Sunday Gospel Reflection - Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2020

August 2^nd 2020. The Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 14, 13-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 14, 13-21

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.  
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

Kieran’s summary . . . In the Gospel story, Jesus looks on the hungry crowd and is stirred to compassion. When we look on the world, may we too not turn away from the stirrings of compassion within us! The disciples do not nurture feelings of compassion for the crowd because they believe that it is pointless. Their attitude is guided by what they see as being brute necessities: the scale of the problem (over five thousand people to be fed) and the poverty of the resources of food available (five loaves and two fish). But if we have faith in what the Lord can do, then what seems a brute necessity may not be a necessity at all! Our poor resources can be more than enough in the hands of the Lord. What is important is the way we relate to him in the midst of these situations, “necessities” and “insurmountable” problems. If we give ourselves to the Lord then he will work wonders with our offering, no matter how impoverished it may be.

 

Jesus looks on the world and is stirred to compassion. When we look on the world, may we too not turn away from the stirrings of compassion within us!

When Jesus heard of the death of John, he went away to a deserted place to be by himself. John had been killed barbarously during a grotesque feast, to satisfy the desires of a teenage dancer. The death of the prophet is a sure sign that the thing he prophesied about – the coming of the Messiah – is about to be fulfilled. The news of the Baptist's death made Jesus seek the solitude of a desert, but the poor and the infirm still seek him out and find him. The void created by the termination of the prophecy then becomes the space of compassion (“his heart was moved with pity for them . .”). This is more important than it may seem at first glance: if a prophecy does not lead to a manifestation of love, then what prophecy is it? It is empty. It is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. And how does true compassion manifest itself? "He saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them". Compassion starts from what we see. Do we change channels when we see images of pain, hunger and disease? Do we change the subject of conversation so as not to think too much about something that would undermine our habitual way of being? Instead, wouldn’t it be better if we held our gaze on those images, or continued the subject under discussion? If we do that, then we will discover that  compassion is there waiting for us. It is ready to arise within us if we accept it and support it.

 

The disciples do not feel compassion for the crowd because they believe that it is pointless. Their decisions are guided by what they see as being brute necessities: the scale of the problem and the poverty of the resources of food available. But if we have faith in what the Lord can do, then what seems a brute necessity may not be a necessity at all! Our poor resources may be more than enough in the hands of the Lord.

In the disciples, no such compassion is stirred by their way of looking at the situation.  They see other things: “The place is deserted and it is now late; dismiss the crowd to go to the villages to buy food." Compassion is fine, but it is useless in this situation because nothing can be done for these people. The disciples, in fact, demonstrate a Roman brand of rationality: Necessitas non habet legem, sed ipsa sibi facit legem (“Necessity is not subject to the law because it is a law in itself”). No decision is necessary because the only necessity is that the people go looking for food. The disciples use the imperative (“Dismiss the crowds . .”). They are not giving advice to Jesus but telling him his duty.

 

Give yourself to the Lord and he will work wonders with your offering, no matter how impoverished it may be.

Jesus says just the opposite: “They don't need to go”. Literally, it is not necessary! When we have compassion then what is “necessary” changes.  At this point, Jesus expresses a completely different kind of imperative: "You yourselves feed them." There is a splendid ambiguity in this phrase that is lost in the translation we are currently using. It could be interpreted to mean: “Give yourselves as food to them”. In any case, Jesus is telling the disciples that they are the protagonists in this situation. The problem of feeding this crowd is theirs directly. In reply, they say, "Here we have nothing but five loaves and two fish!" But Jesus is not dissuaded by the poverty of what they have.  “Bring them here”, he says. Is what we have to offer very little? It's not a problem. Let us bring to Jesus what little we have, and we will see what can be done when we are together with him. Compassion is not something whose efficacy is measured by the stock market. It is measured by God. He is not interested in the quantity of what we but in our relationship with him. Whoever opens himself to compassion gives Christ what he has. The Lord knows what to do with it.

July 26^th 2020. The Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 24-43

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 24-43

Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sunday’s Gospel calls on us to open our eyes to what really matters in life, to discern wisely, to consider what is really valuable. If we reflect on the riches that the Lord is offering us, then we will joyfully do whatever we can to receive those riches. But Christianity is often presented in a way that suffocates this joy! Sometimes our faith is presented as something that primarily involves denial and sacrifice. But a more balanced view emphasizes that Christianity is all about receiving much more than we give. It is pride and egoism that causes us to present sanctity as if it were all about our efforts. Our faith is first and foremost about liberation and salvation, not arbitrary penance and sacrifice. The Gospel passage challenges us to discern the riches and the beauty of what Christ is offering us. For that which is really valuable, we will willingly and joyfully renounce everything because we receive much more than we give. Our efforts, our renunciations, only serve to acquire the box in which the treasure is hidden. The value of the treasure is infinitely greater, but we spend too much time thinking about our efforts to acquire the box! Christian discernment focusses on the treasure. It is only then that everything acquires its real value.

Sometimes Christianity is presented as something that involves denial and sacrifice. But a more balanced view emphasizes that Christianity is all about receiving much more than we give.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field; a man finds it and hides it; then he goes, full of joy, sells all his possessions and buys that field”. The act of giving away all one's possessions is normally understood as an action of self-denial and renunciation, something that is done in an attitude of detachment and sacrifice ... but nothing could be further from the Gospel! The Lord never proposes any renunciation except with the view to receiving something much greater and more valid. In this passage, for example, the man gives away everything he has full of joy, because what he has found is much greater. There is no denial in Christianity that does not lead to something superior. If God asks us for something, it is always because he is offering us much more. Whoever loses his life for the love of Christ, does it because it is precisely in this way that he finds the life that can never be lost. In this way, we obtain a treasure in heaven where thieves do not break in, where rust and woodworm do not consume. Christian discipleship is never a question of losing, but, on the contrary, of acquiring.

It is pride and egoism that causes us to present sanctity as if it were all about our efforts. But our faith is primarily about liberation and salvation, not arbitrary penance and sacrifice.

Why has Christianity been presented so often in an exclusively negative way, as if self-deprivation was the central thing? For the usual reason: because we are fixated with our ego. We focus our attention on what we do, not what God does. When we describe the holiness of saints, or of the Church itself, we make it sound like a celebration of works by exceptional, individuals. We make holiness into something based on human qualities, instead of being an encounter with grace that permits the power of God to emerge in men and women. In this way, Christianity is presented as something involving blood, sweat and tears, not liberation and salvation.

The Gospel passage calls us to discern wisely between that which is really worthwhile and that which is worthless. For that which is really valuable, we will willingly renounce everything because we receive much more than we give.

This Sunday's Gospel gives another perspective: we hear of the man who sells everything to have the field with the hidden treasure and the pearl merchant who leaves everything to have the most beautiful pearl.  Then we are presented with images of the process of selection: the fishermen who throws away the bad fish and keeps the good; the master of the house who brings from his storeroom things old and new. This points to the importance of discernment, of the wise choice, of the selection of what is really worthwhile and the rejection of that which is inferior.

Our efforts, our renunciations, only serve to acquire the box in which the treasure is hidden. The value of the treasure is infinitely greater, but we spend too much time thinking about our efforts to acquire the box! Christian discernment focusses on the treasure. Then everything acquires its real value.

All of that man's possessions served only to buy the field containing the treasure. Everything we have is only enough to acquire the treasure chest, but there is endless wealth inside the chest! If you win the lottery, you soon forget the envelope where the ticket that won the lottery was stored. All of our renunciations are aimed only at the purchase of the envelope. The issue here is appreciating the value of the treasure, understanding the value of the pearl, instead of spending all our time thinking of our efforts to acquire the box. When does Christian discernment begin? When we get to know the treasure! Then everything acquires its real value.

July 19^th 2020. The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 24-43

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 24-43

Jesus put a parable before the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”’

He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through’.

In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’. He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his Kingdom all who do evil, and throw them into the burning furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . This Sunday we have the parable of the weeds among the wheat. How unfruitful our actions and our lives often are! If our focus is our own wellbeing, then we will remain “green” like the weeds in the wheat field, instead of becoming golden and laden with fruit like the wheat at harvest time. This greenness is beauty of a superficial sort. It is a “darnel” not sown by God or willed by God, but it is guaranteed to arise in our fallen world. Weeds are sown by our adversary, Satan. It is a fact that every good deed, noble intention or holy endeavour, such as marriage, will encounter difficulties and opposition. Our natural inclination is to want to remove these weeds. But this is the fallacy of perfectionism and it can give rise to a focus on purism, negativity and the avoidance of evil. The Lord, by contrast, will tolerate the bad so long as the good continues to thrive. His focus is entirely on the good. It is much later that the weeds and the wheat will be distinguished from each other. The wheat turns golden and is bent over with its rich fruitfulness. The weeds remain green and unfruitful. Let us leave it to the Lord and his angels to distinguish between what is fruitful and what is not! The Lord has sown his leaven in history and what will bear fruit will bear fruit.

Often, our words or our works give rise to unexpected and unpleasant consequences. It is difficult to sow only the seed we wish to plant!

In horticulture, the issue of seed purity is of great importance: it is practically impossible to be certain that in a quantity of seeds of the same type there is not a seed similar in shape, but from a different plant. It is very difficult to sow only the seed you want to plant. There is always something “foreign” present! The same issue arises when we are speaking. The ideas we try to express can be understood by different people in different ways. In fact, people can sometimes interpret our words to convey a sense that was not actually intended at all.  How unpleasant it is when our words or our actions give rise to unexpected fruit! How irksome when we are misunderstood, or when our acts give rise to consequences that we never intended! The weeds in a field are the bitter consequence of an evil not conceived, of something foreign to our intention, yet present.

Where do these problems arise? They arise from our adversary, Satan, who tempts us. Every good action, noble work or holy activity will encounter problems, challenges, opposition. These weeds are not sown by God, but they are ever-present. Whenever we try to do something fruitful, we can be sure that opposition will arise.

So what should we do when our activity gives rise to that which is ambiguous, only partially good, and has destructive side effects? In the parable in question, the first approach is to presume that there was something wrong right from the start: "Lord, had you not sown good seed in your field?". Could it be that the evil we encounter is sown by God? The parable gives the answer: "An enemy has done this!" There is an enemy of humanity. There is a temptation. You cannot expect to do something fruitful without being subjected to the adversary's pitfalls. One thing we can be sure of is that we will encounter challenges once we start doing something good! A marriage has its pitfalls, work has its struggles, the education of children has its painful misunderstandings, the business of building up of the Christian community inevitably encounters a whole range of religious parasites. The darnel is not the will of God, it is not sown by God, but it is an ever-present opposition when an important and holy work appears.

Our natural inclination is to want to remove the weeds. But this is the fallacy of perfectionism and it gives rise to a focus on purism, negativity and the avoidance of evil. The Lord, by contrast, will tolerate the bad so long as the good continues to thrive. His focus is entirely on the good. It is much later that the weeds and the wheat will be distinguished from each other. The wheat turns golden and is bent over with its rich fruitfulness. The weeds remain green and unfruitful. Let us leave it to the Lord and his angels to distinguish between what is fruitful and what is not! The Lord has sown his leaven in history and what will bear fruit will bear fruit.

Then the classic proposal is made to the master by the workers: "Do you want us to go and eliminate it?" Remove the problem, eradicate the evil when it appears, eliminate the disturbances. This is the perfectionist hypothesis that transforms good works into anxious nightmares, where, in a very short time, the main mission ceases to be to do good and becomes to avoid evil. And then the spiritual life becomes based entirely on denial, on purism, on what should not be done. When this happens, we forget the vitality of the good. But the Master is not anxious about eliminating the bad. It does not bother him that things are undermined. For him, good is the only thing that matters. His strategy is aimed at not losing any part of the good seed - the background noise does not drown out the beauty of the melody, and that's what counts. The time will come to distinguish between weeds and wheat. At the time of harvest, the wheat turns brown and the weeds, even if they look like wheat, remain green. Good and bad are recognized in the end, when the angels arrive, because it is the messengers of God who make the selection, not people! God has hidden his leaven in history, and that which will bear fruit, will bear fruit. Judgment belongs only to God.

July 12^th 2020. The Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 1-9

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 13, 1-9

On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.
Such large crowds gathered around him
that he got into a boat and sat down,
and the whole crowd stood along the shore.
And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying:
“A sower went out to sow.
And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,
and birds came and ate it up.
Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.
It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep,
and when the sun rose it was scorched,
and it withered for lack of roots.
Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.
But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit,
a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.
Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . On Sunday, we have the “Queen of Parables”, that of the Sower. It raises the question of how we are to understand the word of the Lord. The word of God is one only, because the grace of God and the love of the Father are one only. But the same word can be more or less fruitful in us depending on how we receive it in our hearts. The fact is that people did not understand the parable of the sower. The disciples eventually understood it, but only by coming closer to the teacher, closer to Christ! They valued his word, wanted to comprehend it, and so they asked for his help. What prevents us from understanding God’s word are the various filters that we use to interpret everything that happens to us. God is always sending a word our way, a providential plan hidden in the events of our lives. But this word will not be illuminated unless these filters are overcome. Now consider the three “filters” in the parable that prevent us from receiving God’s word. First, the seed falls on the path and it does not penetrate. This represents the word that is not understood by us. Sometimes we discard the Lord’s word because we don’t understand it, just as we ignore what others say to us sometimes whenever we have problems of comprehension. But if we do that with the word of God then we will never understand! God has much to say to us that we cannot grasp right now. We must allow ourselves to be led by him into that which we do not comprehend. If we only say yes to that which we grasp, then our understanding will always remain at the same mediocre level as our brains. It is not intelligence that counts, but abandonment into the hands of the Lord. Mary is our great example. She kept and pondered in her heart what she could not comprehend. Secondly, the seed falls on the rocky soil and sprouts quickly. Sometimes we receive the Lord’s word with enthusiasm, but reject it when difficulties arise. Difficulties, however, are what make real listening authentic. If we don’t like what the Lord is saying, but we still welcome it, then we give ourselves the chance of making progress. If we only listen to what we want to hear, then we will remain exactly where we are already. Thirdly, the seed falls among thorns. This is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. Receiving the word of God requires renouncing the things of this world. If I “listen” to the word of God but also listen to other things, then I am living a life of mediocrity. Selfless love is not compatible with worldly considerations of profit and self-promotion. With Mary we must learn not to resist the word the Lord is sending us. We too must learn to say, “Let it be done onto me according to thy word”.

The parable of the sower is the “Queen of Parables”. The same exact seed produces six different outcomes.

This Sunday we listen to the queen of parables. As Jesus says with regard to this same parable in Mark’s Gospel: "If you do not understand this parable, how will you be able to understand all the others?" (Mk 4:13). In the story, the exact same seed produces different results. Six different outcomes are described, of which three are negative and three are positive. The seed can fall on the path, on the rocky ground, in the middle of the thorns, or can be fruitful to three different degrees (thirty, sixty or one hundredfold).

How are we to understand the parable? Only by coming closer to the teacher, closer to Christ! What prevents us from understanding God’s word are the various filters that we use to interpret everything that happens to us. God is always sending a word our way, a providential plan hidden in the events of our lives. But this word will not be illuminated unless these filters are overcome.

To the crowds Jesus adds nothing else, and simply asks whoever has ears to hear. But in reality nobody understands what Jesus means. The disciples ask him for an explanation of this apparently simple, but in reality cryptic, communication. To them, after a severe quote from the prophet Isaiah and a consideration of how lucky they all are, the key of interpretation is finally given, and then they understand. The parable, in fact, is a communication that must be decoded, but to do this you need to come closer to the teacher who delivered it. Here is the point: nobody understands the parable except those who establish a relationship with Jesus. The Lord is always sending a word our way. This word can be hidden in the events of our life, which conceal a providential plan. In order for this word to be illuminated, the filters that we have erected have to be overcome. Otherwise we do not “have ears to hear” the word that the Lord is trying to speak to us.

Sometimes we resist the Lord’s word because we don’t understand it. But if we do that then we will never understand! God has much to say to us that we cannot grasp right now. We must allow ourselves to be led by him into that which we do not comprehend. If we only say yes to that which we grasp, then our understanding will always remain at the same mediocre level as our brains. Mary is our great example. She kept and pondered in her heart what she could not comprehend.

The word the Lord is trying to speak to us can find an impenetrable path. This happens when we do not understand the word and continue to follow our own way regardless. Is it so surprising to learn that being unable to understand does not entitle us to refuse? Often, God has things to tell us that we do not understand at the moment. We must let ourselves be led into what we do not understand. Otherwise we will never reach the stage of being able to grasp things more deeply. If we do not allow ourselves to be led into that which we cannot comprehend, then our understanding will always be at the same mediocre level as our brains. Mary is our great example. She pondered and kept in her heart the words she did not understand (cf. Lk 2,50-51).

Sometimes we receive the Lord’s word with enthusiasm but reject it when difficulties arise. Difficulties, however, are what make real listening authentic. If we don’t like what the Lord is saying, but we still welcome it, then we give ourselves the chance of making progress. If we only listen to what we want to hear, then we will remain exactly where we are already

The word the Lord is speaking to us can also arouse enthusiasm. This is the case of the seed that sprouts close to the stone because the conditions for sprouting are more favourable there. But our enthusiasm is shattered when it confronts difficulty, just as the seed withers when the sun comes out. In reality, it is difficulties that can make listening authentic; it is the tribulations that verify whether one is truly welcoming the word or merely listening in a superficial way. In fact, the word the Lord is speaking to us  can often be something that we do not want to hear. But if God wants to us to journey as adults with him, then he cannot tell us only what we want to hear; otherwise he will leave us exactly where we are already.

Receiving the word of God requires renouncing the things of this world. If I “listen” to the word of God but also listen to other things, then I am living a life of mediocrity. Selfless love is not compatible with worldly considerations of profit and self-promotion. With Mary we must learn not to resist the word the Lord is sending us. We too must learn to say, “Let it be done onto me according to thy word”.

We can also give the word of the Lord an ambiguous welcome: “I listen to you, but I also listen to other things”. We are the artists of compromise and the lovers of mediocrity. The word of God does not agree with the world, because the word operates according to love and not according to profit, which is actually the opposite of selfless love. God asks us to renounce things, and love asks for renunciations very often. Let us face it: we must stop defending our little corner before the word of God. It is better to say with Mary: "Let it be done onto me according to your word".  Let us welcome the word without resistance.

July 5^th 2020. Fourteenth Sunday of the Year

GOSPEL: Matthew 11, 25-30

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Matthew 11, 25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

“Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . The gift of Understanding is not simply a characteristic of intelligent people. It is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and his gifts are for everyone! Understanding is the capacity to comprehend the connections between things. It gives us the ability to see beyond the disconnected appearance of events, and it permits us to gaze upon the true inner nature of things. Evidently, this capacity goes beyond human capabilities. In Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that the gift of Understanding is granted to the childlike. To know God’s mysteries, you don’t have to be cultured or educated, but small! Humility is the gateway to a wisdom that goes beyond human intelligence. Jesus then invites us to take his yoke upon him. The characteristic of a yoke was that it was generally made for two. Jesus wishes to walk with us in bearing this load. And what is the load? It is the negation of our ego. A beautiful event in the conversion of St Francis of Assisi recounts how, when the saint embraced a leper, he ceased to worship himself. The yoke of Christ is liberating because it frees us from ourselves.

Understanding is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It grants us the ability to see the connection between things, to form a perspective that goes beyond the disconnected appearance of facts and events, and it permits us to gaze into a thing’s true nature.

When the Holy Spirit enters the heart, he brings with him a series of gifts - seven to be exact - and one of these is Understanding. This gift is not the same as a personal characteristic of the person. It does not belong only those who are intelligent. If it did, then it would not be for everyone, whilst the Holy Spirit is Lord and gives life to everyone. Understanding, therefore, is not precluded to those who they are less gifted. It is the ability to understand the "connection" between things. The word “intellect” (which is the equivalent of the term “understanding” in Latin) derives from the expression intus-legere or intus-ligare. This refers to the activity of understanding how things are connected to each other (ligare) and allows you to see beyond (legere) the disconnected appearance of facts and expressions. However, its peculiar characteristic is an inner gaze (intus) on things. No wonder people are inclined to think that understanding requires brains!

In order to understand the deepest connection between things, we need childlike humility because these things are beyond the reach of human intelligence. Humility is the gateway to wisdom

The deepest connection between things, of course, lies in the way that the Lord weaves events together. His thread of Providence unifies history and gives it a direction. As they say, God brings this providence to fruition using crooked lines to write straight. If all this seems to us like something that requires enormous intellectual abilities, then we are not wrong. It requires unprecedented abilities that are completely beyond the reach of human intelligence. This is the point of the Gospel this Sunday: understanding the providential connection between things is not achieved by one's own ability, but by the gift of God. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and to the learned and you have revealed them to the little ones”. To know the wonderful secret of everything, you don't have to be cultured or qualified, but small. This Wisdom of knowing one’s littleness (which is another gift of the Holy Spirit), involves a humble intuition of itself, which is a form of Knowledge (a further gift of the Holy Spirit!) entirely different to the one we associate with bookishness.  Every Eucharistic liturgy invites us to practice this knowledge at the beginning of every celebration: "In order to celebrate the holy mysteries worthily, we recognize our sins". One enters the light because one comes from darkness.

Christ has a light yoke for us. It is the yoke of being free from ourselves. When we recognize our smallness and misery, God reveals his mysteries to us.

It is important to know one's own poverty. This doesn’t mean that we become fixated with our defects, analyzing them constantly, impatient with our limits and fragility. Such scrupulousness can have its origin in pride. Rather, what we need to do is recognize our sins, the evil we have done in thoughts, words, deeds and even omissions. In fact, the omissions are often the most serious: the wrong we do is certainly bad, but never as bad as the good that has not been done. God reveals his mysteries to those who know their own misery, to those who are aware of their failures in love and recognize the dark part of their hearts. With God we win when we lose, we become strong when we admit our weaknesses, we become wise when we recognize our stupidity, we become adults when we confess our smallness, we enter into peace when we become aware of our fixations. Christ has a light yoke for us to take, full of the Holy Spirit: it is the yoke of freedom from ourselves.