Thank you to all who make this radio broadcast possible, today Sunday, April 18, the third Sunday of Easter. We hear the gospel according to Luke, chapter 24, verses 35 through 48.
(EVANGELIO)
Once the apostles saw the Risen Christ, their doubts were cleared, they lost their fear, they were filled with immense joy, they felt the closeness of Jesus. He began to eat with them and opened their understanding to understand the scriptures.
To fill ourselves with the joy of the Risen One, we must understand the scriptures, the Holy Bible, the New Testament.
For them we read the Word of God and follow the so-called Divine Lectio or Divine Reading.
The New Testament and Psalms of the Bible of Our People, which the Archbishopric of Havana can give you, tells us how to perform divine Lectio or Divine Reading.
Step 1: Careful, leisurely reading of the biblical text. After reading we ask ourselves and respond with our words: What does the text say?
2nd step: From what I read and pondered, what do I say to God?
Step 3: After talking to God, what to do from now on?
Like deaconos, the Holy Spirit tells us today: Receive the Gospel of Christ, of which you have been proclaimed a messenger, makes into living faith what you read and what you have made living faith, teach it, and fulfill what you have taught. This divine Lectio or Divine Reading, you can do it personally or as a family.
If you can and wish, write these four steps and send them to the Archbishopric, whose address is Habana 152 corner to Chacón.
(SONG)
So that our joy of understanding the words of the Risen One may increase, we eat with Him, just as the Apostles ate with Christ. Mass is a feast. When you can, take part in the banquet of Mass or when you walk past a church, ask for communion. Thus we join Christ and can say as St Paul: I live, but not I, it is Christ who lives in me. And when difficulties and problems come, we will act with the joy of the Risen Christ.
(SONG)
Pope Francis, at the April 14 hearing, teaches us:
“Holy women and men do not have an easier life than others, moreover, they also have their problems to face, and are often the subject of opposition. But their strength is prayer, which they always draw from the inexhaustible ‘well’ of mother Church. With prayer they nourish the flame of their faith, as was done with the oil of the lamps. And so they walk forward in faith and hope. The saints, who often count little in the eyes of the world, are actually the ones who sustain it, not with the weapons of money and power, the media, etc., but with the weapons of prayer.
“Therefore, we can conclude that the lamp of faith will always be lit on the earth as long as the oil of prayer is there. The lamp of the true faith of the Church will always be lit on earth as long as the oil of prayer is there. It is that which carries forward faith and carries forward our poor, weak, sinful life, but prayer carries it forward safely. It is a question that we Christians have to ask ourselves: do I pray? Pray? How do I pray? Like parrots or prayer with my heart? How do I pray? Do I pray for sure that I am in the Church and pray with the Church, or do I pray a little according to my ideas and make my ideas become prayer? This is a pagan, non-Christian prayer. I repeat: we can conclude that the lamp of faith will always be lit on the earth as long as the oil of prayer is there.
“And this is an essential task of the Church: to pray and educate to pray. Transmit from generation to generation the lamp of faith with the oil of prayer. The lamp of faith that illuminates, that organizes things really as they are, but that can go forward only with the oil of prayer. Otherwise it shuts down. Without the light of this lamp, we will not be able to see the way to evangelize, more so, we will not be able to see the way to believe well; we will not be able to see the faces of the brethren to approach and serve; we will not be able to illuminate the room where we can find ourselves in community… Without faith, everything collapses; and without prayer, faith is extinguished. Faith and prayer, together. There’s no other way. For this reason the Church, which is the house and school of communion, is a house and a school of faith and prayer.”
Perhaps in our house our grandparents will keep the oil lamp they lit to pray for the family, the sick and the deceased. We, every night, light that oil bulb and pray by giving thanks for the joys that happened during the day.
Next to the Church that prays continually in these 50 days of Easter, let us say and sing Hallelujah.
Hallelujah is the contraction of two Hebrew words that mean: Praise God.
(SONG)
-We thank you, God the Father, for the pregnant women of the family, for the growing love of husbands, for the beautiful old men who accompany us, for the restless children, for the young people full of hope, for all those neighbors who help us selflessly.
hallelujah.
-We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for you walk with us, even if we do not see you, nor realize that you are in the midst of our sorrows and joys.
hallelujah.
-We thank you, Holy Spirit, because you enlighten us to teach children and grandchildren that love, harmony, peace, joy, are the greatest riches of our families.
hallelujah.
-We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for giving us as Mother to our Lady of Charity. She brings all her Cuban children together and makes us brothers.
hallelujah.
-We thank you, good God the Father, because you impel us to treat our sick people with immense affection.
hallelujah.
-We thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for you have promised us that the good done in this life by our deceased, God the Father will reward you in eternal life.
hallelujah.
-And we thank you because the Holy Ghost strengthens us so that the inheritance of honesty, faith, and family union bequeathed to us by our deceased will remain present in our families.
hallelujah.
(SONG)
Because we are the image and likeness of God, within each of us there is a wisdom.
The people, made up of us, have a popular wisdom and through sayings teach us a lot.
God’s people tell us about joy.
The low joy of heaven, sadness rises from hell.
Joy, God gives it and the devil takes it away.
Of all the goods God sends, the most estimable is joy.
Joy is the greatest good in life.
Joy is a treasure worth more than gold.
Cheerful heart, he knows how to make snow fire.
Better a joyful day with half a bread than a sad one with a pheasant.
Without joy, hell living would be.
Without joy, I don’t want you to honor or money.
An hour of joy, it’s a year of good life.
An ounce of joy is worth a hundred quintals of melancholy.
Without joy, there would be no taste at all.
Joy, in the healthy soul is bred.
Joy is given by clean conscience.
Those who have joy have a good life.
Cheerful heart, healthy man.
Joy prolongs life.
Joy is great medicine, but it is not sold in the apothecary.
Joy rejuvenates, sadness ages.
In this windy world, it’s rich who’s happy.
You’ll see the most joy among poor people than rich people.
Whoever lives happily, has a good fortune has.
If you live happily, rich you are.
Wealth and honors? nonsense. There is no greater good than joy.
(SONG)
Next Sunday, April 25, the Church celebrates world day of prayer for vocations to the priesthood, to the diaconate, to the lives of nuns.
The Pope asks them to dream and realize dreams, to serve with generous dedication, and to be faithful cheerfully as St. Joseph.
If you can and wish, send a letter of congratulations or message to the Archbishopric of Havana, whose address is Calle Habana no. 152, corner to Chacón, or to the phone 78624000.
These are the names of the seminarians of Havana: Adrián Arriera Fernández, Yordanis Alfonso Pérez, Ricardo Rodríguez Gómez, Luis Angel Acosta Pérez, José Luis Sánchez Escalona, Alennis Rodríguez López, Juan Carlos Pañellas Alvarez, Andy Aguilar Abreu, Dyan Eduardo Rivero del Valle and Diosvany Yera Suárez.
Pray for them, they will be your future priests.
(SONG)
The blessing of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, descend upon all the sick who are in hospitals and remain forever. amen.
(SONG)
Below we fully offer the allocution of the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García
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