Ven al Pan de la Vida

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XVIII Domingo Ordinario, Año B: 5 Agosto 2012
Ex 16, 2-4.12-15; Sal 77; Ef 4, 17.20-24; Jn 6, 24-35

¿Por qué vienes a Misa esta tarde? Como la muchedumbre en la lectura del Evangelio, cada uno has viajado a este lugar—no por barca, como ellos, sino por coche, o quizá por andar. Y, ¿por qué has venido? ¿Buscas a Jesús, como buscaron ellos? ¿Dónde esperas encontrarlo? Y ¿qué esperas recibir de él?

En la semana pasada, oímos que Jesús alimentó milagrosamente a esta muchedumbre de 5000 hombres, sin contar las mujeres y los niños, con cinco panes y dos pescados, hasta que se saciaron.

Looking for Jesus

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18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B: Aug. 5, 2012
Exod 16:2-4, 12-15; Ps 78; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

What brings you to Mass today? Like the crowd in the Gospel reading, each of you has traveled to this place—not by boat, but mostly by car, perhaps a few on foot. And why have you come? Are you looking for Jesus, as they were? If so, where do you expect to find him? And what do you hope to receive from him?

Last week, we heard about Jesus miraculously feeding this crowd of 5000 men, plus women and children—multiplying five loaves and two fish so that they could all have as much as they wanted.

El Ministerio de San Esteban y el fruto de escuchar con compasión

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V Domingo de Pascua, Año B: 6 Mayo 2012
Hch 9, 26-31; Sal 21; 1 Jn 3, 18-24; Jn 15, 1-8

La lectura que oímos del Evangelio hoy es una que usé muchas veces mientras que enseñaba la RICA en este año—a los que se preparaban para el bautismo o para hacerse católicos. Porque, después de llegar a conocer a Cristo, y responderlo en la fe, y recibir el bautismo y la confirmación: entonces, ¿qué?

La respuesta es: vivir la vida cristiana; vivir cada día en Cristo. Y Cristo nos lo muestra en el imagen en la lectura: “Yo soy la vid, ustedes los sarmientos; el que permanece en mí y yo en él, ése da fruto abundante.”

Stephen Ministry and the fruit of compassionate listening

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5th Sunday of Easter, Year B: May 6, 2012
Acts 9:26-31; Ps 22; 1 John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8

This passage that we hear in our Gospel reading today is one that I spoke of many times in RCIA this year—to those preparing for baptism or to become Catholic. For after they, or we, come to know Christ and we respond to him in faith and receive baptism and confirmation: then what?

And Christ himself tells us through this great imagery. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit.” This is a picture of what our life in him is to be all about, day by day, month after month.

One in Christ

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10th in a series of short homilies on the Mass

The Second Vatican Council observed that the world longs for unity—and yet we always find different forces and divisions that drive people apart. How can this unity ever be achieved? The Council wrote:

God… does not make men holy and save them merely as individuals, without bond or link between one another. Rather has it pleased Him to bring men together as one people, a people which acknowledges Him in truth and serves Him in holiness. (Lumen gentium, 9)

And the Church that Christ calls and forms becomes “a lasting and sure seed of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race.” A seed: small, but containing within itself that unity; and, as it draws persons into it, bringing them that unity that they long for.

Gaudete Sunday: Find your joy in the Lord

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3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B: Dec. 11, 2011
Isa 61:1-2, 10-11; Luke 1; 1 Thess 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28

John the Baptist is one of the great figures of the Advent season. For during this season we look toward Christ’s Second Coming; and who better to help us prepare for that than John the Baptist, who helped the people of the first century prepare for Christ’s first coming. And how did he do that? He preached repentance—change; a turning away from sinful thoughts and attitudes and actions inside and sinful actions outside—to prepare the way of the Lord.

But it wasn’t just in his words and his action of baptizing that John prepared for the Lord. He also did so by who he was.

Love God with all your heart

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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Oct. 23, 2011
Exod 22:20-26; Ps 18; 1 Thess 1:5-10; Matt 22:34-40

“Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” they ask Jesus. By a few centuries later, the rabbis would state in the Talmud that there were 613 commandments—both the negative prohibitions of what not to do and the positive commands of what to do. Which of these is the greatest? And Jesus’ answer is not just the top commandment out of 613, but that upon which the whole law and the prophets depend: the root, the organizing, pervading principle of them all.

And it is love.

It is love: not just a series of tasks to be fulfilled and sins to be avoided. It is love: not the Nirvana sought by Buddhism,