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FRIARS OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS MASS OF THE AUGUST 4
My brothers and sisters The text of the first reading tells us broadly about what a jubilee year should be and how it should be celebrated by the Jews. In fact, if we go by the text which was read, the jubilee should be a sacred time, accompanied by certain concrete signs that show what a truly holy year is, that is to say, that in a strict sense of the term it should be an aside, consecrated time, reserved to God. What involves for the people a series of liturgical-social measures. A. Franchise of properties: In Leviticus, we can read: "In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession" (Lv 25,10.13). Therefore, the Israelite that had alienated his patrimony voluntarily or by need to an Israelite brother or to a foreigner, would enter in possession of that good and the buyer should abandon it momentarily. B. Emancipation of people: "And ye shall return every man unto his family" (Lv 25,10). It was understood that every Israelite sold as a slave to another Israelite or to a foreigner, would recover his liberty in the jubilee year, and would be able to return to his clan with his family. This prescription is supported on the following fact: every Israelite is a free man, that God freed by taking him out from Egypt to make him His servant; he cannot be enslaved by anyone else forever. C. Land at rest (Lv 25,11) : “Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which growth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed”. Taking up again this Jewish tradition, the Church, each twenty-five years, proposes the Christians a year of benefits, a year in which a call is made for more social justice, a better distribution of wealth, to the liberation of the oppressed ones, to an action of grace for all the gifts from God, particularly for the salvation offered in Jesus. But it was necessary to wait for the year 1.300, for the Church to institute the jubilee years. That year, the Pope Clement VI proclaimed in 50 years the frequency of the holy years. The second jubilee was, therefore, ordered for the year 1.350. Later the Pope Paul II reduced the periodicity of the jubilee years to 25, without affecting the extraordinary jubilees. Since then, these are celebrated in a regularly way. If we wanted to appropriate the previous text, we can find in it a strong insistence on the forgiveness of the sins in the sense in that the Jubilee should be declared the day of the atonements; the Yom-Kippur, one of the seven great religious commemorations in Israel, in other words, one of the most solemn holidays. The Day of the Atonements differs from other commemorations, since is the only one that is absolutely mandatory in the year. Likewise, it was a different holiday. It was not an agricultural festival, nor a public holiday. It made reference to the serious topic of the sin. It was a time for remorse and fasting. It was the only day when The high priest was allowed to enter the "Holy of the Saints" to regret his own sins and those of the people of Israel. That day their sins were forgiven. In fact, the high priest with strong imprecations used to send to the dessert a lamb carrying all sins of the people. In other words, the celebration of the Day of the Atonements was focused on eliminating the previous year’s sins. According to the law the person that did not observe it, should be excluded from the people. My brothers and sisters, Allow me to insist on this topic of the jubilee because all throughout this Chapter we have not ceased discussing the issue about the celebration of certain anniversaries: the 800 years of the foundation of the first contemplative community (Prouilhe), the 800 years of the confirmation of the Order (2016), the 500 years of the presence of the Order in the Caribbean and in Latin America (2010), the 25th anniversary of the martyrs from el Salvador and Guatemala etc. Not to mention those we have already mentioned here. We, in the General Vicariate of Congo, in five years time (in the year 2012) we are going to celebrate the 100 years of the Dominican presence in Congo. These jubilee years, as you can feel it, are accompanied by a certain number of attitudes. Following the Jewish tradition, therefore it is clear, that the celebration of the jubilee requires the purification of our memory. The evocation of certain glorious memories should be found together with a certain questioning about ourselves and a commitment of asking forgiveness for all our sins; including those of our parents and our ancestors; as far as the history of the Order and of our Provinces is full of glorious pages. There are some dark pages, some painful periods. Sometimes, a Province rejects another province because of certain events of the past; at times the members of the same entity cannot appreciate each other due to certain kind of handicaps. In fact, the celebrations of these different anniversaries should allow us to say that beyond the emancipation of people and the franchise of properties, we should also be conscious of the fact that we have also sinned and that we possess the firm intention of taking a new apostolic and missionary impulse. All in all, it is a matter of “starting from scratch" in order to begin a new path. My brothers and sisters, As we speak of forgiveness, precisely, the liturgy has proposed us one of the greatest poets of forgiveness in the history of the church: Jean-Marie Vianney, born on May 8, 1786, died on August 4, 1859, canonized in 1925 and proclaimed Patron Saint of all the priests in the world in 1929. He was sent as a priest to Ars, a small town in Dombes (France), where he spends more than fifteen hours a day in the confessional, where he is seen by everyone as an eminent channel of the divine mercy and as a spiritual guide. Religious men, politicians… all of them ask the holy man for prayers, advices and prophecies. For many hours, the holy man listens to, advises, pacifies or to the contrary stirs up consciences. Even today, the celebration of the commemoration of Jean-Marie Vianney should invite us to modify some present situations. In a social-cultural atmosphere, where the presence of God is not considered as a key aspect of the human doing, because the concern rises constantly not to blame and stop freedom. We are in a context in which the sense of the sin diminishes with an ethics that relativizes the moral rule. On the contrary, it is required an exceptional prophetic force to affirm the evangelical values. No doubt, this value has always been present in the evangelical story. John the Baptist does not hesitate in denouncing publicly the evil behavior of Herod, the prince of Galilee, which causes Herod’s dislike and hatred. With this fact, John the Baptist reminds us today, that God’s word that we announce should worry consciences, should shake our ways of doing. How is it possible to listen to God’s word and continue with our normal lifestyle? How can we participate truly in the Eucharist and to follow certain behaviors? |
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Capítulo General 2007 - ORDEN DE PREDICADORES |
