Anonymous, Christ and Nicodemus (c. 1600), pen and brush over paper, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

This Sunday is called Laetare Sunday. The word Laetare is Latin for joy and we are reminded of how much we are loved. The people of the first reading were suffering. They had been brought into exile by the Babylonians. Their Temple had been wrecked. Their palaces burned. They brought all this on themselves. The reading details how they committed one abomination after another. The psalms tell us that they even committed child sacrifice. God punished the people, or allowed the Babylonians to punish them. In exile in Babylon, the Jews were completely helpless. They had no army. They had no political clout. But what they did have was their determination to return to follow God. They became adamant in the practice of their faith. They formed a way of life, a system where they expressed their determination to live for God. And God had mercy on them. They were, after all, his people. He loved them, and this is the main teaching of that Gospel reading we have heard so often. We really need the reminder that we live in the joy of the Lord. This has been a heavy year. There are wars throughout the world. There are continual concerns on how to treat immigrants to our country with dignity while at the same time upholding our laws. And to make matters worse, this is a presidential election year. That would make any year difficult. Yet, through it all we still have the joy that the Lord sees, the Lord knows, and the Lord heals.

St. Ireneaus of Lyon, an early doctor of the church, is credited as writing “The Glory of God is man fully alive.” Human beings are the summit of God’s creation. When we reverence the Lord with all that we are, when the fear of the Lord becomes the core of our lives, then we become all God has created us to be. We are fully alive because we are not just physical. We are physical and spiritual. Again, St. Irenaeus, “The Glory of God is man fully alive.” And we are loved. We are loved by God. The love of God is deeper than the love a husband and wife have for each other. The love of God is stronger than the love parents have for their children. The love of God is so powerful that it leads us to conquer anything that is attacking us, outside of us, among us, or within us. As we come to a deeper understanding of how much God loves us, we experience joy. So, Laetare. For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. He sent him for all of us, and he sent him for each of us. We are loved. Laetare • AE

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Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her; rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: «Let us go to the house of the Lord.

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St. Dominic Catholic Church • Weekend Schedule

Saturday, March 9, 2024

1.00 p.m. Memorial Mass for + Rosa Guerrero – Fr. Agustin E.

3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation – Fr. Agustin. E.

5.00 p.m. Holy Mass and 2^nd Scrutiny for RCIA 2024– Fr. Agustin. E.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin E.

10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin E.

12.30 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.

3.00 p.m. Santa Misa – Fr. Jaime P.

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IV Domingo de Cuaresma (Domingo Laetare)

R. Van der Weyden, El descendimiento de la cruz (De Kruisafneming)(1436), Óleo sobre tabla, Museo del Prado (Madrid)

El evangelio de hoy relata el extraño encuentro entre Jesús y un fariseo llamado Nicodemo. Según el texto, es Nicodemo quien toma la iniciativa y va a donde Jesús de noche. Intuye que Jesús es un hombre venido de Dios, pero no esta muy claro. Jesús lo irá conduciendo hacia la luz. Nicodemo representa en el relato a todo aquel que busca sinceramente encontrarse con Jesús. Por eso, en cierto momento, Nicodemo desaparece de escena y Jesús prosigue su discurso para terminar con una invitación general a no vivir en tinieblas, sino a buscar la luz. Según Jesús, la luz que lo puede iluminar todo está en el Crucificado. La afirmación es atrevida: «Tanto amó Dios al mundo que entregó a su Hijo único para que no perezca ninguno de los que creen en él, sino que tengan vida eterna». ¿Podemos ver y sentir el amor de Dios en ese hombre torturado en la cruz? Acostumbrados desde niños a ver la cruz por todas partes, no hemos aprendido a mirar el rostro del Crucificado con fe y con amor. Nuestra mirada distraída no es capaz de descubrir en ese rostro la luz que podría iluminar nuestra vida en los momentos más duros y difíciles. Sin embargo, Jesús nos está mandando desde la cruz señales de vida y de amor. En esos brazos extendidos que no pueden ya abrazar a los niños, y en esa manos clavadas que no pueden acariciar a los leprosos ni bendecir a los enfermos, está Dios con sus brazos abiertos para acoger, abrazar y sostener nuestras pobres vidas, rotas por tantos sufrimientos. Desde ese rostro apagado por la muerte, desde esos ojos que ya no pueden mirar con ternura a pecadores y prostitutas, desde esa boca que no puede gritar su indignación por las víctimas de tantos abusos e injusticias, Dios nos está revelando su «amor loco» a la Humanidad. «Dios no mandó su Hijo al mundo para juzgar al mundo, sino para que el mundo se salve por él». Podemos acoger a ese Dios y lo podemos rechazar. Nadie nos fuerza. Somos nosotros los que hemos de decidir. Pero «la Luz ya ha venido al mundo». ¿Por qué tantas veces rechazamos la luz que nos viene del Crucificado? Él podría poner luz en la vida más desgraciada y fracasada, pero «el que obra mal… no se acerca a la luz para no verse acusado por sus obras». Cuando vivimos de manera poco digna, evitamos la luz porque nos sentimos mal ante Dios. No queremos mirar al Crucificado. Por el contrario, «el que realiza la verdad, se acerca a la luz». No huye a la oscuridad. No tiene nada que ocultar. Busca con su mirada al Crucificado. Él lo hace vivir en la luz • AE

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ST. DOMINIC CATHOLIC CHURCH • HOLY WEEK 2024

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD, MARCH 24, 2024

5.00 p.m. Vigil mass (Saturday March 23)

7.30 a.m., 10.00 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. English Mass

3.00 p.m. Misa en Español

HOLY MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024.

8.30 a.m. English Mass

HOLY TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024.

8.30 a.m. Misa en Español

HOLY WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2024.

8.30 a.m. English Mass

The Sacred Paschal Triduum

HOLY THURSDAY OF THE LORD´S SUPPER, MARCH 28, 2024.

7.00 p.m. Mass of the Lord´s Supper

(Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until Midnight @Eucharistic Chapel)

FRIDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD (Good Friday), MARCH 29, 2024.

8.30 a.m. Seven Sorrowful Stations of the Blessed Virgin Mary

1.00 p.m. Living Stations of the Cross

3.00 p.m. Liturgical Celebration of the Lord´s Passion (Bilingual)

HOLY SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2024.

8.30 p.m. The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night

EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD, MARCH 31, 2024.

7.30 a.m., 10.00 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. English mass

3.00 p.m. Misa en Español

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M. Chagall, The Sacrifice of Isaac (1966), oil on canvas, Particular Collection.

Why was Abraham called to kill Isaac? The Jewish people never practiced human sacrifice, so it appears only as a demonstration of how deep his faith in God needed to be. Well, as we know, he did have faith. He had faith in God’s promise that he would build him into a nation even though the only way that would happen would be through his son Isaac, the very son he was asked to sacrifice. As you know, God did not allow him to kill his son, and his faith was rewarded by a covenant with him saying that his descendants would be as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore.

The point for us today is that God is aware of our faith. He knows the struggles we have to believe. Abraham did not want to sacrifice his son, but trusted in God. Jesus cried during the agony in the garden for his Father to free him from the terrible suffering he was going to endure, but he still trusted in God. How about us? God sees us praying to him. He knows we want to grow closer to him. At the same time he sees how our faith is continually tested by the turmoil of our lives. It is easy for us to believe and be people of faith when all is going well and we are happy. It is easy to believe, be people of faith, when we are enjoying our family, our children, our lives. It’s easy to believe, be people of faith, when we leave Church feeling warm and deeply moved. But faith is difficult when we are in turmoil. When relationships meant to be growing and nurturing, such as marriage, become bitter and end up destructive, when jobs that we don’t even like are in jeopardy, then faith is difficult. It is difficult to believe in God when we or a loved one is sick, or worse, when a loved one has passed away. God knows how often we are just plain angry, angry with him for the difficulties of our lives. He knows that sometimes we become so angry that we even doubt his existence. He knows that sometimes we wonder if he really cares. God knows how often we feel weak in our faith, but he also knows that we do want to have faith. God sees us as people of faith who are begging him to help us grow in faith. When times of turmoil take over our lives, we have to focus in on the covenant with Abraham, the covenant of faith. Abraham trusted that God would find a way to reward him for his faith. And God did reward him. And he does reward us for our faith. When the disciples, Peter, James, and John saw Jesus transfigured on the Mountain and Elijah and Moses with him, they wanted to stay there. We all feel the same way when we have a religious experience. We no not want it to end. But glory comes only after we understand what to rise from the dead means. We cannot fully celebrate the Glory of the Lord until we share in his passion, his death, his sacrifice. Our faith is tested like Abraham’s faith and like Jesus’ faith. We are called to give our best to the Lord and trust him to transform the sacrifice into a new covenant far greater than we could ever imagine. If God is for us, St. Paul tells the Romans and us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son for us, will prevent the forces of evil from attacking us. This includes those forces within us tearing at our psyche, leading us away from the Lord. God is for us. God is with us. May we have the faith of Abraham to trust in God even in the most difficult situations • AE

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St. Dominic Catholic Church Weekend Schedule

Saturday, February 24, 2024

3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation – Fr. Agustin E.

5.00 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin. E.

Sunday, February 25, 2024

7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin E.

10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Agustin E.

12.30 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.

3.00 p.m. Santa Misa – Fr. Jaime P.

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II Domingo de Cuaresma (Ciclo B)

Randolph Rogers, Nydia (1856), mármol, Museo de Bellas Artes de Boston (EEUU)

Cada vez tenemos menos tiempo para escuchar. No sabemos acercamos con calma y sin prejuicios al corazón del otro. No acertamos a escuchar el mensaje que todo ser humano nos puede comunicar. Encerrados en nuestros propios problemas, pasamos junto a las personas, sin apenas detenemos a escuchar realmente a nadie. Se nos está olvidando el arte de escuchar.

A los cristianos se nos ha ido olvidando que en buena parte ser creyente es vivir escuchando a Jesús. Más aún. Sólo desde esta escucha nace la verdadera fe cristiana. Cuando en la montaña los apóstoles se asustan al sentirse envueltos por las sombras de una nube, sólo escuchan estas palabras: Este es mi Hijo amado: escúchenlo.

La experiencia de escuchar a Jesús hasta el fondo puede ser dolorosa, pero apasionante. No es el que nosotros habíamos imaginado desde nuestros esquemas piadosos. Su misterio se nos escapa. Casi sin damos cuenta, nos va arrancando de seguridades que nos son muy queridas, para atraernos hacia una vida más auténtica. Nos encontramos, por fin, con alguien que dice la verdad última. Alguien que sabe por qué vivir y por qué morir. Algo nos dice desde dentro que tiene razón. En su vida y en su mensaje hay verdad. Si perseveramos en una escucha paciente y sincera, nuestra vida empieza a iluminarse con una luz nueva. Comenzamos a verlo todo con más claridad. Vamos descubriendo cuál es la manera más humana de enfrentarnos a los problemas de la vida y al misterio de la muerte. Nos damos cuenta de los grandes errores que podemos cometer los humanos, y de las grandes infidelidades de los cristianos.

Quizá deberíamos de cuidar más en nuestras parroquias la escucha fiel a Jesús. Escucharle a él nos puede curar de cegueras, nos puede liberar de desalientos y cobardías, puede infundir nuevo vigor a nuestra fe. Vale la pena intentarlo. Estamos en Cuaresma, qué mejor tiempo para comenzar • AE

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Michelangelo, The Temptation of Saint Anthony (c. 1487), oil and tempera on panel, Kimbell Art Museum (Forth-Worth, Texas)

Usually on this Sunday we hear about three different temptations the Lord endured: turn rocks into bread, demand that your Father work a miracle to save you and trade His love for all the power of the world. We do not come upon these this year because they are in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark. Mark just states that Jesus went into the desert for 40 days, was confronted with temptations, beat off the devil and then began his mission. To prepare for Easter we spend forty days confronting temptation.

Sometimes people think that they must be very sinful because they have all sorts of temptations. People who are tempted are not sinful. They are alive. If any of us stops having temptations in our lives, we should check our pulse, we are probably dead. Temptations are difficult to overcome. If they were easy to fight off, then there would be no sin in the world, and we would be living in Utopia. No, temptations are difficult. Every temptation contains elements of attractiveness and has deep within it an aspect of goodness. Here is what I mean by that. All of God’s creation contains beauty. However, we can pervert that beauty and turn something that is good into something that is bad. For example, the human body is beautiful; pornography is a perversion of this beauty. All sin is attractive. If it were not attractive, we would not be tempted by it. Some people live by the saying, “If it feels good, do it.» What are they really saying? What they are saying is that anything is acceptable as long as they are getting pleasure from it. That is the way of the world. It is the way of selfishness, not the way of love. That is not the way of Jesus. Nor can it be our way. Jesus is the conqueror of sin. But His battle was not a simple task. Jesus was tempted to save His own life, give up and not go along with the Father’s plan. We are told to fight temptation with the Lord. When we choose Christ, the devil really does not stand a chance. In the battle for the Kingdom, Jesus fights with us, finding a way for us to win. Our weakness becomes a source of our strength because it leads us to depend on the Lord.

The 40 days of Lent are really about loving Jesus. We spend this time looking for ways to grow in our love for our Savior. We fight off temptation with Him. We give Him our sins in confession. We unite ourselves to Him through the Eucharist and many other ways of praying. We do everything possible to allow His grace into our lives. He is the Victor over sin. We are His. And He is ours • AE

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Music for Lent

Canticum Canticorum is a cycle of 29 motets by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Originally titled Motettorum – Liber Quartus, this Renaissance work is one of Palestrina’s largest collections of Sacred motets. The work is in Latin and based upon excerpts from the book in the Song of Songs of the Old Testament. The Song of Songs is thought to be an allegorical representation of the relationship of God and the faithful as husband and wife. The text uses the main image of a man and wife almost throughout, the poem suggesting movement from courting to consummation. Canticum Canticorum was written in the year 1584. This work, as with many of Palestrina’s works around this time, was dedicated to Pope Gregory XIII •

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St. Dominic Catholic Church • Weekend Schedule

Saturday, February 17, 2024

3.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation – Fr. W. Zapalac.

5.00 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. W. Zapalac

Sunday, February 18, 2024

7.30 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. Jaime P.

10.00 a.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. W. Zapalac.

12.30 p.m. Holy Mass (English) – Fr. W. Zapalac

3.00 p.m. Santa Misa en Español – Fr. Jaime P.

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PRIMER DOMINGO DE CUARESMA (CICLO B)

Caravaggio, Narciso (1597), óleo sobre tela, Galería Nacional de Arte Antiguo (Roma)

En su libro titulado La era del vacío, Gilles Lipovetsky dice que uno de los rasgos característicos del momento actual es el clima de seducción, algo que se produce no sólo en las relaciones interpersonales, sino que además es un elemento que poco a poco va regulando el consumo, la organización de la vida, la educación, las costumbres. Todo. La profusión de productos y la necesidad de captar al posible comprador ha llevado a la publicidad a extremar la estrategia de la seducción por medio de ofertas cada vez más tentadoras, imágenes más excitantes. Las relaciones autoritarias dejan paso a relaciones de seducción. Los jefes se han de mostrar cercanos y cordiales. La disciplina es sustituida por un estilo cálido y sugerente. La educación, antes autoritaria, se vuelve más permisiva y atenta a los deseos de los niños y adolescentes. Crece por todas partes el deseo de crear un clima más tranquilo y seductor. Se trabaja con hilo musical, se conduce escuchando el estéreo, se oye música desde la mañana a la noche como si el individuo tuviera necesidad de vivir transportado y envuelto en un ambiente relajado. El mismo lenguaje pretende crear un mundo suave y tolerante. Ya no hay ciegos y lisiados, sino invidentes y minusválidos. Los viejos se han convertido en “personas de la tercera edad». El aborto es solamente «una interrupción voluntaria del embarazo». Sin duda, es fácil detectar en este fenómeno de nuestro tiempo el deseo y la necesidad de humanizar la dureza de la vida moderna introduciendo un aire más cálido, cordial y tolerante.

Pero, como advierte el autor, esta sociedad seductora está generando un hombre de voluntad débil, seducido y esclavo de mil impulsos y deseos cambiantes. Cada vez son más los que viven a la carta, confeccionándose su propio menú según lo que se antoje en el momento, en medio de una búsqueda interminable de sí mismos, sin saber exactamente dónde enraizar su existencia, de ahí la proliferación de influencers, upstanders, y una gran variedad de conductas enraizadas en un profundo narcisismo. Basta asomarse a las redes sociales.

Los cristianos ¿dónde estamos? ¿hacia dónde miramos? ¿cuál es es nuestro punto de referencia? Una vida digna de este nombre -cristiano- exige no ceder a seducciones que pueden destruirnos como personas, de ahí la enorme importancia del evangelio de este domingo, el primero en el tiempo de Cuaresma, donde encontramos la figura sobria, fuerte, sencilla, de Jesús enfrentándose a la tentación, e invitándonos a hacer lo mismo, manteniendo despierto el oído interior, conservando limpio el corazón, estando atentos a la voz de nuestra conciencia. En seis sencillísimas palabras el Señor traza el camino que deberíamos recorrer: “Arrepiéntanse y crean en el Evangelio” • AE

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lEctUrAS paRa lA cUaResMa

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