February 8: The Day of the Lord / El Día del Señor

In the Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of the Year (Matthew 5, 13-16) Jesus says, “let your light shine before others.” But “letting our light shine” does not mean making a proud display or bragging about what we do. The fact is that Jesus spent most of His own life quietly in Nazareth, as the son of the carpenter. What Jesus practiced there was fidelity to the ordinary, the daily routine, which requires its own kind of courage. What sets Him apart was that He anchored His whole life on God, to let the Father be the guiding force in His life.

Over the centuries, we have witnessed the quiet practice of virtue in the lives of the Saints of the Church. They never “published” their holiness, but just tried to remain close to God, in a spirit of “loving attentive expectancy,” as St. John of the Cross put it. This same spirit marked the life of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. She died at the age of 24, after living as a cloistered (enclosed) nun from her teenage years. Some of the other nuns in the convent at Lisieux thought that she had achieved nothing at all in her short life. Yet, within a generation, this young nun, who had never left her convent, was proclaimed “Patroness of the Foreign Missions.” Even from her cloister, she was faithful to Jesus’ instruction and truly let her light shine – so that others might see the glory of God.

Valuable homework heading into the coming week would be reflecting on the three virtues that last: faith, hope, and love. It won’t be hard at all to draw inspiration from God’s Saints, especially St. Therese, who saw prayerful love as her special mission in life. “In the heart of the Church,” she said, “I shall be love.” And from that loving spirit, the grace of God was richly channeled out into the missionary world. Might our loving spirit channel God’s grace at least into our neighborhoods and throughout our parish?

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No tenemos derecho a pedir a Dios que cambie el mundo, si no estamos dispuestos nosotros a dejarnos quemar para iluminar, o a meternos y disolvernos entre los demás para dar buen sabor. Y hacerlo sin mirar a los resultados. El único modo de conseguir que este mundo cambie es irradiar y brillar. Un hombre en paz consigo mismo no necesita hablar de la alegría, porque le saldrá por todos sus poros. Un ser humano con verdadera fe en sus ideas las predicará sin abrir los labios. Como decía San Francisco, “Predicar siempre – a veces, con palabras.” Habrá llegado la Luz. Y quienes la vean se quedarán haciéndose preguntas. Como les pasó a quienes vieron a Jesús.

Los católicos sólo podremos ser luminarias si estamos unidos, con todas las consecuencias, a esa gran fuente de energía espiritual, de gracia, y de verdad que es Jesús. Es inconcebible pensar que una acequia tenga caudal propio si no está adherida a un río, a una presa o a un manantial. Es difícil, muy difícil, llevar adelante nuestra tarea, el deseo de Jesús, de ser luz en medio de la obscuridad o sal en medio de tanta insipidez que abunda en nuestro mundo si no permanecemos en comunión plena con Él.