«THE WIND WHISTLES AND THE STORM RAGES … » AND MEANWHILE JESUS ​​WAS SLEEPING

«Because you are afraid? Have you no faith?». For those who believe, there is nothing to fear, because everything works for the good, if you love God; even the storms of life. Only, fear often has the upper hand and when this happens we all discover ourselves as disheartened people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I knew a good priest that when someone, on the occasion of a death, he asked him for a phrase to carve on a tombstone or put on a memory card, he always suggested this one from today's Gospel: «Evening came, Jesus said: Let's move on to the other shore". Many remember the Pope's meditation on this evangelical passage during the pandemic, the 27 March 2020, in a deserted Rome and St. Peter's Square. Or the words of the predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to Auschwitz:

«Where was God in those days? Because He was silent? How could he tolerate this excess of destruction, this triumph of evil?».

There are indeed moments in life of people, or history, in which God seems absent and careless about men. This is what happens in today's Gospel, When the disciples, scared by the storm, they said to Jesus: «Maestro, do we not care?» (MC 4,38). Here is the passage from this Sunday's Gospel:

«On that day, evening came, Jesus told his disciples: “Let's move on to the other shore”. E, the crowd dismissed, they took him with them, as it was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. There was a great windstorm and the waves were rolling into the boat, so much so that it was now full. He was standing in the stern, on the pillow, and slept. Then they woke him up and told him: “Maestro, you don't care that we are lost?”. He woke up, he threatened the wind and said to the sea: "Talked, take it easy!”. The wind stopped and there was a great calm. Then he said to them,: “Because you are afraid? Have you no faith?”. And they were filled with great fear and spoke to one another: “Who then is this?, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”» (MC 4,35-41).

The evangelical episode It comes at the end of a day that Jesus dedicated to preaching, while sitting on a boat just off the shore (cf.. MC 4,1-34). But when evening comes he decides to cross to the other shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee, leaving the land of Israel, to go towards a region inhabited by pagans, I GERASE. He probably wants to announce God's mercy to the people too, he wants to fight Satan and take away his ground even in that foreign and unholy land. This is the reason that moves Jesus. Many commentators have seen the similarities between this episode and the story of Jonah: called by God to go to Nineveh, city ​​symbol of the pagan people, he runs away and walks in the opposite direction (Gion 1,1-3). Jesus, instead, sent by God, he goes among the pagans. He therefore appears as a Jonah in reverse: not reluctant, but missionary towards the pagans and obedient to God. Anyhow, Jonah and Jesus are two missionaries of divine mercy, and both preach it at great cost: descending into the vortex of the waters and facing the storm (Gion 2,1-11), since only by crossing it can evil be overcome. And Jesus will say that only the sign of Jonah will be given to his generation (cf.. Mt 12,39-41; 16,4; LC 11,29-32), since the pagans were converted by listening to him. But in Him there is also "more than Jonah" (Mt 12,41), thus anticipating that after his descent into the dark and deep waters of death he would be resurrected to live forever.

The disciples, so, they begin the crossing of the lake, «taking Jesus with him». This is a strange expression, because it is usually Jesus who takes the disciples with him (cf.. MC 9,2; 10,32; 14,33). But from what we said before, it is possible that in the background there is also the situation of a Christian community to which Mark is addressing, perhaps the church of Rome itself, the small Christian community in the capital of the empire, who fears the storm and remains held back by fear, so much so as to prevent those Christians from missions to the pagans. Thus Mark invites them not to fear the missionary outing, he encourages them to understand the trials that await them as necessary; trials and persecutions in which Jesus, the Living, he doesn't sleep: "Truly I say to you: there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, that he doesn't already receive now, in this time, a hundred times as much in homes and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and fields, along with persecutions, and eternal life in the time to come" (MC 10, 29-30).

This is also how Jesus' sleep can be understood. We are aware that his day of preaching was long and probably tiring so much so that he felt the need to rest and fell asleep. This intention is frustrated by the abrupt awakening on the part of the disciples, not very graceful in the Marcian version, because in the meantime a storm had arisen which, by stirring up the waves that poured into the boat, risked drowning them. Plus it's evening, the hour of darkness that inspires fear. And then there is the sea which in the Bible represents the great enemy, the kingdom of the great abyss (cf.. Shall 107,23-27); only God had defeated him when he brought his people out of Egypt (cf.. Is 14,15-31).

«Maestro, You don't care that we are lost?». This way of expressing himself is already eloquent: they call him master (chucky), with blunt words they contest his inertia and his sleeping. Words that in Matthew's version will become a prayer: "Man (Kýrios) salvation, we are lost!» (Mt 8,25); and in Luca's a call: «Maestro, maestro (epistées), we are lost!» (LC 8,24).

Even of God, it may seem strange, in the Bible it is said that he sleeps: «Wake up, why are you sleeping, man? Wake up, Don't reject us forever" (Shall 44,24), are the words of the psalmist, when he finds himself in suffering and trial. Isaiah also cries out to the Lord «Wake up, wake up, coated with strength, O arm of the Lord. Wake up like in the days of old, as among past generations" (Is 51,9). How is it possible that God sleeps?

There is an ancient saying of philosophers came down to us through the formulation of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Naufragium done, you sailed well, I was shipwrecked, but I sailed well. It reminds us that the crisis, in the form of a storm, reaches anyone, any navigator going through life; and can seize unexpectedly and surprise, sometimes there is no way around it.

Returning for a moment toand similarities but also to the disparities between the evangelical episode and the story of Jonah, we notice that the hesitant prophet does not care about the inhabitants of Nineveh. Jesus, on the contrary, with a miracle he responds to the heartfelt words of the disciples: «You don't care that we die?». He cries out to the sea and saves them. There is a beautiful comment, very deep, to this evangelical episode by Saint Athanasius: «They awakened the Word, who was on the boat with them, and immediately the sea calmed down" (Letter 19.6). The world was created with the Word: «God said: «the waters that are under the sky, let them gather in one place and let the dryness appear" (Gen 1,9), and now Jesus with his word recomposes that balance between the sea and the land. He repeats the miracle narrated in the psalm: «You have divided the sea with power, you crushed the heads of the dragons on the waters" (Shall 74,13). «They awakened the Word», the one they had been hearing all day and now, in the dark hour, she seems dozing and silent. But the word of Jesus is an active power, we heard it in last Sunday's Gospel: 'Dorma o vegli, at night or during the day, the seed germinates and grows". God cares about us.

The scene ends with Jesus' invitation to faith: «Because you are afraid? Have you no faith?». For those who believe, there is nothing to fear, because everything works for the good, if you love God; even the storms of life (RM 8,28). Only, fear often has the upper hand and when this happens we all discover ourselves as disheartened people. But amazement prevails over the danger that has been escaped and the disciples ask themselves who Jesus is. The words he has said so far in the gospel of Mark, the miracles he performed by healing and freeing the possessed, I am nothing compared to such a great miracle involving nature, creation itself. We'll have to wait, But, the end of the Gospel to know who Jesus is. But we also know by now that He is the risen and glorious Christ who speaks to us through the Gospel. Why then fear? Saint Augustine wrote:

«If there is faith in us, Christ is in us […] The presence of Christ in your heart is linked to the faith you have in him. This is the meaning of his sleeping in the boat: the disciples being in danger, now on the verge of sinking, they approached him and woke him up. Christ arose, he commanded the winds and the waves, and there was great calm. E’ what happens inside you: while you browse, as you cross the stormy and dangerous sea of ​​this life, the winds penetrate you; the winds blow, the waves rise and rock the boat. Which winds? You received an insult and you became angry; the insult is the wind, anger is the wave; you are in danger because you are about to react, you are about to return injury for injury and the boat is about to sink. Awaken Christ who sleeps… Awaken Christ who sleeps in the boat is, so, shake faith..." (St. Augustine, Commentary on the Gospel of John, 49/19).

It is then a question of reawakening that faith which allows us to make the words of the psalmist our own: «The Lord is my light and my salvation, who will I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life, who will I be afraid of??» (Shall 27,1); not to succumb to fear: «In the hour of fear I trust in you» (Shall 56,4).

«In danger I cried out to the Lord: he answered me, the Sir, and saved me. The Lord is for me, I'm not afraid: what can a man do to me? The Lord is for me, he is my help, and I will look down on my enemies" (Shall 118, 5-7); not to fear any evil: «Even if I go through a dark valley, I fear no evil, because you are with me" (Shall 23,4).

From the Hermitage, 23 June 2024

 

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THE PENTECOST OF THE «CALLED ALONGSIDE» AS THE DEFENDER, RESCUER, COMFORTER

The Synoptic Gospels say that Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit, descended upon him in baptism, he then promised it as a gift to the disciples, in particular for the hour of persecution, when the Spirit will be their true defense: speaking into them and teaching them what needs to be said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The lectionary of the Italian Church presents per this Pentecost Sunday two passages taken from the Fourth Gospel which in truth are somewhat artificial constructions, as they are made up of verses belonging to different contexts. In this year B the text is composed of two verses where Jesus promises the disciples the Holy Spirit (GV 15,26-27) and by four others in which he specifies the action of the same Spirit in the days of the Church (GV 16,12-15). Jesus pronounces these words while he is still at the table with his disciples after the washing of their feet (cf.. GV 13,1-20) and communicates words of farewell, because "the hour has come to pass from this world to the Father" (GV 13,1). Here is the evangelical passage of the Solemnity:

"During that time, Jesus told his disciples: «When the Paraclete comes, which I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me; and you too bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have much more to say to you, but by the time you are not able to bear them. When he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all the truth, because he will not speak for himself, but he will speak everything he hears, and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he will take from what is mine and announce it to you" (GV 15,26-27; 16,12-15).

The Synoptic Gospels they say that Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit, descended upon him in baptism (cf.. MC 1,10), he then promised it as a gift to the disciples, in particular for the hour of persecution (cf.. MC 13,11 e par.), when the Spirit will be their true defense: speaking into them and teaching them what needs to be said. We find the same promise in the Gospel according to John (cf.. GV 14,26-27). It will come Parakletos (supplicant) a term that is not immediately understandable, the meaning of which is: «the one called next» as defender, rescuer and comforter. The sanctifying Spirit that Jesus, ascended to the Father, will send. Then the Spirit will bear witness to Jesus, just as the disciples themselves will do, who have been with him since the beginning of his mission. This is the decisive function of the Holy Spirit who, how he was "Jesus' inseparable companion" (Basil of Caesarea), after Jesus sent him from his glory to the Father, becomes the inseparable companion of every Christian.

He is that breath of God that Jesus breathes on the disciples after the resurrection and the very life of God which is also of Jesus becomes life in the disciples and enables them to be his witnesses. A synergy will be produced between the testimony of the Spirit and that of the disciples. And this regarding Christ. Even when men feel that Christians are strangers, in the persecutions or hostilities suffered by the world, in the power of the Spirit Christians will continue to bear witness to Jesus.

Pentecost then is the fullness of Easter. With it the Church celebrates the gift of the Spirit, on the one hand it recalls what God has already done in Jesus of Nazareth and on the other it invokes what is not yet, that is, the universal and cosmic extension of the energies of life and salvation deployed by God himself in the resurrection of Jesus. Pentecost is simultaneously celebration and invocation. The first reading of today's Solemnity (At 2,1-11) it shows the Spirit in his aspect of gift from above which makes the disciples capable of communicating the great actions of God in the languages ​​of men. It is an openness to the languages ​​and communication skills of others. The Spirit is thus at the origin of a mission that is at the same time one of inculturation, to reach the other where he is; and corresponding deculturation, so as not to announce as Gospel what is simply culture. Just as the Scripture says:

«The spirit of the Lord fills the universe and, embracing everything, knows every voice" (cf.. Sap, 1,7).

The second reading presents the fruits of the Spirit. He who is invisible makes himself recognizable by the fruits he produces in man if he welcomes his presence. The Spirit with his "indwelling" makes man go from being a closed and self-referential individuality, Paul alludes to this when he speaks of "satisfying the desires of the flesh" (Gal 5, 16-21); to be open to relationships with others and with God. Paul states: «The fruit of the Spirit, however, is love, gioia, pace, magnanimity, benevolence, goodness, fidelity, mildness, self-control… Therefore if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk according to the Spirit" (Gal 5, 22.25). Thus the Spirit shapes the face of the believer in the image of the face of Christ, guiding him on the path to holiness: fruit of the Spirit is the holy man.

In the second part of today's evangelical passage Jesus says a few more words about this divine breath which is the Spirit. He is aware of being the revealer of the Father as stated in the Johannine prologue: "It gave, no one has seen him: the only Son, who is God and is at the Father, it is he who has made him known " (cf.. exegetical Of GV 1,18, the greek explainer). He did it with events and words and above all by loving his people until the end (cf.. GV 13,1), but he also knows that he could have said many more things. Jesus warns us that there is a progressive initiation into the knowledge of God, a growth in this same knowledge, which cannot be given once and for all. In this way the disciple learns to know the Lord every day of his life, «from beginning to beginning, for beginnings that never end" (cf.. Gregory of Nyssa). The life of the disciple opens up to ever greater understanding and everything that a person experiences, thanks to the action of the Holy Spirit, acquires a new meaning in God. Each of us experiences it; the more we progress in personal life and in responding to the Lord's call in history, the more we know him: «In the illumination of the Spirit, we will see the true light that illuminates every man who comes into the world" (cf.. San Basilio).

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (EB 13,8), does not change, but the Spirit will guide us to the whole truth. These, sent to the disciples, remind them of his words (cf.. GV 14,26), it deepens them and new events and realities are illuminated and understood precisely thanks to the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christ is not succeeded by the Holy Spirit, the age of the Son is not followed by that of the Spirit, because the Spirit who proceeds from the Father is also the Spirit of the Son: “All that the Father has is mine”. Where there is Christ there is the Spirit and where there is the Spirit there is Christ. He is the perennial source of the Spirit who never runs out and always renews the Church, as John himself reminds us: «On the last day, the big day of the party, Jesus, pillow block feet, he shouted: «If anyone is thirsty, come to me, and let him who believes in me drink. As Scripture says: From her womb rivers of living water will flow. This he said of the Spirit that those who believe in him would receive: in fact there was not yet the Spirit, because Jesus had not yet been glorified" (GV 7, 37-39).

For this reason the Church continually invokes this water, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, which is also the ever-creating breath of life, according to the words of the Psalm: «Send your Spirit, everything will be created and you will renew the face of the earth" (Shall 104, 30).

 

From the Hermitage, 19 May 2024

 

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“BLESSED ARE WE” WHO HAVE NOT SEEN WE HAVE BELIEVED IN CHRIST, TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN

What Thomas is reproached for is not having seen Jesus. The reproach falls rather on the fact that at the beginning Thomas closed himself off and did not give credence to the testimony of those who told him they had seen the Lord alive. It would have been better for him to give some initial credit to his friends, waiting to redo in person the experience they had already had. Instead, Thomas almost claimed to dictate the conditions of faith.

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The song for this Second Sunday of Easter, or also called Divine Mercy, it is the last of the narrative compositions that end with the final "first" of the Gospel of John (vv. 30-31) and are divisible into four small squares: Mary Magdalene going to the tomb; after which it is Peter and the other disciple who go to the tomb; then Mary Magdalene meets the Lord and believes he is the gardener; at last, the last painting, sees the disciples and Thomas as protagonists.

The evangelical text is as follows:

«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 be with 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 be with you! As the Father sent me, I send 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: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I don't believe". 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 be with 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).

Even an inattentive reader realizes that so many themes are brought together in this text that it would be truly pretentious to collect them in a single short comment. Think about the time indication, that first day of the week which will forever mark the liturgical memory of the Resurrection of Jesus for Christians. Then there are the three gifts of peace, of the mission and forgiveness that flow from the Risen One who is "among" the disciples and who feel joy in it. Think of the theme of "seeing" which becomes synonymous with believing, in the sequence featuring Tommaso as protagonist.

There is also the gift of the Spirit from Jesus. The way the Fourth Gospel speaks of this is unique in the entire New Testament. Only Giovanni, indeed, and only here in the verse 22, it says that Jesus "breathed" on the disciples. A verb is used, emphysao, «inflate, alliteration», first used in the book of Genesis, during the story of the creation of man. All created reality, it is told there, it comes from the word of God, but to make a man this is not enough: God must breathe inside his nostrils. Looking carefully, But, Jesus' action is not just that of "blowing on", but it also indicates the "breathing" of Jesus: because He is alive again! It is proof that he is not a ghost and in fact it is not enough for him to show his hands and side: Jesus breathes. This verb emphysao it is found still other times in the Bible, for example in 1Re 17,21 and in This 37,9. In the text of Ezekiel the people can only be resurrected if the Spirit from the four winds comes to "breath" life into the dead.

It emerges from Old Testament usage of our verb a constant that can be linked to John's story. These «symbolically proclaim that, just as in the first creation God breathed a spirit of life into man, so now, at the moment of the new creation, Jesus breathes his own Holy Spirit into the disciples, giving them eternal life. In the baptismal symbolism of Giovanni 3,5, Gospel readers are told that from water and the Spirit they are born as children of God; the present scene serves as a baptism for Jesus' immediate disciples and as a pledge of divine birth for all believers of the future, represented by the disciples. It is little wonder that the custom of breathing on people to be baptized has entered the rite of baptism.. Now they are truly brothers of Jesus and can call his Father their Father (20,17). The gift of the Spirit is the final culmination of the personal relationships between Jesus and his disciples." (R. Brown).

Then there is the episode of Thomas which is very important and it is no coincidence that it marked not only a way of translating the Gospel, but above all the way of understanding Jesus' words to Thomas, in particular in the comparison between Catholics and Reformed people. We immediately notice that in the original Greek the verb is in the aorist (believers) and even in the Latin version it was put in the past tense (they believed): «You believed because you saw» – Jesus says to Thomas – «blessed are those who without having seen [that is, without having seen me, directly] they believed". And the allusion is not to the faithful who come later, that they should "believe without seeing", but to the apostles and disciples who first recognized that Jesus had risen, despite the paucity of visible signs that testified to it. In particular the reference is to John, the other disciple who with Peter had run to the tomb first (Gospel of Easter Day). Giovanni, entered after Peter, he had seen clues, the empty tomb and the bandages that remained empty of Jesus' body without being untied and, despite the paucity of such evidence, he had begun to believe. Jesus' phrase «blessed are those who have not seen [me] they believed" refers precisely to "he saw and believed» referring to John at the moment of his entry into the empty tomb. Proposing the example of John to Thomas again, Jesus means that it is reasonable to believe the testimony of those who saw signs, signs of his living presence. It is therefore not a request for blind faith, but the blessedness promised to those who humbly recognize his presence starting from even small signs and give credit to the word of credible witnesses. What Thomas is reproached for is not having seen Jesus. The reproach falls rather on the fact that at the beginning Thomas closed himself off and did not give credence to the testimony of those who told him they had seen the Lord alive. It would have been better for him to give some initial credit to his friends, waiting to redo in person the experience they had already had. Instead, Thomas almost claimed to dictate the conditions of faith. There is a translation error in the CEI version. When Jesus subjects his wounds to the empirical test requested by Thomas, accompanies this offer with an exhortation: «And don't become incredulous, but it becomes (become) believer". It means that Thomas is still neither one nor the other. He is not yet incredulous, but he's not even a believer yet. The CEI version, like many others, translates instead: «And don't be incredulous, but a believer". Now, in the original text, the verb "to become" suggests the idea of ​​dynamism and a change brought about by the encounter with the living Lord. Without the encounter with a living reality one cannot begin to believe. Only after seeing Jesus alive can Thomas begin to become a "believer". Instead the incorrect version, which is the most popular, replacing the verb to be with the verb to become, it eliminates the perception of this movement and almost seems to imply that faith consists of a decision to be made a priori, an original movement of the human spirit. It's a total reversal. Thomas sees Jesus and on the basis of this experience is invited to break free and become a believer. If becoming is replaced by being, it almost seems as if preliminary faith is required of Thomas, which alone would allow him to "see" the Lord and approach his wounds. As idealism would have it, therefore it is faith that creates the reality to be believed, but this is in contradiction with everything the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Church teach. The apparitions to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples and to Thomas are the normative image of an experience that every believer is called to have in the Church; like the apostle John, for us too, "seeing" can be a gateway to "believing". Precisely for this reason we continue to read the Gospel stories; to redo the experience of those who have moved from "seeing" to "believing": think of the contemplation of the evangelical scenes and the application of the senses to them, according to a long spiritual tradition. The Gospel of Mark ends by testifying that the preaching of the apostles was not just a simple story, but it was accompanied by miracles, that they might confirm their words with these signs: «Then they left and announced the Gospel everywhere, while the Lord acted together with them and confirmed the word with the signs that accompanied it" (MC 16,20). Many Fathers of the Church, from the western Augustine to the eastern Athanasius, they insisted on this permanence of the external visible signs that accompany preaching, which are not a concession to human weakness, but they are connected with the very reality of the incarnation. If God became man, resurrected with his true body, he remains a man forever and continues to act. Now we do not see the glorious body of the Risen One, but we can see the works and signs he does. «Codes in our hands, done in the eyes», says Augustine: «in our hands the codes of the Gospels, the facts in our eyes" (WHO). As we read the Gospels, let's see the facts that happen again. And Athanasius writes in the Incarnation of the Word:

«Come, being invisible, it is known based on the works of creation, like this, once he became a man, even if it is not seen in the body, from the works it can be recognized that the one who carries out these works is not a man but the Word of God. If once dead you are no longer capable of doing anything but gratitude for the deceased reaches to the grave and then ceases - only the living, indeed, they act and operate towards other men - let whoever wants to see and judge by confessing the truth based on what is seen". All Tradition firmly preserves the fact that faith is not based only on listening, but also on the experience of external trials, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls, citing the dogmatic definitions of the First Vatican Ecumenical Council: «Nevertheless, so that the observance of our faith was in conformity with reason, God wanted the internal help of the Holy Spirit to be accompanied by external evidence of his revelation." (CCC, no 156).

 

From the Hermitage, 07 March 2024

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BETTER LET ONE MAN DIE THAN THE ENTIRE NATION PERISH

For Jesus, true death is not the physical one that men can give, but it lies in the refusal to give one's life for others, the sterile closure on oneself; on the contrary, true life is the culmination of a process of self-giving.

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Misunderstand, that is, taking one thing for another. This activity which has spread to the present day marked by the consistent use of social, for the author of the Fourth Gospel it becomes a literary device by which, using the momentary misunderstanding, the reader is guided towards further knowledge, often deeper, of reality, of the mystery that lives in Jesus. We saw it in the encounter between Him and the Samaritan woman and before that with Nicodemus, in last Sunday's Gospel. We still find it here, in the evangelical passage of this fifth Sunday of Lent. What could be more simple and natural than the desire to see Jesus? It wouldn't be a request we would ask every day either? Yet the Evangelist tells us that He seems, apparently, don't take it into consideration; distracted or, better to say, focused on an upcoming test, on what could distract him and therefore on a presentation of himself that the simple curiosity of seeing him might not understand. What or who should we look at when we long to see Jesus?

"During that time, among those who had come up for worship during the festival there were also some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and they asked him: “man, we want to see Jesus”. Filippo went to tell Andrea, and then Andrew and Philip went to tell Jesus. Jesus answered them: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. In truth, verily I tell you: if the grain of wheat, fell to the ground, it doesn't die, it remains only; but if it dies, produces a lot of fruit. Who loves their life, he who hates his life in this world loses it, he will keep it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, follow me, and where am I, my servant will also be there. Be one serve me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul is troubled; what will I say? Dad, save me from this hour? But this is precisely why I have come to this hour! Dad, glorify your name”. Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified him and I will glorify him again!”. The crowd, who was present and had heard, he said it was thunder. Others said: “An angel spoke to him”. Jesus said: “This voice did not come to me, but for you. Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be thrown out. And I, when I am lifted up from the ground, I will draw everyone to me”. He said this to indicate the death he was going to die." (GV 12, 20-33).

To understand the pericope just read it is necessary to refer to the growing hostility towards Jesus indicated by the following words which precede the passage just quoted:

«"If we let it continue like this, everyone will believe in him, The Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.". But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, he told them: “You don't understand anything! You do not realize that it is convenient for you that one man should die for the people, and the entire nation does not go to ruin!”. However, he did not say this on his own, ma, being high priest that year, prophesied that Jesus must die for the nation; and not just for the nation, but also to gather together the children of God who were scattered. From that day on they decided to kill him." (GV 11, 48-53).

In the words of the opponents there is also the observation that: «The world (it's weird) he went after him" (GV 12,19). In this context, in which the opponents' decisions have already been made, some Greeks want to see Jesus. It's a first step, not yet that perfect seeing that makes one contemplate the meaning of things with a gaze transformed by the Spirit, all the depth of reality that he will make Jesus express: «Whoever has seen me has seen the Father» (GV 14,9). This desire, however, is positive, of a completely different tone than the murderous aspiration of Jesus' adversaries. There are also Greek ones, present for Easter in Jerusalem, perhaps sympathizers of Jewish monotheism or even already circumcised, they cannot enter the innermost part of the temple where Jesus probably was: the enclosure reserved for Jews. In fact, to mark this space there was a balustrade which the historian Josephus Flavius ​​also tells us about which had some writings on it, still preserved today in Jerusalem and Istanbul, who recited in Greek, to be understood by non-Jews:

«Let no foreigner enter beyond the balustrade and the wall that surrounds it yesterday (the reserved Temple area, n.d.r.); whoever is caught red-handed will be the cause of the death that follows".

These who want to see Jesus they turn to the disciple who bears a Greek name, Filippo, who was from a city also inhabited by many Greeks and perhaps he himself spoke their language. The request must have been singular if Philip himself was helped and accompanied by one of the first two disciples of Jesus, also with a Greek name: Andrea.

Having received the news, Jesus seizes the moment as another sign that his "hour" has come (Come hora), that of his glorification in his Easter (GV 17,1). Cana of Galilee, when it was in the initial phase, Jesus mentions it to his Mother, now here, instead, it is expressly said that the time: «It has arrived». And as then the spouses at the wedding at Cana disappear from the scene, here too the Greeks seem rudely put aside, so that a revelation about Jesus emerges. This time not a sign, but his own words reveal it. His death will be fruitful as happens to the grain of wheat which must fall to the ground and rot in order to multiply and bear fruit., die, otherwise he remains sterile and alone. Accepting to rot and die, the grain multiplies its life and therefore goes through death and reaches the resurrection.

The paradox of parables returns that Jesus feels the need to clarify:

«He who loves his life, loses it, and those who hate their life in this world, guards it for eternal life".

For Jesus, true death is not physical death that men can give, but it lies in the refusal to give one's life for others, the sterile closure on oneself; on the contrary, true life is the culmination of a process of self-giving. The story of the grain of wheat is the story of Jesus but also that of each of his servants, who, following Jesus, he will know passion and death like his Lord, but also resurrection and life forever. It will not only be Jesus who will be glorified by the Father but also the disciple, the servant who, following his Lord, become his friend (GV 15,15).

What, so, Jesus promises to see? His passion, death and resurrection, his glorification, the cross as a revelation of love lived to the end (cf.. GV 13,1). To every disciple, coming from Israel or from the Gentiles, it is given to contemplate in his ignominious death the glory of one who gives his life for love. The Evangelist also allows us to take a look at the most intimate feelings experienced by Jesus and his filial conscience. How the Synoptics will recount Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane (cf.. MC 14,32-42 e par.), in the moment preceding his capture, Giovanni reports his confession: «Now my soul is troubled». He is troubled by what is about to happen, as he had already been troubled and cried at the death of his friend Lazarus (cf.. GV 11,33-35). But this very human anguish does not become a stumbling block placed in his path: Jesus was tempted, but he radically overcomes temptation by adhering to the will of the Father. Differently from the synoptics, but I agree with them, for John Jesus did not want to save himself from that hour, nor be exempt from it, but he remains faithful to his mission by carrying out the Father's will, in profound union with Him, so much so that the glory is shared between them: "Dad, glorify your name". Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified him and I will glorify him again”. The words of the Letter to the Hebrews come to mind:

«In the days of his earthly life he offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God who could save him from death and, for her full abandonment to him (his reverence), was granted" (EB 5,7).

But Jesus' hour also corresponds to the judgment on the world who does not know the love of Christ and opposes it:

«Now comes the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world is cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to me"

a reference to that serpent raised by Moses (cf.. Nm 21,4-9; GV 3,14) who saved the Israelites. The messianic "hour" of Jesus expels the prince of the world who prefers the darkness of evil and will leave room for the authentic King who, even if he rules from a cross, he attracts everyone out of love and towards whom we must turn a gaze of faith. Here is the real answer to those who wanted it, and they still want it today, «see Jesus».

Today's Gospel page it is the good news especially for all those disciples who know the dynamics of falling to the ground, of "rotting" in suffering, in solitude and hiding. In some hours of life it seems that all following is reduced only to passion and desolation, to abandonment and denial by others, but then more than ever we need to look at the image of the grain of wheat given to us by Jesus; more than ever we need to renew our gaze of faith: «They will look at the one they have pierced» (GV 19,37).

According to an ancient tradition Bishop Ignatius of Antioch (35 approximately – Rome, 107 circa) met the apostle Saint John. It is therefore not surprising to find it in one of his letters addressed to the Christians of Rome, where he will find martyrdom, a concordance of terms and views with the Gospel that we read today:

«I am God's wheat and I will be ground by the teeth of wild beasts to become the pure bread of Christ... It is better for me to die for Jesus Christ than to extend my empire to the ends of the earth... The prince of this world wants to take me away and suffocate my aspiration towards God. All my earthly desires are crucified and there is no longer any aspiration for material realities in me, but a living water murmurs inside me and tells me: “Come to the Father”».

From the Hermitage, 17 March 2024

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JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT WITH NICODEMUS

"It gave, indeed, did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through him."

 

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Dear brothers and sisters,

in our lives we have had moments of great night and existential and spiritual darkness. In those moments the Lord was close to us with his Light, even if perhaps we didn't realize it at first. On this journey of Lent we can think back to those moments and discover the meaning of hope as theological charity. Nicodemus himself had come to Jesus at night. The two have a long exchange of which only part of it is actually reported today. The most important section:

"During that time, Jesasu said to Niconamo: “How Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be raised up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. In fact, God so loved the world that he gave the only Son so that whoever believes in him would not be lost, but have eternal life. It gave, indeed, did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but for the world to be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; but those who do not believe have already been sentenced, because he did not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict: the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness more than light, because their works were evil. Anyone in fact does evil, He hates the light, and it does not come to light so that its works are not reproved. Instead, whoever does the truth comes towards the light, so that it may clearly appear that his works were done in God"" (GV 3, 14-21).

Initially Jesus refers to the serpent in the desert raised by Moses (14-15), arguing with great force that He is the newly raised one who will give eternal life. Effectively, the reference to the serpent was not new to Nicodemus. For here, Jesus, refers to the episode in which Moses took a snake and placed it on a pole to free the poisoned Jews from death (cf.. Nm 21,8 ss).

Here then is that Jesus is the New One Raised: the one who, if welcomed with faith and love, frees us from all the poisons of our life. The sins, vices and frailties. Embracing true and authentic life means discovering all your potential, the gifts of God and offer them in charity to others. It is therefore necessary to purify the gaze of our faith to try to encounter Jesus raised up even in moments of difficulty and suffering. Even that moment, if lived with faith it gives moments of growth: you enter new life when you are raised on your cross in Him, in moments crucial of life.

This flourishing in new life in Christ opens up hope for a better world already now, which builds the Common Good in Charity, and also eschatological hope. That is, the hope of being redeemed and one day going to Heaven. Jesus himself promises it to Nicodemus:

"It gave, indeed, did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through him.".

The salvation that Jesus offers us It happens right on the cross, in which, with a supererogatory work he redeemed us from the dominion of sin and the devil; we drew on this salvation directly in our baptism and reinvigorated it in confirmation.

In this time of Lent we can reinvigorate the faith and hope of eternal life, always with acts of charity, but also with a look of hope and goodness on the history we live. Indeed, the personal micro-story that we live in our daily lives is a great gift of grace: God gave us life, freedom and personal vocation, therefore, our personal choices influence the construction of our daily life. Our daily life, if lived with faith and charity, allows us to hope to build a macro-history of the world in which we live, which opens the path of hope for eternal life. So, in our little daily journey we love, we believe and work in the Good at the same time we found the hope of a life that will be eternally beautiful because in the presence of God. Eternal life that will be inaugurated on Easter morning in which with Christ we will be called to be born never to die again.

Lent purifies us to learn to hope in the Eternal and no longer only in temporary realities. We ask the Lord to grow more and more in hope and increasingly generate a heart poured out by his Holy Spirit and Marian love.

Amen!

Santa Maria Novella in Florence, 10 March 2024

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