miniZibaldone

[T]oday I would like to reflect with you on the enemies of hope, because hope has its enemies, as every good in this world has its enemies. See why it’s important to guard one’s heart, opposing temptations to unhappiness, which certainly don’t come from God. We can repeat that simple prayer, of which we also find traces in the Gospels and which has become the foundation of so many Christian spiritual traditions: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!” – a beautiful prayer. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner!” It’s not true that “so long as there is life there is hope,” as is usually said. If anything, it’s the contrary: it’s hope that keeps life upright, that protects it, guards it and makes it grow. If men had not cultivated hope, if they were not supported by this virtue, they would never have comes out of the caves, and would have left no trace in the history of the world. It’s the most divine that can ex...

This is the first condition of salvation: feeling oneself in danger. It is the first condition of healing: feeling sick. Feeling sinful is the first condition of receiving this gaze of mercy. Christ looks at him, and says, “Follow me. And Matthew got up and followed him, as the Gospel tells us today.  Recalling Caravaggio’s famous depiction of the scene, Pope Francis spoke of Matthew’s “sidelong look” with one eye on Our Savior and the other on his purse: a look that was even stand-offish, if not outright aggressive.   Then, there was the merciful gaze of Jesus, which communicated such overwhelming love that the resistance of the man who wanted the money, “fails”: Matthew got up and followed Him.   But let us think of the look of Jesus, so beautiful, so good, so merciful. And we, too, when we pray, we feel this look upon us; it is the look of love, the gaze of mercy, the gaze that saves us. Do not be afraid. The door to meet Jesus is recognizing oursel...

A Christ without a cross is not the Lord: he is a teacher, nothing else [...] It is one of the temptations.... The other temptation is a cross without Christ....This is a type of spiritual masochism: only the cross, without hope and without Christ. A Christ without a cross is not the Lord: he is a teacher, nothing else. This is perhaps what Nicodemus, without realizing it, was seeking. It is one of the temptations. Yes, Jesus: ‘What a good teacher’, but… without the cross, [only] Jesus. Who bewitched you with this image? Paul is angry. Jesus Christ is presented but not as crucified. The other temptation is a cross without Christ, that is, the anguish of remaining down, depressed by the weight of sin and without hope. This is a type of spiritual masochism: only the cross, without hope and without Christ. The Cross is a mystery of love; the Cross is faithful; the Cross is noble. Today we should take a minute to ask ourselves these questions. Is Christ crucified a mystery of love?...

“All that you have, bequeathed to you by your father, earn it in order to possess it” (Goethe, Faust ) There is a disease that can strike the baptized, which the Holy Father calls “spiritual Alzheimer’s.” It consists in forgetting the history of our personal relationship with God, the first Love that won us over and made us His own. If we become “forgetful” of our encounter with the Lord, we are no longer sure of anything. We are assailed by fear that blocks our every movement. If we abandon the sure harbor of our bond with the Father, we become prey to the caprices and whims of the moment, slaves to “false infinities” that promise the moon but leave us disappointed and sad, in the frenetic search for something that fills the emptiness of the heart. How can we avoid this “spiritual Alzheimer’s”? There is only one road: actualize the beginnings, the “first Love,” which is not a discourse or abstract thought, but a Person. The grateful memory of this beginning ensures that we have...

Humility is like an emptiness that gives place to God....First of all and above all other graces, which we also have at heart: the grace that is Jesus Christ! And when Mary arrives, joy overflows and bursts from hearts, because Jesus’ invisible but real presence fills everything with meaning: life, the family, the salvation of the people . . . everything!... The great things that God has wrought with humble persons, the great things the Lord does in the world with the humble, because humility is like an emptiness that gives place to God. The humble is powerful because he is humble, not because he is strong. And this is the grandeur of the humble and of humility. I would like to ask you – and also myself – but don’t answer in a loud voice: each one answer in his heart: “how is my humility doing?”...  Always ask for first of all and above all other graces, which we also have at heart: the grace that is Jesus Christ!   [link]

Faith isn’t an easy way out of life’s problems, but it supports us on the way and gives it meaning. When one doesn’t grip the Lord’s word to have greater security, one consults horoscopes and fortune-tellers, one begins to go down. It means that faith isn’t that strong. Today’s Gospel reminds us that faith in the Lord and in his word doesn’t open a way for us where everything is easy and tranquil; it doesn’t subtract us from life’s storms. Faith gives us the certainty of a Presence, the presence of Jesus that drives us to overcome the existential storms, the certainty of a hand that grips us to help us face the difficulties, pointing out the way to us also when it’s dark. In sum, faith isn’t an easy way out of life’s problems, but it supports us on the way and gives it meaning.... This episode is a stupendous image of the reality of the Church of all times: a boat that, along the crossing must also face adverse winds and storms, which threaten to sink it. What saves it is not th...

[arrest, freedom, prison]