He calls to Himself and makes the Twelve: great emergency, by little Name
(Mk 3:13-19)
In Christ, the doctor of suffering humanity, things of the soul seem different, and so do relationships.
All this leads his group to a different view of themselves, history, the world, the multitudes (vv.7-9) and problems.
We have already noted that in the Community of Jesus, any winking at pious retreat is banished, despite the fatigue, the bewilderment and the anxieties.
Thus the theme of both the well-configured Person and the Community remains primary: there is no disregard for particular sensitivities or needs, nor for the ecclesial element - the conviviality of differences.
Here Jesus is placed at the centre of the ideals of the journey in the Spirit.
He is the fulcrum, motive and driving force of a humanity that everywhere calls for answers, neither doctrinal or moralistic, nor reduced or abstract, to the yearning for complete life that it feels pulsing within.
All this in the soul of every person as in the genius of any civilisation.
The axis is to be with Him (v.14), that is, to form the Church in Him.
It is essential to mature first, wherever we live. [There are not very noble motives for wanting to reach everywhere, to run everywhere to make proselytes, and to do so at once].
He who cultivates many lusts, projects them; he procures his own murky influences. We see this also in clamorous contemporary events, manipulating great realities - previously unsuspected.
This is why reflection is necessary; the critical one, which really digs in.
It conveys the sense of our coming into the field, and a right disposition.
Being with Jesus annihilates unfaithfulness that does not propose simplicity of life and values of the spirit, alienating, building other temples and shrines.
The charge of universality contained in the rootedness to values conveyed by dialogue with Him, questions us; in relationships as well as in self-knowledge.
We realise that... stimuli, inflections, virtuous principles, gaps, hidden sides, achievements and "no" moments are complementary energetic aspects.
Says the Tao Tê Ching (LXIII): 'Consider great the small, and much the little'.
Master Ho-shang Kung comments: 'If you want the great, turn to the small. If you want the much, turn to the little. It is the way of spontaneity'.
It sounds like a paradox, but openness to the needs of the multitudes is an exquisitely non-external issue.
It is from oneself and from the already diverse community that one looks at the world, knowing how to recover its opposite sides.
It is the Way of the Interior that interpenetrates the Way of the Exterior.
It is the inner way that can combat the power of evil that stifles the yearnings of life and annihilates personalities.
One must first heal that which is essential and near.
Certainly, he who does not accept the risk cannot be a missionary; he who is not placed among the poor, does not know their world.
But he who is not made free [v.14: "made Twelve"] cannot liberate (v.15). He who is not formed cannot educate; he cannot remake history from the beginning.
The only way then to peer far and wide is to stick to the reason of things.
Principle that is known in Christ Logos, and only if not misled by the superficiality of reductions.
Understanding in God the nature of creatures and conforming to it in an increasing way, all are inspired to transmute and complete themselves, enriching even cultural sclerosis, without alienating forcings.
Exercising a practice of goodness even with oneself.
The Tao Tê Ching (xvi) emphasises:
"To return the mandate is eternity [...] He who knows eternity embraces everything". A passage that invites one to turn to the Scaturigine even after the luxuriance.
And Master Ho-shang Kung comments:
"All creatures wither and fall, but each one, returning to its root, lives even more".
Only from the Source of the multifaceted being gushes forth a life to be saved; exuberant, well-rounded, without neurosis.
So let us ask ourselves: are we a sign of dedication and an outstretched person?
Certainly, but without being a cult, and only after encountering our limit states.
And in doing so, immersing ourselves in a good habit with the Lord, which also imparts wise tolerance to us - from within.
Not to distinguish the moment of Vocation from the moment of ministerial sending. But for the reason that the way to Heaven is intertwined with the way of the Person - or we will be busybodies.
To understand this and come closer to the sense of their missional uniqueness, the Son Himself must ascend "the Mount" (v.13), assimilating Himself into the Father's vision.
None of the apostles were per se worthy of the Calling.
Most of them had names typical of Judaism, even from the time of the patriarchs - indicating a cultural and spiritual background rooted more in common religion than personal faith; not easy to handle.
Yet all of them made intimate, by Name - a chain that united Heaven with the destiny of their healing mission, with no more fences.
Peter was eager to come forward, although he often backtracked - backtracked - to the point of becoming a 'satan' for Jesus [(Mt 16:23; Mk 8:33): in the culture of the ancient East, an official of the great ruler, sent to act as a controller and delator - practically an accuser].
James of Zebedee and John were brothers, ardent fundamentalists, and in a wrathful manner wanted the Master for themselves alone, as well as the first places.
Philip [conditioned perhaps by a Hellenistic background, as his name indicates] at first sight did not seem a very practical fellow, nor quick to grasp the things of God.
Andrew, on the other hand, seemed to do well: an inclusive person.
According to well-known traditional identifications, Bartholomew was perhaps open but perplexed, because the Messiah did not correspond to him much.
Thomas always a little in and a little out.
Matthew - a collaborator, greedy accomplice of the oppressive system, and willingly extorting money from his people [the people ruthlessly condemned him].
Simon - the zealot, the Canaanite - a hothead.
Judas Iscariot a tormented, self-destructive for trusting old spiritual leaders - imbued with nationalist ideology, self-interest, opportunism, power.
Two others (James the younger son of Alphaeus, and Judas Thaddeus) perhaps mere disciples of no great prominence or capacity for initiative.
But the Kingdom is "local and universal" [Fratelli Tutti, nn.142-153], Near and by Name - as the Gospel passage from Mk.
This is the manifold, biting, incomparable, close and precisely personal power that overcomes any possibility of ideal sabotage (due to adverse circumstances).
Power drawn from prayer directed to the Father in Christ - in his Listening (v.13a) - as well as from works of love (v.10).
Power in an equally singular, sensitive, shared symbiosis.
Not for the excellent alone - or even in the time of global emergency there will be no healing work, but only external, accusatory and aimed at propaganda, proselytism.
Here: Announcement and Mission of new Light received in Gift; where precisely not a single form or colour appears.
And the Axis is "being" with Him.
For a contagion that is neither alarmist nor one-sided, monochromatic, but flourishing, multifaceted, sometimes "hidden" - and restless.
To internalise and live the message:
In your experience, what chain has united heaven and earth?
The (accusatory) list and effort of transgressions to be neurotically corrected?
Or a personal Calling, inclusive of your many faces in the soul - a Vocation supported by a Church that became an echo and a free Source of all-round understanding?
