In all churches, in cathedrals and religious houses, wherever the faithful gather to celebrate the Easter Vigil, that holiest of all nights begins with the lighting of the Paschal candle, whose light is then passed on to all who are present. One tiny flame spreads out to become many lights and fills the darkness of God’s house with its brightness. This wonderful liturgical rite, which we have imitated in our prayer vigil tonight, reveals to us in signs more eloquent than words the mystery of our Christian faith. He, Christ, who says of himself: “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12), causes our lives to shine brightly, so that what we have just heard in the Gospel comes true: “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). It is not our human efforts or the technical progress of our era that brings light into this world. Again and again we experience how our striving to bring about a better and more just world hits against its limits. Innocent suffering and the ultimate fact of death awaiting every single person are an impenetrable darkness which may perhaps, through fresh experiences, be lit up for a moment, as if through a flash of lightning at night. In the end, though, a frightening darkness remains.

While all around us there may be darkness and gloom, yet we see a light: a small, tiny flame that is stronger than the seemingly powerful and invincible darkness. Christ, risen from the dead, shines in this world and he does so most brightly in those places where, in human terms, everything is sombre and hopeless. He has conquered death – he is alive – and faith in him, like a small light, cuts through all that is dark and threatening. To be sure, those who believe in Jesus do not lead lives of perpetual sunshine, as though they could be spared suffering and hardship, but there is always a bright glimmer there, lighting up the path that leads to fullness of life (cf. Jn 10:10). The eyes of those who believe in Christ see light even amid the darkest night and they already see the dawning of a new day.

Light does not remain alone. All around, other lights are flaring up. In their gleam, space acquires contours, so that we can find our bearings. We do not live alone in this world. And it is for the important things of life that we have to rely on other people. Particularly in our faith, then, we do not stand alone, we are links in the great chain of believers. Nobody can believe unless he is supported by the faith of others, and conversely, through my faith, I help to strengthen others in their faith. We help one another to set an example, we give others a share in what is ours: our thoughts, our deeds, our affections. And we help one another to find our bearings, to work out where we stand in society.

Dear friends, the Lord says: “I am the light of the world – you are the light of the world.” It is mysterious and wonderful that Jesus applies the same predicate to himself and to all of us together, namely “light”. If we believe that he is the Son of God, who healed the sick and raised the dead, who rose from the grave himself and is truly alive, then we can understand that he is the light, the source of all the lights of this world. On the other hand, we experience more and more the failure of our efforts and our personal shortcomings, despite our good intentions. In the final analysis, the world in which we live, in spite of its technical progress, does not seem to be getting any better. There is still war and terror, hunger and disease, bitter poverty and merciless oppression. And even those figures in our history who saw themselves as “bringers of light”, but without being fired by Christ, the one true light, did not manage to create an earthly paradise, but set up dictatorships and totalitarian systems, in which even the smallest spark of true humanity is choked.

At this point we cannot remain silent about the existence of evil. We see it in so many places in this world; but we also see it – and this scares us – in our own lives. Truly, within our hearts there is a tendency towards evil, there is selfishness, envy, aggression. Perhaps with a certain self-discipline all this can to some degree be controlled. But it becomes more difficult with faults that are somewhat hidden, that can engulf us like a thick fog, such as sloth, or laziness in willing and doing good. Again and again in history, keen observers have pointed out that damage to the Church comes not from her opponents, but from uncommitted Christians. “You are the light of the world”: only Christ can say: “I am the light of the world.”  All of us can be light only if we stand within the “you” that, through the Lord, is forever becoming light.  And just as the Lord warns us that salt can become tasteless, so too he weaves a gentle warning into his saying about light.  Instead of placing the light on a lampstand, one can hide it under a bushel.  Let us ask ourselves: how often do we hide God’s light through our sloth, through our stubbornness, so that it cannot shine out through us into the world?

Dear friends, Saint Paul in many of his letters does not shrink from calling his contemporaries, members of the local communities, “saints”. Here it becomes clear that every baptized person – even before he or she can accomplish good works – is sanctified by God. In baptism the Lord, as it were, sets our life alight with what the Catechism calls sanctifying grace. Those who watch over this light, who live by grace, are holy.

Dear friends, again and again the very notion of saints has been caricatured and distorted, as if to be holy meant to be remote from the world, naive and joyless. Often it is thought that a saint has to be someone with great ascetic and moral achievements, who might well be revered, but could never be imitated in our own lives. How false and discouraging this opinion is! There is no saint, apart from the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has not also known sin, who has never fallen. Dear friends, Christ is not so much interested in how often in our lives we stumble and fall, as in how often with his help we pick ourselves up again. He does not demand glittering achievements, but he wants his light to shine in you. He does not call you because you are good and perfect, but because he is good and he wants to make you his friends. Yes, you are the light of the world because Jesus is your light. You are Christians – not because you do special and extraordinary things, but because he, Christ, is your life, our life. You are holy, we are holy, if we allow his grace to work in us.

Dear friends, this evening as we gather in prayer around the one Lord, we sense the truth of Christ’s saying that the city built on a hilltop cannot remain hidden. This gathering shines in more ways than one – in the glow of innumerable lights, in the radiance of so many young people who believe in Christ. A candle can only give light if it lets itself be consumed by the flame. It would remain useless if its wax failed to nourish the fire. Allow Christ to burn in you, even at the cost of sacrifice and renunciation. Do not be afraid that you might lose something and, so to speak, emerge empty-handed at the end. Have the courage to apply your talents and gifts for God’s kingdom and to give yourselves – like candlewax – so that the Lord can light up the darkness through you. Dare to be glowing saints, in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ beams and who thus bring light to the world. I am confident that you and many other young people here in Germany are lamps of hope that do not remain hidden. “You are the light of the world”. Where God is, there is a future! Amen.

[Pope Benedict, vigil in Freiburg, 24 September 2011]

Dear Young People! 

1. I have vivid memories of the wonderful moments we shared in Rome during the Jubilee of the Year 2000, when you came on pilgrimage to the Tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. In long silent lines you passed through the Holy Door and prepared to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation; then the Evening Vigil and Morning Mass at Tor Vergata were moments of intense spirituality and a deep experience of the Church; with renewed faith, you went home to undertake the mission I entrusted to you: to become, at the dawn of the new millennium, fearless witnesses to the Gospel. 

By now World Youth Day has become an important part of your life and of the life of the Church. I invite you therefore to get ready for the seventeenth celebration of this great international event, to be held in Toronto, Canada, in the summer of next year. It will be another chance to meet Christ, to bear witness to his presence in today’s society, and to become builders of the "civilization of love and truth". 

2. "You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:13-14): this is the theme I have chosen for the next World Youth Day. The images of salt and light used by Jesus are rich in meaning and complement each other. In ancient times, salt and light were seen as essential elements of life. 

"You are the salt of the earth...". One of the main functions of salt is to season food, to give it taste and flavour. This image reminds us that, through Baptism, our whole being has been profoundly changed, because it has been "seasoned" with the new life which comes from Christ (cf. Rom 6:4). The salt which keeps our Christian identity intact even in a very secularized world is the grace of Baptism. Through Baptism we are re-born. We begin to live in Christ and become capable of responding to his call to "offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Rom12:1). Writing to the Christians of Rome, Saint Paul urges them to show clearly that their way of living and thinking was different from that of their contemporaries: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect" (Rom 12:2).

For a long time, salt was also used to preserve food. As the salt of the earth, you are called to preserve the faith which you have received and to pass it on intact to others. Your generation is being challenged in a special way to keep safe the deposit of faith (cf. 2 Th 2:15; 1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14). 

Discover your Christian roots, learn about the Church’s history, deepen your knowledge of the spiritual heritage which has been passed on to you, follow in the footsteps of the witnesses and teachers who have gone before you! Only by staying faithful to God’s commandments, to the Covenant which Christ sealed with his blood poured out on the Cross, will you be the apostles and witnesses of the new millennium. 

It is the nature of human beings, and especially youth, to seek the Absolute, the meaning and fullness of life. Dear young people, do not be content with anything less than the highest ideals! Do not let yourselves be dispirited by those who are disillusioned with life and have grown deaf to the deepest and most authentic desires of their heart. You are right to be disappointed with hollow entertainment and passing fads, and with aiming at too little in life. If you have an ardent desire for the Lord you will steer clear of the mediocrity and conformism so widespread in our society. 

3. "You are the light of the world...". For those who first heard Jesus, as for us, the symbol of light evokes the desire for truth and the thirst for the fullness of knowledge which are imprinted deep within every human being. 

When the light fades or vanishes altogether, we no longer see things as they really are. In the heart of the night we can feel frightened and insecure, and we impatiently await the coming of the light of dawn. Dear young people, it is up to you to be the watchmen of the morning (cf. Is 21:11-12) who announce the coming of the sun who is the Risen Christ! 

The light which Jesus speaks of in the Gospel is the light of faith, God’s free gift, which enlightens the heart and clarifies the mind. "It is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Christ" (2 Cor 4:6). That is why the words of Jesus explaining his identity and his mission are so important: "I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (Jn 8:12). 

Our personal encounter with Christ bathes life in new light, sets us on the right path, and sends us out to be his witnesses. This new way of looking at the world and at people, which comes to us from him, leads us more deeply into the mystery of faith, which is not just a collection of theoretical assertions to be accepted and approved by the mind, but an experience to be had, a truth to be lived, the salt and light of all reality (cf. Veritatis Splendor, 88). 

In this secularized age, when many of our contemporaries think and act as if God did not exist or are attracted to irrational forms of religion, it is you, dear young people, who must show that faith is a personal decision which involves your whole life. Let the Gospel be the measure and guide of life’s decisions and plans! Then you will be missionaries in all that you do and say, and wherever you work and live you will be signs of God’s love, credible witnesses to the loving presence of Jesus Christ. Never forget: "No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bushel" (Mt 5:15)! 

Just as salt gives flavour to food and light illumines the darkness, so too holiness gives full meaning to life and makes it reflect God’s glory. How many saints, especially young saints, can we count in the Church’s history! In their love for God their heroic virtues shone before the world, and so they became models of life which the Church has held up for imitation by all. Let us remember only a few of them: Agnes of Rome, Andrew of Phú Yên, Pedro Calungsod, Josephine Bakhita, Thérèse of Lisieux, Pier Giorgio Frassati, Marcel Callo, Francisco Castelló Aleu or again Kateri Tekakwitha, the young Iroquois called "the Lily of the Mohawks". Through the intercession of this great host of witnesses, may God make you too, dear young people, the saints of the third millennium! 

4. Dear friends, it is time to get ready for the Seventeenth World Youth Day. I invite you to read and study the Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, which I wrote at the beginning of the year to accompany all Christians on this new stage of the life of the Church and humanity: "A new century, a new millennium are opening in the light of Christ. But not everyone can see this light. Ours is the wonderful and demanding task of becoming its ‘reflection’" (No. 54). 

Yes, now is the time for mission! In your Dioceses and parishes, in your movements, associations and communities, Christ is calling you. The Church welcomes you and wishes to be your home and your school of communion and prayer. Study the Word of God and let it enlighten your minds and hearts. Draw strength from the sacramental grace of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Visit the Lord in that "heart to heart" contact that is Eucharistic Adoration. Day after day, you will receive new energy to help you to bring comfort to the suffering and peace to the world. Many people are wounded by life: they are excluded from economic progress, and are without a home, a family, a job; there are people who are lost in a world of false illusions, or have abandoned all hope. By contemplating the light radiant on the face of the Risen Christ, you will learn to live as "children of the light and children of the day" (1 Th 5:5), and in this way you will show that "the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true" (Eph 5:9). 

5. Dear young friends, Toronto is waiting for all of you who can make it! In the heart of a multi-cultural and multi-faith city, we shall speak of Christ as the one Saviour and proclaim the universal salvation of which the Church is the sacrament. In response to the pressing invitation of the Lord who ardently desires "that all may be one" (Jn 17:11), we shall pray for full communion among Christians in truth and charity. 

Come, and make the great avenues of Toronto resound with the joyful tidings that Christ loves every person and brings to fulfilment every trace of goodness, beauty and truth found in the city of man. Come, and tell the world of the happiness you have found in meeting Jesus Christ, of your desire to know him better, of how you are committed to proclaiming the Gospel of salvation to the ends of the earth! 

The young people of Canada, together with their Bishops and the civil authorities, are already preparing to welcome you with great warmth and hospitality. For this I thank them all from my heart. May this first World Youth Day of the new millennium bring to everyone a message of faith, hope and love! 

My blessing goes with you. And to Mary Mother of the Church I entrust each one of you, your vocation and your mission.

[Pope John Paul II, message for World Youth Day in Toronto 2002, from Castel Gandolfo, 25 July 2001]

In today’s Gospel Reading (cf. Mt 5:13-16), Jesus says to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth. … You are the light of the world” (vv. 13-14). He uses a symbolic language to indicate to those who intend to follow him some criteria for living presence and witnessing in the world.

First image: salt. Salt is the element that gives flavour and which conserves and preserves food from corruption. The disciple is therefore called to keep society far from the dangers, the corrosive germs which pollute the life of people. It is a question of resisting moral degradation, sin, bearing witness to the values of honesty and fraternity, not giving in to worldly flattery of careerism, of power, of wealth. “Salt” is the disciple who, despite daily failures — because we all have them — gets up again from the dust of his errors, and begins again with courage and patience, every day, to seek dialogue and encounter with others. “Salt” is the disciple who does not look for consensus and praise, but strives to be a humble, constructive presence, faithful to the teachings of Jesus who came into the world not to be served, but to serve. And there is a great need for this attitude!

The second image that Jesus proposes to his disciples is that of light: “You are the light of the world”. Light disperses darkness and enables us to see. Jesus is the light that has dispelled the darkness, but it [darkness] still remains in the world and in individuals. It is the task of Christians to disperse it by radiating the light of Christ and proclaiming his Gospel. It is a radiance that can also come from our words, but it must flow above all from our “good works” (v. 16). A disciple and a Christian community are light in the world when they direct others to God, helping each one to experience his goodness and his mercy. The disciple of Jesus is light when he knows how to live his faith outside narrow spaces, when he helps to eliminate prejudice, to eliminate slander, and to bring the light of truth into situations vitiated by hypocrisy and lies. To shed light. But it is not my light, it is the light of Jesus: we are instruments to enable Jesus’ light to reach everyone.

Jesus invites us not to be afraid to live in the world, even if sometimes there are conditions of conflict and sin there. In the face of violence, injustice, oppression, the Christian cannot withdraw into self or hide in the security of his own enclosure; the Church also cannot withdraw into herself, she cannot abandon her mission of evangelization and service. Jesus, at the Last Supper, asked the Father not to take the disciples out of the world, to leave them, there, in the world, but to guard them from the spirit of the world. The Church expends herself with generosity and tenderness towards the little ones and the poor: this is not the spirit of the world, this spreads light, it is salt. The Church listens to the cry of the least and the excluded, because she is aware that she is a pilgrim community called to prolong Jesus Christ’s saving presence in history.

May the Blessed Virgin help us to be salt and light in the midst of the people, bringing to everyone, by example and word, the Good News of God’s love.

[Pope Francis, Angelus, 9 February 2020]

Turnover in the Church, antidote to unilaterality

(Mt 5:1-12)

 

We feel ephemeral and often disappointed, yet we want to be happy, not just here and there: we are uncertain, yet we seek full and lasting joy.

Of course we can only find it in a disconcerting proposal.

 

In the Gospel of Mt Jesus is the new Moses who rises on «the Mount». But the young Legislator does not proclaim norms on a stone code, but his own experience of the Father... «by seeing the crowds» (v.1).

At the crossroads between divine condition and fullness of humanization, the new Rabbi outlines a sort of his Self-Portrait: as a Son; in favor of his brothers. Gathered in Family spirit.

A sprout of hospitable world - which in its small churches Mt wants to encourage. Where there is no man above and little ones always below; or the character in front and the others behind.

Only humanizing upheavals [such as the reversal of roles and conditions] that strengthen the concordant tissue.

So in the House of All there will have to be a replacement and reversal of figures, of situations and criteria of eminence, therefore chains of command - signs of the Coming Kingdom. 

Overturning capable of sharpening the sensitivities to Communion [at that time there was lively friction between Judaizing experts, first in the class, and the last arrived at threshold of fraternities in the faith].

 

On «the Mount» is announced the discreet work of the Spirit, which designates the character of a modest holiness, animated by gift’s Love, in itself divinizing and humanizing [quality that is manifested in the so-called "poor in Spirit"].

In fact, the authentic disciple reaches tears: they express the dimension of intimate energy that purifies external ideas; it makes us true from within, and essential on the outside.

Affliction drives to return into ourselves; it re-proposes the contact with our land and the virtues that regenerate.

Sadness that in the condition of finitude and conscious limit, makes us empathetic, splendidly human.

Deeply dissatisfied: opponents of injustices. Because every person who is not placed in the position of being able to express his abilities is an insult to the Salvation Design.

In fact, in each excluded person hides an Artist who is not allowed to express himself, who is neither discovered nor valued in favor of himself and others; rather, considered extraneous or deviant.

 

The Spirit of Christ is spontaneously identified not with the usual aggressive energy of the feral animals, of those who prevail because more astute and strong.

We are women and men characterized by heart of flesh - not of beast (Dan 7).

The Beatitudes - the new Decalogue of «the Mount» - allude precisely to a sort of divine condition embodied and transmissible to anyone, pacified and creative like love, therefore all to be discovered.

This is not a proposal that pushes back eccentricities: on the contrary, very nice and lovable, inclusive.

That of the Blessed is therefore the condition that makes us Unique - not sanctity regulated by procedures, which is always there to abhor the danger of the unusual.

Nor does it exclude our right to do something great... but it does not identify it with having, power, appearing.

There is no "race" to be won. And the Lord makes us reflect on the authentic realization: it is not an outward conquest.

 

Blessed is the trait and outcome of the true and full development of the divine project on humanity - paradoxical in character.

The Lord is pleased with those who undertake this orientation, where his feelings become deeply ours.

Blood relatives; already here and now able to experience the blissful life of Heaven: being with and for others, being ourselves.

 

 

[Monday 10th wk. in O.T.  June 8, 2026]

Turnover in the Church, antidote to one-sidedness

(Mt 5:1-12)

 

In the Gospel of Mt Jesus is the new Moses ascending "the Mount". But the young Lawgiver does not proclaim rules on a stone code, but rather his own experience of the Father... "seeing the crowds" (v.1).

At the crossroads between divine condition and fullness of humanisation, the new Rabbi outlines a kind of self-portrait of himself: as a Son; on behalf of his brothers. Gathered together in the spirit of Family.

A sprout of a hospitable world - which in his small churches Mt wants to encourage. Where there is no man above and the man always below; or the person in front and the person behind.

Only humanising upheavals [such as the reversal of roles and conditions] that strengthen the concordant fabric.

Therefore, in the House of all there must be replacement and reversal of figures, situations and criteria of eminence, hence chains of command - signs of the Kingdom to come. 

Reversal capable of sharpening sensitivities to Communion [at that time the friction between experienced Judaizers, first of the class, and latecomers at the threshold of faith fraternities was lively].

 

Back then, the mentality of precedence and supremacy was ingrained to the point that all religions recognised hierarchies.

Those who considered themselves entitled to precedence [in the community!] have always raised a question of seeming obviousness:

Is it not in the natural order of things that in human society there are first and last, learned and ignorant, sovereigns and subjects?

After all, the legal principle that once governed e.g. all private property law in the Latin world is also the motto in the epigraph of a well-known official Catholic newspaper: Unicuique Suum.

Even Leo XIII, the pope of the Social Encyclicals, recognised that 'in human society it is according to the order established by God that there are princes and subjects, masters and proletarians, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, nobles and plebeians; the obligation of charity of the rich and the wealthy is to help the poor and destitute'.

It was the mentality of a sin of simple omission: it is enough to do charity afterwards.

The Lord's position is very very different: the powerful are not at all the blessed of God - as the rich patriarchs of the First Testament were also supposed to be.

Their estranged world, their palaces, and even their fancy dress, are perfect metaphors for the inner emptiness and ephemerality they revel in.

Their gorging is a sign of an intimate abyss to be bridged - a kind of nervous hunger that feels dizzy.

So on, from alienation to alienation.

On "the Mount", on the other hand, the discreet work of the Spirit is announced, which designates the character of a modest holiness, animated by the Love of gift, in itself divining and humanising [a quality manifested in the so-called "poor in Spirit"].

Holiness that surpasses the ancient fiction of the rulers, who piled on top of each other reciting the same script.

For hitherto, the masses remained dry-mouthed: whatever ruler seized power, the petty flock remained submissive, sad and suffocated; unworthy even to present themselves to the Lord.

All condemned and inadequate.

The people of the disciples are also heartbroken, because they do not accept the inequalities of the pyramidal society, which tends to level and annihilate the Gifts of God spread throughout humanity - of whatever social class.

In fact, the authentic disciple goes as far as tears: they express the dimension of intimate energy that purifies external ideas; it makes us true from within, essential outside.

Affliction guides one back into oneself; it reintroduces contact with our earth and the primordial virtues, which regenerate.

Sadness that in the condition of finitude and conscious limitation, makes one empathetic, beautifully human.

Intimately dissatisfied: opponents of injustice. Because every person who is not placed in a position to express his or her abilities is an insult to the Plan of Salvation.

This is not almsgiving or philanthropy: it is a precise, social choice (v.5).

In fact, in each ousted person is hidden an artist who is not allowed to express himself, who is neither discovered nor valued in favour of himself and others; rather, considered an outsider or a deviant.

Indeed, Annalena Tonelli spoke of the last whose pain she wished to diminish as 'murdered Mozarts': she wished to recover them and involve them, to enrich them together. Having a mother's heart - and heart in the misery of abandoned brothers and sisters.

 

Identical severity prevailed in religions, whose leaders bestowed on the people a strong and vulgar nationalist horde impulse, and the contentment of the gregarious.

Instead, in the Kingdom of Jesus there must be a lack of ranks - which is why the plan of the ambitious and error-free does not match his.The Spirit of Christ spontaneously identifies itself not with the usual aggressive energy of the beasts, of those who prevail because they are more cunning and stronger - but with the person who makes himself available.

We are women and men characterised by a heart of flesh - not of beast (Dan 7).

 

The Beatitudes - the new Decalogue of 'il Monte' - allude precisely to a kind of divine condition incarnate and transmissible to anyone, pacified and creative like love, therefore all to be discovered.

 

Blessed is the trait and outcome of the true and full development of the divine plan on humanity.

In the Gospels, this character is not hindered by the frequenters of bad places, but paradoxically by the habitués of the holy precincts.

According to Jesus, purity of heart is not linked to external legal purity - as was believed in all devotions - but to a purified gaze and lack of duplicity. 

The growth and humanisation of the people is therefore not thwarted by sinners, but precisely by those who would have the ministry of making the Face of God known to all!

In short, the load of preconceptions with which they face reality and relationships, does not allow the constituted and fixed authorities to recognise the calls of the Lord in the facts of life and Nature itself.

Thus for the peacemakers.

They work for the complete reconstruction of Life and Fraternity, of naturalness itself and of Equal Coexistence.

All of this, in the spirit of selflessness that integrates selfishness by recognising the poor We that expands in the world.

 

The self-portrait of Jesus as it transpires from the Beatitudes of Mt embraces the icon of a little boy - who at that time counted for nothing.

The Lord recognises himself precisely in a house valet; a shop assistant, who, however, has a mysterious and pleasant divine spark within him.

It is the only identification that Jesus loves and wishes to give us: that of the one who cannot afford not to recognise the needs of others.

A dimension of sacredness without distinctive haloes: not cynical, but shareable. Because it is linked to instinctive perception and reciprocity, to spontaneous friendship towards woman and man - experienced in the likeness of the Father.

Obviously: this is not a proposal compromised with the usual inexorable rigmarole [doctrine and discipline] that drives back eccentricities: on the contrary, it is very sympathetic and amiable, inclusive.

 

That of the blessed is therefore the condition that makes one unique - not the sanctity standardised by procedures, which is always abhorring, exorcising, the danger of the unusual.

This is precisely why - instead - the fixation on antecedence has characterised the life of the Church for centuries; as has the feudal and monarchical idol of stability for life.

The Master does not exclude our right to do something great... but does not identify it with having, power, appearing.

For a path of Bliss and Divinisation, the Master does not excite the impulses of restraining, ascending, dominating: they do not give Happiness.

Rather, it relies on our spontaneous freedom to give, to go down and to serve - a franchise entrusted first and foremost to the top of the class. Those in history have made the callus to overwhelm others with moralism and cunning.

 

God does not deny the ego's legitimate urges to be recognised. We do not participate in life as if we were destined to fail, but as those who are promoted - who do not suppress their own requirements.

But not to win "the race". In this way, the Lord makes us reflect on authentic fulfilment.

This is not an external conquest, but an intimate one and made one's own. It is thus able to sculpt our deepest inclination, in its richness of faces and in the time of a Path.

Aristotle stated that - beyond artificial petitions of principle or apparent proclamations - one only really loves oneself. This is no small question mark.

Granted and not granted, the growth, promotion and blossoming of our qualities lies within a wise Path.

An even interrupted path that knows how to give itself the right rhythm - even to encounter new states of being.

Genuine, mature love expands the boundaries of the ego-loving primacy, visibility and gain. He integrates it with primordial, dormant energies to which we have not given space - understanding the You in the I.

Path and Vector that then expands skills and life. Otherwise, in all circumstances and unfortunately at any age, we will remain in the puerile game of those who scramble up the steps to prevail.

As Pope Francis said about the mafia phenomena: "There is a need for men and women of Love, not honour!".

The Tao Tê Ching (XL) writes: 'Weakness is what the Tao employs'. And Master Wang Pi comments: 'The high has the low for a foundation, the noble has the vile for a foundation'.

 

We feel ephemeral and often disappointed, yet we want to be happy, not just here and there: we are uncertain, yet we seek full and lasting joy. Of course we can only find it in a disconcerting proposition.

In ancient times people thought they could meet God in the intoxicating emotions generated by successful experiences, typical of successful men. But the persecuted and crucified Son disputes its outward appearance.

Other decisive appointments were considered to be those on the summits of suggestive heights, or the devout and paroxysmal rushing right into the sacred precincts that Jesus intended to dismantle, forcing the people out of them [Jn 10:1-16 Greek text].

Luther interprets the Son of God on the Mount as "Mosissimus Moses". However, Matthew speaks of "the Mount" - not a tribune - as the figure and context of an eternal call, not only intended for the members of the best equipped and most able institutes of perfection to ascend.

In concrete terms, these are the moments when we ourselves incorporated into the human wholeness of Christ feel fullness of being: like the passing of the bride-soul into its sacred centre, and a special attunement of ideas, words and actions between our nature - and the divine.

"The Mount" is the (theological) place where the cunning, conformist thoughts, knowledge and calculations of the worldly plain are abandoned. Where the assumptions of hilarious and transient happiness [the one that lasts a minute or an hour] are levelled.

So blessed are the poor 'to the Spirit' - that is, 'by the Spirit' - says Jesus [v.3a Greek text].

In the Christian community it is important (precisely) to enrich together.

The Lord delights in those who take such a direction, where His feelings become deeply ours - and important are not the minutiae, but the direction of travel.

Particular details of the life of love are left to personal creativity and the variety of people; sensitivities, cultures, situations. 

What counts is the fundamental option for goodness and communion, understood not as uniformity - but conviviality of differences.

This is not to despise wealth hysterically: it is a matter of exchanging it, so that it may multiply, avoiding keeping it for oneself. Otherwise everything becomes an insurmountable obstacle to life, and the prerogative of the quick-witted.

Those who have freely dispossessed themselves of the superfluous in order to share it, do so 'by the Spirit', i.e. out of Love: out of free choice, with passion and without distinction between those who benefit from the circle and those who do not.

Thus the rich man becomes lord.

In turn, the wretched may not be poor 'in the Spirit' if they are puffed up, boastful, haughty, disinterested in others; if they lack openness of heart, extraneous to dialogue, intent on improving their condition through compromise and deception - only desirous of substituting themselves for the rich and then tracing their lying, subjugating and opportunistic ways.

 

The voluntary renunciation of the selfish and mediocre use of one's material and sapiential resources distinguishes us as children of God.

Consanguineous; already here and now able to experience the blissful life of Heaven: to be with and for others, being oneself.

In fact, the promise accompanying the first Beatitude (v.3a) does not guarantee access to Paradise in the afterlife, in the distant future.

The exchange of gifts guarantees the experience of divine life itself, right on earth.

In pagan religions, the condition of Blessed Life was a jealous and exclusive characteristic of deities, who unwillingly participated in it; and reassuringly, only after death. However half-hearted.

In Christ and through Via, despite our partial failures, or our possible lack of natural abilities and frailties - indeed, because of them - we discover a Father who is the friend of full, charged Joy: immediate, energetic, limitless Happiness. That even rises from a shaky state.

The Father is not the God of religions that fog and dull life: he does not bless the greed of the few, who make the multitudes needy.

Did the last of the commandments dictate that one should feel fulfilled and not covet the stuff of others?

The first of the Beatitudes proposes that we desire others to have the same things and possibilities of life as we do.

The dynamic of falling in love presupposes in each of its declensions, a quivering Fullness that flows everywhere - recognising the opposites in us and the legitimate desire for expressive fulfilment in our brothers and sisters.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How do you overcome doubt, retreating? What do you announce with your life? Does it go beyond direct experience? Do you know realities that manifest the Risen One? How do you point out exuberant paths of hope? Or are you selective and silent?

 

 

 

They let the Light through

 

All Saints, Between Religious Sense and Faith

 

Embodying the spirit of the Beatitudes, we ask what is the difference between common "religious feeling" and "living by Faith".

In ancient devotions the Saint is the composite man sui, perfect and detached [but predictable]; and the opposite of Saint is 'sinner'.In the proposal of full life in the Lord, the "saint" is a person of communicative understanding and who lives for conviviality, creating it where there is none.

In the path of the sons and daughters, the Saint is indeed the excellent man, but in his full sense - full and dynamic, multifaceted; even eccentric. Not in a one-sided, moralistic or sentimental sense.

In the Latin language perfìcere means to complete, to go all the way.

In such a complete and integral meaning, 'perfect' becomes an authentic embodied value: a possible attribute - of every person who is aware of his own condition of vulnerability, and does not despise it.

The woman and man of Faith value every occasion or emotion that exposes the condition of nakedness [not guilt] in order to open new paths and renew themselves.

From the point of view of life in the Spirit, the saint [in Hebrew Qadosh, divine attribute] is indeed the 'detached' man, but not in a partial or physical sense, but ideal.

It is not the person who at a certain point in life distances himself from the human family in order to embark on a path of purification that would elevate him. Deluding oneself to improve.

As the encyclical Fratelli Tutti emphasises: 'A human being [...] does not realise himself, does not develop, cannot find his own fullness [... and] does not come to fully recognise his own truth except in the encounter with others' (n.87).

The authentic witness is not animated by contempt for existential chaos - nor eager to contract out the difficulties of managing one's freedom by handing it over to an alienating, secluded agency (which solves the drama of personal choices).

In Christ, man is "detached" from common mentality, insofar as he is faithful to himself, to his own Fire that is not extinguished - to the passions, to his own unrepeatable uniqueness and Vocation.

And at the same time, 'separated' from external competitive criteria: of having, of power, of appearance. Self-destructive powers.

To the latter, it concretely substitutes the fraternity of giving, of serving and of diminishing [from "character"]. Fruitful energies.

All for the sake of global Communion, and in Truth also with one's own intimate character seed - avoiding proselytising and being noticed in the catwalks.

The true believer knows his redeemed limit, sees the possibilities of imperfection.... Thus it replaces the presuppositions of keeping for oneself, of rising above others and dominating them, with a fundamental humanising triptych: giving, freedom to 'come down', collaboration.

This is the authentic detachment, which does not flee one's own and others' inclinations, nor does it despise the complex trait of the human condition.

In this way, the "saint" lives the essential Bliss of the persecuted (Mt 5:11-12; Lk 6:22-23) because he has the freedom to "lower himself" in order to be in tune with his own essence; coexisting in his originality.

In terms of Faith, the saint is thus no longer a physically 'separate', but rather 'united' to Christ - and banished like Him, in the weak brothers and sisters.

In short, the divine Design is to compose Families of the small and shaky, not to carve out a group of "strong" friends, and "better" than others.

Only this horizon of the Hearth impels us to depart.

Consequently, the opposite of Saint is not 'sinful', but rather unrealised or unfulfilled.

 

Let us look again at the motive (vocational and personal).

Jesus was a friend of publicans and public sinners not because they were better than the good, but because in religion, the 'righteous' are not infrequently less than spontaneous; making themselves impermeable, closed, refractory to the action of the Spirit.

Surprisingly, the Lord Himself repeatedly experienced that it was precisely the devoutly deficient people who were willing to question themselves, realise, rework, deviate from habit - for the building up of new paths, even by groping.

Not being able to enjoy the respectable cloak of social screens, after an awareness of one's own situation (and over time) - compared to those who considered themselves "arrived" and friends of God - from "distant" they became people more than the "impecunious" willing to love.

 

Questioning is fundamental from a biblical perspective.

At every turn, Scripture proposes to us a spirituality of the Exodus, that is, a road of liberation from fetters and travelled as if on foot, step by step. Hence, valuing paths of research, exploration, self-discovery and the Newness of a God who does not repeat, but creates.

The call that the Word makes is to embark on an itinerary; that is the point. And we have always been "those of the Way" and who do not pass by, do not look the other way [cf. Lk 10:31-33; FT, 56ff].

 

For the classical pagan mentality, woman and man are essentially 'nature', so their being in the world is conditioned [I remember my professor of theological anthropology Ignazio Sanna even used to say 'de-centred'], even determined by birth (fortunate or not).According to the Bible, woman and man are creatures, splendid and adequate in themselves for their mission, but pilgrim and lacking.

God is the One who "calls" them to complete themselves, recovering the dissimilar aspects.

 

To come to be the image and likeness of the Lord, we must develop the capacity to respond to a Vocation that makes us not phenomena, nor exceptional 'perfects', but particular Witnesses.

Chosen by Name, just as we are; who embrace their deep being - even unexpressed - to the point of recognising it in the You, and unfolding it in the We.

A person's holiness is thus combined with many states of dissatisfaction, boundary, and even partial failure - but always thinking and feeling reality.

For a New Covenant.

 

In the Old Testament, the believer came into contact with divine purity by frequenting sacred places, fulfilling prescriptions, reciting prayers, respecting times and spaces, avoiding embarrassing situations, and so on.

Our experience and conscience infallibly attest that strict observance is too rare, or mannered: within, it often does not correspond to us - nor does it humanise us.

It sooner or later becomes a house of cards, shaky the more it points 'upwards'. All it takes is to clumsily dispose of one, and the contrived construction collapses.

We realise our natural impossibility to fulfil sterility, (other people's) maps and such high standards.

With Jesus, Perfection is not about 'thinking', nor is it about following an abstract code of observances. Completeness is in reference to a quality of Exodus and Relationship.

In ancient contexts, the children's path has been cloaked in a mystical or renunciatory proposal of abstinence, fasting, retreats, secluded living, obsessive cultic fulfilments... which in many situations formed the backbone of pre-conciliar spirituality.

But in Scripture, saints do not have haloes or wings.

They are not such for performing incomparable and astounding miracles of healing: they are women and men embedded in the ordinary world and in the most ordinary aspects. 

They know the problems, weaknesses, joys and sorrows of daily life; the search for one's identity-character, or deep inclination.

And the apostolate; the family, the education of children, work. The seductive power of evil, even.

 

In the First Testament, 'Qadosh' exclusively designated an attribute of the Eternal [the only non-intermittent Person] - and its separateness from the tangle of often confused earthly ambitions.

Despite the flaws, however, in Christ we become capable of listening, of perception; thus enabled to seize every opportunity to bear witness to the innate, vital Gratuity of divine and real initiative.

Unceasingly, the providential life proposes itself and comes to open unthinkable breaches.

Its unprecedented journeys of growth renew existence all intertwined and in conformity.

This also makes us wonder at the intimate resources, previously unconscious or unconfessed and concealed, or unpredictably hidden behind dark sides.

 

That which is Insignificant is no longer moved behind clouds and placed in fortified enclosures.

Therefore, God's adversary will not be transgression: on the contrary, it becomes the lack of a spirit of Communion, in differences.

The enemy of the story of Salvation is not religious incompleteness, but the gap from the Beatitudes - and from the unfolding spirit of the "wayfarer" for whom "wandering" is also synonymous [not paradoxical] with "wandering".

God's counterpart is thus not 'sins', but 'the' Sin [in the singular, a theological term, not a moralistic one].

"Sin" is the inability to correspond to an indicative Calling, which acts as a spring to complete us, to regenerate us not to be partial. This is harmonising the opposite sides - in being ourselves and being-With.

Here it is the Faith that "saves", where we are - because it annihilates "the sin of the world" (Jn 1:29) i.e. disesteem and guilt; the humiliation of unbridgeable distances.

In fact, Jesus does not recommend doctrines, nor does he recommend parcelling out one's life with punctual ethylisms. Nor does he envisage any religious ascent [in terms of progressiveness] peppered with effort.

To no one in the Gospels does Christ say 'be holy', but with Him, like Him and in Him - United, to encounter our own deepest states unceasingly.

Recognising them better, also through the You and the We.

 

The Saint is the little one, not the all-in-one, uniform, predictable hero.

The saint is he who, walking his own path in the wake of the Risen One, has learnt to "identify himself with the other, regardless of where [or] from where [...] ultimately experiencing that others are his own flesh" (cf. FT 84).

[...] Gospel presents the first great discourse that the Lord addresses to the people on the gentle hills encircling the Sea of Galilee. “Seeing the crowds,” St Matthew writes, “he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them” (Mt 5:1-2).

Jesus, the new Moses, “takes his seat on the cathedra of the mountain” (Jesus of Nazareth, Doubleday, New York 2007, p. 65) and proclaims “blessed” the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the merciful, those who hunger for righteousness, the pure in heart, the persecuted (cf. Mt 5:3-10). It is not a new ideology, but a teaching that comes from on high and touches the human condition, the condition that the Lord, in becoming flesh, wished to assume in order to save it.

Therefore “the Sermon on the Mount is addressed to the entire world, the entire present and future, and yet it demands discipleship and can be understood and lived out only by following Jesus and accompanying him on his journey” (Jesus of Nazareth, p. 69).

The Beatitudes are a new programme of life, to free oneself from the false values of the world and to open oneself to the true goods, present and future. Indeed, when God comforts, he satisfies the hunger for righteousness, he wipes away the tears of those who mourn, which means that, as well as compensating each one in a practical way, he opens the Kingdom of Heaven. “The Beatitudes are the transposition of the Cross and Resurrection into discipleship” (ibid., p. 74). They mirror the life of the Son of God who let himself even be persecuted and despised until he was condemned to death so that salvation might be given to men and women.

An ancient hermit says: “The Beatitudes are gifts of God and we must say a great ‘thank you’ to him for them and for the rewards that derive from them, namely the Kingdom of God in the century to come and consolation here; the fullness of every good and mercy on God’s part … once we have become images of Christ on earth” (Peter of Damascus, In Filocalia, Vol. 3, Turin 1985, p. 79).

The Gospel of the Beatitudes is commented on with the actual history of the Church, the history of Christian holiness, because, as St Paul writes, “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Cor 1:27-28).

For this reason the Church has no fear of poverty, contempt or persecution in a society which is often attracted by material well-being and worldly power. St Augustine reminds us that “it serves nothing to suffer these evils, but rather to bear them in the Name of Jesus, not only with a serene soul but also with joy” (cf. De sermone Domini in monte, i, 5,13: ccl 35, 13).

Dear brothers and sisters, let us invoke the Virgin Mary, the Blessed par excellence, asking her for the strength to seek the Lord (cf. Zeph 2:3) and to follow him always, with joy, on the path of the Beatitudes.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 30 January 2011]

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:3).

From the very beginning of his messianic activity, speaking in the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus said: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; therefore he has anointed me, and sent me to proclaim good news to the poor" (Lk 4:18). He considered the poor the most privileged heirs of the kingdom. This means that only "the poor in spirit" are able to receive the kingdom of God wholeheartedly. Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus shows that even a rich man can become a partaker of Christ's blessedness for the poor in spirit.

Poor in spirit is he who is willing to use his wealth generously for those in need. In that case one can see that he is not attached to those riches. One can see that he understands well the essential purpose of them. Material goods are in fact to serve others, especially those in need. The Church admits personal ownership of these goods, if they are used for this purpose.

Today we remember St Hedwig Queen. His generosity towards the poor is known. Although she was rich, she did not forget the needy. She is an example and model for us, how we should live and put into practice Christ's teaching on love and mercy and make ourselves similar to the one who, as St Paul says, "being rich made himself poor for us, that we might become rich through his poverty" (cf. 2 Cor 8:9).

"Blessed are the poor in spirit". It is the cry of Christ that every Christian, every believing man, should hear today. There is so much need of men who are poor in spirit, that is, open to receive truth and grace, open to the great things of God; of men with big hearts who do not let themselves be enchanted by the splendour of the riches of this world and do not allow them to have dominion over their hearts. They are truly strong, because they are filled with the richness of God's grace. They live in the knowledge that they receive from God unceasingly and without end.

"I possess neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, walk!" (Acts 3:6) - with these words the Apostles Peter and John responded to the lame man's request of the cripple. They gave him the greatest good that he could have wished for. They transmitted the greatest wealth to the poor: in the name of Christ they restored his health. By this they confess the truth that through the generations is the part of the confessors of Christ.

Behold the poor in spirit, without possessing silver or gold themselves, through Christ have greater power than all the riches of the world can give.

Truly, happy and blessed are these men, for to them belongs the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, homily Elk 8 June 1999].

 

"Consider your calling, brethren" (1 Cor 1:26)

 

1. Today these words of St Paul are addressed to all of us who have come here to the Mount of Beatitudes. We sit on this hill like the first disciples and listen to Jesus. In silence we listen to his gentle and pressing voice, as gentle as this earth itself and as pressing as the invitation to choose between life and death.

How many generations before us have been deeply moved by hearing the Sermon on the Mount! How many young people throughout the ages have gathered around Jesus to learn the words of eternal life, just as you are gathered here today! How many young hearts have been inspired by the power of his personality and the compelling truth of his compelling message! It is wonderful that you are here!

Thank you, Archbishop Boutros Mouallem, for your cordial welcome. Please convey my prayerful greetings to the entire Greek Melkite community you preside over. I extend my fraternal good wishes to the many Cardinals, Patriarch Sabbah, the Bishops, and all the priests present here. I greet the members of the Latin, Maronite, Syrian, Armenian and Chaldean Communities, and all our brothers and sisters of the other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities. I address a special word of thanks to our Muslim friends who are here, and to the members of the Jewish faith.

This large gathering is like a dress rehearsal for the World Youth Day that will take place in Rome in August! The young man who spoke promised that you will have another mountain, Mount Sinai! Young people of Israel, of the Palestinian Territories, of Jordan and Cyprus, young people of the Middle East, of Africa and Asia, of Europe, America and Oceania! I greet each one of you with affection and love!

2. The first who heard the Beatitudes of Jesus kept in their hearts the memory of another mountain, Mount Sinai. Just a month ago, I had the grace to go there, where God spoke to Moses and gave him the Law written "by the finger of God" (Ex 31:18) on tablets of stone. These two mountains, Sinai and the Mount of Beatitudes, offer us the map of our Christian life and a summary of our responsibilities towards God and our neighbour. The Law and the Beatitudes together trace the path of following Christ and the royal path to spiritual maturity and freedom.

The Ten Commandments of Sinai may seem negative: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me;.... Thou shalt not kill; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not bear false witness..." (Ex 20:3, 13 -16), They are, on the other hand, supremely positive. Going beyond the evil they name, they point the way to the law of love that is the first and greatest of the Commandments: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind... You shall love your neighbour as yourself' (Matthew 22: 37, 39). Jesus himself states that he did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it (cf. Mt 5:17). Its message is new, but it does not destroy what already exists. Indeed, it develops its potential to the fullest. Jesus teaches that the way of love brings the law to its full fulfilment (cf. Gal 5:14). And he taught this most important truth on this hill, here in Galilee.

3. "Blessed are you", he says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek and the merciful, the afflicted, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted! Blessed are you!". Jesus' words may seem strange.  It is strange that Jesus exalts those whom the world generally considers weak. He says to them: "Blessed are you who seem to be losers, for you are the true winners: yours is the Kingdom of Heaven!" Spoken by him who is "meek and humble of heart" (Mt 11:29), these words launch a challenge that requires a profound and constant metanoia of the spirit, a great transformation of the heart.

You young people understand why this change of heart is necessary! For you are aware of another voice within you and around you, a contradictory voice. It is a voice that says: 'Blessed are the proud and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous, merciless, dishonest, who make war instead of peace, and persecute those who stand in their way'. This voice seems to make sense in a world where the violent often triumph and the dishonest seem to succeed. "Yes," says the voice of evil, "these are the ones who win. Blessed are they!"

4. Jesus offers a very different message. Not far from here he called his first disciples, just as he calls you now.  His call has always forced a choice between the two voices competing to win your hearts, even now, here on the hill, the choice between good and evil, between life and death. Which voice will the young people of the 21st century choose to follow?  Putting your trust in Jesus means choosing to believe in what he says, no matter how strange it may sound, and choosing not to give in to the enticements of evil, no matter how attractive they may seem.

After all, Jesus does not just proclaim the Beatitudes. He lives the Beatitudes. He is the Beatitudes. Watching it, you will see what it means to be poor in spirit, meek and merciful, afflicted, to hunger and thirst for justice, to be pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted. That is why he has the right to say, "Come, follow me!". He does not simply say, 'Do what I say'. He says "Come, follow me!".

You listen to his voice on this hill and believe what he says. However, like the first disciples on the Sea of Galilee, you must leave your boats and nets behind and this is never easy, especially when you face an uncertain future and are tempted to lose faith in your Christian heritage. Being a good Christian may seem like a feat beyond your strength in today's world. Yet Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face this challenge. He is always with you to turn your weakness into strength. Believe Him when He says to you: "My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is fully manifested in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9)!

5. The disciples spent time with the Lord. They came to know and love him deeply. They discovered the meaning of what the Apostle Peter once said to Jesus: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). They discovered that the words of eternal life are the words of Sinai and the words of the Beatitudes. This is the message they spread everywhere.

At the time of his Ascension, Jesus entrusted his disciples with a mission and this assurance: "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations... Behold, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28: 18-20). For two thousand years, the followers of Christ have been carrying out this mission. Now, at the dawn of the third millennium, it is your turn. It is up to you to go into the world and proclaim the message of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.  When God speaks, he speaks of things that have the greatest importance for every person, for the people of the 21st century no less than for those of the first century. The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes speak of truth and goodness, of grace and freedom, of what is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Christ. Now it is your turn to be courageous apostles of that Kingdom!

Young people of the Holy Land, young people of the world, respond to the Lord with an open and willing heart! As willing and open as the heart of the greatest daughter of Galilee, Mary, the Mother of Jesus. How did he respond? She said: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word" (Lk 1:38).

O Lord Jesus Christ, in this place that you have known and loved so much, listen to these generous young hearts! Continue to teach these young people the truth of the Commandments and the Beatitudes! Make them joyful witnesses of your truth and convinced apostles of your Kingdom! Be with them always, especially when following you and the Gospel becomes difficult and arduous! You will be their strength, you will be their victory!

O Lord Jesus, you have made these young people your friends: keep them forever close to you!

Amen!

[Pope John Paul II, Mount of the Beatitudes 24 March 2000]

Today we are examining the first of the eight Beatitudes of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus begins to proclaim his path to happiness with a paradoxical announcement: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (5:3). It is a surprising path and poverty is a strange condition for beatitude.

We have to ask ourselves: what does he mean here by the “poor”? If Matthew had only used this word, then the meaning would have been simply economic, that is, it would have meant people who have few or no means of sustenance and are in need of the help of others.

However, unlike Luke’s, the Gospel of Matthew speaks about “poor in spirit”. What does this mean? According to the Bible, the spirit is the breath of life that God communicated to Adam: it is our most intimate dimension, let us say the spiritual dimension, the most intimate one, the one that makes us human beings, the profound core of our being. Thus, “the poor in spirit” are those who are and who feel poor, mendicants in their intimate being. Jesus proclaims them Blessed because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

How many times have we been told the opposite! You have to be something in life, be someone ... One must make a name for oneself.... Loneliness and unhappiness stem from this: if I have to be “someone”, then I am in competition with others and I worry excessively about my ego. If I do not accept being poor, I hate everything that reminds me of my fragility. Because this fragility prevents me from becoming an important person, someone who is rich, not only moneywise, even well-known: everything.

Before oneself, everyone knows well that, as much as one does one’s best, he/she remains radically incomplete and vulnerable. There is no trick to cover up this vulnerability. Each of us is vulnerable inside. One has to see where. But how trying life is if one does not accept one’s limitations! Life is hard. One lives poorly. One does not digest the limitation; [yet] it is there. Proud people do not ask for help. They cannot ask for help. It does not come easily to them to ask for help because they have to appear self-sufficient. And how many of them do need help, but their pride prevents them from asking for help. And how difficult it is to admit a mistake and ask for forgiveness! When I offer advice to newlyweds who ask me how to live their marriage well, I tell them: “There are three magic words: may I, thank you, I am sorry”. They are words that come from poverty in spirit. One must not be intrusive but rather say excuse me: “Do you think it is good to do this?”, so there can be dialogue in the family, spouses are in dialogue. “You did this for me, thank you I needed it”. We always make mistakes, one slips: “I am sorry”. And usually couples, newlyweds those who are here and are numerous tell me: “The third one is the hardest”, saying sorry, asking for forgiveness. Because proud people cannot do this. They cannot say they are sorry: they are always right. They are not poor in spirit. The Lord instead, never grows tired of forgiving. Unfortunately, it is we who get tired of asking for forgiveness (cf. Angelus, 17 March 2013). The tiredness of asking for forgiveness. This is a bad state!

Why is it difficult to ask for forgiveness? Because it humiliates our hypocritical image. And yet, constantly seeking to hide one’s weaknesses is tiring and distressing. Jesus Christ tells us: being poor is an opportunity for grace; and he shows us the way out from this difficulty. We are given the right to be poor in spirit because this is the path to the Kingdom of God.

But a fundamental thing must be mentioned: we do not have to transform ourselves to become poor in spirit. We do not have to undergo any transformation because we already are! We are poor ... or more clearly: we are “wretched” in spirit! We are in need of everything. We are all poor in spirit, we are beggars. It is the human condition.

The Kingdom of God is of the poor in spirit. There are those who have kingdoms in this world: they have goods and comforts. But they are kingdoms that end. The power of men and women, even of the greatest empires, pass and disappear. Often we see on the television news or in newspapers that that strong, powerful leader or that government that existed yesterday and no longer exists today, has fallen. The wealth of this world fades away and so does money. The elderly used to teach us that shrouds have no pockets. It is true. I never saw a removal truck behind a funeral procession: no one takes anything with them. This wealth stays here.

The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. There are those who have kingdoms in this world, they have goods and comforts. But we know how they end. Only those who know how to love what is truly good more than themselves, reign. And this is the power of God.

In what way did Christ show his power? It was by doing what the kings of the earth do not do: give his life for mankind. And this is true power. The power of fraternity, the power of charity, the power of love, the power of humility. This is what Christ did.

Herein lies true freedom: those who have this power of humility, of service, of fraternity are free. The poverty praised in the Beatitudes is at the service of this freedom.

Because there is a poverty that we have to accept, that of being alive, and a poverty that instead we have to seek, the practical one, in the things of this world, in order to be free and to be able to love. We should always seek freedom of the heart, the freedom that has its roots in our own poverty.

[Pope Francis, General Audience 5 February 2020]

No triumphal march: fragments, to reconcile

(Jn 6:51-58)

 

The Eucharistic theme conveys a fundamental message, about the quality of Life of the Eternal that we can already experience here and now.

The Life of the Eternal is not the effect of external “belief” in Jesus. Conviction that would stop us, and lose 'contact'.

Instead, it becomes reciprocal, evolves, recovers us, as in a natural energy.

Here is the raw Food, and Drink: by 'chewing’ Him and 'crushing’; 'drinking’ Him and 'gulping’, ‘quaffing’ Him and ‘swilling down' even [verbs used in the Greek text].

Total assimilation, which is converted into an experience - Gift from Person to person.

The Food to be fed on is not a seal, but an everlasting, convoking motion. Not a logical, compassed and consenting doctrine, but Word-event that fully engages.

For this reason, here is the Person of Christ - in his true and full human reality, offered and broken; in his authentic teaching and vicissitude as the paschal lamb, amidst wolves that shredded him.

It is the raw means by which the Life of the Eternal is given and preserved.

In this sense the Eucharist received in bare Faith is the real (not symbolic) Presence of the Risen One.

The harshness of the vocabulary used - not very intimate - scratches the lives of believers with concrete effects in the first person.

«To have Life» is to be united with Jesus - but not in a sweet, sentimental, or dazzling way.

The Pact of a new kingdom is existence in God: a charge that is not exhausted, and ushers us into the paradoxical, wounded glory of the community of sons.

The Eucharist is the reference point of Church recognizing itself, defines what it is called to be. And must not find its perennial bonds elsewhere.

 

With polemical crudeness, Jesus insists on proposing Himself as the Easter Lamb who rudely chopped up and totally absorbed, frees from slavery - introducing his own intimates in angular but true trajectories.

His proposal passes through an impertinent transgression of legalism: it was absolutely forbidden to assume blood, considered the seat of life.

To make the story of the total Christ one's own - so far removed from controlled thinking - is to mark a contestation of norms and habits or fashions.

In short, others "manna" or external affective dependencies, diluted, conditioning-centred, are not even pale figures of the Living Food.

The life Communion with the concrete Person of Lord is only that of the Son with the Father: cultivating it, we dream of it and keep it there, along with our events - so that they are nourished by same Spirit.

By letting the motivations and the world of images linked to the Lord's Supper evolve, we allow ourselves to be led by the efficacious Sign. It will guide and even lead, precisely where we need to go.

By surrendering to such a memorial that gives intimate impetus, something will happen - for the soul to take the field. We will see other stages give birth.

Here is the Judgement of the wounded Crucified, who sprinkles authentic life (even if inclement); without admirable attunements all around.

This by taking our flesh and blood [involves the body and moods] which assimilates to Him the discarded, those outcasts of earthly thrones and opportunistic entanglements.

This is shocking for the vulgar outside mentality that raises defences and seeks approval, recognition, achievement; mirages of success, things that everyone wants.

Decrease that does not attract enthusiastic consensus, but rather flies in the face of normal expectations of the usual choruses of glory - of the acclamation’ symphonies for whirlwind success and available, but mitigating.

 

Flesh and Blood: thrown into the furrows of history. We also being involved without dampening the Spirit; in a personal and intimate way: One Body, assimilated into Him and His affair.

First fruits of no triumphal march: we too became food, crumbs and fragments, to reconcile.

Otherwise, the time of the Promises cannot be fulfilled.

 

 

[Corpus Christi (year A), June 7, 2026]