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.