Resumen JMJ en video

Pequeño resumen de la JMJ 2011

Estas últimas semanas no hemos publicado nuestra reflexión semanal del Evangelio pues hemos estado completamente involucrados en la preparación y participación de la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud (JMJ) Madrid 2011.

Algunas notas de interés

El Papa Benedicto XVI confirmó que la próxima celebración de la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud será en el 2013 en Río de Janeiro.

Eduardo Paes, alcalde de la ciudad elegida, se encontraba entre los asistentes cuando se confirmó la noticia que no por esperada, dejó de ser menos emocionante para él y los miles de jóvenes brasileños que acudieron a la cita.

En declaraciones a la prensa local Paes dijo: “Es un evento de dimensiones mucho mayores de lo que se puede imaginar. La multitud que he visto hoy en la celebración de la misa y que ha tomado las calles de Madrid me emociona y me hace pensar en las proporciones que un encuentro como ese tendrá en nuestra ciudad”.

EL PAPA FRENTE A LOS OBSTÁCULOS

Una parte del millón y medio de peregrinos que asistieron a la Jornada Mundial de la Juventud no pudieron asistir a la gran fiesta final del sábado por la noche y el domingo en la mañana en Cuatro Vientos, en las afueras de Madrid.

Según fuentes oficiales del Vaticano, la fuerte tormenta que obligó al Papa a acortar su discurso, aunque “Benedicto XVI estaba decidido, incluso extremadamente decidido a quedarse en el lugar, al igual que los jóvenes. No tuvo la menor duda. Esta tormenta es una parábola de la vida cristiana, en la cual, los momentos de dificultad se superan con la tenacidad de la fe”, dijo el portavoz de la Santa Sede, Federico Lombardi.

Fue tal la cantidad de asistentes, bajo un fuerte sol de 40 grados, que muchos jóvenes invadieron también la avenida por donde debieron circular los vehículos de emergencia e incluso el Papamóvil para que muchos peregrinos vieran al distinguido visitante de cerca.

La tormenta dañó muchas carpas de la explanada acondicionadas como capillas y la policía ordenó clausurarlas por temor a derrumbes. Esta medida obligó a inutilizar las miles de hostias guardadas allí para la comunión del domingo. La Iglesia por su parte declaró que en este caso de fuerza mayor, la “comunión espiritual” es válida.

El tercer contratiempo, el más importante, es el de decenas de miles de peregrinos inscritos en las JMJ que llegaron a pie a Cuatro Vientos a última hora del día y no pudieron acceder al recinto después que los organizadores habían dejado entrar horas antes tanto a los inscritos como a los que no lo estaban.

Estos jóvenes fueron acomodados en un terreno adyacente que no disponía de pantalla gigante para seguir la ceremonia, y además recibieron el “picnic del peregrino” a altas horas de la noche.

Durante la tormenta, el mayor problema en el escenario gigante desde donde habló Benedicto XVI fue una enorme avería de los amplificadores de sonido. Los allegados al Papa preguntaron a éste en varias ocasiones si quería abandonar la vigilia y éste insistió en quedarse, según Lombardi.

REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

20^th Sunday A

Fr James McTavish FMVD

Intercessory Prayer.

In the gospel today we meet a remarkable woman. She was a Gentile, a non-Jew, who approached Jesus with a request. She calls out “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon" (See Matt 15: 21-28). In the Marcan version she falls at the feet of Jesus. She asks the Lord to have pity on her, not for her own sake, but for her daughter who is possessed by an evil spirit. What catches our attention is the apparent indifference of Jesus who did not say a word to her. How can this be seeing as Jesus is always presented as caring and compassionate? The disciples then try to send her away but she is so very persistent. Jesus tells her that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The woman responds by kneeling down in front of Jesus! Jesus then delivers what seems to be the killer blow – “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."

Once I had a little dog called Dougal. He was a West Highland terrier or what sis typically known as a “Scottie dog.” He had white fur and was very cute. My brother and I would feed him at the table. After we had eaten we would pass him the scraps but our parents told us not to feed him at the table. Once I did not want to eat my dinner so I passed some if it secretly to Dougal under the table. However he gave the game away when he started whining for more! Well anyway this image helps us understand the custom of feeding the children first before the dog! What Jesus is saying is that his priority is first to the Jews and not to the Gentiles. To call them dogs (actually the Greek word used, kunariois, means little dog or puppy) was a Jewish term of contempt, along with swine, for Gentiles. But the woman in a beautiful response turns the tables and says to Jesus “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Wow, touché! Well done girl! And Jesus is impressed. He commends her not for a smart answer but for her faith. He said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour.

What can we learn from this episode? Well this woman is an example of prayer and perseverance. She does not give up! Jesus ignores her at first and it seems that at times the Lord does not answer our prayers. Well actually sometimes he does and the answer is “no”! We have to accept that. It depends on what we are asking. One missionary brother told us that he would bargain with the Lord when praying about his lottery win – he was asking the Lord to win 50 million pesos. He prayed hard for the winning numbers with the promise that he would give 10% of the winnings to the Church. He persevered and upped the stakes, “Ok Lord, 25% to the Church and the rest to me.” He finally settled for a 50:50 split. He did not win! God will only give us something if it will really benefit us. Anyway don’t wait for the lottery win to start to be generous!

It is like the friend who asked his mate if he would give him a Ferrari if he had two. His mate insisted of course he would. So the friend said if he had two houses would he give him one. His mate confirmed with certainty. “And what about if you had two cellphones?” His mate said “Wait a minute. I did not promise.” The friend was a little confused and asked “How come if you had two Ferraris you would give me one, if you had two houses you would give me one, but if you had two cell phones you would not give me one?” His mate responded “Well, I actually have got two cell phones.”

God will answer our prayers in his own way. He knows best and we have to humbly accept that. Persistence and perseverance are very necessary as Jesus reminded the people in other moments with the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18, 1-7) where Jesus declares “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?” What is touching in the gospel of today is that the woman is not asking for herself but for her daughter. It reminds us of the importance of intercessory prayer, when we come in front of the Lord just simply with our own needs but also with those of others. There is a saying attributed to St Augustine which says “Nothing will give us a more firm assurance of being eventually saved than to help as many people as we can to attain salvation.”

Once I was talking to a man who was really struggling to maintain the faith of his brother. His brother was living a dissolute life, far from the Lord, not seemingly interested in anything vaguely spiritual, or anything other than money! This is a situation faced by many wives too whose husbands do not go to Church and do not seem so immediately interested in spiritual things. When I was speaking to this man, the phrase of Pope Pius XII came to me - the salvation of many depends on the sacrifice and prayer of the few. Wow! This was the light the man needed. He looked at me, his eyes widened and he said “Repeat. I must write that down.” He took out a ball pen and a piece of paper and carefully noted it. I never bumped into him again but the Holy Spirit spoke to him that day. Let us have faith in the power of our prayer especially when we intercede for others. And in that line, don’t forget to pray for me and our mission as Verbum Dei to spread the Word of God.

I close with the life of St Maximilian Kolbe who the Church also remembers today. He gave his life for another in the concentration camp. He interceded for a stranger, a father with a family, and gave his own life instead. Maximilian Kolbe gave an incredible example of faith and courage and helps many Christians today to take steps forward in their faith amidst challenges and even persecutions. Let us pray for his intercession and ask that he inspire us to intercede for others also. Amen.

REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

19^th Sunday A

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

Begin well and end well

Have you ever started something, like putting an initiative into practice and halfway through losing courage? Last Sunday we had a youth activity with about 40 youth. Many of them were from poor backgrounds and were slightly shy to speak to me in English. I decided to celebrate the mass in tagalog as a way of being closer to them. When the mass started one teenager came to read the first reading in tagalog. However she instead started with the introduction and then began to recite the penitential rite. I had to go over and point out where to read from. The second reading was read by a boy who much preferred English and stumbled over the long tagalog words like the word for faith – pananampalataya. “oh dear,” I thought “things are not going too well!” When it came to the homily I was wondering whether to give it in taglish (tagalog and English) or just plain English. I remembered my previous option to try to reach out to the youth and decided to go for taglish. It worked out just fine. It is easy sometimes to lose courage on the way.

Something similar happened to Peter in the gospel today (See Matthew 14:22-33). With the other disciples, he was caught up in a storm. Jesus came walking towards them on the water. By the way I remember reading a report on National Geographic a few years ago that Jesus did not actually walk on water but instead made use of freak weather conditions to perform his stunt. Give me a break! Do we honestly think that the other disciples would not have worked it out if it was just some natural phenomenon? They were fishermen. Just tell me this, who would know the sea and all its nuances better? A fisherman or a carpenter? The answer is so obvious that I felt sorry for National geographic for being so obtuse and naive in making that suggestion. Come on! Anyway sorry for that ranting but it was important for me to get it off my chest.

Ok, back to Peter and seeing Jesus walking on the water. The disciples were terrified and started to scream that they had seen a ghost (phantasma in Greek). Peter then does a crazy thing. He says to Jesus “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." How spontaneous is Peter. Jesus tells him to come and Peter begins to walk on water. Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" It happens to all of us. We can start off in God but lose sight of him or lose faith on the way. Once St Paul reproached the Galatians in a similar vein “After beginning with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3).

It is very helpful for us every so often to stop and have a time out. As Socrates reminded us “an unexamined life is not worth living.” To reflect on the steps that we have taken. To see where we are and take stock in a way. In this way when challenges come we can be more clear of which direction we are going in. A fortnight ago we went to celebrate a mass in a school and felt it was an ideal moment to meet new people. After the mass there was a program and it seemed a challenge to carry out our initial goal. I gathered the missionaries together again and we reminded ourselves of the aim of our visit and encouraged each other to go for it. Within 5 minutes we were all sharing with different people and I must say I enjoyed so much the people I met that afternoon. In actual fact a week later I caught up with some of them again. What can I learn from that experience? That entering into situations it can be helpful to live with intentionality as opposed to just doing what I always might do, called ‘habituation.’ Then reviewing the progress and seeing what needs to be done to correct it. Perhaps many are used to doing this in their business or professional life but often do not put it into practice in their personal lives.

The Lord is always ready to help us when we call out to him. In Romans 10,13 we find “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Peter calls out to the Lord for help. What happened? Well he started off well and was even managing to walk on the water but on the way he noticed the strong wind. He lost sight of those words of Jesus – “Come!” He started to drown and cried out "Lord, save me!" How did Jesus respond? By saying “I will let you drown a bit more so you will learn the hard way”? No! Matthew the evangelist records that “immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him.” Thank you Jesus because you are so close to us and so willing to help us when we fall or are sinking in our sea of doubts and lack of faith. Imagine that strong hand of Jesus hauling him out of the foaming sea. It is very comforting and reassuring to know that we have a God who understands our humanity and our weaknesses.

Why did Peter sink? Jesus tells him "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" We need faith to do what Jesus asks us. How is my faith Lord? Even George Michael recognized that “you gotta have faith!” Faith in what Jesus is telling me. Lord, where are you inviting me to walk on water? Where are you inviting me perhaps into situations that I find daunting or challenging, where I do not control everything as the ‘ocean’ or situation is too powerful. How to recognize where God is inviting us? Well the first reading is helpful. God speaks to Elijah, not in the strong and heavy wind, nor in the earthquake or fire. Instead God spoke to him in a tiny whispering sound. The tiny whispering voice of a well formed conscience, the tiny whispering of God in his Word, in the experience of the sacraments, in the life situations, in the advice of others.

Let us open our hearts and ask for the grace of perseverance. To begin well, to continue well and to end well. Lord help us keep our eyes fixed on you in the storms of life. May we not lose our courage or faith and always remember that you are close to us, ready to grab our hand and save us when we start to sink. Amen.

18^th Sunday A

Fr James McTavish, FMVD

Show the food to bring out the hunger!

There exists a very common gastronomic experience among people of all races and nations. I have not done a detailed anthropological or cultural study on this but I have seen it repeated in various cultures in different nations. To what do I refer? Going to a house and discovering that they are serving food. At first one might say that they do not feel hungry or even insist that they are not hungry at all. What happens? When you see the food, its colours, its shape, the smell...you lick your lips, the stomach juices start to swirl, the pupils widen...in a word you experience hunger! In the end you eat more than the others at the table. Apply this very human experience to the spiritual realm. A person or most people today are not immediately or apparently in need of anything spiritual. They are doing just fine. They do not go to Church perhaps and even may never make much effort to pray. What is the verdict? That they are not hungry for spiritual nourishment? That would be a premature conclusion without bringing out the food. You need to show the food to bring out the hunger!

This week I celebrated a mass for 150 parents of a school, where the pupils are aged 2-5 years old. I was told beforehand that many of the parents do not seem so interested in spiritual things. I gave the homily and with the help of the Holy Spirit, delivered an animated sermon, full of personal experiences and the Word of God. Afterwards what a response. Some people told me that normally they do not listen much to the homily, another lady told me it was the best homily she had ever heard and other couples were asking where they could hear more. Why am I telling you this? As publicity for my forthcoming book of homilies? Yes. Just kidding although it is true I am looking into the possibility to publish a book of my preaching and some parents there even pre-booked a copy! Actually I am telling you this to show that when you produce the spiritual food the person discovers their deep down hunger for God, their deep seated need for what is spiritual. You need to show the food to bring out the spiritual hunger.

Isaiah talks of this hunger in the first reading “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Why spend your money for what is not bread; your wages for what fails to satisfy? Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life” (Isaiah 55:1-3). The prophet Amos also talks of this – “Yes, days are coming, says the Lord GOD, when I will send famine upon the land: Not a famine of bread, or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the LORD. 12 Then shall they wander from sea to sea and rove from the north to the east In search of the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. 13 On that day, fair virgins and young men shall faint from thirst” (Amos 8:11-13).

Dramatic stuff! We can easily pass over this and think it is too much, a little exaggerated. Have you seen a youth passing out from hunger? Last week I was talking to a youth who was addicted to computer games. He was so hungry that he was eating them or playing them for 18 hours a day. He was fainting in his studies and the only “friends” he had were virtual ones. How many youth are trying to satiate their hunger and thirst in pornography, alcohol, drugs, promiscuity both heterosexual and homosexual. Can we not see how hungry this world is or are we just blind?

It is not just to talk about Jesus but it is to give him. Jesus said “I am the living bread.” It is to give the living bread to this world and to discover that modern man is more hungry than ever for this. This weekend in Manila we are having a retreat for teenagers. More than 40 have signed up. One of them, aged 15, was very keen to attend. Not because his parents forced him but because he wanted to go. I asked him why. He was very honest – “I need a break. So many studies but I need to know the why of it all.” Well done young man! Actually the theme is “Young one get up!” which is what Jesus told the lifeless young man.

In the gospel today there is a big hungry crowd and the disciples want to send them away. But our Lord is very clear - Lord is very clear – “You yourselves give them something to eat!” (See Matthew 14, 13-21). It is easy to think or hope that others will do it. This is called omission. Often a great sin is the sin of omission. I always relate omission to o-mission or zero mission or no mission. Anyone who knows the right thing to do and does not do it commits sin said St James (James 4, 17). How great when the Holy Spirit is the one moving you, prompting you to reach out to others. I experienced that this week on the feast of ST James. One nun texted me to tell me that she needed to speak to me, in a crisis. I had a busy day, but I told her to come in the afternoon. She texted me back “too urgent Father, I am in crisis. I will come at lunch.” I was very concerned. She arrived and I said we could talk in the chapel. “No need,” she replied looking very happy. “I am not in a crisis. I just said that to make sure you would see me. You see I made a dessert for you and the community. Happy Feast day!” When I recovered from my surprise I started to laugh. She really got me! The dessert, a mango float was delicious. The other missionaries said that they would pray she would have another “crisis” soon!

This Sunday I will celebrate the mass in tagalong in a poor neighbourhood. I will close now because I want to prepare a wonderful dish for the people, a sumptuous fare that will nourish them – my homily in Tagalog. I hope it tastes as good as the mango float! Let us pray for the grace this day to be able to offer Jesus to others. Show them his face, reveal to them his love, give them the living bread of the Word of God and see how hungry the people will become. Amen.