domingo, 27 de noviembre de 2011
sábado, 26 de noviembre de 2011
ADVENT 2011
People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.
Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.
Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.
Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.
Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.
FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT
My dear brothers in the Lord, today we celebrate
the first Sunday of Advent, a time
of silence and reflection, of meditation and self-examination. Let me share
with you a text published by the Bishops of Canada, I am sure it will be of
great help to all in this time of preparation for Christmas. As you have heard
many times, my wish is that our parish will grow ever more in love for the
Eucharist. Peace and blessings, Fr
Agustin, Pastor.
Advent, Eucharistic
presence
And silence
(I)
«A group of rabbinical students were once arguing about the meaning of a
biblical text. They appealed to their teacher who told them to show him the
page. “What do you see here?” he asked. “The words we are discussing,” they
replied. “These black marks on the page,” the old rabbi said, “contain half the
meaning of the passage. The other half is in the white spaces between the
words.” This is the margin of silence around any page. It is also the necessary
pause between breaths, the stillness between thoughts, the rest between bouts
of activity. For a growing number of people today the Eucharist is a ritual
whose significance is and has long been hemorrhaging. Let me share with you
what I recently heard during a retreat I was giving in Sydney. A pastoral
assistant from a parish in New South Wales told me that the priest there has
actually done what Pope John Paul II asked priests to do and what the
Guidelines of the new edition of the General Instructions of the Roman Missal
reinforce. He has restored liturgical silence to the worship of his parish. I
was surprised, not at this per se, but by the degree. They have silences after
the readings, five minutes after the homily and fifteen minutes at communion. I
asked how the people responded and was told that nobody has walked out and many
are expressing their approval. I don’t, however, want to reduce this subject to
the number of minutes of silence – and for good reason. I think it is
significant that an ordinary Sunday parish congregation can be introduced to
this degree of silence and enjoy it. Meister Eckart typically said that ‘there is nothing so much like God as
silence.’ Mother Teresa, who insisted on the centrality of two hours of
silent prayer for the life of her apostolic sisters, typically said that
‘silence is God speaking to us.’ Each of these sayings illustrates a way of
understanding the meaning of silence»[1] ■
I DOMINGO DE ADVIENTO
Queridos hermanos en el Señor: celebramos hoy el primer domingo del
tiempo de Adviento, y resuenan las palabras que san Pablo dirige a los
cristianos de Roma: «Ya es hora de
despertaros del sueño»[1].
Muchas personas –incluso en nuestra misma familia- viven de noche y duermen de
día. Durante la noche se entregan a cosas que no son propias de un cristiano. Luego, durante el día, están demasiado
cansados para pensar en cosas trascendentales, como el sentido de la vida.
Curiosamente, esas frenéticas actividades de la noche, realizadas en la
oscuridad o entre luces artificiales, son para el apóstol imágenes del sueño
que embarga al hombre cuando vive de espaldas a la amistad con Dios. Por eso
nos invita a despertarnos y a dejarnos iluminar por Aquél que viene para
salvarnos. Si lo pensamos bien, todos
vivimos un poco adormilados. También los que pasamos la noche en casa y de
día vamos a la Iglesia. ¿Quién puede afirmar que nunca se deja tentar por las
comilonas y borracheras, por la lujuria y el libertinaje, por las envidias y
rivalidades? A cada uno le aprieta el zapato por un sitio, es decir, ninguno
estamos totalmente libres del pecado. San Pablo nos recuerda que «nuestra
salvación está ahora más cerca que cuando nosotros empezamos a creer». Esto
significa que aún no estamos totalmente redimidos, que la obra de la salvación
ya ha comenzado en nosotros, pero aún no ha llegado a su plenitud. Y alguno
podrá decir: “Oiga, pero entonces, ¿para qué ha venido Cristo? ¿No decimos que
Él ya nos ha salvado, ya ha vencido al pecado y a la muerte, ya nos ha otorgado
la vida del cielo?”. Sí. Esto es verdad, Cristo ya nos dio la salvación pero mientras
vivimos esta vida, siempre estamos en peligro de equivocar el camino, de
permitir que las tinieblas confundan nuestros pensamientos, de perder las
ilusiones, de cansarnos de esta luz que siempre nos exige más y nos invita a no
darnos nunca por satisfechos.
San Pablo nos recuerda que en nuestra propia vida
personal el día está del encuentro definitivo con el Señor está más y más cerca.
Si se nos invita a despertarnos del sueño, es para que podamos descubrir la
claridad del que nos trae la salvación, para que podamos acoger la Vida que se
nos ofrece par poder darnos un abrazo con Él, un abrazo que durará para siempre.
Queridos hermamos en el Señor, no desperdiciemos éstas hermosas semanas de
preparación. Guardemos silencio y atentamente escuchemos la voz del Señor que ya
pronto viene a salvarnos ■ P. Agustín, Párroco.
martes, 22 de noviembre de 2011
Father, all of Creation rightly owes you thanks and praise.
Your justice, love and mercy abound. We thank you this day for all that you
have given us:
For the Passion and Death of your Divine Son..... we thank
you Father....through the Cross, He redeemed the world.
For the Church......... we thank you Father.... it is our
beacon for salvation.
For the martyrs and saints who give testimony to your
Son......... we thank you Father.....their witness to your Son is our
inheritance.
For our loved ones and friends who have died and gone before
us..... we thank you Father...their love abides with us forever.
For loving spouses ......we thank you Father......together
we seek you.
For the gift of children.....we thank you Father....they are
your precious gifts to us and to the world.
For the gift of our families, loved ones and good
friends.......we thank you Father....Through them we see the reflection of your
Son.
For jobs, our homes and all that we have.....we thank you
Father....give us only that which we need, as we seek Your Kingdom.
For the bounty we are about to eat...we thank you through
Christ Our Lord.
Amen ■
THANKSGIVING 2011
Probably you know
very well the story about the woman who looked out of her kitchen window on
Monday morning to notice her neighbor hanging out her laundry to dry… Well, she
noticed that the whites looked gray and the coloreds looked dull. “Such a shame
that woman doesn’t know how to wash her clothes clean,” she said to husband. The
same thing happened the next Monday. But the third Monday – oh my, what a
change! The whites sparkled in the sunlight and the colored clothes were
radiant. Finally, the woman thought to herself, that neighbor lady has
discovered how laundry should be done. When she told her husband how much
better the neighbor’s laundry looked, he said, “Well, it should. Last Tuesday I
washed your kitchen window.”
So often the way
we see things is conditioned by our own “dirty windows.” What seems to be a
problem “out there” is actually a problem “in here” – in us – in the way we
perceive the situation.
On this
Thanksgiving Day 2011 there appears to be so much “dirty laundry” out there in
our economy, in our world. Everyone is calling for “a fix.” But what can
effectively “fix” our economy?
Perhaps what is
really called for is a window washing of our own consciousness –a different way
of seeing— clearing our own lifestyles. Only if we take a good clean look at
the ways in which we honestly and credibly make money, spend money, save money
and share money can we truly Give Thanks in this difficult year. I firmly believe
that we CAN say “thanks a lot” if we hear this financial crisis as a wake-up
call from our God[1].
In other words: how
can we on this Thanksgiving Day wash the dirt from the windows our own economic
perceptions? Well, we MUST reevaluate our economic visions and practices from a
spiritual perspective, I mean, we need
to see our economy with the clear vision of God’s eyes. And that vision
allows us to see and to say: what is best for me, for us, is what is best for
all.
Sadly private
gain has prevailed over the common good. We’ve lost sight of what the common
good is, very often –even in religious activities- we are driven by a
self-interest.
The priorities
in our economy need to be revised –or
perhaps better said, reversed. If we
wash the windows of our soul, our priorities would read like this: People,
Planet and then Profit. As Catholics we have to be convinced that money must be
at the service of people and the planet – not the other way around…
Our gospel today
gives us a great teaching: Only one leper came back to thank Jesus for the
healing. For him more than his body had been healed. He realized that his very
way of seeing and being in the world had been transformed by God’s grace. The other nine healed lepers seem to
have returned to business-as-usual. They didn’t realize what had really
happened to them. Their vision had not been transformed. They could not
acknowledge the One who had worked that wondrous deed. Only the one Giving
Thanks had the windows of his vision purified to see the source of his New Life
and The Path Ahead. It is Thanksgiving that makes all the difference.
We cannot spend our
way out of this crisis. We must transform the ways in which money is made,
saved, shared and spent.
Let’s try to see
this difficult time as a Gift of God to help to open our eyes toward a more
just and impartial and just abundance for all. Then, with Sirach on this 2011
Thanksgiving we can honestly repeat the beautiful words that we just heard at the
first reading: Bless the God of all who
has done wondrous things on earth Who fosters people’s growth from their
mother’s womb, and fashions them according to his will[2]
■
viernes, 18 de noviembre de 2011
Benedict XVI, Apostolic Journey to Benin (November 18-20, 2011)
Meeting of His Holiness Benedict XVI with journalists during the flight to Benin
(Papal Flight, 18 November 2011)
Q: Holy Father, this journey takes us to Benin, but it is a very important trip for the entire African continent. Why did you choose Benin as the country from which to launch your message for all of Africa, today and tomorrow?
A: There are several reasons. The first is that Benin is a country at peace, external and internal peace. Democratic institutions work, in a spirit of freedom and responsibility and thus justice and the common good are possible and guaranteed by a democratic system and a sense of responsibility in freedom. The second reason is that, as in most African countries, there is the presence of different religions and peaceful coexistence between these religions. There are Christians in their diversity, not always an easy one, there are Muslims, and then there are the traditional religions, and these different religions live together in mutual respect and common responsibility for peace, for inner and outer reconciliation. It seems to me that this coexistence of religions and interreligious dialogue as a factor of peace and freedom is an important aspect, just as it is an important part of the Apostolic Exhortation. Finally, the third reason is that this is the country of origin of my dear friend, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin: I have always wanted to one day be able to pray at his tomb. He really was a great friend of mine -- we'll talk about that at the end, perhaps -- and so a visit to the country of Cardinal Gantin, a great representative of Catholic Africa, civilized and human Africa is one of the personal reasons why I wanted to go to this country.
ON DEATH AND LIFE (3)
Let us think for a moment of the scene at Calvary and
let us listen once again to the words that Jesus addressed on the Cross to the
robber crucified at his right: "Truly, I say to you, today you will be
with me in Paradise"[1].
Let us think of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, when –after having
travelled a stretch of road with the Risen Jesus- they recognize Him and
quickly set out toward Jerusalem to announce the Lord's resurrection[2].
The Master's words come to mind with renewed clarity: "Let not your hearts
be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you?"[3]. God has
truly appeared; He has become accessible; He has so loved the world "that
He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have
eternal life"[4], and in the
supreme act of love - in the Cross- plunging into the abyss of death, He
conquered it, He rose and He opened the doors of eternity also to us. Christ
sustains us through the night of death, which He himself traversed: He is the
Good Shepherd, in whose guidance we can trust without any fear, since He knows
well the road, even in obscurity. Each Sunday, in reciting the Creed, we
reaffirm this truth. And in visiting cemeteries to pray with affection and love
for our dear departed ones, we are invited once again to renew with courage and
with strength our faith in eternal life; indeed, we are invited to live out
this great hope and to give witness to it in the world: Nothingness is not
behind this present moment. And it is precisely faith in eternal life that
gives the Christian the courage to love our world even more intensely, and to
work to build a future for it, to give it a true and lasting hope»[5]
■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.Sobre la vida y la muerte (3)
Queridos amigos la conmemoración de
los Fieles Difuntos nos dicen que solamente quien puede reconocer una gran
esperanza en la muerte, puede también vivir una vida a partir de la esperanza.
Si reducimos al hombre exclusivamente a su dimensión horizontal, a lo que se
puede percibir empíricamente, la propia vida pierde su sentido profundo. El hombre necesita de la eternidad, y
cualquier otra esperanza para él es demasiado breve, demasiado limitada. El
hombre puede explicarse sólo si existe un Amor que supera todo aislamiento, también
el de la muerte, en una totalidad que trascienda también el espacio y el
tiempo. El hombre se puede explicar,
encuentra su sentido más profundo, sólo si existe Dios. Y nosotros sabemos
que Dios se ha hecho cercano, ha entrado en nuestra vida y nos dice: Yo soy la Resurrección y la Vida. El que
cree en mí, aunque muera, vivirá: y todo el que vive y cree en mí, no morirá
jamás[1].
Pensemos un momento en la escena del Calvario y volvamos a escuchar las
palabras de Jesús, desde los alto de la Cruz, dirigidas al crucificado a su
derecha: En verdad te digo, hoy estarás
conmigo en el Paraíso[2].
Pensemos en los dos discípulos camino de Emaús, cuando después de haber
recorrido un tramo con Jesús Resucitado, lo reconocen y parten sin dudar hacia
Jerusalén, para anunciar la Resurrección del Señor[3].
Dios se ha mostrado verdaderamente, se ha hecho accesible, ha amado tanto al
mundo que nos ha dado a su hijo
Unigénito, para que quien cree en Él no se pierda sino que tenga vida eterna[4].
Cristo nos sostiene a través de la noche de la muerte que Él mismo ha
atravesado; es el buen Pastor, bajo cuya guía nos podemos confiar sin temor, ya
que Él conoce bien el camino, ha atravesado también la oscuridad. Cada domingo,
recitando el Credo, reafirmamos esta verdad y renovamos nuestra fe en la vida
eterna. La fe en la vida eterna da al cristiano el valor para amar aún más
intensamente esta tierra nuestra y trabajar para construirle un futuro, para
darle una esperanza verdadera y segura»[5] ■ P. Agustín, Párroco.The Decalogue of Pope John XXIII
Only for today, I will devote ten minutes of my time to some
good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the
body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.
Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day
positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.
Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my
appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous
in my behavior; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to
discipline anyone except myself.
Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was
created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.
Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without
requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes.
Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone
about it.
Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like
doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.
Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not
follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two
evils: hastiness and indecision.
Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances,
that the good providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this
world.
Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will
not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed,
for twelve hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to
believe I had to do it all my life.
To conclude: here is an all-embracing resolution: "I
want to be kind, today and always, to everyone."
In this way, we can put Pope John's hope for every Christian
into practice: "Every believer in this world must be a spark of light, a
core of love, life-giving leaven in the mass: and the more he is so, the more
he will live, in his innermost depths, in communion with God."
miércoles, 9 de noviembre de 2011
ON DEATH AND LIFE (2)
Again, we fear death because – when we find ourselves approaching the end
of life- we perceive that there will be a judgment of our actions, of how we
led our lives, especially of those shadowy points that we often skillfully know
how to remove –or attempt to remove- from our consciences. I would say that the
question of judgment is what often underlies the care men of all times have for
the departed, and the attention a man gives to persons who were significant to
him and who are no longer beside him on the journey of earthly life. In a
certain sense, the acts of affection and love that surround the departed loved
one are a way of protecting him –in the belief that these acts are not without
effect on judgment. We can see this in the majority of cultures, which make up
human history. Today the world has become, at least apparently, much more
rational –or better, there is a widespread tendency to think that every reality
has to be confronted with the criteria of experimental science, and that we
must respond even to the great question of death not so much with faith, but by
departing from experiential, empirical knowledge. We do not sufficiently
realize, however, that this way ends in falling into forms of spiritism in the
attempt to have some contact with the world beyond death, imagining as it were
that there exists a reality that in the end is a copy of the present one. Dear
friends, the Solemnity of All Saints and the Commemoration of the faithful
departed tell us that only he who is
able to recognize a great hope in death is able also to live a life that
springs from hope. If we reduce man exclusively to his horizontal
dimension, to what can be perceived empirically, life itself loses its profound
meaning. Man needs eternity –and every other hope, for him, is all too brief,
is all too limited. Man is explainable only if there is a Love that overcomes
all isolation – even that of death- in a totality that transcends even space
and time. Man is explainable –he finds his deepest meaning- only if God is. And
we know that God has gone forth from the distance and has made Himself close;
He has entered into our lives and He tells us: I am the Resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he
die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die[1].
[2]
■ Fr. Agustin, Pastor.Sobre la vida y la muerte (2)
Y nos preguntamos –continúa el Papa- ¿por qué tememos la muerte? ¿Por qué
la humanidad, en su mayoría, nunca se ha resignado a creer que más allá de ella
no haya simplemente nada? Diría que las respuestas son muchas: tememos la
muerte porque tenemos miedo de la nada, de este partir hacia algo que no
conocemos, que nos es desconocido[1].
Y entonces hay en nosotros un sentimiento de rechazo porque no podemos aceptar
que todo lo que de bello y de grande ha sido realizado durante toda una
existencia sea eliminado de repente, caiga en el abismo de la nada. Sobre todo,
sentimos que el amor reclama y pide eternidad, y no es posible que sea
destruido por la muerte en un solo momento. También tenemos temor ante la
muerte porque, cuando nos encontramos al final de la existencia, existe la
percepción de que hay un juicio sobre nuestras acciones, sobre cómo hemos
llevado nuestra vida, sobre todo en esos puntos sombríos que, con habilidad,
sabemos a menudo quitar o intentamos quitar de nuestra conciencia. Diría que
precisamente la cuestión del juicio está a menudo implícita en el cuidado del hombre
de todos los tiempos por los difuntos, en la atención hacia las personas que
fueron significativas para él y que ya no están junto a él en el camino de la
vida terrena. En un cierto sentido, los gestos de afecto, de amor que rodean al
difunto, son una forma de protegerlo en la convicción de que no quedarán sin
efecto en el juicio. Esto lo podemos captar en la mayor parte de las culturas
que caracterizan la historia del hombre. Hoy el mundo se ha convertido en algo mucho
más racional, o mejor, se ha difundido la tendencia a pensar que toda realidad
debe ser afrontada con los criterios de la ciencia experimental, y que también
la cuestión de la muerte se debe responder, no tanto desde la fe, sino
partiendo de conocimientos experimentales, empíricos. No nos damos
suficientemente cuenta que, de este modo, caemos en formas de espiritismo, en
la pretensión de tener algún contacto con el mundo más allá de la muerte, casi
imaginando que haya una realidad, que finalmente, sería una copia de la
presente» ■ P. Agustín, Pastor.viernes, 4 de noviembre de 2011
November and the Poor Souls in Purgatory
The question is old and new at
the time: why we should pray for the dead? The answer comes from the Holy
Father Benedict XVI: «After celebrating the Solemnity of All Saints, the Church invites us to
commemorate all the faithful departed, to turn our gaze to so many faces that
have gone before us and that have completed their earthly journey. During these
days we visit the cemetery to pray for our dear departed ones; we go to visit
them, as it were, in order to express our affection for them once more, to feel
them still close to us; and in so doing, we also remember an article of the
Creed: In the communion of saints there is a close bond between us who still
journey on this earth and so many brothers and sisters who have already reached
eternity. Man has always been concerned for his loved ones who have died, and
he has sought to give them a kind of second life through his attention, care
and affection. In a certain way, we want to hold on to their experience of
life; and paradoxically, we discover how they lived, what they loved, what they
feared, what they hoped in and what they hated precisely at their graves, which
we crowd with mementos. They are, as it were, a mirror of their world. Why is
this? Because -- although death is often treated as an almost prohibited
subject of discussion in our society, and there is a continual attempt to
remove the mere thought of death from our minds -- it regards us all, it
regards men of every time and in every place. And before this mystery we all,
even unconsciously, seek something that invites us to hope, a sign that brings
us consolation, that opens a horizon before us, that offers us a future. The
road of death, in reality, is a way of hope -- and to visit our cemeteries, and
to read the inscriptions on graves, is to make a journey marked by hope in
eternity. But we ask ourselves: Why do we experience fear in the face of death?
Why has humanity, to a large extent, never resigned itself to believing that
beyond death there is only nothingness? I would say that there are a variety of
reasons: We fear death because we fear emptiness; we fear departing for
something unfamiliar to us, for something unknown to us. And then, there is in
us a sense of refusal, for we cannot accept that all the beauty and greatness
realized during a lifetime is suddenly blotted out, that it is cast into the
abyss of nothingness. Above all, we feel that love requires and asks for
eternity -- and it is impossible to accept that love is destroyed by death in a
single moment»[1]. I invite
you to reflect on these words of Pope Benedict XVI ■ Fr. Agustín, Pastor.El día de muertos y el mes de Noviembre
A lo largo de éste mes de Noviembre la pregunta viene muchas veces a nuestra
mente y a nuestro corazón: ¿Por qué dedica la Iglesia todo éste mes a la oración
por los difuntos? Y la respuesta viene –maravillosa- de nuestro Santo Padre el
Papa Benedicto XVI: «La Iglesia hoy nos invita a conmemorar a todos los
fieles difuntos, a dirigir nuestra mirada a tantos rostros que nos han
precedido y han concluido su camino terrenal. En estos días vamos al cementerio
para rezar por las personas queridas que nos han dejado, casi una visita para
expresar, una vez más, nuestro afecto, para sentirlos cercanos, recordando
también, de este modo, un artículo del Credo: en la comunión de los santos hay
un vínculo estrecho entre los que caminamos todavía en esta tierra y los muchos
hermanos y hermanas que ya han alcanzado la eternidad. Desde siempre, el hombre
se ha preocupado por sus muertos y ha intentado darles una especie de segunda
vida a través de la atención, el cuidado, el afecto. En un cierto sentido, se
quiere conservar su experiencia de vida; y, paradójicamente, el modo en que
vivieron, lo que amaron, lo que temieron, lo que esperaron y lo que detestaron,
lo descubrimos precisamente por sus tumbas, ante las cuales se agolpan los
recuerdos. Son casi como un espejo de su mundo. ¿Por qué es así? Porque, a
pesar de que la muerte sea un tema casi prohibido en nuestra sociedad, y se
pretenda continuamente quitar de nuestra mente el solo pensamiento de la
muerte, ésta nos afecta a cada uno de nosotros, afecta al hombre de todo tiempo
y de todo lugar. Ante este misterio todos, incluso inconscientemente, buscamos
algo que nos invite a esperar, una señal que nos dé consuelo, que se abra algún
horizonte, que ofrezca aún un futuro. El
camino de la muerte, en realidad, es
un camino de esperanza, y recorrer nuestros cementerios, como también leer las
inscripciones sobre las tumbas, es llevar a cabo un camino marcado por la
esperanza de eternidad»[1]. Pongamos atención a la
voz del Papa ■ P. Agustín, Párroco.
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