Talents, mines - Gifts of the new Kingdom

(Lk 19:11-28)

 

How can a community reveal the Presence of God? By enhancing and accentuating the facets of life, defending them, promoting them, and rejoicing.

Why is it that some grow and others do not? Why is it that those who advance less than others, precisely on the 'religious' path, risk ruin?

We all have unique strengths, bullets, qualities and inclinations. Everyone receives gifts as a stepping stone [even if only one - like his or her Calling] and can fit into church services.

Everyone - even the normally excluded like Zacchaeus (vv.1-10) - has a wealth of unparalleled resources that he can pass on, for the enrichment of the community.

Luke tells this parable because he notices that some converts in his assemblies have difficulty unlocking themselves and triggering an evolution that also affects their neighbours.

Some just do not flourish, clinging to their ministry, character, roles, precedence and hierarchy.

To put it plainly and clearly, a competition arises among them concerning the importance of ecclesial assignments [this is the true evangelical meaning of the "talents according to ability" of the parallel text Mt 25:15].

These tasks are also undermined by the onslaught of those coming from paganism, who are less intimidated and looser than the somewhat museum-like Judaizing faithful.

The resulting punctiliousness stiffens the internal atmosphere, accentuates difficulties in collaborating and exchanging gifts, resources - enriching one another.

Vain and competitive situations we know.

 

We all receive some accent of the Kingdom, goods to be multiplied by passing on, for example (as here) the Word of God.

A unique gift, but not rare: immense prosperity and extraordinary life-promoting virtues... for each and all.

Thus the spirit of service and sharing, the aptitude for discernment and appreciation of unique uniqueness, and much more.

Of course, the community grows not if it produces, showcases, 'fruits' and yields. It is made up of members who know how to place themselves spontaneously!

Women and men of Faith do not seek merit, they do not keep for themselves; they relate to God and neighbour in a wise manner.

Even not in 'correct' terms and formulas - according to the instruction booklet.

 

Unfortunately, in order to force compliance with the boards and configuration, and to follow the custom... the veterans leveraged the popular inclination not to get into trouble.

Situation and 'perception' to the contrary, which paralysed even inner life.

Since the time of Jesus, there has been no lack of situations dominated by serious fears, and a desire to avoid blackmail [my mother used to say in amazement of our local, provincial leaders (the dishonest ones): "They use religion as a weapon!"].

The very idea of God as lawgiver and judge (vv.21-22) induced believers not to grow or pass on, rather to close themselves off and distance themselves from the Father's project.

On pain of social exclusion, it is often still (even) forbidden to welcome new experiences of God...

Very serious, to authentically encounter oneself, to open personal (even radically vocational) spaces, to trace one's own path.

Thus for centuries. Identification and that is all.

 

To understand the meaning of v.22 where in the CEI translation the King would seem to reiterate the petty idea of the uneducated washerman, just insert the question mark.

The original Greek codices had no punctuation:

"He says to him: From your own mouth I judge you, wicked servant! Did you know that I am a stern man, that I take what I have not deposited and that I reap what I have not sown?"

As if to say, "But who taught you this, unlearning?!"

The same applies to the parallel passage of Mt 25:26: "But answering, his Lord said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant.... Did you know that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered?"

The Lord emphatically reiterates that a deformed idea of Heaven can affect the character lines and ruin people's existence.

This is if they perceive Freedom and the risk of Love as a guilt and in any case a danger of sin that could lead them to the deleteriousness of no longer being considered 'in the grace of God'.

The religions of antiquity also needed followers who were immature and obtuse, without nerve - who were content to avoid danger, and clung to the petty securities of the daily grind.

Instead, the Father desires adult hearts, who undertake and risk for love and for love's sake.

If the God of folklore needs dull and servile flocks, Christ needs daring friends, family and collaborators, capable of walking on their own legs, who do not dehumanise [others].

The pastoral of consensus - 'I will give you what you want'; or the fashions of single thought à la page - presupposes obedient and devout masses, deprived of personality and dreams.Instead, the Lord desires Family, where no one is alarmed, restrained, blocked, and put in the hole.

Perhaps this inhibition is also accepted by people for fear of losing the family tranquillity, the little place someone has, the fake security they have carved out for themselves - or taken in handouts.

 

Christ does not want conquests to frighten us and hold us back, but that as consanguineers of our eternal side we should be the first to vibrate with prophetic ideals.

And ramming the false certainties that do not disturb [indeed, they put us into lethargy] to stimulate grander ideal realms - in terms of breathing quality and humanisation.

Even the little we have can be invested - through a contribution to be made available to all, in the community that values us...

This is the ministerial Church: the 'bank' of v.27 - which projects and endlessly expands resources, the broken Bread, the goods of the Kingdom.

In short, that which promotes the assemblies and reveals the Presence of God is personal and unique, yet it must not remain rare.

 

Everyone has an opportunity for apostolate, his or her own attitude of friendship and unrepeatable skills: but these are to be explored without limits, so that they may be shared, made sapiential and propulsive.

As the Pontiff declared:

"The inability of experts to see the signs of the times is due to the fact that they are closed within their system; they know what can and cannot be done, and they stay safe there. Let us ask ourselves: am I only open to my own things and my own ideas, or am I open to the God of surprises?"

Anyone who keeps up to date, confronts, takes an interest, makes a contribution - without getting overwhelmed by routine, fear, fatigue - sees their human and spiritual richness grow, flourish.

Conversely, no one will be surprised that rearguard situations - exhausting, exhausted, spineless and just plain boring - suffer further downturns and finally perish without leaving regrets (vv.24-26).

 

In this catechesis, Lk reminds us that Jesus was not the type to be put under escort, but an involved, willing figure.

He did not let things slide, but got inside... in matters - nor did He say: what am I doing there?

Nor did he merely fight for legal change - appreciable and necessary - but stood at a safe distance.

Instead, he embodied the gift of self, tracing the path of social choice in the first person, with an arduousness to undertake it - without placing anything in the safe, for fear of persecution and failure.

Paraphrasing the encyclical Fratelli Tutti (No. 262) we would say: he knew that even norms were not enough 'if one thinks that the solution to problems consists in dissuading through fear'.

The Lord in fact frequented those outside the circle and those in between. He kept away from envious and smelly circles.

He acted in a hard-working, 'artisanal' (FT no.217) manner and put his face to it.

 

Did he have alternatives? Certainly: not to move, not to guard the least, to limit oneself, to keep one's mouth shut; possibly to open it, but only to flatter the powerful, the established and well-connected.

It was enough to lay down ideals and actions of freedom:

By giving up the struggle and taking tortuous paths, he would have no problems.

And if he had added omertà to the common mediocrity of the spiritual leaders of the time, he could very well have had a career.

It also applies to us: playing it down, playing it safe, atrophies personal and social life, does not grow a new kingdom - it loses it.

The word of God of this Sunday — the second to last Sunday of the liturgical year — warns us of the transience of our earthly existence and invites us to live it as a pilgrimage, keeping our gaze fixed on the destination for which God has created us. Moreover, since he made us for himself (cf. St Augustine, Confessions 1, 1), he is our ultimate destination and the meaning of our existence.

Death, followed by the Last Judgement, is an obligatory stage to pass through in order to reach this definitive reality. The Apostle Paul says: “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2), that is, without warning. May knowledge of the glorious return of the Lord Jesus spur us to live in an attitude of watchfulness, waiting for his manifestation and in constant remembrance of his first Coming.

In the well known Parable of the Talents — recounted by the Evangelist Matthew (cf. 25: 14-30) — Jesus tells the story of three servants to whom their master entrusted his property, before setting out on a long journey. Two of them behaved impeccably, doubling the value of what they had received. On the contrary, the third buried the money he had received in a hole. On his return, the master asked his servants to account for what he had entrusted to them and while he was pleased with the first two he was disappointed with the third.

Indeed, the servant who had hidden his talent and failed to make it increase in worth, had calculated badly. He behaved as if his master were never to return, as if there would never be a day on which he would be asked to account for his actions. With this parable Jesus wanted to teach his disciples to make good use of his gifts: God calls every person and offers talents to all, at the same time entrusting each one with a mission to carry out. It would be foolish to presume that these gifts are an entitlement, just as failing to use them would mean failing to achieve our purpose in life.

In commenting on this Gospel passage St Gregory the Great noted that the Lord does not let anyone lack the gift of his charity, of his love. He wrote: “brothers, it is necessary that you pay the utmost attention to preserving love in everything you must do” (Homilies on the Gospel, 9, 6). After explaining that true charity consists in loving enemies as well as friends, he added: “if someone lacks this virtue, he loses every good he possesses, he is deprived of the talent he received and is cast out into the darkness” (ibid.). 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us accept the invitation to be watchful, of which the Scriptures frequently remind us! This is the attitude of those who know that the Lord will return and that he will wish to see the fruits of his love in us. Charity is the fundamental good that no one can fail to bring to fruition and without which every other good is worthless (cf. 1 Cor 13:3). If Jesus loved us to the point of giving his life for us (cf. 1 Jn 3:16), how can we not love God with the whole of ourselves and love one another with real warmth? (cf. 1 Jn 4:11). It is only by practising charity that we too will be able to share in the joy of Our Lord. May the Virgin Mary teach us active and joyful watchfulness on our journey towards the encounter with God.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 13 November 2011]

1. "Well, good and faithful servant, you have been faithful in the little, I will give you authority over much, share in your master's joy" (Mt 25:23).

As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Church makes us listen to the Lord's words inviting us to keep watch as we await the parousia. We must prepare for it with a simple but decisive response to the call for conversion that Jesus addresses to us, calling us to live the Gospel as tension, hope, expectation.

Today, in today's liturgy, the Redeemer speaks to us with the parable of the talents, to show us how he who adheres to him in faith and lives industriously in expectation of his return, is comparable to the 'good and faithful servant', who intelligently, industriously and fruitfully looks after the administration of the distant master.

What does talent mean? In a literal sense it means a coin of great value used in Jesus' time. In a translational sense it means 'the gifts', which are shared by every concrete man: the complex of qualities, with which a personal subject, in his psychophysical wholeness, is endowed 'by nature'.

However, the parable highlights that these capacities are at the same time a gift from the Creator 'given', transmitted to every man.

These 'gifts' are diverse and multiform. This is confirmed by observation of human life, where we see the multiplicity and richness of talents that are in people.

Jesus' account firmly emphasises that every 'talent' is a call and an obligation to a specific work, understood in the dual meaning of work on oneself and work for others. It affirms, that is, the need for personal asceticism combined with industriousness on behalf of one's brother.

3. The word of God in today's celebration allows us to deepen our awareness that the parish is a community of brothers and sisters, who are called to adhere to Christ and to be his transparency in the places where they live and work.

This implies that each of you, with the abilities you have received from God, work on yourselves to convert your hearts every day in a religious journey made with constancy and decision, with will and generosity.

Each one of you must feel committed to fixing your mind and heart on what is valuable. You must lead a life that is not determined by worldly esteem, by human respect. And this will be possible if you effectively heed the word of Jesus, as the source of Christian virtue, and obey the apostle Paul's exhortation: "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Col 3:17); thus, as the second reading from Mass reminds us, certain of Christ's redemption, "whether we wake or sleep, we live together with him. Therefore comfort one another, edifying one another as you already do" (1 Thess 5:9-11).

One of the greatest signs of a lack of work on oneself, of an absence of asceticism, is the non-acceptance of one's own person, characterised by those talents that are to be welcomed, because they are given by the God of mercy, who created us, keeps us alive and helps us to walk the paths of existence.

4. Frequently, the gifts that God places in our being are difficult talents, but they cannot be wasted either because of disesteem, disobedience, or because they are tiring. The cross for Christ was not an objection to the Father's will, but the condition, the supreme talent, by which 'by dying he destroyed death and by rising he gave us life again' (Easter Preface). Therefore I ask all of you, and in particular the sick, the suffering, the handicapped, to make fruitful, through prayer and offering, the difficult talent, the demanding talent received.

Always bear in mind that invocation, prayers and the free acceptance of life's labours and sorrows enable you to reach out to all men and to contribute to the salvation of the whole world.

5. This work upon self, which bears fruit for all men, has its root in Baptism, which initiated new life in each of you through the supernatural gift of grace and liberation from original sin. By that sacrament, which made you children of God, you have received those 'gifts' that constitute an authentic inner richness of life in Christ.

Incorporated into Jesus, conformed to him, you are called as living members to contribute with all your strengths and aptitudes to the growth of your parish, which is the gateway to the universal Roman Church.

The talents received at Baptism are also a call to cooperation with grace, which implies a dynamism inherent in the Christian life and a gradual and constant growth into that maturity which is formed by faith, hope, charity and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.This collaboration takes place above all in that centre of communion that is the parish, a community of men and women who put their various skills at the service of personal growth and of their brothers and sisters near and far.

The parish is Church: a community of men who must develop in themselves 'the talents of Baptism'. Its entire structure, by fostering and guaranteeing a community apostolate, especially through liturgy, catechesis and charity, fuses together the many human differences found there, and allows each person, according to the capacities he or she possesses, to contribute fraternally to every missionary initiative of his or her ecclesial family (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, 10).

6. The parable in today's Gospel also speaks of a talent "hidden underground", unused.

"He who had received one talent said, 'Lord, I know that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered, for fear I went and hid your talent underground; here is your talent'" (Mt 25:24-25). This last servant who received only one talent shows how man behaves when he does not live an industrious fidelity to God. Fear prevails, self-esteem, the assertion of selfishness, which seeks to justify its behaviour with the unjust claim of the master, who reaps where he has not sown.

This attitude implies punishment on the part of the Lord, because that man failed in the responsibility that was demanded of him, and, in so doing, did not carry out what God's will demanded, with the consequence both of not fulfilling himself and of being of no use to anyone.

Instead, work on oneself and for the world is something that must concretely engage the true disciple of Christ. In the various and specific situations in which the Christian is placed, he must be able to discern what God wants of him and perform it with that joy, which Jesus then makes full and eternal.

7. Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you to unite yourselves with your whole spirit to the sacrifice of Christ, to the Eucharistic liturgy, which represents each time the presence of the Saviour in your community.

Persevere in being and becoming more and more one heart and one soul, to welcome Christ among you each day. May he enter you, and remain in you, to bring you his fullness.

May the Mother of God, St Mary of the People, introduce Jesus into your community and help it to remain with her Son, to bear much fruit.

Here is the synthesis of the teaching contained in the parable of the talents, which we have listened to and meditated on together: to have the fullness of life and bear fruit it is necessary, with passionate vigilance, to do God's will and remain in Christ, with supplicating and adoring prayer.

Let us abide in him! Let us abide in Jesus Christ!

Let us abide through all the talents of our soul and body!

Through the talents of sanctifying and working grace!

Through all the talents of participation in the word of God and the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist!

Let us remain!

Let us remain to bear much fruit!

[Pope John Paul II, homily 18 November 1984]

In this penultimate Sunday of the liturgical year, the Gospel presents to us the Parable of the Talents (cf. Mt 25:14-30). Before setting off on a journey, a man gives his servants talents, which at that time were coins of considerable value: he gives five talents to one servant, two to another, one to another, to each according to his ability. The servant who had received five talents was resourceful and he traded with them, earning another five. The servant who had received two behaved likewise, and acquired another two. However, the servant who had received one dug a hole in the ground and therein hid his master’s coin.

Upon the master’s return, this same servant explained to him the reason for this action, saying: “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground” (vv. 24-25). This servant did not have a trusting relationship with his master, but was afraid of him, and this hindered him. Fear always immobilizes and often leads to making bad choices. Fear discourages us from taking the initiative; it induces us to take refuge in secure and guaranteed solutions, and thus end up not accomplishing anything good. To move forward and grow on the journey of life, we must not have fear; we must have faith.

This parable helps us understand how important it is to have a true concept of God. We must not think that he is a cruel, hard and severe master who wishes to punish us. If this mistaken image of God is within us our life cannot be fruitful, because we will live in fear and this will not lead us to anything constructive. On the contrary, fear paralyzes us; it causes our self-destruction. We are called to reflect in order to discover what our idea of God really is. Already in the Old Testament he revealed himself as “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex 34:6). And Jesus always showed us that God is not a severe or intolerant master, but a father full of love, of tenderness, a father full of goodness. Therefore, we can and must have immense faith in him.

Jesus shows us God’s generosity and care in so many ways: with his words, with his gestures, with his welcome toward everyone, especially toward sinners, the little ones and the poor, as today — the first World Day of the Poor — also reminds us. But he also does so with his admonitions, which show his interest so that we do not pointlessly waste our life. Indeed, it is a sign that God has great esteem for us: this awareness helps us to be responsible people in all our actions. Therefore, the Parable of the Talents reminds us of a personal responsibility and of a faithfulness that even becomes the ability to continually set out anew, walking new paths, without “burying the talent”, that is, the gifts which God has entrusted to us, and for which he will call us to account.

May the Blessed Virgin intercede for us, so that we may remain faithful to the will of God, cultivating the talents that God has given us. Thus we will be helpful to others and, on the last day, we will be welcomed by the Lord, who will invite us to take part in his joy.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 19 November 2017]

Zacchaeus: Surprising about yourself, and set your accounts straight

(Lk 19:1-10)

 

Zacchaeus wants «to see Jesus, who He is» (v.3): that is, the tax collector ardently desires to understand if God is sensitive to his anxieties.

Although he lives in a devout environment, the crowd around him does not allow him to have any direct personal relationship.

Sycamore is a very leafy tree - he thinks: «I try to see without being seen».

He understands that he needs an immediate eye: he must absolutely discard the moralizing gaze of conformists.

Disturbance induced by judgments without appeal is an impassable barrier to a loving relationship with our Lord.

A new perception is then essential: in fact, despite the crowd around him, Jesus sees just the small, despised and mortified.

If the severe world noticed him, it would read a stain; the view of Jesus is different. He is attracted to the very one who is even ashamed of himself and discomfort of being scrutinized.

Not only: the Lord calls him by name, and in Aramaic Zachar means Just, Pure!

While everyone sees the opprobrium, God grasps in each one an innate purity and the possibilities of good. Even of those who hide.

 

When the Lord is with those who have erred in life, he is always below, because he is a servant, not a judge or a master.

In the same way he also looks at Zacchaeus: from bottom to top, not vice versa (Lk 19:5).

The "little ones of stature" can also be tall: in the Gospel mikròi (v.3) are the incipients who are immediately put in line or in a hole.

But Who is God? He who rests with the little one - disfigured more by prejudice than by his malpractice.

Once we have had the experience of gratuitousness that crumbles the judgements of “village” morality, a moment is enough for God to change us, and multiply the good, the sense of human bond, and of justice.

In fact, the Father is in a hurry to meet us, just like a lost lover. He knows that we need to find joy - today (vv.5.9).

So He does not put in the way the time of practices, or fulfillments that first demonstrate the conversion: such a Father would not be amiable.

 

Every traditional discipline looks at the past and wants to raise man in the abstract, mindful of punctilious concatenations.

Jesus aims the present and the next path, not the distant fact.

He unconditionally accentuates the «sense of belonging to a single human family» [cf. Brothers All n.30].

The Most High points down: He desires to share his life-giving presence with the anomalous and isolated.

He needs it immediately, even if some stagnate around offended (Lk 19:7).

All in all, the tax collector was the worst enemy of a world submerged by provincialism, to which he gladly extorted money.

Precisely that of the excluded one, of the worst impure and even religiously scoundrel that there can be, becomes the only recoverable heart.

In short, no man should consider himself a desperate case, alien to the bliss of a new Heaven on earth.

 

Where welcomed, we too will surprise of ourselves. And we’ll put the accounts in place.

 

 

[Tuesday 33rd wk. in O.T.  November 19, 2024]

Zacchaeus: Surprising about yourself, and set your accounts straight

(Lk 19:1-10)

 

In what sense should we "improve" - and what should I do? Or are we scarred forever?

How do we authentically encounter Christ? What is the source of a saved path and its incomparable joy reflected in works?

How can I change my life and give it a shot in the arm? Time and again I have tried and failed: is happiness an illusion?

And... how do I relate to the exclusivists of the sacred and discipline [or the ideas in vogue]?

Does the Face of the Father really have those scratchy, ruthless, foreboding or one-sided features that they proclaim?

Lk's solution is not to deal with moralism or current opinion, because the head full of wind and fuss would suck us in.

One must fly over, looking at reality from an unprecedented point of view that is not subject to manipulation - thus grasping oneself, in Christ.

And not be plagued or hindered.

This is why the episode is set in Jericho (the last stage of the Exodus), which once served as the decisive threshold to the conquest of the Promised Land.

 

Jesus also passes through our city (Lk 19:1), to show the face of the Father, who even in the [considered] unpleasant, scoundrel and rich, is able to discern a resourceful son.

Zacchaeus is myself when I let myself get caught up in the race of having, and thus become an almost hopeless case.

Already having much, I could probably keep to myself. Instead I feel a malaise inside.

Restlessness, dissatisfaction, set in motion: symptoms of the parched soul, clues not to be silenced.

The professional or ministerial goal I had in mind may have been achieved, but I realise that although I am not a total failure, behind the mask I wear I remain an anguish: I realise that I have lost the goal.

My heart wanted something else, that is why I do not grasp radical harmony with my deepest essence, with the Gold of my DNA.

Then I have to put myself back into the field, because something in my centre is wrong - despite the possible role won, or partial joys.

I do not feel successful, I cannot go on like this. I have to shake myself up. How do I begin?

The Gospel tells us: from a renewed Perception. We must sharpen our gaze!

 

Zacchaeus wants to "see Jesus, who he is" [Lk 19:3 Greek text]: he longs to understand whether God is sensitive to his anxieties.

Although he lives in a formally devout environment, the crowd around him does not allow him to have any frank and direct relationship.

The mass of established followers only accentuates his ties and anxiety, not least because no one would allow him to climb a ladder or the roof of his house (in that area, all without pitches).

By harbouring a public sinner, it was believed that the dwelling itself became unclean: he could not even touch it, nor tread the rungs of an outside ladder; let alone go on the terrace.

In the one who is socially singled out, the problem is accentuated, and with it the conviction that there is nothing to be done.

People not infrequently hinder the growth and existence of others with purist or ideological fixations.

Petty judgements that reveal an inability to welcome, to listen, to understand, to advance, to grow, to truly promote.

Since there is no direct way forward because of the sanctimonious multitudes, one has to invent something - even at the cost of the dishonour of running ahead [in the Oriental environment, particularly disgraceful: v.4].

"Since on the main road everyone has a mean look that makes me regret existing - but I want to see with my own eyes (and not just be told) - I try to see without being seen".

 

The sycamore is a very leafy tree - and Zacchaeus thinks:

"Since I should climb it but they don't give me a chance to reach any ledge (lest I contaminate them) - and since the gazes are so dark as to annoy and haunt, I hide somewhere... even in the foliage... so that no one notices me".

Disturbance induced by judgements is an insurmountable barrier to a loving relationship with our Lord. How to regulate oneself?

Simply, one does not have to "regulate oneself".

Despite the uproar around, the Master sees precisely the little one, the despised and mortified.

If the stern world were to notice him, it would only notice a blemish, it would look without much subtlety.

Jesus' gaze is different. He does not mortify us, nor does he make us despair.

He is drawn to the very person who is even embarrassed about himself and uncomfortable about being noticed.

Not only: he calls him by name, and in Aramaic 'Zachàr' [Hebrew 'Zakkài'] means Righteous, Pure!

 

While all perceive obscurity, the Son grasps in each shaky and curious person an innate purity and the possibility of good.

Even of those who hide.

While chic people shun you, God seeks you out. Indeed, the goal of his passage is precisely your dwelling place [Lk 19:4: "he had to"].The Plan for us is that no one should be lost, so the Lord wisely discerns the gifts and opportunities that lie hidden even behind troubled sides of our personality.

Sounds transgressive?

But while the disciples remain open-mouthed at the spectacle of the paladin priests and the magnificence of the Temple in the eternal and holy city, Christ sees the insignificant gesture of the widow (Mk 12:41-44).

In short, when the Lord is with those who are in trouble or have erred in life, He is always at the bottom, because He is servant; not judge and master.

Thus in the episode of the adulteress [Jn 8:3-11 Greek text], and in the same way he also looks at the outcast: from the bottom to the top, not vice versa (Lk 19:5).

Good spiritual leaders also do the same: attracted by those who suffer because of an isolated and disfigured life under condemnation.

Ridiculous schematisms - those that invite us to erect external scaffolding and climb it - cause us an absurd waste of energy

The vain waste of attention, faculties, and commitments affects not only style and detail - even the main lines of personality.

Instead, Jesus forces Zacchaeus (all of us) to come down, so that he - by continuing to disregard all opinions - could fulfil his destiny.

Promised land that was already throbbing in his soul. Without first renouncing, nor any particular ascetic effort.

 

"Perceive and descend" instead of "be seen and ascend". Here is the non-rule 'rule', indispensable.

To be true to oneself, to the innate Friend - instead of allowing oneself to be conditioned by the 'best' of the club [what an extraordinary benefit and redemption!]

That which is not the rubbish of oneself, happens spontaneously; it happens without artifice or inculcated intentions.

Everything, genuinely adhering to the impulse of the candid encounter.

Letting oneself be surprised: looking out from the viewpoint of the 'new eye'.

A turning point that conveys how to internalise a growing life, punctuated by evolutionary genesis - preparing the New Birth.

The transformation then takes place on the ground, in practical life - ceasing to be told how it would (should) have been.

After all, an archaic elaboration or an overly sophisticated configuration, both laced with respectable exteriority - would only make us sick.

Zacchaeus did not want to resemble any of the actors around him.

So he realised himself in earnest - realising his own and others' needs, sweeping away the banalities of judgements and the whimpers of ethical platitudes.

 

The 'small in stature' can also be stunted: in the gospel mikròi (v.3) are the incipient, those with little knowledge and energy.

Those who have a modicum of Faith, and try to appear in the community, but are immediately put in line or in the hole.

And they are often scandalised by the very adulterers: that is, those who stick to habitual and impersonal practice - or the sophisticated à la page.

However, those are not the real disciples, but rather the masses who obfuscate.

As it happens, they are people who fulfil, observe, obey, and whose lives are neutered, but gossiping, conditioning - and always in a bad mood (Lk 19:7).

Although they often crowd around Jesus, they are there only out of habit, or out of fear that he will run away and do some unforeseen mischief - cheering the unhappy and out of 'the loop'.

As with Zacchaeus. Those different from the top of the class [they] are minimums to be kept away from, those who are almost repulsive.

Valued as crawling worms, or inadequate; therefore unworthy of being considered.

Instead, they are appeals to mission, a call to deepen and be more careful.

In their posturing, the promoters of their look behave as if they were sphinxes or untouchables.

And in so doing they believe the Eternal in precisely the way that is perplexing.

 

They seem to have no contrasts, but they are eager to project their own unexpressed cravings onto others.

Hence they see him who hides himself in shame of himself - not to retrieve him, but to bury him well.

Deluding themselves thus to annihilate their own hidden faces, which however - under the fine reputation - brood (and chronicle).

 

Who then is God (cf. v.3)?

He who rests with the small and microscopic - disfigured more by external judgement than by his own malice.

Inside, the 'saints' and unmarked for life [the 'would-be-but-can't' - immaculate for a matter of cosmetic respectability] are equal to him.

Once we have had the experience of gratuitousness that crumbles [pious or very modern] prejudices and the judgments of village vice, Christ takes a moment to change us and multiply the good.

The Master is in a hurry to meet every bewildered person; just like a lost lover.

He knows that we need to find joy today (vv.5.9).

So he does not make time for practices, rigmarole, or fulfilments that demonstrate contrived conversion: such a Father would not be lovable.He would not inspire transformation, nor a sense of connection and justice.

 

Says the Tao Tê Ching (xxvii): "He who binds well uses neither ropes nor bonds, yet he cannot be loosed".

 

Traditional religion looks to the past and wants to elevate man in the abstract, minding punctilious external concatenations.

Contemporary woke ideology vaunts the hedonistic, situationalist, relative, uprooted and disembodied future; without backbone, without deep thought, nor lasting good.

Jesus aims at the present and the a-head. Not the distant fact.

He unconditionally accentuates the "feelings of belonging to one and the same humanity" (cf. Brethren All No.30).

The Most High points deep and low: He desires to share His life-giving Presence with the anomalous and the isolated.

He needs them 'immediately', even if his 'friends' [not infrequently the most 'intimate'] stand around offended (Lk 19:7).

 

In short, the Lord's authentic Family is not made up of distrustful people. He stands in and in the midst of situations of Freedom.

He does not first observe who is already in - and who is still out. Thus He restores our stature, freely, without any conditions.

Of course, in the minds of the leaders of ancient or abstract religion, such a God is worthless: he cannot even distinguish between 'friends-ours' and 'merits-mine'.

The authorities and the phenomena reject him, of course. But they have finally understood Who He is (v.3).

Even Zac-euro has been cured of his old blindness: he used to see in God a notary, and in his neighbour only people to be exploited - all the more so because they were surly, unpleasant, hateful, unbearable.

All in all, the tax collector was the worst enemy of a world submerged by provincialism, from which he willingly extorted money.

 

The super offender therefore hides himself from the sight of others... because in discovering the codes that inhabit him, he no longer wants to be plagiarised.

He desires an eye that sees the Face of God and looks within, with no more seemingly obvious ballasts that do not correspond to him.

Zacchaeus no longer wants to look at how and where others look, first and foremost those safe in the saddle; bunch of troublemakers - who do not recover and do not allow for reparation.

They do not make any dreams come true within, and can still guide us.

The authentic person then wants to set out on 'his' path.

By questioning everyone's certainties, he brings into play his own innermost essence, the reason why he was born.

His own destiny does not want external certainties, common events, judgements and happenings that do not really belong to him.

 

The inner vision of the Zacchaeus in us is not grafted and identified; not even the one we had perhaps chosen, to become rich.

It was enough for us to turn our eyes away from that same project, as from the purposes of religiosity that was fitting, or too alternative (not to touch the flesh).

And even move away from the taken-for-granted idea of life that we had made for ourselves - within the usual 'angle'.

Zacchaeus [each] finds freedom only in his 'hiding place'.

By hiding, he defiles himself from the obligation to appear. He escapes from catwalks that conform to the environment.

Deceptive stages - because they interfere, and close much more than being with oneself and the only founding Relationship.

No one else could deal with them, apart from a higher Self, that of the inner labyrinths that one traverses oneself, which oppose conformism.

They accentuate curiosity and the never-seen-before, even for us.

They seem to take us away from the ordinary scanning of the usual intermediate goals. But they resemble us.

 

Zacchaeus understands that the first of his tasks was 'watching', opening up elementary (but not gross) perception.

Stimulating intuitive processes; not depersonalising, nor cerebral.

Without even changing jobs. Without dismissing his emotions: true signals to be noticed, guiding him to the authenticity of his fate.

 

Christ only has something to say to us if we explore Him without the peel of homologising preconceptions: nothing to do with Him and our character, in essence.

The things of the Father are to be sought, grasped, accommodated and understood as they are - encountering discomfort.

Without even struggling with extreme effort against the sides of oneself that should not belong to us.

True: elements of discernment rarely taught explicitly: e.g. 'how to change' name and destiny.

But the wearisome relationship with such narrow 'chosen ones' paradoxically makes it easier. It also makes us grasp what our own obstinacy - the only thing to disturb us - did not make us focus on and consider.

Things we never suspected, never 'knew', never saw. In fact, forces we do not use.

As the Unknown One advances (vv.1.4-5) so that we discover them with Him, and bring them forth.

 

On our behalf He desires to take the helm of the decisive course we never knew how to chart. And take us forward, regenerate us again.We will be brought into contact with the Fire of the Primordial Calling, which will bring forth wonders precisely from the unknown, shadowy sides; from the deep, opposite states.

An appeal to all children who do not want to get lost in the surface, in the ungenerous judgement of veterans or antecedents who lose people, and all people.

Interestingly, even in the accounts of the Chassidim reported by Buber, even at the Torah's proclamation, the search for a kind of emptiness in ideas that would make room for another Eros was recommended.

And in particular to "no longer hear oneself [i.e., one's own formation and worldview] at all, to be no more than an ear listening to what the world of the Word says in Him. As soon as you begin to hear your own words, cease".

 

That which we do not like and would never have chosen, becomes a Voice that without demeaning interrogates, and humanises.

Making us discover - through uninterrupted pregnancies - our own and others' full dimension.

Free of cloaks, we will trigger that ancient, future and intelligent energy that leads to the unpredictable journey.

To the Goal of total Life. To the Home that is truly ours. To the Abode of a saved life, in fullness of being.

Tent that still brings out the spontaneous naturalness of the flowers that come up, without exhausting us with artificial sweats.

 

Cured of the sight - of both the pious and the fallen - precisely that of the excluded, the worst impure and (even religiously) transgressor there can be, becomes the only salvageable case.

Jesus crumbles the goddess that formed the fabric of deep archetypal sacred ballast.

Now in the peer-to-peer relationship with his founding Logos, the sinner realises that it is not pristine 'perfection' that gives a licence of immunity to (then) have the right to meet the Father.

It is the immediate and gratuitous relationship with the Risen One that purifies him, enabling the heart to enjoy exponential and fruitful life already here.

 

No man must consider himself a hopeless case, a stranger to the bliss of a new Heaven on earth.

 

Perhaps we can expect everything, except that someone will tell us: inside you are indefectible, you have the key that opens the door that appears locked...

If Zacchaeus had pretended to 'improve', intoxicating himself according to a cultural, behavioural and religious model, he would have run aground, becoming insignificant.

Instead, his entire previous life was recovered and reinvested, by an immediate Friendship; without the cliché of 'perfection' first.

The raw but spontaneous person did not allow himself to be taken hostage by false teachers, who would introduce him into their absurd labels [the maze-codes on how one should 'be in the world'].

Even in the case of this loan shark, the discomforts were not overcome by opposing, but by welcoming.

In their happening within, those discomforts stimulated the recognition of a unique profile; of one's own soul so different. 

It would have been detrimental to fight it with the muscles of the will, and aseptic observances, cerebral doctrines, mortifications, photocopied repetitions.

 

That of conditioning-induced deviations is a poisonous cosmetic for the soul and for the works we are called upon to bring forth from our unrepeatable soul.

The beliefs of others lead the lower self off the track of the orientation that deeply and uniquely belongs to it.

The deep essence calls to immediacy rather than identity. To the spontaneity (particular but full) of our Germ, which matures in stages and leaps, and will make our destiny dissymetric.

It will, however, lead to the true Goal: it is not 'the problem' - as is often imagined.

It is that Nest which within does not diverge, then to protect us - in the alliance with the self and in the exuberance of our flourishing.

Led to ourselves, we will feel our relational nature too, previously suffocated by the cloak of a homologising respectability, which gushes out of itself.

Adaptation to an external, depersonalising or conventional logic or chattering mentality and religious life distances us from the authentic purification and quality leaps that truly equate us.

They do trigger the codes of a healing that develops not from paroxysmal states, nor from practices that are all the same. But from a face-to-face with our constituent core, filled with beneficial forces; energetic and passionate.

With Jesus our becoming will never be in a trivial relationship with what we have been or how we should be: not a formal concatenation.

We will pass through unexpected and marvellous Genesis, which overrides any organigram of prediction and linear development.

 

The difference between religiosity and Faith?

It is explicit in the unpredictable story of Zacchaeus, who decides not to stay where they put him, slavishly following an impossible discipline that he did not want.

He realised that he would not be able to 'improve': he chose not to be infected all his life.It was first a restless dissatisfaction, then an engaging attempt at genuine vision, then a simple man-to-man encounter that prepared him for his decisions.

Even if we are not considered 'ready' [by an expert and his code], it is with immediacy and without too much inner struggle or tearing that we can reach another Territory.

And change the air for others too, sisters and brothers - simply by the 'unconditional perception' of a new Face of God.

We will find Him not at all nosy and sullen, nor patronising.

Instead, he conveys that absurd self-confidence that changes our lot, and the fate of the world.

Where welcomed, we will surprise ourselves. And we will set things right.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you have a personal view of Jesus passing by, or do you borrow it from the opinion of experts who tear your soul apart with accusations?

On what occasion has Christ conveyed an absurd self-confidence to you, which has opened up new spaces of life and set things right?

 

 

Antivedere: new Aesthetics that will save church and world

 

Need to see it. Antivedere: fullness, not beauty among others

 

The Christian, the one who wants to be a follower of Christ, the one who feels the need to cling to Him through the bonds of His authenticity and certainty, will always have, as a man, as a man especially of our time so nourished by the visual image, the instinctive need to see Him, Jesus the Christ, as He was in face, in appearance, in bearing, in person. We have said this before. But this desire remains, and recurs when questions arise about the genuine interpretation of his message, and about the duty to conform our conduct to his teaching. Is not, after all, this aspiration always present in the Gospel characters? Let us take Zacchaeus, in St Luke's account: "he wanted to see Jesus, who he was"; and, small in stature as he was, in the midst of the crowd he could not; he then climbed a sycamore tree; and from there he saw, or rather was seen by the Lord who called him and told him to come down, wanting him to be his guest on that day (Luc. 19, 1 ff.).

But the fortune of Jesus' contemporaries, who saw Him with their own eyes (cf. I. 1, 1) is not ours. Just as it is not of all humanity that came after Him. Already St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons (at the end of the 2nd century) warns that the bodily images that have been attempted to be disseminated of Christ since then are apocryphal (Adv. Haereses, 1, 25; PG 7, 685). St. Augustine is categorical: "We completely ignore" what the bodily face of Jesus was, as well as that of Our Lady (De Trinit. 8, 5; PL 42, 952). We must form our figure from elements common to human nature and from the imaginative reflections that the information we have about Him, reading the Gospel or believing His word, provoke in our spirit. Art and piety help each other in this not easy elaboration.

It is not vain fantasy; it is a worthy, and in a certain sense indispensable, effort for anyone who wants to have a concrete and faithful concept of Christ, which without mythical artifice presents itself as ideal.

Let us try asking ourselves: how do we depict Christ Jesus? That is to say: what is the characteristic aspect of Him that emerges from the Gospel? How, at first sight, does Jesus present Himself? Once again, his own words help us: "I am meek and humble of heart" (Matth. 11: 29). Jesus wants to be looked at like this, seen like this. If we were to see him, he would appear to us like this, even though the vision, which Revelation gives us of him, fills his heavenly figure with form and light (Rev 1:12 ff). This sweet, good and above all humble aspect imposes itself as essential. Meditating on it, one perceives that it both manifests and conceals a fundamental mystery relating to Christ, that of the Incarnation, that of the humble God, a mystery that governs the whole of Christ's life and mission: "The Christus humilis is the centre of Christology" of St Augustine (Cf. POKTALIÉ, D. Th. C. 1, II, 2372); and which imprints the whole of the Gospel teaching on us: "What else did he teach, if not this humility? . . . in this humility we can approach God", says the Doctor of Hippo (En. in Ps. 31, 18; PL 36, 270). Moreover, does not St. Paul have a term, which smacks of the absolute, when he tells us that Christ 'annihilated himself': semetipsum exinanivit? (Phil. 2, 7) Jesus is the good man par excellence; and it is for this reason that he descended to the lowest level even of the human ladder; he made himself a child, he made himself poor, he made himself patient, he made himself a victim, so that none of his brothers in humanity could feel him superior and distant; he placed himself at the feet of all. He is for all. He belongs to everyone; indeed to each of us, in the singular; St Paul says so: 'He loved me and sacrificed himself for me' (Gal. 2:20).

It is not surprising that the iconography of Christ has always sought to interpret this meekness, this extreme goodness. The mystical intelligence of Him has come to contemplate Him in the heart, and to make, for us modern sentimentalists and psychologists, always polarised towards the metaphysics of love, worship of the Sacred Heart, the burning and symbolic hearth of Christian devotion and activity.

Here an objection arises, especially today: is this image of Christ, who realises in himself his own word, that is, the beatitudes of poverty, meekness, non-resistance (cf. Matth. 5:38 ff.), the true Christ? Is he the Christ for us? Where is the Christ Pantocrator, the strong Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of rulers? (Cf. Rev. 19: 11 ff.) Is the Christ the reformer? ("Ego autem dico vobis . . .", Matth. 5) the contentious Christ, with his contentions (e.g. Matth. 5, 20) and anathemas? (Cf. Matth. 23) The liberating Christ, the Christ of violence? (Cf. Matth. 11, 12) Is there no talk today of the Christianity of violence and the theology of revolution? After so much talk of peace, the temptation of violence, as the supreme affirmation of freedom and maturity, as the only means of reform and redemption, is so strong that we speak of a theology of violence and revolution; and often to the exciting theories the facts, or at least the tendencies of the redemption of the 'constituted disorder', correspond. One then tries to have Christ for oneself, and to justify certain disorderly, demagogic and rebellious attitudes with the attitudes and words of Him.

The discourse is many. We ourselves have alluded to it on other occasions. Just one piece of advice for now. In the face of this supposed contradiction between the figure of the meek and gentle Christ, the good Shepherd Christ, the Christ crucified out of love, and the figure of the virile and stern, indignant and pugnacious Christ, it will be necessary to reflect well, and to see how things stand in the original documents, the Gospels, the New Testament, the authentic and coherent Tradition, and in their genuine interpretation. We feel it is our duty to claim honest attention in this regard. Especially on the complexity of the figure of Christ: he is certainly both meek and strong, as he is both man and God; and then on the true reaction, certainly not political, certainly not anarchic, that Christ's reforming energy injects into the fallen and corrupt world; that is, on the true hopes that he proposes to humanity.

We shall then see that the figure of Christ presents, yes, without altering the enchantment of his merciful gentleness, also a grave and strong aspect, formidable, if you like, against cowardice, hypocrisies, injustice, cruelty, but never separated from a sovereign irradiation of love.

Only love defines him as Saviour. And it is only through the ways of love that we will be able to approach Him, imitate Him, insert Him into our souls and into the ever dramatic events of human history.

Yes, we will be able to see Him, who dwelt with us, and shared our earthly lot, to infuse us with His gospel of salvation, and to prepare us for this full salvation; we will see Him "full of grace and truth" (I. 1:14).

Faith and love are the eyes that we now need in order to be able to see him in some way; that is, to see him.

(Pope Paul VI, General Audience 27 January 1971)

Let us begin with water, as would appear logical in many respects. Water is an ambivalent symbol: of life, but also of death; as the peoples hit by flooding and seaquakes know well. But water is first and foremost an element essential to life. Venice is called the “City of Water”. And for you who live in Venice this condition is a double sign, both negative and positive. It entails much hardship and at the same time an extraordinary fascination. Venice being a “city of water” makes me think of a famous contemporary sociologist who has described our society as “liquid”, and thus the European culture: to express its “fluidity”, its scant or perhaps lack of stability, its changeableness, the inconsistence which at times seems to characterize it. And here I would like to insert the first proposition: Venice, not as a “liquid” city — in the sense just mentioned — but as a city “of life and of beauty”. Of course, this is a choice but in history it is necessary to choose: men and women are free to interpret, to give a meaning to reality, and it is in this freedom itself that the great dignity of the human being consists.

In the context of a city, any city, the administrative, cultural and economic decisions depend, basically, on this fundamental orientation, which we may call “political” in the most noble, the loftiest sense of the term. It is a question of choosing between a “liquid” city, the homeland of a culture that appears ever more relative and transient, and a city that is constantly renewing its beauty by drawing on the beneficial sources of art, of knowledge and of the relations between people and peoples.

[Pope Benedict, Meeting with the world of culture... Venice 8 May 2011]

 

Gratitude and joy are therefore the feelings that characterize our meeting. It is taking place in the sacred space, so full of art and memories, of the Basilica of San Marco, where faith and human creativity have given rise to an eloquent catechesis through images. 

The Servant of God Albino Luciani, who was your unforgettable patriarch, described his first visit to this Church as a young priest: “I found myself immersed in a river of light ... At last I could see with my own eyes and enjoy the full splendour of a world of art and unique beauty, whose charm penetrates your inmost depths (Io sono il ragazzo del mio Signore, Venice-Quarto d'Altino, 1998). This temple is the image and symbol of the Church of living stones which you are, Christians of Venice. “‘[I] must stay at your house today’. So he made haste and came down and received him joyfully” (Lk 19:5-6). How often during the Pastoral Visit, did you listen to and ponder these words, addressed by Jesus to Zacchaeus! 

They have been the main theme of your community meetings, providing you with an effective stimulus to welcome the Risen Jesus, a sure way to find fullness of life and happiness. In fact, genuine human fulfilment and true joy are not found in power, success or money, but only in God, whom Jesus Christ makes known and brings close to us. 

This is Zacchaeus’ experience. According to the current mentality, he has it all: power and money. He can be called a “ man who has ‘made it’”: he has worked his way up, has achieved what he wanted and could say, like the rich fool in the Gospel parable, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink and be merry” (Lk 12:19). For this reason his desire to see Jesus is surprising. What impelled him to seek Jesus out? Zacchaeus realized that what he possessed was not enough, he felt the desire for more. And here was Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, passing through Jericho, his hometown. 

The echo of some unusual words spoken by Jesus had reached him: blessed are the poor, the meek, those who mourn, who hunger for righteousness. These words were strange to him, but perhaps for this very reason, were also fascinating and new. He wanted to see this Jesus. But though Zacchaeus was rich and powerful, he was short. So he ran ahead and climbed a tree, a sycamore. It did not matter to him whether he was exposing himself to ridicule: he found a way to make the meeting possible. 

And Jesus arrived, he looked up at him and called him by name: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5). Nothing is impossible to God! From this meeting streamed forth a new life for Zacchaeus: he welcomed Jesus with joy, discovering at last the reality that can truly and fully fill his life. He had first hand experience of salvation, was no longer the same as before. As a sign of conversion he committed himself to donating half of his possessions to the poor and giving back four-fold to those he had robbed. He found the true treasure, because the Treasure, which is Jesus, found him!

Beloved Church in Venice! Imitate the example of Zacchaeus and surpass it! Overtake the men and women of today and help them to surmount the barriers of individualism, of relativism; never let yourselves be brought low by the failures that can scar Christian communities. Strive to look closely at the person of Christ, who said: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). 

As Successor of the Apostle Peter, visiting your land in these days, I repeat to each one of you: do not be afraid to swim against the tide in order to meet Jesus, to direct your attention upwards to meet his gaze. The “logo” of my Pastoral Visit portrays the scene of Mark delivering the Gospel to Peter, taken from a mosaic in this basilica. Today, symbolically, I come to redeliver the Gospel to you, the spiritual children of St Mark, in order to strengthen you in the faith and encourage you in the face of the challenges of the present time. Move ahead with confidence on the path of the new evangelization, in loving service to the poor and with courageous testimony in the various social realities. Be aware that you bear a message meant for every man and for the whole man; a message of faith, of hope and of love.

[Pope Benedict, closing of the pastoral visit Venice 8 May 2011]

1. “Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5).

Saint Luke, in the Gospel which we have just heard, recounts the meeting between Jesus and a man called Zaccheus, a chief tax collector who was very rich. Since he was short of stature he climbed a tree to be able to see Christ. He then heard the Master’s words: “Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (Lk 19:5). Jesus had taken note of Zaccheus’ gesture; he understood his desire and anticipated his invitation. The fact that Jesus would go to the house of a sinner even caused amazement in some people. Zaccheus, delighted at the visit, “received him joyfully” (Lk 19:6), that is, he opened the door of his house and of his heart to the encounter with the Saviour.

3. “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor” (Lk 19:8). I wish to return to the Gospel reading from Saint Luke: Christ, “the light of the world” (cf. Jn 8:12), brought his light to the home of Zaccheus, and in a special way to his heart. Thanks to the closeness of Jesus, of his words and of his teaching, this man’s heart begins to be transformed. Already on the threshold of his house Zaccheus declares: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold” (Lk 19:8). In the example of Zaccheus we see how Christ dispels the darkness of the human mind. In his light the horizons of existence become broader: we begin to be aware of other people and their needs. A bond with others is born, an awareness of man’s social dimension and consequently a sense of justice. “The fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true”, teaches Saint Paul (Eph 5:9). Opening ourselves to our fellow man, to our neighbour, constitutes one of the principal fruits of sincere conversion. Man breaks out of his selfish “being for himself alone” and opens himself to others, feeling the need to “be for others”, to be for his brothers and sisters.

This opening of the heart in the encounter with Christ is a pledge of salvation, as is shown in the ensuing conversation with Zaccheus: “Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house . . . For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost'” (Lk 19:9-10).

In our own day too, Luke’s description of the event that took place at Jericho has lost none of its importance. It brings us the exhortation given by Christ, “whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor 1:30). And just as he once did with Zaccheus, so at this moment Christ stands before the men and women of our own age. He seems to say to each person individually: “I must stay at your house today” (Lk19:5).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, this “today” is important. It is a kind of summons. In life there are certain matters that are so important or so urgent that they cannot be put off or left for another day. They must be dealt with now, today. The Psalmist exclaims: “O that today you would harken to his voice! Harden not your hearts” (Ps 95:7-8). “The cry of the poor” (Job 34:28) of all the world rises endlessly from the earth and reaches God. It is the cry of children, women, the elderly, refugees, those who have been wronged, the victims of war, the unemployed. The poor too are in our midst: the homeless, beggars, the hungry, the despised, those who have been forgotten by their own families and by society, the degraded and humiliated, the victims of various vices. Many of these people even try to hide their human misery, but we must know how to recognize them. There are also people suffering in hospitals, children left without parents, or young people experiencing the difficulties and problems of their age.

“Still today we see immense areas in which the work of Christians must bring to bear the charity of God . . . There are situations of persistent misery which cannot but impinge upon the conscience of Christians, reminding them of their duty to address these situations both as individuals and as a community”, as I wrote in my last Message for Lent (15 October 1998, 3 and 4). The “today” of Christ should therefore echo loudly in every heart, making it mindful of the works of mercy. “The lament and the cry of the poor” require us to give a concrete and generous response. It requires us to be willing to serve our neighbour. The invitation is made by Christ. We are constantly being called. Each of us in a different way. In various places, in fact, people are suffering and calling out to others. They need the presence of others, their help. How very important is this presence of the human heart and of human solidarity!

Let us not harden our hearts when we hear “the cry of the poor”. Let us strive to listen to this cry. Let us strive to act and to live in such a way that in our country no one will be without a roof over their head or bread on the table; that no one will feel alone, left without anyone to care for them. I make this appeal to my fellow countrymen. I know how much is being done in Poland to halt the spread of poverty and indigence. Here I would like to emphasize the work being done by the Church’s different Caritas agencies, at both the diocesan and parochial levels. These groups are involved in various initiatives, for example during the Advent and Lenten seasons, and provide assistance to individuals and entire social groups. They are also involved in training and educational activities. The assistance which they provide often goes beyond the borders of Poland. How numerous are the social assistance centres, the hospices, soup kitchens, charitable centres, homes for single mothers, child-care and after-school care centres, protection stations and centres for the disabled that have recently appeared. These are but a few examples of this immense “Good Samaritan” undertaking. I wish also to emphasize the efforts being made by the State and by private institutions and individuals, and by the volunteers who work in them. Mention should also be made here of the initiatives aimed at providing solutions to the troubling situation of growing poverty in different sectors and regions. These are concrete, real and visible contributions to the development of a civilization of love on Polish soil.

We must always recall that the country’s economic development must take into consideration the greatness, dignity, and vocation of man, who “was made in the image and likeness of God” (cf. Gen 1:26). Development and economic progress must never be at the expense of men and women, hindering the meeting of their fundamental needs. The human person must be the subject of development, that is, its most important point of reference. Development and economic progress cannot be pursued at whatever cost! That would not be worthy of man (cf. Sollecitudo Rei Socialis, 27). The Church of today proclaims and seeks to exercise a preferential option for the poor. This is not just a passing feeling or immediate action, but a real and persevering will to work for the good of those who are in need and who often have no hope of a better future.

5. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3).

At the very beginning of his messianic activity, speaking at the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus said: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach 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 with all their hearts. Zaccheus’ meeting with Jesus shows that a rich man too can become a sharer in Christ’s beatitude for the poor in spirit.

The poor in spirit are those who are willing to use their wealth generously for the needy. In such cases, we see that these people are not attached to their wealth. We see that they understand its real purpose. Material goods in fact are meant to help others, especially the needy. The Church allows private ownership of these goods, if they are used for this purpose.

Today we remember Queen Saint Hedwig. Her generosity to the poor is well known. Although she was rich, she did not forget the poor. For us she is a model of how to live and put into practice Christ’s teaching about love and mercy, about how we must make ourselves like him who, as Saint Paul says, “though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor that by his poverty we might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

“Blessed are the poor in spirit”. This is Christ’s declaration that every Christian, every believer today should hear. There is a great need for people who are poor in spirit, that is, people who are open to the truth and to grace, open to the great things of God; there is a need for big-hearted people who do not let themselves be deceived by the splendour of the riches of this world, and who do not allow these riches to dominate their hearts. Such people are truly strong, because they are filled with the riches of God’s grace. They live in the awareness that they are receiving from God all the time and without end.

“I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). With these words the Apostles Peter and John answer the cripple’s plea. They gave him the greatest gift that he could have desired. From poor men, this poor man receives the greatest wealth: in the name of Christ they restore his health. Thus they proclaimed the truth which, from generation to generation, has been the heritage of those who proclaim Christ.

These are the poor in spirit. Though they possess neither silver nor gold themselves, thanks to Christ they have greater power than those who can give all the riches of the world.

Truly such people are happy and blessed, for to them belongs the Kingdom of heaven. Amen.

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

Today’s Gospel presents us with an event that happened in Jericho, when Jesus entered the city and was welcomed by the crowd (cf. Lk 19:1-10). In Jericho lived Zacchaeus, the chief of the “publicans”, that is, of the tax collectors. Zacchaeus was a wealthy agent of the hated Roman occupation, an exploiter of his people. Out of curiosity, he too wanted to see Jesus, but his status as a public sinner did not allow him to approach the Master; moreover, he was small of stature, and for this reason he climbed a sycamore tree, along the road where Jesus was to pass. 

When he neared that tree, Jesus looked up and said to him: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (v. 5). We can imagine Zacchaeus’ astonishment! Why does Jesus say “I must stay at your house”? What duty does this refer to? We know that his highest duty is to implement the Father’s plan for all of mankind, which is fulfilled in Jerusalem with his death sentence, the crucifixion and, on the third day, the Resurrection. It is the Father’s merciful plan of salvation. And in this plan there is also the salvation of Zacchaeus, a dishonest man who is despised by all, and therefore in need of conversion. In fact, the Gospel says that when Jesus called him, “they all murmured, ‘He has gone into the house of a sinner!’” (cf. v. 7). The people saw Zacchaeus as a scoundrel who became rich at his neighbours’ expense. Had Jesus said: “Come down, you, exploiter, you traitor of the people! Come to speak with me and settle the score!”, surely the people would have applauded. Instead, they began to whisper: “Jesus is going to his house, the house of the sinner, the exploiter”.

Guided by mercy, Jesus looks for him precisely. And when he enters Zacchaeus’ house he says: “Today, salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (vv. 9-10). Jesus’ gaze goes beyond sins and prejudices. And this is important! We must learn this. Jesus’ gaze goes beyond sins and prejudices; he sees the person through the eyes of God, who does not stop at past faults, but sees the future good; Jesus is not resigned to closing, but always opens, always opens new spaces of life; he does not stop at appearances, but looks at the heart. And here he sees this man’s wounded heart: wounded by the sin of greed, by the many terrible things that Zacchaeus had done. He sees that wounded heart and goes there. 

Sometimes we try to correct or convert a sinner by scolding him, by pointing out his mistakes and wrongful behaviour. Jesus’ attitude toward Zacchaeus shows us another way: that of showing those who err their value, the value that God continues to see in spite of everything, despite all their mistakes. This may bring about a positive surprise, which softens the heart and spurs the person to bring out the good that he has within himself. It gives people the confidence which makes them grow and change. This is how God acts with all of us: he is not blocked by our sin, but overcomes it with love and makes us feel nostalgia for the good. We have all felt this nostalgia for the good after a mistake. And this is what God Our Father does, this is what Jesus does. There is not one person who does not have some good quality. And God looks at this in order to draw that person away from evil. 

May the Virgin Mary help us to see the good that there is in the people we encounter each day, so that everyone may be encouraged to bring out the image of God imprinted in their hearts. In this way we can rejoice in the surprises of the mercy of God! Our God, who is the God of surprises!

[Pope Francis, Angelus 30 October 2016]

Brief Commentary on the Readings [10.11.24]

 

*First Reading 1 Kings 17:10-16

The prophet Elijah is far from his homeland, in Sarepta, a city on the Phoenician coast, which at the time was part of the kingdom of Sidon and not of the kingdom of Israel. We are in the 9th century B.C., King Ahab had married Queen Jezebel (around 870), thus not a daughter of Israel, but the daughter of the king of Sidon, in order to implement a policy of alliance, but exposing himself to the grave risk of apostasy, because Jezebel brought with her customs, prayers, statues and the priests of the cult of Baal, the god of fertility, rain, lightning and wind. King Ahab, a very weak person, thus ends up betraying his religion and even builds a temple to Baal. Elijah and the faithful Jews feel ashamed at the betrayal of their faith, knowing full well the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods but me!", which is the a. b. c. of the Jewish faith: God alone is God, all other idols are useless. Elijah opposes Jezebel and, in order to prove the falsity of the idols, as a severe drought was just then occurring in Israel, he launches a challenge: you hold Baal to be the god of rain, but I will prove that the God of Israel alone is the one true God, master of everything, of rain and drought. The unfolding of this challenge will take place, but today's text stops at this point. Warned by God, Elijah prophesies that there will be years of severe drought and, following a divine command, he takes refuge by the Kerith stream, east of the Jordan (1 Kings 17:3-4). The drought persists, the stream dries up and God orders him to go to the distant Sarepta where he meets a poor widow from whom, as a poor beggar, he asks for "a piece of bread". The woman confesses to him that she has no more bread, for all she has left is a handful of flour in a jar with a little oil in it; she gathers two pieces of wood to prepare a loaf for her and her son, they will eat it and then prepare to die. The prophet reminds her that God can do everything and invites her to prepare a 'little bread' for him and then she will share what is left with her son. He assures her that the God of Israel will intervene: the jar of flour will not run out and the jar of oil will not be emptied until the day the Lord makes it rain. And so it came to pass: "the jar of flour did not run out and the jar of oil did not empty". The story of the widow of Sarepta is similar to that of the widow who, as we read today in the gospel, in the Temple of Jerusalem gives God all her change, a clear example of a simple faith that deprives itself of everything and trusts in the word of the God of Israel. The message is clear: while Israel falls back into idolatry, a foreign, pagan widowed woman is rewarded by the Lord for her great faith. There is also a detail to point out: the widow heard God personally command her to provide for the prophet, and this shows that God's word resounds where and how He wills, even among the Gentiles. Jesus would refer to this episode when speaking to his countrymen in Nazareth (Lk 4:25-26). Indeed, in the late texts of the Old Testament (and the first book of Kings is part of it), pagans are often cited as an example to indicate that salvation is promised to all mankind, not being reserved to Israel alone. In short, God is solicitous towards those who trust in him, and the great lesson of this biblical episode is that the Lord's solicitude never betrays those who trust in him.  

 

*Psalm 145 (146), 5-6a, 6c-7ab, 8bc-9a, 9b-10 

With this psalm, Israel sings its history, giving thanks to God for his constant protection. "Oppressed, afflicted, hungry", the people had experienced oppression in Egypt from which they were delivered "with a strong hand and an outstretched arm" as they would later be from deportation to Babylon, and this psalm was written on their return from exile from Babylon, perhaps for the dedication of the Temple restored after its destruction in 587 BC by the troops of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed, fifty years later (in 538 BC), Cyrus, king of Persia, defeated Babylon, authorised the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, the dedication of which was celebrated with joy and fervour as we read in the book of Ezra: "The sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the deported did joyfully dedicate this House of God" (Ezra 6:16). A psalm therefore imbued with the joy of returning home because, once again, God has shown fidelity to the Covenant with his people of whom he is the father, the avenger, their "redeemer". Re-reading its own history, Israel can testify that God has always accompanied it in its struggle for freedom: "The LORD does justice to the oppressed, he raises up the afflicted". Israel experienced hunger, in the desert, during the Exodus and God sent manna and quails for its food: "To the hungry he gives bread" and only later did it understand that God always redeems the afflicted, heals the sick, lifts up the small and marginalised, opens the eyes of the blind and progressively reveals himself, through his prophets, to his people who seek him: "God loves the righteous". In this song, note the insistence on the name "Lord", which here translates the famous NAME of God revealed to Moses on Sinai, in the burning bush: it is the four consonants YHVH (two inhaled and two inspired) that indicate the permanent, active, liberating presence of God in the life of his people (Ex.3:13-15). Moreover, in the Bible, the expression 'your God' is a reminder of the Covenant with the chosen people: a Covenant to which the Lord has never failed, and Israel's prayer is addressed to the future, so when it evokes the past, it is to strengthen its expectation and hope.  God communicated his name to Moses on Sinai in two ways. First with the unpronounceable four consonants, YHVH, which we often find in the Bible, particularly in this psalm, and which is translated as 'the Lord'. There is, however, a more elaborate formula, "Ehiè asher ehiè", which in Italian is rendered either as "Io sono chi sono", or "I will be who I will be", a way of expressing God's eternal presence alongside his people. The insistence on the future, "for ever" reinforces the commitment of the people who, with this psalm, not only recognise God's work on behalf of Israel, but also want to give themselves a course of action: if God has acted in this way towards us, we in turn must do the same, becoming the first witnesses of the Lord's love for the poor and excluded, a love that, through Israel, he intends to spread to the whole world. The Law of Moses and the Prophets was written to educate the people to progressively conform to God's mercy and, for this reason, it provided numerous rules of protection for widows, orphans, and foreigners, intending to make Israel a free people that respects the freedom of others. Finally, the prophets' appeals focus on two points (which perhaps surprise us): a fierce fight against idolatry, (as Elijah did) and appeals to justice and care for others, going so far as to make God say: "It is mercy I want, not sacrifices, the knowledge of God, not holocausts" (Hos 6:6); or again: "You have been told, O man, what is good, what the Lord requires of you: nothing but to respect right, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God" (Mi 6:8). Finally, we read in the book of Ben Sira: "The widow's tears run down the cheeks of God" (Si 35:18). For Israel, the tears of all those who suffer flow down the cheeks of God...and if we are close to God, they should flow down our cheeks too! 

 

* Second Reading Heb. 9:24-28

The author of the letter to the Hebrews, which has been with us for a few Sundays, is addressing Christians of Jewish origin who perhaps feel nostalgia for the ancient cult, while in Christian practice there are no temples or bloody sacrifices. The author, wanting to prove that everything is now obsolete, takes up the realities and practices of the Jewish religion one by one. He speaks above all of the Temple, defined as the 'sanctuary' and points out that one thing is the true sanctuary, in which God resides, that is, heaven itself, quite another is the temple built by men, which is only a pale copy of the true sanctuary. The Jews were particularly proud, and rightly so, of the magnificent Temple of Jerusalem, but they did not forget that every human construction remains human and therefore, weak, imperfect, perishable. Moreover, no one in Israel claimed to enclose the presence of God in a temple, however immense, as the first builder of the Temple of Jerusalem, King Solomon already stated: "Could God really dwell on earth? The heavens themselves and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain you! How much less this House that I have built." (1 Kings 8:27). For Christians, the true Temple, the place where one encounters God, is not a building because the Incarnation of Christ changed everything: now the meeting place between God and man is Jesus Christ, the God made man. The Evangelist John narrates that Jesus took the liberty of driving out the money changers and cattle merchants for sacrifices from the Temple area, explaining then: "Destroy this Temple and in three days I will raise it up" and the disciples understood, after the Resurrection, that the Temple of which he spoke was his body. (Cf. Jn 2:13-21). In today's passage from the Epistle to the Hebrews the same thing is said: let us remain grafted into Jesus Christ, let us be nourished by his body, thus we are placed in the presence of God on our behalf.  With his death Christ highlights the central role of the cross in the Christian mystery and a little later (Heb 10), the author will specify that Christ's death is only the culmination of a life entirely offered up and that when speaking of his sacrifice, one must mean "the sacred act that was his whole life" and not only the hours of his Passion. For the moment, the text before us speaks of Christ's Passion and his sacrifice, without any further details. It juxtaposes the sacrifice of Christ with that offered by the high priest of Israel, on the day of Yom Kippur ("Day of Forgiveness") when the high priest, entering alone into the Holy of Holies, pronounced the Holy Name (YHVH) and shed the blood of a bull (for his own sins) and that of a goat (for the sins of the people), solemnly renewing the Covenant with God. As the high priest left the Holy of Holies, the people, gathered outside, knew that their sins were forgiven. But this renewal of the Covenant was precarious, and had to be repeated every year, whereas the Covenant that Jesus Christ made with the Father in our name is perfect and final: on the Face of Christ on the cross, believers discover the true Face of God who loves his own to the end. We can no longer deceive ourselves; God is our Father because He is the Father of Jesus and in Christ we can live in the Covenant that God proposes to us: the New Covenant in Christ and there is no longer any room for fear of God's judgement because by professing "Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead" (in our Creed), we proclaim that the word "judgement" is synonymous with salvation: "the Christ, having offered himself once to take away the sins of many, will appear a second time, no longer for sin, but for the salvation of those who wait for him" and it is right to affirm that Jesus Christ is "the high priest of the coming happiness", as the author states in ch.  9:11, a text that is proclaimed on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, in year B.

 

*Gospel  Mark 12:38-44

"Beware of the scribes..." We are at the conclusion of the 12th chapter and are approaching the end of Mark's gospel, with the account of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Jesus dispenses the last advice to the apostles: He has already told them to have faith in God and "whatever you ask in prayer, have faith that you have obtained it and it will happen to you" (11:22-24). He then added: "See to it that no one deceives you" (13:5), while he now exhorts them to beware of the scribes (12:38) using the language of the prophets to stigmatise some of their attitudes without this meaning a total condemnation of their actions.  At the time, the scribes were highly regarded because they commented and interpreted the Scriptures and preached, they sat in the Sanhedrin, the permanent court of Jerusalem that met in the Temple premises twice a week; they were therefore laymen who had studied the Law of Moses in specialised schools, becoming experts and some among them were called "doctors of the law" so that by respecting them, the Law itself was respected. Such respect made some people's heads swell as they demanded the first seats in the synagogues, with their backs to the Tablets of the Law and facing the public. In today's gospel, Jesus pays tribute to the scribe who had wisely replied, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." (12:34), but adds a more general criticism by reacting to the hostility that some scribes, from the beginning of his public life, had shown him envy and jealousy. A growing distrust of Christ towards them becomes clear in Mark's gospel as their jealousy becomes hatred to the point of planning to kill Jesus after the expulsion of the merchants from the Temple. The chief priests, scribes and elders besiege him as he walks in the Temple asking him by what authority he teaches and performs miracles (11:27-28) and we will see during the passion Pilate himself realise this, as St Mark notes: "Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed him over to them out of envy" (15:10). Jesus, however, is not impressed by their hatred and rebukes them for something much more serious, namely, that they exploit their position by demanding payment from poor widows when they ask for legal advice: "They devour widows' houses and pray long to be seen. They will receive a more severe sentence" (12:40). It is at this point that a poor widow appears (12:42-43) in total destitution (12:44) because, not being entitled to her husband's inheritance, she depended on public charity. She approaches to lay down two pennies and Jesus points her out as an example to the disciples: 'Truly I say to you, this widow, so poor, has thrown more into the treasury than all others. For all have offered of their surplus. She, on the other hand, in her misery, threw into it all she had to live on" (12:43-44). The evangelist makes no comment, but it is understood that the widow's trust will be rewarded. The parallel with the widow of Sarepta is natural: just as she offered Elijah her last provisions, this widow laid down all her savings in the Temple, stripping herself of everything. Jesus invites us to reject the model of ostentation of some scribes with their thirst for honours and privileges, and exhorts us to imitate the humble and discreet generosity of the "poor widow" who leaves everything she has in the Temple. Several Church Fathers have interpreted it as a powerful symbol of humble and generous faith and genuine charity, not because she gives much but because she offers everything she has to live on, trusting God. This story, besides being a lesson in charity and trust, is also a reminder of authentic social justice, where love for God must always translate into care, help and love for the needy.