Third Lent Sunday (year A)

(Romans 5:1-2, 5-8)

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Paul sees believers in Jesus as being in a state of grace. He expresses this state of grace with the word 'justified'. Justification is accomplished. This is the truth that Paul proclaims. The passage from life to death, from sin to grace, takes place, has taken place, and will always take place through faith in Jesus Christ. By using the aorist passive participle (= having been justified), Paul emphasises that this work now belongs to us. He alludes to a specific moment in the life of Christians that belongs to the past: baptism. We are justified "ek pisteōs" - by faith. Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the sacramental place where this justification takes place, which is accessed through faith. We are justified the moment we believe and accept Jesus Christ as the one and only Word of eternal life.

What happens when our justification is accomplished? We are at peace with God. The author of salvation is also the author of peace: there is no true peace except in Christ. This peace was established when we, enemies of God, were reconciled to God by Jesus Christ. Peace is not a state of inner balance, nor is it our peaceful behaviour. Peace is the restoration of our relationship with God, because we are reconciled as a result of justification. When we are at peace with God, we also find peace with other people; we also find peace with creation, which we are to protect and cultivate, as it is a gift entrusted to our care by God so that we may make it a home where people can live with dignity, wisdom and joy. The mistake of man today is to think that there can be peace among men and with creation while man remains in his falsehood and sin. Peace comes only from justification and only as long as man lives as justified.

One is at peace if one is in Christ, one is at peace if one lives in the word of Christ, one is at peace only through Christ. This is the cry that Paul makes resound in his churches, so that they may be convinced that outside of Christ no peace will ever be possible. It is an illusion to think of peace without justification, to think of peace outside of Christ. Peace is Christ, it is in Christ, it is through Christ. He is the way through which a person can go in peace towards another person. Those who exclude Christ close off the path to true peace. Without Christ there can never be peace, because people are not in the truth.

Faith, therefore, is faith in God who has made Christ the only way to salvation. However, our faith in God becomes effective only if it is faith in the work of Christ. God the Father and Jesus Christ are one principle of faith, one faith that saves. It is through this faith that we obtain the gift of peace, because it is through this faith that we are justified, that is, God cancels our debt, makes us his children in Christ, and restores us to his friendship. This is peace.

'Through him': Christ is the instrument and the key to access the new condition of life that has been realised in him. The peace mentioned in verse 1 is considered from another perspective in verse 2: it is a grace. Paul says that he has had access to 'this grace in which we stand'. Grace is to be understood as the redemption wrought by Christ through his death and resurrection. Paul is very proud of this grace. And that "we boast" is not the result of human presumption, but is the joy that comes from the awareness of having been chosen and saved through Christ and in Christ, despite our miserable condition as sinners, and which in some way gives us a foretaste of the state of full and definitive glory. Paul boasts in order to magnify and praise the Lord, to bless and exalt him for his great love. All that Paul is, all that believers are and will become, is only by grace, and this is what we must boast about, not our own merits.

Paul's boasting rests on a truth: he is firmly established 'in the hope of the glory of God', that is, he rejoices in the hope of one day sharing in the glory of God, which for the justified will be the crown and the end of all things. Paul knows that immeasurable eternal glory awaits him. This is his strength: the hope that arises in him from faith. This hope should not be thought of as a simple human desire; rather, it is already a certainty, since it defines a reality that already exists and in which we already find ourselves, even if it has not yet been fully and definitively attained. However, we are called to live it now, conforming our lives to this new reality in which we live. Thus, our life is an eschatological life, deeply marked by an 'already' and a 'not yet'.

Those who do not have this hope become entangled in the things of this world and are suffocated as thorns suffocate the good wheat. Today, almost all of us are losing hope in the glory of God. Almost all of us are building a horizontal Christianity, without its fundamental truth. We must recover and strengthen ourselves in the specificity of our faith. We must find pride in our being Catholics, disciples, ministers, ambassadors, heralds of Jesus Christ, in the hope of future glory. If the believer loses sight of hope, his Christian being is purposeless. When true faith dwells in the believer, there is also strong hope; when hope is lacking, it is a clear sign that his faith is weak or non-existent. It is a faith that cannot open the door to eternity, and without the opening of this door, the little faith that resides there will sooner or later be lost, for the characteristic of faith is to walk towards the eternal glory of God in his kingdom of light and eternal peace.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

Second Lent Sunday (year A)  [Mt 17:1-9]

Matthew 17:3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him.

Matthew 17:4 Then Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, 'Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.'

Matthew 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.'

Matthew 17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were very much afraid.

Matthew 17:7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, 'Get up and do not be afraid.

Matthew 17:8 When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus alone.

Matthew 17:9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, "Tell no one about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Next to Jesus, transfigured and shining with the same light as God, two Old Testament figures of great importance suddenly and unexpectedly appear: Moses and Elijah. The first is the one God chose to free his people from oppression in Egypt and lead them to the land promised to the Patriarchs. Moses is the one who spoke with God face to face, revealing the familiarity that existed between the two. Moses is the one who received the Torah directly from God and revealed it to the people. He was an intercessor, the intermediary of the covenant between God and Israel. Elijah, on the other hand, was the one who opposed the betrayals of the people and their rulers and, defying the wrath of Queen Jezebel and the claims of the priests of Baal, sought to assert God's lordship among the people, putting his own life at risk.

The presence of these characters is also due to the fact that Jesus said in chapter 5 of the Gospel: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets", that is, Jesus did not come to destroy the promises of the Old Testament, contained in the law and the prophets, but to bring them to fulfilment, to completeness. With their presence, Moses and Elijah bear witness to Jesus and show that He is the end to which both the law and the prophets were ordained. These are also the two figures who spoke with God in the Old Testament. Just as Moses and Elijah spoke with God, now they speak with Jesus and him alone. It is not said that Jesus speaks with them, but that they speak with Jesus; it is they who converge on Jesus and not vice versa. There is, therefore, no dialogue. Elijah and Moses, the whole revelation given by God to the fathers, speak with Jesus.

The scene is charged with symbolism and meaning. Matthew included it to convey the new significance of the figure of Jesus in relation to the symbolic figures of the Old Testament. Jesus is not an addition to Moses and Elijah, he is not an extension of them, but their point of convergence. In a certain sense, they define the meaning of his mission and his being: like Moses, Jesus was sent to Israel and to all humanity to free it from the slavery of sin and lead it back to the Father. At the same time, he also acts as a mediator between God and men, a sort of pontiff, connecting humanity to God in a secure and definitive covenant between God and men that will never fail. Similar to Elijah, the prophet who spent his life and put it at risk to reaffirm the worship of God among his people, Jesus also came to restore the Father's will among men, to reveal its demands and to urge them to return to God. Moses and Elijah, therefore, were paradigmatic, typical figures who foreshadowed in themselves the essential traits of the figure of Jesus, in whom they converge and find their fulfilment.

Verse 4 denounces an error of perspective into which Judeo-Christianity will fall: considering Jesus a great figure, a prominent prophet, an important messiah, but one who did not differ from his Old Testament predecessors, represented by Moses and Elijah, but rather was linked to them. Peter, in fact, has Jesus, Moses and Elijah before him and, without any distinction, proposes three tents for them, one for each of them, all three on an equal footing. It is as if Peter, and with him Jewish Christianity, still could not grasp the novelty contained in the mystery of Jesus, whom he places on the same level as Moses and Elijah and associates with them.

With verse 5, we reach the heart of the story, which aims to emphasise Jesus' divine sonship and, therefore, his own divinity. The revelation reaches its climax here, as God himself is now involved in the matter, his presence evoked by two theophanic elements: the cloud and the voice. The first closely recalls the 'shekinah', the glorious presence of Yahweh, while the second is linked to the first and indicates the revelation of God.

The brightness of the cloud contrasts with the verb epeskíasen, 'overshadowed', 'darkened'. It is astonishing how a cloud glowing with divine light can darken and overshadow. In reality, this play on words speaks of revelation and new understanding. What this cloud obscures, in fact, are Jesus, Moses and Elijah, whom Peter had placed on an equal footing, without noting their substantial difference. It is this error, which redefines Jesus along the lines of the Old Testament, bringing him back into it, that is, so to speak, overshadowed, hidden; while within the divine light, the true mystery underlying the person of Jesus is revealed.

The Church has nothing more to take from Moses or Elijah, except those parts that are compatible with the message of Jesus. The evangelist does not say that the Old Testament should be discarded, but that Jesus becomes the norm for interpreting the Old Testament. This is a warning that is more relevant than ever, because there have always been groups that are tempted to emphasise certain norms of the Old Testament and integrate them into the Christian community.

The passage ends (v. 9) with the disciples returning to normal daily life: they come down from the mountain, and it is during this return that Jesus orders them to remain silent about the vision. He forbids them to speak of it before the resurrection, because only then will they understand what the transfiguration is: it is a foretaste of the resurrection. In the meantime, they will allow the mystery they have intuited to mature within them.

It is therefore necessary to wait for the appointed time for Jesus to be understood in his entirety, and this time will only come after Jesus has been glorified ('risen from the dead'). Only then will the meaning of his being, his divinity and his messiahship become clear. Only then will the Scriptures be understood and acquire new meaning; only then, in the Risen One, will the Law and the Prophets find their fulfilment. The mystery must now be shrouded in the silence of an imperfect understanding, which can be intuited but not yet fully grasped. While waiting for the mystery to be fulfilled, silence is necessary so that the mystery is not trivialised or rejected. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

First Sunday in Lent (Year A)

(Mt 4:1-1)

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Matthew 4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

Matthew 4:3 The tempter came to him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.'

Matthew 4:4 But he answered, 'It is written:

Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. One may wonder, why would the Spirit lead someone into a dangerous situation? There is no doubt here that it is the Holy Spirit who pushes Jesus to confront the devil, and thus all the false expectations of the time regarding the figure of the Messiah, which we now understand were diabolical expectations.  

The Greek term for temptation is 'peirazō', which mainly means 'to test, to examine', but also 'to tempt' in the moral sense of soliciting evil. The verb can be translated as both testing and tempting. When it is God who performs the action, then we have the sense of testing, because it is something that serves the growth and maturity of the person, so that the person can make a serious assessment of their own life. It is something positive. Even in the Gospels we find that Jesus sometimes tests his disciples to see if they have understood his teachings. When, on the other hand, this verb has Satan as its subject, then we are talking about tempting, about putting the person in a dangerous situation in order to distract them from their duty. In our text, the devil tries to distract Jesus from his messianic task.

'Devil' in Greek means divider, separator, and its Hebrew equivalent, 'satan', means 'adversary'. He is the enemy and adversary of man, who wants to hinder Jesus and also every man on his journey with God. It is like saying: I want to continue on this path, but at a certain point the path is blocked; this is Satan, the devil, someone who wants to lead me astray.

Jesus was led into the desert, west of Jericho, on the Mount of Quarantine. But it is not the geographical location that is important here. The desert represents the place of trial. It is the place where the people of Israel could demonstrate their fidelity to God, or their infidelity; it was the place where man had to verify his choices. It is the place where we can discover the truth, because the real struggle is not so much against someone else, but within ourselves. We can say that the desert is an existential situation for everyone. We find truth only in the desert, because as long as there is someone close to us, we can always say: it was him, it's his fault. But if we are alone, we can only see the evils that are within us. So we need to know how to create the desert, the silence, to go into the truth and not be afraid of the truth. The desert is the place of searching, of journeying, and it is here that we find the devil, that is, the divider, the split, we find evil. This is precisely where the Spirit leads us! We think that the spiritual life is something privileged, but it is exactly the opposite, it leads us into reality, it leads us into temptation, into trial, into doubt, into the difficulty of discerning, of deciding, into struggle.

The verb peiraō (to tempt) also means 'to learn from experience', 'to experience', 'to try', so it is through temptation that man passes through evil, and thus becomes experienced, gains experience. And temptation is suffered by those who have made the right choice. If someone is stealing and is tempted to stop, that is not called temptation, but good inspiration! So we must consider trial and temptation as a place where, if one chooses good, one encounters evil. That is why it is the Spirit who drives us into the desert, that is, it is the Spirit of God himself who drives me to make a choice, to seek clarity, to seek truth.

At the end of forty days and forty nights, Jesus is hungry. This hunger should be interpreted as a state of need. The devil always uses every need to tempt man. Even in families, it is much easier to argue when there are needs than when things are going well, precisely because the devil has the opportunity to get in the way.

"The tempter then approached him." Here the name is changed; we are not talking about the devil but about the tempter. It is an expression used only by Matthew, because the verb "to tempt" is the typical verb that the evangelist will use when speaking of the Pharisees, the high priests and the Sadducees when they go to Jesus to tempt him. They are the ones who carry out the temptations of Jesus. For this reason, the evangelist changes the name and presents Satan as the tempter, to remind us that it will be others acting on behalf of the devil who will tempt Jesus.

The first temptation begins with the proposal: if you are the Son of God, say that these stones become bread. The temptation can be read in different ways: Take advantage of your position for your own good, make these stones satisfy your hunger. If you can do it, do it.

With the necessary exceptions, all temptations are always for the good. None of us does evil because it is evil, but because it seems good to us. Except for those few times - or many times - when we do it out of weakness, when we know it is evil but cannot do otherwise, the serious mistakes are those we make for the good. May God free us from the evil we can do thinking it is good! They are like the just wars of Anglo-Zionist memory: they never end, precisely because they are just! So we must be careful when we act for the sake of good: it is very dangerous! We must not act for the sake of good, we must do what is good. We can be diabolical for the sake of good!

Another interpretation of the temptation is as follows: Jesus is urged to use his authority as the Son of God to bring about a turning point in the history of his people or, if you will, to listen to the messianic expectations of Israel, which was awaiting a political-military and religious messiah, a liberator and restorer of Israel's greatness. From this perspective, the first temptation is that of economic messianism: that is, to think of bringing about the messianic era through earthly economic well-being. In other words, Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread in order to perform a prodigious act in the eyes of humanity: if he is the Son of God, he will be able to solve the problem of world hunger and be recognised and acclaimed as a benefactor. Fyodor Dostoevsky's reinterpretation of this temptation in "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" is very interesting: "Do you see these stones in the bare, scorched desert? Turn them into bread, and humanity will follow you like a docile and grateful flock."

The first temptation can also be read as a false alternative: either bread or the word. While we say: yes, the word of God is beautiful, but now there is real life, I have to think about this and that. This is a great evil, because if the word of God has nothing to do with real life, God does not exist. In reality, the first thing is the word of God that orders my way of relating to things, and therefore my real life, my bread. In response to the tempter, Jesus reminds him that it is in fidelity to the word of God that man can find the true meaning of his existence.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 5:17-37)

Matthew 5:19 Whoever breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

This verse presents a parallelism characteristic of the Hebrew rhetorical style, which here contrasts transgression with observance, the least with the greatest, or, if you will, the relative with the whole, highlighting how the smallest of the commandments can make those who do not observe it small, thus demonstrating the great spiritual power of a commandment considered small by human sophistry, but nevertheless great because it reflects and expresses the will of God, which must always be carried out.

Note how this sentence of Jesus unfolds in two moments which, although radically opposed to each other, nevertheless find their common point of reconnection in the verb 'to teach'. To be minimal or great, it is not enough to 'transgress' or 'observe', but there must also be teaching. It is, therefore, the way of behaving and relating within the community, understood here as the place of the kingdom of heaven, that makes one small or great within it.

A simple personal violation of the commandment is not enough to be degraded, but it must also be accompanied by teaching in that sense. Personal violation in itself does not seem to be serious enough to condemn the person ipso facto, perhaps because such violation is considered the result of human weakness; but when the error is transmitted through specific teaching, then it becomes ingrained and there is a clear desire to spread it, which therefore becomes a stumbling block for others. Similarly, scrupulously observing the commandments in one's private life is of no benefit if it is not accompanied by public witness, for the lamp must always be placed on the candlestick so that it may give light to all those in the house.

In Israel, in fact, observance or violation of the Law was never considered a private matter, even though it personally engaged every single Israelite in its practice. The Sinaitic covenant was a covenant made with the people, and its violation was always understood primarily as a collective fault, which was always followed by collective punishment. Evidence of this can be found in the Babylonian exile and, even earlier, in the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians. Throughout the history of Israel, God never speaks to individuals, but only to the people or their legitimate representatives. For this reason, teaching is what qualifies violation or observance, establishing the respective position of each member within the kingdom of heaven, of which the new community is a sacrament.

What are the minimum commandments? There is some confusion about this. Are they all the precepts of the Law? But if we look at what the evangelists have handed down to us about Jesus, we see, for example, that Jesus did not observe the laws of purity concerning lepers (he touched them). When Jesus speaks of repudiation, he speaks differently from Moses; he saves an adulteress from stoning. On some occasions, he did not observe the most important law, that of the Sabbath, at least according to the Pharisaic interpretation, and so on.

We must therefore understand Jesus' words bearing in mind that these minimal commandments are none other than those he has just proclaimed from the Mount through the image of the Beatitudes. Why are they considered minimal? Why this expression? It is what Jesus will declare to those who want to follow him: "My yoke is easy and my burden is not heavy". In this sense, we can interpret the minimal commandments. It is true that putting the message into practice involves commitments, and that these commitments are often demanding, but they are never crushing commitments, as the Law was for all those who tried to put it into practice.

Jesus, speaking of the Beatitudes as the minimum commandments, is telling us that although observance involves a commitment, it is not a commitment that cannot be carried out, like a kind of yoke placed on the neck that prevents one from walking. Those in the community who betray the message – the commandments of the Beatitudes – and teach others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but those who practise and teach them will be considered great.

The two categories, the contrast between least and greatest, do not refer to a hierarchy, as if there were first- and second-class Christians in the kingdom or community. Rather, it is a way of speaking according to Semitic language: to be least means to be excluded from a reality; to be greatest means to be part of that reality. Jesus says that those who betray the spirit of the Beatitudes, those who do not live according to this teaching, had better give up; they cannot feel part of the community of the kingdom, they exclude themselves. On the contrary, full participation in the kingdom belongs to those who will put it into practice and teach others to do so.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the mystery of the Trinity

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(Mt 5:13-16)

Matthew 5:15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Jesus says: when you light a lamp, you cannot put it under a container, that would be absurd, but you place it on a candlestick so that it can give light to all those in the house. This is the task of the disciples, who by putting the message of the Beatitudes into practice can render a vital service to the world. Believers are defined as light and lamps. The meaning is identical, since the lamp has to do with light that illuminates, but their illumination is different. As light, the community is in reference to the world and must make itself visible among men like a city set on a hill; while individual believers, defined in their intra-community relationships, are called to be lamps for 'all those in the house'.

The light, therefore, must shine both inside and outside the community. The light that illuminates men must start from within the community and then radiate out to everyone. It is a light that flows from the very heart of every believer, rooted in the risen Christ, which permeates the entire community and then spreads out into the world. Only if every single believer shines with the light of the Risen One will the community be illuminated and become a light for the world. Light does not change reality; light makes reality visible.

In fact, the immediate consequence of light is precisely seeing: "so that they may see" (v. 16), that is, noticing something new that has been born among men - God's very action among them - which they must see through "your good works". These good works of the believer closely recall the refrain of creation: "And God saw that it was good" . The good works accomplished by the believer are parallel to God's creation. It is significant that God's creative act begins precisely with light (Gen 1:3), and in this context of light, the entire creation is then placed. Thus, the accomplishment of good works by the disciple becomes the new dimension into which humanity is called to enter. Indeed, it is precisely these good works that become the cause of a new humanity that praises God: "glorify your Father who is in heaven." Giving glory is a somewhat abstract expression. To explain it simply, we can say: love translated into works. When people want to give glory to God, all they have to do is translate the love they experience into concrete gestures towards others. The purpose of these works is that people may recognise God, and feeling loved, may discover in their own lives that there is a God who is Father, who manifests this love.

The verb 'doxazō', translated as 'give glory', will later be presented by Jesus when speaking to the Pharisees who want 'to be praised by men' (Mt 6:2), who want to be glorified by their own works; this is true idolatry. If, in doing my works, my good works, I do not seek the glory of God, but seek my own glory, I replace God and want to be the centre of attention, the subject that attracts applause and praise. If works have this negative aspect, we no longer have the light that shines.

The light of the Christian is his new life lived among men. A life made up of truth and charity, mercy and forgiveness. The diversity of life makes the difference, and this difference is transformed into the giving of glory to God. Today, it is precisely this difference that is lacking. If the difference does not exist, it is a sign that the works of the Christian are not of light.

Faith is not 'proved' but 'shown', simply, not through a demonstration, which is an intellectual fact, which may even smack of dialectics: convincing the other person. Faith is shown: the relationship you have with God and with others shines, makes you understand, makes you feel, communicates. Then the Father who is in heaven is glorified. 

Our responsibility as Christians is great in every respect. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants in comparison – In defence of the faith

 The Church and Israel according to St Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 5:1-12a)

Matthew 5:3 «Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven».

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Thus begins the first beatitude, the most important one, because it is placed first by Matthew. Let us first note the word 'blessed'. If we were to say to a poor person, 'blessed are you who are poor', we would be insulting them. We usually say, 'blessed are the rich'. Jesus' beatitudes are the exact opposite of what we think; they are words that radically overturn all earthly criteria. There is a truly subversive force in the beatitudes.

There is an imbalance of power between wealth and poverty, to the detriment of the poor, who are crushed by the greed and pride of the rich. In Jesus' message, poverty acquires a new dignity, unknown until then. Jesus came to restore dignity to humanity. In fact, for Jesus, it is necessary to free oneself from attachment to earthly goods in order to fully embrace his cause, which leads man to a higher and more fulfilled level of life. But this first level of material poverty is not enough. For Jesus, a further step is needed: to strip oneself of one's own way of thinking and seeing things, in order to take on that of God; it is necessary to place oneself on God's side and see things from his perspective.

There is a qualitative leap: from material poverty to inner poverty. Material poverty is not enough to inherit the kingdom, but must be rooted in the very heart of man. This is why Matthew says, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit'. Literally, poor in spirit can mean lacking in spirit, but Jesus cannot proclaim someone who is lacking in spirit to be happy.

The expression poor in spirit comes from Isaiah 66:2, whose Hebrew text says: 'ānî ûnekēh rûaḥ, 'This is the one I will look upon: the one who is poor and contrite in spirit'. The term 'ānî (poor) is related to 'ānāw (humble). In the LXX, it is often rendered as ptōchòs, which indicates the poverty of the beggar, forced to lower himself, to bow down, that is, to humble himself in order to survive. This conception of poverty will establish itself as a positive value especially after the Babylonian exile. The poor come to designate the humble, pious, God-fearing man. The 'ānāwîm, who turn to God in prayer and with faith, are poor people who belong to the lowest social classes. Despised and oppressed, they place their trust and security in God. They look to him alone for protection and help, with an inner attitude of humility and filial dependence.

Therefore, blessed poverty does not refer to a social situation, but rather implies trust in divine protection; it primarily refers to a spiritual attitude towards God. The poor in spirit are those who consider themselves beggars before God, who know that they cannot force the coming of the kingdom of heaven, but that it must be God who grants it to them.

Blessedness is now; it does not need to wait for the end of time. The verb in the phrase 'the kingdom of heaven is theirs' is in the present tense. That is, the kingdom is already theirs. And the kingdom of God is wealth. It is the realisation of the new world. Already now. The kingdom of heaven is not simply the afterlife. You suffer here, but you will be fine in the afterlife. No, the kingdom of heaven is God reigning over his own. Jesus does not say that the kingdom of heaven 'will be' theirs, he does not make a promise for the future, but says that it 'is' theirs, in the present.

Another thing should also be noted: Jesus does not speak in the singular, but in the plural. Jesus came to change human society. For this reason, it is not so much the gesture of the individual that is needed, but rather a community that radically changes its way of acting. This is the importance of the Church as a community.

To summarise, the poor are indeed those who lack riches, but 'in spirit' is added to show that it is not poverty itself that is acceptable to God, but that poverty which involves a detachment of the heart from worldly things, because those who are attached to worldly things are not willing to share them with their brothers and sisters. The poor in spirit are naturally also those who bear their poverty with patience, and all those who do not place their happiness in the accumulation of treasures. Jesus thus destroys the Jewish idea of a messianic kingdom founded on earthly power, and shows how detachment from riches is the first condition for sharing in the kingdom of heaven.

I understand that these words are difficult to understand and to live by: may the Lord grant us this. All the other beatitudes spring from the first. All the other seven beatitudes are nothing more than variations on the theme of poverty.

For example: 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted'. Here too there is the present beatitude: now you are blessed. Not because you are afflicted, but because you are comforted, just as the poor are blessed not because they are poor, but because the kingdom is theirs. The Lord comforts the afflicted. Comfort is a characteristic of God who does not leave the afflicted alone. The afflicted are those who suffer on earth because of human injustice. Every injustice always generates affliction. The greater the injustice, the greater the affliction.

It is interesting that blessedness is now in the present, but consolation is in the future. So what is there between the present and the future? There is the path to consolation. The positive meaning of history is that we will pass from affliction to consolation. On this path, the afflicted must live their affliction in holiness. Affliction is lived in holiness in only one way: by offering it to the Lord as a gift for the salvation of the world. Looking at Christ crucified, everyone can know who the truly afflicted are. Looking at Christ risen, everyone knows the greatness of God's consolations.

Let us look at it from another point of view. Have you ever seen a cheerful person being consoled? I never have! If he is cheerful, how can he be consoled? Divine bliss is a consolation for those who are afflicted, not for those who are cheerful. For there to be consolation, the person being consoled must be afflicted.

Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(Mt 4:12-23)

Matthew 4:13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,

Matthew 4:14 so that what had been said through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

Matthew 4:15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

on the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles;

Matthew 4:16 the people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those who sat in the land and shadow of death

a light has dawned.

Matthew 4:17 From then on Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Verse 13 gives us the geography within which Jesus moves:

·         leaving Nazareth;

·         he came to live in Capernaum;

·         by the sea;

·         in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.

This geographical precision has a dual purpose: narrative and theological. Nazareth is the place of silence, where Jesus spent most of his life. We know very little about him during this period. The Son of God spends thirty years in an anonymous village. Doing what? Learning the craft of living, like every man, experiencing the days, the nights, the toil, the sweat, the heat, the cold, the joy: all the normal things of life. If he had not lived those thirty years, his incarnation would have made no sense. He lived our life in its everydayness; he truly took our life upon himself.

Leaving Nazareth, enclosed by hills and isolated, for Capernaum, a bustling town on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, located in a strategic place of considerable commercial and military importance, along the 'via maris', which connects Syria with Egypt, a crossroads of peoples, means turning over a new leaf, coming out into the open, giving a new direction to one's life. It was, therefore, an ideal place to proclaim the kingdom. It was from here that Jesus began his missionary activity. Capernaum became Jesus' second home. Most of Matthew's Gospel takes place here, in the town of Capernaum.

Leaving Nazareth for Capernaum, from the point of view of the narrative, means making a clear break between before and after and preparing the reader for something new that is about to happen. In fact, the meticulous geographical description of the place suggests that Matthew had other intentions than simply giving us the address of Jesus' new residence. In fact, he immediately tells us that this happens 'so that what had been said through the prophet might be fulfilled'. Therefore, what is happening here is not dictated by chance, but is following the evolution of a precise plan in action, which obeys the logic of a pre-established divine plan.

Jesus not only moves according to a pre-established plan, but is its fulfilment. Capernaum, in Galilee of the Gentiles, is a place halfway between Israel and the pagans. And since salvation is for both Israel and the pagans, this area, a mixture of Jews and pagans, is the most suitable place for the proclamation of the Gospel.

The people are immersed in darkness. Man makes darkness and death his home. It is precisely to this darkness that a great light is given. All of Jesus' activity is seen as light that dispels darkness. Light is the beginning of life (it is God's first creative act); light makes things what they are; without light, there is nothing. Salvation consists in enlightenment, that is, in opening our eyes to reality as God has given it to us and living accordingly.

Matthew reports a fact that was undoubtedly a surprise, if not a scandal, to the religious expectations of the time. In fact, it was logical to expect that the messianic announcement would come from the heart of Judaism, that is, from Jerusalem, but instead it came from a peripheral region, generally despised and considered contaminated by the pagan presence. Placed by Matthew in this geographical setting, Jesus gives a universal and revolutionary colour to his mission, announcing from the outset his departure from the traditional way of expecting salvation.

"From then on Jesus began to preach and say" (v. 17). Thus begins the activity of Jesus, who in reality does not begin to 'preach', but to proclaim, 'kēryssein', as the Greek text says. The difference between preaching and proclaiming is significant. Preaching is that tedious thing (for those who listen). Proclaiming, on the other hand, is publicly announcing a fact (which is quite different). A proclamation does not explain, it is an announcement of something. Proclamation is public. What does Jesus proclaim? The need for conversion.

He says something disruptive: 'metanoeite', an imperative that goes beyond a simple invitation to conversion. We could translate the term 'metanoeite' as 'change your way of thinking; reorient your thinking'. It is a matter of radically changing man, his inner self, and from there it must translate into a way of life conformed to God's requirements. The regeneration of man, therefore, must start from the level of being, and then be implemented on the level of action and living.

The need for this change lies in the fact that the kingdom of heaven is near. The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of light. The kingdom of the prince of this world, on the other hand, is the kingdom of darkness. We must convert because Jesus came to establish the kingdom of light among us, and we can only enter this kingdom by abandoning the kingdom of the prince of this world. Conversion is the abandonment of the darkness of our minds and the complete surrender to the light that comes from the word of Christ. To those who were waiting for the kingdom of heaven, Jesus announces this good news: the kingdom of heaven is near. If it is near, prepare yourselves to enter it, and you enter through the narrow gate of conversion. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Apocalypse – exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

 Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

 The Church and Israel According to St. Paul – Romans 9-11

(Available on Amazon)

(1Cor 10,1-6.10-12)

3rd Sunday in Lent (year C)

1Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant, O brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all crossed the sea,

1Corinthians 10:2 all were baptized in relation to Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

Paul, in this passage, refers us to the history of the past, to the lesson of history. He reminds us of the deeper meaning of history, which is the history of salvation. It is said that history is a teacher of life, but the pupils learn nothing. Paul instead says that from the history of Israel one must learn. The history of Israel is not just any history, but it is a way in which divine revelation was historically manifested. Revelation, in fact, was not manifested through the explanation of concepts, but through certain historical facts that are then also read and interpreted. The history of Israel is an exemplary history, so it is right and proper, if one wants to understand Jesus Christ, to see all the sacred history that prepares him. Among other things, this also accustoms us to reading our own little personal history, which is also salvation history because the Lord walks with us.

"For I do not want you to be ignorant": The Corinthians were supposed to know the facts narrated here, but the apostle wants them to know the typological significance that these facts have, and which is not to be ignored. Jesus Christ is the end result of a long journey, and we must know the journey that preceded it. Paul is very respectful of Israel's history and feels he must tell it. He refers us to these examples from the past that are extraordinary events, but they are also events of sin, and yet always instructive because they show what God's way is.

"Our fathers". Christians can consider the ancient Israelites as their fathers, because the Church succeeded the synagogue, and they are the true heirs and children of Abraham.

"They were all": Three times Paul repeats this expression. As if to say that salvation had been given to all. For all were led by the cloud, that is, by the presence of God, and all crossed the sea. All gained freedom from slavery and all were guided by God on the way to the promised land. Hence, on God's part, no exclusion, no preference towards some at the expense of others. He brought all his people out of Egypt, for all he parted the sea, for all he willed the cloud. All were in the condition of grace and truth that would enable them to conquer the promised land and possess it forever.

This universality of grace and truth for Paul is akin to a baptism. There is an immersion also of the children of Israel, even though their baptism is merely a figure of that instituted by Jesus Christ. However, there is a true immersion of the Israelites in the sea and in the 'cloud' and this immersion for them is true salvation, true deliverance.

Israel lived under the cloud, that mysterious cloud that guided the Israelites through the desert and sheltered them from the sun: signifying the presence of God, the Shekinah. To be under the cloud is to be under God's protection. They crossed the sea and were baptised: the passage from the land of slavery, which is Egypt, to the promised land, takes place through the crossing of the Red Sea, and this is a baptism because it signifies the detachment from the slavery of Egypt, liberation and purification, and the journey to the promised land.

"To be of Moses". Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, was a figure of Jesus Christ, and the Israelites led by him to the promised land were a figure of the Christians led by Jesus Christ to heaven. Now, just as Christians through baptism are incorporated into Jesus Christ and made subject to him as their Lord, whose laws they are bound to observe, so for the Israelites the mysterious cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea were a kind of baptism, whereby they remained subject to Moses and obliged to observe his laws. From that moment on, the people were separated from Egypt forever and belonged to the God who liberated them and to the prophet-mediator whom God gave them as their leader.

The mysterious cloud, a perceptible sign of God's presence, and of the favour He bestowed on His people, was a figure of the Holy Spirit, who is given in the baptism of Jesus Christ, and similarly the dry-foot passage through the Red Sea and the consequent deliverance from the bondage of Pharaoh, were figures of our deliverance from the bondage of sin through the waters of baptism.

Having stated this truth, Paul reminds us that it is not enough to come out of Egypt to have the promised land. The going out is one thing, the conquest and possession of the land is another. Between going out and conquering the land, there is a whole desert to cross. For the Israelites, the desert lasted for forty years; for Christians it lasts their whole life.

With baptism we come out of the slavery of sin, with a life of perseverance striving to conquer the kingdom of heaven we walk towards the glorious resurrection that will take place on the last day.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon) 

Ps 17 (18)

This monumental ode, which the title attributes to David, is a Te Deum of the king of Israel, it is his hymn of thanksgiving to God because he has been delivered from all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. David acknowledges that God alone was his Deliverer, his Saviour.

David begins with a profession of love (v. 2). He shouts to the world his love for the Lord. The word he uses is 'rāḥam', meaning to love very tenderly, as in the case of a mother's love. The Lord is his strength. David is weak as a man. With God, who is his strength, he is strong. It is God's strength that makes him strong. This truth applies to every man. Every man is weak, and remains so unless God becomes his strength.

God for David is everything (v.3). The Lord for David is rock, fortress. He is his Deliverer. He is the rock in which he takes refuge. He is the shield that defends him from the enemy. The Lord is his mighty salvation and his bulwark. The Lord is simply his life, his protection, his defence. It is a true declaration of love and truth.

David's salvation is from the Lord (v. 4). It is not from his worthiness. The Lord is worthy of praise. God cannot but be praised. He does everything well. It is enough for David to call upon the Lord and he will be saved from his enemies. Always the Lord answers when David calls upon him. David's salvation is from his prayer, from his invocation.

Then David describes from what dangers the Lord delivered him. He was surrounded by billows of death, like a drowning man swept away by waves. He was overwhelmed by raging torrents. From these things no one can free himself. From these things only the Lord delivers and saves.

David's winning weapon is faith that is transformed into heartfelt prayer to be raised to the Lord, because only the Lord could help him, and it is to Him that David cries out in his distress. This is what David does: in his distress, he does not lose himself, he does not lose his faith, he remains whole. He turns his faith into prayer. He invokes the Lord. He cries out to Him. He asks Him for help and succour. God hears David's voice, hears it from his temple. His cry reaches him.

God becomes angry because He sees His elect in danger. The Lord's anger produces an upheaval of the whole earth. The earth trembles and shakes. The foundations of the mountains shake. It is as if a mighty earthquake turned the globe upside down. The spiritual fact is translated into such a profound upheaval of nature that one has the impression that creation itself is about to cease to exist. In this catastrophe that strikes terror, the righteous is rescued.

The Lord frees David because he loves him. Here is the secret of the answer to the prayer: the Lord loves David (v. 20). The Lord loves David because David loves the Lord. Prayer is a relationship of love between man and God. David invokes God's love. God's love responds and draws him to safety.

"Wholesome have I been with him, and I have guarded myself from guilt" (v. 24). David's conscience testifies for him. David prayed with an upright conscience, with a pure heart. This he says not only to God, but to every man. Everyone must know that the righteous is truly righteous. The world must know the integrity of God's children. We have a duty to confess it. It is on integrity that truly human relationships can be built. Without integrity, every relationship is tightened on falsehood and lies.

"The way of God is straight, the word of the Lord is tried by fire" (v. 31). What is the secret because God is with David? It is David's abiding in the Word of God. David has a certainty: the way indicated by the Word of God is straight. One only has to follow it. This certainty is lacking in the hearts of many today. Many do not believe in the purity of God's Word. Many think that it is now outdated. Modernity cannot stand under the Word of God.

"For who is God, if not the Lord? Or who is rock, if not our God?" Now David professes his faith in the Lord for all to know. Is there any other God but the Lord? God alone is the Lord. God alone is the rock of salvation. To seek another God is idolatry. This profession of faith must always be made aloud (remember the 'Creed'). Convinced people are needed. A faith hidden in the heart is dead. A seed placed in the ground springs up and reveals the nature of the tree. Faith that is in the heart must sprout up and reveal its nature of truth, holiness, righteousness, love and hope. A faith that does not reveal its nature is dead. It is a useless faith.

"He grants his king great victories; he shows himself faithful to his anointed, to David and his seed for ever" (v. 51). In this Psalm, David sees himself as the work of God's hands. That is why he blesses him, praises him, magnifies him. God's faithfulness and great favours for David do not end with David. God's faithfulness is for all his descendants. We know that David's descendants are Jesus Christ. With Jesus God is faithful for ever. With the other descendants, God will be faithful if they are faithful to Jesus Christ.

Here, then, the figure of David disappears to make way for that of the perfect king in whom the saving action that God offers the world is concentrated. In the light of this reinterpretation, the ode entered the Christian liturgy as a victory song of Christ, the 'son of David', over the forces of evil and as a hymn of the salvation he offered.

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation - exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers - Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ true God and true Man in the Trinitarian mystery

The prophetic discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24-25)

All generations will call me blessed

 Catholics and Protestants compared - In defence of the faith

(Buyable on Amazon)