The Good Word

This reflection was originally published in 2024. Although the Redemptorist's title, ministry assignment, and the dates mentioned reflect the time of its original publication, the message of the readings and the reflection continue to speak meaningfully to us today.

DE QUIEN SACÓ JESÚS SUS COSAS La gente del pueblo de Jesús…Nazaret no entiende a Jesús. Ellos dicen: Jesús es hijo de una mujer del campo y de un sencillo obrero. Carpintero. Dicen ellos: ¿De dónde, pues, ha sacado todas estas cosas?”.. “¿De dónde ha sacado éste esa sabiduría y esos poderes milagrosos?. Hay dos explicaciones. La primera que es mas sencilla es que Jesús, a pesar de ser de familia humilde…estudiaba. Estudiaba las Sagradas Escrituras…sobre todo el profeta Isaías. Cuando Jesús habló en la sinagoga de Nazaret citó al profeta Isaías donde Isaías dice esto: “El Espíritu del Señor está sobre mi porque me has ungido para traer buenas noticias a los pobres. Me has enviado para proclamar Libertad a los presos y vista nueva a los ciegos…para dejar libres a los oprimidos y para proclamar un año aceptable al Señor.” …Jesús había dicho muchas veces a sus discípulos que todo lo que él decía y hacía que él había recibido eso de, no San José ni de María…sino de su Padre Celestial…Así que  cuando la gente de su pueblo hace esto Jesús entiende que ellos no creen en él. Y él dice quizás a él mismo o a sus discípulos: “Un profeta no es despreciado más que en su patria y en su casa”… Pero hoy celebramos la fiesta de San Ignacio de Loyola… Gran fundador de los Jesuitas. Ignacio tuvo una fe enorme en la persona de Jesús. Vivió Ignacio lo que él llamó el don de DICERNIMIENTO. Discernimiento es cuando nos damos cuenta que Dios está actuando con su amor y su poder amoroso en todas las personas y en todas las cosas creadas por él.  Cuando Ignacio fue un soldado herido Dios empezó a obrar grandemente en su vida. Ignacio leía libros sobre los grandes santos y comenzó a entender como la gracia de Dios había cambiado las vidas de esos santos y como esa misma gracia podría cambiar su propia vida. El don del discernimiento al igual que el don de CONSEJO nos ayuda escoger vivir las cosas que nos ayuden tener mas fe, Esperanza y caridad…y de tener paz y una unión y amor mas profunda con los demás personas en el mundo. Pero este mismo discernimiento nos ayuda abandonar cualquier cosa que nos aleje de la fe en Dios y del amor de Dios. Tuve yo en dos ocasiones el privilegio de hacer los llamados Ejercicios de San Ignacio. Hace nueve años atrás los hice. Comparto con Uds. un lema que digo cada mañana al levantar que fue fruto de eso. Digo yo: Señor Jesús ayúdame este día entra con ternura con cada persona para que les ame mas y quizás hacer algo para enseñarles tu amor. Si me desean hacer comentario: tdeely7352@hotmail.com

SIENDO BUENA SEMILLAEl evangelio nos habla de la Semilla Buena y la Maleza Mala. Jesús nos dice que la Buena Semilla son aquellas personas que son ciudadanos del Reino. Quiere decir que la Buena Semilla son las personas que quieren y se esfuercen vivir y amar como Jesús nos enseña con sus palabras y sobre todo con sus obras y gestos de amor y misericordia.  La Buena Semilla son las personas (como somos Uds. y yo) que queremos seguir a Jesús.  La buena Semilla son todas las personas que se esfuercen vivir como nos invita Jesús…las personas que tratan a lo demás de la misma manera de Jesús.  La buena Semilla, los ciudadanos del Reino son también personas que animan a los demás a que ellos mismos aman a Jesús y viven como Jesús.  Esta parábola de la Buena Semilla es muy consoladora. La gente que es Buena Semilla sabemos que Cristo, su amor ya ha triunfado.  A mí me gusta Pensar y decir que cuando haga yo algo bueno yo estoy reclamando la victoria de Cristo, de Jesucristo….Por eso te voy a decirte algo de como vivía un sacerdote norteamericano llamado Stanley Rother. Hace trenticinco años en este mismo día Padre Stanley fue matado a tiros por bandidos del gobierno en Guatemala. En aquel violento entonces en Guatemala el gobierno estaba matando muchos líderes indígenas y sacerdotes que defendían a los pobres del campo. En enero d 1981 el nombre de Padre Stanley apareció en una lista de personas que el gobierno quería matar. Padre Stanley obedeció su obispo y volvió a su país en el estado de Oklahoma. Pero como buen pastor que quería tanto su rebaño Guatemalteco Padre Stanley pensó mucho en lo que Jesús había dicho sobre aquellos pastores quienes cuando hay peligro abandonan sus ovejas.  Padre Stanly no quiso abandonar su rebaño. Así poco antes de la Semana Santa volvió a Guatemala.  Así que en este mismo día tres hombres enmascarados entraron la casa parroquial. Querían secuestrar y torturar a Stanly como habían hecho a tantos campesinos y sacerdotes.  Así que Stanley peleó con ellos diciendo al final “¡Mátenme aquí mismo! Después de la Misa y entierro de Stanley se devolvió el cuerpo de Padre Stanley a su familia en los Estados Unidos. Pero su familia aceptó el deseo de su querido rebaño a que su corazón fuera a quedarse enterrado en la Iglesia de Santiago Atitlán. Padre Stanley Rother ha sido declarado un mártir  Beato Stanley Rother por la Iglesia en 2017.Si me desean hacer comentario:tdeely7352@hotmail.com

Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time IIJuly 21, 2026  Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time.Today our reading is taken from the holy gospel according to Matthew. While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.” But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”The gospel of the Lord. Homily In our readings today we hear a cry and a reply. Humanity cries out to God to see us as his family; and God replies in Jesus Christ that, yes, we all are his family, if we take to heart doing God's will. So, what does it mean to be family? Looking at my own experience, I believe that family is very important, and yet it can create difficulties. We cannot always get our own way. The needs of others often takes precedence over my needs. We are expected to look out for each other, even when we might disagree. But when we do look out for each other, when we appreciate the gift that is each member of the family and enjoy each other's company, we find security and the strength to become the person God meant us to be. I remember my grandmother recounting bits of the family history, with some notable members and a few not so notable. In the first reading, the prophet Micah calls on God to remember the notable moments in the past when God saved his people and forgave them their sins, and asks that he show the same clemency, “as you have sworn to our fathers from days of old.” We know that God did show clemency in the time of the prophet and has shown even greater love and mercy through Jesus Christ, who took on our flesh and became part of our human family. In the gospel, when Jesus' mother and brothers appear at the house wanting to speak with him, Jesus replies: “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Some people use this passage to say that Jesus rejected his family, even his mother, in favor of his disciples. But both Luke and John in their gospels show Mary as one who always did the will of our heavenly Father, and therefore was the greatest of the disciples. Jesus is saying that blood lines do not give greater access to him; his family includes not only his mother and his brothers, but all who do the will of God. And doing the will of God is imitating Jesus in his care for the poor and the marginalized. It is giving of ourselves to those who need us, being understanding and forgiving of those who may have offended us, and helping each other reach our potential as children of God, as in the best moments of family life. Of course there will be moments when we fail to live up to these demands and will, like the prophet, have to ask God to show us his love and mercy and then give that same love and mercy to others. We ask Mary, whom Jesus gave to us as our mother also, to help us on this journey. And we take heart that as members of the family of Jesus, God looks upon each one of us with the same love God looks upon Mary. May God bless you. Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsRBasilica of our Lady of Perpetual HelpBrooklyn, NY

Today the Church recognizes the exceptional men, women, and even children who accepted the ultimate sacrifice for the Christian faith in China between the years of 1648 and 1930.  Their story could be said to have started in the 600's when monks arrived in China from Syria. Unfortunately, these monks not only carried silk to be traded with the Chinese people, but also the Nestorian heresy which denies the divinity of Christ. The Chinese emperor welcomed the monks and permitted them to share their faith. Over the next couple of centuries, churches were built and converts were made. Persecutions began in the 8th century, however, until almost all the Nestorian Christians were vanguished.  The Spanish Dominican priest, Fr. Francisco de Capillas, arrived in China in the mid-1600's after spending twenty years in the Philippines. He was successful in winning over many converts and started a lay order of Dominicans. The tolerant Ming Dynasty was then replaced by the Qing Dynasty and persecutions began again in earnest. Fr. De Capillas was arrested for “teaching false doctrine” and opposing the new emperor. He was beheaded while praying the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary in 1647. Persecutions settled down after Fr. de Capillas' death, but that changed in 1707 when the Pope Clement XI issued a decree forbidding ancestor worship. The Emperor used this as an excuse to expel all Christian priests, confiscate church lands, and close all churches. By the end of the 18th century, there were only one hundred thousand Christians left in the country and they had to practice their faith in secret.  Fr. Augustine Zhao Rong, whose name is attached to today's memorial, was a Chinese soldier ordered to accompany a French Bishop, John Gabriel Turin Dufresse, to his imprisonment and martyrdom. Zhao Rong was impressed with the Bishop's gentle demeanor and courage. Upon the completion of his duty, he asked to be baptized. He progressed in the faith until he was the first native Chinese to be ordained a priest. Fr. Augustine was later arrested, tortured, and died of his injuries in prison.  Other persecutions followed, the worst during the Boxer Revolution in 1900, which produced eighty-six martyrs including many religious sisters, priests, catechists, and other laity. The final two martyrs honored today died in 1930.  In his canonization homily, Pope John Paul II said:  Today the Church is grateful to her Lord, who blesses her and bathes her in light with the radiant holiness of these sons and daughters of China… Young Ann Wang, a 14-year-old, withstood the threats of the torturers who invited her to apostatize. Ready for her beheading, she declared with a radiant face: “The door of heaven is open to all,” three times murmuring: “Jesus.” And 18-year-old Chi Zhuzi, cried out fearlessly to those who had just cut off his right arm and were preparing to flay him alive: “Every piece of my flesh, every drop of my blood will tell you that I am Christian.”  May our prayers join the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters in China as they continue to inspire new converts to the faith. St. Augustine Zhao Rong and Companions, pray for us.  Blessings, Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.