Not flawed Happiness

(Mt 5:17-19)

 

In the early communities, some believers felt that the rules of the First Testament should no longer be considered, since we are saved by faith and not by works of the Law.

Others accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but could not tolerate the excessive freedom with which some of their brothers in the Church lived his Presence in the Spirit. 

Still tied to an ideal ethnic background, they believed that ancient observances were binding.

Under the pretext of 'life in the Spirit', there were believers who were carried away by excessive fantasies (personal or group), which they considered 'inspired'.

Some, with an easy-going mentality, inclined to compromise with power, rejected the Hebrew Scriptures and considered themselves detached from history: they no longer looked at the story of Jesus.

 

Matthew seeks a balance between compromising emancipation and closure in observances, believing that the community experience could achieve harmony between different sensibilities.

He wrote his Gospel precisely to support converts to the Faith in Christ in the communities of Galilee and Syria, accused by their Judaizing brothers of being unfaithful to the Torah.

The evangelist makes it clear that Jesus himself had been accused of serious transgressions against the Law of Moses.

The arrow of the Torah was shot in the right direction, but only in the Spirit of the Beatitudes can a living assembly gain momentum to reach the ideal goal: Communion.

 

Matthew is concerned to emphasise that the ancient Scriptures, the historical events of Jesus, and life in the Spirit must be seen as inseparable aspects of a single plan of salvation.

Lived in synergy, they lead to fruitful coexistence and conviviality of differences.

The God of the patriarchs makes himself present in the loving relationship of the community, through faith in Christ, who expands his own life in our hearts.

The Living One transmits the Spirit that spurs all creativity, overcomes closed-mindedness, opens, and invites.

In short, in us, Jesus of Nazareth becomes a living Body, and the joy of doing so manifests itself (starting from the soul) in Person and in full Fidelity.

Reaching out to our brothers and sisters and going to God thus becomes easy, spontaneous, rich and very personal for everyone: strength comes from within, not from common ideas, legacies, seductions, mannerisms or external pressures.

 

To internalise and live the message:

Has the law written in stone remained rigid within you, or do you feel an impulse towards a new Covenant?

Do you sense within yourself an actualised and irresistible desire for good, which rediscovers everything in the Scriptures and energises the Word in the various tastes of doing?

 

 

Demolish or Accomplish

 

Faced with the precepts of the Law, different attitudes emerge.

On the one hand, there are those who show attachment to the material meaning of what has been established; on the other, there are those who omit or despise the norms.

Jesus offered a teaching so new and radical that it gave the impression of disregard and rejection of the Law. But in fact, rather than diverging from it, He was attentive to the spirit and profound meaning of the biblical-Jewish directives.

He did not intend to 'destroy' (v. 17) the Torah, but he certainly avoided even more being reduced to moral casuistry.

This obsession with ethics—still alive in the early communities—fragmented and eroded the meaning of fundamental choices, rendering them all superficial and without substance.

In this way, a legalistic sclerosis was produced, which easily tended to equate the codes... with God.

But for the believer, his 'obligation' is at once event, spirit of the Word, and Person: global following in those same incomparable appointments.

 

The faithful of the communities of Galilee and Syria were criticised by the old-fashioned Jews.

These observant Jews accused their fellow believers who had converted to the new personal, creative Faith of being transgressors and contrary to the depth of the common Tradition.

Thus, some emphasised salvation through faith alone in Christ and not through works of the law. Others did not accept the freedom that was growing precisely in those who were beginning to believe in Jesus the Messiah.

New, more radical currents already wanted to disregard his history and his Person, to get rid of him and take refuge in a generic 'avant-garde' or 'freedom of spirit' - without backbone, vicissitudes or connections.

 

Matthew helps us understand the conflict: the direction of the arrow shot from the Jewish Scriptures is the right one, but it does not have a clear starting point, nor the strength to reach its target.

The evangelist harmonises the tensions, emphasising that authentic observance is not formal fidelity [obedience to the 'letter'].

The fundamental spirit of fulfilment does not allow us to put the whole Christ and his trials and tribulations in brackets, perhaps remaining neutral or indifferent dreamers.

Without reductions by virtue of election, nor 'breaking down' (see17) the ancient and identified or particular ways of being - He is present in the most diverse currents of thought.

New words, ancient words, and the Spirit that renews the face of the earth are part of a single Plan.

Only in the total charm of the Risen One does our harvest come to full life - the full goal of the Law - becoming forever.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How do you evaluate the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Prophets?

How do you deal with situations in harmony with the Voice of the Lord and in his Spirit?

 

 

Pure and impure: God's Law or Tradition

(Mt 15:1-2, 10-14)

 

The encyclical Fratelli Tutti invites us to take a forward-looking view that inspires decision and action: a new eye, filled with hope.

It "speaks to us of a reality that is rooted in the depths of the human being, regardless of the concrete circumstances and historical conditioning in which he lives. It speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a longing for fulfilment, for a life lived to the full, for a measure of greatness, for that which fills the heart and lifts the spirit to great things, such as truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love. [...] Hope is bold, it knows how to look beyond personal comfort, the small securities and compensations that narrow the horizon, to open up to great ideals that make life more beautiful and dignified' (No. 55; from a Greeting to young people in Havana, September 2015).

 

The invisible Friend within us is the only Guide we should follow with prudence and determination.

He is the only Spiritual Master who understands what is different and does not harass it, because he does not use it (to promote himself or his own category).

The paradox of Law or Tradition belongs to v. 3 - initially understood, then excluded from the Liturgy: "Why do you also transgress the Commandment of God in the name of your Tradition?"

 

Habits normalise manners.

Over time, customs that are mechanically fulfilled cause us to lose the meaning of the Commandments from which they sprang.

And empty moral customs then ruin lives (vv. 4-9), annoy and exacerbate people's spirits.

The laws of purity discriminated against people and filled them with resentment.

Instead, exclusivity must not be introduced into the Eucharistic Banquet. Nor does one become part of the Community of the Lord on the basis of ambiguous selections.

 

The washing of hands up to the elbows was a customary practice, proclaiming the separation of the Judaizers from the pagan world: a sort of rite celebrating the separation between the (supposedly) pure and the impure.

The Eucharist, on the other hand, is accessed without arcane procedures or disciplines, or preventive X-rays.

Everyone is welcome, because it is the encounter with God that makes humanity of any cultural background alive and healthy.

 

For Jesus, access to the Father cannot be regulated: it depends on the person and their circumstances.

Therefore, communion with God is immediate and free, completely devoid of any prior conditions of perfection.

According to him, children can appear before the Father in any situation, at any time and in any manner: in a relationship of immediacy and freedom. 

Only the poor quality of our relationships with our neighbours can contaminate women and men, nothing else.

There are no other obligations or fears that can obsess us with imperfection, inadequacy or unworthiness.

On the contrary, people lived in a climate of obsession, overwhelmed by fears about details that did not interest God.

And in the effervescence of Semitic culture, there was no lack of a current more sensitive to the social and real needs of life [linked to the theology of the prophets and psalms] that gave rise to Jesus of Nazareth.

 

A growing number of believers no longer agreed with the legalistic teaching of the official leaders.

In addition, the expectation of the Messiah helped them to hope for a path of 'purity' linked to quality of life and concrete relationships.

Christ opens up a completely new way to bring ordinary people closer to greater balance, to an understanding and communion with the Father, animated by creative, spousal trust.

 

In the realm of faith, it is life that conquers death.

According to conventional religiosity, it is the seed of death that contaminates purity.

In this prison of misguided ideas, people lived with the fear of sin and transgressions (even involuntary ones) always clinging to them.

 

To free the oppressed masses from the moralistic and devout ideology that subjected them to daily torment in all aspects of life, Jesus was forced to overturn the 'inside-outside' hierarchy (v. 11).

Spiritual leaders instilled the idea that impurity came from outside and was so pervasive that it contaminated even holy people [even through a simple brush against them - let alone the masses destined to an ordinary existence of deprivation].

Jesus, on the other hand, makes us feel good.

He reverses the virtues at play, well aware of the power of Life, and takes the debate about pure and impure to another level: that of depth, behaviour and relationship.Even today, Faith gives us balance and complete trust in the providential tide of real Grace, which even in times of rebirth from crisis comes to reactivate us with its unexpected impulses - far from being merely religious or sterile.

It tirelessly opens new paths to help us realise ourselves and reach God. 

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit emancipate us from corporate attitudes and from always being on the defensive; they restore our self-esteem and joy of living, and make us feel at home.

In short, Christ's teaching is Good News precisely because it is the exact opposite of established conventions.

His goal is to let us live intensely, with the perception that He is within us guiding the helm. And to do so more wisely, instead of ending up badly - as in the same old mass grave [v.14; where only a few artificial positions of leadership and plagiarism are saved - meaningless to us].

 

 

For transparent coexistence

 

Jesus and the mania for governing: the blind man and those who are blinded

[ref. Lk 6:39-45)]

 

'Leave them alone! They are blind guides. But if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit' (Mt 15:14).

 

'How much our human family needs to learn to live together in harmony and peace, without everyone having to be the same!' (Pope Francis FT n.100).

To live in a fraternal and wise way, it is not enough to be together in twos, threes, tens or more: we could be like so many blind people who do not know how to live with themselves.

In that case, our relationships become superficial and can become empty, filled only with judgement: critical, stubborn and pedantic.

Then resentment arises within us, because we are forced into a maniacal space that does not correspond to us.

The inevitable malaise begins to decline if and when those who coordinate the group or company live their closeness with extreme modesty, with a sense of their own boundaries.

The Way of the Spirit is in fact a vocational initiative-response to the need for authentic guidance.

Authentic shepherds help only when they question themselves before others, when they do not get caught up in an exercise of empty indoctrination and moralism that exacerbates and irritates people.

Thus, the inner Friend who infallibly leads souls wants to be reflected in 'teachers' - but only to the extent that they introduce us to ourselves and to the wisdom of Scripture (rather than indulging in their own megalomania).

Commenting on Tao xxix, Master Ho-shang Kung points out (of those who want to be lord of the world):

"He wants to rule creatures through action. In my opinion, he will not succeed, because the Way of Heaven and the hearts of men are clear.

The Way of Heaven [Perfection of Harmony] detests confusion [regarding one's own nature, spontaneously expressed] and impurity [artifice], the human heart detests too many desires'.

 

The ancient chosen people found themselves hard-hearted, lost and without a horizon, because they were misled by religious leaders who were fiscal and down-to-earth.

Their blinding and artificial blindness was the concrete ruin of the destiny and quality of life of the entire nation.

Jesus addresses the apostles so that his assemblies of naive, humble and disoriented people do not suffer the same fate - because of a lack of righteousness on the part of those responsible for the community.

The latter, intoxicated by self-satisfaction, sometimes, instead of humanising, promoting and brightening the lives of ordinary people, willingly suffocate them with minutiae and lead them astray with trivialities.

The Lord absolutely does not want the leaders of his fraternities to allow themselves the luxury of becoming superior to others and masters of the truth. The truth of the Gospel is not something one has, but something one does.

 

The Master is not one who gives lessons: he accompanies his disciples and lives with them; he does not limit himself to manners.

He does not teach various subjects, etiquette, mannerisms, good manners: rather, he transmits the living and global Person of Christ - even without etiquette - without depersonalising the disciple.

In short, the Risen One is not just an example to imitate, a model that requires commitments and minutiae, a founder of an institution, of a specific ideology, or of a religion (grammar, doctrine, style and discipline).

In Jesus, we are called to identify with him - not 'by ear' or by copying. Faith itself is a multifaceted relationship.

It pushes us to reinterpret Christ in a new way; each of us in relation to our life story, new situations, events, cultural emergencies, sensibilities, and the spirit of the times.

It is the direct and personal experience of the Father as advocated by the Son. It is a conquest that overturns childish, worldly or customary measures.

It is a source and appropriation that allows us to boldly see ourselves as already redeemed, to pass from darkness to light without conditions or hammering trials.

 

The Lord's light is the fruit of unprecedented action and the strength of the Spirit.It is intuition of signs and Virtue that overcomes the disorientation of all those who are led astray, whether they are prisoners of opinions, pettiness, solitary selfishness or otherwise.

Unexpected energy that nevertheless comes into play thanks to the difficult situations to which it feels compelled to react; and it becomes regenerating power, unexpected life (for those already saved here and now).

Christ asks for an inventive attitude even in reaching out to one's brother - without preconceived, suffocating, morbid or cerebral patterns and codicils; without perhaps, only to welcome. 

This openness is almost impossible if community ministers remain distracted or are already biased, and therefore unnecessarily rigid towards others.

In this way, they would remain pedantic, more impatient than the pagan God they still have in their bodies and minds.

 

All of us, freely healed, have been called by name in a special way to guide our brothers and sisters towards fundamental choices. As expert guides of the soul and of the intensity of relationships.

Not commanders and rulers with no possibility of replacement: but bread, support, nourishment, a shining sign of the Lord, a spur in favour of the lives of others.

Church leaders must be very special points of reference and cornerstones of creative, regenerating communion, from which the persistence and tolerance of a higher force of reciprocity shines through.

The eyes of the faithful in Christ remain clear and bright because they find brilliant friends who introduce them to confront and reflect not on external models (induced by opinions or intentions), but on the Word.

 

Conditioned by the bombardment of the 'external society' or by trivial partisan interests, spiritual leaders themselves can lose their creative discernment.

Thus, he clings to the old man, bound to vain hopes; many little and insignificant nothings - and finally becomes "blind" again.

Unfortunately, the kingdom of darkness includes not only the short-sighted, the long-sighted and the astigmatic, but above all those who see 'far' (as they say) but not the people before their eyes.

Faster and more organised than others, they take control of the situation.

For a long time, things seem pleasant in their company, but having no deep roots, it is precisely these people who ultimately ruin the fate of the weak.

They organise events or festivals instead of revitalising from within and singing the authentic song of a full life, joyful for all.

 

Beyond short-sightedness, attention should also be paid to 'moderation': we are not called to become good-natured, impeccable gentlemen, nor slightly more prudent and 'practical' defeatists.

All these are old failures that do not face the present and do not open up the future.

We have received the gift of the mission to build the world in the Risen One, who radiates strength and divine spark: radically new heavens and earth, even in our search.

Let us not dwell on the "specks".

In short, through grace, guidance, propulsive orientation and action, the genuine Action of vital Providence distances us from the domination of ancient superstructures ["beams" in the eye].

With such personal baggage, we can also become companions of a humanity that is no longer alienated, but enabled to breathe beyond the usual fervour... which incites trivialities.

Despite our faults, guided and blessed by the great Master and his Word in the Spirit, it will be our desire for a full and complete life that will not allow us to lose sight of our sacred Uniqueness in the world.