La meditación de la Esposa : Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

In our age of rapid communication and modern technology, our lives are supposed to be much easier, but we know that today’s way of living has its own labors and its own concerns and traps, as it were, many of which can take our minds, hearts, and souls away from the things which are truly important. Christ’s call to discipleship, and to a life of complete submission to Him still rings just as true and just as real as it did when he said the words of the Gospel two millennia ago. We hear a great deal of talk in modern American culture about people having a “personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” We absolutely believe that our God is real and He is personal, but that is not a phrase which appears anywhere in Sacred Scripture. Instead, this is the discussion we get from Jesus, one where He tells us that following Him could cause conflict even with those who are the dearest and closest to us. Many of the Christians of the Near East understand Jesus’ message all too well. They are often persecuted by people on both sides of the traditional Jewish/Arab divide in that part of the world, and so great is the pressure on the Faith there that in the part of the world where our faith began it is in great danger of being wiped out, but the Christians of the Near East continue to live out Christ’s call for total commitment. “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Jesus’ message of total commitment to Him is not exactly one we hear often in our modern culture. Far too many people are totally committed to their own advancement, their own enrichment, or their own pleasure. Even among many Catholics, there is often an attitude which says “I have been to Mass this week, I have done what I needed to do,” or “I’ve been to Confession, I can check that off my list.” Perhaps the worst example of this is the mentality that exists in some circles that “after Confirmation, you are ‘done.’” No one should ever be “done” with Jesus Christ! In saying this, let me be very clear that I don’t diminish weekly Mass attendance in the least, nor do I mean to diminish anyone’s commitment to the Sacrament of Penance. My point is that we are called to live a sacramental life but this (living a sacramental life) is not merely about “going through the motions” of receiving the Sacraments. If we think that is what it means to live the Gospel through a sacramental life, we have missed the whole reason Christ gave us the Sacraments in the first place. The Church has consistently taught us that the Sacraments are outward and visible signs instituted by Christ to confer Grace upon those who receive them, but the Sacraments are a two-way proposition. When we receive the Sacraments, in order to receive the sanctifying Graces Christ has for us in them, we have to be open to receiving those Graces, and we can be open to sanctifying Grace by being committed to Jesus Christ in the way in which he is asking us according to the Gospel (I know, it is not easy to understand, so read the phase again). The ultimate reward for this kind of complete embrace of Jesus Christ and His message is that we will spend eternity in Heaven sharing in the Divine Life with Him. Living a committed Gospel life may be a daily struggle for many of us, but one way that we can know that we are on the right path is that for all of the difficulties Jesus warned would come our way when we choose the Gospel, and when we choose Christ, He also said “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”[1] Jesus wants us to follow Him most of all because we love Him…and if we love Him, living a Gospel life won’t seem very burdensome at all. This could be a good topic to get our conversation with the Lord, with a cup of steaming, fragrant coffee, of course • AE

XIII Domingo Ordinario (Ciclo A)

La intimidad y la ternura del vaso de agua, de esa acogida, contrastan quizá con esas palabras de Jesús, tan duras y tan radicales, sobre el abandono de todo -hasta de lo más entrañable- para seguirle. El quid está en la libertad interior que el Señor nos llama a vivir. Este domingo, en algún momento de silencio, podríamos echar un vistazo a nuestra alma y preguntarnos sobre el confort, la sensualidad, el egoísmo y la sociedad de consumo en la que nos movemos. La casa que se ofrece (la primera de las lecturas) y el vaso de agua que se da (el evangelio) son signos de desprendimiento, de amor confiado, de entrega, de servicio a los demás, y por lo tanto signos de una profunda libertad. Hoy el Señor nos invita a un desprendimiento profundo, a liberarnos de todo condicionamiento. No basta protestar, no basta combatir de tejas abajo los condicionamientos y llenar las redes de hashtags. Casi siempre que protestamos y clamamos por eliminar un condicionamiento caemos en uno igual, si no es que en uno peor que el anterior. La exigencia de Cristo es dulce, es liberadora, porque nos coloca más allá de toda dependencia, de toda esclavitud. Quien pierde su pequeña y enana vida, gana la definitiva, la real, y puede vivir en libertad. Los condicionamientos que tantos lamentos producen y tantas "contestaciones" desencadenan no se superan más que estando por encima de ellos mismos. Más que luchar contra este o aquel condicionamiento, lo que quizá podríamos hacer es tratar de vivir sin ninguno, en una profunda libertad interior, libres de atavismos. Esto es lo que quiere decir que tomar la cruz de todos los días y seguir al Señor. En menos palabras: la frescura del vaso de agua pasa por el desprecio, el dolor y la muerte, sí, pero al final del camino está la resurrección • AE

…