Readings
Reading I: Ezekiel 2:2-5 |
Preaching TipSainthood Should be Preached as Real and Possible.
Jesus enters Nazareth today to have an encounter with the inhabitants of the village. He came to them as Jesus of Nazareth, the humble and simple carpenter whom they all knew.
They were shocked by this.
No category in their minds would allow for the Messiah to be anything like them:
And yet that is exactly how holiness looked!
Jesus chose to live for thirty years in simplicity. Jesus has sanctified family life, ordinary life, poor, beautiful, and perfect daily family life. Everything, from morning chores to evening prayers: Jesus has made it holy.
Our tip for this Sunday is to present holiness as possible. Too often we may depict the saints of the Church as strange men and women from a strange land.
We can easily wrap the saints up in miracles, ecstasies, and severe penances. As such, the saints seem so foreign and exotic that no one in the pews feels in any way a remote possibility that one day they could be like them. And if we are honest, we priests often don’t either.
How can that mother in the pew, holding a crying baby with a dirty diaper, who is completely distracted at mass, ever compete with the saintly nun in a cloister who could elevate in ecstasy at every mass? If elevating in ecstasy is what holiness looks like, she can’t. Period.
We as pastors through our preaching can do a real service to our flock when we present holiness in reachable human terms. The dad who spends time with his kids, the mother who is patient and loving even after three sleepless nights, the grandparents who use their “golden years” to care for grandchildren… these are true examples of holiness that get overlooked, just as Jesus did in Nazareth! |
B To 14
LA SUERTE DEL PROFETA
En toda acción apostólica hemos de tener claras dos cosas: Que la santificación viene de Dios; y que la oposición a la Palabra puede venir de los más cercanos, como vemos en el episodio que narra el Evangelio de hoy. "Desprecian a un profeta sus parientes, en su tierra, en su casa", sin embargo los frutos serán siempre superiores a cualquier expectativa humana.
Hermanas y hermanos:
1. Un profeta trae siempre con su vida y sus palabras un fenómeno de novedad, un proyecto nuevo que, si se toma en serio, pone en crisis los hábitos y las falsas seguridades. Por eso incomoda a mucha gente. Jesús llega a Nazaret después de un viaje de intenso apostolado y sorprendentes milagros, pero en su ciudad encuentra la oposición de sus parientes. Rechazan el mensaje y al mensajero. "¡Es el hijo del carpintero! ¿De dónde le vienen estas cosas?"
La posición de los nazaretanos es radical: o lo aceptan o lo rechazan. Por eso "se escandalizaron"; veían los signos del Mesías, y la sublimidad de su doctrina. "¿Qué hombre, decían, ha hablado jamás como este Hombre?" pero al mismo tiempo no entendían ni aceptaban que pudiera ser uno de los suyos.
2. El drama de la humanidad consiste en no saber reconocer a su Salvador. Busca la verdad pero, al mismo tiempo es víctima de sus prejuicios. ¡Cuántas veces vemos repetida esta escena en nuestro tiempo! "Creo en Cristo como un gran hombre, pero no como Dios" o también: "¡Cristo sí, Iglesia no!" Y así aceptamos sólo una parte del misterio de su persona y rechazamos su divinidad. Cristo hecho pedazos. Parcial o total, el rechazo siempre es trágico.
3. Hoy necesitamos apóstoles que con su vida sean testigos de Cristo y con sus enseñanzas sean nuestros maestros. Las pruebas de la vida y la persecución del mundo son signos de purificación y de autenticidad. Así como el fuego prueba al hierro, la tentación prueba al hombre justo.
Los santos sobrellevan con serenidad las tribulaciones porque las unen a los sufrimientos redentores de Cristo. Tomás de Kempis nos enseña que "es bueno que padezcamos a veces contradicciones. Esto ayuda a la humildad y nos defiende de la vanagloria". Y es que, "muchas veces no sabemos lo que podemos, pero la tentación descubre lo que somos", como dice San Agustín.
Hermanos: ¡A Cristo o se le acepta todo o se le rechaza todo entero! El Cristianismo es la afirmación de la divinidad de Cristo en la Encarnación con todas sus consecuencias doctrinales y prácticas. La fe en la divinidad de Jesucristo constituye para nosotros el primer paso para la vida divina: creer que Jesucristo es Hijo de Dios, es la primera condición requerida para poder figurar en el número de sus ovejas. Hagamos nuestra la oración de Jesús: "que creamos en Aquel a quien Dios ha enviado". Así sea.
14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)
The Prophet's Fortune
In every apostolic action we must be clear about two things: That holiness comes from God; and that opposition to the Word may come from those closest to us, as we can see in today’s Gospel story. “A prophet is despised by his relatives, in his homeland, and in his home.” Nevertheless, the fruits will always be greater than any human expectation.
Brothers and sisters,
1. Through his life and words, a prophet always brings an air of novelty, a new plan, which if taken seriously puts our old habits and false securities in crisis. That is why he makes many uncomfortable. Jesus arrives in Nazareth after a long journey of apostolic work and amazing miracles, but in his hometown he finds opposition from his relatives. They reject his message and the messenger. It’s the carpenter’s son! Where does he get these ideas from?
The position of a Nazarene is radical: You either accept him or not. That is why "they took offense at him;” they saw the signs of the Messiah and the sublimity of his teachings. “What man has ever spoken like this man?” they asked. But at the same time, they neither understood nor accepted that he could be one of them.
2. The drama of mankind consists in not recognizing its Savior. It looks for truth but at the same time is a victim of its prejudices. How often we see this scene repeated today! “I believe Christ was a great man, but not God,” or “Yes to Christ, no to the Church.” And thus, we accept only a small part of the mystery of his person and reject his divinity. Christ torn to pieces! Partial or total, rejection is always tragic.
3. Today we need apostles that through their own lives are witnesses of Christ and with their teachings are our teachers. Life’s trials and the world’s persecution are signs of purification and authenticity. Just as fire tests iron, so temptation tests the righteous man.
Saints bear their tribulations with serenity because they join them to the redemptive sufferings of Christ. Thomas de Kempis teaches us that “it is good that we sometimes suffer contradictions. This helps us to be humble and guards us from conceit.” That is, “often we don’t realize what we can do, but temptation uncovers what we are,” as Saint Augustine tells us.
Brothers and sisters: Christ is either all or nothing! Christianity is the affirmation of Christ’s divinity and Incarnation with all its doctrinal and practical consequences. Faith in Jesus Christ’s divinity is the first step toward divine life: Believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the first condition required in order to be counted among his sheep. Let us make Jesus’ prayer our own: “May we believe in him whom God has sent.” Amen.