The Cross of Christ is the instrument of our salvation, which reveals the mercy of our God in all its fullness. The Cross is truly the place where God’s compassion for our world is perfectly manifested. Today, as we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, we contemplate Mary sharing her Son’s compassion for sinners. As Saint Bernard declares, the Mother of Christ entered into the Passion of her Son through her compassion (cf. Homily for Sunday in the Octave of the Assumption). At the foot of the Cross, the prophecy of Simeon is fulfilled: her mother’s heart is pierced through (cf. Lk 2:35) by the torment inflicted on the Innocent One born of her flesh. Just as Jesus cried (cf. Jn 11:35), so too Mary certainly cried over the tortured body of her Son. Her self-restraint, however, prevents us from plumbing the depths of her grief; the full extent of her suffering is merely suggested by the traditional symbol of the seven swords. As in the case of her Son Jesus, one might say that she too was led to perfection through this suffering (cf. Heb 2:10), so as to make her capable of receiving the new spiritual mission that her Son entrusts to her immediately before “giving up his spirit” (cf. Jn 19:30): that of becoming the mother of Christ in his members. In that hour, through the figure of the beloved disciple, Jesus presents each of his disciples to his Mother when he says to her: Behold your Son (cf. Jn 19:26-27).

Today Mary dwells in the joy and the glory of the Resurrection. The tears shed at the foot of the Cross have been transformed into a smile which nothing can wipe away, even as her maternal compassion towards us remains unchanged. The intervention of the Virgin Mary in offering succour throughout history testifies to this, and does not cease to call forth, in the people of God, an unshakable confidence in her: the Memorare prayer expresses this sentiment very well. Mary loves each of her children, giving particular attention to those who, like her Son at the hour of his Passion, are prey to suffering; she loves them quite simply because they are her children, according to the will of Christ on the Cross.

The psalmist, seeing from afar this maternal bond which unites the Mother of Christ with the people of faith, prophesies regarding the Virgin Mary that “the richest of the people … will seek your smile” (Ps 44:13). In this way, prompted by the inspired word of Scripture, Christians have always sought the smile of Our Lady, this smile which medieval artists were able to represent with such marvellous skill and to show to advantage. This smile of Mary is for all; but it is directed quite particularly to those who suffer, so that they can find comfort and solace therein. To seek Mary’s smile is not an act of devotional or outmoded sentimentality, but rather the proper expression of the living and profoundly human relationship which binds us to her whom Christ gave us as our Mother.

To wish to contemplate this smile of the Virgin, does not mean letting oneself be led by an uncontrolled imagination. Scripture itself discloses it to us through the lips of Mary when she sings the Magnificat: “My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit exults in God my Saviour” (Lk 1:46-47). When the Virgin Mary gives thanks to the Lord, she calls us to witness. Mary shares, as if by anticipation, with us, her future children, the joy that dwells in her heart, so that it can become ours. Every time we recite the Magnificat, we become witnesses of her smile. Here in Lourdes, in the course of the apparition of Wednesday 3 March 1858, Bernadette contemplated this smile of Mary in a most particular way. It was the first response that the Beautiful Lady gave to the young visionary who wanted to know who she was. Before introducing herself, some days later, as “the Immaculate Conception”, Mary first taught Bernadette to know her smile, this being the most appropriate point of entry into the revelation of her mystery.

In the smile of the most eminent of all creatures, looking down on us, is reflected our dignity as children of God, that dignity which never abandons the sick person. This smile, a true reflection of God’s tenderness, is the source of an invincible hope. Unfortunately we know only too well: the endurance of suffering can upset life’s most stable equilibrium; it can shake the firmest foundations of confidence, and sometimes even leads people to despair of the meaning and value of life. There are struggles that we cannot sustain alone, without the help of divine grace. When speech can no longer find the right words, the need arises for a loving presence: we seek then the closeness not only of those who share the same blood or are linked to us by friendship, but also the closeness of those who are intimately bound to us by faith. Who could be more intimate to us than Christ and his holy Mother, the Immaculate One? More than any others, they are capable of understanding us and grasping how hard we have to fight against evil and suffering. The Letter to the Hebrews says of Christ that he “is not unable to sympathize with our weaknesses; for in every respect he has been tempted as we are” (cf. Heb 4:15). I would like to say, humbly, to those who suffer and to those who struggle and are tempted to turn their backs on life: turn towards Mary! Within the smile of the Virgin lies mysteriously hidden the strength to fight against sickness and for life. With her, equally, is found the grace to accept without fear or bitterness to leave this world at the hour chosen by God.

How true was the insight of that great French spiritual writer, Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard, who in L’ âme de tout apostolat, proposed to the devout Christian to gaze frequently “into the eyes of the Virgin Mary”! Yes, to seek the smile of the Virgin Mary is not a pious infantilism, it is the aspiration, as Psalm 44 says, of those who are “the richest of the people” (verse 13). “The richest”, that is to say, in the order of faith, those who have attained the highest degree of spiritual maturity and know precisely how to acknowledge their weakness and their poverty before God. In the very simple manifestation of tenderness that we call a smile, we grasp that our sole wealth is the love God bears us, which passes through the heart of her who became our Mother. To seek this smile, is first of all to have grasped the gratuitousness of love; it is also to be able to elicit this smile through our efforts to live according to the word of her Beloved Son, just as a child seeks to elicit its mother’s smile by doing what pleases her. And we know what pleases Mary, thanks to the words she spoke to the servants at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you” (cf. Jn 2:5).

Mary’s smile is a spring of living water. “He who believes in me”, says Jesus, “out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38). Mary is the one who believed and, from her womb, rivers of living water have flowed forth to irrigate human history. The spring that Mary pointed out to Bernadette here in Lourdes is the humble sign of this spiritual reality. From her believing heart, from her maternal heart, flows living water which purifies and heals. By immersing themselves in the baths at Lourdes, so many people have discovered and experienced the gentle maternal love of the Virgin Mary, becoming attached to her in order to bind themselves more closely to the Lord! In the liturgical sequence of this feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, Mary is honoured with the title of Fons amoris, “fount of love”. From Mary’s heart, there springs up a gratuitous love which calls forth a response of filial love, called to ever greater refinement. Like every mother, and better than every mother, Mary is the teacher of love. That is why so many sick people come here to Lourdes, to quench their thirst at the “spring of love” and to let themselves be led to the sole source of salvation, her son Jesus the Saviour.

Christ imparts his salvation by means of the sacraments, and especially in the case of those suffering from sickness or disability, by means of the grace of the sacrament of the sick. For each individual, suffering is always something alien. It can never be tamed. That is why it is hard to bear, and harder still – as certain great witnesses of Christ’s holiness have done – to welcome it as a significant element in our vocation, or to accept, as Bernadette expressed it, to “suffer everything in silence in order to please Jesus”. To be able to say that, it is necessary to have travelled a long way already in union with Jesus. Here and now, though, it is possible to entrust oneself to God’s mercy, as manifested through the grace of the sacrament of the sick. Bernadette herself, in the course of a life that was often marked by sickness, received this sacrament four times. The grace of this sacrament consists in welcoming Christ the healer into ourselves. However, Christ is not a healer in the manner of the world. In order to heal us, he does not remain outside the suffering that is experienced; he eases it by coming to dwell within the one stricken by illness, to bear it and live it with him. Christ’s presence comes to break the isolation which pain induces. Man no longer bears his burden alone: as a suffering member of Christ, he is conformed to Christ in his self-offering to the Father, and he participates, in him, in the coming to birth of the new creation.

Without the Lord’s help, the yoke of sickness and suffering weighs down on us cruelly. By receiving the sacrament of the sick, we seek to carry no other yoke that that of Christ, strengthened through his promise to us that his yoke will be easy to carry and his burden light (cf. Mt 11:30). I invite those who are to receive the sacrament of the sick during this Mass to enter into a hope of this kind.

The Second Vatican Council presented Mary as the figure in whom the entire mystery of the Church is typified (cf. Lumen Gentium, 63-65). Her personal journey outlines the profile of the Church, which is called to be just as attentive to those who suffer as she herself was. I extend an affectionate greeting to those working in the areas of public health and nursing, as well as those who, in different ways, in hospitals and other institutions, are contributing to the care of the sick with competence and generosity. Equally, I should like to say to all the hospitaliers, the brancardiers and the carers who come from every diocese in France and from further afield, and who throughout the year attend the sick who come on pilgrimage to Lourdes, how much their service is appreciated. They are the arms of the servant Church. Finally, I wish to encourage those who, in the name of their faith, receive and visit the sick, especially in hospital infirmaries, in parishes or, as here, at shrines. May you always sense in this important and delicate mission the effective and fraternal support of your communities! In this regard, I particularly greet and thank my brothers in the Episcopate, the French Bishops, Bishops and priests from afar, and all who serve the sick and suffering throughout the world. Thank you for your ministry close to our suffering Lord.

The service of charity that you offer is a Marian service. Mary entrusts her smile to you, so that you yourselves may become, in faithfulness to her son, springs of living water. Whatever you do, you do in the name of the Church, of which Mary is the purest image. May you carry her smile to everyone!

To conclude, I wish to join in the prayer of the pilgrims and the sick, and to pray with you a passage from the prayer to Mary that has been proposed for this Jubilee celebration:

“Because you are the smile of God, the reflection of the light of Christ, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit,

Because you chose Bernadette in her lowliness, because you are the morning star, the gate of heaven and the first creature to experience the resurrection,

Our Lady of Lourdes”, with our brothers and sisters whose hearts and bodies are in pain, we pray to you!

[Pope Benedict, Lourdes 15 September 2008]

At the Cross, Mary is a participant in the drama of Redemption (Jn 19:17-28.25).

Mary united herself to Jesus’ offering

1. Regina caeli laetare, alleluia!

So the Church sings in this Easter season, inviting the faithful to join in the spiritual joy of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer. The Blessed Virgin’s gladness at Christ’s Resurrection is even greater if one considers her intimate participation in Jesus’ entire life.

In accepting with complete availability the words of the Angel Gabriel, who announced to her that she would become the Mother of the Messiah, Mary began her participation in the drama of Redemption. Her involvement in her Son’s sacrifice, revealed by Simeon during the presentation in the Temple, continues not only in the episode of the losing and finding of the 12-year-old Jesus, but also throughout his public life.

However, the Blessed Virgin’s association with Christ’s mission reaches its culmination in Jerusalem, at the time of the Redeemer’s Passion and Death. As the Fourth Gospel testifies, she was in the Holy City at the time, probably for the celebration of the Jewish feast of Passover.

2. The Council stresses the profound dimension of the Blessed Virgin’s presence on Calvary, recalling that she “faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the Cross” (Lumen gentium, n. 58), and points out that this union “in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death” (ibid., n. 57).

 With our gaze illumined by the radiance of the Resurrection, we pause to reflect on the Mother’s involvement in her Son’s redeeming Passion, which was completed by her sharing in his suffering. Let us return again, but now in the perspective of the Resurrection, to the foot of the Cross where the Mother endured “with her only-begotten Son the intensity of his suffering, associated herself with his sacrifice in her mother’s heart, and lovingly consented to the immolation of this victim which was born of her” (ibid., n. 58).

With these words, the Council reminds us of “Mary’s compassion”; in her heart reverberates all that Jesus suffers in body and soul, emphasizing her willingness to share in her Son’s redeeming sacrifice and to join her own maternal suffering to his priestly offering.

The Council text also stresses that her consent to Jesus’ immolation is not passive acceptance but a genuine act of love, by which she offers her Son as a “victim” of expiation for the sins of all humanity.

Lastly, Lumen gentium relates the Blessed Virgin to Christ, who has the lead role in Redemption, making it clear that in associating herself “with his sacrifice” she remains subordinate to her divine Son.

3. In the Fourth Gospel, St John says that “standing by the Cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene” (19:25). By using the verb “to stand”, which literally means “to be on one’s feet”, “to stand erect”, perhaps the Evangelist intends to present the dignity and strength shown in their sorrow by Mary and the other women.

The Blessed Virgin’s “standing erect” at the foot of the Cross recalls her unfailing constancy and extraordinary courage in facing suffering. In the tragic events of Calvary, Mary is sustained by faith, strengthened during the events of her life and especially during Jesus’ public life. The Council recalls that “the Blessed Virgin advanced in her pilgrimage of faith and faithfully persevered in her union with her Son unto the Cross” (Lumen gentium, n. 58).

Sharing his deepest feelings, she counters the arrogant insults addressed to the crucified Messiah with forbearance and pardon, associating herself with his prayer to the Father: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). By sharing in the feeling of abandonment to the Father’s will expressed in Jesus’ last words on the Cross: “Father into your hands I commend my spirit!” (ibid., 23:46), she thus offers, as the Council notes, loving consent “to the immolation of this victim which was born of her” (Lumen gentium, n. 58).

 4. Mary’s supreme “yes” is radiant with trusting hope in the mysterious future, begun with the death of her crucified Son. The words in which Jesus taught the disciples on his way to Jerusalem “that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” re-echo in her heart at the dramatic hour of Calvary, awakening expectation of and yearning for the Resurrection.

Mary’s hope at the foot of the Cross contains a light stronger than the darkness that reigns in many hearts: in the presence of the redeeming Sacrifice, the hope of the Church and of humanity is born in Mary.

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 2 April 1997]

At Santa Marta, on 21 May, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for the first time in the memory of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of the Church: as of this year, in fact, the feast day in the general Roman calendar is celebrated on the Monday after Pentecost, as ordered by the Pontiff in the decree Ecclesia mater of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (11 February 2018), precisely to "foster the growth of the maternal sense of the Church in pastors, religious and the faithful, as well as of genuine Marian piety".

"In the Gospels every time Mary is spoken of, it is the 'mother of Jesus'," Francis immediately pointed out in his homily, referring to the Gospel passage from John (19:25-34). And if "even in the Annunciation the word 'mother' is not said, the context is one of motherhood: the mother of Jesus," said the Pope, emphasising that "this motherly attitude accompanies her throughout Jesus' life: she is mother". So much so that, he continued, "in the end Jesus gives her as mother to his own, in the person of John: 'I am going away, but this is your mother'". Here, then, is "the motherhood of Mary".

"Our Lady's words are mother's words," the Pope explained. And they are "all of them: after those, at the beginning, of availability to God's will and praise to God in the Magnificat, all of Our Lady's words are the words of a mother". She is always 'with her Son, even in her attitudes: she accompanies her Son, she follows her Son'. And again 'first, in Nazareth, she raises him, educates him, but then she follows him: 'Your mother is there'". Mary 'is mother from the beginning, from the moment she appears in the Gospels, from that moment of the Annunciation until the end, she is mother'. Of her "one does not say 'the lady' or 'Joseph's widow'" - and indeed "they could say that" - but always Mary "is mother".

"The Fathers of the Church understood this well," the Pontiff affirmed, "and they also understood that Mary's maternity does not end in her; it goes beyond". Again the fathers "say that Mary is mother, the Church is mother and your soul is mother: there is feminine in the Church, which is motherly". Therefore, Francis explained, 'the Church is feminine because she is "church", "bride": she is feminine and she is mother, she gives birth'. She is, therefore, 'bride and mother', but 'the fathers go further and say: "Your soul is also Christ's bride and mother"'.

"In this attitude that comes from Mary who is mother of the Church," the Pope pointed out, "we can understand this feminine dimension of the Church: when she is not there, the Church loses its true identity and becomes a charity association or a football team or whatever, but not the Church.

"The Church is "woman"," Francis relaunched, "and when we think about the role of women in the Church we must go back to this source: Mary, mother". And "the Church is 'woman' because she is mother, because she is capable of 'giving birth to children': her soul is feminine because she is mother, she is capable of giving birth to attitudes of fecundity".

"Mary's maternity is a great thing," the Pontiff insisted. God in fact "wanted to be born as a woman to teach us this way". What is more, 'God fell in love with his people like a bridegroom with his bride: this is said in the Old Testament. And it is "a great mystery". As a consequence, Francis continued, "we can think" that "if the Church is mother, women will have to have functions in the Church: yes, it is true, they will have to have functions, many functions they do, thank God there are more functions women have in the Church".

But "this is not the most significant thing," the Pope warned, because "the important thing is that the Church be a woman, that she have this attitude of bride and mother". With the knowledge that 'when we forget this, it is a male Church without this dimension, and sadly it becomes a Church of spinsters, living in this isolation, incapable of love, incapable of fruitfulness'. Therefore, said the Pontiff, 'without woman the Church does not go forward, because she is woman, and this attitude of womanhood comes to her from Mary, because Jesus wanted it that way'.

In this regard, Francis also wanted to indicate 'the gesture, I would say the attitude, that most distinguishes the Church as a woman, the virtue that most distinguishes her as a woman'. And he suggested recognising it in Mary's 'gesture at the birth of Jesus: "She gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger"'. An image in which we find "precisely the tenderness of every mother with her child: caring for him with tenderness, so that he does not injure himself, so that he is well covered". And 'tenderness' is therefore also 'the attitude of the Church that feels woman and feels mother'."St Paul - we listened to him yesterday, we also prayed to him in the breviary - reminds us of the virtues of the Spirit and speaks to us of meekness, of humility, of these so-called 'passive' virtues," the Pope said, pointing out that instead "they are the strong virtues, the virtues of mothers". Here it is that, he added, 'a Church that is a mother goes on the path of tenderness; it knows the language of such wisdom of caresses, of silence, of a gaze that knows compassion, that knows silence'. And "a soul, a person who lives this belonging to the Church, knowing that she is also a mother must also go down the same path: a meek, tender, smiling person, full of love".

"Mary, mother; the Church, mother; our soul, mother," Francis repeated, inviting us to think "of this great richness of the Church and ours; and let the Holy Spirit fertilise us, us and the Church, so that we may also become mothers of others, with attitudes of tenderness, of meekness, of humility. Sure that this is Mary's way". And, in conclusion, the Pope also noted how "Mary's language in the Gospels is curious: when she speaks to her Son, it is to tell him about the things that others need; and when she speaks to others, it is to tell them: 'do whatever he tells you'".

[Pope Francis, St Marta homily, in L'Osservatore Romano 22/05/2018]

Alternative Pentecost Vigil

(Jn 7:37-39)

During the Feast of Tabernacles - on the occasion of the fruit harvest - the priests performed the ritual of water, carrying it in a golden jug from the pool of Siloah ['Sent'] to the Temple (where it was poured to ask for autumn rain).

The rite is customized by Jesus, who invites the crowds to drink from Wisdom: those who welcome Him will have within them a spring of life, an expression of the divine gold that is bestowed upon all his intimates - enabled to renew all things.

Invitation to come to Christ and quench one's thirst of Him, and Promise of the same divine Spirit for those who drink from his Person. Here the Lord replaces the Torah.

To say: we cannot fully exist without humanity quenching its thirst at Beverage that provides fullness of being.

The Lord matches what we seek, and exceeds it, making of each one a sanctuary that irrigates.

A personal, abundant Source of life-giving currents - even in deserts, to turn them into gardens.

Pentecost is in Christ an ultimate and springing moment. Fire and Wave.

Unlike in Acts 2, the Master does not use the impressive imagery of natural phenomena of the First Testament [thunder, earthquakes, hurricanes, lightning, fire] to narrate the living manifestation of God in believers.

In order to portray the outpouring of the Spirit, the breaking down of barriers and the project of a new Wisdom, Jesus uses the quiet image of a Water that is to be absorbed, that makes persons grow and - in time - produces life.

The path of Revelation and Covenant in the Spirit is revealed to be progressive - up to Him, in whom it finds its culmination.

Crowning that transfuses itself into the regenerated people: they (from fearless who were) become heralds and pioneers.

The new Creation, the new mothers and fathers expression of His victory over death, are not born from dust, but from the same «blood mixed with water» of the «elevated» Christ [on the cross].

Flow that now pours into disciples - to sprout life in them, so as to provide, brighten up and cheer the path of others.

In the open relationship between God and man (who by grace makes his contribution to Heaven's exuberant plan) the whole of creation also becomes a participant in the Pact of Communion.

After an initial cosmic alliance of peace with Noah, here is a personal one with Abraham - in view of the «multitudes».

The project of internalization and personal appeal had already shifted towards humanity, but with Moses it becomes energy and design of Liberation.

In Christ the chosen and holy people lay down all privileges: they become authentic in the recovery of opposing sides, and universal.

"Israel" moves from common religious feeling and from improved awareness of history lived alongside the Eternal, to the depths of his Heart - up to our own: that is, to reinterpretation and unprecedented adventure; properly, of Faith.

From the Prophets to Christ, the Covenant becomes global.

Under sudden or cadenced Action of the Spirit, 'Water' that goes beyond and overflows, but if assimilated makes everything grow - all and even dissimilarity becomes motion towards Unity: even chaos activates new cohesions.

The ancient Pact stretches far beyond borders.

Its circles become wider and wider - without making one fear that events might get out of hand with God - in moments of quietness and pauses, or even in unending upheavals.

The Water that the leaders or prophets of the First Testament had seen gushing out of rocks or cracked crags becomes Living - with no more corruptions.

[Solemnity of Pentecost: Vigil, May 7/8, 2025]

Jn 7:37-39 (37-53)

The golden Pitcher and the River of Life

(Jn 7:37-39)

During the Feast of Tabernacles - on the occasion of the fruit harvest - the priests performed the ritual of water, carrying it in a golden jug from the pool of Siloah ['Sent'] to the Temple (where it was poured to ask for autumn rain).

The rite is customized by Jesus, who invites the crowds to drink from Wisdom: those who welcome Him will have within them a spring of life, an expression of the divine gold that is bestowed upon all his intimates - enabled to renew all things.

Invitation to come to Christ and quench one's thirst of Him, and Promise of the same divine Spirit for those who drink from his Person. Here the Lord replaces the Torah.

To say: we cannot fully exist without humanity quenching its thirst at Beverage that provides fullness of being.

The Lord matches what we seek, and exceeds it, making of each one a sanctuary that irrigates.

A personal, abundant Source of life-giving currents - even in deserts, to turn them into gardens.

Pentecost is in Christ an ultimate and springing moment. Fire and Wave.

Unlike in Acts 2, the Master does not use the impressive imagery of natural phenomena of the First Testament [thunder, earthquakes, hurricanes, lightning, fire] to narrate the living manifestation of God in believers.

In order to portray the outpouring of the Spirit, the breaking down of barriers and the project of a new Wisdom, Jesus uses the quiet image of a Water that is to be absorbed, that makes persons grow and - in time - produces life.

The path of Revelation and Covenant in the Spirit is revealed to be progressive - up to Him, in whom it finds its culmination.

Crowning that transfuses itself into the regenerated people: they (from fearless who were) become heralds and pioneers.

The new Creation, the new mothers and fathers expression of His victory over death, are not born from dust, but from the same «blood mixed with water» of the «elevated» Christ [on the cross].

Flow that now pours into disciples - to sprout life in them, so as to provide, brighten up and cheer the path of others.

In the open relationship between God and man (who by grace makes his contribution to Heaven's exuberant plan) the whole of creation also becomes a participant in the Pact of Communion.

After an initial cosmic alliance of peace with Noah, here is a personal one with Abraham - in view of the «multitudes».

The project of internalization and personal appeal had already shifted towards humanity, but with Moses it becomes energy and design of Liberation.

In Christ the chosen and holy people lay down all privileges: they become authentic in the recovery of opposing sides, and universal.

"Israel" moves from common religious feeling and from improved awareness of history lived alongside the Eternal, to the depths of his Heart - up to our own: that is, to reinterpretation and unprecedented adventure; properly, of Faith.

From the Prophets to Christ, the Covenant becomes global.

Under sudden or cadenced Action of the Spirit, 'Water' that goes beyond and overflows, but if assimilated makes everything grow - all and even dissimilarity becomes motion towards Unity: even chaos activates new cohesions.

The ancient Pact stretches far beyond borders.

Its circles become wider and wider - without making one fear that events might get out of hand with God - in moments of quietness and pauses, or even in unending upheavals.

The Water that the leaders or prophets of the First Testament had seen gushing out of rocks or cracked crags becomes Living - with no more corruptions.

How this man speaks: the primacy of the conscience of the plebs

(Jn 7:40-53)

In the Gospel passage the religious authorities judge everyone with contempt.

Those who have always fancied themselves masters will not be willing to become disciples of a subversive Revelation.

Unthinkable and undated novelty that dares to crumble pedestals and legalisms.

As the elite dump Christ, even the gendarmerie commanded to perpetuate and guard the security of the ancient world is stunned by the power of the new Word-Person.

The Lord replaces the Torah:

"Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, he who believes in me. As Scripture has said: out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water" (vv.37-38).

He who comes into contact with the new Temple is guided by the intimate root in his womb, and wants to recognise it in himself.

As well as giving life, promoting it; loving, rejoicing life itself.

He himself becomes a bubbling Sanctuary, which begins to think and act in conscience - from his own (perhaps stifled, but indestructible) core.

A lesson in thinking from below, given to the 'superiors'.

An example that re-evaluates the theological judgement of the ungodly plebs (v.49).

And it is curious that the disobedience that saves the Christ present from seizure originates from a lack of minute knowledge of the Law.

There is a great confusion of opinions about Jesus among people. 

For the sects that have established the tyranny of norms, his unforeseen origin, neither mysterious nor overwhelming - unacceptable to calibrated thinking - is difficult.

Some consider him a son of David, others a Prophet; a deceiver or a good man (v.12) or someone who lacks studies (v.15).

The point is that He does not come to impose the old discipline again, nor to patch up the customs.

Not even to purify the Temple, renewing its propitiatory practice. 

Christ supplants him with the now of reality that reveals an inconceivable Face of God, which is grasped and expanded even from within each one of us.

It is by no means the quiet reconfirmation of the usual.

Tradition (written and oral) boasts deep-rooted arguments, but its fame causes confusion and harsh confrontation between opposing supporters, [even today] fashionable or not.

Nothing exceptional is ever found in this.

Fundamental is the understanding that we no longer need principals.

The distinction is the Person, in the uniqueness of his Vocation; not the point of view corresponding to a greatness or a mania.

It is in the unexpected Son that the present and the future arrive - not in a code of ideas that can summarise the cues of 'success' and embellish the already past.

Says the Tao Tê Ching (ii): 'The saint implements the unspoken teaching'. Master Wang Pi comments: "Spontaneity is enough for him. If he governs he corrupts".

Within each person dwells a naturalness that teaches, even to the masters of the law.

Spontaneity will not lead us to the feeble defence of Jesus made by Nicodemus (vv.51-53) who, in order to save the day, relies on another law, obvious after all.

When one stops wanting to be merely dependent - as one who is 'called' to stop the new that is appearing - there comes astonishment, the vertigo of God; different interests.

The Christ-icon of John 7 wants to develop in us the image and innate talent of the teacher of spirit who simply draws from personal experience of the Father, of himself and of reality.

We must not expect answers to always come from someone outside, assessed as more experienced - instead it is we who must teach the new one who comes to save us.

The Vocation by Name is entrusted to the unknown Rabbi who already dwells there - and wants to surface, expressing the unconscious divine already present.

The indispensable Gold, without induced mental burdens: only in conscience and character.

To internalise and live the message:

Do I feel capable of receiving the message of Life, or am I still stuck in the mechanism of the homologues who turn a blind eye and an ear?

Do I remain sensitive to the call of the Lord even in the details of a life without glory or under investigation?

Solemnity of Pentecost, living Tradition

In the Sacred Hymns, Manzoni compares the spiritual fall of humanity to the plummeting of a great stone down a "splintered" slope; a boulder that finally "beats on the bottom and stands".

By nature, we do not have the ability to push back our boulder, rolled downhill and "abandoned to the rush of noisy landslide" [nor indeed to provide for its splintering].

But the Lord knows man in his need, and knows that not infrequently - in the time of our distress - by expressing ourselves even hastily, we make situations worse.

It is a condition rather than a fault.

Heaven comes to help us internalise; to set us on the path to indestructible Happiness, preventing tears from destroying even the soul.

To this end, the Spirit disposes to experience an eminent Attinence, of Abode and Reciprocity, of Interpretation and Root.

Its powerful wind - Ruah - is called 'Holy' both for its supreme quality and for its activity: to 'sanctify', that is, to separate people from the chasm of self-destruction.

And a profound discernment on the subject of life and death is not within our grasp.

That is why no less than four of the traditional seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit have a character of profound knowledge.

The global understanding of things is what characterises the Gift of Wisdom [from the Latin sāpere, to have taste] that transmits to concrete existence the taste of God Himself.

Wisdom infuses the believer with a subtle understanding, from the divine point of view, of the panorama and the individual sections of our journey: doubtful, uncertain, conditioned by outline situations.

God's eye catches the person in his or her radical destitution, which seeks completion (just as the rush of attempts or external opinions and influences plays tricks).

This is why, in traditional ascetics, Wisdom - the standard of God - was considered to bring the theological virtue of Charity to perfection. 

In short, man in himself is not autonomous: he needs to be filled and saved.

Wisdom is the source of insight into our limitations: the principle of tolerance of others. 

It conveys a balanced connaturality, and a different 'scent' in relationships; a pillar of a life dedicated to the good.

The Gift of Intellect [intus-lēgere, to read within things] uncovers God's weave in history and helps one evaluate oneself.

Deciphering the signs of the times with insight, we discover the not purely earthly dimension of events. Thus, divine grains deposited in creation and happenings.

We see deeply: that is why it was considered a Gift that brings to perfection the theological virtue of Faith: it guides us to the heart of things and does not let us judge trivially.

The Council leads to the evaluative exercise of the cardinal virtue of Prudence.

Once upon a time, the spiritual fathers associated it with the explanation of the passage of the adulteress: she saved from the hypocrites and the old rotters made immediately and finally conscious.

A gift that makes us understand the Plan of Salvation and helps us decide for the best in situations of unforeseen urgency or immediate danger.

It is capacity for discernment against precipitation.

The Council emphasises dialogue and synergy with regard to practice and prospects for personal fulfilment.

E.g.: how many times have we listened to the advice of parents and grandparents - to understand the world and treasure their experience and expertise!

For us who struggle to discover the things at hand, such a Gift opens wide God's direction: what is expedient in order to our maturity and ultimate Purpose.

The Gift of Science also brings the virtue of Faith to perfection, as it makes us understand the (extraordinary) value and the (so ordinary) limit of creatures.

Science from above does not allow one to fall into materialism, nor contempt for worldly things - which ultimately is denial of the ineffable and supreme work of the Creator.

From the indescribably small of Quantum Physics, to the infinitely large of Relativity [and their strange universe of missing correlations] we marvel at God.

Everything speaks of Him and can lead us to the Eternal. However, nothing captures it absolutely.

Knowing reality on a broad spectrum - as well as the vital contribution of different viewpoints and cultures - can also make one understand one's neighbour.

And it induces one to behave competently among things: of thought, of psyche, of soul.

Love unsupported by a capacity for versed discernment not infrequently drifts.

In the age of the fake connoisseur and dirigiste, there is perhaps nothing more devastating than an unprepared person unleashed into action.

My carpenter father knew that the best in his field is not the craftsman who makes the most chips.

The ancient spiritual fathers gladly reiterated: 'per Scientiam homo cognoscit defecus suos et rerum mundanarum'.We see this in the approximate teachings and even in the paroxysms of theologies devoured by vanity: intimate and closed, or practical but external; disembodied, fable-like, or baleful.

Thanks to the Gift of Fortitude, by recognising ourselves as weak we make room for God's vigour, not only in great trials.

A pinprick action can crumble our life more than a sabre rattling.

And he who has no inner strength is sick, conformist in his difficulties; he staggers and washes his hands of it.

Minimalism attenuates, it enervates, it makes men become bonsai men, who vegetate for a long time - remaining shrunken.

Constancy, courage and tenacity are an aid to weakness; only with grit do we give our best, even in our relationship with God - perfecting the same cardinal virtue of fortitude.

The Gift of Pietas - a family virtue - infuses religion with the heart; the character of intimacy and tenderness.

It is a childlike feeling that integrates and thins out the slave's fear of the master.

At one time it was considered a Gift that brought to the summit the cardinal virtue of Justice [towards God] not as a duty of worship, but as an expression of friendship.

Recognition of Gratuity received without merit: creaturely and redemptive.

The Fear of God finally drove to perfection the theological virtue of Hope, the character of the living being that awaits everything from the Father.

Pentecost was a Jewish festival celebrating the gift of the Law. The change of pace of the Faith has transformed it into the birthday of the people who unfold the Lord's loving Face in history.

Not because of a different doctrine, but because of the Action of a Motive and Engine that brings us, and renews the world in a way you do not expect.

Perhaps with passive rather than active virtues. Thanks to an infused or innate Knowledge, spontaneous and natural, rather than artificial.

Dwelling in the Person led back to the Source and in the web of the We, the Father does not pronounce Himself by issuing laws like the God-master of ancient religions.

Rather, it is expressed in the polyphonic creativity of life and in the unheard of love - the only convincing language capable of edifying. 

Understandable to all.

In short, in the conviviality of differences each one is himself, in a relationship of enriching exchange.

Transparency in the flesh of the celestial condition.

Thus the Incarnation continues: reflection in the human of the unity, truth and intensity of Father-Son understanding.

Here even dust can become Splendour, because the complex of individual cardinal and theological virtues is sublimated and perfected in Relation: the We of the Spirit.

Such founding Eros is something else: even capable of transmuting our incoherence into an energetic state for New Horizons.

(Jn 14:15-16, 23-26)

Those who fall in love unleash a new energy: never again will they be orphans

(Jn 14:15-21)

Jesus replaces the commandments of legalistic religion with His own commandments (His own Person and His own values). One cannot love someone who is accustomed to keeping score.

The different expressions of love are infinitely more important than a code of laws - that of Moses - and the proliferation of rules typical of tradition, if it makes us nervous and dissatisfied (even if well-established).

The complacent person tends to drag himself along according to interpretations and ways of behaving that deviate from his own deepest being.

Attached to worn-out and obsolete rules, we continue to give old answers to new problems, refusing to accept emancipation and the joy of discovery. The same is true of innovations that bring us closer, of new ways of thinking that allow us to grasp God as alive, always present, and therefore capable, through his incessant action, of giving us a face that humanises us.

When they become excessively entrenched, deviant customs close us off to the impulses of the Spirit of Truth, and precisely in the name of God. In this way, they corrupt and supplant the purity of the Source and, in a cascade effect, the innate fragrance of our particular essences.

Instead, the Paraclete within us defends us from external hostilities and also from the inner powers that do evil: e.g., fears of responding to the authentic Call, cravings for power and appearance, which drag us away from life.

Attempts to enrich ourselves, yes, but seeking the most varied reciprocity of qualities and accentuating the same resources in our neighbour.

God reveals himself in a personal face, therefore the Spirit is the Defender who allows us to make mistakes.

He extinguishes the panic of unexpected beginnings, gives us a glimpse of the magic that protects us, and helps us to overcome the ambush of perfectionism, which always risks striking even the beginnings of our vocational endeavours.

The innate Friend frees us from our persona, our armour, our anxiety to perform, our desire not to disappoint the opinions and expectations of those around us. 

He brings us back down to earth and forces us to look inside ourselves. By losing ourselves and wandering, we will find our centre in him.

Our Ally helps us understand the meaning of bad moments—those that seem like a pile of misfortunes—the embarrassing moments, the failures, the times when (e.g., due to a series of bereavements and persecutions) it seems that we are attracting negativity like a magnet.

In critical situations, we are guided to detach ourselves from the exterior, which ends up drying us up and causing us to lose sight of our own Core, our hidden Spirit.

When the reality around us becomes precarious, our inner core is forced to find the right distance from external things.

If reality forces us to sweep everything away, we are put in a position where we have to seek and open up new paths: unexpected ideas, energies and initiatives will emerge.

Sometimes it will be chaos itself that solves the real problems, generated more by our habitual lifestyle (or point of view) than by reality.

Confusion perhaps arises too often, but it allows us to finally question our real interests, what we are not giving space to. For example, what aspects, inclinations, activities and relationships would deeply correspond to us and make us all feel good?

So instead of living distracted and carried along by dynamics that do not belong to us, we would learn to live intensely in the present. We would learn to welcome and read what the tide of life brings in terms of novelty, every day and from time to time.

By loosening our controls, judgements, project-driven anxieties, dirigisme and voluntarism, we would let the Gift become the Deposit, the real fact suggest the path, and take the lead in our experiences.

By giving in, step by step, we would learn to let ourselves be flooded: and it would be what invades us that would make us flourish again, through processes that elaborate the unthinkable.

If, by chance, we have muted our passions so as not to appear weak, or made artificial choices to favour consensus around us - and self-control... If we have not yet learned to be direct, the Paraclete will help bring out the free part, the part where our mission lies - instead of a showcase career (even an ecclesiastical one).

The more we are human in the harmony of the Love we have received, which is transformed into friendship communicated to ourselves and others, the more we will allow the divine Gold to emerge in us and in the harmonies that bring us back to the home that is truly ours.

By living our emotions with less interventionism, we would work with passion, expressing ourselves in our vocation and not as others expect us to; perhaps we would do things in a way that is completely contrary to expectations and intentions... 

But by breaking the monotony, we would allow opposing polarities to coexist, and the Heart would become increasingly friendly to our destiny.

In biblical terms, Spirit (Ruah) does not designate an ineffable entity, but a real one: it is a powerful breath, capable of blowing away everything that wants to remain fixed and installed.

God is Spirit not because he is invisible and unreachable, but because his action expresses an overwhelming, uncontainable, impetuous force. It is our dream to participate in this Wind with its unpredictable effects.

The Spirit moves and gives the impetus to set things in motion: the source of life, the instrument of God's work in history.

Religious law can also point in the right direction, but it does not give conviction, it does not make us understand the absurdity of love and its incredible fruitfulness, nor does it transmit to us the energy that leads us to our destination.

For this reason, Jesus is not a model, but a motive and a driving force: he did not just teach us a way, but he still communicates to us his impetus to achieve the goal of life.

His Spirit is called Paraclete ("called alongside", a term borrowed from legal language): a sort of lawyer who stood beside the defendant in court to exonerate him - in perfect silence.

It is the Spirit of Christ that renders evil powerless and accusations against us futile. In the face of difficulties, we can move forward without letting our arms fall.

The Spirit of the Lord is also at the service of Truth (theological): the Faithfulness of divine Love.

In short: while the Church offers new answers to new questions, it is the Spirit of Truth that ensures that the Gospel is not corrupted, but rather introduces disciples to the fullness of life and the unexpected richness and radicality of its own Call.

We will never say anything new, nor the opposite: by remaining open to its impulses, we will grasp to the full the Mystery that envelops the meaning of our life in Christ.

Dwelling and reciprocity, interpretation and roots

Generating from below

(Jn 14:21-26)

The Father's love unites us to Christ through a call that manifests itself wave upon wave. And on this path, the Son himself reveals himself, thanks also to authentic community life.

The Gospel passage reflects the question-and-answer catechesis typical of the Johannine communities in Asia Minor, committed to questioning themselves: this time the theme of misunderstanding is introduced by Judas, not Iscariot.

The Jews too had been waiting for an eloquent public statement in order to believe in the divine nature of Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps such a humble manifestation could only generate scepticism.

Why does He remain hidden, and why do even His closest friends not react more strongly? Wouldn't an open and sensational twist be more appropriate?

And why live through difficulties from within? Then, why were relationships considered 'important' viewed with growing aversion, as alien and irritating?

Well, the vulnerable messianism of Christ—apparently defensive, evasive—is not the kind that dispels doubts.

He remained unadorned. In this way, he did not lose his naturalness, as if he had perceived the danger of high-sounding aberrations, all external.

The authentic Messiah protected his identity, his human, spiritual and missionary character. In this way, he avoided all the excessive glorious titles expected in the theological culture of ancient Israel.

The life of faith in us also continues invisibly: not surrounded by external miracles and strong sensations... rather, innervated by convictions (recognised in ourselves).

In this time of a new relationship with God and our brothers and sisters, the ancient concept of the Anointed One of the Lord who observes and imposes the Law of the chosen people (with force) on all nations has no relevance.

In any condition and latitude, God is always present and at work, starting from the core, to help us rediscover the breath of being.

The Father, the Son and believers form, in mutual knowledge, a wide circle of love, reciprocity and obedience, through free responses that are neither stereotypical nor paralysing.

Do not get bogged down in details and case studies, but focus on fundamental choices.

"My commandments" [v. 21: subjective genitive] is a theological expression that designates the very Person of the Risen One in action.

"Person" unfolded in human history thanks to his mystical Body: the diverse People of God, whose multifaceted nature is an added value (not a limitation or contamination of purity).

Of course, Love is the only reality that cannot be 'commanded'.

But Jesus designates and advocates it as such to emphasise the detachment from the Sinai Covenant, which it summarises but replaces.

The plural form 'commandments' recognises the range of various forms of exchangeability and personalisation of love.

No orientation, doctrine or code can ever surpass it, or vice versa, render it muddled.In the Gospels, love is not spoken of in terms of feeling [of emotion subject to fluctuations, or regulated on the basis of the perfections of the beloved] but as real action, a gesture that makes the other feel free and adequate.

The People of God reflect Christ to the extent that they develop their destiny by living totally of gift, response, exchange and superabundance in Gratuitousness.

All this in a way that is increasingly new for each person, for every micro or macro-relational situation; age, characteristics, type of defects, or prevailing cultural paradigm.

In short, the Lord does not want us to exalt ourselves by detaching ourselves from the earth and from our brothers and sisters: the honour due to the Father is that which we give to his children.

Therefore, there is no need to lift ourselves up through ascetic observance ['ascending' as in going up to the next floor: the lift only goes down].

It is He who reveals Himself, offering Himself to us: this is His joy.

He comes down from 'heaven'.

He manifests himself in us and in the folds of history, revealing his desire to merge with our lives (v. 21) in order to increase them, complete them and enhance their capacities (in qualitative terms).

The Apostles, conditioned by conventional religious thinking - all about appearances - wonder about Jesus' attitude, which is modest and not inclined to spectacle (v. 22).

They do not accept a Messiah who does not impose himself on everyone, who does not amaze the world, who does not shout proclamations like a madman.

The Master prefers that we recognise in his Word an active correspondence with the desire for integral life that we carry within us (vv. 23-24).

This Logos-event must be taken up into our being as a Call distinct from the commonplaces of widespread, conformist, and alien thinking.

In fact, this Appeal contains a sympathy, an understanding, an arrow, an efficient and creative vigour, which becomes Fire and the solidity of a personal Presence, starting from within - at once faint and resounding.

In ancient forensic culture, 'Paraclitus' (v. 26) was the name given to the eminent figure in the assembly - today we would call him a sort of lawyer - who stood silently beside the defendant to justify him.

[The latter may have been guilty, but deserving of forgiveness; however, he needed a sort of public guarantor to vouch for him. Or he may have been innocent, but unable or incapable of finding witnesses in his favour to exonerate him...]

This attribute of the Spirit alludes to an intensity, an intimate foundation and reciprocity of silent Relationship that becomes Person, and knows where to go; that leads the heart, the character, life itself, not to the pillory, but to the full flowering of ourselves.

Thanks to His support, we are not enchanted by high-sounding roles, strong words, formulas, impressions, or tumultuous feelings: we enter into the demanding, fulfilled depth of Love.

We broaden our field. We welcome a different guiding image, one that presses and takes us by surprise, but subtly; it does not reproach or scold us.

It is an experience that takes place without earthquakes, thunder and lightning - partial - but through the action of the Spirit who internalises, accompanies, nourishes, and makes the interpretation of the Word up-to-date and alive (v. 26).

The message of the Gospels has a generative root that cannot be reduced to a unilateral and cumbersome experience, all codified and moralistic but empty as in sectarian situations, always in struggle with themselves and the world. 

Venturing into their own Exodus, each person discovers hidden resources and a broadening of perspectives that expand and complete their being, broadening the experience of the vocational character that corresponds to them.

Between life on the move and the Word of God - the golden rule that gives self-esteem - an unpredictable, versatile, eclectic, non-one-sided understanding is ignited, which transcends identity chains.

In its scope, the Call remains the same, but over time it expands awareness of its facets, integrating them.

Rich and not yet ratified forms of expression, Creator and creature do not express themselves authentically in a fixed, sanctioned way, with reference to a code of doctrine and discipline, but in the excessive freedom of life.

Even today, with new needs and questions overwhelming us, there is an appropriate abundance of new answers - finally also from the Magisterium.

Plausible in the adventure of Faith, but which would drive any religion mad.

To internalise and live the message:

Do you recognise the work of the Spirit or do you reject it as a nuisance? What strikes you about the new Magisterium?

Do you find this approach in the Proclamation, in Catechesis, in Animation, in Pastoral Care and in your own journey?

Unable to sin

(Acts 2:1-11)

Pentecost is the feast of the Gift, quite simply. The language of Acts of the Apostles is quite striking and colourful: it infuses the event with symbolic prodigies that are good to decipher.

Thunder, lightning, wind and fire were the images that accompanied the revelation of the ancient law. With them Lk wants to emphasise the power of the world to come.

The rabbis claimed that at Sinai the Words of God took the form of seventy tongues of fire - saying that the entire Torah was intended for the multitudes, even the pagans.

According to traditional interpretation, the divine Words had made themselves visible ["the people saw the voices"; Hebrew text] in the form of flames that had carved the stone tablets prepared by Moses (Ex 20:18).

Against this backdrop, Lk intends to present the gift of the new Law - that of the Spirit - and employs the same biblical icons to make itself understood, not to chronicle details.

The vigorous figures suggest a powerful explosion, which throws all life into the air - that is the point.

This is to say: for a radical liberation from the old structures that masked sin and (too many) duplicities, obsessions or quietisms, the divine Spirit must come.

Only its unexpected and shattering power can change the face of the earth and bring about radical transformations.

It is impossible to achieve this authentically, generating any upheaval from the limit of our genius and muscles.

It is beyond our capabilities to bring down conditioning, atavistic barriers, and activate the multifaceted Newness of God that humanises us.

Only a founding relationship can convince us that courageous initiatives and the triumph of life pass through a form of death. Death of common thinking, of the old world, of conditionings and fashions - and of the emptiness of selfhood.

An essential work - to encounter the multiplicity of faces; our own and others'.

The "many tongues spoken" are precisely to indicate the now biting universalism of the message of Christ and his Church.

The Gift comes from a Presence 'within' us and events. But it is destined precisely for the multitudes, with no more barriers.

The disaster of Babel is redeemed both from above and from below, because here and now dissimilarities become valuable resources.

He who allows himself to be guided by the Spirit recovers the many facets, also of the [personal and non]shadow sides.

In this way it is expressed in the language that everyone understands: Communion, conviviality of differences.

It is the love that treasures everything and brings everyone together (vv.7-11), doing away with the idolatrous fixations of selective religion - that of purities with individualist or ethnic overtones; idolatries linked to cultural extraction.

All New Testament authors start from the reality of the Spirit's presence; Lk dares to 'describe' it.

The descent of the Spirit is thus placed on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Easter.

But in Jn (20:22) Jesus communicates the Spirit that animates believers and the Church... on the very day of the Resurrection.

As the liturgy itself proposes in its signs and symbolic expressions, the Easter Mystery is One.

To put it bluntly: the Crucified One "delivered the Spirit" already from the Cross (Jn 19:30).

Lk describes the dense meaning of the one Paschal Mystery-reality in three successive 'moments'-aspects of the disciples' maturation.

They become 'apostles' [Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost] not to convey to us a chronicle of particular events, but to help us understand their significance and manifold aspects.

Jn instead places the delivery of the Spirit from the Cross and on Easter evening, to highlight it as the global Gift of the Risen Crucified.

The author of Acts emblematically places this delivery on the day of Pentecost, to emphasise the relationship and detachment from the Jewish feast.

This feast, however, provided a perfect setting: it was a pilgrimage feast that drew both Palestinian and Diaspora Jews to Jerusalem.

The "official" origins of the Community made aware of its task as "Outgoing Sender" was nourished - in addition - by a subtle reference to the Spirit of Creation.

The breath of the Ruah - divine Spirit [in Hebrew of the feminine gender] becomes the vital breath and impetuous wind that invests the "House" (v.2) regenerating and forcing the fearful followers, still seated in the Temple (Lk 24:53).

The ancient Pentecost celebrated the arrival of the people at Mount Sinai and the gift of the Law [which theologised the agricultural feast of thanksgiving for the wheat harvest, which in turn concluded the cycle of reborn nature that had begun at Passover and preceded the Feast of Tents later held at the great autumn harvest; In the tradition of the shepherds, Passover was a theologisation of the apotropaic rite of the sacrifice of a lamb to propitiate the outcome of the spring transhumance, while Pentecost was its concluding feast on the heights and preceded the return to the folds the following autumn].

Lk wants to teach that the Spirit has replaced the Torah: it has become the new norm of behaviour and the only non-external criterion of communion with God.

The author evokes the traditional Jewish feast, almost by comparison - to mark its fulfilment-fullness. But like Easter, Pentecost is also stretched towards the future.

The evangelist wants to demonstrate the breadth of the Spirit's destination over "twelve" different regions, conveyed by the fire of the Word (v.3), which empowered the Proclamation to all nations on earth.

But first of all, Lk intends to make us understand its real incisiveness.

The author of the third Gospel and of Acts realises that in order to obtain works of righteousness and love, it is not enough for men to show the right way.

It is the Eternal Himself who must become the reliable subject of history, the sole propeller of life.

Therefore, God had to change our hearts: precepts and counsels are not enough to change the deep instincts of people and peoples.

External regulation only makes us epidermic: it does not grasp the intimate, it does not convince the heart.

Every genuine action is the expression of a profound adhesion, of a desire of the soul, of a compelling intimate impulse.

The law of the Spirit is a kind of fantasy in power, but it does not stand outside, nor does it require in itself any effort against its own character - at root.

The 'new heart' is the very Life of God that enters into us to transform us, not in moralistic or model terms - but by expanding existence in a genuine way, starting from the seed, from our core.

When the Life of the Eternal pulsates in anyone's soul, it spontaneously manifests God in human history.

And it produces its vital works - with an unthinkable action, transmuting us from brambles into fruitful trees.

With no more artifice and duplicity, our uncertain desert becomes a garden.

We even begin to love with God's own quality of love - sometimes without even the purpose or discipline, or the very knowledge that we want to do so.

Since the Spirit takes up residence in any woman or man, they no longer need to be taught by the opinion of others: they can finally be themselves.

"And this is the Promise that He has made to us: the Life of the Eternal. This I have written to you concerning those who seek to deceive you. And as for you, the anointing you have received from Him remains in you and you do not need anyone to instruct you. But just as His anointing teaches you all things and is true and does not lie, so now abide in Him as He has instructed you" (1 John 2:25-27).

All that remains external or distant vanishes, and effortlessly loses consistency.

This is because there is no longer any law or cerebral thought that holds, nor any obligation of any kind.

We become 'incapable of sin': we have passed from the religious sense that intimidated and made us prone, to the full dignity of Faith.

"Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, because a divine seed dwells in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God" (1Jn 3:9).

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

In the solemn celebration of Pentecost we are invited to profess our faith in the presence and in the action of the Holy Spirit and to invoke his outpouring upon us, upon the Church and upon the whole world. With special intensity, let us make our own the Church's invocation: Veni, Sancte Spiritus! It is such a simple and spontaneous invocation, yet also extraordinarily profound, which came first of all from the heart of Christ. The Spirit is indeed the gift that Jesus asked and continues to ask of his Father for his friends; the first and principal gift that he obtained for us through his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. 

Today's Gospel passage, which has the Last Supper as its context, speaks to us of this prayer of Christ. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever" (Jn 14: 15-16). Here the praying heart of Jesus is revealed to us, his filial and fraternal heart. This prayer reaches its apex and its fulfilment on the Cross, where Christ's invocation is one with the total gift that he makes of himself, and thus his prayer becomes, so to speak, the very seal of his self-gift out of love of the Father and humanity. Invocation and donation of the Holy Spirit meet, they permeate each other, they become one reality. "And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever". In reality, Jesus' prayers that of the Last Supper and that on the Cross form a single prayer that continues even in heaven, where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus, in fact, always lives his intercessional priesthood on behalf of the people of God and humanity and so prays for all of us, asking the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit. 

The account of Pentecost in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles we listened to it in the First Reading (cf. Acts 2: 1-11) presents the "new course" of the work that God began with Christ's Resurrection, a work that involves mankind, history and the cosmos. The Son of God, dead and Risen and returned to the Father, now breathes with untold energy the divine breath upon humanity, the Holy Spirit. And what does this new and powerful self-communication of God produce? Where there are divisions and estrangement the Paraclete creates unity and understanding. The Spirit triggers a process of reunification of the divided and dispersed parts of the human family. People, often reduced to individuals in competition or in conflict with each other, when touched by the Spirit of Christ open themselves to the experience of communion, which can involve them to such an extent as to make of them a new body, a new subject: the Church. This is the effect of God's work: unity; thus unity is the sign of recognition, the "business card" of the Church throughout her universal history. From the very beginning, from the Day of Pentecost, she speaks all languages. The universal Church precedes the particular Churches, and the latter must always conform to the former according to a criterion of unity and universality. The Church never remains a prisoner within political, racial and cultural confines; she cannot be confused with States nor with Federations of States, because her unity is of a different type and aspires to transcend every human frontier. 

From this, dear brothers, derives a practical criterion for discerning Christian life: when a person or a community limits itself to its own way of thinking and acting, it is a sign that it has distanced itself from the Holy Spirit. The path of Christians and of the particular Churches must always coincide with the path of the one, catholic Church, and harmonize with it. This does not mean that the unity created by the Holy Spirit is a kind of egalitarianism. On the contrary, that is rather the model of Babel, or in other words, the imposition of a culture characterized by what we could define as "technical" unity. In fact, the Bible tells us (cf. Gen 11: 1-9) that in Babel everyone spoke the same language. At Pentecost, however, the Apostles speak different languages in such a way that everyone understands the message in his own tongue. The unity of the Spirit is manifest in the plurality of understanding. The Church is one and multiple by her nature, destined as she is to live among all nations, all peoples, and in the most diverse social contexts. She responds to her vocation to be a sign and instrument of unity of the human race (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 1) only if she remains autonomous from every State and every specific culture. Always and everywhere the Church must truly be catholic and universal, the house of all in which each one can find a place. 

The account of the Acts of the Apostles offers us another very concrete indication. The universality of the Church is expressed by the list of peoples according to the ancient tradition: We are "Parthians, Medes, Elamites", etc. Here one may observe that St Luke goes beyond the number 12, which itself always expresses a universality. He looks beyond the horizons of Asia and northwest Africa, and adds three other elements: the "Romans", that is, the Western world; the "Jews and proselytes", encompassing in a new way the unity between Israel and the world; and finally "Cretans and Arabians", who represent the West and the East, islands and land. This opening of horizons subsequently confirms the newness of Christ in the dimension of human space, in the history of the nations. The Holy Spirit involves individuals and peoples and, through them, overcomes walls and barriers. 

At Pentecost the Holy Spirit is manifest as fire. The Spirit's flame descended upon the assembled disciples, it was kindled in them and gave them the new ardour of God. Thus what Jesus had previously said was fulfilled: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" (Lk 12: 49). The Apostles, together with diverse communities of the faithful, carried this divine flame to the far corners of the earth. In this way they opened a path for humanity, a luminous path, and they collaborated with God, who wants to renew the face of the earth with his fire. How different is this fire from that of war and bombing! How different is the fire of Christ, spread by the Church, compared with those lit by the dictators of every epoch of the last century too who leave scorched earth behind them. The fire of God, the fire of the Holy Spirit, is that of the bush that burned but was not consumed (cf. Ex 3: 2). It is a flame that blazes but does not destroy, on the contrary, that, in burning, brings out the better and truer part of man, as in a fusion it elicits his interior form, his vocation to truth and to love. 

A Father of the Church, Origen, in one of his Homilies on Jeremiah, cites a saying attributed to Jesus, not contained in the sacred Scriptures but perhaps authentic, which reads: "Whoever is near to me, is near to the fire" (Homily on Jeremiah, L. I [III]). In Christ, in fact, there is the fullness of God, who in the Bible is compared to fire. We just observed that the flame of the Holy Spirit blazes but does not burn. And nevertheless it enacts a transformation, and thus must also consume something in man, the waste that corrupts him and hinders his relations with God and neighbour. This effect of the divine fire, however, frightens us; we are afraid of being "scorched" and prefer to stay just as we are. This is because our life is often based on the logic of having, of possessing and not the logic of self-gift. Many people believe in God and admire the person of Jesus Christ, but when they are asked to lose something of themselves, then they retreat; they are afraid of the demands of faith. There is the fear of giving up something pleasant to which we are attached; the fear that following Christ deprives us of freedom, of certain experiences, of a part of ourselves. On the one hand, we want to be with Jesus, follow him closely, and, on the other, we are afraid of the consequences entailed. 

Dear brothers and sisters, we are always in need of hearing the Lord Jesus tell us what he often repeated to his friends: "Be not afraid". Like Simon Peter and the others we must allow his presence and his grace to transform our heart, which is always subject to human weakness. We must know how to recognize that losing something indeed, losing ourselves for the true God, the God of love and of life is actually gaining ourselves, finding ourselves more fully. Whoever entrusts himself to Jesus already experiences in this life the peace and joy of heart that the world cannot give, and that it cannot even take away once God has given it to us. So it is worthwhile to let ourselves be touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit! The suffering that it causes us is necessary for our transformation. It is the reality of the Cross. It is not without reason that in the language of Jesus "fire" is above all a representation of the mystery of the Cross, without which Christianity does not exist. Thus enlightened and comforted by these words of life, let us lift up our invocation: Come, Holy Spirit! Enkindle in us the fire of your love! We know that this is a bold prayer, with which we ask to be touched by God's flame; but above all we know that this flame and it alone has the power to save us. We do not want, in defending our life, to lose eternal life that God wants to give us. We need the fire of the Holy Spirit, because only Love redeems. Amen.

[Pope Benedict, homily 23 May 2010]

The Spirit and the "seeds of truth" in human thought

1. Repeating a statement in the book of Wisdom (1:7), the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council teaches us that “the Spirit of the Lord”, who bestows his gifts upon the People of God on pilgrimage through history, “replet orbem terrarum”, fills the whole universe (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 11). He ceaselessly guides people to the fullness of truth and love which God the Father revealed in Jesus Christ.

This profound awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and action has always illumined the Church’s consciousness, guaranteeing that whatever is genuinely human finds an echo in the hearts of Christ's disciples (cf. ibid., n. 1).

Already in the first half of the second century, the philosopher St Justin could write: “Everything that has always been affirmed in an excellent way and has been discovered by those who study philosophy or make laws has been accomplished by seeking or contemplating a part of the Word” (Apologia II, 10, 1-3).

2. The opening of the human spirit to truth and goodness always takes place in the perspective of the “true light that enlightens every man” (Jn 1:9). This light is Christ the Lord himself, who has enlightened man’s steps from the very beginning and has entered his “heart”. With the Incarnation, in the fullness of time, the Light appeared in this world in its full brilliance, shining in the sight of man as the splendour of the truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

Already foretold in the Old Testament, the gradual manifestation of the fullness of truth which is Jesus Christ takes place down the centuries by the work of the Holy Spirit. This particular action of the “Spirit of truth” (cf. Jn 14:17; 15:26; 16:13) concerns not only believers, but in a mysterious way all men and women who, though not knowing the Gospel through no fault of their own, sincerely seek the truth and try to live an upright life (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 16).

In the footsteps of the Fathers of the Church, St Thomas Aquinas can maintain that no spirit can be “so darkened as not to participate in some way in the divine light. In fact, every known truth from any source is totally due to this 'light which shines in the darkness', since every truth, no matter who utters it, comes from the Holy Spirit” (Super Ioannem, 1, 5 lect. 3, n. 103).

3. For this reason, the Church supports every authentic quest of the human mind and sincerely esteems the patrimony of wisdom built up and transmitted by the various cultures. It expresses the inexhaustible creativity of the human spirit, directed towards the fullness of truth by the Spirit of God.

The encounter between the word of truth preached by the Church and the wisdom expressed in cultures and elaborated by philosophies calls on the latter to be open to and to find their own fulfilment in the revelation which comes from God. As the Second Vatican Council stresses, this encounter enriches the Church, enabling her to penetrate the truth ever more deeply, to express it in the languages of the different cultural traditions and to present it — unchanged in its substance — in the form most suited to the changing times (cf. Gaudium et spes, n. 44).

Trust in the presence and action of the Holy Spirit, even in the travail of the culture of our time, can serve as a starting point, at the dawn of the third millennium, for a new encounter between the truth of Christ and human thought.

4. In view of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, it is necessary to look more closely at the Council’s teaching on this ever fresh and fruitful encounter between revealed truth, preserved and transmitted by the Church, and the many different forms of human thought and culture. Unfortunately, Paul VI’s observation in the Encyclical Letter Evangelii nuntiandi that “the division between the Gospel and culture is without a doubt the tragedy of our time” (n. 20) is still valid.

To prevent this division which has serious consequences for consciences and behaviour, it is necessary to reawaken in Christ’s disciples that vision of faith which can discover the “seeds of truth” scattered by the Holy Spirit among our contemporaries. This can also contribute to their purification and maturation through the patient art of dialogue, whose particular goal is to present Christ’s face in all its splendour.

It is particularly necessary to keep well in mind the great principle formulated by the last Council, which I wanted to recall in the Encyclical Dives in misericordia: “While the various currents of human thought both in the past and at the present have tended and still tend to separate theocentrism and anthropocentrism, and even to set them in opposition to each other, the Church, following Christ, seeks to link them up in human history, in a deep and organic way” (n. 1).

5. This principle proves fruitful not only for philosophy and humanistic culture but also for the areas of scientific research and art. In fact, the “humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are” (Gaudium et spes, n. 36b).

On the other hand, the true artist has the gift of perceiving and expressing the luminous and infinite horizon in which the existence of man and the world is immersed. If he is faithful to the inspiration that dwells within him and transcends him, he acquires a hidden connaturality with the beauty with which the Holy Spirit clothes Creation.

May the Holy Spirit, the Light that enlightens minds and the divine “artist of the world” (S. Bulgakov, Il Paraclito, Bologna 1971, p. 311), guide the Church and contemporary humanity on the paths of a new and surprising encounter with the splendour of the Truth!

[Pope John Paul II, General Audience 16 September 1998]