The Gospel [...] contains some of the most typical and forceful words of Jesus' preaching: "Love your enemies" (Lk 6: 27). It is taken from Luke's Gospel but is also found in Matthew's (5: 44), in the context of the programmatic discourse that opens with the famous "Beatitudes". Jesus delivered it in Galilee at the beginning of his public life: it is, as it were, a "manifesto" presented to all, in which he asks for his disciples' adherence, proposing his model of life to them in radical terms.

But what do his words mean? Why does Jesus ask us to love precisely our enemies, that is, a love which exceeds human capacities?

Actually, Christ's proposal is realistic because it takes into account that in the world there is too much violence, too much injustice, and therefore that this situation cannot be overcome except by countering it with more love, with more goodness. This "more" comes from God: it is his mercy which was made flesh in Jesus and which alone can "tip the balance" of the world from evil to good, starting with that small and decisive "world" which is the human heart.

This Gospel passage is rightly considered the magna carta of Christian non-violence. It does not consist in succumbing to evil, as a false interpretation of "turning the other cheek" (cf. Lk 6: 29) claims, but in responding to evil with good (cf. Rom 12: 17-21) and thereby breaking the chain of injustice.

One then understands that for Christians, non-violence is not merely tactical behaviour but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is so convinced of God's love and power that he is not afraid to tackle evil with the weapons of love and truth alone.

Love of one's enemy constitutes the nucleus of the "Christian revolution", a revolution not based on strategies of economic, political or media power: the revolution of love, a love that does not rely ultimately on human resources but is a gift of God which is obtained by trusting solely and unreservedly in his merciful goodness. Here is the newness of the Gospel which silently changes the world! Here is the heroism of the "lowly" who believe in God's love and spread it, even at the cost of their lives.

Dear brothers and sisters, Lent, which will begin this Wednesday with the Rite of Ashes, is the favourable season in which all Christians are asked to convert ever more deeply to Christ's love.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, docile disciple of the Redeemer who helps us to allow ourselves to be won over without reserve by that love, to learn to love as he loved us, to be merciful as Our Father in Heaven is merciful (cf. Lk 6: 36).

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 18 February 2007]

1. Come, let us go up the mountain... (Is 2:3; cf. Mi 4:2). Let us listen today to this invitation of the prophet and reread it as an inner imperative: the imperative of the conscience and the imperative of the heart. The day 18 May morally obliges us to come to this mountain; to pause with prayer on our lips before the graves of the soldiers who fell here; to look at the walls of the monastery that then - thirty-five years ago - was reduced to rubble; to remember those events; to try, once again, to learn from them for the future.

We walk here in the footsteps of a great battle, one that gave the decisive blow to the last war in Europe, to the Second Great World War. This war, in the years 1939-1945, involved almost all the nations and states of our continent, it also involved non-European powers in its orbit, it manifested the heights of the heroism of the military, but it also revealed the dangerous face of human cruelty, it left behind the traces of the extermination camps, it took the lives of millions of human beings, it destroyed the fruits of the labour of many generations. It is difficult to enumerate all the calamities that befell mankind with it, showing him - at its end - even the possibility, through the means of the most modern weapons technology, of a possible future mass annihilation, before which the destruction of the past pales.

2. Who conducted this war? Who did the work of destruction? Men and nations. This was a war of European nations, albeit bound together by the traditions of a great culture: science and art deeply rooted in the past of Christian Europe. The men and the nations: this was their war; and, as victory and defeat was theirs, so also the effects of this conflict belong to them.

Why did they fight against each other, men and nations? Surely the truths of the Gospel and the traditions of great Christian culture did not drive them to this terrible fratricidal slaughter.

They were caught up in the war by the force of a system that, in antithesis to the Gospel and Christian traditions, had been imposed on some peoples with ruthless violence as an agenda, while forcing others to resist with arms in their hands. In gigantic struggles, that system suffered a definitive defeat. 18 May was one of the decisive stages in that defeat.

As we come to Montecassino on the XXXV anniversary of that day, we wish, through the eloquent evocation of that day, to understand before God, and before history, the meaning of the whole terrible experience of the Second World War. This is not easy; indeed, in a way, it becomes impossible to express in short words what has been the subject of so much research, study and monographs, and certainly will be for a long time to come. Our entire generation survived this war, which burdened its maturation and development, but still continues to live in the orbit of the consequences of such a conflict. It is therefore not easy to talk about a problem that has such a profound dimension in the lives of us all. Of an issue that is still alive and bound in a certain sense in the blood and pain of so many hearts and nations.

3. However, if we endeavour to understand this problem before God and history, then more than any settling of accounts with the past, the lessons for the future come to the fore. These impose themselves with great force, since history is not only the great polygon of events, but is also, above all, an open book of those same lessons; it is the source of the wisdom of life for men and nations.

What we read in this book, so painfully open before us, leads us to ardent prayer, to a fervent cry for reconciliation and peace. We have come here, above all, to pray for this, and for this to cry out to God and to men. Since, however, peace on earth depends on the goodwill of men, it is difficult not to reflect, at least briefly, in which direction all the efforts of people of goodwill must be directed if we are to secure this great good of peace and reconciliation for ourselves and for future generations.

Today's Gospel contrasts two agendas. One based on the principle of hatred, revenge and strife. Another on the law of love. Christ says: "Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors" (Mt 5:44). This is a great need.

Those who have survived war, like us, who have encountered occupation, cruelty, the violation of all human rights, the most brutal, know how serious and difficult this demand is. Yet, after such terrible experiences as the last war, we become all the more aware that on the principle that says: "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" (Mt 5:38) and on the principle of hatred, revenge, and strife, peace and reconciliation between men and between nations cannot be built; it can only be built on the principle of justice and mutual love. And so it was this conclusion that the United Nations Organisation drew from the experiences of the Second World War by proclaiming the 'Charter of Human Rights'. Only on the basis of full respect for the rights of men and the rights of nations - full respect! - peace and reconciliation of Europe and the world can be built in the future.

4. Let us pray, therefore, at this place of great struggle for freedom and justice, that the words of today's liturgy may be incarnated in life.

Let us pray to God, who is the Father of men and peoples, as the prophet prays today: "that he may show us his ways and that we may walk in his paths ... he will be a judge among the nations and an arbiter among many peoples. They shall forge their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks; one people shall not lift up the sword against another people, they shall no longer practise the art of war...". (Is 2:3-4).

Let us pray thus, bearing in mind that it is no longer a question of swords or spears, but of nuclear weapons; the means of destruction, which are capable of reducing the earth inhabited by men to nothingness.

Let us also recall that at Monte Cassino, Pope Paul VI proclaimed St Benedict Patron of Europe in 1964, during the Second Vatican Council, referring to the millennial Benedictine traditions of work, prayer and culture as the fruit of peace and reconciliation.

Let us remember, finally, that the place on which we stand has been made fertile by the blood of so many heroes: before their death for the great cause of freedom and peace we have come to bow our heads once again.

5. Dear countrymen!

It is unusual at this time, when I can together with you participate in this great anniversary. Thirty-five years ago the battle of Monte Cassino ended, one of those that decided the fate of the last war. For us, who at that time, in 1944, experienced the terrible oppression of occupation, for Poland, which was on the eve of the Warsaw Uprising, this battle was a new confirmation of that unwavering will to live, of the striving for the full independence of the Fatherland, which never left us for a single moment. At Monte Cassino the Polish soldier fought, here he died, here he shed his blood, with his thoughts fixed on the Fatherland, which for us is such a beloved Mother, precisely because love for it demands so many sacrifices and renunciations.

It is not my task to pronounce on the significance of this battle, on the subject of the Polish soldier's achievements here on these rocky slopes. The people of this beautiful country, Italy, remember that the Polish soldier brought their homeland liberation. They remember him with esteem and love. We know that this soldier, in order to return to Poland, travelled a long and winding road: 'from Italian soil to Poland...' as Dabrowski's legions once did. The awareness of a just cause guided him. It is precisely for this just cause that the nation's right to existence, to independence, to a social life that respects the spirit of its convictions, national and religious traditions, to the sovereignty of its state, arose and continues to exist. This right of the nation, violated during more than a hundred years of dismemberment, was brutally violated and threatened again in September 1939. And so, during this time, from 1 September to Monte Cassino, this soldier travelled many roads, with his gaze fixed on God's Providence and the justice of history, with the image of the Mother of Jasna Gora in his eyes... came and again fought like the previous generation 'for our and your freedom'.

6. Today, standing here in this place, at Monte Cassino, I wish to be a servant and herald of this order of human, social, international life, which is built on justice and love: according to the indications of the Gospel of Christ. And that is precisely why I feel with you - especially all of you who fought here 35 years ago - the moral eloquence of this struggle. I feel it together with you, dear countrymen, and at the same time together with all those who rest here: your comrades-in-arms. Together with everyone, starting with the Supreme Commander and the Military Bishop. Everyone, down to the youngest private soldier.

Many times I have come to this cemetery. I have read the inscriptions on the gravestones, which give testimony to each of those who fell here, and indicate the day and place of their birth. These inscriptions have reverberated in the eyes of my soul the image of the Fatherland, of that in which I was born. These inscriptions, from so many places in the Polish land - from all sides, from east to west and from south to north - do not cease to cry out here, in the very heart of Europe, at the foot of the abbey that recalls the time of St Benedict, they do not cease to cry out, just as the hearts of the soldiers who fought here have cried out: 'O God, who hast protected Poland, for so many centuries...'.

We bow our foreheads before the heroes.

We commend their souls to God.

We commend the Fatherland to God. Poland, Europe, the World.

[Pope John Paul II, Montecassino Polish cemetery 18 May 1979]

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Mt 5:38-48) — one of the passages that best illustrates Christian “revolution” — Jesus shows us the way of true justice through the law of love which is greater than the law of retaliation, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. This ancient law imposed the infliction on wrongdoers of a punishment equivalent to the damage they caused: death for those who killed, amputation for those who injured, and so on. Jesus does not ask his disciples to abide evil, but asks them to react; however, not with another evil action, but with good. This is the only way to break the chain of evil: one evil leads to another which leads to another evil.... This chain of evil is broken and things truly begin to change. Evil is, in fact, a “void”, a void of good. It is not possible to fill a void, except with “fullness”, that is, good. Revenge never leads to conflict resolution. “You did this to me, I will do it back to you”: this never resolves conflict, nor is it even Christian.

According to Jesus, the rejection of violence can also involve the sacrifice of a legitimate right. He gives a few examples of this: turn the other cheek, give up your coat or money, accept other sacrifices (v. 39-42). But such sacrifice does not mean that the demands of justice should be ignored or contradicted. No, on the contrary, Christian love, which manifests itself in a special way in mercy, is an achievement superior to justice. What Jesus wants to teach us is the clear distinction that we must make between justice and revenge. Distinguishing between justice and revenge. Revenge is never just. We are permitted to ask for justice. It is our duty to exercise justice. We are, however, not permitted to avenge ourselves or, in any way foment revenge, as it is an expression of hatred and violence.

Jesus does not wish to propose a new system of civil law, but rather the commandment to love thy neighbour, which also includes loving enemies: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. (v. 44) And this is not easy. These words should not be seen as an approval of evil carried out by an enemy, but as an invitation to a loftier perspective, a magnanimous perspective, similar to that of the Heavenly Father, who, Jesus says, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”. (v. 45). An enemy, in fact, is also a human being, created as such in God’s image, despite the fact that in the present, that image may be tarnished by shameful behaviour.

When we speak of “enemies”, we should not think about people who are different or far removed from us; let us also talk about ourselves, as we may come into conflict with our neighbour, at times with our relatives. How many hostilities exist within families — how many! Let us think about this. Enemies are also those who speak ill of us, who defame us and do us harm. It is not easy to digest this. We are called to respond to each of them with good, which also has strategies inspired by love.

May the Virgin Mary help us follow Jesus on this demanding path, which truly exalts human dignity and lets us live as children of our Father who art in Heaven. May she help us exercise patience, dialogue, forgiveness, and to be artisans of communion, artisans of fraternity in our daily life, and above all in our families.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 19 February 2017]

In today's society, there are many factors that cause anxiety and restlessness, and strategies to combat them are often difficult to find. 

This period is characterised by the 'shaking' of fundamental values, norms and aspirations that drove man towards fulfilment and healthy relationships with others.

The current wars around the world, the memories of them for older people, and the threat of nuclear war add to the list.

In such a hostile climate, human isolation is accentuated.

Each person has their own way of reacting: the most common is a sense of unease, anxiety, feeling in danger without knowing what the danger is; a sense of ruin, or something else.

We often fail to understand the cause of all this. People feel helpless, and if this unease is strong, it can be discharged onto the body.

Muscle stiffness may be noticed, or there may be tremors, a feeling of weakness or tiredness; even the voice may tremble.

At the cardiovascular level, palpitations, fainting, increased heart rate and increased blood pressure may occur. 

Nausea, vomiting and stomach ache may also occur in the intestines, which have no organic origin. 

There may also be other symptoms typical of each person's history, and there is no organ that cannot be affected by internal tension.

I remember that in my professional life I have met people with psychological problems that were 'discharged' in different parts of the body, sometimes in the most unimaginable places.

I have encountered alopecia (hair loss), locked limbs, visual disturbances, fainting, and more recently, teenagers who cut themselves...

If a person feels overwhelmed by a sudden wave of inner discomfort, they may react inappropriately or even dangerously (alcohol, drugs, speeding, gambling, etc.).

Understanding these disturbances, worries and anxieties is important in determining whether they are normal or not.

Unusual states of anxiety are distinguished from more or less persistent apprehension with acute crises.

These states are to be distinguished from the state of generalised worry that we find common in our daily lives.

Let us remember that in order to define our anxiety and agitation, we must convince ourselves that it is something normal when the individual feels threatened.

Agitation should be distinguished from fear, where the danger is real: the individual can assess the situation and choose whether to face it or flee.

When we talk about agitation in the normal sense, we mean that it is human nature to feel it when faced with danger, illness, etc.

It represents the deepest way of living our human existence.

It makes us face our limits and weaknesses, which are not manifestations of inner discomfort or illness, but expressions of human nature. 

The more aware we are of our limits, the better we are able to live with our anxieties.

For our fellow human beings who feel omnipotent, agitation and anxiety are unbearable, as they bring to consciousness the limits that are a wound to their 'feeling of being a superior creature'. 

We experience normal unease even when we leave an 'old road for a new one'.

From this point of view, it accompanies us in our changes, in our evolution, and in finding meaning in our lives.

 

Dr Francesco Giovannozzi, psychologist and psychotherapist

Most Holy Trinity

Prov 8:22-31;  Rom 5:1-5;  Jn 16:12-15 (year C)

 

Scripture testifies that the Lord proceeds with his people and manifests himself in history, but he is not bound to a particular territory or sacred ‘heights’, but to woman and man.

The Eternal is «God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob» (Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37; cf. Ex 3:6).

He is «The One who Will Be» [Ex 3:14 Hebrew text] that is: in the unfolding of events, people have an essential experience of the Living One as Liberator, and Bridegroom [cf. Hosea's fluctuating affective story].

But in the fullness of His Heart, only Jesus manifests Him - still in the First Covenant confused with a sullen legislator, notary, judge who intervenes to cut or distinguish, then waits for the reckoning.

The Almighty dreams of spreading life and creating Family, not dividing uncontaminated friends from impure enemies, or capable and incapable.

Such becomes the intimate expression of the authentic woman and man; a cipher of the identity of the Church that does not pronounce itself to a minimum.

Sons’ identity card is the faith in a God who creates, makes covenants, is Close, redeems, allows flourishing in any event or age.

 

The first Reading highlights the Father's Plan, which unfolds his mastery being while being assisted by the delightful figure of Wisdom.

Creation reflects the purpose of divine Love, manifested in the enchantment of a joyful walk with us.

He desires to remain on earth, unconditionally.

His Bliss? The same as ours; of every creature, who loves to flourish in spite of conflicts.

This is precisely - if the son, though unsteady, does not feel himself to be the fruit of chance, but rather grasps the moments of confusion in life as if they were those of a building site [because the Design knows where to go].

Disorder, piled-up materials, mess, novelties at every turn; but you don't get lost: inside the soul is the prototype-image of a 'programme' that allows for trial and error, indeed relies on them.

It is a Project that recovers all the scattered energies and interrupted paths, creating unthinkable varieties, hence diverse essences. As would a Parent who rejoices in the rich offspring, in the different works of his intimates in the most varied fields, manifested in thousand facets.

 

If the guiding Plan is of the Creator, the apex and the Work belong to the Son.

The second Reading makes it clear that the Father did not consider his activity concluded by granting mere input to being and essences - then abandoning reality and men; by withdrawing up there.

By Grace, in the Faith we are partakers of God, we have direct access to His independent action, to Himself (Rom 5:2).

The Person and story of Jesus tell of a Kingdom in which holiness is not feared to be endangered by contact with the world.

There is only one problem that cuts through the Dialogue with the Most High (v.3): the believing that our boasting is of an obvious kind.

In front of our fellow men we glory in achievements, roles, titles and successes [it also happens in the path of religious perfection]. But the Son announces that the Father is only undeserved Understanding.

We finally learn that the obsession with being admired from the outside, and the pleasure of approval at any cost - are not “the” Way at all.

In fact, the true Shah - the genuine Work - is solely of the Son, who, having fully corresponded to the initiative of God the Father, Justifies.

The Inner Friend then does not 'make righteous' by dressing us outwardly and in a punctually manner, but in an existential process that shifts the balance (vv.3-4).

Lord works within through experience. He also does this by besieging “the other" self of ourselves that we have set aside.

Thus changing the shrunken heart and improving us with his passionate Friendship, re-proposed in new life opportunities.

 

The Gospel appeals to the mysterious, unknown sense of the total self-giving.

It is not easy to bear its «weight» [Jn 16:12: alludes to the Cross] nor to grasp its implications and imagine its paradoxical Fruitfulness.

The Development that flows out of it is the empathy, the deep reach, the action of the Spirit.

Unfolded Gesture that internalizes this not only strange, but absurd proposal: that of triumph in loss, and even of Life from death.

We experience it in act: in the inexplicable recoveries that give glory to God (v.14) [that is, they renew relationships] and put people who do not even have self-esteem back on their feet.

Only in this way can the Plan of Salvation be carried out.

Stepping out from the shadow of others, the opportunist becomes righteous, the doubter more secure, the unhappy person regains hope; all can live happily.

Accepted Diversity becomes an impulse for enrichment and a matrix for development.

Social identification is no longer involved. There is something else in us.

 

God Himself is «He who Will Be»: away from the ballasts, the Best is yet to Come. Reason not to run away from great Desires any more.

 

 

[Most Holy Trinity, June 15, 2025]

Jn 16:12-15 (5-20) [Jn 15:26-16:20].

 

Satisfying Solutions vs Spirit of Truth

(Jn 15:26-16:4a)

 

Faith in the Master is already eternal life, or rather Life of the Eternal (in action here and now).

He Himself is Bread of authentic and indestructible existence, though still earthly.

In short, the intimate life of God reaches us in our time.

First step is the adventure of Faith that gives a Vision; irruption of the Spirit that gives rebirth from above.

Impulse that animates a different - not empty - existence.

The sign of such adherence is believing Jesus as Son: man manifesting the divine condition.

 

Christ is Bread of life also because His Word is creative, and the path of following Him transmits to us the qualities of indestructible Life.

The outpouring of the Spirit stirs in us the same beating Heart of the Eternal.

We experience this in the deaths and resurrections of daily life and in the long rigmarole of the Vocation, reaffirmed from path to path.

Even in persecution, he who 'sees' the Son has the Life of the Eternal within him.

Life that regenerates and always arranges new births, other premises and questions, different paths, in an uninterrupted; growing form.

The passion for the Friend unites us to Him, Bread: that is, the Revealer of the Truth that satiates men on their journey towards themselves and the world.

Souls that sometimes change skin, opinions, lifestyles.

 

In the Vision, we are empowered to directly appropriate, thereby drawing in and realising the Newness of God - even in advance, wisely.

Through Him 'we have a part'... in the Father's love for the Son who manifests Himself as personal Lord, as well as in the outgoing dilated life of the authentic Church.

The 'hidden' God of the First Testament, an obstacle that seemed insurmountable, now presents itself in the specifics of Faith, without the need for fatuous fires to support it.

Because the world of God in the soul is different.

One does not enter the Mystery with normal intentions and perfect expectations, let alone success and recognition.

 

Here (in the Gospel passage) the apostles' incomprehension comes into play.

Indeed, even to us, Jesus' manner of manifestation often seems undecipherable.

Even the Jews [actually: the returning Judaizers in the communities of the late 1st century] were waiting to grasp it in an overt way, perhaps on an occasion of public life.

Instead, even in times of 'glorification', the Master seems to want to trace the outwardly humble inappearance of his earthly ministry.

Many expected sensational fireworks at that time that they considered 'final'. Instead, no yielding to power ideology or religion-show.

So things did not go as expected: doubts were not dispelled; ambiguities, neither.

The titles of Israel's former nationalist and imperial glory did not reappear at all, quite the contrary!

 

Even today, the choice of Faith is not given to the apparatuses that would guarantee its visibility: no parachutes, no discounts.

Everything then seems to proceed as before, in the summary: to toil for a living and buy, to travel and not, to laugh and cry, to get sick and get well, to work and party... and so on.

Often in seemingly senseless pain; perhaps no decisive breakthroughs.

But in the same old things there is a different Light, planted on a new, immediate Relationship of needy humanity with the Father who regenerates us.

He stimulates new births, to reconnect desires, deep needs, external paths; to increase the intensity of life.

And it is in the mutual knowledge of the roots and grooves of reality that this circle of love between God and his children exists in the first place.

 

All that has not yet been understood will be called forth by the action of the Spirit. The only reliable impetus, which does not point to vain things.

A bond between man and Heaven, in us - not above.

Friendship that does not primarily contemplate resignation, effort, humiliation; rather, it is reworked in deepening.

This is where the true scope of our hearts - so limited, yet endowed with a mysterious imprint - for the complete, and personal, life of character comes into play.

 

In order to avoid intimidation, marginalisation, annoyance, some church members advocated a kind of covenant between Jesus and the Empire.

They proclaimed a Christ so vague and uninhibited that he would not scratch anyone.

Some ambitious people, who were the zealots of 'life in the spirit', felt that the time had come to shake off the earthly story of the carpenter's son.

Figure that was considered weak in itself, short-term, out of place and time; already extinguished.

Jn intends to rebalance the attempt at proclamation, diluted in compromises. 

The evangelist emphasises that the Risen One is the cipher and engine that bears the soul and generates us in today.

It was the same Son of God who sustained a harsh denunciation and several battles with the authorities.To the opportunists of his time, the Master had dared to touch positions, vanity, and the bag of commerce.

Thus persecuted, tried, vilified, condemned as subversive, and cursed by God.

 

In short, the Holy Spirit does not go after butterflies.

Action of the Spirit [which internalises and actualises] and historical memory of Jesus must always be combined.

Only in such a frank perspective is it possible to grasp the Truth of the Eternal, and the Truth of Man, in all times and circumstances.

In addition: the Father is the Creator of each of our deepest inclinations, to which he affixes an indelible signature.

It manifests itself in an innate instinct, which wants to germinate, find space, express itself.

We have rooted in our innermost being a unique, invincible Vocation and (plural) faces; each one.

We cannot deny ourselves, our Roots - even where an open-faced testimony would be unappealing.

The Truth about each 'Person' is consequential.

 

By Grace, we are depositaries of an astounding dignity.

Even in error, or what is considered error, it imparts exceptional Desires. 

Truth that still restores Dreams: an unseen hope, which activates enthralling passions.

In vain would we have peace and happiness by seeking cultural and social concord, or by playing roles, characters, tasks that do not belong to us - albeit appeasing.

We become outsiders.

Truth: Faithfulness to God in Christ. And frankness in every choice, with our character in relation and situation.

The rest is calculation - deep disturbance, which will leave us disassociated and sick inside.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you take a stand and face the consequences? When your vocational character is at stake, do you stand up and put your face to it or do you blend in?

Are you being vague, do you value reciprocation and seek tribute or protection from satisfactory synagogues? Or do you wish to unite your life with Christ?

 

 

Paraclete, Sin Justice Judgment

(Jn 16:5-11)

 

In ancient times there were no lawyers, and one had to defend oneself by finding witnesses.

The accused could e.g. be guilty but worthy of forgiveness, or innocent yet unable to show proof.

In such cases absolution was secured by an esteemed person from the audience, who rose from the assembly and stood silently beside the accused, vouching for him and thus justifying him.

This is the action of the Spirit, in Jn referred to as the Paraclete: 'called alongside'.

 

Jesus was condemned by the expert teachers of the official religion as a lunatic, a heretic, and an unforgivable sinner.

It is normal to expect that those who renounce simulation and accept Christ as Lord of their lives will be judged in the same way: they will feel their identity of destiny with Him on the inside and deep inside.

 

But in us there is a silent force of conviction that harmonises even accusations, that frees us from externally induced tensions.

Correspondence that reknots the threads of the vocational weave, that brings the soul back to the inner concert, for the mission; and makes one restart even after the labours of idiotic harassment.

This intimate and friendly power is not related to obstinacy, but to listening to oneself - outside of any local, cultural, social or religious conditioning parameters.

All for the task at hand, and without exhausting our sharp energy in direct confrontations.

 

There is an inner world of Presence that opens doors.

It has a secret power of authority (devoid of judgement or imposition) that releases the soul from the incessant struggle against adversity.

And one gladly relies on such silent virtue: of the independent life that emerges and comes.

 

'Sin' (vv.8-9) is in fact the inability to accept the Call to follow one's own Seed, one's own Core, one's own 'will' that detests others' dirigisme, efforts, noise.

A kernel that weaves its roots into the ground, and unerringly leads to realisation - as well as correspondence.

Thus testifying to the unrepeatable personal Calling, Pearl without even a heap of pain and obstinacy.

 

By Way the authentic disciple will understand that the Lord has condoned his 'sin', that is, he has erased the humiliation of the unbridgeable gap [between creaturely condition and perfection].

The latter attribute preached by common religiosity; so grown-up, accommodated, hypocritical and installed that it prevents us from becoming human.

Sinfulness in the moralistic [not theological] sense is something else.

 

"Justice": divine justice is not retributive, for it would distinguish mine from yours. And from division to division he would fall into the worst injustices.

The Father acts by creating: He makes Justice where there is none; He places in conformed positions, He places debts where they do not yet exist.

 

In short, Love remains unbalanced: it stands on the irregular side of the free Gift, which is not kept at bay.

Rather, it rewrites the whole story. With much of excess.It is not the mercy of merits: the mereor ("mereor" is in fact the root of "meretriciousness").

 

"Thence shall he come to judge" - recites the Apostles' Creed: from where? The divine Judgement is not the banal, weighted one of intimist customs.

"Judgement" in the evangelical sense is the active, personal and intimate invitation of Jesus, who gives himself completely, down to the last drop of blood; who communicates his life-giving Spirit (Jn 19:30) and annihilates the accusations decreed by the "world" of convenience.

 

From where? From the Cross.

The same point from which he who is enlightened by the Spirit who overcomes interest and death, heals and frees from the fetters of 'ne quid nimis' [nothing too much].

The true believer knows how to be with himself in a different way. Regenerating the lives of so many brothers and sisters.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Do you know the error of "the world"?

Do you defend yourself by your own criteria or do you allow yourself to be exonerated?

 

 

"From Mine": the dramatic and happy experience of the origins

(Jn 16:12-15)

 

"Receive from Mine and proclaim to you [...] receive from Mine and proclaim to you" (vv.14-15).

The teaching imparted by Jesus with his life was not incomplete, but a germ that traced fundamental options, guidelines.

The magisterial insufficiency in the detailed case histories is significant. Christ is not a cast and dead model, but a Motive and Motor.

And God is not a predictor of the future, nor a reassurer - but a vital Presence. Even when in adverse events there seems to be a lack of air.

Although limited in space and time, his story and Word still germinates the main lines of an alternative world, empathetic even in the drama of bad times.

The complete Truth of the Lord (including the meaning of his death) is not about quantity - the number of truths, prescriptions: it is in fieri.

'Truth' itself demands to be deepened, intensified, made qualitative, totalising.

 

The writings of the New Testament attest to the action of the Spirit, who starting from archaic community situations (Mk) increasingly refines and reveals the sense of what "is to come" (v.13).

In the personal and ecclesial sequelae also extra moenia - it is about the possibility of an ever sharper understanding on our part.

We are not repositories of an aptitude for divination - of course - but for discernment [now capable of appreciating even deviations].

We are given a faculty to grasp the genius of time, even in imbalance and uprooting.

This is in relation to the disciples' capacity to correspond to the vocation that welcomes the new: a slow paradoxical glorification; for them too, 'the way of elevation'.

The penetration of the Mystery and the history of salvation, which had its apex and germinal source in Jesus of Nazareth, acquires more and more surprising clarity; new ways of being.

We discover in the Faith that our life can broaden the horizon. It is not carried out in function of God, as in archaic religions, which cage... but the other way around.

 

Christ speaks not of new truths, but of 'complete truth': specifically concerning the face of Heaven within; the profile of the integral and authentic woman and man; the character of the new society.

One of the ways in which the early Christians experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit was prophecy, made fruitful by even unpleasant events that incessantly forced them to exodus, to move, to turn their gaze - thus overcoming the fear of growing.

One had to remain... only in individual or ecclesial frankness. 

If anyone had to 'isolate' themselves from the common mentality, it was to rediscover their deep roots, to interrupt the artificial behaviour ready to barter values.

Gradually the community brothers experienced the depth and total dimension of the teaching received.

Even persecutions and 'crosses' were not eradicated hastily.

In the right time, crises were transformed into the spelling of love; into opportunities to experience needs and relationships differently - even paradoxically, for genuine change; from within, natural.

In this perspective, every event was always better understood, internalised, assimilated and made one's own as the historical call of the God who reveals himself.

In the events of the early days, all the situations in which the Church will always find itself are revealed.

 

In this way and in that spirit, the disciples began a journey of understanding the facts of Easter.

The Lord's intimates were discovering step by step that the story of Christ would embrace all the secrets of God.

 

In short, the first fraternities observed the "extraordinary" things of living following and 'inner guidance'.

By living the Master's teaching in the most varied circumstances [favourable and joyful, or sad and at a loss] He made Himself close in the soul; and He manifested Himself, taking the step of the brothers.A different Light - no longer neutral, standardised, whatever - animated the lives of the faithful and their coexistence.

They experienced a new Birth, like an unceasing Creation.

From the hearts of the believers in the Son of Man - even those who had previously been maligned - there gushed forth an unprecedented Source of conciliation and harmony of opposites. 

A Wisdom of things unknown to the world of empire and other beliefs was emerging.

The Spirit of the Risen One made it possible to understand the critical fruitfulness of the Cross ["the burden": v.12], thus expanding the solutions and orientations of the conventional competitive life.

Of course there were falls, due to natural precariousness, and to the fact that it was not immediate to understand the logic of the Crucified One.

But the Action of the Spirit of "Truth" [God's Faithfulness] illuminated, guided and stimulated them to interpret the Word of the Lord more deeply: not a storehouse of crystallised statements.

The children discovered that that Call was living, inexhaustible in its meanings and in the possibility of understanding things.

 

Truth about the Eternal and humanity, pregnant with existential implications.

Those reborn of water and the Spirit began to perceive it as a force of events, a real and overwhelming power.

His intelligence was enriched in history, through assembly events, experiences, dialogues, reflections.

The Spirit of the wounded and Living Christ internalised that Call that renewed women and men, and their relationships.

People who did not even have self-esteem were being revived. The profiteer became righteous, the doubter more secure; the unhappy person began to hope again.

All in mutual help realised that they could live happily.

The assistance of the total and mystical divine Spirit, even today, guides the access and fullness of facets of the Truth; and is a stimulus to an innovative, democratic, multifaceted, personal understanding.

Let us banish insecurity.

We can still be in the sharpest, most energetic and contemplative frankness; in a faithfulness of integral reading-interpretation of the Gospels that eschews all accommodation (vv.14-15).

 

 

"One Moment": critical living and recovery of lost time

 

"A very short time": we are not in the waiting room

(Jn 16:16-20)

 

The human communion of the first disciples with the Master was suggestive, not exhaustive. It must now renew itself.

This takes place in the passage of Jesus from the world to the Father. Therefore in the journey and dialogue outside any circle, to which the apostles themselves are called.

The earthly separation from the Lord was dramatic. But even today we are impelled to live and grow in the 'outgoing Church'.

A shift that obliges the faithful in Christ to move from community brothers and sisters to an all-encompassing relationship with the human family.

The immediate perception would become unbreakable: Jesus must go and leave us alone so that we enter the Mystery, in search.

This is so that it is the Risen One and the totally Other that emerges in this detachment, in the mist and night of the reaffirmed Exodus, all real and all new.

For us too, certainty becomes a problem; stability knows shocks. 

We are not protégés - as in pagan religion, where the gods descended into difficulties and sided with their friends.

 

There is a detachment from representations of God, even from our common way of thinking of the Risen One.

He becomes an echo of the soul, guiding. And it becomes 'body' i.e. Church; as well as 'call' to the shattering of idols, to outgoing witness.

The evangelising activity of the genuine apostles goes hand in hand with the Lord, and reflects his events, his teaching, his type of confrontations.

In this way, the Living One becomes present and active in us, seamlessly.

Certainly, the approaching events take on their own configuration - each time particular.

But for Faith in the victory of life over death, we understand: everything is configured in the ways that allow us to express the deepest core of being, our feeling called.

Fontal, authentic joy.

As disciples, we unfold the Risen One in the history of each one: death resurrection manifestations... personal, unprecedented even in the sign of travails - for each believer.

In such a typically Johannine perspective (and practical action) the death-resurrection, the glorification at the right hand of the Father [Ascension] and the Gift of the Spirit become simultaneous.

Like a 'new order' of things [so-called Return to the End of Time].

 

In short, the integral event of the humanising Messiah allows the believer to feel in communion with God, and united to the Son - without any caesura or temporal delay.

The Faith-Vision catches the innovative and creative Spirit of the Father at work, to build the definitive world.

Therefore, the Judgement from the Cross is now, it will not take place after a nerve-wracking wait, in a distant moment.

Church Time thus does not become 'intermediate'. Nor can it justify dark and empty forms of spirituality.The impact with the divine challenges and exposes. Yet it possesses its own, unique density.

The tribulations would be there - even very serious, full of embarrassment and unprecedented - but they would drag the consciences far beyond the bewilderment and the sudden unfulfilling.

In the experience of the envoys, placed face to face with the Mission, the enigmatic 'in a little while' would have nothing impenetrable about it.

We 'see' it in the Spirit, but not only in the heart.

It is for an Announcement together - without intimism. Free relationship with reality and the Living One, 'from' ourselves.

 

Jn reflects a question-and-answer catechesis addressed to those who could not understand the meaning of the Master's death and asked for explanations.

The masters of the ancient religion of consensus rejoiced at the disappearance of that subversive and heretic who instead of keeping quiet and making a career had been a thorn in the side of their prestige - and earnings - finally done away with and shamed.

By now a failure and rejection even by God.

Well, "a very short time" or "within a short time" are expressions that reaffirm and mark the continuity between the experience of physical closeness with Jesus and the 'vision' of the Risen One.

Transfigured and Lord-in-us, it is the same Master that we recognise in his earthly life, including the less happy aspects. E.g. of rejection, denunciation, rebuke.

Just like one who does not know how to be in the world.

These are priceless moments: times of rediscovery of cosmic and divine closeness, obviously purified of illusions of glory or social conformity.

Despite the hostile environment, the disciple's inner situation does not change: it is one of permanent unity and is not interrupted, indeed it becomes more incisive and goal-directed.

Faith is a penetrating relationship: even today, no longer linked to feeling, ritual experience, or the signs of a monopolistic and consolidated civitas christiana - but to the acuity and incisiveness of personal adhesion.

 

Does it sometimes seem to vanish? Immediately after a doubt arises, everything is turned upside down.

The frankness in the harsh confrontation with established power or the ideas of devotion good for festivals and all seasons, makes Him suddenly Present.

Alive and uncomfortable, but astonishing.

It is true: when everything smacks of sadness and trial, in an instant the situation is reversed.

It is the moment of profound Happiness: of the Vision of the invisible Friend manifesting Himself in His real Wisdom and strength.

Incarnation that continues in the critical witnesses and assemblies that take the form of the Lord's luminous Awakening.

They face the same Passion of love and do not shy away from problems: they make them flourish as the vital Newness of God.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

Is your testimony diluted and sleepy, or is it intense, insightful, pungent?

 

 

Revelation at work in the Community

 

Affliction and joy in the pains of childbirth

(Jn 16:20-23a)

 

A widespread belief at the time of Jesus was that the last time would be preceded by an excess of tribulation and violence.

The joy of the golden age to come would be heralded by a period of unprecedented trials.

The image of the woman giving birth expressed the sense of the intensely painful history in the turning of the times.

Times that were not expected to be excessively long - compensated by a deliverance that would cause one to rejoice.

The spirit of self-sufficiency and feigned security of the surrounding world (even of the religious caste, preoccupied with safeguarding itself) would lead church members into terrifying loneliness.

The believers contradicted the pious and imperial way of looking at life, based on false certainties and a spirit of affirmation.

The moment in history seemed invaded by sadness and at the same time by an ineffable, radical expectation, which paradoxically arose from the same cause of persecution.

Exclusion produced a sense of discouragement, but it was also a spring that activated incisive glances, and action, for a reverse fulfilment - in the living experience of the divine Presence.

Social estrangement triggered a situation of Freedom: it became an unexpected, fruitful, tangible Gift.

Everything was shown to reconcile the multiplicity of faces with their own scattered history, brothers and sisters, God's future.

No more misunderstandings.

In the light of the real experience of the working Vision-Faith, even in the malaise there would be no questions to put forward: only answers.

The mystery of each person's existence was eloquently clarified, with no more scattering questions: rather, with inner guides.

 

In the figure of Jesus "greeting" his own, Jn introduces the Gift of the Paraclete. Spirit bearing the joy of the [silent] Presence of the Master.

Still in the midst - He was bringing the new world into being.

The frequent allusions to inner suffering in the text describe the reality of the Johannine communities in late 1st century Asia Minor, tormented by defections.The oppression under Domitian was increasing, and many community brothers were impatient: they needed a profound key to interpretation, and perspective.

They would not have made it on their own, starting from themselves.

Jn intends to sustain the pains of the believers and to avoid flight, encouraging all to see in persecutions a generating mechanism of new life [labour pains: v.21].

Only in this way would those who had death before their eyes not be afraid to continue in their frankness as witnesses: they had to have a strong Hope.

On such a ray of light and in the wake of God in history, step by step everything became clear.

In the life of the woman and the man of Faith, melancholy and joy went hand in hand - indeed, it was the absolute and lacerating trials that unleashed the flow of life.

The death of Christ and his people made a new birth of humanity possible.

Mystery of life, of tribulations, and of being fully new creatures, from genesis to genesis.

 

In the Bible, Happiness is a perception of fullness of life, a place of celebration that transports the person and the entire fraternity from the ills of the journey - it is the great sign of the New World.

But the primitive communities experienced that intimate joy arose from the tears of a painful birth: this was also to be the case for the world to come; of unprecedented conquest and freedom.

From the labour pains arose a different, primordial life, filled with a different kind of exultation: dissonant from old forms, nomenclatures, and intentions, even for those giving birth.

In short, suffering did not deny the irradiation of the Spirit: it was a law of birth [not a negative force] that could indeed annihilate, but only those whose gaze was averted.

This was also the case for the Kingdom: its establishment happened within a struggle, never harmless - which even though it wounded outside and inside even the human substance, in the depths of the heart and relationships.

But it then reharmonised and more, in the thrill of discoveries, in the suggestions that throbbed - from which a new creation sprang.

To the official notes of the true Church [a holy catholic apostolic] one should perhaps add: harassed, scourged, nailed down. In this way, strengthened by a Word-Person that resonated within.

From all this came an unimpeded 'taste' from the earliest times, which immediately incurs worldly hostility. Nothing to do with empire and its pyramidal-feudal logic.

Precisely in the travail, each trial produced in the children of God the joy of a rediscovered Presence, in the long time of evangelisation - always in danger of going astray and in the temptation to yield.

We must remember this rhythm: sadness of farewell and a new heart, joy and sadness....

Paradoxical synergy that can grow our engaging union with the Risen One, acknowledged Lord.

 

 

Spe Salvi

 

We somehow desire life itself, true life, which is then untouched even by death; but at the same time we do not know what we are being driven towards. We cannot cease striving towards it and yet we know that all that we can experience or realise is not what we long for. This unknown "thing" is the true "hope" that impels us and its being unknown is, at the same time, the cause of all despair as well as of all positive or destructive impulses towards the authentic world and authentic man. The word "eternal life" tries to give a name to this unknown known reality. Necessarily is an insufficient word that creates confusion. "Eternal', in fact, arouses in us the idea of the interminable, and this frightens us; 'life' makes us think of the life we know, which we love and do not want to lose, and which, however, is often at the same time more effort than fulfilment, so that while on the one hand we desire it, on the other hand we do not want it. We can only try to escape with our thoughts from the temporality of which we are prisoners and somehow presage that eternity is not a continuous succession of calendar days, but something like the moment filled with fulfilment, in which totality embraces us and we embrace totality. It would be the moment of diving into the ocean of infinite love, in which time - the before and the after - no longer exists. We can only try to think that this moment is life in the full sense, an ever new immersion in the vastness of being, while we are simply overwhelmed with joy. This is how Jesus expresses it in the Gospel of John: "I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and no one will be able to take your joy away" (16:22). We must think in this direction if we are to understand what Christian hope aims at, what we expect from faith, from our being with Christ.

[Pope Benedict, Spe Salvi n.12]

(Mt 28:16-20)

 

Matthew does not describe the Ascension, but conveys the same message as Acts 1:1-11 (using different images): the passing of the baton.

Unlike Luke and John, Matthew places the encounter with the Risen One in Galilee, not in Jerusalem, the sacred centre. The setting has theological significance.

He does not make himself present and visible in the holy city, but rather on the outskirts, and the apostles are invited to follow in the footsteps of the Master, starting from where his mission began.

The members of the communities of Galilee and Syria to whom Matthew addresses himself came from Judaism, but were despised by observant Jews, who considered them double traitors to their culture.

Because of invasions from the north and east, the population of those lands was heterogeneous, and the orthodox viewed this mixture with suspicion. Moreover, by adhering to Christ, they had called into question the customs and authority of traditional teachings.

It is precisely to these lowly people that the Gospel of the Lord is addressed, beginning with the experience of 'the Mount' (v. 16).

In biblical and Semitic culture in general, the mountain is the place of special experience of the Eternal One, of his manifestations.

In Matthew, the term alludes to the setting of the Beatitudes: the place of God's new work of salvation that surpasses the Law.

Jerusalem was no longer to be the centre of worship and religiosity. The veil of the Temple was torn (Mt 27:51): access to the Father was no longer limited to a place.

Every believer in Christ, of whatever background, who decided to supplant the principles of the 'plain' (a competitive and common way of thinking and acting) with those of 'the Mount' was enabled to become a living sanctuary.

The evangelist places Jesus on 'the mountain' when he wants to emphasise a fundamental reference or gesture (as opposed to the fideist imagination).

It is a 'place' in the sense of powerful moments of the Spirit, of coincidences between the divine and human nature: where we experience Christ manifesting his existential 'authority' throughout life.

It is a summit that reveals the criteria of the Mission - with the symbolism of divine Revelation and alluding to its own post-Easter condition (a high, 'heavenly' situation).

And only those who have assimilated the teaching of 'the Mount' - only those who have experienced the Risen One - can carry out this Mission.

In fact, the mandate and sending of the disciples is a decisive act. It introduces a radical change in the relationship with the disciples, who discover the divine in Him (v. 17a) and at the same time remain with their perplexities (v. 17b).

Matthew is aware of the doubts that are spreading. But it is precisely the uncertainty and scandalous behaviour of the first direct followers that allows him to encourage the brothers of the community (even if in his writing there is a tendency to present the apostles as rather upright models).

The 'churches' are not made up of perfect children. Indeed, he recalls (in this way) an unprecedented aspect that Jesus had introduced into the criteria of discernment and real life: the coexistence of faces.

While religious existence was conceived in terms of procedures, the chiselling of feelings, 'evidence' and upward progress, the Master taught the integration of ethnic groups, affections, emotional mixtures and even opposing sides.

According to the new Rabbi, life in the Spirit brings joy because it discovers hidden treasures precisely in the shadows of unstable people and situations. Joseph's own doubt was fruitful (cf. Mt 1:18ff).

It is good to believe in Jesus and, at the same time, to have questions: this is the difference between Faith and common religiosity.

Only Christ is given all 'Ex-ousìa' (v. 18): authority that is not imposed, that emanates from the Mystery without coercion, and is therefore freely accepted (i.e. a kind of authority that comes from being itself).

This is a decisive moment for establishing the criteria for ecclesial action that makes Jesus present. He entrusts us with a task, confers his own 'powers' upon us, and introduces us into the communion of life.

 

It seems paradoxical, but it is on a platform of mixtures (a solid and oscillating base) that the Church becomes capable of inexplicable recoveries - and that the apostles are sent out (vv. 19-20).

It is the backdrop of competitive and malleable energies, taken up and assimilated, that changes life and prepares God's future—not mass castration or sterilisation.

Faith and religious evidence now clash, sparking sparks.

For this reason – on uncertain ground – there is openness to the whole world (v. 19), whereas in a previous passage Matthew had limited the mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mt 10:5-6).

The living experience of conviviality among differences has made it possible to understand the vitality of chaos, which shifts our gaze, broadens it, and forces us to overcome one-sidedness.Confusion and upheaval which, as missionaries well know, solve real problems, opening up unexpected horizons of incalculable value.

 

Imperfection has been fruitful in unexpected outcomes and has opened up a new era: the novelty of expanded ecclesiology.

Now the light that shone on the people immersed in darkness when Jesus settled from Nazareth in Capernaum (Mt 4:13-) must spread everywhere, through a discipleship extended to all peoples (pagans: v. 19 Greek text) 'every day and until the end of the age' (v. 20).

The particularism previously recognised (perhaps out of respect for the community and space-time limitations) gives way to the new Inauguration.

Now the boundaries fall away, giving way to total universalism - without any frontiers.

The immersion (v. 19: Greek meaning of the term Baptism) in the wonder that surrounds the Person of the Lord permeates the disciple of Christ to the very core - without any need for binding procedures and rules, which are well-established but external.

Light animated by the promise of the Risen One who, recalling Emmanuel - God-With-Us - closes Matthew's Gospel as it was begun and announced by the Prophets (cf. Matthew 1:22-23).

 

The Ascension is not a cut, a separation, or a departure, but Communion. Prophecy has become permanent reality.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How do you enter into the New Covenant? Are you attentive to the dialectic between faith and doubt? Do you consider it a driving force, both for new contemplation and for the flowering of new energies?

How does Jesus' self-revelation affect you? What strength has it given you? How important are the experience and vigour of 'the Mountain'?

Jn 3:16-18(7-21)

 

Lifting up the Cross goes far beyond resilience.

 

Going up and going down, going beyond or retreating

(Gospel of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: Jn 3:13-17)

 

Nothing doing, despite two millennia of Christian symbols, formulas and rituals, especially in Italy, we remain stuck in the same old rut: Guelphs against Ghibellines, even as a shaky fate looms.

Why is our faith so narrow-minded and incapable of freeing us from occasional quibbles? Why, even as we are heading towards a mountain of debt, do we continue to behave like those who never stop feeding off each other?

We need a beautiful conversion, with the pyramids of 'primacy' and glory overturned: the arrogant, aggressive, intransigent and powerful becoming humble, meek, benevolent and weak.

Never be in need? Be in great need! All the more reason to cling to the Crucified One.

After all, one of Francis' first companions, Brother Egidio, said: "The way to go up is to go down." We ask ourselves: what is the meaning of this paradox?

 

Today's feast is called the Exaltation (or Invention, from the Latin: discovery). The Gospel, however, speaks of 'Lifting up'.

Certainly, this is synonymous with being seen and noticed, but in a 'contrary way'. So, how can we elevate our lives by fixing our gaze on Jesus crucified? The passage about Nicodemus suggests an answer.

The doctor of the Law, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, is 'in the night' because he has been miseducated about the normal idea of a successful man: if God is 'someone', then his followers must also resemble him in attributes of possession, power and glory.

However, the moment comes when even popular or theological customs and the antiquated way of seeing things are shaken by doubt, by the alternative offered by Christ.

Is it really the person who evolves who imposes himself? Is the successful man really the one who rises above others - treated as a stool - or is it not perhaps the one who has the freedom to come down and let us breathe?

All with spontaneity and fluidity, without effort: imposing on oneself a ladder of renunciation and pain is not therapeutic and does not bring out the best in us. On the contrary, it separates us from the plasticity and simplicity that produce the best things in the world.

The Cross is not a standard discipline of purification, such as wanting to change your life, fix your relationships by stifling your inconsistencies, setting your mind on achieving goals and succeeding (even spiritually) at all costs...

These are the usual clichéd improvement programmes that often make us unnatural, full of artifice, and unable to be open with ourselves, and therefore with others.

In Christ, the Cross opens up new horizons because it no longer takes anything for granted. It is a new Judgment, global and based on merit.

Other possibilities emerge, which allow us to encounter the change that solves real problems - precisely in the midst of disorderly vacillations.

When lived in Faith, this wavering mixture is a deeply energetic, malleable and evolutionary reality.

It does lead to a situation of chaos and disorder, but out of this emerges a better relationship with our actions and our destiny, even recovering everything we thought was unattainable.

This happens in the uncertainty that brings us closer to our essence - in the days when events become serious and we call for resources, fresh air and more solid relationships.

We then need to take a leap forward, not retreat [staying where we are and turning in on ourselves to identify problems and flaws, then correcting them in a hasty and unnatural way...].

This would be an absurd waste of virtue and opportunities for growth in the search for our territory.

Even on the spiritual path, in fact, we do everything to achieve a full life, total fulfilment and strong freedom. Not to be seen as perfect.

The passage through a climate of social contempt will be inevitable.

The Crucified One does not say 'how we should be and are not yet' (in a conventional way): because we approach our Vocation only if we surprise ourselves and others - precisely when common and conformist opinion judges us to be inconsistent.

This does not mean that we are rejecting the gallows.

Situations of condemnation can become creative, so the gallows that belong to us in that situation - even if it compromises our reputation - should not torment our soul beyond measure.

Misadventures, upheavals, adversity, bitter circumstances... reshape the soul and our point of view, calling into question the idea (we have already formed) of ourselves.

They open up, indeed they throw open, astonishing new paths - realisations that would otherwise have been stifled from the outset by external convictions.

This is why there is something paradoxical and absurd in Jesus' proposal: in order to grow, to reach fulfilment and completeness, one must lose; one must not be opportunistic, quick to act or take advantage. These are all insipid and childish attitudes that do not regenerate, that bring us back to friction and unreliable conformism, and accentuate them.

The logic of the Cross is disconcerting: at first glance, it seems to humiliate us. On the contrary, it protects us from the poison of vain religiosity, good manners and bad habits.

Empty, consolatory or merely theatrical spirituality produces conflictual but inert environments [they make us give up: useless and infesting].

 

Everyone knows that we must learn to accept the inevitable adversities of existence. But this is not the meaning of the Cross.

God does not redeem through pain, but through Love - the kind that does not fold up and crumple, but expands life and unexpressed abilities.

The providential Cross is not given by God, but actively taken up and accepted by the disciple. In the Gospels, it signifies the acceptance of the inevitable shame that follows Jesus - even in a comically vain, albeit papier-mâché, setting.

For those who choose to be themselves in a world of appearances and reputation, the (external) fate of persecution, misunderstanding, mockery and slander, lack of credit and laurels - as if we were failures - is sealed.

But in the Judgment of the Crucified One, this is the right position to become children who find human fulfilment, stand firm in their important choices, and bear corresponding fruit: often the best time of their lives.

A free gift, for a Life Saved, the Cross redeems us from the attractions of social appreciation, which readily bestows ample credit on the trivial and extrinsic, but which stifles our complete personal growth.

It saves us from the dangers of pedestals that crumble, on which it is not worth continuing to climb in order to be noticed and uselessly - astutely - to please. Just as any manipulator who loves power would do; even pious, full of attributes of vigour, but inexorably old and doomed to death - bogged down and sterile - incapable of generating new creatures and reviving himself.

The best opportunities for development, fulfilment and completion emerge from sides of ourselves and situations we do not want. Indeed, even from deep wounds that affect our entire way of being, doing and appearing.

It is not the end of the world. Today, the global crisis has already destroyed our powerful appearance, yet it is allowing the virtue of our fragile side to shine through, previously overshadowed by the demands of social appearances.

Here is the Crucified One, who bleeds not only to heal, soften and remove burdens, but to overturn, replace horizons and supplant the entire system of habitual conformism; and even so-called alternative 'points', ways of thinking that seemed to be something else entirely.

All this, through Faith. Not with tension and a specific plan, but through a baptismal attitude towards the new integrity that is coming: given, accepted, recognised.

Thus, the Cross embraced saves us.

It seems like sabotage to our 'infallible' side, but it is the antidote to a city slumbering on the same paths as before - in the usual ways of being and taking the field (now without a future).

Lifting the Cross goes far beyond the capacity for resilience.

 

 

«From there he will come to judge»: Genesis Rebirth Judgement

Jn 3:16-21(7-21)

 

Every man faced with the Mystery does not fully understand what he feels until he accepts the challenge and enters into a new existence.

The old life presents only bills to pay, which always re-emerge; conversely, the new Call supplants categories of judgement and normalised choices.

It is like passing through an emptying of the heart.

In fact, the Tao [Way] Tê Ching (xxi) says:

'The containment of those who have the virtue of emptiness is only in accordance with the Tao. For creatures, the Tao is indistinct and indeterminate [...] in its bosom it contains images [...] in its bosom it contains archetypes [...] in its bosom it contains the essence of being! This essence is very genuine [...] and thus consents to all beginnings'.

Outside the cosmic and personal Way, human existence has no generative meaning.

Even the spiritual journey of the experienced and well-integrated stagnates until it can no longer silence the great questions of meaning, its fiction, or its sloth.

Life in the Spirit proceeds through new births and breathes where it wills.

Not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, manners, respectability, skills, or instruction manuals: in a disconcerting way - but it brings different refreshment, and even sudden Peace.

It is a present and active reality, albeit inexplicable, but one that enriches us, allowing us to penetrate or plunge into another configuration of reality.

Another kingdom, which in the 'Son of Man' unites the two worlds.

 

Nicodemus was a master of the Old Testament alone. He controlled every stagnation or progress by comparing them to the wisdom of God's things on the basis of well-known expectations.But it is not uncommon for our growth to proceed in visions and leaps - not even according to natural 'intelligence'. Let alone in the spiritual life.

It is not enough to practise and agree with the ideas of our fathers or with fashionable trends, nor to remain in agreement with normal intentions.

Assimilating the knowledge of others and acquiring expected skills is often just clutter that blocks true development - the kind that belongs to us.

Unfortunately, in religious life we often proceed in a mechanical way, and there seems to be no need to let ourselves be saved or surprised by events.

At most, we expose ourselves to a slight breeze, slaves to earthly languages, limited to the dimension of 'phenomena' that are entirely down to earth - which exclude and dismiss Christ.

In the disorienting adventure of pioneering faith, the divine plan and the radical work of the Son do not unfold in a reasonable way, but rather through boundless love.

This is a level of Eternity that brings those who accept it into a unique one-to-one relationship with the Father and his exuberant Life.

The unit of measurement of the Spirit is different from that of agreed customs. Its impetus is an elusive Wind, 'visible' only in ecclesial and personal effects.

The Secret is 'from above' (v. 7), beyond scale. It lurks in the unpredictability of crossroads, excesses, and new creations.

Bliss does not proceed by boring arguments: it protrudes or fades away.

In this way, one can often hold the Eucharist or the Scriptures in one's hands and not understand that the well-trodden path can only give illusions of spiritual doctorate.

 

'From there he will come to judge' is an article of the Apostles' Creed.

The success or failure of life will be judged 'by the Cross', that is, by the criterion of new perception, self-giving and renewal to the very end.

A reversal of perspectives; a complete change of view.

Source of Hope and a new leap forward: where humiliation is transformed into authentic Birth and the triumph of indestructible Life.

This is the Beatitude that discovers blossoms, hidden treasures and precious pearls behind our dark sides.

Here, even the persecutions of enemies and mockers become vectors that introduce different energies, forcing us to improve.

And it was imagined that divine life belonged only to the heavenly sphere; instead, paradoxically, it comes within our reach.

 

Nicodemus knew that many had fallen victim to pitfalls in the desert, but Jesus makes it clear that the Israelites were not healed for free by a bronze effigy, but by 'lifting up their eyes'.

The Lord refers to this episode and interprets it as the backdrop for his teaching, a symbol of his extreme experience.

Those who contemplate him already have within themselves the full, acute and total meaning of the Scriptures, and the very Life of the Eternal One.

In this sense, it is necessary to be 'born from above', to shift one's contemplative perception, to recognise oneself, and to keep one's eyes fixed on true love.

It is for a new Genesis of our own being and of the criteria by which we stake our lives that the Crucified One becomes the reference point for all our choices.

Not for masochistic pain and false consolation. Not to use it as a trinket, to adorn oneself with it.

Not as an amulet; nor as an emblem placed by force on high ground, indicating the conquest of territories.

Nor is it the sacralisation of an environment or a 'cultural' figure.

 

According to the rabbinic style, Matthew 25 uses the image of the Last Judgement to recall the importance and consequences of the choices we make.

In John, the theme of Judgment seems to be reversed: it is as if we are the ones 'judging' God - in the sense that we are and will find ourselves disarmed in his presence, recognising that his Heart is much greater than ours.

So too in the experience of the life of Faith, which attracts and opens up the impossible future.

The fourth Gospel, in fact, excludes the Father from judging his children. John speaks of a Judgment that takes place in the Present, which is only redemption - exclusively in our favour: for a life of salvation.

"When" God acts, he creates. He justifies: he does something new, global, incomparable.

He does not repeat himself. He brings forth other surpluses, in varied ways, in the fabric of history, 'imposing' right positions - above all where there is no justice.

According to a Wisdom that makes many unexpected opinions heard.

 

Although using different backgrounds and language, both Matthew and John find themselves in the same 'truth' (v. 21).

Judgment is pronounced from the Cross - according to criteria that are different from worldly ones, which are always hasty or mannered (and very banal).

The Lord makes his opinions heard and seen in the face of any event or choice, warning against options that lead to authentic death.

The work of those who mismanage and waste their lives 'will be burned up, and they will be punished, but they themselves will be saved, though only as through fire' (1 Cor 3:15).

The differences are already measured against the Person of the Son. The Judgment has already begun.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

What do you consider to have been your Births? And your authentic choices?

Are you still following the gentle breeze of your ancestors or the fads of the moment?

Are you setting your sails according to the direction of the Wind of the Spirit, which blows away your securities, even those of groups or denominations?

What do you admire, and what have you placed 'high' in your life? Is it perhaps straw that has already been burned?

What has excited you so far, and what did you think would elevate you?

 

 

He loved so much, and He gave

 

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Here is the heart of the Gospel, here is the foundation of our joy. The content of the Gospel, in fact, is not an idea or a doctrine, but Jesus, the Son whom the Father gave us so that we might have life. Jesus is the foundation of our joy: it is not a beautiful theory about how to be happy, but it is the experience of being accompanied and loved on the journey of life. “He so loved the world that he gave his Son.” Let us pause for a moment, brothers and sisters, on these two aspects: “he so loved” and “he gave.”

First of all, God loved so much. These words, which Jesus addressed to Nicodemus – an elderly Jew who wanted to know the Master – help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked upon us with love, and out of love he came among us in the flesh of his Son. In him, he came to seek us in the places where we were lost; in him, he came to lift us up from our falls; in him, he wept our tears and healed our wounds; in him, he blessed our lives forever. Whoever believes in him, the Gospel says, will not be lost (ibid.). In Jesus, God has spoken the definitive word on our lives: you are not lost, you are loved. Always loved.

If listening to the Gospel and practising our faith do not open our hearts to grasp the greatness of this love, and we perhaps slip into a serious, sad, closed religiosity, then it is a sign that we need to stop for a while and listen again to the proclamation of the good news: God loves you so much that He gave you His whole life. He is not a god who looks down on us indifferently from above, but a Father, a Father in love who is involved in our history; he is not a god who rejoices in the death of sinners, but a Father who is concerned that no one should be lost; he is not a god who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the blessing embrace of his love.

And so we come to the second word: God 'gave' his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself and offers us his life. Those who love always go out of themselves – do not forget this: those who love always go out of themselves. Love always offers itself, gives itself, spends itself. The strength of love is precisely this: it shatters the shell of selfishness, breaks down the barriers of overly calculated human security, tears down walls and overcomes fears, in order to give itself. This is the dynamic of love: it is giving itself, giving itself away. Those who love are like this: they prefer to risk giving themselves rather than withering away by holding back. This is why God comes out of himself, because “he so loved”. His love is so great that he cannot help but give himself to us. When the people journeying through the desert were attacked by poisonous snakes, God made Moses make a bronze snake; in Jesus, however, raised on the cross, He himself came to heal us from the poison that brings death, he made himself sin to save us from sin. God does not love us with words: he gives us his Son so that whoever looks at him and believes in him may be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more we love, the more we are capable of giving. This is also the key to understanding our lives. It is beautiful to meet people who love one another, who care for one another and share their lives; we can say of them, as we say of God: they love one another so much that they give their lives. It is not only what we can produce or earn that counts, but above all the love we are capable of giving.

And this is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. This is where the invitation that the Church addresses to us on this Sunday takes on meaning: 'Rejoice [...]. Rejoice and be glad, you who were in sorrow: be filled with the abundance of your consolation' (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think back to what we experienced a week ago in Iraq: a tormented people rejoiced with joy, thanks to God and his mercy.

Sometimes we look for joy where there is none, we look for it in illusions that vanish, in dreams of greatness for ourselves, in the apparent security of material things, in the cult of our image, and in many other things... But life experience teaches us that true joy is feeling loved unconditionally, feeling accompanied, having someone who shares our dreams and who, when we are shipwrecked, comes to rescue us and lead us to a safe harbour.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021]

Holy Trinity

Pr 8:22-31; Rom 5:1-5; Jn 16:12-15 (year C)

 

The children's identity card is faith in a God who creates, makes Covenant, is close, redeems, allows flourishing in any event or age.

Thus on the journey we take we no longer rely on the outside, and we stop underestimating ourselves.

In fact, Scripture testifies that the Lord proceeds with his people and manifests himself in history, but he is not bound to a particular territory or heights, but to woman and man.

The Eternal One is "God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob" (Mt 22:32; Mk 12:26; Lk 20:37; cf. Ex 3:6).

He is "the One who will be" [Ex 3:14 Hebrew text] i.e.: in the unfolding of events people have an essential experience of the Living One as Deliverer, and Bridegroom [cf. Hosea's fluctuating affective story].

But in the fullness of his heart, only Jesus manifests this - still in the First Covenant confused with a sullen lawgiver, notary, judge who intervenes to cut or distinguish, then waits for the reckoning.

The Almighty dreams of imparting life and creating Family, not dividing pristine friends from impure enemies, or capable and incapable.

Such becomes the intimate expression of the authentic woman and man; a cipher of the identity of the Church, which is not pronounced in the least.

In short, specific to sons and daughters is adherence to a Living One who transmits and brightens life, compromises and saves, enables all growth, recovers - creates a harmonious dynamism of opposites.

 

The First Reading highlights the Father's Project, which unfolds its being while being assisted by the delightful figure of Wisdom.

Creation reflects the purpose of divine love, which manifests itself in the enchantment of a joyful walk with us. He desires to remain on earth, unconditionally.

The joy of the Creator Father is just this: delighting like an Artist bursting with joy over his work. He is happy to be on the globe, especially among the sons of man (vv. 30-31).

His Bliss? Our own; of every creature, who loves to flourish despite conflict.

This is precisely - if the son, though unsteady, does not feel himself to be the fruit of chance, rather he seizes the moments of confusion in life as if they were those of a building site [because the Designer knows where to go].

Disorder, piled-up materials, havoc, unseen at every turn; but we are not lost: within the soul there remains a guiding image, the Dream and prototype of an unfolding intimate and cosmic harmony.

It evolves in our wandering. He allows trial and error, indeed He makes use of them.

It is a Design that recovers all scattered things and interrupted paths, creating understandings, unthinkable varieties; hence diverse essences.

Not only with skill, but by Ideal Wisdom. And at the same time incomparable Novelty: of one who does not repeat, but rather brings into being.

It is the miracle of life, always new - indeed, riding on our attempts and mistakes!

The Father is exuberant, not a totem that does not accept decomposed energies. He does not express himself by enacting laws like a sovereign.

He creates unprecedented symphonic polychromes, other essences - multifaceted - as would a parent who rejoices in his rich offspring, in the different works of his intimates (in the most diverse fields) manifested in a thousand facets.

 

The key to everything - the accompanying Horizon, correlating stages and redefining itself - is the Creator's. His is the guiding Project.

The 'unique' summit and exemplary Action - the Work - is a historically configured event: the Word-event and Person of the Son.

The Second Reading makes it clear that the Eternal Father did not consider his activity concluded, granting mere input to being and essences - then abandoning reality and men, and retiring up there into heaven.

By Grace, in Faith we are partakers of God, we have direct access to His independent action, to Himself (Rom 5:2).

Not even our radical incompleteness is cause for rancour, for He who did not create us angelic - but dreamy, yes.

Nor would we be able to scratch it and make it impure, as if it were someone at hand whom we can pollute by reaching out to him of our own accord - pulling ourselves up with our genius, by dint of muscle or scaffolding.

The Person, Word and Event of Jesus tell of a Kingdom in which there is no fear of holiness being endangered by the incompleteness of creatures and contact with the world.

There is only one problem that cuts through the Dialogue with the Most High (v.3): believing [devoutly] that our boasting is of the 'obvious' kind.

In front of our peers we glory in achievements, roles, titles and successes. It also happens in the path of religious perfection.

But the Lord is not like an athletic trainer who delights in the quickest of his players - while he inflicts humiliation, travails, benches and punishments on the unfit and unwieldy.

The Son proclaims the authentic Face of the Father: only unreserved understanding - undeserved, because the perfect Work is solely of Christ the man; our 'accomplice'.

He thus removes dishonour and the sense of inadequacy.

In this way, the exclusive prominence of woman and man, and the motor of solid growth, is His unreserved Love. The only reliable reality - unambiguous of duplicity or hysterical dissociation.

 

Often in the face of the show society even some religious people become complacent about their achievements.

In the presence of the Eternal, they display their own merits - like a struggling merchant, who displays all the best in his shop window.

Faith-Hope (Heb 11:1; Rom 5:4), on the other hand, places one in the right position with the brethren, and before the Lord. Without alibi.

We learn transparently and finally that the obsession with being admired from the outside - and the pleasure of approval at any cost - are by no means 'the' Way.

In fact, the true Scia - the genuine Work - is solely of the Son, who, having fully corresponded to the initiative of God the Father, Justifies.

Nothing can undermine us.

The world we do not see has transmutative capabilities.

Of course, the inner Friend does not 'make us righteous' by dressing us outwardly and in a timely manner, but in an existential process, which shifts the balance (vv.3-4).

The Lord works within through experience. He also does this by besieging the "other" us-ourselves that we have cast aside.

Thus modifying the shrunken heart and improving us with its passionate Friendship, re-proposed in new life opportunities.

As Paul testified, Salvation is not a vicarious and dated mechanism.

The Mystery dwells, meets us and passes through us as protagonists, and despite our whims expresses itself in a saved life.

Faith in God the Son is to be aware that Love can register partial failures, not defeat and ultimate annihilation.

Of course there are falls - either because of precariousness or because it is not immediate to understand the logic of the Crucified One: here is the Action of the Spirit.

 

Today's Gospel appeals to the mysterious, unknown sense of total self-giving. 

It is reborn by yielding: it is not easy to carry that "burden" [Jn 16:12 alludes to the Cross] nor to grasp its implications and imagine its paradoxical Fruitfulness.

The Development that flows from the superabundance and intensity of the Father-Son relationship is the empathy, the bearing, the action of the Spirit.

It is an impulse and a gesture that erupts within and precisely intuits the fertility of Gratuity.

It is the Spirit that internalises this not only very strange, but absurd proposal: that of triumph in loss, and even of Life from death.

We experience it in action: in the moments when its impetus produces inexplicable recoveries that "give glory to God" (v.14) - that is, they renew relationships and put people who do not even have self-esteem back on their feet.

But the Spirit suggested that the soul is reactivated by welcoming, rather than fighting anxieties, fears, indecisions, bitterness, fears of growing.

Only in this way is the Plan of Salvation realised.

Stepping out of the shadow of others, the opportunist becomes righteous, the doubter more secure, the unhappy person resumes hope; all can live happily.

Are the old ideas and old constructions creaking? It is perhaps time to move beyond fashions or past fads and artificial horizons - which only generate common ideas, concerns, and patterns.

 

Unlike the listening-and-transcending aroused by the unfettered Unveiling of Faith, beliefs refractory to the Exodus need doctrinal compactness: codes, customs, fixed cultural and social locations - otherwise they crumble.

But their construct settles for adequate schemes. That distorts us from valued or comfortable ways.

In the dynamics of the adventure of Faith, that is, in the Revelation of the accepted, tender and inclusive eccentric Love, accepted Diversity becomes an impulse for enrichment and a matrix for development.

The Love that does not betray and does not abandon - the only boast (not its own production) - makes the Newness of God practicable, the impossible Dream that no philosophy can tame.

Social identification is no longer involved. In us there is more.

 

He himself is "He who will be": let the ballasts go, the Best is yet to come. Reason for no longer running away from great Desires.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

After the Easter Season that ended last Sunday with Pentecost, the Liturgy has returned to "Ordinary Time". This does not mean, however, that Christians must be less any committed: indeed, having entered divine life through the sacraments, we are called daily to be open to the action of divine Grace, to progress in love of God and of neighbour. This Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity, in a certain sense sums up God's revelation which was brought about through the Paschal Mysteries: Christ's death and Resurrection, his Ascension to the right hand of the Father and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The human mind and language are inadequate to explain the relationship that exists between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; yet the Fathers of the Church sought to illustrate the mystery of the Triune God by living it with deep faith in their own lives. 

The divine Trinity takes up his abode in us on the day of our Baptism: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". Every time we sign ourselves with the sign of the Cross we remember God's name in which we were baptized. With regard to the sign of the Cross a theologian, Romano Guardini, remarked: "We do it before praying so that... we may put ourselves spiritually in order; focus thoughts, heart and will on God; after praying, so that what God has given us may remain within us.... It embraces the whole being, body and soul... and everything is consecrated in the name of the Triune God" (Lo spirito della liturgia. I santi segni, Brescia, 2000, pp. 125-126). 

The sign of the Cross and the name of the living God therefore contain the proclamation that generates faith and inspires prayer. And just as in the Gospel Jesus promises the Apostles that: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth" (Jn 16: 13), so it happens in the Sunday Liturgy, from week to week, when priests dispense the bread of the Word and of the Eucharist. The Holy Curé d'Ars also reminded his faithful of this. "Who welcomed your soul", he asked, "at the beginning of your life? The priest. Who feeds your soul and gives it strength for its journey? The priest. Who will prepare it to appear before God, bathing it one last time in the blood of Jesus Christ? The priest, always the priest" (Letter inaugurating the Year for Priests). 

Dear friends, let us make our own the prayer of St Hilary of Poitiers: "Keep uncontaminated this upright faith that is in me and, until my last breath, grant me likewise this voice of my conscience, that I may be ever faithful to what I professed in my regeneration when I was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (De Trinitate, XII, 57, CCL 62/A, 627). Invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary, the first creature to be fully inhabited by the Blessed Trinity, let us ask her protection and help to make good progress on our earthly pilgrimage.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus, 30 May 2010]