20th Sunday: Prov 9:1-6. Eph 5:15-20. Jn 6:51-58. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Jn 6:51-58. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats * my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." - The first reading is this: Prov 9:1-6. Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; 2 She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: 4 "Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, 5 Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! 6 Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding. - The second reading is this: Eph 5:15-20. Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, 16 making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. 18 And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. - MEDITATION: The Gospel this Sunday is of Jesus offering his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. That may sound cannibalistic! But Christ is no ordinary flesh and blood. He isn't dead. The most fundamental truth of Christianity is the Resurrection, and in that sense, we're reading about a nutrition far superior to something just physical. God feeds our minds and hearts… and ‘spirits’. The first reading is from the Old Testament 'Wisdom' books (the book of Proverbs). It speaks in symbolic terms: 'Wisdom' has set up her house and calls mankind to call on her and have a good feed! Any ardent feminists must like the way that the Bible calls 'wisdom' a 'she'! I think that the wise person is the one who appreciates that they still have got a lot to learn. In our modern world, many think that wisdom is a matter of technology and academics, and they are good, but the second reading says that far above that wisdom, is the 'understanding of the will of the Lord' (Eph 5:17). We know that the Trinity will for us to be happy with them forever, but we've got to seek a good understanding of how to make it there. The world through history has had many intelligent brains achieving good things, but let's not have them eclipsing Christ for us. There isn't a single person of the world's intelligentia that physically rose from the dead! However many of them may be 'still around' with God in a 'higher world' - as may all of us simpletons some day. Jesus has 'bent over backwards' to convince us that we're all called to that 'higher world'. But the decision is ours - "Yes" or "No" - "I'll try hard" or "I couldn't really be bothered". Fortunately, Mary said "yes". Our mothers decided that they would 'be bothered' to give each of us physical birth a few years ago, and Mary was asked to be the spiritual mother of us all. She said "Yes". The second reading (Eph 5) calls the 'no' option downright foolishness! 'Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity...'. So we should stop and ponder what should we be doing to make the most of our few years on earth? While some may indulge in mundane pleasures to lighten up their lives, St Paul puts it clearly today: 'Do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always. (Eph 5:18-19). The latter may sound exaggerated, as if it would be nice to greet each other on the street with a little hymn! But it symbolises the attitude to have inside as we relate with people. We don't sing, but we smile and chat as friends. The talk of singing may seem superficial, and it's true that some people take the singing and music at mass too seriously, but at appropriate times, it helps to move our hearts. A guy can say "I love you" to a girl, but it's not the same as singing her a love-song! God is love itself and is the creater of all lovely things and people. So we sing to our God! Jesus says today "Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me" (Jn 6:57). Jesus combines 'having life' with being sent, and I think that that's true for us all. 'Having life' goes hand in hand with 'being sent'! The one who gives is the one who gains. The challenge of communicating the Good News to others stimulates meditation and prayer because it gets us to think deeply about what we're going to say - or write! ....... Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 20º Domingo: Prov 9:1-6. Ef 5:15-20. Jn 6:51-58. El Evangelio este domingoes de Jesús ofreciendo su carne para comer y su sangre para beber. ¡Eso puede parecer canibalístico! Pero Jesús no es ninguna carne y sangre ordinaria. Él no está muerto. La verdad más fundamental de la fe Cristiana es la resurrección, y en ese sentido, estamos leyendo sobre una nutrición muy superior a algo físico. Dios alimenta nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones… y espiritus. La primera lectura es de ‘los libros de Sabiduría’ (el libro de Proverbios) del Antiguo Testamento. Habla en términos simbólicos: La Sabiduría ha preparado su casa y ha llamado a la humanidad para visitarla y tener un alimento bueno. ¡A lo mejor les gusta a las fenenistas como la Biblia llama a ‘la sabiduría’ una mujer! Yo creo que la persona sabia es la que aprecia que todavía debería aprender mucho más. En nuestro mundo moderno, muchos piensan que la sabiduría es una cuestión de tecnología y cosa académica, y ellos son buenos, pero la segunda lectura dice que importa aún más saber la voluntad del Señor (Ef 5:17). Sabemos que la Trinidad quieren tenernos eternamente contentos con ellos, pero tenemos que buscar nosotros cómo llegar allí. El mundo a través de la historia ha tenido muchas inteligencias que han logrado cosas buenas, pero no los tengamos eclipsando a Cristo para nosotros. ¡No hay ni una sola persona de la inteligencia del mundo que resucitó físicamente de la muerte! Sin embargo puede ser que muchos de ellos están viviendo con Dios en ‘un mundo más alto’ - ¡como podremos nosotros tontos algún día! Jesús se dobla al revés para convencernos que estamos todos llamados al ‘mundo superior’. Pero la decisión es nuestra - "Sí" o "No" - "yo intentaré con esfuerzo" o "no me interesa tanto". Afortunadamente, María dijo que "sí". Nuestras madres humanas decidieron aguantar nuestros nacimientos físicos hace unos años, y María fue pedida ser la madre espiritual de nosotros todos. Ella dijo "Sí". ¡La segunda lectura (Ef 5) dice que la opción “no” es claramente una tontería! 'Entonces ten cuidado como vives, no como personas tontas sino como sabios, haciendo lo mejor que se puede... '. Entonces deberíamos parar y pensar bien qué deberíamos hacer para aprovechar bien de nuestros pocos años en la tierra. Mientras algunos pueden complacer en los placeres mundanos para alumbrar a sus vidas, San Pablo lo pone claramente hoy: 'No os emborrachéis con el vino en que está el libertinaje, sino llenaos del Espíritu, saludando uno al otro con salmos y canciones espirituales, alabando al Señor en sus corazones, dando gracias siempre.’ (Ef 5:18-19). El último puede sonar exagerado, ¡como si fuera bueno saludarnos en la calle con un pequeño himno! Pero simboliza la actitud a tener por dentro cuando nos relacionamos con la gente. No toca cantar, sino sonreír y charlar como amigos. Proponer cantar puede parecer superficial, y es verdad que algunas personas toman el canto y la música en la misa demasiado en serio, pero en los momentos apropiados, ayuda mover nuestros corazones. ¡Un tipo puede decir "te amo" a una muchacha, pero no es igual que cantarla una canción de amor! Dios es amor y es el creador de codas las cosas y personas encantadoras. ¡Entonces cantemos a nuestro Dios! Jesús dice hoy "Como el Padre me envió y tengo la vida por Él, también el que se alimenta de mí tendrá la vida por mí" (Jn 6:57). Jesús combina 'tener la vida' con ‘ser enviado’, y creo que también es para nosotros todos. ¡Tener la vida va junto con ser enviado! Él que da es qué recibe. El desafío de comunicar bien la Buena Nueva a otros estimula meditación y oración porque consigue que pensemos profundamente sobre lo que vamos a decir - ¡o escribir! ....... Dara. 20th Sunday: Prov 9:1-6. Eph 5:15-20. Jn 6:51-58. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Jn 6:51-58. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats * my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." - The first reading is this: Prov 9:1-6. Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; 2 She has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. 3 She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: 4 "Let whoever is simple turn in here; to him who lacks understanding, I say, 5 Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! 6 Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding. - The second reading is this: Eph 5:15-20. Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, 16 making the most of the opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. 18 And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another (in) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. - MEDITATION: The Gospel this Sunday is of Jesus offering his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. That may sound cannibalistic! But Christ is no ordinary flesh and blood. He isn't dead. The most fundamental truth of Christianity is the Resurrection, and in that sense, we're reading about a nutrition far superior to something just physical. God feeds our minds and hearts… and ‘spirits’. The first reading is from the Old Testament 'Wisdom' books (the book of Proverbs). It speaks in symbolic terms: 'Wisdom' has set up her house and calls mankind to call on her and have a good feed! Any ardent feminists must like the way that the Bible calls 'wisdom' a 'she'! I think that the wise person is the one who appreciates that they still have got a lot to learn. In our modern world, many think that wisdom is a matter of technology and academics, and they are good, but the second reading says that far above that wisdom, is the 'understanding of the will of the Lord' (Eph 5:17). We know that the Trinity will for us to be happy with them forever, but we've got to seek a good understanding of how to make it there. The world through history has had many intelligent brains achieving good things, but let's not have them eclipsing Christ for us. There isn't a single person of the world's intelligentia that physically rose from the dead! However many of them may be 'still around' with God in a 'higher world' - as may all of us simpletons some day. Jesus has 'bent over backwards' to convince us that we're all called to that 'higher world'. But the decision is ours - "Yes" or "No" - "I'll try hard" or "I couldn't really be bothered". Fortunately, Mary said "yes". Our mothers decided that they would 'be bothered' to give each of us physical birth a few years ago, and Mary was asked to be the spiritual mother of us all. She said "Yes". The second reading (Eph 5) calls the 'no' option downright foolishness! 'Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity...'. So we should stop and ponder what should we be doing to make the most of our few years on earth? While some may indulge in mundane pleasures to lighten up their lives, St Paul puts it clearly today: 'Do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks always. (Eph 5:18-19). The latter may sound exaggerated, as if it would be nice to greet each other on the street with a little hymn! But it symbolises the attitude to have inside as we relate with people. We don't sing, but we smile and chat as friends. The talk of singing may seem superficial, and it's true that some people take the singing and music at mass too seriously, but at appropriate times, it helps to move our hearts. A guy can say "I love you" to a girl, but it's not the same as singing her a love-song! God is love itself and is the creater of all lovely things and people. So we sing to our God! Jesus says today "Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me" (Jn 6:57). Jesus combines 'having life' with being sent, and I think that that's true for us all. 'Having life' goes hand in hand with 'being sent'! The one who gives is the one who gains. The challenge of communicating the Good News to others stimulates meditation and prayer because it gets us to think deeply about what we're going to say - or write! ....... Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 20º Domingo: Prov 9:1-6. Ef 5:15-20. Jn 6:51-58. El Evangelio este domingoes de Jesús ofreciendo su carne para comer y su sangre para beber. ¡Eso puede parecer canibalístico! Pero Jesús no es ninguna carne y sangre ordinaria. Él no está muerto. La verdad más fundamental de la fe Cristiana es la resurrección, y en ese sentido, estamos leyendo sobre una nutrición muy superior a algo físico. Dios alimenta nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones… y espiritus. La primera lectura es de ‘los libros de Sabiduría’ (el libro de Proverbios) del Antiguo Testamento. Habla en términos simbólicos: La Sabiduría ha preparado su casa y ha llamado a la humanidad para visitarla y tener un alimento bueno. ¡A lo mejor les gusta a las fenenistas como la Biblia llama a ‘la sabiduría’ una mujer! Yo creo que la persona sabia es la que aprecia que todavía debería aprender mucho más. En nuestro mundo moderno, muchos piensan que la sabiduría es una cuestión de tecnología y cosa académica, y ellos son buenos, pero la segunda lectura dice que importa aún más saber la voluntad del Señor (Ef 5:17). Sabemos que la Trinidad quieren tenernos eternamente contentos con ellos, pero tenemos que buscar nosotros cómo llegar allí. El mundo a través de la historia ha tenido muchas inteligencias que han logrado cosas buenas, pero no los tengamos eclipsando a Cristo para nosotros. ¡No hay ni una sola persona de la inteligencia del mundo que resucitó físicamente de la muerte! Sin embargo puede ser que muchos de ellos están viviendo con Dios en ‘un mundo más alto’ - ¡como podremos nosotros tontos algún día! Jesús se dobla al revés para convencernos que estamos todos llamados al ‘mundo superior’. Pero la decisión es nuestra - "Sí" o "No" - "yo intentaré con esfuerzo" o "no me interesa tanto". Afortunadamente, María dijo que "sí". Nuestras madres humanas decidieron aguantar nuestros nacimientos físicos hace unos años, y María fue pedida ser la madre espiritual de nosotros todos. Ella dijo "Sí". ¡La segunda lectura (Ef 5) dice que la opción “no” es claramente una tontería! 'Entonces ten cuidado como vives, no como personas tontas sino como sabios, haciendo lo mejor que se puede... '. Entonces deberíamos parar y pensar bien qué deberíamos hacer para aprovechar bien de nuestros pocos años en la tierra. Mientras algunos pueden complacer en los placeres mundanos para alumbrar a sus vidas, San Pablo lo pone claramente hoy: 'No os emborrachéis con el vino en que está el libertinaje, sino llenaos del Espíritu, saludando uno al otro con salmos y canciones espirituales, alabando al Señor en sus corazones, dando gracias siempre.’ (Ef 5:18-19). El último puede sonar exagerado, ¡como si fuera bueno saludarnos en la calle con un pequeño himno! Pero simboliza la actitud a tener por dentro cuando nos relacionamos con la gente. No toca cantar, sino sonreír y charlar como amigos. Proponer cantar puede parecer superficial, y es verdad que algunas personas toman el canto y la música en la misa demasiado en serio, pero en los momentos apropiados, ayuda mover nuestros corazones. ¡Un tipo puede decir "te amo" a una muchacha, pero no es igual que cantarla una canción de amor! Dios es amor y es el creador de codas las cosas y personas encantadoras. ¡Entonces cantemos a nuestro Dios! Jesús dice hoy "Como el Padre me envió y tengo la vida por Él, también el que se alimenta de mí tendrá la vida por mí" (Jn 6:57). Jesús combina 'tener la vida' con ‘ser enviado’, y creo que también es para nosotros todos. ¡Tener la vida va junto con ser enviado! Él que da es qué recibe. El desafío de comunicar bien la Buena Nueva a otros estimula meditación y oración porque consigue que pensemos profundamente sobre lo que vamos a decir - ¡o escribir! ....... Dara. (Repost from Facebook - link) GUIDELINES FOR PRAYER - Saturday, August 8, 2015
For the past weeks the Sunday gospels have focused on passages from John 6, where the central image is the BREAD. There is much that can be said about it, probably there are much better exegesis than mine out there, but nonetheless, here is mine. 17th Sunday, John 6, 1-15: Not the King they expect Him to be I would start from he end of the passage, which is with Jesus running away from the crowd, who by then wanted to crown Him as king: "Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone." 19th Sunday: 1 Kgs 19:4-8. Eph 4:30-5:2. Jn 6:41-51. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Jn 6:41-51. The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," 42 and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring * among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes --has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." - The first reading is this. 1 Kgs 19:4-8. Elijah went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." 5 He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. 6 He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, 7 but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" 8 He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. - The second reading is this: Eph 4:30-5:2. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. 5:1 So be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. - MEDITATION: This Sunday is about the 'Bread of Life' - the Good News that God wants to nurture us and guide us. But we ourselves need to 'take a first step' and 'open the door'. As with food, we need to eat and digest before we can absorb! In that sense, we should read the Bible well and give time to meditation. The mission of Jesus begins with people criticising him for claiming to be divine, and I suppose that's understandable back then (Joseph and Mary were just another couple in the bunch), but we now have the resurrection to back Jesus up, and it really backs him up! The Word of God is alive and active! To begin to 'eat' as such for me was to begin to pray - to read and meditate etc.. The results weren't immediate, but they came. Patience is a virtue! Each person opens the door to faith in Christ, but even the fact that we're inspired to begin the search, is itself a gift of God. Jesus says today "No one can come unless they've been called" (Jn 6:44). It was my experience of patients with fatal illness and post-mortem examinations in hospitals that was like a 'call' to me. I realised that some day the dead body is going to be mine! Jesus goes on to say today: "I will raise him who believes in me on the last day". The Old Testament tells of the manna in the desert (Ex 16), but the Christian step forward is that Jesus gives much more than manna: "This is my flesh for the life of the world"... the eternal life. The first reading has Elijah depressed and hungry, and an angel comes to help to feed him. That symbolizes for me the way that time spent in prayer can restore us. But the angel doesn't just supply food, he sends Elijah on a journey of forty days and nights (1 K 19:8). That's like a missionary call. And forty to the Jews represents 'totality' or 'constancy'. Rather than a job to begin some day and end some day, it's a call to have a certain constant attitude of life. That's why we have the 40 days of Lent - the time Jesus spent being tempted in the desert (Lk 4:1-2). Life for us all is always going to be a journey with challenges. With regard to Jesus describing himself as 'the Bread of life', remember that the reason for our Eucharistic hosts being made of unleavened bread, is because that was the kind that could be made quickly enough to bring on the flight of the Jews from slavery in Egypt (the Exodus). Thereafter they had what they called a 'feast of unleavened bread' every year during which it was eaten with the sacrificed lamb (which now for us is Jesus himself). The Book of Deuteronomy says this: 'You shall not eat leavened bread with the lamb. You shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, that you may remember as long as you live the day of your departure from the land of Egypt; for in frightened haste you left that land' (Dt 16:3). Therefore, as we now eat at mass the Eucharist of the Last Supper, we should remind ourselves that we're on a journey passing through these few years on Earth. Reminding ourselves of that, may influence our plans to make good use of our brief lifetime and to avoid mundane riches, honours and pleasures, that would hold us back. We're all on our way on an 'exodus' through life. Lets comulgate with an enthusiastic heart so that we make it to the 'promised land'. This gives added meaning to praying the 'Our Father': "Give us this day our daily bread"! And it's relevant that we recieve communion as we gather together at church. Christ wants us all to be 'companions'. The word 'companion' comes from the ancient meaning: 'one who shares the same bread'. Christ wants us to be companions with Him. The Gospel tells of what happened as two of the followers of Jesus were walking away from Jerusalem thinking that Jesus was dead and gone, and Jesus then appeared to them on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24). But in order to be recognised, he actually ate a meal with bread with them and it's obviously speaking to us of the Eucharist: 'The two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.' (Lk 24:35). Also remember the documents of Vatican II (Lumen Gentium 26): 'We comulgate in order to become the same as that which we receive.'. St Paul writes to the Corinthians: 'Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of unleavened dough. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' (1 Cor 5:7-8). Let's make the effort with a heart-felt enthusiasm, as in the letter to the Ephesians: 'Loving as beloved children' (Eph 4:5). That's different to doing so as 'employees' obeying rules. As mankind travels far and works hard, they may end up with 'smelly socks', but St Paul adds today: we can be a 'fragrant aroma' if offered to God! ......... Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 19º Domingo: 1º Reyes 19:4-8. Ef 4:30-5:2. Jn 6:41-51. Este domingo es sobre el Pan de la Vida - la Buena Nueva que Dios quiere nutrirnos y guiarnos. ¡Pero nos toca a nosotros ‘tomar un primer paso' y 'abrir la puerta'. ¡Como con la comida normal, tenemos que comer y digerir antes de que podamos absorber! En ese sentido, nos conviene leer bien la Biblia y dar tiempo a la meditación. La misión de Jesús empieza con la gente criticándole por decir que es divino, y supongo que eso es entendible entonces (José y María eran simplemente otra pareja en el manojo), pero nosotros ahora hemos oído de la la resurrección, ¡y realmente lo apoya! ¡La Palabra de Dios está viva y activa! Empezar a 'comer' como tal para mí era empezar a orar – a leer y meditar etc.. Los resultados no eran inmediatos, pero vinieron. ¡Paciencia es una virtud! Nos toca abrir la puerta a la fe en Cristo, pero el hecho en sí de que estamos inspirados a empezar la búsqueda, es un regalo de Dios. Jesús dice hoy "nadie puede venir sino los que han sido llamados" (Jn 6:44). Era mi experiencia de pacientes con enfermedades fatales y de investigaciones poste-mortem que era ‘una llamada’ a mí. ¡Te pones a pensar que algún día el cuerpo muerto va a ser el mío! Jesús añada hoy: "Yo le levantaré a quién cree en mí en el último día". El Antiguo Testamento habla del maná en el desierto (Ex 16), pero el paso cristiano es adelante, ya que Jesús da mucho más que maná: "Ésta es mi carne para la vida del mundo"... la vida eterna. La primera lectura tiene a Eliseo deprimido y hambriento, y un ángel aparece y le alimenta. Eso simboliza para mí como el tiempo pasado en la oración puede restaurarnos. Pero el ángel no proporciona simplemente comida, envía Eliseo en una jornada de cuarenta días y noches (1ºReyes 19:8). Eso es como una llamada misionera. Y cuarenta para los judíos representa 'la totalidad' o 'la constancia'. En lugar de un trabajo que empieza algún día y acaba algún día, es una llamada a tener una cierta actitud constante de vida. Por eso tenemos los 40 días de Cuaresma - el tiempo cuando Jesús fue tentado en el desierto (Lc 4:1-2). La vida en el mundo va a ser siempre una jornada con desafíos. Con respecto a Jesús diciendo que es 'el Pan de vida', recuerda que la hostia Eucarística es de pan ácimo porque ése era el tipo que podría hacerse bastante rápidamente para el vuelo de los judíos de la esclavitud en Egipto (el Éxodo). Después de esto tenían lo que llamaron 'la fiesta de pan ácimo' todos los años en el cual se comía el cordero sacrificado (lo que ahora para nosotros es el propio Jesús). El Libro de Deuteronomio dice esto: 'No comeréis pan fermentado con el cordero. Comeréis con él, el pan ácimo, el pan de aflicción para que recordaréis el día de su salida con prisa asustada de la tierra de Egipto' (Dt 16:3). Entonces cuando comemos ahora la Eucaristía de la Última Cena, deberíamos recordarnos que estamos en una jornada que dura estos pocos años de la vida física. Recordándose eso, puede influenciar a nuestros planes para hacer uso bueno de nuestra vida breve y evitar las riquezas mundanas, honores y placeres que nos detendrían. Estamos de camino todos en un 'éxodo’ a través de la vida. ¡Tomemos la comunión con un corazón entusiástico para que lleguemos a ‘la tierra prometida’! Esto da el significado a orar en el 'Padre Nuestro': "Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día"! Y es pertinente que recibimos la comunión cuando estamos reunidos en la iglesia. Cristo quiere que todos sean ‘compañeros’. La palabra 'compañero' viene del significado antiguo: ‘uno que comparte el mismo pan’. Cristo quiere que seamos compañeros con Él. El Evangelio cuenta lo que pasó cuando dos de los seguidores de Jesús estaban caminando fuera de Jerusalén pensando que Jesús estaba muerto e ido, y Jesús apareció a ellos en el camino a Emmaus (Lc 24). Pero para ser reconocido, él comió una comida con pan con ellos y está hablándonos obviamente de la Eucaristía: 'Los dos recontaron lo que había pasado en el camino y como le reconocieron en la ruptura del pan.' (Lc 24:35). También recuerde los documentos de Vaticano II (el Lumen Gentium 26): 'Comulgamos para llegar a ser igual que lo que recibimos.'. San Pablo escribe a los corintios: 'Echa fuera la levadura vieja, para que seáis un lote fresco de pan ácimo. Para esto nuestro cordero pascual, Cristo, se ha sacrificado. Entonces no queremos celebrar la fiesta con la levadura vieja, la levadura de malicia y maldad, sino con el pan ácimo de sinceridad y verdad' (1º Cor 5:7-8). Hagamos el esfuerzo con un entusiasmo sincero, como en la carta de los Efesios: 'Amando como niños queridos' (Ef 4:5). Eso es diferente a hacerlo como empleados obedeciendo reglas. La huma19thSunday: 1 Kgs 19:4-8. Eph 4:30-5:2. Jn 6:41-51. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Jn 6:41-51. The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," 42 and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43 Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring * among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes --has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." - The first reading is this. 1 Kgs 19:4-8. Elijah went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." 5 He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat. 6 He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again, 7 but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!" 8 He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. - The second reading is this: Eph 4:30-5:2. And do not grieve the holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 (And) be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. 5:1 So be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. - MEDITATION: This Sunday is about the 'Bread of Life' - the Good News that God wants to nurture us and guide us. But we ourselves need to 'take a first step' and 'open the door'. As with food, we need to eat and digest before we can absorb! In that sense, we should read the Bible well and give time to meditation. The mission of Jesus begins with people criticising him for claiming to be divine, and I suppose that's understandable back then (Joseph and Mary were just another couple in the bunch), but we now have the resurrection to back Jesus up, and it really backs him up! The Word of God is alive and active! To begin to 'eat' as such for me was to begin to pray - to read and meditate etc.. The results weren't immediate, but they came. Patience is a virtue! Each person opens the door to faith in Christ, but even the fact that we're inspired to begin the search, is itself a gift of God. Jesus says today "No one can come unless they've been called" (Jn 6:44). It was my experience of patients with fatal illness and post-mortem examinations in hospitals that was like a 'call' to me. I realised that some day the dead body is going to be mine! Jesus goes on to say today: "I will raise him who believes in me on the last day". The Old Testament tells of the manna in the desert (Ex 16), but the Christian step forward is that Jesus gives much more than manna: "This is my flesh for the life of the world"... the eternal life. The first reading has Elijah depressed and hungry, and an angel comes to help to feed him. That symbolizes for me the way that time spent in prayer can restore us. But the angel doesn't just supply food, he sends Elijah on a journey of forty days and nights (1 K 19:8). That's like a missionary call. And forty to the Jews represents 'totality' or 'constancy'. Rather than a job to begin some day and end some day, it's a call to have a certain constant attitude of life. That's why we have the 40 days of Lent - the time Jesus spent being tempted in the desert (Lk 4:1-2). Life for us all is always going to be a journey with challenges. With regard to Jesus describing himself as 'the Bread of life', remember that the reason for our Eucharistic hosts being made of unleavened bread, is because that was the kind that could be made quickly enough to bring on the flight of the Jews from slavery in Egypt (the Exodus). Thereafter they had what they called a 'feast of unleavened bread' every year during which it was eaten with the sacrificed lamb (which now for us is Jesus himself). The Book of Deuteronomy says this: 'You shall not eat leavened bread with the lamb. You shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, that you may remember as long as you live the day of your departure from the land of Egypt; for in frightened haste you left that land' (Dt 16:3). Therefore, as we now eat at mass the Eucharist of the Last Supper, we should remind ourselves that we're on a journey passing through these few years on Earth. Reminding ourselves of that, may influence our plans to make good use of our brief lifetime and to avoid mundane riches, honours and pleasures, that would hold us back. We're all on our way on an 'exodus' through life. Lets comulgate with an enthusiastic heart so that we make it to the 'promised land'. This gives added meaning to praying the 'Our Father': "Give us this day our daily bread"! And it's relevant that we recieve communion as we gather together at church. Christ wants us all to be 'companions'. The word 'companion' comes from the ancient meaning: 'one who shares the same bread'. Christ wants us to be companions with Him. The Gospel tells of what happened as two of the followers of Jesus were walking away from Jerusalem thinking that Jesus was dead and gone, and Jesus then appeared to them on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24). But in order to be recognised, he actually ate a meal with bread with them and it's obviously speaking to us of the Eucharist: 'The two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.' (Lk 24:35). Also remember the documents of Vatican II (Lumen Gentium 26): 'We comulgate in order to become the same as that which we receive.'. St Paul writes to the Corinthians: 'Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of unleavened dough. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth' (1 Cor 5:7-8). Let's make the effort with a heart-felt enthusiasm, as in the letter to the Ephesians: 'Loving as beloved children' (Eph 4:5). That's different to doing so as 'employees' obeying rules. As mankind travels far and works hard, they may end up with 'smelly socks', but St Paul adds today: we can be a 'fragrant aroma' if offered to God! ......... Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 19º Domingo: 1º Reyes 19:4-8. Ef 4:30-5:2. Jn 6:41-51. Este domingo es sobre el Pan de la Vida - la Buena Nueva que Dios quiere nutrirnos y guiarnos. ¡Pero nos toca a nosotros ‘tomar un primer paso' y 'abrir la puerta'. ¡Como con la comida normal, tenemos que comer y digerir antes de que podamos absorber! En ese sentido, nos conviene leer bien la Biblia y dar tiempo a la meditación. La misión de Jesús empieza con la gente criticándole por decir que es divino, y supongo que eso es entendible entonces (José y María eran simplemente otra pareja en el manojo), pero nosotros ahora hemos oído de la la resurrección, ¡y realmente lo apoya! ¡La Palabra de Dios está viva y activa! Empezar a 'comer' como tal para mí era empezar a orar – a leer y meditar etc.. Los resultados no eran inmediatos, pero vinieron. ¡Paciencia es una virtud! Nos toca abrir la puerta a la fe en Cristo, pero el hecho en sí de que estamos inspirados a empezar la búsqueda, es un regalo de Dios. Jesús dice hoy "nadie puede venir sino los que han sido llamados" (Jn 6:44). Era mi experiencia de pacientes con enfermedades fatales y de investigaciones poste-mortem que era ‘una llamada’ a mí. ¡Te pones a pensar que algún día el cuerpo muerto va a ser el mío! Jesús añada hoy: "Yo le levantaré a quién cree en mí en el último día". El Antiguo Testamento habla del maná en el desierto (Ex 16), pero el paso cristiano es adelante, ya que Jesús da mucho más que maná: "Ésta es mi carne para la vida del mundo"... la vida eterna. La primera lectura tiene a Eliseo deprimido y hambriento, y un ángel aparece y le alimenta. Eso simboliza para mí como el tiempo pasado en la oración puede restaurarnos. Pero el ángel no proporciona simplemente comida, envía Eliseo en una jornada de cuarenta días y noches (1ºReyes 19:8). Eso es como una llamada misionera. Y cuarenta para los judíos representa 'la totalidad' o 'la constancia'. En lugar de un trabajo que empieza algún día y acaba algún día, es una llamada a tener una cierta actitud constante de vida. Por eso tenemos los 40 días de Cuaresma - el tiempo cuando Jesús fue tentado en el desierto (Lc 4:1-2). La vida en el mundo va a ser siempre una jornada con desafíos. Con respecto a Jesús diciendo que es 'el Pan de vida', recuerda que la hostia Eucarística es de pan ácimo porque ése era el tipo que podría hacerse bastante rápidamente para el vuelo de los judíos de la esclavitud en Egipto (el Éxodo). Después de esto tenían lo que llamaron 'la fiesta de pan ácimo' todos los años en el cual se comía el cordero sacrificado (lo que ahora para nosotros es el propio Jesús). El Libro de Deuteronomio dice esto: 'No comeréis pan fermentado con el cordero. Comeréis con él, el pan ácimo, el pan de aflicción para que recordaréis el día de su salida con prisa asustada de la tierra de Egipto' (Dt 16:3). Entonces cuando comemos ahora la Eucaristía de la Última Cena, deberíamos recordarnos que estamos en una jornada que dura estos pocos años de la vida física. Recordándose eso, puede influenciar a nuestros planes para hacer uso bueno de nuestra vida breve y evitar las riquezas mundanas, honores y placeres que nos detendrían. Estamos de camino todos en un 'éxodo’ a través de la vida. ¡Tomemos la comunión con un corazón entusiástico para que lleguemos a ‘la tierra prometida’! Esto da el significado a orar en el 'Padre Nuestro': "Danos hoy nuestro pan de cada día"! Y es pertinente que recibimos la comunión cuando estamos reunidos en la iglesia. Cristo quiere que todos sean ‘compañeros’. La palabra 'compañero' viene del significado antiguo: ‘uno que comparte el mismo pan’. Cristo quiere que seamos compañeros con Él. El Evangelio cuenta lo que pasó cuando dos de los seguidores de Jesús estaban caminando fuera de Jerusalén pensando que Jesús estaba muerto e ido, y Jesús apareció a ellos en el camino a Emmaus (Lc 24). Pero para ser reconocido, él comió una comida con pan con ellos y está hablándonos obviamente de la Eucaristía: 'Los dos recontaron lo que había pasado en el camino y como le reconocieron en la ruptura del pan.' (Lc 24:35). También recuerde los documentos de Vaticano II (el Lumen Gentium 26): 'Comulgamos para llegar a ser igual que lo que recibimos.'. San Pablo escribe a los corintios: 'Echa fuera la levadura vieja, para que seáis un lote fresco de pan ácimo. Para esto nuestro cordero pascual, Cristo, se ha sacrificado. Entonces no queremos celebrar la fiesta con la levadura vieja, la levadura de malicia y maldad, sino con el pan ácimo de sinceridad y verdad' (1º Cor 5:7-8). Hagamos el esfuerzo con un entusiasmo sincero, como en la carta de los Efesios: 'Amando como niños queridos' (Ef 4:5). Eso es diferente a hacerlo como empleados obedeciendo reglas. La humanidad viaja lejos y trabaja difícilmente, y puede ser que uno tiene ‘calcetines apestosos’, pero Pablo agrega hoy: ¡Si nos ofrecemos a Dios podemos ser ‘un aroma fragante’! ......... Dara.
nidad viaja lejos y trabaja difícilmente, y puede ser que uno tiene ‘calcetines apestosos’, pero Pablo agrega hoy: ¡Si nos ofrecemos a Dios podemos ser ‘un aroma fragante’! ......... Dara. 17th Sunday: 2 Kgs 4:42-44. Eph 4:1-4. Jn 6:1-15. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Jn 6:1-15. After this, Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish feast of Passover was near. 5 When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" 6 He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred days' wages * worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little (bit)." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves * and two fish; but what good are these for so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people recline." Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. 12 When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted." 13 So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets * with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. 14 When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the Prophet, * the one who is to come into the world." 15 Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone. - The first reading is this: 2 Kgs 4:42-44. A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barely loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha said. 43 But his servant objected, "How can I set this before a hundred men?" "Give it to the people to eat," Elisha insisted. "For thus says the LORD, 'They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'" 44 And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the LORD had said. - The second reading is this: Eph 4:1-4. I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, 3 striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: 4 one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; - MEDITATION: The Gospel this Sunday is about the miracle of the loaves, and the first reading has the prophet Elisha doing something similar. It symbolises how God cures our hunger in life... our hunger for much more than bread! I hunger for a life and a love that go beyond death, and Jesus offers us that! The love of God engenders a life in us that is eternal. It's relevant that Jesus asks that the people sit down on the grass. Grass is a symbol of springtime where winter has passed and nature is blossoming again, but also it makes me think of where the Old Testament says 'The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God remains forever' (Is 40:8). In other words, it's as if Jesus is asking us to dwell on His Word, to preach to people and thereby to help them also to dwell on the Word. That Word turns out to be Jesus himself: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14), and it's He himself that's asking for his Apostles to get the people to recline on the grass today. Thereafter, they get well fed! All the details are relevant. It begins saying that the Jewish feast of Passover was near and that's a prologue to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It reminds us that Jesus wasn't going to set up a nice feast of bread with a superficial flick of the fingers, but rather with a love that's willing to go through passion and death on the cross. He knew well that the feast of Passover was near. Therefore the feeding with loaves etc. is really symbolising the way Jesus will nourish our need for hope in life after death. Jesus sits down on a hill-top and from there sees the crowd approaching, and that 'sitting down' was very symbolic for the Jews. Only teachers of dignity and authority would sit down as they taught. I like the way in the Gospel today they get a young boy to donate his five barley loaves and two fish, and that's a nice symbol of how God asks us to be generous with our simple humanity, and if we give a little, then God ends up paying back a lot. The Apostles are the big-shot organisers, but I like the way that a simple lad plays such an important role... giving up his bit of food. That speaks of how God wants us all (even a boy who's not so young in his wheelchair) to play a role in helping his Kingdom to come! It says that Jesus slipped off because he was afraid that they would make him king, so he's teaching us to remain free of mundane honours and people's opinions. Moses, at one stage, had to ask for Aaron to do the speaking for him, because he himself had a stutter!Humility isn't an act we have to put on, it's simply a question of realizing what we truly are - and traveling through life in that truth. The truth is that to walk in humility is to walk in the truth of our lives. A worker once said “I'm going to be the chief here” and his business employer asked “Who told you?”. The guy responded “God”, and the employer said “No I didn't”! The call to be like Christ brings humility to it's zenith as the Bible says about Calvary: "Christ became a cursed thing for us" (Gal 3:13). That's certainly a humility that's challenging to follow! But wouldn't it be great to be that free of people's mundane opinion of us?! Jesus was certainly worthy of honor and glory, but look at how he went out of his way to avoid it: 'Jesus had cured many and as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him. And whenever unclean spirits saw him they would fall down before him and shout, "You are the Son of God.". He warned them sternly not to make him known.' (Mk 3:10-12). I think the Gospel is teaching us what real 'honor and glory' means. They asked Jesus who is great in the Kingdom of Heaven and He took a child in his arms and said 'Unless you become like the children, you can't enter the Kingdom' (Mt 18:3). The king of heaven and earth was born in a stable! - poor and simple - and when eventually welcomed honorably by the people of Jerusalem he arrives on a donkey! And it wasn't by chance - in the writings of the prophet Zechariah, centuries before, it says 'See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt'. We're called to give what God wants, which often may not be that for which people are asking. I'm glad that I said yes to the call to be a missionary and the call deepens now: "Are you willing to follow me in your wheelchair?". My answer is 'yes, yes, yes because I believe you are with me and this chair will help me to be humble'. That's a help I badly need! Saint Francis of Assisi lived at a time when being a priest gave social status (unlike in many places today) so he made no effort to be ordained. He was glad to remain in the laity because it would help him to be humble. He wanted to be called 'brother' by all and he called his newly founded group 'los locos de Cristo (the crazy madmen of Christ)'! St Teresa (Therése) of Lisieux wanted to live in what she called 'spiritual infancy'. She is called today 'the Little Flower'. In 1925, Pius XI named her patroness of the missions! And in 1997 Pope John Paul II actually named her a doctor of the Church! At the Last Supper an argument broke out among the Apostles about which of them should be regarded as the greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them and those in authority over them are addressed as 'Benefactors'; but among you it shall not be so. Rather, let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant” (Lk 22:24-25). Concern for what people think of us can terribly impede our faithfulness to God. Check out what it says in the Gospel as Jesus was preaching: "Many, even among the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not acknowledge it openly in order not to be expelled from the synagogue. For they preferred human praise to the glory of God" (Jn 12:42-43). Jesus said this: "In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world." (Jn 16:33). I'm in a wheelchair with this bloody MS, so in a physical sense I'm very weakened, so I like to quote St Paul: 'I am content with weaknesses, hardships ... and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong' (2 Cor 12:9b-10). .............. Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 17º Domingo: 2°Reyes 4:42-44, Ef 4:1-6, Jn 6:1-15. El Evangelio este domingohabla del milagro de los panes, y la primera lectura (de 2°Reyes) habla del profeta Eliseo haciendo algo semejante. Simboliza cómo Dios cura nuestra hambre en la vida... ¡nuestra hambre de mucho más que de pan! Estoy hambriento de una vida y un amor que van más allá que la muerte - y Jesús sacia aquello. El amor de Dios engendra una vida en nosotros que es eterna. Es interesante como Jesús pide que la gente se siente sobre la hierba. La hierba es un símbolo de primavera cuando el invierno ha pasado y la naturaleza está brotando otra vez. Me hace recordar donde el Antiguo Testamento dice esto: 'La hierba se marchita y la flor muere, pero la palabra de Dios dura para siempre' (Is 40:8). Es como si Jesús nos está pidiendo contemplar bien su Palabra para poder predicarla y hacer que muchos la contemplen también. Dentro de poco nos damos cuenta que la Palabra es Jesús mismo. “La Palabra se hizo hombre y habitó entre nosotros” (Jn 1:14), y es él mismo que está pidiendo a los Apóstoles hacer que la gente se recuesten sobre la hierba hoy. ¡Desde allí estarán bien alimentados! Todos los detalles tienen relevancia – significan algo importante. Empieza diciendo que la fiesta Judía de la Pascua estaba cerca y aquello es como prólogo de la Crucifixión y la Resurrección. Jesús se sienta encima de un monte y desde allí ve a la muchedumbre acercándose, y aquel 'sentarse' es muy significativo para los Judíos. Es la posición de un maestro con dignidad y autoridad. La pregunta desafiante a Felipe simboliza cómo Jesús mismo es nuestro jefe, y aún los líderes en nuestra Iglesia tienen que esforzarse constantemente para crecer en la fe. Me gusta como en el Evangelio de hoy hacen que un jovencito regale sus cinco panes y dos peces, y aquello es un símbolo bonito de cómo Dios nos pide donar nuestra humanidad sencilla, y si damos al menos un poco, Dios acaba devolviéndonos mucho. Los Apóstoles son los grandes organizadores, pero me encanta cómo un joven sencillo tiene un papel tan importante. Aquello habla de como Dios da un papel a todos (aún a un chaval que no es tan joven en su silla de ruedas) - ¡un papel en ayudar a que venga su Reino! Dice que Jesús se fue porque tuvo miedo que ellos le harían rey, entonces está enseñándonos quedar libre de los honores mundanos y las opiniones de l gente. ¡Moisés, en una fase, tenía que pedirle a Aarón hablar para él, porque él estaba tartamudo! La humildad no es un acto que nosotros tenemos que ponernos, sino simplemente es una verdad que nos conviene comprender y vivir de verdad - y pasar por la vida en esa verdad. La verdad es eso y caminar en la humildad es caminar en la verdad de nuestras vidas. ¡Un obrero dijo una vez "yo voy a ser el jefe aquí" y su patrón preguntó "¿Quién te lo dijo? ". El tipo respondió "Dios", y el patrón dijo "No es verdad. ¡Yo no dije nada así!” La llamada a estar como Cristo trae la humildad a su colmen como la Biblia dice sobre el Calvario: "¡Cristo llegó a ser una cosa maldita para nosotros (Gal 3:13). ¡Ésa es ciertamente una humildad que no es fácil seguir! ¡Pero sería muy bueno eso para liberarnos de la opinión mundana de la gente! Jesús era ciertamente digno de honor y gloria, y me encanta como se esforzó para evitarlo: 'Jesús había curado muchos y como resultado, aquéllos que tenían enfermedades estaban en cola para tocarle. Y siempre que los espíritus malos le vieron, se caían ante él y gritaban, "Usted es el Hijo de Dios". Él los advirtió severamente no hacerlo conocido.' (Mc 3:10-12). Creo que el Evangelio está enseñándonos como alcanzar 'el honor y gloria'. ¡Le preguntaron a Jesús que es ser grande en el Reino de los Cielos y Él tomó a un niño en sus brazos y dijo 'Si no llegáis a ser como los niños, no podréis entrar en el Reino' (Mt 18:3). ¡El rey de cielo y tierra nació en un establo pobre y simple! - ¡y cuando más tarde la gente de Jerusalén dio la bienvenida honorable él llega sobre un asno! Y eso no era por casualidad… el profeta Zacarías, siglos antes, escribió 'Mira, su rey vendrá, manso, y montando sobre un asno.' Estamos llamados a dar lo que Dios quiere que demos y a veces eso no es lo que la gente está pidiendo. Me alegro que yo dije ‘sí’ a la llamada para ser un misionero y la llamada ahonda ahora: “¿Estás dispuesto a seguirme en tu silla de ruedas?”. Mi respuesta es 'sí, sí, sí porque creo que tú estás conmigo y esta enfermedad ayudará que yo sea humilde'. ¡Tal ayuda es muy necesaria! San Francisco de Asís vivió en un momento cuando ser sacerdote daba un buen estado social (diferente en muchos lugares hoy) entonces no hizo ningún esfuerzo para ser ordenado. Él se alegraba de permanecer en la laicidad porque ayudaría que él fuera humilde. ¡Quiso ser llamado 'hermano' por todos y llamó a su grupo recientemente fundado 'los Locos de Cristo'! Santa Teresa (Therése) de Lisieux vivió en lo que ella quiso llamar 'la infancia espiritual'. Hoy le llamamos 'la Pequeña Flor'. En 1925, Pio XI la nombró patrona de las misiones y en 1997 Juan-Pablo II la nombró doctor de la Iglesia! En la Última Cena un argumento surgió entre los Apóstoles sobre cual de ellos debe considerarse como el más grande. Jesús les dijo, "Entre los Gentiles los reyes tienen poder y aquéllos en autoridad están bendecidos como ‘Bienhechores’; pero entre vosotros no estará así. Más bien, haz que el más grande entre vosotros sea como el más joven, y el líder como el sirviente" (Lc 22:24-25). Preocuparse por lo que la gente piensa de nosotros puede impedir terriblemente nuestra fidelidad a Dios. Mira lo que dice en el Evangelio cuando Jesús estaba predicando: "Muchos, incluso entre las autoridades, creyeron en él, pero debido a los Fariseos ellos, no lo reconocieron abiertamente para no eatar expulsados de la sinagoga. Porque ellos prefirieron la alabanza humana a la gloria de Dios" (Jn 12:42, 43). Jesús dijo esto: "En el mundo tendréis problemas, pero ten valentía, yo he conquistado el mundo." (Jn 16:33). Yo estoy en una silla de ruedas con este maldita esclerosis múltiple, entonces en un sentido físico estoy muy debilitado, entonces me gusta lo que escribe San Pablo: 'Estoy satisfecho con las debilidades, penalidades... y constreñimientos, por causa de Cristo; porque cuando estoy débil, entonces estoy fuerte' (2º Cor 12:9b-10). .............. Dara. 16th Sunday: Jer 23:1-6. Eph 2:13-18. Mk 6:30-34. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Mk 6:30-34. The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat. 32 So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. 33 People saw them leaving and many came to know about it. They hastened there on foot from all the towns and arrived at the place before them. 34 When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. - The first reading is this: Jer 23:1-6. Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the LORD. 2 Therefore, thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds. 3 I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow; there they shall increase and multiply. 4 I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble; and none shall be missing, says the LORD. 5 Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; As king he shall reign and govern wisely, he shall do what is just and right in the land. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security. This is the name they give him: "The LORD our justice." - The second reading is this: Eph 2:13-18. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, he who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity, through his flesh, 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and legal claims, that he might create in himself one new person * in place of the two, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. - MEDITATION: This Sunday is about the spreading of the Word of God… shepherding mankind. Also it combines that with the 'peace' of prayer. Jesus sees a crowd that need his teaching, so he gets down to work, but it's interesting that beforehand, he brought his apostles to a deserted place to be by themselves. That was in order to get something to eat etc, but makes me think of how working with Christ on the mission also needs times spent in private personal prayer. Decent preaching needs decent prayer. It's as you pray that God inspires what He wants a missionary to preach, and what he wants from every Christian. It says that Jesus' heart was moved when he saw the crowd in need. We're all in danger of doing our Christian duty with a cold heart just fulfilling rules and regulations. That includes the job of 'preachers' (and, I suppose, of writers of e-mails!). Our eventual long-lasting joy will come from having done it all with a heart - with love. In the second reading Paul asks that the spreading of the Good News be to everyone (without drawing barriers between Jew and Gentile etc). I can't be sure that I will always have the heart to love well, so that's why I will always try to attend mass to listen to what God is teaching and to take communion in the hope that I can then live in communion with his love… that we all can… Jew and Gentile! ........Dara. 14th Sunday: Ez 2:2-5. 2 Cor 12:7-10. Mk 6:1-6. - The Gospel this weekend is this: Mk 6:1-6. He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 3 Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?" and they took offense at him. 4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." 5 So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. He went around to the villages in the vicinity teaching. - The first reading is this: Ez 2:2-5. As the vision spoke to me, spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking 3 say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their fathers have revolted against me to this very day. 4 Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD! 5 And whether they heed or resist--for they are a rebellious house--they shall know that a prophet has been among them. - The second reading is this: 2 Cor 12:7-10. So that I might not become too elated, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. 8 Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, 9 but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. 10 Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong. * - MEDITATION: The Gospel this Sunday is of the rejection of Jesus by his own towns-folk in Nazareth. The first reading is of Ezekiel saying “the Spirit is upon me” (similar to Jesus’ quote of Isaiah in the same synagogue in Lk 4). The second is of Paul writing that he’s content with weaknesses. It says here (Gospel of Mark) that Jesus simply 'began to teach', although in the Gospel of Luke, it says that he criticises the people and they try to throw him off a cliff! (Lk 4:16-30). The first reading is of the call of Ezekiel to preach to his people and that also involves criticising. In other words, it's a risky business! But if it's what God wants to say, then it's for good reason! I like the verb 'aportar' in Spanish which means 'to give a helpful correction'. That's different to a cold outright 'criticism' which would be just like an insult. But what moves Christ is love. A good doctor has to tell the truth and Jesus is a very good one! Jesus begins reading chapter 42 of Isaiah saying "the Spirit is upon me", and that chapter goes on to say what for: to heal the sick and free prisoners etc.. Jesus certainly went about putting that into practice. He escaped being thrown over the cliff, but ended up being crucified! He still goes through that. But of course, I don't mean that he 'ends up' crucified, but rather that he goes through it on his way to Resurrection. He wants to be resurrected in our hearts now. And of course he goes through all the trouble voluntarily, because he wants to show us that even if problems come our way as we allow the Spirit to move us in loving, it's well worth it. The Gospel doesn't end today saying that Jesus 'washed his hands' and gave up but that he moved on to other villages and kept preaching. He ended up having Pilate 'wash his hands' as Jesus got condemned. Fortunately, he has arrived at our 'village' today. Will we appreciate what he wants to say? Of course, that appreciation begins with listening and reading and giving time to a little contemplating. Think of what Jesus might like to say in your own personal 'synagogue' today! And thank him for the way he keeps trying to guide mankind, even if it means 'sticking his neck out' and getting nailed to a cross and still getting ignored by many! I like what Paul writes: ‘it’s when I’m weak that I’m strong’. If you’re ill then you can do less for yourself and you have to ask for help and that needs humility and I think that that humility actually makes you a stronger person. Christ shows us that… carrying a cross and then rising from the dead. My MS cross is very light but I’ll try to take that ‘train’ of Christ! .................Dara. - - En ESPAÑOL: - 14º Domingo: Ez 2:2-5, 2°Cor 12:7-10, Mc 6:1-6. El Evangelio de este Domingo habla del rechazo de Jesús por la gente de su propio pueblo en Nazarea. La primera lectura es de Ezequiel escribiendo “El Espíritu está sobre mí” (como lee Jesús de Isaías en la sinagoga en Lc 4). La segunda es de Pablo escribiendo que está contento aún con debilidades. Dice aquí (Evangelio de Marcos) simplemente que ‘Jesús empezó a enseñar’, aunque el Evangelio de Lucas dice que él criticó algunas cosas de la gente y ¡ellos intentaron echarle por un barranco! (Lc 4:16-30). La primera lectura es de la llamada de Ezequiel a predicar a su gente y aquello incluye criticarles. Es decir, ¡es una tarea arriesgada! Pero si es lo que Dios quiere comunicar, entonces es para el bien. Me gusta el verbo ‘aportar’ en español. Es distinto a una ‘crítica’ fría que sería como ‘insulto’. Pero la motivación constante de Cristo es el amor. Un buen médico debe decir siempre la verdad al paciente, y Jesús es uno muy bueno. Empieza leyendo el capítulo 42 de Isaías diciendo “El Espíritu de Dios está sobre mí”, y el capítulo sigue: ‘para curar enfermos y liberar cautivos’ etc... Lo cierto es que Jesús lo cumplió fielmente. Evitó ser tirado por el barranco y ¡llegó a ser crucificado! Sigue así hoy. No acabó crucificado, sino pasó por allí en su camino hacia la Resurrección. Quiere resucitar en nuestros corazones hoy. Y, claro, lo aguanta voluntariamente, porque quiere mostrarnos que aunque vengan problemas al dejarnos ser llevados por el Espíritu por caminos de entrega generosa, vale bien la pena. No dice hoy que Jesús ‘se lavó las manos’ y abandonó su misión, sino que fue a otros pueblos y continuó predicando. Acabó ante Pilatos que se lavó las manos ante la condenación Jesús. Gracias a Dios, ha llegado hasta nuestro ‘pueblo’ hoy. ¿Le acogeremos? Tal acogida significa escuchar y leer y pasar un poco de tiempo contemplando. ¡Piensa en lo que le gustaría a Jesús decir en nuestra ‘sinagoga’ personal hoy! Y démosle gracias por seguir guiando a la humanidad, aunque ¡no es fácil aguantar la cruz y aguantar estar ignorado toda vía por mucha gente! Me gusta como Pablo escribe ‘es cuando estoy débil que estoy fuerte’. Si estas infirmo entonces puedes hacer menos por ti mismo y tienes que pedir ayuda y eso necesita humildad y creo que tal humildad de hecho te hace mucho más fuerte. Cristo nos muestra esto… cargando una cruz y después resucitando de la muerte. La cruz de mi esclerosis múltiple es muy ligero pero ¡voy a intentar tomar ‘el tren’ de Cristo! .............. Dara. 13th Sunday: Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24. 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15. Mk 5:21-43. The Gospel this weekend is this: Mk 5:21-43 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea. 22 One of the synagogue officials, named Jairus, came forward. Seeing him he fell at his feet 23 and pleaded earnestly with him, saying, "My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her * that she may get well and live." 24 He went off with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed upon him. 25 There was a woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years. 26 She had suffered greatly at the hands of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet she was not helped but only grew worse. +27 She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. 28 She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." 29 Immediately her flow of blood dried up. She felt in her body that she was healed of her afflictio. 30 Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" 31 But his disciples said to him, "You see how the crowd is pressing upon you, and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 The woman, realizing what had happened to her, approached in fear and trembling. She fell down before Jesus and told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction." 35 While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue official's house arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher +any longer?" 36 Disregarding the message that was reported, Jesus said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." 37 He did not allow anyone to accompany him inside except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38 When they arrived at the house of the synagogue official, he caught sight of a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 So he went in and said to them, "Why this commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but asleep." 40 And they ridiculed him. Then he put them all out. He took along the child's father and mother and those who were with him and entered the room where the child was. 41 He took the child by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum," which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" 42 The girl, a child of twelve, arose immediately and walked around. (At that) they were utterly astounded. 43 He gave strict orders that no one should know this and said that she should be given something to eat. The first reading is this: Wis 1:13-15, 2:23-24. God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. 14 For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the nether world on earth, 15 For justice is undying… 2:23 For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. 24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are in his possession experience it. The second reading is this: 2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15. Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also… 9 * For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich… 13 not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality 14 your surplus at the present time should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. 15 As it is written: "Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less." MEDITATION: This Sunday deals with that big challenge which we all have to face: physical death! The call to help people and to share wealth with others (2ndreading) is included as a good way to prepare for that challenge. Of course it's relevant to me that the woman afflicted with haemorrhages had spent much money in vain on doctors! Christ cures much better. This crazy Irish doctor (me) became a priest! Some people may think that the reality of illness and death, which awaits us all, contradicts our faith in a loving God, but I think it's actually a clever twist on our path of life which gets us to ‘wake up’ and put effort into obeying Christ. The Trinity want to train us. A good sports trainer gets his lads to run and train hard in order to become good players. If they are eventually victorious, then they are grateful for the way the trainer had pushed them on and on. Christ is offering an eternal victory to us! I liked the way some good rugby trainers in my school used to run and train along with us, rather than shout instructions from the side-line. The Son of God himself became flesh And blood like us precisely so that we wouldn't feel alone as we put effort into our 'training'. He voluntarily 'carries the load' along with us. In fact He carries a much bigger load. The way He carried the cross up the 'vía dolorosa' to Calvary represents the way God is continually putting effort into our victory. Some may complain that if there is an almighty Trinity, then it's them that have imposed problems on us such as illness and death, but the fact that we are all limited by illness and death, doesn't mean that they must be bad! I see them as challenges that inspire us to make effort and thereby they rescue us from the proud, lazy mistake of thinking that we don't need to take Christ seriously. If a solution is offered to us, as is offered by Christ, then it's well worth while for us to put effort into obeying Him. It means facing up to challenges and resisting temptations, but it's for our own good. All of us have to resist some kind of temptations, and I suppose that that's why we say that the devil is an active individual that inflights death on us (First reading). But rather than some kind of active supernatural creature out there, I suppose talking of the 'devil' is a symbolic way of talking of the tendency inside all of us to avoid the call of Christ when it requires effort. So the Trinity are trying to cure death rather than having allowed some devil to cause it. But will we allow them to cure us? Jesus undertook death for us in order to overcome death. He opened the gateway to eternal life. We thank him for that ('eucharist'), and not just by appearing at mass on Sunday, but by loving with generosity throughout the week. I suppose that's why the second reading is there today. Paul is asking the wealthy Corinthians to help the poor. Jesus doesn't prevent our physical deaths, but he opens the door to Eternal Life, so let’s put effort into going through that door! ……………Dara. En Español: 13º Domingo: Sabiduría 1:13-15, 2:23-24. 2ºCor 8:7, 9, 13-15. Mc 5:21-43. Este domingo habla del desafío grande que nos espera a todos: ¡la muerte física! La llamada a ayudar a la gente y a compartir con otros (2º lectura) es incluida como forma buena de prepararse para este desafío. ¡Claro es pertinente a mí que la mujer afligida con hemorragias había gastado mucho dinero en vano en doctores! Cristo cura mucho mejor. ¡Este doctor irlandés loco (yo) llegó a ser un sacerdote! Algunas personas pueden pensar que la realidad de enfermedad y muerte que nos espera a todos contradice nuestra fe en un Dios amoroso, pero yo creo que realmente es una torcedura diestra en nuestro camino de vida que nos hace poner el esfuerzo en obedecer a Cristo. La Trinidad quiere entrenarnos. Un entrenador bueno de los deportes les hace a sus muchachos correr y entrenar difícilmente para llegar a ser jugadores buenos. Si son finalmente victoriosos, entonces agradecen que el entrenador los había empujado a entrenar. ¡Cristo está ofreciendo una victoria eterna a nosotros! Me gustaba como algunos entrenadores buenos del rugby en mi escuela corrían y entrenaban junto con nosotros, en lugar de simplemente gritar instrucciones desde los lados. El mismo Hijo de Dios se encarnó y vivió en nuestra tierra precisamente para que no nos sintiéramos solos cuando nos toca esforzarnos en nuestro ‘entrenamiento’. Él voluntariamente 'lleva la carga' junto con nosotros. De hecho, Él lleva una carga mucho más grande. Él llevó la cruz por ‘la via dolorosa’ al Calvario y eso representa como Dios está poniendo el esfuerzo continuamente en nuestra victoria. Algunos pueden quejarse de que si hay un Trinidad omnipotente, entonces son Ellos que han impuesto los problemas como la enfermedad y la muerte, pero el hecho de que estamos todos limitados por enfermedades y la muerte, no significa que ellos son una pena. Los veo como desafíos que nos inspiran a poner esfuerzo y entonces nos rescatan del error orgulloso de pensar que no necesitamos tomar a Cristo en serio. Si una solución nos está ofrecida, como ofrece Cristo, entonces merece bien la pena poner el esfuerzo en obedecerle. Significa aguantar desafíos y resistir tentaciones, pero es para nuestro propio bien. Todos tenemos que resistir algún tipo de tentación, y la primera lectura dice que el diablo es un individuo activo que nos impone la muerte. Pero, no creo que está hablando de alguna criatura activa sobrenatural, sino creo que hablar del 'diablo' es una forma simbólica de hablar de la tendencia que tenemos todos por dentro de perezosamente evitar la llamada de Cristo. La Trinidad está intentando curar la muerte y no es que dejan a algún diablo causarla. ¿Pero les permitiremos curarnos a nosotros? Jesús emprendió la muerte para nosotros para superar la muerte. Él abrió la entrada a la vida eterna. Le agradecemos eso ('la eucaristía'), pero no solamente apareciendo a la misa el domingo, sino amando generosamente a lo largo de la semana. Supongo que es por eso que la segunda lectura está allí hoy. Pablo está pidiéndoles a los corintios adinerados que ayuden a los pobres. Jesús no previene nuestras muertes físicas, sino abre la puerta a la Vida Eterna, ¡entonces pongamos esfuerzo para entrar por esa puerta! ………………Dara. Sunday June 21: Job 3:1, 8-11. 2 Cor 5:14-17. Mk 4:35-41. The Gospel this weekend is this: Mk 4:35-41. On that day, as evening drew on, he said to them, "Let us cross to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. 38 Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" 39 He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. 40 Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" 41 They were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?" The first reading is this: Job 3:1, 8-11. 1 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day… 8 Let them curse it who curse the sea, the appointed disturbers of Leviathan! 9 May the stars of its twilight be darkened; may it look for daylight, but have none, nor gaze on the eyes of the dawn, 10 Because it kept not shut the doors of the womb to shield my eyes from trouble! 11 Why did I not perish at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? The second reading is this: 2 Cor 5:14-17. For the love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. 15 He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 Consequently, * from now on we regard no one according to the flesh; even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer. 17 So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. MEDITATION: This Sunday Jesus calms the storm on the sea and criticises the apostles for their lack of faith. Getting tossed around in a little boat in a wavy storm doesn't sound like a very pleasant trip, yet Jesus was having a snooze on a cushion in the stern! Of course Jesus had a strong faith, since he is God himself! I think it's calling us all to allow God make our faith firm, so that problems or disappointments don't knock us down. The first reading of Job mentions directly 'the appointed disturbers of Leviathan' (a mythological dragon), but the whole book of Job is relevant because he's a guy who had to go through illness and bad luck. At first he complained about what God had done, but forty chapters later, he gets sense and appreciates that it's not for us to complain to God, since God knows much more than we do. Things then turn out well for Job. Multiple sclerosis is a little example. In the same year that mine was diagnosed (1998), about sixteen people in Leinster (my province) were diagnosed, and of those, six poor souls actually committed suicide. The gift of faith is a really important gift. But as 'storms' come my way in life I won't say “O.K. Lord, I've decided that I'm going to have firm faith in you”, rather I'll humbly ask “Please, Lord, increase my faith in you”! Faith is a gift but also it's up to us to seek it and when we hear his word, to open up to it. It's not always an easy thing to accept at first. It challenges us and gets us to question ourselves, but that's for our good. It's like the way a sports trainer has to push his lads to train well. Our advanced modern world of riches, honours and pleasures will send plenty of temptations, and, in a way, that's like wind and waves on the sea! So let's train well! Also, sometimes living in the world is like waiting for a train in a station. There are many simple things to keep us occupied and entertained like books to read and coffee to drink, and some will enjoy just sitting down and having a rest. But when the right train arrives, one stands up and gets on! The call of Christ is like that. One may have been quite comfortable sitting down, but one doesn't stay there. I think that the incarnation of Christ is like that arrival, so let's get on! Jesus was the Son of God whereas we're just flesh and blood, but he became flesh and blood like us (incarnate) and doesn't ask us to simply praise and applaud him, but to follow him. That is to say to free ourselves of the traps of mundane riches, honours and pleasures. The call is often far from the mundane ambitions that the world has tried to instil in us, so the second reading has Paul asking the Corinthians to open up to a new way of life. The way of Jesus is certainly 'new', but do we really open up to it? Some may fear that being in the Church brings nothing but rules and regulations, but being in the Church involves being in Christ, and it's actually a question of opening up to a real freedom. 'Jesus then said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."' (Jn 8:31-32). When the caterpillar becomes a butterfly it undergoes what's called metamorphosis - 'change of body' - it leaves it's 'old self' behind. That reflects nicely the call of God to us all. We can 'sprout wings and fly'! The call isn't to mechanically repeat things of the past, rather the life of Jesus, St Paul and the many others in the Bible, are there to instruct and inspire us so that we thereafter allow God to write His Word anew in our own lives. As St Paul put it: we become 'living letters'! 'Poverty, chastity and obedience' are called the 'evangelical councils' for people like me with a vocation. But in a way they're really for everyone. They are a challenge and also a gift. More than a set of 'instructions to follow', I think this is all a question of being in love with Love! People in love gladly do 'crazy' things - and such craziness turns out to be sensible! There are times for making long-term decisions and commitments and faithfulness is great, but we also have to be open to whatever novelties God may want. The one permanent thing is His love and our confident 'trusting' in Him is the thing that need never change! Nearly all Saints had 'storms'… at some stage… but we presume that they ended up in paradise! Christ calls all of us, in some way, to 'cross to the other side'. My religious vocation is one little example among many. Even the wind and sea obey Him this Sunday, and I hope that I am obeying too! The M.S. is just another ‘breeze’ blowing. ...........Dara. En Español: Domingo 12º: Job 3:1, 8-11. 2ºCor 5:14-17. Mc 4:35-41. Este domingo Jesús calma la tormenta en el mar y critica a los apóstoles por su falta de fe. ¡Estar dando vueltas en un pequeño barco en una tormenta ondulada no parece un viaje muy agradable, sin embargo Jesús estaba descansándose sobre un cojín en la parte atrás! ¡No es sorprendente que Jesús tenía una fe fuerte, ya que él era Dios mismo! Creo que nos está llamando a permitirle a Dios afirmar nuestra propia fe, para que problemas o desilusiones no nos derriben. La primera lectura de Job menciona 'los fastidios de Leviatán' (un dragón mitológico), pero el libro entero de Job es pertinente porque él es un tipo que tenía que pasar por enfermedad y mala suerte. Al principio se quejó de lo que Dios le había hecho, pero cuarenta capítulos después, llega a la conclusión que no es para nosotros quejarnos a Dios, ya que Dios sabe mucho más que nosotros. Las cosas después resultan bien para Job. La esclerosis múltiple es un pequeño ejemplo. En el mismo año que la mía fue diagnosticada (1998), se diagnosticó a aproximadamente dieciséis personas en Leinster (mi provincia), y de aquéllos, seis pobrecillos se suicidaron. El regalo de la fe es un regalo muy importante. Pero cuando me pasan ‘tormentas’ en la vida, no voy a decir al Señor "O.K., he decidido que voy a tener la fe firme en ti", más bien voy a pedirle humildemente "Por favor, Señor, aumente mi fe en ti"! La Fe es un regalo pero también depende de nosotros buscarlo y abrirnos a su Palabra cuando la leemos. No es siempre fácil aceptarla al principio. Nos desafía y nos hace cuestionarnos a nosotros mismos, pero eso es para nuestro bien. Es como un entrenador de deportes tiene que empujar a sus muchachos para entrenar bien (“A por ellos!”). ¡Nuestro mundo moderno avanzado, de riquezas, honores y placeres nos presenta tentaciones suficientes, y en cierto modo, eso es como el viento y las olas en el mar! ¡Entonces que entrenemos bien! También, a veces viviendo en el mundo es como esperar por un tren en una estación. Hay muchas cosas simples para mantenernos ocupados y entretenidos, como los libros para leer y el café para beber, y a algunos les gustaría simplemente sentarse y descansar. ¡Pero cuando el tren correcto llega, uno se pone de pie y se monta! La llamada de Cristo es así. Uno puede haber estado sentándose bastante cómodo, pero uno no se queda allí. Creo que la encarnación de Cristo es como esa llegada, ¡entonces montémonos! Jesús era el Hijo de Dios pero nosotros somos sólo carne y sangres, pero él se hizo carne y sangre como nosotros (encarnado) y no nos pide simplemente alabarle y aplaudirle, sino nos llama a seguirle. Es decir a librarse de las trampas de riquezas, honores y placeres mundanas. La llamada muchas veces nos pide alejarnos de las ambiciones mundanas que el mundo ha intentado instilar en nosotros, entonces en la segunda lectura Pablo les pide a los corintios que se abrieran a un nuevo estilo de vida. El estilo de Jesús es ciertamente 'nuevo', pero ¿realmente nos abrimos a él? Algunos pueden temer que estar en la iglesia no nos trae más que reglas y regulaciones, pero estar en la iglesia involucra estar en Cristo, y esto realmente nos lleva a una libertad real. 'Jesús dijo entonces a esos judíos que creyeron en él, "Si permanecéis en mi palabra, seréis de verdad mis discípulos, y sabréis la verdad, y la verdad os hará libres".' (Jn 8:31-32). Cuando el gusano cambia en mariposa, pasa por lo que se llama la metamorfosis - 'el cambio de cuerpo' - 'el ego viejo' sale. Eso refleja bien la llamada de Dios a nosotros todos. ¡Podemos hacer brotar 'las alas y volar'! No estamos llamados a mecánicamente repetir cosas del pasado, más bien las vidas de Jesús, de San Pablo y de los muchos otros en la Biblia, nos instruyen y nos inspiraran a dejarle a Dios escribir su Palabra nuevamente en nuestras propias vidas. ¡Como dice San Pablo: ‘Hemos llegados a ser cartas vivas’! La pobreza, castidad y obediencia son para las personas como mí con una vocación. Pero en cierto modo, son para todos. Son un desafío y también un regalo. Más que ‘instrucciones para obedecer’, creo que se trata de estar enamorado con el Amor! ¡Las personas enamoradas alegremente hacen cosas locas - y tal locura a veces resulta ser muy sensata! A veces hace falta hacer decisiones a largo plazo y con compromisos que son grandes, pero también tenemos que estar abiertos a cualquier novedad que Dios quiere. ¡Lo que sabemos que es permanente es su amor, y nunca habrá falta dejar esta confianza. ¡Casi todos los Santos tenían ‘tormentas’, en alguna fase, pero ellos terminaron en el paraíso! Cristo nos llama a todos, de alguna manera, a 'cruzar al otro lado’. ¡Aún el viento y el mar le obedecen este domingo, y espero que yo también le esté obedeciendo! ........... Dara. |
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