Jesus has just given the apostles a teaching that demanded their absolute trust in Him, their absolute faith in Him, even though this teaching was completely against what their eyes, ears and senses were telling them.  He told them that He was the Bread of Life.  He told them that they needed to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood for them to have eternal life. For some of them this was too hard to accept and so they left Jesus and returned to their previous lives. The Twelve told Jesus what was happening.  Perhaps they were implying that Jesus tone down His teaching some.  Maybe they were just pointing out that the Lord was losing followers #Whatever The fact is that Jesus was not going to rescind a word.  He came to make the spiritual real. He came to bring a reality to the world that was beyond the capacity of man to understand.  He came to bring the Gifts of God that were far greater than man’s fondest hopes. He would not compromise the truth.  “Will you go, also, Peter,” he asks the leader of his Twelve.  “Lord, where can we go, you alone have the words of eternal life.”  And with that confession of faith, Peter stays in good shape.  He did not know with his senses how it is possible for Jesus to give His Body and Blood for the food they would need for the journey to God. Peter did not know with his senses, but he knew with his heart that all was beautiful with Jesus and that it would be infinitely foolish to trust in the senses rather than trust in the Lord. We are called to believe in the Lord, to trust in Him.  We are called to give an infinitely greater credence to the spiritual we cannot see over the material we can see.  We are called to faith. It is quite normal for us to go through periods of doubting the teachings of the Lord.  It is normal for us to ask, “How is God only one, if the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God?”  It is quite normal for us to ask: “How can Jesus be both fully God and fully man?”  It is quite normal for us to ask: “How can this bread and wine, material objects before the Mass, now be the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ?”  It is quite normal for us to want to stand on the material world of our senses and ignore the new world of the spiritual. When these types of doubts come to our mind, be they flashing through, or lingering and challenging us, we need to stop and consider the Gifts of the Lord.  We need to reflect on our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We reflect on the wonders He provides that are beyond our imagination, too good to be true, but, yes, they are true. We are children of God. We think about the peace that we have when we are united with Him and the chaos we have when we turn from Him.  And, so, we trust completely in the Lord.  We trust Him over our own senses. And so we believe.  We believe in that which we do not see.  We believe in that which our human senses cannot reveal. And we come to Church this Sunday and pray as we pray every day of our lives, we pray the prayer of the father of the epileptic boy whom Jesus asked, “Do you believe?” We join this man and pray, “I do believe, Lord, but help those parts of me that do not believe[1].” We are human, yes, but we have been entrusted with the mystery of the Divine. We have been given the Gift of the Eucharist. For sure we are tempted to trust only our senses.  We are tempted to stand on the material.  We are tempted to limit ourselves to the here and now.  We are human.  But we are also spiritual.  And deep within us, deep within every single one of us there is the Voice of Faith prodding us to exclaim with Peter, “I will not leave you Lord.  You alone have the words of eternal life.[2]” • AE

[1] in Mark 9:24 [2] Jn 6:60-69

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Saturday, August 21, 2021

3.00 p.m. to 4.55 p.m. Sacrament of Confession

5.00 p.m. English Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

Sunday, August 22, 2021.

12.30 p.m. English Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

3.00 p.m. Spanish Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

XXI Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)

Voy a tirar unas pocas piedras sobre mi propio tejado. En la sociedad moderna vivimos acosados por palabras, comunicados, imágenes y noticias de todo tipo. Ya no es posible vivir en silencio. Anuncios, publicidad, noticiarios, discursos y declaraciones invaden nuestro mundo interior y nuestro ámbito doméstico. Esta «inflación de la palabra» ha penetrado también en la vida de la Iglesia donde los clérigos hablamos y escribimos mucho. Demasiado, quizá. La pregunta que nos hemos de hacer es sencilla: ¿Qué capta la gente en nosotros?, ¿palabras llenas de espíritu y vida, como eran las de Jesús, o palabras vacías? Me da la sisca, que dicen mis amigos de Musquiz, que lo segundo. A lo largo de los años he oído muchas críticas a la predicación de la Iglesia. Se nos acusa de poca fidelidad al evangelio o al Magisterio; de alianza con una ideología política de un signo o de otro, de poca apertura a la modernidad, o demasiada… creo que no pocos que se alejan hoy de la Iglesia quieren saber si, al menos para nosotros, nuestras palabras significan algo. La palabra del Señor era diferente. Nacía de su propio ser, brotaba de su amor apasionado a su Padre y a sus hermanos. Era una palabra creíble, llena de vida y de verdad. Se entiende la reacción espontánea de Pedro: «Señor, ¿a quién vamos a acudir? Tú tienes palabras de vida eterna»[1]. Muchos hombres y mujeres de hoy no han tenido nunca la suerte de escuchar con sencillez y de manera directa sus palabras. Su mensaje les ha llegado, muchas veces desfigurado y distorsionado por demasiadas doctrinas, fórmulas ideológicas y discursos poco evangélicos. Uno de los mayores servicios que podríamos realizar en la Iglesia es poner la persona y el mensaje de Jesús al alcance de los hombres y mujeres de nuestros días. Ponerles en contacto con su persona. La gente no necesita escuchar nuestras palabras sino las suyas. Sólo ellas son verdadero espíritu y vida ¡Cuánto necesitamos los hombres de hoy esa palabra de Jesús capaz de dar un vigor y una fuerza nueva a nuestra vida; cómo necesitamos de creyentes que nos hablen, como Jesús, con palabras donde se transparente su experiencia, su fe, su amor • AE

[1] Cfr. Jn 6, 55. 60-69

How wonderful that this Sunday we can talk and meditate on our Mother the ever-blessed Virgin Mary! With the exception of Jesus Christ, who is the Eternal Word, conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, she is the greatest person to ever exist.  She is the greatest person to be conceived through a human mother and a human father. She is greater of any of the great people of history. She is the one who was conceived without sin. She gave her life so we can have a Savior. She is the greatest of us all. The greatest of us all is a woman. Mary brought a new dignity to every woman who has ever lived and who ever will live. Women bring life into the world and nurture this life.  Because Mary sacrificed herself for us, our women bring unique reflections of God into the world and nurture His Image with their bodies and with their lives. Women are life givers. Christian women give life to the Divine. Women are sources of love, carriers of love and nourishers of love. In these days when the most lucrative industry in the world is the pornography industry, where mainly young girls are exploited, Our Lady reminds us of the Dignity and Respect that are the natural rights of every female among us. We men are reminded that it is our obligation to care for and protect our women, be they little girls, teens, wives, singles, widows or the elderly. All men need to pray for those among us whose biblical origin was a gift from God to Adam. In these days of the glorification of the self, Our Lady reminds us of a person whose body and spirit were created for another.  She said “Yes” to the angel at the Annunciation and allowed God to radically change her life. She nurtured and cared for the child that others wanted dead.  She supported Jesus as a young man when some thought he was deranged. She stood with Him as He was tortured to death to complete the Father’s plan of redemption. She accepted John the apostle and us into her heart and became our mother. For all this and more than we could ever imagine, Mary was rewarded with her total union with God at the conclusion of her earthly life. She was assumed into heaven. Now closest to her Son, the judge of the Living and the Dead, within whisper length from his ear, she brings our prayers before Him.  We can be sure of this! She brings the prayers we offer when we honor her in the Rosary.  She brings the prayers we offer when we just call out, “Mother, help us!” so today we pray to her and we celebrate, with hearts full of joy, that she was taken to heaven where she lives forever • AE

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for the weekend of August 14-15, 2021,

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Saturday, August 14, 2021

4.00 p.m. Sacrament of Confession

5.00 p.m. Vigil Mass (English) @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

Sunday, August 15, 2021.

7.30 a.m. Mass (English) @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

10.00 a.m. Mass (English) @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

Solemnidad de Asunción de la Santísima Virgen María (2021)

Hoy es fiesta grande para los creyentes. Una fiesta que no es sino el eco del anuncio pascual: Cristo ha resucitado y María es llevada en cuerpo y alma a los cielos. Aquella mujer que supo acoger como nadie la salvación que se le ofrecía en su propio Hijo, ha alcanzado ya la vida definitiva. La que supo sufrir junto a la cruz la injusticia y el dolor de perder a su Hijo, comparte hoy su vida gloriosa de resucitado y nos invita a caminar por la vida con alegre esperanza. La Asunción de la Virgen es una fiesta que confirma nuestra esperanza cristiana: hay salvación para el hombre. Hay una vida definitiva que se ha cumplido ya en Cristo y que se le ha regalado ya a María en plenitud. Hay resurrección. María es la Madre de nuestra esperanza. Ella es «la perfectamente redimida», como solía decir Rahner. En ella se ha realizado ya de manera eminente y plena lo que esperamos un día vivir también nosotros. Pero María es sobre todo Madre de esperanza para los pobres y los rechazados de este mundo. Si María es grande y bienaventurada para siempre es porque Dios es el Dios de los pobres. María se alegra de que Dios sea así. El Dios de los pobres y los humillados. El que ha sabido mirar la humillación y bajeza de su esclava. El que no se ha detenido ante Popea o Cleopatra, sino que ha fijo su mirada en una pobre muchacha sin brillo ni riquezas. Al cantar hoy el Magníficat podríamos recordar quién es el Dios que ha glorificado a María y en el que ella ha puesto todo su gozo y su esperanza. No es el Dios lejano e indiferente en el que a veces pensamos, sino el Dios de los sencillos, aquel que «derriba del trono a los poderosos y enaltece a los humildes; el que coIma de bienes a los hambrientos, y a los ricos despide con las manos vacías». Estas palabras no son palabras de ningún profeta agresivo ni de ningún guerrillero violento, sino que han brotado de la ternura, la limpieza y el gozo que caben en el corazón de María santísima; ese corazón que había guardado la memoria y el gozo de Jesús, quien bendecía al Padre porque ha ocultado su reino a los aristócratas de la tierra y lo ha revelado a aquellos que aparentemente no valen nada, pero valen todo • AE

Sadly, it seems that when it comes to religion, many people resort to relativism.  They decide that they can determine what is a teaching of the Church, or what they feel is moral or immoral.  You see this reflected in today’s Gospel. In this the third of five weeks on the Sixth Chapter of John, people who have heard Jesus say that He is the bread that has come down from heaven do not want to listen to his teaching. Now this is after they had witnessed his multiplying the loaves and fish.  This is after they heard about his walking on the water.  This is after they had learned about the great signs Jesus worked in healing people.  He had a wonderful teaching for them.  He was offering them the gift of His Body and Blood. But they did not want to hear it.  They had decided for themselves who this Jesus was. “To me, the Jesus is just one of us.  He can’t be giving us a new teaching,” they said using the Ad Hominem argument, the attack on the person instead of considering the statement that person made. And so, they refused to hear Jesus explain that their prophets had predicted that they would be taught by God.  They would not consider that Jesus’ wonders were signs that He had come from the Father.  They were not open to hear that those who believed in Him would have eternal life. They scoffed at His declaration that He is the Bread of Life. They did not want to hear that those who eat this bread will live forever. They had decided for themselves what they would believe.  As a result, they rejected Jesus, His Teaching, and His Gift of eternal life. Many people are held captive to what Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI called the Dictatorship of Relativism. They decide for themselves what the truths of our faith are or what they should or should not do to live the Christian life.  They may not say those words, but we witness this in people who treat Holy Communion as a sacramental instead of as a sacrament.  A sacramental is a devotional object or practice to remind us of some aspect of our faith.  Signing ourselves with holy water is a sacramental.  It reminds us of our baptism.  Receiving ashes at the beginning of Lent is a sacramental.  This practice reminds us of our dependence on God.  Sacramentals are useful but are totally optional.  The Eucharist is not a sacramental.  It is a sacrament! It is the real presence of Jesus Christ uniting His Body and Blood to us and presenting us with Him to the Father. Holy Communion is the Bread of Life that we need to eat to have eternal life. Yet, some people will treat communion as a sacramental, an option that may or may not be received. So, they say, “To me Holy Communion is something I do when I go to Church, but it is not necessary for me to receive it; so, I do not attend Mass every Sunday.” People simply relegate the teaching of Jesus Christ as inferior to their own perception of the truths of the faith.  They are bound by the dictatorship of relativism. This also takes place in the Church’s teachings on morality.  Some people will say, “To me there is nothing wrong with two people who love each other having marital relations outside of marriage even though they are married to other people.” They refuse to accept the Church’s teaching #Magisterium on fidelity in marriage because it does not fit their own perception of morality. The “to me this teaching means….,” or “to me this or that is moral or immoral,” are the same faulty ways of understanding and living the faith that are reflected in today’s Gospel.  My brother, my sister: it is not up to us to decide what faith and morality is or is not.  It is our duty and responsibility to learn what the Church teaches and to follow these dictates.  Period. Does this sound too radical? It certainly is, but the following of Christ is radical! In doing this we are protecting ourselves from the relativism that renders all teaching superfluous, even that teaching which emanates from Christ Himself. May this weekend we find a little moment to meditate on this • AE

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Agustin’s will be out of town during the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and he will resume his regular schedule on Monday August 9, 2021 with the 8.30 a.m. Mass.

XIX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)

La incredulidad no es, como más de algun@ ha llegado a pensar, una «deformación perversa del espíritu», o algo propio de hombres malvados y retorcidos que pretenden enfrentarse con Dios. No. La incredulidad es una tentación que siempre estará presente en nuestra vida, y que empieza a echar raíces en nuestro corazón desde el momento mismo en que decidimos caminar de espaldas a Dios. Vivimos en una sociedad donde creer en Dios es como anticuado, como algo poco importante y fácil arrinconar en algún lugar muy secundario de nuestra vida. Lo sencillo es vivir como si Él no existiera ¿Qué puede significar hoy para muchos hombres y mujeres la invitación de Jesús a escuchar al Padre? Los que nos decimos creyentes hemos ido perdiendo la capacidad para escuchar a Dios. No es que Dios no hable, sino que llenos de ruido, posesiones y autosuficiencia, no sabemos ya percibir su voz. Esta es la mayor de nuestras tragedias porque al no escucharlo, lo echamos de nuestra conciencia. Cada vez más intentamos ocultarnos a su mirada amorosa. Preferimos otros dioses con quienes vivir con más tranquilidad. El Concilio Vaticano (¡siempre tan criticado!) nos recordaba que «la conciencia es el núcleo más secreto y el sagrario del hombre, en el que se siente a solas con Dios, cuya voz resuena en el recinto más íntimo de aquélla»[1]. Cuando perdemos la capacidad de escuchar la voz de Dios en el fondo de nuestra conciencia, corremos el riesgo de gritar colectivamente afirmaciones muy solemnes sobre el amor, la justicia, la solidaridad y honestidad, pero sin darles luego cada uno un contenido práctico en nuestras propias vidas, y así vivimos fracturados. Este domingo, en nuestro rato de oración, podríamos pedir al Espíritu de Dios que nos regale su luz y su sabiduría para no olvidar que vamos construyendo nuestra vida no tanto en los acontecimientos ruidosos sino en esas horas calladas en las que Él nos habla y nos invita a ser dóciles, obedientes. A confiar en Él • AE

[1] Constitución Pastoral Gaudium et Spes, sobre la Iglesia en el mundo actual, n. 16.

There are many people who at a certain point in their life have the impression of finding themselves in a dead end. What troubles them are not the normal problems of work, family or the minor things of regular life, but an inner restlessness that is difficult to explain. A time has come when they hardly have any taste for life. They don’t know exactly why, but they no longer manage to live with any joy. They may not reveal it to anyone, but there is a kind of inner emptiness in them. How to get life back? What to do to feel alive again within yourself? Where to find a liberating energy? How to open again to the «miracle» of life? Perhaps, first of all, we have to realize that what we need then is to discover where «the source of life» can be capable of regenerating us. According to K G. Dürckheim, who recently died in Germany, the greatest problem for many men and women today is living isolated from God. Depending on the moment or the circumstances, a person may feel alive or inert, euphoric or despondent, empty or dissatisfied, but the real problem is living «without roots», separated from the mysterious depths of existence, without contact with the source of life. Whether we know it or not, what worries us from the inside is always, in some way, the fear of losing ourselves, the bewilderment in the face of the absurd, the anguish in the face of loneliness. This triple anxiety marks our life and makes us always look for security, meaning and love. Consciously or unconsciously, man carries within himself the nostalgia for a life that is above all death, for a meaning that is beyond the meaning and nonsense of this world, for a protection and welcome that nothing can endanger. When we perceive this deeply enough, something tells us inside that God and only God can be the source of true life. Nothing that is not God is enough for us. If then one succeeds in humbly opening up to God, a liberating force penetrates and regenerates; everything changes, then we can live with a different confidence, with a new meaning, with true hope. The words of the Lord in today’s Gospel are a wonderful announcement to understand that in him and only in him is that solution that we have been looking for so much • AE

Fr. Agustin’s Schedule for Eigteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. 

Saturday, July 31, 2021

TBD

Sunday, August 1, 2021. 

12.30 p.m. English Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

3.00 p.m. Spanish Mass @ St. Dominic Catholic Church

XVIII Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)

La gente necesita a Jesús y lo busca. Hay algo en él que los atrae, pero todavía no saben exactamente por qué lo buscan ni para qué. El evangelio dice que en aquel tiempo muchos lo hacían porque el día anterior les ha distribuido pan para saciar su hambre. Vemos que el Señor comienza a conversar con ellos y que desea aclararles las cosas. El pan material es importante; Él mismo les ha enseñado a pedir a Dios «el pan de cada día» para todos, pero el ser humano necesita algo más y Jesús quiere ofrecerles un alimento que puede saciar para siempre su hambre de vida. La gente intuye que Jesús les está abriendo un horizonte nuevo, pero no saben qué hacer, ni por dónde empezar. El evangelista resume sus interrogantes con estas palabras: «y ¿qué obras tenemos que hacer para trabajar en lo que Dios quiere? ». Hay en ellos un deseo sincero de acertar. Quieren trabajar en lo que Dios quiere, pero, acostumbrados a pensarlo todo desde la Ley, preguntan a Jesús qué obras prácticas hay que hacer. La respuesta de Jesús toca el corazón del cristianismo: «la obra (¡en singular!) que Dios quiere es ésta: que creáis en el que él ha enviado». Dios quiere que creaamos en Jesus, él es el gran regalo que Él ha enviado al mundo. Ésta es la nueva exigencia. En esto han de trabajar. Lo demás es secundario. Después de veinte siglos de cristianismo, ¿no necesitamos descubrir de nuevo que toda la fuerza y la originalidad de la Iglesia está en creer en Jesucristo y seguirlo? ¿No necesitamos pasar de la actitud de realizar montones y montones de prácticas a vivir como discípulos de Jesús? La fe cristiana no consiste primordialmente en ir cumpliendo correctamente un código de observancias nuevas, superiores a las del antiguo testamento. No. La identidad cristiana está en aprender a vivir un estilo de vida que nace de la relación viva y confiada en Jesús el Cristo. Nos vamos haciendo cristianos en la medida en que aprendemos a pensar, sentir, amar, trabajar, sufrir y vivir como Jesús. Ser cristiano exige hoy una experiencia de Jesús, pero sobre todo una sincera identificación con su vida, con sus enseñanzas. Hoy más que nunca necesitamos de ésa adhesión y de contacto vital con el Señor, ¿cómo lo vamos a lograr? Hoy podríamos dedicarle un café -o dos- a pensar en esto • AE

Dear friends, in these weeks of transition I am adapting to the schedule of my new parish community, St. Dominic Catholic Church. Some weekends I don’t have an official Confession schedule, but that doesn’t mean I’m not available. I always am! Please, if you need the Sacrament of Reconciliation, send me an e-mail (agusestrada@gmail.com) and we will find the best time to celebrate the Sacrament of joy. This applies even to every weekday. There is always time for a spiritual talk. Currently I am our of town but I will be in my regular schedule on Saturday, July 31. Fr. Agustin