

But it dies out if we allow ourselves to be carried away by pondered assessments of the forces at play: give-and-take calculations, opportunistic situationalism... even the intentions of others, or purists, and those of circumstance.

Convinced and personal enthusiasm pales in the face of coercion, planning, obsessions with control and verification, without decisive turning points - as if we were in kindergarten.

Love, in fact, is never based on expectations or linked beliefs, normal, without new, astonishing satisfactions - nor does it follow the ideas of a distracted mass, distracted by the usual conformist thoughts that dry up the gaze.

Beliefs that have never been examined or tested place character impulses on dead tracks.

Inculcated certainties generate paths that go round in circles, suspend awareness, and weaken any ability to perceive the possibilities of the inner world, as well as opportunities for communion.

It is the heart that sees the slightest possibilities. It grasps them in perennial questions in a reciprocal relationship with the meaning of the present life.

And Jesus wants our plant to sprout new leaves, all green (not withered). 

No mould: what we believe belongs to us is already lost.

So the invitation to Conversion - instead of grounding the soul and thought in ancient models or abstract, one-sided utopias - makes us attentive to the multifaceted nature of Friendship with ourselves, with our brothers and sisters, even those far away, and with all things, now.

A world of relationships that considers nothing irrelevant and can enrich us (unlock us) with adventurous, fresh, lively differences, which emerge from free energies that do not want a standard life, nor too much attachment to memories, but rather radical change, together.

As the encyclical Fratelli Tutti emphasises: 'This implies the habitual capacity to recognise in others the right to be themselves and to be different' (n. 218).

Radical change is... not thinking only of quick consensus, of our own immediate (even trivial) gain, which deep down we do not really want - and we know does not work: it would not change anything.

This intimate and social appeal must be grasped immediately, here and now, while the human time of grace lasts - God's moment in our favour.

The moment to discover the contents and not let ourselves be bewildered, the present opportunity, the spirit of the pilgrim, the recognition of cultures... are decisive for the evolution of life in the Spirit.

It does not rest on codified, enlisted protagonism, which already knows where it is going - and thus runs aground, adapts, loses sight of us, leaves us perplexed; it reaps victims of illusions and external friction, poisoning the path with muscular approaches and thoughts.

These are fleeting things, such as the fixed and unattractive idol that often enslaves souls: 'what we have achieved' - with its conformist goals, hard-won promotions, the gaze of others...

External compliments do not bring the 'I' and the 'you' back to the Roots, nor do they explode into the true future, the one to be lived intensely, the one that will make us vibrate.

The 'present moment' is simply the door to open to enter the room of happy energy, which remains magmatic - an incessant gift, 'anointing' and Vision that we do not know.

Amazement that invites and leads far beyond the conformist, one-sided, tail-wagging aspect - of noise, clichés, tactical manoeuvring, or the age of others to be reproduced.

'Theatre people! You know how to discern the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you do not know how to discern this time?

To internalise and live the message:

How do you experience the tension between the vision of the genius of the time and the present moment?

What relationship do you see between God's promise and our hopes?

Faith and Signs of the times

Faith is not a kind of object or ideology (which one may or may not have), but a relationship.

It proceeds from a God who reveals himself, challenges us and calls us by name.

His varied and rich face does not coincide with common thinking, but intercepts our desire for fullness of life, and in this way corresponds to us and conquers us.

It is not a one-off event, but something that springs forth and proceeds in waves throughout our existence – with all the surprises that time brings [which sometimes challenge us, sabotage us or astonish us].

In this relationship, the Faith that arises from listening is kindled when the initiative of the Father, who manifests and reveals himself in a proposal that comes to us, is accepted and not rejected.

In evolution, this dynamic establishes an invisible Presence in the hidden Self, the unquenchable fire of our founding Eros; a perceptible Echo – even in the genius of the times, in the furrows of personal history, in the folds of events and relationships, advice, opposing evaluations and even fractures.

The Relationship of Faith has different approaches. A first stage is that of Faith Assent: the person recognises themselves in a world of knowledge that corresponds to them. It is a very dignified level, but common to all religions and philosophies.

Scrutinising the Word, we understand that what is specific to biblical Faith concerns concrete existence much more than thought or discipline: it has a different character from codes, it is Spousal.

Already in the First Testament, faith is typically that trust of the Bride [in Hebrew, Israel is a feminine term] who has complete trust in the Bridegroom.

She knows that by relying on God-With, she will flourish authentically and enjoy the fullness of life, even when going through unpleasant events.

Faith lived in the Spirit of the Risen One enjoys other facets, which are decisive in giving colour to our journey in the world and to our full maturation and joy of living.

[In everything, it is essential both to listen to Sacred Scripture and to move from the whirlwind of thoughts that fragment our inner eye to perception, that is, to a contemplative gaze that knows how to rest on ourselves and on things].

The third step of Christological faith is precisely a kind of appropriation: the subject identifies himself and, secure in the friendly reciprocity experienced in the Gifts, takes possession of the meek and strong heart of the Lord with a stroke of the hand and without any prescribed merit.

Quoting St. Bernard, Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori states: "That merit which I lack to enter Paradise, I usurp from the merits of Jesus Christ." No arcane procedures or discipline.

Please note: this is not a "proof" of vicarious substitution, as if Jesus had to pay off a debt of sins because the Father needed blood and at least one person to pay dearly for it.

The person becomes intimate with Christ not simply through common belief, but through personal inner action.

God redeems us by educating us.

It is true that by sending a lamb among wolves, its end is sealed. But it is also the only way to teach men – still in a pre-human condition – that competition is not the life of people, but of ferocious beasts.

The lamb is the meek being that makes even wolves reflect: only by appropriating it completely do the beasts realise that they are such.

Thus we can begin to say, 'I' as human beings instead of beasts. 

Of course, only people who are reconciled with their own story do good. But the authentic and full best is beyond our reach; it is not our own production. We are not omnipotent.

A further stage in the journey of life in Christ and in the Spirit is that of Faith-Magnet.

This too takes the form of an Action, because the soul-bride reads the signs of the times, interprets the surrounding reality and her own inclinations. And by grasping the significance of the Future, she anticipates and actualises it.

In this way, we avoid wasting our lives supporting dead branches.

But the final and perhaps even more perfect stage (I would say the summit) of this Faith-Trigger is that of Faith-Wonder.

This is the specific belief in the Incarnation, because it recognises the Treasures hidden behind our dark sides.

These Pearls will come into play during the course of existence [they will do what they must when necessary] and it will be a wonder to discover them.

The broken cocoon will generate our Butterfly, which is not a construction homologated to prototypes, but Amazement.