Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

I SEND YOU AS SHEEP IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES

«This is the first image of Jesus the evangelizer that is presented: defeated, kicked, not listened to, unwanted, and it is truly a mysterious scene if we think about who Jesus is the evangelizer. This is not a solitary scene, and if Luca put it here, it is because he knows he is touching something that belongs to a constant of the Kingdom of God"

Author
Hermit Monk

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After the start of Jesus' pilgrimage towards Jerusalem Saint Luke narrates the sending of the twelve (LC 9,1-6). Now "other disciples" are sent by Jesus ahead of him.

It's a number which the tradition of ancient manuscripts transmits in different ways. For some of them there are seventy-two and therefore they would represent all the peoples of the earth, according to the list of Genesis 10, at least following the Greek translation (LXX); because in the Hebrew text (masoretic) the peoples appear to be seventy. In other Greek manuscripts the number seventy is reported, that is, how many elders were chosen by Moses according to the story in Numbers (cap. 11). In one case or the other, Luke says that Jesus sends not only the Twelve, but also other disciples, and sends them to everyone. Let's read the evangelical text of this XIV Sunday of ordinary time.

"During that time, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him in every city and place where he was about to go. He told them: “The harvest is abundant, but there are few workers! Therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest, so that he may send workers into his harvest! Go: there, I send you out like lambs among wolves; Don't bring a bag, nor bag, or sandals and don't stop to say hello to anyone along the way. Whatever house you enter, tell me first: “Peace to this house!”. If there will be a son of peace, your peace will come upon him, otherwise it will come back to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they have, because he who works has the right to his reward. Don't go from one house to another. When you enter a city and they welcome you, eat what is offered to you, heal the sick who are there, and tell them: “The kingdom of God is near you”. But when you enter a city and they will not welcome you, go out into its squares and say: “Even the dust of your city, that stuck to our feet, we shake it at you; but know that the kingdom of God is near. I tell you that, on that day, Sodom will be treated less harshly than that city.". The seventy-two returned full of joy, saying: "Man, even the demons submit to us in your name". He told them: “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. there, I have given you power to walk over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy: nothing can harm you. However, do not rejoice because the demons submit to you; rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." (LC 10,1-12.17-20).

Staying on topic-number it is clear that twelve evokes the mission to Israel, tale, indeed, it was the number of his tribes; that of seventy or seventy-two can only recall, instead, the universal mission of the Church. However, this has not started, historically, at the time of Jesus, but only after his death and resurrection; the present narration therefore appears as an interpretation, a way of saying that the mission towards the Gentiles was already present in the will of the Lord Jesus. For a sending to the pagans to take place, indeed, those conditions narrated in the Acts of the Apostles must occur, which had not yet been realized at the time Jesus made his journey to Jerusalem. In particular, the persecution of the Church after the death of Stephen and the dispersion of Jesus' disciples; Paul's encounter with Christ; Peter entering the house of the centurion Cornelius and remaining at table with the pagans. In the end, the first assembly in Jerusalem, which resolves issues that had never previously been foreseen, concerning the circumcision or otherwise of converts.

Today's evangelical page can be easily divided into two parts: in the first, instructions on the mission are given, the second describes the return of the envoys. The disciples must go two by two, a probable reference to the value of the testimony which requires confirmation by several: «In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true» (GV 8, 17; cf.. Dt 19,15). Jesus warns them that they will be "like lambs among wolves": they will have to, that is, be peaceful despite everything and bring a message of peace to every situation; they will not take with them clothes, money or other useless things, to live on what Providence will offer them; they will take care of the sick, as a sign of God's mercy; where they will be rejected, they will go, merely warning about the responsibility of rejecting the Kingdom of God. The announcement of the coming of Jesus and the Kingdom, then, foresees an urgency that means the disciples won't even have to stop to greet people. Following this, Saint Luke highlights the enthusiasm of the disciples for the good fruits of the mission and records this beautiful expression of Jesus: “Rejoice instead because your names are written in heaven” (LC 10, 20). This entire passage from the Gospel is an invitation to awaken in the baptized the awareness of being missionaries of Christ, called to prepare the way for him with words and with the testimony of life.

I focus on Jesus' phrase reported above in response to the disciples who rejoiced at the outcome of the mission, because it might seem unsettling, played on paradox, as Jesus often does, which uses apocalyptic language due to the mention of demons submitting, of Satan falling from that sky where the names of the missionary disciples are instead ascribed. The evangelical saying wants to underline that every Christian mission, although requiring human availability, does not totally depend on the envoys, but by the power of the Word and by God. For this reason it also provides for refusal; in the Gospel passage, indeed, The idea emerges three times that evangelization can fail. In the expression of v. 6: "otherwise (the pace, n.d.r) will return to you"; in that of v. 10: «when you enter a city and they do not welcome you»; and also in the allusion to the v. 3: to be "lambs among wolves". We could also mention the warning of v. 16 not reported today by the Lectionary, regarding Corazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, where we talk about Jesus despised and the disciples who suffer the same fate: «Whoever listens to you listens to me, he who despises you despises me. And he who despises me despises him who sent me.". It is understood that the destiny of the disciple is like that of the Master, there may be successes, but also encounter walls that block the way to evangelization. Jesus, from the beginning of his journey to Jerusalem, he is immediately presented as unwelcome, as they were approaching a village of Samaritans: «they did not want to receive him, because he was headed towards Jerusalem" (LC 9,53). Thus that ancient diatribe between Jews and Samaritans, in which social reasons are mixed, cultural and religious, it seems like a premonition of what we see happening today in the land that also belonged to Jesus. As happens in many similar situations, when the unhealed wounds of memory make the resentment of reconciliation stronger. So Jesus also falls into the exact same situation, how boring, enemy scheme. It doesn't matter who it is, what you say or bring: He is a Galilean to be rejected. Indeed we can say that Jesus right from the start, in the Gospel of Luke, He appears like a reject, when the fellow citizens of Nazareth themselves do not want to believe his first announcement, indeed they tried to put him to death (LC 4).

«This is the first image of Jesus the evangelizer that is presented: defeated, kicked, not listened to, unwanted, and it is truly a mysterious scene if we think about who Jesus is the evangelizer. This is not a solitary scene, and if Luca put it here, it is because he knows he is touching something that belongs to a constant of the Kingdom of God" ((C). M. Martini, The evangelizer in Saint Luke, Milan, 2000).

History repeats itself, also for the disciples, and a culpable refusal to the announcement is expected. But these must in any case tell those who reject them that: if we shake the dust at you; but know that the kingdom of God is near." (LC 10,11).

After the Resurrection of Jesus the primitive Church will acquire full awareness of this dynamic and it will be precisely the persecutions unleashed in Jerusalem against Christians of Greek culture that will ensure that the Gospel reaches, together with Baptism and the gift of the Spirit, also to those Samaritans who once did not want to welcome Jesus, as Luke recounts in the Acts of the Apostles (cap. 8). The obstacles of division are thus removed, because the sign of Pentecost, of the new community that now speaks in all languages ​​and unites peoples into a single people, in a family of God, it has become reality. Thanks to It, foreigners have become friends and, beyond borders, they recognize each other as brothers.

From the Hermitage, 06 July 2025

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE ASCENSION MARKS FOR THE DISCIPLES A NEW WAY OF BEING FOR CHRIST, WITH CHRIST AND IN CHRIST

The Ascension of the Lord inaugurates a totally new relationship between him and the disciples, that even if it is marked by a physical separation, However, it does not generate sadness, nor regrets, because the disciples: "they returned to Jerusalem with great joy". Thus begins a bond that will have a strong impact on the spiritual life of the Christian, also because from now on he is constituted as a witness.

Author
Hermit Monk

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The Ascension of the Lord forms a constitutive part of the unique and indivisible Easter event. The evangelical text of the feast places it at the end of the story of the apparitions of the Risen One, on that first day after the Sabbath which for Jesus becomes the opportunity to cheer up his still shaken disciples.

Salvador Dali, Ascension of Christ

In this way He strengthens their faith in the resurrection: «That's what it says: «Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day» (v. 46); he announces their future mission to them: «in his name conversion and remission of sins will be preached to all peoples» (v. 47); and the gift of the Holy Spirit: "I send upon you what my Father promised" (v. 49). Let's read the Gospel passage:

"During that time, Jesus told his disciples: «That's what it says: Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and in his name conversion and forgiveness of sins will be preached to all peoples, starting from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of this. And here, I send upon you the one whom my Father promised; but you stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high". Then he led them out towards Bethany and, raise your hands, li blessed. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up, in the sky. And they fell before him; then they returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were always in the temple praising God (LC 24,46-53).

The Ascension is told, in some passages of the New Testament, with terms that speak of distancing, of departure, of hiring (analempsis At 1,11), of walking (confused At 1,10-11), of ascent (anabasis: GV 20,17), of separation: "he broke away from them" (LC 24,51). As we have already seen in last Sunday's Gospel of John, this withdrawal of the Lord from physical sight is not read, But, like a detachment, a lack or absence. Because it opens up a new bond between Jesus and his followers, this time internal and spiritual, guided by the Spirit and aimed at making the disciples witnesses of the Risen One. While John underlines the aspect of the Trinitarian indwelling, Luke instead captures that of mission and testimony: “You are witnesses of this” (LC 24,48) ; «You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem… and to the ends of the earth» (At 1,8). For both testamentary authors, the Ascension definitively hides the physical body of Jesus from the sight of his disciples, nevertheless they can meet him again both internally, thanks to the presence of the Spirit, both in mutual love between disciples and towards others: letting yourself be guided by the Spirit, they can do what Jesus himself did.

Before leaving his parents, Jesus gives a brief "summary" of his life and his mission. Previously, a Emmaus, he had explained how in all the Scriptures - "starting with Moses and all the prophets" - there was a reference to him and, above all, that the Messiah of Israel would "endure all these sufferings to enter into his glory" (LC 24,26). Now these speeches are addressed to the apostles, as the introduction to today's gospel says:

«These are the words that I spoke to you when I was still with you: all things written about me in the law of Moses must be fulfilled, in the Prophets and Psalms" (v.44).

Jesus is explaining, as he had already done in his three announcements of passion, that the Messiah, the Christ, he would die and rise again after three days. Here we see the beginning of the Christian hermeneutics of the scriptures and it is Jesus himself who inaugurates it, so long as, eg, we would hardly find such a clear explanation in the Old Testament, in a messianic sense, of the prophecies about the suffering servant of Isaiah. The risen Jesus reports this to his disciples. As they would, indeed, they were able to give such a "full" meaning to words that no one had ever interpreted in that way before? From then on Christians will read the Bible starting from the death and resurrection of Jesus:

«The death of the Messiah, king of the Jews, and his resurrection gave the texts of the Old Testament a previously inconceivable fullness of meaning. In light of the events of Easter, the authors of the New Testament reread the Old. The Holy Spirit sent by the glorified Christ made them discover its spiritual meaning" (Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Jewish people and their Holy Scriptures in the Christian Bible).

The Ascension of the Lord inaugurates, as mentioned, a totally new relationship between him and the disciples, that even if it is marked by a physical separation, However, it does not generate sadness, nor regrets, because the disciples: "they returned to Jerusalem with great joy". Thus begins a bond that will have a strong impact on the spiritual life of the Christian, also because from now on he is constituted as a witness: “You are witnesses of this” (LC 24,48). And this relationship will be placed under the seal of the Holy Spirit, or, the love of God and His free will to communicate and enter into communion with men. In this way, what Jesus lived and did with everyone, touching the poor or sinful members of our humanity, now even the disciples can do it. Letting yourself be guided by the Spirit, they can do what Jesus himself did. In the story of the Ascension that we read in the Acts of the Apostles, equally Lucanian as the gospel, we note a continuity between the coming of the Lord in glory and his historical journey, the verb used to describe Jesus' journey to heaven in At 1,10-11 it is the same one used to indicate the path he physically took. The Ascended One into heaven is also the Coming One and is the one who passed among men doing good and healing:

«Men of Galilee, why are you looking at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, a day will come in the same way as you saw him go to heaven" (At 1,11).

Eschatological coming and daily journey of Jesus they are in strict continuity; so also for the disciples: to know, to confess and bear witness to the Coming, it is not necessary to look to the sky, but remember the steps taken by Jesus on earth. The humanity of Jesus attested by the gospels becomes, like this, the magisterium that shows Christians the path to follow to bear witness to the one who, ascended to heaven, he is no longer physically present among his own and will come in glory.

It's still. According to the Gospel of Luke the Ascension of Jesus is accompanied by a blessing: «While Jesus blessed the disciples, he separated from them and was taken towards heaven" (v. 51); and according to the Acts of the Apostles by a promise: «Jesus will come one day…» (At 1,11). Promise and blessing are the assurance that the Lord does not abandon his, but he will come to meet them again. But they are also aspects that engage the Church in preaching and witnessing, while the latter joyfully awaits His glorious coming. The Gospel highlights two decisive characteristics of Christian testimony, and that is the conversion and remission of sins (LC 24,47) who were already at the center of Jesus' preaching and message, as the disciples themselves experienced. They shared the path with that Jesus who came «not to call the righteous, but sinners to conversion" (LC 5,32), and they experienced the forgiveness of sins, they have known salvation in the remission of sins (LC 1,77). After all, we are witnesses of what we have known and experienced.

In the end, you need to remember that there are many points, within the Gospels, in which Jesus prefigures what will happen in the Ascension, for example during the Last Supper, in which he announces: "I go to the Father". And the place at the right hand of the Father is, precisely, the place of honor, that of the beloved Son who became flesh out of love, he died and rose again and thus saved humanity. That place has always been his, because Jesus before being man is the Son of the Father and has a stable home and glory with Him. Jesus, however, ascends to heaven to begin the "kingdom that has no end", but also to prepare our place in heaven. If Jesus did not return to the Father in heaven, both redemption and salvation would not be complete for man: just like that, indeed, He brings them to completion, sending the Consoler into the world.

From the Hermitage, 01 June 2025

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

FRANCE HAS AWAKENED AND INSTEAD TOWARDS THE IDOL OF SECULARISM HE RUNS TO THE BAPTISM FOUNT

In the letters sent to the bishops by the young French baptized this Easter as adults, They speak first of all of a personal journey, often started in childhood. «Christians are not born, one becomes" wrote Tertullian, which Saint Augustine echoes: «it is not the generation that makes Christians, but regeneration".

Author
Hermit Monk

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It sparked amazement and joy the news that during the recent Easter Vigils in the churches of France beyond 17000 people have received Baptism.

Regardless of the data or other considerations which however are outside this writing, I am only reporting information that emerges from the young people of that group of baptized people: in the letters they sent to the bishops, They speak first of all of a personal journey, often started in childhood. «Christians are not born, one becomes" wrote Tertullian, which Saint Augustine echoes: «it is not the generation that makes Christians, but regeneration"; in fact, already in ancient times the catechumenate process was long and in some cases could last several years. Like this, always since ancient times, the Easter period, marked by his Sundays, it had become the time of mystagogy, that is, useful for introducing the newly baptized into the deepest mysteries of Christian life. For this to them, like other Christians, more solid food was offered, like the one contained in today's evangelical text, portion of the famous chapter 10 St John, which presents Jesus the Good Shepherd. How it was written: «No image of Christ over the centuries has ever been dearer to the hearts of Christians than that of Jesus the Good Shepherd» (A.J. of Simon). Let's read this Sunday's passage:

"During that time, Jesus said: «My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will not be lost forever and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who gave them to me, he is greater than all and no one can snatch them from the Father's hand. I and the Father are one." (GV 10, 27-30).

To understand a little these just four verses we must frame them in the broader whole of the section that goes from the chapter 7 the chapter 10 of the Gospel of John, where there are. Jesus gravitates around the Temple for the occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles (GV 7,14). We therefore have a unit of space, the Temple of Jerusalem, and of time, the celebration that lasted eight days, in particular the middle of the feast and especially the last day of the same which includes the longest section of the John chapters (GV 7,37-10,21) with inside the promise of the living water of the Spirit, the revelation of Jesus light of the world, the healing of the man born blind and the speech, precisely, on the Good Shepherd. Finally the last part of the chapter 10, which affects our verses, it is always placed in the Temple of the holy city, but for another party, that of Dedication, three months after the events listed above. Jesus is revealing himself to the world, but in constant contrast with it, particularly with the Jews. And since starting from the exile those feasts had taken on a messianic and eschatological connotation, the discourse on the Good Shepherd serves Jesus to understand the meaning of his messianic work.

First Jesus defines himself as "the gate of the sheep", a metonym used to convey that He is indeed the new sheepfold and the new temple. Unlike those who preceded him, particularly those who embody a false messianism, both religious and political, that of Jesus goes in the direction of love towards the sheep. With Jesus they are not subservient to anyone, for this reason the sheep "did not listen" to those who came before (v. 8); they can exit and above all enter through Him, to have life, a life that He as Son shares in perfect and profound communion with the Father. At this point Jesus says about himself, marking the conversation even more: «I am the Good Shepherd» (v. 11).

The theme of the shepherd, reserved for the new Davide, it comes from the Old Testament where it becomes an element of eschatological hope. In fact, Ezekiel makes the Lord say: «I will raise up for them a shepherd who will feed them, my servant David. He will lead them to pasture, he will be their shepherd" (This 34,23). And the adjective «Good, Kalos», it does not have a moral connotation here, almost a subjective quality of Jesus, because everywhere in the fourth Gospel it refers to the works of Jesus (v. 32.33 e GV 2,10: the good wine of the wedding at Cana) and that is, it characterizes it by what it brings to men. Jesus is the Good Shepherd because he "lays down" (v.17-18) his life for the sheep and establishes new relationships of mutual understanding with them: the adjective therefore aims to highlight the salvific work carried out by the messianic Shepherd.

Without exaggeration it can be stated that the entire chapter on the Good Shepherd and therefore also the verses of this Sunday's Gospel constitute a true synthesis of Johannine theology. What is striking is that this theology is not exposed only in an abstract or theoretical discourse, but it starts from a historical and concrete situation in the life of Jesus. The historical situation is that of the revelation of Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem during the celebration of a solemn feast which ends with the healing of the man born blind which will lead to discrimination of men in front of Jesus. On the one hand, the believers, represented by the blind man, healed by Jesus; on the other, the Jews who rejected the light of the world. The speech on the Good Shepherd is a symbolic speech through which Jesus suggests that he is leading his sheep outside the enclosure of Judaism, some belonging to that fold and others will come later, the so-called Gentiles, in order to establish a new flock, the messianic community.

His, Jesus, it will be the gate of the sheep, the one who gives access to salvation and will be the Good Shepherd who communicates life in abundance. The docility of the sheep towards the Shepherd is expressed by the words "they listen to my voice". This formula receives a deeper meaning here than that of a simple attention as it could have been to v. 3 of the beginning, since it expresses the future docility of the sheep, Get out of the fence now, towards the shepherd Jesus who will lead them. During the Passion, Jesus will say that to listen to the voice one must "be of the truth" (GV 18,37) and the reason for this is obvious: the docility of the sheep towards the Shepherd is in fact a fruit of faith, it is essentially now a reality of the Church of messianic times.

These sheep are "his", they therefore have a special relationship with Him, interwoven with freedom, and He knows them and this mutual knowledge is in the image of that existing between Jesus and the Father (vv.14-15). This is not knowledge in the Greek sense, you're an intellectual type, but biblical, that is, relational and existential. Knowing in the Bible means having a concrete experience of the object and knowing someone means entering into a personal relationship with them. Here we talk about Jesus' relationship and intimate possession of his sheep: "The Lord knows his own" (2Tim 2,19). Only here, twice in the chapter 10 St John, it is said that Jesus knows his own to mean that this particular "intelligence" is a knowledge of love by virtue of which Jesus invites his own to follow him and it is expressed in the gift of eternal life, which will not begin after death, but already now. The disciples know Jesus and their knowledge flows from their faith in Him (cf.. GV 14,7.9). Since it implies communion with Christ and, thanks to Him, with the Father, constitutes the very essence of "eternal life", of participation in the very life of God (GV 17,3). Already at the beginning of the Gospel John the Baptist had said about Jesus: «The Father loves the Son and has given everything into his hand» (GV 3,35); now here is Jesus himself who says about his sheep: «no one can snatch them from the hand of the Father. I and the Father are one.".

Thus the new community it is no longer a fence like the one the sheep abandoned, it is now a communion, consists in mutual knowledge between the sheep and the Shepherd, in their personal relationships with Him, e, through Him, with the Father. And since the work accomplished by the Son is nothing other than the execution of the Father's will, we must affirm that the Father himself is simultaneously the origin and end of the entire work of salvation.

Since I spoke, about this chapter of St. John, of theological synthesis, we can affirm without a doubt that the figure of the Good Shepherd brings together themes of Christology here in the Gospel, ecclesiology and soteriology that recall each other, but nevertheless it is Christology that brings about the unity of the whole. We see once again how the whole of the fourth Gospel has the person of Christ as its fundamental center of interest.

From the Hermitage, 11 May 2025

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO and support our editions by purchasing and distributing our books.

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

If I do not put my finger in the sign of the nails and I do not put my hand in his side, I DON'T BELIEVE

The Evangelist John is an extraordinary author, as well as a true theologian. Already at Calvary he had anticipated themes of great importance such as the royalty of Jesus, the fulfillment of his hour, the gathering of the dispersed and even the gift of the Spirit. Realities that for other New Testament authors will come true later or even at the end of time.

Author
Hermit Monk

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On this second Sunday of Easter the evangelical page corresponds to the last of the four paintings that make up the chapter 20 St John, with its final (GV 20,30-3) — he caps. 21 with a second ending will be added later — and are thus identified: Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb; then Peter and another disciple also run to the tomb; Mary Magdalene meets the Lord while she believes he is the gardener; at last, the last painting, which sees the disciples and Thomas as protagonists.

St. Thomas, work by Caravaggio

We are always on the same Easter day, that of the apparitions of the Risen One and the evangelist has just finished telling the story of Jesus' meeting with Magdalene. Here the Risen One appears for the first time to his disciples closed in the cenacle.

«The evening of that day, the first of the week, while the doors of the place where the disciples were were closed for fear of the Jews, Jesus came, stood in the middle and told them: "Peace to you!». Said this, he showed them his hands and his side. And the disciples rejoiced at seeing the Lord. Jesus said to them again: "Peace to you! As the Father sent me, I'm sending you too". Said this, he blew and said to them: «Receive the Holy Spirit. To those to whom you will forgive sins, will be forgiven; to those you won't forgive, they will not be forgiven". Tommaso, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, he was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him: «We have seen the Lord!». But he told them: "If I don't see the sign of the nails in his hands and I don't put my finger in the sign of the nails and I don't put my hand in his side, I do not think so". Eight days later the disciples were back in the house and Thomas was also with them. Jesus came, behind closed doors, he stood in the middle and said: "Peace to you!». Then he said to Thomas: «Put your finger here and look at my hands; reach out your hand and place it in my side; and do not be incredulous, but a believer!». Tommaso answered him: «My Lord and my God!». Jesus told him: «Because you saw me, you believed; Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!». Jesus, in the presence of his disciples, he did many other signs which have not been written in this book. But these were written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and why, believing, have life in his name" (GV 20,19-31).

Not having the necessary space here to address the many themes that the Gospel text presents to us, I'll try to highlight some of them - something was already mentioned last Sunday (WHO) — placing them under a single denominator that can help us understand the meaning of the writing, which I would define as starting to breathe again. This time not alone, but as a community. This is very important especially for us who live perpetually connected, but at the expense of true communion, of a sincere and trusted meeting between believers. Furthermore, we are used to thinking of the resurrection as an eschatological event, post-mortem, more than an experience to be lived here and now and to think of it as an individual event, personal, non-communal. But faith in the resurrection of Jesus demands fulfillment in the community, as well as asking to become an experience here and now, in our Christian life today.

The Johannine page presents the community of disciples on the evening of the day of the Resurrection. The same day that Mary Magdalene brought the announcement: «I saw the Lord»; then reporting what he told her (GV 20,18). But this is not enough to move the disciples, for the woman is not believed, as the other evangelists attest even more forcefully. The group of apostles is not only wounded by the loss of the Lord, but it is also blocked by emotions such as fear and distrust. The doors of the house are locked for fear of reprisals from outside, by those Jews who had conspired for the death of the Lord. But even within the place where they are gathered, the distrust is palpable, regarding Mary's testimony as already mentioned, and also for the ever-present trauma of Judas' betrayal and Peter's denial which are certainly fueling a climate of suspicion, so much so that someone, Didymus, he prefers not to stay with the group. The situation is this, internal and external, and who can ignite faith in the Risen One in this circumstance of general discouragement?

The evangelist John is an extraordinary author, as well as a true theologian. Already at Calvary he had anticipated themes of great importance such as the royalty of Jesus, the fulfillment of his hour, the gathering of the dispersed and even the gift of the Spirit (GV 19, 30). Realities that for other New Testament authors will come true later or even at the end of time. But here is Jesus, John writes, he came to that place closed off from external intrusions by the disciples and "stood standing among them", which is one of the very suggestive ways, used in the New Testament, to express the living presence of the Risen One. The Greek verb prompt — standing up straight — will be used to describe Jesus stopping and “standing” with the disciples of Emmaus (LC 24,36), it is the one for which Stephen says he sees Jesus who «stood at the right hand of God" (At 7,55), but above all it is the verb that in the Apocalypse indicates "standing upright" of the Lamb, «as if sacrificed», but living (AP 5,6). Jesus is standing standing at the door and knocking, writes, still, the Apocalypse (3,20), as well as now, after the days of passion and suffering, go back to his parents, he enters the cenacle and, standing among the frightened disciples, addresses them.

The first words of the Risen One to the Church are on peace. Raymond Brown wrote in his commentary on the Fourth Gospel that Jesus' greeting, "peace be upon you" (who, in GV 20,19, and then repeated two more times, in 20,21.26) it is not a simple wish: it's a gift. The Risen One brings peace, that, Paul will write, that the Messiah established between heaven and men (cf.. With the 1,20) and those who still encounter the Lord in the Church today are sure of being able to receive it. The second word of the Risen One to this community of disciples concerns the mission, for Jesus is the first apostle of the father. St. John uses the Greek verb here apostello which we translate as send, from which apostle, or "the one sent" (cf.. also GV 3,17: "It gave […] he sent his son into the world"). After the Resurrection the disciples are sent by Jesus on a mission that comes from above, it is not human initiative, but it starts from God himself and is configured as a continuation of the mission of the Son.

Then the Risen Jesus breathes and gives the Spirit. The way the Fourth Gospel describes the gift of the Spirit is unique in the entire New Testament. Only Giovanni, indeed, and only here, in the verse 20,22, it says that Jesus "breathed" on the disciples. The verb is used emphysao, «inflate, alliteration», which the Bible uses for the first time in the book of Genesis, during the story of the creation of man (Gen 2,7). All created reality - we read there - is generated by the word of God, but to make a man this is not enough: God must breathe into his nostrils. Need, that is, that he bends over him and approaches the man and gives him life through his breath.

In the Bible we find other occurrences of this verb, always linked to the theme of giving life back, to be reborn, allow you to breathe again. This is the case of Elijah who performs the miracle of the resurrection of the son of the widow of Zarephath: «Elijah lay down (translate at CEI, but we have the same verb emphysao all'aoristo: sensible, breathed in) three times over the child and called upon the Lord: Lord my God, the soul of the child returns to his body". In the book of Ezekiel the verb is used in the great scene of the dried bones, symbol of the people of the alliance now on its last legs. This people can only rise again if the Spirit from the four winds comes to "breath" life into those dead (cf.. This 37,9). Later, in wisdom literature, we will once again use the verb «alitare, insufflare», to describe the creation of man again: «And who breathed into him the breath of life» (Sap 15,11).

The Spirit of God is life for man, but in the circumstance of the cenacle it also becomes one of the visible signs that Jesus is alive. Just after showing his pierced hands and side He can breathe on the disciples because he breathes. It is further proof that He is not a ghost, but a living one: he started breathing again after he had "emitted the spirit", as we heard in the Holy Week readings.

From Old Testament occurrences first remember, some findings emerge that we can apply to the Gospel story. Saint John allows us to glimpse that as in the first creation, God breathed a vital spirit into man, so now, in the new creation that the Resurrection inaugurates, Jesus breathes the promised Holy Spirit, giving the disciples eternal life that does not necessarily begin after death, but it is already present, because of this gift and because of faith in the Resurrection of the Lord: «This is the eternal way: that they know you, the one true God, and whom you have sent, Jesus Christ" (GV 17,3). And as in the baptismal symbolism of GV 3,5, where it is said that men are reborn as children of God from water and the Spirit; similarly the present scene serves as a baptism for Jesus' immediate disciples and as a pledge of divine rebirth for all believers of the future. It is not surprising if the custom of breathing on those who will receive Baptism will later become part of the Rite of Christian initiation.. Now they are truly brothers of Jesus and can call God by the name of Father (GV 20,17). In this way the gift of the Spirit thus becomes the final culmination of the personal relationships between Jesus and his disciples.

I started by saying that thanks to the presence of the Risen One and through the gift of the Spirit the disciples also breathe again. But this does not correspond to breathing a sigh of relief, like after a big scare, there is a profound theological and ecclesial meaning here. The Risen Jesus does not keep for himself the life that has defeated death, but he also communicates it to the disciples gathered together as a community, as a Church. This life is his and he received it from the Father, He had already announced it in his earthly existence: «I am the way of truth and life». Now it descends on the Easter Church thanks to the gift of the Spirit and it is eternal life that already begins at the moment of baptism and unfolds in the thousand forms of Christian existence. For this reason the disciples rejoice in seeing the Lord and shortly thereafter Thomas too will enter the vital circularity of this faith despite the initial lack of trust in the testimony of the hesitant Easter church. This testimony, including that of Thomas - "My Lord and my God" - ends St. John, it is now delivered in the Gospel. It is the sign that remains and that allows us to participate in the life of the resurrected, but this is possible if we open it with faith and in communion and obedience with the whole Church and its tradition which since Easter has not ceased to announce: «The Lord is truly risen!».

From the Hermitage, 27 April 2025

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

THE STONE OF JESUS ​​AND THE ANCIENT ROSE MOUTH THAT PUT LOVE ABOVE EVERYTHING

«There are those who make love out of boredom, who chooses it by profession, Bocca di Rosa neither one nor the other, she did it out of passion"

Author
Hermit Monk

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There is a thread that ties Jesus' sentence listened to two Sundays ago: "If you don't convert, all perish in the same way » (LC 13, 3); to that, became famous, that we read in the Gospel of this Fifth Sunday of Lent: "Which one of you is without sin, be the first to throw the stone at her ". It is the theme of mercy, masterfully represented by Jesus in the parable of the Prodigal Son proclaimed instead last Sunday.

Today, left Luca, Let's read the Gospel of John, where we find a statement from Jesus that explains the passage about the adulterous woman well:

«God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him" (GV 3,17).

After many clashes with his opponents, finally these bring to Jesus a concrete case that intersects a social sin, adultery. They know that his teaching focuses on openness to sinners, he ate with them, he has already said to the paralytic "Sin no more" (GV 5,14), yet they insist on testing him, so much so that this openness of Jesus will become one of the reasons for his condemnation. Let's read the Gospel.

«Jesus set out towards the Mount of Olives. But in the morning he went again to the temple, and all the people came to him. And he sat down and began to teach them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery, they placed it in the middle and said to him: “Maestro, this woman was caught in adultery. now Moses, in the Law, He commanded us to stone such women. What do you think?”. They said this to test him and to have reason to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger on the ground. However, because they insisted on questioning him, he stood up and told them: “Who among you is without sin, be the first to throw a stone at her.". E, bent down again, He wrote on the ground. Those, heard it, they went away one by one, starting with the older ones. They left him alone, and the woman was there in the middle. Then Jesus stood up and said to her: “Donna, where am I? Has no one condemned?”. And she answered: "Nobody, Man". And Jesus said: “I don't condemn you either; go and sin no more from now on" (GV 8,1-11).

The text is complex — since ancient times it has posed problems of textual criticism due to its absence in the most important manuscripts — also due to the cultural distance that separates us from the themes expressed there, and in this way the interpretations have multiplied. Some, perhaps precisely because today's sensitivity has changed a lot compared to that ancient culture, they highlight the violence used towards women by those male men, in contrast to the kindness and attitude used by Jesus towards her. They wonder where the man who is also an adulterer is, whom the Law ordered to be put to death in the same way as the woman, if discovered (Dt 22, 22). They're not doing it, in this way, violence also against the Law, as well as the woman, those men who push her in the middle, there in front of everyone, then in the Temple, in order to frame Jesus?

For someone else it is likely not true adultery, but of a specious use of Jesus' words to put him in difficulty. These words are found in Mt 5, 31-32:

«It was also said: «Whoever repudiates his wife, give her the writ of repudiation". But I tell you: whoever divorces his wife, except in the case of illegitimate union, exposes her to adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman, commits adultery".

According to what Jesus says in Matthew the repudiation of his wife, although admitted by the Torah (Dt 24, 1-4) by means of a divorce decree, however, it exposes the divorced woman to adultery. The divorce document was intended to limit male agency and to grant it to the woman, after the separation, the possibility of remarrying without being accused of adultery. Jesus then said in the Sermon on the Mount: «Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish, but to fully fulfill " (Mt 5, 17). Therefore in those difficult words reported above we at least understand that for Jesus divorce is an act that goes against love for one's wife, exposing her to adultery. According to this interpretation it is possible that that woman thrown there in the middle was actually a remarried divorcee and according to those scribes and Pharisees she could not be reprobated, but since they learned that Jesus advanced that new hermeneutic of the Law, they use it to "test" him (cf.. GV 8, 6; Mt 19, 3). They thus demonstrate that they care more about chance and don't care about the person; perverting the teaching of Jesus they had already put their hands to stones to stone her. Thus comments Saint Augustine: «They were interested in the adulteress, and in the meantime they lost sight of themselves".

The gospel passage opens with the note of Jesus going to the Temple to teach a large crowd. Indeed the text says that "all the people" (GV 8,2) went to him. We also find a similar note in Luke:

«During the day Jesus taught in the Temple; at night he went out and spent the night outdoors on the mountain of olive trees. And all the people went to him in the Temple early in the morning to listen to him" (LC 21,37-38).

Jesus carries out a daily teaching activity in the Temple which probably generates annoyance and for this reason is interrupted suddenly and violently by some. Jesus distances himself from these, avoiding face to face with them; thus while it is twice underlined that the woman is among this group of people (vv. 3 e 9), it is also repeated twice that Jesus bends down to the ground to write (vv. 6 e 8). We don't know if he wanted to express solidarity towards the weakest, experiencing in her own body what she is experiencing, but this gesture certainly has a theological value. Let's retrace the various passages of the text. Jesus bends down for the first time and writes on the ground with his finger (v. 6), scribes and Pharisees insist on questioning him; then he stands up and speaks to them saying: "Let the one who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her" (v. 7). Immediately afterwards Jesus bends down again for the second time, He writes on the ground (v. 8), the scribes and Pharisees leave one by one, starting with the older ones and leaving Jesus alone with the woman (v. 9), then Jesus gets up (v. 10) and says to the woman: "go and sin no more" (v. 11). It's here, in all probability, a reference to the Old Testament, to the episode of Moses' double ascension to Mount Sinai where he twice receives the tablets of the Law "written by the finger of God" (Is 31,18). In that case Moses came down from the mountain for the first time and broke the tablets of the Law because the people were transgressing them with the sin of the golden calf (Is 32, 19). He ascends again and receives the tablets rewritten a second time together with the revelation of the name of the merciful and forgiving God.:

«The Lord passed before him, proclaiming: "The Sir, the Sir, Merciful and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in love and faithfulness, who preserves his love for a thousand generations, who forgives the guilt, transgression and sin..." (Is 34, 1-9).

So Jesus, with his gesture of bending, write and get up twice, seems to allude, mimetically, to the gift of the Law given twice, a Law that already contained the gift of mercy and forgiveness, so much so that the alliance in the eyes of the Lord God is not canceled by man's sin. Now it's Jesus, in the New Covenant, which reveals divine mercy and forgiveness, since in both cases where Jesus stands up and speaks uttering words that have to do with sin, of the scribes and Pharisees first and then of the woman, which has already been forgiven, even if he will tell her eventually: "Neither do I condemn; go and from now on don't sin anymore ". Jesus asks the woman to assume responsibility, therefore he sends her demonstrating trust in her. The fact then that in our text bending down precedes getting up unlike the story of Moses who first ascended and then descended at Sinai, it is a reference to the fundamental event of the incarnation of the Word who first descended and then was raised in glory: «He who descended is the same who also ascended above all the heavens, to be the fullness of all things" (Ef 4,10). In the mystery of Christ he reveals himself, so, the face of the Father God rich in mercy, according to the evangelical expression already mentioned initially: «God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him" (GV 3,17).

Beyond any possible interpretation John's text 8,1-11 states that God's mercy becomes practice in Jesus. The words of Saint Augustine commenting on the meeting between the Lord and the adulteress have remained famous:

«Only the two of them remained: misery and mercy (miserable and Mercy)».

Words that also struck Pope Francis who wrote:

«He couldn't [St. Augustine] find a more beautiful and coherent expression than this to make people understand the mystery of God's love when he comes to meet the sinner" (Apostolic Letter Mercy and misery of the Holy Father Francis at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, 2016).

Rightly the liturgy on this Sunday it makes us pray:

«O Lord who sent your only begotten Son not to condemn but to save the world, forgive all our faults, so that the song of gratitude and joy may flourish in the heart".

From the Hermitage, 5 April 2025

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Sant'Angelo Cave in Ripe (Civitella del Tronto)

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Visit the pages of our book shop WHO and support our editions by purchasing and distributing our books.

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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