Father Alex Blog

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

2011-12-09T12:43:00.001-08:00

“There is one among you whom you do not recognize”

(Jn.1, 6-8.19-28)

Rev. Alexander Díaz

We are celebrating the Third Sunday of Advent, it seems the Gospel is the same we heard from Mark’s mouth last week. In reality, it has similar phrases and you can say it has the same meaning, the preparation for the coming of Jesus and the vigilant listening of the voice that invites us to conversion.

The Liturgy fully announces us a big period and it seems that today’s world have lost it and it is of great joy. St Paul invites us and tells us: “be always happy in the Lord”. Even though is true we are living times of intense tension and even of dejection.

There is a huge list of interminable reasons to feel dejected and sadden, the violence does not cease all over the world, the injustice that cover the life of millions of people, the indifference to the Gospel’s Good News by our satisfied society in its own network, the non-support of the poor and weak.

So, so many reasons for dejection and sadness. But today, we have a joyful announcement, as done by Isaiah and Paul at one time. As St. John Crisostomo said: “Real happiness is found in the Lord. All other things apart from being moveable, do not give us so much joy to prevent the sadness caused by other matters. Hence, the fear of God will produce it inefficient, because when the fear of God is as it should be, even though you fear, you also trust in Him and this allows you to acquire the fountain of pleasure and the spring of all joy”.

The Prophet Isaiah have profoundly reflected about the true plan of God. This will not be manifested in a brilliant way as men expects, rather it will be known thru an “anointed”, who is worried most of all about the poor of this world. This salvation will be manifested thru the justice and the praise to a Living God.

The Apostle Saint Paul wrote to the Thessalonians Community. He invites them to fully live their lives in God, manifested fully in Jesus Christ, the true joy. The assurance of the closeness of the Lord, should adhere to all your Christian life, which is define in three aspects: the confident and peaceful joy, under all circumstances; the overcoming of all worries and anguish; the prayer of petition and thanksgiving to the God of peace.

In today’s Sunday gospel there is a particular phrase that caught my attention, when John responds to the question of the Pharisees: “There is one among you, whom you do not recognize”. (Jn.1,6-8) and it caught my attention because truly, many of us have not yet discovered the joy of His presence among us, that is why we cannot discover the Joy.

The text begins saying: “A Man emerged”, John is only described as a man, without any qualifications; the text does not mention his social or religious condition. But his mission is emphasized, which was to give testimony of the light, he was not the light but a witness of the light.

We all wish to be disciples of Jesus, we are called to be witnesses as John was, men and women following John’s humbleness, who did not misunderstood his mission, he did not take merits that were not his, he only call out for us to wait and he showed the light of grace on his mission with perseverance.

The apparition of John in the Jordan and his impact to the town people, made the top leaders, the ones in authority very nervous. It is very interesting to see that when the prophets spoke and showed divine authority, the powerful ones got nervous and uncomfortable.

That is the reason why the Jews in Jerusalem sent a committee of priests and Levites to ask him: ¿Who are you?... John answered with a negative response, he is none of the ones they think, he is not what their traditions believed. He does not speak at any time of speculations, he simply and straightforward repeats: “I am the voice of one crying out in the dessert”

Saint Agustin said that the” word” can be recognized by the” voice”. The “voice” is the organ thru which we recognize the word. The voice, without words is a sound that bothers the ears. The Lord is the “word” and John is the voice that announces the Lord. John knows very well who Jesus is and he proclaims Him in the dessert. John is an instrument that God uses to let other know Jesus.

John conceived Jesus in his heart, and his mouth spoke of Him. We all are and should be the voice of the Lord. We must talk about Jesus, especially now, during the Christmas season. John is the voice that cries in the dessert and it is fruitful, even though it was not what they were awaiting for, because the voice was not heard as it should have been. In many occasions we too, have the feeling, the impression of preaching in the dessert.

The parents who have raised their children as Christians now they see these children not going to church or practicing their faith, they do not want to hear about God, they feel disappointed, guilty and with a feeling of anguish. ¿Have we preached in the dessert? No, no, it is not so. All labor, all effort is fruitful, even though many times we don’t see it immediately, but rather, later on in time. One of the sins of omission, is not to talk about Jesus.

In this season of Advent, we have to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus with joy on Christmas Day. Saint Agustin said that John cried out so Jesus may come into our hearts, but He will not come unless we “set straight the way of the Lord”. To set straight the way of the Lord is to be always joyful, happy. Saint Paul said: “Rejoice always in the Lord, I repeat, rejoice always”.

When we talk about joyfully preparing the Christmas feast, we should do it solemnly, with a joyful spirit. We want to make reference to the happiness that instills itself in our spirit, there, in the place where this joy encounters the communion with the Spirit of God and is shaken by Him. It is not to close our eyes to the reality, but instead, to abandon ourselves in the arms of the Lord.

Amen!!

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

2011-12-03T13:28:00.001-08:00

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths”

(Mark 1,1-8)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today we begin to read the gospel according to Saint Mark. The word “Gospel” means “Good News”. Which means, that it is something good, something big, something capable of making us happy, something which causes this vessel of clay to overflow, this and more represents the Holy Gospel.

The message touches the individual and also touches society as a whole, it touches the body and the soul; it goes way down and touches the deepest part of the Spirit. The “Good News” which transforms us, that uplifts us.

The “Good News” that make us according to God’s plans, our Creator. The Bearer and Consumer is Christ. None other than the Son of God. He brings us the Good News as we are the direct addresses of this grace.

This is something very curious, rather odd, the Good News which should make us happy and joyful, begin with a call for penance and conversion. Nowadays, we are exposed to multiple factors of alignment and real slavery, sometimes is the absolute empire of the scientific reason , badly understood, that suffocates our being, what we are.

Other times, we install ourselves in a superficial life that does not allow us to reach out and touch our own hearts. We are only interested in our immediate satisfaction, there is no room for God in our lives. Frequently, the emptiness left by the absence of God, is filled with the “modern gods”, like money, social prestige, sex, having fun, the standards of living, the consumption of things, etc.

But life’s profound dimension is kept suppressed and it disturbs our relation with God, our relation with our brothers and sisters. In these days of Advent we have to listen again to the voice of John and we have to recognize our own faults, we have to leave our bad habits behind, and start all over again.

Be a free, loose and liberated man. Without palaces, without luxurious clothing, without ornaments, without any kind of ties, to be able to shout to all: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight His paths.” (Mc.1,3) This means to remove the obstacles that prevent the arrival of the Lord in our lives, nothing will block the doors of our hearts to His presence which is coming to liberate us, to free us.

The Voice of God in the dessert. This invitation is good news that awakens our hopes, hope that is not a cheap optimism or the search of naive consolation, but rather a way to confront life from our radical trust in God. A frequent question is: ¿Who are those who prepare the way of the Lord” They prepare the way of the Lord and open doors to those who make an effort to “make straight His paths”.

These are the ones who, with a systematic effort are willing to acquire the virtues that quickens the coming of the Lord into their hearts. Therefore, !Dispose of, remove the selfishness and attachments to material goods and cover yourself with generous and open handed attitudes! Dispose of the insensibility in front of your neighbor’s needs. Cover yourself with love and charity which become a reality with attitudes and initiatives of your solidarity.

Get rid of the gossip, the slander, the defamation, of talking bad behind other peoples’ who are not present to defend themselves, of obscene, indecent and crude language and cover yourself with a speech that is reverent, that looks to edify, build up, make others look and feel good. Someone who really loves, do not bear to wait, he wants “now”, the presence of his/her loved one.

If you love God with all your heart, “lower the mountain and hills”, get rid of all obstacles, clean your heart of all sin, vice and bad habits which will prevent Him from coming and staying in your heart. At the same time “make straight the paths” , clothes yourself with Christ and His virtues, make a great effort to think, love and live like Him.

We should not forget that the continuous effort of conversion will be totally useless and sterile, if we do not go constantly to the Lord in prayer, if we do not turn to the sacraments where we will find the strength and grace we need, where we will find the Lord Himself. “Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15,5).

He will make fruitful all your efforts, if you constantly go to Him and fight with patience and perseverance. Hence, in all your struggles and efforts, be persistent in your daily prayers, in the constant, intimate dialogue that is your encounter with the Lord, listen to His words.

We are renovated, transformed, we are children, sons and daughters of the Father. We are His confidants, we are His friends, we are the heirs of His Glory. We are heirs of His Kingdom. To all these we call Salvation and we are short.

The Salvation takes place right now in an admirable manner, but “Tomorrow”, the Great Day of the Lord, will be revealed completely to us. We have to prepare ourselves, be ready.

We have to do penance and believe in the Gospel, AMEN!

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

2011-11-25T16:57:00.001-08:00

“Be Watchful! Be Alert! You do not know when the time will come”

Mc.1,33-37

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday we begin the Advent time. Advent from the “latin” word “adventus”which means “the coming”. In theChristian language it refers to the coming of Jesus Christ. The Church’s liturgy gives thename “Advent” to the four weekspreceding Christmas, giving us the opportunity to prepare ourselves in hope andrepentance for the coming of the Lord. This time invites us to be watchful, to be alert, before the arrivalof the Lord. To wait is tobe in constant and responsible vigilance.

There are people who await certain definite events intheir lives. They wait in a globalmanner for a lucky event, for example: win the lottery or wait for a situationto happen after a considerable effort and that is all fine and good, forsomeone who does not know the Gospel. But for a Christian, the waiting is different, because our expectationmoves thru the present and the future. We should wait, not from our prospects but in therhythm marked by God, one step at a time, slowly. Our waiting is free, but above all, secure. Our waiting supersedes all humanknowledge.

To wait for Jesus is something completely different, is toaccept what we already know, weawait for Jesus, the love of all loves, the love that destroys every occasionof darkness and sin. Somethinginteresting about this Sunday’s liturgy is that the Lord does not tell us whenHis definite coming will be.

To me, it have always been somewhat disrespectful, whenmany groups have been daring enough to affirm in various occasion the end ofthe world with concrete dates. They have filled with fear and doubt so manyindividuals who are so naïve to believe these charlatans. The Word of God does not tell usanything about this ending.

The Word of God only invites us to be alert andwatchful. We have to be alert inorder to discover the passing of the Lord thru our lives. Be alert to discover His invitation tochange and to convert. This Word invitesus to accept three commitments: Tobe alert, to be watchful and to pray without ceasing, constantly.

Alert to ensure that nothing distracts us from watchingout for the coming of the Lord. There are lots of things that can distract usfrom discovering the Lord. It isrelatively easy to distant ourselves from God and even hide from Him. It is very difficult to stay withGod, because the reality of the world does not help us at all. To be watchful, to be awake, to be ableto discover in the night of life, in the shadows of our “self” and see thelight of Christ that comes.

To watch means to allow Jesus to illuminate ourlives. Pray, waitalert, watching in prayer. It isnot to wait in any which way; but with a prayerful attitude, the attitude of ahelpless child, of someone who is in reality and truth awaiting the Lord. To wait prayerfully without gettingdesperate or losing our cool, await calmly. When you pray, the waiting is not tiring, it acquiresa sense of value and transforms our hearts. Whoever does not know how to wait confident in the Lord,gets desperate.

Today’s world is not prone to advise you to wait. Everything has to be quickly, fast,eat, clean, repair, photos, communication, etc, etc. Today’s world have beenthought of to deal with what the human being has created. To wait for the Gospel, instead, addsto the most intimate part of the human being: a person does not change in oneday or in a quick manner. A person does not automatically have a change ofheart or interior.

Hence, the necessity to wait for the Lord. The Christian therefore,must live as a sentinel of hope in the night of the world. Something that should be characteristic ofa Christian is, his joyful hope in the triumph of Christ over evil and oversin. In truth, there are manymotives of suffering and of darkness for men.

The deep moral pains, illnesses, the personal misfortune,the “boredom of life”, the huge catastrophes that destroy whole cities andtowns. It seems that everythingaround us invites us to feel downhearted. Yet, Christ appears in the path of our lives and reminds us that thedarkness have been defeated and that we must live as children of thelight. Christ invites us to be“sentinels of the morning”, sentinels of hope, to be preachers of the Good Newsof salvation.

In this sense we should nurture the capacity of wonder infront of all this created world. Blessed John Paul II (second) affirmed: “It is necessary to open oureyes to admire God, who hides from us and at the same shows Himself on allthings and introduces us to the spaces of mystery”.

The technological culture and our excessive immersion onthe material realities, frequently prevent us from perceiving the hidden faceof things. In reality, for someonewho knows how to read in depth, each thing, each event, brings a message thatin the last analysis, takes us to God.

The signs that reveal the presence of God are therefore,multiples.

But in order not to let them get away from us, we have tobe pure and humble like children (Mt.18,3-4). We should be able to be amazed, surprised, astonished,delighted, in wonder by the divine gestures of love and closeness He has forall of us.

AMEN!!

SOLEMNITY OF JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

2011-11-18T13:37:00.001-08:00

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you”
(Mt.25, 31-46)
Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday is the end of the liturgical year and next Sunday we begin the time of Advent, which is the preparation of the Christmas mysteries. The liturgical year has, as solemn ending, the feast of Christ, King of the Universe.

The subject developed in today’s Gospel is the last act of human history or final judgment.   ¿What is the story shown to us about final judgment? In spite of all the manipulations and traps that prevent human justice to prevail, at the end of times the justice of God will be manifested based on the truth, that cannot be bought or intimidated.

The impunity of the offense intimidates the honest citizens and encourages the criminals. In the everyday life it seems that the evil forces prevail. But it is an apparent triumph, since it won’t be able to avoid the final accountability. We will be judge for what we did or what we did not do for others.

In the Pharisee’s mentality, the fidelity to God was measured according to how they carried out all the numerous norms they had and the fulfillment of the rites described in their minimal details. It is the Lord the only judge of every person and redeemer of all. He does not talk to us about an abstract and remote divinity, distant from the world but from God made man, who gave Himself to save us and was left disguised as poor and weak by our side.

This gospel comes to remind us that to follow Jesus is not something theoretical but practical. We don’t follow Jesus by merely reading books or following theories which are more or less convenient. The encounter with the Lord is given through every day life, on every corner of the world and in our interior.

There are people who are extremely preoccupied of what they will be carrying in their hands when they meet the Lord; it will be the good deeds which will determine the encounter. The more good deeds we do, the closer to God we will be. And I think it will be just, otherwise. I am not referring about not doing good deeds. Good deeds are the most clear distinctive of the Christian.

Faith and deeds must be united in the well understood synthesis of the Gospel. I am referring to the life of a Christian, that is not only to accumulate good deeds to present to the Lord so he can see who we are, instead, that the good deeds should be accompanied by a total giving of oneself and in sublime love.

Not do these deeds because it is written in the Gospel, and we have to do them without any particular reason. Give ourselves, bleed to death and surrender to Jesus without expecting any recompense in return at the end, but do this only out of love.

For the followers of Jesus, the fidelity to the Lord is measure by the love we have towards our brothers and sisters. Both commandments – love of God and love of neighbor – are integrated in only one commandment because the love of neighbor is the same as the love of God.

This gospel is an unequivocal proof that faith cannot be reduce to an individual existence but it has to be a social dimension: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you care for me, in prison and you visited me” (Mt. 25,34-36)

Jesus, Lord and Judge of the universe, makes a surprising affirmation: “Amen I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Jesus identifies Himself with the weak.

The situation of extreme generalize poverty, obtains in real life, concrete and definite faces in which we should recognize the face of Jesus Christ, the Lord, that questions and examines us.

The message of this Sunday, dedicated to the Feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe is clear.   Our behavior will be evaluated in accordance to the solidarity we have shown and manifested towards the poor, weak and suffering. The contemporary expression to refer to the “parable of the talents” is “social responsibility”: of other people, of the businesses, of the universities and all social collectives.

I pray, that the day I die, I will present myself in front of God with empty hands. Empty because everything that was given to us, we gave to those in which He was present and we will be able to tell Him: Lord, you gave me joy and I planted it on others, intelligence and I put it in the disinterested service to others, hope and I gave it to the one who needed it most.

The repertoire, with which we will present ourselves to God, will not be what we have, or what we have done. Let us face God empty, imploring, poor, because we gave all to cover the necessities of others. And He will be our giver for all eternity.

Amen!!

Thirty-third Sunday In Ordinary Time

2011-11-10T14:30:00.001-08:00

“Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten”

Mt. 25,14-30

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today’s Gospel invites us to think about how we use our liberty, and put in front of us the fact of how to give account. It does this by using images and a language from twelve-thousand years ago. I want to invite you to explore with me this parable of the Talents, that further from a style which might seem a bit archaic, it presents and arises actual subjects of great importance.

According to what the evangelist Matthew relates, three servants, whom the master confided in, received money from him before he went out on a journey. After a long time, the master came back and settled account with them. It was a simple “give account” of what was done with the money, which is a common practice in the business world. As we read the text of the parable, it is easy to decipher the symbolic language the evangelist uses: The master of this story, who the servants call “Master”, is Christ, who have been absent after His resurrection and who will return at the end of times.

The “talents” or “millions” received by the servants are the “charismas” each one of us possess and the duties that He has assign to each one of us. No one has come to this world without a “charisma” , those talents are hidden inside of us and we have to develop and expand them for the development of our social surroundings, to expand our own horizon, with faith, enthusiasm, with passion and with the love God has planted in our hearts.

The “settling of accounts” is the final judgment, in which everyone will be evaluated in accordance to the results obtained. , this evaluation will be done face to face with God, theology and the tradition of the Church tells us, that is an evaluation according to the way we lived our lives, how we used our liberty, and how far were we willing to go over the minimal effort. The diverse behavior of the servants shows the diverse ways to live the Christian faith. Let us see the various models of behavior shown in the story.

The efficiency of the first two servants is the result of assuming faith, not as a theoric discourse, , but as a compromise service and as a transformation of the society to the light of the values announced by Jesus. There is so much to do in this world, yet so few who are willing to cooperate and help in the development of it. In many cases I have a feeling that society have lost the initiative to better themselves, to duplicate and facilitate a better way of constructing peace, liberty, healthy joy and the sense of living in harmony.

The first two characters represent those who get to work imagining how the business owner would do it. Ask yourself, ¿what will Jesus do in a case like this, right now, if He were me? What will He answered those who ask questions? ¿How will He make it easier for someone that sees no sense in his own life? Jesus, thru the talents He has given us and that we have to put to work, wants to give us an answer to all these questions, He wants to built a society that do not stand still, that will not feel comfortable of being dependent, instead He wants to begin a new adventure, an adventure that will transform, that will allow people to dream and learn to live the Christian realities. These realities and those answers we demand today, are present in you and I.

On the other hand, the third character was paralyzed by fear. His prejudices and imaginary fears did not allow him to act and put his talent to work. Fear is one of our worst enemies, because it won’t allow us to grow, we are afraid of what is going to happen, we are scared of what others might say, or we are afraid of being wrong, afraid that we might do the wrong thing, to be mistaken. I think that none of those characters should stop the way we march towards our personal development.

The third character was not able to develop his talent because he was afraid of making a mistake, he was not able to challenge himself, he was not able to break his own chains, his own barriers. We have to break the barriers of fear, we have to stop being so fragile and weak, how many things we have not done or have done half way because we are afraid of the people close or around us.

Be not afraid, walk and do not look back. The parable of the talents is a way which allow us to consider two different styles of Christian life:

In one hand, our life of faith is presented as a transformation task of our reality. God is counting on our collaboration, He needs our lips to continue announcing the Good News, He needs our hands to continue supporting others, He wants us to make His presence known wherever we go, make Him known to the limits of the earth.

On the other hand, the parable demonstrates to us a sad spectacle of believers, who remain passive to the needs of the Church and the community. They won’t talk, they won’t do anything. For these people, faith is an absolute individual experience, which takes place in the intimacy of their own conscience and transcends to their social lives. They limit themselves to be good individual in their own environments.

Let us pray, that the parable of the “talents” help us to be conscious, be aware of the charismas we have received and the social responsibility that weights on each one of us. We have to settle account with our own conscience, to society and to God of the charismas we have received. We will also hear the words “well done my good and faithful servant “ or the sentence “you wicked and lazy servant”. Let us use responsibly all the possibilities given to us thru our liberty.

AMEN!!

THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-11-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

Mt.25,1-13

Rev. Alexander Diaz

It is indispensable to acquire the wisdom that will make us ready to our definite encounter with God, Our Lord. Today’s liturgy prepares us right now for the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. The first reading gives praise to Wisdom and underlines the fact that is “found by those who seek her”. Hence, wisdom is not far from us. If we want, we can find it.

This “wisdom” does not consist solely in gaining a lot of scientific information, but it is rather a wisdom based on God. It is a profound knowledge and experience of God and His love, a clear knowledge of oneself, of all men and women, my brothers and sisters.

Today’s Gospel also talks to us about wisdom and about the wise, well prepared virgins who were ready to receive the bridegroom. It is compared to the Kingdom of heaven, a nuptial banquet, it underlines the necessity to be prepared because we know not with precision the time when the bridegroom will arrive.

The virgins are wise because they knew how to adequately prepare themselves, taking with them enough oil to keep their lamps lit. The other virgins were foolish, because they went out thru the paths of life without being prepared, they did not realized that the bridegroom could be delayed, , they did not realize that time could make a dent in their hopes and their dreams.

Then they realized, in horror, when the voice of the bridegroom is heard, there is no oil in their flasks to keep their lamps lit. They are not prepared for the final procession that will take them to the bridegroom’s house.

It was a Jewish tradition to accompany the couple from the bride’s parents’ house to the house of the bridegroom. They organized a festive procession with lamps and songs. It was therefore necessary for the virgins or maidens to have their lamps lit to accompany responsibly the bridegroom on his arrival.

It is about having a vigilant attitude, a disposition of the mind and the spirit to go out and meet the Lord who is arriving. The objective is to keep the lamps lit, maintain the confession of our faith in Jesus Christ, Our Savior, to keep a hopeful joy, maintain the ardor of mercy to the last moment of our lives.

On the contrary, to be foolish means “to go to the last events of life, without being properly prepared” allowing love to die first in your heart. Which is, we ask ourselves, this oil that will keep my lamp lit till the coming of Jesus? And the answer could be none other than LOVE.

The ardent and generous love that maintains the soul facing towards God and our brothers and sisters. Love that is a donation of oneself. The love which consists of discovering in each brother and sister the image of Christ. It is the love that triumphs over sin, over selfishness, over arrogance. It is the love that “is the greatest of all virtues”.

If you wish to be prepared for the coming of the Lord, avail your soul for love, to “remain in his love” (Jn. 15,9), because “at the dusk of your life you will be tried over love”. Scriptures tells us that whomever does not love, remains in death. The parable also indicates that the wise preparation for the arrival of the bridegroom is a personal matter.

Each one of us must prepare himself/herself, because when the bridegroom arrives, it will not be possible to exchange the flasks or pass the oil from one to the other. Each one is responsible for himself/herself and must begin to prepare his/her soul for the definite encounter with God.

You see, it is not a small responsibility we have in our hands. We have been created by God out of love and we constantly walk towards Him. It will be very insensitive to live as if God did not exist, as if our lives were not passing by minute by minute, as if after death there was not a celestial banquet available to us and the eternal possession of God.

One of the biggest temptations of the modern and Christian man is to reduce his hopes only to that which is earthly and worldly. A man without an eternal horizon. As if eternity did not exist and it was not closer to us each day.

Let us keep our spirits alive, let us abandon our drowsiness and laziness, let us firmly maintain our confession of faith because, “the bridegroom is near”. Might be delayed, but he will come. Let’s check our flasks, let us check our souls and if there is no oil, if there is no love, let us not continue ahead, let us get to work, because “at dusk, I will be judged by LOVE”.

Amen!

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-10-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

WORLD’S MISSIONS SUNDAY

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”

(Mt.22, 34-40)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today the church celebrates World’s Missions Sunday. I would like to invite everyone to go in depth about the meaning of this calling that has been given to us. This date is a call for all of us to be mindful of the duty that was given to us in baptism, thru our parents and godparents, which we confirmed in the sacrament of confirmation, to be witnesses and announcers of the good news of Jesus, by manifesting an active solidarity with those men and women who announce and proclaim the message of salvation to everyone who does not know God or probably knew Him but have forgotten about Him.

In this great day of World’s Missions, we have to be extremely conscious of our responsibility as witnesses of the Gospel, of our surroundings, familiar, laboral and as citizens. Let us express our solidarity with the missionary missions around the world, giving a generous donation that will go in full to the missionaries, both men and women, who proclaim the Word of Jesus in difficult circumstances.

This Sunday’s readings talk to us about love..love in two dimensions: To love God and love our neighbor. On these two commands the will of God is entailed in the Sacred Scriptures. Our relationship with God is vertical and our relationship with our neighbor is horizontal, as if forming a cross, in which both axles are indispensable. They have to be together, one cannot be separated from the other.

Our love for God is not based on admiration, is in recognition of His majesty…the love for God is an answer: I love God because I feel loved by Him. That is the root of the “commandment”, also the essence of the Good News. Deep down, the Good News is no more than this: God loves you, as your mother loves you, but His love is infinite.

This is an interior experience, not an intellectual knowledge. Conversion is not a repentance, a change of ideas, a calculated decision. Conversion is the consequence of a very deep rooted feeling, to feel loved by God changes life, changes hearts. This change is conversion.

Feeling loved by God not because we deserve it, but because we need it. God does not love me because I am good, just, a saint, God loves me, no more, as a mother loves her child, not because he is smart or good looking. She loves him even before he is born, without knowing him. That is how God loves me.

Not even my many sins can change the love of God. My mother’s love is so much stronger than my sins. God is Love, that is His essence. It is the heart of the Good News of Jesus. Our Faith is based on believing Him.

God-love is the essence of the world. The contrary of love is total death. To love or die, love or destruction. The essence of the human being is the capacity to build himself by loving.

The error is to try and build human society over other foundations: violence, power, justice. Justice is just a legal substitute or a consequence of love. Justice alone is not human either. No one can live of justice alone, because in the essence of the human being sin and error are needed, are mixed. Justice does not heal, does not change the insides of the human being. True justice is to give every one what belongs to him.

Pope Benedict, in respect to this affirms: “The characteristic of the Christian civilization is Charity, the love of God that translates into love of neighbor. Our love for God and our love for neighbor are inseparable.” (Benedict XVI, 19-10-2008).

The Lord tells us to: “love our neighbor as ourselves”, and ¿what is to love oneself? To love one-self is to look for our own good and our own pleasure. That is the minimal measure the Lord ask of us to love our neighbor. The point is that there is no difference between the love I have for myself and the love I have for others.

This is a given among brothers, in the family. Among brothers and in the family we use the first person of the plural rather than the first person of the singular. This characterizes a marriage that really love each other, very seldom they say “I” but instead they say “we”. This is what makes the difference in a Christian. To know who is God, to know who is the man, and to live for the good of others.

To know and feel that this is the best way to live for his own good. It is the selfishness being corrected, to look for my own good and to discover it when I serve, to forget to look for my own good. In other words, to realize oneself in love, not in hate, not in my triumph over others.

And let us remember that all the parables in the Gospel go on this direction. The Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, that is to enter the Kingdom. This is why, the unify proclamation of our faith is: “We have discover (Jesus has discover for us) the secret for everything, the secret of God and the secret of the world: love is what moves everything for the good of all.”

To accept that God, that man, that living style, that is the Kingdom. To love thy neighbor as thyself means to follow Jesus’ other advice: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Lc. 6,31).

We love ourselves so much, this is the minimal measure the Lord set for our love for others, He also gave us a maximum measure, one He showed with His example: ”Love one another as I love you” (Jn. 15,12). He loved us more than He loved Himself, giving up His life for all of us.

AMEN!

Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-10-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

“Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast.”

(Mt. 22,2-14)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

We all like to participate in a wedding feast, because we celebrate the love between two people who love each other. Thru this feast, they manifest their compromise to God and in front of the community, this is why the closest friends and family are invited. This Sunday, the twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time, we are presented with a wedding feast. But not a usual and common feast, it is a “Banquet of the Wedding” prepared by God our Lord for all the human beings at the end of times.

It is the love between the God of life and the human being, of whom God is the eternal lover. This is about our salvation, our eternal happiness with Him forever in the Celestial Jerusalem, when God “wipe away all the tears, death will be no more, there will be no mourning, no moaning, no sadness”.

And we will live in complete and perfect happiness forever. This is the celebration of the wedding of the Son of God with humanity. And to this feast, we are all invited. But in Saint Matthew’s description, we see how some of them answer the invitation of the Lord and some do not, because they had more important things to do. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. Some ignored the invitation, one went away to his farm, another to his business.” (Mt.22,1-14)

I ask myself ¿How many times we have done the same? God calls us and instead of paying attention to His invitation, we turn our backs on Him. We find a thousand excuses not to be with him, there are always multiples excuses to ignore His fantastic invitation and we pay more attention to things that are less important.

We rather wash our hands, not be interested and make ourselves the important ones when it comes to the Lord’s business. God offers us the opportunity to go to His Feast and have eternal happiness, to be happy forever and ¿how do we answer Him? If we look and check ourselves deep down, we can see the importance we give to the things of the world and how we postpone, pass over the eternal things, when we do not accept the Lord’s invitation.

¿Is is possible that the men and women of today have subsided so much to the world’s business that they consider a waste of time to think about God and His eternal life? And ¿What does the Gospel tells us about our acceptance to the invitation to the Celestial Banquet? It is very clear, others will be invited in place of the ones that refused to assist.

Today’s man has lost the illusion for the Kingdom of Heaven, he does not dream of being a saint, he does not think of the possibility of being with God for an eternity, he does not want to take the adventure to conquer heaven, because to him this seems like an utopia, to dream of something that does not exist, something invented, made up by ourselves. Therefore, we prefer the passing happiness, money, wealth, power, pleasure, which is safer than to wait and participate in the eternal happiness in heaven.

St Luke, in relating the Celestial Feast, is more specific, he gives more details when the principal guests did not accept the invitation to the wedding feast, he tell us that: “then the Master of the house in a rage commanded His servant, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” (Lc.14, 22).

These are the ones the world consider inadequate: the poor of heart - they know they have nothing if they don’t have God; the disabled, the handicapped - disabled in spirit – they know they cannot do for themselves, without the help of God; the lame - they know they need crutches that only God can provide; the blind - they know they need the light of God to be able to see.

The wise according to the knowledge of this world, the proud, the conceited, the ones attached to the things of this world, attached to all material things, take the risk of being invited and not assisting, they do not understand that the invitation of the Lord is infinitely more important than any other business, any other material worry, any earthly attachment.

They take the risk, also, of not being dressed properly and being cast outside. Not to be properly dressed means, not to have enough spiritual knowledge or preparation to be accepted in the Feast of Salvation.

The wedding garments to which the Gospel refers to, is the sincerity and the truth of which we have to live constantly. The invitation to the Celestial Banquet is for everybody, but many will not accept and others are not properly prepared. Hence the sentence of Jesus at the end of the parable: “Many are invited, but few are chosen”

Remember, you are invited to the Wedding Feast, accept the invitation, because this feast will be forever, to which you are the principal guest, Jesus invites you, put on the garment of truth and authenticity.

!AMEN!

TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-10-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

“Therefore, I say to you “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and

given to a people that will produce its fruit”

Mt. 21, 33-43

Rev. Alexander Diaz

We are celebrating the twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time, Jesus keeps on explaining to us the Kingdom of God thru parables, thru those parables, He wants us to have knowledge of the truth.

This Sunday’s parable is known as the “homicidal tenants”, the Lord resumes the history of salvation. He compares Israel to a chosen vineyard, with a hedge around it, with a wine press in it, and a high watch tower, where the guard in charge of protecting it will stand. God had spared no effort cultivating and beautifying His vineyard.

He has given us all the resources, so we can work and develop this vineyard to the maximum. Each of the elements with which the Lord has prepared this vineyard has its own significance: the servants, sent to the vineyard by the Lord, are the Prophets, that throughout history have been responsible to announce the good news to the people.

They were charged to ensure that the people increase their knowledge and be aware of the graces God was bestowing and providing on the vineyard. To denounce to the people their small appreciation without the vision of all the graces that were given to them by the Lord.

The Son is Jesus, killed outside the walls of Jerusalem, let us remembered, He was crucified on the Golgota, outside of the great city, condemned with scorn and hate by the tenants of the vineyard, who are the unfaithful Jews, the Scribes and Pharisees, who thought themselves owners of the temple and the religion at that time. Hence, forgetting that they had their positions by the mercy and grace of God, the creator and Lord of all.

The other people, who will become tenants of the vineyard were the pagans, non-Jewish people. They were looked down at, seeing with disdain and despised by the authorities of the time. They were, after all, the ones who really listened and practiced the teachings of Jesus. The absence of the owner shows us, that God really confided His vineyard to Israel and its leaders. From there comes the responsibility of these leaders and the demands of the owner to be accountable, hence the reason He sends His servants to obtain His produce.

Again He sends more servants, more numerous than the first ones, to claim what was justly owned Him, but they have the same fate as the first group. This is in reference to the ill-treatment infringed, given to God’s prophets by the kings and high priests of Israel.

St Matthew tells us in the Gospel passage that: “the high priests and the Pharisees, upon hearing the parables understood He was referring to them”. Finally, the owner sends His own Son, thinking they were going to listen and respect Him. But when the tenants saw the Son, they said to one another: “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire His inheritance”. That was the despicable plan of the leaders of the Sinagogue, blinded by ambition and selfishness, they planned to become the owners of Israel by killing Jesus.

For us, Christians of this time and all times, this parable is an exhortation for us to be more faithful to Christ. Then we won’t reoffend God with the same offenses of the Jews in the parable.

We should be aware of the gifts that God gives us. This Sunday ‘s gospel invite us to reflect on the time and the gifts that God has given us throughout our lives. Sometimes we become aware that our life is passing by and when we try to add the fruits we have given out for the good of the world, the Church and the souls, we end up with very poor and rickety results.

¿What happened? ¿Have we used our intelligence, our will and the gifts we have received? ¿Have we lived like an abandoned vineyard without realizing that our mission was to produce sweet grapes? ¿Or have we lived like the tenants of the vineyard, worrying about ourselves and not of the love that the vineyard owner felt?

Times keeps passing on, while there is life, there is hope for true conversion, for real transformation. ¿How many people when confronted by Mother Theresa and taken to her house in Calcuta, discovered in those poor dying men and women, that they had to and were supposed to do something with their lives? Let us not wait until tomorrow to discover this in our own lives.

God expects a lot from us. We are His vineyard, His favorite vineyard, and He is happy and glorified when we produce lots of fruits. The fruits are in relation to our meekness and docility to the actions of God.

Therefore, to give good fruits it is necessary to be meek to the plans of God. Each one of us has his/her own vocation and have been situated in the precise place in the Church, we are where we are supposed to be. Each one of us therefore, has a personal and not transferable mission.

We are not to carry out our mission any way we want or according to our whim. Our fruitful and spiritual success is based on our obedience to God’s plan, as we can see it in the lives of all the Saints.

The secret is based on our identification with the obedient Christ, who suffers and gives His life for the rescue and the salvation of all men and women. The spiritual fertility always goes thru the cross and the pain. Whoever wants to be fruitful running away from this law of salvation is mistaken, and one day will end up bitterly disappointed.

“Without the shedding of the blood, there will be no redemption.” AMEN!!

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-10-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

“Thus the last will be first and the first will be last”

Mt.20,1-16

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Every Sunday the word leads us to face ourselves, to find ourselves, to find the valuable grace of God in our lives, to be able to see His love and mercy, His gratitude and His generosity for each and every one of us. Today’s readings as in all the previous Sunday’s readings, are amazing, incredible, because they show in a very clear and rich way the goodness and kindness of God. The reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah presents God giving us as a gift, His total and free forgiveness. The forgiveness the Lord gives to the ones who try to live in accordance with the demands of faith, is an act of mercy that has no comparison among human being. God gives us the opportunity to look for Him and find Him, He is clear when He makes this call: ”Seek the Lord while he may be found” (Is. 55,6). Lots of people ask themselves, as I have done in many occasions myself, where is God, where is His presence and at the same time I realize, that He is closer than I think. He places Himself in our path so we can find Him and follow His footsteps. But we become blinded by our own complexes and whims. All the opportunities He gives us have a just value and we should take advantage of them. Only the one who take advantage of these opportunities will triumph completely in this life. On the other hand, if we don’t take advantage of them, we are self-damning ourselves to fail and always stay behind. Full of frustrations, in an act of cowardice in this absurd and senseless life. Therefore, the call He makes us to look for Him, is a call to be alert, to awaken us, to open our eyes and feel how close God is to us. He is so close, that if we really perceived His presence, His look of love will vividly penetrate our hearts. This is the reason why, in today’s gospel, Jesus presents us the example of the rich man who goes out, looking for the ones who have nothing to do, the ones who waste their time, because according to them, nobody wants to hire them.

God goes out time and time again looking for each one of us, to hire us to come and work in His vineyard, at any time of our lives, he is always there to give us the opportunity to keep us working towards our own salvation. Nobody can say, he is good for nothing, and should never say he was never called to work in the task to extend this kingdom of life.

This parable really summons my attention, the generosity of God when making this call. Some He calls in the morning, others at noon, yet others late in the evening. The human logic and to a certain point to do justice in our human eyes, is that each one should receive was is rightfully theirs for the time worked, nevertheless God thinks different than all of us, He even tells us so in the first reading, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”. (Is. 55,8), it is hard to accept and to understand.

Why is this? Jesus, who is the owner of the fields and relates the parable, does not explain to us the reason of this apparent “injustice”. Therefore, to analyze and understand the message hidden in this story, we should realize, first of all that the Lord is not trying to give us a lesson in psychology about the moral of the salary. The parable is not trying to stimulate the lazy ones not to work and the lukewarm to leave their conversion for a later date. Instead He tries to indicate to us that God can call at any time, first thing in the morning, or late in the evening or even at midday or when He so desires and we should always be ready to respond no matter the time He calls us – be it the time it might be –without hesitation, without looking for excuses and without delaying our answer to Him. The salary will be the same for all because Jesus is talking to us about our eternal salvation which is for everyone and anyone who wants to be and work in the Lord’s vineyard.

Jesus also wants to warn us about our jealousy, the sin of wanting what belong to others, what they have should be ours instead, ours alone. This diabolic desire make us feel frustrated, mad, annoyed for the goods received by others. How many people literally destroy their fellow man with their hate, their excessive rancor caused by their jealousy. They will destroy their neighbor because of the promotion received from the generosity of their superiors, or for the personal qualities that this particular individual have on his personal and integral development. The Lord warns the jealous laborers that complained and demanded: “Are you envious because I am generous?”

God does not admit rivalry or jealousy among His children, He wants us to be happy with the goods that belong to our fellow man, as if they were ours. If not so, we are jealous, which is a sin, a hidden sin, one we feel very often, more than we might be aware of. If we want to be faithful to the Lord, from the first hour, we have to be happy with the ones that come in the last hour. We have to rejoice and be happy because these are the souls that are receiving their salvation. And we have to also rejoice because the ones who came in early, had the opportunity to serve the Lord all their lives or most of their lives. The final phrase is also controversial, but we should notice the fact that the Lord repeats it with great insistence in the Gospel, it refers to different situations: “The last will be first and the first will be last” (Mt. 19,30). What is the significance of this sentence to the Lord? The first thing we should be aware of is that He does not say that the last are the only ones to get there and that the first will not get there. Simply He inverts the time of arrival. Hence, the most important thing is that everyone, the first and the last, will get there. It signifies that God offers salvation to all: He welcomes the sinners and the non-believers that have just converted in the autumn of their lives. At the same time, maintains with His Grace, those who since their childhood and youth have lived united to Him.

The final pay, today’s Gospel tells us, is not the quantity, the number of services we render that counts, but the love with which we do it. Eveything God gives us with His grace, we don’t deserve. What He gives us is not a paycheck, but a gift, it is not a salary, but His Santifying Grace. This gift of His Grace should encourage us to be more faithful to Him, to become Saints. The Christian should not go out looking for Christ to receive a salary, but should work joyfully and be happy to serve God and our fellow men. We should not think about the rewards or the compensation we will receive for our work and/or our services. We all have to learn from the mercy of God and His generosity. To work for the Gospel is an honor. It is an honor to be called to participate in the adventure of bringing others closer to the presence of God. Even if this means to cope with the heavy weight of each day.

Don’t be afraid to live under God’s presence. AMEN!!

TWENTY SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-09-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

“Therefore, I say to you “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you andgiven to a people that will produce its fruit”

Mt. 21, 33-43

Rev. Alexander Diaz

We are celebrating the twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time, Jesus keeps on explaining to us the Kingdom of God thru parables, thru those parables, He wants us to have knowledge of the truth.

For us, Christians of this time and all times, this parable is an exhortation for us to be more faithful to Christ. Then we won’t reoffend God with the same offenses of the Jews in the parable.

“Without the shedding of the blood, there will be no redemption.” AMEN!!

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME

2011-09-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

“¿Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?”

Mt. 18, 21-35

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday’s gospel is challenging and to a certain extent, hard to apply to our own lives, because it touches one of the most vulnerable and difficult parts to understand. To forgive is not easy, because it means, closing a wound without asking for an explanation. Forgiveness is one of the most crazy inventions of God, it is difficult to understand, accept and apply.

Peter had a very hard time understanding it and in order to feel better, he goes to the Teacher and asked, in order to clarify his confusion: “¿Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? ¿As many as seven times?” Jesus answered: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven time” (Mt. 18,21-22)

In other words, always. It will be necessary a great interior change, in order for this forgiveness to take place. First to be able to understand it. Then, to apply it even in circumstances where it is natural and fair to feel hate and vengeance. And afterwards, to ask the strength to live above contradictory feelings.

To love the one who loves us it’s common and very easy to carry on, it is to do good to whomever does us good, every human being does that, more or less. But the follower of Christ has to live a more superior love. He must love also when he is insulted and persecuted. He must forgive, a very difficult element to accept because our fragile human nature will not accept it.

When Peter talks about seven times, is using the number of spiritual perfection. Jesus answered seventy times seven, which means that we are to forgive all the time, always, as long as the person who offends you is in a disposition of being forgiven. Jesus speaks to us in an explicit way, He tells us that we are not to keep an account of how many times we have forgiven. It does not pay to keep an account of how many times we have been insulted or offended.

What is gained by doing that? What we can gain is to live a bitter existence, to sink deeper in our hateful misery, our desperation and bitterness. If God should keep count of our offenses, we all will be lost, because we offend Him constantly and excessively. Therefore, we should erase from our memory the many times we have forgiven and the many times we have been offended or insulted.

Mother Theresa used to say: “To forgive is a decision, not a feeling, because when we forgive we don’t feel the offense anymore, we don’t feel any resentment. Forgive because by forgiving your soul will be at peace and the soul of the one who insulted you will be at peace also.” To forgive from the heart is a huge challenge that man has. To forgive as we are forgiven. Only the one who realizes what sin really is, an offense to God; who sees sin as an authentic mystery of iniquety, can perceive the greatness of God, who forgives and learns the difficult and divine way to love.

“Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” we pray daily, probably many times during the day. The Lord awaits this generosity that will make us look like Him. Because if you forgive others their trespasses, also your celestial Father will forgive you.

This disposition is part of the norm frequently confirmed by our Lord throughout the entire gospel. Absolve and you will be absolved. Give and it shall be given to you. The measure you use for others is the same one that will be used for you.

Jesus invites us to acquire the habit to forgive as God forgives us. The Lord came to give heart to human forgiveness, from there, from the heart, is from the place where we will understand the parable that we have just heard. In order to forgive, we should have in mind certain elements:

- To forgive and be merciful towards the one who offended or insulted us

- To forgive ourselves

- We are a reflection of God’s forgiveness for our brothers and sister and for ourselves.

For Christian forgiveness it is important to be conscious that we are forgiven by God, since forgiveness really acquire real meaning when you see it through the eye of God and from His divine dimension, without it, it turns to be a simple false and without meaning.

Only the one who forgives his fellow-man can await the forgiveness of God, this is what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, hence every sin we commit against Him, is a huge fault. To summarize, we have to forgive from our hearts. God looks at the heart, where sin forges, it is also where forgiveness should be forge.

AMEN!!

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-09-08T09:15:00.000-07:00

“Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself”

(Mt. 16,21-27)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today’s gospel is a direct continuation of last week’s, it shows us a Peter that turns from a hero to becoming a stumbling stone. All caused by his inability to see what is going on from God’s view. In his simplicity, he allows his feelings to dominate the reality of his life. Jesus began to show them that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, be killed and on the third day be raised.

These ideas made no sense in the heads and minds of the twelve, since suffering and death were not in their priority list, least of all the characteristics in reference to the Messiah. Jesus began to openly speak to them. He talks to them about the suffering and the death that awaited Him, also talked to them about the resurrection, most of them saw this thru a fatalist mentality.

Peter, being the impulsive one among them, trying to be the Teachers counselor, took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying: “God forbid, Lord. No such thing shall ever happen to you”. (Mt. 16, 21-27). Jesus’ reply to Peter was very harsh: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do”.

Surprisingly this hard answer of our Lord to Peter, more so, when a few moments before Peter had been named as the great Leader of the Church and Jesus had congratulated him for recognizing him as the Messiah. That is why Jesus calls Peter, “Satan” and accused him of thinking as human beings do and not as God does.

God’s thinking is very different from the world’s way of thinking. The problem is that we, human being, instead of adapting our thoughts to God’s, we want God to adapt to ours. Peter with his natural wisdom and the unique comfort of the human being invites us to look for the most comfortable position.

Peter thinks as many of us do, he thinks that suffering is not necessary or significant, that it is totally negative to the human being and that is an obstacle for the development of the present life. Even though the Lord’s answer is sharp, there is in the language used by Jesus, a lesson to be learned, where he wants to let us know that everything has a different meaning if seeing thru the eyes of God.

When we think that this or other thing happening in our lives are a certain misfortune, humanly speaking, we have to look at the deepest significance where it is shown to us God’s will for our existence. A true follower of Jesus, follows Him thru pain, with the honor of being a proven and determined Christian.

It should not be the other way around, the one who follows Jesus only to be honored to be His follower, but not by participating in His pain and suffering. Jesus sets certain specific conditions for His followers:

-Deny himself = this means to forget ourselves, which is not easy to do. It is to tell my ego, which we all have inside and that inclines us to be self-centered, autonomous and self-sufficient, we do not want to follow our own plans, and least of all our own interests, instead we want to depend for all and in all on God, and not to suffer at all. I think that the greatest obstacle to follow Jesus is not the circumstances of our lives, nor the people around us, the greatest obstacle to follow Him is ourselves. It is too hard for us to allow God to guide or direct our personalities.

- Take up the cross = this is not to take, in a masochistic way, our daily problems. It is to accept our cross for Christ with the necessary optimism and willingly, embracing it respectfully, even though many do not understand the reason why we embrace the things we do. It is to embrace the cross with passion and joy, even though it is heavy and weight us down.

- Follow me = This means to walk in God’s rhythm, the rhythm of His will. Not the other way around, most of the time we want God to walk at our rhythm, this is what happened to Peter, it is not what we want, but what God wants to put in front of us for our personal, moral and spiritual development.

To follow Christ, you have to lose your life. We have to renounce to what seems to be life, renounce to what the world present us as if it was the most important thing in life. Pleasure, power, wealth, success, riches, comfort, satisfactions, attachments, all these things, some of which are licit, they are all part of “that life” to which we have to renounce in order to be able to embrace the cross that Jesus presents us.

If we are willing to lose all that, we will obtain the Real Life, in other words, the one that await for us after we leave this earth. If by contrast, we find all those things and others, more important and mistakenly try to save them as if they were the only thing in life, we can take the risk of losing it all: what is here and what is there, the life and The Life. For “¿What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Mt 16,26)

Amen!!

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

2011-08-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

"You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it."

Mt 16:13-20

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today’s liturgy is rich in content and in meaning because we hear about two significant events; knowing Jesus in His fullness and who He really is and the second event is the institution of Peter who was given the power to bind and loose as head of the Apostolic College.

Jesus asked his disciples what people thought of Him and His personality. Not an easy question to answer because there was a risk of answering something foolish and pointless. Today it is Jesus who asks - "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

He does not ask, "What do the scribes and Pharisees says I am?" They were the experts, those who really knew what to expect in the difficult and complicated subjects of faith. He asks "Who do people say ..." he was talking about those who surrounded him, who had heard Him preaching and performing miracles, we can say that they were really in direct contact with Him.

The Pharisees despised people and it is Jesus himself who wants to hear the voice of the despised. Many times we forget those voices that implore those that can help and light up our way of life of faith. You may even believe that the saints are always away from us, far from our lives and our reality.

As we heard in the gospel, the answers about his identity varied; all have their own opinion about Him, and all see Him according to their convenience, sadly but that’s how it is. And sadly, until today it remains a controversy alive in the midst of humanity.

For some He is the first communist, for others a good psychologist and teacher, others see it as a revolutionary leader, but He is much, much more than that ... The Lord goes much further and now it's up to them, his intimate friends to define to their master: “But who do you say that I am?" A new question has another completely different content. It is more intimate. It's a closed circle with which he has summoned them and explained the parables.

Peter responds on behalf of the others. When He asked about the people, it was the disciples who responded, now it is Peter who becomes the spokesman of the group and makes a confession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Immediately Jesus called him Blessed (happy) because he had grasp exactly who is the Lord.

The sages of Israel did not capture what Peter and the Apostles themselves could grasp. They were wise and rational, but the simple and humble whom the Father reveals its mysteries. So show them who is your Son. (Matt. 11: 25)

To reason is to be in a sincere search for the truth, as the sterile arguments do not lead anywhere. We need simplicity, humility, spiritual childhood, to learn the secrets of God and to realize where God is. A living faith, fervent, persevering, unyielding only comes from God and only comes to those who are open to this gift. And the key that opens our hearts and minds to the things of God is humility.

Jesus rewards the apostle with words that resonate for eternity and have been disputed by many, although I've never understood why they do it is less clear if there is no room for discussion.

"You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, the powers of death can never win..." (Mt.16, 18). Jesus speaks of His Church as something he was going to build, it is divine and not human. And promises that no force, even those in Hell will destroy his work.

"What you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven," which is to say: whatever you decide on the earth, will be decided well in Heaven. The decisions you make, must be approved by me. Prior approval from me in Heaven at all what you decide on the earth over my church. This weighed on Peter and all the popes after him, had to have special assistance.

Jesus builds his Church with the constant presence of his Holy Spirit to the end, as rational in a world like ours, it seems difficult to understand and accept. But it is. Christ founded His Church as well. He promised to be with her until the end. "I am with you always until the end of the age" (Mt. 28, 20)

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-08-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

“O WOMAN, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH”

Mt. 15, 21-28

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Jesus leaves the Jews’ territory and goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon, a multitude followed Him, and among this multitude, a Canaanite woman of that district appeared, she was a gentile (we have to make clear that when we talk about gentile, it does not refer to a kind person, the gentiles were the people who were not Jews).

The main reason this woman approached Jesus is, because of her daughter, her daughter was sick, she comes looking for Jesus’ mercy. This woman represents the heart of a depressed mother caused by the suffering of her child. To deeply understand this Gospel we have to understand that according to the Jews of that time, they were the only ones called for salvation and the Messiah was coming only to save them.

According to their belief, the gentiles were an inferior race who had no access to salvation and therefore had no right to divine mercy or comfort.

Jesus breaks this established way of thinking, because when He saw the faith of this woman He is not interested to know her nationality, whether she is Jew or not, He only has mercy for her. Even though the dialog between them is strong in nature. It is possible that our modern mentality will fail to capture the deep significance of the encounter between the woman and the Teacher, but it has a great significance, a great meaning.

Sometimes God places us in a position of impotence and the only way out is to beg His mercy, whether we are Christians or Pagans, believers or non-believers, religious or non-religious, practicing Catholics or cold Catholics. It is probably what happened to this mother, even though she was Pagan, she was so distressed by her daughter’s situation, that she has no choice but to go to the Messiah of the Jews.

Impressive, this non-Jewish woman, called Jesus, “son of David”, by which term she is recognizing Jesus as the Messiah the Jewish people were waiting for. Impressive, also, that being a pagan, she asked Jesus to heal her daughter, who is “terribly tormented by a demon”. Jesus does not say a word in answer to her, ignores her plead, makes believe He does not hear. That is the way God acts sometimes: He makes believe He does not hear us. And ¿why? or rather, ¿how come? – To reinforce our faith.

We talk about “to put to a test” our faith. But it is not about “a test” of our faith as a test in itself, rather as an exercise to strengthen our faith. Anyone of us would have answered instantly without asking “where are you from or what is your status”, when He hears that “she is possessed by a demon” Jesus takes a strong, serious and difficult attitude, Jesus answered: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs”.

As the trainer ask the athlete to tense his muscles and add more resistance to them, to be better prepared, the Lord keep on trying the faith of the Canaanite woman.

The woman does not give up or loses her faith. She does not walk away mad or disgusted, maybe thinking, nobody loves me, how mean he was and yet he calls himself the Messiah. I am impressed, because definitely, she will not take “no” for an answer. Rather, she will humbly and simply respond to Jesus’ arguments inrefutely: “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters”

The woman’s faith have been reinforced with the apparent rejection of our Lord. And now the woman’s faith is rewarded, because she obtains what she asked of Jesus. The gospel tells us that “her daughter was healed from that hour”. Then Jesus said to her in reply: “O woman, great is your faith”. And, how great is the Lord! He gives us credit for what comes from Him. Faith is a gift that God himself have given us!

This woman represents so many of us, men and women, who actually live and experience so much sorrow, grief, needs in our lives. The doctor visits us; the problems are many, the sadness and sorrow smother, suffocate us. “Have pity on me, Lord!” It is the cry of the soul who feels God so distant, so far away.

Without any doubt, we want an immediate answer and we get discouraged if we don’t get it. How many times we ask, most of the time, with no result. ¿Why God does not listen to us? We become dishearten, discouraged, we tend to doubt God and many times we get desperate. ¿Could it be that God is testing us? ¿For how long our faith will stand?

Wait a bit longer. Insist like this woman did. God allows this anguish to purify your intention, so you continue to trust and believe in Him even if He does not pay you any attention the first time.

The Canaanite woman of the Gospel followed Jesus calling out to Him. The disciples lost their patience and force Jesus to stop and take care of her. We are surprised by Jesus reaction at first. ¿Is it possible His heart was not moved, troubled, full of mercy for this poor woman? Of course it was. But He preferred to be patient and wait to see how far this woman believed and trusted Him. Since her faith was so great, Jesus finally told her: “Let it be done for you as you wish.”

At a certain moment and time He will also tell us: “How great is your faith”. AMEN!!

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-08-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Mt. 14,22-33

Rev. Alexander Diaz

One thing that have always impressed me is the friendship between Jesus and his father. That intimate relationship among the two of them and this close relationship is shown in this Sunday’s Gospel.

The Gospel that is a continuation of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes.

He dismisses the crowd satisfied, with their stomach full and also their souls. They did not want to leave him, but He sends them away, not so He could rest, but to be alone with His father, He needs to talk and wants to do it alone.

He goes up the mountain and spends the night there in prayer. What better way to rest than praying and the open dialog with the father, to be more intimate with him.

Many times people confuse loneliness with isolation. The loneliness of so many moments of our lives is not only convenient but necessary. Loneliness keep away our deficiencies and riches and allow us to understand who we really are. In loneliness our souls become naked and we find peace and tranquility, in meditative and peaceful solitude God answers and you can feel him closer and closer.

The answers to my questioning, I have found in the silence and the solitude. This is what the Teacher does this Sunday. There are many people who are not afraid of being alone, but are afraid of the loneliness, they cannot support or tolerate it. It is very hard for them to find themselves in solitude.

The disciples get in the boat, I imagine them, excited and talking about what has happened. They were happy, with the illusion of being part of this great and divine adventure, but when they were far from shore, they find themselves in a storm, being tossed about by the waves and the wind against them.

I think we are all afraid of the storm which brings lighting and thunder and more so, if you are in the middle of a lake or the ocean. It was normal for the disciples to be scared, to be afraid. At daybreak Jesus comes to them walking, it is not normal for a man to walk in the water.

Peter was afraid. He was a daring man, terrified with what was going on around him, yet, even though he was afraid, he dares to ask Jesus to let him go next to Him. He did not say: “Send me to walk in the water”, instead he said, “Lord if it is you, command me to come to you in the water “.

To get strength out of our own fears, to ask the Lord to let us come to Him, we want to be with Him, to go His way, to be next to Him. Jesus asked Peter to come to Him. Peter got out of the boat and began to walk in the water towards Jesus, trusting Him. How many times we have moved thru the turbulent and dangerous waters and only God is the One who will not let us sink in our own fears. Peter started walking in the direction of the one he loved the most.

His distrust was motivated by the strong wind and even though he was walking in the right direction, fear overpowered him and he began to sink. While he was being sustained by his trust in Jesus he was afloat, as soon as he became frightened and lost his faith, he began to sink.

The sinking of our spirits is caused by the weakness of our faith. Faith is intimately united to fidelity and perseverance. True faith is the one that lasts through out the ages, is not the one that is attached to the circumstances of the person. When one believes in God with all his heart, you conserve your faith independently of how good or bad life is or what his personal circumstances are.

We are weak because our faith is weak. The true believer will never sink completely. Peter cried out to Jesus: “Lord, save me”. And in this, Peter leaves a permanent lesson for our own lives: we too, have to ask God in desperation for His salvation.

But he was humble enough to ask for Jesus’ help, and Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, taking him back to the surface. That is the key to keep our faith afloat: beg Jesus to help us. Only by doing so, we will be able to conserve the gift of our faith. And in case we have a crisis, Jesus will stretch out His hand and help us recover our faith. Jesus saves you of dangers by holding on to Him.

Jesus hand is always stretched out to save whoever needs salvation. When we feel less doubtful. All doubts and fears that discourage and dishearten us are caused by our weakened faith. We doubt because we don’t have enough faith that was what happened to the disciples, they shared everything with Jesus and yet, were very fragile and lost their faith in Him at a certain time.

We need to have faith that He is always with us. Trust not only when we have the storm around us, but to know that God is there. He will be there in the storm and in the quiet and calm times, in the light as well as in the darkness. The big problem with men and women of the present time is that they trust more in their own strength, their own resources, than in God and what God does for all of us.

We believe that the goals we have met are our own achievements. We forget that nothing, nothing can be done if God does not do it for us and in us. If we trust more in ourselves and not in God, if we believe more in us than in God, we are in danger of sinking, if we have not already sunk. Be on land or the sea, when it is calm, peaceful or in the storm, we can go in peace and safely, if we have our trust in God.

Do not be afraid of the storms, do not doubt, just have faith, be faithful.

Amen!!

Eighteen Sunday In Ordinary Time

2011-07-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

“Give them some food yourselves”

(Mt. 14,13-21)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday’s Gospel presents us Jesus in the banks of the sea of Galilee, surrounded by a vast crowd from all over the region. They follow Jesus longing to hear his words. Jesus, in His teachings, talk to them about the Kingdom of Heaven and hours will go by without the people being aware.

They were attentive to his mouth. When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said, “It is already late, dismiss the crowds to that they can go the villages and buy food for themselves” and Jesus, in a certain ironic tone answered them: “There is no need for them to go away, give them some food yourselves”.

If they were his guests, they were also invited to eat with Him. He was not going to allow them to go away with an empty stomach. Probably, because of this answer, they were more confused than ever. ¿How were they going to feed all these people? Not even two hundred dollars worth of bread, in our time, will feed all these people, they thought. A boy from the multitude offers Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, all he had in his lunch box, five loaves and two fishes. But this, it was nothing for such a vast crowd. It was a minimal amount of food. It was really nothing.

This is when Jesus intervenes and begin to realize the wonderful miracle of the multiplication of the loaves that we all know about. ¿What really happened? Two things, apparently very simple, but prodigious and crucial: First: the boy’s offering of his “food”, which was hardly nothing and second that he put it in Jesus hands.

And we know what happened afterwards: five thousand men were filled with five loaves, not counting women and children, and the evangelist tells us that; “twelve wicker baskets were filled with the fragments left over”. All Jesus miracles were done because of the strong faith of the people who asked for them.

This one, in addition, required the generosity of this young boy. As if the evangelist was trying to tell us that, to obtain a miracle of your own conversion or the self human and spiritual progress of oneself, it always requires the generosity of someone else. Give it all and give it from the heart.

Similarly, when it comes to helping others, there are so many times we have in our baskets the five loaves and two fishes that our neighbor needs. Sometimes to give alms, sometimes to allow another person to go by in the street, give a smile that will give confidence to our own children or a coworker, after we have suffered a mishap or a small accident.

The five loaves are, without any doubt, a representation of the gifted talents that the Lord has given us. Only in the measure we give to others, will they be fruitful and produce all that they can. If we save them for ourselves, they might perish. We have to remember that the miracle began when the young boy gave the Teacher his loaves, so He was able to feed the vast multitude. There were only five loaves and two fishes. That was insignificant, it was nothing of course.

It was absolutely evident the huge disproportion between the material means that they disposed of and the results that the Lord attained. Yes, but to materialize this miracle it was necessary those five loaves and two fishes. Without them, nothing would have taken place. And the Lord wants to count with that, in order to realize the miracle.

The Vietnamese Cardenal Franxis Van Thuan, spent thirteen years in prison under the communist regime during the cruel religious persecution in his country said: “I will do like the boy in the Gospel, he gives Jesus his five loaves and two fishes: that is nothing for such a vast multitude of thousands of people, but that is all I have. Jesus will do the rest.”

If we look for our happiness with passion and determination, we have to give Jesus all that we are and all that we have. It does not matter if it is almost nothing or practically nothing. The important thing is to give it all, because he wants to count with hardly nothing in order to do his deeds. The only thing you need to do, is very simple, put it all in His hands. He will take care of everything else.

Let this be then, the moral and the teaching of today: Be generous and magnanimous with the Lord and with the others, give yourself, don’t be selfish and stingy. Let us give of our material and spiritual possessions. Share our time, our things with others, but most of all, give yourself to your neighbor.

It does not matter if we only have five loaves and two fishes! Lets us lay all our projects, worries, concerns, fears, desires, dreams, families, relations, “everything” in the hands of the Lord, because we know that “everything is in the hands of the one who is in charge of the matter”.

Amen!!

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-07-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

“Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind.”

(Mt. 13, 44-52)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

The language of today’s gospel is very close to our present world: to sell and buy, riches and fortunes... But it certainly offers a message that goes beyond the purely material.

Let us first look at the symbols used in this gospel.

The treasure buried in a field

Today, if you have something valuable you put it in a safe in a bank or at home; in Jesus’ time when someone had something of great material value he buried it in the ground. The Rabbis of the time used to say that there was no safer place to save money: the ground.

In the church of the Middle Ages the Virgin Mary was artistically depicted as an uncultivated field, where the biggest treasure was saved (Jesus) and that she however had not been touched by anyone, in clear reference to her virginity.

Where do we hide the gifts that God has given us? In fear, in shame...? What do we do with the treasure of faith? Do we hide it so no one will steal it from us?

The pearl

In the ancient tradition the birth of a pearl was attributed to the burst of a thunderbolt from the sky into an open oyster. In the ancient world, a pearl was the most wonderful possession for which one would go to any length.

In the New Testament, the pearl is an image of the divine, that which is not of this world. Jesus says: do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before swine (Mt. 7, 6). Jesus refers to the pearl as a symbol of the Kingdom of God.

In the medieval church the Virgin Mary is artistically depicted as a shell in which the most valuable treasure is kept: Jesus.

What do you consider most valuable in your life? Why? What is the pearl of your life, both material and spiritual?

The net

In ancient times the nets, ropes and traps were images used to point to evil. In the Old Testament the net is one of God’s weapon.

Since the end of the 2nd century baptism was represented by the image of fishing with hook and net; the fisherman is a symbol of the one who baptizes, the fish of the baptized. The net full of little fishes is a symbol of the church. The sea is an image of the world.

Do you feel like you are church? What is the church to you, in your daily life?

In these three parables we see a clear difference with respect to those of prior weeks. Up to this time, Christ had compared God’s Kingdom with little things, but now He compares It with two valuable things: the treasure buried in the field and the pearl that was found.

In both examples something valuable is shown to us, while in both there is also a clear difference:

· the man in the first parable finds the treasure by accident

· the man in the second example looks for fine pearls

Something similar happens to human beings with respect to God. Sometimes we find before our lives that immense treasure that is faith, almost with no effort, we just have to look... many other times in our lives we see how people search for a purpose in life, they search for that treasure that will make them feel alive and complete. Between searching and finding is where all human beings are...

1. The man in the field refers to Christ, who gave all He had, including His life, to save us.

2. The hidden treasure is the service to Christ. The treasure is not in a closed

garden, but in the open field of life.

Many times I ask myself if Christians can see the faith and our belonging to the church as that immense treasure, that magnificent gift that we can take as a presence of God.

After the explanation given by Jesus of the principal parables of this chapter, he asked the disciples if they had understood these things, to which they answered in the affirmative. Today we too can understand many many things from the Lord thoroughly studying Him, in your lives, in your prayer, in your experience of a constant encounter with Him resurrected.

The Gospel ends telling us that we have to reconcile the old and the new, what the Old Testament proclaimed to the New Testament. What there is in us from the faith we received as children to the adult faith that we try to live. In that updated encounter is where our faith and life are found and like each other.

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-07-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

“Let them grow together until harvest”

Mt. 13,24-43

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Mathew, great educator, teacher and systematizer, puts together on all chapter thirteen, a chapter that we started last Sunday with the parable of “The Sower”, all together this chapter has seven parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, taken from various places of the tradition, and laid out as a group, two blocks, one in public and the other in private, (Mt.13,1-35) takes place in public and contains the teachings directed to the people, who do not understand them.

The purpose of this group is to offer a reflection about skepticism, not believing, and the posture the believer should adopt facing it. The Gospel corresponding to this Sunday, exhibits and demonstrate to us three of these seven parables, and these are: the parable of the Weeds among the Wheat; the parable of the Mustard Seed and the parable of the Yeast. They are all a concrete presentation of the kingdom of heaven.

The parable of the weeds is one we are accustomed or used to hear in our personal dialog and our daily communication, “to sow weeds” is our lexicon-and even in the Dictionary- this means to put enmity or do wrong to others, it is an element so alive and certain that it does not need a lot of explanation and yet, Jesus, in a very simple but very profound way makes reference to all the great questions we make ourselves around our surroundings.

¿Why the evilness, the wickedness? ¿Why so much suffering? ¿How can we understand the power of God, when we are surrounded by evil deeds, wicked things? ¿What is the role that God plays in all these things? Facing all these questions, an answer is given to us, which is more incredible than what we can imagine: good walks besides evil in the same path, thru the same tracks.

This is what Jesus tells us in the parable: “Let them grow together until harvest, then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters; “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into the barn.” (Mt. 13,30) The Lord allows this to march at the same rhythm, without taking notice that at the end, they will be separated from each other. But there is one certainty; the evil will disappear, vanish, before reaching the end of the path.

It will vanish by the invisible force of good and righteousness. Evil only is destroy with the exercise of good deeds. “Defeat evil with goodness”; to use the tools of love in the solution of great conflicts. Love is stronger than anything else, even when it seems to many as harmless, that is the real solution.

Therefore, there is no reason to fear evil, we have to keep sowing the kingdom of heaven with passion. The Kingdom of God needs to be sowed, taken care of, pampered, lived. Evil propagates on its own, you only have to sow it. There is a reality that is very easy to prove, and that is, evil manages to hide for a long time in the lives of people in the form of hate, evil, jealousy, being distant from God, etc.

In the world, evil is present in all kinds of actions that leads the human being to permanent unhappiness . There is a state of existence where the person loses the north of his life and at the end does not even know who he is, where he is at or where he is going. The paradox of evil and good in the world seem not to demand a great effort, it’s done very easily and even with impunity.

To make a person suffer is very simple, to destroy is easy, but to do good deeds, to create, to let others grow, make them feel human, to free them of the ties of their sins, is a good deed that can be done only by God thru us. A person can become infected of evil, wickedness very easily thru the actions of another person.

A person can be permanently incited to do good only if God illuminates him, gives him the necessary strength and support in the interior of his heart. In order to sow good, each person has to be a brother or sister to the other. For many people, the Gospel appears as something without strength, without possibilities to transform the lives of the people around us. ¿Do you feel transformed by God? ¿If you do, why? ¿On What?

The Gospel is like a small seed, almost insignificant, it is not full of philosophy, it does not boasts, it can be preached and understood by anyone who opens his/her heart to goodness. We should not forget that both plantings, the sowing of God’s mercy and the sowing of evil is done almost at the same time. Each person must decide which harvest he will chose to gather.

I am convinced, because it was promised by the Word, that Christ will triumph at the end of History. To know what is wrong and what is right, we have to turn time and time again to the Word and the heart of God, to the Christian experiences of so many men and women where goodness made its dwelling.

We have to turn back, time and time again to our own hearts, so that the interior and personalized dialog with God, will allow us to understand that we are not call to judge anyone. Jesus did not named us judges to anyone, but brothers and sisters to our brothers and sisters. I leave the judgement to the Lord and I prefer to welcome the one who allows the weed to grow within himself, with the love which God accepts and welcomes me. (Mario Santana Bueno)

Now we have the opportunity to recourse ourselves to the limitless Mercy that God gives us, but when our final hour comes, be it by death or by the end of the world, we will have to recourse to Divine Justice. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father, the evildoers will be thrown into the fiery furnace. The parable and the explanation of our Lord are very clear. “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Mt. 13,43 .

Amen!!

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-07-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

“A sower went out sow"

Mt. 13, 1-23

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday’s Gospel is one of the better known parables of Jesus “The Sower”, a very simple parable but with lots of meaning and very profound in its’ evangelic content. It is an invitation for personal and interior reflection of the gospel in our own lives. When I analyze this parable, I think about a country person, a peasant, who prepares the land with dedication and care with the hope that the seed he will deposit on the ground will be fruitful.

He dreams of having an abundant harvest, that is the reason why he prepares the land with his own hands lovingly. All human beings are soil in which God each day, tries to sow something new, but just like the peasant prepares his land, He prepares us to be fertile in the dedicated listening of the divine word, so it will develop inside each one of us.

In face of this challenging event, the human being should ask himself the following questions: ¿what place does the word of God occupies in my daily life? ¿Am I capable to read, meditate and try to live this Word in a conscious manner? Sometimes I think that the human being just vegetates on his development. We get stuck and destroy the spiritual nutrients that will let us develop, that will make us grow and develop more. The Word distributes itself but falls in uneven terrain.

It is the same word, but each person has to turn to fertile land in order for it to germinate and grow. Jesus goes over the parable with His disciples, for them He enlarges the sense for the things of God. Each believer has to be a carrier of God to the others, he should become the sower of the spiritual seeds for his brothers’ souls, in other words , we are sowers and seeds at the same time, because we have a challenge, to be fruitful, we also have the responsibility to sow what we produce in the lives of others.

I am sure we are very clear that the terrain where the seed of the Word has to fall is in the human heart, but we also know that not all human hearts are made or prepared for the same things. The worries, desires, fears, ambitions are the ones who give the base to our interior.

The different human characters are represented by different types of terrains. There are four types of hearts, of terrains, in which the word is sowed. I am quite sure there are a lot more types of terrains, when I see how the human being have changed in our days, but our teacher only mentions and gives us examples of a few:

A. Seed sown on the Terrain by the path: is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it. The word does not soak through them, there is no interest to go deeper. They are distracted, are not interested in what they hear. Are those who come once in a while on Sunday, but the way they walk in, they walk right out, they are traditional Christians and have a Christianity that is in its death throes, dying , completely disinterested.

B. The seed sown on - Rocky terrain/rocky ground - is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy, but only lasts for a short time, they have no firm convictions in their minds or their hearts. They have no roots, do not have depth or any idea of what they want. These are the fickle Catholics, they get emotional but have nothing specific in their lives, they will not bother to be trained and are not interested in learning, the rocks are all those habits and complexes that to them are so strong and will not let them breath or develop. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, immediately they fall away.

C. The seed sown among thorns - this overtakes the other two, the seed was received and it grew deep roots, but it bears no fruits because of the hindrances/nuisances that were there while it grew. The thorns did not allow the root to prosper, to do well and stopped it from being fruitful. ¿Which are these thorns? The Word reminds us in another text that there are three things that fundamentally will keep us away from God:

1. Our worries (the toils of the world, the worries in our lives)

2. The lives’ pleasures (they turn their human hearts to others that are not God)

3. The riches (when they become like gods to the human being)

D. The seed sown in rich terrain, rich soil: this is the results of finding good soil with good seed. These are the ones who hear and understand the word and bear fruit. This is the productive soil, it does not mean there are no thorns, but everything is overcome with the force of the growing life. The Christian who stays firm and strong even in the middle of difficulties, anchored only in God. To bear fruit is to practice the word. There are different levels of fruits, we don’t have to give the same or with the same intensity. (Mario Santa Bueno)

We have to allow our prayers to fly high and far in these warm and difficult times. The Word is what makes us strong and merciful. Today, truly, we should think that all, one more time, is beginning. The seed that makes the Word produce, help us to start, to begin a second creation.

Time of truth, of love and of happiness.

AMEN!!

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

2011-06-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

“Como to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest”

(Mt. 11, 25-30)

We have left behind the strong time of Easter and the great solemnities of the Holy Trinity and the Body and Blood of Christ, now we come inside a different time, the ordinary time, the time of Hope, blended in with the green color of the liturgy, it is a time of reflection and of learning, in the public life of Our Lord.

This Sunday’s Gospel is rich and profound because it is a prayer that comes from the heart of Jesus, is a profound praise towards God for His generosity in rewarding the humility and humbleness of the little ones and hiding His greatness from the wise and learned, who have lost the joy of seeing Him in the simple things of all creation.

We are in the mist of the twenty first century, beginning the second decade of this century. And never in the history of humanity have we had so many possibilities to study, to investigate, to research, and unearth so many mysteries as we have done at present time. The human being has turned into a re-creator of what God has done.

In some occasions, when we see the greatness of the things God has created, the human being with great intellectual selfishness have gone blind, he has lost the joy of seeing life in the simplicity of things, the simple mechanisms that allow us to be happy. This is the paradox of the human being: creates things to live better, but does not achieve happiness. We know a lot about the things that surround us, but too little about ourselves and the path to the real happiness we can find in God.

Jesus spoke to the people who were desperate because they were looking for God and could not find Him, they tried to be good people, but they were tired and desperate of always looking for happiness and ending up at the same place where they started. For a Jew of that time, religion was something similar to a catalog of regulations, all rules and more rules, never ending rules that did not touch or reached the human heart.

The god of the permanent rules, is not the God who saves. (Mario Santa Bueno). The teachings of Jesus were rejected by the doctors of the law and were revealed to the ones who received them humbly, like children.

To find and feel the presence of the Lord, you don’t have to complicate things.God is God Omnipotent, but allows Himself to be seeing in the simple things, He is a God of the humble and simple, He was born of a poor woman, who was marry to a carpenter, was born in poverty, but in the joyful mist of the shepherds of Bethlehem, He grew in a poor town and maybe among not-so-good people, because of the low culture that prevailed in the area at the time, but in the joy of the simple things, the respect, the enthusiasm for life, the willingness to overcome the challenges that were always present at that time.

As we can see, He is a simple and humble God, He could have chosen to be born in a palace, but instead He chose to be born in a palace of poverty and simplicity. God makes big the hearts of the humble and falls in love with them.

When humility and gentleness are cultivated, by being humble people, the invitation of Jesus is understood and accepted: “Come to me all you who are labor and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for yourselves” (Mt. 11, 28-29)

The Christian who wants to be a real Christian, and we all should want to be real Christians; does not have it easy. He will have many yokes and burdens to carry. The Gospel’s message, that we should try to live with fidelity, clashes head on with the values and the laws of the environment we live in. On the other hand, the limitations, the illnesses, the laboral and familiar problems and many other things are burdens that sometimes are too heavy to carry.

Confronting the tiredness that these yokes and burdens produce in us, there are two things the Christians must do. In the first place, to accept the “come to me ….. and I will give you rest” of Jesus, taking time to pray, getting closer to the Sacraments, in acts of withdrawals/abandonment, like the one done by S. Josemaria Escriva: “My Lord and my God, in your hands I abandon: the past, the present, the future, the big, the small, the little, the much, the temporal and the everlasting”. How many times, an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament has been the most restful time we had?

It is a matter of learning the habit of praying and telling the Lord everything that is happening to us. As the poet said: ¿who will I tell my sorrows, my beautiful love? ¿who will I tell my sorrows, but only to you? (Alfonso Martinez Sanz).

In many occasions, it might be necessary to take a physical rest, for a few days or during a vacation, like the ones taken in the months of July and August in the United States or in December in some parts of Latin America. This physical rest, without a doubt, will be more refreshing if it is accompanied by Christ, growing in your relationship with Him, participating in the Holy Eucharist and including the Virgin Mary in everything and anything you do.

Amen

SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI

2011-06-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

“FOR MY FLESH IS TRUE FOOD AND MY BLOOD IS TRUE DRINK”

Jn. 6, 51-59

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today the Church commemorates one of the most important solemnities. With this great feast, we commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday as an end of paying tribute to the Eucharist, as public worship and solemn adoration, love and gratitude. That is why it was celebrated in the Church on the Thursday after Holy Trinity Sunday. In the United States and other countries the solemnity is celebrated on the Sunday after Holy Trinity Sunday, with the objective that believers will have the opportunity to participate in the public worship of adoration.

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, it goes back to the (XIII) thirteenth century. Two extraordinary events contributed to the institution of this great feast: The visions of Saint Juliana de Mont Cornillon and The Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena/Orvieto.

This is a very special day in which real Christians acknowledge the divinity and real presence of Jesus in this Holy Sacrament, publicly and without reservations.

Today, the Word proclaims our attention in the food of heaven. The food is, together with the water, that which keep us physically alive and talking, but we know very well that our life is formed only of our fragile physical constitution. While food and water maintain our bodies, we know that in our insides there are other realities that need food in order to help us grow.

The Eucharist is the best way we have to sustain and preserve our divine life. The body and blood of Christ is our first fountain of eternal life. The Eucharist occupies the central place of our faith. Many times I ask myself, if all Catholics are aware of this reality; that time and time again we celebrate in our temples? The Church opens, people come in to participate in the Mass.

The entrance hymn begins. The priest begins the rituals and the assistants respond in a great voice, big realities that many times are not adapted in daily life. The Eucharist is not a simple historical commemoration, it is indeed the presence of Christ, dead and resurrected, a sacrifice related to the one Christ made on the cross and brought to date under the veil of the symbols.

The feast of Corpus Christi reminds and celebrates the Real Presence of Christ in this central sacrament, that is saved in the tabernacle for the sick and travelers, it is the worshipped light of the Eucharistic memorial celebration .

Vatican (II) Two highlighted the new aspects of the fraternal Eucharistic banquet, the Lord’s memorial and act of thanksgiving, without forgetting the ancient aspects of the Sacrament, real sacrifice and presence. It proposed itself that the people should participate “actively, fully and consciously”, hence it was decided that everything should be done in the peoples’ language, with a selected and abundant number of readings, a recovery of the prayers of the faithful, simplification of the rites and sharing of ministries.

It is not a matter of being mute while the priest celebrates the Eucharist, but to actively participate in the celebration. The celebration has gotten much better, especially among the base communities. (Cariano Floristan, de Domingo a Domingo).

Saint Agustine calls the Eucharist: the sacrament of love, symbol of unity, bond of charity.

Sacrament of love: in front of the Eucharist, thru faith it can encompass some of the depth and intensity of the love of Christ, since this love is responsible of the Church and the Sacraments. “Having loved His people that were in the world”

Sign of unity: Saint Agustine “Our Lord put His flesh and blood in these things – bread and wine – that, as they are multiples within themselves are reduced to only one thing, because the bread, of many grains, becomes one thing, the wine made of many grapes, becomes only one substance.”

It realizes the Unity: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor 10.17). Christ is the head of the Mystical Body that is formed by all the baptized. If we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we also receive our brothers and sisters. We receive communion with all of them: saints or not, friends or enemies.

Bond of unity: without the Eucharist there will be no love for others. Each communion should make us grow in our love towards the others. The other should be our daily host. The Eucharist should create within us the conscious decision to go towards others and give ourselves to them.

We believe that when we receive communion, we make Christ ours, when in reality the truth is something else. When we eat Christ, we are being eaten by Him. The Eucharist fails when we receive communion, not when we are communion. “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 6,58). Saint Augustine Sacrament of Love.

Amen!!

SOLEMNITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY

2011-06-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life”

Jn. 3, 16-18

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday we celebrate The Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, a profound mystery and only thru the light of faith can we truly understand its’ fullness, a simple and short reasoning is not enough to understand such huge mystery. All our lives are marked with the gift of the Trinity.

When we are born to the supernatural life thru baptismal grace, we do so in a trinitary manner, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Also, when we begin the Holy Eucharist, it is done in the same manner, hence all we do in our daily lives is marked by the Holy Trinity.

The Trinity is a mystery of Communion , is God in us, God with us and God above us. Is the mystery that penetrates and wraps our lives and our history. The Spirit is God within us.

From Him comes our hope that wanders toward the fulfillment with Christ. He inspired the prophets with the Word of God, He acts in the hearts of the believers to accept the Word of God, He gathers God’s children around the Son. He inspires the prayers we direct to the Father. He has been poured out in our hearts and He is more intimate within us than we are to ourselves. Is the Son of God with us, the One who was born to be our brother, our companion, our neighbor.

The Son is the face of God, who sees the Son sees the Father. It is His word made flesh in the womb of Mary, in front of whom is brought to date our maximum responsibility. The Father is the one who summons us to Jesus with His Word and to whom we go thru Jesus with the impulses of the Holy Spirit.

It is God above us and in front of us, Who Is to be seen and to come, the reservation of our infinite hope. The Holy Trinity is exactly the same God that have come in communion with us. Is the Father who has become “our Father”, is the Son who has become our brother, is the Spirit who has become our life. The Holy Trinity is the mystery that establishes our coexistence.

In order to live this mystery it is required that all of us be “ourselves” in front of the Father who summons us, that we all become “brothers” in the Son who accompany us and that we all participate in the same feeling, the same hope, the same love, and the same life, thanks to the Spirit that has been poured in our hearts. ¿How can we explain that God is one, at the same time is Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Maybe we might say that in each love there are always three realities or subjects: one that loves, one that is loved and the love that unites both. In a general line, this shows us that the loving reality of God is His relationship with the human being.

The text the Church proposes today is like a synthesis of the reality of God and the human being. Jesus came to save us by forgiving our sins by the love that God has for us. It also tells us that God gave His only son for our salvation. Our world, so self sufficient, possibly do not understand these words. Some might think, probably that he does not need salvation, that he is the only main character in his history and his hope. But we all know this is not so.

Humans need God’s help to be real humans. Humans need His word, His life to be truly happy. Even when today’s world blinds and dazzles me with its’ proposal explosions, only the light of God will give me an explanation to the unworthiness of my human reality. The proposal that God offers us is the one based on love.

Many Christians are established in the permanent condemnation of themselves and the condemnation of others. They are “prophets of calamities”. Their announcement of the Gospel is not an invitation to discover the love that God has for us, but rather an invitation that we love God. We love, who loves us.

If you do not announce to me the love that God has for me, it is very difficult for me to spontaneously love God. All announcements and evangelization acts have to always begin with a question ¿Do you know who really loves you? All pedagogical conversion is to simply dig in the reality that God loves you and your personal answer to that love. LOVE PAYS WITH LOVE.

Jesus opens the doors of the love of God to the whole humanity. He does not condemn anyone. He only tries to heal people’s hurts from sin and life. Each time I have the impression that life is like a huge boat where humanity sails, where each one of us have to fill in the holes where suffering and despair come thru.

We all sail thru the same eternal sea. Together we go in the same ship of life. To be a Christian is to be sure that God also sails with us, He does not leave us alone or unprotected.

That the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit allow us the necessary graces to live our Christian lives in constant touch with the divine. Receiving undeserving graces. To be able to live dwelled in Trinitary graces.

AMEN!!

SOLEMNITY OF PENTECOST

2011-06-10T11:31:00.000-07:00

Receive the Holy Spirit, Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”

Jn 20, 19-23

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit, this is the feast in which the church is born and consolidates without fear or doubt, the Church is not afraid. Today’s liturgy tells us that after the Ascension of Jesus, the Apostles with the Mother of Jesus were reunited. It was the day of the Feast of Pentecost.

They were afraid to go out and preach. Suddenly, there came from the sky a noise like a “strong driving wind” and “tongues as of fire” which parted and came to rest on each one of them.

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. In those days there were many travelers and visitors from Jerusalem that came from all parts of the world to celebrate the feast of the Jews’ Pentecost .

Each one heard the Apostles speak in their own native language and they understood what they said perfectly. All of them, the Apostles, as of that day, were no longer scared and went out to preach to all the world Jesus’ teachings.

The Holy Spirit filled them with the strength to fulfill the great mission they had to accomplish, bring Jesus words to the whole world, to all the nations and baptized all men in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. On that day, the Church truly came to existence as such.

¿Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. The church teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the love that exists between the Father and the Son. That love is so big and so perfect that it forms a Third Person. The Holy Spirit fills our souls in Baptism and afterwards, in a perfect manner, in Confirmation.

With God’s holy love inside of us, we are able to love God and our neighbor. The Holy Spirit helps us to fulfill our lives compromise with Jesus. We are call to grow in the Spirit. We are invited to mature both humanly and spiritually, to do so we need the constant presence of God in our lives.

The Word reminds us that the disciples were reunited (as many times we reunite ourselves), but they were behind closed doors (it does not refers only to physical doors but also the doors of our hearts), they were afraid (I have to decipher the fears that surround my life, fears that do not allow me to grow as a person or as a believer).

The Lord knows very well that to carry out the titanic mission of growing and presenting God to the world, it is necessary to have the help of God Himself. The human being does not have enough strength to, on his own, stay in the constant presence of God. That is the reason why we need His help, His breath and His encouragement.

¿Do you live under the Spirit’s law?

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the testimony of His important actions within us. We are Christians in the measure that we allow God to transform us and prepare us to be His followers. “Even though they were behind closed doors, Jesus does not force the locks or give an aggressive blow to the doors where the disciples were.”

He comes in silently. He filters Himself thru the walls. They were full of fear, but were reunited remembering and recalling everything that had taken place. It was such a shock to see the resurrected Jesus, that fear left them and the Church was created.

Hence, the Church appears, therefore, with these elements: - they were reunited, - they accepted the presence of the resurrected Jesus, -opening the doors of their souls, - overcoming fear, - receiving the Holy Spirit. The Church is the homeland of the soul. To be Church is to have the doors opened, be reunited without fear.

Whoever wishes to live the Gospel from these premises, is the one who sees what the Holy Spirit is doing to him each day. People who live full of fears and insecurities will be inefficient disciples because in them, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not present.

Whoever lives cowardly, only cowardice will transmit to others. Whoever thinks that faith is something so intimate that there is no need to share it, will find himself locked in his selfishness, alone and without the presence of the Holy Spirit. (Mario Santana Bueno)

Today, the Feast of Pentecost, we have to ask ourselves about the process of maturity in our faith. ¿Thru all these years, have my heart been getting closer to the spiritual maturity that I have been called to have? ¿Which are the locks that are so hard to open in my life and why it is so? ¿Which are the fears I still have to overcome? ¿Do I accept the Holy Spirit in my life?

I pray that the Holy Spirit strengthens us with His light and purify us to be good Christians. Come sweet guest of our souls and give us your peace and joy.

Amen!!

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

2011-06-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations”

(Mt. 28, 16-20)

Rev. Alexander Díaz

The Ascension of the Lord is a huge celebration with big hope to the us, who believe in Jesus Christ and follow his Word, because we know that He first went to Heaven, so that we all may follow Him. Follow His footsteps and His walk towards the glory of the eternal Father. This is why the celebration of this mystery gives us the assurance that we too will follow Him there. The gospel of the previous Sunday told us in a very clear and concise way that:

“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places, ff there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself so that where I am you also may be. (Jn. 2-3)

Jesus has opened a special place for us in Heaven, so that we too may participate and live forever. The right to heaven should not be for the human being a simple option, but rather, an obligation to be true followers of Jesus. Our following Him will be rewarded when we live in heaven eternally.

Today’s gospel has some elements that disconcert me, because they really represent the human attitude when face free divinity. I feel that it is hard for us to completely believe in this free divinity, and that was happening to the apostles the day of the ascension of the Lord. The Word tells us the disciples worshipped Jesus, but some of them “had doubts”.

They did not believe easily, they wanted proof and reasons to know if the resurrected was really Jesus or someone else. I fear that our life on this earth will always be splatter on these two instances: of worship and doubt. The human being is capable of worshipping and doubting at the same time.

Our fragile human nature weights in many instances and that makes us stumble, but even though we stumble, we should not give up because His powerful presence will allow us to be better men and women in our society and the world.

Jesus tells us that He has all authority in heaven and in earth. ¿How are we going to understand Jesus’ authority when we see that this world is going on a complete different path from His message? This is the question many of us make ourselves: ¿If God is so powerful, why is the world so troubled? The world is troubled when we don’t pay any mind to what God indicates. If we live by the Gospel, with dignity, the world will be more alike to what God wants.

The wickedness in the world is the absence of God. God has the power to offer the human being a message, His own person, a God that gives Himself up for us. In order to accept God I need to balance out my mind and my heart and make an option from my liberty. God has the power to invite us always from the bottom of our hearts to follow Him joyfully. (Mario Santana Bueno)

I am impacted by the mandate Jesus gives to the twelve, because it gathers the group’s vision of all the human beings. For the Jews, they were the only ones who had access to salvation; everyone else was not call by the Lord to be with Him. Jesus breaks the scheme, because He invites the whole world to make disciples of all the inhabitants of the world.

Today, that we talk so much about the unity of the nations for the common good, we forget that it was Christianity who started this unity, above all human differences, the one who impulsed the globalization of God’s salvation.

Therefore, under this divine mandate we are obliged to evangelize and turn into true missionaries in the world, no matter the race, color or tongue. What is important is to show the real face of Jesus. The Christians’ duties are very clear, to bring the gospel to other people no matter the color, race or tongue. Baptism is the door to have an encounter with our Lord. Thru baptism we begin the journey that Jesus has made thru the world’s path.

In the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, the Church proposes this text where Jesus leaves us the promise to be with us always. “I am with you always, until the end of the age” He is with us every single day, in good and bad times. It is a “ I leave but I stay”.

This text specifically, must keep us alert and sure of what we are and of what we have, our Catholic Faith, nothing or no one can take us away from her or destroy it, because He is always with us. He walks hand in hand with us, He makes us men and women that are sure of what we are, baptized and His children.

This means that His presence among us should lessen our fears and doubts, because He walks ahead of us, hence, whenever we initiate a company or when we encounter challenges, we must be assure that He is with us every day of our lives until the end of time. Because all we have is for Him, with Him and in Him, forever and ever,

AMEN

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

2011-05-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

“ Im the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me”

(Jn.14,1-12)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

As time goes by, we enter deeper this wonderful time of Easter, today we are celebrating the Fifth Sunday of Easter.

This Sunday’s Gospel is a Gospel that recommend us to believe what Jesus does for the twelve. They feel in His words a great sadness, there is uncertainty in the teacher’s voice when He sees the human generation, that is represented by the Apostles, unable to believe and accept Him as Lord and Messiah.

Humanity has always questioned God and has turned against Him in spite of the multiple signs of love and in spite of His mercy shown thru His Son, Jesus Christ. The modern man and woman are day by day losing their faith and hope in God, not because God does not speak to them, but rather, very simply and straightforward, they have focused their attention on other concerns that do not allow them to believe, that makes them unhappy and lead them little by little to live a miserable and lonely life.

The Gospel of this Sunday reminds us that to have faith in the Father includes and realizes itself in our faith in Him. The encounter with the true God is possible only thru Jesus Christ: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14,6). All the paths in our sincere quest for our creator flows out to Christ.

To be a believer and to evangelize means to deepen the encounter of conversion with Jesus, to deeply know Him and to share the experience with others. To evangelize is not to indoctrinate or to commit oneself simply in social deeds; it is not even to give an intellectual speech about faith.

To evangelize is much more than that, it is to be a carrier, a bearer of a serious and profound friendship with the Lord. We have to try our best to get others to know Him with the same or deeper intensity.

Once someone asked Blessed John Paul II (Second), which was the most closer path to become a saint, the Blessed answered: the closer path to become a saint is to be a friend of Jesus, to establish a solid friendship without sense or notion, is simply to be an intimate friend in love and in the deep listening of this love. In our time, we have gotten used to receiving answers to the needs in our lives (i.e. food, clothes, etc).

They are satisfied and fulfilled with material things like money, machines, etc, instead of being fulfilled by people. It is true that all this comes to us thru the hands of other human beings, but none of these people become for us, the definite answer to all our interior needs.

We have made ours the famous phrase: “what you have is what you are worth” something that has no sense because material things do not develop or help you at all when you change it for the truth. In the context of the most profound needs of the human being is where Jesus’ affirmations are found. He is the path, and the truth and the life. It means this is the last explanation of the human life.

To find, to go in depth in the Lord is to build little by little the crossword puzzle of our lives. To put the pieces in their places so they will be completely visible. ¿How is it possible that those words pronounced by Jesus years ago, currently, at present, still make sense? ¿How Jesus keep on being today, after all these technical and industrial development, the answer to the human being?

The answers are very clear: Jesus’ words are addressed directly to the heart of each and every human being. It is the heart that must give the answer to the call. In spite of all the centuries, we, human beings, are not any different or unequal.

The history of humanity becomes present in our personal and specific history where we walk the same route. Also, on each one of us there is a prehistoric and a Middle Age, also a contemporary time that we have to learn how to conjugate in order to understand the role God plays in our lives.

Today text ends by reminding us that Jesus’ followers will do the works that He did and will do greater things than He did. The Lord describes to us the evolution process of faith.

Many people forget that faith has its process and an its evolution. We will not have a complete and total faith at the moment of our conversion.

Faith carves itself little by little, it is like a work of art where the authors are always two: God and you. In the extent we encounter the Teacher, we will become closer friends of Jesus and our faith will become more solid each day, because solid is our trust in Him.

AMEN!!

4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

2011-05-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

“I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly”

John 10, 1-10

Rev. Alexader Diaz

We are celebrating the fourth Sunday of Easter; this Sunday we call it Shepherd Sunday. Today is designated as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations in the Catholic Church, it is specially set aside to pray that more men and women will hear and embrace the call to the priesthood and religious life; for the simple fact that the priest is the shepherd who feeds the spiritual flock entrusted to him.

In the Old and New Testament of the Sacred Scripture, we are compared to a sheep, in many cases we do not understand because we are not accustomed to seeing in it in our environment, in the Israelite culture was very common and many lived to be shepherds and devoted who lives to the care of these peaceful animals.

The image of the shepherd, so familiar to the people of God, is used by the Master to remind his people that He, who has conquered death, is the true guide of the Church. This suggestive image was used extensively in the Church of the early centuries, both in the preaching of the Fathers and as in the catechesis which was expressed through paintings.

Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who knows His flock and gives his life for them; “that God has made both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:14a, 36), and guides the "misguided" and is “guardian of our souls” (1 Pt. 2: 25).

He is the best of the shepherds, for He gives life- and in fact gave it - for his sheep. And his sheep know him and hear his voice. He also tells us that He knows each of his sheep by name and the sheep recognize his voice (cf. Jn. 10, 1-10).

We are the Lord's sheep. It means we are also fragile, as these helpless animals, although many times we believe to be very strong and very capable. We are, therefore, dependent on the Lord and, like sheep, we are not self-sufficient.

However, when we are deceived, we can spend much of our time and even our entire life, trying to be independent of God, trying to stand on our own.

How often does this happen to us? And it also happens that we get tangled in our spiritual life. And who can untangle us? Who can get us out of the bush or fence where we are trapped? Well, we already know it: we need our Shepherd. He looks for us, rescues us, heals us, and places us on his shoulder, like a lost sheep, to bring us back the fold. Out of 100 sheep, he leaves 99 safe in the fold and goes to look for the lost one.

How many times has the Lord done this with us, with each one of us every time we escape from the fold or take the wrong path. (Luke 15, 4).

We cannot, either, walk alone, "like lost sheep", as St. Peter says in the Second Reading (1 Pt. 2, 20-25); we risk being devoured by wolves who are always on the lookout.

Therefore, we have to recognize we are dependent of the Lord as are the sheep of his shepherd. So, like them, we can be totally obedient to the Voice and the Will of our Shepherd, Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.

There is a figure totally opposite to that of the emblematic figure of the Good Shepherd; the bad shepherd, who Jesus called a thief and robber. We must not obey them.

They are not entering through the door of the sheepfold, but jumping from one side of the fence and try to deceive us, pretending to be shepherds just to take away the sheep.

These false shepherds are all those false teachers who confuse us, since they speak to us trying to imitate our Shepherd, with false teachings that seem real to get us out of the fold, to get us out of the Church, to make us lose the faith our Shepherd teaches.

They are the things that we see on TV, Internet, movies and books, which seem true but are errors. They are all modern errors and heresies contained -for example, that mass of lies that is the New Age.

The preachers of these errors is to whom Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel; who do not come through the door of the sheepfold, but instead jump on the other side: "A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy;… My sheep recognize my voice... they do not recognize the voice of strangers". Beware of strange voices! Beware of not confusing them with the Voice of the Good Shepherd! They seem alike ... but are not.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

2011-05-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

“Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”

Jn. 24,13-35

Rev. Alexander Díaz

When confusion settles in the heart of the human being it is very difficult to recognize the presence of the Resurrected, because frustration and doubt fill the heart. This is what happens in the hearts of these two pilgrims, that frustrated were returning to Emmaus, to start their lives over again, they knew Jesus but never understood His principal mission.

They were walking fast with tears in their eyes, with lamentations, reproaches and resentments. Their words indicated their frustrations and resentments; this caused them to be blind and not be able to see clearly what the other pilgrim was telling them. This case of Emmaus, is the case of millions of Christians now-a-day, they live their own lives, with a Jesus of miracles, leader of the multitudes.

With a Jesus formed on their own way, but that is not real. They live, believing and thinking that the cross has no meaning, it is only an element of condemnation.

The Gospel explains to us that they were sad, that was the reason why when Jesus approached them, they were blind and could not recognize Him, because their disappointment has taken away their will to continue. In the tomb, they buried their hopes to be free and to overcome.

They left all their dreams inside the desolate cave. Many had told them that He was alive and resurrected, but they did not believe and by the look in their faces, they were not open to believe it. They were defeated and sadden, they were blind to themselves, they did not know how to digest their failure.

They tell Jesus. They tell Jesus their version of what had happened, but they do this with despair. They had waited, but their waiting had been useless. Now they return more disappointed than ever. Jesus’ words comfort them, but His death; the silence of the Teacher leaves them empty. Jesus begins to explain to them again, everything that was said about Him in the Scriptures. They listened but were not convinced.

They keep on walking. They arrive at the town and Jesus made believe He was going to continue ahead, but they invite Him to stay. They sit at table and again Jesus picks up the bread, giving thanks to God, He broke it and gave it to them. Scriptures says that at that moment their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, but He disappeared. The last gesture Jesus had for His Apostles was a Supper.

Now, after His resurrection, He does the same gesture again in the fraction of the bread, that nourishes, that saves and opens the eyes of the blind. The Eucharist is the place of encounter with Jesus. He comes to them, giving Himself again, in a different way. He breaks for them, shares with them the bread and blesses God.

They discover Him, at the precise moment. How beautiful it would be if we, as Christians, as they did, could also discover Him in the breaking of the bread and that our eyes will open at the precise moment of this miracle.

The Christian life will always be linked, connected to the Eucharist, Cross and Resurrection. Over and over again in the life of the followers of Christ, these three moments will be present. There is a question that our non-believer friends ask: If Jesus resurrected, ¿Where is He now? Jesus is not in the tomb.

The tomb is empty. Neither is the resurrection a return to the past. The real encounter with Christ is now in the Word, in the Eucharist and in the profession of Faith. The Lord is in the new life that have come in the transformation of the suffering of this world. To find it, is to find the path to salvation. Jesus Resurrected is in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the special place for the presence of Christ.

To participate in the Eucharist means to have a personal encounter with Christ Resurrected. The Resurrected is also present where people feel united, together, where the same feeling is shared.

The Resurrected is among the most weak and poor of society, those that are most vulnerable to lose. Jesus, by overcoming death, allows them to regain their strength to continue life’s path, with hope and happiness in their hearts. To see, most of all see, that He is always by our side in all the moments of the journey thru our existence.

Do not lose hope. When you feel lonely and beaten; do not lose courage when you feel defeated, because Jesus will always be walking beside you as a pilgrim, recognize Him when your heart starts burning and when it feels comforted, it is Him, it could be no one else. He is alive and walks with us, Amen!

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

2011-05-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed”

Jn. 20, 19-31

Rev. Alexander Diaz

We are celebrating the Second Sunday of Easter, called “Divine Mercy Sunday”, because it shows the mercy of the Resurrected to one of his apostles that proudly does not believe, just because he has not seeing with his own eyes this miracle. Every single year we read the same reading, precisely because it gets us closer to the mystery of this Sunday.

First it reinforces that Sunday comes from the Lord. The first Easter Sunday is the day of the manifestation of the Resurrected, first to the women, later to the disciples. The first concern the Lord had, was to reunite the disciples after the scandal of the cross. The second Sunday, the first of the week, and this is, today, the Resurrected returns to reunite the disciples to confirm them on their faith.

To confirmed them on their faith was not an easy task, since in order to digest the scandal of the cross, was not simple, neither was it acceptable because of the consequences it entailed, the fear was eminent. The Gospel tells us that “when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews” (Jn. 20,19). Fear is one of the mechanisms that evil uses to bind us and not allow us to grow and be fruitful as true, real Christians.

Jesus came and stood in their midst, and with very simple words, words that will forever mark the lives of all Christians; “Peace be with you” (Jn. 20,19). Peace is the first message of the Resurrected to the eleven, an element that will allow men to transcend and find himself. This is why a Christian that is not a bearer, carrier, an announcer of peace, have not understood Jesus’ project. The Apostles were full of resentment and hate against those who crucified our Lord Jesus to the cross.

Blessed John Paul II (second) told us, the Christians of the third millennium many time, “The Christians, in particular, are called to be guards of peace, in the places where they live and work, in other words, we are asked to watch out so the consciences do not give in to the temptation of selfishness, deceit, lies and violence.

Let us, together, ask God, who is rich in mercy and pardon, to subdue the sentiments of hate in the moods of the populations, to cease the horror of terrorism and lead the steps of the people responsible of the nations thru the path of mutual understanding, solidarity and reconciliation”. Only when the human being is able to find peace within himself, then he will understand what is the real significance of his vocation.

One of the fruits of fear and being afraid, is frustration and rejection, skepticism and unbelief when confronted with new events, this is what happened to Thomas. He was not in the second day of the week when this happened, for this reason he becomes arrogant when faced with the resurrection. Thomas does not believe in God’s great things easily. Thomas is today’s world that asks for proofs and certainties. The world asks for such huge proof, that only God can give it to them thru His Resurrection. We asks God for signs and proofs when in reality, we are a mystery to ourselves and even to others.

Only for God we are not a mystery. God knows what resides in our hearts and knows how to give the correct answer at the right time. God knows of our deaths and resurrections, He knows of our cowardice, greatness and miseries. He knows the mud we are made of. To live as a Christian is to tune in our life to the rhythm of God, only then will life give us answers. To put your fingers in the wounds of Jesus is to enter His interior, to discover His pains and surrender for us. ¿Don’t we live a weak faith, which many times, does not transform us? To go into Jesus interior is to feel like Him.

Our life is full of sins and mistakes that multiply as we get farther and farther from God. It is not estrange then, that in the text of Jesus’ appearance, the reference to the Holy Spirit appears and also the forgiveness of sins. To accept the Holy Spirit is to accept the presence of God in our lives. When a person is with God and in God, sin plays a very small part in his existence.

Thomas asked for vital proof. He needed to see, touch, feel the tangible presence of the supposedly Resurrected. To evangelize is nothing else than to offer others this sensible experience of Jesus. To believe is to see, to touch, to feel Christ.

The crisis of the apostle was more of faith than of reasoning. When we follow the path to the Resurrected, the doubts become less and less each time. Some people suffer internally because their doubts would not allow them to believe in no one, not even in themselves. ¿What does a person without faith needs to feel the presence of the Resurrected? It gives me the impression that he must start at the beginning, go over and over again from Bethlehem to the Cross and the Resurrection Sunday with amazement and respect.

When we put our fingers in the wounds of Christ, it does not causes pain, but Love. Love that changes and converts the heart of anyone who gets close to Him.

Amen!

Fifth Sunday of Lent

2011-04-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

“I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live”

Jn 11, 1-45

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today the word brings us to see Jesus, human and divine. We don’t see only a Jesus who heals and resurrects at the same time, we see a Jesus who cries, who is perturbed by His friend’s death, a Jesus who has friends, a Jesus close to his people. He was perturbed and wept over the loss of His friend.

This shows us the quality of human being that He was, His words become alive among us. There are many people who, when the subject of death is approached, get shocked, they get depressed or they simply are afraid to touch the subject. This will destroy them and submerge them in sadness.

They try to prevent talking about death as much as possible. Jesus gets close to us and gives us an answer, when we are confronted with the sad reality of death. It is normal to falter when we lose a love one, to miss him.

It hurts us to see him return to the Father’s house, it is normal to experiment all these feelings, we are not saying it is wrong to feel that way, even Jesus in today’s Gospel felt and do the same, what is not normal is not to accept this moment, which we all will go thru and face sooner or later.

But that will only be a bridge that will mark the beginning of a new life. So when we die, we will still live, spiritually speaking. This Sunday’s Gospel makes us reflect in a profound manner about the subject of not only our corporal and biological death, but also the spiritual death that so many of us are submerged in our society.

Jesus goes to Lazarus tomb and tells them to “Take away the stone”. Martha, sister of the deceased , answers: “Lord, by now there will be a stench, he has been dead for four days” Jn11,39). The teacher is not worried about the stench, His only interest is to bring him out of the bad smelling and no sense tomb.

The dead ones who need to come out of the tomb are those people who stop growing and have lost all hope. Are the ones who live full of fears, when the Gospel tells us time and time again: “Do not be afraid”. Those are the people who have very easily thrown down the towel, when Jesus invites us to fight.

To be dead in and buried in, is to be unhappy, is to allow love to die, to allow loneliness to win the fight, to be a coward, to be indifferent, the boredom of our routine, the absurdity of our past, the stubbornness of our pessimism and the in-satisfaction.

I do not get tired of saying, that many in this society do not live life to the fullest, they just survive and agonize. There are many reasons that will make people lose their willingness to live.

There are many people who, instead of facing their serious problems would rather let themselves die. I have always told myself, that to confront the difficulties and problems od this life, what I need to do is fight to overcome them. It is sad and disheartening to see people be seized by loneliness, discouraged and disheartened; see how they suffer day by day.

They get stock, they will not move neither interior or exteriorly, they constantly complain because they are unhappy but they are not willing to step out and go further than their boredom. We have to read this Gospel remembering the prodical son (Lc ll) since the younger son “was dead and came back to life”.

He came back to life because he was able to liven up, turn back his footsteps and move forward. It does not pay to stand still and do nothing but complaint all day long. You have to struggle, fight for what you want, you have to sacrifice to obtain what you desire.

The suffering of many people could be avoided and diminished if they had the capacity to change, get up and go back to the Father’s house. But no, they constantly complaint about their past, their present and their future.

To die, is to allow the different ways of dying (sins) present in the world, to win our earthly interior. To resurrect is to “stand up” and go back to the Father’s house.

The words of Jesus impact me, when with authority, He calls out, from the tomb’s door. The Gospel tells us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out” (Jn. 11.43). Jesus’ phrase is a spiritual order for us to come out of our inferiority complexes that do not allow us to love and be loved, to come out of our depressions, to come out of our exhausting and dying past, to come out of the frightening tomb to be a better person, to overcome our complexes and exceed ourselves, to live.

To come out of that toxic environment that is killing us, an environment created by your own friends, coworkers, even your own family. “GET UP”, Come out, breath the fresh air of the resurrection, of peace, of joy, of the goodness and the kindness you are losing. Come out of the tomb, Jesus is telling you every day thru the people who love you.

Lazarus obeys and comes out, with difficulty, the Gospel tells us that “the dead came out, tied hands and foot with burial bands, and his face wrapped in a cloth” So Jesus said to them: “Untie him and let him go”. (Jn. 11,44). Those words have a very deep meaning in this actual and modern world, because the modern world is full of people who are dedicated to suffocate, stifle others, they are the burial bands and cloth that will not allow Lazarus to freely come out.

People who live their lives spreading the culture of death on them and others. They are supporters, advocates of a world of death, they are the ones that normally and without regrets support the mother who is willing to abort, (kill) the child she carries in her womb. They will advise a couple to get divorced, instead of fighting and struggling to save their marriage, they promote and encourage the idea of the terminally ill and the old be exterminated.

These are people that in their project of life, if something does not come the way they planned, they will promote, as a quick way out, the auto elimination, suicide, as an expression of liberty.

I will never support the culture of death, I will never agree with the ones who make death, breaching, breaking, dividing the solutions to their problems. Do not become an accomplice to the well known “culture of death”. The culture that Jesus brings us is, the culture of life, physical and eternal life.

The resurrection that Jesus proposes to us, is of our hearts. The person who is united to Christ will support and collaborate with Him so the interior of many human beings will be transformed and be, at the same time, able to transform others. You and I were born to live, we were not born to die. Remember and be aware of Jesus’ words: “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”. Live in Christ.

Amen!!

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

2011-04-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

“¿Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Jn. 9, 1-38

Rev. Alexander Díaz

It is interesting to see how Lent advances, and what I love the most is to see how it develops; from the temptations, we pass to the transfiguration and from there to the encounter of Jesus with the woman from Samaria.

The Liturgy, the readings of each Sunday center us towards the figure of Jesus. Finally, the whole period of Lent is oriented to remember the intense days of the Passover in Jerusalem, where Jesus lived His own personal Passover.

The gospel of this Sunday marks another event in the public ministry of Jesus and is given thru the healing of a man who was born blind. In the biblical text of today, to “see” is a symbol of faith. “To see” is to have faith.

To recover the sight is to enter the world thru faith. To enter this world, it is necessary to be close to Jesus. The blind man had never seen the light, hence he received many beatings, he had been knocked down many times throughout his whole life, he had been led by people he didn’t know.

Jesus gave him the gift of sight, to feel the real world, the freshness of light. Faith is the refreshing element that helps us see clearly the problems of our lives, this is why it is necessary to hold on to Jesus’ hand, because He is the only one who can give us the light we need to go on.

“To see” is to look at the world with Jesus’ eyes, to perceive life as the Lord wants it to be, not as we human beings have been demonstrating. “To see” is to understand that to follow Jesus is not only to transmit a few concepts or some doctrines, for the most part repetitive and empty. To follow Jesus is to carry these concepts and doctrines deep down inside, to plant them with conviction in this life and thru this life others around us will also understand.

I always tell the Catechists that the children, who are getting ready to receive the sacrament of first communion to show them with conviction, make them understand, that they live it, not to configure computers that do not understand what they are saying while praying to our Lord.

Many will say, the children are ready to receive first communion because they can pray, they know all the commandments and the sacraments. To know all these is very important because it allows us to go further than what we believe in, but what is really most important is to live fully in Christ.

I am sure that if I ask the children they will answer with mathematical precision. On the other hand, if I should ask them, who is Jesus, most likely for them, He is a stranger. It is important to educate our children to know Jesus, be with Him face to face, without any nearsightedness that will frustrate our encounter with Him.

To accept Jesus as the One sent by God, the One who is able to open our eyes to understand. But to overcome our blindness, the lack of understanding, is a long process that each person must do on his/her own.

In the center of all these events, are the Pharisees, who doubt not only the miracle but the capacity of seeing that the blind man acquire. The Pharisees represent the complete lack of understanding, the real blindness; they do not want to recognize Jesus, even though they have in front of them all the proof of His good deeds.

They only see that He healed this man on a Saturday and that, to them, is to disobey God. Afterwards the blind man will step forward to confirm that “this man is from God” and he even began to “teach them”, giving lessons to the ones who were supposed to be the teachers of the Law.

The positions have been reversed and that offends the Pharisees, they are not willing to learn, because they do not want to admit their blindness. Our grandparents used to say, there is no worse blind, than the one who does not want to admit his blindness, that is how they represent their ignorance.

To them is not enough to see, to have good eye sight and be able to distinguish the figures and forms. There is also, another way of seeing, of knowing, another way to interpret the figures that are seeing.

The Pharisees said that the man who was blind from birth was born blind as a result of sin and that is why he is unable to understand clearly what he sees. I ask myself: ¿Why as human beings, we always have to judge and question God’s plan? ¿Why do we always have to be right, even when we are wrong? ¿Why do we play with the signs that God sends us?

Those are our real blindness, enclosed, inflexible, and without exits. In today’s Gospel Jesus is able to transform a belief to a new valor. Who did not perceived faith, now recognizes Him as the Messiah, now he can “see” the world and himself with a very different look.

We need for Jesus to heal our blindness, which are more than one. It is possible that our glance on others might be in a serious trend of conversion. It is possible that your sincere desire to follow Christ produces magnificent possibilities of miracles towards the ones around you.

But the blindness that must really worry you is your own, the one that does not allow you to see yourself as you are for God, for yourself and for the others.

There are Christians able to perceive the blindness on other people but are not able to see their own darkness. To be blind inside is not to find the path of hope, is to be an ignorant of God and oneself. Jesus does not act on that person’s life because his mind is far away from His message; “To see” means to love.

Whoever does not love, stays in absolute darkness, in the most profound death of his faith. The fact is not to ask ourselves how much or how little we know about biblical texts, not even if we have deep theological knowledge.

The question is if all I know will get me lovenly closer to God and others. If I see myself growing in love, I am on the right path. If I perceive that my love for God and others decreases, then my blindness has grown. (Mario Santana Bueno)

We are Christians not only because we follow what Jesus said. We are Christians because we follow Him in person. We do not follow ideas, we follow Jesus, the healer and savior. This gives me the impression that most of our brothers and sisters are not clear about faith. They, as myself, need to be healed of their blindness.

Amen!!

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

2011-03-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

“Give me a drink.”

(Jn.4, 5-42)

Rev. Alexander Diaz

This Sunday's Gospel tells of Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman. The text allows us to discover the delicate way in which Jesus approached people who were in complex situations, and how he accompanies them to discover the truth and the meaning of life. This context is a rich inspiration for evangelization services.

The first point to clarify is the origin of the woman who talks to him: Does it have a special meaning that it is a Samaritan woman or is it purely accidental, not planned or a coincidence?

I'm pretty sure in most cases; encounters between people and God are often set to be accidental or coincidental. Conversations are often held on the streets, at home, hospitals ... When we go to Church we put ourselves before God.

This encounter turns more interesting because relations between Jews and Samaritans were very difficult, the Samaritans were regarded as semi-pagan, because their faith was mixed with beliefs from other cultures, and for this reason, the Jews did not allowed them to participate in the reconstruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, and their place of worship was on Mount Gerizim.

Jesus does not stand in solidarity with the rejection manifested by His people. Breaking down social barriers, strikes up a conversation with this woman, whom He treated with respect.

Through the conversation, Jesus leads this woman to find answers to her deepest concerns, and she ends up becoming a harbinger of the good news that changed her life: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?”

How much good is done when we talk calmly, when we look for answers and listen quietly. Jesus does not address this poor woman for her mistakes, does not criticize her, does not confront her, only shows love, respect, charity and above all, peace, for her to find herself. It would do much good to many of us if we were to listen and correct with peace and tranquility as Jesus does with this poor woman.

Jesus attitude towards the Samaritan woman shows the universality of His message of salvation, which is not restricted to a particular culture, but is offered to all men and women of goodwill.

“Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well.  It was about noon.” Tired, thirsty... Like any human being, Jesus feels the consequences of climate and labor.

At that time, a woman comes to the well to get water and take it home. Jesus begins a conversation with the anonymous woman, perhaps as we have done many times while we wait at the doctor's office or waiting at the bust stop.

Despite the sensitive subjects that are entering into the conversation, the woman at any time feels uncomfortable, by her comments and reactions, He is encouraging her to step into her internal growth.

The tact with which Jesus is guiding this woman makes us think of some priests who violate the privacy of the faithful and abuse their vocabulary. It is worth stopping to consider how Jesus is discovered, with great pedagogical sense, his true identity.

What began as a seemingly coincidental encounter ends up as the revelation that the great hope of the people of Israel, the Messiah, was present among the people.

A central element of Jesus catechesis is the water. And slowly is unraveling its meaning and goes from the role in daily life to a deeper symbolism, which is the communication of divine life.

Water is the center at the Liturgy of the Sacrament of Baptism; the text that the minister reads about the sacrament reveals the meaning of the history of salvation.

So this story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman, in which the WATER is the main focus, can be interpreted as a beautiful reflections on the meaning of baptism, which allows us to participate in the divine life within the community, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;  but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst;  the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

The water that leads to eternity. Today it is preached little about eternity. It is as if what really is worth to address must always be momentary. But the Gospel is an invitation to God's eternity. It often happens that preachers found themselves more comfortable talking about the human horizon instead of the promise of eternal life.

This way, Faith becomes another part of philosophy or in a suitable technique for personal growth. Eternity is not fashionable, eternity is God's time. Many of our anxieties nowadays are due to the lack of time, failure to reach everything that needs to be done. God is in eternity, outside of time, so that we realize that our life and relationship with Him is forever. God is never rushing us...

Worship in spirit and truth. The worship to God is not in Jerusalem or the temple of Gerizim, but in the attitude of faith. A person can spend all day stuck in a cathedral or in any church wanting to discover God, but their heart is spiritually thousands of miles away. To find Jesus in the tabernacle, in the Eucharist, or the Word is to first: find a place within us, find one or more reasons to give thanks for and have a spiritual ear that seeks to ensure that we do this in divine premises. I invite you to the sanctuary, the Eucharist and the Word not only in the walls of the church, but to be the base in your heart.

The true temple of worship is Jesus or the Word of Jesus that bears fruit in people's hearts through the Holy Spirit. God is above all places. Our real contact with God is through Jesus. Anyone who wants to find God will find him in Jesus Christ.

HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

2011-03-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

(Mt.17,1-9)

Rev. Alexander Díaz

We are celebrating the Second Sunday of Lent, and the liturgy of today is somewhat different from all other Sundays it invites us to sacrifice, mortification, and the change of life. This Sunday is most to reflect about our lives.

Today is the Tabor Sunday, of the Transfiguration, the glorious manifestation of Jesus to his friends, when they had finished climbing a massive mountain.

Jesus invites us to make a stop on the way, to accompany Him to a high mountain and see how it transforms before us; his face like the sun, his garments white as light.

I've always liked the image of Peter and the other apostles because I stop and think how impressive that situation would have been, that Peter always the most daring, could only think to say: "How good it is to be here!”

And then he added that they should make three tents, forgetting about his colleagues and himself. It must have been a shocking experience. It does not appear to have caused them fear at any moment or dread. Rather, the opposite. They heard or felt the voice of God inviting them to hear the voice of His Son, Jesus. Once again, the invitation to listen and open our hearts to the Word, which must always be the center of Christian life.

Everything happened on a high mountain. When I went there a few months ago, at this mountain, I began to think on how this route of Peter with His three closest friends, climbing the tall mountain on foot, must have taken them at least three to four hours, and they must have had a good physical preparation, because it is in this context that Jesus invites us to reflect on our lives.

Life is like that, it's like climbing a tall mountain, where we encounter so many difficulties, where we have to remove the stones and debris that obstruct our path to move forward and conquer that mountain.

When you climb the mountain and do not have the proper training there are times in which we desire to leave that achievement unfinished, and return to the plain path again, it does not require sacrifice and pain, it is easy to leave everything and live comfortably, but that is not to be a Christian, that's to be a coward who never conquers anything.

But after climbing the mountain, glory and the transformation follows, transfiguration, to which we are called, and why not say, forced by baptism, the big question today is:

Which are the transfiguring experiences in our live and our social environment?

This event is dormant when we are able to get so close to Jesus and go with him in the silence of prayer and contemplation in the Eucharist. Behold, the glory of God is neither more nor less than to enjoy our encounter with Jesus in fullness, to feel close to Jesus, who is friendly and loving. This way the love God has for us is revealed. The time we wasted looking and begging for love in all the wrong places.

This transfiguration is realized when viewed in the most poor and needy to the privileges of God; it’s also another experience of transfiguration. The disciples felt like beggars before the great event of salvation, they felt empty of salvation, and that’s why they wanted to stay and make three tents to continue the enjoyment. When you feel and experience the glory of God, you don’t want it to be over, we want it to continue and be full.

See my life as God sees me is another transfiguring experience because God is present in real life, as I am.

"Many times us Christians claim that God is in our lives, but not in our real life, but into the perfect life for which I am called. We fight because we are not as we would like to be and we get discouraged because we cannot have God to be in our ideal life. And this is true: God is never what we would be or how we want to be ... God the Father is just what we are today with our realities and miseries, our weaknesses and mistakes. If many brothers and sisters in faith would take into account this point they will suffer less and be more fulfilling Christians: God is not the ideal to which I am called. God is here today, at this moment, with me, accompanying me in my weaknesses, encouraging me, giving me life.

The Christian life is full of attempts of transfiguration, but it is those moments that mark the path we must follow. We can taste the greatness of God when we do not despair, hence the experience of the living Christ so he may not go unnoticed for so many. They are unable to capture the transfiguration because they have no time for God. "(Mario Santamaría Bueno, homilies for every Sunday, 2005)

As we need to change and transfigure our lives, by letting us get dragged by the Master, who wants to go with us to this difficult mountain of life, He truly walks with us, sadly many people doubt God because they do not see Him, we can perceive the Lord in his greatness, in his infinite love, in his glory. The Christian life is to live and tell others the experience the encountering of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, on the way to the cross, glory and suffering intersect, human weakness and the greatness of God. It is a precise blend of what is human events. It’s a constant reminder to our weak humanity. There is no glory without the cross, there is no redeemed cross without Christ. Jesus, the Master, the brother, the friend, gives us grace and strength of transforming our lives, and walks at your side to be transformed into true children of God and true Christians.