Allocution, September 12, XXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time
Thank you to everyone who makes this radio broadcast possible, today September 12, XXIV Sunday of Ordinary Liturgical Time. We hear in all Catholic churches the Gospel according to Saint Matthew chapter 8 verses 27 to 35.
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As the Word of God is eternal and consequently current, today Jesus Christ asks you: who do people say I am? Maybe you don’t know what your husband, wife, children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, neighbors, those who work with you think. The best way to know is to ask each one, what do you say? What do you think? What do you think? What do you believe about Christ? It would be very good if you wrote down the answers so you don’t forget and tell Christ exactly what they told you. So each of us will have the first question answered.
Christ’s second question is to you directly: and who do you say I am? The answer can be like that of Saint Peter, “you are the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed”… The answer can be like that of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda, “he is the one who healed me.” Also like the response of the Samaritan woman, “he is the one who told me everything I have done”, or that of Martha, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the one who had to come into the world”, or that of the multitude of Jerusalem, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”, or that of the Book of Acts that narrated everything that Jesus did and taught from the beginning, or those of the New Testament, “the way, the truth, the life, the light, the head, the cornerstone, the foundation, the good shepherd, the door, the last and definitive word, the only mediator, our peace.” My answer can also be that of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the work and grace of the Holy Spirit. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under the power of Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried, descended into hell, on the third day he rose from the dead, ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he must come to judge the living and the dead.”
We remember what our catechist taught us, the one who prepared us for baptism, confirmation, first communion, marriage. If it were possible we could ask this catechist again who Jesus Christ is.
There are many answers to Christ’s question. Similar to that of the people of Samaria who said: “We no longer believe because of what the woman who went to the well and spoke with Christ told us, but we believe because we ourselves have heard him and know that he is really the savior of the world.” .
There are answers of life and not just of words. For those who participate in mass every Sunday, Christ is Lord; For those who take communion daily and visit the Blessed Sacrament, Christ is the bread of life; For faithful couples, Christ is love: for those who help the needy, the sick, the prisoners, the disabled, Christ is the same helper. There are many more spoken and lived answers.
And since you protect me so much, as a true Mother, please bless me in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Find a quiet, quiet place, and tell Christ your answer to his question, who do you say I am?
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The Word of God in the Letter of the apostle James chapter 2 verses 14 to 18 invites us to give living answers to Christ’s question…
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Pope Francis, last Sunday, invited us to listen to the Word of God, he invites us to listen to those around us and then give positive responses to what the Lord himself inspires us and others want from us:
“We all have ears, but many times we fail to listen. Why? Brothers and sisters, there is in fact an inner deafness that today we can ask Jesus to touch and heal. And this inner deafness is worse than the physical one, because it is the deafness of the heart. Trapped by the rush, by a thousand things to say and do, we do not find time to stop and listen to whoever is speaking to us. We run the risk of becoming impervious to everything and making room for those who need to be heard. I think of the children, the young people, the elderly, many who do not need words and sermons so much as they need to be listened to. Let’s ask ourselves: how is my listening going? Do I let myself be touched by people’s lives, do I know how to dedicate time to those close to me to listen? This is for all of us, but especially for priests. The priest must listen to the people, not be in a hurry, listen…, and see how he can help, but after listening. And all of us: first listen, then respond. Let’s think about family life: how many times we talk without listening first, repeating our own refrains that are always the same! Unable to listen, we always say the same things, or we do not let the other person finish speaking, expressing themselves, and we interrupt them. The resumption of a dialogue often does not occur through words, but through silence, by not being stubborn and patiently beginning again to listen to the other person, listen to their stresses, what they carry inside. Healing the heart begins with listening. Hear. And this restores the heart. ‘But father, there are boring people who always say the same thing…’. Listen to it. And then when they’re done talking, say yours, but listen to everything.
”And the same is true with the Lord. We are right to inundate him with requests, but we would do better if we listened to him first. Jesus asks for it. In the Gospel, when asked what the first commandment is, he answers: ‘Listen, Israel.’ Then he adds the first commandment: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart (…) and your neighbor as yourself.’ But first of all: ‘Listen Israel.’ Listen you. Do we remember to listen to the Lord? We are Christians, but perhaps, among the thousands of words we hear every day, we do not find a few seconds to let some words of the Gospel resonate in us. Jesus is the Word: if we don’t stop to listen to him, he passes us by. If we don’t stop to listen to Jesus, he passes us by. Saint Augustine said: ‘I am afraid of the Lord when he passes by.’ And the fear was letting it pass without listening to it. But if we dedicate time to the Gospel, we will find a secret to our spiritual health. Here is the medicine: every day a little silence and listening, a few less useless words and a few more words from God. Always with the Gospel in your pocket, which helps a lot. Let us listen today, as on the day of our baptism, to the words of Jesus: ‘Effatá, open’! Open your ears. Jesus, I want to open myself to your Word, Jesus, open me to your listening; “Jesus heals my heart from closedness, Jesus heals my heart from haste, Jesus heals my heart from impatience.”
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Saint Maximilian Kolbe, priest, martyr, in 1941, in a concentration camp, fully followed Christ with his prayer, with his study of the Word of God and with his life. One day a prisoner escaped. The German law in the concentration camp was that for every prisoner who escaped, ten of his companions had to die. They drew lots, 1, 2, 3, 4,…, 9, 10, and the person who received the number ten was put aside to be thrown into a basement to die of hunger. Suddenly, upon hearing a ten, the man to whom that number corresponded screamed and exclaimed: “My God, I have a wife and children, who is going to take care of them?” At that moment Father Kolbe tells the officer: “I offer myself to replace the companion who has been designated to die of hunger.” The officer responds: “And why?” “He has a wife and children who need him, but I am celibate and alone and no one needs me.” The officer hesitates for a moment and immediately responds: “Accepted”; and the prisoner, Father Maximiliano Kolbe, is taken with his other nine companions to starve in an underground cellar. Those dark days are of continuous anguish and agony. The holy priest encourages others and prays with them. Little by little the others die, and in the end, after many days, only he is left alive. Since the guards need that place for other prisoners who are arriving, they give him a cyanide injection and kill him. It was August 14, 1941.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, priest, martyr, pray for us so that we learn to follow Christ in moments of joy and happiness, but also in difficult times.
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We congratulate all the people who bear the sweet name of Mary and we also congratulate the Catholic communities of Nueva Gerona and Barreras who celebrate their patron saint’s day on September 15: Our Lady, the Virgin of Sorrows. For all these people, for the sick, for those who live in our house, we pray to the Virgin Mary:
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among all women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
And may the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit descend upon you, upon your families, upon your sick, and remain forever. Amen.
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