PLANTED AND BUILT UP IN JESUS CHRIST, FIRM IN THE FAITH – Col 2:7

This is the theme of the Youth World Day, and it is taken from the letter of St. Paul to the Colossians.

Paul is very good at summarizing the most important truths in a few sentences, easy to memorise and to refer to. Col 2:6-7 is one of my preferred passages in the letters of St. Paul: “So then, as you received Jesus as Lord and Christ, now live your lives in him, be rooted in him and built up on him, held firm by the faith you have been taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving.”

In this passage, Paul shows us what being a Christian means.

• ·      First of all, one must accept Jesus as Lord and Christ, in order to be a Christian. Throughout the centuries, thousands have died for that affirmation of faith. Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, and the One who came to redeem us and reconcile us with God. And he is Lord – the Lord of Lords. The affirmation that he is Lord means as well that he is divine, because the word Lord (Kyrios in Greek) was the word used in the Greek translation of the Bible (the Septuagint) to translate the name of God, Yahweh. It is the proclamation of faith of Thomas: “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).
• ·      To accept Jesus means to live our lives in him. Faith in Jesus Christ implies a way of life or a certain type of behaviour, and that behaviour comes from a very special relationship with Jesus, a relationship based on faithfulness and commitment.
• ·      Jesus Christ must become the centre of our lives, so that he is the centre of reference of everything that we do or say. Paul says it very clearly: Planted and built up in Jesus.  We must remember that Jesus presented himself as the corner stone. He is the foundation upon which we must build the new world. Nowadays, society is being built on market values, which simply means greed. And greed has no values and no morals; it only cares for bigger and bigger profits. A society built up on greed will destroy itself. We must reclaim for Christ his foundational role in society. And that is only possible if we make a choice for Christ.
• ·      That’s why it is important to be firm in the faith that we have been taught. Faith is first and foremost this relationship with Christ upon which our whole life is founded. But faith implies also a teaching that we must accept.  Faith brings also knowledge, the knowledge of the mystery of salvation and the mystery of God’s love, revealed in Jesus Christ. Paul stresses that faith means following the right doctrine as we were taught. We cannot call ourselves Christians and then accept whatever doctrines we want or be always ready to formulate new ones in opposition to the truths of faith that we were taught. The knowledge of faith is very important. That’s why the Pope decided to give the youth the gift of a Youth Catechism, the YOUCAT, to help the youth grow in faith.

• Finally, if we accepted Jesus Christ and if we make a daily effort of becoming his true disciples, then we must live with an attitude of thanksgiving. We give thanks for all the blessings we have received and most of all for God’s love, because in Jesus we have become his children.     

PICTURES OF YWD

THE YOUTH WORLD DAY opens today in Madrid

Every year, during the summer holidays, there are plenty of festivals where the youth gather to be with their idols, to sing and dance. They come from everywhere and are ready to go through all kinds of experiences; it may be drugs, alcohol or sex. However, what motivates them is the experience of being together, of sharing and of friendship. They need to feel at home, with people who speak the same language, go through the same problems and have the same expectations.

In the Youth World Day, which opens today in Madrid, young Catholics from all over the world come together to share their faith and give witness to Jesus Christ. They sing and pray together in a mixture of languages and cultures, being truly the universal (catholic) Church. Like all the youths of the world, they are thirsty for peace, happiness and life. They don’t feel at easy in the world built up by their parents and grandparents. They want to find the way for a new world, and they know that Jesus Christ is the key for that new world.

They gather together to rejoice in Jesus Christ, because they have discovered that he is the way and he is the light. They have chosen to guide their lives by the pattern and the model of Jesus Christ. There are so many empty promises and so many false role models that lead the youth to despair. In Jesus, they find a source of hope and the strength to build a better world. More than anything else, in the YWD they will have an unforgettable experience of Jesus Christ, which will help them to make Jesus the centre of their lives and the centre of this world. 

THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY: Blessed are you!

Rubens, 1626

In the Parish, many asked me about the Assumption and if Mary, the mother of Jesus, died or not.

By celebrating Mary’s Assumption, we celebrate her total salvation, in which her body participates of the glory of the body of Christ, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: Christ “will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Phil 3:21).

The celebration of the feast of Assumption of our Lady is a proclamation of our faith in the resurrection of the dead in Jesus Christ. What we celebrate about Mary is what we look forward to with great hope. All of us will rise from the dead to be alive in Jesus Christ for the glory of God.  The feast of the Assumption reminds us that the salvation brought about by Jesus Christ is for the whole person, body and soul. Mary has received the plenitude of salvation. In her, the Promise has been fulfilled, as it will be in us.

Indeed, Mary is the most blessed (Lk 1:42,45). She is the mother of the Lord, and she believed and accepted God’s plan for her. She was the first one to receive the Spirit, enabling her to receive Jesus, not only in her womb, but also in her heart, becoming a true disciple. With her, we must learn to follow Jesus and to sing God’s praises for all his blessings: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Lk 1:46-47).

About the Assumption, many ask: Where is it written in the Bible? Well, if you are looking for a passage in the Scriptures to prove the Assumption of Mary, then you cannot find it anywhere. But this is a feast with long tradition. At the end of the third century and beginning of the fourth, there are already references to Mary being taking to heaven in body and soul. In the East, by the 7^th Century, the feast was established and was celebrated on 15 August, being one of the great feasts of the Orthodox Church.

In the Orthodox Church, the feast of Assumption is called the Dormition (Falling Asleep) of the Theotokos”, meaning that Mary’s death was like falling asleep in order to wake up on the other side, for the new life, in which she was “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:19). When called to heal Jairus’ daughter, Jesus referred to death as sleep, and he did the same about Lazarus’ death. So it was with Mary, the Mother of the Lord: she went into sleep and passed from this world to the peace, joy and life of the Kingdom of God.

from Constantinople

In the Orthodox Liturgy of the feast, the following hymn is sung:

Neither the tomb, nor death

could hold the Theotokos,

Who is constant in prayer and our firm hope in her intercessions.

For being the Mother of Life,

She was translated to life by

 the One who dwelt in her virginal womb.

On the Assumption:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02006b.htm

http://orthodoxwiki.org/Dormition

XX SUNDAY, year A

Isaiah 56: 1; 6-7:

A house of prayer for all peoples

Jesus quoted this passage of Isaiah to justify his action, when he expelled the vendors from the Temple (Mt 21:13). And this passage helps us to find the meaning of Jesus’ action in the Temple and also of the encounter of Jesus with the Canaanite woman.

The religious establishment was conservative, puritan, discriminating and exclusivist. No gentile and no uncircumcised the inner court of the Temple, and the impure, the handicapped and the sinners suffered the same exclusion. Paul’s life was put at risk when he was suspected of entering the Temple with gentiles (Act 21:28). The Pharisees – which means the separated ones – were called so, because, in their effort to be pious, faithful and pure, separated themselves from the sinners. Jesus’ intervention in the Temple was a protest at exclusivism and separation. And that is the message of Isaiah. A time will come when nobody will be excluded. All those “who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants”, “I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer”.

All those who choose to live by faith and who are ready to follow and serve the Lord with love, will be accepted and will rejoice in the presence of the Lord.

Matthew 15: 21-28:

The Canaanite woman

When we read the gospels, listen to Jesus’ words and look to his actions, we get the impression that some times he was intent on upsetting people and provoking a reaction from them. It is not easy to be a disciple of Jesus Christ; in fact, to follow him, we must be ready to be questioned and challenged, and then to change.

Reading the passage about the Canaanite woman, we are puzzled with Jesus’ answer to the woman’s request, and that is even more so, when we judge the past with today’s criteria and sensitivity. Jesus used the common language of the people, and his words sounded like a refusal. However, mothers understand better, as his mother did in the wedding of Cana, when he told her that his time had not arrived yet. The Canaanite woman understood that she was a stranger and that Jesus had come to the people of Israel first, but she would be content with some of the left overs or just the little crumbs that fall from the table. And Jesus was overwhelmed by her faith, and praising her, granted her the life of her daughter.

This passage is about the paramount importance of faith. It is by faith that we are saved in Jesus Christ; and in matters of faith, the Jews were not better off than the gentiles. It does not matter where we come from or to which nation or tribe we belong. Nothing of that counts, as the gift of faith is offered to all.

The Canaanite woman, the stranger, the pagan, coming from the great archetypical enemies of the people of Israel was able to recognise Jesus as the Messiah and to approach him for salvation. Her cry is the cry of all of us: “Have mercy on me, O Lord”.

The Canaanite’s faith is an indictment against the people of Israel in general. Rejected by the leaders of his own people, Jesus is accepted by the sinners and the pagans, which were excluded by the religious establishment.

We are never alone!

Today morning, while sitting in from of the television set, something caught my attention. Goucha, a presenter of a morning show on TVI (a Portuguese broadcaster), had as one of his guests the singer Robert Leal, who is celebrating 40 years of his singing career. He was still young when he went to Brazil, becoming a star of Portuguese popular music there.

Mixing singing with talking, and speaking about his life, he said: 

-               Words don't matter, only deeds do. 

-      Will there be a last judgment? And what about the unbelievers?

-               Then they will see clear.

-               Well, well, let us hear some songs more.

And answering a new question about his 40 years carrier as a singer, he said: The most important in my life has been the feeling that we are never alone.

Indeed, we are never alone, because we are always accompanied by the loving presence of God. And the Last Judgment will be the moment for all to recognize that love, which is a saving love. The ones who always refused to share love will see clearly that life without a love that is given and accepted is no life at all.

THE YOUTH RAGE IN THE STREETS OF LONDON

Croydon, London

Last night, through the BBC site, I wat-ched parts of London burning. A peace-ful protest in Tottenham on Saturday became violent, and the violence spread to other parts of London and even other cities. Masked groups of young people moved around destroying, burning and looting. A lot of people have lost their homes, business and livelihoods. They were attacking and destroying their own communities.

Nothing can justify the violence and the destruction that affected the lives of so many people. But we should ask ourselves why? Why so much violence? Why all this rage? Is it a cry of revolt? Is it a protest and a rejection of the society we live in? Or is it just crime? Arson and looting are more a crime than a protest.

We must make an effort to understand, and there are so many factors that may contribute to what we see in the streets of London.

·      Several times, an appeal was broadcast to the parents. They must know where their children are. We live in a society where the parental authority has been eroded. It is a permissive society, in which the children can do whatever they want. The parents are not willing or able to set rules of behaviour for their children and then they cannot enforce them. They must ask themselves: are we good role models to our children? How do we bring them up? Freedom goes together with responsibility.

·      A lot of young people have nothing to do; they are jobless, and without much hope for the near future. However, they have needs, and they would like to possess the latest electronic gadgets and to enjoy life. If the quality of life is measured by the pleasure that you get and by the goods that you possess, then if you cannot afford them, you grab them. Most of the people in the Western societies have been living beyond their means, on borrowed money that they cannot pay back.

·      We must question ourselves about the type of development we have been pursuing. Technological development is not the same as human development. Looking for higher and higher profits, without consideration for people creates and it will create ever-bigger groups of marginalised people, who have nothing to loose and who will not allow others to have what they cannot have. Big finance is ruling the world, and the big finance is ruled by the markets, which means greed. Greed is the ruler and it is the big cause of the present financial crisis.

·      Many times, it seems that our society has decided to destroy all traditional values, as if they would be false, just because they are traditional. We speak so much about personal rights and so little about responsibility and the respect for others rights. We have created an individualistic society with little concern for the family and the community. And responsibility goes together with participation and sharing.

·      To this hopeless society, we need to bring the light and the Good News of Jesus Christ.