1. Nazareth: the body, the house, the temple
Let us begin this "guided tour" in the house of Nazareth by proceeding from a general but substantial consideration regarding the "house." The consideration is this: there is a profound similarity among the heart of God, the body of Mary and the walls of the temple! All three, despite their obvious difference, realize the idea of "home" as a point of welcome and a point of departure, a place of dwelling and working, a place from which to depart and to which to return. Thus is the mystery of God, who is in himself Love and is Creator for us, and who therefore welcomes us into himself and distinguishes us from himself in order to draw us into communion with himself. So is the mystery of every mother, who carries us in her womb to bring us into the world: to her maternal care we are entrusted to learn to trust. So is the mystery of the temple, in which we pause in God's presence to radiate His glory, in which we interrupt our daily activities to return to him comforted and transfigured. And so is the mystery of Mary, who in the Incarnation was truly the "house of God," the Ark of the Covenant, the first Tabernacle in history: in her, the Son of God found dwelling in the world to become the Redeemer of the world.
Communion of persons
The reality of "home" alludes to the fundamental law of love, which is always communion and distinction of persons. And in fact, true love always requires affection and respect, right closeness and right distance, balance between attachment and detachment, the ability to have and to give up, the desire to create bonds among people and care to promote their freedom. In this sense, what threatens love is not only unlove, but also the excess of love, which despite the best intentions stifles freedom, does not mature it, does not open new horizons for it. When the breath of freedom is missing, love is no longer belonging but possession, and when the bond of affection is missing, freedom does not know where to go or does not find the strength. On the contrary, to mature in love is to know how to stay at home and know how to leave: it is to overcome the temptation to close oneself and have the courage to open oneself, it is to stay away from the double risk of sinking into a thousand fears or multiplying senseless experiences.
Let us look at Jesus: precisely in the renunciation of his life and detachment from his disciples he realized a greater love and a life that conquers death: for himself, for them, and for all. Let us listen to how he addresses the Apostles on the eve of his passion: "now I tell you the truth: it is good for you that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but when I am gone, I will send him to you" (Jn. 16:7). It speaks of a parting, but also of an inheritance, a time of desolation, but in the perspective of a greater consolation!
And then we look at Mary, who became our mother precisely by welcoming and losing her own son, moving from the Fiat to the Stabat, from the joyful birth in Bethlehem, when in Her the Word became Flesh, to the painful birth of Golgotha, where the Word was crucified.
And let us look at a saint like Don Bosco, loved by Mamma Margaret, but sent very young to work outside the home: despite being fatherless, misunderstood by his brother Anthony and deprived of the help of Don Colosso, his teacher, he would sum up the wisdom of educational love in the conviction that "it is not enough to love, but it is necessary that a young person recognizes that he is loved," because only in this way will he inherit love and the ability to love in turn. A successful educational work is not so much about protection and instruction, the giving of things and advice but it is all about self-giving, witnessing and accompanying. Family ties are for receiving life, learning to live and launching into life, and not for accumulating equipment and then keeping it under lock and key.
Receiving life, giving life
Here then, in summary is what we might call "the rule of the home": to have a home is to receive life and learn to live, to build new homes and generate new life. From here we can derive at least three directions for a loving dialogue with God, in family, in community.
1. In our relationship with God, we need to consider that God is neither an unreachable peak nor a comfortable refuge: in Jesus, God gave His life to us and desires that we also give our lives to others. This means that one cannot believe in the God of life and give up living one's life: to have faith is both to put one's trust in God and to make courageous decisions for oneself. And to sin, even before one is wrong, is to be afraid of being wrong, because in fear lurks distrust of God's goodness and the gifts He has given us, a distorted image of God's judgment, and a distorted image of self: as if God's judgment were not a judgment of mercy, or as if it were impossible to be good without already being perfect. Renunciation of life due to pride and fear paralyzes life, which is why the Gospel speaks clearly: "not he who says Lord, Lord, but he who does the will of the Father" is a true disciple of the Kingdom (Mt 7:21). Therefore, it is not enough to know the truth: only "he who does the truth comes to the light" (Jn. 3:21). So true is it that "to the one who has will be given and will be in abundance, but from the one who does not have will be taken away even what he has" (Mt 13:12). One must then ask in all sincerity: how is the quality of my prayer, of my dialogue with God? Do I know how to humbly place my trust in Him and boldly expose my life to the works of love? Do I know how to gather my heart and deploy my strength, surrender and commit myself?
2. In the relationship between generations, the key thing today in the education of children is to give trust and demand responsibility, renouncing particularly protective attitudes, and offering with conviction the adult witness of a vital desire and love for life that generates new relationships and new works, that consolidates friendly relationships and multiplies initiatives of solidarity. Woe, on the other hand, to annihilate oneself for the sake of the children or to nullify them through excessive standards and care.
3. In community relations, the experience of the temple, in which one receives the love of God in order to live and radiate this same love, requires one to never separate communion and mission, Christian identity and dedication to the world. This is the authoritative and passionate indication of Pope Francis in his beautiful apostolic letter on the joy of the Gospel.
It explains that the Church, in all its expressions, the most intimate as well as the most public, must never lose its missionary intonation: "the Church's intimacy with Jesus is an itinerant intimacy, and communion essentially a missionary communion.... The reform of structures, which demands pastoral conversion, can only be understood in this sense: making them all become more missionary.... The goal of participatory processes will not primarily be ecclesial organization but the missionary dream of reaching out to all" (EG 23, 27, 31).
Fr. Roberto Carelli SDB
