Readings
Reading I: Jeremiah 20:10-13 |
Preaching TipThe Power of Conviction If we have prepared our homily well through prayer, reflection, and research, there still remains the task of delivering it worthily. More than technique, this requires conviction. If we are convinced that the message we are preaching is true, and that the people we are preaching to really need to hear it, the delivery will naturally be full of energy, sincerity, and interest. We should never preach just because we have to say something; we should always have something to say.
For sacred ministers, this conviction comes only if we ourselves are constantly striving to live out the truths we preach to others. [Quotations found in Thomas Montalbo's "The Power of Eloquence," p42] |
A to 12 SER MÁRTIR HOY
El cristiano, al igual que su Maestro, va a ser siempre "signo de contradicción" en medio del mundo. Sufrirá incomprensiones y persecuciones, porque el mensaje que transmite con su palabra y con su ejemplo choca con los criterios materialistas del mundo. "No tengáis miedo a los hombres", les dice Jesús a sus discípulos, porque su mejor defensor en las dificultades va a ser su Padre que está en los cielos.
Hermanas y hermanos:
1. Jesús nos anima a ser valientes. Parece lejano el tiempo en que los cristianos derramaban su sangre para defender su fe en el circo romano o en el coliseo. En esas arenas comenzó la expansión del Evangelio por el mundo según la afirmación de Tertuliano: "La sangre de los mártires es semilla de cristianos". Gracias a su generosidad la Iglesia ha recogido frutos abundantes de santidad durante veinte siglos de cristianismo.
Juan Pablo II nos invitaba también a descubrir a "los nuevos mártires" de nuestro tiempo. Misioneros asesinados por predicar el Evangelio. Seglares torturados, perseguidos, deportados, discriminados por su fe. Mártires de la caridad en el comunismo soviético o en los campos de concentración del nazismo. Mártires del odio étnico o de la discriminación religiosa.
2. Los mártires nos han enseñado a decir que sí al amor de Dios. Pero también nos han enseñado a decir que no a las lisonjas, a las componendas, a la injusticia. Nuestra sociedad materialista y hedonista es una sociedad secularizada y escéptica. Hoy nos persigue con un martirio incruento, muchas veces más sutil y doloroso que la muerte, halaga nuestros sentidos apartándonos de la ley de Dios, pero es allí, en las pruebas y en las adversidades, en donde nacen la fidelidad de la Iglesia, las vocaciones sacerdotales y religiosas, la santidad familiar.
3. En pleno siglo XXI Jesús nos pide ser "testigos" y "mártires". La sangre de Cristo, mártir por excelencia, ha dejado un ejército de nuevos mártires entre los que estamos incluidos nosotros mismos: mártires de la pureza, mártires de la justicia, mártires niños, mujeres y hombres mártires. Hoy es más difícil dar testimonio en un ambiente distraído, desinteresado, que ni siquiera se entera del testimonio. "No tengáis miedo a los que matan el cuerpo pero que no pueden matar el alma", nos repite Jesús. En sus palabras hemos de encontrar la fuerza para superar la dificultad, la oposición y el miedo a la muerte.
"Señor, si se presentara la ocasión de dar mi vida por ti, gritaría sin miedo: "¡Viva Jesucristo!" y me convertiría en el gran mártir de un pequeño momento; pero tengo miedo de ser el pequeño mártir de los momentos de mi vida ordinaria, llenos de rutina, desmotivación, desaliento, en los que me cuesta tanto decir: "¡mi vida por Cristo!". Concédeme la gracia de perseverar en tu amor para serte fiel en este martirio incruento e invisible". Así sea.
12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Martyrdom in the Modern World
A good Christian, just like their Teacher, will always be a contradiction in comparison to the world around them. He will suffer ridicule and persecution, for the message conveyed by his word and example collides with the criterion of a materialistic world. "Never fear your fellow man" Jesus would counsel his disciples, for when encountering difficult situations you can always rely on your heavenly Father, your loyal friend.
Brothers and sisters:
Jesus calls on us to be strong. In another and distant time, Christians shed their blood to preserve their faith in the Roman circus or at the Coliseum. These venues began the expansion of the Gospel in the world according to a statement attributed to Tertullian: "The blood of the martyrs was but the seedlings of Christianity." Due to their generosity and sacrifice, the Church has been able to reap a glorious reward over twenty centuries of Christianity. John Paul II urged us to acquaint ourselves to those being martyred in modern times. Missionaries assassinated by the mere spreading of the Gospel were tortured, persecuted, deported, and discriminated because of their faith. Those martyred by Soviet Communism or in the concentration camps of Nazism were victims of ethnic cleansing due exclusively to religious discrimination.
The martyrs have taught us to affirm and celebrate God's love. But also have taught us to say no to compromise and injustice. Our society is a materialistic society, secularized and skeptical. Today we are besieged by a bloodless martyrdom, often more subtle and painful than death, numbing our senses to God's law and calling; but it is within such hardships and adversity, where fidelity towards the Church is birthed and shaped, as are the priestly and religious vocations, the comforting sanctity.
In the twenty-first century, Jesus asks us to be "witnesses" and "martyrs." The blood of Christ, martyr par excellence, has created an army of new martyrs including our selves: martyrs of purity, martyrs of justice, child martyrs, and both women and men martyrs. In today's world, it is much more difficult to give witness to a distracted and disinterested environment, where testimony is not even acknowledged. "Do not be afraid to those who destroy the body for they can not kill the soul," reiterates Jesus. In his words, we must find the strength to overcome difficulty, the opposition, and fear of death.
Lord, if the opportunity presents itself to sacrifice my life for you, I would shout without fear, "Long live Jesus Christ!", becoming the grand martyr of one small moment; yet I am afraid of being martyred during the small moments of my ordinary life, filled with routine, unmotivated, and lack of inspiration. Such moments burden me even to say: "Christ is my life!" Allow me the grace to persevere in your love and to faithfully serve you in this bloodless and invisible martyrdom. Amen!