11/1/2013 – Todos los Santos – Mateo 5,1-12a

      Los Días de Todos los Santos y Todos los Fieles Difuntos son días muy especiales en nuestra Iglesia, días muy queridos con los creyentes en la fe.  En la Iglesia primitiva, cuando los discípulos de Cristo estaban perseguidos frecuentemente, un santo era sinónimo con un mártir, con los fieles quienes murieron por la fe.  En el siglo IV, la Iglesia empezaba a conmemorar todos los mártires con una misa – es un precursor al día de Todos los Santos que celebramos hoy.

      Cuando la Iglesia se hace legal en el Imperio Romano, la definición de un santo cambió – no necesita ser mártir para ser santo. Cuando celebramos los santos de nuestra Iglesia hoy, podemos creer equivocadamente que esta solemnidad reconoce solo los santos nombrados oficialmente por la Iglesia.   En realidad, hoy reconocemos todos los santos de nuestra comunidad de fe, todos los santos de nuestra fe de todos los siglos.  Ellos transmitieron nuestra fe durante nuestra historia como Iglesia.  Reconocemos sus vidas de fe, su santidad.  Hay miembros de esta comunidad de santo eran famosos y reconocidos por la Iglesia en el proceso de canonización.  Otros miembros de esta comunidad de fe vivieron con humildad y con ternura sin esta proceso de canonización. 

      Cuando reflexionamos sobre los santos, en verdad, reflexionamos sobre una persona quien vivió en santidad, con una fe verdadera y con la llamada de Dios. Pero, necesitamos reconocer, los santos no eran perfectos sin defectos.  Conocemos ahorita que la Madre de Teresa de Calcuta, una santa muy querida en la Iglesia, sufría mucho en una noche oscura y se sentía abandonada por Dios por mucho tiempo en su ministerio con los pobres. Había gente escandalizada con este conocimiento, pensando que ella tiene menos santidad.  Para mi, con este conocimiento, podemos entender su realidad y su identidad, su camino de fe, y los desafíos y tenía en su vida de fe.  Los santos son seres humanos con fuerzas humanas y debilidades humanas también.  Todos nosotros como seguidores de Cristo tenemos la llamada de vivir en santidad, para se esfuerza hacia una vida de perfección.  Pero, lo hacemos en la mitad de la realidad de nuestra vida, en la mitad de nuestras debilidades, en la mitad de nuestras luchas.

     Cuando escuchamos las Bienaventuranzas de Jesucristo en el Evangelio de hoy, tal vez miramos a nosotros mismos.  Tal vez, somos los pobres del espíritu, rogando por la fe de vivir cada día.  Tal vez, somos los que lloran, con ternura para nuestro prójimo sufriendo.  Tal vez, tenemos hambre y sed de justica en la mitad de violencia y dolor.

      En nuestra humildad, en nuestra fidelidad, en nuestra gratitud a Dios, queremos vivir en esta actitudes que Dios proclama en las Bienaventuranzas en la realidad de nuestra vida, para tener Dios como la fuente, la fuerza, y la fundación de nuestro ser. Damos el honor a los santos, como reconocemos sus contribuciones a nuestra vida de fe, sus oraciones y sus intercesiones para nosotros.  Damos gracias a Dos por el don de los santos en nuestro camino de fe. 

11/2/2013 – Todos los Fieles Difuntos – John 6:37-40; Sabiduría 3:1-9; Romanos 6:3-9

      Hoy, en nuestra misa, conmemoramos todos los fieles difuntos.  Con esta conmemoración, reconocemos que nuestra Iglesia siempre nos impulsaba de orar para los fieles difuntos desde los días de la Iglesia primitiva. San Agustín de Hipona, un padre de nuestra Iglesia, dijo – “Si no preocupábamos de los difuntos, entonces no tendríamos la costumbre para orar por ellos. Esta misa de todos los fieles difuntos en la fecha del 2 de noviembre tiene su costumbre en monasterio benedictino en Cluny en Francia hace mil años. 

     Celebramos los fieles difuntos hoy como una comunidad de fe, recordando las fragilidades, las debilidades, y las imperfecciones que tenemos como seres humanos. En nuestra lectura de Sabiduría, escuchamos sobre una creencia en el mundo antiguo, una creencia que muchos en nuestro mundo moderno tienen también, que nuestra vida termina cuando nuestro cuerpos terminan su existencia aquí en la tierra. En nuestra fe católica, no necesitamos temer que mucho en este mundo es un misterio para nosotros, pero con todo que aprendemos sobre Dios, siempre tiene mas para aprender, nunca aprendemos todo sobre Dios. Entonces, hay mucho sobre la muerte que es un misterio para nosotros.

     El autor del libro de Sabiduría nos asegura: “Las almas de los justos están en manos de Dios y no los alcanzará ningún tormento.  La muerte es un misterio, pero confiamos que Dios está con nosotros, ambos en nuestra vida aquí en la tierra y en nuestra muestra terrenal.  En este misterio, confiamos en el misterio infinito de Dios.  En el espíritu que vino el las aguas de nuestro bautismo, en la manera que morimos con Cristo en estas aguas, ganamos la vida nueva en El, y continuamos unidos con el Cuerpo de Cristo después de la muerte de nuestros cuerpos terrenales.  En nuestra lectura de la carta de su a los Romanos, Pablo concentra en la conexión entre la muerte y la resurrección de Cristo y nuestro bautismo, en la manera que entramos en la resurrección de Cristo resucito.  

      Aunque hay un sentido de misterio inherente en su fe, hay un sentido de misterio también. Muchas comunidades cristianas, inclusivo de nuestra comunidad aquí en Saltillo, conmemoran el Día de Todos los Difuntos en un ritual muy perecido que yo miraba en América Latina cuando trabajaba como misionero.  Esta bendición de las tumbas de nuestros difuntos queridos es un recuerdo que aunque ellos no están con nosotros en sus cuerpos, ellos todavía están con nosotros en espíritu. Además, el Día de Todos los Difuntos nos recuerda que es importante para rogar por las almas de los fieles difuntos, por las almas en el  purgatorio quienes esperan en su unión con Dios.  Asimismo, es un consuelo para nosotros para saber que los fieles difuntos nos ayudan con sus oraciones y sus intercesiones.  

10/31/2013 – Thursday of 30th week in Ordinary Time –Romans 8:31b-39

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Sounds warm and comforting, but when we are going through a lot of suffering and misery and turmoil in our lives, then it seems like a lot of going against us. Paul declares that nothing will separate us from Christ – not anguish or distress or persecution or famine. I think of how Paul wrote some of his letter when he was in chains in prison, how he turned from being a persecutor of Christians in his former life before his conversion to one who became persecuted.  The love of Christ we have in our hearts and the faith by which we live will bring us to eternal life, will lead us and guide us on our journey, even when all else seems to fail.  In our humility and in our lives of discipleship, we do not exalt ourselves or lift ourselves up, but rather seek to glorify God and live out our faith. May this give us encouragement in the trials we endure on our journey.

11/3/2013 – trigésimo primera domingo del tiempo ordinario - Lucas 19, 1-10

     Hoy, en el Evangelio, escuchamos el cuento de Zaqueo y su conversión.  Zaqueo era muy rico y no bien mirado por la gente de su pueblo. Zaqueo era cobrador de impuestos y ya sólo eso significaba una fuerte distancia entre él y los campesinos y los pobres. Nos dice que Zaqueo "quería conocer a Jesús, pero no conseguía verle".

      Conocemos el deseo que Zaqueo tenía en el Evangelio, la necesidad que el sentía en su corazón   Pero: ¿que es la necesidad de Jesús en nuestro mundo hoy? ¿Que es el deseo para conocer a Jesús que tenemos en nuestros corazones? ¿Quiere la gente de nuestro mundo conocer al Salvador? Yo creo que sí. Zaqueo subió al árbol para ver nuestro Señor.  Zaqueo hizo un fuerzo muy grande para tener este punto de vista?  Y para nosotros – las discípulos de Cristo en el mundo moderno - ¿Que son los "árboles" que podemos subir para descubrir la presencia de Jesucristo en nuestra vida, para estar mas cercana de El y sus enseñanzas? 

       En verdad, podemos decir que Zaqueo representa a una parte de nosotros, una parte de la humanidad. Zaqueo es rico, tiene un buen trabajo, tiene riquezas materiales, pero su vida falta algo, su vida falta mucho. El Evangelio no nos dice por qué este hombre tan rico quería conocer a Jesús. ¿Qué necesidades tenía el rico de lo que Jesús le podía ofrecer? Creo que él no era feliz, que había un espacio vacío en su vida, en su corazón.

         Antes de su encuentro con Jesús, Zaqueo era un hombre muy rico, pero después de su conversión, era salvado.  Con su conversión de fe, el aprendía como uno puede poner las riquezas exteriores en su sitio proprio para dar la prioridad a las riquezas de su espíritu.   Zaqueo creció en la solidaridad con los pobres, en la justicia social. Se dio cuenta que convertirse es descubrirse ante Dios, ante el mismo, ante los pobres y los débiles del mundo. La luz de nuestro Evangelio  de hoy es que este hombre rico se hizo pobre para hacerse rico. Lo dicho: la salvación empieza con una conversión que nunca termina, con una conversión que puede penetrar la realidad de nuestra vida.

10/30/2013 – Wednesday of 30th week in Ordinary Time – Luke 13:22-30

     Yesterday, we heard Jesus compare the Kingdom of God to a small mustard seed that is able to grow and flourish into a large bush.  Today, we hear Jesus tell us to go through the narrow gate in response to a question about how many will be saved.  After our life here on earth, we hope to enter into eternal life with our Lord. Will he recognize us?  Will he say that we are one of his disciples?

     A couple of weeks ago, we had a centering prayer retreat here in Tupelo with Sister Therese Jacobs and Tom Lewis.  Both of them are on the staff of St Richard parish in Jackson.  They shared with us a method of contemplative prayer, a way of sharing time with God and nurturing our relationship with him.  And that is an essential component in our journey of faith.  It does not necessarily matter how many types of prayers we use or how many different prayer methods we master.  What is important is that we foster and nourish our relationship with him.  And once we have established that relationship, once we start growing and developing that relationship, our words and our actions will be affected by it as well.  Then we can truly call ourselves disciples of the Lord. Then we can hope to enter through the narrow door.

Prayer - Blessing of new McDonald's restaurant in Pontotoc, Mississippi

O Lord our God, be present in our midst, as we join with all gathered together today to dedicate and bless this McDonald's restaurant. Let your blessings be upon the owners, the managers, and the members of the staff, day by day, as they serve others.  We give thanks for all those who were involved in the planning, building, and construction of this facility.  We pray that they be able to serve tasty meals to all their patrons and to do so with respect, courtesy, and hearts full of gladness. We ask for a blessing for all those who will eat at this restaurant as well. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.

11/3/2013 – 31st Sunday- Luke 19:1-10; Wisdom 11:22-12:2

     Often, what we read Holy Scripture goes against the norms of society and against what we might expect, since the ways of God’s kingdom can be very different from the ways of our world.  As we listen to today’s Gospel, we might ask ourselves: Would the people of ancient Israel expect Zacchaeus, a wealthy man with an important job in the Roman government, to scamper around like a crazy man and to climb up a tree in order to get a better look at Jesus?  Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector who was considered to be a sinner and an outcast for the way he betrayed his own people in collecting taxes from them for the enemy government, for the way he interacted on a daily basis with non-Jews.  It would be unexpected for a holy man like Jesus to eat at the tax collector’s house. It would have been socking to see a man like Zacchaeus to repent with a complete change of heart and to give half of his possessions to the poor.  We might ask: How can we explain this unexpected behavior in the encounter between these two men? 

     Something drew Zacchaeus to Jesus that day as he passing through town.  Something called Zacchaeus to go outside of the norms and social structures of his day in order to get a better view of Jesus.  What was it that touched his heart, that struck his imagination?   

      God can touch our hearts in many ways through his presence in our world.  I don’t know if you’ve ever looked up in the night sky and marveled at the majesty of the stars and the universe.  As a Peace Corps volunteer on a small island off the coast of Guinea, West Africa, an island far away from the bright lights of a big city, I looked up into the African sky for the first time, marveling at the thousands of stars scattered in the sky, at the immensity of the universe, at its reflection of God’s glorious creation. Although the universe seems immense to us from our human point of view, according to the book of Wisdom, the universe from God’s perspective is like a grain of sand taken from the balance of a scale, like a drop of morning dew on a blade of grass – the universe pales in comparison to God’s majesty. Since every human being is such a small speck on the earth and an even smaller speck in the universe, we might not be able to imagine that God would love us or care about us or even try to get to know us. Yet, the book of Wisdom tells us that God loves all of creation because He fashioned it and willed it – we were called forth by God himself.  God loves us because God’s imperishable spirit dwells within us. Here is Zacchaeus, a small man just like all of us are small specks in the immense universe.  Perhaps the spirit of God dwelling within him called him forth to climb up that sycamore tree to see Jesus for himself. Jesus saw him from a distance – he called him by name and called him to repentance and conversion. 

     In the beginning of his great work, The Confessions, St. Augustine states -  “Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. We who are a part of your creation, long to praise you…You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and have drawn us to yourself. Our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”


     Zacchaeus reached out to Jesus by climbing up that tree. Jesus reached back to him. Although Zacchaeus lived a restless and sinful life, the kind of life that Augustine describes, God didn’t withhold his grace from him. God called him and waited patiently for him to get down from the tree.  Many in our modern society have restless hearts, but they often turn to things other than to God to satisfy these longings: alcohol, drugs, work, worldly pleasures, even things like the internet and video games. Yet, there’s an empty feeling in our hearts that the things of the world cannot fill – our hearts are only fulfilled in our relationship with God. 

     God meets us in our reality, he enters into our lives just as He entered the life of Zacchaeus. Where is God calling us today in the midst of our reality?  Are there any trees we need to climb in order to seek out God?  May the restlessness of our hearts keep tugging at us until we find what we’re really looking for.

11/2/2013 – All Souls – John 6:37-40; Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 6:3-9

     As we commemorate All Souls Day today, we remember how the Church has encouraged prayers for the faithful departed from its early days.  St. Augustine, one of our great Church fathers, commented: “If we had no care for the dead, we would not be in the habit of praying for them.”  Out of our Church’s prayers for the dead, today’s feast is traced to a custom started in the influential Benedictine abbey of Cluny, France almost 1,000 years ago, which prayed for the dead on November 2, right after All Saints Day. This practice spread to other monasteries and then to the Roman Catholic Church in general. 

      We celebrate All Souls Day as a community of faith, underscoring the frailties, weaknesses, and imperfections we feel as human beings.  We strive toward the perfection to which God calls us, but we often don’t hit the mark. Our 1^st reading from the book of Wisdom reflects the belief that was common in the ancient world, a belief that many in our secular world still hold today, that our human life ends when our bodies terminate their earthly existence.  In our Catholic faith, we are not afraid to acknowledge that so much remains a mystery to us, that no matter how much we learn about God, there will always be much more for us to learn, so much we don’t completely understand.  Hence, there is so much about death that remains a mystery to us. 

      Yet, the writer of the book of Wisdom assures the faithful: “The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them.”   Death remains a mystery, but we are confident that God is with us both in our earthly life and in our earthly death. In this mystery, we place our trust in God, in his infinite mercy.  In the spirit that came into us in the waters of our baptism, as we died with Christ in those waters and gained new life through him, we continue to be united with the Body of Christ even after the passing of our earthly bodies.  In our reading from his letter to the Romans, Paul focuses on the link between Christ’s death and resurrection and our own baptism, how we enter into the resurrection of the risen Christ. 

      Even though there is a sense of mystery inherent in our faith, there is also a sense of reality.  Many communities, including the one right here in Saltillo, commemorate All Souls Day in a beautiful ritual that is similar to what I witnessed in Latin America when I was a missionary down there.  It is a visual reminder of those loved ones who are no longer here in body but are still with us in spirit, of those who passed down the faith to us.  Moreover, All Souls Day reminds us that it is important for us pray for the souls of the faithful departed, for the souls who are in purgatory who are awaiting their union with God.  Likewise, it is a comfort for us to know that the faithful departed help us and pray for us through their prayers and intercessions as well. 

10/29/2013 – Tuesday of 30th week in Ordinary Time – Luke 13:18-21

     I recently read an article on the internet about the decrease in baptism rates in the United States, not only in the Catholic Church, but in Protestant denominations as well.  The article also said that now 20% of Americans whatsoever say that they have no affiliation or identification whatsoever with any religious group.  We hear these statistics in contrast to the message in the Gospel reading, that compares the kingdom of God to a small mustard that can grow at an astonishing rate into a huge bush. Jesus made this comparison in order to encourage his disciples in their proclamation of God’s kingdom.  Yet, we are reminded time and again that we are to trust in the Lord, to go about doing his work with great encouragement and enthusiasm.   We are also getting a lot of encouragement from Pope Francis, who wants the Church to be inviting and welcoming.  I remember that as a missionary, it was hard to see results most of the time, knowing that often we plant the seed, and then the harvest will take a long ways down the road, and the results may be very different than what we anticipated. May we feel the Lord encouraging us today in our Gospel reading, to never give up and to keep the faith.

10/28/2013 – Feast of Jude and Simon, Apostles – Luke 6:12-16

      As we celebrate the feast of St Jude and St Simon today, as we honor and remember two of Jesus’ apostles, it is interesting to reflect upon how much we really don’t know about most of these men who were called to be apostles.  Jude is mentioned in the list of apostles in the Gospel of Luke and in Acts, but he is not mentioned elsewhere, and we know no other facts about him from Scripture.   Scripture tells us that Simon was a Zealot, a group in ancient Israel that was very nationalistic, a group that hoped that the Messiah would come as a military and political leader who would liberate Israel from all foreign powers, to bring Israel to a position of power and glory in the world.  Since the days of the early Church, Simon and Jude have been associated with one another.  Tradition passes down that Simon and Jude brought the Gospel to the people of Persia, to current day Iran, and that they died as martyrs for the faith.

       No, we don't know a lot of details about many of the apostles, but we do know that the faith we have today was passed down by them, that they suffered and sacrificed in order to spread God’s word throughout the world. As we hear in the Gospel of the 12 apostles whom Jesus called by name, we know that they were not the richest, not the most intelligent, not from the most prestigious family in society, but rather that they were very human in their weaknesses and their flaws.   Some were tax collectors and zealots.  Some were so fiery that they were called “the sons of thunder.” In the midst of all of our flaws and weaknesses, the Lord calls us as his followers, to live out our faith in the reality of our lives.  May we all hear that call.

11/1/2013 – All Saints Day – Matthew 5:1-12a

      All Saints Day and All Souls Day are two special days in the Church that are very beloved by the faithful.  Even so, we might ask ourselves what were are really celebrating today on All Saints Day.  In the early Church, when those following the way of Jesus were persecuted in great numbers, being a saint was synonymous with being a martyr, with giving up one’s life for the faith. In the early 4th century, the Church commemorated a feast to remember all of the martyrs who gave their lives up for the Church.  This celebration in the Early Church was a precursor to All Saints Day that we celebrate today.

      When the Church became legally recognized in the Roman empire, the definition of a saint was expanded beyond martyrdom.  As we celebrate the saints of our Church today on All Saints Day, we might mistakenly believe that today’s solemnity recognizes only those who have been named official “saints” by the Church.  In reality, today we recognize all of the saints in our community of faith, all who have lived out the faith throughout the centuries and who have passed down the faith to us.  We recognize all who have led lives of faith and holiness.  Some of these men and women were famous and recognized throughout the world for their holiness.  Others lived out the faith in quiet, gentle, humility without official canonization by the Church. 

      When we think of a saint, it is true that we are thinking of a person that lived out a life of holiness, of a person that was true to his faith and true to the way God called him to live out his vocation as a Christian.  But, the saints were not perfect.  They were not without flaws.  When it came out several years ago that Mother Teresa of Calcutta suffered from a dark night of the soul and felt abandoned by God for most of the time she ministered to the poor, many people were shocked and scandalized, thinking that it took away from her holiness.  Yet, for me, the opposite is true.  It should help us understand Mother Teresa for who she really was, for all she had to overcome in order to serve the Lord.  The saints were very human, with human strengths and human weaknesses.  All of us as followers of Christ are called to lives of holiness, called to strive to perfection.  Yet, we do so in the midst of the nitty-gritty reality of our lives, in the midst of our brokenness, our weaknesses, and our struggles. 

      So, when we hear the Beatitudes proclaimed by Jesus in the Gospel today, perhaps we see ourselves.  Perhaps we are the poor in spirit, praying for the faith to carry on and to make it to the next day.  Sometimes the best we can do is to take it one day at a time in the midst of our pain and our struggles, and we do what we can to live out each day in service to the Lord. Perhaps we are those mourn, whose love and compassion goes out to the neighbor who is suffering, whose mourning goes out to those loved ones we no longer have in our lives or those loved ones who are suffering.  Perhaps we hunger and thirst for righteousness in the midst of great pain, injustice, or violence.  We yearn for a day when we as a society can put all of this aside, when we can truly say we are proclaiming God’s kingdom here on earth in what we say and in what we do.

      In our humility, in our faithfulness, in our simple gratitude to God, we are to strive to live out these attitudes that Jesus proclaims today in the Beatitudes in the reality of our lives, meaning that we are to make God the source, the strength, and the foundation of who we are.  As we honor the saints today, as we recognize how they are very much a part of our lives, of how we rely on their intercessions, we give thanks to God for the gift of the saints.