Sparks

When we act selfishly, when we crave, when we try to keep something as our own and, when we refuse to let go, in all these occasions we are acting in a manner contrary to the natural functioning of things. It 's like trying to swim upstream or grab and hold a bird in flight. Selfishness produces friction and painful sparks fly when it rubs against the reality in the wrong way, so that in Buddhism it is not so sinful, how stupid. (But, just as for Christians, it leads to suffering for oneself and for others). It is not that Buddhists are opposed to the enjoyment of the company of other persons or property, they only put us on guard to try keeping them from thinking that they are our property. As soon as we will act so, in fact, sparks will fly, with the result of injuring persons. 

This beautiful reflection, on the consequences of selfishness, is written by Paul Knitter in his book "Without Buddha I could not be a Christian".

The author is a Catholic priest converted to Buddhism and then back to Christianism, bringing in dowry, in the "back across the border", the whole depth of Buddhist spirituality in the light of which the figure of Christ is enriched with meaning.

The reflection on the harmful effects of selfishness comes from the awareness that, in the continuous becoming of reality, all human and sentient beings are connected to each other and with nature, in a continuous motion that can not be stopped, otherwise create "sparks" of suffering .

Jesus also often referred to his disciples, as a recipe for happiness, the choice of "letting go" (a word most familiar to Christian spirituality would "give up"), things and situations that, on one hand give us a sense of security, from other side make us slaves and unhappy.

In this regard it is illuminating the story of the rich man.

10:17 Now as Jesus was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” 10:20 The man said to him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws since my youth.” 10:21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 10:22 But at this statement, the man looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. (Mark 10.17-22)

The protagonist is a "good" guy who tries to live his life of faith generously, but can not give up the securities identified with his many assets that will become his prison of unhappiness.

It's hard to choose not to defend our positions, leaving scroll in the direction of reality, yet it is the way that both Buddha and Jesus Christ tell us to live a fulfilled life.

As result of this reflection the words of Jesus acquire a new meaning:

17:33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

A issue about numbers

In the Bible numbers have a symbolic value and that is why too literal interpretations can be misleading.
There is a branch of Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, dedicated to the study of numerical symbolism.
The Kabbalah studies the relationship between numbers and letters of the Hebrew alphabet through a method of analysis called gematria.

Even in the New Testament there are examples of symbolic use of numbers. I suggest you that contained in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 1:1-17).
1:1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
1:2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 1:3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar), Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 1:4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 1:5 Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab), Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth), Obed the father of Jesse, 1:6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah), 1:7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 1:8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah, 1:9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 1:10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 1:11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
1:12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 1:13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 1:14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, 1:15 Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 1:16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.

This passage, which we read during the evening Mass of the vigil of Christmas, at first glance seems dry and boring because it brings a list of odd names, mostly unknown to us. It almost gives the impression that it is unnecessary to waste mass to read a passage like this!

In fact, those who have had experience of writing something, know that the most important parts of a writing are the conclusion, but even more the beginning. The first chapter is called to contain indications of all that the reader will discover later on in the reading.

I remind you that Matthew the Evangelist was the publican Levi, a Jewish man who was familiar enough with the Scriptures to quote them often in his Gospel, written for a community of believers coming from Judaism . To confirm this, the commentators see a portrait of Matthew in these words attributed to Jesus by the Evangelist:
13:52 Then he [Jesus] said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure what is new and old.”  (Mt 13:52)

From these elements we understand that the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew must have significance far denser than it appears at first sight. The gematria helps us to discover interesting reading levels.

The first words of the Gospel are:
1:1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1.1).

While Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus from Adam (Luke 3:38), first man, since his was a community of Christians coming from paganism, Matthew cites as the first forerunner of Jesus, Abraham as Patriarch of the People of Israel.

Matthew immediately highlights the relationship between Jesus and David, the greatest king of Israel, the descendants of whom the prophets foretold would become the Messiah, who would liberate the people of Israel.

Meaningful is the prophecy that Isaiah sees, a sprout from the stump of Jesse, father of King David:
11:1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock,
a bud will sprout from his roots.
11:2 The Lord’s spirit will rest on him –
a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom,
a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans,
a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord.
11:3 He will take delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by mere appearances,
or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.
11:4 He will treat the poor fairly,
and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and order the wicked to be executed.
11:5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist,
integrity will be like a belt around his hips.
11:6 A wolf will reside with a lamb,
and a leopard will lie down with a young goat;
an ox and a young lion will graze together,
as a small child leads them along.
11:7 A cow and a bear will graze together,
their young will lie down together.
A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.
11:8 A baby will play
over the hole of a snake;
over the nest of a serpent
an infant will put his hand.
11:9 They will no longer injure or destroy
on my entire royal mountain.
For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty,
just as the waters completely cover the sea.
Isaiah 11, 1-9

The Messiah will take upon himself the spirit of the Lord, and bring peace and harmony between people and in nature too.

This was the hope of every good Jewish man at the time of the birth of Jesus: the advent of the Messiah, descendant of David, which would bring liberation to the people and peace.

Matthew wants to say, even shouting to his community that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the expected son of David, and does so with all the tools at its disposal, including the symbolic meaning of numbers.

In fact in verse 17 of Chapter 1 at the end of the genealogy he will say:
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.

The three times repetition of a word is a way in Jewish culture to give maximum emphasis. In Hebrew there is not the superlative: they use to create it by genitive, or by triple repetition of the word. For example, while we say "the holiest ," a Jewish says "holy of holies" or "holy holy holy."

Matthew, in the first chapter of his Gospel, repeats the name of David six times... but not only!

We return to verse 17 of chapter 1: here the number 14 is repeated 3 times.

For Jews, the letters of the alphabet have a corresponding number: eg: Aleph is 1, Beth is 2, etc..

The Hebrew words are made up only of consonants. Vowels were added later, and only to facilitate reading and understanding words.

Now, according to this rule, if we want to read the name of David without the vowels, the result is DVD.

In Hebrew the letter Daleth corresponds to 4 and the letter Vau to 6. Summing up the numerical value of letters in the name of David we obtain

(D) 4 + (V) 6 + (D) 4 = 14

In verse 17 Matthew, through the symbolism of numbers, repeats the name of David for three times. The result is that in his first chapter he calls that name, in connection to Jesus, for nine times (3x3!).

For his readers, jew-Christians, the message became clear from the outset: Jesus Christ, as narrated in the Gospel of Matthew, is truly the Messiah, the son of David.

Be eccentrics

It is not religion that saves: it is not the law, the temple, circumcision, not the sacraments, the Mass, rosaries, pilgrimages, indulgences, the Bible. What saves it is the pure consciousness and the good life that goes with it, is the unconditional adherence of soul to the good , truth, justice. That's the whole meaning of Jesus' preaching, away from the center in religion and putting it in genuine consciousness (see Luke 18, 9-14).

The passage is from book by Vito Mancuso, "The soul and its destiny,"Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2007, p.. 176.

I'm fascinated by this author's freshness speaking of faith, inviting his readers to savor the taste of a life like authentic disciples of Jesus Master.

I linked his statement to last Sunday's Gospel in which Jesus says to lawexpert, who asked him to test him, what is the greatest commandment:

22:34 Now when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled together. 22:35 And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him: 22:36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 22:37 Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 22:38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 22:39 The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 22:40 All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
(Mt 22, 34-40)

Love is truly the only requirement to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If so, there are some unconscious and others who believe they be, are not.
But the final surprise will be entirely due to our inattention to signs that the Master has repeatedly given:

9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9,13)

 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 25:32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 25:33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 25:34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 25:36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 25:37 Then the righteous will answer him,‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 25:38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 25:39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 25:40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 25:43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 25:44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ 25:45 Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 25:46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Mt 25, 31-46)

Often we consume a lot of our energies to observe religious precepts or to cultivate our personal asceticism, rather than to love God by loving men and women we meet in our lives.

Wasted energy behind the fear of not being in place before God or spiritual pride of feeling right in front of Him

Jesus teaches us to be "eccentric" - ex-centric, with the center outside of us - not looking to our navel like the centre of the world, but looking with love towards other... towards the Other.

Sieve and winnowing

Today is the feast of the Holy Archangels!
Wishes for the name day for all those who bear the name, even to my second child: wishes darling!

Today I wanted to share with you a reflection that I was born the Gospel reading, or rather reading by adding two verses (Jn 1, 45-46) before the piece chosen by today's liturgy (Jn 1, 47-51).

1:45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.”
1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!” 1:50 Jesus said to him, “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 1:51 He continued, “I tell all of you the solemn truth – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”  (Gv 1,45-51)

Philip raves about the meeting with a person who has deeply affected him, and Nathanael responds with a prejudice. He does not yet know Jesus, but he has already judged on the basis of a mindset that makes him see the reality in a distorted way.

On the contrary, when Jesus meets him for the first time, despite not knowing him. appreciates him. Nathanael fact remains amazed!

In both cases there is an opinion, but completely different tools are used to get there.

Nathanael, using the sieve, lets go of the good that might be present in the person of Jesus and holds the negative, represented in his prejudice against the Nazarenes.

Jesus uses the winnowing, leaving fly away "chaff" of the defects of Nathaniel, and holding the "grain" that is, his potential for real man.

Jesus appreciates as Nathanael is an Israelite in whom is no guile. In reality, the prejudice arouses in him a false vision. But Jesus lets go of the negative opinion, retaining and enhancing the potential of authenticity that's in Nathanael.

If it's true, as psychological theories say, that the opinions of others affect us until we become to some extent as others see us, it's amazing to think that our God sees us always in our best chance.

An intense look that captures all our potentials for good and makes them possible, beyond our selfishness and our prejudices, beyond our own consciousness.

Emotions in prayer

Music and songs: an exciting way to pray God.
Because head and will are not enough...