Administración 1

Lecturas:Ex 20, 1-17
Mt 13,18-23

Presidente: Sebastián Luistro
Sacramentino

Preparada por Filipinas - Vietnam

HOMILÍA

The readings today speak of God's word and the role it plays in building up God's Reign. This KOG or reign of God can be briefly summarized by saying that it speaks aboput God's dream for us. The Gospels are pregnant with the desire of God to live with us - Emmanuel, the ark of the covenant, the Temple, etc. But we realize that pitching his tent among his people means more than that. It means God wants to start a home with and for us.
Building a home requires first a structure.

The parable today of the Kingdom of God in Matthew's Gospel is very appropriate for these concluding days of your General Chapter. Important decisions have been made, and will soon be made in order to make the Congregation more relevant in today's world. The message of the Lord has already been preached, what we need is to prepare the field so that it may bear fruit.

It requires a number of people to make up the family
Inculturation simply put is exactly that. God's word must be adapted to the particular field where it is destined to fall. But there are obstacles that definitely must be taken out - symbolized in the parable as the rocky ground or thorns. The Word of God is confrontational on this level. There is no room for compromise - the farmer must either remove the rocks or pull up the thorns, otherwise no matter how rich the soil is the nutrients cannot be taken full advantage of, nor when the field is choked with thorns. Our initial discernment should bring out the values that contradict the Gospel itself, and therefore demands courage so that we may face them without fear.

A family with diverse roles, diverse gifts but with the same goal.
In most cases, the soil is rich. However, the seed must be adapted to it. (Different grains, different seed require different types and conditions of the soil where they are to be sowed. Rice, wheat, corn cannot be planted in the same type of field.) This is the second level of inculturation. The Gospel must be preached and lived in a relevant manner, in a way that is understandable, that is livable and that is responsive to the social condition of the particular places you labor in. On this second level, the Word of God is characterized by adaptability and flexibility.
Hence the need for practical guidelines or rules of order.

As guideline, we have the Decalogue proclaimed in the first reading. For Israel, both the old and the new. these are the fundamental rules that bring about God's Reign. Christ summed it up into two. love of God and love of neighbor.
In order to address the needs of all of its members.

The Compagnia di Maria was founded because of a particular need that arose at the time of the foundation. It was an urgent demand for women to be educated so that they could participate more fully in the building up of a more humane society. Thanks to that crisis and the relevance of the response you now find yourselves spread out in all continents. But this is no time to remain placidly content with what we have done. More and more, our global village brought diverse peoples, cultures and faith closer to one another. But many times it has led to a conflictive situation because of the tendency for self-preservation and fear. The results we have is an increase in discrimination in a more subtle way, oppression of the weak, particularly of the more defenseless - we speak here of women, children, the sick and feeble¬- individualism and communalism.

As you continue with your deliberations. let us ask God's spirit to help and aid us in discerning how to assist in spreading God's dream, his Kingdom, to make home with us.