Las vocaciones florecen cuando somos fieles a la gracia de Dios.

 Homilía: 4º Domingo de Pascua – Ciclo C

Hermanos, este fin de semana celebramos varias cosas maravillosas: a saber, nuestro nuevo Santo Padre, el Papa León XIV, la Jornada Mundial de las Vocaciones y el Día de la Madre. ¡Es un día emocionante! También lo llamamos a este día "Domingo del Buen Pastor", ya que la lectura del Evangelio de hoy, independientemente del año del ciclo trienal de lecturas en el que nos encontremos, está tomada del discurso del "Buen Pastor" del Evangelio según san Juan. Ciertamente, hay muchas cosas valiosas que predicar hoy, pero me centraré en una frase de nuestra primera lectura que, espero, nos inspire para reflexionar y trabajar esta semana.

En la lectura de los Hechos de los Apóstoles, leemos que Pablo y Bernabé se dirigieron a Antioquía para proclamar la Buena Nueva de Jesucristo a la comunidad. Como eran judíos, fueron directamente a la sinagoga a anunciar al pueblo elegido de Dios que había llegado el Mesías tan esperado: Jesús de Nazaret, quien fue perseguido y condenado a muerte, pero resucitó al tercer día y ahora vive, sentado a la diestra de Dios en el cielo. Vinieron a proclamar a los judíos de Antioquía que solo en el nombre de Jesús pueden encontrar la salvación. Por lo que se dice, tuvieron una buena acogida ese primer sábado, ya que muchos de los que estaban allí comenzaron a seguirlos.

Pablo y Bernabé hablaron a quienes comenzaban a seguirlos y los instaron a "permanecer fieles a la gracia de Dios". Esta frase—permanecer fieles a la gracia de Dios—me pareció importante. De todas las cosas que Pablo y Bernabé podrían haberles dicho a quienes comenzaban a seguirlos—por ejemplo, "vayan a aprender a orar", "vayan a estudiar las Escrituras" o "vayan a servir a los pobres"—eligieron instarlos a "permanecer fieles a la gracia de Dios". Creo que este es un gran mensaje de Pascua para todos nosotros y es un tema que conecta con las otras lecturas de hoy.

En la segunda lectura, continuamos escuchando las visiones de Juan, registradas en el libro del Apocalipsis. En esta visión, vemos una gran multitud, incontable, identificada como “los que han pasado por la gran persecución y han lavado y blanqueado su túnica con la sangre del Cordero”. Esta descripción, en el Nuevo Testamento, se refiere a los mártires: aquellos que derramaron su sangre por Cristo. ¿Y qué significa “haber pasado por la gran persecución”, sino que “permanecieron fieles a la gracia de Dios”? Estos, identificados como mártires—y quienes, por lo tanto, se encuentran ante el trono de Dios (es decir, en el cielo)—, son quienes permanecieron fieles a la gracia de Dios y, por lo tanto, disfrutan de la recompensa por su fidelidad.

En el Evangelio, escuchamos a Jesús decir: “Mis ovejas escuchan mi voz; yo las conozco y ellas me siguen. Yo les doy la vida eterna y no perecerán jamás”. Continúa diciendo: “nadie las arrebatará de mi mano”. Esta es una hermosa verdad sobre Jesús como el verdadero Buen Pastor. Sin embargo, lo que no se revela aquí es que, si bien nadie puede arrebatarle una de sus ovejas, sus ovejas, sin embargo, pueden marcharse por sí solas. La promesa de Jesús es asombrosa y debería dar esperanza a todo aquel que se acerca a él; pero también debería despertar en nosotros el deseo de “permanecer fieles a la gracia de Dios”, para que, al convertirnos en miembros del rebaño de Jesús, no nos encontremos alejados de él y sin poder escuchar su voz. Porque cuando ya no podemos escuchar su voz—es decir, cuando no hemos sido fieles a la gracia de Dios—entonces ya no estamos protegidos por su promesa.

Hermanos, este es realmente el mensaje constante de esta Pascua. Tras haber disfrutado de la alegría de la resurrección de Jesús, quizás nos encontremos como aquellos primeros seguidores de Pablo y Bernabé en Antioquía: emocionados, pero sin saber qué hacer. A nosotros se nos da la misma instrucción: “Permanezcan fieles a la gracia de Dios”. ¿Qué significa esto para nosotros?

Seguramente significa “No vuelvas a tu vida de pecado”. El pecado es incompatible con la gracia de Dios, y por lo tanto, volver al pecado, que nos esforzamos por dejar atrás durante la Cuaresma, sería una infidelidad a la gracia que Dios nos dio (la cual, de hecho, nos ayudó a liberarnos de ese pecado en primer lugar). /// Diría que también significa ser dóciles al Espíritu Santo.

La gracia de Dios, que recibimos en el bautismo, es la morada del Espíritu Santo. Este Espíritu mora en nosotros para guiarnos y señalarnos la voluntad de Dios para nuestras vidas. Sin embargo, él no nos obliga. Podemos optar por no escuchar los impulsos del Espíritu Santo y seguir nuestra propia voluntad: en ese caso nos alejamos de Jesús, el Buen Pastor, y nos hacemos vulnerables a ser vencidos por el Maligno, que pretende separarnos eternamente de Dios. Sin embargo, si nos hacemos dóciles al Espíritu, permanecemos fieles a la gracia de Dios y, así, cerca de la mano protectora de Jesús, lo que nos permite caminar con más confianza, listos para compartir la Buena Nueva de Jesucristo con quien quiera escuchar. ///

Finalmente, quisiera añadir, en esta Jornada Mundial de las Vocaciones, que “permanecer fieles a la gracia de Dios” es también la manera de conocer y seguir nuestra vocación: ya sea al sacerdocio o al diaconado, a la vida religiosa consagrada, al matrimonio o a la vida consagrada de soltero. No podemos esperar conocer la voluntad de Dios, que se nos da a conocer por gracia, a menos que permanezcamos fieles a ella a lo largo de nuestra vida. /// Oh, y por cierto, ¡las vocaciones santas fomentan otras vocaciones santas! Por lo tanto, si quieren promover vocaciones al sacerdocio, ¡sean fieles a la gracia de Dios en su propia vocación! Cuando los jóvenes vean a otros vivir vidas llenas de alegría siguiendo la voluntad de Dios, les inspirará el deseo de experimentar esa misma alegría en sus propias vidas y ellos también comenzarán a discernir la llamada de Dios.

Por lo tanto, hermanos, dediquemos un tiempo esta semana a reflexionar sobre si hemos permanecido fieles a la gracia de Dios; y, si no lo hemos hecho, a comprometernos de nuevo a hacerlo. Así, nos mantendremos en sintonía con la voz de Jesús, nuestro Buen Pastor, que nos conduce a la vida eterna, y seremos también grandes testigos—es decir, mártires—de la alegría de una vida unida a Cristo, que conducirá a otros a él, para que realmente haya un solo rebaño y un solo pastor en todo el mundo. Que Dios nos bendiga a todos en esta buena obra.

Dado en la parroquia de San José: Rochester, IN y en la parroquia de San Agustín: Rensselaer, IN – 11 de mayo, 2025

Vocations blossom when we faithful to the grace of God

 Homily: 4^th Sunday in Easter – Cycle C

Friends, this weekend we are celebrating a number of wonderful things: namely, our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, the World Day for Vocations, and Mother’s Day.  It’s an exciting day!  We also call today “Good Shepherd Sunday”, since the Gospel reading for the day, regardless of which year in the three-year cycle of readings we are in, is taken from the “Good Shepherd” discourse in John’s Gospel.  Certainly, there are many great things to preach on today, but I am going to focus in on a phrase from our first reading that, hopefully, will give us something to take home with us to ponder and to work on this week.

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of Paul and Barnabas making their way to Antioch to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the community there.  Being Jews, they went straight to the synagogue to proclaim to God’s chosen people that the long-awaited Messiah had come: Jesus of Nazareth, who was persecuted and put to death, but rose from the dead on the third day and now lives, having taken his place at the right hand of God in heaven.  They came to proclaim to the Jews in Antioch that it is only in the name of Jesus that they can find salvation.  From the sound of it, they found a positive reception that first sabbath day as it says that many who were there began to follow them.

Paul and Barnabas spoke to those who began to follow them and urged them to “remain faithful to the grace of God.”  This phrase—remain faithful to the grace of God—struck me as important.  Of all of the things that Paul and Barnabas could have told the ones who were beginning to follow them—for example, “go learn to pray”, or “go study the scriptures”, or “go serve the poor”—they chose to urge them to “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  I think that this is a great Easter message for all of us and it’s a theme that connects with our other readings today.

In the second reading, we continue to hear of John’s visions, recorded for us in the book of Revelation.  In this vision, we see a great multitude of people, too many to count, who are identified as “the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”.  This description is “New Testament speak” for the martyrs: those who have shed their blood for Christ.  And what does “having survived the time of great distress” mean, except that they “remained faithful to the grace of God”?  These who are identified as martyrs—and who, therefore, stand before the throne of God (that is, who stand in heaven)—are the ones who have remained faithful to the grace of God and, therefore, enjoy the reward for their faithfulness.

In the Gospel reading, we hear Jesus say, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish”.  He continues to say, “No one can take them out of my hand.”  This is a beautiful truth about Jesus as the true Good Shepherd.  What isn’t revealed here, however, is that, while no one can take one of Jesus’ sheep from him, his sheep, nonetheless, can wander away on their own.  Jesus’ promise is amazing and should give hope to everyone who comes to him; but it should also stir in us a desire to “remain faithful to the grace of God”, so that, having become a member of Jesus’ flock, we don’t find ourselves having drifted away from him and no longer able to hear his voice.  For when we can no longer hear his voice—that is, when we have failed to remain faithful to God’s grace—then we are no longer protected by his promise.

Friends, this really is the ongoing message of this Easter season.  Having feasted on the joy of Jesus’ resurrection, we perhaps find ourselves like those first followers of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch: excited but not quite sure what to do next.  To us the same instruction is given: “remain faithful to the grace of God”.  What does this mean for us?

Surely it means “Do not return to your life of sin”.  Sin is incompatible with the grace of God and so for us to return to the sin that we strove to leave behind during Lent would be an infidelity to the grace given to us by God (which, in point of fact, helped us to break free from that sin in the first place).  I would say that it also means to be docile to the Holy Spirit.

The grace of God, which we received at baptism, is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit dwells in us to guide us and point us to God’s will for our lives.  He is not forceful, however.  We may choose not to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but rather choose to follow our own will: in which case we stray from Jesus, the Good Shepherd, and make ourselves vulnerable to being overcome by the Evil One who seeks to separate us eternally from God.  If we make ourselves docile to the Spirit, however, we remain faithful to the grace of God and, thus, close to the protecting hand of Jesus—enabling us to walk more confidently: ready to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen.

Finally, I might also add, on this World Day for Vocations, that “remaining faithful to the grace of God” is also the way that we come to know and follow our vocation: whether that be to the priesthood or the diaconate, to the consecrated religious life, to marriage, or to the consecrated single life.  We cannot expect to know God’s will, which is made known to us through grace, unless we remain faithful to God’s grace throughout our lives. /// Oh, and by the way, holy vocations foster other holy vocations!  Therefore, if you want to promote vocations to the priesthood, then remain faithful to the grace of God in your own vocation!  When young people see others leading joy-filled lives while following God’s will, it will inspire in them a desire to know that same joy in their own lives and they, too, will begin to discern God’s call.

Therefore, friends, let us spend some time this week reflecting on whether we have “remained faithful to the grace of God”; and, if we haven’t, to commit once again to do so.  In this way, we will stay attuned to the voice of Jesus, our Good Shepherd who leads us to eternal life, and we will also be great witnesses—that is, martyrs—to the joy of a life united to Christ, which will lead others to him, so that there may truly be “one flock” and “one shepherd” throughout the world.  May God bless us all in this good work.

Given in Spanish at St. Joseph Parish: Rochester, IN and St. Augustine Parish: Rensselaer, IN – May 11^th, 2025

A garden ready to bloom

 Homily: 3^rd Sunday of Easter – Cycle C

          Many of you may know that I speak Spanish.  (Well, “ecclesiastical Spanish”, anyway.  I know a lot of “church” Spanish, but still get lost with “everyday” Spanish… but anyway.)  When I was first starting out as a priest, even my church Spanish was rough.  Thus, my merciful first pastor suggested that, after my first six months in the parish, I go take a three-week “refresher” in the same place where I first studied Spanish as a seminarian (in Antigua, Guatemala).  I thought it was a great idea and so jumped on it.

Now, I feel like I can sum up my “refresher” experience in a few words that another student at the school where I was studying had said to me after I told him how long I would be there (three weeks).  He said, “Oh, three weeks is the perfect amount of time to forget both how to speak Spanish and English!”  Certainly, he wasn’t completely right.  Nevertheless, there was a lot of truth to what he said.

          In particular, I remember feeling very frustrated during my last few days there.  When I arrived in Guatemala, I thought that I had already been speaking Spanish pretty well and that this time was just going to reinforce what I had already been doing.  What I found, however, was that I had been hacking things up pretty bad and, thus, I spent much of my time in lessons being corrected by my teacher.  After a couple of weeks, this began to wear on me.  By the third week, I began to feel like I never really knew how to speak Spanish in the first place and that I certainly didn’t know how to speak Spanish anymore.

          One evening, however, as I was trying to process this frustration, I realized something.  It wasn’t that I hadn’t been speaking Spanish; but rather that I had been speaking it poorly and so I had developed some bad habits.  What I came up with that night was the image of a garden that isn’t tended through a summer.  Now many of you are gardeners and so you know that if you don’t tend to a garden throughout a whole summer what you’ll end up with is mostly weeds.  Thus, if the garden was my ability to speak Spanish, then by the time I went back to Guatemala it had been completely overgrown with weeds: the bad habits I developed trying to speak it without practicing the proper form.  Thus, the hard work of receiving correction was the hard work of weeding out that garden.  In the end, it didn’t look like I had much to show for it.  In reality, however, what I had was a garden that was weeded and cultivated and thus ready to produce more fruit, even though it looked like just an empty space of dirt.

          This is not unlike the seasons of Lent and Easter for all of us.  As you all well know, Lent is a time of penance: of prayer, fasting, and giving alms—and the goal of those works is never penance itself, but rather the weeding out of sin from the gardens of our souls, thus preparing them to bear fruit once again.  Just like my work in Guatemala, Lent is a lot of hard work and at the end it doesn’t seem to result in very much: just an empty space of dirt.  The first part of Easter, then, is about planting the seeds of new life—the life of the Resurrection—so as to cultivate the beginnings of new growth.  If we are doing this, then by Pentecost our garden should be ready to burst forth with flowers or vegetables… the fruit of the Resurrection that has been planted in us.

          This is the work that we see both beginning in and being completed by Peter and the disciples in the readings today.  In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see the disciples after Pentecost, reaping the fruit of the Holy Spirit that was planted within them.  They were out in the streets and in the temple area teaching about Jesus, healing in his name, and calling all persons to be saved by his name through baptism and many persons were quickly joining the Church.  These disciples were making such a stir that the religious authorities questioned them and ordered them to stand down, but they wouldn’t.  The power of the Resurrected Jesus had blossomed in their souls and it could not be contained.

          In the Gospel reading, however, we see them just days after Easter.  They had been following Jesus for about three years, leaving off everything from their past: that is, rooting out every weed that had grown up in the garden of their souls and kept them from being committed disciples of Jesus.  But Jesus’ death had shaken their faith.  The news of Easter Sunday, however, had amazed them and already Jesus had appeared twice before them.  In spite of this, they were still unsure of what to do with this incredible news.  In other words, the ground of their souls had been prepared and the seed—which is the joy of the encounter with the Resurrected Christ—had been planted, but it hadn’t yet begun to sprout.

          The ever-impulsive Peter gives in to his need to do something and tries to go back to what he did before—fishing—and the other disciples join him.  What they find, however, is that there’s nothing in that: they spend all night casting their nets in darkness and come up with nothing.  Then Jesus breaks into the scene to begin to show them what his Resurrection means for them.  He shows them—and Peter in particular—that they will continue to be his followers, but now is the time when they will begin to lead others to him.  And in the days and weeks that followed this, Jesus continued to appear to them so as to complete these preparations for the work that he was going to send them forth to do.

          So it is with us.  After our forty days of Lent—that is, after these forty days of clearing out our gardens from all of the weeds of sin—we now find ourselves in Easter, ready to cultivate the seed of new life within us.  It may look right now that there isn’t a whole lot to show for it and, like Peter, we may be tempted to go back to what we were doing before.  To do so, however, would be fruitless.  The fruit of the Easter season comes, rather, from our continued encounters with the Risen Christ who comes to us to show us what it is that he is calling us to do now that we are ready to bear fruit.  And all of this is so that on Pentecost we will be ready to receive the Holy Spirit anew and to be sent forth into the world to pour out the fruit of what has been planted in us.

          My brothers and sisters, this means that we still have work to do.  Just as much as I have to continue to work on the fundamentals of Spanish to keep the garden that I had cleared out in Guatemala free from the weeds of bad habits and poor speaking, so do each one of us need to continue to work on the fundamentals of faith—prayer, good works, and active participation in the sacramental life of the Church—if we want to see the gardens of our souls bear the fruit of Easter within us and around us.

          Let us take up, then, this good work of building virtue and fighting off vice (which, by the way, is a work that knows no age limits) so that God’s Spirit will be able to produce its fruit within us: the fruit of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—the very signs of the inbreaking of God’s Kingdom!—and let us never fail to trust in the Risen Christ, who waits to meet us in the darkness so as to bring forth light and who invites us ever anew with those same words he said to Saint Peter… follow me.

Given at St. Joan of Arc Parish: Kokomo, IN – May 3^rd, 2025