Homily -- July 29th, 2015 Fr. Irving Amaro,CM

Homily -- July 29th, 2015

Fr. Irving Amaro,CM

In the reading from the book of Exodus we listened to how God became present (a face to face presence) to Moses. The text states: As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. That was an experience of friendship, an experience of a God who was involved in the life of the people. Nevertheless, this event took place outside the camp, in the meeting tent, alone, apart from others, separated from sinners … such was the life of the people of the Old Testament. But today can we proclaim the love of God and remain distant from people? Can we proclaim the nearness of God while remaining distant from others? Where should the members of the VMY and the advisors proclaim the love of God? What invitation does the Scriptures extend to us?

We have had the opportunity and the privilege to participate in this General Assembly and for many, this has involved leaving your country and your social-cultural-religious environment. It has been a privilege to be able to come to know the reality of the other members of the VMY … and so I invite you to share these experiences with one another. Why do I say this? So that we can return to our countries and become agents of change. We ought to return to our homeland filled with enthusiasm and hope, we ought to return and be able to state: we can change things and better our Association … and ultimately, we can better our society. We should not simply say: things went well … there were many people there but I only spoke with those who understood my language …we elected a new president … I saw something of the city of Salamanca… Hopefully we will not say: many things happened there but I slept most of the time. What will be our attitude when we return? What are we going to do now? Will we return and meet with our National Councils, with the members of our group and our advisors and together will we seek the means to engage in a process of evangelization. But whom will we evangelize? Only those members of the Association or of our group? NO NO NO we have to break down those mental barriers and as our Pope has continually stated, we must reach out to others; we must go out to the peripheries and we must do this with new attitudes, fearless … what does Jesus tell us?

Let us see! Today’s gospel speaks to us about the weeds among the wheat … the two of these exist side by side until the time of the harvest. We are aware of the fact that there is adversity in the world and this is precisely our challenge … to change adversity into something that is positive. The time before the harvest presents us with the opportunity to examine different options and possible commitments, to reflect on our attitude (do we act in solidarity with others, do we reach out to others). We cannot think that we can live in the midst of a world where there is no evil or corruption, where there are no differences. Rather we must live in the midst of world with all its problems and there we must share our love and goodness … there we are to live with the hope that life can be different, that things can change, that we can create a better and more just society. This is our challenge. We cannot remain apart from or distant from the world as the people did in the Old Testament. No, we must seek ways so that our Association continues to grow and at the same time we must look for ways so that the members of society can grow.

The fact that people will think differently than we do or that some men and women will have a different relationship with their God should not discourage us or make us pessimistic. Rather we should VIEW ALL OF THIS AS A CHALLENGE. Those realities should give us the strength to move forward, should give us strength to clothe ourselves in goodness and love, should give us strength to become ever more creative as we seek to build up the kingdom of God. This is the path that we are invited to travel upon and we are invited to walk with openness, joy, and friendliness. This is where we are invited to live our faith with a passionate love for Jesus Christ. We should not allow our relationship with God to be one of fear and trembling, one of insecurity … rather we should develop a relationship with God that is passionate, creative, loving and this relationship should enable us to work together with others as a team, to look toward the future with THE PASSION THAT JESUS DESIRES, struggling each day to create a more just and human society. Yes, there will be some people who do not think in this manner and perhaps we will be tempted to think that we are some kind of a rare creature … but we are not alone in wanting to create a better world. If we are convinced about God’s plan, about following Jesus … then we will also have the support of Mary our mother who will help us to go to Jesus.

May God bless you and be with you always!

Translated: Charles T. Plock, CM