The Intersection: The theological place as a point of breakthrough

 

 

Paolo Cugini

Traditional theology often aspires to universality, starting from abstract metaphysical or dogmatic presuppositions. On the contrary, theology from the margins insists on contextuality. Intersection occurs when the periphery questions the center about its presumed neutrality. As Gustavo Gutiérrez states in his founding text: “Theology as a critical reflection on historical praxis in the light of faith does not replace the other functions of theology... but places them in a new perspective”. . The intersection lies in the fact that both theologies use the same sources, Scripture and Tradition, but theology from the margins changes the hermeneutic perspective. If tradition reads the text to preserve orthodoxy, the margin reads it to seek the presence of the Mystery in history, in daily experiences, especially those marked by exclusion and marginality.

Intersection is not just an encounter, it is a collision that reveals how the center is actually a margin of success that has established itself as the norm. It is not just a shift in geography, from the pulpit to the street, but in method. Theology from the margins does not simply add new themes such as poverty, gender, and ethnicity, but challenges the center's claim to objectivity. While classical theology perceives itself as an often aseptic and universal view from above, intersectional theology claims a view from below. The theological place becomes a breaking point because it transforms pain and exclusion from objects of charity into subjects of revelation. If for the center, Tradition is a repository to be safeguarded, for the margins, it is a fire to be stoked. Intersection occurs in the body: the sources are not only books, but the very flesh of history. To give just one example: reading Exodus from the center means celebrating a past liberation; reading it from the margins means identifying today's pharaohs and demanding a present liberation. The intersection, therefore, reveals that no theology is neutral; in fact, what calls itself universal often reflects only the dominant culture, that is, Western, male, and affluent. The periphery, by questioning the center, forces it to look in the mirror and recognize its own contextual limitations. Traditional theology, therefore, is like a solid wall; while the experience of the margin is the crack through which, according to the intuition of many liberation theologians, the light of Grace passes more purely, unfiltered by power.

 

Mythical thinking is still within us

 

 

Paolo Cugini

Although many centuries have passed since the Greeks developed a philosophical thought based on reason and sustained by logos, it is possible to affirm that we still have a mythical approach to reality. It seems like an absurd statement, but it is not so absurd.

But what exactly is mythical thought? We think mythically whenever we resort to a narrative that abandons reasoning to rely on a sacred type of discourse foundation.

It is also important to point out that in the ancient mindset, myth is not identified with something false. The philosopher of religion Mircea Eliade reflected extensively on the mythical structure of ancient thought and arrived at conclusions worth highlighting. Unlike the modern view of "myth" as something false, Eliade argues that, for the people of traditional (or "archaic") societies, myth is absolutely true and sacred. In the origin narrative, myth always refers to a "creation," recounting how something, whether the entire cosmos or just a human behavior, came into existence. For Eliade, knowing the origin myth of an object or animal grants the individual a kind of dominion over it, allowing its ritual manipulation.

One of Eliade's most famous concepts is that of Eternal Return, which describes the religious man's desire to return to the time of origins. Through rites, man not only "remembers" the myth, but re-actualizes it, becoming contemporary with the gods or heroes in "primordial time." By living the myth, the individual leaves linear (profane) time and enters circular (sacred) time, recovering the fullness of being. Eliade uses the term hierophany to describe the act of manifestation of the sacred in the profane world. For Eliade, the sacred is the "reality par excellence," saturated with being and power. Even in desacralized and modern societies, Eliade notes that myth survives in a camouflaged form in behaviors such as cinema, literature, and certain political ideologies, which offer temporary escapes from linear history. If at the time of the birth of philosophy mythical thought had a heuristic basis, today we can clearly say that resorting to myth is a form of mental laziness, which manifests a lack of knowledge of reality.

For Paul Ricoeur, myth is not a false scientific explanation, but a symbolic narrative that reveals profound truths about the human condition, especially about fallibility and the origin of evil. He argues that philosophy must take a detour through the hermeneutics (interpretation) of myths to understand what pure, abstract reflection cannot grasp on its own. 

Ricoeur defines myth as a "symbol developed in narrative form." While a symbol is a unit of double meaning (a literal meaning that points to a latent meaning), myth sets these symbols in motion through a story. By losing its claim to physically explain the world, myth gains a function of exploring human reality, manifesting what Ricoeur calls the "language of confession" (experiences of guilt, stain, and sin). The philosopher argues that we do not have direct access to the "self" or to being; we need the mediation of cultural works, such as myths, to understand ourselves.

Taking into account the reflections of Eliade and Ricoeur, we can affirm that mythical thought still lingers in culture, not only in the West. Furthermore, the thought that develops in Christianity is not mythical, but philosophical. It is not a coincidence that the Church Fathers of the first centuries, in trying to resolve the problems that the identity of Jesus brought to the daily reflection of the first communities, used many concepts from Greek philosophy. Following Jesus demands a rational, logical choice, more than a mythical one. It is not a coincidence that the first community of John identifies Jesus not with myth, but with the logos. “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1).

Jesus gave a definitive rational answer to our human questions. Despite this, even today, most Catholics enter the religious sphere not driven by reason, but by feeling; not through rational and philosophical reflection, but through mythical thought—not in the sense that Eliade and Ricoeur pointed out, but as an irrational approach, bringing unsustainable arguments into the debate. When mythical thought identifies with our irrational side, religion becomes a space of intolerance, because one no longer adheres to the divine through a path that involves the totality of the person, but adheres to a religious form, identifying with it and defending it tooth and nail, not participating with love and tenderness. When religion becomes a space of intolerance,  of opposition to science, God disappears from the map, and elements that only psychiatry can resolve come into play.

I WAS HUNGRY

 

Paolo Cugini

 

I was hungry and you gave me food (Mt 25 35).

Listen, O people, for the time of the superfluous has come to an end and the hour of the essential knocks at the gates of history. Let us seek no further, let us not accumulate rivers of words or treatises that weigh like stones on our consciences. It is all here, and nothing will be added that is not already written in the beating of the human heart.

The days will come, and these are already here, when the great cathedrals of thought will crumble to pieces before a single fragment of humanity. The Gospel is not a doctrine to be learned, but a path of exodus. It is the forced exit from the desert of selfishness, the mastery of that instinct that whispers to us to survive alone, enclosed within the confines of our petty problems, blind to everything else.

The Mystery of Mysteries is not hidden in impenetrable heavens, but is contained in a gesture that shakes the foundations of the world: feeding the hungry. Let us look to the Son of Man: He did not reveal His divinity in the brilliance of lightning, but in the dust of the ground, washing the feet, embracing the wounded flesh of the leper, becoming a caress for the sick. This is the prophecy we must embody: the path of humanization is the only true path to divinization. There is no God without man, without woman; there is no divine light that does not pass through our bowed hands.

Here is the great revelation that the world does not want to hear: In every hungry person who meets our gaze, in every persecuted person who knocks on our door, in the refugee who has no country and in the stranger who has no face, the Mystery dwells. Jesus cried out to the centuries: "I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was naked." Every time we bend down to the outcasts of the earth, we will not only touch human flesh, but we will encounter the Mystery. And that encounter will leave a mark that no forgetfulness can erase.

Let us abandon theologies of detachment. Let us embrace the only doctrine that saves: the experience of the Mystery occurs in welcoming the stranger. May our worship be truth, not smoke; may our liturgies be a listening ear that opens the heart. Because the truth of what we celebrate on the altar will only be seen in the way we walk alongside the least.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear: the light of the Mystery dwells within us, but it will shine only when we become bread for the hungry.

 

STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND?

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

And he said to them, Do you still not understand? (Mk 8:21).

It must not have been easy for the first disciples, both men and women, to follow that man from Nazareth. We often imagine their "yes" as a linear path, but the reality was one of enormous psychological and spiritual toil. They followed Jesus, they had abandoned their safety nets, yet the gap between the Master's proposal and their own experience was abysmal. It wasn't just a matter of intellectual understanding; it was a matter of dismantling an entire symbolic universe constructed over centuries of history.

The legacy of a rigid cultic paradigm weighed heavily on the minds of Jesus' contemporaries. Faith was understood as a system of sacrifices, prescriptions, and duties. At its center sat the image of a demanding God, a sovereign who did not forgive transgressors and threatened eternal punishment. In this context, religion had become an instrument of social control. Religious leaders had built a wall between the sacred (relegated to the temple) and the profane (the daily life of the people). This deformed God was, in effect, an antagonist to man, an entity who served to justify the power logic of the temple lords. The risk of reducing God to a harsh judge is a constant temptation in the history of religions.

Jesus bursts into this landscape with subversive force. He defines the Pharisees' understanding of religion as bad leaven, a negative ferment capable of contaminating the entire mass. His response is not a new law, but a revelation: God is Father and infinite mercy. While the temple imposed precepts, Jesus opened paths of liberation. With Him, the separation between sacred and profane collapses definitively. In Christ, the sacred enters time and the flesh: everything is sanctified and nothing must be sacrificed. It is the victory of life over death and of love over hate.

Why did the disciples struggle to understand? The answer lies in what we might call a colonization of the imagination. For too long, they had assimilated the poison of religious leaders, mistaking human traditions for the Word of God. Exposing this mystification was Jesus's most courageous act, but it also sparked the hatred of the established powers. A God who forgives everything and everyone is not suitable for those who seek to subjugate the people through fear.

Mercy is not cheap do-goodism, but the strength that destroys the logic of power.

Entering the Gospel journey today means accepting the same suffering as the disciples: the effort to shed the old religion of fear and bargaining with the divine. The transition is radical: from the God-Tyrant to the God-Love. Only by accepting this stripping can we be clothed in the light of the Mystery of Mercy, transforming faith from a list of obligations to an experience of authentic freedom.

 

AGAINST THE SACRED SCAMMERS

 

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

Thus you make the word of God of no effect by your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do (Mk 7:13).

It is one of the most striking verses in the Gospel for its clarity and lucidity. It is a verse that contains a very important revelation, because it shows what has happened over time: the replacement of the Word of God with human traditions. This is the drama. Without a doubt, those who lived in search of an authentic meaning to life could not help but realize that something was wrong with Israel's religious system. The relationship with God, instead of being free and lived in an atmosphere of freedom, was conditioned by money and an unbearable network of precepts. How can one exploit the dimension of life, which has to do with personal and communal sensitivity, as well as the delicate thread that binds us to the Mystery? Yet, what was impossible even to imagine happened. This was Jesus' great discovery, which, once publicly manifested, caused his death. It is a great temptation for all those in religious power: to manipulate the sacred, by manipulating consciences. After all, it's easy to manipulate a conscience when it's in a delicate moment of life and, therefore, turns to God and his mediators. One must be truly rotten not to respect the soul of a desperate person, or one experiencing great anguish. One must have one's conscience completely shrouded in evil, to act like jackals, ready to pounce on those who are clearly in a state of weakness, incapable of defending themselves and, therefore, easily preyed upon by unscrupulous people. That all this can happen in a religious context is utterly despicable, because personal conscience is at stake. Exploiting a person who comes asking for help, who feels the full weight of their own fragility and therefore pleads for mercy, and instead receives orders, rules, and the imposition of money, is truly unforgivable. This is why Jesus uses harsh words, leaving no room for misunderstanding. Jesus knows full well the price he will have to pay for these accusations, but he also knows that his example will serve to free religion from those who defraud the sacred.  

Unfortunately, as we know, history has repeated itself, even in more serious forms than those identified by Jesus. There is no end to human misery. The religious sphere, precisely because it deals with the Mystery of God, lends itself, for those who reach the highest echelons of religious power and are people without any sense of shame, to the greatest forms of exploitation of consciences. This is the paradox: the most sacred space of the human person, namely, its religious dimension, becomes, at the same time, the most vulnerable place for every form of manipulation. How many psychological, sexual, and power abuses have occurred and continue to occur in the sacred spaces of our churches? How many exploited, massacred, and humiliated people, who, after opening their souls to the unscrupulous mediator of the sacred on duty, have felt abused? In these situations, it seems there is no remedy for evil. Instead, the hope that dwells in our Gospel-filled hearts shows us the great love manifested in the cross of Jesus, a love that conquered hatred. A hope that transcends all negative sensory perceptions. 

 

BEYOND THE BLOOD

 

Paolo Cugini

 

Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother (Mk 3:35).

Truly I say to you: do not make one flesh and one name your eternal idol. The walls of your father's house are not the boundaries of the world, nor is the blood that flows in your veins a chain that binds the spirit to immobility. Hear the voice crying out in the wilderness of the present: family relationships are not absolute.

The time will come, and this is it, when you will have to invest only in what generates life here and now. Don't be fooled by the myth of lineage: blood ties are not a destiny written in the stars. They become sacred only when cultivated in the garden of care and meaning, but what has remained barren, what has become a prison, can and must be let go. Without guilt, without looking back.

Whoever walks in search of the Mystery must wear the sandals of freedom. You cannot scale the summit of the Infinite if you are weighed down by obligations that no longer have a soul. At a certain point on the journey, the prophet within you will demand the courage to step out: abandon the hearth that no longer warms, break the seals of bonds that were necessary for your birth, but now prevent you from becoming.

Here is the new alliance: a brotherhood born not from the womb, but from the direction of your steps. You will meet brothers and sisters along the way, not because you share the same last name, but because you gaze at the same Horizon. They will be traveling companions for a season or a moment; relationships as intense as flames that will then, gently, fade away so that the journey can continue.

Don't necessarily seek truth on the path home. The Light of Mystery does not dwell in the past, but guides your steps toward the unknown. It demands radical freedom, for only those who are truly free can discern the direction.

Go, then: let the dead bury the dead, and follow the luminous trail that calls. For your true family is made up of those who, like you, have had the courage to lose themselves in order to find themselves in the Whole.

Yes, listen: the day has come when the Spirit blows where it wills, and those who have ears to hear must drop their old armor. Do not be afraid of being wayfarers without a homeland, because the Kingdom is not reserved for those who stay, but for those who dare to leave. The promised land is not found by grasping one's roots, but by spreading the wings of the heart over unknown depths.

Don't be like those who, out of fear of loneliness, build ever thicker walls around bonds that are no longer there. True blessing comes to those who, in the night, have the courage to leave safe harbor to chase a flash of lightning on the horizon. Remember: Abraham too was called to leave his father's house, and only thus did he become the father of multitudes.

Be bold in welcoming brothers and sisters born not from blood, but from the same dream. Be mothers of every gesture that generates life, fathers of every word that opens paths. In this time, when the desert seems to advance and certainties crumble like sand between the fingers, sowers of meaning will recognize their fellow men in the smile of a stranger, in an unexpected embrace, in the compassion that transcends every boundary.

And when you feel alone, remember: those who trust in the Invisible are never abandoned. In the twists and turns of the path, the echo of the Spirit will reach you, and you will understand that no chain is strong enough to restrain those called to freedom. For the true bond that binds is that of shared hope, of burning faith, of love that knows no bounds.

So be bold pilgrims, bearers of a new fire. And when all seems lost, there, beyond the blood, you will discover the family of open hearts, the communion of seekers, the house without walls, where the Mystery awaits those who recognize the voice calling from the future.

 

THEY THROWN THEMSELVES ON HIM

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

He had healed many, so that those who had any ailment pressed upon him to touch him (Mk 3:10).

 

Hear, O earth, the word that resounds from ancient times. In an age of confusion, a prophet arises to proclaim what is already written deep in our hearts, but which humanity, corrupted by time and selfishness, has tragically forgotten. It is the call to original purity, to the source of that Life that once walked among us.

It was not a harsh judge who walked the dust of our streets, but the Word made flesh: the manifestation of pure goodness. He did not bear laws written in stone, but a body pulsating with the energy of love. He was an inexhaustible source, capable of healing every evil, every deep wound, and every sore of the soul. Before His gaze, every resentment and every lie melted away like snow in the sun; His essence was authentic life, a light that revealed the illusion of human corruption.

All humanity, marked by the Fall and burdened by sin, was drawn to Him as to an inextinguishable beacon. Everyone flocked to this source, seeking that energy of infinite love capable of recharging and renewing, day after day, anyone who had the courage to drink from it.

The Shadow and the Sea: The Unfinished Gift. Today we turn our gaze toward the sea, where the Master retreated in quiet with His disciples. In those moments of silence and contemplation, He poured out His deepest existential and spiritual essence. Yet, history presents us with a bitter paradox: His closest followers failed to fully grasp the immensity of that gift. What has come down to us through institutions is often only a shadow, a faded reflection of His true spiritual stature.

The Alabaster Vase: Mary Magdalene But in this landscape of oblivion, there is no room for despair. There exists an "alabaster vase" that has preserved intact the essence of the Master. It is in the style, the exquisite sensitivity, and the profound love of Mary Magdalene that we find the most faithful reflection of Him who was Love.

She, the beloved disciple, did not stop at the surface of doctrine, but understood the mystery of redeeming love. In Mary Magdalene, that one way, that one truth, and that one life that the world desperately seeks, lives again. Listening to her testimony, rediscovering her sensitivity, means returning to the beating heart of the Gospel. In her, the Master's energy is not a memory of the past, but a living presence that still calls humanity to reawaken today.

 

 

GET UP AND COME TO THE CENTER

 

Paolo Cugini

 

 

He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come here to the center!” (Mk 3:2).

Hear, O people, the word that resounds in the desert of the ages: in a century where the powerful raise walls and human hearts have turned to stone, expelling the weak and trampling the small, arises He who overturns the thrones of the world. Behold, Emmanuel walks through the darkness of exclusion and, with a sovereign gesture, calls to himself those whom history has rejected as outcast.

"Come to the center!" cries the Spirit. And the forgotten, the outcast, those torn apart by the injustices of the centuries will no longer be on the margins, but will become the cornerstone of the New Temple. This is the fulfilled prophecy: the community that bears the Name of the Risen One will be recognized by this sign alone: ​​if in its fold the last have become the first, if the cry of the poor has become the song of the assembly. But know, O children of light, that this sacred space is not a gift of the flesh, but the fruit of a fire that must burn deep within: the conversion of the heart. Only those who accept dying to themselves will see the birth of a community that is a living body and not a cold institution.

Listen to the voice crying out in the sanctuary of History, for a great mystery is revealed to you: turn your gaze to the Scriptures and observe the footsteps of the Risen One. In every Easter theophany, when the doors are closed in fear and the hearts of the apostles are gripped by mourning, He does not come from the sides, He does not occupy a corner, He does not blend into the crowd. He appears at the Center. It is written and it is fulfilled: Christ, who has conquered death, stands as the axis of the world, the beating heart of the assembly, the pivot around which every redeemed life revolves. But understand, O seeker of the Mystery, the weight of this position: that Center is not a throne of human glory, but the space that the world had declared empty. Here is the prophecy that shakes the foundations of your temples: He who was rejected by the builders, He who was expelled outside the city walls as a curse, He who is the Outcast par excellence, now claims the Central Place. Therefore, know this with certainty: every time you, in a gesture of bold conversion, take the outcast, the derelict, the rejected by society and place them in the midst of your community, you are not performing an act of mere philanthropy. You are celebrating Easter! The outcast who occupies the center is the sacramental and mysterious sign of the Risen One among you. It is the wounded flesh of the excluded that reveals the glory of the Living One. Where the world digs abysses of separation, the community of the Kingdom places the altar of welcome; where the world relegates to shadows, the Truth places the lamp. Do not seek the Mystery in the heights of the heavens or in the abstractions of the mind: He has hidden in the face of the voiceless. When the least of the earth sits in the heart of your gathering, then and only then will you be able to cry out:  "The Lord is truly risen!" For His presence is manifested not in the power that dominates, but in the Center occupied by the one who, for the world, was not even meant to exist.

Yet, beware: this lifestyle will be your condemnation before the courts of the earth. You will be a sign of contradiction, a sword dividing the shadow from the light. As the Master was persecuted, so the hatred of the world will fall upon you, for the world does not tolerate those who expose the lies of its idols. He foretold this in the supreme hour of sacrifice:  "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you"  (Jn 15:18-21). The world, which masks itself with peace and cloaks itself in false humility, hides within itself a dragon of radical intolerance. It applauds only those who bow to its logic of power. But you, by placing the poor at the center, hurl the Truth of the Mystery against the pride of the ages, and the world will tremble with rage.

Do not fear, then, if the mire of slander and the iron of persecution mark your history. A community is truly evangelical only when it bears the wounds of its Lord. Remain steadfast under the weight of this hatred, without looking back, without seeking escape into the lures of the world. Your challenge is the perseverance of daily martyrdom, the docility of those who, each morning, incline their ears to listen to the Word, the only rock that does not crumble as the world passes by.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear: the glory of God shines on the face of the outcast, and in that face resides the final judgment of the earth.

 

From the Theology of Mystery to the Mystery of Theology: The Intellect in Adoration

 

Paolo Cugini

 

 

In contemporary culture, the term mystery is often reduced to an enigma or a gap in knowledge waiting to be filled by science. However, in the theological tradition, Mystery is not what we do not know, but what, while knowing itself, remains infinitely beyond our capacity to exhaust. As Gabriel Marcel suggested, the fundamental distinction lies between problem (something that confronts me and that I can solve) and mystery (something in which I am involved and which overwhelms me). The transition from the theology of mystery to the mystery of theology marks the transition from a doctrine that possesses truth to a discipline that allows itself to be possessed by Truth.

Mystery theology experienced a golden age in the 20th century, especially thanks to the school of Maria Laach and figures like Odo Casel. In this context, the mystery is the Mysterium Paschale: the event of Christ making himself present in the liturgical action.

Casel defined mystery as "a sacred action that carries within itself a salvific reality under the veil of sensible signs." Here, theology has the task of describing the economy of salvation. The key author in this field is Karl Rahner, who reaffirmed that God is the Holy Mystery and the ultimate horizon of human existence. For Rahner, man is the hearer of the word, structurally open to an Infinite that he can never tame. The theology of mystery therefore teaches us that dogma is not a cage, but a window onto the Invisible.

While the theology of mystery focuses on the object (God and His works), the Mystery of theology concerns the very status of believing thought. When the theologian realizes that his language is inadequate, theology ceases to be merely a science and becomes a spiritual act. Hans Urs von Balthasar masterfully expressed this tension. For Balthasar, theology must be on its knees . There is no true knowledge of God that is separate from love and adoration. The mystery of theology lies in the fact that human intelligence, when it reaches the highest peaks of speculation, must return to silence. In this transition, theology does not lose its meaning, but transforms it: it becomes dialogue, listening, endless research. This is what the Dionysian tradition calls negative or apophatic theology: God is known more for what He is not than for what He is. The mystery here is not only the content, but the very fact that a finite creature can speak of the Creator without perishing or falling into the idolatry of the concept.

The definitive shift occurs when theology recognizes that its method is not demonstration, but ostension. Jean-Luc Marion, a contemporary philosopher and theologian, speaks of the saturated phenomenon: God is an excess of light that blinds the gaze, not from a lack of clarity, but from too much splendor. From this perspective, theology is no longer an explanation of the world, but a participation in divine life. If the theology of mystery has given us content (Christ, the Trinity, Grace), the mystery of theology restores to us the humility of method. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote at the end of his life, after a mystical vision: "Everything I have written seems like straw compared to what I have seen." This is the point of arrival: theology that denies itself to make room for the Presence.

In conclusion, moving from the theology of mystery to the mystery of theology means understanding that it is not we who scrutinize the Mystery, but rather the Mystery that scrutinizes us through His Word. Theology ceases to be a discourse on Mystery and becomes a discourse of the Mystery in humanity. The task of the theologian in the 21st century, quoting Joseph Ratzinger, remains not to resign oneself to an arid rationalism, but to maintain the capacity for wonder before the Logos made flesh. The mystery of theology is, ultimately, the mystery of a reason that discovers its true greatness only when it recognizes its love by the Unknowable.

 

Bibliographic References

Odo Casel, The Mystery of Christian Worship.

Karl Rahner, Hearers of the Word.

Hans Urs von Balthasar, Verbum Caro.

Jean-Luc Marion, Given That. An Essay Toward a Phenomenology of Donation.

Paolo Cugini: God's name is no longer God.

Joseph Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity.

 

BORN TO LIVE IN GOODNESS

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

 

Jesus sternly ordered him, “Be silent! Come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him (Mk 1:24).

There is an ancient truth that spans time and insinuates itself like an echo into the labyrinths of the human soul: Mystery is pure goodness, an inexhaustible source from which everything flows and to which everything returns. Since the dawn of reflection, philosophers and spiritual masters, from Plato to Plotinus, have recognized in the One, in the unspeakable, the principle of all Goodness. And so, if we listen to the deepest pulse of history, we realize that all humanity is driven by a nostalgia for our origins, by a call to unity, because we come from the Good and we reach for it like a river seeks the sea.

But Mystery doesn't offer itself as an obvious answer, but rather as a path: it whispers and shakes, inviting us on an inner pilgrimage where, step by step, our essence is purified. Whenever evil weighs us down and negativity clouds our minds, Mystery reminds us that the light of Good lies waiting, like a seed beneath the snow. In confrontation, in struggle, we learn to rediscover the treasure hidden within ourselves.

Here is the prophecy engraved in the depths of our being: the closer we draw to the Mystery, the more capable we become of giving Good. We are not called to isolation, but rather to openness, to that communion that transforms our narrow horizon into a universal embrace. Living well, then, means living for others, embracing the world in all its complexity, and choosing, each day, to make it grow in the direction of Good. 

Listen, then, O children of the inner shadow! Here come, like silent storms, negative thoughts: black vultures that descend on the mind and submerge it when we let it wander, free and defenseless, in the labyrinths of doubt. But I say to you: awaken! Rediscover the goodness buried in your heart, that immortal seed planted by the Mystery. It is life! It is the river that flows pure, that teaches the art of living well, that opens the right path to others, to the sister, the brother beside you, in the warmth of everyday life.

Woe to you who give in to evil! It rises like a wall of thorns: voracious selfishness that devours the soul, hermetic self-absorption, blind disregard for the fate of others, for the groaning of a wounded world. Evil is death pretending to be a refuge; it is solitude armed against the winds of communion.

The path toward Mystery is therefore the supreme mission: to free ourselves from the chains of selfishness, to see in others the reflection of our luminous origin, to work so that life itself becomes a shared blessing. Mystery, the source of all Good, invites us to be light, so that the entire world may shine with its original beauty.

 

Statement by the John XXIII Association of Theologians against Trump's military intervention in Venezuela

 

 

 

January 6, 2026

 

0. The Juan XXIII Association of Theologians wishes to express its indignation and firmest condemnation of the imperialist military aggression of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, against the Government and people of Venezuela.

1. The military aggression constitutes a grave violation of international law, Venezuela's national sovereignty, human rights, world peace, and the fundamental principles of political ethics and harmonious relations among nations. It has led to the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, as well as the murder of dozens of people, the wounding of others, attacks on various infrastructures, and the destabilization of the region.

2. The aim of the military intervention was not to defend democracy, but rather to seize the Venezuelan oil market, one of the richest in the world, as Trump brazenly stated in the speech in which he tried to justify the coup and demanded of the new president.

3. We consider unacceptable Trump's threat to apply his imperialist policies to other Latin American countries such as Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico, following the Monroe Doctrine, continuing the long history of coups d'état that the United States has practiced around the world and undermining peace throughout Latin America.

4. We denounce Trump's imperialist and colonial policies, which constitute a denial of the sovereignty of peoples, a rejection of multilateralism in international relations, interference in the problems of other countries, and the use of violence for the purposes of domination.  

5. We recognize that Venezuela is experiencing a profoundly critical political, economic, and social situation, characterized by a lack of respect for human rights and a lack of transparency in recent elections. These problems must be resolved by Venezuelans themselves, but under no circumstances through military aggression by the Empire, as has happened.

6. We ask :

-                 Trump's respect for international law.

-                 The withdrawal of the United States from Venezuelan territory. 

-                 The immediate release of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

-                 The restoration of the Venezuelan government.

-                 The immediate calling of free elections  

-                 The return of sovereignty to the Venezuelan people.  

-                 Commitment to multilateralism in international relations against imperialism.

-                 The renunciation of the United States from its imperialist and colonialist policies.

-                 The defense of democracy against autocracy.

7. The condemnations and alternative proposals above are inspired by the denunciations and proposals of Jesus of Nazareth: "You know that those who are feared as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all" (Gospel of Mark 10:42-45).  

8. Faced with the use of violence as a means of domination over peoples, we propose paths of peace and justice, drawing inspiration from the biblical texts that guide us. Psalm 85:11 states: "Love and truth meet, peace and justice kiss" (Psalm 85:11). The prophet Isaiah presents "peace as the fruit of justice" (Isaiah 32:17). Jesus of Nazareth declares: "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Gospel of Matthew 5:9) and leaves his followers the following message, which can be extended to all men and women of good will, so that they may put it into practice: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you" (Gospel of John 14:27). 

9. These proposals are in line with those of individuals and groups committed to seeking paths to peace and justice in conflict resolution. With his imperialist and coup-plotting practices, Trump, who verbally claims to be Christian, demonstrates how far he is from the prophetic and Jesuit ideal of peace and justice. Therefore, we denounce and condemn his military aggression against Venezuela, as well as other oppressive actions against vulnerable people, impoverished communities, and oppressed peoples whose rights he tramples.

10. From the perspective of political ethics and Christian faith, we cannot remain silent in the face of such a blatant violation of international law, which affects all humanity. Therefore, we have decided to make this statement public.

 

THE MYSTERY: ORIGIN OF EVERYTHING

 

Paolo Cugini

 

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:1).  

There are questions that give no respite to the human soul, anxieties that pass through generations like the wind shaking the branches: "Where do we come from? What is the meaning of our existence?" These questions are only apparently simple, because they harbor within them the nostalgia for a lost origin, the profound desire to return home. Every man, at least once, finds himself gazing beyond the boundaries of the visible, perceiving that life itself is an open question, an invitation to dare beyond the horizon of the already known.

Mystery, that elusive presence that sustains all, reveals itself as the universal source from which every being draws life. We live immersed in its fabric, like fish in the ocean, often unaware of the vastness that surrounds us. The entire cosmos, with its harmony and complexity, speaks to us of a profound and intimate relationship between the creature and its origin, between the breath of the universe and that of our soul. Mystery is not a riddle to be solved, but an embrace to be enfolded in; it is the silent root that fuels our thirst for meaning.

To be aware of coming from the Mystery means recognizing our origin as a gift and an event. Yet, in contemporary society, a kind of widespread ignorance is rampant: we live as if everything were the result of chance or our own effort. We forget that existence flows from a deeper source, which precedes and accompanies us. Only those who allow themselves to be questioned by the Mystery can discover their true identity and not settle for the masks the world offers.

Here comes the noble task of educators: guiding young lives to encounter the Mystery that inhabits them. Educating does not mean filling empty vessels, but reawakening in others the question of what truly matters. Only those who have experienced their own origins can accompany others to the height of this discovery. The educator is therefore a witness to the Mystery, a wayfarer who invites young people to set out on the journey, to be guided by the discreet yet powerful light that rises on the horizon of being.

In living contact with the Mystery, selfishness dissolves like mist in the sun. The call to communion and the desire for collaboration emerge: the awareness that the self finds fulfillment only in encountering the other. The Mystery, in fact, does not isolate, but unites; it does not close, but opens to mutual giving. It is in the rediscovery of unity with all that exists that man heals the wounds of individualism and responds to his deepest calling.

This is the task that awaits us: to return to our origins, to allow ourselves to be shaped by the Mystery, to reawaken within ourselves and others the vocation to communion and collaboration. Only in this way, like seeds taking root in fertile soil, will we be able to blossom into a new humanity, capable of forging authentic relationships and safeguarding the Mystery that precedes and awaits us.

 

LOVE IS THE ESSENCE OF MYSTERY

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

 

Let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).

What is Mystery made of, what is its substance, its essence? The essence of Mystery is love. Mystery manifests itself in its fullest potential when it loves. It's beautiful to think that Mystery has shaped and continues to shape everything, every living being. There is, therefore, an essence of love in everything that lives, moves, and acts. This awareness contrasts with the immediate data we have about everyday reality, made up of friction, violence, and war, which seem to deny the essence of Mystery and, consequently, deny Mystery itself.

And yet, like flashes of lightning in the darkness, the truth dawns: it is quantum physics that for decades has taught us that everything is interconnected and that communion is the meaning of history. The need to collaborate in order to live is inscribed in neutrons. Love, in this perspective, reveals the meaning of history, that towards which every living being strives. Every atom, every cell, every heartbeat of the universe tells the same prophecy: nothing is accomplished alone, everything is accomplished in encounter.

All this became visible in the person of Jesus, in his unmistakable lifestyle. Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, reminds us that Jesus solved the problem of war between peoples by attracting hatred to himself and transforming it into love (Eph 2:14). The cross thus becomes the symbol of an infinite and inexhaustible love, capable even of transforming death into life, the desert into a green meadow, and tense relationships into the possibility of working together.

Like a seed that dies to bear fruit, the cross teaches that a new spring can be born from suffering. Looking to the cross, we learn to never tire of loving, even when we encounter situations that humanly seem impossible to heal. The world's ancient logic—an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—is overturned by the logic of love that gives itself to the very end.

This is precisely what the Song of Songs expressed in that beautiful final passage, when it states: love is stronger than hate (Song of Songs 8:6). Let us never cease to love, even when the reality we are encountering seems to invite us to desist. Let us remember the cross of Jesus, who loved his own to the end, even though he knew that among them there were those who would betray and deny him: he died for them too.

At the heart of the Mystery, the rhythm of love beats eternally, more tenacious than death, more intense than pain, more eternal than any war. This is the prophecy that awaits us: love is true destiny, the true substance of all that exists. And those who love, even when all seems lost, become part of the Mystery that saves the world.

 

On the way to the Mystery

 

 

Paolo Cugini

 

 

Philip answered him, Come and see (Jn 1:46).

There is a truth that escapes the distracted eyes of the crowd, a secret that cannot be learned from the pages of books or in the corridors of conventional wisdom. Knowledge of the Mystery does not arise from study, from the pages of books, from the learned, but flourishes in the living, pulsating experience of those who have set out in search of a profound meaning in life. And it is precisely on the sandy paths of this journey that strange encounters occur, with mysterious people, with those who before us have set out in search of the Mystery and have been visited by Him. Because an important truth to share is this: only those who have encountered the Mystery, those who have seen it and carry it within themselves like a torch in the night, can become guides for those who set out on the journey, thirsting for meaning and full truth.

Like pilgrims on the trail of the invisible, young people and adults set out, leaving behind the deceptive certainties of everyday life. They are not mere seekers: they are people who have decided that life is worth living, starting with the discovery of the interiority of our existence, which demands silence, dedication, meditation, and internalization. And, on this new and extraordinary journey, the Mystery itself encounters us, gives itself, reveals itself. Not as a concept, but as an extraordinary, tangible reality that transfigures those who welcome it. If the traveler cannot find the meaning of the path, it is the path that finds meaning in the traveler, whispers the Mystery, inviting those who seek to let themselves be found.

The dynamic of the encounter with Mystery moves against the hustle and bustle of the world, where everything blurs between appearance, superficiality, and adaptation to the multitude. On the contrary, the experience of Mystery demands silence, depth, authenticity: an inner journey that leads to a seeing beyond seeing, to a feeling beyond feeling, where only those who are on the journey truly understand. It is an experience that burns like fire beneath the ashes, and for this very reason it cannot be silenced, but must be shared with those who share the same thirst, those who have embarked on the same journey of inner exploration, to hear the voice of Mystery that whispers within us and invites us to follow it. Silence, then, if we wish to hear this voice!

Thus, every encounter with the Mystery is always personal, unique. The Mystery offers itself, but only to those ready to welcome it, to those who allow themselves to be enveloped by its profound silence, to the pilgrim who has long been on the path of silent search for meaning. Those who have lived this experience know that it cannot be explained, but only communicated to those on the journey. And on this journey, the traveler does not seek the destination, but allows the destination to seek him.