At Dusk, in a Deserted Place

Andrea Monda

In the Gospel passage of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, read during Holy Mass on Sunday, 22 June, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Luke speaks of a specific time and place: a day that “began to wear away” and a “lonely place” (Luke 9:11).

Listening to the news, that description from the Gospel seems to be referring to the current international situation. The whole world is in its twilight, walking in near darkness along the edge of an abyss that seems ever closer and more terrible, and the new scene that appears is not one of cities and gardens, which are ever more devastated, but that of a deserted place, where a single thing dominates, unopposed: death.

In an attempt to relativize this argument, it could be said that such reflections arise from all generations when they draw close to their conclusion. However, as many observers have noted for the past 80 years, in light of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and more recently, in light of dramatic climate changes, never before has mankind reached such levels of military power and environmental pollution, so much so that the fate of the entire planet is in its fragile hands. The shadow of dusk stands out. It is also the shadow of the desert with its sinister light of death, whose stench already permeates many parts of the world.

This is an “hour of trial”, Pope Leo XIV affirmed in his homily on Sunday, 22 June, and he continued with heavy words: “In that deserted place, where the crowds were listening to the Master, evening fell and there was nothing to eat (cf. v. 12). The hunger of the people and the setting of the sun speak to us of a limit that looms over the world and every creature: the day ends, as does the life of every human being”. However, in this unsettling scenario, Pope Leo notes, something new and unexpected happens: “At that hour of need and of gathering shadows, Jesus remains present in our midst. Precisely when the day is ending and hunger sets in, as the Apostles themselves ask him to dismiss the crowds, Christ surprises us with his mercy”. The God of the Bible and the Gospel is the God who is among us and the God of surprises, as Pope Francis used to say. This hour is therefore not only that of trial but, as Pope Leo XIV exclaimed on 18 May during Holy Mass for the inauguration of his Petrine Ministry, “this is the hour for love!”. All men and women must choose between these two “hours”.