• Telephone: +39 06 30367865
  • E-mail: secregen@terciariascapuchinas.org
Donate
Facebook-square Twitter Youtube

Categoría: Artículos

Categorías
Artículos

Lectio Divina Third sunday of advent

1st reading: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11.»I rejoice with the Lord and rejoice with my God,» said Isaiah,

«My spirit rejoices in God my Savior,» said Mary.

2nd reading: 1Thess. 5:16-24 «Rejoice always,» said St. Paul.

GOSPEL St. John 1:6-8,19-28: «I am the voice crying in the wilderness, «Make straight the way of the Lord.»

«On the path of this new Advent we have arrived at Joy Sunday and the church calls it «Gaudete» a Latin word meaning «rejoice». In the context of Joy Sunday in Advent, the Church calls it so to highlight the importance of the joy we feel as we approach the celebration of Jesus’ birth. It is a reminder that, despite difficulties and challenges, there is always reason for hope and joy.

Let us unravel from these texts of the liturgy the invitation to joy as a backdrop.

The first reading, taken from the prophet Isaiah, allows us to go back to the Gospel of Isaiah

Let us unravel from these texts of the liturgy the invitation to joy as a backdrop.

The first reading, taken from the prophet Isaiah, allows us to go back to the Gospel of Isaiah:

 Let us bring to our memory that biblical text taken from the gospel of St. Luke 4, 18-22, when Jesus arriving in the synagogue on Shabbat, took the scroll of Isaiah, proclaimed just this chapter that we have read today and that in his expressions defines the Messiah and his commission ratifying first that he is anointed by the Spirit and that he has been sent to.

Give good news to the poor

  1. Heal the brokenhearted.
  2. To proclaim amnesty to the captives and prisoners of freedom.
  3. to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Let us dwell on this last assignment of the sending. José Antonio Pagola, a Spanish theologian and writer, interprets Jesus’ proclamation of «the year of the Lord» in the context of the Jubilee, an Old Testament concept. In his book «Jesus, Historical Approach,» Pagola explains that Jesus alludes to the jubilee, a special sabbatical year celebrated every 50 years, during which the release of debts and the restoration of property were proclaimed.

For Jesus, proclaiming the «year of the Lord» symbolized a message of liberation, justice and integral restoration for people.  Jesus was announcing a profound transformation in people’s lives, both spiritually and socially, focusing on mercy and equity.

There is no doubt that the commissioning of the Messiah was news that would fill his fellow countrymen with joy and hope, feelings that were almost inconceivable in the context of a time in history when the oppressive yoke of the Roman Empire and its alliances (Pax Romana) was being experienced.

The liturgy of this Third Sunday of Advent continues presenting to us in the psalm the figure of Mary in the proclamation of the Magnificat, her reason for joy, her deepest joy: To know that the Lord has looked upon the humility of his handmaid and in her all the little and simple ones the «Anawin» (Poor of Yahweh).

Finally, in the Gospel of this Third Sunday we continue to identify in John the prophet who today defines himself as the witness of light, the one who, as the biblical text says, confesses and does not deny that he is not the Messiah. He who prepares the way for the Lord. The Voice that cries out in the desert: «Make the Paths Straight».

 A few days ago Monsignor Manilla said beautifully in this regard: «John was the Voice, Jesus the Word» Do we lend our Voice to the Word?

 

S. Sandra Milena Velásquez B, tc

 

Categorías
Artículos

Lectio Divina Second Sunday of Advent

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah Is 40:1-5. 9-11. «Comfort, comfort my people says the Lord.»

Psalm 84: «Show us your mercy, O Lord, and give us your salvation».

 

Second Letter of the Apostle St. Peter 3, 8-14.

Mark 1:1-8: A voice cries out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord,

 

During this Second Sunday of Advent Isaiah concretizes the mission of every prophet saying: «Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord, speak to the heart of man». And from the first reading he presents John in an intrinsic way; he will define him as the voice crying in the wilderness, as the herald, the messenger. But at the same time he will reveal his dual mission: At first, we see him as a prophet who emerges in the complicated historical scenario to give us hope, and later as a prophet who demands a change of attitude. However, what is most important is the definition that the prophet and later the evangelist will provide of him, explaining the reason for his special presence at this time: «A voice crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths».

The entrance of the forerunner, of the Messiah on the stage of history is the theme of today’s Gospel, Luke leads us through a very clear itinerary in which he will present us the figure of John the Baptist from three direct references:

A look at the historical framework in which John began his ministry (3,1-2a).

The Gospel is clear, the work of John and Jesus takes place in a concrete historical context, where the figures of the rulers stand out. To this dominant power structure of the time a messenger is sent, that is why the intention of this second Sunday of Advent is to warn that God speaks through his forerunner who brings a double announcement, as we have already said.  God enters history, he takes our side in the common circumstances of human life. The characters mentioned are directly or indirectly linked to the ministry of John and Jesus; their relationship with the authorities will be conflicting. A necessary but risky confrontation is John’s assignment.

We all know the cruel outcome of John’s mission and yet, the Gospel does not promote a negative attitude towards the power that silences the prophets with violent methods. The mention of these characters who wield destructive power seeks to convey good news: we are not completely surrendered to the historical powers, since the last word on the destiny of the world belongs to God, the Lord of history. With the coming of Jesus, whose path John the Baptist prepares, God breaks the iron cycle and the immovable course of the historical forces that oppress human beings by monopolizing everything, as we will see in more detail on the Third Sunday of Advent. Therefore, Jesus and the last of the prophets enter the scene closely linked to this story.

The presentation of the prophet’s vocation (3:2)

John is the voice crying out in the desert and it is worth pausing to take up this symbolism: The «desert» takes us back to the origins of the people of Israel in the exodus and even brings us back to the beginnings of history itself. The desert evokes aridity, solitude, anonymity, fear, insufficiency, lack of hope. In it we brush against death. The desert is the place where if you cry out, no one hears you; where if you fade away exhausted on the sand, there is no one to stand beside you.

What does it mean then to listen to the voice of God in the desert, to proclaim it also in the desert? It means that we must hear the inaudible and proclaim the unspeakable, overcoming all the impediments that would frustrate our mission and silence our proclamation.

And finally, a summary of the essence of John’s prophetic mission (3:3-6).

Our times are not different from John’s, we continue to have a deep need for conversion, and conversion means going back to retrace our false steps and affirm our footprints on the right path. John prepared the way of the Lord, more with his life than with his words, striving never to fall into the attitude of self-reference and giving Jesus his rightful place, first in his own life and then in history. To prepare the way is to leave everything ready for those who, along the same path, will arrive at the expected destination, and this should make us reflect: how are we traveling this path, which is life itself? Will our steps serve as a reference for others to reach a single destination, which is love, or, on the contrary, will our steps make them walk along confused and mistaken paths? Do we know how to discern which path to follow, or are we groping our way through life? God does not postpone his promises, as we heard in the second reading, he came to our land, to our history, to our family. How deep is our certainty and under what daily presences do we recognize God with us?

Let us be grateful for these presences and let us validate them in our own history. Maranatha!

S. Sandra Milena Velásquez B, tc

Categorías
Artículos

Lectio Divina, First Sunday of Advent.

Isaiah 63:16b-17.19b; 64:2b-7: Oh! that you would rend the heavens and come down!

Psalm 79: O God, restore us; let your face shine upon us and save us.

1 Corinthians 1:3-9: We await the coming of Jesus Christ.

Mark 13:33-37: Stay awake while the master of the house comes.

Today we begin a new liturgical year and with it we renew our enthusiasm and hope.

What better word can define Advent than hope?

Who has not felt that the liturgy of Advent is a renewing air that fills our hearts with joy and consolation?

In the liturgy of this First Sunday of Advent we begin by placing ourselves near the end of the book of Isaiah, which is a collection of oracles of various prophets throughout the history of Israel. The passage we read today belongs to the «Third Isaiah» (Is 56-66), who lived in a difficult time of reconstruction after the exile, which is reflected in his words full of intense emotions, even weeping.

Isaiah expresses in the first reading a cry of expectation, a longing, a deep and heartfelt desire from the depths of his heart. Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down!

He represents the deepest longing of the people of Israel, to be inhabited by the Messiah, but also the voice of the prophet is revealing and questions the double standards of a people that waits and, while doing so, does not prepare the way for his arrival; contaminated by injustice, a sin totally despicable in the eyes of Yahweh, because it goes against the principles of the people, of the covenant at Sinai, of the promise to be the people of God, it goes against the covenant, not only agreed with him, but even more so among themselves.

This eschatological tinge of the first reading puts us on alert, especially if we recognize that we are that same people of his, the people of the covenant, and that we often avoid our choices of conscience by desiring his presence in our lives and transgressing the commitment to unity and justice that we have promised.

The last words of the prophet Isaiah update the first pages of Genesis. They highlight the figure of God as Father, Creator and Restorer of life: «You, Lord, are our Father»…. «You, Lord, continue to be our Father». This image renews hope: God’s coming also requires a willingness to approach him. Prayer that acknowledges pain, seeks forgiveness and sings of hope is the way to meet him. It arises from the heart with the certainty that God cares deeply about our situation and will come to us, as he has in the past. This passage has New Testament implications.

The birth of Jesus at Christmas fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy: the heavens open and, in Jesus, God meets humanity. He will come again at the end of time, as Jesus lets his followers know in the Gospel parable.

The psalmist intervenes crying out for restoration and humbly invokes God saying: «O God, restore us, let your face shine upon us and save us.

The second reading from the first letter of the Corinthians reminds us that God is faithful and that in calling us to communion with his Son he wants us to be blameless in love, assuring us that we do not lack any gift to achieve that communion. As Benedict XVI told us in his encyclical God is Love, «Love can be commanded because it has first been given.» (14)

 Finally, Mark in the Gospel reminds us that preparing for the coming of the Lord requires an enduring attitude of vigilance because we do not know the day or the hour.

The verb «watch» appears in the parable for a total of four repetitions of this term. But what exactly does Jesus’ command to «watch» imply? The Greek term «gregoreo» primarily means «to be awake». However, this does not mean that the disciples cannot sleep (physically it would be impossible), in this context, the disciples must be alert and attentive to recognize the coming of the Lord at an uncertain time.

There is a call to be attentive to something deeper. Not being asleep can be expressed in this way: we must be vigilant in the darkness of history, with our whole existence concentrated on following Jesus if we wish to witness the coming of the Kingdom, for we may run the risk of forgetting him and his teachings, since he is not present in a visible way. The «watchful» servants are those who are always ready to receive him and respond.

May the Lord find us awake and directing the portion he has entrusted to us with love, dignity and justice. May our works more than our words heal all the signs of pain, contradiction and injustice in our world, those that we ourselves have provoked and those that, although we have not provoked, we can restore. Let us not forget that like Francis of Assisi and Luis Amigó, aware of their mission, we are called to be operative, proactive and driven, and above all to listen to the voice of the Lord who, through the power of his spirit, inspires each of our words and actions.

Let us celebrate the hope that fills us with certainty and drives us forward! Advent invites us to renew our confidence in the salvation that is to come, to free ourselves from disenchantment and to wait joyfully for the coming of the Lord. Through prayerful listening to the Word, let our prayer lead us to cry out, «Come, Lord Jesus!»

S. Sandra Milena Velásquez Bedoya

Categorías
Artículos

Savoring pentecost in the light of the holy scriptures

The book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that Paul once encountered a group of unknown Christians in Ephesus. Something must have struck him as odd because he asked them, «Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you began to believe?» The answer was emphatic: «We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.» If Paul were to ask us the same question today, many Christians would have to answer, «I have known since I was a child that there is a Holy Spirit. But I don’t know what it is for; it has no influence on my life. God and Jesus are enough for me». This answer would be sincere, but wrong. The words he has just pronounced were spoken by the Holy Spirit. He has more influence on his life than he imagines. And we know this from the discussions and quarrels among the Christians in Corinth.

The importance of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12,3b-7.12-13)

The Corinthians were specialists in creating conflicts. This is fortunate for us, because thanks to their discussions we have the two letters that Paul wrote to them. The origin of today’s reading is not clear, because the text, in order not to lose the custom, has been mutilated. Anyone who takes the trouble to read chapter 12 of the First Letter to the Corinthians will see what the problem is: some consider themselves superior to others and do not value what others do.

The section deleted in the reading (verses 8-11) describes the situation in Corinth. Some boast of speaking very well in the assemblies; others, of knowing everything important; some stand out for their faith; others manage to perform healings, and there are those who even perform miracles; the most conflictive are those who presume to speak to God in strange tongues, which no one understands, and those who consider themselves capable of interpreting what they say.

Paul begins at the base. There is something that unites them all: faith in Jesus, confessing him as Lord, even though the Roman Caesar claims this title for himself. And they do this thanks to the Holy Spirit. This unity does not exclude diversity of spiritual gifts, activities and functions. But in diversity they must see the action of the Spirit, of Jesus and of God the Father. Following this almost Trinitarian formula, he insists that it is the Spirit who manifests himself in these gifts, activities and functions, which he grants to each one in view of the common good.

Moreover, the Spirit not only gives his gifts, but also unites Christians. Thanks to him, in the community there are no differences based on origin (Jews – Greeks) or social classes (slaves – free).

In short, all that we are and all that we have is the fruit of the Spirit, because it is the way in which the risen Jesus continues to be present among us.

 

How did the story begin? Two very different versions.

If a Christian with average religious training is asked how and when the Holy Spirit came for the first time, he will most likely refer to the day of Pentecost. And if he has a certain artistic culture, he will remember El Greco’s painting, although he may not have noticed that, next to the Virgin, there is Mary Magdalene, representing the rest of the Christian community (one hundred and twenty people according to Luke).

But there is another version: that of the Gospel of John.

The version of John 20, 19-23

The version offered by the fourth Gospel is very different. In this brief passage we can distinguish four moments: the greeting, the confirmation that it is Jesus who appears, the sending and the gift of the Spirit.

The greeting is the usual one among the Jews: «Peace be with you». But in this case it is not a matter of pure formula, because the disciples, deadly afraid of the Jews, are in great need of peace.

That peace is granted to them by the presence of Jesus, something that seems impossible, because the doors are closed. By showing them his hands and feet, he confirms that it is really him. The signs of suffering and death, the feet and hands pierced by nails, become a sign of salvation, and the disciples are filled with joy.

Everything could have ended here, with peace and joy replacing fear. However, in the apparition narratives, one essential element is never missing: the mission. A mission that culminates God’s plan: the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends the apostles. [Given the current shortage of priestly and religious vocations, it is not a bad time to recall another passage from John, where Jesus says: «Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The end is a surprising action: Jesus blows on the disciples. The evangelists do not say whether he does it on all of them together or one by one. This detail is unimportant. What is important is the symbolism. In Hebrew, the word ruach can mean «wind» and «spirit». Jesus, by blowing (that reminds of the wind) infuses the Holy Spirit. This gift is closely linked to the mission that has just been entrusted to them. In the course of their activity, the apostles will come into contact with many people; among those who wish to become Christians, it will be necessary to distinguish between those who can be accepted into the community (by forgiving their sins) and those who cannot, at least temporarily (by withholding their sins).

 

 

PRAYER AT PENTECOST

José Luis Sicre

 

Holy Spirit, You dwell in our hearts and consecrate all that is. Make us your new humanity.

You are the living God, in whom I believe and in whom I hope. You humanize us so that we may commune in your divinity.

I believe in you… God who dawns life in every instant.

I believe in You… God who manifests your power in tenderness and fragility.

I believe in You, God of love who reveals Yourself in a truthful look, in a joyful smile, in tears and sobs, in silence and in embrace.

I believe in You, God who shows Yourself to us in the eyes that dream, in the heart that has been moved, in the open hands, in the willing arms, in the indignant and living face.

I want to live consciously in your presence; in joy and in sorrow, in effort and in fatigue, in certainty and in doubt, in adversity and in celebration, in every birth and in every mourning.

I want to live consciously this present that You are giving me.

With You, through You and in You, I want to be who I am.

I love you and I want you to move me to love others freely. I love you and I want to love with your love, every creature and all Creation.

When I am irritated, soothe me. With whom I am exasperated, make me feel patience and empathy.

Grant me to be a gift and a blessing for the person I meet, whom I already love, grant me to love freely, not to depend or pretend to possess.

May we let ourselves be loved and know how to receive with gratitude from others.

Free us from distrust and fear. Free us from all dependence and addiction, from all lies and tension. Heal us from the blindness that prevents us from realizing that we are united by fraternity.

Deliver us from the compulsive search for individual comfort!

Awaken us to the awareness that we are community. May we passionately yearn for the common good. Enkindle in each person the generosity to give oneself in order to give. May each one take care of others with care.

Fill the hearts of all humanity of You.

Dispel fears and dispel rancor. May we dream with strength the reign of Life.

Holy Spirit, consecrate all creation and make us your new humanity.

Holy Spirit: I know that You dwell in me and that I dwell in You…

Sometimes, I have come to feel it, as if I were more conscious… Sometimes, I have glimpsed to understand it, as if more lucidly… Many times, I neither feel, nor understand, nor even remember that You are in me and that we are in You…. But I believe… I believe in You, Divine Spirit of Creation…

I believe, because I want to believe more and more in Jesus, who revealed to me your living and discreet presence in all that is… I believe, more and more, that it is not about me, nor that I have life, but about You in everything and that You give me the gift of being part of Life.

That is why I want to begin this and every week, this and every day, this and every instant of my history, invoking You and evoking You; I happily accept that you fill my body, my intellect, my affection, and even the most silent part of my spirit!

Thank you for every sensation, for all that I perceive and grasp. Thank you for every feeling and every emotion, for all that I live and express. Thank you for every memory, every idea, every moment of communication. Thank you for every face that dwells in my heart. Thank you for the silence, more and more filled with your Divine Love.

I desire to let myself be moved by your action. I desire to flow, not passively or resignedly but confidently, attentively, happily.

I desire to free myself from every need and desire, to detach and let go, to say «goodbye» without clinging but to know how to give myself and always to love.

I consecrate my being to You, and I want You to fill the people with whom I share this story.

I wish You to reign in all creation and that we may be more and more a humanity conscious of your love that unites without melting, that animates without subduing, that illuminates without dazzling, that gives life by giving itself and without ceasing to love.

Thank you, Holy Spirit! Thank you and amen with all humanity!

Rogelio Cárdenas

Categorías
Artículos

Consecrated life, walking in hope

On February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, the Church celebrated the World Day for Consecrated Life.

A Church without consecrated life is an impoverished Church. Not because consecrated persons are more good or more holy, but because consecrated life manifests the richness and abundance of charisms and lifestyles that exist in the body of Christ. And these people, with their peculiar way of living, not only by their vow or promise of chastity, but by the whole of their life, marks the goal to which every Christian is called, that goal in which God will be all in all things, that is, the factor of all reality and, therefore, it will no longer be necessary to take a wife or husband, because we will all be filled by the love of God and by the love without limits and without lies of our brothers and sisters.

This year’s motto is: «Consecrated life, walking in hope». It is a good motto. One of the things that people, and also consecrated persons, need most is hope. Without hope life becomes sad, loses strength, and has no soul. Today some people measure the vitality of consecrated life by numbers: how many novices does the Congregation have? Serious error, because the numbers do not mean much and always give one or another result according to what other numbers they are compared with. God is the one who sustains hope. According to our relationship with Him, our hope will be as intense as He is. Therefore, what is important in consecrated life is fidelity. So is mission. And, of course, in the case of religious life, community. But all this is sustained by our faith in God.

Walking, which is gerund. In other words, it’s an ongoing journey. Walking in faith, in fraternity, in mission, in service to our brothers and sisters. Walking also means updating the charism, bringing it into harmony with the present needs of the Church and society. The works pass, the charism remains. The charism is creative, always looking for new ways. A charism that is not updated dies. Repetition can be the greatest infidelity. Walking in hope. The journeyers need hope, to have guarantees that their way is the good one because it leads to the desired goal.

Hope because we know that, in spite of our limitations and our littleness, the Lord does not abandon us. Consecrated life is like a seed that seems very small, but good farmers know that one day it will grow into a leafy tree. If we only look at the seed, we become discouraged. If we imagine the leafy tree, we walk in joy and keep moving forward, even if the road is sometimes hard.

WALKING IN HOPE

We do not go alone.

Christ unites us. With him. With each other.

And with so many who live, weep, love, yearn,

grow, struggle and hope.

More and more barefoot and insecure.

Ever closer to the cross and farther away

from pedestals.

More and more free from fashions and inertia.

Increasingly able to laugh at our pretensions

and take them seriously.

Some, still hesitant,

taking the first steps,

others demanded by the rhythm

of intense workdays,

and some, already well worn out,

glimpsing the goal -which is an embrace.

Together. Walking in hope.

Men and women of God,

consecrated to a mission,

to a longing,

to the project of the One Who invited us

to share His way.

Amen.

Source: Nihil Obstat DOMINICANS

Categorías
Artículos

An excerpt from the contemplation of beauty

A message that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) sent to a meeting of the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation in August 2002. The group had meeting in Rimini, Italy.

Every year, in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Season of Lent, I am struck anew by a paradox in Vespers for Monday of the Second Week of the Psalter. Here, side by side, are two antiphons, one for the Season of Lent, the other for Holy Week. Both introduce Psalm 44 [45], but they present strikingly contradictory interpretations. The Psalm describes the wedding of the King, his beauty, his virtues, his mission, and then becomes an exaltation of his bride. In the Season of Lent, Psalm 44 is framed by the same antiphon used for the rest of the year. The third verse of the Psalm says: «You are the fairest of the children of men and grace is poured upon your lips.»

Naturally, the Church reads this psalm as a poetic-prophetic representation of Christ’s spousal relationship with his Church. She recognizes Christ as the fairest of men, the grace poured upon his lips points to the inner beauty of his words, the glory of his proclamation. So it is not merely the external beauty of the Redeemer’s appearance that is glorified: rather, the beauty of Truth appears in him, the beauty of God himself who draws us to himself and, at the same time captures us with the wound of Love, the holy passion («eros»), that enables us to go forth together, with and in the Church his Bride, to meet the Love who calls us.

On Monday of Holy Week, however, the Church changes the antiphon and invites us to interpret the Psalm in the light of Isaiah 53:2: «He had neither beauty, nor majesty, nothing to attract our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him.» How can we reconcile this? The appearance of the «fairest of the children of men» is so wretched that no one desires to look at him. Pilate presented him to the crowd saying: «Behold the man!» to rouse sympathy for the crushed and battered Man, in whom no external beauty remained.

Augustine, who in his youth wrote a book on the Beautiful and the Harmonious [«De pulchro et apto»] and who appreciated beauty in words, in music, in the figurative arts, had a keen appreciation of this paradox and realized that in this regard, the great Greek philosophy of the beautiful was not simply rejected but rather, dramatically called into question and what the beautiful might be, what beauty might mean, would have to be debated anew and suffered. Referring to the paradox contained in these texts, he spoke of the contrasting blasts of «two trumpets,» produced by the same breath, the same Spirit. He knew that a paradox is contrast and not contradiction. Both quotes come from the same Spirit who inspires all Scripture, but sounds different notes in it. It is in this way that he sets us before the totality of true Beauty, of Truth itself.

In the first place, the text of Isaiah supplies the question that interested the Fathers of the Church, whether Christ was not beautiful. Implicit here is the more radical question of whether beauty is true or whether it is not ugliness that leads us to the deepest truth of reality. Whoever believes in God, in the God who manifested himself, precisely in the altered appearance of Christ crucified as love «to the end» (John 13:1), knows that beauty is truth and truth beauty; but in the suffering Christ he also learns that the beauty of truth also embraces offence, pain, and even the dark mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not in ignoring it.

Certainly, the consciousness that beauty has something to do with pain was also present in the Greek world. For example, let us take Plato’s «Phaedrus.» Plato contemplates the encounter with beauty as the salutary emotional shock that makes man leave his shell and sparks his «enthusiasm» by attracting him to what is other than himself. Man, says Plato, has lost the original perfection that was conceived for him. He is now perennially searching for the healing primitive form. Nostalgia and longing impel him to pursue the quest; beauty prevents him from being content with just daily life. It causes him to suffer.

In a Platonic sense, we could say that the arrow of nostalgia pierces man, wounds him and in this way gives him wings, lifts him upwards toward the transcendent. In his discourse in the Symposium, Aristophanes says that lovers do not know what they really want from each other. From the search for what is more than their pleasure, it is obvious that the souls of both are thirsting for something other than amorous pleasure. But the heart cannot express this «other» thing, «it has only a vague perception of what it truly wants and wonders about it as an enigma.»

In the 14th century, in the book «The Life in Christ» by the Byzantine theologian, Nicholas Cabasilas, we rediscover Plato’s experience in which the ultimate object of nostalgia, transformed by the new Christian experience, continues to be nameless. Cabasilas says: «When men have a longing so great that it surpasses human nature and eagerly desire and are able to accomplish things beyond human thought, it is the Bridegroom who has smitten them with this longing. It is he who has sent a ray of his beauty into their eyes. The greatness of the wound already shows the arrow which has struck home, the longing indicates who has inflicted the wound» (cf. «The Life in Christ,» the Second Book, 15).

The beautiful wounds, but this is exactly how it summons man to his final destiny. What Plato said, and, more than 1,500 years later, Cabasilas, has nothing to do with superficial aestheticism and irrationalism or with the flight from clarity and the importance of reason. The beautiful is knowledge certainly, but, in a superior form, since it arouses man to the real greatness of the truth. Here Cabasilas has remained entirely Greek, since he puts knowledge first when he says, «In fact it is knowing that causes love and gives birth to it. … Since this knowledge is sometimes very ample and complete and at other times imperfect, it follows that the love potion has the same effect» (cf. ibid.).

He is not content to leave this assertion in general terms. In his characteristically rigorous thought, he distinguishes between two kinds of knowledge: knowledge through instruction which remains, so to speak, «second hand» and does not imply any direct contact with reality itself. The second type of knowledge, on the other hand, is knowledge through personal experience, through a direct relationship with the reality. «Therefore we do not love it to the extent that it is a worthy object of love, and since we have not perceived the very form itself we do not experience its proper effect.»

True knowledge is being struck by the arrow of Beauty that wounds man, moved by reality, «how it is Christ himself who is present and in an ineffable way disposes and forms the souls of men» (cf. ibid.).

Being struck and overcome by the beauty of Christ is a more real, more profound knowledge than mere rational deduction. Of course we must not underrate the importance of theological reflection, of exact and precise theological thought; it remains absolutely necessary. But to move from here to disdain or to reject the impact produced by the response of the heart in the encounter with beauty as a true form of knowledge would impoverish us and dry up our faith and our theology. We must rediscover this form of knowledge; it is a pressing need of our time.

Starting with this concept, Hans Urs von Balthasar built his «Opus magnum of Theological Aesthetics.» Many of its details have passed into theological work, while his fundamental approach, in truth the essential element of the whole work, has not been so readily accepted. Of course, this is not just, or principally, a theological problem, but a problem of pastoral life that has to foster the human person’s encounter with the beauty of faith.

All too often arguments fall on deaf ears because in our world too many contradictory arguments compete with one another, so much so that we are spontaneously reminded of the medieval theologians’ description of reason, that it «has a wax nose»: In other words, it can be pointed in any direction, if one is clever enough. Everything makes sense, is so convincing, whom should we trust?

The encounter with the beautiful can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes, so that later, from this experience, we take the criteria for judgment and can correctly evaluate the arguments. For me an unforgettable experience was the Bach concert that Leonard Bernstein conducted in Munich after the sudden death of Karl Richter. I was sitting next to the Lutheran Bishop Hanselmann. When the last note of one of the great Thomas-Kantor-Cantatas triumphantly faded away, we looked at each other spontaneously and right then we said: «Anyone who has heard this, knows that the faith is true.»

The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness, but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in the composer’s inspiration. Isn’t the same thing evident when we allow ourselves to be moved by the icon of the Trinity of Rublëv? In the art of the icons, as in the great Western paintings of the Romanesque and Gothic period, the experience described by Cabasilas, starting with interiority, is visibly portrayed and can be shared.

In a rich way Pavel Evdokimov has brought to light the interior pathway that an icon establishes. An icon does not simply reproduce what can be perceived by the senses, but rather it presupposes, as he says, «a fasting of sight.» Inner perception must free itself from the impression of the merely sensible, and in prayer and ascetical effort acquire a new and deeper capacity to see, to perform the passage from what is merely external to the profundity of reality, in such a way that the artist can see what the senses as such do not see, and what actually appears in what can be perceived: the splendor of the glory of God, the «glory of God shining on the face of Christ » (2 Corinthians 4:6).

To admire the icons and the great masterpieces of Christian art in general, leads us on an inner way, a way of overcoming ourselves; thus in this purification of vision that is a purification of the heart, it reveals the beautiful to us, or at least a ray of it. In this way we are brought into contact with the power of the truth. I have often affirmed my conviction that the true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth against every denial, are the saints, and the beauty that the faith has generated. Today, for faith to grow, we must lead ourselves and the persons we meet to encounter the saints and to enter into contact with the Beautiful.

Now however, we still have to respond to an objection. We have already rejected the assumption which claims that what has just been said is a flight into the irrational, into mere aestheticism.

Rather, it is the opposite that is true: This is the very way in which reason is freed from dullness and made ready to act.

Today another objection has even greater weight: the message of beauty is thrown into complete doubt by the power of falsehood, seduction, violence and evil. Can the beautiful be genuine, or, in the end, is it only an illusion? Isn’t reality perhaps basically evil? The fear that in the end it is not the arrow of the beautiful that leads us to the truth, but that falsehood, all that is ugly and vulgar, may constitute the true «reality» has at all times caused people anguish.

At present this has been expressed in the assertion that after Auschwitz it was no longer possible to write poetry; after Auschwitz it is no longer possible to speak of a God who is good. People wondered: Where was God when the gas chambers were operating? This objection, which seemed reasonable enough before Auschwitz when one realized all the atrocities of history, shows that in any case a purely harmonious concept of beauty is not enough. It cannot stand up to the confrontation with the gravity of the questioning about God, truth and beauty. Apollo, who for Plato’s Socrates was «the God» and the guarantor of unruffled beauty as «the truly divine» is absolutely no longer sufficient.

In this way, we return to the «two trumpets» of the Bible with which we started, to the paradox of being able to say of Christ: «You are the fairest of the children of men,» and: «He had no beauty, no majesty to draw our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him.» In the passion of Christ the Greek aesthetic that deserves admiration for its perceived contact with the Divine but which remained inexpressible for it, in Christ’s passion is not removed but overcome.

The experience of the beautiful has received new depth and new realism. The One who is the Beauty itself let himself be slapped in the face, spat upon, crowned with thorns; the Shroud of Turin can help us imagine this in a realistic way. However, in his Face that is so disfigured, there appears the genuine, extreme beauty: the beauty of love that goes «to the very end»; for this reason it is revealed as greater than falsehood and violence. Whoever has perceived this beauty knows that truth, and not falsehood, is the real aspiration of the world. It is not the false that is «true,» but indeed, the Truth.

It is, as it were, a new trick of what is false to present itself as «truth» and to say to us: over and above me there is basically nothing, stop seeking or even loving the truth; in doing so you are on the wrong track. The icon of the crucified Christ sets us free from this deception that is so widespread today. However it imposes a condition: that we let ourselves be wounded by him, and that we believe in the Love who can risk setting aside his external beauty to proclaim, in this way, the truth of the beautiful.

Falsehood however has another stratagem. A beauty that is deceptive and false, a dazzling beauty that does not bring human beings out of themselves to open them to the ecstasy of rising to the heights, but indeed locks them entirely into themselves. Such beauty does not reawaken a longing for the Ineffable, readiness for sacrifice, the abandonment of self, but instead stirs up the desire, the will for power, possession and pleasure. It is that type of experience of beauty of which Genesis speaks in the account of the Original Sin. Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was «beautiful» to eat and was «delightful to the eyes.»

The beautiful, as she experienced it, aroused in her a desire for possession, making her, as it were, turn in upon herself. Who would not recognize, for example, in advertising, the images made with supreme skill that are created to tempt the human being irresistibly, to make him want to grab everything and seek the passing satisfaction rather than be open to others.

So it is that Christian art today is caught between two fires (as perhaps it always has been): It must oppose the cult of the ugly, which says that everything beautiful is a deception and only the representation of what is crude, low and vulgar is the truth, the true illumination of knowledge. Or it has to counter the deceptive beauty that makes the human being seem diminished instead of making him great, and for this reason is false.


Is there anyone who does not know Dostoyevsky’s often-quoted sentence: «The Beautiful will save us»? However, people usually forget that Dostoyevsky is referring here to the redeeming Beauty of Christ. We must learn to see him. If we know him, not only in words, but if we are struck by the arrow of his paradoxical beauty, then we will truly know him, and know him not only because we have heard others speak about him. Then we will have found the beauty of Truth, of the Truth that redeems. Nothing can bring us into close contact with the beauty of Christ himself other than the world of beauty created by faith and light that shines out from the faces of the saints, through whom his own light becomes visible.

By: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Categorías
Artículos

Christmas from the heart of the holy family

«A child is born to us, and he is the Prince of peace»

(Isaiah 9:5-6)

  To enter into the climate, the atmosphere, the shelter of Mary and Joseph’s home, to enter quietly, in absolute silence and if possible, in their interiority, with those delicate feelings that deliver the motions of the free spirit, which knows of profound annihilation, of refinement of the soul and of joy that transcends these sensitive coordinates of history, is to follow step by step the pilgrimage of them, Mary and Joseph in the expectation of our Emmanuel.

To go to Bethlehem, a journey that must be made, with few things, in haste, but with the joy that enlarges the heart, lights up the eyes and prepares the being to sing and proclaim with the Baptist: «Prepare the way, make ready the paths for our Good that is coming» (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3).

Mary and Joseph know that the hour is approaching, they understand that the Child God is about to come forth into the universe, (Micah 5:1-2) in Bethlehem, in a cave, where the irrelevant have made room for shelter, warmth, closeness…. Mary’s whole being is unconditional openness to let the treasure, the light, the Expected One, the promise, life itself shine through…there is a deep silence and a mysterious surge of peace…which is only interrupted by the joyful and tender singing of «Glory to God in heaven and on earth peace to men with burning hearts» (Luke 2:14). The heavens and the earth clap their hands, the stars shine more brightly, the trills of birds sing in unison, a gracious symphony to this newborn, who in a stable establishes the wealth of God on earth (Isaiah 9:5).

Joseph and Mary, absorbed and silent, intertwined their gazes, smile and adore the presence of Love in the universe. (Isaiah 9:2) Mary holds him in her arms, because her whole heart, her whole being as a woman, now contemplates with emotion the Son of the Father, humane, tender, infant, weak… Joseph observes the Mother with the Child, he has no other attitude than to adore, to contemplate… She, the Mother, gathers her immense joy in abundant tears, which run down her cheeks and even reach the little one and make him smile… What a language of love, what a language of poverty, of the self-abasement, of the lack of self-esteem of our God. What a language he discovers who understands the mysteries of love, presence, enchantment, closeness, reverie, because a Child has been given to us, a brother on the way has been given to us (Isaiah 9:5).

And Joseph follows step by step the mystery that now becomes so close to him, so palpable: He who owns the universe, because it came from his hands, now shivering with cold, the one who made this wonderful set of harmony that is the cosmos and in it man, groans of love, what a wonderful exchange, leaves his, takes what is ours, our weakness, outdated, his eternity, immutable. Joseph and Mary, together continue to observe him, they do not want to lose a single one of his expressions…his eyes smile and cry with love, what a sweet smile, what a tender lover, his pink lips express candor, his chest is heaven for the one who is faithful, his small hands, so soft they are, will gladly indicate the good that generates peace in justice; his feet so small, will insinuate the path to follow, the path of strangers and pilgrims who, with nothing of their own, launch themselves to new conquests from the Spirit. Mary and Joseph, from this style of free, poor and humble life, are gathering in their hearts, the language of the highest poverty-richness of God, who becoming one of us, wanted to live in our land, in the periphery, to walk with each of us ….

As we contemplate in joy the Trinity of the Earth: Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in the celebration of our Christmas, a deep cry arises deep within us to «listen to the motions that inhabit us, there where God continues to write his story with us, we are seekers who want to be happy to spread to others the joy of living, each one in her own process, we are invited to enter into our inner sanctuary, to ask ourselves vital questions that push us to continue growing as persons, learning to exist in fullness, to name our needs, emotions and desires» (Caring for our own life, message XXIII Chap. General). It is there, in the warmth of the family of Nazareth, that we recover the renewed joy of knowing we are loved, saved and called to enjoy the very richness of this family which, by gathering us together in a community «fraternal in faith, hope and love» (Constitutions 28), also urges us to «put more joy, trust and hope in our world, and to carry out gestures of evangelical life that lead to justice and peace». (Caring for the lives of the poor, message of the XXIII General Chapter).

Sister Lilyám del Carmen Ramírez Cañizales

Capuchin Tertiary Sister of the Holy Family

Guatemala

Categorías
Artículos

Mary, woman of hope

The end of the fiscal year will soon come to a close, in some countries the academic year has come to an end, others are about to do so, and so on, our life is one of closing some cycles and opening others; each stage is loaded with a myriad of experiences of all kinds. At the liturgical level the Church gives us the gift of a new Advent, and we are invited to make it an experience that renews our strength, like a glass of fresh water after a long journey under the sun.

Looking at the realities experienced this year in the different regions of the world, we contemplate truly hopeless panoramas: the issue of war, which seems to be a trite topic, but which continues to claim lives, causing anxiety and pain, the waves of tired and hungry migrants, the political situation in so many nations that curtails freedom, undermines the basic rights of millions of people, the aftermath of the Pandemic, the indiscriminate damage to our mother earth, to name a few.

For this reason, we are invited to rekindle hope. Although there are many texts written on this subject, on this occasion we could meditate with new eyes on some texts of the Evangelist Luke regarding the attitudes of the Virgin Mary and on the thought of the Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire.

Let us remember how Mary has given us proof of her hope. This young Nazarene, as a woman of her time, had experiences very similar to ours and even in the midst of them she knew how to listen to the word of God who spoke to her through mediation. The evangelist Luke makes it clear to us:

«In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; the virgin’s name was Mary. And he went in and said to her, «Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you. She was troubled at these words, and wondered what the greeting meant.  And the angel said to her, «Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God; you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David» (Lk 1:26, 32).

When we look at Mary, we see her capacity to serenely welcome the bewilderment and continue the dialogue with the angel.  Looking at ourselves, we could verify these same qualities and also ask ourselves: How do I encourage true listening to God, to what spaces do I allow him to enter? Perhaps I have established schedules, known patterns, but perhaps there are corners of my being where I have not yet invited him to enter?

«Mary answered the angel, «How shall this be, since I know not a man?» The angel answered her, «The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy and will be called the Son of God.» (Lk 1:34-35

For «precisely one who – like Mary – is totally open to God, comes to accept the Divine Will, even if it is mysterious, even if it often does not correspond to one’s own will» (Pope Benedict XVI, December 2012). Mary gives a response and as a consequence of this listening and availability she receives a mission that surprises her, unsettles her and she sets herself in motion:

«In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah; she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.» (Lk. 1:39-40)

Mary is a woman of active hope, she does not remain with her arms folded waiting to see what will happen. Regarding the hope that Mary brings to life, we could enlighten ourselves with the words of Paulo Freire:

«It is necessary to have hope, but to have hope from the verb, to hope; because there are people who hope from the verb to hope.  And the hope of the verb to hope is not hope, it is waiting.  To hope is to get up, to hope is to go forward, to hope is to build, to hope is not to give up.  To hope is to carry forward, to hope is to join with others to do otherwise.»

Mary shows us that she is a woman of hope because she lived the verb to hope, rising up and putting herself at risk because of the state she was in walking towards the mountains of Judah, she went out in step with Elizabeth’s needs.  And even more so in Herod’s persecution of the Child, she did not give up when she had to flee to Egypt (cf. Mt. 2:13-15).

Let us turn our eyes to Mary, we will find in her courage and strength. How can we live so that this Advent is not just another Advent, but one that brings us newness?

From the reality that surrounds us

In our daily chores

In our encounters with the Lord, with our brothers and sisters.

How do we give life to the verb to HOPE?

 

Sister  Nancy Margoth Monterroso Monterroso. tc

Provincia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

Categorías
Artículos

“They go out they out full of tears, carrying seeds for the sowing. They come back they come back full of songs, carrying their sheaves.” ( Ps. 126, 5-6

This verse of Palm 126: 5 was resounding in my heart and mind while boarding the airplane bound to Tanzania-Africa. It describes exactly my feelings and determination to reach the place where our Almighty God calls me to go. And precisely, after my first three years of missionary service proceeding for my vacation, the joy (Psalm 126:6) in my heart to return and share my experiences was long lasting until the time I and writing this article. In deed God’s project for each one of us is ever a call to live our lives fully.  And I will forever sing His Praise and Glory for the gift of my parents and my big family, my friends and relatives, for the gift of my sisters in the Congregation, for the gift of my faith, the gift our Beloved Congregation of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family where my life is nurtured since I joined in the congregation until this stage of middle adulthood.

It is really beautiful to gaze back and see a life lived full of colors of lights and shades, ups and downs, rise and falls but as whole I could contemplate a beautiful work of God in me through His constant Love, Mercy and Providence. With Mary our mother, I sing the Magnificat in every evening prayer with my community and the faithful people who joins our mission.  

As a Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family, I just understood at he very first contact with our first missionary sisters to the Philippines, that to be a Capuchin Tertiary Sister is to be a missionary outside my home country. From the life testimony of our sisters, I learned that to be a missionary is to share the most ordinary day to day life in the spirit of prayer, community life and in the specific service of the congregation. To offer our service to the people in our Franciscan-Amigonian spirituality. Although we must understand that missionary life should be lived wherever we are whether within or outside our home country.

Briefly my life’s journey in Tanzania started in 1st January, 1998 until this year 2022 with two years pause in the year 2010-2011 for higher studies and still on service in mission until this time.  All throughout my stay in Tanzania I served and currently serving in the field of Education. How’s my experience? I say it’s Great and Wonderful! Joyfully lived with all my imperfections, setbacks, failures and successes.

Tanzania is now my second home country, just like other countries it has its own riches and unique culture. The Catholic Faith expression specifically in liturgy is vibrant and long. They have a very deep sense of solidarity. They are a people with extended family in the literal sense. They celebrate and mourn in the spirit of unity marked by serous ceremonial program. They are joyful, hospitable, loving and beautiful people. Tanzania is geographically beautiful, rich with natural parks and mostly known for having the famous majestic Kilimanjaro Mountain.  The children and young people are respectful and generally characterized with strong endurance in facing the common the challenges of their life. These are the few descriptions I could share and I invite my sisters to come and see the beauty of Tanzania. I thank and love Tanzanian for teaching me in many ways.

As a religious serving in the field of education, the central message of all my effort big or small is to simply share the liberating message of the Gospel of Jesus in the ordinary and routinary activities of a religious life.  I translate this Liberating Gospel message firstly by acknowledging at the beginning of each day in prayer that each day is a gift from God and nothing good can come out of that gift without his grace. Prayer Life is above all because it is there where I draw my strength and inspiration to go out to meet people, the students and school staff, parents and neighbors in order to serve.  Secondly, I try to be in union with my community in all its daily activities, prayers, meals, recreation and work and try I in my best ability to be in communication and dialogue with my sisters in the community and the people I serve and work with. I testify that walking together with my sisters in the congregation is a beautiful gift to treasure in the heart with all its challenges and difficulties.  And thirdly, the service without reservation is what gives meaning to my prayers and living with my community. For without reaching out to the people who needs my time and talents everything is non sense. To sum up those are my ways of living a happy and contented life as a Capuchin Tertiary Sister of the Holy Family.

This year 2022, is the 24th year of my life outside my native country. Perhaps I have not done great things but what is important the totality of my self-offering and following Our Lod Jesus in Religious Life and with that I am truly happy and I feel that 24 years have passed just like yesterday. I PRAISE AND GLORIFY JESUS OUR LOVING GOD AND SAVIOUR!

Hna. Nida Galera, TC

Categorías
Artículos

A history, given as a gift: Testimony and prophetic strength

The Beatitudes are, without a doubt, the most perfect synthesis of the Gospel and the most successful expression of its scale of values. In them is contained, and expressed with depth of poetry, the truth that Christ came to reveal Himself to the world. A truth that profoundly liberates man. A truth that matures the person in his humanity. A truth that is, in short, love.

Only he who learns to love, matures integrally. Man made in the image and likeness of a God who is Love; it is the only foundation on which a balanced and happy personality can be built. But the lesson of love is difficult to learn. Selfishness, the root of all major sins, which is only personal gain or possession and domination of others at times, tends to clothe with the mantle of dedication and openness to others; therefore, the beatitudes, in conveying the message of a truth founded on love, dwell on the nuances that make love – truth. And they come to tell us that love is such if it is interwoven with the gift of self and possessions, service to others, the strength to die to self and create community with others, justice according to God’s original plan for man and society, preferential dedication to those most in need, generosity and clean intentions, and great interior and exterior peace. This message of truth like love and from the love of truth, is, however, prophetic by its very nature and creates divisions and struggles that all the more stronger and violent, the more a society is founded on consumerism, lust for power, legalized injustice or other multiple forms of personal and even structural selfishness. Freedom always has a price. And the price to pay for evangelical freedom, for truth and justice for man and society, is persecution. The eighth beatitude, compilation and conclusion of the other seven, is very clear: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, blessed are you when they insult you, persecute you, and with lies do all evil against you for my sake. Wherever the Church is coherent with its message, it is rejected or persecuted. And it is so much more rejected or persecuted the greater its coherence. The forms of persecution are, however, many and varied. There are more underhanded persecutions, and not for that reason less harmful, that try to win the silence of the Church with offers and benefits. Those who act in this way know that it is better for them to have a perverted Church than a persecuted one. There are others, carried out with silk glove that does not martyrize the Church, but silence her and corner her in the sacristies. And there are others, such as that suffered in Spain during the civil war, which are truly bloody. These different types of persecution, a permanent sign of the proclamation of the Kingdom, accompany the Church in her daily pilgrimage through the world. And the Congregation of Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Church and citizen in very diverse cultures and nations has also experienced in different times and countries the risk of announcing Christ and collaborating in the construction of the civilization of love: What happened in Spain in 1936 is for the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters was a very important expression of their prophetic dynamism, but it’s not only this, of course, nor, the last one. China – a missionary adventure.

Not many years have passed, and the Father Founder himself opened wide this door to his daughters. The Lord sent him a sign and he, a man of faith, knew how to interpret it at once. In 1903, without anyone knowing anything, a young Colombian lady, a person of good position arrived in Masamagrell.  She needed to escape from home for the call of the Lord to be a Capuchin Tertiary Sister. This fact, together with the request that the Capuchins of Guajira had been making to the sisters to go there, was enough for the Congregation, encouraged by its Founder, to decide to travel different parts of the world, announcing Christ where He was not yet known. In 1905, the first missionaries left for Colombia. Years later, it was Venezuela’s turn. And in 1929 the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters began their missionary opening to China. The circumstances of this new trip gave it the characteristics of a true adventure. The sisters, chosen among the volunteers, were, as Father Amigó wanted, «healthy and strong in body, constant and solid in faith», they had a great spirit of love, abnegation and sacrifice, but they were going to a country of which they did not know the idiosyncrasy, the culture and the language. On November 3, 1929, the first chosen ones left Masamagrell. They went to the poorest mission in China, located in the province of Kansu, the largest and westernmost of the country. As the missionaries of that time did, they bid farewell with a «see you in heaven«. Father Amigó, in his old age, could not hold back his tears. He knew he would never see them again. During the five years he lived he always had a special affection for his «chinitas». And when he received news from them when he was about to die, he still found the strength to applaud with feebleness and enthusiasm at the same time.

On January 27, 1949, the last Capuchin Tertiary Sisters missionaries in China were forced to leave the country. Their hearts, however, remained forever in that field of evangelization, witness of so many labors and joys. They did not shed their blood for Christ, but they suffered in their own flesh the consequences of a persecution unleashed once again against the Christian faith.

This defiance of dangers and difficulties, lived with radicality by the sisters during the cholera of 1885, during the Spanish war of 1936, or during the missionary adventure in China, has continued to emerge later when the gravity of the circumstances has required an extreme witness of love. The case of Armero (Colombia) is a good proof of this. Armero, founded in the Province of Tolima in 1895. The Capuchin Tertiary Sisters were neighbors of the town since 1956 when the bishop of Ibagué invited them to settle there on the sole condition that they were saints. In 1985, the Holy Family College had already reached its true maturity. Without excessively increasing the number of students, without losing the family atmosphere that characterized it from its beginnings, it had been extending its educational and evangelizing action beyond its classrooms, entering into the family environment of its students and inserting itself into the overall pastoral ministry of the Parish The sisters who ran the College had received that year 1985 with a special joy. It was the first centenary of the foundation of the Congregation. The people of Armero, like so many others around the world, were ready to joyfully join in the jubilee celebration of their beloved sisters. But shortly after the beginning of the year, dark omens began to hover over the population. The Nevado del Ruiz, the sleeping lion for a long time, began to show signs of wanting to wake up from its lethargy. And Armero, like other towns in the area, began to live a long nightmare. When in April, the Provincial Superior visited the sisters, the situation was already very worrying, the volcano was continually spewing ash that covered the houses and streets of the town with a gloomy layer and forced the inhabitants to protect themselves with handkerchiefs in their mouths when going outside. The Provincial, seeing the danger the sisters were in, asked them: «Do you know that you are in danger of death, what you are going to do?

The community, composed of Sisters Bertalina Marín Arboleda, Julia Alba Saldarriaga Ángel, Emma Jaramillo Zuluaga, Marleny Gómez Montoya and Nora Engrith Ramírez Salazar (novice), responded unanimously we will die with the people…. And if we are left alive, we will welcome in our house all those who have housing problems… this house is very big. The Sister Provincial, however, seeing the novice very weak, said to her: Norita, when you go on vacation, you will have to stay in Medellin, you look very pale. But the young woman insisted: Let me finish the year here. I am happy. I feel that the Lord is asking me to stay here. On November 13, at nightfall, disaster struck. The floodwaters from the sudden melting of the volcano’s continuous snows swept through the village. The next day, the radio and the press gave the news of the tragedy as follows: Armero is like a sea…. Armero has disappeared. Nothing is left of Armero. The houses are buried… Thousands and thousands of people have died under the mud. Two of the sisters, the superior Bertalina and the novice Nora Engrith, were buried forever in the great cemetery that Armero has become. A third, Julia Alba, died thirteen days later in Bogota, victim of the wounds and suffering caused by the avalanche. As in 1885, the year of the foundation of the Congregation, also now, in the celebration of the first Centenary, three sisters sealed with their blood their testimony of love for God in their brothers and sisters. But the case of Armero is not the last testimony of love to the extreme that the recent history of the Capuchin Tertiary sisters offers us. Two years had not yet passed since that catastrophe, when the Congregation was “marked red” once again in the person of Sister Inés Arango, born in Medellín (Colombia). Her great ideal, since she was a child, was to be a missionary in Africa or Asia. She would have liked to leave for the missions as soon as she was professed, but her time had not yet arrived on God’s clock. She would have to wait twenty years and spend her first period of religious life dedicated to teaching in her native country. In 1977 her missionary dream finally came true. The Capuchin Tertiary Sisters had accepted a missionary work in the jungle of Aguarico (Ecuador) and Sister Inés was among the group of foundresses. It was March 9, 1977. Her first destination was Shushufindí. Shortly after, in August of the same year, Inés was in charge of a mission in Rocafuerte, which from then on would be for her the referential center of all her missionary activity in the surrounding indigenous tribes. Here she met the Capuchin Father Alejandro Labaka, with whom she felt identified from the first moment and with whom she had a deep and sincere friendship. Both of them preferred the minorities: the Sionas, the Secoyas, the Quichuas, the Shuaras and, particularly, the Huaorani. Alejandro and Agnes, in their dream of proclaiming Christ, demanded more and more of each other. They are aware that a true proclamation of the Gospel must respect the indigenous culture by assuming its values. And to know these values, it is necessary to be fully inserted in their life. In 1985, Sister Inés asked and obtained permission to go and live for a while among the Huaorani. The experience was very positive and Inés repeated it on other occasions. Every day her missionary spirit is stronger and more committed. She is living a spiritual maturity that amazes those who know her. In 1987 the III Latin American Missionary Congress took place in Bogota. After the Congress, Inés quickly returned to Rocafuerte, comforted by the words of encouragement and the blessing of the Superior General, Sr. Ma. Elena Echavarren. She has obtained permission and is eager to set out as soon as possible on a journey to the Tagaeri, the last unexplored redoubt of the Huaorani. On the eve of the trip, she said goodbye: Laura, I am leaving for the Tagaeri. Laura asks her: «Are you afraid, what if they kill you? -Ah, don’t worry, I’ll die happy. -Really, Inés, aren’t you afraid? No, because if I die, I die as the Lord asks me to die. In her letter she wrote: «If I die, I die happy, and I hope no one knows anything about me, I’m not looking for a name or fame, God knows…» Always with everyone, Inés.

Undoubtedly, within the history of martyrdom the best crown for Rosario, Serafina and Francisca, our blessed martyrs is and will be, without a doubt, to feel and be surrounded by the sisters who in Masamagrell and Benaguacil preceded them in 1885 with their testimony of love and by those others who, later, in China, Armero and Aguarico have contributed to make the history of the Capuchin Tertiary Sisters a poem of strength and tenderness, bringing to life the motto of: Love, Abnegation and Sacrifice.

Sr. Sylvia Yolanda Muñoz Muñoz, tc

Contact

Address: Via Cassia, 1243 00189 ROMA – Italia

Telephone: +39 06 30367865

E-mail: secregen@terciariascapuchinas.org

Location

Social Media

Facebook-square Twitter Youtube

Capuchin Tertiary Sisters of the Holy Family - 2021- © All rights reserved