March 27, 2026
V Friday of Lent
Fr. Alberto Gesu
The Lord give you peace.
I am Fr. Alberto Gesu and I currently live at the Terra Santa College in Jerusalem.
We are at the fifth Friday of Lent, now very close to Holy Week. And you can feel it, the atmosphere of the Gospel becomes more and more tense, almost heavy. To understand it better, we need to connect it to yesterday. Jesus had said very strong words, "Before Abraham was, I Am". And the reaction of some of the Jews was immediate and violent, they picked up stones to stone him. And today’s Gospel, in a certain sense, starts right from there, "The Jews again picked up stones to stone Jesus…".
On one side, then, we see them, once again stones in their hands, once again rejection. It is no longer a momentary reaction. It is a decision that has become firm. The heart has closed. And when the heart closes, even evidence is no longer enough.
On the other side, however, there is Jesus. And this is the beautiful and strong contrast of the Gospel, while rejection grows, Jesus does not change his attitude. He remains there, calmly, and says, look at the works. He does not ask for blind faith, but invites them to look at what he does. And he also tries to explain, with two paths, that of Scripture and that of the works he accomplishes in the name of the Father. But it is of no use. The dialogue does not move forward.
When someone closes himself, it is no longer a matter of proof or logic, it is the heart that does not want to open. And then something very human happens, Jesus withdraws. Already yesterday the Gospel said that "he hid himself and went out of the temple", today again Jesus escapes from their hands. It is not a flight out of fear, but because he knows that there are moments when one cannot force anyone’s heart. And where does he go? He returns "to the place where John had first been baptizing".
He returns to the beginning. He returns to what is essential. He returns to that voice that said, convert, prepare your heart, begin again. And here the Gospel changes tone. Far from controversies, far from tension, something simple happens, "Many believed in him". Not because they saw extraordinary things, but because the heart was freer, more open. It is very beautiful. Where there is less noise, where the heart is freer, faith is reborn.
And so, on this fifth Friday of Lent, the message for us is very concrete, when you feel fatigue, when inside you notice that something has hardened, return to the beginning. Return to that inner place where you began to believe. Return to that simple word that had touched you. Return to that desire for conversion that perhaps over time has faded a little. Lent is meant precisely for this, to soften the heart a little, to bring us back to what is essential, so as not to arrive at Easter hardened, but open.
So today, take a few minutes of silence, try to ask yourself sincerely, where have I become a little hardened toward God, toward someone, toward myself. And then, without complicating things too much, make a simple gesture contrary to that closure, a brief prayer, a kind word, an act of trust. These are small things. But this is how one begins again.
Let us remember that sometimes faith starts again precisely like this, not from great speeches, but from a sincere return.
Peace to you from the Holy Land.
