Sunday, January 20, 2019

Homilía – Segundo Domingo Ordinario – Convertir el agua en vino

Isaias 3:14-18a
1 Corintios 4:4-7
Juan 3:10-18
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Hoy, Jesús está realizando su primer milagro.
Para Su primer milagro no resucitó a los muertos, ni devolvió la
vista a un ciego, ni calmó una tormenta.
          Escogió (o su madre eligió para él) una boda celebrada por una pareja pobre en una ciudad empobrecida llamada Caná como el lugar para su primer milagro.
          La pareja se ha quedado sin vino en este momento especial. Jesús, alentando por su madre, salvará a la pareja de novios y a sus familias de la vergüenza de quedarse sin vino, y mostrará el poder de Dios al convertir el agua en vino.
          Este simple gesto de bondad sirve como un símbolo para todos nosotros acerca de la relación entre Dios y su pueblo, una relación entre lo divino y lo humano.
         Cuando preparemos los sacramentos del pan y el vino en unos momentos, preste mucha atención a la hora de preparar las ofrendas en el altar.
          Hay un momento en que el diácono (o un sacerdote) coloca una gota de agua en el vino. Esta gota de agua significa que nuestra humanidad está siendo colocada en la divinidad de Cristo, significada por el vino en el cáliz. Es un momento bendito digno de reflexión.
          El diácono (o sacerdote) pronuncia silenciosamente las siguientes palabras de oración: "Por el misterio de esta agua y vino, que podamos compartir la divinidad de Cristo, que se humilló a sí mismo para compartir nuestra humanidad".
          El autor local católico, Dr. Tom Curran, escribió sobre esto en su libro "La misa: cuatro encuentros con Jesús que cambiarán tu vida".
          Él dice: “el vino es la divinidad de Cristo, y nosotros somos el agua. Es como si nuestra auto-ofrenda espiritual (nuestro "derramamiento") en la Misa ... representada por el agua sin sabor, sin color ... esté inmersa en el robusto y sabroso vino de la auto-ofrenda de Cristo en la Cruz. ¿Qué pasa con el agua cuando se vierte en el vino? Se disuelve totalmente en el vino y "se convierte en vino". Eso es lo que sucederá en la misa: nuestra auto-ofrenda será sumergida en la de Cristo ".
          Qué apropiado que el primer milagro público de Cristo sea convertir el agua en vino. Pero no sin un poco de reluctancia a la petición de su madre. Gracias a Dios por las madres.
          Al convertir el agua en vino, Cristo nos demuestra cómo puede convertir nuestra humanidad ordinaria a lo divino.
          Todos y cada uno de nosotros hemos puesto en nuestros corazones un deseo por lo divino. En algún momento de nuestras vidas nos despertamos.
          Dios deja una marca en todos nuestros corazones. Él planta una gota divina de vino en cada una de nuestras almas. Esta gota es el reverso de la gota de agua que entra en el vino. Es una gota del vino divino que entra a las aguas humanas de nuestras almas. El milagro es cuando Cristo entra en acción y convierte nuestra propia agua en vino.
          Científicamente hablando, el ser humano promedio está compuesto por casi dos tercios de agua. Los bebés y los niños pequeños se componen de casi tres cuartos de agua. Eso es mucha agua en nuestra jarra humana.
          Pero así como Cristo convirtió el agua en vino en la Boda en Caná, Cristo puede realizar un milagro en cada uno de nosotros. Él puede convertir nuestra agua en vino. Él puede convertir nuestra humanidad en divinidad. Él puede hacer un milagro en nuestras vidas.
          El milagro de la boda de Caná fue presenciado por su madre. El amor de una madre por un hijo es lo más cercano al amor perfecto que vemos en nuestras vidas.
          Recuerdo el poder de ese amor cada vez que veo la escena más conmovedora de la película "La Pasión de Cristo".
          Cuando Jesús lleva su cruz al Calvario, tropieza y cae en las estrechas calles de Jerusalén. Su madre está luchando con lo que le está pasando a su hijo. Ella está abrumada por el dolor. Ella no puede soportarlo más.
          En ese momento, cuando ve a su hijo tropezar, María recuerda un momento en que Jesús, cuando era un niño pequeño, se cayó y se lastimó a sí mismo, y recuerda correr hacia Él para levantarlo y abrazarlo.
          En ese hermoso momento, María tiene la fuerza para superar su dolor y angustia y apresurarse hacia su hijo. Cuando ella se acerca, Maria dice: "Estoy aquí ... Estoy aquí ...", las mismas palabras que le dijo a su hijo cuando Él se cayó de niño.
          En su dolor y en su sufrimiento, Jesús toca su rostro con ternura, la mira a los ojos y dice las palabras que deberían despertar a cada una de nuestras almas: "Mira madre, hago todas las cosas nuevas".
          Él está haciendo lo mismo aquí en la boda en Caná.
         Jesús hace lo mismo cada vez que se hace una boda en la Iglesia de Dios. La auto-ofrenda de las parejas está inmersa en la auto-ofrenda de Cristo.
         Su sacrificio perfecto nos recuerda el sacrificio perfecto que se nos pide a todos que hagamos unos a otros en el matrimonio y el sacrificio perfecto de un matrimonio sacramental en la Iglesia.
         Cuando una mujer se entrega a su esposo como un sacrificio de amor y un hombre se entrega a su esposa como un sacrificio de amor, la humanidad y la divinidad se convierten en una unión perfecta en Cristo. Es un sacrificio perfecto que significa el sacrificio de Cristo en la cruz.
          Cristo está presente en los matrimonios sacramentales en la Iglesia, bendiciendo estos matrimonios y convirtiendo el agua de su humanidad en vino divino.
          Este es un milagro viviente. Uno que alentamos a todas las parejas a comprometerse para ser perfectos en su unión con Cristo.
          El obispo Roberto Barron dice: "Las bodas son un símbolo bíblico consistente para la unión mística entre Dios y su pueblo".
          Vemos esto en nuestra primera lectura del profeta Isaías. "Como un joven se casa con una virgen, tu hacedor se casará contigo; y como un novio se regocija en su novia así se alegrará tu Dios en ti ".
         Si una boda es un poderoso símbolo bíblico, el vino es otro, que simboliza la vida divina y la gracia que proviene de Dios.
          En la Boda en Caná, el vino se ha acabado, tal vez una metáfora de que el pueblo de Dios está perdido en el pecado.
          A este banquete de bodas viene Cristo: él mismo, el matrimonio de la divinidad y la humanidad o el vino de Dios encarnado.
          Su madre Maria habla a su hijo de la necesidad inmediata de una familia avergonzada, mostrando su atención a las necesidades de los pobres.
          Las palabras de María abordan lo que los grandes profetas han abordado durante siglos: el gran vino, la gran vida divina se ha acabado.
          María habla de manera práctica, metafórica y espiritual, diciendo, en esencia, por favor, venga en ayuda de su pueblo, Dios.
          Estas son las últimas palabras que escuchamos de María en el Evangelio. Estas son palabras importantes porque recuerdan las palabras de todos los profetas al invocar a Dios para la restauración de la vida divina.
          El obispo Barron dice esto: "Al convertir el agua en vino, de hecho, Jesús actuaba como el novio definitivo, cumpliendo la profecía de Isaías de que Yahvé realmente vendría a casarse con su pueblo".  
          “Jesús realizó un milagro hace mucho tiempo, transformando el agua en vino, pero nuestra Misa alcanzaría su clímax en el momento en que el mismo Señor realizó una señal aún más extraordinaria, transubstanciando el pan en su cuerpo y el vino en su sangre. El gran banquete de bodas se vuelve a presentar sacramentalmente en cada misa, cuando Cristo provee, no vino ordinario, sino su propia sangre para beber ".
          Mis hermanos y hermanas, este es el verdadero milagro de la Boda en Caná. Es uno disponible para todos y cada uno de nosotros, también.

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Today, Jesus is performing his first miracle.

For His first miracle he did not raise the dead, or restore sight to a blind man or calm a storm. 
He chose (or His mother chose for Him) a wedding held by a poor couple in an impoverished town of called Cana as the place for his first miracle.
The couple has run out of wine as the special moment. Jesus, at His mother’s encouragement, will save the wedding couple and their families from the embarrassment of running out of wine, and will show the power of God by changing water into wine.
This simple gesture of kindness serves a symbol for us all about to the relationship between God and His people, a relationship between the divine and the human.  
When we prepare sacraments of bread and wine in a few moments please pay close attention to when the gifts are being prepared at the altar. 
            There is a moment when the deacon (or a priest) places a drop of water into the wine. This drop of water signifies our humanity being placed into the divinity of Christ, signified by the wine in the chalice.  It’s a blessed moment worthy of reflection.
            The deacon (or priest) silently utters the following words of prayer:  “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.”
            Local Catholic author Dr. Tom Curran wrote about this in his book “The Mass:  Four Encounters With Jesus That Will Change Your Life.”
            He says, “the wine is the divinity of Christ, and we are the water.   It is as if our spiritual self-offering (our “pouring out”) at Mass… represented by tasteless, colorless water… is immersed in the robust flavorful wine of Christ’s self-offering on the Cross.  What happens to the water when it’s poured into the wine?  It is totally dissolved into the wine and ‘becomes wine.’  That’s what will happen at Mass: our self-offering is going to be immersed into Christ’s.”
How appropriate that Christ’s first public miracle is turning water into wine.  But not without a little reluctance to his Mother’s request.  Thank God for mothers.
By turning water into wine, Christ demonstrates for us how He can turn our ordinary humanity into the divine. 
            Each and every one of us has placed in our hearts a desire for the divine.  Sometime during our lives we awaken.
God leaves a mark on all our hearts.  He plants a divine drop of wine into each of our souls.  This drop is the reverse of the drop of water going into the wine.  It’s a drop of the divine wine going into the human waters of our souls. 
            The miracle is when Christ goes into action and turns our own water into wine.
Scientifically speaking, the average human being is comprised of nearly two thirds water.  Babies and young children are made up of nearly three quarters water.  That’s a lot of water in our human jug. 
            But just as Christ turned water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, Christ can perform a miracle in each of us.  He can turn our water into wine.  He can turn our humanity into divinity.  He can perform a miracle in our lives.
The Cana wedding miracle was witnessed by His mother.  A mother’s love for a child is as close to perfect love as we see in our lifetimes. 
I am reminded of the power of that love every time I see the most moving scene in the movie “The Passion Of The Christ.” 
When Jesus is carrying His cross to Calvary He trips and falls on the narrow streets of Jerusalem.  His mother is struggling with what’s happening to her son.  She is overwhelmed with grief.  She cannot bear it anymore. 
In that moment, as she sees her son stumble, Mary is reminded of a time when Jesus as a little boy fell down and hurt Himself and remembers running to Him to pick Him up and hold Him. 
In that beautiful moment, Mary has the strength to overcome her grief and anguish and rush to her son.  As she approaches, Mary says, “I’m here… I’m here…” the same words she said to her son when He fell as a little boy. 
In His pain and His suffering, Jesus tenderly touches her face, looks her in the eyes and says the words that should awaken each of our souls, “See Mother, I make all things new.”
            He is doing the same thing here at the Wedding at Cana.
Jesus does the same thing every time a wedding is done in God’s Church. The couples self-offering is immersed into Christ’s self-offering.
His perfect sacrifice calls to mind the perfect sacrifice we are all asked to make to one another in marriage and the perfect sacrifice of a sacramental marriage in the Church.
When a woman gives herself to her husband a as a sacrifice of love and a man give himself to a wife as a sacrifice of love, humanity and divinity become a perfect union in Christ.  It’s a perfect sacrifice signifying the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. 
Christ is present at sacramental marriages in the Church, blessing these marriages and turning the water of your humanity into divine wine. 
This is a living miracle. One we encourage all couples to undertake to become perfect in their union with Christ.
            Bishop Robert Barron says, “Weddings are a consistent biblical symbol for the mystical union between God and His people.”
We see this in our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah.
“As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.”
If a wedding is a powerful biblical symbol, wine is another one, symbolizing the divine life and grace that comes from God.
At the Wedding at Cana, the wine has run out, perhaps a metaphor for God’s people being lost in sin.
To this wedding banquet comes Christ – himself the marriage of divinity and humanity or the wine of God incarnate.
His mother Mary speaks to her son of immediate need of an embarrassed family, showing her attentiveness to the needs of the poor.
Mary’s words address what great prophets have addressed for centuries – the great wine, the great divine life has run out.
Mary speaks at practically, metaphorically and spiritually, saying, in essence, please come to the help of your people God.
These are the last word we hear from Mary in the Gospel. These are important words because they recall the words of all the Prophets in calling on God for the restoration of the divine life.
Bishop Barron says this, “In changing water into wine, Jesus was in fact acting as the definitive bridegroom, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that Yahweh would indeed come to marry his people.”
 “Jesus performed a miracle long ago, transforming water into wine, but that our Mass would reach its climax in the moment when the same Lord performed an even more extraordinary sign, transubstantiating bread into his body and wine into his blood. The great wedding banquet is re-presented sacramentally at every Mass, when Christ provides, not ordinary wine, but his very blood to drink.”
My brothers and sisters, this is the true miracle from the Wedding at Cana.  It’s one available to each and every one of us, too.

Sunday, January 13, 2019

Homily – The Baptism of the Lord – Expect the Unexpected

Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7
Acts 10:34-38
Luke 3:15-16, 21-22
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               With Jesus, expect the unexpected.
               As we hear in today’s Gospel reading, “The people were filled with expectation.” 
               Was John the Christ? If not, who was the Christ and when would he come? Would the Christ be the expected military leader of Israel who would break the bonds of Roman oppression?
               As we heard last week at Epiphany, even Herod was worried about this potential challenger and all Jerusalem with him.
               With Jesus, expect the unexpected.
               This is the message this week for us all.
               With His baptism, Jesus is here to bring forth justice to the nations. Jesus is here to lead us all in the peace. Jesus is our true savior.  No one else can do this. Only Jesus.  
               The first reading from the Prophet Isaiah gives us a clue as to how he will lead,
               “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom and leading the ewes with care."
               This is the one who will patiently govern with love and mercy. Not with divine force. Not with shouting. Not with judgment. But with divine love and mercy.
               With Jesus, expect the unexpected.
               Today, we’ve gone from the birth of baby Jesus to an adult Jesus being baptized in the River Jordan. We return to the culmination of the scene experienced throughout Advent of John the Baptist preparing people for the coming of God.
               There’s a reason we wear the color purple during Advent. Purple is the color of penance and preparation. Advent is a time of penance as we prepare for the birth of our savior and make our hearts ready for Christ’s coming.
               John asked us during Advent to cleanse our hearts, change evil ways so that we might be ready for the birth of Jesus.
               Sure. Advent is a season of expectant hope. But it’s also a time to ready the way of the Lord.
               John is the bridge to the promises made by God to His people and how Jesus fulfills them then and now. But John is only the herald, pointing to one greater than himself.
               Today, John also points to another great theme of Luke’s Gospel: the workings of the Holy Spirit.  As we hear John declare today, “(Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” More on that in a moment.    
               This weekend marks the official liturgical end of the Christmas season.
               For many in the secular world, the Christmas season ends around the New Year. That’s the time many take down their Christmas tree, pack away the Christmas ornaments and decorations for another year.
               Our family always waits until this weekend to go through this annual ritual. We celebrate the whole Christmas season. I’m sure there are many here who do the same.
               I’ve had neighbors ask why we keep our Christmas lights up and on until mid-January. It’s a great moment of evangelization to share that our faith tradition encourages us to celebrate the whole of the Christmas season.
               Our Catholic Church teaches us of the sacred nature of this time of year. The Christmas season celebrates God becoming flesh and dwelling among us in this world.
               “During this season, we celebrate the birth of Christ into our world and into our hearts, and reflect on the gift of salvation that is born with him… including the fact that he was born to die for us.” To die for our sins.
               “Every Eucharist is like Christmas where the bread and wine are transformed into His flesh, His Body and Blood, and in a sense, He is born anew on the altar.”
               Today, we see Jesus all grown up and baptized in the River Jordan. We see heaven open up and the Holy Spirit descend upon him like a dove. We hear the voice of God declare, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
               Notice here how Jesus is at prayer. Luke more than any other Gospel shows Jesus in prayer at important times in his ministry. This gives us all a good model to be in prayer at critical times in our lives.
               Today, we’re also are reminded of the day of our own baptism.
               Likely most of us don’t remember this event.  Infant baptism is the standard practice in our Catholic faith.
               That’s why it’s so special to witness baptisms at Mass and, as a community, welcome a new member to the Christian faith.  It gives us a glimpse of the joy our own parents and godparents experienced in this special moment.
               Bishop Robert Barron says, “To be baptized a Christian is to be grafted onto Christ and hence be drawn into the very dynamic of the inner life of God.”
               We become a member of His mystical body, sharing in His own relationship with the Father. We are called through our baptism to be instruments of God’s grace in the world and call others to Jesus by our words and our actions.
               Barron says, “Jesus is the Son of God by nature. We become, by baptism, sons and daughters of God through adoption. Baptism draws us into this relationship between the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the relationship between the Father and the Son. Baptism in a word is all about grace.  It’s about the breakthrough of the divine life. It’s about our incorporation through the power of God’s love into God’s own life.”
               Barron also says, “All of us are born into a deeply dysfunctional world. A world conditioned by millennia and eons of selfishness, cruelty, injustice, stupidity, and fear. What this has done is it’s created a poisonous atmosphere which conditions all of our thoughts and moves and actions.”
               We don’t choose this. We are born into it. This is original sin.
               Our baptism reverses this, draws us into the life of the Holy Trinity and God’s mission of love to the world. 
               This doesn’t mean we don’t still need the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation to keep us strongly connected to Christ. We all do.  
               The great 4th Century Theologian Gregory of Nazianzus said this about baptism: “Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . . It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; (it is called) grace since it is given even to the guilty.”
               As Jesus reminds us, “It is not you who have chosen me, but I who have chosen you.”     
               With Jesus, expect the unexpected.
               As we pray on this most holy day, at the beginning of this New Year, let us meditate on the fact that all of us Christians should hear that same voice from God. That He is well pleased with us, that we are His beloved.   
               Bishop Barron calls this “the deepest truth of baptism.”