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FRIARS OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS MASS OF THE JULY 22
The great concern of the Kingdom of God. Marta and Mary, together with their brother Lazarus, form a family in Bethany, a brotherhood-family that has the presence and the friendship of Jesus, and can be the image of our Dominican family today in Bogota and in many other places around the world. Brothers and sisters gathered in the same spirit to meet the Lord. But Jesus’ visit to the family in Bethany, like to ours, leads them to revise their concerns. What really worries us so much every day? Very often the immediate things in our little house are the ones which keep us busy and upset. Generally, we live suffocated and upset by these little worries and we don’t have the time for the most important ones. We even think that they have nothing to do with us. However, Jesus gets to the sisters’ house to talk about his great concern: The Kingdom of God, a new way of living and making relationships, a new society. Jesus’ desire is that this becomes the great concern of all the disciples. We are called to make the great worries our own ones: the future of a world like ours, the fate of the poor and of those who suffer the tragedy of war and everyday’s violence; the lack of humanity in the relationships; the environmental disaster of the planet; the concern about solidarity among the nations and the other globalization; the future of the Christian faith… Marta represents a very local point of view and too confined in her little world of interests, of little worries that keep her busy. This mentality is a threat to the future messenger of the Kingdom of God. However, Mary, in her attitude as a disciple, is more open to universalism, to the most radical problems and concerns on which our life and its real sense depends. Maybe, we the Provincials also came to this General Chapter in Bogota with the local worries of our Provinces, burdened by the coming and going of the problems that absorb us and wear us away everyday. In certain way, we are the “Martas” of the family: we can’t cope with our multiple duties, we are always rushing and even we address Jesus to complain about the brothers he has given us and about the little they help us in our tasks. How many times we think we are the only ones who work! But when we started our meeting we listened to many other concerns that our brothers shared with us. Some are really worrying. And our hearts and minds enlarged, and so it is when, as authentic disciples of Jesus, we listen to the Gospel’s message in all its intensity… we finally, set back again in the great concern of the Kingdom of God and its justice. In other words, we will connect all our anxieties and worries and restlessness, even the smallest, with the great concern of Jesus. Linking our concerns and yearnings with the great concern of the Kingdom? This is the question that today's gospel asks our family and it is our great challenge. We are celebrating the Sacrament in Dominican family and a numerous group of young people, the Movimiento Juvenil Dominicano (MJD) of Colombia, stands out among us. As young people surely you have big dreams for your country, for the world, for the Church, for the Dominican Family. Your considerations encourage us to fight so that the great concern for the Kingdom of God about a new society and a new way of life, doesn't vanish inside all us. Unfortunately, not in few occasions, it seems that we begin the Christian road being as Mary and we end up as Marta. We begin with the humanity's big causes and we end up in a point in which the only thing that we worry about is to have a good computer and a cellular of last generation, a good holiday or to take care of our body. Only Jesus' gospel that visits us, and that addresses us through our brothers, maintains us connected to the great concern of the Kingdom of God, to the humanity's big concerns. Finally, I would like to remember -and so Provincials won't get angry for having be ing called “the Martas” of the family- how Marta, equally a friend and pupil of Jesus like her sister Mary, has been so loved and worshipped in our Order. Between XIII and XIV centuries, seven general chapters recommended the friars to celebrate Santa Marta's feast. (I hope this general chapter also makes ordinations of this type: ordering the friars to celebrate feasts!). Marta came to be a model for the Dominican brothers and sisters. For such Master Eckhart's interpretation made a great influence because it said that, spiritually, Marta was more mature than her sister, having already overcome the state of absorption and sentimentality of Mary, and getting to the state of service and devotion, characteristic of the mature experience of Christian faith. In other words, Marta had already graduated from Jesus' Spiritual School while Mary, to her feet, still had to go to classes. Because the core of the disciples formation is the dedication to others, in the quiet service and in the real love. But, what Jesus reproaches Marta is for not being patient with her sister, and instead accepts her spiritual process and her way of learning. Certainly, to serve and to love is what better links us with the great concern of the Kingdom of God. That the presence of the Lord, who visits us in the Eucharist, awakens the big concerns and worries in our Dominican family and keep all of us giving ourselves to them! |
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Capítulo General 2007 - ORDEN DE PREDICADORES |
