To what extent do we allow ourselves to be surprised by the preaching of Jesus in the Gospels? Are we aware of the impulse that the Holy Spirit is imprinting on the Church through ecclesial movements? These are two questions that can be the focus of some of the teachings of Leo XIV in these weeks.
The Pope's magisterial activity continues to gain strength and intensity, attending to the needs of the People of God and civil society, which are not few. In this way, he continues to strike the "first chords" of his pontificate, which invite him to lavish himself in his solicitude for everyone. And all this in the context of the Jubilee Year, which brings together in Rome the Catholic faithful and other people of various walks of life, often grouped according to the services they render to the Church and the world.
We present here his three catecheses on some of the parables of Jesus and the speeches he gave to the ecclesial movements on the occasion of his participation in the Jubilee.
Parables challenge us
Jesus wishes to personalize his message and therefore his teachings have a character that today we could call anthropological or personalistic, experiential and at the same time questioning, for each one of those who listened to him and also today for us.
In fact, Leo XIV notes that the term parable comes from the Greek verb "paraballein", which means "to throw before": "The parable throws before me a word that provokes me and pushes me to question myself".
At the same time, it is interesting that the pope notes certain aspects of the Gospel passages that are always surprising.
The terrain is us
The parable of the sower (cfr. General Audience 21-V-2025) shows the dynamics of the Word of God and its effects. "In fact every word of the Gospel is like a seed that is thrown into the soil of our life. Many times Jesus uses the image of the seed, with different meanings".
At the same time, this parable of the sower introduces a series of other "little parables", in relation to what happens in the field: the wheat and the tares, the mustard seed, the treasure hidden in the field.
What, then, would this land be? "It is our heart, but it is also the world, the community, the Church. The word of God, in fact, fecundates and provokes every reality".
Jesus sows for all, his word awakens the curiosity of many, and acts in each one in a different way.
On this occasion he presents a sower, quite original: "he goes out to sow, but he does not worry about where the seed falls": on the road, among the stones, among the thorns. "This attitude," Pope Prevost underlines, "surprises the listeners and leads them to ask: why?". We should also be surprised.
First, because "we are accustomed to calculate things - and sometimes it is necessary - but this is not valid in love!". Therefore, "the way in which this 'wasteful' sower throws the seed is an image of the way in which God loves us.", in any situation and circumstance in which we find ourselves, trusting that the seed will flourish.
Secondly, in telling how the seed is bearing fruit, Jesus also speaks of his own lifeJesus is the Word, he is the Seed. And the seed, in order to bear fruit, must die". Therefore, "this parable tells us that God is willing to 'waste himself' for us and that Jesus is willing to die to transform our lives".
Compassion and non-rigidity
On the following Wednesday, May 28, the Pope addressed the parable of the good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10). In it we can see how the lack of hope can be due to the fact that we rigidly close ourselves up in our point of view. This is what happened to that doctor of the Law who asks Jesus how to "inherit" eternal life, "using an expression that considers it as an unequivocal right". He also asks him who the "neighbor" is.
In the parable, neither the priest nor the Levite stopped, even though they were serving in the Temple, perhaps giving priority to returning home.. "The practice of worship," Pope Leo observes, "does not automatically lead to compassion. In fact, before being a religious question, compassion is a question of humanity! Before being believers, we are called to be human."
The Samaritan paused, expressing compassion with concrete gestures, "because," he says, "if you want to help someone, you can't just think about keeping your distance, you have to get involved, get dirty, maybe even contaminated.
Peter's successor asks us: "When will we too be able to interrupt our journey and have compassion?" And he goes ahead to answer: "When we have understood that that wounded man on the road represents each one of us. And then, the memory of all the times Jesus stopped to care for us will make us more capable of compassion."
God's justice
The third parable, on which the Pope focused on June 4, was that of the laborers in the vineyard (cf. Mt 20). It reflects situations in which we do not find meaning in our lives, and we feel useless or inadequate. Here too there is a figure, the owner of the vineyard, who behaves in an unusual way. He goes out to fetch his workers several times every three hours, but also one hour before the end of the day. What is the point of this?
That owner of the vineyard, who is God, does not exercise justice in the foreseeable way, paying each one according to the time he has worked. Because for him "It is right that everyone should have the necessities of life. He has personally called the workers, he knows their dignity and, according to it, he wants to pay them. And he gives everyone a denarius". He wants to give everyone his Kingdom, that is, full, eternal and happy life.
Like the first-hour workers, who feel disappointed, we too might ask: "Why start working right away? If the pay is the same, why work more?".
To this question Pope Leo XIV replies: "I would like to say, especially to young people, not to wait, but to respond with enthusiasm to the Lord who calls us to work in his vineyard. Do not put it off, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and will not disappoint you! By working in his vineyard, you will find an answer to that profound question you carry within you: what is the meaning of my life?
Ecclesial movements and their charisms
On the occasion of the Jubilee of movements, associations and new ecclesial communities, the Pope addressed them on three occasions.
The first time was in a speech to the moderators on June 6. He first emphasized that the life of associations is at the service of the Church's mission. In this regard, he evoked the conciliar decree on the apostolate of the laity, which stresses the importance of the associated apostolate in order to bear greater fruit.
He pointed out that the charisms are gifts of the Holy Spirit that represent, together with the hierarchical dimension, "an essential dimension of the Church" (cfr. "Lumen gentium", 4; Letter "Iuvenescit Ecclesia" of 2016, n. 15).
In a second part of his speech, Pope Leo insisted on unity and mission as two priorities of the Petrine ministry. This ministry must be a leaven of unity. And the charisms of the movements are meant to serve the unity of the Church as a "leaven of unity, communion and fraternity". As for the mission, it is an aspect, he pointed out, that "has marked my pastoral experience and shaped my spiritual life".
Today the movements, he said, have a fundamental role to play in evangelization. "It is a patrimony that must bear fruit, remaining attentive to the current reality with its new challenges. Put your talents at the service of the mission, whether in places of first evangelization or in parishes and local ecclesial structures, to reach so many who are far away and who, sometimes without knowing it, are waiting for the Word of life".
The charisms, he concluded, are centered on Jesus, are a function of the encounter with Christ, of the human and spiritual maturation of persons and the edification of the Church and its mission in the world.
Unity and synodality
The following day, June 7, the Pope presided over the Pentecost Vigil with the movements, associations and new communities. Through Baptism and Confirmation, he noted, we have been anointed with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of unity, to be united to the transforming mission of Jesus.
Secondly, he emphasized that we are a People that walks driven by the Holy Spirit: "Synodality reminds us of the way -odós- because where the Spirit is, there is movement, there is a way" And "the year of grace of the Lord, of which the Jubilee is an expression, has in itself this ferment".
And the successor of Peter adds, linking the charisms of the movements with synodality and care for the common home: "God created the world so that we could be together. Synodality' is the ecclesial name for this awareness. It is the path that asks each one to recognize his own debt and his own treasure, feeling that he is part of a totality, outside of which everything withers, even the most original of charisms. Look: all of creation exists only in the modality of existing together, sometimes dangerously, but always together".
From there he exhorted those present in two directions. First, to unity and participation, fraternity and contemplative spirit, with the impulse of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, "to be linked to each of the particular Churches and parish communities where they nourish and spend their charisms. Close to their bishops and in synergy with all the other members of the Body of Christ, we will then act in harmonious harmony. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future less dark, discernment less difficult, if together we obey the Spirit".
The Holy Spirit opens frontiers
Finally, on Sunday, June 8, Mass was celebrated on the Solemnity of Pentecost, also with the presence and participation of the movements.
As at Pentecost, the Spirit opens the frontiers, first of all, within us. "The Holy Spirit comes to challenge, within us, the risk of a life that atrophies, absorbed by individualism".
Secondly, the Holy Spirit opens the frontiers also in our relationships with others. "When the love of God dwells in us, we are able to open ourselves to our brothers and sisters, to overcome our rigidities, to overcome our fear of those who are different, to educate the passions that rise up within us". It overcomes misunderstandings, prejudices, instrumentalization and violence. It matures authentic and healthy relationships, and opens us to the joy of fraternity. This is a condition of life in the Church: dialogue and mutual acceptance, integrating our differences, so that the Church may be a welcoming and hospitable space for all.
Thirdly, the Holy Spirit opens the frontiers also between peoples, sets us all on a journey together, breaks down the walls of indifference and hatred, and teaches us and reminds us of the meaning of the commandment of love.
"Where there is love there is no room for prejudice, for the distances of security that distance us from our neighbor, for the logic of exclusion that we see emerging unfortunately also in political nationalisms."
But the Pope concludes by directing his gaze and his hope to the Holy Spirit: "Through Pentecost the Church and the world are renewed!
