RELIGION

The Pope asked priests to shed themselves, their preconceptions, their dreams of greatness, their self-affirmation, to put God and people at the center of their daily concerns. “To put the holy and faithful people of God at the center, you have to be a pastor. ‘No, I would like to be only an intellectual, not a pastor’: ask for the reduction to the lay state, it will suit you better, and be an intellectual. But if you are a priest, be a pastor. You will be a shepherd, in many ways, but always in the midst of God’s people. “

Christian spirituality is not synonymous with pietism or spiritualism. Nor is it to live in a glass tower isolated from the rest of the world or to be blank-eyed staring at the sky. Christian spirituality has an essential part which is its commitment to transform the person, the family and society for the better.

The Feast of Corpus Christi invites us to put our eyes and our hearts anew on Christ the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the sacrament that, each time it is celebrated, makes the offering of Christ present in obedience to the Father, who is also an offering for us and towards us. It is the sacrament through which Jesus fulfills the promise that he made to his disciples before going up to heaven: “I will be with you always.”

In his address this Sunday, Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, Archbishop of Havana, recalled that Jesus, at the Last Supper, the night he was handed over, instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and his blood to perpetuate for centuries, until his return, the sacrifice of the cross and entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, the memorial of his death and resurrection, sacrament of piety, sign of unity, bond of love, paschal banquet in the that you receive Christ. In this sense, he invited the faithful to attend this mystery “understanding it well and participating piously and actively in sacred action.”

Words and philosophical arguments would not be enough to explain a mystery as great as that of faith in the Resurrection of Christ, the essence of Christianity. All of this constitutes a dogma that originally elicited the most dissimilar reactions, especially within Judaism itself, where it emerged as a new reading of ancient writings. The task of Christianity was acquiring tenacity and urgency of reinterpretation in the face of the challenge of establishing two distinctions that would mark the future of the new faith, neither is it Judaism, nor is it simply philosophy: Christianity. All this, despite the fact that the Jews of the first century understood it as a heretical sect within Judaism. Even today it continues to be seen as a complex phenomenon that involves mistrust, sometimes stigmatized as a retrograde system of thought, but full of many enigmas and questions to be solved.

A year ago, on Holy Trinity Sunday, June 7, 2020, we began this section, which shares the Word of God for the day, followed by a comment and a prayer. We feel happy to have come this far and we propose to continue offering this small and humble service, like a grain of sand, like a drop of water in the sea, for the good of all those who, through these pages, seek the Lord, listen His Word and pray in the silence of the hours and of the days. Our Christian faith in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who has manifested himself to us in Jesus Christ, is a consequence of the historical fact of the revelation and incarnation of God, which becomes a patent reality in each one of us when we open our minds and hearts. , without prejudice or limitations, to his truth and his love; when we consciously and consistently receive and live the baptism that identifies us with the crucified and risen Christ; when as a Church, and with the power of her Spirit, we become involved in the commitment to transform the society in which we live; when we do not remain alien or inert in the face of suffering or injustice, looking the other way; when we share the pain and anguish of the brothers and sisters around us, particularly in these difficult times; when we listen to the Father and allow ourselves to be impelled by his Spirit on the path of self-giving and sacrifice that Christ himself walks with us every day.

“The hour of the Spirit has come on the day of Pentecost.” In this way, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, archbishop of Havana reminds us this Sunday, May 23, that the Holy Spirit has also been given to us, we have received it in baptism and it has been confirmed in us in the sacrament. of Confirmation. It is transforming us in a progressive interior way, to such an extent that we can say: “I live, but not I, it is Christ who lives in me.” He recalled that the Holy Spirit comes every day on the Church and people of good will. We count on his inspiration and his gifts, let us be guided by him. The Holy Spirit, creator of God’s works, is the teacher of prayer and he is the one who reveals to us the meaning of the Bible that he himself inspired.

God the Father, through Jesus Christ his beloved Son, wants to renew his Spirit in each one of us at this new Pentecost. In this particular moment of widespread suffering due to the pandemic, of overwhelm and despair due to the consequences of it in broken families, who have lost loved ones, who continue to suffer from the disease, who have lost work and goods necessary for their subsistence, we repeat insistently : Come, Holy Spirit! Let us prepare our hearts to receive it, let us wait for it with faith and trust, let us receive it with joy and enthusiasm. Let us ask God for it: Send, Lord, your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth! Give us, Lord, your Holy Spirit.

In his address, corresponding to this Sunday, May 16, celebration of the Ascension and ascent to heaven of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García, Archbishop of Havana, reminds us that each one of us, followers of Christ , we have been asked to go and preach the Gospel. It is not about going far, Jesus asks us to go to those we love, to go to those around us: “Go to our children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and tell them about Jesus Christ, about his teachings … Tell them what that we have lived, felt and experienced in the Church, in prayer, in Mass. In our teaching and preaching we will find difficulties, rejection, indifference, mockery… But the promised Holy Spirit will fill us with strength and perseverance. And we hope one day, after having lived like Christ, to be with Him in the house of heaven together with all our family and friends ”.

Near the end of Easter season, we celebrate the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven. Once again, Jesus surprises his Apostles with an unusual, unexpected event, but loaded with meaning for them. As on so many occasions, they are overcome by what is happening and will have to assimilate it little by little, with the help of the Holy Spirit. That happened? Attested by the Gospels and by the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that Jesus, after having risen from the dead, after having appeared on different occasions and circumstances to the closest group of disciples, one day brought them together again and, saying goodbye to them, he ascended to the heavens until he disappeared from their sight.