The Ascencion of the Lord (2014)

There were only eleven of them, eleven disciples. Judas had left the group and Matthias had not yet been chosen. So just eleven men went to Galilee following the message Jesus had given to them on Easter Sunday through Mary Magdalen. They were told to meet Jesus on the mountain in Galilee.  What were they thinking when they climbed that mountain? Were they thinking about Moses who climbed Mt. Sinai to receive God’s covenant of the Ten Commandments? Perhaps they were thinking about Elijah who climbed that same mountain, only called Horeb. Elijah was told he would experience the Presence of God and expected the same display of power and awe that Moses experienced. Only for Elijah, God’s power was in the still, quiet voice of the Spirit.  Maybe the disciples were thinking about a mountain they climbed only a few years before, the Mountain of the Beatitudes and the teaching that Jesus gave there, the Sermon on the Mount.  Perhaps they were thinking about the Transfiguration, the mystical appearance of Jesus, Moses and Elijah, also on a mountain.  Certainly, they knew that there would be a special experience of God waiting for them on the mountain in Galilee.

When they got to the top, they found Jesus there. They saw Him, and they worshiped him. They realized that He was the Son of God.  Yet, some of them still were full of doubt.  How could it be possible that this man with whom they walked and ate and talked over the last three years, whose violent death they had fled, how could it be that he could have risen from the dead and be waiting for them on the mountain? Was this a dream? Was it an apparition?  Some of the disciples still doubted. Jesus answered their doubts immediately: All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.  Now, go from here and make disciples of all nations. Baptize them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus himself proclaims the Divine Trinity and empowers the disciples to bestow the life of the Trinity on the Baptized.

    

Teach them to carry out everything I have commanded you, and know that I am with you always, until the end of time. The disciples became apostles. The learners, disciples, were sent, apostles.  How could these eleven transform the world?  They could transform the world through the power they received. They could transform the world through the Presence of the Lord. But Jesus was ascending to the Father. He would no longer be walking with them, teaching them and guiding them as He had been the last three years. Still, He said to them, Know that I am with you, always. They would not be alone.

We are not alone, either; even though we often have feelings of abandonment in life.  We often feel alone. Even the busiest of Moms with a house full of children and an attentive husband feels alone in the world. How can anyone understand her fears, her struggles, her upset? Everyone compliments her, but no one realizes how tired she is. She can talk to her mother, but her mother only says it will pass.  She might as well talk to the wall.

That attentive and dutiful husband likewise feels overwhelmed with his responsibilities to the present and future of his family.  He doesn’t want to burden his wife.  She doesn’t fully understand why his fear of unemployment is so intense. Men have been raised to be the provider for the family.  Most men are devastated when they are unable to provide.  The husband can try talking to his friends, but the conversations men have with each other are very different than those women have with other women. Even the most pious senior who says three rosaries a day feels very alone in the world.  Everyone thinks that he is a man of supreme faith, she a woman like the matriarchs of the Old Testament.  How can they tell others that they are afraid to die? How can they tell them that they are often afraid to think about the past because most of those they knew way back then are no longer alive?

Jesus knows what it is like to be alone.  Jesus, one of us, the one who died deserted by all, felt the loss of his Father’s Presence and cried out, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? He experienced the human feeling of loneliness. Jesus’ answer to loneliness is his Resurrection, Ascension and the sending of the Spirit, Pentecost. Now no one who calls upon Him will ever be alone.  Know that I am with you always until the end of days. So, I don’t think that there are any more reassuring words of Scripture than those.  We are not alone.  Jesus is with us.  In fact the name he is given in this same Gospel is Emmanuel, God with Us.  He never deserts us.  He never leaves us alone.

So go out and get to work! Tell the world about the Messiah! Let us preach through our lives, and when we think we are alone, we need to realize that Jesus is closer to us than ever before. He didn’t ascend into heaven to leave us. He entered into the dimension of the spiritual so we could experience the Power of God within us, the Holy Spirit, and bring His Presence to the World. We will never be alone. Know that I am with you always until the end of time ■

Second Sunday of Lent (A)

This Sunday all three readings follow the same thought that, perhaps, can be expressed in this way: faith is a journey we are all on, a journey of joy, a journey that demands sacrifice, and a journey that leads to glory. Yes: faith is a journey.  That's a strange statement. Perhaps you might say, "I thought faith was the sum total of the things that you believe."  No, faith is much more than that.  Faith is the way that we live reflecting our beliefs. So, faith is a journey.  It is a journey of joy as we grow in the realization that we are happy when we are united to God.  We are given a small portion of the joy that God has for us when we recognize His Presence and His working in our lives. When we live our faith we are happy with ourselves. Faith is a journey of joy as we experience others coming to the Lord, particularly our young, but all others who find Christ[1].

The first reading for today presents the journey of Abram, the patriarch whom God would later name Abraham. Abram was 75 years old when God called him to make a journey of faith. He called him out of Ur[2].  He called Abram to leave his kinfolk, but he promised him that if he makes this sacrifice, he would make of Abram a great nation. Out of faith Abram began the journey. His faith was challenged over and over, culminating in the supreme challenge when he was told to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Abram did not allow his faith to waiver.  Each time he was challenged he took another step of faith in his unseen God. Abrams life is a journey of faith. Abraham is the Father of Faith, the Father of the Chosen people.

Many times people are edified by those who live their faith and, as a result, these people change their own lifestyles so they also can be people of faith.  That is part of the joy of the journey, there are always new people joining us on our walk. But, sadly, sometimes people are intimidated by people of faith. Some do their best to attack us. In Paul's time, that attack was physical.  In our time, that attack is both intellectual and psychological.  So we may hear, "You Catholics are leftovers from a past that reasonable people have rejected."  That is not true. The greatest intellects in history have embraced their Catholic faith such as Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm and Albert, and that is just a few of the “A’s.” Some great minds who were not Catholic, such as John Henry Newman, have sincerely sought out truth and embraced the Catholic faith[3]. We know who we are. We know the happiness we have when we live the life of the Lord.  Satan wages spiritual warfare on us by tempting us to think that we are somehow less than we could be because we refuse to embrace the immoral aspects of society. We would rather choose Christ and be happy than choose immorality and be desperate for love. It is true, though, our journey of faith will always bring hardships from others, but then again we are following the One who leads us to Calvary.

It is in this vein that we can understand the importance of the gospel reading for today, the Transfiguration of the Lord.  Jesus meets with Moses and Elijah.  Moses represented the Law; Elijah, the Prophets.  They were the main figures in Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament.  They met with Jesus to discuss how the Word of God was going to bring God's Word to its fulfillment.  The disciples witness the glory of God. They were ecstatic. They were given a glimpse of their deepest hope, that Jesus was Lord. But then they were told that they need to be quiet about this until after the death of the Lord.  Jesus’ glory cannot be understood apart from His sacrifice.

The concept of only recognizing glory when it is a result of sacrifice is not that extraordinary.  We do this all the time.  No one honors someone who was just lucky, say in purchasing a winning lottery ticket.  But a person is honored when his or her success is the result of hard work. His or her glory is due to his or her sacrifice.  The athlete is honored not just for the event, but for the training and sacrifice that gave her or him the ability to perform. So, faith demands that we make that joyful journey from sacrifice to glory. It demands that we separate ourselves from our own selfish desires in order to give to others.  This is the path to glory for a Christian. And it is a path full of joy.  We Christians are happy because, like the disciples on the mountain of the transfiguration, we have experienced a touch of heaven, the joy of the Lord, the happiness that is to come. Faith is not just something we profess.  Faith is a life that we lead.  It is a life of joy, a life of sacrifice, and a life leading us to the Glory of God ■

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[1] 2nd Sunday of Lent A, March 16, 2014. Readings: Genesis 12:1-4; Responsorial Psalm 33:4-5, 18-19, 20, 22; 2 Timothy 1:8b-10; Matthew 17:1-9.

[2] Possibly in present day Iraq.

[3] Blessed John Henry Newman CO (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890, also referred to as Cardinal Newman, was an important figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century. He was known nationally by the mid-1830s. Originally an evangelical Oxford academic and priest in the Church of England, Newman was a leader in the Oxford Movement. This influential grouping of Anglicans wished to return the Church of England to many Catholic beliefs and forms of worship traditional in the medieval times to restore ritual expression. In 1845 Newman left the Church of England and was received into the Roman Catholic Church where he was eventually granted the rank of cardinal by Pope Leo XIII. Newman's beatification was officially proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI on 19 September 2010 during his visit to the United Kingdom. Newman was also a literary figure of note: his major writings including his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–66), the Grammar of Assent (1870), and the poem The Dream of Gerontius (1865). 

III Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (A)

El evangelio de éste domingo –el tercero del tiempo ordinario- nos presenta al Señor, digamos en movimiento, y al pasar pone en movimiento a otras personas. Pasar es el verbo de la encarnación, de un Dios que no está en su sitio sino que baja y acampa entre nosotros[1] para acompañarnos en nuestros trabajos y fatigas, y frente a éste pasar de Dios no podemos quedarnos como simples espectadores, debemos tomar una decisión y hacer una elección.

Llama la atención que el encuentro del Señor con aquellos hombres –que luego serían sus apóstoles- no sucede en un marco sagrado, como puede ser el del Templo o la sinagoga, sino en un escenario profano: el lago de Galilea. El asunto no es nuevo. Dios llama así. Dios es así. Moisés es llamado mientras pastorea el rebaño de su suegro Jetró[2]. Gedeón está majando trigo en el lagar de su casa cuando se encuentra con Dios[3]. David está pastoreando las ovejas de su padre[4] y  Amós el profeta está en medio del rebaño. En menos palabas: el señor pasa y llama en medio de las ocupaciones ordinarias.

Los discípulos, de quienes habla el evangelio de hoy, están empeñados en colocar las redes. Jesús encuentra al hombre en las cosas ordinarias de la vida. La vocación de los primeros discípulos se puede resumir en dos verbos: vio y dijo. Una mirada y una palabra. Son las únicas armas de que dispone el Maestro que, a diferencia de los demás maestros de Israel, elige él a sus discípulos. La mirada del Señor al llamar a los suyos ¡cómo sería! Desde luego no se trataba de una mirada lejana, fría, sino calurosa, llena de afecto. Y lo mismo sucedía con su voz. Una voz que suena como ninguna, de timbre único, inconfundible. El discípulo escucha esa voz única y se callan todas las demás…

Hoy es un buen domingo para detenernos un momento y darnos cuenta de que la vocación cristiana que hemos recibido es al mismo tiempo una mirada y una llamada de Jesús.

¿Qué es lo que hace nos hace discípulos? Dar una respuesta, dejarnos encontrar; dejarnos hacer, como el barro en manos del alfarero[5].

La vida cristiana es respuesta a la acción de la gracia, no decisión autónoma. La vida cristiana no es el resultado de una serie de actos espirituales más o menos perfectos. Si soy cristiano es porque he sido solicitado por Alguien, he recibido el bautismo y luego, en libertad, he querido responder a ésa llamada.

El hombre sólo puede ponerse en camino después que Dios ha comenzado a caminar por los caminos de los hombres. No somos nosotros los que salimos a la búsqueda de Dios. Es Dios quien se pone a buscarnos. Nuestra vocación cristiana por tanto no es una conquista, sino  ser conquistados. El discípulo no captura al Maestro. El es tomado por el Maestro[6].

La respuesta a la iniciativa de Jesús se expresa también con un verbo: dejar. La decisión entonces se manifiesta con un distanciamiento: de las redes, del oficio, de las cosas, de los lazos familiares, de un presente, para que el Señor ocupe el centro de todo, cosas y personas. La llamada a ser cristiano es dejar espacio a Cristo, es estar vacíos para que Él pueda llenar todo lo demás. Y no debemos separar el verbo dejar del verbo seguir. Dejar y seguir son los dos momentos de un mismo gesto. No dejamos por dejar, sino que dejamos para seguir. Dejamos para no estar más "encorvados sobre sí mismos", como decía Martin Lutero,  para salir fuera junto con Él. En menos palabras: discípulo no es uno que ha abandonado algo, o renunciado a algo sino quien ha encontrado a Alguien.

Nuestra vida cristiana consiste en recorrer el mismo camino del Señor, hacer las mismas opciones, repetir sus gestos, asumir sus pensamientos y sus posturas, inspirarse en sus criterios, tener sus preferencias.

Estamos sobre todo llamados a confiar totalmente en Jesús, a tener un vínculo y una relación personal y vital con Él: os haré pescadores de hombres, nos dice éste domingo. El oficio de pescadores de peces aquellos primeros lo conocen. El otro (oficio), no, y sin embargo, responden a la llamada. Aquellos pescadores –que nos representan a todos los demás- aceptaron vivir una aventura con Jesús, se fiaron de él sin pedir muchas explicaciones y vivieron para siempre con Él[7] ■

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[1] Cfr. Jn. 1, 14.

[2] Cfr Ex. 3, 1.

[3] Cfr Jue 6, 6-16.

[4] Cfr 1 S. 16.

[5] Cfr Jr 18.

[6] Id., 20.

[7] Cfr. Alessandro Pronzato, El Pan del Domingo. Ciclo A., Edit. Sígueme, Salamanca 1986, p. 115 ss.