Don Divo Barsotti (1914 - 2006) /

Do you know one of the fundamental texts concerning faith on the New Testament on the Gospel of Mark? Jesus always scolds the disciples, because they have no faith; it is his only scolding of them. He does not scold them even when they discuss among each other or because they are ambitious;, he tells them to be free from these defects, but it is not a real scolding. He cannot wait more from so rough souls as the ones that He called to follow Him. But He scolds them because they have no faith. During His public life the constant reprimand and the continuous scolding that He makes to the disciples is that they have no faith in Him. And also when He is risen, He scolds them about that: they had doubts [cf. Mark 16: 14]; he wants faith from them and wants faith from those, who will listen to the message, because they will have to take the Salvation’s message to all the nations and, Jesus says (here He is not talking of the Israel nation to be saved, He is talking about all who will listen): “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” [cf. Mark 16: 16]. Who? Everyone. It is not the message of a Saviour God, who saves all the men in general, but it is the message of a Saviour God who loved you and who wants you to be saved, and you have to answer to this love with an equally free and full love.