Homily of the General Father, Rvdmo. Father Salvador Rodea González, CR, on the occasion of the religious profession of the novice Jeremías Aguirre
Jesus, as a good Jew, heard and read the Torah. He was familiar with it, because he had been educated in it for thirty years and was reflected in it, by virtue of his self-awareness. For this reason, he will be able to say without hesitation in the synagogue of Nazareth: “Today this Scripture that you have just heard has been fulfilled”
After Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, the first Christians, thanks to the greater understanding of the mystery of Jesus by the work of the Spirit, made Jesus the living book, the Gospel of our salvation. In this way, Christianity is not primarily the religion of the book, but the religion of the person of Jesus Christ, an ever-living book that reveals to men the vicissitudes and the tortuous ways of history.
For this reason, it is very necessary for Christians, as children, from basic education, to become familiar with the entire Bible: with the Old and New Testaments.
What a great task catechists have in their hands preparing children for the first communion or for confirmation! How important that youth and adult catechists know how to guide them towards a Christian reading of the Bible!
You have received all this from someone. Imagine how important it was and now it is your turn to be one of those people who will make others come closer to God. Your testimony, your spirituality and your passion to transmit the love of God.
The gift of our common vocation to follow Christ “more closely” through the evangelical councils of obedience, with nothing of our own but everything in common and in chastity, also illuminated by the word and example of so many of our brothers serve us to revive, as the apostle Paul asks (cf. 2 Tim 1: 6-11) the gift of vocation to which we were called.
Courage, be strong! Persevere, be faithful !, and bear fruit, awaken the world!
Courage, be strong! The Lord has been generous with us consecrated, looking at us with love (cf. Mk 10, 17-30), calling us to share his life and mission (cf. Mk 3, 13). Be generous to him. Don’t be a victim of the laziness that leads you to choose the most comfortable and easy trip. It is true that what the Lord asks of you, that you follow him more closely (cf. Mt 19:21), and what the consecrated life lived in fullness requires, exceeds our strengths and capacities. But perhaps we have not heard it said that in our weakness the power of God is manifested? (2 Corinthians 12, 9) Doesn’t Scripture say that for God “nothing is impossible”? (Lk 1:37), and “that we can do everything in Him who gives us strength”? (Philippians 4, 13)
Do not align yourself Jeremiah, to the number of those who listening to the “Trumpet of the Spirit” (Saint Augustine), who calls them to follow the Lord in consecrated life, cannot respond to it, due to the noise and dispersion in which they live or simply because they are too attached to their plans and projects to give life to God’s project.
Do not make the vocational question a never ending story, a simple search, without wishing to find the Lord and follow him with courage, for fear of losing your own freedom or autonomy. Scripture says, “If you have heard his voice, do not harden your heart” (Psalm 95 7-8). Yes, if you listen to the voice of the Lord, live a serene and serious vocational discernment, making yourself accompanied by an authentic teacher of the spirit, and pray and pray without ceasing (cf. Lk 22, 46), so that the Lord will make you known his holy Will. And, knowing the Lord’s will, with living faith, certain hope and perfect charity, do not postpone the answer for a long time, do not spend your life in the uncertainty of those who do not courageously assume the risk of a generous response.
Jeremiah remains. Do not be afraid. May you not lack faith or weaken your hope. The Lord, like Jeremiah one day, today assures each one of us: “I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1, 8). Give fruit, wake up the world!
Jeremías, be father and mother, NOT OLD BACHELOR (Pope Francis). Flee the temptation to idolize your image, the temptation of Narcissus, who will lead you, like the mythological character, to die in his own networks. Always remember that “happiness is more in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20, 35). And that giving is received (Saint Francis). Do not live, locked in yourself, in your interests, plans and projects.
The Order of Regular Clerics (Theatines) and the whole Church are celebrating. We once again celebrate the fidelity of God our Lord, who never leaves us alone. We rejoice in the Lord to be able to look up and see young people ready to face the challenge of following Jesus Christ, of falling completely in love with him, to make their own the wishes of the salvation of all men and verify that the charism of Saint Cajetan continues alive.
The characteristic of the “followers” of Saint Cajetan is to always live in an attitude of “priestly reform”. God grant you to rediscover with a heart in love, the fundamentality of the Charism with which the Spirit of the Lord wants you present in his Church: through “communities made up of reformed priests”.
