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The Gospel of today's liturgy tells us about two miracles that seem to be connected to each other. As Jesus is on His way to the house of Jairus, one of the synagogue leaders whose daughter is gravely ill, a woman suffering from hemorrhages touches His cloak along the way. He stops to heal her. Meanwhile, we are told that Jairus' daughter has died, but Jesus does not stop. He arrives at the house, goes into the girl's room, takes her by the hand, and raises her, bringing her back to life (Mk 5:21-43). Two miracles, one of which is a healing and the other a resurrection.

These two healings are told in the same episode. Both occur through physical contact. Indeed, the woman touches Jesus' cloak, and Jesus takes the girl by the hand. Why is this physical contact important? It is because these two women are considered impure and cannot, therefore, be physically touched—one because she suffers from blood loss and the other because she is dead. Yet, Jesus allows Himself to be touched and is not afraid to touch. Jesus allows Himself to be touched and is not afraid to touch. Even before He carries out a physical healing, He challenges the false religious belief that God separates the pure, placing them on one side, from the impure on another. Instead, God does not make this kind of separation, because we are all His children. Impurity does not come from food, illness, or even death; impurity comes from an impure heart.

Let us learn this lesson: in the face of bodily and spiritual sufferings, of the wounds our souls bear, of the situations that crush us, and even in the face of sin, God does not keep us at a distance. God is not ashamed of us; God does not judge us. On the contrary, He draws near to let Himself be touched and to touch us, and He always raises us from death. He always takes us by the hand to say: daughter, son, arise! (cf. Mark 5:41). Walk forward; strive ahead! “Lord I am a sinner”—

“Strive forward; I became sin for you, to save you” – “But you, O Lord, are not a sinner” – “No, but I have endured all the consequences of sin to save you.” This is beautiful!

Let us fix the image that Jesus offers us in our hearts. It is God who takes you by the hand and raises you up again. It is He who lets Himself be touched by your pain and touches you to heal you and give you life again. He does not discriminate against anyone because He loves everyone.

Thus, we can ask ourselves: do we believe that God is like this? Do we let ourselves be touched by the Lord, by His Word, by His love? Do we relate to our brothers and sisters by offering them a hand to lift them up, or do we keep our distance and label people based on our tastes and preferences? We label people. Let me ask you a question: Does God, the Lord Jesus, label people? May everyone answer this question. Does God label people? And do I live by constantly labelling people?

Brothers and sisters, let us look to the heart of God, so that the Church and society may neither exclude nor treat anyone as "impure," so that each person, with their own particular past, is welcomed and loved without labels, prejudices, or adjectives.

Let us pray through the Holy Virgin. May She who is the Mother of tenderness intercede for us and for the whole world.

30.06.24

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Today, Solemnity of the Saints Apostles Peter and Paul, in the Gospel Jesus says to Simon, whom He named Peter, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 16:19). This is why often we see Saint Peter depicted holding two large keys, as in the statue here in this Square. Those keys represent the ministry of authority that Jesus entrusted to him in the service of all the Church. Because authority is a service, and authority that is not service is dictatorship.

Let us be careful, though, to understand well the meaning of all this. The keys of Peter, in fact, are the keys of a Kingdom, which Jesus does not describe as a safe or a vault, but with other images: a tiny seed, a precious pearl, a hidden treasure, a handful of yeast (cf. Mt 13:1-33), that is, like something precious and rich, yes, but at the same time small and inconspicuous. To reach it, therefore, one does not need to operate mechanisms and safety locks, but to cultivate virtues such as patience, attention, constancy, humility, service.

Therefore, the mission that Jesus entrusts to Peter is not that of barring the doors to the house, permitting entry only to a few select guests, but of helping everyone find the way to enter, in faithfulness to the Gospel of Jesus. For everyone: everyone, everyone, everyone can enter.

And Peter will do this throughout his life, faithfully, until his martyrdom, after having been the first to experience for himself, not without fatigue and with many setbacks, the joy and the freedom that come from meeting the Lord. He was the first to have to convert, and to understand that authority is a service, in order to open the door to Jesus, and it was not easy for him. Let us think: just after saying to Jesus, “You are the Christ”, the Master had to reproach him, because he refused to accept the prophecy of His passion and His death by the cross (cf. Mt 16:21-23).

Peter received the keys to the Kingdom not because he was perfect, no: he is a sinner; but because he was humble, honest, and the Father had given him sincere faith (cf. Mt 16:17). Therefore, entrusting himself to God’s mercy, he was able to support and fortify his brethren too, as was asked of him (cf. Lk 22:32).

Today we can ask ourselves, then: do I cultivate the desire to enter, with God’s grace, into His Kingdom, and to be, with His help, its welcoming guardian for others too? And to do so, do I let myself be “polished”, softened, modelled by Jesus and His Spirit, the Spirit who dwells in us, in each one of us?

May Mary, Queen of the Apostles, and the Saints Peter and Paul, grant for us, with their prayers, to be a guide and support to one another for the encounter with the Lord Jesus.

29.06.24 a

Let us look at the two Apostles, Peter and Paul: the fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus made a fisher of men, and the Pharisee who persecuted the Church but was transformed by grace into an evangelizer of the nations. In the light of God’s word, let us draw inspiration from their story and from the apostolic zeal that marked their lives. In encountering the Lord, they experienced a true passover:  they were set free: the doors to a new life opened before them.

Brothers and sisters, on the eve of the Jubilee Year, let us reflect on that image of the door. The Jubilee will be a time of grace during which we will open the Holy Door so that everyone may cross the threshold of that living sanctuary who is Jesus and, in him, experience the love of God that confirms our hope and renews our joy. In the story of Peter and Paul, several doors open.

The first reading tells of the deliverance of Peter from prison; it is filled with images reminiscent of Passover. The event takes place during the feast of Unleavened Bread. Herod recalls the figure of the Pharaoh of Egypt. The deliverance takes place at night, as it did for the Israelites. The angel gives Peter the same instructions once given to Israel: he tells Peter to rise quickly, gird himself and put on his sandals (cf. Acts 12:8; Ex 12:11). The account, then, is that of a new exodus. God delivers his Church, frees his people who are in chains, and once again reveals himself as the God of mercy who sustains them on their journey.

On that night of deliverance, the doors of the prison are first miraculously opened. Then, we are told that when Peter and the angel accompanying him came to the iron gate leading into the city, “it opened to them of its own accord” (Acts 12:10). They did not open the door; it opened by itself. It is God who opens doors; he is the one who sets us free and opens the way before us. Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel, entrusted the keys of the Kingdom to Peter, yet Peter realizes that it is the Lord who opens doors; he always goes before us. This point is significant: the doors of the prison were opened by the Lord’s strength, but Peter then found it hard to enter the house of the Christian community. The woman who went to the door thought that it was a ghost and did not open the door (cf. Acts 12:12-17). How many times have communities not learned this wisdom of the need to open the doors!

The journey of the Apostle Paul is also, primarily, a passover experience. First, he is changed by his encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus and then, fervently contemplating the crucified Christ, discovers the grace of weakness. When we are weak, he tells us, it is then that we are strong, because we no longer rely on ourselves, but on Christ (cf. 2 Cor 12:10). Seized by the Lord and crucified with him, Paul can write, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Yet this does not lead to a consoling, inward-looking religiosity – like that found in a few movements in the Church today – on the contrary, the encounter with the Lord ignites in the life of Paul a burning zeal for evangelization. As we heard in the second reading, at the end of his life, he could say: “The Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the message fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it” (2 Tim 4:17).

In describing how the Lord gave him so many opportunities to preach the Gospel, Paul employs the image of open doors. He journeyed to Antioch with Barnabas, and we read that “when they arrived, they gathered the church together and declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). In a similar way, in writing to the community in Corinth, he says, “a wide door for effective work opened to me” (1 Cor 16:9). Writing to the Colossians, he urges them: “Pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ” (Col 4:3).

Brothers and sisters, the Apostles Peter and Paul both experienced this grace. They witnessed first-hand the work of God, who opened the doors of their interior prisons but also the actual prisons into which they were thrown because of the Gospel. The Lord also opened before them the doors of evangelization, so they could have the joy of encountering their brothers and sisters in the fledgling communities and bring the hope of the Gospel to all.       Now, this year we also are preparing to open the Holy Door.

Brothers and sisters, today the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed in the last year receive the pallium. In communion with Peter and following the example of Christ, the gate for the sheep (cf. Jn 10:7), they are called to be zealous shepherds who open the doors of the Gospel and, through their ministry, help to build a Church and a society of open doors.

With fraternal affection, I greet the delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, whom I thank for coming to manifest the shared desire for full communion between our Churches. I also send heartfelt cordial greetings to my dear brother Bartholomew.

May Saints Peter and Paul help us to open the door of our lives to the Lord Jesus. May they intercede for us, for this City of Rome and for the whole world. Amen.

29.06.24

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Today marks International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987. This year’s theme is The evidence is clear: Invest in prevention.

St. John Paul II affirmed, “Drug abuse impoverishes every community where it exists. It diminishes human strength and moral fibre. It undermines esteemed values. It destroys the will to live and to contribute to a better society.”[1] This drives the abuse of drugs and the use of drugs. At the same time, however, let us remember that each addict “has a unique personal story and must be listened to, understood, loved, and, insofar as possible, healed and purified… They continue to possess, more than ever, a dignity as children of God.”[2] Everyone has dignity.

However, we cannot ignore the evil intentions and actions of drug dealers and traffickers. They are murderers. Pope Benedict XVI used stern words during a visit to a therapeutic community. This is what Pope Benedict said: “I therefore urge the drug-dealers to reflect on the grave harm they are inflicting on countless young people and on adults from every level of society: God will call you to account for your deeds. Human dignity cannot be trampled upon in this way.”[3] And drugs trample on human dignity.

A reduction in drug addiction is not achieved by liberalizing drug use – this is a fantasy! – as has been proposed by some, or has already implemented, in some countries. It’s like this: you liberalize and drugs are consumed even more. Having known so many tragic stories of drug addicts and their families, I am convinced that it is a moral duty to end the production and trafficking of these dangerous substances. How many traffickers of death there are – because drug traffickers are traffickers of death! – how many traffickers of death there are, driven by the logic of power and money at any cost! And this scourge, which produces violence and sows suffering and death, demands an act of courage from our society as a whole.

Drug production and trafficking also have a destructive impact on our common home. This has become increasingly evident, for example, in the Amazon basin.

Another key way to counter drug abuse and trafficking is through prevention, which is done by promoting greater justice, educating young people in values that build personal and community life, accompanying those in need, and giving hope for the future.

In my journeys in different dioceses and countries, I have been able to visit several recovery communities inspired by the Gospel. They are a strong and hopeful witness to the commitment of priests, consecrated men and women, and lay people to put into practice the parable of the Good Samaritan. So too, I am comforted by the efforts undertaken by various bishops’ conferences to promote just legislation and policies regarding the treatment of people addicted to drug use, and prevention to stop this scourge.

As an example, I point to the network of La Pastoral Latinoamericana de Acompañamiento y Prevençión de Adicciones (PLAPA). The charter of this network recognizes that “addiction to alcohol, psychoactive substances, and other forms of addiction (pornography, new technologies, etc.) ... is a problem that affects us indiscriminately, beyond geographical, social, cultural, religious and age differences. Despite the differences ... we want to organize as a community: to share experiences, enthusiasm, difficulties.”[4]

I also mention the Bishops of southern Africa, who in November 2023 convened a meeting on “Empowering youth as agents of peace and hope.” Youth representatives present at the meeting recognized that assembly as a “significant milestone geared toward healthy and active YOUTH throughout the region.” They have also made a promise. Their promise goes like this: “We accept the role of being Ambassadors and Advocates who are going to fight against the use of substances. We plead with all young people to always be empathetic to one another at all times.”[5]

Dear brothers and sisters, faced with the tragic – it is tragic, isn’t it? – the tragic situation of drug addiction of millions of people around the world, faced with the scandal of the illicit production and trafficking of such drugs, “we cannot be indifferent. The Lord Jesus paused, drew near, healed wounds. In the style of His closeness, we too are called to act, to pause before situations of fragility and pain, to know how to listen to the cry of loneliness and anguish, to stoop to lift up and bring back to life those who fall into the slavery of drugs.”[6] And we pray, too, for these criminals who spend and give drugs to the young: they are criminals, they are murderers. Let us pray for their conversion.

On this World Drug Day, as Christians and church communities, let us pray for this intention and renew our commitment of prayer and work against drugs. Thank you!

[1]  Message to representatives of the International Conference on “Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking” (4 June 1987).

[2] Address to participants in the meeting sponsored by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on “Narcotics: Problems and Solutions to this Global Issue (24 November 2016).

[3] Address to the community living in “Fazenda da Esperança” , Brazil, 12 May 2007.

[4] https://adn.celam.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Carta-a-la-Iglesia-de-ALC-PLAPA-14sept2023-CL.pdf

[5] https://imbisa.africa/2023/11/21/statement-following-the-imbisa-youth-meeting/

[6] Message to the participants in the 60th International Congress of Forensic Toxicologists (26 August 2023).

26.06.24

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Today the Gospel presents us with Jesus on the boat with the disciples, on Lake Tiberias. A strong storm arrives unexpectedly, and the boat is in danger of sinking. Jesus, who was asleep, wakes up, threatens the wind and everything becomes calm again (cf. Mk 4:35-41).

But really, He doesn’t wake up, they awaken Him! With great fear, it is the disciples who awaken Jesus. The evening before, it was Jesus Himself who told the disciples to get on the boat and cross the lake. They were experts, they were fishermen, and that was their living environment, but a storm could put them in difficulty. It seems that Jesus wants to put them to the test. However, He does not leave them alone; He stays with them on the boat, calm; indeed, He even sleeps. And when the storm breaks, He reassures them with His presence, He encourages them, He incites them to have more faith and accompanies them beyond the danger. But we can ask this question: why does Jesus act in this way?

To strengthen the faith of the disciples and to make them more courageous. Indeed, they – the disciples – come out of this experience more aware of the power of Jesus and His presence in their midst, and therefore stronger and readier to face obstacles, difficulties, including the fear of venturing out to proclaim the Gospel. Having overcome this trial with Him, they will know how to face many others, even to the cross and martyrdom, to bring the Gospel to all peoples.

And Jesus does likewise with us too, in particular in the Eucharist: He gathers us around Him, He gives us His Word, He nourishes with His Body and His Blood, and then He invites us to set sail, to transmit everything we have heard and to share what we have received with everyone, in everyday life, even when it is difficult. Jesus does not spare us contrarieties but, without ever abandoning us, He helps us confront them. He makes us courageous. So we too, overcoming them with His help, learn more and more to hold onto Him, to trust in His power, which goes far beyond our capacities, to overcome uncertainties and hesitations, closures and preconceptions, and He does this with courage and greatness of heart, to tell everyone that the Kingdom of Heaven is present, it is here, and that with Jesus at our side we can make it grow together, beyond all barriers.

Let us ask ourselves, then: in times of trial, can I remember the times when I have experienced, in my life, the presence and help of the Lord? Let us think about it… When a storm arrives, do I let myself be overwhelmed by the turmoil or do I cling to Him – these inner storms, no? – do I cling to Him to find calm and peace, in prayer, silence, listening to the Word, adoration and fraternal sharing of faith?

May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed God’s will with humility and courage, give us, in difficult moments, the serenity of abandonment in Him.

23.06.24

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In preparation for the next Jubilee, I invited the devotion of the year 2024 “to a great ‘symphony’ of prayer”. [1] With today’s catechesis, I would like to recall that the Church already possesses a symphony of prayer, whose composer is the Holy Spirit, and it is the Book of Psalms.

As in any symphony, it contains various “movements”, that is, various genres of prayer: praise, thanksgiving, supplication, lamentation, narration, sapiential reflection, and others, both in the personal form and in the choral form of the whole people. These are the songs that the Spirit himself has placed on the lips of the Bride, His Church. All the Books of the Bible, I mentioned last time, are inspired by the Holy Spirit, but the Book of Psalms is also so in the sense that it is full of poetic inspiration.

The Psalms have had a special place in the New Testament. Indeed, there were and still are editions that contain the New Testament and the Psalms together. On my desk I have an edition in Ukrainian of this New Testament of Psalms from a soldier who died in the war, that was sent to me. And he prayed on the front with this book. Not all the Psalms – and not all of every Psalm – can be repeated and made their own by Christians and even less by modern man. They reflect, at times, a historical situation and a religious mentality that are no longer our own. This does not mean that they are not inspired, but in certain aspects they are linked to a time and a temporary stage of revelation, as is also the case with a large part of ancient legislation.

What most commends the Psalms to our attention is that they were the prayer of Jesus, Mary, the Apostles and all the Christian generations that have preceded us. When we recite them, God listens to them with that grandiose “orchestration” that is the community of saints. Jesus, according to the Letter to the Hebrews, enters into the world with a verse from a Psalm in His heart: “Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God” (cf. Heb 10:7; Ps 40:9), and He leaves the world, according to the Gospel of Luke, with another verse on His lips: “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46, cf. Ps 31:6).

The use of psalms in the New Testament is followed by that of the Fathers and the entire Church, which makes them a fixed element in the celebration of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. “All the Sacred Scripture breathes the goodness of God”, says Saint Ambrose, “but in particular the sweet book of the Psalms” [2], the sweet book of the Psalms. I wonder: do you pray with the Psalms sometimes? Take the Bible or the New Testament, and pray a Psalm. For example, when you are a bit sad for having sinned, do you pray Psalm 50? There are many Psalms that help us keep going. Form the habit of praying with the Psalms. I assure you that you would be happy in the end.

But we cannot only live on the legacy of the past: it is necessary to make the Psalms our prayer. It was written that, in a certain sense, we must ourselves become the “scribes” of the Psalms, making them ours and praying with them. [3] If there are Psalms, or just verses, that speak to our heart, it is good to repeat them and pray them during the day. The Psalms are prayers “for all seasons”: there is no state of mind or need that does not find in them the best words to be transformed into prayer. Unlike other prayers, the Psalms do not lose their effectiveness by dint of being repeated; on the contrary, they increase it. Why? Because they are inspired by God and “breathe” God, every time they are read with faith.

If we feel oppressed by remorse or guilt, because we are sinners, we can repeat with David: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love” (Ps 51:1), Psalm 51. If we want to express a strong personal bond with love, let us say: “O God, thou art my God / I seek thee, / my soul thirsts for thee; / my flesh faints for thee, / as in a dry and weary land where no water is” (Ps 63:1), Psalm 63. It is not for nothing that the Liturgy has inserted this Psalm in the Lauds of Sunday and the solemnities. And if fear and anguish assail us, those wonderful words of Psalm 23 come to our rescue: “The Lord is my shepherd … Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, / I fear no evil” (Ps 23:1,4).

The Psalms allow us not to impoverish our prayer by reducing it merely to requests, to a continuous “give me, give us…”.  We learn from the Lord’s Prayer, that before asking for our “daily bread”, says, “Hallowed by thy name; thy Kingdom come, thy will be done”. The Psalms help us to open ourselves to a prayer that is less focused on ourselves: a prayer of praise, of blessing, of thanksgiving; and they also help us give voice to all creation, involving it in our praise.

Brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit, who gave the Church Bride the words to pray to her divine Bridegroom, help us to make them resound in the Church today, and to make this year of preparation for the Jubilee a true symphony of prayer. Thank you!

[1] Letter to Archbishop Fisichella for the Jubilee 2025 (11 February 2022).

[2] Comment on the Psalms I, 4, 7: CSEL 64,4-7.

[3] Giovanni Cassiano, Conlationes, X,11: SCh 54, 92-93.

19.06.24

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Today the Gospel of the liturgy speaks to us of the Kingdom of God through the image of the seed (cf. Mk 4:26-34). Jesus uses this simile several times (cf. Mt 13:1-23; Mk 4:1-20; Lk 8:4-15), and today He does so by inviting us to reflect in particular on an important attitude connected to the image of the seed: it is the attitude of confident expectation.

Indeed, in sowing, no matter how good or abundant the seed the farmer scatters, or how well he prepares the land, the plants do not sprout immediately: it takes time and it takes patience! Therefore, it is necessary that, after having sown, he knows how to wait confidently, to allow the seeds to open at the right moment and the shoots to sprout from the seed and grow, strong enough to guarantee, at the end, an abundant harvest (cf. vv. 28-29). Underground the miracle is already in progress (cf. v. 27), there is enormous development, but it is invisible, it takes patience, and in the meantime it is necessary to to keep tending the turf, watering it and keeping it clean, despite the fact that on the surface nothing seems to be happening.

The Kingdom of God is like this too. The Lord places in us the seeds of His word and His grace, good seeds, abundant seeds, and then, without ever ceasing to accompany us, He waits patiently. The Lord continues to take care of us, with the confidence of a Father, but He gives us time – the Lord is patient – so that the seeds open, grow and develop to the point of bearing the fruits of good works. And this is because He wants nothing in His field to be lost, that everything should reach full maturity; He wants us all to be able to grow like ears of grain.

Not only this. By doing so, the Lord gives us an example: He teaches us too to sow the Gospel confidently wherever we are, and then to wait for the seed that has been sown to grow and bear fruit in us and in others, without becoming discouraged and without ceasing to support and help each other even where, despite our efforts, we do not seem to see immediate results. In fact, often even among us, beyond appearances, the miracle is already underway, and in due course it will bear abundant fruit!

Therefore, we can ask ourselves: do I let the Word be sown in me? Do I too sow the Word of God with confidence in the places where I live? Do I wait patiently, or am I discouraged because I do not see the results immediately? And do I know how to entrust everything serenely to the Lord, while doing my best to proclaim the Gospel?

May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed and made the seed of the Word grow within her, help us to be generous and confident sowers of the Gospel.

16.06.24

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I address you today, the leaders of the Intergovernmental Forum of the G7, concerning the effects of artificial intelligence on the future of humanity.

“Sacred Scripture attests that God bestowed his Spirit upon human beings so that they might have ‘skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft’ ( Ex 35:31)”.  Science and technology are therefore brilliant products of the creative potential of human beings. 

Indeed, artificial intelligence arises precisely from the use of this God-given creative potential.

As we know, artificial intelligence is an extremely powerful tool, employed in many kinds of human activity: from medicine to the world of work; from culture to the field of communications; from education to politics. It is now safe to assume that its use will increasingly influence the way we live, our social relationships and even the way we conceive of our identity as human beings. 

The question of artificial intelligence, however, is often perceived as ambiguous: on the one hand, it generates excitement for the possibilities it offers, while on the other it gives rise to fear for the consequences it foreshadows. In this regard, we could say that all of us, albeit to varying degrees, experience two emotions: we are enthusiastic when we imagine the advances that can result from artificial intelligence but, at the same time, we are fearful when we acknowledge the dangers inherent in its use. 

14.06.24 e

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Let us continue the catechesis on the Holy Spirit who guides the Church towards Christ our hope. He is the guide. Last time we contemplated the work of the Spirit in creation; today we will see it in revelation, in which the Sacred Scripture is witness inspired by God and authoritative.

The Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy contains this statement: “All Scripture is inspired by God” (3:16). And another passage in the New Testament says: “Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pt 1:21). This is the doctrine of the divine inspiration of the Scripture, that which we proclaim as an article of faith in the Creed, when we say that the Holy Spirit “has spoken through the prophets”. The divine inspiration of the Bible.

The Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures, is also He who explains and makes them perennially living and active. From inspired, He makes them inspiring. The Sacred Scriptures “as inspired by God”, says Vatican Council II, “and committed once and for all to writing … impart the word of God Himself without change, and make the voice of the Holy Spirit resound in the words of the prophets and Apostles” (21). In this way the Holy Spirit continues, in the Church, the action of the Risen Jesus who, after Easter, “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Lk 24:45).

Indeed, it can happen that in a certain passage of the Scripture, that we have read many times without particular emotion, one day we read it in an atmosphere of faith and prayer, and then that text is unexpectedly illuminated, it speaks to us, it sheds light on a problem we are living, it makes God's will for us clear in a certain situation. To what is this change due, if not to an enlightenment of the Holy Spirit? The words of the Scripture, under the action of the Spirit, become luminous; and in those cases, we touch with our own hands how true is the statement in the Letter to the Hebrews: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (4:12).

Brothers and sisters, the Church is nourished by the spiritual reading of the Sacred Scripture, that is, by reading under the guidance of the Holy Spirit that inspired it. At its centre, like a beacon that illuminates everything, there is the event of the death and resurrection of Christ, which fulfils the plan of salvation, realizes all the figures and the prophecies, unveils all the hidden mysteries and offers the true key to reading the entire Bible. The death and resurrection of Christ is the beacon that illuminates all the Bible, and it also illuminates out life. Revelation describes all of this with the image of the Lamb that breaks the seals of the book “written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals” (cf. 5:1-9), that is, the Scripture of the Old Testament. The Church, Bride of Christ, is the authorized interpreter of the inspired text of the Scripture; the Church is the mediator of its authentic proclamation. Since the Church is gifted with the Holy Spirit – this is why she is the interpreter – she is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” (1 Tm 3:15). Why? Because she is inspired, held steady by the Holy Spirit. And the task of the Church is to help the faithful and those who seek the truth to interpret the biblical texts correctly.

One way of conducting spiritual reading of the word of God is that which is called the lectio divina, a word whose meaning we perhaps do not understand. It consists of dedicating a time of the day to the personal and meditative reading of a passage of the Scripture. And this is very important: every day, take the time to listen to, to contemplate, reading a passage from the Scripture. And therefore, I recommend you always to have a pocket edition of the Gospel and keep it in your bag, in your pocket… So, when you are travelling, or have a little free time, take it and read it. This is very important for life. Get a pocket Gospel and during the day read once, twice, when you have the chance. But the quintessential spiritual reading of the Scripture is the community reading in the Liturgy in the Mass. There, we see how an event or a teaching, given by the Old Testament, finds its full expression in the Gospel of Christ. And the homily, that comment by the celebrant, must help to transfer the Word of God from the book to life. But for this, the homily must be brief: an image, a thought and a sentiment. The homily must not go on for more than eight minutes, because after that, with time attention is lost and the people fall asleep, and they are right. A homily must be like that. And I want to say this to priests, who talk a lot, very often, and one does not understand what they are talking about. A brief homily: a thought, a sentiment and a cue for action, for what to do. No more than eight minutes. Because the homily must help transfer the Word of God from the book to life. And among the many words of God that we listen to every day in Mass or in the Liturgy of the Hours, there is always one that is meant specially for us. Something that touches the heart. Welcomed into the heart, it can illuminate our day and inspire our prayer. It is a question of not letting it fall on deaf ears!

Let us conclude with a thought that can help us to fall in love with the Word of God. Like certain pieces of music, the Sacred Scripture too has a base note that accompanies it from the beginning to the end, and this note is the love of God. ‘The whole Bible”, observes Saint Augustine, “does nothing but tell of God’s love”. [1] And Saint Gregory the Great defines the Scripture as “a letter from God Almighty to His creature”, like a letter from a bridegroom to his bride, and exhorts us to “learn and know the heart of God in the words of God”. [2] “Through this revelation”, says Vatican Council II again, “the invisible God, out of the abundance of His love, speaks to men as friends and lives among them, so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself” ( Dei Verbum, 2).

Dear brothers and sisters, keep reading the Bible! But do not forget the pocket Gospel: carry it in your bag, in your pocket, and at some moment during the day, read a passage. And this will make you very close to the Holy Spirit, who is in the Word of God. May the Holy Spirit, who inspired the Scriptures and now breathes from them, help us to grasp this love of God in the concrete situations of life. Thank you.

[1] De catechizandis rudibus, I, 8, 4: PL 40, 319.

[2] Registrum Epistolarum, V, 46 (ed. Ewald-Hartmann, pp. 345-346).

12.06.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

The Gospel of today’s liturgy (cf. Mk 3:20-35) tells us that Jesus, after beginning His public ministry, faced a twofold reaction: that of his relatives, who were worried and feared He had gone a little mad, and that of the religious authorities, who accused Him of acting under the influence of an evil spirit. In reality, Jesus preached and healed the sick by the power of the Holy Spirit. And it was precisely the Spirit that made him divinely free, that is, capable of loving and serving without measure or conditioning. Jesus, free. Let us pause a while to contemplate this freedom of Jesus.

Jesus was free in relation to wealth: therefore He left the security of His village, Nazareth, to embrace a poor life full of uncertainties (cf. Mt 6:25-34), freely taking care of the sick and whoever came to ask Him for help, without ever asking for anything in exchange (cf. Mt 10:8). The gratuitousness of Jesus’ ministry is this. And it is also the gratuitousness of every ministry.

He was free with regard to power: indeed, despite calling many to follow Him, He never obliged anyone to do so, nor did He ever seek out the support of the powerful, but always took the side of the last, teaching His disciples to do likewise, as He had done (cf. Lk 22:25-27).

Finally, Jesus was free of the quest for fame and approval, and for this reason He never gave up speaking the truth, even at the cost of not being understood (cf. Mk 3:21), of becoming unpopular, even to the point of dying on the cross, not allowing Himself to be intimidated, nor bought, nor corrupted by anything or anyone (cf. Mt 10:28).

Jesus was a free man. He was free in the face of wealth, free in the face of power, free in the face of the quest for fame. And this is important for us too. Indeed, if we let ourselves be conditioned by the quest for pleasure, power, money or consensus, we become slaves to these things. If instead we allow God’s freely-given love to fill us and expand our heart, and if we let it overflow spontaneously, by giving it back to others, with our whole selves, without fear, calculation or conditioning, then we grow in freedom, and spread its good fragrance around us too.

So we can ask ourselves: am I a free person? Or do I let myself be imprisoned by the myths of money, power and success, sacrificing my serenity and peace, and that of others, to these things? In the places where I live and work, do I spread the fresh air of freedom, sincerity and spontaneity?

May the Virgin Mary help us live and love like Jesus taught us, in the freedom of the children of God (cf. Rom 8:15,20-23).

09.06.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

In today's catechesis, I would like to reflect with you on the name by which the Holy Spirit is called in the Bible.

The first thing we know of a person is the name. It is by his name that we address him, that we distinguish him, and remember him. The third Person of the Trinity also has a name: He is called the Holy Spirit. But “Spirit” is the Latinised version. The name of the Spirit, the one by which the first recipients of revelation knew Him, by which the prophets, the psalmists, Mary, Jesus, and the Apostles invoked Him, is Ruach, which means breath, wind, a puff of air.

In the Bible, the name is so important that it is almost identified with the person himself. To sanctify the name of God is to sanctify and honour God Himself. It is never a merely conventional designation: it always says something about the person, his origin, or his mission. This is also the case with the name Ruach. It contains the first fundamental revelation about the Person and function of the Holy Spirit.

It was by observing the wind and its manifestations that the biblical writers were led by God to discover a “wind” of a different nature. It is not by accident that at Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles accompanied by the ‘roar of a rushing wind’ (cf. Acts 2:2). It was as if the Holy Spirit wanted to put his signature on what was happening.

What, then, does His name, Ruach, tell us about the Holy Spirit? The image of the wind serves first of all to express the power of the Holy Spirit. “Spirit and power” or “power of the Spirit” is a recurring combination throughout the Bible. For the wind is an overwhelming force, an indomitable force, capable even of moving oceans.

Again, however, to discover the full meaning of the realities of the Bible, one must not stop at the Old Testament, but come to Jesus. Alongside power, Jesus will highlight another characteristic of the wind: its freedom. To Nicodemus, who visits Him at night, Jesus say solemnly: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn 3:8).

The wind is the only thing that absolutely cannot be bridled, cannot be “bottled up” or put in a box. We seek to “bottle up” the wind or put it in a box: it’s not possible. It is free. To pretend to enclose the Holy Spirit in concepts, definitions, theses or treatises, as modern rationalism has sometimes attempted to do, is to lose it, nullify it, or reduce it to the purely human spirit, to a simple spirit. There is, however, a similar temptation in the ecclesiastical field, and it is that of wanting to enclose the Holy Spirit in canons, institutions, definitions. The Spirit creates and animates institutions, but He himself cannot be “institutionalised,” “objectified”. The wind blows “where it wills,” so the Spirit distributes its gifts “as it wills” (1 Cor 12:11).

St Paul will make this the fundamental law of Christian action. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor 3:17), he says. A free person, a free Christion, is the one who has the Spirit of the Lord. This is a very special freedom, quite different from what is commonly understood. It is not freedom to do what one wants, but the freedom to freely do what God wants! Not freedom to do good or evil, but freedom to do good and do it freely, that is, by attraction, not compulsion. In other words, the freedom of children, not slaves.

Saint Paul is well aware of the abuse or misunderstanding that can be made of this freedom. To the Galatians he writes, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as a pretext for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal 5:13). This is a freedom that expresses itself in what appears to be its opposite, it is expressed in service, and in service is true freedom.

We know well when this freedom becomes a “pretext for the flesh.” Paul gives an ever relevant list: “exual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Gal 5:19-21). But so too is the freedom that allows the rich to exploit the poor, an ugly freedom that allows the strong to exploit the weak, and everyone to exploit the environment with impunity. And this is an ugly freedom, it is not the freedom of the Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, where do we draw this freedom of the Spirit, so contrary to the freedom of selfishness? The answer is in the words Jesus addressed one day to His listeners: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). The freedom that Jesus gives us. Let us ask Jesus to make us, through His Holy Spirit, truly free men and women. Free to serve, in love and joy. Thank you.

05.06.24

“He took bread and blessed it” (Mk 14:22). In this way, Saint Mark’s Gospel begins the account of the institution of the Eucharist. Starting, then, from this gesture of Jesus blessing bread, we can reflect on three aspects of the mystery we are celebrating: thanksgiving, remembrance and presence.

First, thanksgiving. Indeed, the word “Eucharist” means “thanks”: “giving thanks” to God for his gifts. Thus, the sign of bread is important, for it is the food of daily life, and with it we bring to the altar all that we are and all that we have: our lives, work, successes, and failures too. This is symbolized in some cultures by the beautiful custom of picking up and kissing bread if it falls to the ground, in order to remind us that it is too precious to be thrown away, even after it has fallen. The Eucharist, then, teaches us always to bless, welcome and cherish God’s gifts as an act of thanksgiving; not only in celebration, but also in daily life.

An example would be not squandering the possessions and talents the Lord has given us. Likewise, we should forgive and support those who make mistakes and fall because of weakness or lapses, acknowledging that everything is a gift and nothing should be lost, that no one should be left behind, and that everyone deserves a chance to get back on their feet. We can do this in daily life, performing our work with love, precision, and care, recognizing it as a gift and mission. And always helping those who have fallen: the only time we can look down on someone is when we help him or her to rise again. This is our mission.

To be sure, we could add many other things for which to give thanks. These are important “Eucharistic” attitudes since they teach us to appreciate the value of what we are doing and offering.

First, then, thanksgiving. Second, “to bless bread” means to remember. What do we remember? For ancient Israel, this meant recalling the liberation from slavery in Egypt and the beginning of the exodus to the Promised Land. For us, it means remembering Christ’s Passover, his Passion and Resurrection, by which he freed us from sin and death. It means remembering our lives, successes, mistakes, the outstretched hand of the Lord who always helps us get back on our feet, the Lord’s presence in our lives.

There are some who say that true freedom means thinking only about ourselves, enjoying life doing whatever we want without regard for others. This is not freedom, but a hidden form of slavery, a slavery that enslaves us still more.

Yet freedom is not found in the security vaults of those who hoard wealth for themselves, nor on the couches of those who lazily indulge in disengagement and individualism. Freedom is found in the Upper Room where, motivated solely by love, we bend down to serve others, offering our lives as “saved” people.

Finally, the Eucharistic bread is the real presence. This speaks to us of a God who is not distant, who is not jealous, but close and in solidarity with humanity; a God who does not abandon us but always seeks, waits for, and accompanies us, even to the point of placing himself, helpless, into our hands. And his real presence also invites us to be close to our brothers and sisters wherever love calls us.

Brothers and sisters, our world desperately needs this bread, with its fragrance and aroma, which knows about gratitude, freedom and closeness! Every day we see too many streets that were once filled with the smell of freshly baked bread, but are now reduced to rubble by war, selfishness and indifference! We urgently need to bring back to our world the good, fresh aroma of the bread of love, to continue tirelessly to hope and rebuild what hatred destroys.

This is also the meaning of the gesture we will soon make with the Eucharistic Procession. Beginning from the altar, we will carry the Lord among the homes of our city. We are not doing this to show off, or to flaunt our faith but to invite everyone to participate, in the Bread of the Eucharist, in the new life that Jesus has given us. Let us process in this spirit. Thank you.

02.06.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today, in Italy and in other countries, we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. The Gospel of the liturgy today tells us about the Last Supper (Mk 14:12-26), during which the Lord performs a gesture of handing over: in fact, in the broken bread and in the chalice offered to the disciples, it is He who gives Himself for all humanity, and offers Himself for the life of the world.

In that gesture of Jesus who breaks the bread, there is an important aspect that the Gospel emphasizes with the words “he gave it to them” (v. 22). Let us fix these words in our heart: he gave it to them. Indeed, the Eucharist recalls first and foremost the dimension of the gift. Jesus takes the bread not to consume it by Himself, but to break it and give it to the disciples, thus revealing His identity and His mission. He did not keep life for Himself, but gave it to us; He did not consider His being as God a jealously-held treasure, but stripped Himself of His glory to share our humanity and let us enter eternal life (cf. Phil 2:1-11). Jesus made a gift of His entire life. Let us remember this: Jesus made a gift of His entire life.

Let us understand, then, that that celebrating the Eucharist and eating this Bread, as we do especially on Sundays, is not an act of worship detached from life or a mere moment of personal consolation; we must always remember that Jesus took the bread, broke it and gave it to them and, therefore, communion with Him makes us capable of also becoming bread broken for others, capable of sharing what we are and what we have. Saint Leo the Great said: ‘Our participation in the body and blood of Christ tends to make us become what we eat’ (Sermon XII on the Passion, 7).

This, brothers and sisters, is what we are called to: to become what we eat, to become “Eucharistic”, that is, people who no longer live for themselves (cf. Rm 14:7), no, in the logic of possession, of consumption, no, people who know how to make their own life a gift for others, yes. In this way, thanks to the Eucharist, we become prophets and builders of a new world: when we overcome selfishness and open ourselves up to love, when we cultivate bonds of fraternity, when we participate in the sufferings of our brothers and sisters and share bread and resources with those in need, when we make all our talents available, then we are breaking the bread of our life like Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves, then: do I keep my life only for myself, or do I give it like Jesus? Do I spend myself for others or am I closed within my own little self? And, in everyday situations, do I know how to share, or do I always seek my own interest?

May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed Jesus, bread descended from Heaven, and gave herself entirely together with Him, help us too to become a gift of love, united with Jesus in the Eucharist.

02.06.24 a

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today, with this catechesis we begin a cycle of reflections with the theme ‘The Holy Spirit and the Bride” – the bride is the Church – “The Holy Spirit guides God's people towards Jesus our hope’. We will make this journey through the three great stages of salvation history: the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the time of the Church. Always keeping our gaze fixed on Jesus, Who is our hope.

In these first catecheses on the Spirit in the Old Testament, we will not do ‘biblical archaeology’. Instead, we will discover that what is given as a promise in the Old Testament has been fully realised in Christ. It will be like following the path of the sun from dawn to noon.

Let us begin with the first two verses of the entire Bible. The first two verses of the Bible read: ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters’ (Gen 1:1-2). The Spirit of God appears to us here as the mysterious power that moves the world from its initial formless, deserted, and gloomy state to its ordered and harmonious state. Because the Spirit makes harmony, harmony in life, harmony in the world. In other words, it is He who makes the world pass from chaos to the cosmos, that is, from confusion to something beautiful and ordered. This, in fact, is the meaning of the Greek word kosmos, as well as the Latin word mundus, that is, something beautiful, something ordered, clean, harmonious, because the Spirit is harmony.

This still vague hint of the Holy Spirit’s action in creation becomes more precise in the following revelation. In a psalm we read: ‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host’ (Ps 33:6); and again: ‘You send forth Your spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth’ (Ps 104:30).

This line of development becomes very clear in the New Testament, which describes the intervention of the Holy Spirit in the new creation, using precisely the images that one reads about in connection with the origin of the world: the dove that hovers over the waters of the Jordan at Jesus’ baptism (cf. Mt 3:16); Jesus who, in the Upper Room, breathes on the disciples and says: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (Jn 20:22), just as in the beginning God breathed His breath on Adam (cf. Gen 2:7).

The Apostle Paul introduces a new element into this relationship between the Holy Spirit and creation. He speaks of a universe that ‘groans and suffers as in labour pains’ (cf. Rom 8:22). It suffers because of man who has subjected it to the ‘bondage of corruption’ (cf. vv. 20-21). It is a reality that concerns us closely and concerns us dramatically. The Apostle sees the cause of the suffering of creation in the corruption and sin of humanity that has dragged it into its alienation from God. This remains as true today as it was then. We see the havoc that has been done, and that continues to be wrought upon creation by humanity, especially that part of it that has greater capacity to exploit its resources.

St Francis of Assisi shows us a way out, a beautiful way, a way out to return to the harmony of the Spirit: the way of contemplation and praise. He wanted a canticle of praise to the Creator to be raised from the creatures. We recall, ‘Laudato sí, mi Signore...’ the canticle of Francis of Assisi.

One of the psalms (18:2 [19:1]) says, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God’, but men and women are needed to give voice to this mute cry of theirs. And in the ‘Sanctus’ of the Mass we repeat each time: ‘Heaven and earth are full of your glory’. They are, so to speak, ‘pregnant’ with it, but they need the hands of a good midwife to give birth to this praise of theirs. Our vocation in the world, Paul again reminds us, is to be ‘praise of His glory’ (Eph 1:12). It is to put the joy of contemplating ahead of the joy of possessing. And no one has rejoiced in creatures more than Francis of Assisi, who did not want to possess any of them.

Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit, Who in the beginning transformed chaos into cosmos, is at work to bring about this transformation in every person. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises: ‘I will give you a new heart, and a new Spirit I will put within you… I will put my Spirit within you’ (Ez 36:26-27). For our heart resembles that deserted, dark abyss of the first verses of Genesis. Opposed feelings and desires stir within it: those of the flesh and those of the spirit. We are all, in a sense, that ‘kingdom divided against itself’ that Jesus talks about in the Gospel (cf. Mk 3:24). Within ourselves we can say that there is an external chaos – social choas, political chaos. We think about wars, we think about so many boys and girls who don’t have enough to heat, about so many social injustices. This is the external chaos. But there is also an internal chaos: internal to each of us. The former cannot be healed unless we begin to heal the latter! Brothers and sisters, let us do a good job of making our internal confusion a clarity of the Holy Spirit. It is the power of God that does this, and we open our hearts so that He can do it.

May this reflection arouse in us the desire to experience the Creator Spirit. For more than a millennium, the Church has put on our lips the cry to ask: ‘Veni creator Spiritus! ‘Come, O Creator Spirit! Visit our minds. Fill with heavenly grace the hearts you have created.’ Let us ask the Holy Spirit to come to us and make us new persons, with the newness of the Spirit. Thank you.

29.05.24

Dear children, dear boys and girls, we are here to pray, to pray together, to pray to God. All right? Do you agree with this? Yes? And we pray to God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. How many "gods" are there? One in three persons: the Father who created us all, who loves us so much God and when we pray to God the Father, what is the prayer, what is the prayer that we all pray? [they answer: the Lord's Prayer].

Let us always ask God, the Our Father, to accompany us in life and to make us grow. What is the name of the Son? [answer: Jesus] I don't hear well! Jesus! And Jesus, let us pray to Jesus to help us, to be close to us, and even when we receive communion we receive Jesus and Jesus forgives us all our sins. Is it true that Jesus forgives everything? [Answer: Yes] You can't hear it, what's going on... Is that true? Yes! But does he always forgive everything? [Answer: Yes] Always, always, always? [Answer: Yes] And if there is a man or a woman, a sinner, a sinner, a sinner with many sins, does Jesus forgive them? [Answer: Yes] Does he forgive even the ugliest of sinners? [Answer: Yes] Yes! Do not forget this: Jesus forgives everything and always forgives, and we must have the humility to ask for forgiveness. "Forgive me, Lord, I have made a mistake. I'm weak. Life has put me in trouble but you forgive everything. I would like to change my life and you help me." But I didn't hear right, is it true that he forgives everything? [Answer: Yes] Well done, don't forget this.

The question is, who is the Holy Spirit? Well, it's not easy, because the Holy Spirit is God, he's within us. We receive the Holy Spirit in Baptism, we receive him in the sacraments. The Holy Spirit is the one who accompanies us in life. Let us think this and say it together: "The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life". All together: "The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life." It is what tells us in our hearts the good things we must do. Another time: "The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life." It's the one that when we do something wrong, it reproaches us inside. "The Holy Spirit..." You forgot, I don't hear... Again! The Holy Spirit is the one who gives us strength, consoles us in difficulties. Together: "The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life."

Thus, dear brothers and sisters, boys and girls, we are all happy because we believe. Faith makes us happy. And we believe in God who is "Father, Son and Holy Spirit." All together: "Father, Son and Holy Spirit." The Father who created us, Jesus who saved us, and what does the Holy Spirit do?

Thank you so much to you, but to be sure, Christians, we also have a mother, what is our mother's name? What is the name of our Mother in Heaven? [answer: Maria] Do you know how to pray to Our Lady? [Answer: Yes] Sure? Let's do it now, I want to hear... [recite the Hail Mary] Good boys and girls, good girls and boys, you are good. Did the Father create us, did the Son save us, and what did the Holy Spirit do? Good! May God bless you, pray for us, so that we can go forward, all of us, pray for parents, pray for grandparents, pray for sick children. There are so many sick children behind me here. Pray always and above all pray for peace, so that there may be no wars. Now we continue the Mass but lest we forget, what did the Holy Spirit do? [they answer:The Holy Spirit accompanies us in life] Good! 

26.05.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

We will conclude this cycle of catechesis by looking at a virtue which is not part of the seven cardinal and theological virtues, but which is at the base of Christian life: this virtue is humility. It is the great antagonist of the most mortal of sins, namely arrogance. Whereas pride and arrogance swell the human heart, making us appear to be more than we are, humility restores everything to its correct dimension: we are wonderful creatures, but we are limited, with qualities and flaws. From the beginning, the Bible reminds us that we are dust, and to dust we shall return (cf. Gen 3:19); indeed, “humble” derives from humus, that is, earth. And yet the delirium of omnipotence, which is so dangerous, often arises in the human heart, and this dose us a great deal of harm.

It takes very little to free ourselves from of arrogance; it suffices to contemplate a starry sky to restore the correct measure, as the Psalm says: “When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?” (8:3-4). Modern science enables us to extend the horizon much, much farther, and to feel the mystery that surrounds us and which we inhabit even more.

Blessed are the people who hold in their heart this perception of their own smallness! These people they are preserved from an ugly vice: arrogance. In His Beatitudes, Jesus starts precisely from them: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 5:3). It is the first Beatitude, because it is at the base of those that follow: indeed, meekness, mercy, and purity of heart stem from that inner sense of smallness. Humility is the gateway to all the virtues.

In the first pages of the Gospels, humility and poverty of spirit seem to be the source of everything. The announcement of the angel does not happen at the doors of Jerusalem, but in a remote village in Galilee, so insignificant that people used to say, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46). But it is exactly from there that the world is reborn. The chosen heroine is not a little queen who grew up coddled, but an unknown girl: Mary. She herself is the first to be astonished when the angel brings God’s announcement. And in her hymn of prayer, it is indeed this wonder that stands out: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden” (Lk 1:46-48). God is – so to speak – attracted by the smallness of Mary, which is above all an inner smallness. And He is also attracted by our smallness, when we accept it.

From here on, Mary will be careful not to take centre stage. Her first decision after the angelic annunciation is to go and help, to go and serve her cousin. Mary heads towards the mountains of Judea to visit Elizabeth: she assists her in the last months of her pregnancy. But who sees this gesture? No-one, other than God. The Virgin does not seem to want to emerge from this concealment. Just as, when a woman’s voice from the crowd proclaims her blessedness: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” (Lk 11:27). But Jesus immediately replies: “Blessed rather are those that hear the word of God and keep it” (Lk 11:28). Not even the most sacred truth of her life – being the Mother of God – becomes a reason for her to boast before men. In a world marked by the pursuit of appearance, of showing oneself to be superior to others, Mary walks decisively, by the sole power of God's grace, in the opposite direction.

We can imagine that she, too, has known difficult moments, days when her faith advanced in darkness. But this never made her humility waver, which in Mary was a granitic virtue. I want to highlight this: humility is a granitic virtue. Let us think of Mary: she is always small, always without self-importance, always free of ambition. This smallness of hers is her invincible strength: it is she who remains at the foot of the cross, while the illusion of a triumphant Messiah is shattered. It will be Mary, in the days leading up to Pentecost, who will gather up the flock of disciples, who had not been able to keep vigil just one hour with Jesus, and had abandoned Him when the storm came.

Brothers and sisters, humility is everything. It is what saves us from the Evil One, and from the danger of becoming his accomplices. And humility is the source of peace in the world and in the Church. Where there is no humility, there is war, there is discord, there is division. God has given us an example of this in Jesus and Mary, for our salvation and happiness. And humility is precisely the way, the path to salvation. Thank you!

22.05.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today, Solemnity of Pentecost, we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Mary and the Apostles. In the Gospel of the liturgy, Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit and says that He will teach us “whatever He hears” (cf. Jn 16:13). But what does this expression mean? What has the Holy Spirit heard? What will He speak about?

He speaks to us with words that express wonderful sentiments, such as affection, gratitude, entrustment, mercy. Words that make us know a beautiful, luminous, concrete and lasting relationship such as the eternal Love of God: the words that the Father and the Son say to each other. They are precisely the transformative words of love, which the Holy Spirit repeats in us, and which it is good for us to listen to, because these words engender and make grow the same sentiments and the same intentions in our heart: they are fruitful words.

This is why it is important that we nourish ourselves every day with the Words of God, the Words of Jesus, inspired by the Spirit. And many times I say: read a passage from the Gospel, get a little pocket-sized Gospel and keep it with you, making the most of favourable moments to read it. The priest and poet Clemente Rebora, speaking of his conversion, wrote in his diary: “And the Word silenced my chatter!” (Curriculum vitae). The Word of God silences our superficial chatter and makes us say serious words, beautiful words, joyful words. “And the Word silenced my chatter!” Listening to the Word of God makes the chatter stop. This is how to give space in us to the voice of the Holy Spirit. And then in the Adoration – let us not forget the prayer of Adoration in silence - especially that which is simple, silent, like adoration. And there, saying good words within ourselves, saying them to the heart so as to be able to say them to others, afterwards, to each other. And in this way we see that they come from the voice of the Consoler, of the Spirit.

Dear sisters and brothers, reading and meditating on the Gospel, praying in silence, saying good words: they are not difficult things, no, we can all do them. They are easier than insulting, getting angry… And so, let us ask ourselves: what place do these words have in my life? How can I cultivate them, in order to listen better to the Holy Spirit, and become an echo of Him for others?

May Mary, present at Pentecost with the Apostles, make us docile to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

19.05.24 rc

The account of Pentecost (cf. Acts 2:1-11) shows us two areas of the Holy Spirit’s working in the Church: in us and in mission, with two characteristics: power and gentleness.

The Spirit’s work in us is powerful, as symbolized by the signs of wind and fire, which are often associated with God’s power in the Bible (cf. Ex 19:16-19). Without such power we would never be able to defeat evil on our own, nor overcome the “desires of the flesh” that Saint Paul refers to, those drives of the soul: “impurity, idolatry, dissension, and envy” (cf. Gal 5:19-21). They can be overcome with the Spirit who gives us the power to do so, for he enters into our hearts that are “parched, stiff and cold” (cf. Sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus). These drives spoil our relationships with others and divide our communities, yet the Spirit enters into our hearts and heals everything.

Jesus too shows us this when, prompted by the Spirit, he withdraws for forty days and is tempted in the desert (cf. Mt. 4:1-11). During that time his humanity also grows, is strengthened and prepared for mission.

At the same time, the Paraclete’s working in us is also gentle: powerful and gentle. The wind and the fire do not destroy or reduce to ashes whatever they touch: the one fills the house where the disciples are, and the other rests gently, in the form of flames, on the head of each. This gentleness, too, is a feature of God’s way of acting, one that we frequently encounter in the Scriptures.

It is reassuring to see how the same sturdy, calloused hand that first breaks up the clods of our passions, then gently, after planting the seeds of virtue, “waters” them and “tends” them (cf. Sequence). He lovingly protects these virtues, so that they can grow stronger and so that, after the toil of combatting evil, we may taste the sweetness of mercy and communion with God. The Spirit is like this: powerful, giving us the power to overcome, and also gentle. We speak about the anointing of the Spirit, the Spirit anoints us for he is with us. As a beautiful prayer of the early Church says: “Let your gentleness, O Lord, and the fruits of your love, abide with me” (Odes of Solomon, 14:6).

The Holy Spirit, who descended upon the disciples and remained at their side, that is, as the “Paraclete”, transformed their hearts and instilled in them “a serene courage which impelled them to pass on to others their experience of Jesus and the hope which motivated them” (SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Redemptoris Missio, 24). Peter and John would later testify before the Sanhedrin, after being told “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18): “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (v. 20). And they possessed the power of the Holy Spirit to speak of these things.

This is also true of us, who received the Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation. From the “Upper Room” of this Basilica, like the Apostles, we too are being sent forth, particularly at the present time, to proclaim the Gospel to all. We are sent into the world “not only geographically but also beyond the frontiers of race and religion, for a truly universal mission” (Redemptoris Missio, 25). Thanks to the Spirit, we can and must do this with his own power and gentleness.

With the same power: that is, not with arrogance and impositions – a Christian is not arrogant, for his or her power is something else, it is the power of the Spirit – nor with calculation and cunning, but with the energy born of fidelity to the truth that the Spirit teaches us in our hearts and causes to grow within us. Consequently, we surrender to the Spirit, not to worldly power. We tirelessly proclaim peace to those who desire war, proclaim forgiveness to those who seek revenge, we proclaim welcome and solidarity to those who bar their doors and erect barriers, we proclaim life to those who choose death, we proclaim respect to those who love to humiliate, insult and reject, we proclaim fidelity to those who would sever every bond, thereby confusing freedom with a bleak and empty individualism. Nor are we intimidated by hardship, derision or opposition, which, today as always, are never lacking in the apostolate (cf. Acts 4:1-31).

At the same time that we act with this power, our proclamation seeks to be gentle, welcoming to everyone. Let us not forget this: everyone, everyone, everyone. Let us not forget the parable of those who were invited to the feast but did not want to go: “Go therefore to the streets and bring everyone, everyone, everyone, both the bad and the good, everyone” (cf. Mt 22:9-10). The Spirit grants us the power to go forth and call everyone with gentleness, he grants us the gentleness to welcome everyone.

All of us, brothers and sisters, are in great need of hope, which is not optimism; no, it is something else. We need hope. Hope is depicted as an anchor, there at the shore, and in clinging to its rope, we move toward hope. We need hope, we need to lift our gaze to horizons of peace, fraternity, justice and solidarity. This alone is the way of life, there is no other. Naturally, it is not always easy; indeed, there are times that the path is winding and uphill. Yet we know that we are not alone, we have the certainty that, by the help of the Holy Spirit and by his gifts, we can walk together and make that path more and more inviting for others as well.

Brothers and sisters, let us renew our faith in the presence of the Comforter, who is at our side, and continue to pray:

Come, Creator Spirit, enlighten our minds,

fill our hearts with your grace, guide our steps,

grant your peace to our world. Amen.

19.05.24 m

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

This Gospel image reminds us of at least two things I would like to dwell upon with you: the first is the call, the call received and always to be accepted; and the second is the mission, to be carried out with boldness.

The first foundation of our consecration and ministry: to accept the call we have received, to welcome the gift with which God has surprised us. If we lose this consciousness and this memory, we risk putting ourselves at the centre, instead of the Lord; without this memory we risk getting agitated about projects and activities that serve our cause more than that of the Kingdom; we even risk living the apostolate in the logic of self-promotion and consensus-seeking, trying to advance our career, and this is very bad, instead of spending our lives for the Gospel and for free service to the Church.

18.05.24 cpe

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today we will talk about the third theological virtue, charity. The other two, let us remember, were faith and hope: today we will talk about the third, charity. It is the culmination of the entire itinerary we have undertaken with the catecheses on the virtues. To think of charity immediately expands the heart, and it expands the mind, it evokes the inspired words of Saint Paul in the First Letter to the Corinthians. Concluding that wonderful hymn, Saint Paul cites the triad of the theological virtues and exclaims: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13).

Paul addresses these words to a community that is anything but perfect in fraternal love: the Christians of Corinth were rather litigious, there were internal divisions, and there were those who claimed always to be right and did not listen to others, regarding them as inferior. Paul reminds them that knowledge puffs up, whereas charity builds up (cf. 1 Cor 8:1). The Apostle then records a scandal that touches even the moment of maximum union of a Christian community, the “Lord’s supper”, the Eucharistic celebration: even there, there are divisions, and there are those who take advantage of this to eat and drink, excluding those who have nothing (cf. 1 Cor 11:18-22). In the face of this, Paul gives a stark judgement: “When you meet together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat” (v. 20), you have another ritual, which is pagan, it is not the Lord’s supper.

Who knows, perhaps in the community of Corinth, no-one thought they had committed a sin, and those harsh words of the Apostle sounded somewhat incomprehensible for them. Probably they were all convinced they were good people, and if questioned on love, they would have answered that love was certainly a very important value for them, just like friendship or the family. In our days too, love is on the lips of many “influencers” and in the refrains of many songs. We speak a lot about love, but what is love?

“But the other love?”, Paul seems to ask to his Christians of Corinth. Not the love that rises, but the one that descends; not the one that takes, but the one that gives; not the one that appears, but the one that is hidden. Paul is concerned that in Corinth - as among us today too - there is confusion and that there is actually no trace of the theological virtue of love, the one that comes to us only from God. And if even in words everyone assures that they are good people, that they love their family and friends, in reality they know very little about the love of God.

The Christians of antiquity had several Greek words at their disposal to define love. In the end, the word “agape” emerged, which we normally translate as “charity”. Because in truth Christians are capable of all the forms of love in the world: they too fall in love, more or less as it happens to everyone. They too experience the benevolence that is felt in friendship. They too feel love for their country and the universal love for all humanity. But there is a greater love, a love which comes from God and is directed towards God, which enables us to love God, to become His friends, and enables us to love our neighbour as God loves him or her, with the desire to share the friendship with God. This love, because of Christ, drives us where humanly we would not go: it is the love for the poor, for those who are not lovable, for those who do not care for us and are not grateful. It is love for what no-one would love, even for one’s enemy. Even for the enemy. This is “theological”: this comes from God, it is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Jesus preaches, in the Sermon on the Mount: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them” (Lk 6:32-33). And he concludes: “But love your enemies” – we are used to speaking badly of our enemies – “love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish” (v. 35). Let us remember this: “Love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return”. Let us not forget this!

In these words, love reveals itself as a theological virtue and assumes the name of charity. Love is charity. We immediately realize that it is a difficult, indeed impossible love to practice if one does not live in God. Our human nature makes us love spontaneously what is good and beautiful. In the name of an ideal or a great affection we can even be generous and perform heroic acts. But the love of God goes beyond these criteria. Christian love embraces what is not lovable, it offers forgiveness – how difficult it is to forgive! How much love it takes to forgive! – Christian love blesses those who curse, whereas, faced with an insult or a curse, we are accustomed to replying with another insult, with another curse. It is a love so ardent that it seems almost impossible, and yet it is the only thing that will remain of us. Love is the “narrow gate” through which we will pass in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Because at the twilight of life, we will not be judged on generic love; we will be judged precisely on charity, on the real love we had. And Jesus says this to us, which is so beautiful: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). This is the beautiful thing, the greatest thing about love. Onwards and upwards!

15.05.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

And now, I would like to wish a happy Sunday to the young people of Genoa.

Today, in Italy and in other countries, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated. The Gospel of the Mass states that Jesus, after entrusting the task of continuing His work to the Apostles, “was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19). This is what the Gospel says: He “was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God”.

Jesus’ return to the Father appears to us not as His detachment from us, but rather like preceding us to the destination, which is Heaven. Just as, when in the mountains, one ascends to a summit: one walks, with difficulty, and finally, at a turn in the path, the horizon opens up and one sees the panorama. Then the whole body finds the strength to tackle the final ascent. The whole body - arms, legs and every muscle - tenses up and concentrates to reach the peak.

And we, the Church are precisely that body that Jesus, having ascended to Heaven, pulls along with Him, like a roped party. It is He who awakens us and communicates to us, with His Word and with the grace of the Sacraments, the beauty of the Homeland towards which we are headed. Hence, we too, His members – we are the members of Jesus – ascend with joy together with Him, our leader, knowing that the step of one is a step for all, and that no-one must be lost or left behind, because we are but one body (cf. Col 1:18; 1 Cor 12:12-27).

Listen carefully: step by step, one rung at a time, Jesus shows us the way. What are these steps that must be taken? Today’s Gospel says: “preach the Gospel, baptize, cast out demons, pick up serpents, lay hands on the sick” (cf. Mk 16:16.18); in summary, to perform the works of love: to give life, bring hope, steer away from any form of wickedness and meanness, respond to evil with good, be close to those who suffer. This is the “step by step”. And the more we do this, the more we let ourselves be transformed by the Spirit, the more we follow His example, as in the mountains, we feel the air around us become light and clean, the horizon broad and the destination near, words and gestures become good, the mind and heart expand and breathe.

And so we can ask ourselves: is the desire for God, the desire for His infinite love, for His life that is eternal life, alive in me? Or am I a bit dulled and anchored to passing things, or money, or success, or pleasure? And does my desire for Heaven isolate me, does it seal me off, or does it lead me to love my brothers and sisters with a big and selfless heart, to feel that they are my companions on the journey towards Paradise?

May Mary, She who has already arrived at the destination, help us to walk together with joy towards the glory of Heaven.

12.05.24

Amid shouts of joy, Jesus ascends to heaven, where he takes his seat at the right hand of the Father. As we have just heard, he embraced death so that we might be heirs to life eternal (cf. 1 Pet 3:22). The Ascension of the Lord is not his separation or removal from us, but rather the fulfilment of his mission. Jesus first descended to us, so that we might ascend to the Father. He came down to us in order to raise us on high. He descended even to the depths of the earth, so that the gates of heaven might open wide above us. He destroyed our death, that we might receive life, forever.

This is the basis of our hope. Christ, in ascending to heaven, brings to the very heart of God our humanity, with all its hopes and expectations, so that that “we, his members, might be confident of following where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before” (Preface I of the Ascension of the Lord).

Brothers and sisters, it is this hope, based on Christ who died and rose again, that we wish to celebrate, ponder and proclaim to the whole world in the coming Jubilee, which is almost upon us. This hope has nothing to do with mere “human” optimism or the ephemeral expectation of some earthly benefit. No, it is something real, already accomplished in Christ, a gift daily bestowed upon us until the time when we will be one in the embrace of his love. Christian hope – as Saint Peter writes – is “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading” (1 Pet 1:4). Christian hope sustains the journey of our lives, even when the road ahead seems winding and exhausting. It opens our eyes to future possibilities whenever resignation or pessimism attempt to imprison us. It makes us see the promise of good at times when evil seems to prevail. Christian hope fills us with serenity when our hearts are burdened by sin and failure. It makes us dream of a new humanity and gives us courage in our efforts to build a fraternal and peaceful world, even when it seems barely worth the effort. Such is hope, the gift that the Lord bestowed on us in Baptism.

Dear brothers and sisters, in this Year of Prayer, as we prepare for the celebration of the Jubilee, let us lift up our hearts to Christ, and become singers of hope in a culture marked by much despair. By our actions, our words, the decisions we make each day, our patient efforts to sow seeds of beauty and kindness wherever we find ourselves, we want to sing of hope, so that its melody can touch the heartstrings of humanity and reawaken in every heart the joy and the courage to embrace life to the full.

What we – all of us – need, then, is hope. Hope does not disappoint: let us never forget this. Hope is needed by the society in which we live, often caught up only in the present and incapable of looking to the future. Hope is needed by our age, caught up in an individualism that is frequently content merely to scrape along from day to day. Hope is needed by God’s creation, gravely damaged and disfigured by human selfishness. Hope is needed by those peoples and nations who look to the future with anxiety and fear. As injustice and arrogance persist, the poor are discarded, wars sow seeds of death, the least of our brothers and sisters remain at the bottom of the pile, and the dream of a fraternal world seems an illusion. Hope is needed by our young people, often confused and uncertain, yet desirous of living lives of happiness and fulfilment. Hope is needed by the elderly, no longer revered or listened to by a culture obsessed with efficiency and excess. Hope too is needed by the sick and those who suffer in body and spirit; they can find comfort in our closeness and care.

Furthermore, dear brothers and sisters, hope is needed by the Church, so that when she feels wearied by her exertions and burdened by her frailty, she will always remember that, as the Bride of Christ, she is loved with an eternal and faithful love, called to hold high the light of the Gospel, and sent forth to bring to all the fire that Jesus definitively brought to the world.

Each of us has need of hope in our lives, at times so weary and wounded, our hearts that thirst for truth, goodness and beauty, and our dreams that no darkness can dispel. Everything, within and outside of us, cries out for hope and continues to seek, even without knowing it, the closeness of God. To us it seems – as Romano Guardini once said – that ours is a time of distance from God, a time when the world gorges itself on material things and the word of the Lord goes unheard. Yet Guardini went on to say: “If, however, there comes a time, and it will come, once darkness has lifted, a time when people will ask God: ‘Lord, where were you?’, then they will once more hear his answer: ‘Closer to you than ever before!’ It may be that God is closer to our age than to the Baroque with its sumptuously decorated churches, to the Middle Ages with its rich profusion of symbols, to the Christianity of the origins with its youthful courage in the face of death… Yet God expects… that we remain faithful. From this, there may arise a faith that is no less firm, perhaps even more pure, and in any case more intense than it was even in the times of interior richness” (Die Annahme seiner selbst. Den Menschen erkennt nur, wer von Gott weiß, Mainz, 1987, 76-77).

Brothers and sisters, may the Lord, risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, grant us the grace to rediscover hope, to proclaim hope and to build hope.

09.05.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

In the last catechesis we began to reflect on the theological virtues. There are three of them: faith, hope and charity. Last time, we reflected on faith. Now it is the turn of hope. “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1817). These words confirm to us that hope is the answer offered to our heart, when the absolute question arises in us: “What will become of me? What is the purpose of the journey? What is the destiny of the world?”.

We all realize that a negative answer to these questions produces sadness. If there is no meaning to the journey of life, if at the beginning and the end there is nothing, then we ask ourselves why we should walk: hence man’s desperation, the sensation of the pointlessness of everything, is born. And many may rebel: “I have striven to be virtuous, to be prudent, just, strong, temperate. I have also been a man or woman of faith.... What was the use of my fight, if it all ends here?”. If hope is missing, all the other virtues risk crumbling and ending up as ashes. If no reliable tomorrow, no bright horizon, were to exist, one would only have to conclude that virtue is a futile effort. “Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well” said Benedict XVI (Encyclical Letter Spe salvi, 2).

Christians have hope not through their own merit. If they believe in the future, it is because Christ died and rose again and gave us His Spirit. “Redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present” (ibid., 1). In this sense, once again, we say that hope is a theological virtue: it does not emanate from us, it is not an obstinacy we want to convince ourselves of, but it is a gift that comes directly from God.

To many doubting Christians, who had not been completely born again to hope, the Apostle Paul sets before them the new logic of the Christian experience, and he says: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:17-19). It is as if he said: if you believe in the resurrection of Christ, then you know with certainty that no defeat and no death is forever. But if you do not believe in the resurrection of Christ, then everything becomes hollow, even the preaching of the Apostles.

Hope is a virtue against which we sin often: in our bad nostalgia, in our melancholy, when we think that the happiness of the past is buried forever. We sin against hope when we become despondent over our sins, forgetting that God is merciful and greater than our heart. And let us not forget this, brothers and sisters: God forgives everything, God forgives always. We are the ones who tire of asking for forgiveness. But let us not forget this truth: God forgives everything, God forgives always. We sin against hope when we become despondent over our sins; we sin against hope when the autumn in us cancels out the spring; when God's love ceases to be an eternal fire and we do not have the courage to make decisions that commit us for a lifetime.

The world today is in great need of this Christian virtue! The world needs hope, just as it needs patience, a virtue that walks in close contact with hope. Patient men are weavers of goodness. They stubbornly desire peace, and even if some of them are hasty and would like everything, and straight away, patience is capable of waiting. Even when around us many have succumbed to disillusionment, those who are inspired by hope and are patient are able to get through the darkest of nights. Hope and patience go together.

Hope is the virtue of those who are young at heart; and here age does not count. Because there are also the elderly with eyes full of light, who live permanently striving towards the future. Think of the two great elderly people of the Gospel, Simeon and Anna: they never tired of waiting and they saw the last stretch of their earthly journey blessed by the encounter with the Messiah, whom they recognized in Jesus, brought to the Temple by His parents. What grace if it were like that for all of us! If after a long pilgrimage, setting down our saddlebags and staff, our heart were filled with a joy never before felt, and we too could exclaim: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace / according to thy word; / for mine eyes have seen thy salvation / which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, / a light for revelation to the Gentiles, / and for glory to thy people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Brothers and sisters, let us go ahead and ask for the grace to have hope, hope with patience. Always look towards that definitive encounter; always look to see that the Lord is always near us, that death will never, never be victorious. Let us go ahead and ask the Lord to give us this great virtue of hope, accompanied by patience. Thank you.

08.04.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today the Gospel tells us about Jesus who says to the Apostles: “I do not call you servants any longer, but friends” (cf Jn 15:15). What does this mean?

In the Bible the “servants” of God are special people, to whom He entrusts important missions, such as, for example, Moses (cf. Ex 14:31), King David (cf. 2 Sam 7:8), the prophet Elijah (cf. 1 Re 18:36), up to the Virgin Mary (cf. Lk 1:38). They are people in whose hands God places His treasures (cf. Mt 25:21). But all of this is not enough, according to Jesus, to say who we are for Him, it is not enough: He wants more, something greater, that goes beyond goods and plans themselves: it takes friendship.

Since childhood we learn how beautiful this experience is: we offer friends our toys and the most beautiful gifts; then, growing up, as teenagers, we confide our first secrets to them; as young people we offer loyalty; as adults we share satisfactions and worries; as seniors we share the memories, considerations and silences of long days. The Word of God, in the Book of Proverbs, tells us that “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel” (27:9). Let us think a moment of our friends, and thank the Lord for them! A space for thinking about them…

Friendship is not the fruit of calculation, nor of compulsion: it is born spontaneously when we recognize something of ourselves in the other. And, if it is true, a friendship is so strong that it does not fail even in the face of betrayal. “A friend loves at all times” (Pr 17:17) – states the Book of Proverbs again – as Jesus shows us when He says to Judas, who betrays Him with a kiss: “Friend, why are you here?” (Mt 26:50). A true friend does not abandon you, even when you make mistakes: he corrects you, perhaps he reproaches you, but he forgives you and does not abandon you.

And today Jesus, in the Bible, tells us that for Him we are precisely this, friends: dear people beyond all merit and expectation, to whom He extends His hand and offers His love, His Grace, His Word; with whom – with us, friends – He shares what is dearest to Him, all that He has heard from the Father (cf. Jn 15:15). Even to the point of making himself fragile for us, of placing Himself in our hands without defence or pretence, because He loves us. The Lord loves us, as a friend He wants our good and He wants us to share in his.

And so let us ask ourselves: what face does the Lord have for me? The face of a friend or of a stranger? Do I feel loved by Him as a dear person? And what is the face of Jesus that I show to others, especially to those who err and need forgiveness?

May Mary help us to grow in friendship with Her Son and to spread it around us.

05.05.24

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Today I would like to talk about the virtue of faith. Together with charity and hope, this virtue is described as theologal. There are three theologal virtues: faith, hope and charity. Why are they theologal? Because they can be lived – this virtue, the three theologal virtues – only thanks to the gift of God. The three theologal virtues are the great gifts that God gives to our moral capacity. Without them, we could be prudent, just, strong and temperate, but we would not have eyes that see even in the dark, we would not have a heart that loves even when it is not loved, we would not have a hope that dares against all hope.

What is faith? This question: what is faith? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, it explains that faith is the act by which the human being freely commits himself to God (1814). In this faith, Abraham was the great father. When he agreed to leave the land of his ancestors to head for the land that God would show him, he would probably have been judged insane: why leave the known for the unknown, the certain for the uncertain? But why do this? It is insane, isn’t it? But Abraham sets off, as if he could see the invisible: this is what the Bible says about Abraham. “He went, not knowing where he was to go”. This is beautiful. And it will again be the invisible that makes him go up the mountain with his son Isaac, the only son of the promise, who only at the last moment will be spared from sacrifice. In this faith, Abraham becomes the father of a long line of descendants. Faith made him fruitful.

Moses was be a man of faith when, welcoming God’s voice even more than one doubt could have shaken him, he continued to stand firm and trust in the Lord, and even defend the people who were so often lacking in faith.

The Virgin Mary was a woman of faith when, receiving the annunciation of the Angel, which many would have dismissed as too demanding and risky, answered, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). And, with her heart full of faith, with her heart full of trust in God, Mary set out on a path of which she knew neither the route nor the dangers.

Faith is the virtue that makes the Christian. Because to be Christians is not first and foremost about accepting a culture, with the values that accompany it, but being Christian is welcoming and cherishing a bond, a bond with God: God and I, myself and the amiable face of Jesus. This bond is what makes us Christians.

With regard to faith, an episode of the Gospel comes to mind. Jesus’ disciples were crossing the lake, and are surprised by the storm. They think they can get by with the strength of their arms, with the resources of their experience, but the boat starts to fill up with water and they are seized by panic (cf. Mk 4: 35-41). They do not realize that they have the solution before their very eyes: Jesus is there with them on the boat, in the midst of the storm, and Jesus “was asleep”, says the Gospel. When they finally awaken Him, fearful and even angry that He would let them die, Jesus rebukes them: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (Mk 4:40).

Here, then, is the great enemy of faith: it is not intelligence, nor is it reason, as, alas, some continue obsessively to repeat; but the great enemy of fear. For this reason, faith is the first gift to welcome in Christian life: a gift that must be welcomed and asked for daily, so that it may be renewed in us. It is seemingly a small gift, yet it is the essential one. When we were brought to the baptismal font, our parents, after announcing the name they had chosen for us, were asked by the priest – this happened in our baptism: “What do you ask of the Church of God?” And the parents answered: “Faith, baptism!”

For Christian parents, aware of the grace that has been given them, that is the gift to ask for their child too: faith. With it, parents know that, even in the midst of the trials of life, their child will not drown in fear. See, the enemy is fear. They also know that, when the child ceases to have a parent on this earth, he will continue to have a God the Father in heaven, who will never abandon him. Our love is so fragile, and only God's love conquers death.

Certainly, as the Apostle says, faith is not for all (cf. 2 Thess 3:2), and we too, who are believers, often realize that we have only a short supply. Often Jesus can rebuke us, as He did with His disciples, for being “men of little faith”. But it is the happiest gift, the only virtue we are permitted to envy. Because those who have faith are inhabited by a force that is not only human; indeed, faith “triggers” grace in us and opens the mind to the mystery of God. As Jesus once said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamine tree, ‘Be rooted up, and be planted in the sea’, and it would obey you” (Lk 17:6). Therefore, let us too, like the disciples, repeat to Him: Lord, increase our faith! (Lk 17:5). It is a beautiful prayer! Shall we say it all together? “Lord, increase our faith”. Let us say it together  “Lord, increase our faith”. Too quiet… a bit louder:  “Lord, increase our faith”! Thank you.

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