ePriest.com: Your Spanish Homily

Readings

Reading I: Acts 2:1-11
Psalm: Psalms 104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34
Reading II: First Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13
Gospel: John 20:19-23

Preaching Tip

Contamination by Socialization

A media-saturated, consumer-addicted, entertainment-oriented cultural atmosphere is hardly a healthy atmosphere for the mind of a preacher.  Yet, that's where many of us have to spend most of our time, because that's where our people live.  One expert explains how to minimize contamination:

  • He cannot hope to survive this subtle influence unless he sees it for what it is and resolves to keep his mind unsullied by creating his own mental atmosphere, living in God's presence - a contemplative abroad with a quiet heart, who sees in this godless world not an opportunity of escape, but a challenge to his zeal.
  • Especially should he cultivate a sense of what is decorous either in the wholesome friendship of those who live for God or through the inspiration of those who have gone before, finding contact with great minds and the great Christian heroes of the past whose influence comes to us through books.
  • A priest's room should then be his sanctuary, and his library a solace and inspiration...
  • Otherwise from the very nature of his vocation his mind will tend to stagnate and to gravitate to the intellectual level of the world around him, and it is mental stagnation more than anything else that has spoilt many a promising preacher.

Ferdinand Valentine, O.P., The Art of Preaching, pp23-24

Pentecostés                                                          

LA REVOLUCIÓN DEL AMOR

Hoy está ocurriendo de nuevo el terremoto que estremeció al universo entero y que revolucionó a toda la humanidad. La venida del Espíritu Santo. Es verdad que el domingo de Pascua seguirá siendo el corazón de la historia; pero si no hubiera habido un Pentecostés sería sólo un acontecimiento del pasado. El Espíritu Santo actualiza a Cristo y lo hace contemporáneo a todos los tiempos.

1.  El Espíritu Santo comenzó a moverse entre las conciencias de la primera comunidad cristiana y ha acompañado a la Iglesia en el revuelto mar de los tiempos. El nacimiento de la Iglesia fue así: los apóstoles se encontraban reunidos en oración, cuando sopló un viento impetuoso y se posaron sobre sus cabezas unas lenguas de fuego. El viento significa movimiento; con ello entendemos que la presencia de Dios es activa, remueve todo lo que se había paralizado, despierta a los perezosos de la modorra y arranca las ramas secas de la vida de los hombres. Y el fuego significa calor, entusiasmo, amor.

2.  Es hermoso ver que esta iglesia sigue viva después de 2000 años de historia. Es un motor que no se para y es signo de contestación. En algunas zonas del mundo parece cansada, pero en muchas otras demuestra una vitalidad sorprendente. El Espíritu Santo es el artista que continúa modelando el alma de todo cristiano a imagen de Cristo. Actúa silenciosamente a través de los sacramentos y da la fuerza para cumplir con fidelidad los mandamientos.

3.  Juan Pablo II decía a unos jóvenes que iban a recibir la confirmación: "El amor del Espíritu Santo que vas a recibir es más fuerte que tú, que tu indiferencia, que tu pasividad, que tu desgana, que tu falta de frutos, que tu desesperanza, que tu pecado. El amor todo lo puede. No has recibido un espíritu de traidor sino de valor, un espíritu para luchar, porque es más fuerte que tú mismo. El amor es más fuerte que tú".

Ante la tentación de la cobardía y la comodidad, el amor es más fuerte que los enemigos del alma porque sabe taparse los oídos, sabe alejarse del mal, sabe perdonar, sabe caminar con pies ligeros, porque es más fuerte que cualquier sirena, porque es más fuerte que cualquier música enloquecedora. Pentecostés es como un anti Babel. En Babel los hombres estaban divididos, incapaces por sí mismos de encontrar una posibilidad de comunicación. En Pentecostés, por el contrario, todos están unidos en la misma fe y en el mismo Señor.

Cada día la Iglesia vuelve a comenzar. Cada vez que un grupo de hombres y de mujeres, de adultos y de jóvenes, de viejos o de niños, se reúne para escuchar la palabra del resucitado, se hace presente la acción poderosa del Espíritu Santo. En cierto sentido siempre estamos en un nuevo amanecer de la Iglesia.

English Translation

Pentecost Sunday (Year's A, B, C)                                                      

THE REVOLUTION OF LOVE

Today the earthquake that shook the entire universe and turned humanity upside down is happening once again. The coming of the Holy Spirit. It's true that Easter Sunday will continue being the center of history; but if there had never been a Pentecost, Easter would only be an event of the past. The Holy Spirit makes Christ actual and contemporary in every age.

1.  The Holy Spirit began moving within the consciences of the first Christian community and has accompanied the Church across the turbulent sea of time. This is how the Church was born: the Apostles were together in prayer, when a violent wind came and tongues of fire settled on their heads. Wind signifies movement; this makes us understand that God's presence is active, stirring up the paralyzed, waking the lazy from their drowsiness, removing the dry branches from the lives of men. And fire means heat, enthusiasm, love.

2.  It is beautiful to see this Church living on after 2000 years. It is a motor that doesn't stop, a sign of opposition. In some parts of the world it seems tired, but in many others it shows surprising vitality. The Holy Spirit is the artist that continues to shape the soul of every Christian into Christ's image. He acts silently through the Sacraments and gives us the strength to live the Commandments faithfully.

3.  John Paul II once told some young people who were about to be confirmed: "The love of the Holy Spirit that you are about to receive is stronger than yourselves, than your indifference, than your passivity, than your apathy, than your lack of fruits, than your discouragement, than your sin. Love can do anything. You have not received a traitor's spirit, but rather a spirit of courage in the fight, a spirit that is stronger than yourself. Love is stronger than you are."

Faced with the temptation of cowardice and comfort-seeking, love is stronger than the enemies of the soul because it knows how to cover its eyes and distance itself from evil, it knows how to forgive and walk with eager feet, because it is stronger than the luring song of any siren. Pentecost is like the opposite of Babel. In Babel, men became separated, incapable of finding a way to communicate on their own. At Pentecost, on the other hand, everyone is united in the same faith and the same Lord.

Every day the Church begins anew. Every time a group of men and women, young people and old, children and adults gathers together to hear the words of the Risen One, the powerful action of the Holy Spirit is present. In a certain sense we are always in a new springtime of the Church.