Thursday, April 24, 2025

 

El papa Francisco y la misericordia de Dios

 

     Antes de qué ocurriera la partida del papa Francisco a la casa del Padre, ya había decidido escribir mi reflexión para el domingo de la divina misericordia sobre el impacto de éste en el crecimiento espiritual de cada uno de nosotros, miembros del pueblo de Dios.

 

Mientras reflexionaba sobre la triste noticia del lunes de Pascua, triste pero preñada de Esperanza, me encontré con un artículo escrito en el Magazine, “ Time “ cuyo autor es el periodista y escritor británico, Austen Everereight quién también es el autor de dos biografías del Santo padre Francisco. En este artículo el autor propone que el logro más grande del Papa Francisco durante sus 12 años de pontificado fue su énfasis en la misericordia de Dios.

 

Es que la importancia que el Santo padre Francisco da a predicar y a tratar a los demás de acuerdo a la misericordia de Dios, tiene profundas raíces en su vida espiritual.  Como obispo escogió como lema para su escudo episcopal la frase latina, “Miserando ataque eligiendo“, qué significa,’ mirándolo con misericordia lo eligió”, La frase se refiere a la vocación de San Mateo y tiene un significado particular para el Santo padre Francisco por,que cuando tenía 17 años, fue a confesarse el día de la fiesta de San Mateo y esa experiencia le hizo entender de manera completamente nueva la infinita capacidad de perdonar de Dios y sintió la llamada al sacerdocio.

 

Francisco no es el primer papa en enfatizar la necesidad de proclamar la misericordia de Dios. Sus dos precursores, San Juan Pablo II y el Papa Benedicto XIII estaban convencidos, al igual que el, de la necesidad de que la iglesia en su magisterio diera la misma importancia a proclamar la misericordia de Dios quedaba a la enseñanza de la doctrina de la Fe, la moral y la verdad.

 

El papa Benedicto sostenía que el vínculo de unión entre su precursor, San Juan Pablo II, el, y su sucesor, el Papa Francisco era la visión de la  importante necesidad de enseñar la misericordia de Dios en el magisterio de la iglesia.

 

Afirma este periodista qué lo que hace al Papa Francisco diferente de sus precursores es la manera audaz y radical de poner la realidad de la gran misericordia, lo que Francisco  llama,“ El estilo de Dios “ en el centro, en el corazón de todo lo que la iglesia enseña y hace.

 

En la manera que Francisco manejó y administró su pontificado, modelo lo que proclamaba. Un ejemplo es su reforma de la curia. No solamente cambió el personal sino que la manera de actuar de los nuevos líderes estaba basada en el espíritu no en la letra de la ley.

 

Francisco proclamó el año santo de la misericordia en el 20 16, escribió una exhortación titulada, “Vultus Misercordiae“ , el rostro de la misericordia, pero es en su manera de mara de ser y de actuar que mostró  la gran misericordia de Dios, el rostro de Dios.

   Visitó las cárceles.  Éste pasado jueves santo lo hizo.  Cuando  tenía salud, lavaba los pies de los confinados. Mandó a poner duchas en el Vaticano para que los deambulantes pudieran asearse, abogó por y dio la bienvenida a inmigrantes, escribió sobre la necesidad de proteger nuestro planeta…

 

Demostró mediante sus escritos y sus obras que la misericordia no supone un relajamiento, una excepción a la ley. No,la palabra misericordia significa extender el corazón a los que sufren. Nuestro Señor Jesucristo no vino a abolir la ley, vino a demostrar una nueva manera de cumplirla, la manera en que Dios se relaciona con nosotros. Con su manera de ser, con su manera de vivir, con su manera de obrar, el Papa Francisco nos mostró y fue modelo para nosotros de la misericordia de Dios; nos Reveló el rostro de Dios.

 

 Este próximo domingo, el domingo de la gran misericordia de Dios, te deseo que sientas de manera especial esa gran gracia.  Que sientas Su perdón  y su amor y que te dispongas a tratar a los demás de la manera que Dios nos trata.

 

El caballero de Nuestra Señora

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, April 18, 2025

The Power of Sacred Silence

 

We live in a world where life is equated with noise.  People gauge a productive life as one that’s filled with noise and much activity.  They look at solitude and quiet as lack of production, as a waste of time.    However, for those who get to experience quiet, we can appreciate that quiet gives God room to be God.

So often we are expecting God to work in dramatic and powerful ways.  We expect God to act and interject himself in demonstrative ways..  And indeed we can say he works in the dramatic.  Just think of the famous story of God appearing to Moses in that burning bush.  It was a great Theophany, a manifestation of God’s presence, or perhaps God parting the waters of the Red Sea.

Yet, however, we are fooled into thinking that when God doesn’t  come in those ways, that he is absent.  We think quiet means absence.  We think silence is inactivity.  We even think lack of noise is defeat.

In these days, as we do each year during Holy Week, especially in the sacred three days of the Triduum, we get to experience much activity, the greatest activity of love.  Jesus suffers the great agony in the garden; he is betrayed; he is arrested; he is put on trial; he is sentenced to be executed, even in his innocence.  He suffers a tremendously violent and, if you will, loud amount of suffering.  He is made to carry the cross that he will die on. And when he dies, there is silence.  It will appear that he has been defeated, that taking on our sins was just a waste of time.  Following those hours on the cross, when he breathes his last, there is silence. That silence can seem defeating. 

In the hours following Jesus’s dying on the cross, there was silence.  Those who had followed him, even his own mother, were left wondering, was the silence going to mean that Jesus would be absent from them forever.?  Did sin and death have the final word?  Perhaps when we endure suffering and loss, we ask why was God silent?  Was God absent?  And yet our faith reminds us that sin and death do not have the final word.  During the time from Good Friday afternoon, through Holy Saturday, until the night when he would rise from the dead, God was indeed working.  And in that morning, that first Easter morning, Mary of Magdala would be experiencing that silence, that darkness.  It was early in the morning.  We all have experienced that quiet, just prior to dawn.  All creation seem still. Mary sees the stone rolled away.  She sees the empty tomb.  Maybe she didn’t  fully grasp what had happened.   God, in the silence, had accomplished the greatest accomplishment.  So she runs and breaks the silence, telling them that Jesus is no longer in the tomb. And because of that, we can be assured today, that what we experience in suffering or witness in the suffering of others is never going to have the final word.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  He is never absent to us.  In fact he is present to us so often in the silence in which we feel he is missing.  And so let’s be open to God working in silence, in the quiet.  In that silence and quiet, we discover the faithfulness of God.  Let us run and break the silence and tell others the Good News!

That saving sacrifice of Jesus open for all of us the gates to eternal life.  As we go forward, let us remember that in all times, in all things, even in the silence, God is never absent.  He is alive and working to transform all of us to eternal life.  May he be praised both now and forever. Amen.

- The Servant

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

 

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Luke 19:28-40

 

Palm Sunday.

Two thoughts:

 

First.   Once again we hear the story of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem as he is greeted with love, joy and adulation.  Why do they greet him so?  Some see him as the long-awaited Messiah, the Savior, who will overthrow their oppressors and restore Israel to its former glory.  In other words, they see Jesus primarily as a political figure.  Others see him as the Healer who miraculously restores individuals to health, ending their suffering and afflictions.  Lastly, others see him as the Son of Man sent by the Father who brings the essence of God’s Spirit to everyone:  the graces of love, charity, forgiveness, mercy, peace, deep joy, hope, consolation and wisdom.

 

The challenge to us, of course, is:  which Jesus do we present to the those who greet us on the road to “Jerusalem”?   Which Jesus do people see in us as we journey through life? Do people see, in me, the Jesus who is the political figure who promises a worldly peace and a better way of life here and now?  Do people see, in me, the Jesus who performs miracles?   Takes away worldly suffering?  Do people see, in me, the Jesus who accepts everyone, bestowing the Father’s graces to anyone in need?  Forgiveness to those who need it.  Strength to those who need it.  Hope to those who need it.  Et cetera.

 

Much to ponder as we witness Jesus’ triumphant entry today.

 

Second.  Once again we hear the story of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem as he is greeted with love, joy and adulation.  But each year, as we hear it, our minds already know that the glory of his entrance will be replaced by the disgrace of his crucifixion, which, in turn, will be replaced with the true and everlasting glory of his resurrection.

 

The challenge to us, of course, is to see that very same progression in our own lives.  We know that life can change in a second, in a heartbeat.  Without being irreverent, I think of the words in the Sinatra standard That’s Life:   “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May.”  We’re loved one moment, disgraced the next.  We’re living the good life (“La Dolce Vita”) and then suffering takes over.  Do we give up?  Do we give in to despair?  Do we become disillusioned? Do we think God has abandoned us?  Do we lose our faith?  Or do we see God in all things – even during our suffering?  Do we fully embrace the knowledge in our souls that God’s love will always triumph; that God’s love never fails; that nothing can separate us from God; that God has the last word; that all of God’s graces will replace all disgraces?  Do we know in our hearts that Jesus shares his resurrection with us, and that our own resurrection, our own new life, is imminent… if only we believe?

 

Much to ponder as we continue our journey through the Holy Days.

 

 

“Call Me Ishmael”