You
can not try to understand Paul's statement so solemn, vital and
essential, without reading it within the broader context in which he
wrote it, handed it down to us, in the person of Timothy, his beloved
son. Therefore it is important to make contact, a deep and intimate
contact, with the entire first chapter of the second letter to Timothy,
in particular to see 14.
By doing this, we realize we come together in a process of gestation, of
rebirth, a journey through the night, which leads us to the new day (cf.
Jn 3.1).
The womb is ready, already opened for us; receiving waters gush and flow
slowly (cf. Is 8:6): nourishing matrix for thirst and hunger of the
heart. We just have to come in, take a seat in the house of love, to be
still and listen to the song of salvation, that the Father sings for us,
one by one, by name, recognized among a thousand (cf. Song of Songs
5:10): "One is my beloved, the favorite of the one that created it
"(Song 6:9). Each, each one of us, the favorite creature, the beloved.
Maybe we've already long time forgotten, so that now we can not even
believe it: faded, erased beauty features. We look within and find the
dust of loneliness, gaps, silences; there is neither father nor mother.
Perhaps there is no longer even Him, Love, who once deceived us and took
us with Him. And yet someone shouts, voice of all, the faith of all: "I
know, I know the One to whom I have believed." We may collect these
words of Paul, to bend to the bottom of my heart, without fear of the
dark. It is the night of the birth, the baby's first cry to life. We
will feel collected, raised in an embrace of mother ... This is the
faith, in fact: the presence of God with the face and body of a woman,
with words and caresses to feminine ending.
"To Timothy, my dear son ..." (2 Tim 1:2)
Thus begins the song of love; just a breath, or a kiss, laid with great
gentleness on the rows of our days, our entire history. Called by name,
we can finally begin to recognize what we really are, even today, in
this world: Timothy is the one that "honors, loves and gives glory to
God," according to the various synonyms of the verb Timão,
forming his name. Birth of love, Timothy carries with it the weight of
the glory of God, deposit and pledge of grace, which he constantly
delivering to every brother and sister who, like him, is on the way,
running on the streets of the holy Gospel.
But what is, in truth, this glorious, bright weight? Kavòd, says
the Scripture, writing the signs of the toughest, most true love: just
three radicals - kaf, bet and dalet - letters
overflowing with divine life, which can be read as the hand, palm open
to receive separation, ie intimacy of a personal love, secret, lived
within, deep in my heart.
So yes, it's our weight, but our only glory. Only thus we can truly
discover who we are, back to track the path of our life: the start, the
beginning and the goal. Paul helps us, takes us by the hand and tells
us, "Your grandmother Loides and your mother Eunice ..." (2 Tim 1:5). He
takes us back along the paths of our past, brings us back as children,
home alone on his chest, in the arms of our mother. Do not run away
from here, because we feel grown-up, not needy; do not be ashamed, as
also saith Paul (2 Tim 1,8.12).
"Amen, I say to you ..."
Moreover, the first word of the faith, the most simple, almost
monosyllabic those who still can not speak, says just that: those who
believe like a child, narrow, raised in the arms of his mother. "Amen"
means this: the root of the verb lift, support, architecture of a
fool-proof love, thanks to which it is impossible to fall forever. From
the columns, from the pillars of the temple (2 Kings 18:16) in the arms
of the father or mother is a short step, the force does not change;
beautiful the Word of God, who announced the infinite sweetness of the
care that He has for us, his children! The vocabulary of the sky did not
find brighter, louder word, to tell us how much He loves us: "Amen, I
say to you ...".
Perhaps it may be useful at this point, collect a few pictures from the
Holy Scriptures, views of life, the anticipation of joy prepared for us
too.
Ester was an orphan of father and mother, which is why Mordecai had
raised her as a daughter (Est 2:7). When Ruth gave birth, in the fields
of Bethlehem, House of Bread, Naomi took the child, laid it on her lap
and became his nurse (Ruth 4:16). Another son was left to Jonathan, kept
hidden by the nurse; she was to hide him from the enemies of the king,
squeezing the breast to flee (2 Sam 4:4).
Really, faith still performes this for us, as the prophet Isaiah says,
"Your daughters shall be carried in arms, on his shoulders ... your
children" (Isaiah 49.22, 60.4).
But there's one important thing, a reflection, a precious echo of Amen,
life-breath whom comes into contact with God. The root of the verb, in
fact, in the causative form does not express support and care and
custody, but becomes a declaration of love already received, cry of joy
of those who feel secure, and it is certain, and this can be said,
finally, with his lips and his heart: "Yes, I believe."
Not to have heard of it, nor because so it is written in the books or in
the holy pages of the Word of God
Believing after the night
While talking to Timothy, Paul shows the way to us, step by step: it is
the way of the heart, of the meeting, of the relationship. Faith is like
that: very human experience of God within us. The more we read the lines
written by Paul to his friend, his son, his companion, the more our
heart is stripped, opened by the sweetness of truest feelings, of
everyday feeling. They are described there on the paper of the book, but
at the same time we recognize them as of us. Without fear we should
follow the traced path: the memory (2 Tim 1,3.4.5), tears, nostalgia (v.
4), prayer (v. 3). What are these, if not the clearest signs, stronger,
of love?
We should stop to enjoy the beauty of this show, contemplation of the
life of every man and every woman who comes into this world. And really,
without a shadow of fear or doubt, but with the certainty of one who
knows and believes and therefore does not waver, we should have the
courage to go even deeper, to the point of our soul, where is it
written, even for us that, yes, there is pain, there are tears,
nostalgia, memories, that perhaps still burn.
From prison (1 Tim 1:8), over the bars, higher than any closure, Paul
guides us there. Because is here, only here, in truth of everyday, more
human than us, that we are given to be able to experience, to know, in
this world, what it means to have faith, to believe again, after the
night.
"Behold, the bridegroom! Go to meet him" (Mt 25:6)
"Guard the precious gift that is given you" (2 Tim 1:12), then the
father says to his son, the teacher to disciple, the friend to friend.
Twice (vv. 12 and 14) comes back in the passage, this expression,
doubled eco of the invitation already expressed in his first letter: "O
Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you" (1 Tim 6:20). There is a
pledge, given by God to the poor bank of our existence, perhaps a
talent, or even ten: it's free, free gift of the Father’s love, Who
trust us, covenants, promises faithful presence, His yes of each
day. The first to live in faith is He, the Lord of the world!
Thus, in His so wise pedagogy, Paul, our great rabbi (cf. Acts 22:3) of
mercy and grace, has brought us to the goal, the secret place of the
appointment with God within us. The filiation, the history we have
lived, re-read backwards, then the feelings, the experiences of the
heart, the tears, the longing, the pain. And now ... the gift, the
precious pearl, vocation: Paul calls the precious gift entrusted to us.
Overflowing word, so rich as to break the banks of a simple, single
meaning, and yet, at the same time, the force of attraction towards the
interior, the most intimate secret, dearer and inviolable. "What is your
charge", literally : "that which is placed next to or in front" -
paratithemi in greek, which refers to the noun "sheath" or "sheath",
like the one that holds the sword (John 18:11) and carried over the
side, "against the terror of the night" so we read in the Song (Song
3:8).
And here we had to get, with our heart, with all our life, to the place
fixed for the meeting, the encounter. Jesus, the Bridegroom and Friend,
is ready; and already fell in his garden (cf. Song 6,2.11, Jn 18.1) to
celebrate the wedding, He, the Son of the King. This is the solemn
moment, of party or tears. Everyone here is expected: with Jesus are the
disciples and Judas the traitor (Jn 18.2) and Peter ... At midnight,
here is a cry: “Behold, the bridegroom! Go to meet him" (Mt 25:6). We
just have to answer, to say yes or no. "I do not know this
man of whom you speak" (Mk 14.71), or: "Amen, I know Him! I know in Whom
I have placed my faith "(2 Tim 1:12).
Maria Anastasia di Gerusalemme ocarm
Monastero S. Stefano
Via Guaccimanni, 44 - 48121 Ravenna
