Ordinary Time 12, Year B

[This is a more or less literal translation of an original Spanish reflection that is included below. The translation of the poem by Lope de Vega comes from Eugenio Florit, Introduction to Spanish Poetry.]

Love never fails (1 Cor. 13: 8)

Your relatives thought you were out of your mind.

Was it because of the challenge you posed

to strong and powerful leaders?

Courageous, you didn’t fear death!

Weren’t you teaching cowardice, however,

in never agreeing with

Talion’s law of eye for an eye,

for you’d rather turn the other cheek?

And it seemed too that your valor was leaving you,

when in your agony you sweated blood,

although earlier, for sure, you didn’t mind returning

to where before they had tried to stone you.

You looked with anger at hypocrites,

grieved at their hardness of heart,

taking pity, on the other hand,

on the man in straits with the withered hand.

The long-suffering you proclaimed blessed.

Great—you said—is the one who serves others,

and gives his life as a ransom for them,

in imitation of the Son of Man.

Isn’t it traitorous teaching, though,

the one about letting the dead bury

their own dead, or that other one about hatred

of self and of all relatives?

You denounced the teachers of the law and the Pharisees,

questioning their use of Corban.

But in the end, you asked pardon for them

—they didn’t know what they were doing.

You wept for friends, and for their sake you were glad;

having loved your own,

you showed them the full extent of your love,

to those, yes, who would later prove disappointing.

It appears clear to me, oh my Lord,

that you have shown yourself a real human being

subject to everything I am subject, but sin,

and of whose love I dare say:

To be fainthearted, to be bold, to be raging mad,

surly, tender, generous, aloof,

courageous, near death, dead, alive,

loyal, treacherous, cowardly, spirited.

Not to find, beyond your lover, satisfaction or peace.

To look happy, sad, humble, arrogant,

irate, valiant, self-effacing,

satisfied, offended, distrustful.

To turn your face from clear proofs of deceit,

to drink poison as if it were a soothing liquor,

to disregard gain and delight in being injured.

To believe that heaven can lie contained in hell;

to devote your life and soul to being disillusioned;

this is love; whoever has tasted it, knows.

This poem by Lope de Vega

certainly makes one clear for me:

your love, oh Christ, that impels me,

also makes me a new creation.

Unfathomable that your love is,

I am in for great and many surprises.

But in the end, it is your love that takes charge,

amid a storm or in fair weather.

[El amor nunca dejará de ser (1 Cor. 13, 8)

Te tomaron por loco tus parientes.

¿Fue por el reto audaz que expusiste

ante líderes fuertes y potentes?

¡Valiente fuiste, sin temor a muerte!

¿Cobardía no enseñabas empero,

tú que de acuerdo jamás estabas

con la Ley del Talión de ojo por ojo,

y más bien la otra mejilla pondrías?

Pareció también que el valor se te iba

ya que en tu agonía sudaste sangre,

aunque, cierto, no te importaba nada

que antes querían apedrearte.

Con enojo a hipócritas miraste,

triste por sus corazones muy duros,

compasión tuviste por otra parte

del hombre de mano seca en apuros.

A sufridos proclamaste dichosos.

Grande --dijiste-- es quien a otros sirve

y su vida da en rescate de ellos,

por cierto imitando al Hijo del hombre.

¿Enseñanza traidora no es acaso,

ésa de dejar que entierren los muertos

a sus muertos, o aquélla sobre el odio

a sí mismo y a familiares todos?

Denunciaste a escribas y fariseos,

Su uso del corbán pusiste en duda.

Pero en fin, perdón pediste por ellos

-- su culpa, de ella no se daban cuenta.

Por amigos lloraste y por ellos te alegraste;

siempre a los tuyos habías amado,

y seguiste amándolos fielmente

a éstos, tan decepcionantes luego.

Me parece claro, oh Señor mío,

hombre verdadero te has mostrado,

sometido a todo, aunque no al pecado,

de cuyo amor me atrevo a decir esto:

Desmayarse, atreverse, estar furioso,

áspero, tierno, liberal, esquivo,

alentado, mortal, difunto, vivo,

leal, traidor, cobarde, animoso.

No hallar, fuera del bien, centro y reposo.

Mostrarse alegre, triste, humilde, altivo,

enojado, valiente, fugitivo,

satisfecho, ofendido, receloso.

Huir el rostro al claro desengaño,

beber veneno por licor suave,

olvidar el provecho, amar el daño.

Creer que un cielo en un infierno cabe;

dar la vida y el alma a un desengaño;

esto es amor, quien lo probó lo sabe.

El escrito este de Lope de Vega

esta cosa ciertamente me aclara:

tu amor, oh Cristo, que me apremia

háceme también nueva criatura.

Insondable que es este amor tuyo,

Grandes y muchas me esperan sorpresas.

Pero al fin y al cabo, de todo siempre se hace cargo

tu gran amor, haya o no tormentas.]