(Mt 23:27-32)

John Chrysostom writes in his Commentary on the Gospel of Mt:

«If the conscience of each one could be opened, how many worms, how much rottenness and what unimaginable filth we would find in it. Vile and perverse desires, more filthy than the worms themselves» (73:2).

In his effective Commentary on the Gospel of Mt, St Jerome writes:

«The sepulchres on the outside are white with lime, adorned with marble and gold, resplendent in their colours; but inside they are full of the bones of the dead. So also the perverse teachers, who say one thing and do another: in dress they show purity and in speech humility; but inside they are full of all decay and impure desire» (4).

Jesus takes a stand against hypocrisy and inconsistent extrinsicism. He does so against authorities who save clothing, ideas and image, but radically unfaithful.

He regrets that they appear fictitious and correct, while inside they are a total denial of the respect for God that they showcase.

Thus they let the dark side of the world stagnate, instead of helping us to remove it.

The ostentatious pity for the great ancestors denounces a guilt complex (vv.29-32), not a profoundly intimate key feature - a unifying sphere of being and acting.

Spiritual masters are in the field not to show off - but to benefit, to give colour, new life; to promote authentic and cheering, creative situations.

The Lord proposes a renewal that reaches deep within, more intimate than the epidermal fuss; that touches the place and dimension of the encounter with the Father.

He is not content with 'monuments' with unseemly surprise, inside.

We are always tempted to remain on the level of an embellished surface, seeking easy and immediate gratification, esteem, honour - especially we priests, who not infrequently like to lull ourselves into accolades.

We satisfy ourselves with epidermal things, why? Encountering oneself, others and reality requires an onerous commitment: that of questioning oneself; stepping out of forms, and external fashions.

The whitewashed tombs appear sacred and graceful, but one knows what they sometimes contain.

Not always crystal-clear diamonds; not always expressions of a direct line with others and with God.

In short, the conspicuousness of pomp and paraphernalia, or winking patinas, is a kind of projection.

Artifice that does not allow thoughts to be processed; it only drives away tiring nightmares - in the most childish way.

Love, on the other hand, lives on real sparks - it does not cross them unscathed by contenting itself with self-representation in decorative signs, or in ideology that lures the naive.

Screens of incredible emptiness.

While recognizing the facets of great artistic expression and differing opinions as legitimate, Jesus would have subscribed to a principle of the Puritan laity: «The greater the ceremonies, the lesser the Truth».

[Wednesday 21st wk. in O.T.  August 26, 2026]

Duality or integral practice: branches and Roots

(Mt 23:23–32)

    On how to remain on the Path that fosters growth, and to fulfil one’s natural calling, the Tao Te Ching states (LIX):

‘ ‘Sink deep roots and strengthen the trunk: this is the Way of long life and eternal youth.’

And Master Wang Pi comments: ‘To accumulate virtue means to focus on the root and only then to raise the branches.’

When the leaders of a dubious form of religiosity seek to gain credibility, they dwell on abstract ideas or minutiae, and turn a blind eye to what is aberrant.

In ancient times, the duplicity between what they displayed and what they practised was proverbial.

To conceal their ignoble spirit of plunder (v. 25), they conjure up all manner of legalistic subtleties, thereby overshadowing the essential requirements.

Even in Israel, they never followed the line taken by the Prophets: they plotted to make Jesus—who was exposing them—suffer, seeking to discourage him with mocking insults and accusations—with the aim of undermining his boldness.

Yet the new Rabbi continued his scathing condemnation of religious formalism, which created barriers to any profound exploration of the motivations behind one’s actions. 

Nevertheless, his story helps us to understand that even the harsh circumstances and the ambiguous attitudes of the leaders themselves can be an opportunity and a starting point.

Perhaps a gift, to take action. The inner man comes alive even by shattering a mask, a role, a formal duty, a persona; an established icon of wanting to appear rather than to be.

For us today, too, it is a matter of taking the greatest risk with Christ, in favour of a long inner adventure.

Here we touch upon those realms where the Call by Name is unlike any other.

There, where we encounter ourselves, our deepest vocational identity, our unexpressed talents, and the divine Author’s signature, in Uniqueness.

If we do not silence it, then the vocational Seed that does not lie, and which guides, will emerge within us; the Risen One, present, who reveals himself to be understanding, gentle, attentive, utterly personal, yet clear.

Attention to detail and minutiae is good and driving (v.23) only if it is united with this intimate discovery of one’s own unique Mission.

Here, the call to fundamental values does not imply indifference or contempt for what seems secondary: such a call may conceal a unique character.

Without extreme incentives, the motive behind our actions might well remain self-interest and concern for one’s own reputation, and so on.

This would pervade the soul through inaction or silence, rendering the lived experience of Faith barren and discredited.

In this way, even an internal or external contradiction can help bring forth our deepest self.

Even anger at disorder can trigger growth, so that we may live up to our Name.

Thus… we put down roots and strengthen the trunk; we stimulate an inner youthfulness. Keeping our sights set on the hidden Seed, before we let our branches grow.

The Master proposes a return to the essential – so too that we may follow the ‘unique and specific path that the Lord has in store for us’ [Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 11].

All this stems from a great desire to be born anew, in both small and great things, so that we may bring forth our deepest self.

To internalise and live out the message:

What is your well-filtered gnat, which someone has conditioned you to regard as a camel? What twisted monstrosity have you been forced to swallow, so that you might be deemed fit to follow the Lord?

Beautiful on the outside, rotten on the inside

Appearances: emptiness

(Mt 23:27–32)

    John Chrysostom writes in his Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew:

‘If one could open up the conscience of every person, how many worms, how much rot and what unimaginable stench would we find within. Vile and perverse desires, filthier even than the worms themselves’ (73:2).

Perhaps we were taken aback by the Pope’s stern stance against cheerful, casual and ambiguous forms of asset management, and in the realm of morality within the Catholic Church – a veritable campaign of clerical reform, which has gone so far as to reopen prisons.

But in taking a stand against the system of grand pretensions [hypocrisy and incoherent outward show], Jesus goes even further.

He does so in the face of the ancient authorities, the religious leaders and those who trade in the sacred – leaders who preserve their reputations, their ideas and their image, yet are radically unfaithful.

He laments their false and proper outward appearance, whilst inwardly they are the total negation of the respect for God that they put on display.

In this way, they allow the dark side of the world to fester, instead of helping us to rid ourselves of it.

The ostentatious piety shown towards the great ancestors betrays a guilt complex (vv. 29–32), not a deep, intimate conviction – the unifying core of being and action.

Hysteria that exorcises the vice of the ‘chosen ones’ of all time: getting rid of those who unmask their empty existence; as well as their well-adorned, intellectual or legalistic influence, which still confines the lives of so many people to tombs.

Spiritual masters are on the scene not to put themselves on display – nor to present themselves as menacing guides.

They must act to do good, to bring colour and new life; to foster authentic situations and new, uplifting and creative content.

In his detailed Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, St Jerome writes:

‘ Outwardly, the tombs are whitewashed with lime, adorned with marble and gold, resplendent in their colours; but inside they are full of the bones of the dead. So too are the perverse teachers, who say one thing and do another: in their dress they display purity and in their words humility; but inside they are full of every kind of rot and every impure desire’ (4).

The Lord calls for a renewal that reaches deep within, more intimate than mere superficial agitation; one that touches the very place and dimension of our encounter with the Father.

He is not satisfied with ‘monuments’ that harbour a surprise within.

We are always tempted to remain on the level of a beautified surface, in search of easy and immediate satisfactions, esteem and honour – especially we priests, who not infrequently love to lull ourselves with futile accolades.

And our various theatres of ostentatious yet hollow religiosity are more than willing to cloak the membership of the leading actors in the civilisation of fiction – clean and adorned – with spiritual prestige.

We are content with superficial things – why? Encountering oneself, others and reality requires a heavy commitment: that of questioning oneself; of stepping outside forms and external fashions.

But good manners are not enough to cover up so many terrible habits.

The false security of presenting our soap-opera façade is no longer enough: a figure adorned with even religious and devout status that one wishes to display.

The hypocrisy of complacent interpretations or over-the-top characterisations is an attitude that is not infrequently disguised and even criminal.

It is cheerfully leading us towards the dark evil of the most decadent emptiness and widespread sadness.

The whitewashed tombs of our premature graveyard appear sacred and graceful, but we know what they sometimes contain.

Not always crystalline diamonds; not always expressions of a direct connection with others and with God.

Therefore, the surprising commitment of the current hierarchies to internal purification remains a firm and entirely appropriate principle.

It is life that matters and must be promoted, not the papier-mâché facade of all that is unknown or hidden which has grown within our homes.

Indeed, it is precisely the mannerists or modernists, the superficial moralisers, the most vain proponents of ritual beauty or the latest fashions… who turn out to be the worst sort of people – leading double lives; lovers of a satrap-like style [perhaps for social redemption].

Herein lies the confusion of ideas, even for oneself, and the paradoxical act of disidentification.

In short, the ostentatiousness of grandeur and pretence, or of glossy facades that are always winking at us, is a sort of projection.

An artifice that prevents the formation of thoughts; it merely wards off exhausting nightmares – in the most childish way.

Love, on the other hand, thrives on real sparks – it does not pass through them unscathed, content to represent itself merely in decorative symbols, or in the ideology that lures the naive.

Screens of incredible emptiness.

Whilst recognising the legitimacy of the facets of great artistic expressions and differing opinions, Jesus would have endorsed the principle of the Anglo-Saxon puritanical laity: ‘The greater the ceremonies, the lesser the Truth’.

To internalise and live out the message:

Which forms of clerical hypocrisy [or blind adherence] annoy you, despite their ostentation?

The hypocritical accusers pretend to entrust the judgement to him whereas it is actually he himself whom they wish to accuse and judge. Jesus, on the other hand, is "full of grace and truth" (Jn 1: 14): he can read every human heart, he wants to condemn the sin but save the sinner, and unmask hypocrisy. St John the Evangelist highlights one detail: while his accusers are insistently interrogating him, Jesus bends down and starts writing with his finger on the ground. St Augustine notes that this gesture portrays Christ as the divine legislator: in fact, God wrote the law with his finger on tablets of stone (cf. Commentary on John's Gospel, 33,5). Thus Jesus is the Legislator, he is Justice in person. And what is his sentence? "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her". These words are full of the disarming power of truth that pulls down the wall of hypocrisy.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 21 March 2010]

2. The present-day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy. The word and the concept of "mercy" seem to cause uneasiness in man, who, thanks to the enormous development of science and technology, never before known in history, has become the master of the earth and has subdued and dominated.

15. Let us offer up our petitions, directed by the faith, by the hope, and by the charity which Christ has planted in our hearts. This attitude is likewise love of God, whom modern man has sometimes separated far from himself, made extraneous to himself, proclaiming in various ways that God is "superfluous." This is, therefore, love of God, the insulting rejection of whom by modern man we feel profoundly, and we are ready to cry out with Christ on the cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."137 At the same time it is love of people, of all men and women without any exception or division: without difference of race, culture, language, or world outlook, without distinction between friends and enemies. This is love for people-it desires every true good for each individual and for every human community, every family, every nation, every social group, for young people, adults, parents, the elderly-a love for everyone, without exception. This is love, or rather an anxious solicitude to ensure for each individual every true good and to remove and drive away every sort of evil.

[Pope John Paul II, Dives in Misericordia]

When it is said of someone that they are a person with a double life, it is not to pay them a compliment. On the contrary. It is those people who irritate, cause indignation, or often even disgust with behaviour that contradicts the things that they are paying lip service to. Whether it is a politician or a neighbour makes little difference: discovering, so to speak, a 'double life', is something that always hurts. And let us not mention the disillusionment it can generate, especially in young people.

But if preaching well and braying badly is always an irritating thing, when it is a priest doing it, it is even more intolerable. Because there is something more at stake. Pope Francis said it very clearly, and as always in a very direct and effective style, a few days ago. When, in the homily of the morning Mass at Santa Marta, he stressed how "it is ugly to see pastors of double life", indeed it is a real "wound in the Church". For the Pope, they are "sick pastors, who have lost their authority and go on in this double life"; and, he added, "there are many ways of carrying on the double life: but it is double ... And Jesus is very strong with them. Not only does he tell people not to listen to them but not to do what they do, but what does he say to them? "You are whited sepulchres": beautiful in doctrine, from the outside. But inside, rottenness. This is the end of the pastor who has no closeness with God in prayer and with people in compassion'.

For it is this that makes the difference. Francis reiterates it firmly: 'What gives a pastor authority or awakens the authority that is given by the Father, is closeness: closeness to God in prayer and closeness to people. The pastor detached from the people does not reach the people with the message. Closeness, this double closeness. This is the anointing of the pastor who is moved by God's gift in prayer, and can be moved by people's sins, problems, illnesses: let the pastor be moved. The scribes ... had lost the 'ability' to be moved precisely because 'they were not close either to the people or to God'". And without this closeness, or when for whatever reason it is lost, 'the shepherd ends up in inconsistency of life'.

It seems like re-reading the words that John Paul II, in his Holy Thursday letter addressed to priests around the world in 1986, dedicated to the Holy Curate of Ars, pointing to him, on the second centenary of his birth, as an example for all priests. 'It is certainly not a matter of forgetting,' wrote Benedict XVI, again on St John Mary Vianney, in his letter of indiction for the 2009 Year for Priests, 'that the substantial effectiveness of the ministry remains independent of the holiness of the minister; but neither can we overlook the extraordinary fruitfulness generated by the encounter between the objective holiness of the ministry and the subjective holiness of the minister. The Curé d'Ars immediately began this humble and patient work of harmonisation between his life as a minister and the holiness of the ministry entrusted to him, deciding to 'live' even materially in his parish church: 'As soon as he arrived, he chose the church as his dwelling... He would enter the church before dawn and only leave it after the evening Angelus. There one had to look for him when one needed him,' reads the first biography'. Consistency, then. Not duplicity. Because God's people need everything except whitewashed sepulchres.

[Pope Francis, St. Martha; Salvatore Mazza in Avvenire 13 January 2018]

(Mt 23:23-26)

When leaders of an equivocal religiosity want to be accredited, they insist on abstract ideas or details, and pretend not to see the abnormal.

In ancient times, the duplicity between what they showed and what they cultivated was proverbial.

To cover up their despicable spirit of robbery (v.25), here they are to make sprout all sorts of legalistic subtleties, overshadowing the substantial demands.

Even in Israel, they were never on the line of the Prophets: they calculated to make Jesus suffer who exposed them, to discourage him with mocking insults and accusations - in order to undermine his boldness.

Yet the new Rabbi continued in the lashing condemnation of religious formalism, which created barriers to any profound motivations’ search for action.

However, his story makes us understand that even the harsh conditions and ambiguous attitudes of the authorities themselves can be an opportunity and a starting point.

Perhaps a gift, to act.

The inner person also enlivens by breaking a mask, a role, a formal task, a character; a consolidated icon of wanting to appear and not to be.

However, today it is also up to us to take the greatest risk with Christ, in favour of a long adventure of the soul.

Here we touch those spaces where the Call by Name does not resemble anyone else.

Where we meet ourselves, our profound vocational identity, the unexpressed talents, and the divine Author’s signature, in Uniqueness.

If we do not keep it quiet, then the vocational Seed that does not lie and guides us emerges; the present Risen Christ who reveals himself to be understanding, delicate, attentive, absolutely personal but clear.

Attention to details and minutiae is good and propulsive (v.23) only if it joins this intimate discovery of one’s singular Mission.

Here the reference to substantial values does not imply carelessness or contempt for what seems secondary: this appeal can conceal an unrepeatable character.

Devoid of extreme solicitations, the motive of our actions would perhaps remain the benefit and concern of our own fame; so on.

This would pervade the soul from not doing or not saying anything, making arid and discredited the experience of Faith.

In this way, even an internal or external contradiction can contribute to giving birth to our deepest side.

Even anger at a disorder can activate development, so that we correspond to our Name.

And so we sink our roots, strengthen the trunk, to stimulate inner youthfulness. With our sights set on the hidden Seed, before raising “branches”.

The Master proposes an ascent to essentiality - also so that we can follow the «one specific path that the Lord has in mind for us» [Gaudete et Exsultate n.11].

All in a great desire to be born again, in the small and the big, to give birth to our deepest side.

[Tuesday 21th wk. in O.T.  August 25, 2026]

In the Liturgy of the Word [...] the theme of God’s Law, of his commandments, makes its entrance in the Liturgy of the Word this Sunday. It is an essential element of the Jewish and Christian religions, where the complete fulfilment of the law is love (cf. Rom 13:10). God’s Law is his word which guides men and women on the journey through life, brings them out of the slavery of selfishness and leads them into the “land” of true freedom and life. This is why the Law is not perceived as a burden or an oppressive restriction in the Bible. Rather, it is seen as the Lord’s most precious gift, the testimony of his fatherly love, of his desire to be close to his People, to be its Ally and with it write a love story.

This is what the devout Israelite prays: “I will delight in your statutes, / I will not forget your word.... Lead me in the path of your commandments, / for I delight in it” (Ps 119[118]:16, 35). In the Old Testament the person who passes on the Law to the People on God’s behalf is Moses. After the long journey in the wilderness, on the threshold of the promised land, he proclaims: “Now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you” (Deut 4:1). And this is the problem: when the People put down roots in the land and are the depository of the Law, they are tempted to place their security and joy in something that is no longer the Word of God: in possessions, in power, in other ‘gods’ that in reality are useless, they are idols. Of course, the Law of God remains but it is no longer the most important thing, the rule of life; rather, it becomes a camouflage, a cover-up, while life follows other paths, other rules, interests that are often forms of egoism, both individual and collective.

Thus religion loses its authentic meaning, which is to live listening to God in order to do his will — that is the truth of our being — and thus we live well, in true freedom, and it is reduced to practising secondary customs which instead satisfy the human need to feel in God’s place. This is a serious threat to every religion which Jesus encountered in his time and which, unfortunately, is also to be found in Christianity. Jesus’ words against the scribes and Pharisees in today’s Gospel should therefore be food for thought for us as well.

Jesus makes his own the very words of the Prophet Isaiah: “This People honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Mk 7:6-7; cf. Is 29,13). And he then concludes: “You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men” (Mk 7:8).

The Apostle James too alerts us in his Letter to the danger of false piety. He writes to the Christians: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas 1:22). May the Virgin Mary, to whom we now turn in prayer, help us to listen with an open and sincere heart to the word of God so that every day it may guide our thoughts, our decisions and our actions.

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 2 September 2012]

1. "Lord, show us the Father" (Jn 14:8). In the culminating and concluding hour of the messianic activity of Jesus of Nazareth, on the eve of his passion and death on the cross, the Apostles gathered in the cenacle, and in particular Philip, ask the Master: "Lord, show us the Father". Jesus answers them: 'He who has seen me has seen the Father.... I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (Jn 14:9. 11). The disciples' last conversation with their Master is dense with profound content; in it the most profound elements of the Good News converge and are somehow encapsulated. During his earthly mission Jesus had continually spoken of the Father, he had always lived united with Him, in everything he had referred to Him. He, who is totally from Him and for Him, had commanded the disciples to pray to Him by calling Him: 'Our Father'. At the Last Supper, answering Philip's question, he says: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak them of myself; but the Father who is with me does his works... believe this by the works themselves" (John 14: 10-11).

2. Who is God? The answer to this question is undoubtedly paramount and fundamental to human life. The answers to the questions "Does God exist?" and "Who is God?" can be found in superabundance in the Good News enunciated by Christ. "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him" (Jn 1:18). He has revealed God to us in his infinite glory. Although he always remains a mystery to us human beings, this God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - allows us to call him by name. Already in the Old Covenant his Name was revealed to men: Yahweh, "He who is". In the Gospel revelation this Name of God, without losing its primordial identity, has in a certain sense been further opened to human intelligence: "He who is" is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Believers have thus been given to know through faith the inscrutable unity of the Trinity.

3. At the same time, this infinite and mysterious God in His only-begotten Son has drawn near to man in an ineffable way: in Him, the Word made flesh, God has become man. This is why man can now see God: "He who has seen me has seen the Father" (Jn 14:9). But God has done even more: Christ, the Son of God, has come among men as the Way to the Father. He himself, who comes from the Father and returns to the Father through his cross and resurrection, becomes the Way for us all. Through Him, we too "go" to the Father: through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Through Him we can participate in the fullness of God's own Truth and Life: Yahweh, that is, "He who is" is precisely this absolute divine Fullness, which in Christ is shared with us. "No one comes to the Father except through me" (Jn 14:6), says Jesus. In Him, human life finds its ultimate end in God, who manifests Himself as the eternal "dwelling place" for man, whose existence on earth is like a pilgrimage in search of the Absolute. "In my Father's house there are many places" (Jn 14:2): therefore there are many who will dwell there. To the questions and difficulties of human intelligence, which before this statement wonders how this will be possible, Jesus replies: "If not, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you...". (Jn 14:2). We are thus led to the summit of our faith and hope: Christ's messianic activity, which proclaims the Gospel of the Kingdom and fulfils the paschal mystery, constitutes a unique preparation for definitive communion with God. Through this salvific mission, the Son prepares a place for us in the Father's house. We are therefore all "called", that is, we are invited to dwell in the eternal dwellings, to participate in and enjoy that fullness of Truth and Life that is God himself.

4. The invitation to dwell in the eternal dwellings is addressed to all of us, dear Brothers and Sisters, gathered in this enchanting Valley, witness to the ancient and glorious Church of St Libertine. We stand before the largest complex of ancient temples still standing today. It speaks to us of the deep need for God present in the heart of humanity in every age and culture. And I am glad to be able to read and interpret with you this Johannine Gospel of today Sunday. I am glad that these ancient columns of Greek temples can hear the living voice of the Gospel, of Christian Revelation, after so many millennia. We are living, this evening, at the close of my visit to your Diocese, a special experience of faith and communion. Coming from the various regions of the Island, dear faithful, you have gathered together with the Successor of Peter to renew your adherence to Christ, the "cornerstone" that structures the whole edifice of God. You are the witnesses of Jesus, Way, Truth and Life of man in this Sicilian land. Your existence is called to become more and more an evangelical sign of reconciliation and resurrection.

5. When man opens himself to faith, he experiences that selfishness is replaced by altruism, hatred by love, revenge by forgiveness, greed by loving service, selfishness and individualism by solidarity, division by concord - as this ancient temple near Agrigento is called -, violence by mercy. This happens when man opens himself to faith. When, on the other hand, one rejects the Gospel and its message of salvation, a process of attrition of moral values is set in motion, which easily has negative repercussions on social life itself. Is this not perhaps the ultimate reason for the failure of a culture based on personal gain, which does not consider the real needs of people, especially the poorest, condemned to remain victims of the injustices of an increasingly competitive society with less and less solidarity? The real force capable of overcoming these destructive tendencies springs from faith. This, however, demands not only an intimate personal adherence, but also a courageous outward witness, expressed in a convinced condemnation of evil. It demands here, in your land, a clear reprobation of the culture of the Mafia, which is a culture of death, profoundly inhuman, anti-evangelical, an enemy of the dignity of persons and of civil coexistence.

6. The serious situations of poverty, which have caused so much suffering among your people, forcing a large number of men and women to separate from their dearest affections to emigrate to distant countries, have favoured the emergence and spread of real diseases in the social fabric, such as latifundialism and mafia phenomena. At the same time, however, many people, precisely in such difficult conditions, have learnt to suffer with dignity, to work with tenacity, and to never lose hope in God and man. Just as in past years the Sicilian people were able to overcome long and painful trials, so too today they have the necessary resources, together with the solidarity support of the Italian nation, to heal the current wounds, many of which are the fruit of atavistic social conditions. The Sicilian Church is called, today as in the past, to share the commitment, fatigue and risks of those who struggle, even at personal cost, to lay the foundations for a future of progress, justice and peace for the entire Island.

7. May divine grace sustain you, dear friends, in this fraternal and concerted effort. "Turn to us, O Lord; in you we hope" (Responsorial Psalm): the liturgy has had us repeat this confident invocation just now. We hope in the Lord: this is the firm certainty that sustains the steps of those who work for justice and peace. May this also be the comfort of all of you, living stones of the ancient edifice of the pilgrim Church of God in Sicily. With these sentiments I am happy to embrace in the Lord the dear Bishops of the Region, present here together with Cardinal Salvatore Pappalardo, Archbishop of Palermo. I greet in particular Monsignor Carmelo Ferraro, Pastor of the Diocese of Agrigento, which is hosting this solemn celebration. I cordially thank him for the courteous expressions he wished to address to me on your behalf. My thoughts turn then to the secular and regular Clergy, to the priests, to the men and women Religious, to the Members of secular Institutes and Societies of Apostolic Life, as well as to the Laity generously engaged in Christian life in the different fields, in the different vocations, in the different commitments. Finally, I address a special, affectionate thought to the sick, those who are present here and many others whom I wish to unite in my prayers and intentions. Then there are the young people. They have kept vigil all night. They should be tired and fatigued, but you cannot see it. You can see the strength. Where did this strength come from? I think it came from the Spirit that the Lord does not deny to those who pray to Him. And these young people prayed all night long. I wish you, dear friends, this strength, the strength for good, the strength to overcome the hardships, the moral illnesses of your land. The strength for a better future for Sicily. In this context, the words of the Apostle Peter ring true: 'You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people whom God has purchased to proclaim the wonderful works' (1 Pet 2:9) of the Lord. Be all of you apostles of the One who has called you out of darkness into his admirable light. This is the charge I leave you. Especially to you, young people, and to all you members of this splendid Christian community of Agrigento.

8. "I am the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6): as he once spoke to the apostles, so Jesus speaks to us this evening. He adds: "I will take you with me, that you also may be where I am. And of the place where I go, you know the way" (John 14: 3-4), for: "I am going to the Father". We all, following Christ, his prayer, his Gospel, repeat tonight "Our Father". It is the prayer of our life. Not only do we strive to make the invocations of this prayer our own, but we want to love Christ, the only Way to the Father, with all our heart and life.

Lord Jesus, "show us the Father and that is enough for us" (John 14: 8).

Amen!

At the end of the Holy Mass, after the final Blessing, John Paul II pronounced these words in his own words (the transcription that follows is literal, therefore with some grammatical imperfections)

Dearly beloved,

I wish you, as the deacon said, to go in peace: to go in peace to find peace in your land.

Dearly beloved,

one does not easily forget such a celebration, in this Valley, against the backdrop of temples: temples from the Greek period that express this great culture and this great art and also this religiosity, the temples that are witnesses today to our Eucharistic celebration. And one has been named "Concordia": be this name emblematic, be it prophetic. Let there be concord in this land of yours! Concordia without death, without murder, without fear, without threats, without victims! Let there be concord! This concord, this peace to which every people and every family aspires! After so many times of suffering you finally have a right to live in peace. And these who are guilty of disturbing this peace, these who bear so many human victims on their consciences, they must understand, they must understand that innocent people are not allowed to be killed! God once said: 'Thou shalt not kill': no man, any, any human agglomeration, mafia, cannot change and trample on this most holy right of God!

This people, the Sicilian people, so attached to life, a people that loves life, that gives life, cannot always live under the pressure of an opposing civilisation, a civilisation of death. What is needed here is a civilisation of life! In the name of this Christ, crucified and risen, of this Christ who is life, the way, the truth and the life, I say to those responsible: convert! Once will come the judgement of God!

Dearly beloved,

thank you for your participation in this prayer that is so evocative, so profound, so participatory. I leave you with this greeting: Praised be Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life! Amen.

[Pope John Paul II, homily in the Valley of the Temples, Agrigento 9 May 1993]

11. “Each in his or her own way” the Council says. We should not grow discouraged before examples of holiness that appear unattainable. There are some testimonies that may prove helpful and inspiring, but that we are not meant to copy, for that could even lead us astray from the one specific path that the Lord has in mind for us. The important thing is that each believer discern his or her own path, that they bring out the very best of themselves, the most personal gifts that God has placed in their hearts (cf. 1 Cor 12:7), rather than hopelessly trying to imitate something not meant for them. We are all called to be witnesses, but there are many actual ways of bearing witness. Indeed, when the great mystic, Saint John of the Cross, wrote his Spiritual Canticle, he preferred to avoid hard and fast rules for all. He explained that his verses were composed so that everyone could benefit from them “in his or her own way”. For God’s life is communicated “to some in one way and to others in another”.

[Gaudete et Exsultate].

Furthermore, pastors and lay people accompanying their brothers and sisters in the faith or on a path of openness to God must always remember what the Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly states: 'Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, unawareness, coercion, fear, habit, excessive attachment, and other psychological or social factors. Consequently, without departing from the evangelical ideal, they must accompany with patience and mercy through the various stages of personal growth when these occur. I want to remind priests that the confessional should not be a torture chamber, but rather a place of encounter with God's mercy that spurs us on to do our best. A small step, in the midst of our human limitations, can please God more than a life that is apparently perfect, but proceeds without ever encountering great difficulties.

[Pope Francis, in:

https://www.spaziosacro.com/node/186126]