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Question

 Jesus Christ be praised Father Angelo

In today’s Gospel there is a passage that I don’t understand

Could you please explain it to me?

Here it is

… for those who are outside, however, everything happens in parables, so that they look, yes, but they do not see, they hear, yes, but they do not understand, so that they do not convert and are not forgiven ..

Thanks with a prayer

Good evening

Gabriella

Response from the priest

Dear Gabriella,

1. This way of speaking of the Lord may seem very strange, especially in the final statement in which He says that he speaks in parables so that some do not understand, so that they do not convert and be forgiven.

Strange, especially since the Lord spoke in parables precisely to make himself understood so that everyone may understand, so that they would convert and be forgiven.

2. Well, it should be remembered that parables are speeches that draw images from people’s lives, unlike fables which are imaginative constructions.

3. The Lord speaks in parables for everyone, both for those who are willing to listen and to  convert, as well as for those who do not intend to convert.

And he does it anyway for a reason of mercy.

4. In the first case, the Lord speaks in parables to raise the minds of the disciples to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God: “When they were alone, those who were around him together with the Twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them: “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you” (Mk 4: 10-11).

5. For others, on the other hand, who because of their grave attachment to the things of this world were blinded by the obsession of a Messiah of a merely political nature and who would have refused the announcement of the conversion necessary to enter the Kingdom of heaven, the Lord speaks in parables because, if they had understood, they would not have converted with the consequence that the punishment for them would be more serious.

This is the interpretation of Theophilacus, a ninth-century author to whom St. Thomas Aquinas gives credit by reporting these words of his in the Golden Chain: “God in fact gives sight and understanding to those who ask, while he blinds others, so that do not end up deserving a greater punishment by intending and not wanting to do what they have to ”.

I wish you well, I remind you to the Lord and I bless you.

Father Angelo